This and the other Nehemiah sermons in this series I borrowed in large part from Ray Stedman...just so that proper credit gets attributed (thanks brother).
DON’T BE PARALYZED -- GET ORGANIZED!
Nehemiah 3
I saw a cartoon recently of two men at a party. Each had a drink in his
hand, and they were sitting on the stairway talking while the party was
going on. (That is where party philosophers like to hold forth). One said
to the other, "My view is this: reality is something that you should
always treat with respect, but it should not be allowed to control your
life."
Many people seem to feel that way today. They are fleeing from reality,
regarding it as unnecessary. But in the book of Nehemiah we are learning
how to return to reality after we have experienced the ruin that comes
from following illusion.
Chapter 3, to which we come today, is one of those chapters that appears
to consist largely of unpronounceable names and long forgotten people!
When you are reading through your Bible, it may be discouraging to come
to a chapter like this. But it tells the story of the work of repairing
the gates and walls of Jerusalem which Nehemiah had been sent there by
King Artaxerxes of Persia to do. He first aroused the people to the
work, and this chapter tells how that work was actually accomplished.
One commentator has said, "God is a great believer in putting names
down." That is true. There are many chapters like this in the Scriptures.
But that should really encourage us. It means that God has not forgotten
our names either. He loves to record the names of obscure people. He may
be writing your name down in some great book right now that others will
read in times to come.
The central teaching of a chapter like this is that, in putting lives
back together, we need and must seek help from each other. We cannot do
it alone. This is a great chapter about cooperation. It illustrates the
New Testament truth concerning the body of Christ. First Corinthians 12,
Romans 12, and other chapters, teach that believers in Christ are part of
a worldwide body made up of many members. We belong to each other and so
we are to help one another and bear one another’s burdens. This is
portrayed in a very dramatic way throughout this chapter. The chapter is
too long for us to read in detail but if you will follow with me we will
discover four important principles for working together.
We learn from the New Testament that there are two things you cannot say
any longer when you be come a Christian. The first is, "You do not need
me." Everyone in the body of Christ needs everyone else. The second thing
is, "I do not need you." You do need others! It is the awareness of that
truth that makes a church a living, warm, vital, loving fellowship. I
hope we are finding this out more and more here.
In a moment we shall look at the importance of keeping in repair the
gates of our lives. Gates, in Scripture, are means of access and egress.
They represent ways of entering into other people’s lives and also
letting them into ours; of reaching out to others and allowing them to
share our thinking and feeling. As we go through this chapter we shall
look in particular at each gate in Jerusalem because each designates a
particular quality of the life that we need. The passage from Second
Peter which was read to us this morning is a very practical example of
what I am talking about:
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;
and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to
godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. {2 Pet
1:5-7 NIV}
This exhortation to add certain qualities to our behavior is a marvelous
explanation of what it means to repair the gates of our lives. As we do
so we will be no longer unfruitful and unproductive. The book of Nehemiah
therefore is a picture in Old Testament terms of someone who is restoring
the walls and gates of his life.
Before we do that I want to skim through this chapter with you briefly
and point out some of the principles for working together that are found
in it.
Here is the first one. In summoning the people of Jerusalem to rebuild
their walls and their gates we learn from this chapter that all the
people were involved in the project. The whole city gave itself over for
a period of 52 days to building the walls and the gates. That portrays
for us a very important principle of the New Testament: that the
ministry of the church in the world today belongs to everyone in the
congregation. Once, people thought that only the pastor and the hired
staff were to do the work of evangelizing, teaching, counseling, healing
the hurts of others and serving the needy. Because we have followed that
practice far too long, the church is in trouble all over the world. But
the ministry belongs to the whole congregation. That is what we see
demonstrated in this third chapter.
For example look at Verses 1-2:
Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt
me Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as
far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the
Tower of Hananel. The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and
Zaccur son of Imri built next to them. {Neh 3:1-2 NIV}
Notice that everyone is involved. The priests began the work. That may
encourage some who think that preachers never do any work except on
Sundays! And with them the Levites worked. A number of rulers are also
mentioned. Two men, each of whom ruled half the city of Jerusalem, are
getting their hands dirty working on these walls. There were gate
keepers, guards, farmers even perfume makers were involved in the work. I
don’t know what they did. Their hands probably were pretty soft, but
nevertheless they worked on the walls. There were jewelers, pharmacists,
merchants and temple servants.
Even women were directly involved, as Verse 12 points out:
Shallum, son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem,
repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. {Neh 3:12 NIV}
I wish I had read that to my family years ago when my four daughters were
home! They are gone now so I must rely on someone else’s daughters to
help me out. Undoubtedly, the wives of these workers did what women
always have done through the centuries. They cooked food, served meals
and kept the men at work. But here were women who worked right along with
the men. It is encouraging to see this demonstration of equality
even in those days.
All of them, by the way, were volunteers. Nobody was conscripted to do
this; and no one was paid for their work. There is an interesting mention
at the end of verse 16 about a man who built the wall "as far as the
artificial pool and the House of Heroes." I do not know who occupied the
House of the Heroes in those days but I was in San Antonio last week at a
board meeting of Bible Study Fellowship, that wonderful
organization that holds women’s and men’s classes all over the country
and around the world. There they have built a series of apartments which
they call "The House of Heroes." It is used for all the volunteers who
come and devote a week, two weeks, sometimes six or eight weeks, even
several months, to helping out in the work of that ministry, thereby
saving that organization tens of thousands of dollars every year. They
call them the "heroes of faith," so they have the House of Heroes for
them to live in.
Here is a long list of volunteers like that. Some were residents of
Jerusalem and some came from the surrounding cities of Jericho, Tekoa,
Mizpah, and other outlying villages of Judea.
So it is also in the body of Christ. We are all engaged in the ministry.
I do not know any truth more important for the accomplishing of God’s
work than that. Yet in church after church it is difficult to get people
to understand that. You have the great privilege of reaching out in your
own neighborhood and doing the work of the ministry there. Where churches
do not understand that one finds a very distorted condition. People do
not know what to do, religiously. They have no ministry of their own and
therefore little excitement or interest in life. Someone has well
described them in a little jingle that says:
The pastor is late, He’s forgotten the date.
And what will the people do then, Poor things!
They’ll sit in the pew, With nothing to do,
And sing a collection of hymns. Poor things!
I am afraid that describes many churches today.
The second principle that emerges from this chapter is: They worked
together. All through this account you will find the phrase, "next to
him" worked so and so, and "next to them" worked others. They took note
not only of the workers but also the shirkers, however. Verse 5 says of
the men of Tekoa: "their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work
under their supervisors." Did you know that God records goof-offs too?
When you will not take up your ministry, God puts your name down in that
column as well. But the rest all worked and worked together. They helped
one another. Nehemiah had so marvelously organized this that each one had
a section of the wall or a gate assigned to him. And some exceeded the
work they had been given.
Look, for instance, at verse 13:
The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. ...
They also repaired five hundred yards of the wall as far as the Dung
Gate. {Neh 3:13 NIV}
Note the "also". They exceeded their allotment and went on to help
somebody else to the extent of repairing 500 yards of wall (an enormous
section; probably much of it was still standing and needed little
repair). You will find other mentions of men who did their work and then
repaired "another" section.
Then the third principle of cooperation is this: They worked near their
home. Look at Verse 10: Jedaiah "made repairs opposite his house." Verse
23 tells of certain men who "made repairs in front of their house," and
Azariah "made repairs beside his house." Verse 30 mentions a man by the
name of Meshullam son of Berekiah, who "made repairs opposite his living
quarters" (chamber, is the word). This man was apparently a bachelor. He
had an apartment but he had no family, nevertheless he worked right where
he was.
The important truth that emerges is that this is God’s design for
ministry. God has placed us all strategically where he wants us to be.
Your neighborhood, office, or home is where your ministry should be. That
is why God put you there. In John 15, Jesus said to his disciples that he
had "appointed them" and the word means "strategically placed them." He
had put them in the place where he wanted them to be. This is brought out
beautifully here as we watch these people laboring in their own
neighborhood.
The fourth principle found here is: Each one completed his assigned task.
They kept on until they had finished the work. Some had more to do than
others, but no one failed, except the "nobles" of Tekoa who would not
dirty their hands. I have learned through the years that responsibility
is always the mark of spiritual maturity. The most mature
members in a congregation are those who stay with the work that has been
assigned to them until it is done.
I want to spend the rest of my time looking in specific detail at the
work they were doing. As we have seen, building a wall and restoring its
gates is an illuminating portrayal of a life that is being rebuilt from
ruin. You may be hurting right now in some area where you are exposed to
peril by some habit you have picked up. You may have a burned gate where
evil has access to you. You can be invaded easily and are upset quickly.
This account reveals the areas which you need to rebuild if you want to =
find deliverance and safety.
As we go through this we shall see that each of these gates has a
particular meaning which is given to us in the symbol contained in the
name of the gate. I know some people have trouble with this kind of an
approach. They call it "allegorizing the Scriptures", or sometimes,
"spiritualizing the text." And they are right, in a sense. There is a
danger in working with symbols. It is easy for the imagination to take
over and assign arbitrary meanings which have no relation to the text.
That has resulted in the past in some very serious abuses of Scripture.
Somebody has well said, "He who spiritualizes lacks ’spiritual eyes’ and
tells ’spiritual lies."’
Nevertheless there is a legitimate way to use the symbols of Scripture.
The Apostle Paul uses allegory and also tells us that "all these things
happened to Israel as types (or symbols) for us, upon whom the end of the
ages has come," {cf, 1 Cor 10:11}. If we observe the primary law of
Scripture, that Scripture must interpret itself, we can proceed safely
through an account like this. All of these symbols have been used
elsewhere in Scripture. And they are consistently used. That is our
guideline as we look at this.
Let us go back to the beginning again, and look at the gates:
The first gate mentioned is the Sheep Gate. This was located where now
St. Stephen’s Gate, sometimes called the Lion Gate, stands. It is at the
northeast corner of the city. Here in Nehemiah’s Jerusalem it was called
the Sheep Gate, because it was there where the sheep which were to be
sacrificed in the temple courts were kept.
It reminds us immediately of Isaiah’s great word about Jesus, "as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth," {cf, Isa 53:7}.
Remember also that John the Baptist greeted our Lord with the words,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," {cf, John
1:29}. Sheep are therefore a symbol of sacrifice in Scripture. The Sheep
Gate is the principle of the cross at work in a Christian’s life: It is
where you began your life as a Christian. There is to be a principle of
death at work in your life -- the death of your natural self. The phrase
that is emblazoned across the front of this auditorium, "You are not your
own, you are bought with a price," expresses that principle beautifully.
It is the cross at work. Have you acknowledged that? When you came to
Christ you gave up control of your own life. You are no longer to do only
what you feel like doing. You are called to obey him, to follow him and
walk with him. That means that some of your desires, some of your natural
longings, must be put to death. That is the principle of the cross. The
Apostle Paul reminds us that we are crucified with Christ unto the world,
and the world is crucified unto us. This is the gate that must be kept in
repair if you want to grow into a strong Christian.
In this counter-clockwise tour around the wall of Jerusalem the next gate
is the Fish Gate. This would be close to the spot where the present
Damascus Gate is found. It is called the Fish Gate because the fishermen
from Galilee and the coast brought their fish into the city through this
gate. Immediately it reminds us of what our Lord said to his disciples:
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," {Matt 4:19 KJV}.
Throughout the Old Testament fishing is a symbol of witnessing to others,
of the necessity of acknowledging that you belong to Christ. You witness
by your words and actions. Years ago I asked a High School kid who had
been at a summer camp, "How did you get along as a Christian there?" He
replied, "Oh, they never found out I was a Christian." That indicated a
Fish Gate that needed to be repaired. We are called to be
fishers of men.
Then we come to the Jeshanah Gate, which in Hebrew means the Old Gate. It
would be located somewhere near the present Jaffa Gate. This gate
represents the old ways of truth versus the new illusions of error. The
world is constantly proposing something new -- the New Age movement, for
instance -- but Scripture calls us back to the old way. Jeremiah in his
sixth chapter says, "Ask for the old paths. Ask for the good way and walk
therein," {cf, Jer 6:16}. Somebody has well said, "If something is new,
it is not true; and if it is true, then it is now new." That is because
truth remains the same throughout the centuries. Truth never changes. So
this gate calls us back to the basics of life, back to the time-tested
paths that have led to stability, security and order.
What are some of these? One that is widely ignored today is that we live
in a fallen world. Our world is not perfect. It was not intended that it
should be after the Fall. We must constantly remind ourselves of that
fact and take that into consideration in all relationships. But,
nevertheless, we are under a sovereign God and he can do what he wants.
We can come to him and believe in him and be born again. We can learn the
love that disciplines, power that serves, zeal that can wait, hope that
endures, and strength that helps others. Those are the old paths. That is
what this gate reminds us of.
In Verse 13 we come to the Valley Gate. This would be located at the
southwestern corner of Jerusalem. A valley in Scripture always represents
humility and the judgment of conceit in our lives. John Stott calls
humility "that rarest and fairest of Christian virtues." If pride is the
ultimate sin, then humility, its opposite, is the ultimate virtue. Peter
tells us, "God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble," {cf,
1 Pet 5:5}. I often remind myself of that verse when I am tempted to be
proud. I remember that feeling and acting in pride means that God will
start resisting me. Do you want God working against you? Then go on with
your pride. He has ways of resisting that can never be overcome. God
resists the proud, yes, but he gives grace and help to the humble!
Thus the primary goal of believers is to maintain a sense of humility. We
do not have it all together. We are not smart enough to find all the
answers ourselves. We do not know how to handle all the difficulties into
which we come.
The world applauds pride. It tries to make every individual feel capable
of handling anything that comes. It even applauds arrogance. But God
applauds humility. This is the first lesson in the school of the Spirit.
Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly of heart, and you will find rest to your soul," {cf, Matt 11:29}.
One of the reasons why many people are so restless today is that they
have never learned to be humble to be meek and lowly of heart.
Then in Verse 14 we come to the Dung Gate. That is not a very pleasant
name, but it is a necessary activity. It is the gate of elimination, the
gate where all the rubbish and corrupt things in the city were brought to
the garbage dump in the Hinnom Valley, outside Jerusalem. It is necessary
to have an elimination gate in our lives as well. Paul urges us, "Cleanse
yourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit," {cf, 2 Cor 7:1}. One
of the reasons many people are unable to function as God wants is because
they seldom use the Dung Gate. They do not deal with their secret sin,
with private corruption in their own lives. Jesus warned that doing so
may be very painful. He said it may be like cutting off an arm or
plucking out an eye. But it is something that has to be done or otherwise
it leads to ruin.
The sixth gate (Verse 15) is the Fountain Gate. This was at the end of
the Pool of Siloam, low in the valley in the south. It speaks, of course,
of a fountain springing up and reminds us of Jesus’ words in John 7 where
he spoke of "rivers of living water" {John 7:38} which would come from
believers in him. By that he describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So here is the Spirit-filled life, overflowing to others. As the Apostle
Paul said, "Keep being filled with the Spirit," {cf, Eph 5:18}. You will
notice it comes immediately after the Dung Gate. After the corruption is
cleansed away by the consent of the believer, then the cleansing of the
Spirit washes clean.
In Verse 26 we come to the Water Gate. This is located at the spring of
Gihon, where Hezekiah’s tunnel begins. (This is not the famous Watergate
in Washington, DC!) In Chapter 8 we learn that this is the place where
Ezra reads the Law of God to the people. Water, in Scripture, is the
symbol of the Word of God. This is the gate that reminds us of our need
for the Word of God. The interesting thing about this account is that
they did not repair the Water Gate. It did not need repair. The Word of
God never needs improvement or repair for it lasts forever. It is
indestructible. What it needs is to be re-inhabited. I wonder how many of
us need to re-inhabit this gate, and begin again to read and study the
Word of God? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Man does not live by
bread alone," {cf, Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4}. Well, then, what does he live by?
"By every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God," {cf, Matt 4:4}. If
you want your life filled to the full and enjoying what God intended you
to have, it will only be as you come to understand the Word of God.
Then, reading on, in Verse 28 we come to the Horse Gate. This would be
found on the eastern wall of Jerusalem. The horse is always the symbol of
battle in Scripture. This is the gate that reminds us that we are not on
a picnic. We are not in a rest home. We are not on a Caribbean cruise. We
are on a battlefield! We are going to be under attack. We are going to be
assaulted by surprising events. There is much joy in the Christian life,
but it will not always be without struggle. Everybody is going to face
battle. We need to be alert to the fact of spiritual warfare.
I often think of Isaac Watts’ great hymn,
Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?
Nay, I must fight if I would win.
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
This is the lesson of the Horse Gate.
Then we come to the ninth gate, the East Gate, mentioned in Verse 29.
Today this is called the Golden Gate. It is on the eastern side, opposite
the temple area and facing the rising sun. Thus, it is the gate that
speaks of hope and expectation. It is the gate through which the returned
Messiah will enter the city of Jerusalem. This is the gate that is often
in ruins in people’s lives today. After the first service this morning, a
woman came and told me with tears about a friend of hers who has lost
hope. She feels defeated and despairing. She does not want to live any
more. The newspapers last week recorded the tragic story of a mother who
lost hope and actually put her two children to death because she saw them
having to live in a world that was hopeless. This is a common condition
with people all around us.
What does the East Gate tell us? It tells us that God has yet a glory
awaiting those who trust him. The story of life does not end in despair
and tragedy. Jesus said to his disciples, "When you see all these things
coming to pass, lift up your heads and rejoice, for your redemption is
drawing near," {cf, Luke 21:28}. We ought to be like tea kettles -- even
when they are up to their necks in hot water, they are still singing!
Then the last gate is the Inspection Gate, mentioned here in Verse 31.
The word in Hebrew means "the appointed place." If you are familiar with
the book of Hebrews, in the New Testament, you will recall 9:27 {KJV},
"It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment" --
the inspection! It is a reminder that we must give an account of our
journey. We must learn at last the truth about our lives as God sees it.
We will see all that has happened, exactly the way it really was. And yet
Scripture encourages us by assuring us that it is not a place of
condemnation, but rather, as Paul says in First Corinthians 3, "everyone
shall receive commendation" from God {cf, 1 Cor 3:8, 3:14}. It is the
place for the giving of rewards, for the acknowledgment of faithful
service.
Then at the end of the chapter we come again to the Sheep Gate, where we
began. The Sheep Gate stands for the cross and the cross must be at the
beginning and at the end of our lives. Undergirding everything is this
principle, out of death comes life. Out of the subjection of our natural
desires to the will of God comes the life of God filling us full and
blessing our hearts.
I remember as a young boy, not even in my teens yet, learning a hymn that
has stayed in my memory ever since. We do not sing it very often these
days. The words are simple, but they are very meaningful. It is called
"The Way of the Cross."
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light,
If the way of the cross I miss.
I must needs go on in the bloodsprinkled way,
The path that the Savior trod,
If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
Where the soul is at home with God.
The way of the cross leads home,
The way of the cross leads home,
It is sweet to know as I onward go,
The way of the cross leads home.
Isn’t this wonderful teaching in this book of Nehemiah?
As we compass the walls of Jerusalem, each gate instructs us of the part
of our life which needs to be watched and rebuilt and repaired. You may
find some areas that need repair as you look at your own life today. This
is what Nehemiah (and Peter) call us to do: to repair these gates and
help ourselves become all that God intended us to be.
