Thursday, March 11, 2021

Prayer - a Lifeline for a Lifetime

 

For the next 3 Sundays, and then the 3 Sundays following Easter, we will be studying together the Book of Nehemiah.  If I could go back in time and make a life-choice, I would follow Nehemiah around, learning how to be a servant and prayer warrior.  That’s the kind of fortitude and character you need for such a time as we’ve been through the last year. 

And now, flirting with the beginnings of Covid restrictions being relaxed somewhat, and visions of normalcy dancing in our heads, it’s time to  start preparing for life after the COVID storm. 

·       We will ask, and Scripture will answer, questions of what losses there have been, and why those losses are significant, but, in some cases necessary. 

·       We will ask, and Scripture will answer what has been useful in the storm, necessary in our lives, and even reason to rejoice. 

·       We should ask, because Scripture will always answer, where do we start in the rebuilding of lives that have been interrupted and changed. 

·       In short, we will ask what people have always asked after a ravaging storm:  What Now?

Our journey through the Nehemiah Journal must begin with a bit of background, so that we may fully appreciate what God did with this man.  What we have is Nehemiah’s personal account, or journal, set against the backdrop of history.

In the 8th Century B.C. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.  The prophets foresaw it; the Lord brought it to pass.  The people had become backslidden.  Instead of worshipping the Lord God, they had fallen-in with the pagan nations surrounding them.  It isn’t much different in America today.

A few centuries later the southern kingdom followed suit, as Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian empire.  Later it was the Persians whose dominance in the ancient world replaced Babylon. 

We are talking here not only about ancient history.  The regions extend from Afghanistan to Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.  The problems are just early chapters in the ongoing saga of strife in the Middle East.  Jacob and Esau have never ceased their struggle.

In the 5th century, seven decades after being conquered and deported, the Persian rulers began allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem.  It happened in stages: 

·       First a man named Zerubbabel led a group to begin the rebuilding process.  The city had been destroyed, and lay in rubble.  But Zerubbabel’s efforts only partially restored things. 

·       Fifty years later Ezra, a priest, returned to rebuild the temple. 

·       Then, fifteen years after Ezra the story we are about to investigate begins to unfold in Susa, the capitol city of the Persian Empire, with a God-fearing Jew born in captivity, a man who’d never laid eyes on Jerusalem, Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was a sharp pencil, trained in the art of business and an organizer.  He was also the man God would use to change history’s map and the courage of a nation he called “home” – even though his eyes had never seen the place.

Some of Nehemiah’s accomplishments include:

·       rebuilding the walls and military defenses of Jerusalem. 

·       Later he also instituted reforms among God’s people. 

·       He helped restore purity in worship, and integrity in family relationships. 

In short, he helped restore behavior among God’s people more in line with the belief God’s people claimed they had! 

What is so profitable about the book of Nehemiah is that he accomplished all that in the face of great adversity.  Among the obstacles he faced were these several:

·       He was not a “ruler”, but part of the conquered exiles, outnumbered and with little “moving and shaking” ability.

·       There was widespread laziness among God’s people to overcome.

·       There were plots from within his own people.

·       Misunderstandings and lack of faith described the culture of God’s people.

All of Nehemiah’s mountains to climb are present today in the Christian experience.  We NEED to explore this. Today we’re in the same kind of barrel, spiritually, politically, and physically with our brand of captivity.  We see some of the same problems Nehemiah encountered…

·       Our political walls are broken down. 

·       American life and culture are obsessed with self, sex, and little direction for family life.  I have a colleague who refuses to preach on what Scripture says about family because he considers it too controversial.

·       Community in America, even in the church is anemic, if not comatose. 

·       We wear masks, experience loneliness, watch the death toll rising, and border on financial ruin. 

·       Among the constant talk of loss we wonder if return to normal is possible.

The typical approach that most Christians have, when trying to address problems, is we focus on a worldly model, rather than the Biblical model.  We can shake our heads and cluck our tongues all we wish…but when God’s people do things the worldly way, and then celebrate our cleverness, or gush over how wonderful we are, we are like the people Nehemiah found when he arrived in Jerusalem, standing amid crumbling walls.  That’s the trouble with rubble!

Nehemiah demonstrates the opposite.  Notice the reaction of a servant and prayer warrior as he hears the news of broken walls in his homeland…

These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.  In late autumn of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.  Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah.  I asked them about the Jews who had survived the captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.  They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah.  They are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been burned.”  When I heard this, I sat down and wept.  In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.   Nehemiah 1: 1-4 (NLT)

With a heart blazing alive for God, Nehemiah hears of the distress and disgrace of Jerusalem, and he immediately wept.  It started him mourning, fasting, and praying for days. 

At the end of those days of praying and fasting, Nehemiah did not get up and get on with life as usual…something altogether different occurred…Nehemiah got on with doing something.  And in that we find our prayer model for servant warriors.

That very model was demonstrated to me by a leader in a church I once served. Bill contemplated the rubble of the offering for missions in the church.  It awoke him in the night and distressed him until he asked if I’d let him talk about it in the worship service.  He shared his heart and then gave more than he had before.  When he did, it started a holy fire, and the giving goal was met and passed…and then doubled!

There is a disclaimer that comes along with this sermon; it is much like the warning on children’s toys about some assembly required – or the health thing on tobacco products.  Here is Nehemiah’s warning:

Caution:

Studying the book of Nehemiah may lead to doing things God’s way; you will find the world will marvel, worldly Christians will snipe and criticize and…God will be pleased!

Now, with that as our caution…and our target…let’s look at the model prayer of Nehemiah, a servant prayer warrior. 

First, he expresses:

ADORATION

Then I said, “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,   Nehemiah 1.5 (NLT)

To “adore” the Lord in prayer is to recognize Who He is, and respond accordingly. Nehemiah recognizes the Lord as great and awesome the powerful God who is in control of all. 

To adore the Lord means to respond to Him as He has laid it down…love Him and obey his commands.  This is just common sense when you recognize that He is God, and we are not! 

Who is on the throne of your life?  Is it you?  Or is it God?  If it is you, then you won’t adore God…you don’t even recognize who He is!  That’s why the next part of the model is so important for our prayers…after adoration is…

CONFESSION

listen to my prayer!  Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel.  I confess that we have sinned against you.  Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!  We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, laws, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.       Nehemiah 1.6-7 (NLT)

Nehemiah’s confession isn’t popular today.  Today, if anything has gone wrong it is always the other guy’s fault.  Hardly anyone accepts responsibility for anything these days.  From the rich and powerful to the lowliest rung of the ladder, confession for wrongdoing rarely happens.

By contrast, Nehemiah, born a thousand miles from Jerusalem, having never been there, included himself in the national sin of Israel. You say: Boy, that’s stretching it just a bit far!  Not really.  Nehemiah is wise enough to know that, had he been there, he too would have sinned.  He understood that he was no stronger than any of his fellow Israelites.  He was under the same commands of the Lord to live ethically, morally, and obediently to the law of God.  Nehemiah knew his heart.

In our text Nehemiah says:  we have sinned terribly.  Literally, the word means offended.  He is admitting the actions of God’s children, including himself, are offensive to the God of Heaven.  Ladies and gentlemen, that is what confession is all about.  It is recognizing that our sins do, indeed offend holy God. 

In the cultural/political climate of our day, there are regulations against offending everyone BUT God!  Him we kick out of our schools, courts, and council rooms. God help us to confess our sins against the Holy One!  If you want a model for being a servant prayer warrior, there is adoration, confession, and…

THANKSGIVING

“Please remember what you told your servant Moses:  ‘If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations.  But if you return to me and obey my commands, even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’  “We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power and might.   Nehemiah 1.8-10 (NLT)

Usually we associate thanksgiving with smiling to God for our blessings.  It is one thing to say “thanks” when someone gives us a gift we like; it is quite another thing to say bless you (even to God) for hauling us out to the woodshed.  Yet, that is exactly what Nehemiah has in mind here.  Basically, he is rehearsing the fact that God said, you sin, and I’ll get youI’ll hunt you down, and I’ll bring you back and we can do it all over again!  Then Nehemiah says, that was our rescue!  Thank you, Lord!

In acknowledging God’s goodness over the chastisement, it is reasserting the nature of God to be faithful to His other promises of blessing and joy.  God had told them He knew they would go astray, and He was prepared to do whatever necessary to bring them back under His wing  See Deuteronomy 4: 25 - 31 (NLT)

How about that?  God predicted just exactly how they would sin, and how big the sin would be.  And yet He was prepared to offer them forgiveness, based upon his loving covenant.  Do you know what that tells you and me about God?  It says, loudly and clearly, You CAN begin again.  If that isn’t something for which we can be thankful, I cannot imagine there is anything!And so, our model is nearly complete…

·       There is adoration to acknowledge God as deserving worship.

·       There is confession to recognize our sinfulness and need of his forgiveness.

·       And there is thanksgiving to realize He extends his love no matter how big we have sinned, if we will just repent and be ready to follow Him.

And then Nehemiah moves to…

SUPPLICATION

O LORD, please hear my prayer!  Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you.  Please grant me success now as I go to ask the king for a great favor.  Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”  In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.     Nehemiah 1.11 (TNLT)

There is always a decisive moment in life when talking, or thinking becomes insufficient.  There is a moment in time when we must have the rubber meet the road; we must act on what we believe.  In our culture there is the expression which defines that:   Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!  There is a time when praying ends and doing begins

For Nehemiah, that time had come.  He was, after all, a man of action.  The most used word in this book is “so”.  It is used 32 times.  They are all phrases of actions precipitated by intent to accomplish the task:


So I prayed (1:4).  So I came (1.11).  So they strengthened (2.18)

So built we the wall (4.6).  So we labored (4.21).  So the wall was finished (6.15).

This is the nature of the man Nehemiah…and all servant/prayer warriors.  Nehemiah was committed in his prayer – then he got up off his knees and forged ahead.

Nehemiah was about to stroll into the throne room and contradict a royal edict. Sharp guy and good servant, or not, Nehemiah was about to give king Artaxerxes (a man who had killed his own brother to get the throne) all the reason he needed to lop off his head.  You KNOW he had to be committed to God’s hand to step into that kind of quicksand.

When’s the last time you stepped out in faith?  When’s the last time God put it in your heart to involve yourself in such a way that you knew if He didn’t come through, you were toast?  My dear friends, THAT is what supplication is all about; THAT is what depending on God is all about.

APPLICATION

We will see in the coming weeks that the Lord gave Nehemiah success in dealing with Artaxerxes. We will also see that God watched over the entire process, as Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, overcame constant opposition, and rebuilt the city walls and defenses – just exactly as the Lord had put it in his heart at the first.

The lesson, of course, for Christian believers is how to be a servant/prayer warrior for God.  Face adversity with faith, humbly depending on God, as you build His kingdom with other believers. 

It all starts with prayer – as does this book of Nehemiah.  It opens with prayer, and the book ends with prayer.  It tells us God uses cup-bearers, servants who are prayer warriors!

By the way – it is also the pathway to salvation in Christ Jesus.  Look once again at the model:

·       Adoration – Recognize God is in charge.

·       Confession – Acknowledge who you are, a sinner who needs forgiveness.

·       Thanksgiving – Acknowledge your gratitude for the cross.

·       Supplication – Ask Him to forgive your sins, receive Christ and eternal life.

This is the way to start your life as a servant/prayer warrior!

Our Prayer

Father help us to have the courage and wisdom of Nehemiah.  We need his kind of spiritual insight, wisdom that knows enough to pray much more than we talk or act.  We need courage like Nehemiah’s to get in the game, even if it means risking our comfort zone. 

God, our great LORD, the walls of this church will crumble like Jerusalem’s temple if you do not save us.  For the sake of your son, forgive our sins of neglecting your house, and forgetting we are servants in Your Kingdom.  Hear our prayer of confession and supplication; direct our paths, and strengthen the borders around us, so we may give you praise in the sight of all who need to see.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father.  Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 


[1]   Mervin Breneman, The New American Commentary, Vol 10, (Nashville, Broadman & Holman, 1993),  168

[2] Dr. Herbert Lockyear, All the Books and Chapters of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1966) 105.

[3] Dr. Herbert Lockyear, All the Men of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1958), 256



 

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