The Great Turn Around

Nehemiah 9 The Great Turn Around

- Read Nehemiah 9

A few days ago I posted a picture of an old Chevy pickup driving down the road. It must have had an old bench seat because through the back window you could see a man driving. Sitting right beside him was his wife, and the man had his arm along the back of the seat around the neck of his wife. The caption said, “Some people are richer than they know.”

The point being, it isn’t the material things you have that really matter, it’s the relationships.

The first guy to comment said, “Man, what I wouldn’t give to have my old step side chevy pickup with 3 on the column again.”

The second one said, ’65 to ’67 were some great years for those trucks.”

The third one said, “Agreed, those were some good years.”

I’m sitting there scratching my head thinking, “Are these guys trying to be funny or are they really that thick?”

It doesn’t matter what you own or how much you have accumulated, if the love and the closeness is gone, and some would give anything to have it back again.

What is true of our relationships with our spouses, with our family and with others, is even truer of our relationship with the Lord. If that closeness, if that intimacy, if the sweetness of that relationship with the Lord is gone, then everything else loses meaning and purpose.

The Israelites under Ezra’s leadership returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Under Nehemiah’s leadership they have rebuilt the walls of the city. They have cleaned up the rubble, rehung the gates, and rebuilt their houses. They are safe, secure, and becoming comfortable, but something is missing. The close, sweet relationship they had with their Creator is gone.

Do you remember what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2? He said, ““Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you[b] and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “I know you have stood up against evil. I know you are doing some good things. I know you have tested the preachers and weeded out those who are not teaching or preaching truth, but I still have something against you. There is still something I’m not happy about. You don’t love Me like you used to.”

In 1646 and ’47, a group of English and Scottish theologians and lay people got together in Westminster with the goal of getting the churches back closer to their Christian faith in how they lived their lives. In their work they asked the question, “What is the chief end of man?” And they answered that question, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

You see my friend, we were created by God and for God. We were created to have a relationship with Him, and when we do not have that relationship, or when that relationship is not as close or intimate as God intended, there will be an emptiness in our lives and in our hearts that nothing can fill.

You can rebuild a city. You can build a new home. You can have a great job. You can take great trips. You can have great toys, but if there is not a close relationship with the One Who created you and for Whom you were created, there will always be something missing.

Some of you remember Kirk Cameron, who used to star in the TV show, “Growing Pains.” Kirk said, even at the height of his success, when his career was doing well, and he was making lots of money, and people were clamoring to see him, he said, “Even in the midst of all of that, there was a time each night before he fell asleep when he knew something was missing.” That missing ingredient was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Israelites have a new temple. They have new walls and gates. They have a newfound respect from the people around them, because the walls were rebuilt in 52 days, and their neighbors new that couldn’t have happened if God wasn’t working in the situation. They had all of that going for them, and yet the void remained.