Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours

Opening:

Who remembers grade school gym class? Remember picking teams at recess? Man I really didn’t like that time.

And the worst thing that could happen is that you are picked last, you know what I mean?

I think we all desire to be used by God. But it’s odd to me who God often uses to accomplish his purposes.

I think if God were the team captain back then, the picking order would have been quite different. I think he would have started by picking the kids who always get picked last.

There are no second rate citizens in the kingdom of God. No each and every one of us gets to play.

Acts 2:17 ““ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

Everyone gets to participate in the kingdom of God. And just a short little plug here. On Sunday nights we have started a spiritual formation study. Because each of us get a chance to play, we all have a position, a gifting, we are going to spend time learning how to steward our spiritual growth and build upon a solid foundation. So come on out because it’s going to be a great time of growth.

But for Sunday mornings, during my prayer and preparation, I really felt the Lord impress upon me this idea of THE GOOD WORK.

What is the Work we are called to do, where does it come from, who gets to do it.

Introduction: Paul in his letter to the Ephesians makes this statement that many of us know by heart.

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

These verses summarize the gospel, the good news up so well.

For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith. There is nothing we could do to earn our salvation. There is nothing we can do to purchase our salvation…nope.

It has already been done for us. The good news, the gospel is that even though I offended God. Even though I have broken his laws and his commands. He loved me so much that he was willing to pay the price for my transgressions. He saved me, he rescued me, not because I was worthy. Not because of the good things I have done. No the scriptures say that God demonstrates his love towards us in this, while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. He who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. He took my place. And it is because we have been purchased at such a high price, the precious blood of Christ, we ought “to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” -Philippians 2:12-13 NIV

The New International Version Chapter 2

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Because of our salvation…something should be different within us. We work out our salvation, not on the basis of trying to earn God’s favor or to make him happy. No, we are created in Christ to do good work because we are his masterpiece.

We do good work not because we are good, but because of the good that now dwells within us. The very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now has given us a new spirit and that new spirit produces good fruit.

In other words…we don’t do the good work to make God happy or to earn his love and favor. We do the good work because it is natural result of the new life we have in Christ.

The Good Work...

I truly believe that God has something for us in this book of Nehemiah. So we are going to take at least the next 4 weeks, but maybe a couple more and look at the life of Nehemiah and see what principals guided his life and what God wants us to learn and know through it.

And today’s first message is called...

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours

Prayer

As you turn to Nehemiah, which is towards the front of your bible. Right before the book of Esther and Job, but right after the books of Chroniciles and Ezra. In fact, at one time the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were once considered the same book, by the same author which is believed to be the Chronicler, or the same author or authors as the books of Chronicles.

But there is little to no question about who actually wrote the book of Nehemiah, and that is because the chronicler makes mention to it in Verse 1 of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 1:1–2 “The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.”

The words of...

the New Living Translation used the term…memoirs of Nehemiah

Or in my words…here is the journal of Nehemiah.

Does anyone in here keep a journal?

I do, but I hope someday to be better at it. In fact, just this past year I bought a book to help me. But it is a good habit to develop if you don’t.

In our journals we can be raw, vulnerable, real, honest, dream, regret, pray. I often pray in my journal, and we will soon find out that Nehemiah did the same.

Just who is Nehemiah? Well the scriptures give us a couple of context clues.

1:1- Son of Hakaliah- I don’t know who that is, do you?

1:2- Brother of Hanani

1:11- Cupbearer to the King

But are we not more than our family, our name or even our occupations?

Don’t get me wrong, those things are of extreme importance, but they don’t tell us who we are. In our culture we tend to put a lot of emphasis on our jobs, careers or our occupations. They can be a source of pride or shame but we are more than our jobs. We are more than our family name. We are more than our relatives. And the only way to really get to know someone is through relationship.

Because it is in the context of relationship that you learn about a persons hopes, dreams, motivations, values, what makes their heart skip a beat. Even what breaks their heart.

By having access to Nehemiah’s memoir we have an inside look at who he was.

Nehemiah, the cupbearer to the king.

What is a cup-bearer. Well we don’t have that occupation around anymore, but it was a job that was held by people who could be trusted. One of the closest occupations today would be like a butler. Someone who was always around, who hears almost every conversation but is expected to keep confidence. Though they are trusted to be close to the king, cupbearers were also expendable. One of their main jobs was to taste test the drinks of the king so that if anyone had poised the drink, the cupbearer would be able to stop the king from being poisoned because he would be first. And then the king would know not to drink the drink. Kind of sounds like a not so fun but extremely important job.

And Nehemiah served as the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes- the king of Persia. The son of Xerses, the step-son of Queen Esther, who at one time was known simply as Hadassah, a young jewish girl (we will talk more later about all these connections that God had put into place)

But really, being the son of Hekaliah, brother of Hanani and cupbearer to the king…he sounds like an ordinary guy.

And if there is something we know about God is that...

God loves taking everyday, ordinary people and using them for His purposes and for His glory.

It is stories like the one we are going to look at during the next few weeks that should give us hope that God can and will use us if we will allow him to.

So the question begs, just how do we know when God is asking us to do something? How do we get started doing the good work that God has called us to? And I’m not just talking about the good work that He has called each and every one of us to. But how will I know the specific call, that where passion meets purpose?

I believe that is what we are going to find out today as we examine chapter one.

The Report

Nehemiah 1:1–3 “The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.’”

Just a regular day. Doing what he normally does while he was in the citidel (palace) when he was visited by his brother. And as all of us do when we are visiting with family, especially family that doesn’t live close by, and especially if we are the ones that have moved away…

A normal question to ask is, hey, what’s going on at home? Does old man Whitman still sit on his porch holding his shotgun as you drive by? What’s going on with Betty, is she waving at everyone as you drive by?

Nehemiah asked brother—Tell me about—Our people—Our homeland.

Because:

140 years earlier—(586 BC) Babylonians (under Nebuchadnezzar) attacked Jerusalem—Destroyed city.

Solomon’s Temple—Burned ground—Every building in rubble. Gates burned—Absolutely no protection—Everything they knew gone. The Babylonians took captive tens of thousands Jews. They exiled them. But God had spoken words of comfort and peace to his nation. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Even though you will be exiled for an entire generation…there will be a day when you will return.

And that day came decades later when 50,000 Jews moved back to Jerusalem rebuild.

And that is the story of Ezra, leading the people back into the promised land from exile. And all the struggles they faced during that time.

And so, being a young jew, he wanted to know what was going on back home and the report he got was as follows.

- The people are in great trouble and disgrace. They are not going well. The walls are destroyed, they’ve been torn down and the gates have been destroyed.

In other words…our people are in danger and they are vulnerable.

No Wall

No protection

No leadership

No direction

No confidence

No plan

No hope!

And this broke his heart.

The Response

Nehemiah 1:4 “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”

Nehemiah’s first response to hearing about the state of Jerusalem and his people was a broken heart. He sat down and wept.

What breaks your heart?

Because each of us have things that touch our hearts just a little bit differently.

What breaks my heart you might think, oh that’s sad but is it really that big of a deal?

Or I might think, wow, why are you so passionate about that particular cause.

But each of us have what I believe to be a God given passion for a particular cause. There is something that happens within your soul when you heart about a particular injustice and your heart is all in.

What is it that breaks your heart?

Children: Can’t read—Special needs—Bullied—Neglected—Abused.

Those Bound by addiction

Hostage drugs

Trapped lustful prison porn

Those Suffering Homelessness

Feeding and clothing to poor.

Those who Trafficked

Used and abused.

Poor

w/o clean drinking water

Preventable diseases

Who don’t have access to the word of God

Unborn

Called to speak on behalf of the unborn being a voice to the voiceless

The fact of the matter is there are hundreds of causes for a passon and a call to serve and fight injustice…and it is a job that is way to big for one person, or one church.

No the only way that God is going to care for all the needs of his children is when the entire body of Christ is led by the head of the church and is active fulfilling the particular roles and functions that he has called each part to. This is why some churches are more focused on the unborn, or focused on world missions, or focused on fighting for racial equality. Because the heart of the father has infiltrated the heart of his children and their hearts are broken for what breaks the Father’s heart.

What do you do when you hear about something that breaks your heart?

Nehemiah’s response was to sit down and cry. Do you know what. Sometimes that is exactly what God wants you to do about a particular issue. Before you can address the issue, before you can be ready to fight the injustice, maybe its just time for you to have a good sit and cry. Because it is in these times when our heart becomes aligned to the Father’s heart.

It would have been easy for Nehemiah to just shake off the news. After all, these people were more than 700 miles away, and he was sitting back enjoying that palace life. You know, eating the same food and drinking the same drinks as the king. It wasn’t like he had it rough.

He could have just said, oh well…the cites situation is bad but what am I going to do about it…I’m too far away…I’m just a cupbearer…I’m just Hakaliah’s son.

No instead of coming up with excuses, he just chose to sit in the pain. To actually feel it. He allowed himself to feel the pain.

How many times do we just shut that down in life. We feel something uncomfortable, we see an image of a starving child, or we hear about the horrors of abortion and instead of sitting with the pain, we turn the channel. We change the conversation.

Nehemiah had a choice…he chose to let the pain in. He chose to feel it, he chose to sit with it.

And not just for an hour and then decide it was time to do something about it. No he sat with that pain and he mourned and fasted for 4 months.

The Response of Nehemiah to the Report was to sit and cry…then to fast and pray.

We know that prayer is the primary work of God’s people. It’s one of our core values as an Alliance Church. And the proper response to injustice, especially when it breaks your heart is a call to fast and pray.

The Request

Nehemiah 1:5–11 “Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

Nehemiah was a man of prayer. I said before that our journals are a great place to pray. I love praying in mine because it keeps my mind focused on Jesus. Nehemiah records for us in his prayer 3 things that our prayers should include. Now our prayers are certainly not limited to just these three things but…when we do pray, these are a few really important things to remember...

Worship- Puts us in a position to see as God sees.

Nehemiah 1:5 “Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,”

Confession- agreement of the evil/wickedness we are guilty of and agreement of who God is and the covenants/promises he has made.

Nehemiah 1:6–9 “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’”

Intercession-

Nehemiah 1:10–11 ““They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.”

Prays for God’s people who are redeemed by his great strength. And then he asks for favor. He offers up himself to be used as God’s servant to do something about Jerusalem’s situation.

In other words, in his prayer where his heart was broken for what breaks the heart of God…he ended his prayer with…”Here I am Lord, use me.”

This is the attitude of God’s children. When we get a report of something that breaks our heart especially if it breaks the heart of our heavenly father as well…we should respond by sitting in the pain. Being willing to feel it, sit with it and allow that pain to cause us to fast and pray. To take that pain and pray to our heavenly father because we know that prayer is our primary work and it is in prayer where our hearts are aligned with our heavenly fathers…It is in that place where he will direct our steps and show us which paths to take.

PRAY