Nehemiah 3
Notes
Transcript
I’d tell you a chemistry joke, but I know I wouldn’t get a reaction
Before Covid changed the world and made life harder for so many different things I was able to go to Haiti on missions trips a few times to help rebuild houses for some different families. Now it is impossible to get into the country to do that kind of work, its just too dangerous for Americans to go do. The problem was that year without missions trips due to covid regulations meant there weren’t thousands of Americans going in and that hurt the economy some as well just what covid itself did to hurt the country. It gave the gangs in Haiti time to organized and build and now there are some serious problems there that need to be addressed. What I remember most from the last trip we were there is the location we were building this home. It was located across the canal from the dump, and Haiti doesn’t have trash service the same way we do, so there is trash almost everywhere, but this is the place where the organized businesses are able to have their trash taken. One of the most overwhelming things I had seen is these poles that were shoved on top of the heaps of trash, with rope hung between them and sheets and tarps hanging from the ropes to build these “walls” for lack of better words a place where someone had effectively been building their home on the top of the dump and it just kind of put things into perspective for my own life.
While this isn’t exactly the situation Nehemiah found himself in, this is pretty much what it felt like to him when he heard the walls and gate were down and everything had been destroyed; it is almost as if the city of Jerusalem is sitting unprotected with cloth walls in the dump and Nehemiah can’t stand for it. We talked a bit over the past two weeks about how Nehemiah has taught us we need to prepare for the work he has called us to and we need to get to work and pray for those things and ask God to move while we do our part.
Last week, Nehemiah goes into the courts of the king with a somber look on his face, and the King knows something was wrong and we spoke of how dangerous this was for Nehemiah as the king could have had him killed merely for not being happy in his presence. But we know Nehemiah had prepared for this moment as we saw him ask the king for safe passage to get to Jerusalem with the letters to all the governors to get him through, but apparently Nehemiah go even more than he asked for on the journey.
9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
Not only did he get the letters to allow the governors to allow him to pass through, but Artaxerxes had also sent officers of the army with him as well to keep him safe as he made his way back. We have to stop and just revel at how amazing God is here, Artaxerxes is a polytheist who worshipped different gods and didn’t know, or have any belief in, the God of Nehemiah. There was just something about Nehemiah, his character and the way he lived his life that made fulfilling this request easy for Artaxerxes. When I read things like this, I pray to live a life like this; where people who don’t know God notice something different about my character and the way in which I live they want to know more, or want to ask more questions and trust my way of life.
You also need to understand this was not an easy trip, this was at least a two month journey from Susa back to Jerusalem. By the time Nehemiah would have arrived there would have been people who had know he was coming back; there would have been people who were faster than the excursion Nehemiah was traveling with to make sure other people knew he was on his way.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.
So he arrives, and from the moment he is in the region, Sanballat, who was most likely the governor of Samaria, and Tobiah, most likely the governor of Ammon know he is coming to help Jerusalem and the people there and they are not happy about it, they also do not want Jerusalem to prosper; they want to keep the control they have already over the region.
The story goes on
11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.
I can only imagine it would not have taken him three days to survey the damage and be able to see with his own eyes what is going on in Jerusalem, but I can imagine he is speaking with people and having conversations to see what people have to say about what is going on in their land.
12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.
So, he is going to see the walls and inspect the damage so he can get a plan together, and he takes a few men with him, he doesn’t let everyone know what his plans are but just a few trusted people. I think we can learn a good lesson from this when it comes to the things God is calling us to do in our lives, first, we must sometimes employ the help of others we trust to get the task done.
Secondly, we don’t always need to share with everyone our plans before we act. This is a problem for a lot of us, we get excited about something God is doing or calling us to do in our lives and we just tsart talking to anyone who is willing to listen to us about those things, but that isn’t always the best. Let me give you a little bit of advice when it comes to people you trust in confidence in your lives. First, the person should love Jesus, and second that person should love you. For so many of us we open our hearts and our lives to people who don’t love Jesus, and we really shouldn’t do this because their moral compass is so much different than ours that we come at life from completely different angles. Then, and I have no idea why we do it, but we often share the deepest secrets in our lives with people who don’t care about us at all. Im sure we all know people who everyone knows they gossip and talk bad everyone, but for some reason people still share things with them, its almost as if everyone thinks that person won’t share their information, but they know they share everyone elses.
But we have to have some help and we have to be selective about who we are sharing with, you should be praying and allowing God to deal with you for a bit until you are absolutely sure of what God is wanting you to do, then you should share with some people close to you, and then as we will see later you then share with others you need their help from.
13 So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire.
14 Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass.
15 So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.
16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.
Nehemiah is definitely keeping all of this to himself, you could take a map and follow the route in which he has moved, and listen this is all planing on Nehemiah’s part. He is not just riding around and being sad at what he is seeing, he is also taking the time to make a plan in his mind about how he is going to accomplish the task he has come there to do. What we can see here is timing is everything. I am sure you have heard of that before, and especially in terms of comedy. I think the line is you are always supposed to go out on top, make sure you leave people laughing and don’t leave when people have stopped laughing, its the ony thing they will remember, but what is certain here is Nehemiah is doing all the behind the scenes planning he can think of and there are only a few people close to him he is allowing to take part at this step.
Then it says
17 Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”
So, now he is appealing to the people he is needing help from, he is telling them, look you know how bad it is, you can see for yourself the desperate situation that we are in. Look around you, don’t you see the walls, don’t you understand how easy it is for us to be attacked, we are in dire need, let us all come together so we can do the things we need to do.
This is it, the research is done, he has taken his people who are close to him through and let them see the state and has talked to them about what is going on, and now its time for everyone to know.
For you, there may be some big task God has called you to, he may be calling you to minister in your job, he may be calling you to start a ministry at the school, he may be calling you to come alongside the ministries we have here are the church, or maybe its more personal to getting deeper into your faith and taking it more seriously; reading the word more, praying more, maybe even fasting more.
This would be the moment when you get together and you say, look God has been calling me to take my faith more seriously, he wants me to get into the word more and really seek him, I am going to need your help, hold me accountable, make sure I am doing what I need to be doing.
This was the moment a few weeks ago when we started this series when I said, here are the three things we are going to do this year.
One thing Nehemiah knew is it was going to be hard to get people behind him, it had all been tried before, in fact it was about ninety years earlier when the first group of people had tried to rebuild Jerusalem, it took them about 15 years to rebuild the temple and when they tried to move on to rebuild the walls they were stopped. Then of course, the most previous attempt was only 13 years earlier when Artexerxes has written letters to keep them from continuing to build. These people were in this defeated mentality. It had been tried too many times before and always failed, so he knew he had to do something to change their minds and get them behind what he was trying to do. The fear here for Nehemiah would be someone would say, look we tried all that before, and it didn’t work to well.
18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me.
So, Nehemiah, trying to change the atmosphere of the Jewish people when it came to restoration, tells them about how the Lord had been with him up until this point. He tells him everything that has happened, how the king listened to him, gave him some guards, sent letters, and how it was all because God was with him.
Listen, there are some times you may even need to do this to yourself before you set out on an adventure, you need to remind yourself of all the good things the Lord has done in your life and all of the times he has been with you.
We have to get out of the mindset even when it comes to things we have tried to do for ourselves before and failed that we don’t allow our excuse to be, well I have tried it before and it failed, so I might as well not try. Ask anyone in recovery, who has been sober for a really long time if they ever had to start again, and if they are happy they started again and didn’t listen to the voice inside their heads that was telling them it was useless.
When it comes to changing Georgetown and the life of FCOC, it would be the moment when we would stop and say, listen, God has always put my family in the place of revitalization, we have always come into places that were stagnant and been able to put systems in place that allowed the church to be healthy and grow and make an impact on the community around us. God has always been with us as we sought him to do good things.
Apparently, talking about these things did something in the people, so
18Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.
What you need to know, is even if you are doing things with God’s power, in his will, it doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have some opposition. Look at what is next.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
They would have already known Artexerxes had written letters to allow them to start doing the work they needed to do, but they were trying to bring up the past in hopes it would stop Nehemiah and his people in their work. Honestly, what these guys are worried about is what will happen if Jerusalem is rebuilt to them. How it will effect their way of life and their power is what is goign through their heads right now.
This is the moment when people would come in and bring up all of your past failures, this is when the voices on the outside start to talk to you. On a lighter note at this time of year, this may be when the people around you start telling you you have tried to lose weight before and it didn’t work then and it won’t work this time either.
20 So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
And basically Nehemiah is saying, God is with us, I don’t care what you have to say, we will succeed and you can’t say anything about what God is wanting us to do.
Part of having a plan is knowing what to say back to those skeptics, knowing what your rebuttal will be.
The question is what is God calling you to? Who do you need to round up to help you? Who are the people you can trust to get the information you need. What is your rebuttal going to be to the skeptics?
