Neh No.9 The Trowel, The Sword and The Trumpet

I, chapter 4, from verse 13. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places I even set the people after their families and their swords, their spears and their bows. And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not ye afraid of them, remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.

And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. And it came to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields and the bows, and the Habergians. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us, and our God shall fight for us. So we laboured in the work.

And half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us and labourer on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

Now it would be helpful, I think, if you have a Bible open at the fourth chapter of the book of Nehemiah. If I were asked what were the essential needs of a local church to be effective in its ministry in the twentieth century, I would probably astonish the questioner by a threefold answer. I would say that any effective Christian community needs a trowel and a sword and a trumpet.

TST can be as explosive in the service of God as TNT given to a group of guerrillas. Now in this particular chapter and towards the end of the passage you will find explicitly or by implication these three instruments referred to, the trowel, the sword and the trumpet. And if you stay the course of our meditation, if you plug in your concentration to what is coming at you from the pulpit, you will see, I believe, that when I say the essential requirements of a local church are the trowel, the sword and the trumpet, that they indeed speak for something that will make sense and be applicable to you as an individual and to the tabernacle family as a whole.

But before we look into the symbolism of this chapter, let me just remind, for the sake of visitors who are with us this bank holiday weekend and those of you who've only been coming from time to time and have not been here week by week, let me remind you as to what has happened prior to the thirteenth verse of this fourth chapter of this slender volume from the Old Testament. This book is a classic illustration of what it means to be an evangelist, a worker for the service of Jesus Christ. I was saying last week that people who think that the Old Testament is not really a fit book for study for a Sunday morning because then we should be exalting our Lord Jesus indicate their ignorance of Scripture and the reason why the Lord God has given us two sections to the Bible.

The very principles of discipleship which our Lord Jesus illustrates are enumerated in the Old Testament as well as expounded and amplified in the New. And Nehemiah is a man who, if he is anything at all, is a worker for God. Now, within the kingdom of God, Jesus calls all believers to be workers.

There is no unemployment in God's service. In a parable that Jesus related, he puts a question up to a group of men, why are you standing idly by in the marketplace? And in another passage, he refers to the work of God and he says, give the laborers a few, pray for more. No unemployment in the service of God.

Well, here in the Old Testament, I say, is an example of a man who sold out for God. He comes from Persia to Jerusalem, he's got a vision. What is that vision? Well, everyone who's been in attendance here in the tabernacle recently could answer.

His vision is to rebuild the walls, to rehang the gate of the holy city and, as I have spelt out on several occasions, this symbolizes God's work. Every sensitive Jew was concerned for the security of Jerusalem. Every sensitive Christian is concerned for the fortifications of the kingdom of God around the world, has also an interest in his own faith, that he might be built up, that he may be strong spiritually, that he may become more and more invulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.

Well, Nehemiah arrives at Jerusalem and he takes, you remember, that trip around the perimeter of the city at night. Then he discloses to his contemporaries the very vision that he received from God years ago, or rather months ago, in Persia. And he is able to excite support, a veritable army of labourers stand by him and they give attention to the task of repairing these walls, which have been in a state of disrepair since Nebuchadnezzar stormed Jerusalem and ruined the city.

But you recall that in the fourth chapter, after everything had gone very well indeed, Nehemiah runs up against difficulty. The folks who are helping him, they become disillusioned. You remember I referred to this last week.

The job was half done. And as I was saying last night when preaching over at the town hall, it's when a task is half complete that the pressure really does come, because the initial enthusiasm is waning. We thank God for the folks who were demolishing the wall outside.

I wish they'd have been building one yesterday. It would have fitted in better with my address this morning. However, they were demolishing that wall.

And unfortunately I was nursing a cold myself, so I haven't been able to help. But I dare suggest that by 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock, well, things were flagging a little bit. That initial enthusiasm had gone because that initial energy had been dissipated.

But with task mastery and land cracking, they demolished the wall. And, well, you can see the mess outside for yourself. So here is Nehemiah.

And there's been a little bit of difficulty amongst the folks. They are disillusioned. Half the work done and there's a lot more to do, so what does Nehemiah do? Well, he's not discouraged himself.

He's not despondent. We find this in the 14th verse. When everyone else is looking down, he looks up and he inspires people.

He's an encourager. And let me break off just for a moment with another digression. It's a good thing to be an encourager in the service of God.

There are so many folks who would discourage us. There are times when we need people to come along and to excite us and to restore our vision. And this is what Nehemiah epitomizes.

He's an encourager of people. Somebody was talking to me about Dr. Lloyd-Jones the other day. And the way that that great man of God has been used, not only when he was a preacher in the centre of London, but in his itinerant ministry in these days, in encouraging young men, particularly in the ministry.

Lloyd-Jones is anything besides being a Bible expositor. He's an encourager of people. And there are times when we need to be encouraged.

Times when on occasions you hear of things which would depress you and cause you to be filled with despondency. I get it sometimes myself, you know. Last weekend was a classic example.

Monday, I felt so depressed in the work of God. Certain things had gone wrong and they were causing my mind to be overactive and I wasn't sleeping very well. I felt so discouraged.

Now, Nehemiah, he was an encourager of people when they were depressed and deflated. And so, he withstands the disillusionment of certain folks who have come to him and told him, as repeated in the tenth verse, that the work is too great. No, says Nehemiah, it's not too great.

God's on our side. You look down, but I want you to look up. So he excites them to continue with the task.

And it's at this point that I want to bring you face to face with three items that become very, very prominent in the strategy of Nehemiah in getting that wall completed. The implements of the trowel and the sword and the trumpet that were vital to the ongoing of the work of God in Nehemiah's day. And as I shall show you, at least symbolically, they are equally vital today.

Now, by implication, you find reference to the trowel and indeed the sword in verse 17. Let's read that verse again. They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

They're building a wall, and in one hand they've got to implement a tool which will help them to build it. What can that tool be? Well, I suggest to you that the obvious deduction is this. It's a trowel.

And in the other hand, they've got a weapon, something that they're going to use to ward off any who would attack and interfere with the completion of the God-given assignment. They have a sword. The trowel and the sword.

And in the 18th verse, reference is made to another article which was vital, the latter part, and he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And in the 20th verse, the use of the trumpet is itemised. In what place, therefore, you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us, our God shall fight for us.

Let's think, first of all, about the trowel. It was essential for building, essential for building, for the improving and maintenance of fortifications in the kingdom of God. You always need the trowel.

There's a great deal of troweling work to be done. Now, several things can be said about applying the trowel to the work of God. And the first is that it's often unseen work.

We're dealing with the practicalities of maintaining the work of God in the 20th century, and we're pulling out our principles from this Old Testament volume. Now, the man who works behind the wall with a trowel is sometimes unseen. Occasionally, perhaps, if you're on the outside of a building site, you may see his hands, maybe now and again get a glimpse of his head.

But what he's doing completely is never revealed. It's often concealed behind the wall. And there are always those who have to work in the kingdom of God with a trowel, and a lot of what they do is unseen.

And what's more, if you're working with a trowel, it has to be methodical. One piece of stone is just like another. And let's face it, the task that was in hand for these labourers in Nehemiah's day wasn't particularly attractive.

It's one thing to start to put one stone upon another stone and another stone, but when you get to your 5,000th stone, or your 10,000th, then it begins to lose a little bit of its romanticism. But it needs methodical work. Behind the wall, to continue its building, and indeed to repair it, the work is often unseen, I say.

It's methodical work, and it demands regularity. Even when the wall is built, it has to be inspected. You have to plug the gaps.

Some of you who own your own houses know that from time to time you have to have your house pointed in case the cement has worn away, and any loose cement has to be cut out with a trowel and then more cement put in. Unseen work. Methodical work.

Regular work. Now, I say this troweling is so necessary. If the kingdom of God is going to maintain its fortifications, if it's going to maintain its strength in the 20th century, there are always practical areas that we are to attend to.

Young Samuel was a trowel man. Remember, he's back in Shiloh as a little lad. What's he doing in the temple there, or rather in the sanctuary there? Well, he's trimming the lamps.

No one will see him doing this, but it's most important that the lamps are trimmed if that sanctuary is going to be used as a place of worship. Behind-the-scenes work. What about the unnamed person who kept the boat that our Saviour sometimes sailed on in God's seaworthy condition? Sometimes the Lord Jesus used this as a pulpit.

Have you ever thought who looked after that boat? Behind-the-scenes work, trowel work, if I can use that expression metaphorically. What about old Martha? She's sometimes criticised and misunderstood. There she is in the kitchen at Bethany, and she's doing good work behind the scenes.

Nobody knows how many youth fellowships she gave hospitality to, how many strangers she ministered to. The local synagogue, they didn't know, but God knew that Martha, so to speak, had got a trowel in her hand. She was working at the wall, behind the scenes, methodically, regularly, and she was doing valiant service.

When the Apostle Paul is a prisoner, from time to time he recognises those people who have been particularly good to him. And in the second epistle that he writes to Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 16, he makes mention of a man by the name of Onesiphorus. And he says, The Lord give mercy.

The Lord bless Onesiphorus. Why? Well, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. He gave hospitality.

He visited me when I was in Rome. Similarly, Paul refers to another of his friends in the epistle of Philemon as being one who was often engaging in the task of, as the A.V. delightfully puts it, refreshing the bowels of the saints, looking after men and women in their need. You see, this is troweling work.

I could go on, almost ad infinitum, showing you from the Old Testament and from the New Testament that in working for God, there are practical issues that must be attended to. The trowel is necessary. But not only is the trowel alluded to by implication in this 17th verse, but as I have already shown you, also the sword.

If the trowel is essential for building, then the sword is vital for repelling. So we've got this picture of these Hebrews, contemporaries of Nehemiah, and they've got a trowel in one hand and the sword in the other. Now, why did they need this sword? Well, it's perfectly obvious.

They were going to be attacked. The first part of this fourth chapter we read of the enemies of Israel, these hostile forces who did not want Jerusalem's walls to be rebuilt, who wanted the city to remain just as it was. And they're not going to stand idly by as God's work is proceeding.

So not only is a trowel necessary for the rebuilding of the wall, but a sword, so that that rebuilding can continue. And those who would oppose it can be warded off, can be shoved away. Now, what is the sword? What does that stand for? If the trowel refers to practicalities, the sword surely epitomizes spiritualities in the service of the kingdom of God.

Many of you here, and we praise God for it, are Bible students. You read the word of God day by day. And you could tell me very easily that in the last chapter of the Ephesian epistle we find that the sword of the Lord is referred to as the word of God.

And we know full well that people who are to engage in the service of the Lord are to be men of the book. Now, in Nehemiah's day, it would be ridiculous to have a sword that was unsheathed. You try to wield a sword that's unsheathed, it's no use at all.

At least, it's very little use. It's not effective. Similarly with the word of God.

Those who are going to be working in the kingdom of God have to have a knowledge of this book. Again, I was arguing last night that there is no distinction, really, in the Christian community between the clergy and the laity. We all stand equal before the word of God.

We're all priests. I'm not criticizing those who do, but that's one of the reasons why I refuse to wear ecclesiastical garments or take religious titles. I see no distinction at all between the clergy and the laity.

We are all priests of God. We all have a ministry. We all need to hold a sword.

Now, that applies to you young fellows in the balcony as well as to our older people down here. When Jesus was tempted, how did he resist the assault of the devil? You remember those temptations in the wilderness. Well, he did so by using his sword.

The devil says, take these stones and turn them into bread. The devil says, throw yourself off one of the pinnacles of the temple. Be a stunt man.

He said, here are the kingdoms of the world. Fall down and worship me and I'll make you the president of the United Nations. And every time the Lord was tempted to be deflected from fulfilling the work of God, what did he do? He quoted God's word.

It is written. It is written. Here is the sword, you see.

It's unsheathed. He knows what text of scripture to quote. He knows what the principles of the Old Testament are and he uses them to repel borders for he has a work to do.

He has a kingdom to build. So with a trowel in one hand, concerned always is our Savior with the practicalities of things and the sword in the other. He engages in the service of God.

Now that sword needs to be trusted. I wonder if you trust the word of God. Says the writer to the Hebrews, the word of God is sharp and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

It cuts to the dividing asunder of the flesh and of the marrow, the bone and the marrow. In the days of one of the judges of Israel, one of the leaders of the Hebrew community, they were attacked by their enemies and Gideon is now in command and he's got a group of crack troops, of men who really are trained in warfare and at a given signal, they all emerge from the darkness and they cry, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. They believe that they can repel all borders because they have in their hands a sword which can be effectively wielded in the service of God.

And the principle remains down Old Testament history and flows over into the New Testament era and down to the 20th century. You can repel borders through the word of God. Some of you think that perhaps I've got an axe to grind when I'm constantly asking you to come to a Bible teaching ministry.

But if it's an axe that I grind, then it's one that God, my Heavenly Father, gave me in the first instance because it's only the word of God which will empower you to be able to resist the assaults of the devil. It's only the word of God which will keep this church strong. If you want to close the tabernacle, then start men expounding this book and you'll do it within a short space of time, I guarantee you.

There needs to be a trowel in one hand, the practicalities. A sword in the other, the spiritualities. Have you noticed something about these Hebrews? They were ambidextrous.

They could use either hand. Marvellous! I wish I was literally ambidextrous. My left hand, unfortunately, is nowhere near as strong as my right hand.

And sometimes I get into real trouble when I'm typing because I always bash the keys with my right hand far harder than I do with my left with the result that the letter looks a little bit skew to say the least. But what we need in the service of God are ambidextrous Christians, you know? Concerned with the practicalities and the spiritualities. You always get a distinction, it seems to me, in local churches.

Those who are, oh, so spiritual, you know? Oh, we're in at the prayer meeting. Very good indeed. Around the Lord's table, excellent.

We love the exposition of God's word. The spiritualities. These are tremendous.

What about the practicalities? What about cleaning the church? Who does that? Do you ever think of that, incidentally? I mean, you come into a nice, clean sanctuary every Sunday. Does it ever occur to you that we have a small army of people who literally take a duster and clean the chair and the pews? We come around the Lord's table. Thank God for that bread and for that wine and for what it means.

Does it ever occur to you that somebody has to pitch into the church at ten o'clock in the morning to fill all those little goblets and to cut that bread and to prepare this? The trowel and the sword. You see, there's always a delightful blend in Scripture between the spiritualities and the practicalities. But alas, in the 20th century we're either very spiritual, you know, I've got a sword, or we're very practical.

All right for those people going to the prayer meeting but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty it's the likes of me that comes along and knocks the wall down outside or slashes emulsion on the church hall. Walls. But you see, in the Kingdom of God and some of our older folks realize that they are exempted to some degree on the practicalities.

As we realize, the passing of years means that to some extent there is bound to be a rundown of the practical things that you can do. I say that tenderly and I say that in love. But that doesn't apply to the majority of us.

We are to be sword men and we are to be trowel men. The trowel, essential for building. The sword, vital for repelling.

But there's just one more thing that I want to say before I conclude our little study this morning. What about the trumpet? You see, the trumpet comes into it, doesn't it? Look here at the 18th verse. For the builder's every one had his sword girded by his sight, and so builded.

And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And then verse 20 gives reason for the use of the trumpet. In what place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet resort ye thither unto us.

Our God shall fight for us. Now the trumpet was vital in the whole strategy of Nehemiah's work. Why? Well, you see, that was a long war.

Not as long as that war that goes through China or the war that we English had to build up to keep the Scots out of the country some years ago. But it was a quite extensive war. Anson Ballat and Tobia, these men who were opposed to the Jewish people working in the city, they were disposed to have a look round the wall and see where there were the least number of Jews.

And there they'd make the attack. So you see, you've got a strategy on their part which needs to be compensated by Nehemiah. And he's got spiritual discernment.

He knows what it's about. He outwits the enemies of Israel. And when he goes round the wall he's got a trumpeter by him.

And when he realises that there's a handful of men here who are exposed, who are about to be attacked, and they've got no one in the vicinity who will help, he gets the bugler to play a tune. And they all join together. All the troops, all the labourers, they move from where they're working in the wall, they come together, and they increase the strength in that particular area where there's likely to be an attack.

The writer of the Hebrew Epistle makes reference in chapter 10 and verse 25 to the assembling of ourselves together. He says, you're not to neglect that. You're to come together in community.

Why do we come together? After all, I would concede quite easily, or quite readily at any rate, that one could be a Christian on one's own. You might never be a member of the tabernacle or any local church. You could just be a solitary person, and well, yes, you could be a Christian.

I'll admit to that, but there are features about that attitude which are really deplorable. You see, the Lord God brings us together in community so that we can strengthen one another. So that we can worship the Lord together.

So that we can feel the presence of God. Look, verse 20 again. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us, and our God shall fight for us.

Why do we come together in community? To worship God. To share our problems. To talk about the weaknesses that there may be in our own personalities, or in the work that we're attending to in the wall for our God.

And perhaps if the latter is the case and we need more recruits. Perhaps if there are personal blemishes and defects in our own personality, then as we share these, and as we come under the sound of Bible exposition, we shall be strengthened and be better fighters for our Lord God. When Jesus drew along those two who were going on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, they talked about their hearts burning within them.

In community they knew the presence of God, and they felt strengthened thereby. And so, my dear friends, do you and also should I in the service of God in the 20th century in community. We assemble together.

We know His presence. Exodus 19 and verse 19 refers to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

So the bugler blows the trumpet at the tabernacle, so to speak, on a Sunday at 11 o'clock and 6.30. And time by time, midweek also. And the sound of that trumpet is something to respond to. For as we come together in community, we're strengthened.

We know God's presence. You ask me as a question was that I put up at the beginning of my meditation, what articles are necessary to ensure that you've got a strong local group of Christians? I say you need a trowel for them to have in one hand, a sword in the other hand. And from time to time for someone to blow the trumpet so they can come together in community and sense the presence of God and be strengthened in their work for the Lord.

Amen. Father God, take our right hand and in it place a trowel. Take our left and may our fingers wrap round the hilt of the sword.

And at the sound of the trumpet, bring us frequently together in community. And in all our labours, may we know success as we build the wall of the kingdom of God for our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.