Embracing the Risk
Series: When It’s Time to Move FORWARD
Brad Bailey – May 2, 2021
Text: Nehemiah 2:1-10 / Theme: Moving Forward will involve risk
Note: This message in it’s scripted form was too long and required passing over various parts.
Intro....
A warm welcome to each of you. I’m excited to continue in our new series entitled When It’s Time to Move FORWARD. As we look at this season in our lives... we can see that the process of emerging from this pandemic season will come in a stretch of subtle changes over time. We sense it’s beginning in some ways in this Spring season... we expect it to further over the summer... and there’s anticipation of the Fall providing even more broad potential for restoring life related to school, work, and travel and so much more. So as we sought to discern our focus as a community... we sensed that a series about moving forward... actually made more sense now.... NOT because everything has been restored...but because the time to BEGIN to SHIFT the gears of our thinking is NOW. The time to begin to allow God to turn us forward is now. The time to allow God to guide our hearts and minds is now. And as we’ve noted...in any season of life... we need to realize that the most important life is the one that is still ahead of us.
So I want help us begin to face forward...and identify with what may be involved with moving forward in life. And I want to ask each of us to take a moment to just consider...
What do I see that’s not what it should be... that’s unfinished or in disrepair?
(What may God want to restore or realize in my life, family, work, or ministry?)
Some of us may realize that we have suffered some real loss specifically during this pandemic season... and when we look at what lies ahead... we may see some aspects of life that we should rebuild... or some changes that we need to begin preparing for.
For some of us... there may be some unfinished work in life that we have ignored well before the pandemic. There may be some things we sensed God gave us a heart for helping to change... that we hit the pause button on... perhaps something unfinished....that we’ve become passive to.
For some of us... we may just realize that we have stopped moving forward because there is some challenge we have been avoiding... maybe things we have accepted for so long that we’ve lost sight of.
As we begin to look ahead... and see what may need to be rebuilt or restored in our personal lives and in our communal calling... we are allowing God to speak to us through the Book of Nehemiah.
The Book of Nehemiah is the account of how the very people God had called out to Himself... and set apart in the promised land of Israel.... had turned away... and were then conquered by the Babylonian Empire. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed...most of the people killed...and the others were taken into exile. They were now a lost people... with no real place in this world... no identity....and enslaved. In many respects this can reflect what God sees in all of our lives. We have all gone our own way...and apart from God we have no home...no identity...and are lost...and enslaved.
And Nehemiah is the living testimony of how restoration came to Israel. After several decades...the Persian Empire conquered that Babylonians... and many of the Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Meanwhile ... far away in the Persian capital... a Jewish man named Nehemiah had become the cupbearer to the Persian King. As the cup bearer ...he tasted any wine before it was served to the king....to be sure it wasn’t poisoned. One day... Nehemiah gets news from some who had just returned from visiting Jerusalem...some 800 miles away...and the tragic truth is that Jerusalem is still in ruins...the walls are still in a state of destruction and the gates remain burned down. It had never been restored as a true city... and it’s people were deeply troubled and living in disgrace.
The essence of what is at hand is this... God’s purposes are not finished... those who bear the only hope for the world are in ruins.
> That is the reality of Nehemiah. There’s a huge problem. And it’s important to recognize that this isn’t the story of a superhero... or a great religious leader. This is the true story of an ordinary man ...and how he responded to the unfinished purposes of God. [1]
And that is each of our stories. God’s purposes are not finished...and we each have a part.
When the Bible speaks of those who succeeded in this life... it says of David... the second King of Israel...
“David served God’s purpose in his own generation, then he died” – Acts 13:36
The Bible is so clear about David’s failings... but it is also clear that he didn’t stop serving God’s purposes. And that may speak to some of us. Some may think to themselves...
But I never got married.... or I went through a divorce ....or I lost my career... or I need to wait til I get older...or I’ve gotten too old. But God’s focus is on what is at hand... on your role in serving his unfinished purposes. The truth is that if your breathing... you have a purpose.
And we are learning from how Nehemiah met his moment. We have begun with how Nehemiah is first faced with the news... and how he responds. We read in chapter 1...verse 4.
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. - Nehemiah 1:4
The first step is this...
Embrace Reality: Face the challenge of what is not what it should be
Nehemiah asks those who returned from Jerusalem to tell him the truth. "How is it really going?" That itself is a healthy question....and what is notable is what he does in response. He doesn’t avoid the condition of Jerusalem... or dismiss is or divert from it. He sits down and let’s himself face the reality.
And what becomes clear is that he didn’t just feel bad and then move on. I think the most common response to something so challenging to face...is that we allow ourselves to feel bad about something...and that is usually where the story ends. The whole restoration of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel would never have been fulfilled if Nehemiah just felt really sad for a while... and then went back to work.... end of story. How easy it would have been to hear such devastating news... feel bad...and consider feeling bad to be his only potential...because it was just too overwhelming to face this in any extended way. What we see is the significance of how Nehemiah created space to face reality... and in that extended time... something happened... he transitioned from simply feeling bad...to feeling a burden.
He allows himself to take this need into his own life... in such a way that he is connected.
And how can we bear such a challenge... such burden? When we see the challenges of change... it’s natural to want to avoid it... because left to ourselves...we just feel overwhelmed.
But what we see is that secondly...Nehemiah teaches us to...
Embrace God: Bring life more fully into the larger reality of God
Nehemiah brings the whole challenge before God. He says...“For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” He is bringing everything before God. He is breathing in the reality of God. As Joel described last week... prayer is like oxygen to the soul. You may have noticed that before a passenger flight takes off...they give some emergency instructions... and when they speak of the potential for the loss of cabin pressure and the use of oxygen masks....they tell parents to secure their own oxygen mask before the help children. It may sound selfish...but truth is that if parents don’t take in the vital oxygen first...they will become too disoriented to help their child.
If we don’t spend time taking in the reality of God... breathing in the reality of God’s greatness...His love...His power...we will become disoriented. We will act in disoriented ways without prayer.
If we don’t spend time embracing the reality of God...we will simply live between despair and denial... between thinking there is no hope or thinking we are the hope.
Nehemiah reminds us that if we are going to embrace reality...in all it’s challenges...we need to embrace the larger reality of God. We need to create space where we bring ourselves into the presence of God. [2] Nehemiah did this for nearly FOUR months.
And when we face a challenge... a need... we may wonder how long we should expect to keep praying about it? There’s no simple answer. But I believe we can learn something here in Nehemiah. I believe the months he spent represent the process of moving from feeling bad to feeling a burden.
There are a lot of needs that we may pray for in a moment... or even over the course of a few days. But...there are times when there is a need that isn’t met in a moment. There will be a few needs that we find keep coming back to us. They become something we bring to God...but then begin to find that God is bringing to us. They begin to take hold of us.
I have had a few such needs... such as the season that I sensed our pursuit of a facility was something we needed a breakthrough in... or the planting of new churches in the more diverse parts of Los Angeles. I’ve referred to these things as having a divine tenacity... because they don’t go away.
And something happens as we give spend time before God with such needs. They become a process of forming partnership with God...and forming a vision...and forming faith. The desperation becomes determination.
Nehemiah didn’t push the need aside... he didn’t push is down... and as he faced it with God... it became a part of himself. It had a place in him...and in his countenance.
And that leads us to the next thing we learn from Nehemiah...
Embrace Risk: Take the step that change requires
Nehemiah 2:1-10
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 2 so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 4 The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." 6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. 7 I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
Nehemiah begins with an exact date. [3] It tells us that it came after 4 months of prayer... and breathing in God’s heart and mind. As we noted, something had developed in him....something he couldn’t hide.
And it leads to a real moment... a step of risk. Restoration would involve the need to embrace risk...to take the step that change requires.
Embrace Risk: Take the step that change requires
John Wimber ...the founder and father of our Vineyard movement... often is noted for saying that Faith is spelled RISK. Here we have such moment.
The king sees the countenance of Nehemiah is sad. We know that Nehemiah had been praying day and night... fasting and mourning... and probably trying not to let it show. But this day it did. And it’s noted that the king had never seen him in such a state. And in fact... such a state was itself an enormous risk.
For all who served a king in such times were to serve the good mood of the king. Being a downer to king was considered something worthy of punishment. And in addition... the cup bearer was a source of trust that there was no plot against the king. When the king took the cup from the cup bearer....they would naturally look into their eyes... to see if there was conflict... any sign of something they shouldn’t trust.
In this case, King Artaxerxes may have asked if he was ill... and if he’s not ill...then he discerns there is a sadness of heart.
This is a moment of risk for Nehemiah. He is a Jew among the Persian empire.... a servant of the Persian pagan king. Despite whatever trust he held with the King... the need he bore inside was not that which served the king’s personal interests. In fact...it was this king who had previously stopped any rebuilding of Jerusalem....because he questioned how loyal the Jewish people would be. While we can’t be sure of their unique relationship...we know that the kind of role he held with the king was one in which even the obvious appearance of displeasure could be responded to by being removed from his role... or even killed.
In fact... verse 2 makes it quite clear...
“I was very much afraid” – Nehemiah 2:2
Just in case some of us might think that this is the story of an extraordinary man... don’t miss what he just shared. He was very much afraid.
And just in case you think that those with faith don’t have fear... don’t miss what Nehemiah just shared with you. He was very much afraid.
And this teaches us something about the stepping out in risk.
Risk is not the absence of fear...but the choice to exercise faith.
As you consider what is involved with moving forward in life... in facing making changes...you may unconsciously want to wait until you don’t face any fears. The truth is that such a time will never come....so s stop waiting. Because some degree of fear is a natural element in life.
In fact... often our problem is that we try to dismiss fear. And you know what happens when we try to just NOT think about what we are afraid of? It often controls us all the more. I’ve come to believe that we shouldn’t avoid fear... we should name it and face it.
There are fears that have control over us because they have been able to represent something more ultimate than they really are. There is power in naming what we fear. So go ahead and do a risk assessment...Don’t be afraid to say... “If I do this...then this might happen.” When you do...you will find that you actually begin to gain control over fear.
Because risk is not the absence of fear...but the choice to exercise faith.
Look again at what Nehemiah said...
“I was very much afraid, but....” – Nehemiah 2:2
“I was very much afraid…BUT…” ... But God is calling me...and it is forming a faith that is greater than my fear.
He had embraced reality...and now he was embracing the larger reality of God.
So it comes out. In fact...it seems like he just blurts it out.
I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" Nehemiah 2:3
I imagine those words hung in the air...like in the text bubble of a printed cartoon.
And what did the king see in Nehemiah in that moment? I believe he saw a man with a mission. A person with purpose.
And the king responds... "What is it you want?"
It’s as if the king is calling him out... calling on him to step up and put his desire on the line.
And Nehemiah shares that this became the moment of even greater fear... the moment he says
“Then I prayed to the God of heaven” - Nehemiah 2:4
I imagine most of us have had one of those moments we shoot a prayer off to God.
John Wimber referred to it jokingly as the high priestly prayer of “Oh God ...Oh God...Oh God.” Whatever few words we use...it’s basically means “HELP me.” And it can reflect a healthy and holy dependency. For 4 months Nehemiah has been praying for a breakthrough... for the right way to raise this need at the right time. And now he stops and just asks, “Lord, is this it? Is this the moment I’ve been praying for? I’ve been praying that you would grant me favor and I need the courage to step out now!”
[Possibly ON SCREEN Nehemiah 2:5-8]
Nehemiah shows an appropriate sense of honor for the kings position. He begins...”If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight..” Nehemiah didn’t go to his boss in a way that disregarded his position...he wasn’t demanding or disrespectful. He knew that the king was a man who wanted real answers... and Nehemiah now comes to the “Big Ask”... that is a moment of risk. He essentially asks for three things. [4]
I need Freedom – King, I going to need some time off working for you so I can go help someone else.
I need your Favor – I need travel documents with your signature which will allow me to travel safely between here and Jerusalem
I need part of your Fortune – I need several loads of lumber from your lumber yard so I can rebuild the wall and build a house I plan to live in.
I can imagine any others who were there... gasping at the risk that Nehemiah was taking. He’s not even supposed to be sad and now he is asking the King for all this…he’s lost all good sense. He’s risking his job...all his years of trusted influence with the king...even his life if the king takes offense.
I can almost imagine the king looking at him...and asking... “Are you done? Because this is quite the wild wish list.” Well...the truth is that this list didn’t just reflect Nehemiah’s presumption...but rather his planning. In those months in which Nehemiah had been praying...he had also been planning...allowing a practical plan to form. If God wanted him to bring change... he had to consider what it would take...in time.... travel...and resources.
Well... Nehemiah doesn’t leave us hanging.... he shares that the king granted all his requests. And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. – Nehemiah 2:8
And the king even adds his own good sense...as we read in the final two verses.
The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. – Nehemiah 2:9-10
Nehemiah adds how the king even added some military escort. And there appears to have been a good reason because then Nehemiah refers to some opposition. These were those whose people lived near Jerusalem... who had lorded themselves over the return of the Jewish people who had once ruled the land...but now had nothing but a city in ruins. [5] So you could imagine what they thought when they saw Nehemiah arriving in a limo...with full Persian Calvary as an escort. They become the source of opposition we will engage in the weeks ahead. But today I simply want to bring home what God teaches us about risk.
So the first truth is that...
Risk is not the absence of fear...but the choice to exercise faith.
It’s common for us to look at those who achieve great feats of courage and call them fearless... yet so many of those lives will explain that they do deal with fear... and it’s just a matter of how they move forward through it. If we want to move forward in life...and are waiting because of what we fear... maybe subconsciously thinking well...I will move forward when I don’t have fear.... Nehemiah would teach us to stop waiting ...because the fear is natural. What we need is faith.
And a second truth Nehemiah reveals is that...
Risk is not rooted in the absence of planning...but the recognition of our dependency.
What unfolds in this moment is fascinating ... because we see how Nehemiah has given a lot of thought to what he will need.... even while he realizes how dependent he is on God to now make it possible.
This speaks to one of the great tensions that many people can feel... which is that planning and faith are inherently in conflict. It’s common to assume that if we get involved with planning something... with preparing for something ...then we’re not operating in faith... in trusting God to provide.
The truth is that God calls for the integration of both prayer and planning... faith and preparation.
God has given us the gift of thought...and even speaks of planning as a virtue. We read in the Biblical book of Proverbs...
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. Proverbs 21:5 (ESV)
Make plans by seeking advice. - Proverbs 20:18
When Jesus taught us to be prepared for the challenges of following him...he referred to planning as common sense. He said:
“Don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if he has enough money to pay the bills? Otherwise he might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. - Luke 14:28-30 (LB)
Forming plans... making practical preparations... can be a natural part of human life. WHAT IS ESSENTIAL ...is that we don’t trust in our plans in and of themselves. As the Scriptures tell us [6]...
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
And again in Proverbs we read...
In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4
God doesn’t tell us not to plan or think ahead. He doesn’t tell us to be foolish and hope it all just falls into place. He calls us not to trust in ourselves... not to make an idol out of our ambitions ...and not to become anxious about what we don’t control....but rather to trust in whom who is in control.
And this stands out in Nehemiah. Here we see Nehemiah in a moment of trusting God ...that included securing the means to travel through the land...and the resources he would need to complete the task. And it even says he was pleased to receive the king’s protection for his journey. In fact, he recognizes it was only because the gracious hand of God was on him. it claims that God’s blessing accounted for this royal assistance.
Nehemiah reveals that risk is not rooted in the absence of planning...but the recognition of our dependency.
And the truth is that planning will never remove dependency...because we will always need God to provide for what God is doing. If you join in what God is doing... you will never have all that you need within yourself.
Every leader God called was both gifted and inadequate.
Every example of faith embraced a calling that involved direction...and some practical planning...but always stepped out in faith because there was so much they couldn’t fully understand.
In the Biblical book of Hebrews the nature of faith is exposed and we are reminded...
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” - Hebrews 11:7-8
The very essence of stepping out in faith, means that we won’t have all the answers.
In my experience of hearing God speak to me, He’s never given me a complete picture.
He’s always given me one step at a time or an overarching vision without all the details. [7]
As an analytical person, I don’t like it. But I am learning that it is the essential and exciting nature of faith.
And the final truth I want to draw from Nehemiah is this...
Risk will always come down to taking a step.
We can spend a lot of time thinking about what we should do.... about what faith might involve. But at some point... we haven’t stepped into faith...until we actually take a step that involves risk.
This moment came for Nehemiah...and it will lead to more.
I imagine many of us may recall such moments...they may be less dramatic....but they were moments in which faith was on the line...moments in which faith became real.
As I’ve pondered Nehemiah’s moment... I recalled a time when I was living in India in my early 20’s... and I had been living and serving in a residential rehab house...primarily for heroin addicts. And a Danish group had come seeking guidance for setting up a house in another city in the mountains. We had met a young British addict named Robert there in Delhi...who said he wanted help...but our house in Delhi was only for Indians. So I agreed to bring Robert up to their town a couple days after they had the house set up...and go through the process with them...as sort of a training. Here’s what I didn’t know...
Robert was going to use again right as we were boarding the bus...and so during our 14 hour bus trip through the night... he went into his initial withdrawls.
And what I also didn’t know...was that the city of Manali had reached their end with addicts that had become a part of this small mountain town along the opium trail...and had gathered them all... tarred and feathered them and rode them out of town on donkeys.
Well...when he and I arrived just after sunrise ...the local police could see his condition...and told us we needed to report to the police station. The Danes project was on the line before it ever started. We first got hike up the hill to the house the team had rented. We joined in prayer... and then myself and a male nurse on the team went to the police station. They were adamant we needed to leave. I felt a holy frustration...through a prayer like Nehemiah’s to God... and then blurted out that God wanted us there. And as the words hung in the air... another officer said to my Danish friend...”SO you are a nurse?”...and he said yes...and the officer began to take his shirt off so he could look at an ailment he had...and suddenly the insistence disappeared...and we were allowed to stay.
It reminded me of my need to embrace risk...and the inevitable step that any real change will require.
Even now I see a season of rebuilding our communal life and ministry after all that this past year has done...and I find that like Nehemiah...a healthy guide to face the reality at hand...to embrace the presence and purposes of God in this time... and to embrace the inevitable risks that each decision may bear.
It’s not what I would have planned at this season in my life... but I know that the only season that matters is the one that is actually at hand. So I am seeking to embrace this season ...to face forward...and be all in.
The truth is that life is lived through risk. To avoid risk is to avoid actually living.
When we laugh we risk...when we cry...we risk....when we connect with another person...we risk....when we express anything genuine about ourselves...we risk. But as one expressed well...
“Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live
Only a person who risks is free.”
I want to invite us to take a moment before God in prayer.
Notes:
1. As some note, Nehemiah was not in a position of authority...he wasn’t a priest or pastor. Ezra who came before him was a priest... and God used both men in his plans.
2. Consider:
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.”
Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
3. It is noted that this particular point is where the “seventy weeks” of Daniel begin: “in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king.” This is an important date in prophecy.
4. This phrasing comes from: Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem Bible Commentary / Produced by TOW Project - here
5. The Horonites and Ammonites were two of the people groups God had driven from the Promised Land for the Israelites. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were regional governors serving under the king of Persia. Sanballat, called a Horonite, was probably from Horonaim, a city of Moab. Tobiah the Ammonite was governing an area east of the Jordan River. Geshem the Arab was most likely from the region south of Judah. Generations after Israel had first possessed the Promised Land, some of their old enemies were back, seeking to keep Jerusalem in ruins. – From Who were Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem? (here)
6. Consider also these Scriptures which afform both aspects.
Affirming planning...
Proverbs 6:6-8 (NIV)
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 27:23 (NIV)
23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;
Proverbs 15:22 (NIV)
22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 - “Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Challenging presumption regarding our plans...
James 4:13-15 (NIV)
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
7. If we had all the details, it wouldn’t require faith and dependency on Him.
When Jesus’ disciple Peter got out of the boat... he confirmed it was Jesus speaking to Him and then He moved forward. He could have hesitated, contemplating how he would actually walk on water or which side of the boat to get out on, yet he chose to just step out. Sometimes we have to just get out of the boat.
