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 you! I’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.
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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