Todays message is going to be coming from the book of Nehemiah and lets cover a little history so we can understand are passage better before we come to it. The book starts out with Nehemiah pleading to God on the behalf of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem is destroyed and a portion of Israel was hauled off into captivity for the sins and disobedience of the whole nation. God was using the captivity as a form of punishment for Israel disobedience. Nehemiah was reminded of this destruction and the consequences of Israel’s actions. He was mourning over what had happened and He was pleading with God to remember His promises and to keep the covenant. This promise or covenant is saying that the nation of Israel will be Gods people and dwell in His presence and that God is a gracious and forgiving God. Lets dive into our passage which is Nehemiah 2:1-10
1. In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 4 The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it." 6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. 7 I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. Nehemiah 2:1-10
This passage is our starting point today and we will hit a few highlights throughout the rest of the book before we are done. There are several things that captured me about Nehemiah and some of the qualities that he displayed. The first quality that I see with him is one of vision. I think true vision is standing in the present, seeing what has been and seeing what could be and making it happen. As we see with this passage, Nehemiah saw the destruction of his homeland, and he wanted to make things right. It is more than just getting things done, because we can all get things done and have it fall apart again. True vision is seeing things being restored to who what they were meant to be. Nehemiah wanted the nation of Israel to be Gods people again, to have a place to worship and to have a city where they could live, worship and dwell with each other. When we have a vision, it is being passionate about something on steroids. Passion tends to fade and it tends to be what we want to do. Vision is about bringing Gods kingdom here on earth. Vision is seeking God and seeking His passion for us and combining it with follow through to impact the lives of others.
Having vision also takes courage. When Nehemiah made the request to the king, the king had every right to say no. If the king thought if it was a dumb enough of an idea, he could of had Nehemiah killed. The thing about vision and courage is that it often calls us out of our comfort zone. When we have a vision from God to be a bridge for someone or a community, it takes courage because it is often scary and it pushes us to grow and to rely on God. As John Wayne put it, Courage is being scared, but saddeling up anyway. When we get to this point, there is no backing out, no throwing in the towel, because there is to much on the line. There are people here who have been with the church from the very beginning, because of any circumstances, were there thoughts of throwing in the towel, quitting, questioning if it is really worth it. But having vision and courage is this plan is from God and if it is to work, it needs to be His plan and trusting that God will come through because if He doesn’t it wont work.
Having vision and courage also takes a risk assessment. What good is having a vision or courage, if there is no real chance that failure could happen. I am not saying that we should want or expect failure to happen, but we live a fairly safe life when failure is not an option. So here is my question for us all, what is that God sized dream that you have, that they only way it will succeed is if God shows up in a mighty and powerful way. None of us like failure, but God is calling each one of us to get up off of the couch in some way and live outside of our comfort zone. It could be with reaching out and starting or continuing a relationship with someone, doing something you have never done before, moving on from a job, relationship or habit.
Courage also takes determination and dedication. Here is the thing about the rebuilding of the Temple and of the wall, its was going to take time. I am sure that Nehemiah would of loved everything to of been done in one day, but that wasn’t a reality. How many of us struggle with instant now and we become a hot mess when we don’t get what we want yesterday. It doesn’t help when we have instant coffee, we can find out what someone is thinking half way across the world instantly, or even a boss or significant other or child wanting that particular thing done that particular way done five minutes ago. How do we develop or have endurance for our community, relationships, church, work and any other number of things. Here are a couple of suggestions. The first one is a reminder that there are some things that is a race and not a sprint. When you have vision, courage and endurance, it means that you are in it for the long haul and there are no easy fixes. You are willing to see it through the end. To bower a popular fishing metaphor, we are not and should not be on the catch and release program. When we do this, we are saying that there is always something bigger, better, less trouble, or even not as much work. Another suggestion for endurance is prayer. There are various ways we can talk with God, find what we works best with you and do it. A third way to develop endurance is to have deep relationships. Find a person or a group of people that you can do life with. This means that you are in this together, to give encouragement, to be a sounding board and to kick each other in the butt when needed. The quickest way to loose endurance is to think we are doing it alone and we are the only ones who can do it. The fourth idea is that everybody does there part. Everybody had a job in rebuilding of the Temple and the wall surrounding Jerusalem. When everybody does their part, it makes everything go so much smoother. It also prevents people from thinking they need to do everything and bing superman. The last idea is treat people as people and things as things. How often do we treat objects or our pets better than our own family members? Just remember, we are to be with people and to encourage each other and use things and not vice versa.
When we are doing what God has called us to do, there is going to be opposition. If you have any sort of leadership responsibilities and you never have had someone disagree with you, you might be doing it wrong. In the story of Nehemiah, this person was Sanballat. The full confrontation can be found in chapter four. He was questioning everything that the Jews were doing and were even hurling insults. He even got the king to hault construction on the wall for awhile. When we face actual opposition, we have to ask ourselves and have listening conversations to decide wither the issues are really valid, or is it people not wanting to change. In any group setting when a decision is made, there are people who are going to disagree for various reasons. Then there is what Taylor Swift calls haters and yes haters going to hate. It is more than just having an opposition to someone or something. They try by every means to tear down, destroy and be a pain the the side. It often goes from disagreeing to character assination through gossip, and trying to turn people against what God is trying to do. They are often disgruntle or mad at either God or themselves, so if they are miserable, everyone else should be to. We need people to hold us accountable in our lives and there are Godly people who we can seek advice and counsel from, but here is my question for you all. Are we more concerned about what others have to say to us or about us, or what God has to say? The ultimate test to know what one is suppose to be doing is in so much the praise or discontent of people, but do we have the applause of God in our ear no mater the situation
The story of Nehemiah does finish up with the exile Jews returning home, the wall around Jerusalem being built and the Temple was finished. Starting in chapter 7, there is the gathering of Gods people together as a nation to consecrate themselves, to bring tithes into the temple and to hear the Word of the Lord. Israel realized who they were in relation to each other and to God. If they were to be called Gods people and for God to dwell among them, they need to follow Gods laws. Gods laws are not meant to be legalistic, but are to promote healthy boundaries in our relationship with God and others. In 8:10, there is a profound statement that we all should consider and that is the joy of the Lord is my strength. God wants to and desires to be in a relationship with us, and when we stay with in the healthy boundaries, God dwells among us, and He protects us. Our joy should not be in what we can do for God or the degrees we have on our wall, or the job title we carry at work. Our joy should come in that God dwells among us and He is our defender, protector and giver of life. We can have a great vision, everyone does their part, endurance, and have a handle on haters, what does it mean to have the joy of the Lord as our strength.
Having the joy of the Lord is realizing that it is not about me, but its about God. When it is about me, its about my talents, my agenda, and what I need to do or serve instead of what can God do through me, I am using the talents He has given me and I want to serve. I think a lot of this comes down to our attitude and how we perceive ourselves, God and others. I encourage everyone to read through Phillipians 2 this week and it is where Paul explains to us that we need to have the very same attitude of Jesus, who was God, and yet humbled Himself to become a servant and to die on a cross, so He could be raised again.
Another way to have joy in the Lord is through our time of worship. This goes beyond singing a few songs and hearing a long winded preacher. True worship is how we live our lives on a daily basis and who we are giving glory to. There are only two people we can give glory to, and that is wither ourselves or God. Worshiping God is about singing songs, reading ones Bible, but is also working for more than just a paycheck, it is how our children our raised, its having wholesome conversations with other people. True worship is connecting with God on a daily basis, in the greatness, to the mundane and even in the worse of it all. Worship is pledging allegiance to God and only to God and making Him first.
The third thing about joy is that it does not mean we are always happy. Happiness is the warm fuzzy feeling when someone buys us our meal. Joy is not so much based on what happens to us, but what our response is to life. Joy is going about life and praising God because of or in spite of our life circumstances. Joy so often is a conscience decision to thankful, content and humble. I think true joy is knowing who we are in God and that we do not have to earn anything because God freely gives grace and that we are one of His children and nothing can change that.
The joy of the Lord being our strength means that we do not have to do this life by ourselves or on our own strength. One of the hardest concepts to hear and learn from the Bible is that not only God loves us, but He adores us and wants to be in a relationship with us. He loves our warts and all, and the cool thing is, is that we do not have to stay the same way, God wants to change €us into His image if we allow Him to. When we have the joy of the Lord, it tends to lead to action and we see the world differently so that God can change it through us.
