Great Work Requires a Great Team
Nehemiah 2:17-3:32
August 13/14, 2005
Don Jaques
MAIN IDEA: To accomplish the great work God is calling us to, we need everyone to join the team and do their part.
Great works for God are accomplished when everyone does their part:
1. “Spiritual” leaders are not above physical work.
2. Other leaders need to be willing to work hard in the trenches.
3. Those with “special talents” are not exempt from service.
4. Even those who seem like unlikely candidates can do their part.
INTRO:
Give “Epaphroditus Award” to Mark Richards.
Go through Nehemiah’s story and 4 applications
Nehemiah 2:17 Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?"
20 I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it."
What follows in Nehemiah 3 is a long list of all the servants who went to work rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s leadership. (show map) It’s an easy chapter to just skim over, full of unfamiliar names of people and places around the ancient city of Jerusalem that don’t mean much of anything to us today. But woven through this list of names are a few very important principles about just WHO is takes to accomplish an important work for the Kingdom.
Let’s start by reading 3:1.
Nehemiah 3:1 Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the 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.
Great works for God are accomplished when everyone does their part:
1. “Spiritual” leaders are not above physical work. (3:1)
The priests don’t get out of doing the hard physical work of rebuilding gates and a section of the wall. They don’t go off to have a prayer meeting or make excuses about how they are in their priestly clothes.
It’s interesting to note that of all the people listed – the priests are listed first. That’s because the spiritual leaders of a community must be involved in physical service as well. They are not exempt – but have an obligation to serve as an example in this type of work.
If a great work for the Kingdom is going to happen – those who are the spiritual leaders must be willing to get their hands dirty and put a little sweat into it!
TRANS: Now let’s jump down to verse 5…
Neh. 3:5 The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.
2. Other leaders need to be willing to work hard in the trenches. (3:5)
What a shame to be remembered throughout history like this! The nobles – those in authority and power in Tekoa, a nearby village, refused to do their part. They would not put their shoulders to the work.
Let me tell you, when there is work to do for the kingdom of God, there is no room for those who would say “That kind of work is beneath me!” How can we forget the example of our Lord Jesus, taking off his outer robe, taking the role of the lowest slave, and washing the dirty feet of his disciples. You know what he said about it when he was done?
John 13:14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
And don’t forget what Jesus said to his disciples once when they were arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest.
Luke 22:24 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
I’ll say it again: In the Kingdom of God there is NO ROOM for anyone to say they are above doing servant’s work. In fact the very opposite is true. If anyone is to be great in the Kingdom of God, it will only come through the road of willing service to the causes and people God calls us to serve.
A Great work requires a great team of great servants.
1. spiritual leaders taking the role of servants.
2. other leaders taking the role of servants. AND
3. Those with “special talents” are not exempt from service. (3:8)
Let’s read verse 8…
Neh. 3:8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
Here we are introduced to a couple members of the team of wall-building servants who have professional skills that don’t match what is needed for building the wall. Uzziel the goldsmith and Hananiah the perfume-maker worked together to repair a section of the wall.
If they were alive today, they might have responded differently, with an answer that is common and sounds so spiritual: “Building walls is not my gift.”
Have you ever heard a Christian say something like that? Sometimes it really is true (like someone who is tone deaf staying away from the choir) – but too often people who have some sort of specialized skill or gift can use that as an excuse to not do less than glorious work.
There are some here who have incredible musical gifts, some are great teachers, some love working with young people, the list goes on. Some people have incredible skills and spiritual gifts in certain areas – but again, this does not exempt these people from following the example of Jesus and, in this case, Uzziel and Hananiah, and take on the role of a servant.
At CTK –
Make worship (private and public) a priority.
Get involved in a small group.
Reach Out through service:
1. primary gifting – Discover that place where God can use you in a unique way and develop that gift!
2. necessary service – These are the myriad of tasks that need to be done that don’t necessarily require someone with a “spiritual gift” – but they require someone with a heart that wants to follow Jesus’ example of service. So many of the tasks that make a worship service possible are included in this area of “necessary service”. Ushering. Greeting. Making coffee. Setting up. Tearing down.
3. serving others – meeting needs in Jesus’ name. This is where we get out of the “box” of the worship service and we take a look around our community, our neighborhood, our school, and we find ways to meet physical needs of people. (thanks to those who have donated items to Judy and her son Jerrod)
A great work requires a great team of great servants.
1. Spiritual leaders
2. Other leaders
3. Those with “special gifts”. And lastly…
4. Even those who seem like unlikely candidates can do their part. (3:12)
12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.
Here’s Shallum – he wants to do his part – but it’s hard work on your own and he doesn’t have any sons to help him with the demanding labor. He looks around him and sees…his daughters.
Or maybe it went the other way around. Maybe Shallum was working all on his own, trying to do his part, and his daughters saw that he needed help. So they put aside cultural restrictions that would have kept them from doing this type of work – and they rolled up their sleeves and got busy anyway!
How does this apply?
Sitting here are a number of people who think they have nothing to offer. They are glad to know that Jesus loves them, but when it comes to really being a part of changing the spiritual landscape of our community these people think they should probably just keep out of the way so that others who are more qualified or skilled can do it. After all, they can do it much better anyway, right?
Wrong. Everyone is needed if we as a church are going to change the spiritual landscape of Whidbey Island. There is no room for spectators or those who think they are not needed. As I stated before, there is so much work that happens each week that simply needs a person to say “I’m willing. I’m available. And I’ll be there!”
APPLICATION
In order for CTK to change the spiritual landscape of Oak Harbor – it is going to take a great team of great servants.
1. spiritual leaders
2. other leaders
3. those with special gifts
4. those who are unlikely sources of help
People just like you!
Maybe you want to get involved – you’re just not sure how or where the needs are.
Over the past 6 months we have sent a number of leaders to help get our Coupeville CTK up and running, and at the same time a number of very key families who served in significant ways have moved out of the area – and consequently we have some significant needs for servants. Let me mention just a few.
SATURDAY
• For the last couple of months we have had to close at least one kids classroom almost every week on Saturday nights. This has the effect of frustrating those with young children, especially if they are new.
• Our set up teams which were fairly strong a year ago have begun to get tired. We need at least two new teams, led by people who will gather a team every 4 weeks to serve for 45 minutes!
• We are not sure who is going to be making coffee for this service next month. We’ve had people leave the rotation and noone has stepped forward yet.
• Worship team needs drummers and bass players and male vocalists especially.
SUNDAY
• Overhead projector. Most weeks either I do it or I grab someone at the last minute.
• Childrens’ ministry. Need help from parents. Occasional closing of classes.
• Tear down. 2 new team leaders needed and about 5 people for each team. Takes 45 minutes once every 4 weeks.
• Ushers and greeters are needed.
• Help getting coffee prepared is needed.
• Can you balance a checkbook? There’s an important ministry that could use your help.
CONCLUSION
The amazing thing is that, regardless of which group you might think you belong to, God notices when you decide to get involved. If I was to read this entire chapter, you’d hear the names of more than 40 individuals who are remembered 2500 years later because they decided that the work God had put before them was more important than whatever else they had on their schedules!
Such memorable people as
…Shemaiah son of Shecaniah
…Pedaliah son of Parosh
…Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph are recorded because the little part that they did was important! It was noticed by Nehemiah – and it was noticed by God.
What about you? When the historians come to write about the great revival that happened on Whidbey Island in the early 21st century, will your name be listed among those who rolled up their sleeves and went to work? It is my sincere hope that it will – and that, starting today, you will understand the joy that comes from being a part of the team that is committed to changing the spiritual landscape of Whidbey Island!
