From Burden to Blueprint
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Our burdens - the things that weigh on our hearts, like we spoke about last week - can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities.
Last week, we began our trek through the book of Nehemiah. We saw how God works through the burdens of those notice the things that concern the Lord. There are some who would take these ideas as justification for becoming the net generation of Social Justice Warriors, etc., but the reality is that the things that burden God’s heart are less political and more concerned about the spiritual vitality of His people.
We remember when God responded to the cries of the Israelites in Egypt who cried out to God because of the merciless exploitation of their oppressors. I believe we saw something similar in the United States in and around the 1960’s during the Civil Rights movement, when Black Americans fought to finally be recognized as people made in the image of God, deserving the same respect under the law that white people were afforded.
In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that Gay marriage was a right afforded under the US Constitution and, thereby equated the LGBT community’s fight for rights with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Many Christians rightfully stood with Black brothers and sisters in the Lord, fighting for their rights because it was a matter of recognizing the image of God in them under the law - actually seeing them as people. The unfortunate reality is that many misguided believers have also decided to take up the LGBT cause, using the Civil Rights movement as inspiration and justification, when there is no theological argument they can make to justify such a defense or behavior.
When we feel a cause on our hearts, we need to first recognize if it is from the Lord or if we are being deceived into working as a double-agent for the enemy. When we recognize these burdens and compare them to Holy Scripture, we can get a good idea if what we are feeling is from the above or from the pressures of this world to conform to the patterns of this world.
Last week, we saw Nehemiah recognize a burden on his heart from the Lord that the walls around the city of Jerusalem were destroyed. All throughout the Old Testament, we see the elevated status that Jerusalem enjoyed from the Lord as the city where He chose to have his presence dwell.
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his home:
14 “This is my resting place forever; I will make my home here because I have desired it.
6 But I have chosen Jerusalem so that my name will be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”
36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.
With no doubt, the righteous turmoil Nehemiah was experiencing was in accordance with the will and heart of God. The same way God rose up Zerubbabel and Ezra to bring His people home, He was also raising up Nehemiah for a great purpose - to fortify the city. And last week, we saw how he responded - through prayer and trusting God.
Today, we begin to see how God will work through Nehemiah to rebuild the wall and solidify his name forever among those to God in the midst of trying circumstances. Nehemiah Trusted the Lord and proceeded with a steady reliance on Him for direction and progress. I am reminded of a quote from contemporary theologian, Joel Beeke who said this:
It is always best to cast our burdens on the Lord rather than mulling them over in our hearts trying to find solutions on our own. God’s delays in answering us are not His rejection.
Joel Beeke; Michael Barrett; Gerald M. Bilkes
How many of you have heard the term “Analysis Paralysis?” It’s an expression that denotes how we can fail to act because we are so focused on thinking about the “How” of the situation. What Mr. Beeke is expressing is that it is best to allow the Lord to direct these things than to waste our time mulling over the potential solutions when the reality is that God already knows the best solution for any problem we can be facing at any given moment. God knows the best way I should face cancer. God knows the best way we should handle the loss of a spouse, financial difficulty or political persecution within the work place. God knows! Come to Him in prayer and reliance is the best possible thing we can do! At the same time, coming together as a body of believers in Jesus and sharing our burdens with one another is how we exercise our faith as a community! Dr. David Jeremiah said this:
Our own burdens become lighter when we’ve been carrying the burdens of others.
David Jeremiah
In today’s passage, Nehemiah is struck with a deep sorrow for his homeland's desolation while serving the king. His emotional response leads him to prayer and ultimately to a bold request for permission and support from the King he was serving to restore the walls of Jerusalem. This passage illustrates the importance of acknowledging our burdens, bringing them before God, and turning concern into action through clarity and commitment.
The big take-away I want to leave you all with today is this: Our burdens can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities.
For you note takers, we are going to follow this simple outline this morning:
Burdened Heart Sparks Change (2:1-2)
Prayer Prepares the Way (2:3-4)
Bold Requests Breaks Barriers (2:5-8)
Burdened Heart Sparks Change (2:1-2)
Burdened Heart Sparks Change (2:1-2)
Read with me, starting in…
1 During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,
2 so the king said to me, “Why do you look so sad, when you aren’t sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear
Today, we have a sense, or an idea of ‘professionalism’ that would preclude the possibility of such an interaction. We would think that Nehemiah sharing his burden with King Artaxerxes would be either somewhat inappropriate or unbecoming. In all reality, Artaxerxes probably just wanted a drink and to enjoy himself, but instead, he was met with a despondent Nehemiah, who had never been sad in his presence before. The King, instead of showing mercilessness showed a tender compassion for Nehemiah and the burden on his heart. Nehemiah admits that this interaction was a frightful one. After all, Artaxerxes’ father was known for being a harsh arbiter of the King’s sovereignty and will. That was shown explicitly in the book of Esther when Xerxes, Artaxerxes’ father, had Esther scared to even approach him without permission. Historically speaking, Artaxerxes was Esther’s step-son.
We can see this when we compare the two introductions to the books:
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: During the month of Chislev in the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa,
1 These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus, who ruled 127 provinces from India to Cush.
2 In those days King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne in the fortress at Susa.
Not that this connection has any huge theological impact on how we understand what is happening, we can hopefully begin to understand that Artaxerxes would have compassion on the city of his step-mother as well as his cup-bearer. There is a personal connection here that can be missed if we gloss through the text too quickly.
Whatever was motivating Artaxerxes to compassion, we know that he would never have gotten there had Nehemiah not shared openly and honestly with the King the burden God was placing on his heart. This is a point of pure conjecture, but what if in his youth, a young Artaxerxes heard Esther, his step-mother, tell the story of coming to his father in fear on behalf of her people to stop the plans of his wicked servant, Haman. Who knows? Perhaps King Artaxerxes had the privilege of a first-hand account of Esther Chapter 5 from those who lived the experience - or maybe he was there and witnessed it himself?
What we are given though is that Nehemaih shared the burden on his heart, though he was afraid. What does this tell us?
It is important to share our burdens. I would argue that one of the things that makes most unbeliever recoil at the idea of coming to church is the idea of running into all these “perfect” Christian people whose lives are in perfect order. That, afterall, is the perception we like to give off, right? There was a documentary released recently called Shiny Happy People: Douger Family Secrets. It was a tell-all exposé on the Douger Family whose show 19 Kids and Counting depicted them as a happy and practically perfect Christian American family with lots of kids and the troubles that come from having nearly 20 children.
The reason the documentary was so successful was because as these kids were growing older, the more they were being shown in the public eye as not being as perfect as they seemed on the show. One of the saddest examples of this was that one of this kids, Josh, was publicly shamed for his sins of lust and infidelity against his wife. Not only did it tarnish his own name and the name of his family, but in a lot of ways, his sin tarnished the name of Jesus to many.
What we often forget is that this world would live to see us sin, stumble and fall in our commitment to Christ so that they have an example and excuse to give when not following Christ themselves. The thing that we should stive for the most is to not be the excuse someone gives for not following Christ. Can we agree on that much at least?
So this documentary was released, exposing the culture of outward perfection that Christians often depict - but we all know the reality that nobody is perfect. Our reason fro coming to church isn’t to express our perfection but to confess our imperfection and our need for a perfect savior to take away our guilt, to take away our shame and to restore us to a right relationship with God the Father through His own perfect love and perfect sacrifice.
Nehemiah refused to live a lie that day that said he was perfect. He allowed the burden on his heart to have expression on his face - and what did it do? It opened the door to get a conversation started! He had committed and consorted with God to be the instrument God wanted to rebuild the wall.
Our burdens can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities
Prayer Prepares the Way (2:3-4)
Prayer Prepares the Way (2:3-4)
Please read with me again, starting in…
3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king asked me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of the heavens
Look at where God had brought Nehemiah. It was the same place he brought Esther - to a position to serve God’s people through an act of compassion. This foreign king’s compassion would be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to do good for God’s people. The part of this portion of todays passage I want you to focus on is the very end of verse 4: “… So I prayed to the God of the Heavens…”
Notice how Nehemiah presents his requests, and the King rightly asks - “what does this have to do with me?” or “What do you want me to do about it?” Nehemiah immediately prays about it - he submitted this time, this chance, this opportunity to the Lord, relying on His strength, wisdom, power and courage to get through it. As we will see in a moment, what Nehemiah asks for isn’t a small thing - it is a large commitment that he is under no obligation to enter into. The key to this portion is Nehemiah’s utter dependency on the Lord through prayer. Notice how his prayer wasn’t some time of grandios gesture of hortatory prowess, but instead, he simply mentions that he prays and then goes into the rest of the conversation? If only we had that same presence of mind to react in such a spirit of dependence on the Lord! If only we could have the same heart of prayer and submission to God as Nehemiah!
What are you struggling with? What is the burden on your heart and mind? When I have been talking about burdens this morning, what has been the issue occupying your thoughts? Now let me ask you honestly, without judgment and without condemnation, let me ask you a real question - when was the last time you really spent some real time in prayer about that issue?
I am firmly convinced that money exists to keep people humble before the Lord. There are some who are blessed with an abundance of it, but most people I know see money as one of the most frequent sources of strain and burden in life. Especially now, that the government has been shutdown for 33 days and counting, interfering with social and food programs that many people rely on to get by. Pressure mounts and increases, but how often do we take these burdens to the Lord in prayer? We may talk about them in the context of church meetings and prayer chains, but when do we sit and take the time to honestly lay our burdens before the Lord, seeking guidance, wisdom, direction and grace in the midst of our difficulties? Nehemiah paused in the middle of a conversation to pray - not making a big deal out of it, but relying solely on the Lord for His will to be done.
This is a lesson we should all take to heart. Paul gave us similar advice in the New Testament, saying…
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
I was taught as a young believer that our prayer life shouldn’t necessarily be formal periods of time with heads bowed and eyes closed that interrupts our day, but rather, should be a constant time of conversing with the Lord as we go about our business throughout the day. It lacks a certain formality and intentionality, but it has a more relational overtone to it that I have grown to appreciate. If I am grocery shopping, I could be reminded to pray about my health and for wisdom regarding the things I put into my body. If I am driving somewhere, I could be in prayer for the issues we will be discussing or for the people I am meeting with.
Prayer plays a critical role in how God works His will in our lives. If He places a burden on our heart, we should naturally be asking Him - What do You want me to do about it? How do You want me to go about this?
I imagine prayer is a labor of love for many of us. It’s not a discipline we engage in by ourselves as often as we do in corporate prayer - and like I said, this is not a judgment, but rather an observation from my own life that I imagine we all share to some point or another.
I thought this might not be a bad time to share a prayer strategy for anyone who would like to grow in this area:
Starting on:
Pinky finger - Confession (1 John 1:9)
Ring finger - Petition (1 Samuel 1:27)
Middle finger - Intercession (Ephesians 6:18-19)
Pointer finger - Thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:20)
Thumb - Praise (Psalm 146:1-2)
It doesn’t really matter what order you go in, but I would probably start with praise and thanksgiving before jumping into asking for things. In my Christian life, I have been asked several times what the purpose of prayer is. Some have suggested it is to change the will of God, but I could not disagree with anything more than that. I believe full-heartedly that purpose of prayer is to align our hearts and our wills with the Father’s. It reminds us of His majestic sovereignty in all things and leads us on a path to recognizing His power in our lives. Only He can answer the prayers we bring, because He alone is a powerful God.
In expressing his sadness to the King, Nehemiah opens the door to conversation by sharing his burdens and immediately responds to that open door with prayer. Prayer refines our intentions by aligning our wills to God’s, and empowers us to request bold support for the burdens He has placed because he empowers us with His boldness.
Our burdens can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities. Nehemiah’s burden not only started the conversation, but lead him to a point where he could make a direct request from the King. Nehemiah’s burdened heart sparked a change in dynamic between him and the king that opened up this door for a pivotal moment in Israel’s history - and he prepared the way for all of this by surrendering it to the Lord in Prayer!
Bold Requests Break Barriers (2:5-8)
Bold Requests Break Barriers (2:5-8)
Lastly, please ready with me again, in…
5 and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.”
6 The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time, and it pleased the king to send me.
7 I also said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah.
8 And let me have a letter written to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress, the city wall, and the home where I will live.” The king granted my requests, for the gracious hand of my God was on me.
Imagine you boss asks you, “What do you need from me?” And you responded with: “Paid leave, financing the whole operation, letters expressing your support so your friends don’t bother me…” etc. Today, it would be unheard of! But God empowered Nehemiah to accomplish a goal, worked through the heart of the King to provide for it and put a plan in motion by His own sovereignty.
When I was a younger believer, I had the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip to Scotland. I had to raise almost $4,000 to go, and to a kid with very little resources, it might as well have been a million dollars. The organization I went with had a motto for the fund-raising stage - “Where God Guides, God Provides.” It was a reminder that money will never have the power to derail God’s will - If I was meant to go on the trip, God would provide the funding for me to go. I didn’t have any experience fund raising, but God has ample experience working in the hearts of those he’s blessed with significant resources to bring about his will. As I saw my pledge amounts go up and my total remaining balance go down, I was in shock and awe at the power of God to do such a thing. That summer, I spent 5 weeks in the highlands of Scotland, putting on a VBS, serving and witnessing in a local community, playing music in a jail, and all these things that helped me see the beauty and purpose God has for the church in the world.
But for me, asking anyone for money was uncomfortable. I grew up in a culture where we didn’t talk about it and it was sort of a faux-pas to talk about it. What I learned through my experience though was the need to respond to burdens and to allow others to share in the blessing of doing God’s work, even if it is in the form of writing the checks needed to get the work done.
Nehemiah’s plan was bold. He asked the King to provide everything needed to restore the wall and to give him the leeway to get it done. But what is one thing we can all agree on? If Nehemiah had not been faithful enough to God to ask, the Kind surely would not have voluntarily given him everything he needed to do the job - it wasn’t a burden God placed on his heart, but rather on Nehemiah’s heart. For this plan to be successful, Nehemiah had to share his burden and make the request of the King. He was blessed in his request and clothed in the providence of God, I believe in great part due to his reliance to God and submission to Him in prayer, but God receives all glory because He orchestrated the whole thing through putting the burden on Nehemiah’s heart in the first place.
Notice however, Nehemiah’s heart in this matter - it can be seen as he describes what happened.
8 And let me have a letter written to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress, the city wall, and the home where I will live.” The king granted my requests, for the gracious hand of my God was on me.
He automatically bestowed credit to God’s graciousness being on him instead of the King’s goodness or his own prowess in negotiating. He didn’t take any credit, but gave all glory and honor to the Lord, where it belongs.
To him, victory and success were dependent on the response of the King, but not reliant on him - Nehemiah relied solely on the Lord and the sovereignty of the Lord to carry out His will, regardless of who He would use to cover the bill to do so.
Another thing we should take note of is the level of preparedness Nehemiah had when he approached the King and queen. She asked, “How long will you be gone?” And he reported that he gave the king a definite time and it pleased the king to send me. To give someone a definite time is to give them a max limit of how long you think a project will take you to finish. In the trades, some charge by the hour, some charge by material - I always charged by material with an estimate of how long it would take. Only in rare circumstances did I ever ask for more money if something took longer - and in those cases it was only because the project parameters were changed by the customer after work had already begun. But to come with a plan to rebuild the walls of an entire city and have a definite timeline in mind shows that Nehemiah put in the mental work to prepare the king and queen for how long it would take him to get the job done. Planning is really important and is critical for doing a good job in practically anything.
There is an approach some people take to working on things that is not the way I would personally choose to go about it - start working and let the pieces fall into place as we go. I know some woodworkers who prefer to do it that way and never work from designs or plans - and they work that way exclusively. That idea stresses me out! Nehemiah showed that he had put in the care and mental load
Maybe explore Nehemiah's bold request and God's provision through the king's response. This point showcases how divine favor accompanies faithful action, as Nehemiah's plea is met with support and resources. Highlight the importance of clear vision and commitment when transforming burdens into blueprints that lead to impactful community change.
Our burdens can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities
Conclusion
Conclusion
Warren Wiersbe said this:
When God puts a burden on your heart, don’t try to escape it; for if you do, you may miss the blessing He has planned for you.
Warren W. Wiersbe
Last week, we saw how our response to a burden, when bathed and centered in prayer, can result in God using us for amazing things for his people. This week, we have pivoted to focus more on how to get the ball rolling once we have identified the burden God has placed on our hearts. In Nehemiah’s case, it was to rebuild the wall - and we see that he committed every step of it to the Lord - even this initial conversation with the King to secure time and resources to accomplish the task.
If you have some burden on your heart, feeling of distress or concern, hear me when I say this: God is not calling everyone to be the next Nehemiah or Moses - not everyone will get a burning-bush experience telling them they will stand toe-to-toe with Pharaoh saying, “Let my people go!” He’s not calling all of us to be the next Charlie Kirk, attempting to reason with the masses and influence the world for Christ. What he does ask of us all though is to be sensitive to His leading through the Holy Spirit, to be willing to go where He sends us and willing to do what He asks of us. We wont all come across burdens in our lives of biblical proportions like Nehemiah did, but we all have a calling in our lives to be faithful. And what has He asked of us?
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
If we are looking to ensure our guages are calibrated correctly, we should hopefully be able to agree that we should have a tremendous burden for the lost.
There is an amazing little book I would like to recommend. I used to have a bunch of copies for the purpose of loaning out, but I had to stop doing that because it was such a good read that I would always get the copies back full of underlines and notes!
But this book is called: “AKA: LOST - Discovering Ways to Connect With Those Jesus Misses Most” and it is by Jim Henderson. It’s a book on evangelism from the perspective of contemporary society and focuses on the attitude in which we approach evangelism. Its an easy read, right around the 200 page mark. My favorite part about the book is that it focuses on the fact that we aren’t all called to be Billy Graham or Charlie Kirk, but we are all called to have this burden in our hearts for those who don’t have the hope of Christ in their lives.
If we are looking for an easy way to apply the message today, evangelism is the easiest example - be bold in your pursuit of being obedient to Christ and the Great Commission He gave us.
Another way we can apply our message today is by looking at the burden of personal holiness.
16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
The text that Peter is quoting from there comes from Leviticus 11, and that passage is specifically refering to the dietary laws for the people of Israel, but the principle remains the same - we serve a holy God who expects us to be Holy too, so there should be a burden in our hearts to be Holy.
How can we be bold with such a burden? Perhaps by unapologetically putting the ways of the world behind us. I wont lie to you - after my surgery, the part of my brain that handles most of my language filtering was, in large part, removed or scrambled, so my use of language and my hinderance of using such language has suffered. I know this has created problems in my relationship with my kiddos because they hear me come up hear and preach about putting worldliness behind us and hear what I say when I get frustrated at the dog. There should be, in all our hearts, a burden of consistency in character from who we are to He in whom we place our faith.
We are all in different places in our faith journey and should be sensitive to what ever burden God may be placing on our hearts. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us - if we truly do belong to Christ - who helps us recognize these burdens and submit to the Lord. That is one of the key differences between us and Nehemiah - Nehemiah didn’t have the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit like Christians today get to enjoy - rather he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, temporarily for a purpose: to rebuild the wall. Since we enjoy such an amazing benefit of the grace of Jesus, what are we going to do about it? We should endeavor not to ignore or push aside what God may be burdening our hearts with! We will never be perfect at hearing and understanding what God is trying to do in us, at least until the day we stand before Him in glory and He can tell us plainly - but we can commit to listening and taking what burdens us to bold action so that God can work in us and through us for whatever purpose He may be calling us too. I used the examples of evangelism and personal holiness because those are two easy examples in that we are all called to evangelize and we are all called to holiness. Not all of us are going to be called to build a wall, or a ministry network or anything big and grand like that - but if we have a burden on our heart, God can use it! Our burdens can become blueprints for action when we commit them to God, leading to impactful changes in our lives and communities.
Let’s pray
