Equipped with Faith (Neh 2)

Equipped with Faith: Nehemiah 2 [Scripture Reading = Neh. 2:1-8] Read Neh. 1:5&11 & Pray: From wine tasting cupbearer to wall building governor – You are unlikely to face the situation of Nehemiah, but you are very likely to encounter momentous moments in your life when God provides definitive opportunity to discover where your faith lies. I. Getting you up to speed: A. In an introduction to Nehemiah I asked you to contemplate how your story intersects with God’s grand narrative, his redemptive story. B. In the second lesson (covering ch. 1), we considered the actions of someone who really cares. (The one who cares asks, reacts, prays [based on the character of God, confessing sin, appealing to God’s mercy], and volunteers.) C. In this third lesson, we move from Nehemiah’s period of praying in faith to his moment of taking action by faith. – Equipped with faith—to wait, to risk, and to lead.  Sincere faith in the good hand of God makes us able… 1. To wait (pray & plan, learning patience in the process)… 2. To take a chance (risking refusal or repercussion) 3. And to lead ([wisely] investigating (honest assessment, know what you’re up against), working with people [motivate and challenge], facing opposition and other problems - pressing on in conviction - with the king’s permission and God’s protection, Neh believed they would prosper) II. Faith to wait (v. 1a, or the empty space from 1:11 to 2:1) – “In the month of Nisan” A. He kept praying – Praying & Waiting for the right moment - 4 months  Neh. prayed BEFORE he planned. (We often make plans and then pray for God to bless our plans. :-)) Neh prayed AS he planned. Neh. prayed AFTER he planned. – God undoubtedly sometimes lets us wait so that we learn dependence on Him. – Neh prayed and prayed and prayed. (knowing who was ultimately responsible for the outcome) B. Trusting the Lord doesn’t equal doing nothing to be prepared. Neh evidently was planning while he waited. When the king gives him the window of opportunity, Neh is ready. 1. He had no doubt rehearsed this interaction many times in his head. 2. Ex: Neh anticipated the need: Due to potential problems as well as previous opposition from Artaxerxes himself (Ezra 4:7-9), Neh takes precautions. (vv. 7-8) C. Do you find it hard to wait on the Lord’s leading? (Ps. 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!) – Here’s a practical suggestion: When I know that what I’m currently doing is something good, and that I am always needing to learn contentment, I do nothing drastic (b/c I know me, I’m always in hurry). Even while I make a list of pros and cons and might even have a contingency plan, I pray (alone or with others involved) and wait and seek clear confirmation from the Lord through His word and His people. If confirmation for a new direction doesn’t come, then I take that as confirmation to stay put.  There’s no hard and fast rule on these things. But we must trust the our God that he is Good and that when our hearts are set on him that he will use us and glorify himself in whatever situation he places us. 1. Ps. 27:13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! 2. (Wiersbe) “When you wait on the Lord in prayer, you are not wasting your time; you are investing it. God is preparing both you and your circumstances so that His purposes will be accomplished. However, when the right time arrives for us to act by faith, we dare not delay.” III. Faith to risk (vv.1b-8) A. Neh’s relationship to the king (as cupbearer) – I try to imagine being a butler. B. Neh’s emotions – Neh had trained himself to keep this in check. 1. Neh lets his sadness show - Depressed in the presence of the king 2. “Then I was very much afraid” – of reprisal for being a downer in the king’s presence, and no doubt too for how his request could be taken as ingratitude and disloyalty  Being convinced that something is right doesn’t mean we won’t fear. Courage isn’t lack of fear but the strength to stand in spite of fear. – And it is God who is our comfort in times of fear: Ps. 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 3. Because of trusting God and preparation, it is calculated risk Neh is willing to take. C. Neh’s wise diplomacy (in spite of what he clearly believed from 1:11 – God is the LORD; Artaxerxes was a man.) 1. Expresses his loyalty to the king 2. Appeals to the king’s sympathy (mentioning graves and gates) 3. Neh, after all the praying, still says a quick prayer [God, by your tender mercy, grant me success. – Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”] 4. Arty responds generously, as he did in Ezra 7:21-24. D. Neh had faith to find out if God had answered his prayer. 1. When risk is right. – Taking a chance is quite different when you believe that what you are really doing is taking a chance on God. Did not Abraham risk it all when he went up the mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac? Did not Moses risk it all when he went back to Egypt in obedience to God? Did not David risk his life before Goliath and risk the throne by not taking matters into his own hands? (He waited some 15 years on God’s timing.)  But remember, it’s not a risk to God. Risk is about not knowing the outcome. Jesus didn’t risk anything. He knew why he came, and he knew the outcome. 2. Whom does Nehemiah believe deserves the credit for the outcome? (v. 8b & 18b) – Scottish novelist George McDonald, “In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.” IV. Faith to lead [READ vv.9-20]  Although a position of authority may be warranted (Neh was indeed commissioned as governor), leadership is less about position and more about conviction and preparation and motivation and demonstration and determination (to face opposition and to see a vision through to fruition) A. You lead by conviction. (what you believe – “my God had put into my heart” v. 12) 1. Neh made the journey to the province Beyond the River [map?] 2. He recognized immediately that opposition was still present. (Samarians wanting to assert authority in Judah.) Certain kinds of opposition should in fact confirm what you believe and the necessity of your endeavor. * B. You lead by preparation. (even the waiting was preparation, Neh had no doubt grown in patience and in trusting the Lord’s provision; he had also been planning and now he was careful to do some investigating of the situation, vv. 12-16) – This preparation may or may not be formal. But without formal training to be governor, Nehemiah has the marks of a godly leader – Compassion, character, conviction, and competency. 1. We have seen his compassion on full display. Neh wept and prayed, he prayed and he waited, he trusted God and risked his comfort… his reputation… his very life. This too is full proof of his conviction. 2. But you cannot lead without growth in godly character. (*Apostle Paul in Php. 3:12) Essential to this character is knowing who and how to follow. Fear God and follow his path. (his path for us is to lay down our lives as Christ laid down his, to follow his method of reaching the world for Christ, which is to make disciples – Master Plan of Evangelism  Disciples team up to accomplish the task—local church families—which is why planting churches that learn to make disciples is the method central to the mission. It’s why, for the sake of our church family keeping this vision before our eyes, that I’m joining a church planting survey trip to Indonesia in early Nov.) 3. Neh inspects the walls in secret in order to not prematurely warrant opposition or prematurely try to lead without knowing the facts of the situation. (competency) 4. In order to grow in these areas you have to be F.A.T. (Faithful, Available, & Teachable) C. You lead by motivation. v. 18! “the hand of my God upon me… So they strengthened their hands” 1. A call to action with clear direction (a dynamite stick carefully placed…* If not, more harmful than helpful. Handing a kid a lit stick of dynamite. “Here, do something useful with that.”) 2. What a difference it makes when you believe the strength in your hands depends upon the strength in God’s. – And generates the proper motivation… D. You lead by demonstration (example/modeling, a living illustration). “Come, let us build the wall…” – Neh would work with everyone else. Setting the example. The first one in and the last one out. E. You lead by determination. 1. Standing firm in the face of opposition (vv. 19-20): Even accused of rebelling against the king  The king is in fact on Neh’s side, but that isn’t whom Neh ultimately credits with the real authority. “The God of heaven”  It is critical to face opposition with humility (Meekness is not weakness; it is strength under control.) 2. “If God is for us” (Rom. 8:31) doesn’t mean there won’t be any opposition, but it does mean that God’s will wins the day. (In fact, the context in Rom. 8 is suffering, v. 18)  But “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” v.35a “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” v.37 3. Finally, you must be determined to see it through – What kind of runner gives up on the first hurdle? Like Nehemiah, you must be determined to face inevitable opposition and in conviction to see it through. V. My prayer today is that each one will be ready/prepared for God to use us in both mega and minor moments because we are equipped with faith in Him. “I can’t, but God can.” Trusting fully in the good hand of God. A. “The good hand of God” means that there is no state of affairs in which you find yourself that God cannot accomplish his will in you and through you. (not even deserved separation from God as a sinner and deserved punishment for sin) B. And “the good hand of God” means that he can equip ordinary people with faith to wait, faith to risk (for his glory), and faith to lead. (I do not pretend to know what each of you are facing in your lives, but I know the good hand of God. Will you keep your faith steadfast in him?) – “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build.”