A Holy Mess and A Humble Prayer

Last week we finished up a short, three-week series concerning the three purposes of Monaghan Baptist Church. We talked about how we exist to Magnify God, Make Disciples, and Mobilize for Missions. In each of those sermons, I laid the foundation for which everything we do as a church will be built upon.

In 2009, I purchased and framed this poster of Walt Disney standing on the swamplands of what would soon become Walt Disney World Florida. On the bottom of the poster is has the following quote made by Walt Disney. It says, “It’s kinda fun to do the impossible.” That framed poster has hung in every office I’ve had for the last eleven years and right now it’s hanging just outside my office door.

To this day, Walt Disney remains an American hero because his vision changed the American Culture. If you are familiar with the story of Walt Disney World, then you know that Walt Disney purchased thousands of acres of swampland just outside Orlando, Florida and constructed what is today the most iconic theme park the world has ever known. What others saw as just messy swampland, Walt Disney saw something far greater. He saw Cinderella’s Castle, A Haunted Mansion, Dumbo The Flying Elephant, Frontierland, The Hall of Presidents, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, It’s a Small World, The Jungle Cruise, the Mad Tea Party, and on and on I could go. Walt Disney wanted to bring joy and excitement to children’s faces and a place where families could come together to explore, enjoy rides, and meet all of his magical characters. It was a vision greater than himself. Since its opening on October 1, 1971 Walt Disney World has turned into 30,000 acres filled with four theme parks, resort hotels and much more. It takes a child’s, and even some adult’s, imaginations and brings it to life. From the beginning, Disney was told that his vision was impossible, but he was driven to succeed and look at what the Walt Disney Corporation is today. And it all started with a vision, a mouse, and 30,000 acres of swampland.

A clear and concise vision is a must for any person or organization to succeed. Otherwise, nothing will get accomplished.

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. —Helen Keller

Proverbs 29:18 — Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint...

Another way to state this verse is anything we attempt to do outside of God’s vision will cause people to run around and do whatever they please.

When this happens, people become discouraged and nothing gets accomplished.

So what is a vision?

Webster’s Dictionary defines vision as “The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.”

Retired Willow Creek Church Pastor, Bill Hybels says that “Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.” —Bill Hybels

16th Century Poet and Cleric Jonathan Swift said, “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” —Jonathan Swift

To me, a vision is when you take account of where you are right now and dream about what can be in the future. It says, here is our current state, but here’s how much better it can be. As Christians, we believe our vision comes from the Lord when we come together in personal and corporate prayer to seek out where He’s working and joining Him there.

Starting this morning, and continuing for the next six weeks, we are going to look at the first six chapters of Nehemiah to discover what happens whenever God’s people come together with laser sharp focus on His purposes for them. I believe whatever may seem impossible for us to accomplish will be accomplished whenever God’s vision becomes our vision.

Because of their continued rebellion against God, He allowed Israel’s Northern Kingdom to be taken captive by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. At that time, thousands of Jews were absorbed into Assyria and into other cultures. In 586 B.C. the Babylonian Empire conquered the Southern Kingdom of Israel, and thousands of Jews were taken captive and sent to Babylon. 53 years later, Babylonian controlled Southern Kingdom was once again conquered, but this time by the Medes and Persians. It was at this time, that many Jews began returning to their homeland.

In 538 B.C. the first Jews returned to Judah under the leadership of Zerubbabel and over the next 17 years they rebuilt God’s Holy Temple that had been destroyed. Several years later, a second group of Jews returned to Judah, this time led by Ezra. When they arrived, they found that once again the Israelites had rebelled against God and started worshiping false idols and intermarrying. Ezra led a revival and the people returned to the Lord.

14 years following Ezra’s return and the Israelites return to the Lord, Nehemiah arrives with a God-given vision to rebuild the city’s walls that laid in ruin, and reordering the people’s social and economic lives.

Read Nehemiah 1:1-11

There isn’t much known about Nehemiah’s childhood, youth, or family background other than his father was named Hachaliah (hack-a-lia) and his brother was Hanani (Hannah-Knee). Most likely, Nehemiah was born in Persia and rose to a position of prominence in the pagan kingdom as he served as King Artaxerxes’s (Art-a-zerk-sees) cup bearer. The fact that he hold such a prime position infers that Nehemiah was a man of wisdom, honesty, and trustworthiness.

1. The Report from Jerusalem (1:1-3)

Nehemiah is at the Persian winter palace in Susa in Kislev (kiss-slave) or the months of November-December. Persia’s sixth king, King Artaxerxes (Art-a-zerk-sees) was in the 20th year of his reign when Nehemiah gets a visit from his brother Hanani (Hannah-Knee) and some men from the Persian Province Judah who had survived the exile and returned home.

The news out of Jerusalem was not good as the men inform Nehemiah that the walls around the city have been destroyed, leaving the Jews at risk of an attack from one of their enemies. This also meant that the Temple was at risk of being destroyed again.

2. Nehemiah’s Response (1:4)

While Nehemiah desperately wanted to do something, he fully understood there was nothing that could be done apart from God.

Nehemiah tells us that in the midst of his grief and despair he “continued fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.”

3. Nehemiah’s Prayer (1:5-11)

Convinced that God was calling him to do something, Nehemiah spends the next four months fasting and praying as He asked God to reveal His perfect plan to him.

A. Nehemiah Magnifies God (1:5)

He opens his prayer by saying, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God...” Understand that Nehemiah is not addressing God’s home. He is Magnifying the Lord as the Almighty who reigns over all of creation. Nehemiah’s personal relationship with the Lord led him to the understanding of exactly who he was approaching and exactly how to approach Him.

Jesus teaches the disciples to this exact same lesson in Matthew 6:9 when He tells them, “Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name.”

What Nehemiah is showing us and what Jesus taught His disciples is to understand who we are in comparison to who God is. He is supreme over all things because He is in control of all things.

See also that Nehemiah attributes to God that He is “great and awesome.” “Great” in its original form means “mighty” and “awesome” means “to revere.” In other words, Nehemiah is telling his readers that the “Lord God of heaven” is powerful and therefore we are to revere Him or stand in awe of who He is.

One Pastor says, “Proper prayer balances boldness with reverence. We have been invited into God’s presence and we approach with confidence because we were invited, yet with trembling because we are aware of Who has invited us.”

What an awesome example of Magnifying God! For He is the all-powerful, ruler of all creation, and there is nothing that is out of His control. He knows all, because He is all. Nothing exists unless He desires it to exist. And for that reason, we are to be in awe of how mighty He truly is.

Psalm 145:1-4: “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.”

The word extol in the Hebrew means “to lift high, to raise up.” In other words, whenever we approach God in our prayer we are to Magnify Him because He is there and He is willing to hear our requests.

2 Chronicles 20:6: “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”

Psalm 103:19: “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.”

Psalm 115:3: “Our God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases.”

What this means to us is that whenever we approach the throne of God, whether it be in our personal lives or as a Church body, we must Magnify Him by recognizing that He alone is the Almighty, the “great I am!”

At this point Nehemiah continues magnifying God by acknowledging that God is trust worthy because He keeps His promises, and unwavering in His love for those who show their love to Him by keeping His commandments.

From there, Nehemiah begs for God’s attention as he prays for himself and on behalf of all of Israel.

B. Nehemiah’s Confession (1:6b-10)

Not only does our approach in prayer require us to Magnify God, but it also requires us to humbly approach Him with a penitent heart and asking Him to forgive us our sins.

Nehemiah doesn’t separate himself from the rest of Israel as he confesses their sins before God. Toward the end of verse 6 he says, “confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.” Concluding verse with, “Even I and my father’s house have sinned.” Then he opens verse seven with “We have acted very corruptly against you...” This humble and repentant posture Nehemiah takes demonstrates his humility as he understand that he has joined in with the rest of Israel in rebellion against God. He submits himself and all of Israel to God’s control and God’s ability to forgive them their sins.

In verse 8 Nehemiah quotes a promise God made to the Israelites through Moses that is recorded in Deut. 4:29-31, “Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples...’” Nehemiah knew that Israel was under God’s penalty because of their rebellion. The entire nation was under God’s judgment because they’d constantly disobeyed God’s commandments.

Thankfully, though, God offers a pathway to absolution.Continuing God’s promise in Deut. 4, Nehemiah says in verse 9 “but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.” God doesn’t need Nehemiah to remind Him of His promises. That’s not Nehemiah’s goal in quoting these verses. Nehemiah is demonstrating to God once again his understanding that everything is in God’s complete control. God controls the punishment of those who rebel against Him, and He controls the blessings for whenever the rebels return to Him.

And what a relief it is to know that God is willing to forgive us our sins whenever we are willing to repent and return to Him. And not only will He forgive us, but he goes a step further by blessing us with eternal life.

In recent weeks, I have given you several statistics regarding dying churches across our nation, in our state, and right here in Greenville County. In many of these church, the fact they are at the brink of closure is the consequence of a much larger issue. They failed to recognize, confess, and repent from the sins that were infecting the church. Sometimes those sins are extremely public like immoral or unethical acts by the pastor and sometimes the sins are so deeply rooted in the culture of the church that they go unnoticed. For example, there are many churches that are now dead because they ceased teaching and following God’s Word they way His followers are expected to follow.

In his book From Embers to a Flame: How God Can Revitalize Your Church, Pastor Harry Reeder tells the story of how he went to a nearby office store to get some supplies. At the cash register, He asked whether the store had billing accounts for businesses, and then asked the cashier to put his purchases on the church’s bill. She told him that she couldn’t do that because the church had been flagged as “cash only” because of repeatedly late payments. So he had asked for forgiveness from the management on behalf of the church, and begin to earn their trust again.

He also found out that a former pastor had been involved in a sexual scandal and was actually stabbed by his wife in a local mall—a story that had been all over the papers in the area. But the church had never carried out biblical church discipline on the man. So he led the church to confess that sin and make sure that the whole church now understood the way it should have been handled.

Reeder says, “It may be that God has been withholding His blessing because the body has not repented, and that when it does, He will open the floodgates and pour out His grace in unprecedented measure.”

Repentance is a must before restoration can happen. That is true for the church as a whole and it’s true for us as individuals.

4. Nehemiah’s Request (1:11)

Only after asking for the Lord’s forgiveness did Nehemiah get to the main purpose of his prayer, which is found at the end of verse 11, “give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” The man that Nehemiah is referring to is King Artaxerxes’s (Art-a-zerk-sees), who Nehemiah served as his personal cupbearer.

In ancient times, a cupbearer was a high ranking officer in the king’s court whose duty it was to serve the wine at the king’s table. He was also responsible for making sure the king’s drink was never poisoned, which meant sometimes he was required to taste the drink before serving it to the king. To serve as a cupbearer of the king meant that the person was greatly trusted by the king and other officials. The confidence and trust the king had in his cupbearer sometimes gave the servant a position of influence with the king.

Remember, earlier when I told you that some Jews had already returned to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the great city. In fact, they had already completed the Temple. There was, of course, those who did not want to see the city rebuilt. Ezra tells us that King Artaxerxes (Art-a-zerk-sees) received pressure from the Samaritans and Rehum, a commanding officer in the Persian army, to stop the Jews’ rebuilding efforts. The king granted their request and the rebuilding stopped. That is why the security walls were not being restored. Nehemiah knew that King Artaxerxes (Art-a-zerk-sees) was the one who stopped the rebuilding and was the only one who could restart the rebuilding efforts. Nehemiah also knew that he alone would not be able to convince the king to allow him to return to Jerusalem. That is why he humbles himself before the “Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God...” God, being greater than any earthly king, had complete and total control over the king’s decisions. Therefore, Nehemiah asked God to allow Him success.

Here’s what we need to understand this morning. Nehemiah was attempting to do something selfless. Not only did he take the burden of asking God to forgive all of Israel for their sins, but He was asking God to place the burden of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem on his shoulders.

Nehemiah was absolutely broken over Israel’s spiritual health and in great distress about the physical well being of the mother city Jerusalem. This brokenness led him to the throne of God where he begs for God’s forgiveness and God’s blessing to rebuild the walls.

Monaghan Baptist Church, are we broken for those who are far from God? When was the last time we went to God in our personal prayer times and asked Him to use us to bring healing to this lost and broken world and took the next step of volunteering your very own self as a solution? Nehemiah didn’t say, “Lord forgive these people’s sins and provide someone to lead them in rebuilding the walls around the city.” No, he says, “Lord, please forgive us all of our sins, restore us before you, and restore us as one people in the city you gave our ancestors and allow us to be protected from our enemies by rebuilding the walls around the city. And by the way, use ME to lead the way.”

Pastor Steve Davey writes, “You begin with the priority of the sovereign majesty of God; then ask Him to break your own heart and to acknowledge your own sin; lean heavily and entirely in your trust upon the promises of His Word. And end in humility, with the submission of your own available life.” —Steve Davey

Nehemiah Humility in Supplication

One author retold a news story that occurred several years ago.

A young man had come from Korea to Philadelphia to attend a Christian college in the United States. He graduated and continued to earn a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. One night as he went to mail a letter, he was held up by some teenage boys who demanded his money. The young thugs became angry because he didn’t have a lot of money, and they proceeded to actually beat him to death. Later, the Philadelphia police caught and arrested them. Their trial received international attention; the victim’s family flew to the States to attend. At the conclusion of the trial, the boys were found guilty of murder.

Prior to the passing of the sentence, the parents asked if they could say a word. Then, before a packed courtroom, this Korean mom and dad got down on their knees in front of the judge and asked him to allow them to take these boys who killed their son back to Korea. They explained that these young men needed the love of parents and the love of Christ. The judge didn’t have that kind of authority—he explained to them that American jurisprudence would not allow this. While they were denied their request, their testimony shone brilliantly in a dark, broken-down world.

I can stand before you week after week and cast vision about what we need to do to Magnify God, Multiply Disciples, and Mobilize for Missions. But all I am doing is talking unless we are a church who is heartbroken over the fact that people in our community are dying and going to hell and unless we have people step up and say, “I am willing to be used by God to do whatever it takes to reach those who are far from Him!” It’s one thing to say we are broken for the lost, but it’s something entirely different to step up and say, “Use me Lord!” Nehemiah could have easily stopped his prayer after asking God to forgive him and all of Israel of their sins. But he didn’t. He took the next step of inserting himself into God’s hands and saying, “Use me!” and we must do the same!

1. What would our church look like if we went before God in our personal prayers asking Him to forgive us for our sins and repented?

2. What kind of impact can God have in our community if we have people stepping up and saying, “Lord, I am heartbroken over the devastation that sin is having in our community. Use me Lord in anyway you need to bring people to you?”