Sermon Tone Analysis

Building a Holy Community

Series: Nehemiah

Robert Dawson

When we were young, in Sunday School, we learned this little ditty complete with hand motions that said, ''Here's the church, here's the steeple and open the doors and here are all the people.''

Then it repeated, ''Here's the church, here's the steeple and open the doors and where are all the people?''

As Nehemiah finished the wall, the gates and the reading of the Word of God had been taught and preached the people left and went home.

Nehemiah looked around and thought, ''Here are the walls and here are the gates but where are all the people?''

says, ''Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few and the houses were not built.''

Can you imagine how Nehemiah felt after...

- Four months of heart-rending prayer and waiting on God.

- The stress of seeking King Artaxerxes for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild a wall, finish rebuilding a city that had been destroyed and the work halted by Artaxerxes predecessors.

- After a laborious four-month journey to Jerusalem, overcoming despair and convincing the people that what needed to be done should be done.

- Restoring a sound culture and government based on the Word of God

After all of this there were still few people living within the rebuilt walls of the city.

Kevin Costner's field of dreams philosophy, build it and they will come, did not work for Nehemiah.

- It is a big deal.

People were needed to make the city a city.

Without people, it is just a collection of bricks and mortar.

It is the same way with the church.

Without the people, a holy and redeemed people, this is not a church.

It is just a building.

The people of God are the church and give meaning to this structure.

They needed a people, we will see later they needed a holy people, to make it a holy city.

People were needed to inhabit the city so they could:

- Protect it.

Without people inside the walls the city becomes easy prey to the enemies surrounding it.

- Give it life.

It needed the hustle and bustle of people living life through their families, their businesses, the repaired homes, their relationships and worship to develop and sense of community and belonging.

- Validate everything that had taken place in rebuilding the temple and the rebuilding of the walls.

What kind of testimony would it have been to the nations around them, after all this work to reestablish Jerusalem as the center of their national life, as the Holy City of their God, the heart and nerve center for the nation, if no one wanted to live in it and invest their lives there?

It would have been a miserable and wretched testimony.

Nehemiah was now faced with the challenge of bringing a holy community together so they could become a people and the rhythm of a nation restored.

In looking at a general overview of these two chapters, we can learn important lessons on what it takes for a people to become a vibrant and successful holy community.

A holy community needs people who are willing to:

I Yield themselves to God's plans for His people

I Yield themselves to God's plans for His people

I Yield themselves to God's plans for His people

The goal in rebuilding was tied to their identity as God's people and their call to fulfill the purpose for which God had made them a people.

They were to be a distinguished people, a holy people, among the nations.

They were to be reflect and manifest God's glory to those around them.

They were to be a holy people in an unholy world.

Their lives were to be so compellingly different that others would see the glory, supremacy and sufficiency of their God above all other God's.

They were to a mission minded people with an evangelistic heart.

Jerusalem and the Temple were at the center of this.

It was representative in its actual structure, furnishings and worship of the Gospel.

The people should have been extremely interested in and committed to making this vision of a vibrant and revitalized people for the glory of God become a reality.

They apparently caught only a part of the vision (which happens often) and saw their role in this as that of a short-term missionary or relief effort.

They come in and helped put things back together at least on a material/physical level but they were not conscious or ready to commit themselves to this completely.

Remember, it was not ultimately about the walls but the people.

Let's be honest, if we think about it, we can understand.

They had already come at their own expense.

They had left their farms and families to rebuild the walls.

They had already made some significant short-term and temporary sacrifices in this process.

They had finished the wall.

From the perspective of many, the job was done.

- Life is the city is faster and more expensive.

Most of us are small town folks for a reason.

They had contributed and participated but some of them needed to give more.

They time had come for the rubber to hit the road and they were hitting the road.

It may be stretching it but we seldom realize the effort it takes, the continual sacrificial investment of people's lives, to pursue God's purpose, plan and vision for a group of people.

- These folks had a time-share in the vision.

We all know a time-share is not where we live but where we go for a change of scenery and short respite a few times during the year.

- The mentality of some may have been, we have invested for a while now it is someone else's turn.

Let others take care of it we just want to enjoy it occasionally.

We will be back on those holy days!

It may be stretching it but we seldom realize the effort it takes, the continual sacrificial investment of people's lives, to pursue God's purpose, plan and vision for a group of people.

We are like that.

It happens here and at every church whose purpose is to be a distinguished people, a holy people who are called to be reflect and manifest God's glory to those around them.

We are to be a holy people in an unholy world holding forth the light of the Gospel.

I love my faith family and support it as long as they make every decision I want or use me, my gift and my talents in a way that I believe to be right.

- We want timeshares in the Kingdom.

We want to come and enjoy it when it suits us and hopefully be able to retire to heaven one day but we are more concerned about getting back to our own lives and agendas.

- We don't mind being short-term missionaries in the work but we are not so sure about becoming a lifer.

- Every great work needs people who are willing to yield themselves wholly and completely to God.

Nehemiah needed, every church needs, people who are willing to put their face into the dust and rubble of the work.

We need people who are willing to give themselves completely to making this holy community a success.

To remedy this, Nehemiah had an idea and amazingly it was not opposed.

II.

Accept The Plan

Neh

- He decided, since the people were going to tithe their possessions, that he would tithe the people and have 1 out of 10 families move to Jerusalem.

- On whomever the lot would fall (which was a legitimate way in the OT, before the Spirit of God resided in the hearts of all His people, of determining the will of God) would move to the city.

Nehemiah instituted a fantasy draft but God was picking the entire team.

What was amazing is that we do not see the people fighting, fussing, rebelling or running the operation.

Instead, in the heart of those chosen and whose who volunteered a willingness to yield themselves completely to God and His plan and purpose.

I believe 2 things happened...

Those one whom the lot fell saw it as the voice and will of God for their lives and they accepted and complied.

They had a strong belief in the sovereignty of God and they submitted to that sovereignty.

- They were willing to subject their plans to God's plan.

- They were willing to subject their desires to God's desires for their lives.

many Volunteered

- Others, when shown the need, lined up and said, ''Here I am send me.''

They volunteered.

- Others, when shown the need, lined up and said, ''Here I am send me.''

They volunteered.

One way of understanding it from the strength of the Hebrew language is they were ''incited or compelled to volunteer.''

Something was moved within them, there was an inner compulsion, that drove them.

Something was moved within them, there was an inner compulsion, that drove them.

For us to be a successful and functioning holy community we need...

- People have more than a time-share in this place.