The Apostle Peter reminds us that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the foundation of our faith. And secure in that knowledge, we are called to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God.
Church is all about people. The church is the people. I want to talk about the fact that the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ, and the foundation of your life is Jesus Christ, if you’re a Christian. Maybe somebody here is rediscovering the orientation of what their lives should be.
1 Peter was written at a time of severe persecution. Peter wrote the letter to a variety of people in different towns around Turkey, and the letter was read out to different groups of believers.
Just like a young baby, we are to desire the sincere milk of the word. Everything else in life apart from Jesus Christ is transient. In v4, Peter talks about who Jesus is in the context of the church.
There isn’t one prayer He hasn’t heard. And He doesn’t just hear prayers, but He answers them too.
1 Peter 2:4-6
I want to look at what is a spiritual sacrifice, because if that’s acceptable to God, I want to be involved in it. We aren’t looking at Old Testament sacrifices. But there’s a spiritual house now.
1 Peter 2:6-11
There’s a total difference between being part of the people of God, and not being a part. There are people again this week who have heard news about employment problems, losing jobs, and so on. One common denominator is that as a Christian, there is no doubt whatsoever that God is more involved with your life than you realise. The circumstances of your life are there because He loves you.
You may say that there are things going in your life which don’t seem to stack up against that. But God is proving Himself as your provider in your life. I can react either by throwing in the towel and ask what this life is about. Or I can face the circumstances of life head on and accept the fact that Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone, loves me and gave Himself for me, and the relationship I now have by God’s Holy Spirit is real. It’s not a haphazard hope.
Peter was keen to encourage people not to forget what it said in the Old Testament – Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world, and provided as the solution to your life. Even before this world was made, He knew you’d be here in your situation this morning. And the words you are hearing this morning by His Holy Spirit are a direct result of Him wanting to communicate with you. He loves you.
He makes Himself known to us through different routes. He’ll make Himself known.
Isaiah 28:16-18
“He that believeth shall not make haste” has nothing to do with speed. It’s communicating that he who believes is not anxious, not in a panic. I am not going to be anxious. There’s a sure foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
When the same information comes to me in my work place, the impact of that information on me as a believer in God is received in a totally different way from someone who does not know God. He is your loving heavenly father, and knows what He’s doing.
The progression of your life involves you knowing God inside as your provider, and the one bang in the centre of your life.
There have been quite a few times in my own life where the only solution could be God because I’d run out of ideas. And every time that has happened in my life, He’s done something.
And if you think about the answers you’ve received, and work things back, you realise that God must have set things in motion years ago, and they’ve come to fruition at exactly the right time. Many of you could stand up and give a testimony like that.
Peter was very keen that these new believers should realise their foundation.
Jesus referred to the same idea Himself. At the end of the parable of the vineyard, we have the following:
Mark 12:10-13
Jesus knew what He was about. He knew He was talking about Himself here. And when He hung on the cross, taking into Himself your sin, He knew about you. He was there to break the power of sin in your life. He knows all about you. And even if you think He hasn’t heard, He has heard, and the answer is coming, because He is not deaf to His children.
We see the concept of Jesus as the cornerstone repeated in Acts 4. This is Peter soon after Jesus had died and risen from the dead.
Acts 4:8-15
The Jewish people rejected Him, and in time the Gospel went out from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth. That’s why you’re here this morning.
Peter was concerned that these people should be aware of their situation and their relationship to Jesus Christ.
We have Paul talking about the concept of the cornerstone as well:
Ephesians 2:19-23
This church building is not where it’s at. The church is you and me – a group of people. The bride of Christ is the church – the group of people. And over this year and onwards, more and more will be added to the church as God’s Holy Spirit speaks to them. There will be a different foundation – Jesus Christ and what He wants to do in their life.
So when I am a Christian, I want to please my Father who is in heaven. I want to fulfil His purposes for my life. You knew that once, but you’ve let it go and drifted. And this morning God is pulling you back lovingly, saying that He is your foundation. You know that without Him you can do nothing.
I’d love to be able to talk to each of you individually, to ask after your circumstances and what impossibilities you are facing. Because I know that the impossibility people recount – that impossibility is a possibility in God. The foundation of your life is Jesus Christ. In no way will He let you down. He loves you. And your reaction to your circumstances will either be one of bitterness, or it will give you pause to consider who is the foundation of your life. Can He change things in your life? Of course! What do I want to do? The answer is that I want to do what is pleasing to Him. I want those spiritual sacrifices to which Peter refers in my own life.
Hebrews 13:15
That is a spiritual sacrifice. What does that mean in practical terms? My mindset needs to be that I am totally aware of what God has done in my life. At a moment’s notice, I could make a list of what I can thank God for. It wouldn’t be difficult, because the spiritual sacrifice of each of us is that we’re aware all the time of what we can be thankful for. That tends to cut across any moaning, any “poor me”. Everyone here can thank God for something.
There are things you have to deal with, I know. But what is your overriding frame of mind when you go about the day? Do you rejoice when you hear what God does for other people, or do you just wish it could happen to you?
Hebrews 13:16
“Communicate” is often in terms of giving and helping financially.
2 Corinthians 9:7-12
Giving thanks, giving to help others, being liberal – a cheerful giver, not tight-fisted, not “me and mine”, not working things out so that it destroys a heart of liberality. Be careful that you don’t work things out the wrong way.
Romans 12:1-3
There’s a spiritual sacrifice of continually giving thanks, of giving, and putting one’s whole life in line, proving what is that acceptable will of God.
Romans 12:2-4
As you think about practical things, what are spiritual sacrifices? What are those things which are pleasing to God? We’ve looked at some. Your prayers are a sacrifice to God.
Revelation 5:8
Revelation 8:3-4
It matters that you pray. God delights for you to become a co-worker with Him in prayer. You get alongside Him and become a co-worker. When you pray, He hears your prayer. He delights to hear. You’re praying because you know you need the answer from God. And those prayers which you pray are like sacrifices in that in the end time, the prayers of all the saints will be there.
Philippians 2:14-17
In the face of impossibilities, hold forth the word of life. And that’s a theme running through today. Peter said Jesus was the cornerstone. Take away the central stone, and the arch won’t be there any more. But with Jesus Christ immovable in the centre of the arch, He is building His church. And bang in the middle of your thinking, your aims and ambitions ... “I want to please you. What do you want me to do?” He’ll make it clear. If you’re trying to sort things out, try different doors. He will guide you. But be on the move – God can’t guide someone who stays put. And there is no way that God will let you down. He loves you. He’s a wonderful heavenly father.
The main message for you today is to live right, offering up spiritual sacrifice, holding forth the word of life, knowing what is the foundation of your life, going forward this week.
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Be Ye Holy as He is Holy
We are told to be holy as God is holy. That’s not some impossible requirement – we are called to be holy, because God has made it possible for us to be holy.
On Friday we set the scene for 1 Peter. The letter was written to churches in modern Turkey. At the time the letter was written, people were becoming aware of Nero’s persecution in Rome.
1 Peter 1:7
There was no doubt that at the time they received this letter – or certainly soon after – the persecution was very apparent and very real.
I mentioned how things happen in life and it’s our response to those happenings ... when something happens, the resulting pressure – the need for healing, for finance, for finding a particular solution – that pressure is something much more precious than gold.
I said that Peter knew the pressure there was when he denied Christ. He wasn’t in the best frame of mind at that point. But Jesus returned to speak to Peter – “Do you love me? Do you love me?” And Jesus drew out the guilt. And Peter was aware of the trial when Jesus gave His life – and for Peter, Jesus’ resurrection was specifically for Him, Peter.
Jesus returned also specifically for Thomas so that his faith would be unshakeable.
This morning we’ll look at how God is involved with you. It doesn’t matter what frame of mind you came in here with, the prompting of that frame of mind is a result of God already speaking to you. God makes us aware of our heart condition, of our need of Him. He causes us to realise that without Him there is no way forward. That realisation comes specifically to you this morning from a God of love.
We’ll look at some very practical things we can be doing to make sure we go forward in the right way.
1 Peter 1:1-16
The holiness of God – he mentions now. The quote “Be ye holy” comes from Leviticus. When it says that, it’s not some impossibility, that God casts down as a requirement. When Peter refers to this, it doesn’t say that we should be omnipotent like God, or omniscient. It’s that we should be holy as He is holy. What does that mean?
We also have the idea of being sanctified, set apart, different. God isn’t telling us to do our best, and we might hit it or not. Through God’s, mercy and the death of Jesus Christ, imputing to you the satisfaction that a holy God can now see through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God the resolution of the requirements of the law.
“Be ye holy” states that God is holy; and He gives you the capability of being holy. Each day we become more and more like Him, until we see Him face to face. There’s a sense in which it has all been done: sin has been dealt with, the price paid, the Lamb sacrificed. But there’s still a progressive aspect – we’re changed from glory to glory. We’re perfected as each day passes.
Maybe you’ve come wishing that God would do something, and believing it has to come from Him because you can’t do anything. These verses will help you. Peter points out that there is something you can do. You’re hearing this word this morning because God is working things out. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:13
We need to be ready to run. We need to be serious.
1 Peter 1:14
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
His prayer for them was that the God of peace would make them holy as individuals.
For some people who are trying to sort things out – perhaps finding it difficult – you can think back to the time when perhaps your parents dedicated you as a baby to God. The prayers of your parents were valid. God heard them. And faithful is He who calls you now who also will do it. You’re not here by accident. The stirring in your heart which may have made you realise there’s an emptiness inside, something which needs to be sorted out ... that realisation is God working in you.
I said to the school children that perhaps they were waiting for God to write their name in the sky, waiting for some cataclysmal event. But your realisation that something has to change ... that in itself is God working in an individual. That’s valid.
I referred to God the Holy Spirit working in you. Why is He called holy? Holiness matters. There’s a way of life where we have choices ... ally that to the working of God’s Holy Spirit working inside, and there’s an irresistible force going forward through the nature change on the inside, as God outworks His purposes inside you.
1 Peter 1:17
“Call on the father” – maybe you’ve prayed, calling out for help.
“Fear” means reverence, not some cowering thing.
1 Peter 1:18
“Vain tradition” means empty way of life.
1 Peter 1:19-21
It’s good to call on the Father. And in this whole passage ... Peter has in mind what happened at the Passover, when they were led out of Egypt, were led out of the land, and entered a land flowing with milk and honey. In the same way, as God outworks His purposes in your life, He’s calling you out of the old empty way of life which does not work, and He’s saying we should desire the sincere milk of the word.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
With the young people, it was apparent that under God’s direction, there was the ability and security of folk being honest, sincere, coming to the truth.
The light now coming into the hall is symptomatic of what God is doing, bringing to light His truth by His Holy Spirit – unearthing things, not to condemn or point the finger, but because faithful is He who called you, who also will do it. He’s working on your life. You say you have quite a few questions still. He knows that, and He has started answering those questions.
“Purge out the old leaven” means there’s a way of life we can adhere to, and as God reveals things which need changing, it will be because those things will change.
Ephesians 1:6
It’s all to do with His love for you. He’s holy. He can’t abide sin. There is no sin in heaven, no darkness. God Himself never changes and He is holy.
The more I’ve thought about this, the more it’s come home – the impact which it must have had on God when the sin of the world was put on to His Son. And that was the only way that you and I could become accepted into the beloved – that we could stand in front of a holy God.
But it’s not just that God has done that. There are things that you can I could be doing. Maybe you couldn’t quote a day when you were born again. All the same, God is at work in you – even here this morning. And He doesn’t want to try to shoehorn each one of us into the same experience. We don’t have to be blinded on a donkey on the way to Damascus – otherwise Paul would have promoted the idea.
God is at work in your heart this morning. Sometimes we get so caught up trying to pinpoint things. Have I been born yet? Am I one year old yet? You get caught up with these things and lose sight of the fact that it’s God we’re involved with, and that Jesus gave His life so that you might be free.
Our liberty in Christ is our freedom not to sin. The work of Christ on the cross has made you free not to sin. Before that you can’t but sin. The whole book of Galatians is about how we use that freedom and whether we allow licence or legalism to come in. But God puts in us the power to live right.
1 Peter 1:19-22
No hidden agenda, no secret whispers.
1 Peter 1:23
It is the Word of God which lives and abides forever.
In verse 24, he compares the eternal Word of God with where things are in this world.
1 Peter 1:24-25
Isaiah 40:3-8
It’s great that at every level, the aim is for every age group to be studying the Word of God. That’s what we want to do. We want the Word of God to be central to what we’re about. We want to be excited by studying God’s word. If anyone feels we could do better in this, please tell me. That’s the aim. Because everything else will fade. His Word is where it’s at. And thank God for the freedom we have to study His word. And through His Holy Spirit, God speaks to us – in the beginning was the Word.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? Are you aware that maybe there is an answer for you? It just needs a taste as it were. This is where the milk and honey of the Promised Land comes in. Just as a baby desires milk, you desire the sincere milk of the word so that you can grow.
Psalms 34:1-8
There’s a testimony! David is rejoicing. “I sought the Lord. He heard me and delivered me.” Those fears you’ve had have to go. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus Christ has become your life, and perfect love casts out fear. That’s not mind over matter.
Fears – be gone!
God knows what He is doing in your life, and the trial of your faith is more precious than gold.
Peter really wanted people to know that relationship with God, to know that they need not fear.
1 Peter 2:1
We’re one in Christ. There’s something He’s called us to, and the outworking of that is that you love one another fervently, and you lay aside all this other stuff, because, like a baby, we desire the sincere milk of the word – if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
I’m excited by what God is revealing in each person’s life. I think it’s a time when there is not only a reassessment of the foundation of life. There’s more. There’s a realisation from God by His Holy Spirit that you as an individual ... He’s more concerned about you than you are. He loves you.
We’re talking here about sincerity, about truth, about His Holy Spirit – who He is.
“Gird up, be sober, be ye holy, call on the Father, lay aside, desire the milk.” Peter wasn’t going to leave them in any doubt. It was practical stuff. You weren’t to sit back and wait for God to do something. You were to get on with things and trust to Him that He would do what He had called you for.
He’s wonderful!
Encourage one another. If someone is in trouble, look to see what you can do to help. Pray. Pray that the right person will speak to them, that they will become dissatisfied with a way which they know to be wrong but have become trapped in, so that God in His mercy and love will become their solution.
On Friday we set the scene for 1 Peter. The letter was written to churches in modern Turkey. At the time the letter was written, people were becoming aware of Nero’s persecution in Rome.
1 Peter 1:7
There was no doubt that at the time they received this letter – or certainly soon after – the persecution was very apparent and very real.
I mentioned how things happen in life and it’s our response to those happenings ... when something happens, the resulting pressure – the need for healing, for finance, for finding a particular solution – that pressure is something much more precious than gold.
I said that Peter knew the pressure there was when he denied Christ. He wasn’t in the best frame of mind at that point. But Jesus returned to speak to Peter – “Do you love me? Do you love me?” And Jesus drew out the guilt. And Peter was aware of the trial when Jesus gave His life – and for Peter, Jesus’ resurrection was specifically for Him, Peter.
Jesus returned also specifically for Thomas so that his faith would be unshakeable.
This morning we’ll look at how God is involved with you. It doesn’t matter what frame of mind you came in here with, the prompting of that frame of mind is a result of God already speaking to you. God makes us aware of our heart condition, of our need of Him. He causes us to realise that without Him there is no way forward. That realisation comes specifically to you this morning from a God of love.
We’ll look at some very practical things we can be doing to make sure we go forward in the right way.
1 Peter 1:1-16
The holiness of God – he mentions now. The quote “Be ye holy” comes from Leviticus. When it says that, it’s not some impossibility, that God casts down as a requirement. When Peter refers to this, it doesn’t say that we should be omnipotent like God, or omniscient. It’s that we should be holy as He is holy. What does that mean?
We also have the idea of being sanctified, set apart, different. God isn’t telling us to do our best, and we might hit it or not. Through God’s, mercy and the death of Jesus Christ, imputing to you the satisfaction that a holy God can now see through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God the resolution of the requirements of the law.
“Be ye holy” states that God is holy; and He gives you the capability of being holy. Each day we become more and more like Him, until we see Him face to face. There’s a sense in which it has all been done: sin has been dealt with, the price paid, the Lamb sacrificed. But there’s still a progressive aspect – we’re changed from glory to glory. We’re perfected as each day passes.
Maybe you’ve come wishing that God would do something, and believing it has to come from Him because you can’t do anything. These verses will help you. Peter points out that there is something you can do. You’re hearing this word this morning because God is working things out. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:13
We need to be ready to run. We need to be serious.
1 Peter 1:14
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
His prayer for them was that the God of peace would make them holy as individuals.
For some people who are trying to sort things out – perhaps finding it difficult – you can think back to the time when perhaps your parents dedicated you as a baby to God. The prayers of your parents were valid. God heard them. And faithful is He who calls you now who also will do it. You’re not here by accident. The stirring in your heart which may have made you realise there’s an emptiness inside, something which needs to be sorted out ... that realisation is God working in you.
I said to the school children that perhaps they were waiting for God to write their name in the sky, waiting for some cataclysmal event. But your realisation that something has to change ... that in itself is God working in an individual. That’s valid.
I referred to God the Holy Spirit working in you. Why is He called holy? Holiness matters. There’s a way of life where we have choices ... ally that to the working of God’s Holy Spirit working inside, and there’s an irresistible force going forward through the nature change on the inside, as God outworks His purposes inside you.
1 Peter 1:17
“Call on the father” – maybe you’ve prayed, calling out for help.
“Fear” means reverence, not some cowering thing.
1 Peter 1:18
“Vain tradition” means empty way of life.
1 Peter 1:19-21
It’s good to call on the Father. And in this whole passage ... Peter has in mind what happened at the Passover, when they were led out of Egypt, were led out of the land, and entered a land flowing with milk and honey. In the same way, as God outworks His purposes in your life, He’s calling you out of the old empty way of life which does not work, and He’s saying we should desire the sincere milk of the word.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
With the young people, it was apparent that under God’s direction, there was the ability and security of folk being honest, sincere, coming to the truth.
The light now coming into the hall is symptomatic of what God is doing, bringing to light His truth by His Holy Spirit – unearthing things, not to condemn or point the finger, but because faithful is He who called you, who also will do it. He’s working on your life. You say you have quite a few questions still. He knows that, and He has started answering those questions.
“Purge out the old leaven” means there’s a way of life we can adhere to, and as God reveals things which need changing, it will be because those things will change.
Ephesians 1:6
It’s all to do with His love for you. He’s holy. He can’t abide sin. There is no sin in heaven, no darkness. God Himself never changes and He is holy.
The more I’ve thought about this, the more it’s come home – the impact which it must have had on God when the sin of the world was put on to His Son. And that was the only way that you and I could become accepted into the beloved – that we could stand in front of a holy God.
But it’s not just that God has done that. There are things that you can I could be doing. Maybe you couldn’t quote a day when you were born again. All the same, God is at work in you – even here this morning. And He doesn’t want to try to shoehorn each one of us into the same experience. We don’t have to be blinded on a donkey on the way to Damascus – otherwise Paul would have promoted the idea.
God is at work in your heart this morning. Sometimes we get so caught up trying to pinpoint things. Have I been born yet? Am I one year old yet? You get caught up with these things and lose sight of the fact that it’s God we’re involved with, and that Jesus gave His life so that you might be free.
Our liberty in Christ is our freedom not to sin. The work of Christ on the cross has made you free not to sin. Before that you can’t but sin. The whole book of Galatians is about how we use that freedom and whether we allow licence or legalism to come in. But God puts in us the power to live right.
1 Peter 1:19-22
No hidden agenda, no secret whispers.
1 Peter 1:23
It is the Word of God which lives and abides forever.
In verse 24, he compares the eternal Word of God with where things are in this world.
1 Peter 1:24-25
Isaiah 40:3-8
It’s great that at every level, the aim is for every age group to be studying the Word of God. That’s what we want to do. We want the Word of God to be central to what we’re about. We want to be excited by studying God’s word. If anyone feels we could do better in this, please tell me. That’s the aim. Because everything else will fade. His Word is where it’s at. And thank God for the freedom we have to study His word. And through His Holy Spirit, God speaks to us – in the beginning was the Word.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? Are you aware that maybe there is an answer for you? It just needs a taste as it were. This is where the milk and honey of the Promised Land comes in. Just as a baby desires milk, you desire the sincere milk of the word so that you can grow.
Psalms 34:1-8
There’s a testimony! David is rejoicing. “I sought the Lord. He heard me and delivered me.” Those fears you’ve had have to go. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus Christ has become your life, and perfect love casts out fear. That’s not mind over matter.
Fears – be gone!
God knows what He is doing in your life, and the trial of your faith is more precious than gold.
Peter really wanted people to know that relationship with God, to know that they need not fear.
1 Peter 2:1
We’re one in Christ. There’s something He’s called us to, and the outworking of that is that you love one another fervently, and you lay aside all this other stuff, because, like a baby, we desire the sincere milk of the word – if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
I’m excited by what God is revealing in each person’s life. I think it’s a time when there is not only a reassessment of the foundation of life. There’s more. There’s a realisation from God by His Holy Spirit that you as an individual ... He’s more concerned about you than you are. He loves you.
We’re talking here about sincerity, about truth, about His Holy Spirit – who He is.
“Gird up, be sober, be ye holy, call on the Father, lay aside, desire the milk.” Peter wasn’t going to leave them in any doubt. It was practical stuff. You weren’t to sit back and wait for God to do something. You were to get on with things and trust to Him that He would do what He had called you for.
He’s wonderful!
Encourage one another. If someone is in trouble, look to see what you can do to help. Pray. Pray that the right person will speak to them, that they will become dissatisfied with a way which they know to be wrong but have become trapped in, so that God in His mercy and love will become their solution.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Nehemiah (Part 9 of 9) - Keep Things in Order
In the final chapters of Nehemiah, we see Nehemiah’s determination that the achievements of the people should not be wasted. We need that same determination. We need to stand for what God wants in our lives and families.
Ezra / Nehemiah really is one book. Often is was bound as such. The two men were both involved with what was going on in rebuilding the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
I’ll look at something relevant to us in our situation in what we do as a Christian, or as a Christian parent. There were three returns from the Babylonian captivity. The first was under Zerubbabel when 50,000 returned and the Temple was rebuilt. Eighty years later, Ezra came back with about 1,800 people, and he was involved in reforms of the people, one of which we’ll look at today. And then fourteen years later, Nehemiah came, inspired by God, and as you know, he rebuilt the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 8:1
We saw that Ezra read out the law. He was on a platform – everyone could see him, and everyone realised the significance that now the walls and gates had been rebuilt, the law of God would become central once again.
Nehemiah 8:10
This is a phrase you may know.
We saw how Jesus talked to the disciples about fulfilling joy was an encouragement or command – “Ask and you shall receive and your joy will be full.”
I mentioned that perhaps there are things you’ve been asking about over the last weeks and months. God has heard your prayer. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.
We saw in James that joy can result from our reaction to experiences and pressures in our lives, to circumstances where things seem to be going against – or indeed are going against. That circumstance, that pressure can result in patience – let patience have her perfect work; count it all joy when you meet pressures – not in a masochistic way, but the in the fact that God will provide the solution.
In the following chapters there are various lists, and the people listened to the law …
Nehemiah 10:28-29
There was an oath. At the end of this chapter they sealed their names to the oath – an oath which involved keeping the law of God; not marrying outside; not mixing the marriages; keeping things right; keeping the Sabbath, the holy day; not forsaking the house of our God; keeping to the rules of the Temple; and making sure the Levites were catered for.
In chapter 11 there is a list of those who sealed their names.
Nehemiah 12:27-35
Nehemiah was organising two companies to walk round the walls and then they came into the city and gathered in front of the Temple. There was a rejoicing going on. The work had been completed.
Asaph appears in the Psalms. He wrote ten of them, and this Asaph was his son. Everyone was involved.
Nehemiah 12:36-38
One company was led round by Nehemiah, and the other by Ezra. They came together. Ezra’s name meant help. Nehemiah’s was comfort, emboldening, with strength. They were a good team. Ezra was very conscious of the law and laid it on the line for all of the people., Nehemiah was very practical – good project leader. Now the people are rejoicing with the two companies going round to meet each other.
Nehemiah 12:40-43
In vv 44-47, he speaks of the singers and porters and the maintenance of the right structure for the Temple.
Nehemiah 13:1-3
We have the situation where the work is finished, the rejoicing has happened. The law has been distinctly read. There were thirteen people alongside Ezra who explained the law to the people so they understood it and knew what they had to do.
There was an instant outworking – they were to separate themselves from the Ammonite and the Moabite.
Then Nehehmiah went back to the king Artaxerxes and reported what had happened in Jerusalem. Some time elapsed before he returned to the city to see how things were getting on. Unfortunately, despite the sealing of the oath, despite the reading of the law, things had drifted. All that work had been done to rebuild the walls and gates, and now he returns.
Nehemiah 13:4-5
Eliashib was a priest. He was in charge of the rooms of the Temple. When Nehemiah was away, Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to move in. You may recall Tobiah :-
Nehemiah 4:3
Totally opposite to what Nehemiah was about. We see him again:-
Nehemiah 6:19
This is the person who had been mocking, sending the letters, and now Eliashib had let out a room to Tobiah in the Temple. There was some mixing going on. Incredible!
Nehemiah 13:4-6
This happened while he was away. Now he comes to Jerusalem, and learns of the evil Eliashib had done.
Nehemiah 13:7-9
He couldn’t believe it. Tobiah had been invited in. His household stuff was in the room in the Temple of God, and he was totally contrary to what they were about.
John 2:13-17
Sounds familiar! There was something where there as a mixture going on, even in the use of the Temple. In John, Jesus cleared them out. This isn’t what the Temple is for. You can’t use church as a cover for malpractice, for hidden works of darkness. You can’t use church as a cover for business. And when Tobiah was in the room, Nehemiah was incredulous. How on earth could you have allowed him into this place? And when the disciples witnessed Jesus cleansing the Temple, there was a zeal, fixed, certain, direct – this Temple is not for that purpose.
I know God is faithful – particularly in cleansing and protecting His people. And also He is more than keen for us to treat the Word of God and the things of God seriously.
There’s something about respect for what we come in here to do and to be.
Tobiah’s stuff was just thrown out. And God in His faithfulness will sort things out and bring to light where things need to be brought to light, and there’s a safety, a knowledge that it’s His church and He is sorting things out in His way. But He used Nehemiah in this way.
Nehemiah 13:9-14
What was meant to have happened was that there was as structure and the gifts and tithes were given in, and the Levites, as full-time workers, were to be fed using the money. But people had stopped giving. The result was that the Levites were out working in the fields. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, this flew in the face of all the oaths taken by the people.
First he had come across Tobiah in the Temple. He sorted that out. Now he comes across the fact that the Levites were out working in the fields. So there was a reform – instant reform – which had to happen. There was a structure, a way of life in terms of giving and what should be happening.
In this financial situation we face as a nation, as a world; and in your financial situation, keep your priorities right. Keep the structure right which God has laid down.
After each reform, Nehemiah, said, “Remember me God.” That was the structure he was in.
Nehemiah 13:15-22
Sabbath-keeping. Even people from Tyre brought mouldy fish and were selling it at the gates. There was trade, laxity, drift. They knew the law, what they had signed up to.
This is an old covenant. It refers to the Jewish people. How does it relate to us and our Sunday? What’s your attitude to coming to church on a Sunday? You get to work on time. Sunday? I’ve tried to keep it – this might sound pedantic – I’ve tried to keep it that we start at 10 o’clock. Otherwise people wouldn’t know when things would start. Some of you live within 500 yards of here.
There’s a seriousness about this whole rebuilding of the walls and gates which as far as God was concerned, there was something which then needed tightening up. Not in an overbearing sense, not in the sense of the “thou shalt” with God trying to do someone in. But there’s a way of doing things. There’s a way of having respect for the things of God.
Nehemiah was very practical – he shut the gates so as to stop people going in and out.
Nehemiah 13:23-25
This was tricky. They had been in captivity in Babylon and had got to know the ways of the people there. The law had been submerged to some extent. But now in the reforms of Nehemiah and Ezra, they were dealing with intermarriage of the Jews with the tribes of the land. The parallel for us is … if you’re a parent and your children … if there is the situation where there is something developing where your offspring as a Christian is planning to link up with someone who isn’t a Christian, that won’t work. It won’t. You say, “God is over all. He is love. He’ll sort things out.” There’s a situation where things are clear cut. This is one of them. I’m not trying to dredge the Old Covenant into the New. Light and darkness won’t dwell together. That’s from the New. Be not unequally yoked. That’s from the New – quoted in the New. In a liberalised sense, the walls had been built, and the gates. Tobiah had been sorted out. But there was a drift, and in their liberalised way, it was as though they felt it didn’t really matter.
Probably Nehemiah was talking to children just outside the city, and they were only half Jewish. They couldn’t speak in the language of the Jews, but according to the language of each people. The children were in the world and yet the children were in the church. Specifically he refers to not marrying the outside tribes. If you have offspring who are thinking of getting married, the key question is, will that partner for life be … or is that perspective for life … a Christian? Yes, or no? You may ask who you are to judge. You can’t mess about when it comes to this significant event in a person’s life. And the mixing of marriages was a problem. There were specific rules in the law about the children of mixed marriages. They were to be readmitted after the tenth generation – or in certain cases, after three generations. We’re not into that. What we are into is being aware of what God requires, of what He, in His wisdom and mercy, recommends. Why does He recommend that when it comes to marriage? Because you can’t share your life with someone who does not believe what you believe. You can’t. You can’t manage your money if the one you’re marrying is not involved in the church, doesn’t consider the things of God. So I’m talking particularly about anyone who is thinking of getting married, or any parent whose children are thinking of getting married. You can’t mix it up. You can’t. And as surely as night follows day, the result of that linking up will be a life of compromise. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, there were those who had married wives outside of Israel and it grieved him. What got to him more was what he was with the children – unable to speak in the language of the Jews.
Let’s think about your children. What does this mean where you are half speaking a Jewish language and half the language of a foreign tribe? I think it means that when it comes to our children, it is totally necessary for us to oversee everything. I mean in our homes. It may sound obvious to you. But it really struck me how Nehemiah was struck by this. Where do you draw the line when it comes to the media, to owning the latest phone, when there is such intense pressure to keep up with the latest this and that. I’ll tell you. You draw the line as a Christian, and that line will not budge. I’m not going to try and put that line into hundreds of different circumstances of life. I’m talking about the principle. You can’t mix things up. Probably Nehemiah couldn’t believe it – here were children unable to speak in the language of the Jews. It was half and half. And with your children at home, which is your main area of influence, is it a worldly or a Christian home? Are the pervasive influences from the world, or are they as a Christian home? I know it’s more difficult now to keep track of things – the opportunities to find out about things are more readily available via the internet and so on. Should a young child be able to access the internet from their own bedroom? Should I need to ask that question? It’s not as if there’s a sort of ... “OK if the computer is in the bedroom, I’ll be ok, because I can trust that child.” There are things coming through that computer which are trying to get hold of your child.
Nehemiah 13:23-25
Nehemiah 13:26
That’s quite a sobering passage to refer back to.
1 Kings 11:1-8
That had a direct impact on Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. You can’t muck about, Solomon. At the end of his life, this occurred. Why did Nehemiah quote that? It says that no matter how old we are, we need to be vigilant. No matter how old we are, there are principles we have to adhere to. We need to be open with our God. We need fellowship with God. We need to be reading His word, meeting with other Christians, praying. We need fellowship right the way until He calls us and we see Him face to face. You can’t build up a track record of Christianity and then live on the interest from what you have built up. Day by day until we no longer draw breath, until we are called to glory. No let up.
Is that a gruelling, dismal life? Absolutely not. It’s a wonderful life. But don’t take your foot off the brake or accelerator (!). If you’re driving a car, and that’s your life, you have to keep your eyes open, know where you are going, have petrol in the tank. But if you think that the journey you did yesterday is sufficient to get you through today, you’re going nowhere.
God brought to Nehemiah’s attention various aspects of the way the people were living. He had only been away a short time.
Nehemiah 13:26
Nehemiah 13:27-28
Eliashib had a real problem. He had let Tobiah into the Temple. And his grandson was son-in-law Sanballat, who was the other person who had caused trouble to Nehemiah. Enough was enough.
“But we’re meant to love everyone aren’t we.” We’re a Christian, and the love of God in our hearts reaches out to those in need of Him. I want people to move from darkness to light. But there are ways of living, where the liberalisation of our thinking, where opting out of the rat race results in drift. Little by little, an explanation is made for that, for that. “Ah but you have to remember …” “Ah but look at him – see what he did …” There’s a plethora, a whole load of explanations.
It’s interesting that when Nehemiah got going he said,
Nehemiah 13:25
Compare this with :-
Ezra 9:1-4
They were different. When Nehemiah got upset, he plucked the hair of other people. When Ezra got upset he plucked his own hair! The common denominator between the two was – “What are you playing at? Come on – there’s a way of life you have to live as a Christian.”
The good news is that God knows our hearts, and knows and will honour someone as a parent who wants to get it right for their children. He will honour that. He will protect them. I know some people who, through financial difficulties are having to sort things out for their children away from our school. Let me just confirm to you that the door is open to come back as soon as you like. The bursary scheme is there so we can help in some way. Is the school going to close because of people withdrawing children? Absolutely not. It’s not bravado. God gave us the school. And I anticipate a year from now handing out more certificates to the children.
God knows your heart. He knows the situation with your children, and the situation of your children in your home. And it’s that which I’m zeroing in on. What are you communicating with your children at home? Because what we don’t want is a half way position.
Romans 12:2
Each of you, going forward, myself included, we are to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How? By not being conformed to this world. Transformed, by the renewing of our mind.
So it doesn’t matter what the external pressures are in my home, it doesn’t matter what the media would promote, what the internet would beckon with. There is a line drawn and I will not budge from that as a parent.
Romans 12:2
I read on Friday the verses where it talks about the New Jerusalem, the church. No need to repair gates or walls there. He is fashioning His church by the washing of water by the word. He is sorting things out. He is bringing people into that wonderful relationship with God, away from the dark paths of sin, away from living a wrong way to living a right way, to having God by His Holy Spirit inside. And there will be more that will come to His church.
Is this the only church? Not at all. We’re a part of His church worldwide. Transformed by the renewing of your mind, the cleansing, washing of His word.
Overall, the Book of Nehemiah is one of triumph. But it underlines in the last chapter, how significant it is for you and me to live right. Don’t respond to that by saying you can’t live right. You can. I’m not trying to force the idea on you. It is God within you which causes you to live of His good pleasure. He is preparing good things for you to walk into. It’s His strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. That joy for Jesus was the church. Because of that He gave His life for you and me. Are we partakers of that joy here this morning? Yes we are. Is there a way forward for you in the pressures of our life at the moment? Of course!
Nehemiah 13:29-31
Ezra / Nehemiah really is one book. Often is was bound as such. The two men were both involved with what was going on in rebuilding the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
I’ll look at something relevant to us in our situation in what we do as a Christian, or as a Christian parent. There were three returns from the Babylonian captivity. The first was under Zerubbabel when 50,000 returned and the Temple was rebuilt. Eighty years later, Ezra came back with about 1,800 people, and he was involved in reforms of the people, one of which we’ll look at today. And then fourteen years later, Nehemiah came, inspired by God, and as you know, he rebuilt the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 8:1
We saw that Ezra read out the law. He was on a platform – everyone could see him, and everyone realised the significance that now the walls and gates had been rebuilt, the law of God would become central once again.
Nehemiah 8:10
This is a phrase you may know.
We saw how Jesus talked to the disciples about fulfilling joy was an encouragement or command – “Ask and you shall receive and your joy will be full.”
I mentioned that perhaps there are things you’ve been asking about over the last weeks and months. God has heard your prayer. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.
We saw in James that joy can result from our reaction to experiences and pressures in our lives, to circumstances where things seem to be going against – or indeed are going against. That circumstance, that pressure can result in patience – let patience have her perfect work; count it all joy when you meet pressures – not in a masochistic way, but the in the fact that God will provide the solution.
In the following chapters there are various lists, and the people listened to the law …
Nehemiah 10:28-29
There was an oath. At the end of this chapter they sealed their names to the oath – an oath which involved keeping the law of God; not marrying outside; not mixing the marriages; keeping things right; keeping the Sabbath, the holy day; not forsaking the house of our God; keeping to the rules of the Temple; and making sure the Levites were catered for.
In chapter 11 there is a list of those who sealed their names.
Nehemiah 12:27-35
Nehemiah was organising two companies to walk round the walls and then they came into the city and gathered in front of the Temple. There was a rejoicing going on. The work had been completed.
Asaph appears in the Psalms. He wrote ten of them, and this Asaph was his son. Everyone was involved.
Nehemiah 12:36-38
One company was led round by Nehemiah, and the other by Ezra. They came together. Ezra’s name meant help. Nehemiah’s was comfort, emboldening, with strength. They were a good team. Ezra was very conscious of the law and laid it on the line for all of the people., Nehemiah was very practical – good project leader. Now the people are rejoicing with the two companies going round to meet each other.
Nehemiah 12:40-43
In vv 44-47, he speaks of the singers and porters and the maintenance of the right structure for the Temple.
Nehemiah 13:1-3
We have the situation where the work is finished, the rejoicing has happened. The law has been distinctly read. There were thirteen people alongside Ezra who explained the law to the people so they understood it and knew what they had to do.
There was an instant outworking – they were to separate themselves from the Ammonite and the Moabite.
Then Nehehmiah went back to the king Artaxerxes and reported what had happened in Jerusalem. Some time elapsed before he returned to the city to see how things were getting on. Unfortunately, despite the sealing of the oath, despite the reading of the law, things had drifted. All that work had been done to rebuild the walls and gates, and now he returns.
Nehemiah 13:4-5
Eliashib was a priest. He was in charge of the rooms of the Temple. When Nehemiah was away, Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to move in. You may recall Tobiah :-
Nehemiah 4:3
Totally opposite to what Nehemiah was about. We see him again:-
Nehemiah 6:19
This is the person who had been mocking, sending the letters, and now Eliashib had let out a room to Tobiah in the Temple. There was some mixing going on. Incredible!
Nehemiah 13:4-6
This happened while he was away. Now he comes to Jerusalem, and learns of the evil Eliashib had done.
Nehemiah 13:7-9
He couldn’t believe it. Tobiah had been invited in. His household stuff was in the room in the Temple of God, and he was totally contrary to what they were about.
John 2:13-17
Sounds familiar! There was something where there as a mixture going on, even in the use of the Temple. In John, Jesus cleared them out. This isn’t what the Temple is for. You can’t use church as a cover for malpractice, for hidden works of darkness. You can’t use church as a cover for business. And when Tobiah was in the room, Nehemiah was incredulous. How on earth could you have allowed him into this place? And when the disciples witnessed Jesus cleansing the Temple, there was a zeal, fixed, certain, direct – this Temple is not for that purpose.
I know God is faithful – particularly in cleansing and protecting His people. And also He is more than keen for us to treat the Word of God and the things of God seriously.
There’s something about respect for what we come in here to do and to be.
Tobiah’s stuff was just thrown out. And God in His faithfulness will sort things out and bring to light where things need to be brought to light, and there’s a safety, a knowledge that it’s His church and He is sorting things out in His way. But He used Nehemiah in this way.
Nehemiah 13:9-14
What was meant to have happened was that there was as structure and the gifts and tithes were given in, and the Levites, as full-time workers, were to be fed using the money. But people had stopped giving. The result was that the Levites were out working in the fields. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, this flew in the face of all the oaths taken by the people.
First he had come across Tobiah in the Temple. He sorted that out. Now he comes across the fact that the Levites were out working in the fields. So there was a reform – instant reform – which had to happen. There was a structure, a way of life in terms of giving and what should be happening.
In this financial situation we face as a nation, as a world; and in your financial situation, keep your priorities right. Keep the structure right which God has laid down.
After each reform, Nehemiah, said, “Remember me God.” That was the structure he was in.
Nehemiah 13:15-22
Sabbath-keeping. Even people from Tyre brought mouldy fish and were selling it at the gates. There was trade, laxity, drift. They knew the law, what they had signed up to.
This is an old covenant. It refers to the Jewish people. How does it relate to us and our Sunday? What’s your attitude to coming to church on a Sunday? You get to work on time. Sunday? I’ve tried to keep it – this might sound pedantic – I’ve tried to keep it that we start at 10 o’clock. Otherwise people wouldn’t know when things would start. Some of you live within 500 yards of here.
There’s a seriousness about this whole rebuilding of the walls and gates which as far as God was concerned, there was something which then needed tightening up. Not in an overbearing sense, not in the sense of the “thou shalt” with God trying to do someone in. But there’s a way of doing things. There’s a way of having respect for the things of God.
Nehemiah was very practical – he shut the gates so as to stop people going in and out.
Nehemiah 13:23-25
This was tricky. They had been in captivity in Babylon and had got to know the ways of the people there. The law had been submerged to some extent. But now in the reforms of Nehemiah and Ezra, they were dealing with intermarriage of the Jews with the tribes of the land. The parallel for us is … if you’re a parent and your children … if there is the situation where there is something developing where your offspring as a Christian is planning to link up with someone who isn’t a Christian, that won’t work. It won’t. You say, “God is over all. He is love. He’ll sort things out.” There’s a situation where things are clear cut. This is one of them. I’m not trying to dredge the Old Covenant into the New. Light and darkness won’t dwell together. That’s from the New. Be not unequally yoked. That’s from the New – quoted in the New. In a liberalised sense, the walls had been built, and the gates. Tobiah had been sorted out. But there was a drift, and in their liberalised way, it was as though they felt it didn’t really matter.
Probably Nehemiah was talking to children just outside the city, and they were only half Jewish. They couldn’t speak in the language of the Jews, but according to the language of each people. The children were in the world and yet the children were in the church. Specifically he refers to not marrying the outside tribes. If you have offspring who are thinking of getting married, the key question is, will that partner for life be … or is that perspective for life … a Christian? Yes, or no? You may ask who you are to judge. You can’t mess about when it comes to this significant event in a person’s life. And the mixing of marriages was a problem. There were specific rules in the law about the children of mixed marriages. They were to be readmitted after the tenth generation – or in certain cases, after three generations. We’re not into that. What we are into is being aware of what God requires, of what He, in His wisdom and mercy, recommends. Why does He recommend that when it comes to marriage? Because you can’t share your life with someone who does not believe what you believe. You can’t. You can’t manage your money if the one you’re marrying is not involved in the church, doesn’t consider the things of God. So I’m talking particularly about anyone who is thinking of getting married, or any parent whose children are thinking of getting married. You can’t mix it up. You can’t. And as surely as night follows day, the result of that linking up will be a life of compromise. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, there were those who had married wives outside of Israel and it grieved him. What got to him more was what he was with the children – unable to speak in the language of the Jews.
Let’s think about your children. What does this mean where you are half speaking a Jewish language and half the language of a foreign tribe? I think it means that when it comes to our children, it is totally necessary for us to oversee everything. I mean in our homes. It may sound obvious to you. But it really struck me how Nehemiah was struck by this. Where do you draw the line when it comes to the media, to owning the latest phone, when there is such intense pressure to keep up with the latest this and that. I’ll tell you. You draw the line as a Christian, and that line will not budge. I’m not going to try and put that line into hundreds of different circumstances of life. I’m talking about the principle. You can’t mix things up. Probably Nehemiah couldn’t believe it – here were children unable to speak in the language of the Jews. It was half and half. And with your children at home, which is your main area of influence, is it a worldly or a Christian home? Are the pervasive influences from the world, or are they as a Christian home? I know it’s more difficult now to keep track of things – the opportunities to find out about things are more readily available via the internet and so on. Should a young child be able to access the internet from their own bedroom? Should I need to ask that question? It’s not as if there’s a sort of ... “OK if the computer is in the bedroom, I’ll be ok, because I can trust that child.” There are things coming through that computer which are trying to get hold of your child.
Nehemiah 13:23-25
Nehemiah 13:26
That’s quite a sobering passage to refer back to.
1 Kings 11:1-8
That had a direct impact on Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. You can’t muck about, Solomon. At the end of his life, this occurred. Why did Nehemiah quote that? It says that no matter how old we are, we need to be vigilant. No matter how old we are, there are principles we have to adhere to. We need to be open with our God. We need fellowship with God. We need to be reading His word, meeting with other Christians, praying. We need fellowship right the way until He calls us and we see Him face to face. You can’t build up a track record of Christianity and then live on the interest from what you have built up. Day by day until we no longer draw breath, until we are called to glory. No let up.
Is that a gruelling, dismal life? Absolutely not. It’s a wonderful life. But don’t take your foot off the brake or accelerator (!). If you’re driving a car, and that’s your life, you have to keep your eyes open, know where you are going, have petrol in the tank. But if you think that the journey you did yesterday is sufficient to get you through today, you’re going nowhere.
God brought to Nehemiah’s attention various aspects of the way the people were living. He had only been away a short time.
Nehemiah 13:26
Nehemiah 13:27-28
Eliashib had a real problem. He had let Tobiah into the Temple. And his grandson was son-in-law Sanballat, who was the other person who had caused trouble to Nehemiah. Enough was enough.
“But we’re meant to love everyone aren’t we.” We’re a Christian, and the love of God in our hearts reaches out to those in need of Him. I want people to move from darkness to light. But there are ways of living, where the liberalisation of our thinking, where opting out of the rat race results in drift. Little by little, an explanation is made for that, for that. “Ah but you have to remember …” “Ah but look at him – see what he did …” There’s a plethora, a whole load of explanations.
It’s interesting that when Nehemiah got going he said,
Nehemiah 13:25
Compare this with :-
Ezra 9:1-4
They were different. When Nehemiah got upset, he plucked the hair of other people. When Ezra got upset he plucked his own hair! The common denominator between the two was – “What are you playing at? Come on – there’s a way of life you have to live as a Christian.”
The good news is that God knows our hearts, and knows and will honour someone as a parent who wants to get it right for their children. He will honour that. He will protect them. I know some people who, through financial difficulties are having to sort things out for their children away from our school. Let me just confirm to you that the door is open to come back as soon as you like. The bursary scheme is there so we can help in some way. Is the school going to close because of people withdrawing children? Absolutely not. It’s not bravado. God gave us the school. And I anticipate a year from now handing out more certificates to the children.
God knows your heart. He knows the situation with your children, and the situation of your children in your home. And it’s that which I’m zeroing in on. What are you communicating with your children at home? Because what we don’t want is a half way position.
Romans 12:2
Each of you, going forward, myself included, we are to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How? By not being conformed to this world. Transformed, by the renewing of our mind.
So it doesn’t matter what the external pressures are in my home, it doesn’t matter what the media would promote, what the internet would beckon with. There is a line drawn and I will not budge from that as a parent.
Romans 12:2
I read on Friday the verses where it talks about the New Jerusalem, the church. No need to repair gates or walls there. He is fashioning His church by the washing of water by the word. He is sorting things out. He is bringing people into that wonderful relationship with God, away from the dark paths of sin, away from living a wrong way to living a right way, to having God by His Holy Spirit inside. And there will be more that will come to His church.
Is this the only church? Not at all. We’re a part of His church worldwide. Transformed by the renewing of your mind, the cleansing, washing of His word.
Overall, the Book of Nehemiah is one of triumph. But it underlines in the last chapter, how significant it is for you and me to live right. Don’t respond to that by saying you can’t live right. You can. I’m not trying to force the idea on you. It is God within you which causes you to live of His good pleasure. He is preparing good things for you to walk into. It’s His strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. That joy for Jesus was the church. Because of that He gave His life for you and me. Are we partakers of that joy here this morning? Yes we are. Is there a way forward for you in the pressures of our life at the moment? Of course!
Nehemiah 13:29-31
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Jesus the Word of God
Jesus came to show us the face of God. For all of us, God wants us to come to the place where we see Him face to face. But to do that, we need to put aside everything else – and in particular the baggage which so many of us have acquired along the way.
John 1:1-5
What does it mean when we call Jesus the Word? The word is something inside you and you want to express it to someone else. But when we call Jesus the Word, it goes way beyond the expression of a truth or idea. He is the expression of God – God Himself.
In these opening verses, John is shouting to us the fact that this Word is God. He is at pains to point out that the Word is God almighty. This is the word logos. The word had been around for hundreds of years. When the philosophers talked about the Word, they meant an impersonal force, the governing force of the cosmos. The Holy Spirit inspired John to say that the logos they philosophised about was God.
The philosophers could have retorted, “Call that impersonal force, God. That’s ok. But He’s still out there and we can’t get in touch with Him.” But in John 1:14, John drops in something earth-shattering – this God who you say can’t be known, took flesh and lived amongst us. This was God Himself, the God who created everything. In Him all things were created. Without Him, nothing was made.
John 1:14
Some people say the Word was a God. But the whole of these verses shout out the fact that this Word was God. When it says He was with God, it means He was face to face with God through all eternity. He was with God. All things were made by Him, because He was God. This is in striking similarly to Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Jehovah the Son was very evident in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Word was truly God. Now John shouts again:
John 1:14
He was truly man as well.
Why did He have to become flesh? Why could God not reveal Himself without becoming flesh?
1 Timothy 6:15-16
That’s why we can’t come to God – He dwells in a glory we can’t approach to. We can’t live in that light. Only Jesus has seen the Father.
Philippians 2:5-7
“Made Himself of no reputation” – the word means He emptied Himself, of His glory, of His equality with God, His place in heaven. That was the only way that God could reveal Himself to us.
And when it says the Word became flesh, it doesn’t mean He stopped being what He was before. I could become something else and stop being what I was. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt, and was no longer his wife. On the other hand, Lot became a father, and yet remained Lot. And this latter is the sense of the Word becoming flesh. He did not stop being God.
So we have a man who is truly God. He didn’t stop being God, but was also a man – one person, two natures.
John 17:4-5
He emptied Himself of that glory. It’s one of the most wonderful things in the Gospel. In the hymn by Charles Wesley, ‘And can it be’ there are wonderful truths about God’s love for us, how Jesus died to set us free:
At the beginning of the hymn, Charles Wesley has caught some of the awesomeness of what God has done. God took on Himself the form of a servant, and died: “And can it be, that I should gain, an interest in the Saviour’s blood…” It’s amazing that we can be touched by the blood of the Saviour who died for us! Christ died “for me who Him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be!” Charles Wesley got so excited and he realised what God had done.
In Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. This is a litotes – it’s an understatement. There are several in the Scriptures. When Paul says he’s not ashamed of the Gospel, he’s saying he’s proud of it, it’s the most fantastic thing.
John says the darkness hated the light, killed Him, sent Him to the cross. The Bible says we were enemies of God.
How can the immortal die? Because the immortal took on immortality and came to earth to show the Father. Who can explore the plan of God. We can never understand it. The chief of all the angels cannot understand it. God didn’t die for them, but for you and me. They’ll never know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of this fantastic love. This wonderful God emptied Himself and it found you and me.
Jesus is the light that lights every man who comes into the world. They all reject Him – but to as many who received Him, He gave power to become sons of God. There are some that light touches.
Don’t forget what God has done for us. Some Christians think God dealt with everything at Calvary, and that was it. But what about when I go wrong now and mess up? The blood of Jesus is still effective today in cleansing us from all sin.
Just as the Word was face to face with God through all eternity, so He wants to bring us into that same relationship, which the Son has enjoyed through all eternity. We can come into that relationship when we are cleansed in the blood.
God the Son is Jehovah – truly God as well as truly man. From the beginning of Creation, He has always been there to reveal the Father to us.
Isaiah 6:1-3
Isaiah had hoped for so much. Israel had been in the spiritual doldrums. The Word of God was not being preached or lived. They were at a low ebb. Then King Uzziah came to the throne, and Isaiah hoped for so much, but the King went astray, and he died a leper. And then we have these words in chapter 6. “I saw the Lord – He was high, sitting on a throne, and his train filled the temple, and the seraphim cried “Holy, holy”. Isaiah had a wonderful vision of Jehovah.
Here John quotes from Isaiah:
John 12:39-41
Who did Isaiah see? He was high and lifted up, it was Jesus. It says, “Isaiah saw Him.” So many times in the Old Testament, Jehovah the Son was evident.
We see John preparing the way of the Lord – Jesus. And it echoes Isaiah in the Old Testament – “Prepare ye the way of Jehovah.”
We all need to come to the realisation that it is God Himself we are dealing with – not mere man.
I wonder how the disciples felt, as bit by bit they began to realise this was more than just a mere man. Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” They knew He was divine. And you might think they’d got it, but a few verses later, Peter starts to rebuke Him about going to Jerusalem. How can you do that to God?
At the moment we are talking about recognising God for who He is. In all our dealings, we need to know God is at work.
One nice story in John’s Gospel, is about when Jesus had to go through Samaria, because there was a Samaritan woman there, and the Almighty wanted to meet her. She had no idea she was about to come face to face with God. She knew what she was like. Her life was all wrong, and she knew it. We might be tempted to look at this story and think, if God could do it for her, He can do it for us – we’re not as bad as that. But we are – we’re just as bad!
More wonderful still, Jesus got there ahead of her and waited for her. We’re like ants on the face of the earth, and God knows each one of you intimately. God waited for the woman. Doesn’t it speak to you of His love for each one of us? He goes out of His way for each of us, waits until the time is right, and then speaks to us.
This woman had no idea who she was talking to. And as Christians we are often like that. You have no idea that it’s God who is doing something in your life. How do I know that you’ve lost sight of God sometimes? Because if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t behave the way you do. If we really knew it was God we were dealing with, we wouldn’t behave the way we do. He’s the omnipotent God, and He’s the one who deals with us every day. But we all get side-tracked.
When we go through trials, God does answer – even if it takes longer than we’d like. He’s not going to let you down. When He speaks into our situation, we know, because everything changes – all our bad attitudes, doubts and scepticism melt away. The things which once seemed so important become pale.
I want to look at the story of Job. He went through things that probably we’ll never go through. He was an upright man, and bad things happened, just as sometimes they happen to you. Almost the whole story of Job is taken up with the arguments between him and his friends. The arguments are boring – they just go round and round!
Job is not a story about the devil. Nor do I think it’s about the integrity of Job. He was a man of integrity, but I don’t think that’s the main thrust.
Recall what had happened. He had boils, he was full of sores, he’d lost his family, his wealth, everything. But he never lost his commitment to God. And I hope that’s true of us. Even in my stupidity, I knew God hadn’t left me. I knew he had an answer somewhere. I just couldn’t find it. Job was a man who knew that whatever was happening, God was not against him.
Job 19:25-26
Face to face with God. That is God’s agenda for us. But Job didn’t know what was about to happen. He gets a bit silly, saying he wants to sit down with God and sort things out.
Job 23:3
He was an upright man, but he’d got distracted. He was looking in the wrong place, just as we do sometimes, and he’d said, “God, you seem a long way away.”
Job 31:40
Don’t get into that position when you declare, “That’s it God – I have nothing else to say to you.”
After all that verse, chapters 38-41 are God speaking. And this is wonderful.
Job 38:1-41:34
“OK,” says God, “Job – you think you know best.”
God goes on to ask Job about all the wonders of creation, and where Job was when God made it all. But He didn’t answer any of Job’s questions. He wasn’t interested. Some people who are not Christians would say He was a cruel God. But our ways and thoughts aren’t His. When we go through trials, we come out shining like burnished gold. God wasn’t interested in Job’s questions, just as He isn’t in ours.
Now we get a weak and humiliated Job – “I said things I should never have said.”
Job 42:1-5
Job didn’t necessarily see God face to face. But we’re talking about seeing God in all His glory and wisdom. Job was sorry for being so stupid. He got misled. But when God comes on the scene, everything changes.
In terms of today’s Christians, Job would be one of us. He knew God. But he still had to come to the place at the end of it, and admit he’d said things he shouldn’t have said and thought things he shouldn’t have thought.
I can say this to you because I’ve been through it myself. It may be that some of us have to come to God and admit that we thought our arguments were right, but He wasn’t interested.
Seeing God face to face: is that what you want? I know it is.
John 1:1-5
What does it mean when we call Jesus the Word? The word is something inside you and you want to express it to someone else. But when we call Jesus the Word, it goes way beyond the expression of a truth or idea. He is the expression of God – God Himself.
In these opening verses, John is shouting to us the fact that this Word is God. He is at pains to point out that the Word is God almighty. This is the word logos. The word had been around for hundreds of years. When the philosophers talked about the Word, they meant an impersonal force, the governing force of the cosmos. The Holy Spirit inspired John to say that the logos they philosophised about was God.
The philosophers could have retorted, “Call that impersonal force, God. That’s ok. But He’s still out there and we can’t get in touch with Him.” But in John 1:14, John drops in something earth-shattering – this God who you say can’t be known, took flesh and lived amongst us. This was God Himself, the God who created everything. In Him all things were created. Without Him, nothing was made.
John 1:14
Some people say the Word was a God. But the whole of these verses shout out the fact that this Word was God. When it says He was with God, it means He was face to face with God through all eternity. He was with God. All things were made by Him, because He was God. This is in striking similarly to Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Jehovah the Son was very evident in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Word was truly God. Now John shouts again:
John 1:14
He was truly man as well.
Why did He have to become flesh? Why could God not reveal Himself without becoming flesh?
1 Timothy 6:15-16
That’s why we can’t come to God – He dwells in a glory we can’t approach to. We can’t live in that light. Only Jesus has seen the Father.
Philippians 2:5-7
“Made Himself of no reputation” – the word means He emptied Himself, of His glory, of His equality with God, His place in heaven. That was the only way that God could reveal Himself to us.
And when it says the Word became flesh, it doesn’t mean He stopped being what He was before. I could become something else and stop being what I was. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt, and was no longer his wife. On the other hand, Lot became a father, and yet remained Lot. And this latter is the sense of the Word becoming flesh. He did not stop being God.
So we have a man who is truly God. He didn’t stop being God, but was also a man – one person, two natures.
John 17:4-5
He emptied Himself of that glory. It’s one of the most wonderful things in the Gospel. In the hymn by Charles Wesley, ‘And can it be’ there are wonderful truths about God’s love for us, how Jesus died to set us free:
At the beginning of the hymn, Charles Wesley has caught some of the awesomeness of what God has done. God took on Himself the form of a servant, and died: “And can it be, that I should gain, an interest in the Saviour’s blood…” It’s amazing that we can be touched by the blood of the Saviour who died for us! Christ died “for me who Him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be!” Charles Wesley got so excited and he realised what God had done.
In Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. This is a litotes – it’s an understatement. There are several in the Scriptures. When Paul says he’s not ashamed of the Gospel, he’s saying he’s proud of it, it’s the most fantastic thing.
John says the darkness hated the light, killed Him, sent Him to the cross. The Bible says we were enemies of God.
How can the immortal die? Because the immortal took on immortality and came to earth to show the Father. Who can explore the plan of God. We can never understand it. The chief of all the angels cannot understand it. God didn’t die for them, but for you and me. They’ll never know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of this fantastic love. This wonderful God emptied Himself and it found you and me.
Jesus is the light that lights every man who comes into the world. They all reject Him – but to as many who received Him, He gave power to become sons of God. There are some that light touches.
Don’t forget what God has done for us. Some Christians think God dealt with everything at Calvary, and that was it. But what about when I go wrong now and mess up? The blood of Jesus is still effective today in cleansing us from all sin.
Just as the Word was face to face with God through all eternity, so He wants to bring us into that same relationship, which the Son has enjoyed through all eternity. We can come into that relationship when we are cleansed in the blood.
God the Son is Jehovah – truly God as well as truly man. From the beginning of Creation, He has always been there to reveal the Father to us.
Isaiah 6:1-3
Isaiah had hoped for so much. Israel had been in the spiritual doldrums. The Word of God was not being preached or lived. They were at a low ebb. Then King Uzziah came to the throne, and Isaiah hoped for so much, but the King went astray, and he died a leper. And then we have these words in chapter 6. “I saw the Lord – He was high, sitting on a throne, and his train filled the temple, and the seraphim cried “Holy, holy”. Isaiah had a wonderful vision of Jehovah.
Here John quotes from Isaiah:
John 12:39-41
Who did Isaiah see? He was high and lifted up, it was Jesus. It says, “Isaiah saw Him.” So many times in the Old Testament, Jehovah the Son was evident.
We see John preparing the way of the Lord – Jesus. And it echoes Isaiah in the Old Testament – “Prepare ye the way of Jehovah.”
We all need to come to the realisation that it is God Himself we are dealing with – not mere man.
I wonder how the disciples felt, as bit by bit they began to realise this was more than just a mere man. Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” They knew He was divine. And you might think they’d got it, but a few verses later, Peter starts to rebuke Him about going to Jerusalem. How can you do that to God?
At the moment we are talking about recognising God for who He is. In all our dealings, we need to know God is at work.
One nice story in John’s Gospel, is about when Jesus had to go through Samaria, because there was a Samaritan woman there, and the Almighty wanted to meet her. She had no idea she was about to come face to face with God. She knew what she was like. Her life was all wrong, and she knew it. We might be tempted to look at this story and think, if God could do it for her, He can do it for us – we’re not as bad as that. But we are – we’re just as bad!
More wonderful still, Jesus got there ahead of her and waited for her. We’re like ants on the face of the earth, and God knows each one of you intimately. God waited for the woman. Doesn’t it speak to you of His love for each one of us? He goes out of His way for each of us, waits until the time is right, and then speaks to us.
This woman had no idea who she was talking to. And as Christians we are often like that. You have no idea that it’s God who is doing something in your life. How do I know that you’ve lost sight of God sometimes? Because if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t behave the way you do. If we really knew it was God we were dealing with, we wouldn’t behave the way we do. He’s the omnipotent God, and He’s the one who deals with us every day. But we all get side-tracked.
When we go through trials, God does answer – even if it takes longer than we’d like. He’s not going to let you down. When He speaks into our situation, we know, because everything changes – all our bad attitudes, doubts and scepticism melt away. The things which once seemed so important become pale.
I want to look at the story of Job. He went through things that probably we’ll never go through. He was an upright man, and bad things happened, just as sometimes they happen to you. Almost the whole story of Job is taken up with the arguments between him and his friends. The arguments are boring – they just go round and round!
Job is not a story about the devil. Nor do I think it’s about the integrity of Job. He was a man of integrity, but I don’t think that’s the main thrust.
Recall what had happened. He had boils, he was full of sores, he’d lost his family, his wealth, everything. But he never lost his commitment to God. And I hope that’s true of us. Even in my stupidity, I knew God hadn’t left me. I knew he had an answer somewhere. I just couldn’t find it. Job was a man who knew that whatever was happening, God was not against him.
Job 19:25-26
Face to face with God. That is God’s agenda for us. But Job didn’t know what was about to happen. He gets a bit silly, saying he wants to sit down with God and sort things out.
Job 23:3
He was an upright man, but he’d got distracted. He was looking in the wrong place, just as we do sometimes, and he’d said, “God, you seem a long way away.”
Job 31:40
Don’t get into that position when you declare, “That’s it God – I have nothing else to say to you.”
After all that verse, chapters 38-41 are God speaking. And this is wonderful.
Job 38:1-41:34
“OK,” says God, “Job – you think you know best.”
God goes on to ask Job about all the wonders of creation, and where Job was when God made it all. But He didn’t answer any of Job’s questions. He wasn’t interested. Some people who are not Christians would say He was a cruel God. But our ways and thoughts aren’t His. When we go through trials, we come out shining like burnished gold. God wasn’t interested in Job’s questions, just as He isn’t in ours.
Now we get a weak and humiliated Job – “I said things I should never have said.”
Job 42:1-5
Job didn’t necessarily see God face to face. But we’re talking about seeing God in all His glory and wisdom. Job was sorry for being so stupid. He got misled. But when God comes on the scene, everything changes.
In terms of today’s Christians, Job would be one of us. He knew God. But he still had to come to the place at the end of it, and admit he’d said things he shouldn’t have said and thought things he shouldn’t have thought.
I can say this to you because I’ve been through it myself. It may be that some of us have to come to God and admit that we thought our arguments were right, but He wasn’t interested.
Seeing God face to face: is that what you want? I know it is.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Nehemiah (Part 7 of 9) - Determination in the Face of Opposition
There were those around Nehemiah who were intent upon deflecting him from the work. But he showed determination in the face of all opposition – and we need to do the same.
I want to emphasise this morning that, despite anything you may have come across in the last week which has caused you to fear for the way forward, that fear is dispelled when we realise exactly what Christ has done for us and who we are in Him.
Jesus knew what He was about. There were times when He was deflected. People asked Him whether He was sure He knew what He was doing.
Luke 9:51-55
James and John were trying to help, but Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. No wavering. The track was definite. He set His face as a flint. James and John tried to help, but it was of the wrong spirit.
Matthew 16:21-23
Peter didn’t mean any harm. He couldn’t figure out why Jesus was so intent on getting to Jerusalem. But Jesus was going forward. It was what He needed to do.
In Nehemiah we’ll see this reflects what was going on in the rebuilding of the walls. It’s interesting that Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and Jesus had to get to Jerusalem. It was Father’s will for His life. What is Father’s will for your life? No matter what people do to deflect us, I want to do what Father has prepared. He has prepared good things for us to walk in. The enemy tries to make us fear, to worry about what we might miss out on. But there is a peace from living in the centre of God’s will. There will be those who will try to deflect you.
Last week in ch 4 we look at the need for the trumpet to sound where the enemy was attacking. As a church, if one member suffers, we all suffer. We rally. We’re a help.
In ch 5, Nehemiah was surprised. The opposition was constantly trying to chip away at the work that he had to do. What surprised Nehemiah was the fact that people on the inside were having problems. The men were working on the wall, and food was not available. It was expensive, and people were having to mortgage their land to obtain food. The families were suffering. Some people were taking advantage of the situation. People were charging interest on loans, which was against the law.
Nehemiah 5:9-12
Nehemiah was having to sort things out. He was loaning money too, but he wasn’t charging interest. And as we’ll see later, although as governor, he could call on money, he wasn’t doing so.
Nehemiah 5:19
Nehemiah 6:1-4
Now we return to the enemy. There are four strategies to deflect him from doing what Nehemiah knew he had to do. It was a huge undertaking – ten gates, long walls, much debris. It was hard work.
Nehemiah 6:1-4
Ono means strength. In chapters 2 and 4 we saw these people were trying to undermine what Nehemiah was doing. Four times he had to do the same thing.
Nehemiah means Jah is comfort. Comfort actually talks of strength. The Holy Spirit is the comforter. He comes to bring strength to be witnesses.
Nehemiah knew what he had to do – he had to keep going. There were people contrary to God who were saying there’s strength (Ono) over here. The world’s way is the way to go. The options were to stay doing what God had told him to do, despite the fact that it was tough, knowing that God had set him to rebuild the walls and the gates. The alternative was to come to an easy place – the plains. There was strength there.
Four times he gave the same reply – he was involved in a great work, and why should he come down?
Now Sanballat changes his approach ...
Nehemiah 6:5-7
They were making out that Nehemiah was doing all this work for himself, to build an empire for himself. But that had never entered his head. The truth was that he was getting on with what God had asked him to do.
Nehemiah 6:8-9
Something has happened this week. You’ve heard about something, and it’s knocked you off course until you’ve heard these words today. God is telling you to get back on course, not to worry about a little turbulence. The enemy is saying it’s too hard to do it that way – take the easy way. Or he’s telling you that God doesn’t love you and asking what the point is in taking the way you’ve taken.
In the same way, Jesus steadfastly set His face. He knew Father’s will.
From this moment forward, what am I re-establishing in my thinking? He is my Father, has called me, has given me faith. No matter what happens, my God is faithful. I know He will provide. I know as a parent what I have to do for my children. We saw earlier in this book how they were fighting for their families, looking out for each other.
Nehemiah 6:17-19
Letter after letter. There was a link with Tobiah. There was such an intermingling that half the time the children were speaking Jewish, and half the time the language of the Ashdodites.
The idea of the letters was to put Nehemiah in fear. During the 52 days it took to build the walls, the letters were coming and going. The enemy of your soul seeks to destabilise you. He’s not going to win, but we’re not ignorant of the attempt. He seeks to engender fear – what if this isn’t right, what if you have got it wrong, what if ...
Nehemiah 6:10-11
You’ve hit a brick wall – he wasn’t going to give in. And there was a reason ...
Numbers 1:51
The inner sanctuary was the province of the Levites. No one else was allowed in there on pain of death.
Nehemiah 6:12-13
This man had been hired by Nehemiah’s enemies, the people who were trying to deflect him from the work. The idea was that once he had gone into the Temple, they could point out to the Jews that Nehemiah was no worthy leader when he himself didn’t keep the law.
Nehemiah 6:14
Every so often there is a prayer in the book. Those prayers you have prayed in the last week, wondering how you would cope, and asking God for help ... He heard you. And part of what I’m saying now is the result of Him answering your prayer. He knows what He is doing. He loves you. He knows what He’s doing in your life. It’s our reaction to the pressure which is key. Do we fall into self-pity, or do we realise we are following in the train of His triumph?
He is outworking His purposes, to create the bride of Christ, to bring more people into His church. You and I are the message. We’re always ready to give an answer to why we believe what we do, always sensitive to what God wants to do through us. There’s a world which needs an answer, and the answer if Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah 6:15-16
That’s what’s happening in your life. What is being established is of God. It doesn’t matter what is being shouted at you from outside. It doesn’t matter what people are doing to try and deflect you. God is establishing His work in your life, by His Holy Spirit.
The enemies knew that this was God’s work.
In Mark, Jesus was with the same people who had tried to dissuade Jesus from taking His intended course.
Mark 14:32-39
Not what I will, but what thou wilt. Nehemiah knew it was God’s will for him to rebuild the walls. And here, again, “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt”.
Mark 14:60-5
Mocking, pulling down, vindictive. The cross here in church reminds us of what He did – outworking Father’s will, to give His life who knew no sin. He lived a sinless life, and took our sin and its penalty, and it was Father’s will. He willingly gave up His life. And the enemies thought that was it.
When Sanballat sent the third time, he thought that if they hammered away long enough, he would come – but he wouldn’t. It was the same with Jesus – the disciples could not conceive why He intended to do what He did. He did it for the joy set before – you, His bride, the church. He endured the cross, and then miracle of miracles, He rose from the dead.
Mark 16:14-20
We serve a risen Saviour. He’s in the world today, your world, the circumstances of your life. It doesn’t matter what someone else is saying to you, what murmuring seems to come across your path. Our life is hid with Christ in God. We’re Christians. We stand for truth, grace, righteousness. We stand for our family and brethren, because of what God has done for us. He conquered death. He conquered anything the enemy would throw at Him.
I want to emphasise this morning that, despite anything you may have come across in the last week which has caused you to fear for the way forward, that fear is dispelled when we realise exactly what Christ has done for us and who we are in Him.
Jesus knew what He was about. There were times when He was deflected. People asked Him whether He was sure He knew what He was doing.
Luke 9:51-55
James and John were trying to help, but Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. No wavering. The track was definite. He set His face as a flint. James and John tried to help, but it was of the wrong spirit.
Matthew 16:21-23
Peter didn’t mean any harm. He couldn’t figure out why Jesus was so intent on getting to Jerusalem. But Jesus was going forward. It was what He needed to do.
In Nehemiah we’ll see this reflects what was going on in the rebuilding of the walls. It’s interesting that Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and Jesus had to get to Jerusalem. It was Father’s will for His life. What is Father’s will for your life? No matter what people do to deflect us, I want to do what Father has prepared. He has prepared good things for us to walk in. The enemy tries to make us fear, to worry about what we might miss out on. But there is a peace from living in the centre of God’s will. There will be those who will try to deflect you.
Last week in ch 4 we look at the need for the trumpet to sound where the enemy was attacking. As a church, if one member suffers, we all suffer. We rally. We’re a help.
In ch 5, Nehemiah was surprised. The opposition was constantly trying to chip away at the work that he had to do. What surprised Nehemiah was the fact that people on the inside were having problems. The men were working on the wall, and food was not available. It was expensive, and people were having to mortgage their land to obtain food. The families were suffering. Some people were taking advantage of the situation. People were charging interest on loans, which was against the law.
Nehemiah 5:9-12
Nehemiah was having to sort things out. He was loaning money too, but he wasn’t charging interest. And as we’ll see later, although as governor, he could call on money, he wasn’t doing so.
Nehemiah 5:19
Nehemiah 6:1-4
Now we return to the enemy. There are four strategies to deflect him from doing what Nehemiah knew he had to do. It was a huge undertaking – ten gates, long walls, much debris. It was hard work.
Nehemiah 6:1-4
Ono means strength. In chapters 2 and 4 we saw these people were trying to undermine what Nehemiah was doing. Four times he had to do the same thing.
Nehemiah means Jah is comfort. Comfort actually talks of strength. The Holy Spirit is the comforter. He comes to bring strength to be witnesses.
Nehemiah knew what he had to do – he had to keep going. There were people contrary to God who were saying there’s strength (Ono) over here. The world’s way is the way to go. The options were to stay doing what God had told him to do, despite the fact that it was tough, knowing that God had set him to rebuild the walls and the gates. The alternative was to come to an easy place – the plains. There was strength there.
Four times he gave the same reply – he was involved in a great work, and why should he come down?
Now Sanballat changes his approach ...
Nehemiah 6:5-7
They were making out that Nehemiah was doing all this work for himself, to build an empire for himself. But that had never entered his head. The truth was that he was getting on with what God had asked him to do.
Nehemiah 6:8-9
Something has happened this week. You’ve heard about something, and it’s knocked you off course until you’ve heard these words today. God is telling you to get back on course, not to worry about a little turbulence. The enemy is saying it’s too hard to do it that way – take the easy way. Or he’s telling you that God doesn’t love you and asking what the point is in taking the way you’ve taken.
In the same way, Jesus steadfastly set His face. He knew Father’s will.
From this moment forward, what am I re-establishing in my thinking? He is my Father, has called me, has given me faith. No matter what happens, my God is faithful. I know He will provide. I know as a parent what I have to do for my children. We saw earlier in this book how they were fighting for their families, looking out for each other.
Nehemiah 6:17-19
Letter after letter. There was a link with Tobiah. There was such an intermingling that half the time the children were speaking Jewish, and half the time the language of the Ashdodites.
The idea of the letters was to put Nehemiah in fear. During the 52 days it took to build the walls, the letters were coming and going. The enemy of your soul seeks to destabilise you. He’s not going to win, but we’re not ignorant of the attempt. He seeks to engender fear – what if this isn’t right, what if you have got it wrong, what if ...
Nehemiah 6:10-11
You’ve hit a brick wall – he wasn’t going to give in. And there was a reason ...
Numbers 1:51
The inner sanctuary was the province of the Levites. No one else was allowed in there on pain of death.
Nehemiah 6:12-13
This man had been hired by Nehemiah’s enemies, the people who were trying to deflect him from the work. The idea was that once he had gone into the Temple, they could point out to the Jews that Nehemiah was no worthy leader when he himself didn’t keep the law.
Nehemiah 6:14
Every so often there is a prayer in the book. Those prayers you have prayed in the last week, wondering how you would cope, and asking God for help ... He heard you. And part of what I’m saying now is the result of Him answering your prayer. He knows what He is doing. He loves you. He knows what He’s doing in your life. It’s our reaction to the pressure which is key. Do we fall into self-pity, or do we realise we are following in the train of His triumph?
He is outworking His purposes, to create the bride of Christ, to bring more people into His church. You and I are the message. We’re always ready to give an answer to why we believe what we do, always sensitive to what God wants to do through us. There’s a world which needs an answer, and the answer if Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah 6:15-16
That’s what’s happening in your life. What is being established is of God. It doesn’t matter what is being shouted at you from outside. It doesn’t matter what people are doing to try and deflect you. God is establishing His work in your life, by His Holy Spirit.
The enemies knew that this was God’s work.
In Mark, Jesus was with the same people who had tried to dissuade Jesus from taking His intended course.
Mark 14:32-39
Not what I will, but what thou wilt. Nehemiah knew it was God’s will for him to rebuild the walls. And here, again, “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt”.
Mark 14:60-5
Mocking, pulling down, vindictive. The cross here in church reminds us of what He did – outworking Father’s will, to give His life who knew no sin. He lived a sinless life, and took our sin and its penalty, and it was Father’s will. He willingly gave up His life. And the enemies thought that was it.
When Sanballat sent the third time, he thought that if they hammered away long enough, he would come – but he wouldn’t. It was the same with Jesus – the disciples could not conceive why He intended to do what He did. He did it for the joy set before – you, His bride, the church. He endured the cross, and then miracle of miracles, He rose from the dead.
Mark 16:14-20
We serve a risen Saviour. He’s in the world today, your world, the circumstances of your life. It doesn’t matter what someone else is saying to you, what murmuring seems to come across your path. Our life is hid with Christ in God. We’re Christians. We stand for truth, grace, righteousness. We stand for our family and brethren, because of what God has done for us. He conquered death. He conquered anything the enemy would throw at Him.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Nehemiah (Part 6 of 9) - The Sound of the Trumpet
Pastor Linnecar looks at the warning sound of the trumpet in Nehemiah, and what it means in our own lives, individually and as a church.
We’ve been looking at Nehemiah. This was a person who, when he heard that Jerusalem was in disarray, got permission from the king and went there to organise the rebuilding. There was opposition to this. In chapters 1, 2 and 4 we see those who were contrary to the project – Sanballat and Tobiah. They mocked what he was trying to do. He surveyed the scene before undertaking the task.
Nehemiah 4:13
There was no one without a weapon. We saw the importance of our sword – the Word of God, constantly our touchstone and our strength. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Nehemiah 4:18... And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
God can get our attention very easily. And at times He specifically makes it very clear what He wants us to do and which direction He wants us to take.
I want to talk about the trumpet, where God in His love and mercy calls us to do and be what He wants.
Nehemiah 4:19
The work is great and large. I was thinking about this in the context of someone here who sees such a mountain inside – so large that it seems impossible that mountain can be removed. A mountain of sin, of iniquity. The rebuilding of the walls is to do with not just the walls of our lives, but also the walls of the church, and this morning we’ll see what it means to help one another in the building.
Hebrews 12:1
It’s a great work, a large work which Jesus Christ did on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:19
A great work, a large work. There is no one in this hall this morning who cannot partake of that work of the Lord Jesus Christ – no one for whom the work of the cross is irrelevant. It’s vital for you. It’s for you today.
A great work, a large work. And as we consider Nehemiah and the great work he was undertaking – ten massive gates to be restored, swathes of walls to be rebuilt ... When God sorted out His great work for you and me in Christ Jesus, there was no way He would be swerved from completing it. The completion of His great work is entirely for you individually and for us collectively.
Nehemiah didn’t want people working on one gate to be detached from those on others. He didn’t want people to be picked off.
1 Peter 5:5
Our adversary seeks to pick off, to isolate, to bring people into condemnation, to lock people up in their minds so they can’t speak to anyone. His hallmark is division – husband from wife, parents from children, brother from brother, sister from sister in the church. Nehemiah was aware of this – if there was a problem on one side, you needed people to get over and help. He didn’t want anyone to think they were on their own. They weren’t.
The enemy struts about. A lot of noise, dramatics, antics. Resist him steadfast in the faith.
I like reading out things from Romania, from Pakistan, that broaden our perspective. God knows what He is doing. And I want you to know that there is a body of people called of God to be in this place who are here, brothers and sisters with you.
What was the joy set before Him? That you and I would be members of His church worldwide.
I’m assuming you are here this morning because this is where He’s put you. If He wants you somewhere else then that’s where you need to be. But this morning, we’re here all together.
Nehemiah 4:20
“Wherever the trumpet sounds, I want you to come. And our God shall fight for us.”
v18 says that the person who sounded the trumpet was by Nehemiah. So Nehemiah was alerted to what was going on. God alerted Him. And wherever He knew that support was needed, he could summon the people.
Then we’ll all be together at the point of need, and our God shall fight for us. It’s not as a result of us all being together that we’ll do things – but because we’re all together, our God shall fight.
We had a meeting of Springboard yesterday. Someone asked why we have church – why we meet together. There’s something about meeting together which brings a strength, when we praise God together and when we affirm the common bond of our life in Christ and the faith in our hearts.
Hebrews 10:23
We’re not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together – we’re to consider one another etc. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. I love it when we’re all together, and we hold fast the profession of our faith and provoke one another to good works.
The people were to listen for the sound, and to move the moment they heard it. And as they moved and combined, their God would fight for them. God lives within each of us, but there is a mighty moving force in the church of God.
How should we help one another? If the trumpet sounds and we go to help, how should we be?
1 Corrinthians 12:25
If someone is suffering, it affects everyone. If someone is honoured, it affects everyone – we rejoice with them.
Philippians 2:2
It’s not “Me, me, me.” I’m in a church, linked up with brothers and sisters. The trumpet sounds, and I need to help where I can.
Galatians 6:2
Galatians 5:14
That’s the law fulfilled in one word:
Leviticus 19:18
You love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself.
There’s something about the trumpet sounding, that God seeks to get your attention. And it’s not a vague hope. He manages very easily and at the right time to get your attention. For some of you, this is a crucial time in your life. Why? The trumpet has sounded. There’s a jolt to the system.
There’s a very telling account of the need for the trumpet to sound:
Ezekiel 33:1
Is God being fair? Yes. If the trumpet sounds for you to realise that on your own you can’t manage your life ... if you hear the trumpet, and you know it means there will be an assessment of your life ... if you hear the sound of the trumpet and take warning, you’ll deliver your soul.
Ezekiel 33:6
What does this verse mean for me? I have to be faithful to preach God’s word. I have to bring to anyone’s attention what God intends. I’m not special – this is just what I’m meant to do. And if I don’t do it, it will affect me. The trumpet sounds for a reason.
Ezekiel 33:11
Ezekiel 33:15
If you know the right way to live and then don’t live that way, scripture says that’s sin. It may well be with the pressures in your life ... you’ve been painting the floor of your house and you’ve painted yourself into the corner of the room, and there’s nowhere to go, and the trumpet has sounded.
The moment you hear the sound of the trumpet, come over to the wall and God will fight for us. The trumpet sounded in your life is a warning. But it’s not a warning from a despot who wants to kill you. It’s a warning from a God of love who is saying, turn, repent, live right, be right. That’s the way I want you to be.
You’d think that a trumpet sounding would be clear cut. And yet we have:
Jeramiah 6:16
There’s a trumpet sounding, and the trumpet is for you as an individual and for us collectively to walk the way of God. It’s very clear.
What’s your reaction going to be in your life? Our God shall fight for us. His work was great and large. His work affected the whole world. The cross ... Jesus gave His life to break the power of sin and bring forgiveness for you, to change you on the inside, so that you are free to walk right. You don’t become a robot, but you’re free to live right.
And as a church, these verses are about how we should help each other. When the trumpet sounds, resort hither. Are you forever going to exist in a rumour mill of pulling someone down? No! Full stop. Our God shall fight for us.
Nehemiah 4:21
No let up. We laboured in the work from dawn to dark.
Nehemiah 4:22
They always had their weapons with them – steadfast, resolute, determined.
Nehemiah 6:16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
It’s the goodness of God which causes us to repent. It’s His goodness. He’s not some malevolent being. By His Holy Spirit it’s the goodness of God which leads us to repentance.
People will see you as an individual and us as a church and will say, “This work was wrought of our God.”
There’s a clarity, a freedom. There’s praise for God for what He did on the Cross and how He rose from the dead.
The following speaks oft he God with whom we deal:
Ephesians 1:18
That’s the power – the power that raised Jesus from the dead. When I looked into the grave at my aunt’s funeral recently, there was no death. She’s not there. Grave, where is thy victory, death where thy sting?
It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance. How’s the timing in your life? The timing is perfect because Jesus Christ our loving heavenly father is organising things. The trumpet is clear. We all hear it. And whether it’s causing us to pray, to read His word, to share with one another, He’s bringing it to pass.
It’s the church. There’s something about the fact that I’m linked to you, and you’re linked to the person next to you. He wants you to live right. That’s’ why the trumpet is sounding so clearly to as individuals and to us as a church.
When you hear the trumpet sound, resort thither. Now is the time. His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. It’s the goodness of God which leads us to repentance. Our God shall fight for us.
We’ve been looking at Nehemiah. This was a person who, when he heard that Jerusalem was in disarray, got permission from the king and went there to organise the rebuilding. There was opposition to this. In chapters 1, 2 and 4 we see those who were contrary to the project – Sanballat and Tobiah. They mocked what he was trying to do. He surveyed the scene before undertaking the task.
Nehemiah 4:13
There was no one without a weapon. We saw the importance of our sword – the Word of God, constantly our touchstone and our strength. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Nehemiah 4:18... And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
God can get our attention very easily. And at times He specifically makes it very clear what He wants us to do and which direction He wants us to take.
I want to talk about the trumpet, where God in His love and mercy calls us to do and be what He wants.
Nehemiah 4:19
The work is great and large. I was thinking about this in the context of someone here who sees such a mountain inside – so large that it seems impossible that mountain can be removed. A mountain of sin, of iniquity. The rebuilding of the walls is to do with not just the walls of our lives, but also the walls of the church, and this morning we’ll see what it means to help one another in the building.
Hebrews 12:1
It’s a great work, a large work which Jesus Christ did on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:19
A great work, a large work. There is no one in this hall this morning who cannot partake of that work of the Lord Jesus Christ – no one for whom the work of the cross is irrelevant. It’s vital for you. It’s for you today.
A great work, a large work. And as we consider Nehemiah and the great work he was undertaking – ten massive gates to be restored, swathes of walls to be rebuilt ... When God sorted out His great work for you and me in Christ Jesus, there was no way He would be swerved from completing it. The completion of His great work is entirely for you individually and for us collectively.
Nehemiah didn’t want people working on one gate to be detached from those on others. He didn’t want people to be picked off.
1 Peter 5:5
Our adversary seeks to pick off, to isolate, to bring people into condemnation, to lock people up in their minds so they can’t speak to anyone. His hallmark is division – husband from wife, parents from children, brother from brother, sister from sister in the church. Nehemiah was aware of this – if there was a problem on one side, you needed people to get over and help. He didn’t want anyone to think they were on their own. They weren’t.
The enemy struts about. A lot of noise, dramatics, antics. Resist him steadfast in the faith.
I like reading out things from Romania, from Pakistan, that broaden our perspective. God knows what He is doing. And I want you to know that there is a body of people called of God to be in this place who are here, brothers and sisters with you.
What was the joy set before Him? That you and I would be members of His church worldwide.
I’m assuming you are here this morning because this is where He’s put you. If He wants you somewhere else then that’s where you need to be. But this morning, we’re here all together.
Nehemiah 4:20
“Wherever the trumpet sounds, I want you to come. And our God shall fight for us.”
v18 says that the person who sounded the trumpet was by Nehemiah. So Nehemiah was alerted to what was going on. God alerted Him. And wherever He knew that support was needed, he could summon the people.
Then we’ll all be together at the point of need, and our God shall fight for us. It’s not as a result of us all being together that we’ll do things – but because we’re all together, our God shall fight.
We had a meeting of Springboard yesterday. Someone asked why we have church – why we meet together. There’s something about meeting together which brings a strength, when we praise God together and when we affirm the common bond of our life in Christ and the faith in our hearts.
Hebrews 10:23
We’re not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together – we’re to consider one another etc. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. I love it when we’re all together, and we hold fast the profession of our faith and provoke one another to good works.
The people were to listen for the sound, and to move the moment they heard it. And as they moved and combined, their God would fight for them. God lives within each of us, but there is a mighty moving force in the church of God.
How should we help one another? If the trumpet sounds and we go to help, how should we be?
1 Corrinthians 12:25
If someone is suffering, it affects everyone. If someone is honoured, it affects everyone – we rejoice with them.
Philippians 2:2
It’s not “Me, me, me.” I’m in a church, linked up with brothers and sisters. The trumpet sounds, and I need to help where I can.
Galatians 6:2
Galatians 5:14
That’s the law fulfilled in one word:
Leviticus 19:18
You love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself.
There’s something about the trumpet sounding, that God seeks to get your attention. And it’s not a vague hope. He manages very easily and at the right time to get your attention. For some of you, this is a crucial time in your life. Why? The trumpet has sounded. There’s a jolt to the system.
There’s a very telling account of the need for the trumpet to sound:
Ezekiel 33:1
Is God being fair? Yes. If the trumpet sounds for you to realise that on your own you can’t manage your life ... if you hear the trumpet, and you know it means there will be an assessment of your life ... if you hear the sound of the trumpet and take warning, you’ll deliver your soul.
Ezekiel 33:6
What does this verse mean for me? I have to be faithful to preach God’s word. I have to bring to anyone’s attention what God intends. I’m not special – this is just what I’m meant to do. And if I don’t do it, it will affect me. The trumpet sounds for a reason.
Ezekiel 33:11
Ezekiel 33:15
If you know the right way to live and then don’t live that way, scripture says that’s sin. It may well be with the pressures in your life ... you’ve been painting the floor of your house and you’ve painted yourself into the corner of the room, and there’s nowhere to go, and the trumpet has sounded.
The moment you hear the sound of the trumpet, come over to the wall and God will fight for us. The trumpet sounded in your life is a warning. But it’s not a warning from a despot who wants to kill you. It’s a warning from a God of love who is saying, turn, repent, live right, be right. That’s the way I want you to be.
You’d think that a trumpet sounding would be clear cut. And yet we have:
Jeramiah 6:16
There’s a trumpet sounding, and the trumpet is for you as an individual and for us collectively to walk the way of God. It’s very clear.
What’s your reaction going to be in your life? Our God shall fight for us. His work was great and large. His work affected the whole world. The cross ... Jesus gave His life to break the power of sin and bring forgiveness for you, to change you on the inside, so that you are free to walk right. You don’t become a robot, but you’re free to live right.
And as a church, these verses are about how we should help each other. When the trumpet sounds, resort hither. Are you forever going to exist in a rumour mill of pulling someone down? No! Full stop. Our God shall fight for us.
Nehemiah 4:21
No let up. We laboured in the work from dawn to dark.
Nehemiah 4:22
They always had their weapons with them – steadfast, resolute, determined.
Nehemiah 6:16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
It’s the goodness of God which causes us to repent. It’s His goodness. He’s not some malevolent being. By His Holy Spirit it’s the goodness of God which leads us to repentance.
People will see you as an individual and us as a church and will say, “This work was wrought of our God.”
There’s a clarity, a freedom. There’s praise for God for what He did on the Cross and how He rose from the dead.
The following speaks oft he God with whom we deal:
Ephesians 1:18
That’s the power – the power that raised Jesus from the dead. When I looked into the grave at my aunt’s funeral recently, there was no death. She’s not there. Grave, where is thy victory, death where thy sting?
It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance. How’s the timing in your life? The timing is perfect because Jesus Christ our loving heavenly father is organising things. The trumpet is clear. We all hear it. And whether it’s causing us to pray, to read His word, to share with one another, He’s bringing it to pass.
It’s the church. There’s something about the fact that I’m linked to you, and you’re linked to the person next to you. He wants you to live right. That’s’ why the trumpet is sounding so clearly to as individuals and to us as a church.
When you hear the trumpet sound, resort thither. Now is the time. His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. It’s the goodness of God which leads us to repentance. Our God shall fight for us.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Nehemiah (Part 4 of 9) - The Walls of Your Life
The book of Nehemiah has much to say about the building of the walls of Jerusalem and there is just as much need for walls in our lives. We look here at the walls of truth, obedience, love, joy, respect, and peace.
We’ve been looking at the book of Nehemiah.
The book was written by Nehemiah. Chapter 1 shows him becoming aware that the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which he thought was in hand, was not happening; and he was led to call out to God. Chapter 1 records his prayer. It’s good to pray, and God hears your prayers. Maybe you’ve prayed of late and have been wondering. God hears your heart-felt prayers. Nehemiah’s prayer was answered.
In Chapter 2, the king observed that Nehemiah was concerned about something, and asked what it was. Nehemiah asked permission to go, and the king let him go to oversee the rebuilding. Not only that, but Nehemiah was emboldened to ask for material assistance.
Chapter 3 has Nehemiah at Jerusalem, surveying the state of the city. And he explains to the people how God had prospered his way. Enemies of the city tried to undermine the work, but Nehemiah said God would prosper them.
Chapter 3 lists 72 people who joined together to do the work. There is reference to one group who got involved, but whose nobles refused. But in other cases, everyone joined in. For example there is mention of one man and his daughters who got involved. I believe they respected their father, respected what he stood for, and they got on with it.
As the work progressed, it was obvious that Sanballat and the other enemies were even more anxious about what was going on, and the opposition went up a gear. We’ll look today at this opposition and the way Nehemiah and everyone else responded.
It’s possible to think about the walls of Jerusalem as the walls of the church. I don’t want to dwell on that today. Today we will cover the walls of your life, as an individual. What is the foundation of your life? What is the foundation of you as an individual? And those of you who are fathers, what are the walls you are creating for your family? Married men, what walls are you creating for your wife? And for everyone, the walls need to be right in your life.
It’s possible to look at the gates in chapter 3 as the walls of a Christian life. The first gate mentioned is the Sheep Gate, where the priests were involved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Wonderful that God sent His son to be the way that we come back into life away from the paths of sin through the Sheep Gate, the entry point, Jesus Christ.
In Chapter 4 it was obvious that Nehemiah was organising things. He gave out responsibilities :-
Nehemiah 3:10
Nehemiah 3:23
Nehemiah 4:1
Sanballat thought in his arrogance that he could knock down the work which was being done. His first two questions were a direct hit – the Jews were weaklings; would they fortify themselves? It’s possible that the enemy of your soul through opposition makes a direct attack on you – “Call yourself a Christian? You don’t believe that, do you? Do you really believe in God?” There’s a chipping away.
Sanballat thought he was so clever. Would the Jews return to their religious observances, given the state in which Jerusalem found itself? And then there was a prod on the timescale – will they make an end in a day? What was the timescale supposed to be? Will they revive the stones? “Look at your life. You messed up. God isn’t blessing you. He hasn’t answered your prayer? How on earth is something going to be made out of that?”
Let’s just confirm here – we believe in the God who answers by fire and who makes the impossible, possible. You may be staring at an impossibility. You may be unable to think of a scheme to sort things out, and the enemy has come and said, “Are you going to make something out of that mess?”
Nehemiah 4:3
Nehemiah 4:4
Nehemiah 4:6
It’s how you think, your attitude to things, you as an individual stating, “OK – the foundation of my life is Jesus Christ, the foundation of my future is what He wants me to do. I want to please Him.”
I will look shortly at what the walls might consist of in a Christian’s life.
It would have take time to set up the walls. It wasn’t a day’s work.
Nehemiah 4:7
There was a conspiracy. The opposition was growing, and the opposition made loud noises. The conspiracy was real. But ...
Nehemiah 4:9
The watch was there twenty four hours a day. There was constant supervision. There was an urgency in sorting things out for the family. The enemy is real, and our vigilance needs to be there. Nehemiah was wise is setting a watch.
I was given an article about a teenage suicide as a result of a person being isolated from her friends on FaceBook. The article is all to do with how an innocent-looking thing like a social networking site can become a vehicle not only for gossip, but for isolating people.
If I want to share news with someone overseas, the technology is brilliant. But at the same time this can be a channel for the enemy’s work. I’m not against the internet and hi-tech. But be careful that this doesn’t become an addiction for you, so your time is spent on catching up with gossip and on pulling people down. Be careful. Be vigilant.
We need to look at the walls in our lives.
The walls were half way up, and the opposition were angry and conspired together.
Nehemiah 4:9
They weren’t bitter when they said this – it was just that people were tired. There was a lot to sort out and they couldn’t build.
Nehemiah 4:11
Judah pointed out that people were tired and there was a lot to do. Then the enemies started piling on the threats. And the people who were near the enemies, camped around the cities, and could hear what was being said, came with reports. Opposition can come like that – “What’s the point? It’s not going to last. It’s not real.” Ten times it came from the people who lived near the enemy.
Nehemiah 4:13
“You’re right – I’m not denying what people is saying.” So he organised the people, and set the foundation of their heart as they grouped in families. There was no equivocation. They knew, with their weapons in their hands, that there was no way they were giving up, no way they would give in to the opposition, no way they would give in to tiredness.
Nehemiah 4:14
Those of you who are fathers here ... are you fighting for your family? Are you bringing your family in prayer to God? Are you setting the example for your family of respect and love? What are the walls of our lives that God wants to strengthen and develop? I want to look at six walls ...
1. The wall of truth - Ephesians 4:14
“Speaking the truth in love”. “In love” – those words are important. What will be our common denominator when we speak to one another? “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus said the spirit of truth would come. You’re a Christian, so you speak the truth. “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” So when I speak about anyone or address anyone, I speak the truth in love. I don’t speak things to pull down and destroy. I speak in love to build up. Lying will be the one thing which will not happen in your family. No lying. I don’t dwell in grey half-truths. I don’t cash in on another comment which may or may not be true. “Speaking the truth in love.”
2. The wall of obedience to God - Acts 5:29
This was in response to them being imprisoned. To obey is better than sacrifice. Obedience to God is key. So a wall of your existence is to be obedient to God, to what He says for you and what He wants for your life.
Jesus had just ascended, and Peter was clear that they should obey God rather than men.
Obedience is crucial, because if I have a disciplined home – not tyrannical, but disciplined – where the norm is that every time there is obedience, it engenders an attitude of doing what we’re told. And when the Holy Spirit opens up the way for that youngster, the same attitude applies. There comes a shaft of light, and there’s a track-record of obedience. The heavenly father talks to that youngster and draws them in love. Obedience. And there’s been no lying, so there’s truth – “I know I’m a sinner. I know that power of sin has to be broken in my life.” There’s a track record of truth and obedience.
3. The wall of love - John 15:11
That’s the commandment – that you love one another as I have loved you. It’s a wall in your life – to see people as God sees them, to have His love expressed through you, not to write people off. There’s a love which goes the extra mile, which lays down his life for his friends, with Jesus as the foremost example.Truth, obedience, love. And in these same verses is another one ...
4. The wall of joy - John 15:11, Hebrews 12:2
That joy was a people for Himself – the Bride of Christ. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, because the Bride of Christ is being established. There is a strength in joy for each of us. That means there is a joy in knowing we are seated with Him in heavenly places. There is a security. It is His life inside by His Holy Spirit. There is a joy in us.
When things happen in your life, what’s it like for the people around you? Pressures are real. Do we smile when something terrible happens? No. But it means that the wall of your life is joy, the joy that you are seated in Christ in heavenly places. There’s a joy and security. It’s something you want to share with others, not something to make you arrogant. And it cuts out the sulking, the reaching for the violin at a moment’s notice.
Stand – and having done all, stand. The wall of your life ... joy. Maybe so far there’s been a murky world of half truth rather than clarity. You’ve known what to say, but you know it doesn’t ring true. What’s it going to be? What’s the wall of your life? Truth, obedience, love, joy?
5. The wall of respect - Romans 12:10
Respect is important as a wall in your life – respect for God; respect for the older generation; respect for God when you come into a meeting chewing gum; respect in turning up to meetings on time. If I were to tell you that we were all invited to Buckingham Palace next week at 10 am, you’d be up at 6 am to make sure you were there.
Truth, obedience, love, joy, respect.
6. The wall of peace - Colossians 3:12
There’s something you have to let happen – let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Let it rule you.
Nehemiah 4:14
Who is your brother? He’s sitting next to you. Some of you have sons, daughters, wives. All of us have brethren. We have a place to live, thankfully. We’re to fight? Why? Because there are matters the enemy would seek to destroy, and there are elements in your life that God is putting His finger on this morning. You know that God is speaking to you. There are walls in your life which must be there. And the reason you’re hearing this this morning is that God wants them to be there and will help you. He is the answer, the one who provides a way forward, the one who is the source of love itself.
So when we’re asked to love one another, it’s an expression of God Himself. God is the source of love. For any individual, my prayer is that you would know more and more of the love of God. What would be the result of that? It will be a coming together, of fighting for your brethren, not cashing in on rumour.
Nehemiah 4:14
The walls of your life are on the foundation of Jesus Christ. What a foundation! The walls wouldn’t be there but for Him. He is our foundation.
Romans 13:12
We’ve been looking at the book of Nehemiah.
The book was written by Nehemiah. Chapter 1 shows him becoming aware that the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which he thought was in hand, was not happening; and he was led to call out to God. Chapter 1 records his prayer. It’s good to pray, and God hears your prayers. Maybe you’ve prayed of late and have been wondering. God hears your heart-felt prayers. Nehemiah’s prayer was answered.
In Chapter 2, the king observed that Nehemiah was concerned about something, and asked what it was. Nehemiah asked permission to go, and the king let him go to oversee the rebuilding. Not only that, but Nehemiah was emboldened to ask for material assistance.
Chapter 3 has Nehemiah at Jerusalem, surveying the state of the city. And he explains to the people how God had prospered his way. Enemies of the city tried to undermine the work, but Nehemiah said God would prosper them.
Chapter 3 lists 72 people who joined together to do the work. There is reference to one group who got involved, but whose nobles refused. But in other cases, everyone joined in. For example there is mention of one man and his daughters who got involved. I believe they respected their father, respected what he stood for, and they got on with it.
As the work progressed, it was obvious that Sanballat and the other enemies were even more anxious about what was going on, and the opposition went up a gear. We’ll look today at this opposition and the way Nehemiah and everyone else responded.
It’s possible to think about the walls of Jerusalem as the walls of the church. I don’t want to dwell on that today. Today we will cover the walls of your life, as an individual. What is the foundation of your life? What is the foundation of you as an individual? And those of you who are fathers, what are the walls you are creating for your family? Married men, what walls are you creating for your wife? And for everyone, the walls need to be right in your life.
It’s possible to look at the gates in chapter 3 as the walls of a Christian life. The first gate mentioned is the Sheep Gate, where the priests were involved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Wonderful that God sent His son to be the way that we come back into life away from the paths of sin through the Sheep Gate, the entry point, Jesus Christ.
In Chapter 4 it was obvious that Nehemiah was organising things. He gave out responsibilities :-
Nehemiah 3:10
Nehemiah 3:23
Nehemiah 4:1
Sanballat thought in his arrogance that he could knock down the work which was being done. His first two questions were a direct hit – the Jews were weaklings; would they fortify themselves? It’s possible that the enemy of your soul through opposition makes a direct attack on you – “Call yourself a Christian? You don’t believe that, do you? Do you really believe in God?” There’s a chipping away.
Sanballat thought he was so clever. Would the Jews return to their religious observances, given the state in which Jerusalem found itself? And then there was a prod on the timescale – will they make an end in a day? What was the timescale supposed to be? Will they revive the stones? “Look at your life. You messed up. God isn’t blessing you. He hasn’t answered your prayer? How on earth is something going to be made out of that?”
Let’s just confirm here – we believe in the God who answers by fire and who makes the impossible, possible. You may be staring at an impossibility. You may be unable to think of a scheme to sort things out, and the enemy has come and said, “Are you going to make something out of that mess?”
Nehemiah 4:3
Nehemiah 4:4
Nehemiah 4:6
It’s how you think, your attitude to things, you as an individual stating, “OK – the foundation of my life is Jesus Christ, the foundation of my future is what He wants me to do. I want to please Him.”
I will look shortly at what the walls might consist of in a Christian’s life.
It would have take time to set up the walls. It wasn’t a day’s work.
Nehemiah 4:7
There was a conspiracy. The opposition was growing, and the opposition made loud noises. The conspiracy was real. But ...
Nehemiah 4:9
The watch was there twenty four hours a day. There was constant supervision. There was an urgency in sorting things out for the family. The enemy is real, and our vigilance needs to be there. Nehemiah was wise is setting a watch.
I was given an article about a teenage suicide as a result of a person being isolated from her friends on FaceBook. The article is all to do with how an innocent-looking thing like a social networking site can become a vehicle not only for gossip, but for isolating people.
If I want to share news with someone overseas, the technology is brilliant. But at the same time this can be a channel for the enemy’s work. I’m not against the internet and hi-tech. But be careful that this doesn’t become an addiction for you, so your time is spent on catching up with gossip and on pulling people down. Be careful. Be vigilant.
We need to look at the walls in our lives.
The walls were half way up, and the opposition were angry and conspired together.
Nehemiah 4:9
They weren’t bitter when they said this – it was just that people were tired. There was a lot to sort out and they couldn’t build.
Nehemiah 4:11
Judah pointed out that people were tired and there was a lot to do. Then the enemies started piling on the threats. And the people who were near the enemies, camped around the cities, and could hear what was being said, came with reports. Opposition can come like that – “What’s the point? It’s not going to last. It’s not real.” Ten times it came from the people who lived near the enemy.
Nehemiah 4:13
“You’re right – I’m not denying what people is saying.” So he organised the people, and set the foundation of their heart as they grouped in families. There was no equivocation. They knew, with their weapons in their hands, that there was no way they were giving up, no way they would give in to the opposition, no way they would give in to tiredness.
Nehemiah 4:14
Those of you who are fathers here ... are you fighting for your family? Are you bringing your family in prayer to God? Are you setting the example for your family of respect and love? What are the walls of our lives that God wants to strengthen and develop? I want to look at six walls ...
1. The wall of truth - Ephesians 4:14
“Speaking the truth in love”. “In love” – those words are important. What will be our common denominator when we speak to one another? “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus said the spirit of truth would come. You’re a Christian, so you speak the truth. “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” So when I speak about anyone or address anyone, I speak the truth in love. I don’t speak things to pull down and destroy. I speak in love to build up. Lying will be the one thing which will not happen in your family. No lying. I don’t dwell in grey half-truths. I don’t cash in on another comment which may or may not be true. “Speaking the truth in love.”
2. The wall of obedience to God - Acts 5:29
This was in response to them being imprisoned. To obey is better than sacrifice. Obedience to God is key. So a wall of your existence is to be obedient to God, to what He says for you and what He wants for your life.
Jesus had just ascended, and Peter was clear that they should obey God rather than men.
Obedience is crucial, because if I have a disciplined home – not tyrannical, but disciplined – where the norm is that every time there is obedience, it engenders an attitude of doing what we’re told. And when the Holy Spirit opens up the way for that youngster, the same attitude applies. There comes a shaft of light, and there’s a track-record of obedience. The heavenly father talks to that youngster and draws them in love. Obedience. And there’s been no lying, so there’s truth – “I know I’m a sinner. I know that power of sin has to be broken in my life.” There’s a track record of truth and obedience.
3. The wall of love - John 15:11
That’s the commandment – that you love one another as I have loved you. It’s a wall in your life – to see people as God sees them, to have His love expressed through you, not to write people off. There’s a love which goes the extra mile, which lays down his life for his friends, with Jesus as the foremost example.Truth, obedience, love. And in these same verses is another one ...
4. The wall of joy - John 15:11, Hebrews 12:2
That joy was a people for Himself – the Bride of Christ. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, because the Bride of Christ is being established. There is a strength in joy for each of us. That means there is a joy in knowing we are seated with Him in heavenly places. There is a security. It is His life inside by His Holy Spirit. There is a joy in us.
When things happen in your life, what’s it like for the people around you? Pressures are real. Do we smile when something terrible happens? No. But it means that the wall of your life is joy, the joy that you are seated in Christ in heavenly places. There’s a joy and security. It’s something you want to share with others, not something to make you arrogant. And it cuts out the sulking, the reaching for the violin at a moment’s notice.
Stand – and having done all, stand. The wall of your life ... joy. Maybe so far there’s been a murky world of half truth rather than clarity. You’ve known what to say, but you know it doesn’t ring true. What’s it going to be? What’s the wall of your life? Truth, obedience, love, joy?
5. The wall of respect - Romans 12:10
Respect is important as a wall in your life – respect for God; respect for the older generation; respect for God when you come into a meeting chewing gum; respect in turning up to meetings on time. If I were to tell you that we were all invited to Buckingham Palace next week at 10 am, you’d be up at 6 am to make sure you were there.
Truth, obedience, love, joy, respect.
6. The wall of peace - Colossians 3:12
There’s something you have to let happen – let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Let it rule you.
Nehemiah 4:14
Who is your brother? He’s sitting next to you. Some of you have sons, daughters, wives. All of us have brethren. We have a place to live, thankfully. We’re to fight? Why? Because there are matters the enemy would seek to destroy, and there are elements in your life that God is putting His finger on this morning. You know that God is speaking to you. There are walls in your life which must be there. And the reason you’re hearing this this morning is that God wants them to be there and will help you. He is the answer, the one who provides a way forward, the one who is the source of love itself.
So when we’re asked to love one another, it’s an expression of God Himself. God is the source of love. For any individual, my prayer is that you would know more and more of the love of God. What would be the result of that? It will be a coming together, of fighting for your brethren, not cashing in on rumour.
Nehemiah 4:14
The walls of your life are on the foundation of Jesus Christ. What a foundation! The walls wouldn’t be there but for Him. He is our foundation.
Romans 13:12
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Nehemiah (Part 2 of 9) - The Good Hand of God is Upon You
The good hand of God is upon us. He orchestrates the circumstances in our lives so that we are drawn towards Him in prayer for the solution. As Nehemiah knew, when he came before the King, that was the crunch time. God delights in prompting us to pray and then being the answer to our prayers. God’s solution will be over and above what we could ever ask or think. He loves us, and He wants us to go forward in Him so that, through us, He can draw others to Himself.
Just a brief word concerning what we looked at previously, it was the first part of Nehemiah.
In chapter 1, Nehemiah thought that the building work in Jerusalem was continuing but when he heard about the state of the walls and that the work had ceased, it was not the news he had expected.
Nehemiah held a prominent position in that he was the cup-bearer to the King. It was as if by chance that someone brought back a report concerning the work. Jerusalem had been taken into captivity; it had become a laughing stock.
Nehemiah was shocked because he had thought that things were progressing. His initial reaction to this news was that he prayed.
What’s been going on in your life has been prompted by God for you to get on your knees before Him. It’s God’s delight for us, in humility, to come before Him and ask Him for the solution. Without that pressure or that problem we wouldn’t be on our knees.
Nehemiah 1:4
And then He prays. He reminds God of His mercy.
Nehemiah 1:11
At the beginning of chapter two it goes forward a few months.
Nehemiah 2:1
For four months Nehemiah could think of nothing else but Jerusalem. For some of you, in the situation you’re in, you’ve been thinking of nothing else. Each time you’ve thought about it there’s a sort of compression inside causing you to ask God for help. You know that you need God as the solution. That is not despair. That is the crystal clear reality of you realising who God is and what He wants to do for you. It says in James that we have not because we ask not, or we ask for things that are the wrong motive. But you need to ask.
For Nehemiah it was four months. It might be the shock you’ve had has been in your work situation or it might be in a relationship. That shock to your system is there because our God, who is our loving heavenly Father, wants you and me to be co-workers together with Him, as we witness the solution He is and He will be in your situation. It’s as if He knows just the right situation that, if you like, takes over our thinking, and causes us to say ‘Lord. You’ve got to work this out’.
Individually I can see that God is stirring in our hearts that we need to get hold of Him ourselves via His Word and prayer. There’s going to come a time when a characteristic of this group of people is that we are a people who know our God and who see Him answering prayer. He loves us.
For Nehemiah he was praying and he knew that God had to give him the answer. He was humble even though he had a high position in the land.
Nehemiah 2:2
It comes to that point where you’ve been praying and now it’s the crunch time. There was something in Nehemiah, because he knew that this was it. He knew that the King was going to ask about what had been bugging him all those months; Nehemiah didn’t know how the King was going to react. But he knew, by a God given urgency inside, it was now. Let’s translate that into your life. There comes a time in your life when you know that God has brought about a situation and now is the crunch time. You’ve been praying about it: now’s the time.
Nehemiah 2:3
I was trying to figure out the tone of his voice when he said that because he was letting the King know what he had been thinking about all those months.
Nehemiah 2:4
That was a surprise! He thought the King was going to be dismissive of what he was thinking about. The King had heard about the building of the wall but the King didn’t respond as Nehemiah thought he would. The answer that God gives you will be a surprise to you as well. Our God is a God who answers our prayers. Our God is a God who is strong; He’s the King of Kings. He knows what He is doing.
So Nehemiah prayed to the God of Heaven. Nehemiah was not thinking of himself, he was thinking of the people in Jerusalem. Here he had the King’s attention. It is God’s delight to answer our prayers, prompted by His Holy Spirit. The outworking of His purposes are sure. You can’t stop the mighty moving force of God, even though you might try.
We’ll see later in this chapter those who were mocking and scornful. But nothing can stop the mighty force of God. That force is a force of love who will outwork His purpose in your life. It’s important how you react to the pressures in life. You must pray.
Nehemiah 2:5 – 6
Are you ready for God’s answer? God will answer you. What God is doing in your life is developing that faith inside you, the faith that He’s given you. He’s making you more aware of who He is.
My foundation is Jesus Christ. My foundation is that, going forward, I want to do what God wants me to do. When God answers, the answer is clear and sure. I’ll tell you where I’m at. I am aware that God is going to build on the foundation that He’s laid in this place. It’s as if we’re going forward to outwork what He wants us to do. Now’s the time.
It’s interesting that Nehemiah set the King a length time that he’d be away for: he was ready with an answer. The expectation of Nehemiah is that God would answer. When you’re thinking about your future, God’s been speaking to you; you need to get on with it.
Nehemiah 2:7 – 8
The good hand of God is upon you. It’s a good hand. You may say that I don’t understand your situation, but I do know that it is a good hand. When Nehemiah walked out of that meeting he couldn’t believe what had happened. Nehemiah was giving up a lot to do this; he had been the cupbearer of the King. Sometimes God asks things of us, a change of direction. In his heart Nehemiah knew that he had to go. He was prepared to go even before the King had granted him his request. He had thought about it but hadn’t known how he would be able to go. He asked God to open up the way for him because he couldn’t see a solution. If we wait for God’s timing it is a good thing. God will bring the answer at the right time.
Nehemiah 2:9
Not only was the King allowing Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem but he was providing the transport for him to get there. God answers our prayers over and above what we could ask or think.
Nehemiah 2:10
It grieved them because they thought they had got King Artaxerxes to end the work in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:11
When he got there he surveyed the situation. It’s not a bad thing to stop and take stock of your life. We must evaluate what is the foundation of our lives and what is our ambition. People might say that we are weak because we have to rely on God. Anyone who speaks like that is breathing the air that God gives them. They have life from him. Often when someone speaks like that it’s out of frustration in their life. Nehemiah wasn’t a ‘goody-two-shoes’, but he knew his God. Deep down you know your God. Sanballat and Tobiah didn’t like the fact that Nehemiah came.
Nehemiah 2:12 – 16
When you take a survey of your life, you are checking on the progress and the motives of your life. Is it the case, as far as you are concerned, that as a Christian God has a freeway in your life so that you can share with others the life of Christ within you? We are to love one another so that others can see and be drawn to the One who has caused us to have that love: Jesus Christ. The great commission from Jesus is to share our faith, His faith that God has put inside us.
The older people in the church are of value to us because they are prepared to do what God wants them to do. ‘These walls must be rebuilt’, Nehemiah said. As he was riding to Jerusalem he was thinking how wonderfully God had worked everything out. He knew that now was the time, so he decided to survey the situation.
Nehemiah 2:16 – 18
God’s timing. It didn’t take much to convince the people in Jerusalem of the need. They knew that he had come. Nehemiah told them he had come because of the ‘hand of my God which was good upon me’. He said that to encourage them to realise that it was the time to rise up and build.
God has a work for us to do. The wonderful thing is that the work He has for us corporately is being mirrored in your individual lives. That’s why the circumstances in your life are as they are now. God is ensuring that you are aware of the foundation of God in your life. He’s ensuring that your focus is right. He’s ensuring that there is a resolve to get hold of God for the solution. God gave you that resolve.
What’s going to be the result of that? That you will fulfil what God wants to be in your life so that His life can flow through you and affect those around you for good. In your life, as you succeed in the circumstances you’re in, witnessing and testifying to the faithfulness of God in your life, so there will be that flow from you to others. You will know that there is someone that can help others. His name is Jesus Christ.
Sanballat and Tobiah, and now another fellow, heard what Nehemiah said.
Nehemiah 2:19
The resolve in Nehemiah had increased.
Nehemiah 2:20
No discussion. ‘What you’re saying is against our God. Our God is the God of heaven and He will sort things out. He is the One we trust. We are strong because of the resolve He has given us.’ Some people twist it as if we are weak because we need God in our life. It is the complete opposite. There is no one here, and I mean that, who is outside of this thought, that together you’re involved in what God is going to do in our midst.
In your individual life you will find over the next weeks a resolve that God has put into you to stand your ground. A resolve to be open to what God wants you to do, to be. You are here on this earth for a reason. God wants to outwork His purposes in you. The circumstances in your life will cause you to get closer to God through prayer. It’s to the end that we will fulfil what God wants us to do corporately, that is, to reach out to those who have no answer. Now if I were to say ‘Ok, I’m in’, is that me convincing you in some rally-type turn? No, it’s God through this account in Nehemiah. Today God has been asking you what it is going to be for you.
This credit crunch has brought an additional pressure. Did God know about that coming? Yes. Did He know about the affect it would have on you? Yes. The God of heaven will prosper us.
Philippians 3:13 – 14
Today, the middle of verse 13 is important for you and for me: “forgetting those things which are behind”. And then in verse 14: “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Today, in your situation in your life, the good hand of God is upon you. It’s not the devil: it’s the good hand of God. He knows what He’s doing. That God of love, in your situation, whether you're single, married, widowed, whatever situation you are in, it’s the good hand of God upon you. He loves you.
Just a brief word concerning what we looked at previously, it was the first part of Nehemiah.
In chapter 1, Nehemiah thought that the building work in Jerusalem was continuing but when he heard about the state of the walls and that the work had ceased, it was not the news he had expected.
Nehemiah held a prominent position in that he was the cup-bearer to the King. It was as if by chance that someone brought back a report concerning the work. Jerusalem had been taken into captivity; it had become a laughing stock.
Nehemiah was shocked because he had thought that things were progressing. His initial reaction to this news was that he prayed.
What’s been going on in your life has been prompted by God for you to get on your knees before Him. It’s God’s delight for us, in humility, to come before Him and ask Him for the solution. Without that pressure or that problem we wouldn’t be on our knees.
Nehemiah 1:4
And then He prays. He reminds God of His mercy.
Nehemiah 1:11
At the beginning of chapter two it goes forward a few months.
Nehemiah 2:1
For four months Nehemiah could think of nothing else but Jerusalem. For some of you, in the situation you’re in, you’ve been thinking of nothing else. Each time you’ve thought about it there’s a sort of compression inside causing you to ask God for help. You know that you need God as the solution. That is not despair. That is the crystal clear reality of you realising who God is and what He wants to do for you. It says in James that we have not because we ask not, or we ask for things that are the wrong motive. But you need to ask.
For Nehemiah it was four months. It might be the shock you’ve had has been in your work situation or it might be in a relationship. That shock to your system is there because our God, who is our loving heavenly Father, wants you and me to be co-workers together with Him, as we witness the solution He is and He will be in your situation. It’s as if He knows just the right situation that, if you like, takes over our thinking, and causes us to say ‘Lord. You’ve got to work this out’.
Individually I can see that God is stirring in our hearts that we need to get hold of Him ourselves via His Word and prayer. There’s going to come a time when a characteristic of this group of people is that we are a people who know our God and who see Him answering prayer. He loves us.
For Nehemiah he was praying and he knew that God had to give him the answer. He was humble even though he had a high position in the land.
Nehemiah 2:2
It comes to that point where you’ve been praying and now it’s the crunch time. There was something in Nehemiah, because he knew that this was it. He knew that the King was going to ask about what had been bugging him all those months; Nehemiah didn’t know how the King was going to react. But he knew, by a God given urgency inside, it was now. Let’s translate that into your life. There comes a time in your life when you know that God has brought about a situation and now is the crunch time. You’ve been praying about it: now’s the time.
Nehemiah 2:3
I was trying to figure out the tone of his voice when he said that because he was letting the King know what he had been thinking about all those months.
Nehemiah 2:4
That was a surprise! He thought the King was going to be dismissive of what he was thinking about. The King had heard about the building of the wall but the King didn’t respond as Nehemiah thought he would. The answer that God gives you will be a surprise to you as well. Our God is a God who answers our prayers. Our God is a God who is strong; He’s the King of Kings. He knows what He is doing.
So Nehemiah prayed to the God of Heaven. Nehemiah was not thinking of himself, he was thinking of the people in Jerusalem. Here he had the King’s attention. It is God’s delight to answer our prayers, prompted by His Holy Spirit. The outworking of His purposes are sure. You can’t stop the mighty moving force of God, even though you might try.
We’ll see later in this chapter those who were mocking and scornful. But nothing can stop the mighty force of God. That force is a force of love who will outwork His purpose in your life. It’s important how you react to the pressures in life. You must pray.
Nehemiah 2:5 – 6
Are you ready for God’s answer? God will answer you. What God is doing in your life is developing that faith inside you, the faith that He’s given you. He’s making you more aware of who He is.
My foundation is Jesus Christ. My foundation is that, going forward, I want to do what God wants me to do. When God answers, the answer is clear and sure. I’ll tell you where I’m at. I am aware that God is going to build on the foundation that He’s laid in this place. It’s as if we’re going forward to outwork what He wants us to do. Now’s the time.
It’s interesting that Nehemiah set the King a length time that he’d be away for: he was ready with an answer. The expectation of Nehemiah is that God would answer. When you’re thinking about your future, God’s been speaking to you; you need to get on with it.
Nehemiah 2:7 – 8
The good hand of God is upon you. It’s a good hand. You may say that I don’t understand your situation, but I do know that it is a good hand. When Nehemiah walked out of that meeting he couldn’t believe what had happened. Nehemiah was giving up a lot to do this; he had been the cupbearer of the King. Sometimes God asks things of us, a change of direction. In his heart Nehemiah knew that he had to go. He was prepared to go even before the King had granted him his request. He had thought about it but hadn’t known how he would be able to go. He asked God to open up the way for him because he couldn’t see a solution. If we wait for God’s timing it is a good thing. God will bring the answer at the right time.
Nehemiah 2:9
Not only was the King allowing Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem but he was providing the transport for him to get there. God answers our prayers over and above what we could ask or think.
Nehemiah 2:10
It grieved them because they thought they had got King Artaxerxes to end the work in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:11
When he got there he surveyed the situation. It’s not a bad thing to stop and take stock of your life. We must evaluate what is the foundation of our lives and what is our ambition. People might say that we are weak because we have to rely on God. Anyone who speaks like that is breathing the air that God gives them. They have life from him. Often when someone speaks like that it’s out of frustration in their life. Nehemiah wasn’t a ‘goody-two-shoes’, but he knew his God. Deep down you know your God. Sanballat and Tobiah didn’t like the fact that Nehemiah came.
Nehemiah 2:12 – 16
When you take a survey of your life, you are checking on the progress and the motives of your life. Is it the case, as far as you are concerned, that as a Christian God has a freeway in your life so that you can share with others the life of Christ within you? We are to love one another so that others can see and be drawn to the One who has caused us to have that love: Jesus Christ. The great commission from Jesus is to share our faith, His faith that God has put inside us.
The older people in the church are of value to us because they are prepared to do what God wants them to do. ‘These walls must be rebuilt’, Nehemiah said. As he was riding to Jerusalem he was thinking how wonderfully God had worked everything out. He knew that now was the time, so he decided to survey the situation.
Nehemiah 2:16 – 18
God’s timing. It didn’t take much to convince the people in Jerusalem of the need. They knew that he had come. Nehemiah told them he had come because of the ‘hand of my God which was good upon me’. He said that to encourage them to realise that it was the time to rise up and build.
God has a work for us to do. The wonderful thing is that the work He has for us corporately is being mirrored in your individual lives. That’s why the circumstances in your life are as they are now. God is ensuring that you are aware of the foundation of God in your life. He’s ensuring that your focus is right. He’s ensuring that there is a resolve to get hold of God for the solution. God gave you that resolve.
What’s going to be the result of that? That you will fulfil what God wants to be in your life so that His life can flow through you and affect those around you for good. In your life, as you succeed in the circumstances you’re in, witnessing and testifying to the faithfulness of God in your life, so there will be that flow from you to others. You will know that there is someone that can help others. His name is Jesus Christ.
Sanballat and Tobiah, and now another fellow, heard what Nehemiah said.
Nehemiah 2:19
The resolve in Nehemiah had increased.
Nehemiah 2:20
No discussion. ‘What you’re saying is against our God. Our God is the God of heaven and He will sort things out. He is the One we trust. We are strong because of the resolve He has given us.’ Some people twist it as if we are weak because we need God in our life. It is the complete opposite. There is no one here, and I mean that, who is outside of this thought, that together you’re involved in what God is going to do in our midst.
In your individual life you will find over the next weeks a resolve that God has put into you to stand your ground. A resolve to be open to what God wants you to do, to be. You are here on this earth for a reason. God wants to outwork His purposes in you. The circumstances in your life will cause you to get closer to God through prayer. It’s to the end that we will fulfil what God wants us to do corporately, that is, to reach out to those who have no answer. Now if I were to say ‘Ok, I’m in’, is that me convincing you in some rally-type turn? No, it’s God through this account in Nehemiah. Today God has been asking you what it is going to be for you.
This credit crunch has brought an additional pressure. Did God know about that coming? Yes. Did He know about the affect it would have on you? Yes. The God of heaven will prosper us.
Philippians 3:13 – 14
Today, the middle of verse 13 is important for you and for me: “forgetting those things which are behind”. And then in verse 14: “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Today, in your situation in your life, the good hand of God is upon you. It’s not the devil: it’s the good hand of God. He knows what He’s doing. That God of love, in your situation, whether you're single, married, widowed, whatever situation you are in, it’s the good hand of God upon you. He loves you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)