Commitment to the Lord

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Before we get to the passage today, I want to do a quick recap of this book of Nehemiah up to this point.

In Nehemiah 1, we read how a report about the grave condition of Jerusalem caused great mourning in Nehemiah. In the next chapter we saw Nehemiah step out in faith and he asked the king for his blessing to go and rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.

In both chapters we saw Nehemiah Pray and they begin to plan for this rebuilding effort.

In chapters 3 and 4 the rebuilding effort is underway and there is some opposition to the construction. Nehemiah again prayed for guidance, changed some plan as necessary and encouraged the people to perservere.

Then in chapter 5, the challenge to continuing the project comes from within as people began to complain about how they were treated and how they did not have enough to eat. They were being exploited and Nehemiah quickly spoke out against those wrongs.

In chapter 6, the external opposition tries against with a last ditch effort to derail the project, but we see the wall completed in chapter 6 with this statement:

Nehemiah 6:15–16 NIV

15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Chapter 7 celebrates the completion of the wall with a mention of those involved.

Up to this point, the major theme of the book was the physical rebuilding of the wall. Chapters 8-10 deal with the spiritual rebuilding of the nation of Israel.

In chapter 8 we saw the day long reading and teaching of the law. With worship and praise, they celebrated the Word of God.

The reading of the Word caused confession and a re-commitment to God and his word in chapter 9. We covered that last week and saw how the word can show us who we are, who God is and then prompt us to a decision as a result of what we learn.

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This week, we’ll look at chapter 10. I mentioned last week that this chapter holds the details of the commitment they made after their confession. We are going to see three major areas of commitment - Committing their family, Committing their Time and Committing their Resources.

As we consider these, there are some parallels to how we might commit ourselves to the Lord today.

Let’s start reading in chapter 9, verse 38...

Nehemiah 9:38–10:30 (NIV)

38 “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

1 Those who sealed it were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah. Zedekiah,

2-27 (And 83 others

28 “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—

29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.

30 “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.

We see that the leaders of the city and the heads of each of the families have agreed to this commitment to the Lord. Not just the heads of the families, but all who are in those families are also entering into this agreement. They are...

Committing their family (9:38-10-30)

In this passage they are committing to separating themselves from the neighboring people. This doesn’t mean they don’t interact with them…as we’ll see shortly they could still buy and sell goods with them. So, what does this mean…it means that they were doing do for the sake of the Law of God. The Israelite had over time allowed outside cultures to influence them in ways that were contrary to the word. They are committing to keeping themselves holy and set apart.

This is one of the ways in which life should change for those who make a decision to follow Christ. We have to be willing to change who we hang out with and where we hang out. Not because there are rules against it, but because we will often take on the qualities and behaviors of the people we hang out with. It doesn’t mean we completely cut them off, but we may need to set some boundaries so we are better able to follow Christ in our walk.

Next, it says that they would allow their children to marry outside people. Paul has something to say about that in the New Testament. It’s not about our children directly, but it is about us as followers of Christ...

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 (NIV)

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?....

1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

The separation is not for them…it’s for us. God has a standard for us to live and when we are united with someone who doesn’t share those same convictions, it becomes a very challenging way to live.

The challenge to us from the commitment here in Nehemiah is to set aside and commit our family and household to the Lord. I don’t think this is a one and done kind of thing. I think this is something we should check in with the Lord every so often about. Let’s take a moment and do that now. Bow your heads with me as I pray. I am going to pause for a moment during the prayer to allow you to hear from the Lord. You may want to even whisper your own prayer about this topic.

Lord, my desire is to commit my family and my household to you. I recognize that I may have allowed some outside influence into my home and my life. I am asking you to reveal those to me. Lord, is there anything in my family, in my house, or in my relationships that does not glorify you. Please reveal those to me and give me the strength by your Holy Spirit to remove those influences from my life.

They committed their family to the Lord…let’s read the next verse...

Nehemiah 10:31 NIV

31 “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.

They were

Committing their Time (10:31)

Observing the sabbath was one of the 10 commandments. Not only was the sabbath a foundational commandment, observing a sabbath for the Lord has several benefits for them at the time and for us now:

The Sabbath reminds us whose we are. Most of the world has no problem with working 7 days a week, making finances and earthly bosses our Lord. When we set aside a day for worship, we can be reminded that we belong to the Lord and submit to his Lordship of our lives.

The Sabbath reminds us of our humanity. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh. He didn’t rest because he was tired, he rested to show us the pattern of life in which we have been created. People can only work so many days in a row before they are burned out and useless. Keeping a regular routine of sabbath not only refreshes our Spirit, but also refreshes our bodies.

The Sabbath reminds us of our dependence on him. Some might think that not working one day a week would impact our finances and well being. The truth is that when we live according to God’s pattern, he blesses and multiplies in ways we would not have anticipated. Chick-fil-a is only open 6 days a week. A McDonald’s open one extra days a week on the same street and being the same size only makes a third of what a Chick-fil-a makes. I call that God math.

The Sabbath resets our focus. I don’t know about you, but when I come here on Sunday, I typically leave so much more encouraged and aware of who God is in my life. When I haven’t done that in the past, I’ve felt like something was missing and like I didn’t have the same outlook on life the next week.

Now, I must mention that I’ve drawn some parallels between the Sabbath of the Old Testament and the way we meet for Church on Sunday. There are some pointers in the New Testament to that effect, but I don’t think we have the same requirement as they did in the Old Testament.

With that said, I think I am convinced that God desires for us to live and thrive in a pattern of a weekly Sabbath in our lives. Sabbath is really a gift, something we get to do, not something we have to do. Jesus was trying to convey this to the Pharisees in Mark 2. Here is what Jesus said:

Mark 2:27 NIV

27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was made for us. For us to enjoy. For us to be blessed by. For us to be refreshed by. It is not meant to be a burden for us.

If you are perpetually tired and can’t seem to find a rhythm of life that seems to be sustainable, I would ask…are you taking a weekly Sabbath? Notice I didn’t say are you doing…are you taking a Sabbath. It is a gift to take. If not, why not? If you are taking a weekly Sabbath, is that Sabbath restful in the Lord, or are you allowing other things to take up that day.

I’m going to pray and pause for you to hear from the Lord, again, you may want to pray your own prayer during that time.

Prayer

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Close - Invitation