Boldly Accepting the Comission

Introduction:

Each true believer this morning has been given a purpose and a calling. We have been commissioned by El Shaddai to evangelize and to make disciples. For those who are not saved… God wishes to adopt you into His family. There isn’t anything better.

vv. 1-8) Speaking openly and boldly

Nehemiah was the kings cupbearer. We talked last week about the importance of that position. It is a high official in the royal household. The cupbearer would have probably been a man of influence to the king. The level of trust would have been tremendous. If the cupbearer could be turned against the king, assassination would be simple.

I believe that it is rather likely that the cupbearer would also become a trusted advisor to the king; since he was constantly in the kings presence, and greatly trusted, and a man of character, it was natural the cupbearer would often be asked his opinion on different matters coming before the king.

[1] Sometimes while we are studying through Scripture we might ask ourselves, “Why was it so important for God to give me the dates of these things happening?”

First, to show that Nehemiah prayed and waited for four months with the kind of heart described previously in Nehemiah 1.

Secondly, it establishes the date given to restore Jerusalem and its walls. Daniel 9:25 says that exactly 173,880 days from this day—which was March 14, 445 B.C. —Messiah the prince would be presented to Israel.

Daniel 9:25 NKJV

25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.

Sir Robert Anderson, the eminent British astronomer and mathematician, makes a strong case that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy exactly, to the day, entering Jerusalem on April 6, 32 A.D. Precisely 173,880 days from Nehemiah 2:1.

[2] While serving the king, Nehemiah did a courageous but dangerous thing: he showed a sad countenance, acted downcast and distressed. His behavior was dangerous because the king could have taken this as a suspicious plot to assassinate him. There was also this idea that the king was such a wonderful person that merely being in his presence was supposed to make you forget all your problems.

I think there could also be an arguement made that like in most causes a king was sheltered from the sorrowful experiences and suffering of human life:

Esther 4:1–2 NKJV

1 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

Nehemiah was risking his life by appearing unhappy and distraught before the king. However, on this particular day, the Lord had obviously prepared the way for Nehemiah.

When the king noticed his cupbearer’s sorrow: “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” I love this for a couple different reasons.

The king is taking this very seriously and that terrorizes Nehemiah.

The king knew his servant Nehemiah well enough to see that he wasn’t sick, but that he had a broken heart. To me this speaks of a true friendship between them.

Nehemiah understood that it was not his place to change the king’s heart. He had been continually praying and leaving it up to the Lord, instead of trying to manipulate the situation. Then one day, four months later, the king’s heart was affected by God.

Family, are we making that mistake of trying to change someone else’s heart, instead of leaving it up to the Lord to do it?

Just as Nehemiah hoped, the door was finally open for him to make his request. But as Scripture says, intense fear gripped Nehemiah’s heart. He knew the king had stopped the building of Jerusalem years before. Because the king feared a Jewish rebellion if they were allowed to rebuild their city and nation (we saw this in Ezra 4).

Nehemiah was risking his life, ready to ask the king to reverse his decision. With heart pounding, Nehemiah respectfully but anxiously approached the king with the common form of address: “May the king live forever!”

[3] Nehemiah likely said “may the king live forever” many time before. It is almost like a motto, after all the cupbearers naturally wished the king a good long life.

He wisely explained his sadness with a question that would hopefully arouse compassion within the king: How could he keep from being sad when his home city lay in ruins and its gates burned with fire, the very city where his ancestors were buried?

Nehemiah was a man of great tact and wisdom. He didn’t specifically mention Jerusalem, as that could have been a point of contention. But not only was he wise and tactful he was honest!

Too often, when we are visibly depressed or troubled, and when someone asks us about it, we simply reply, “I’m good” or “Nothing’s wrong!” and we are not being honest.

Now I get it that many people are troubled by this dilemma. No one should want to be a whiner, boring others with your problems when they are only asking out of courtesy. However, on the other hand, we know the tremendous value there can be in sharing our concerns with someone else who can pray with us and perhaps share some wisdom from God’s Word.

One way to live in this kind of honesty is to seek out others whom we know and trust and share with them our struggles and needs. But if we don’t know a person well enough to feel confident sharing our personal life, we can still ask them to pray for us in general.

However there are two traps we must avoid:

We must avoid “shopping” around for advice—asking a lot of people, telling all of them our problems until we find the advice we want.

We must be careful of taking to others in a way that puts the problem on other people (blame shifting). Also, we don’t want there to be gossiping either, that is to negatively effect someone’s opinion of someone else.

Nehemiah didn’t say to the king, “I’m sad because those morons in Jerusalem have had 100 years to build the walls and they haven’t done anything. They are a bunch worthless people.

[4] As hoped for, the king’s response was one of concern and asked what he could do to help. This is so neat because four months worth of prayer was finally answered. Nehemiah prays again, but not an extended prayer “let me get back to you in a few days...” Instead, it was an immediate, silent, “Help me Lord! Give me wisdom.” Nehemiah knew this was an incredible opportunity, and he did not want to miss the chance.

It is a wonderful thing to labor in long prayer; but prayer doesn’t have to be long to be effective. This is especially true when the situations will not allow a long prayer.

[5] Notice again that Nehemiah is given wisdom as he respectfully asked for a leave of absence and to be sent by the king. He asked the king to share his concern for Jerusalem and to become a partner in getting the city and its people back where they should be.

His vision is revealed in verse 5 also, that he may rebuild it. That was a huge job and a big goal. Nehemiah isn’t going on vacation. He wasn’t going there to ridicule the leaders in Jerusalem, and tell them of what a lousy job they were doing. He was going to get the work done, trusting God all the way!

[6] Verse 6 is really neat because it reveals Nehemiah’s sympathetic heart, his months of prayer, his moment of prayer, his great faith, his big vision, and his (God given) wisdom were answered favorably. And the king is on board and enthusiastic about supporting Nehemiah in this venture.

Nehemiah is a leader and he clearly had a plan. The four months in prayer were not only spent in talking to God, but also in listening to Him and in working out a plan for what to do when God did open the door.

He knew how long he would be gone:

He knew that he would need letters of safe passage from the king.

He knew what kind of materials would be needed.

He knew all of this without every seeing for himself the state of Jerusalem.

[Leadership Principle] Nehemiah 2:6

Nehemiah 2:6 (NKJV)

6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

Nehemiah had a plan, and God does work through a plan. The Lord our God is a planning God:

Psalm 33:11 NKJV

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.

From the beginning of salvation in eternity past, God has a plan and is working it out. Now it sometimes it may seem that God blesses a lack of planning, and sometimes it seems God does a great work completely different from what we have planned. But in every case, God works through planning.

Simply put God doesn’t wing it. And we probably shouldn’t either.

Proverbs 21:5 NKJV

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Faith is no substitute for planning or being prepared. We are not more spiritual for failing to prepare properly. There may be sometimes when we simply cannot plan, but we should never reject it.

[Areas of life that should be given some thought and planning]

[8] Nehemiah was bold, not afraid to ask others to help when he knew they had the resources to help. Nehemiah didn’t ask because he wanted to take advantage of the king. Instead, he showed honor and respect to the king by inviting him to participate in the work.

“And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me:” Though this was a pagan king, Nehemiah still understood that God could work through him in a mighty way, and for the glory of God. After all God can provide for our needs in totally unexpected or unconventional ways.

Application:

Family we can boldly approach God at any time for any reason. However, we can only approach Him through Christ. It is Christ alone (Sola Christus) who gives us access into God’s presence. But when we come to Christ and approach God through through Him, Christ gives us the right to be bold before God. We can then boldly request that God meet our needs. And He wonderfully promises to hear us!

Ephesians 3:12 NKJV

12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

Hebrews 4:15–16 NKJV

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19–22 NKJV

19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

1 John 4:17 NKJV

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

We can boldly go before the Lord… We can also be bold in our work for the Lord. Trusting that He will guide, deliver, and protect us. Through Him we have been given strength and courage to face opposition and trying times.

Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV

6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Psalm 27:1–3 NKJV

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.

vv. 9-20) Exhorting others along the way.

[9-10] Then I went: This is another example of Nehemiah’s godly leadership. He actually went—traveling from Persia to Jerusalem to do the work of rebuilding the walls.

I think that there are a lot of people with a burdened heart like Nehemiah’s. However they stop short of actually going out and doing what needs to be done for the goal to become a reality.

I do believe that sometimes we can substitute talking about something for actually doing it. It is one thing to stand around with other believers and talk about doing some evangelism; praying about it, planning it, talking about it—it is another thing to actually go out and do it.

Our enemies do not mind as long as all we do is plan and pray and talk; but when God’s people start doing something, they take notice.

“Beyond the river” means the Euphrates River, an important landmark that separated the ANE from Asia.

“I went to the governors...Gave them the king’s letters” Nehemiah came prepared, having letters from the king to give the governors. He even had captains of the army and horsemen with him. In addition he also had substantial supplies of lumber from the king’s forest.

“Sanballat the Horonite… Tobiah the Ammonite:” Nehemiah meets these two enemies of Jerusalem and anyone who cared for the welfare of the city. “They were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.”

these two cared nothing as long as Jerusalem was weak and vulnerable.

Notice when this opposition came: not at the prayer stage of Nehemiah’s journey… not at the planning stage either. But when progress came in doing something: the action stage.

Some people fear ever stepping out for the Lord, because they know opposition will come. They somehow think their life will be better or easier if they stay in their low, mediocre state before God. What deception! A better life from hold back for Jesus? Tough times are going to come anyway; but when we are growing and stepping forth in the Lord, we are far more equipped to deal with them.

[honest question if they have ever lead someone to the Lord] bad: …if necessary use words. Good: Romans 10:14-15

Romans 10:14–15 NKJV

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

[11-12] Coming to Jerusalem Nehemiah still did not tell anyone why he was there and what God had put on his heart. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, he had a military escort and lumber from the king, people would notice—but he didn’t give them an answer.

Good Godly leaders learn a sense of God’s timing.

[13] Nehemiah went out at night to see for himself, what was reported to him, and what God had called him to repair. I doubt he made this trip around the city without crying. Knowing and realizing the extent of the damage and the fear, property, and insecurity his people were faced with.

Nehemiah knew that he couldn’t begin to accomplish the work unless he saw how bad the situation was.

I really believe that there is a balance between looking at what is going right and with what is going wrong. That we need to understand. Nehemiah could have easily focused on only the good things that were happening in Jerusalem still. Temple built. Sacrifice and worship were conducted. Progress was being made through Ezra.

We deceive ourselves if we only look to what is good. Some have no trouble with this; they always find it easy to see what is wrong. They are full of criticism. They believe they have the unique spiritual gift of pointing out what is wrong. But Nehemiah teaches us by example — we must look at the broken-down towers, and carefully study what is wrong — but only if we have the heart, the prayer, the vision, the passion to be used of God to set it right. There is little use in the Kingdom of God for those who offer advice without really knowing first-hand the condition of the problem.

“It is utter folly to refuse to believe that things are as bad as they really are. It is vital in any undertaking for God to know the worst, for whenever there is to be a wonderful movement of the Holy Spirit, it begins with someone like Nehemiah who was bold enough to look at facts, to diagnose them, and then to rise to the task.”—Redpath.

Family if someone took a tour of your life the same way Nehemiah took a tour of Jerusalem what would they find?

Maybe some broken down portions in the figurative walls of your life?

Proverbs 25:28 NKJV

28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.

Many lives are like a city with broken walls—living in a constant state of fear and insecurity. We should not hide our eyes from these broken places; God doesn’t desire for you to continue to live like that … He want to change them and make them right.

As much as anything Nehemiah took time to count the cost before starting the work. He had courage, He had a tender heart, he was faithful, he was given a vision—but before that vision could become a reality, he needed to see exactly what has to be done. and what it will cost—in terms of time, effort, money and leadership.

[17-18] Once Nehemiah told the people his plan and started to motivate the people to action. He does this in very tactful ways: 1st) He identifies to them the problem that they are faced with, their walls and city are in ruins. 2nd) He challenges the people to join him in rebuilding the walls. 3rd) Nehemiah closes the challenge by giving his personal testimony “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me.”

[19-20] Immediately after launching the work, they are faced with opposition. Their opposition will be discussed in more detail later on in this book. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem mocked the Jews for even trying.

How nehemiah responds is very important and he responds with three things:

The Lord would help the builders, giving them success and prosper their efforts.

The workers were totally committed to the project. In it to win it.

They had no claim—no share, no authority, no right—in Jerusalem.

Application:

Nehemiah was a man of exhortation, a man who challenged other to follow the Lord and to complete their tasks. Likewise, as true believers in the Lord, we must exhort and challenge others to follow the Lord, to keep His commandments and live righteous lives, fulfilling our God-given tasks—for evangelism and discipleship.

We are living in a day and age that complacency runs rampant, where to many are lethargic, self-satisfied, and unconcerned. This extends to the church too… some of us have become spiritually lazy, apathetic, disinterested, and passive.

Not giving enough attention to the Word of God, prayer, and proper worship. Living for self and for what we want rather than for Christ.

If there has ever been a day when the ministry of exhortation and challenging people to follow Jesus is needed, it is today!

Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

1 Timothy 4:13 NKJV

13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

2 Timothy 2:2 NKJV

2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Hebrews 10:23–27 NKJV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’