“Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem” Neh 2:11-20 WGBC 22/9/02
Joke: your dog can’t swim!
- God is at work here. There are good things happening in the church. Alpha. (one church had 90 visitors) Christmas. Unity.
o Seems strange to me that EVERYONE doesn’t want it!
- Can’t stop myself believing in God!
o Ingrained! In my nature. Is evidential and logical
ask myself- are they just in denying the facts!
A) Appraisal - “Come let us rebuild…. in disgrace” v17
But denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know! Or just in unbeliever’s lives
Denial is in Christian’s lives, too!
- Illustr: Steve Price (Deacon) “you would say that”. (about us not being able to find youth pastor/caretaker) “…. you’re a ‘belief’ person… and that’s what you believe’. Now- look at the facts and possibilities. Reality.”
Maybe it’s more prevalent in our ‘church’ lives than we think.
Nehemiah is not in denial
- to be the man God wants him to be in this situation, a clear appraisal of the reality of the situation is needed. Admission of truth (that could have been the ‘A’)
The truth of the situation IS
- the walls have been broken down. The gates have been destroyed by fire. Couldn’t even get through the fountain gate, because of the rubble. The city lies in ruins. Those people who remain have deserted the faith.
o The truth is: it doesn’t look good
Can we be that truthful about our churches? Our own personal situations… crumbling walls… spirituality
- sometimes our ‘spirituality’ is the greatest block to ‘reality’ and healing!
- “I’m fine, brother! Walking in victory!. Hallelujah”
o but, in fact, FINE= Feeling In Need of Encouragement
o feeling rough. Actually, having doubts.
But daren’t discuss these in certain circles as
• They’ll think we’re losing it. Won’t know how to react. May scold us!
Why Philip Yancey is so releasing. He’s saying what we’re thinking, but too frightened to talk about!
- “how’s things in the church you go to?”
o “brilliant! It’s revival.” But, in fact everyone wants to leave (and that includes the pastor)
o (like the truth is going to discredit the Master)
Truth is: we have no idea what real revival is like. In fact- sometimes an emphasis on this can keep us from reality as it keeps us dreaming of ‘maybe’ rather than appraising the situation realistically
- and so finding God’s solution.
God is a God of TRUTH
Look how Nehemiah appraises… does his homework!
- v11 stayed 3 days. Now, there’s getting a realistic appraisal, for you!
- V12 “I had not told anyone what God has put on my heart”
o If you want the truth about how people feel about how we represent Jesus- don’t tell them you’re a Christian… and ASK! (You’ll get it with both barrels, sometime!)
o Stand in your streets and OBSERVE. (don’t preach. Appraise… assess)
- V13. here’s what else you do (or don’t do if you don’t want the truth)- go out at night!
o That’s when you really find out what people believe, and how they act. Believers and pre-Christians alike
As they think no one else is watching
o Go walk round the walls at night
(how would Jesus react if he walked round our churches, houses, lives at night?)
Realistic appraisal is so important. And Nehemiah is intent on getting it
- diagnosing the rot, decay, cancer, illness is essential to recovery… rebuilding
Nehemiah appraises that
- they’re in disgrace (v17b) and the walls are down… and SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE
He doesn’t go ‘hallelujah! It’s all hunky dory… and revival’s coming… and I can see these walls up by faith’ (though he may do)
Douglas McBain Summarises:
“There are two problems in the church today. Churches in decline and ministers (people) in denial”
And, friends…. things are good here… and actually Winchester seems to be a spiritual enclave (though we’re only just holding our own)
- but walk around the walls of the churches in our country.
o There’s less and less people in them!
o Stats: in 30 years- no one in Bappo churches (of course it won’t quite be like that. Exponential decay. It takes ages for churches to close- even when God wants them to! Denial, again!)
An honest appraisal of our situation is
- the walls are down. In disgrace (and God ISN’T too fussed about clearing His name, it seems)
- we’re more American than we are British
- we think ‘worship’ is ‘singing’- and so we’ve propagated the idea that you can come ‘worship’ on a Sunday but do what you want ‘in the night’. Have separated sacred and secular. Partitioned our lives
o the unbelievers can see right through it
o we ‘talk it’. We don’t often ‘walk it’
- we’re often more concerned about OUR needs than about others- let alone those without Jesus!
o Some are desperately self-obsessed
- We can be ‘pick and mix’ consumers
And we’re in danger of being in denial about revival, too.
- I don’t even want to discuss whether it’s coming. I want to build the walls, NOW. Build disciples that make disciples, now
B) Boldness – “the hand of my God upon me” v18 “the God of heaven will give us success”
But, thankfully. The story doesn’t end there. This is the bit I LIKE!
We NEED honest appraisal. But boldness, too
- honest appraisal on it’s own is like David knowing everything about Goliath. His stats. 7’6”tall. Spear like a weaver’s rod
o but not having the boldness… faith to bring him down!
The truth is: ‘it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee’ Get real. Not chase fantasies all the time… the latest fad… conferences… JUST CONSUME.
- Things are NOT good, and revival DOESN’T seem to be on the horizon
- BUT GOD IS WITH US. God will give us success… and we will not be in disgrace (v17)
o if we honestly appraise and seek to move forward
be obedient in what MATTERS
o (and even if we become more of a minority- I want to stand my ground and walk the talk till the end)
We have a case… cause for boldness.
- God is with us. We have the greatest message of all time… and the greatest God
o He rebuilds lives and walls!
- And when we start thinking about THEM and HIM (rather than our selves)… the walls start coming up, and the glory descends (rather than Ichabod- glory departed)
Or, should I say- the walls start coming down!
- between us and them. They become our friends, rather than ‘evangelism fodder’… and our lives become an open book to them
o of how God works in people’s lives
o here: Nehemiah’s most powerful tool is his TESTIMONY
o v18 “I told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me”
people aren’t interested in dogma. You preaching at them and telling them off
• wanna HEAR your story
• wanna SEE that it works (beyond Sunday)
o we’ve had this idea that people want to know all the facts, intricacies- but how many of you knew it all before you committed?!
Nope you didn’t need ALL the truth.. answers. You just knew you wanted to follow THE truth
• The ONE with the answers
o GOD is with you. He’s done so much in you (have you forgotten!). You’ve got a story to tell.
Walls down. Tell it. Live it. Show it.
- Between us and them (as a church)
o Our picture of a church without walls.
People out to mission
Transparency
Community involvement.
Free flow traffic in/out
But note: I haven’t put this on big ‘world wide scale’. God’s gonna do THIS and THAT. I don’t have the right/gifting for that (and lots of such statements have been wrong!)
- I’ve said God is with YOU- as a person. As a church. The God of heaven will give US/YOU success! Like Nehemiah said
An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All of its life, the changeling eagle, thinking it was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.
Years passed. And the changeling eagle grew very old. One day, it saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" said the changeling eagle to its neighbour. "What is it?"
"That’s an eagle- the chief of the birds," the neighbour clucked. "But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him."
So the changeling chicken eagle never gave it another thought. And what did the eagle think it was all his life? And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken
Be BOLD. Expect God to move here, in your life. You’re ‘an eagle’ (not a buzzard or a chicken)
C) Commitment- v18b “let us start rebuilding”
This bit is so good, too!
Note: he doesn’t say ‘we’ll rebuild the wall, it’ll look like this… and God’ll do it in 2 weeks’
- he just says “let’s START rebuilding”
o for the journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step
And often- we’re so focussed on the END. How big the task/journey/walls are…. And how God WILL achieve that
- that we fail to start small and START building
o do not despise the day of small beginnings
Nehemiah and his team make a start
- God dictates how long it will take, how it’ll come about
And so with us
- wanna rebuild the walls in your life (where you’re broken down)
o A- Appraise the problem, Admit the problem. Get real.
o B- Be bold. God is with you
o C- Commit to making a START
Stop waiting around for someone else or God to take responsibility, do it for you… and START
- Wanna rebuild the walls of the church? This church
o A. Face where we’re in denial. Not being effective
o B. Be bold. God is with you
o C- Commit to starting to change (and don’t make BIG statements that neither you nor God will live up to)
- Wanna rebuild the walls of witness? (or take em down)
o A. Appraise and Admit where we’re failing as consumer Xians. Where our lives are a lie
o B. Be bold. God is with you. YOU have a testimony
o C. Commit to starting to change
“The God of heaven will give us success”
- in His way
