One Holy Passion
Nehemiah 2:1-10
February 18, 2001
¡§Credit Where Credit is Due¡¨
Review:
„h Israel and Judah conquered by outside invaders due to their sin.
„h Nehemiah is distressed at the plight of the city.
„h Nehemiah determines to pray and act.
¡§Learn this lesson from Nehemiah: you never lighten the load until you have first felt the pressure in your own soul. You are never used by God to bring blessing until God has opened your eyes and made you see things as they are. There is no other preparation for Christian work than that. Nehemiah was called to build the walls, but first he had to weep over the ruins.¡¨ Alan Redpath
(Read Scripture & Pray)
I like sayings. My Granny always had sayings to live by. She said, ¡§¡¥can¡¦t never could do anything.¡¦¡¨ The Army says, ¡§The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.¡¨ The question is asked, ¡§How do you eat an elephant?¡¨ the answer is given, ¡§One bite at a time.¡¨ And another goes like this: ¡§if we always do what we¡¦ve always done, we¡¦ll always get what we¡¦ve always gotten.¡¨ These all address one subject: performing a seemingly impossible task!
Nehemiah faced a difficult task; he was going to go to a place he had never been and work with people he had never met to do a task he had never done. As we will see today, his response was to pray like he had never prayed and to plan like he had never planned; in the final analysis, he saw God use him like he had never used him before!
Sometimes the hardest part of a job is preparing to do the job. Painting isn¡¦t particularly difficult; the harder work is doing all of the work it takes to get ready to put the paint on the wall!
In the story of Nehemiah, the lion¡¦s share of the work was done before Nehemiah and company laid their first brick! Once the workers had their tools and bricks in hand, the hardest part of the job was completed!
What was a cupbearer? (1:11)
The last sentence of chapter 1 is really where we begin today. It reads like this, ¡§Now I was a well-schooled building contractor.¡¨ That what your Bible says? Actually, some translations read ¡§butler¡¨, but ¡§cup-bearer¡¨ is more accurate, but even there we are given to understand that this was a position that usually was more than just a person who brought the wine to the king.
„h Well-trained in court etiquette
This is important to remember when we get into the passage; Nehemiah knew what was expected in the presence of the king¡Xand what was unallowable as well!
„h Knowledgeable as to which wines to place before the king
„h Probably a confidant, a good listener
Very likely a person in whom the king could and did confide.
„h One who might have wielded great influence with the king
„h One who enjoyed the confidence of the king
The king trusted this person to taste his wine¡Xand make sure that it wasn¡¦t poisoned¡Xand so this person was a man who had earned the confidence of the king.
Interestingly, there is some suggestion that Esther, who would have been the stepmother of Artaxerxes, might have even played a role in likely the hiring of a fellow Jew, Nehemiah. Whether or not that is the case, it is possible that she was living during this time and almost certain that Nehemiah would have known of the story of how she had risked her life to save her people. Her example of bravery was no doubt an inspiration to all who heard it; her words ¡§if I perish, I perish!¡¨, uttered in the face of adversity and signifying her willingness to lay her life on the line for her people, might have proven a real inspiration to Nehemiah to do the same. Mordecai had said to Queen Esther, ¡§Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?¡¨
A couple of weeks ago, I was excited to renew acquaintances with my best buddy from junior high school¡Xwhom I had not seen face-to-face in 25 years! It has been my joy in the last couple of years to reconnect with Wayde, and to try to help him in his walk with God. I encouraged him to get back into fellowship with God and with a good local church in the town where he and his family are living. They¡¦ve done just that, much to my delight. As we ate lunch together, his wife, who works as a nurse in an elementary school, told me of her concern for children in the area who are poor and need some very basic things like shoes and clothing. Wayde and Connie had out of their own pockets provided for some of these kids. Her question to me was, ¡§why doesn¡¦t the church do more for some of these folks in need?¡¨ I was able to share with her this encouragement: ¡§what is the possibility that a sovereign God has been arranging the events in your life so that you can take some leadership in your church to provide a ministry to these folks? Is it possible that God has put you where you are for such a time as this?¡¨ I got an email from Wayde early last week in which he indicated that they were going to go to the pastor of their church to talk about how they could lead out in just such a ministry!
And is it possible that God has arranged the events of your life so as to place you into a position to bring great glory to His Name? Is it any less true of you or me that God has placed us here ¡§for such a time as this?¡¨ Yes, God raised up Marge Campbell to reach people in Kenya and Uganda for Him, and some of them are here today¡Xbut what has he raised you up to do? ¡§Well, I¡¦m not in ¡¥the ministry¡¦¡¨. Oh, yeah, says who? Nehemiah was a cup-bearer to the king who became a governor and a building contractor; he wasn¡¦t ¡§ordained¡¨; neither was Esther, for that matter; they were simply God¡¦s people who understood that in a universe ruled by a sovereign God, there might be things which happen which we don¡¦t understand but somehow, there are no accidents!
Three Essential Facets of the Success of Nehemiah:
1. Prayer
John Bunyan wrote, ¡§You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.¡¨
As we saw last week, Nehemiah 1 sets the tone for the entire book. It is a prayer, the prayer of a man who is ashamed of the fact that the glory of God is not being shown through God¡¦s people. God had established Jerusalem as the dwelling place for the glory of His Name, and when Judah had forsaken the Lord to serve other gods, God in His righteous wrath had brought destruction on the land. And so Nehemiah commences with prayer.
A. 3-4 months worth of prayer
2:1 says, ¡§In the month Nisan¡K¡¨ This doesn¡¦t mean too much to us, but on the Hebrew calendar there is a four-month space between Chislev and Nisan. Nisan marked the beginning of a new year, our equivalent of January. We can only make some educated guesses as to why Nehemiah waited four months, and there is a decent likelihood that there was a combination of reasons. Did he feel the need to so bathe the matter in prayer that it took this long for him to feel ready? Was the king absent? Was he waiting for the king to be in the right kind of mood? One intriguing possibility was that the new year was a time of festival; the queen didn¡¦t hang around the king all the time, and we see in this passage that she was there, possibly because this was a time of celebration. Did he know that the king would be more favorably disposed to granting his request at a time like this?
For whatever the reason, he didn¡¦t just rush into things. ¡§Measure twice, cut once¡¨ is the old adage, and that is what he did. For an activist like Nehemiah, the waiting might have been difficult¡Xjust as it is for us sometimes. I confess that I am guilty of this sometimes, and many of you probably are too! But while waiting doesn¡¦t come easily, we need to move in God¡¦s timing and not our own. And by the way, waiting sometimes builds character as well, and we should view those seasons of waiting as God¡¦s gracious gift¡Xremember, He is in control!
B. short prayer-at-the-moment
Then, we read in verse 4 that he breathed that ¡§spur-of-the-moment¡¨ prayer to God that we sometimes pray. ¡§God, please come through for me right now!¡¨ was likely the gist of what he prayed. But he backed up that short prayer with much time spent in his prayer closet! Edwin Yamauchi said, ¡§Those who are the boldest for God have the greatest need to be in prayer.¡¨
2. Planning
Prayer ought to be accompanied by action. Nehemiah had thought through his plan of action; he was prepared when the opportunity presented itself!
A. A plan to appear downcast?
This is speculative; scholars are divided over whether or not Nehemiah purposely put on a sad face. Frankly, I just don¡¦t know. What I do know is that it was a dangerous, even potentially fatal thing to do that. The rule of thumb when one came before a Persian monarch was that one was to put on a happy face; the assumption was that the royal presence ought to produce nothing but absolute joy; just being with the king was glory sublime! Monarchs were to be shielded from anything that might bring them unhappiness! To do otherwise was to risk life and limb!
But King Artie knew Nehemiah to the extent that he wasn¡¦t upset with him or suspicious of him; rather, he showed a genuine concern for his downcast countenance.
Whether or not this was a calculated move on the part of Nehemiah, the king¡¦s recognizing of his sorrow put fear in Nehemiah, an uncharacteristic reaction, frankly! Nehemiah knew that he was asking for something that was difficult, perhaps in his mind bordering on the impossible. You see, Artie had stopped a previous rebuilding effort by force (Ezra 4). Nehemiah was asking the king to completely reverse a previous edict¡XI can understand why his impulse was fear! Nehemiah wasn¡¦t Superman; God doesn¡¦t usually use Superman anyway; He uses folks like us!
B. A plan to take the lead in the rebuilding efforts
He might have been afraid, but he had a plan and he spoke up when the king asked. Notice the wisdom he used in his request; he didn¡¦t mention Jerusalem by name at first, but rather spoke of the disgrace of desolation of the tombs of his people. The Persians had a great respect for the dead, whereas King Artie might have had a negative reaction to the idea of Jerusalem being rebuilt had his first thought been of the fortification of a city that could prove a threat to him. But military strength wasn¡¦t what was in Nehemiah¡¦s mind; the glory of God¡¦s Name was! Nehemiah had prayed for the seemingly impossible, and he was ready when the time came with a plan on what to say and how to say it!
Nehemiah¡¦s request is bold, what some have called a ¡§BHAG¡¨, which stands for ¡§Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal¡¨. If God is our Partner, we should make no small plans! Do we sometimes limit God by our small faith?
This Thursday, our elders met together for breakfast and we discussed our future plans. Our Future Development Team has researched our options regarding space needs; we are ¡§busting at the seams¡¨ around here, and not even so much in the worship service as in other areas such as children¡¦s ministry. What we have, in other words, ain¡¦t cutting it! Our elders and FDT are committed to prayerful planning, and on Thursday we talked about certain options and ideas, and we came to one conclusion by the end: this project isn¡¦t going to be simple! In fact, we might be tempted to look at what we will need in the long run to get onto our Lamor Road property and say, ¡§I just don¡¦t see it!¡¨ In the light of the book of Nehemiah, I hope you¡¦ll come to the point where you say, ¡§GOOD! So we can¡¦t figure out how we can pull this off; GOOD!¡¨
Sorry, but I¡¦m going to pull over and park here, and today is particularly fitting to talk about this, because 5 years ago today was our first Sunday in this building. Let me refresh your memory or fill you in for the first time as to a little history: folks, this church is God¡¦s work. He has accomplished for us more than we¡¦d have ever dreamed in our short history! It¡¦s a God thing! And as we look toward the future, we can be afraid and shrink back, or we can say, ¡§God, we will work and plan, but You have got to come through for us because we just can¡¦t see how this can happen!¡¨ And you know what? That is just what Nehemiah did, and that is how God gets glory! He doesn¡¦t call on us to throw wisdom out the window, but rather calls on us to ask Him for it. At the same time, we had better recognize the limits of our ability to figure out how the hand of God can work in our midst. So we can¡¦t see all of the details of how God will provide for our needs in the future¡Xgood! That¡¦ll mean it has to be His work and not ours! I¡¦ll even say this: I don¡¦t want to be a part of a church that leaves no room for the supernatural hand of God doing something we can¡¦t explain! That¡¦s what it¡¦s supposed to be about!
C. A plan as to what he would need to accomplish the project
Nehemiah also had thought through what it would take to accomplish the project, and when the king asked, he was ready; he had done his homework. That¡¦s important; we need to have a plan. Again I am excited to tell you that the elders have worked through the different areas of ministry to which God has called us and we have developed plans and goals for each avenue of ministry. We need to know what it will take! We are not going to go about the work of ministry haphazardly; we want to in an ordered fashion put the building blocks of effective ministry into place; this is what Nehemiah did.
3. Providence
I like the end of verse 8! He prayed, he planned, he did what he should have¡Xbut when the king acquiesces to his request, it is because of the good hand of God! And Nehemiah¡¦s desire was that, whenever others would read the story of the rebuilding of the walls, they would not mistake the way this came about: it happened because of the good hand of God! On the spur of the moment King Artie had completely reversed course, appointing Nehemiah, his servant, as the governor of Trans-Euphrates and giving to him the authority and resources to do what only a little more than a decade before the king had himself forbidden!
You see, Nehemiah was neither miracle-worker nor some flashy guy; he was simply a man who did what he knew to do and called upon God to accomplish something miraculous. His prayer of faith was the preparation; his planning was necessary; and his God brought the victory.
And the parallels for us should be obvious! We said last week that we can learn about how to deal with the rubble in our personal lives through following the example of Nehemiah, and that we can learn lessons for cooperating with God in building His church as well.
Do we have a responsibility in these areas? You bet. How can we complain about circumstances if we fail to commit our situation to God in prayer? Whether it is a mess in your life, or whether it is a crying need in our church, we err when we fail to take everything to God in prayer. Prayer then requires action. God expects us to play the role that we can in making the situation different. Marge could have stayed here and prayed for Africa, but someone had to go, and she did! Nehemiah could have devoted himself to a ministry of prayer, but as important as his prayer was, he knew that God was calling him to act, and the same is true for us as well.
But in the final analysis, it was God Who was working to accomplish His will.
C. S. Lewis, in God in the Dock, writes, ¡§In Hamlet, a branch breaks and Ophelia is drowned. Did she die because the branch broke or because Shakespeare wanted her to die at that point in the play? Either¡Xboth¡Xwhichever you prefer. The alternative suggested by the question is not a real alternative at all¡Xonce you have grasped that Shakespeare is making the whole play.¡¨
