Nehemiah 2: Answering the Call

Apathy--

a=without

Pathy, or pathos=to feel, or to suffer

1 : lack of feeling or emotion : IMPASSIVENESS

2 : lack of interest or concern : INDIFFERENCE

Mankind has always struggled with apathy

It’s something that I struggle with

It’s something that manifests itself in many different ways

Pilots struggle with it.

When I was in flight school, and throughout my aviation career, they taught us about the 5 hazardous attitudes that pilots tend to have or develop

One of those is—resignation

The attitude that, “Hey, I really can’t do anything about it. What is, is. And what will be, will be”

It can manifest itself in a disregard for procedures and regulations which are there to keep you safe

Or, it can manifest itself as “brain freeze” when a pilot finds himself in an emergency. At that point, the pilot is just a passenger along for the ride

A story that happened to me

Apathy appears over and over again in the pages of history as well where there was a real and obvious need, yet people did not respond to that need

There are many examples in Nazi Germany, where even when it became clear what was going on, people still did not respond

You see it in the Bible as well

One example is in the Book of Haggai. Haggai the prophet was raised up to deal with the apathetic behavior of the people of Israel

It was after the captivity, and the people were tasked with rebuilding the temple, but apparently the work had fallen by the wayside

IN the 1st chapter of Haggai, it says this:

Haggai 1:2–4 “2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

And God calls them back to the task at hand

Apathy is, and always has been an issue, even for the people of God

And this morning, this is a challenge, not to political action, although, if that is how God is leading you, then you need to follow Him

But certainly, this is a call for us to consider what is God leading us to do?

What Jesus has commanded His disciples to do

what is He putting in front of us?

How is He calling us and moving us to fulfill the primary task at hand: That is, to see that His gospel is heard by every tribe and tongue and nation?

You see, I’m convinced that whenever God puts a task in front of us, there is going to be opposition from the enemy

And one of the primary ways that the enemy opposes the work of God is to make the people of God apathetic

To take away our interest and concern

To take away our emotion and feeling

And to render us ineffective

We simply don’t care enough to really do anything about it

In our story of Nehemiah

We see that Nehemiah is presented with a problem—a desperate need

And, as I see it, this is a God-given task

It is no accident that Nehemiah is finding out about this problem.

God is clearly on the move

His plan of redeeming and restoring His people is moving forward and there is clearly something that needs to be done in order for this plan to be fulfilled

That is, the walls of the city of Jerusalem need to be rebuilt

And we discussed why that was so important last Sunday

And what we see in Nehemiah is a response that is anything but apathetic

And there are some lessons that can be learned here from Nehemiah’s response as we consider what God has put in front of us and what our response will be

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king.

Nehemiah’s position

He was cupbearer to the King

BTW, this king Artaxerxes is a step son to Queen Esther. He is the son of Ahasuerus talked about in the book of Esther

This was one of the most trusted positions that a person could have

he wasn’t just a glorified buss boy. He was a trusted advisor to the King

being a king in those days was a dangerous thing. There were always people trying to kill you and steal your throne

One way they could do that was to poison your wine

A cupbearer had to taste the King’s wine in order to prove that it wasn’t poisoned

And the King put tremendous trust in his cupbearer

But Nehemiah is in prime position to gain the ear of the King

What is your position? Where has God placed you? What has He given you to do?

I’m just a farmer. I’m just a truck driver. I’m just a house wife

that doesn’t matter. The task remains the same

Because each of us, no matter our position has the ear of the King of Kings

Through Jesus who intercedes for us, we have the privilege of entering the very presence of God

We serve in his presence as “Kings and priests”.—a far more lofty position than being a mere cupbearer

Nehemiah’s attitude

Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah’s attitude was one of “I’m going to be the one to take care of this task that needs to be done”

Nehemiah had a “cushy” job, as it were

He’s not your run-of-the-mill slave or servant

He probably makes a descent living

Besides that, again, he’s at home in Susa. This is where he has grown up

He obviously cares about the city of his ancestors, but my guess is that Susa feels very much like home to him. He’s both Jewish and Persian at the same time

He could have said, “Man, I have no business going to Jerusalem. Besides that, there were 40,000+ people that went back there with Ezra. Why can’t they do something about it? There’s plenty of them and only one of me!”

But that’s not what he does

Instead, he has the attitude of, “Lord, here I am. Send me. Use me.”

I don’t care how much it uproots my life

I don’t care what discomfort it brings me, or what challenges it brings me or what danger it puts me in

Lord, here I am, send me

Much like the prophet Isaiah

We don’t know what his life was like before God called him, but it’s believed that he was a nobleman, with close connection to the King

But God calls him, and Isaiah doesn’t even hesitate.

He says, “Lord, here I am. Send me”

Folks, this is a challenge for us, isn’t it?

Have you ever taken your hands completely off your life, off your job, your family, everything, and said, “Lord, here I am. Send me!”

You know, the task that Jesus left with us, to make disciples of all nations, that’s pretty clear, isn’t it?

The call to give up everything in order to be His disciples, that is pretty clear, isn’t it

Yet, we often have so many qualifications that we put on this call

(and I’m preaching to myself here as well)

As in Luke 9, the

“I will follow you wherever you go”

Really? You are aware, aren’t you that I don’t have a place to live. You are going to have to give up your bed, a square meal. Creature comforts

We went to Africa, but honestly, would I have gone if I knew that we were going to live in a mud hut somewhere without reliable electricity or water or a comfortable bed?

Let me first go bury my father

Hey, my family needs me. And after this crisis is past, then I think I’ll be ready to follow you

Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead. As for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God”

As a disciple, your priorities should be changed around. The Kingdom of God should be your top priority. The dead are going to be taken care of one way or the other. But if you don’t go and proclaim the Kingdom, who is going to do it?

Let me at least say good-bye

Jesus: Really? Are you having second thoughts? You are aware that they are going to give you all kinds of reasons why you should’t follow me, right?

If you are going to put your hand to the plow and then look back, you aren’t fit to be my disciple

Folks, this is hard stuff, isn’t it?

But what we see in Nehemiah is this willingness to go no matter what the cost might be

And the king, surprisingly, (well, maybe not surprisingly, because the hand of God is upon him)

The king decides to bless him in his journey. He needs to know some details, of course, but gives him all that Nehemiah asks for in order for his journey to be successful

Nehemiah’s Actions

He obeyed and put a plan into action

You know, God’s calling and His mission is not accomplished through good intentions, is it?

6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

The king had sent a whole military escort—just shows how invested the king is in this whole thing

10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

And these guys are going to keep showing up, being a pain in the side of Nehemiah

11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. 15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

And I’m going to stop there for now

Here’s the point:

Nehemiah responded, he acted on the vision and the mission that God had given him

Maybe we could say, he obeyed.

Do we struggle with obedience sometimes?

Do we struggle with putting into action what God has led us to do?

One of my temptations (and this is apathy creeping in) is to think, “Well, I at least thought about it. That’s something, isn’t it?”

A number of years ago I met folks from an organization called Iowa City Compassion

They help newly arrived immigrants get settled here in Iowa City

Get documents in order

Help them get their kids registered in school

Provide tutoring and so forth

And for a while, I felt a tug on my heart to volunteer with them.

But I never did.

I had good intentions, but I never did anything about it

It’s often a bit of a hurdle to actually get up and allow God to move us forward

But Nehemiah receives God’s call

He has a willing heart

And he goes into action

He makes a plan, he tells the King, “This is what I need and this is about how long I should be gone

The example of Nehemiah points us forward in history to the example of Jesus

Jesus was obedient

It’s kind of a difficult concept for me to think about

Jesus is God

Yet He needed to be obedient to God the Father

You know, I think it’s no accident that Scripture talks about Jesus Himself being obedient to God the Father

Hebrews 5:8 “8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

Philippians 2:8 “8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus Himself testified to this obedience in

John 12:49 “49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.”

And the example of Nehemiah and of Jesus is our example

What Has God laid on your heart?

How is He leading you? Leading us?

What is He showing you about how you need to step out in faith and obey Him?

It is a willingness to submit our will to the will of the Father and then to act on what He has given us to do

It is far more than good intentions...”well, at least I have the desire to minister to my neighbor”

Well, I had intended to minister to the immigrants arriving in Iowa City

Well, at least i thought about confessing that sin to Him

or

At least I had the intention of making things right with that person

You remember King Saul and how he disobeyed God in order to “sacrifice” to Him

But God told him, “To obey is better than sacrifice”

And it’s certainly better than good intentions

So, again, in this series we are focusing on renewal and restoration

Remember

Your position: you live and serve in the presence of the King

Your attitude: Jesus is looking for those who will say, “Yes! send me!”

Your actions: There is a step needed beyond just saying the words, “yes, send me”…Jesus is looking for obedience