Let's "build up the walls" TOGETHER

Let’s “Build up the walls” TOGETHER! All of us, I’m sure, appreciate that the Old Testament presents real historical events. However, because the world has changed so dramatically in the intervening years, I think there can be a tendency, subconsciously at least, to treat what we read as though it were FICTION rather than FACT, STORIES rather than REALITY and so we can miss their relevance and application for us today. So this morning, as I share some simple thoughts from a familiar Old Testament passage, I want us to constantly remind ourselves that these things really happened. They were lived through by real people just like you and I, and they did so without our advantage of knowing the end from the beginning. And these accounts are there to teach US truths that are fundamental to our fruitfulness and effectiveness as Christians in the 21st century world. This is exactly what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 10:11 where he wrote: “These things happened to them AS EXAMPLES and were written down AS WARNINGS FOR US, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” So, were Paul able to look in on our meeting today, I’m sure he would be taking a keen interest in whether we are planning to respond in an appropriate way as the Holy Spirit ministers through the Word today. Our message this morning then, takes us to events described in the first seven chapters of the book of Nehemiah and to save time I’ll begin by summarising the key points from the passage before homing in on some of their implications for us today. --- Nehemiah, a Jew exiled to Babylon, had secured a responsible post as cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes. This meant that among other things, he was required to taste the wine before the King drank to ensure it wasn’t poisoned. Now this potentially risky role, was also very significant because it meant that Nehemiah spent his days very close to the King pretty much all the time, since wine, if you could afford it, would have been the equivalent of the teas and coffees that many of us today consume throughout our waking hours. So, as well as becoming a wine expert, Nehemiah would inevitably have developed a close relationship with the King and, as things turned out, this was to stand him in good stead when one day Nehemiah’s brother turned up at the palace bringing news of the dire and defenceless state of Jerusalem and its remaining inhabitants. The news, was in fact so devastating, that Nehemiah immediately began to mourn, weep and earnestly pray for that great city and its people. And then, while serving wine to King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah’s sorrow of heart was evident on his face, which normally, of course, would have been a capital offence. Amazingly though, his all-powerful master, who had clearly come to greatly respect his servant, responded sympathetically and in fact commissioned and fully resourced Nehemiah to go and restore the defences of the city of Jerusalem. On arriving in Jerusalem Nehemiah took stock, gathered, motivated and organized the population so that they began to repair the city walls. However, in doing so they provoked angry opposition from Sanballat the Governor of Samaria and from Tobiah, whose family, according to Ezra 2:60-62 had been unable to establish their priestly credentials and so had been summarily excluded from the priesthood, leaving him unemployed and, no doubt, with a sizeable chip on his shoulder. But despite relentless opposition, led and inspired by Nehemiah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were galvanized into fully restoring the gates and walls of the city BECAUSE, very significantly, they chose to co-operate and WORK TOGETHER. ---- Now in looking, some 2500 years after the event, to apply this passage to our own lives this morning, we need to keep in mind some significant things: First, Jerusalem at this time, with the Temple having been previously rebuilt and worship having once again been restored, is seen by some to be symbolic of a newly born again believer who has received new life in Christ through salvation and so is now a worshipper of God. But second, Jerusalem as a city without walls, is also symbolic of Christians, who haven’t yet fully recognised the critical importance of having proper spiritual defences in place and so are easy prey for spiritual attack. For most of us today, wonderful walled cities like those in our own York, Canterbury and Chester, for example, are impressive, and perhaps even romantic reminders of our long history as a nation. But the walls of a city like Jerusalem at this time were absolutely critical to its security and therefore to the prosperity of its inhabitants, because they provided protection from their enemies, making them secure, and the vantage points of their walls and watchtowers also gave them early warning of potential attack. In short, the walls were vital for the survival of their community, and for their individual welfare and prosperity . Specifically then, our passage today, from an APPLICATION point of view, can be seen as having a focus on spiritual health and well-being. And it is very significant surely, that King David in Psalm 51 in reference to his disastrous failure over the Bathsheba incident prays in verse 18: “In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; BUILD UP THE WALLS of Jerusalem.” So in part at least, this Old Testament account is telling us that God wants all of us as His people to prosper SPIRITUALLY but, that to do so, it is absolutely essential not only to be born again and to be a worshipper, but also to prioritise building sound spiritual defensive walls in our own lives and in our Christian community, our church. And, in today’s world which now seems ever more intent on side-lining and even undermining our Christian faith, this makes our passage both apposite and absolutely critical to every one of us, not just as individuals but as a church community here in Lane End. Even more important perhaps than this though, is that our passage today actually carries a very specific personal application for every one of us. One that none of us can afford to miss both for our own sake and for the sake our church. This passage puts a spotlight on the life-critical truth that providing effective SPIRITUAL security, prosperity and protection is not just a matter of individual Christians working for themselves to develop their Christian lives. Nor indeed, is this just the responsibility of the Pastor and the leadership team, rather it is to be accomplished by THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE (that’s us folks!) WORKING WITH AND SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER in that task. Be absolutely clear on this. Our Bible account this morning provides an emphatic and challenging call to EVERY ONE OF US today to step up to the mark and provide MUTUAL support FOR ONE ANOTHER, so that DOING OUR PART and ACTING TOGETHER we are protected and victorious in the spiritual battle that, whether we see it or not, is actually raging around us all. Only by seeing our responsibility TO OTHERS, and working with one another, can we individually and collectively reap these rewards and blessings. Like the people of Jerusalem, we can only build this wall TOGETHER. Our success and our fruitfulness as a church and as individuals therefore, will to a great extent be determined by how seriously we take our individual and personal responsibility for everyone in our Christian community here in Lane End. This is perhaps logical really when you consider that the New Testament presents the church COLLECTIVELY as the BODY (singular) of Christ. And, just as when our natural bodies are attacked with sickness, and the defences of the body rally to support, protect, sustain and restore the body at the point of attack, so maximising the chances of defeating or neutralising their effect, we as the body of Christ MUST see the importance of rallying to the support of one another when we are under attack. All of which, I want to suggest, challenges us to review our prayer time, the priority we give to prayer, and our commitment to prayerfully supporting one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. But there is another key issue here too. In the book of Proverbs we find a very pointed allusion to the situation in Jerusalem that Nehemiah discovered. Proverbs 25:28 brings us a revealing nugget of truth that relates to our passage and highlights another aspect to the response we need to make in our own lives. It says this: “Like a city WHOSE WALLS ARE BROKEN DOWN is a man WHO LACKS SELF-CONTROL.” We need to keep firmly in mind then that Jerusalem at this time, without its protective walls in place, provides a picture of a Christian who is worshipping God but who is struggling because of a lack of self-control, and self-control remember, as Pastor Scott reminded us in his message on 6 April, is one of the fruits of the Spirit, mentioned by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. Self-control then, is not simply a talent or an ability that we may have naturally to a greater or lesser extent and need to work to improve as individuals, IT IS PRIMARILY AN OUTWORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US. Our role then is not so much to grit our teeth and force ourselves to do what we know we should do, but rather it is to learn to make a practice of submitting to the Holy Spirit, and so allowing Him to work in and through our lives. Remember too, that as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV84) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” So, as Christians we are new beings in Christ and James lets us in on how that process actually comes about when he says of God in James 1:18, (NIV84) “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, . . .” So, this tells us that it is actually God’s word that INITIATES our birth as Christians and, as James then goes on to underline, our salvation is not just an EVENT, it is A PROCESS that is also accomplished through God’s word for he urges us in James 1:21 to “. . . humbly accept the word planted in YOU, which can save YOU.” Salvation then is a process initiated, yes, but also developed and sustained, through God’s word planted inside us. How critical it is then to continually soak ourselves in the Word of God, receiving its truth by faith, because if we don’t, we’re in deep trouble both individually and as a church. Notice too that in that verse from James the word translated “you” on both occasions is the same Greek word - “psuche” which literally means “soul”. So James is emphasising here that it is God’s word that saves and transforms our SOUL, and our soul, of course, comprises our minds, our emotions and our will. It is no wonder then that the prime target for Satan’s attacks on Christians is our soul – our mind, our emotions and our will. • He comes against our MINDS, our intellect, and sows doubts, confusion, and lies. • He comes against our EMOTIONS and seeks to produce fear, lust, anger and unforgiveness. • He comes against and undermines our WILL with false accusations, and by highlighting our previous failures and our abject defeats. So we need to pick up on these attacks, recognise them for what they are, and respond appropriately by rejecting and denying them. If we don’t do this, then like the broken and ruined walls surrounding Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time, THEY MAKE ATTACK EASY AND DEFENCE ALL BUT IMPOSSIBLE. This is why it is so essential that as Christians WE BUILD UP THE WALLS in our own Christian lives AND that we support our brothers and sisters in Christ in doing so too, through soaking ourselves in the Word, through actively developing and sustaining a faith response to the Word, and through determined, persistent and faith-filled prayer for one another. It is no exaggeration to say that the quality, the fruitfulness and the usefulness of our Christian lives individually and collectively, depends on it. Interestingly, some have also noted that Nehemiah, can in a sense be seen as a type of the Holy Spirit. They hold this view because the name “Nehemiah” actually means “Jehovah comforts” and “the Comforter”, of course, is the Biblical name given by Jesus to the Holy Spirit. The Authorised Version of John 14:15–16 records Jesus declaring: “. . . And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”. And the ministry of the Holy Spirit of course is to work within us to transform us as the people of God – from what we are into what God intends us to be. It is under His guidance and leadership and with His resources, rather than our own, that we are to build up the walls of our souls and so move into the place of blessing and fruitfulness that Christ has secured and desires for all of us. As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “. . . we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, ARE BEING TRANSFORMED INTO HIS LIKENESS with ever-increasing glory, which COMES from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” And this ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer is beautifully pictured in our passage as Nehemiah leads the people of Israel to build up the city walls. On arrival, Nehemiah immediately associates himself with the the people when he gets to Jerusalem and we read in Nehemiah 2:17 “Then I said to them, “You see the trouble WE are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, LET US rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and WE will no longer be in disgrace.”” So Nehemiah is here standing WITH the people and not accusing or condemning them, just as the Holy Spirit now stands with us rather than condemning us. For because of the glory and victory of Jesus’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit is God WITH us, not against us. He stands with us to confront our problems and to assist us to victory. So when we are seeking to build our spiritual defences we are not on our own, because we have the Holy Spirit to support us. Now, of course, God is a sovereign God and He has chosen to make us with a sovereign will which He does not violate. We must therefore choose, of our own free will, to work with Him, to work with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and, if we will, we will see success and we will see blessing. But if we don’t or won’t, we will experience disgrace. But there is another truth we see in our passage today and that is that any work of the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS going to be opposed by the enemy. Indeed, opposition is actually a clear sign that God IS involved and our Bible account reveals a gradually developing opposition against Nehemiah. We read in Nehemiah 2:10 of Sanballat and Tobiah being “very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites”; we read in Nehemiah 2:19 that they accused them of “rebelling against the king”; and in Nehemiah 4:1 that they became “angry and greatly incensed” and then finally in Nehemiah 4:7-8 we read “they plotted together” to “fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it”. The key here is for us to see that we can be assured that any attempt to carry out God’s plan for our lives with the support of the Holy Spirit WILL inevitably engender opposition and we should expect it, prepare for it, and respond appropriately AS INDIVIDUALS with faith, and with self-control, but also BY COLLECTIVELY SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER through faith-filled prayer and encouragement. Nehemiah in fact, provides a picture of how through the Holy Spirit we should respond to opposition. In Nehemiah 2:20 we read: “I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven WILL give us success.” That’s a declaration of FAITH. Nehemiah then goes on: “We his servants WILL start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”” That again is a faith inspired declaration of intent and shows an unshakeable determination to exercise self-control to follow through on our faith. But then, very significantly, the Bible account goes on to explain THE STRATEGY that Nehemiah implemented to enable the people to complete the task of restoring the walls that were so essential to the continued protection and blessing of the people, given the potential hostility of their enemies. Nehemiah 4:13–14 says this: “Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, AND FIGHT FOR YOUR BROTHERS, YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS, YOUR WIVES AND YOUR HOMES.”” Working TOGETHER, Nehemiah declares, not working just as individuals, is to be the means and the route to victory and blessing. And that surely is what the Holy Spirit would say to us here too in Elim Hope Church this morning. But crucially, if Nehemiah had not introduced a STRATEGY to allow them to implement their desire to re-build the city walls, and if that strategy had not been both a wise strategy and a sustained strategy, their task would not have been completed. The walls would not have been built and the people would have remained easy prey for their enemies, and nor would they have prospered and been blessed as God intended. I particularly like Nehemiah’s absolute refusal to be deflected from the task of completing the rebuilding of the walls in order to secure the City of Jerusalem and in Nehemiah 6:3, it records Nehemiah’s defiant response to a demand that he leave the work to talk. It says: “so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”” This, I suggest, is a critical lesson for us all, and really it is my prime purpose in bringing this message this morning. Building spiritual walls in our own lives individually and collectively as the church, is “a great project” that will lead us to to live fruitful and effective Christian lives in the service of our Saviour. But it is a purpose that will inevitably attract the opposition of the enemy. So, like Nehemiah, we need a strategy. A God given strategy; a strategy prompted by the wisdom of God, and we need to implement that strategy with faith and with self-control. Only then will the walls be built up in our lives. Only then will the purposes of God be truly served. Nehemiah encourages us that these walls CAN be built up in our own lives but only with the help of the Holy Spirit, AND as we commit ourselves to WORKING TOGETHER in faith, obedience and with the Holy Spirit fruit of self-control. Best of all, as we do this, it’s not just that we are transformed, prosper and grow as Christians, and see growth and blessing in the church, WE WILL ALSO BRING GLORY TO OUR GOD.