No Limits
building beyond ourselves
SERMON SERIES– Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 7
Priority
NOTES
“Priority”
Who or What Is Important to God?
WORSHIP - is important to God Vs. 1
After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. Nehemiah 1:1 (NIV)
WORSHIP
· Anything that honors God
· Refocuses my heart and my feet
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE WORSHIP A DAILY PRIORITY
INTEGRITY - is important to God Vs. 2-3
2 I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. 3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.” Nehemiah 1:2-3 (NIV)
INTEGRITY
· being honest & sincere
· genuine true character
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE HONESTY AND SINCERITY A PRIORITY
PEOPLE – are important to God Vs. 4-73
Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. 5 So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there: 6 These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, 7 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah): Nehemiah 7:4-7 (NIV)
PEOPLE
· The object of God’s love
· The reflection of God’s character
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE HONORING PEOPLE A PRIORITY
PURPOSE - God’s purpose is important to God Vs. 6-73
Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. 71 Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. 72 The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver and 67 garments for priests. 73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. Nehemiah 7:70-73 (NIV)
PURPOSE
· A people and a place
· Sacrifice and service
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE THE PURPOSES OF GOD A PRIORITY
Next steps:
Right now, I’ll align my heart with the heart of God by, _________________
MANUSCRIPT
Who or What Is Important to God?
Aligning My Heart with God’s priorities.
Good morning and welcome to Celebration Church, my name is Tom Bartlett and I am a part of the Community Tower team, and one of the pastors here.
Now, about 5 years ago, my family was in a very bad accident that caused our family vehicle to flip 3-4 times. We wound up upside down and by the time I came to, I was disoriented and thought I’d lost my left eye. Blood was streaming into that eye and I couldn’t see. Within a few days I saw a picture of my face and while some may have thought it to be an improvement, my nose was double its normal size. I obviously had a concussion.
The result was an impaired memory for quite some time. I say this to say to you, if I forget your name, don’t take it personally, (lol).
But there’s something I realized at an early age, I think by observation mostly, I really liked people who could use my name when talking to me and more important remember my name. Somehow, I translated that to a sense of care and I made a concerted effort to remember people’s names because people are important and remembering their name is a gift.
Now, please don’t quiz me about names as I’m still getting my ability to recall back.
I think we all want to know that we have some value and that the people around us care. That’s the part of the church that matters most to new people, to know that people know their name and actually care about them. It’s always been the dream of this church to have that sense of value for every person. And even though we may not do that perfectly, we all can rest assured that God knows our names and loves us more than we could ever imagine.
One of the areas of the Bible that always astounded and frustrated me were the lists of names in genealogies and names in the New Testament and other sections of the Old Testament. Now, after much investigation I can tell you that the names are there for many reasons and some are deeply theological, but I also think names are in the scriptures for other reasons too, sometimes merely for honor.
So, the question comes, if God allowed names in the Bible of obscure people, what else really matters to God?
WHAT MATTERS TO AN INFINITE GOD AS PERTAINS TO FINITE PEOPLE?
Well, we’re in the book of Nehemiah and our “No Limits” series. Nehemiah in chapters 1-6 has become aware of the great need in Jerusalem.
• The walls are down leaving the city defenseless. The people are in disarray and needing direction and repair.
• Nehemiah goes to prayer and confesses sins of his own life and his family.
• He asks for and receives help from outside sources such as the king.
• And in 52 days the wall around the holy city is rebuilt all while facing opposition.
Now, we come to chapter 7 and we see this long list of names of the people who returned, and some other key words that give us a glimpse into what is important to God.
(The importance of remembering names, building on those who impacted you) Nehemiah uses the list, also nearly identically found in Ezra, to instill in the people a reminder of their personal and national identity as God’s people and to encourage them to fulfill their responsibilities in light of this identity.
So, this morning, I’d like to extract what we see in chapter 7 that gives us a glimpse into what is important to a holy and Almighty God and measure ourselves and align ourselves with the priorities of God.
A Priority - Regarded or treated as more important than other things
As we look into this passage, the very first glimpse we get as to what matters to God is this idea and activity of WORSHIP. We’re going to see here in the very first verse, the reason for the whole project and it centered on placing God in His proper place in the midst of the people.
· WORSHIP - is important to God Vs. 1
After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. Nehemiah 1:1 (NIV)
Now, you’ll notice the words, “after the wall had been rebuilt”. When it comes to corporate worship, a defined place is needed. For personal worship, that can happen anywhere and at any time. But when we call ourselves together there is always a place identified where that will happen.
As soon as the wall was finished and the gates around the city, the attention turns toward restoring a national order where God is at the center of the life of each person. The gates and the activity expressed here all relate to the temple worship and the gates to the outer and inner court.
This was unusual for the temple but because of the times they lived in and opposition they faced the gatekeepers were needed.
Gatekeepers – today’s equivalent is our connection/welcome team/security team. Later we will see that they are placed when the sun is up. In other words, they are in place as the day begins and activities start and people arrive. They also guarded the gates at night.
Musicians - today’s equivalent is our worship team. Music and several art forms such as dance and banners and pageantry were used.
Levites - today’s equivalent is our pastoral and leadership team
Sheep gate – The gate used for sacrifice and entrance to temple, people brought their sheep for sacrifice. Jesus would call Himself as the “gate for the sheep” John 10:7-10
It’s where Jesus would have entered into Jerusalem 500 years later as the sacrificial Lamb of God, which is how John the Baptist referred to him in John 1:29.
WORSHIP
• Anything that honors God
Did you know any act of kindness can be expressed as worship to God? When I love my neighbor as myself it’s worship to God. Why? Well, it’s all in the motivation. When I serve with no benefit to me out of the goodness of my heart, it’s honor to God.
Why would we send our tower teams out in the community, just because it needs cleaning? No, it’s because we get to express to others what God is like in a very practical way and we get to do for them something that honors God.
• Refocuses my heart and my feet
God doesn’t need us to worship Him because He needs to hear good things about Himself. He already knows all that, He wants you to be reminded of that too. When I say God, “You’re all powerful” it’s not like He forgot, but it may be that I’ve forgotten that when I’m in a tough situation.
YOU KNOW SINGING IS A POWERFUL TOOL IN THE CHURCH. Not only does it bring us together in the greatest expression of unity; we all stand, sing and say the same things, it also reminds us of just how great God is.
If you want what matters to God to matter to you and me, we should. . .
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE WORSHIP A DAILY PRIORITY
Now, worship is surely important but we’ll also see in verses 2-3 that integrity in any responsibility in serving God is too.
· INTEGRITY - is important to God Vs. 2-3
2 I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. 3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.” Nehemiah 1:2-3 (NIV)
Over the years I’ve seen people come into this church looking for a “position”. To have some sort of place of honor in leadership. Want to know the fast-track to leadership in this church? SERVE!
The only indication of what a person will do in the future is what they’ve done in the past and that takes observation.
Nehemiah finds the most faithful person he knows, his brother Hanani and places him in a strategic spot, leader. The person who must be able to put the needs of the people over his own. Here’s a simple definition of integrity.
Integrity - being honest, sincere, genuine, it is fundamental to true character
When leaders are anything but honest and full of true character, the nation, the organization, the church will lose its ability to be successful, every time.
• Not only did Nehemiah use great leadership when he took the people aside at day 26 to recast vision, which by the way is where get the principle of vision casting in dealing with “vision-leak” or “mission drift”,
• He again showed qualities of good leadership in delegating authority and he was careful to select men of integrity who feared God.
• He also stationed them by their own homes the scripture said, – that’s wisdom.
These leadership actions please God. The whole of the law of God, the reason for the writings is to instruct us in the way of the Lord. When you’re honest and your heart is pure, you represent God well.
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE HONESTY AND SINCERITY A PRIORITY
What matters to God?
• That we worship and honor Him
• That we operate out of faithfulness
What else matters to God?
· PEOPLE – are important to God Vs. 4-73
Now, if you’ve ever felt left out, worthless, not accepted, this next section can be a great encouragement for you.
There is nothing in all creation that God has made that He doesn’t love, and there’s nothing higher in all of creation than people. THAT MEANS THAT GOD LOVES YOU more than you can comprehend. He knows your name; He knows your fears and problems and insecurities and you matter to Him.
MEMBERSHIP COVENANT RENEWAL NEXT WEEK
Here Nehemiah lists the names of the people by families, in all 42,360 people are mentioned by family and number. Every name was written down, praise God they kept this list a little shorter.
Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. 5 So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there: 6 These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, 7 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah): Nehemiah 7:4-7 (NIV)
Now, I’ll cut the list short and you can take the time to read every name if you desire. It’s there for a reason, people matter to God.
You know the Bible says that there is a list of names in heaven. God has the names of every person who has been adopted into His family in a book called the Book of Life.
WHY? Because while people matter to God, His own children matter even more.
Why did Jesus Christ come to the earth? For people. God’s heart is that no person will ever be left out or lost, but they would have relationship with Him.
In Luke 19:10 Jesus said He, “came to seek and save the lost.” WHY? PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD.
Now, when you became a believer in Jesus Christ, God could have taken you to heaven at that moment as one of His children. Why did He not do that? Well, there’s only 2 things you cannot do in heaven that you can do on earth.
1. sin and the other is
2. to tell people about Jesus.
Which one do you think He left you here to do?
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE HONORING PEOPLE A PRIORITY
Now, we honor people by living a Christ-like example and telling them about Jesus, but we also honor them by serving them. Who have you neglected in your life? Who needs your attention?
Might I suggest that you write the names of these people down and say a short prayer for them every day? It will keep you focused on them and God will communicate when He wants you to do more.
Now, finally as we look at the chapter as a whole, we get a bigger picture of what’s happening here.
• Worship matters to God
• Integrity matters to God
• People matter to God and . . .
· PURPOSE - God’s purpose is important to God Vs. 6-73
Now, this is so important because if you have no purpose in life, you will make up one. God has put you here on the planet for a reason.
Once you know why you’re here you can move swiftly toward accomplishing it.
Once the families knew what Nehemiah was doing and they saw the success of his purpose, they jumped in whole-heartedly. They contributed, served and accomplished great things for God together in organizing and establishing the temple worship.
Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, [A DARIC IS A MEASURMENT OF GOLD, CALLED TALENT IN THE NT] 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. 71 Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. [A MINAS WAS ABOUT 1¼ POUNDS IN MODERN EQUIVALENT] 72 The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver and 67 garments for priests. 73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. Nehemiah 7:70-73 (NIV)
Now, the purpose of God always involves
• a people and a place,
• sacrifice and service.
• God will be worshipped by a people of integrity.
IS YOUR HEART ALIGNED WITH GOD, DOES YOUR PURPOSE ALIGN WITH HIS?
To align my heart with the heart of God
MAKE THE PURPOSES OF GOD A PRIORITY
You will live your life for self or service. You will either make it about you or about God.
The promise of God is that if you make it about Him, all you’ve ever needed physically, emotionally, spiritually will be cared for by Him.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION
In 1963 this sign was posted on the door of a church in New York that closed.
Sign on door said: "Gone out of business. Didn't know what our business was." (University Christian Church. in NY).
Next steps:
Right now, I’ll align my heart with the heart of God by, __________________
1. MAKING WORSHIP A DAILY PRIORITY
2. MAKE HONESTY AND SINCERITY A PRIORITY
3. MAKE HONORING PEOPLE A PRIORITY
4. MAKE THE PURPOSES OF GOD A PRIORITY
