Building for God

I would like to read in the book of Nehemiah or Nehemiah as you say but it's the same person I'm referring to and we'll read some verses from the book together. Hopefully it's not too loud now and sometimes my wife says to my son Edison inside voice and then she looks to me with eyes of Gordon inside voice so hopefully it's not too loud and we can get through it this afternoon. I would like to read from verse number one of chapter one, Nehemiah 1 and chapter number one.

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hathaliah and it came to pass in the month of Chusla in the 20th year as I was in Sushan the palace that Harani one of my brethren came he and asked certain men of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem and they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. It came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and said I beseech thee oh Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments.

Let thine ear now be attentive and then you eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee both I and my father's house have sinned we have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments which thou commandest thy servant Moses remember I beseech thee will beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying if he transgress I will scatter you abroad among the nations but if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them though they're aware of you and cast out to the uttermost part of the heaven yet I will gather them from hence and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there and look to God for his help as we consider this section and other parts of the book together really I want to have a bit of an overview of the book with a theme of building for God building for God and I want to ask each of us this afternoon are we building and if we are building what are we building how are we building into the things of God Ezra and Nehemiah was one book in the Hebrew scriptures and it really has a theme of return and rebuilding return and rebuilding and when we come to the ministry of Nehemiah he is discouraged he's burdened about the conditions of Jerusalem he's actually concerned about the place where God's name should be honored and I would take from that that we can learn lessons in terms of the local assembly the local assembly is a place where the Lord has chosen to place his name and a place where the name of the Lord Jesus should be upheld and should be honored and should be revered and in verse number three we read something of what was going on the walls of Jerusalem had broken down and its gates burned with fire the spiritual and the political conditions of the nation were discouraging and were burdensome to Nehemiah so much so that he wept and prayed and mourned and fasted as a result of the news that he heard how up to date is that in our experience because we look to the world around us and perhaps we look to a political scene and we're discouraged and we think of moral decline and decay in the things of the world around us but perhaps we look into our local assemblies and we're discouraged at situations that we face perhaps we look into our own lives and we experience discouragement as we reflect on maybe what we once were for God or the vision that we once valued or the thing that once grasped our attention and captivated our intellect and our will and our desire but yet we look around and we think well the walls they're crumbling down the gates they're burning with fire and perhaps we look and we speak to other people believers in this building that can look back to a time when assemblies were established and there were many people being saved and there was tremendous growth among the people of God and perhaps we can become discouraged well what I want to encourage you with this afternoon is not just a message of the discouragement that Nehemiah faced but the fact that there was a man that was able to see past the rubbish there was a man that was able to see beyond the discouragement he was able to see beyond the criticism and the conflict and he was able to see that there was something that could be built for God I want to encourage us all this afternoon that God can rebuild broken walls in our personal lives in our family lives and our assembly contexts so why was Nehemiah chosen of God and burdened of God well I would suggest that there are three things that mark Nehemiah three things that ought to mark each one of us Nehemiah was a man of burden he actually cared he actually cared he was a man of prayer that concern drove him before God in prayer but that burden and that need for prayer was not left there thirdly he was a man of action he was a man of action and perhaps we can look at our own lives and think well maybe I'm one or two out of the three maybe I'm burdened and maybe I pray but I'm not going to do anything or maybe we're more on the other side and we you know let's not pray about the thing let's not we just let's go let's do it and we're all action and no consideration well Nehemiah was a man of burden of prayer and of action and I want to think with you about the circumstances of Nehemiah the condition of the city the care of Nehemiah the cry of Nehemiah and some of the conflict and criticism of Nehemiah and I will fall into the category and that Mr Lavery was referring of him in too many points but I'm sure you'll forget me with that and a lot of C's but hope they aren't rough C's and the circumstances of Nehemiah the circumstances of Nehemiah we see in chapter one that he is in Sushan and he's in the palace he's in a beautiful context geographically a place that was a nice place to visit a place that would have been a beautiful context to live and to work and he had a beautiful home he had a job that was a responsible position he was the cupbearer to the king which was the person that would make sure that there was no attacks via the food and drink of the king he would be the one that would be close to the king he would advise the king he was someone with a position of responsibility and yet he cared about the conditions of the people of God you know we read that and that the Hakaliah and so we read in verse number two that Hananiah one of the brethren came and certain men of Judah and it's interesting that Nehemiah's first concern was the welfare of God's people he says how are they doing you know Nehemiah could have been very easy to say come come Hananiah let's take a walk around the palace gardens let's see the great place where I'm living and the great climate that I'm enjoying look at the palace look at all the rooms look at the responsibility that I have you know because materially positionally in terms of his life he had a great job he had a great home but his priority was still the things of God you know that's a challenge in my heart because can I become so focused on serving myself and my business and my home that if there's a need or a concern of the people of God that I'm so wrapped up in the things of the world that I'm unable to meet that because here we see the circumstances of Nehemiah were very comfortable but beyond that there was conditions that moved his heart that he may seek the welfare of the people of God he says the walls are broken down the gates are burned with fire and the walls of an ancient city they were not just decorative and they were not just a nice feature they were really essential for the safety of the nation of the city and a city that had no walls was a city that was vulnerable it could easily be attacked and plundered and the walls in this city had fallen down they had crumbled there was no defense there was nothing to keep the enemies out and there was nothing to keep the people safe within I want to apply that to my own life both as an individual and as a local assembly are the walls that keep out the things of the world and keep my own soul sweet are they being built up or broken down is the wall of my daily bible reading being built up or torn down is the wall of my personal prayer life being built up or being brought down as the walls of separation that keep the things of the world out of my life being built up or broken down because here we see when the walls began to crumble they were susceptible to attack they were susceptible to attack we see the results of that in verse number three he says that they're they're distressed they're reproached and there was a small number of faithful followers of god and they were tense they were on edge and they were mocked they were living in survival mode they were living in survival mode I wonder is my christian life and the assembly of which I form a part are we living in survival mode because what had contributed to their discouragement and their distress was that the walls had come down they had no protection they had no provision they had no security and they were subject to the attacks of the enemy but you know the thing that marked Nehemiah and it should mark you and I is a care for the people of god and a care for the world that is dying and is lost and is on their way to hell and we wonder do we really care because Nehemiah he heard of the condition of the city he heard of what had gone on and he just was so moved by what happened that he went and he sat down and he wept and he mourned and he fasted and prayed we see the reaction of a man of god when he hears of discouragement and dismay among god's people it drives him to god it drives him to see that only god can meet that need and I wonder today do I really care about my spiritual condition do I really care about the spiritual condition of the nation or of the assembly or have I become so accustomed to just going through the habits of christian life that when I hear of discouragement or division or discord or any of these things that I become hardened because Nehemiah was able to look past all of the discouragement and see that god can rebuild god can strengthen god can add and I wonder how I would react if I got the news that Nehemiah did god was going to use Nehemiah god was going to use Nehemiah and his leadership ability in order to see something done but firstly god was going to do work in him it wasn't an immediate overnight thing that he heard it and then he was out the next day he prayed and he waited and he had opportunity to speak with the king to have letters to have permission to go and to build but god had been preparing the heart of for the work that he was going to do and there was three aspects as I've referenced already to Nehemiah's preparation the burden of heart the care of the people and the dependence upon god and his willingness to go I wonder am I willing to respond to meet the needs of other believers or am I so unmoved because Nehemiah could have said I'm really sorry to hear things are pretty rough over there but you know look how things are pretty good here you know and he might have been able to say well the lines are falling into me in pleasant places and left them untouched and unaffected but Nehemiah had a care that moved them and that led to him expressing to god his dependence upon him and that's where we come to the cry of Nehemiah because there are various times in the book that Nehemiah prays and chapter one we can learn lessons of how he prayed firstly he had a correct view of god and he had a correct view of himself you know that was really the same experience that john the baptist had when he spoke of the lord jesus he says he must increase and i must decrease and he goes and he says i pray lord god of heaven oh great and terrible or great and awesome god he recognized that god was powerful the god that spoke the world into being the god that had called them and delivered them out of egypt is a god that could see construction re-established and boundaries rebuilt and security and safety brought back for the people of god and he says i pray lord god of heaven he first of all recognized that god is powerful god is able to meet the need i wonder if we ever really grasped the capability of god to bless and he says he sees god as a sovereign and powerful god and he believes that god was able to work he believed that god was able to build and rebuild what had been lost someone said these words that every great movement of god can be traced to a kneeling figure every great movement of god can be traced to a kneeling figure are we burdened about the condition of our lives spiritually and the condition of our nations and doesn't drive us like it did nehemiah before god to plead with god that he would work that he would move you know i can come and i can maybe say well there's things in my life and there's things in the assembly that i'm a part of and and i don't really like it i don't really like how this happens i don't really like how we do this but you know i have to always come back to this if everyone in the assembly was like me what would it be like if everyone in the assembly was like me what would it be like because i maybe say well you know sometimes the bible reading can be can be hard going but if i don't spend any time preparing then i'm part of the problem i can say well we never have anyone out to gospel meeting when was the last time i invited someone each of us have a responsibility to build in to the local assembly of which we form a part and nehemiah didn't look for a way out he didn't look for someone else to take responsibility and he says lord you're able and i'm willing to go i'm willing to go and maybe we're not going to be called to the type of service and leadership like nehemiah was but we are called to bell in to the local assembly and he recognized his part and all he even said that both i and my father's house of sin he didn't just place the blame on someone else he took responsibility that he was part of the failure and he was part of the problem and we see a longer prayer in chapter one and a shorter prayer in chapter two as he said before the king he was a man of prayer not just a man of prayers he lived in the atmosphere of prayer and even we see in chapter two as he goes before the king he prays and he begins to speak he was living a life that was dependent upon god and in touch with the will of god and when he was doing that and when he was receptive to the will of god for him and for his life very quickly he experienced criticism and he experienced conflict and he experienced mockery and scorn and derision and you think i wonder if a few days then he was thinking i could have been really much more cushy in the palace it would have been much easier to stay over there rather than to get out and to be working among people and to be serving the lord in this way someone said these words that there's no winning without warfare there's no opportunity without opposition there's no victory without vigilance for whenever the people of god say let us arise and build satan says let me arise and oppose and very quickly as nehemiah was subject to the will of god and he was willing to go and to obey god there were a variety of enemies that nehemiah faced and the he experienced it attacks personally he experienced attacks in terms of the wall he was constructing in terms of the people that he was working with and as soon as they were about to begin and before they even began there was opposition that came and i want to look just a few of the things that nehemiah experienced and a few of the responses that nehemiah had because we can learn a lot from this man we can learn a lot of his devotion of his character of his ability to live for god and to build for god and we see very early on that san balat the horonite and tobiah the servant the ammonite and gesham the arabian when they heard it they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said what is this thing you do will you rebel against the king then answered i then and said unto him the god of heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build but ye have no portion nor right nor memorial in jerusalem so as soon as he began to build and to speak of building there were three enemies that appeared sambala tobiah and gesham and you know there's three enemies in our christian life there's the enemy of the world the thing that is all around us not necessarily specific things that constitute the world that all makes a part of the world but ultimately is the system of the world the thinking of the world the philosophy of the world and the bible says that we have not to love the world nine of the things that are in the world so there's the enemy that we face of the world but then there's also the enemy of the flesh that's the problem that we all have that's the problem that we all battle with because the day i was saved i became a new creation the bible says i was born again romans 6 teaches that the old man was crucified when christ was crucified he when i was saved i identified and i'm represented and what christ had already done but what i am left with is the flesh and there's nothing that will improve and nothing that will get better about the flesh this side of heaven and we battle it day in and day out so we have the enemy of the world the enemy of the flesh and the enemy the devil the father of lies the prince of this world who seeks to attack who seeks to bring down who seeks to sow discord and nehemiah had a threefold enemy and you and i have a threefold enemy i wonder our response to the enemies nehemiah could have responded and started to say well you wait and see you wait and see what's going to happen you know i have been moved of god you can see the things that have opened up for me to be able to come here sambalat to buy a gestion you wait and i'll show you what god's going to do he doesn't come across with that attitude at all he's dependent upon god and he says the god of heaven he will prosperous he's depending dependent wholly upon the character of god and nehemiah he didn't respond by arguing or seeking a debate he just reacted with a humble dependence upon god and you know you and i brothers and sisters will face scorn as a result of identifying with christ and there's no point in getting into a fight and an argument every single time but we can't let nehemiah depend upon her god but then there was not just the the scorn but there was the outright mockery you know they said even even if they do build it if a fox will go up it'll break down the wall they were just laughing they were just like how ridiculous that they're going to do this and you know a fox will go up and the whole thing i'll come down they were looking at it and just they were just laughing at the smallness and the weakness of it you know if you were in a conversation with someone about the assembly or the amount of people that have been out and you think well it's so small and they maybe look at you and think well well is that just one of your small groups you know no that that's that's everyone that's that's all of us and you think well there's just the the smallness but here nehemiah he just looked to the work he was doing and it appeared to be feeble and it appeared to be weak but god was in it and i think of the words of the hymn little is when god is in it labor not for wealth or fame and god is able to bless that which pleases him that doesn't mean brothers and sisters that we strive for smallness it means that we are able to depend upon the god of heaven and cast like nehemiah the division before the people and say god is able to rebuild these walls god is able and even among the people there was a negativity that began to creep in chapter 4 verse 10 judah said that the strength of the bearers of burden is decayed there's so much rubbish so we're not able to build the wall you know this is probably a key moment in the life of those that were building because they were looking around and the pressure was getting to them they were getting discouraged they were looking around at all the rubbish you know this wasn't a day where they could just go in with a jcb and clear everything up and get rid of all the rubbish and begin to build and clear the land this was manual labor and they were able to look at the place where they built and they would just see all the rubbish that was piled up from the city and they're saying it's just too much it just seems so hard to overcome nehemiah was able to see that god can work beyond the rubbish and he recognized that they had to clear it out perhaps there's rubbish in my life that i have to clear out before i'm able to really do a work for god are there things that are a distraction in your personal walk of god to you serving god are there things in your assembly that are distractions to the real issues that we really need to address and face that there's a world that is dying and we are called to be a light and to be a testimony and we're called to honor god and to obey the scriptures and perhaps as we were hearing earlier there are things that come into our relationships and what they have become is a distraction to the big issues that we need to face so as well as the mockery and the negativity there was disunity chapter four seems to end on a very positive note they're working and chapter three they're working chapter four we see them that they're going on but in chapter five there's a problem that comes in and it's the problem now of disunity because if satan can't hinder the work of god by external means he will come in amongst us and seek to tear apart from the inside and here we see that the problem in chapter five it was actually money related what actually became a problem among the people of god was the things of money and of property and instead of focusing on the wall there were some that were being financially hindered and they were sacrificing in order to be at the wall and to be building and there were then those that had money and they were wealthy and they said well you're struggling financially as a result of the work you're doing why don't i give you a loan and they were charging significant interest rates i know some of us know about significant interest rates right now look at the houses and that type of thing and then you know speak to people they say well i remember it was 18 and then you just you know go back in your box but we see here were people that were charging interest rates for people that were sacrificing to be building the wall so the problem now wasn't the enemies around there wasn't the it was actually the people that were working and how often do we hear or face situations when discouragement comes from people we expect to be behind us again the hamaya i'm focused on what god has given me to do if other people will criticize if there's going to be conflict within it may be so but i'm going to keep going i'm going to keep focused on what god has for me to do and i want to encourage every one of us today that god has a work for us to do and we must keep focused on the things that he has for us because there will be disunity there will be mockery but we need to strive for unity and for strength and for vision and even in chapter six there was a problem of compromise after things were done sambah and tobiah they come and they say well come down come down and let's talk let's let's meet let's and nehemiah says i will not go down i will not go down he says i'm not going to compromise on what god has called me to do i'm not going to compromise on the word of god and although it was geographical we can apply it spiritually that when we compromise we go down we go down and it seems that nehemiah moved with humble dependence upon god and he moved with humility he moved with vision he's focusing on building the wall when it comes to the issue of money as we've been healing already he went and dealt with the problem he didn't just let it go he went and confronted them and said no this isn't okay and when it came to the problem of compromise he says no i will not go down i'm not going down and i wonder if there's areas in our life where we have to just put out that lane and say i will not go down i will not do it i will not enter into a compromised position because i know that when i compromise the word of god i will go down and some of us know it by hearing it some of us know by experience that when we compromise the word of god we go down but what was the contributing factors to the construction there's a story that's told of the days when sir christopher wren he was rebuilding st paul's cathedral in london and he went around and he was making a tour of the work that was in progress and he came upon a man and he and he's working and he says what are you doing he says i i'm i'm cutting i'm cutting out a stone he said oh very good very good and he walks on to the next man and he says what are you doing and he says well i'm i'm earning you know this amount of money at my work i'm just gonna make my day i'm trying to provide for my family and he says oh great great and he goes on to another man and he says what are you doing and the man turned and he says i'm helping sir christopher wren build the st paul's cathedral they were all doing the same thing but they all had a different perspective on what we're doing and i wonder when we come and we think of the testimony that we are a part of and we think of the work in the gospel or in the assembly perhaps we're doing certain things but what is our perspective what is our view because there was a man that changed the heart and the direction of the work here in the instance of nehemiah and he looked in his perspective that god was able to rebuild and god was able to strengthen and god was able to bless and in verse 18 of chapter 2 nehemiah told them of the goodness of god how god had spoken how god had provided a way and the people responded to the word of god let us arise and build so what made the difference i want to suggest there were three things that contributed to the construction they were receptive in their listening they were collective in their efforts and they were positive in their outlook they were receptive to the word of god nehemiah comes and he says right this is this is how it took place i should be over there there's really no way that i would have been able to get this time off to come i know that god is in i know that god is able to work and they say well let us arise and build let us do it and how many of us will leave a gathering like this and be prepared to go out and build in to the local assembly because paul we see in first corinthians chapter three that he says you are body of christ you're the character of the body of christ you represent and he says to them that we are fellow laborers together with god that changes everything brother and sister that means that god is willing to use you and i in the things of his service i don't have time to develop it but you go through the gospel of john and you look at the times that the lord jesus commands people to do something and he shows them that they have a responsibility and then he does his work and hand in hand we see the work of god and the responsibility of the individual john chapter he says to the servants go and fill the water pots but he turns the water into wine he says lazarus come forth but he raises him from the dead and today there's perhaps something in your experience in your life and god is telling you to go to arise and to build and leave the work of god to god alone and we do our part and we see that they were working hand in hand they were each in the area where god had chosen them to be and they labored together they were together in the work that they did they were collective in their efforts and chapter three of nehemiah i guess is such a list of all the different people that were involved they were all involved in different tasks and in chapter four we see that the laborers they they carried their loads they they worked with one hand and they had a weapon in the other and someone has titled that section the sword and the trail and i can't help but think of the centrality and the importance of god's word when we're doing the work of god because the word of god is a defense against error and against false truth false doctrine in order to preserve truth but it's also the trail that builds up and encourages and i wonder if we have the same attitude of the people in nehemiah when they responded by saying let us arise and build i'm sure all of us from time to time face situations that would discourage us but i want to challenge every one of our hearts beginning with nine are we able to look past the rubbish and see the character of god are we able to look past the discouragement and believe that god is able to rebuild the walls in our lives and their assemblies because if we believe like the people that nehemiah spoke to if we truly believe that god is able and we truly believe that nothing is too hard for the lord then our response will just be like the people that nehemiah preached to and we will say individually and we will say collectively let us arise and build are you going to be a builder in your assembly are you going to be a builder in your christian life and i want to ask all of us are we building or are we deconstructing the walls of testimony for god may god bless us