"Building the church, building Christian character" - Nehemiah 1
[Minister stands right up front with ’lollipop’ microphone in news reporter style]
"It has been described as one of the great tragedies and scandals of our time. The once proud city of Jerusalem still lies in ruins more than a century after it was devastated by the Babylonian army of King Nebuchadnezzar. All those years ago, the city was overrun and razed to the ground, and much of its population taken into captivity after Zedekiah, King of Judah, had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, probably the most powerful man of his era.
Fifty years later, when King Cyrus of Persia controlled Babylon, a Jewish leader named Zerubbabel was sent back to Judah along with 42,000 others to re-build the country; but, when they started restoring the city of Jerusalem and its Temple, there was much opposition from other people living in the area, who bribed government officials to hinder the work. Nothing much happened then for fifteen years, until King Darius I permitted building to re-start and the Temple was at last completed. But the rest of the city was still in a mess, and that sorry situation has remained until this very day. But it’s not only the city walls that are broken down: the people of Jerusalem, too, are at a very low ebb and their future looks extremely bleak, unless something is done quickly. This is David Hughes for CNN, Jerusalem, in Judah."
[Minister returns to lectern and continues]
Back in 1984, Bob Geldof went home after a bad day at the office and turned the television on. The news was on and Michael Buerk was doing a filmed report from Ethiopia, where a disastrous famine was killing many thousands of people. Geldof later wrote, "I felt disgusted, enraged, and outraged, but more than all those, I felt deep shame." He knew he had to do something, but what could he do? He did what he could: he produced a record with all the top pop music acts of the time, called "Feed the world" which went straight to No.1; and he organised probably the most famous live music event ever, "Live Aid" at Wembley. Millions of pounds were raised to relieve the misery in Ethiopia.
Now, of course, Nehemiah didn’t really hear the terrible news about Jerusalem from the television – it came from his brother Hanani who had arrived in Susa from Judah – but I imagine that, like Bob Geldof, he too felt disgusted, enraged, and outraged, as well as the same sense of deep shame. He knew that the dreadful state that Jerusalem was in was deeply dishonouring to God, and the plight of the people pained him – he had to do something, but what could he do? Like Bob Geldof, he did what he could, he did what came naturally. We’ll look at what exactly he did do more closely in a moment.
Over the coming weeks, we’re going to be studying the Book of Nehemiah in depth, because I believe it has a lot to teach us about "Building the Church and Building Christian Character." This theme of "building" is, I believe, one which God wants us to focus on throughout this coming twelve months, and there is surely no better book of the Bible to help us do that than Nehemiah. And we start, this week, with chapter 1, which shows us that, at the foundation of the Christian life, should always be prayer; and, to impress that point upon us, "PRAYER" is the first brick in a wall which will build up over the course of the Nehemiah series. [Show brick with ’PRAYER’ chalked on it and place it where everyone can see it]
When Nehemiah receives the bad news about Jerusalem and its people, his first reaction is to weep, to lament, and to mourn over the continuing disgrace of the situation. And this was a godly reaction: remember how Jesus taught that "blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted" – Nehemiah recognised the shameful reality and responded with godly sorrow which drove him to his knees to repent and to intercede. So you see: when the going gets tough, the tough get praying!
And it’s clear that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS COMMITTED TO PRAYER
It was an instinctive response. It is the first thing that the man, or woman, of God could and should do. For Nehemiah, it was just the most natural thing to do: to speak with the God of Israel, to express his concern about the people and city, and to receive God’s comfort and guidance. This immediate reaction suggests that Nehemiah was already in an established relationship with God – this was no one-off event, but part of a whole life of faith.
Prayer must also be our instinctive response – not only to bad news and tragedy; but also to good news and celebration – and it will be if we regularly give time to come into God’s presence and to both speak and listen to Him. Commitment is something which people these days seem to want to avoid; commitment to prayer is something which Christians cannot afford to ignore.
In the text, we can also see that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS SINCERE IN PRAYER
His tears were genuine: he shows great empathy with the poor people in Jerusalem who were feeling lost and desperate.
We need to understand that Nehemiah was in quite a privileged situation in Susa: we learn from the last verse of chapter 1 that Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, a position of some considerable influence. The cupbearer was responsible for tasting the king’s wine to safeguard against poisoning, and for guarding the royal chambers; so it is not surprising that he was usually a trusted official and confidante of the king. As such, it might be slightly surprising that he was so concerned about what was going on hundreds of miles away. Indeed, Nehemiah himself would have been born in captivity in Babylon, and so had no real experience of living in Judah.
But his tears are undoubtedly genuine: remember, we’re told that he mourns and fasts – he is totally serious about this. He is a godly Jew who is in tune with the heart of God, and so he feels compassion for all of God’s people and for Jerusalem.
As Christians, we too should be unashamed to weep for those of God’s people who are suffering around the globe; we should be unembarrassed about shedding tears for the state of God’s creation. If we are sincere and godly people, this should be happening without us even thinking about it. Nehemiah wept, Jesus wept – let us be weepers, too, as we are brought into tune with God’s heart.
Next, we must appreciate that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS SACRIFICIAL IN PRAYER
After all, he gave over a significant time to fasting from food. Now, his fasting may have had several benefits:
first, as we have already seen, it highlighted his sincerity;
second, it will have focused his mind upon the issues;
third, it freed time up for concentrated prayer – in those days, meals were leisurely, social affairs which could take a couple of hours; and ...
fourth, it probably contributed to a spiritual breakthrough in his dealings with Artaxerxes.
Fasting from food is not an easy discipline and must be viewed as sacrificial, but it can have a great impact. Yet, abstaining from food for a while is not the only kind of useful fast in this day and age: we will be greatly blessed if for example we fast from watching the television, and give that saved time over to prayer; or, maybe it’s a case of fasting from use of the computer; or, from reading unedifying books and magazines. Coming to a church prayer meeting once each month may really be a sacrifice for you, but prayer is meant to be sacrificial – just look at Nehemiah!
And, not only that, you will also see that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS PERSEVERING IN PRAYER
In verse 4, Nehemiah tells us that, "for some days," he "...prayed before the God of heaven"; and, in verse 7, he appeals to God to "hear my prayer, as I pray day and night." He perseveres and persists in prayer, just as Jesus taught we should – remember how he told us we should keep knocking on the door.
How often do we complain that God hasn’t answered our prayer, when we have actually spent very little time speaking to Him? In our culture today, we want everything to be instant, we don’t expect to have to wait for anything, or to have to ask for something more than once. This story encourages us to think again: the truth is, we need to persevere in prayer, just as Nehemiah did.
When we take a look at what he said to God, it’s clear that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS PENITENT IN PRAYER
He understands the need for confession and he is transparently honest about how his fellow countrymen, including his own ancestors, have sinned. But it’s not just the sin of others that he highlights – he also acknowledges his own part in it all: "we, the people of Israel, have sinned. My ancestors and I have sinned." He confesses not only the evil things that they have done – "we have acted wickedly against you," he says – but also the right things that they failed to do – he admits, "we have not done what you commanded."
We, as individuals and as a church, need to be equally honest in prayer: unless we recognise our sin and then repent, as Nehemiah did, we certainly won’t enjoy the full blessing that God wants to bestow on us, and our growth will be restricted. That is a truth that we all must take to heart. And I do most sincerely believe that the Church in this country must be true to its God-given task of praying on behalf of our nation, following Nehemiah’s lead.
Perhaps, most importantly of all, when we read this passage we can see that ...
>> NEHEMIAH WAS CONFIDENT IN PRAYER
His first words of prayer are words of exaltation: God is sovereign – He is the Lord of Heaven; God is great, in fact He is totally awesome; God is faithful to the covenant He made with Israel and shows endless compassion. For Nehemiah, God is in complete control and without equal, so who else should he trust? So, he has every reason to believe that God will have mercy upon His people, and will help him as he seeks the support of Artaxerxes to restore the fortunes of Jerusalem.
And so should we be confident in prayer: because it is the same great and awesome, compassionate and sovereign God to whom we pray; and He is faithful to the covenant that He has made with us through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we remember here at the communion table. So, there should be no hesitation on our part in coming into His presence and laying before Him our prayer requests.
When we read the story of how Nehemiah galvanised the Israelites into re-building the wall and city of Jerusalem, it’s easy to get carried away by the wonderful teamwork that we witness, or by the way in which Nehemiah overcomes opposition, but REMEMBER THIS: it started with much mourning and fasting and prayer. I believe that God wants to build His Church – the Baptist church here in Mill Road; the broader church in Wellingborough, the Church in Great Britain – and I believe that He will; but only when we have learned to be
committed to prayer;
sincere in prayer;
sacrificial in prayer;
persevering in prayer;
penitent in prayer; and ...
confident in prayer.
Let us not reach the end of our lives wondering what God might have done in us and through us if only we had given more time to prayer.
Let us pray ...
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In preparing this sermon I was greatly blessed by Raymond Brown’s "The Message of Nehemiah" (BST, 1998) and would heartily recommend it to anyone preaching through the Book of Nehemiah.
