Sermon Tone Analysis

Living For God

Big idea - living for God !

* You can have great talent ... little talent ... accomplish great things ... small things ... but it is all wasted effort unless you have a set of core values that act as an unchanging standard to guide what you do.

... Otherwise, you could be spinning your wheels ... wasting your time... stealing from yourself.

Nehemiah ... used by God to do the impossible ... rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days!

... a great accomplishment.

1- But Nehemiah knew that that was not all that needed to be built!

... If it ended there ... it would be wasted effort.

A passion for God needed to be rebuilt in the people ...

Nehemiah 8 -- Nehemiah led them to hold a revival meeting (Getting Excited About God Again).

A fellowship with God also needed to be rebuilt in the people ...

Nehemiah 9 -- Nehemiah led them in remembering how faithful God had been to them even though they had forgotten Him and forsaken their fellowship with Him (Getting Close to God Again).

But that's not all!

To complete the spiritual rebuilding of the people ...

Nehemiah knew they had to put passion for God and fellowship with God into their daily lives!

... They had to live it -- not just talk about it.

For the rebuilding to be complete -- they had to make a commitment to start –

LIVING FOR GOD AGAIN (Nehemiah 10).

That is what Nehemiah Chapter 10 is all about!

It often takes a crisis ... to cause us to see the value in living for God -- every day.

* You don't really have a passion for God .... you don't really have fellowship with God ... until you're iving for God!

* Everything else is just empty chatter!

... wasted effort ... stealing from yourself!

* How can you tell whether or not you're living for God?

If you are truly living for God -- and you're not faking it -- then five areas of your life are being affected!

I.

A FIXED COMMITMENT 1-27

(A) Ch. 9 -- in order that the people might restore their fellowship with the Lord ... they renewed their covenant with the Lord!

V. 1 "seal" [chatham] ... that which is secured; closed up; settled; fixed!

1- These people made a fixed commitment to the Lord!

2- No wavering ... no room for backing down!

3- Settled their commitment by making it publicly ... listed their names ...

* They are serious ... centuries later -- there are their names -- for you, me, everyone to see!

* Publicly acknowledging -- we are going to live for God.

ladies and gentlemen if we are going to live for God we must stand up publically!

Notice the first name on the list -- "Nehemiah" ... their leader!

* This fixed commitment must begin with us who lead -- whether you lead the church (pastor), a ministry (staff), an Sunday School class (teacher), a home, a work place!

* You must publicly display a commitment to live for the Lord!

* This is why we have a public invitation -- your way of saying -- "You can put my name on the list" -- This is a fixed commitment.

* But it doesn't end there!

* You must also put your commitment to live for the Lord on public display ... If you aren't doing that -- then you're not living for Jesus!

Leonardo da Vinci had started work on a large canvas in his studio.

For a while he worked at it -- choosing the subject, planning the perspective, sketching the outline, aping the colors, with his own inimitable genius.

Then suddenly he ceased, the painting still unfinished, and, summoning one of his students, invited him to complete the work.

The student protested that he was unworthy and unable to complete the great painting which his master had begun.

But da Vinci silenced him, "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?"

* Jesus ... 2,000 years ago ... made a fixed commitment to you.

...

He left heaven ... publicly identified the fact that He had come from the Father to live His truth ... to put that truth on public display.

* Then He publicly identified with you when He took your sin and the judgment for that sin on the cross.

* But what the Master began ... the public display of God's truth must continue with us ... what our Master had done should inspire us to do our best.

* He has left us to finish the picture of God's truth and grace.

-- Jesus: "If you confess Me before men, I'll confess you before God."

-- It also goes deeper ... not just a fixed commitment made publicly!

SF being christian will cost something

II.

A FAITHFUL COMMITMENT V. 28-29

-- made internally!

-- Read V. 28 ... "all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God ..."

-- "separated ... FROM the peoples of the lands" -- They refused to adopt the standard of the society in which they lived -- they were living for God.

illustration here - we must not back down from Biblical positions!

Homosexuality is a sin

Sex outside of marriage is a sin

-- "separated ... TO the law (Word) of God." -- They had made a decision to be faithful to the Word of God ... to prove that they were living for God by living His Word ... separated FROM the culture ... TO the Lord!

-- Their faithfulness to God was reflected in their choices about two things: everyone who had knowledge and understanding: of God's Word will see that these two choices provide a reliable indicator about your level of faithfulness:

(A) YOUR COMPANIONS Read V. 29a V. 28-29a

1- "separated ... from the people of the land" (V.

29) and they "joined with their brethren, their nobles" (V.

29a).

a- They were careful about their friends/their companions.

b- "clave" [chazaq] = to be strong ... used 34 times in Nehemiah in regard to repairing ... making strong.

* You don't make close friends, enter into business partnerships, date, or become intimate friends with those who don't know the Lord!

* You reserve those closest of relationships for fellow Christians ...

* Remain strong in your relationship to your brothers in Christ ... doing whatever is necessary to keep your relationship with your Christian family in good repair.

-- Bible calls that an unequal yoke ... 2 oxen in a yoke ... had to be the same size so they could work in harmony ... If they weren't the same ... the yoke would be unequal ... No work could be done ... no progress made ... one would always hold the other back ... impossible for the larger to lift the other to his level.

-- The story is told of a group of soldiers released from a prison camp at the end of WWII.

Each soldier had their own duffle bag containing their personal items.

Because there was a limited number of ships to transport the men and weather was threatening to close the port ... the soldiers were divided into 2 groups .... 1 group would leave immediately -- the other would have to wait for future transportation.

-- 2 particular men ... strong Christians and close friends ... had been with each other throughout the war ... They had helped each other make it through the difficult days of the prison camp -- sharing everything from their food to Scripture.

-- When one was selected to go with the 1st group and the other put in the 2nd group to wait ... the first man simply turned over his duffle bag spilling out his few personal possessions onto the ground and told his friend to step into the bag.

-- Then he carefully lifted his friend and carried him on board the ship.

* We all need friends who lift us ... not who drag us down.

... The faithfulness of your commitment is also reflected in choices about:

(B) YOUR CONDUCT V. 29b

1- They made a faithful commitment "to observe and do" what the Word of God told them to do! ... to obey God's Word ... to allow it to have an impact on their conduct.

2- A commitment to live for God by accommodating their lives to God's Word -- rather than accommodating God's Word to their lives.

3- They were making the right choices in conduct!

This is what we are teaching the teens right now!

Understanding and adhering to the doctrines of the bible.

* Are you?

* Are you living for God by accepting His Word as truth for your life?

... His Truth must shape your values which shape your actions!

* Do you dismiss God's Word saying this doesn't really matter?

* God's Word does matter if you're going to live for God -- Choose not to obey -- don't say you're living for God.

4- They "entered into a curse and an oath" ... a willingness to accept the consequences ... for our obedience or our disobedience.

* When you conduct your life in accordance with God's Word -- you are being shaped ... molded ... more like Jesus!

* When you decide not to live with God's Word as your standard -- you become disfigured ... you bear no resemblance to the Lord!

* You're not living for the Lord ... you must live with the curse of your consequences -- you bear no resemblance to the Lord.

Sarah said people my age must take responsibility for their decisions

* Only when your conduct is governed by His Word -- do you bear a resemblance to Him.

III.