Untitled Sermon

Admit

This morning, when Mark and Sara presented Micah for baptism, they made a commitment. They heard God’s promises to Micah and they committed to teaching him to know and love the Lord. As they are doing with Hailey, Daniel and Joshua, they will demonstrate their love for God and tell Micah about God’s love for him.

Last week, I learned a whole tonne of very awesome things about telling people about God’s love for them. Remember when I said a couple of weeks ago, that you don’t need training to do evangelism? I was wrong. There is training available, and it is awesome!

I can’t help sharing two of the things I learned, first a great way to strike up a conversation about God is to simply ask, “Are you a believer in God, or are you on the way?” If they say, “They’re on the way, ask, “How close would you say you are? What would it take to bring you to God?”

The second thing I learned is a pattern that shows up right here in Nehemiah’s book. Imagine that, a process for evangelism, right here in this book. All you need to know is ABC. A stands for Admit, B stands for Believe, C stands for Commit.

The first thing, A, is admit that you’re a sinner. This is what we looked at when we studied chapters 8 and 9. After hearing God’s law, the Israelites realised their sin, and they admitted it. They admitted they were sinners who deserved God’s punishment, they admitted that God was justified in sending his people into exile. They also recognised God’s mercy in bringing them back from exile. They confessed their sin.

Why do we present our children for baptism? We bring these sweet, beautiful, clean children for baptism because we know something about them, that isn’t readily seen at such a young age. We know that ever since Adam and Eve, all children are born into a sinful condition. It is present from the moment of conception. That’s reality. That’s why we don’t need to teach our children how to sin, how to be disobedient. They’re very good at figuring it out on their own. In baptism, we recognise, we admit sin, and our need for a saviour.

Believe

The second letter, B, stands for believe. We believe that God gave salvation through Jesus Christ. God’s desire is that everyone would be saved. In order for that to happen, God had to make a way. We all agree that wrongdoing deserves punishment, in other words, we all agree about the need for justice. If a person murders someone else, they should pay, it would be wrong, it would be unjust for them to get away with murder.

It is the same for God’s creation. We disobeyed him, we deserved the just consequences. The consequences of sin is death. That’s what we deserved. What we needed was someone who could pay our penalty, pay the wages of sin once and for all. So God sent his Son, Jesus to die to pay the penalty of sin. Jesus willingly went to the cross and died, giving his life as a ransom for many.

All we need to do is believe that’s what Jesus did, and that our sins are paid for by him. Imagine going through life and every time you make a mistake, a debt gets added to your bank account. It’s not as though you have any money in there to begin with, but the debt keeps piling up. But then someone comes along and says, “Hi, I am Noweto Umbulu from Nigeria.” Just kidding. Someone comes up to you and says, “I have all the money in the world. I want to take away your debt. I will take it all away. Do you believe me?” What have you got to lose? So, you believe him, and then you check your bank balance: zero. No debt. In one moment you went from owing billions, to owing nothing! Then, as it happens, you make a new mistake. Great, you think to yourself, “I’m in debt again.” But when you look, you’re still at zero.

That’s faith in God. All we need to do is trust that Jesus has paid for all our sins, past, present and future. That’s the faith that Mark and Sara exercised in baptising Micah. They believe Jesus paid for all their sins, and Micah’s too. So they are going to raise him to know that his sin account is empty, paid in full by Jesus.

In our Nehemiah series so far, we’ve seen the Israelites trusting in God. They believed God’s promises to them. God promised, through Nehemiah, that the walls and the gates would be rebuilt. God would protect them from their enemies. God was with them through everything they did. They believed that God had forgiven them their sins, and that he’d accepted their payment through the exile, and by returning them to the Promised Land, that he was with them again. They believed, they worked hard on the walls and the gates, and they saw the fruit of their faith, their trust, in God’s protection of them while they worked.

Commit

And now, in our passage this morning, the Israelites under Nehemiah’s leadership commit themselves to God. They promised to obey all God’s commandments. Earlier they’d confessed to failing to keep his commandments, admitting to not loving God by worshipping other gods. They admitted to treating others terribly. God’s commandments teach us how to love God properly, and how to love others by treating them with honour and respect. So, having admitted their sin, having believed that God had forgiven them (in Christ), they committed to living for God. They committed to being obedient.

If I were to ask you, “What is the main task of a parent? What’s the main thing parents teach their children?” Would you say, “Knowledge? Trust? Love?” Think about it. What do most parents teach? “Don’t do that! Do this! Be honest. Be loving, be careful.”

When it comes to faith, that’s the role the church has also. Jesus, just before he ascended into heaven, 40 days after Easter Sunday (as I mentioned earlier in the service, this past Thursday was Ascension day, the day we remember that Jesus ascended into heaven) Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority and power belongs to me, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

What’s the church’s main job? What is our main task as Christians? Our main task is to make disciples, that is, invite as many people as we can to believe in Jesus. We do this by asking where people are at, and helping them along the way to know who Jesus is and what he did for them. We encourage them to Admit their sin, believe in what Jesus did, and then to commit their lives to Christ. We teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded, which boils down to loving God, and loving our neighbour.

Mark and Sara will be teaching Micah to obey. Obey their rules at home, obey proper etiquette in public, how to conduct himself at school, and eventually at work. But above all, they’ll be teaching him how to obey his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Take a moment to ask yourself, “Where am I in my journey with God? Am I close to him, or am I far away? If you feel you’re far away, talk to someone after the service. Talk to me. Pray, ask God to bring you closer to him. Ask God to become real to you. God really answers prayer. I heard a story of a young lady who was at a youth group meeting or something. She saw a new guy a few rows ahead of her. Suddenly she sensed God telling her to go and pray for him. Nah, she thought, it can’t be real. Who am I to go. But the sense stayed with her. So she prayed, “God, if he sits down, I’ll go talk to him.” Almost immediately, he sat down. “Whoa. Okay, still, who am I?” Well, she worked up her courage and went up to him and said, “Can I pray for you?” At which point he broke down crying and said, “I’ve been praying this whole time, asking God to send someone to pray for me.” At that moment, faith, prayer, God became real to her.

The moment the walls and gates were completed, faith in God became real to the Israelites under Nehemiah.

Last week, we heard the testimonies from the ladies from Teen Challenge. We witnessed the miracle, the transforming power of Jesus.

God is real. God is at work here. God is at work in you. Do you sense him? Pray. Listen. Obey. Commit. Trust in Christ, commit yourself to him, obey his commandments. Love others, bless, encourage, trust and believe.

Today Micah became a baptised member of Westside Community Church. He is a member of Christ’s body. One day he’ll need to recognise that reality. He’ll need to recognise that he belongs to Christ. He’ll need to Admit, Believe and Commit. Mark and Sara will be with him, along with all God’s people, to encourage him on the way.

Where are you in your journey with God? Are you close? Are you ready to come closer? Are you ready to admit, believe and confess? Let’s pray.