Resilient Rebuilders 7

Nehemiah 4:9–23 NASB 2020

But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. And so in Judah it was said: “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubble; And we ourselves are unable To rebuild the wall.” And our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.” When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. When I saw their fear, I stood and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” Now when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. And from that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them kept hold of the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens carried with one hand doing the work, and the other keeping hold of a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword strapped to his waist as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me. And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, assemble to us there. Our God will fight for us.” So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At that time I also said to the people, “Each man with his servant shall spend the night within Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me—none of us removed our clothes; each took his weapon even to the water.

Intro

Our victory is tied to our vision. Where we are looking will always determine where we will go. This is why we must never cease looking towards Jesus because if we lose sight of him, we will also lose our power to overcome.

So where is your vision dialed in? That is a critical question if we really want to be overcomers who can join God in His project to rebuild a broken world.

Truth

In the face of opposition and discouragement, Christians must do the following five things.

I. We pray and rise to the moment. (9-10)

Like Nehemiah, we face an overwhelming situation that is bigger than we are.

Can you even imagine what it must have been like to walk around and look at the rubble that used to be walls? For 150 years they had failed to finish the job. It was to much.

The closest things I can use to relate to their situation would be the aftermath of 911 at the WTC towers. Ground Zero was a wreck, and it was difficult to imagine how that would ever be cleaned up and restored.

Also like Nehemiah, we serve a God who is bigger than our overwhelming situation.

Our God has already conquered this world and as much as what we face overwhelms us, what we face is overwhelmed by God who is with us.

This is why Paul can write that we are more than conquerers in Christ.

When we trust more in God than we are overwhelmed by our circumstances, we can rise up to our challenges.

Nehemiah knew that his people had more on their plate than they could handle, but he had an expectation that God would come through and accomplish more through them than they could possibly ever do on their own.

The same is true for us. Rather than allowing the enemy to get us obsessing over what we are not capable of, we have to keep our eyes on God who is more than capable to do whatever He said He would do in and through us.

It was never about us anyway, it has always been about God. If we are in Christ, and He is carrying us, we cannot help but to be victorious in the end.

II. We actively protect one another. (11-14)

Unlike Cain, we are our brother’s keeper.

We must to be aware that we have enemies who are after us so that we can be watching out for one another. (12-13)

We must encourage one another to keep looking towards Jesus.

Satan loves to get us focused on the waves and storms all around us so he can sink us. Jesus wants us to keep looking at Him so we can walk right through it all.

One of the reasons many Christians live defeated and ineffective lives is because they are mostly looking at their circumstances rather than to Christ. That’s depressing!

We have the power to encourage one another by constantly speaking gospel truth to one another and helping one another look not to our sin and shortcomings, but to the Christ who died to cleanse us from sin and rose to give us new life. We are new! Let’s not allow one another to forget that.

III. We take up our tools and weapons. (15-18)

We have the armor of God to protect us.

We have the sword of the Spirit to attack our enemy.

We have the gifts of the Spirit to complete His work.

We have one another to learn from, to practice with, and to go forward together.

A critical point for Christians is that we are never alone.

Jesus gave us His church so that we would always have a team around us. We are called to work together from the gifting He has given us.

IV. We understand our challenges and trust in God. (19-20)

Nehemiah did not try to hide the challenges they faced, but clearly communicated them. (19)

This is why I have highlighted some of our challenges over the past few weeks. I don’t speak these things to discourage us, but that we might be wise and aware so that we can pray with wisdom and be prepared for what God wants to do in our midst.

Nehemiah spoke words of faith over his people in the midst of the challenges.

He knew that even though they were at a seeming disadvantage, God was overwhelmingly strong in and through them.

God fights for His people and there is no obstacle which will stop God’s will from coming to pass. Like Nehemiah, we must trust in God above all things.

V. We remain at the ready. (21-23)

Luke 12:35–40 NASB 2020

“Be prepared, and keep your lamps lit. You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will prepare himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and he will come up and serve them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too, be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think He will.”

Gospel Application

Challenge