Sermon Tone Analysis

If you haven’t already, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Nehemiah chapter 1.

It is page 503 in the Pew Bibles.

Last week as we began to look at Nehemiah’s prayer, one of the first things we noted was that Nehemiah was just like us.

Our tendency at times is to look at Biblical characters and get this impression that they are almost superhuman, we could never accomplish what they did because we don’t have their same capabilities.

In men like Nehemiah, we see that what was accomplished through this ordinary man was the work of God not man.

If God could use a man like Nehemiah, who had some of our same struggles, struggles with feeling inadequate, struggles with depression and fear, then God can use us as well.

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What set Nehemiah apart to be used mightily of God wasn’t his incredible skills and capabilities, what set him apart was he was a willing and available servant with a heart for God and a heart for His people.

The next key we looked at last week was that when Nehemiah began his prayer addressing “O LORD God of heaven” he wasn’t just praying to a God Who sits up on His throne in heaven watching over the affairs of man.

He was praying to the God of the Universe, the God Who is everywhere.

In other words we are never alone, He is always with us, but not only that, He is also with our loved ones far away, we can trust them into His Hands.

We also looked at the fact that our God is great in any and every since, He is wise beyond our comprehension, able to handle any and every situation that comes His way.

On top of that, He is exceedingly mighty so, it doesn’t matter how big our trials may be, it doesn’t matter if they’re bigger than you and me, they cannot be bigger than our Exceedingly Mighty God, Who is great and mighty in every sense.

And the icing on the cake is that He is also on our side and worthy of our trust and devotion.

We closed out last week with the story of the tribe in Africa who was so transformed by this God Who loved them, that they began to wear paths out into the bush where they would go regularly to pray to this God of love.

By the way, is there still grass growing on your path?

Or have you begun to wear it down as you have sought the throne of God daily.

Making our way through the Book of Nehemiah, we quickly find out that Nehemiah was a servant of the LORD God of heaven.

As we finish out Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter 1 this morning, there are some traits we see in the life of Nehemiah that we really need to take note of and apply to our own lives if we want to see God accomplish His great work through us.

The 1st one is this: Next Slides

The Servant of God Doesn’t Turn Up the Volume.

Vs. 4

Pam and I purchased our 2nd brand new vehicle in 2003.

It was a 2003 Kia Sedona minivan and 16 years later we still have it.

Overall it has been a really good purchase.

Shortly after we exceeded the warranty on our Sedona, I noticed a particular noise up front, particularly when I drove with the windows down.

Since I was commuting to work on my bike by this time, we rarely drove our van , most weeks we would drop the van off at my office on Sunday Evening along with meals for the week as well as clothes for each day.

And since we rarely drove the van, I did what many of us do when we start to hear strange noises in our cars.

I closed the windows and turned up the radio.

Honestly, it worked like magic and since I generally only listen to Christian music it became an uplifting experience.

Until a few months ago when the air condition stopped working.

It became hard to ignore the noise driving with the widows down so I took it to the shop, about 1 thousand dollars later and the noise is gone!

In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah had just received a bad report from his brother about the condition of his home land.

Keep in mind that Nehemiah is living in the palace.

He is literally living in the lap of luxury, the finest clothes, a home in the palace, he worked side by side with the greatest leaders in the world, had influence, wealth, prestige, ate the best food money could buy.

And he lived over 800 miles from the problem.

The truth is, chances are Nehemiah didn’t know a single soul living in Jerusalem, why should he care?

Nehemiah could have easily shut his window and turned up the volume.

Instead, we read this in verse 4: Next Slide

The fact that Nehemiah spent days in fasting and prayer tells me that his heart was so torn by what was taking place that he wanted to do more than just say a little prayer and move on.

I believe he was seeking the face of God for what role he might play in being part of the solution to the problem his people were facing.

He wasn’t sure what that role might be, but he was willing and available.

As we look at his response, I want to make sure we understand that his response is to be our response.

While God may not lead us to play as significant role as what he played in Jerusalem, we still need to be willing and available.

Matt Chandler put it this way: “So I look at this, and I’m going, “Okay, is this compassion and empathy that’s burning in the heart of Nehemiah prescriptive or descriptive?

Is God just telling me this is what Nehemiah felt, or is he setting before me what he wants my heart to look like?

I’m here to tell you, whether you’re going to enjoy this or not, it is very much prescriptive and not descriptive.

If you look at the Bible’s expectation on us as believers in Christ concerning, in particular, other believers in Christ, we are to feel and be bothered like our man Nehemiah is.” (Sermon on Empathy and Flourishing, Matt Chandler-Feb.

3, 2013)

The truth is, the moment you put your faith and trust in Christ, you are to step onto the playing field.

Unfortunately for far too many of us we step into the stands to watch the action from the comfort of the bleachers, preoccupied by the trivial details of life.

In his book “Hand Me Another Brick”, Chuck Swindoll wrote; “Nehemiah was not preoccupied; he did not live in a dreamworld, opposed to reality.

He asked, "What's the condition?"

They replied, "It's a miserable situation."

He heard what they said.”

It would have been so much easier for Nehemiah to respond with; “Wow, that is terrible news.

What are the Colt’s chances against Oakland today?”

I mean why should their problem be his problem?

Instead, he wept, and mourned for days and sought the face of God for direction.

Why?

What was it about Nehemiah that would not allow him to shut the window and turn up the volume?

It was the 2nd trait that marked the life of Nehemiah, the servant of God: Next Slides

The Servant of God Is Personally Concerned with the Need.

Vs. 4

Nehemiah wasn’t satisfied with just receiving a report of the problem so he could go back to his view from the bleacher seats.

God’s program was his program, so when he heard of the tragic situation of those back in Judah, and of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, he wept, mourned, fasted and prayed for days.

As we saw last week, Nehemiah prayed to the God Who was right there with the people, and as he was mourning, fasting and praying, something began to happen, he began to sense that God had something for him to do beyond just going to the throne of God.

Actually, in the end he was to go from the throne of God to another throne.

Scripture seems to give the impression early on that Nehemiah felt that God was sending him too Jerusalem to be a part of the solution, but first he had to approach the throne of the king.

We will look at that in a little more detail later, but there is little doubt that Nehemiah knew he was to do more than just pray.

Nehemiah’s personal concern for the need led him to action.

Let me ask you an important question, since putting your faith and trust in Christ, have you been watching the action from the comfort of the bleachers, content with an hour and a half each Sunday but not a minute more?

If that’s you, guess what, sadly, you are a part of the majority.

My challenge to you this morning is to follow Nehemiah’s lead step out of the bleachers and move onto the playing field, let your your personal concern lead you into action.

Perhaps right now you are thinking; “I’d love to Jim, but I don’t even know where to begin!”

I get the impression that Nehemiah was thinking the exact same thing as you, which leads us to the next trait that marked the life of Nehemiah, the servant of God: Next Slides

The Servant of God Goes to God First When Faced with the Problems of Life.

Vs. 5

We see this in verses 4 & 5.

Verse 4 shows the immediacy of the request where we read:

“4 As soon as I heard these words”

There was no hesitation on Nehemiah’s part.

Then in verse 5 we see where Nehemiah went to with this great need:

“And I said, “O Lord God of heaven”

Last week, we saw in verse 5 the target of this prayer as well as the power of the One to Whom Nehemiah prayed to.

This morning I want to move to verse 6 & 7 where we see something we may be surprised with from this man of God.

His confession that he was a part of the problem.

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Nehemiah 1:6-7

(Be sure to adjust the powerpoint to highlight the personal pronouns)

Did you pick up the personal pronouns Nehemiah uses in these verses?

Nehemiah says “we have sinned against you.

Even I and my fathers house”

In addressing these verses Chuck Swindoll wrote: “Notice the words "we" and "I."

The confession was not on behalf of someone else's failure.

The confession had to do with Nehemiah’s part in the problem.

What do we do when we are in conflict with another person?

We usually blame the other person (our fallen state coming through again).

We usually think of six or seven ways the other person has manifested his stubbornness and unwillingness to change, but we seldom consider our part in the problem.

But it works both ways.

So the very first thing Nehemiah said in regard to the problem was, "Lord, I am culpable.