Everyone has a Part to Play
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Continuing our series on Nehemiah
week 3/6
First week we looked at Nehemiah’s call
Responds in prayer , fasting
Last week we looked at Nehemiah’s interaction with King Artaxerxes.
Again, prayer,
But also preparation: ready to do things right.
This week we move on in the story to what happens after Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem and they start to rebuild the walls.
I’m only going to Nehemiah 2:11-20, but we are going to talk about chapter three as well
After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days, I got up at night and took a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the one I was riding. I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s Well and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through. So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then heading back, I entered through the Valley Gate and returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews, priests, nobles, officials, or the rest of those who would be doing the work. So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me.
They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work.
When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, “What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
I gave them this reply, “The God of the heavens is the one who will grant us success. We, his servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”
Context
Context
Important to remember that Nehemiah is in Jerusalem with the permission and blessing of King Artaxerxes.
He has taken all of the precautions and planned things out
Knows what letters he needs, how long it is going to take, and what materials he needs.
So know that Nehemiah has a plan and does things intentionally.
His actions after his return are no different.
When Nehemiah reached Jerusalem, his first step was not to gather all the people together and announce to them what his intentions were and how they would help him rebuild the walls of the city.
Nehemiah avoided doing anything public for at least three days (Nehemiah 2:11).
Finally, in the middle of the night (Nehemiah 2:12), Nehemiah stealthy went with a few people to investigate the walls and gates without anyone else knowing (Nehemiah 2:16).
In chapter 2:17–20, Nehemiah appeals to the inhabitants concerning the problem they faced: “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” (Nehemiah 2:17).
Nehemiah went on to describe how God’s hand was upon him in his discussion with the king of Persia.
The people responded, “Let us start rebuilding” (Nehemiah 2:18). And thus the rebuilding work began.
Chapter 3 details how the people joined the work of rebuilding and worked systemically on the walls and gates of Jerusalem.
The wall “begins at the northeast corner and moves around the city in a counterclockwise direction: the north wall (vv. 1–5) [The Fish Gate]; west wall (vv. 6–13) [Old Gate, Broad Wall, the Tower of the Ovens, Valley Gate]; south wall (vv. 14–15) [Dung Gate, Fountain Gate]; east wall (vv. 16–31) [; and the eastern stretch of the north wall (v. 32)” (John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, et al., Faithlife Study Bible [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016], Nehemiah 3:1–32n).
The text states specific gates or areas that were worked on, along with naming the workers who repaired each section.
Some of the work was repairing existing walls, and at other times completely new walls needed to be rebuilt.
What did this look like?
Here are some illustrations of Jerusalem that help visualize the walls and gates:
Principles of Building
Principles of Building
First, everyone can contribute to the work.
The work of rebuilding was not left to “experts”;
rather, a wide mixture of a multitude of people participate in the work.
Those who worked on the walls included priests, goldsmiths, perfume-makers, a man and his daughters, temple servants, merchants, and homeowners who work on the portions of the wall in front of their houses.
In the same manner, every believer has the opportunity to participate in the work of God upon the earth.
God created each of us as his handiwork to go forth and to do good deeds (Ephesians 2:10).
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Every follower of Jesus has been entrusted with gifts empowered by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 12:7).
A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
Everyone gets to participate!
Second, building God’s kingdom is a group project.
In rebuilding the wall, a multitude of people and families worked together.
The rebuilding of the wall took only fifty-two days to complete (Nehemiah 6:15).
The wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul.
This extraordinary feat could not have resulted from only a select few doing the work.
It required the Israelites coming together and everyone working in a unified, shared vision.
The advancement of the kingdom of God does not occur by the solo efforts of a single individual seeking to be the hero;
instead, the most significant impact is when God’s people work together in a unified effort.
Not only can everyone contribute to the work, but every member also needs to participate in the work.
As Christians, we are all individual members of one body (1 Corinthians 12:12),
For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.
maximum growth only occurs when each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16).
From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.
Third, many Israelites helped with repairing the wall, not just those living in Jerusalem.
People from different cities and regions came together to work together, for example: “the district of Beth Hakkerem (v. 14), “the district of Mizpah” (v. 15), “a half-district of Beth Zur” (v. 16), and “from the surrounding region” (v. 22).
The work prospered not just because of an individual or by a group of Jerusalem Jews, but because of God’s people from different areas serving one another for a greater good.
As we seek to impact the world for the glory of God, we must not be individually minded or even just work within our own tribes.
We must be kingdom minded and come together as the entire body of Christ to love and serve the world.
Build networks: Great Collaboration
John 17:22-23
Fourth, we are to be passionate about the work we do for God.
“Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest” (Nehemiah 3:20).
The word for “zealously” means to “have a deep concern and eager desire” (James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) [Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997], s.v. “ḥā·rā(h)”).
Just like Baruch, we too are to be zealous to do good works for the glory of God and for the sake of others (see Titus 2:14).
He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.
Fifth, the people put their faith in God, and they believed he was with them and would give them success.
As we contribute, the Spirit of God empowers.
Throughout the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah, the author constantly reminds the reader of the powerful “hand of God” that was involved throughout all the preparation and rebuilding efforts (see Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22; Nehemiah 1:10; 2:8; 2:18).
After completing the restoration of the walls, this took place: “When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16).
As we serve God and passionately seek to do good works, the accomplishments that come are not a result of our flesh or power, but by the help and strength of God’s hand upon us.
The Spirit of God empowers us as we work together to build the kingdom of God.
So, as we build the kingdom of God upon the earth, every person has a vital role to contribute, and our greatest potential comes from working together. Therefore, we must be zealous in our work, believing that God’s hand is upon us.