What is it that is broken in your life - something that needs to be rebuilt?
Everybody has something that is broken.
The most hopeless people in the world are people who recognize that they have a problem, but have no vision from God about how to solve with that problem.
Where there is no vision, the people perish…
Proverbs 29:18
Becoming a person with vision
Series: Here’s Hope: Rebuilding a broken world
Everybody ends up somewhere in life. A few people end up somewhere on purpose. Those are the ones with vision. The most practical advantage of vision is it sets a direction for our lives. It serves as a road map.
Vision provides the push through the problems. Vision provides the energy for the effort. Without vision our passion leaks, our agendas surface, our production falls, and our people scatter.
In the pages of the OT is the journal of a man who stands tall as person with vision who rebuilt what was broken. His name is Nehemiah. The name means “the Lord’s comfort.” Nehemiah’s visionary efforts brought comfort to God’s people in a time of great need.
Nehemiah’s lessons are so relevant for today. In the weeks ahead as we study through Nehemiah, we’ll see many “how tos.” We’ll see…
… how to pray about your problems;
… how to “plan your work” and “work your plan;”
… how to set God-given goals;
… how to motivate others when morale is low;
… how to become a person of vision.
Text: Nehemiah 1:1-11
I hope you’ll study with me. We’re providing some tools: a great book by Chuck Swindoll, Hand Me another Brick and a great Bible study by John MacArthur, Nehemiah: Experiencing the good hand of God. Stop and order a tool for your own study at home at the devotional table in the foyer. You’ll get so much more out to the lessons on Sunday if you study along with me.
Nehemiah’s hope-filled visionary leadership is a powerful example – no matter what your position in life. Coaches, supervisors, parents, student leaders, executives, and spiritual leaders can all learn from this great man.
Let’s start by understanding a little about where, when, and how he lived.
The setting is about 500 years before the time of Christ. God’s people had lived in Israel for centuries before. God had told them: “Obey Me and you’ll live in the land for a long time. Disobey Me and you’ll be carried off into captivity.” That’s what happened. The Babylonians came and conquered God’s people and took the leading citizens 1,000 miles away.
But the discipline was ending. Several years before Nehemiah’s day, some of God’s people were given permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild a broken down temple and a broken down city.
But the attempts to rebuild the protective wall around the city (destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC) had been frustrated by some ‘the enemies of Judah’ (Ezra 4:1, 7-16). As a result very few people lived in the capital city (Nehemiah 11:1). Jerusalem was a city of ruins.
Nehemiah lived in the royal city of Susa, the winter residence of Artaxerxes, the Persian king. Judah, the homeland of Nehemiah, was a thousand miles away.
Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. He was more than a “butler”. A cupbearer held a position of great responsibility. At each meal, he tested the king’s wine and food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. Of he died, then the king wouldn’t. Doesn’t sound like a great job. But think. A man who stood that close to the king in public had to be handsome, cultured, knowledgeable, and able to advise the king when asked. Because he had access to the king, the cupbearer was a man of great influence. The cupbearer was rather like a prime minister and master of ceremonies rolled into one.
Nehemiah was the right man in the right place for God to use. He had vision – vision to see a problem… and it’s solution. And because he had vision, he had hope
A visionary person…
1. … sees the need. vv. 1-3
(Look around you!)
Nehemiah’s routine was interrupted one day by a group of men who had come from Judah…The report was grim…
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire."
Bad news came from Jerusalem: walls flattened, gates burned, morale low. But Nehemiah cared about the glory of God and the good of the people in Jerusalem. Now he hears that the Jerusalem Jews were living in desperate days.
Ruin, and reproach…Instead of a magnificent city, Jerusalem was in shambles; and where there had once been great glory, there was now nothing but great reproach.
God was being dishonored as long as Jerusalem lay waste. This was the place where the reality of God’s presence would be experienced in love and mercy by those who sought Him. It wasn’t happening, so Nehemiah was concerned.
A God-ordained vision will begin as a concern. Something will bother you about the way things are or the way things are headed.
There are far more needs in the church and the world than any of us has time or energy to meet, and no one is required to try to relieve them all. But God’s call to serve will be a call to meet some human need.
The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity. George Bernard Shaw
As you start, by the grace of God, to rebuild the walls, you must first of all see the ruin in which they lie.
Vision is a reflection of what God wants to through us to impact the world. It is not about maintaining the status quo.
Living where we live, we can become comfortable. We can lose sight of the need. Do you see the needs that are around you? This is a hemorrhaging and hurting world. There are broken hearts, fractured families, lives. Do you see the brokenness of humanity? People are looking for meaning and value and turn to heart-breaking things.
A visionary person…
… sees the need.
2. … feels the need. v. 4
There is no such thing as emotionless vision. Passion!
(Look within you.)
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
He mourned because the city that was meant to be a light to the nations had become an international joke (Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:6). Nehemiah was so moved by the need that he refused to eat—at least on a regular basis.
Nehemiah knew how to weep with those who weep. He knew how to weep over the failures of the people of God.
It was one thing to know that state of affairs in a general way; it was quite another for Nehemiah to feel the pressure and burden of it in his own heart.
Visions are born in the soul of a man or a woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. Anyone with vision will tell you this is not merely something that could be done. This is something that should be done. This is something that must happen!
What makes you pound the table – angry? What makes you weep?
Nehemiah was not the last to weep over Jerusalem—one day our Lord sat on the slopes of Mt. Olivet and wept over that city, and mourned and prayed and sacrificed His life for it…life’s work for God has only begun when they have wept and mourned and fasted and prayed over the revelation of conditions as they really are.
You never lighten the load unless first you have felt the pressure in your own soul. You are never used of God to bring blessing until God has opened your heart and made you feel deep sorrow about the needs around you.
You have first sat down and wept over the ruins in your soul, in your church, and in the Kingdom of God.
Although nearly half the population says their faith was a critical resource in helping them respond to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a new Barna Research Group poll suggests that people’s religious beliefs and practices have not changed in the past year.
“For the most part, our response to the attacks has been to restore continuity and comfort as quickly as possible, without much energy devoted to moral, spiritual or emotional growth."
During the last year, there has been no lasting change in people’s religious practices, according to the Barna study. Immediately after the attacks, church attendance rose for several weeks and then fell back to normal levels by November.
"I was among those who fully expected to see an intense spiritual reaction to the terrorist attacks," Barna acknowledged. "The fact that we saw no lasting impact from the most significant act of war against our country on our own soil says something about the spiritual complacency of the American public."
A person with vision…
… feels the need.
3. … shares the need…
… with God.
(Look above you.)
This prayer is the first of twelve. Too often, we plan our projects and then ask God to bless them; but Nehemiah didn’t make that mistake.
From Kislev (November-December) to Nisan (March-April) is over a hundred days, more than three months, perhaps more than four. For at least three months, then, Nehemiah and his friends waited on God, asking each day that God would act today.
You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
Isaiah 62:6
Prayer helps the vision mature in us. Acting too quickly on a vision is like delivering a baby prematurely. They can be weak and not survive. So it is with a vision. Immature visions are weak. They rarely make it to the real world.
Through prayer, God goes to work on you to prepare you for the fulfillment of the vision. Vision comes before preparation. But the preparation must come. Why? Vision will exceed your ability. Prayer prepares you for the job ahead. And prayer mysteriously moves the hand of God to work behind the scenes preparing the way. Prayer helps you distinguish between a good idea and a God idea. It helps you make sure that you are in line with what God is up to in the world.
Prayer keeps us looking. It keeps the burden fresh. It sensitizes us to the subtle changes in the landscape of our circumstances. When God begins to move, we see it. Praying helps us not miss the opportunities that come our way.
Visionary prayer…
a. … exalts God.
5 I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
b … admits sin.
6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.
7 We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.
He included himself in the confession of the sins of his people.
Genuine confession like this reaches the ear of God. Nehemiah is not a critic. He’s not a self-satisfied holier-than-thou type who’s fixated on the failures of others.
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:9-14).
c. … reviews truth.
He reminds God of His own word. Lev. 26:40-45 and Deut. 4:23; 30: 1-6
He dared to remind God of the great deliverance from Egypt,…Nehemiah based all his prayer upon God’s past dealings, and he saw in them a mirror of God’s future plans.
8 Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ’If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;
9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’
10 "They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
d. … requests help.
11 Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man." Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Leviticus 26:27-45 and Deut. 30:1-5. ‘If the curses were literally carried out, how much more will the promised blessings be fulfilled?’
Praying to Make a Difference; September 15
Many people don’t know how to pray and I suspect are embarrassed to admit it. I know I was one. That is why I volunteered to facilitate Praying to Make a Difference” about 4 years ago. I wanted to get to know my Father more intimately.
While Nehemiah was praying, his burden for Jerusalem became greater and his vision for what needed to be done became clearer. Real prayer keeps your heart and your head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord and ruin everything. As we pray, god tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it;
A person with vision shares the need… with God…
… with God’s people. v. 11a
(Look beside you.)
11a Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name…
Who are these “servants who delight in revering your name”? They have to be godly friends and associates with whom Nehemiah has shared his concern and who have now joined him in his intense vigil of prayer as he pleads with God to act.
Followers find the leader and then the vision. Leaders find the vision and then the followers.
A person with vision…
… shares the need.
4. … meets the need. v. 11b
(Look beyond you.)
11b …make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man." Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Don’t forget that he was the king’s cupbearer and he was successfully secure in his own life.
Dedication to God’s service was the first item…Nehemiah identified himself in prayer as God’s “servant” (1:6, 11), and the way of a faithful servant is constantly to ask, as Paul did on the Damascus road, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10).
Romans 12:1-2: Living sacrifice…
Someone said that that prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven but getting God’s will done on earth. However, for God’s will to be done on earth, He needs people to be available for Him to use.
God is still looking for people who care… “Here am I, Lord—send me!”
Get out of your comfort zone. Get out of the nest! A nest is good for a robin while it is an egg. But it is bad for a robin when it has wings. It’s a good place to be hatched in, but it’s poor place to fly in. It’s always sad when people don’t want to leave the nests of their lives.
A person with vision…
… meets the need.
Lisa Beamer… Let’s Roll
Husband Todd. United Flight 93
One of Todd’s favorite quotes was from Teddy Roosevelt.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who strives valiantly… who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
This is the way to have hope when things are broken.
As long as there’s a God in heaven and people on earth who believe in Him and who will work with Him, there is hope!
