Last week, we talked about that as we respond to God’s call to go and change the world that we need to have a relationship with God as our first priority in whatever we do.
We first talked about what it looked like. We said that it starts by putting in the time and effort to get to know God. By reading the Bible, praying, going to church or youth group, or hanging out with people who are more experienced than us.
We said the next step is admitting that we need God in our lives more and more. We all make mistakes and mess up and turn our backs on God. Those mistakes are called sin and because of them we deserve nothing else but death and are separated from God. But Christ died in our place to make it possible for us to have a relationship with God. Without Jesus, we can not come close to God and we can’t make Him a priority in our lives.
The third step, we said was to repeat those steps. It is not easy to follow Jesus and it is a lifelong battle to make Jesus a priority. But we need to keep getting to know Him more and more and we need to constantly humble ourselves and admit our need for Him.
Lastly, we talked about why it was even important to have God as a priority in our lives. We considered a man like Donald Trump and said, “He has changed the world without God, why can’t I?” The difference there is that Trump may have money, power, cars, women, and all these others things that scream “success” but the fact is that these things will all be destroyed some day and will not last. A relationship with God though, can never and will never be taken away from us. When we make Him a priority in our lives, we will have true lasting success that will be experienced for eternity in paradise.
Tonight I want to look at the next priority that we should have in our lives as Christians who are trying to change the world around them. In a lot of ways, this second priority is an area where we don’t often get much help, encouragement, or instruction on how to maintain it in our lives. As we looked at what Jesus said was the first and greatest commandment last week, keeping a relationship with God first in our lives, he goes on in Matthew 22:39 to say that, “The second is like it, ‘Love you neighbor as yourself.” In other words, God should be first, putting others before ourselves should be second.
Some people could possibly argue that this is almost more difficult than keeping God at number one in our lives. We live in an insanely busy world today. We have school and then we have sports practices and games, for sometimes more than one sport. We have math team or DECA or some other club. Then we have homework, eating, and that thing called sleep. By the time all of those things are done we barely have time to hang out with others but more often than not we only do so because we need a chance to relax or vent to our friend. It seems to be rare that we make a priority of putting other people before ourselves.
No matter how difficult it may be, when we go out to try and change the world around us, we must place people above ourselves. To help us with this, I would like you all to open your Bibles to Nehemiah 2:1-6 where I think there are three important things that we can learn about how to put other people around us before ourselves.
***Read Nehemiah 2:1-6***
The first thing that we can learn from Nehemiah is that in order to place people above ourselves is that he tried hard to feel the emotions that the people around him were feeling. This is called sympathy. We see this by how upset he was about the Israelites not being safe and right with God. Verse two says that Nehemiah was so sad and upset that he looked ill. The king could see it all over his face. Surely Nehemiah was not having these emotions about himself. He was safe in a citadel, which specifically was a stronghold or shelter with extra protection. He had no reason to be scared for his life. Nehemiah had these emotions for the people of Israel. He got into their heads and put their needs so far above his own that he felt and had the emotions that they did.
It can be a very difficult task, to sympathize with others. I found this out last night. Around 2:00am this morning, I woke up to Melissa crying. She was sitting up in bed and holding her right ear and just sobbing. I sat up, began to rub her back and asked her what was wrong. She proceeded to tell me that her ear was infected and swollen and really hurt. Instead of really trying to comfort her or care for her, I instead got annoyed and tried to fix the problem as fast as I could so I could go back to sleep. Then I asked her how it happened and she said it was because she has sensitive ears and isn’t supposed to use q-tips but did anyways. “You idiot,” was the initial thought that went through my head. Thank God I didn’t actually say it! After I woke up a little and came to my senses I, remembering my ear aches I used to get as a kid, where I too, would wake up crying, held her and felt her pain with her. As we work to put others before ourselves we need to start by understanding and taking to heart their emotions.
The second thing that we can learn from Nehemiah about placing people above ourselves is that Nehemiah took action to help the people. He could have just stopped at “feeling for them” and understanding what they were going through and sent a sympathy card. In the same way, I could have just stopped at feeling for Melissa and understanding the pain she was in and then gone back to sleep. But, it is not enough to just feel for people if we are really trying to put others before ourselves. We need to act on it and offer to help.
It is important to note that Nehemiah took the initiative to go and help. When his brother came and told him that the walls of Jerusalem were torn down his brother did not add at the end, “So, will you came and lead the people to rebuild the walls and a right relationship with God???” He followed God’s call to go and change the world and set out to do it without being asked or persuaded. In actuality, Nehemiah actually asked the king if he was allowed to go and serve and help. When was the last time any of you asked someone if you could help them?
Leadership guru John Maxwell says the following about being the one to initiate helping someone. “Just about anyone will serve if compelled to do so…But you can really see the heart of someone who initiates service to others. Great leaders see the need, seize the opportunity, and serve without expecting anything in return.”
The third thing that we can learn from Nehemiah about placing people above ourselves is that he put the agenda of others above his own. What this means is that he put their needs, desires, and schedule above his own. When Nehemiah took the initiative to help, he did it right away. He put everything he had been working on or going after on hold and he went and served the people.
Nehemiah definitely had things he could have done instead that may have been more fun or worth while to his own desires. But Nehemiah was able to say, “You know what, what’s more important - me having my money, power, and fame or the Israelites being safe from attack and being right with God again?” As we mentioned last week in regards to putting God first, he was even willing to put aside his position of cupbearer to the king in order to go and help the Israelites. Nehemiah showed great heart by being willing to put the desires and needs of the Israelites above his own and by dropping what he was doing to help.
Tonight I want to challenge all of us to make others the second priority in our lives, in back of God and in front of ourselves. Tomorrow, as you come across people in whatever you are doing, school, sports, work, or home, try your best to hear and understand their feelings. Don’t just write them off or ignore them but try to feel what they are feeling. Take the initiative this week to help people as well. Ask your parents if there is anything you can do to help around the house. Ask your friends at school if they need tutoring or help with a certain subject in school. Offer your talents and abilities to those around you who need help. Then, put their agenda and schedule above your own and actually put in the time to do it. Don’t schedule them in for a month down the road if you can help it. Do it as soon as you can.
