Don't Panic, Prepare!

Revelation

Nehemiah 4:15–23 CSB

15 When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, every one of us returned to his own work on the wall. 16 From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers supported all the people of Judah, 17 who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. 18 Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building, and the one who sounded the ram’s horn was beside me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is enormous and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!” 21 So we continued the work, while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out. 22 At that time, I also said to the people, “Let everyone and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.” 23 And I, my brothers, my servants, and the men of the guard with me never took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon, even when washing.

1. Reliance & Responsibility - 4:15-18

So after the people of God, here about the plans of the enemies, last week we saw them do 2 major things:

Prayer

Wise Action

And those things, proved to the the means by which GOD delivered them from their enemies

How do we know it was God who delivered them when seemingly it was all them?

Right because at no point in this narrative is there a pillar of fire, or an angel of the LORD coming down to smite enemies,

There is just the people hearing plans and arming themselves

SO how can we say it is God who delivered them?

Well, for 1, that’s what Nehemiah said, because we just read that

But the reason is because at the root of all of those actions the prayer, the arming themselves, the strategy in which they prepared,

All of those things rest upon the foundation of their human facilities - hands, feet, arms, brain

And none of those things, none of the things we have in this life to formulate or execute ANY plan

Fall outside of the category of God’s gift to us and sustaining power in us

For Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus sustains “ALL THINGS” by His powerful Word

That includes us in extremely tangible ways

SO the people v.15 give the glory to God for successful defense, but then they get back working

And it is HOW they get back working that we see our first point we began with - Reliance & Responsibility

We see this plan in place in which half of a group works while the other half stands in defense

There is this mutual understanding amongst the people that -

We need each other.

Listen, especially in seasons like this, it is more important than ever to remember this

We must rely on one another.

In this process of seeking to plant a church, there is a multitude of things that can come our way,

A multitude of enemies that can seek to derail this

And just like them, the only way, we see the establishment of a church with the desire to see the mission of God accomplished and a community restored

The only way that happens is when everyone involved understands these first 2 points:

That we must rely on one another, and that we are responsible for one another

I have always found the question baffling because of the level of ignorance and arrogance behind it but in light of this passage all that is amplified

And that is the question Cain ask God after just murdering his own brother

Right Cain has the audacity when God asks where is your brother

To respond back to God “Am I my brothers keeper?”

YES. Are you kidding me?? YES CAIN YOU ARE

And yet, if we find that question foolish,

How then can we sit back and watch brothers and sisters in Christ seeking to accomplish the mission of God

And not do 1 of two things, move the dirt with them or arm up to defend them?

We saw a number of weeks ago in Nehemiah 3:5 of the nobles who would not lift a finger to help in the work

Here we see something very different,

A recognition that Yes I am my brothers keeper and I am needed.

Because the work of the mission of God, will come at odds with the mission of the world

It takes only a few minutes of study of your New Testament or church history to realize

The mission of the world is at odds with the mission of God

And sure there are times they align and everything SEEMS fine

But there comes the times when the world recognizes the otherliness of the mission of God and will oppose it

And we can stand by and watch, Or we can recognize our reliance on one another and our responsibility to one another

Galatians 6:10 CSB

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

2. Separation & Strategy - 4:19-21

Then we see this point, we have spoken constantly on this, but we will remind ourselves of it at every turn we see it in the text

Because we will be faithful to this text

In the work of rebuilding and restoration of Israel,

There was a recognition of the widespread need of the people

And we see moments yes, of the people gathered together, not unlike this

But they had to rebuild the entire nation

That means there had to be this sending out, this separation and strategy that had to happen

This is how we saw 2 weeks ago, in that really odd text where everyone is just names and what gate they built

That we saw it said people were doing work directly across from their house

And we see the same idea here

Nehemiah 4:19 CSB

19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is enormous and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall.

The work is vast

But you can not just spread out without the strategy in place so that you do not lose one another

So v.20 they develop this trumpet call system

Where it doesn’t matter how spread out you are, if you can hear this trumpet that means you are close enough to rally and fight

And notice and of V.20 - who is actually doing the fighting

Its God.

Again we see this theological principle of the faculties given to the people, are in essence the answer to their prayers

Because the effectiveness of those faculties, is proving in this passage, the dwelling of God with His people and the giving them success

And this is where we as Christians can run into a bit of danger

Cause we hear that and can think “that sounds like prosperity Gospel”

And prosperity gospel if you do not know is the theological heresy that God only desire to prosper you

It is the Happy healthy wealthy theology

But what is the difference here between that and saying that the actually dwelling of God with His people is what granted them success

There is a ton of difference the main one is the definition of success

I can say without affirming a shred of prosperity gospel that God prospers His people

God WILL build His church

But like here, He seemingly most often does that through trials and tribulations and imprisonments and persecutions

It is not prosperity Gospel to bank you life on the promises of God that He will finish what He started

He will build His church

And He will sustain His people to the end

But in none of those things, is there the promise of worldly creature comforts.

This blessing in the midst of their separation and strategy did not come with worldly creature comforts

This is not happy healthy wealthy Nehemiah

This people are grinding rebuilding a wall outside in the middle east then having to stop building to run over when they hear a trumpet blast

And physically fight off enemies seeking their demise

And yet in that, God was with them

They were a smaller group than before the exile, less glamorous, less prosperous as a nation, little to no physical defenses unlike before the exile

The difference between the peoples success here, and their lack of success when Babylon came and burned the city to the ground,

Could be summed up in the last sentence of V.20

Because with all the military might in the world, the Israel fell to Babylon because they could NOT say that sentence,

Because they had not the dwelling of God

So it seems in the work of rebuilding and restoration, in the work dare I say of church planting

It depends not upon the amount of wordly creature comforts

But upon a small people gathered together willing to rebuild and solely upon the dwelling of God with those people

3. Discipline & Dedication - 4:22-23

And here is out last point,

Coming to the end of this narrative, we see that small group

exhibit tremendous discipline and dedication to the work

They are standing guard at night and working all day

They are so dedicated to this mission, that they are refusing to even take their clothes off

They are refusing to take off their armor and weapons because they are always ready

Guys this, this is not glamorous

This isn’t the flashy social media influencer ministry

This is a grind

You have people in this narrative keeping their weapons on the bathe themselves

Because they understood that was the level of discipline and dedication it would take to see the task through

Paul says in Ephesians 6:13-18

Ephesians 6:13–18 CSB

13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

And Peter echoes this same idea but I want you to hear the end of this passage in 1 Peter and here it in light of what we read in Nehemiah

And what we know to be the reality of seeking to plant a church what would see the restoration of a community

1 Peter 5:6-11

1 Peter 5:6–11 CSB

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. 10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 11 To him be dominion forever. Amen.

Listen, As we end we must understand this is not a message going out to say that if you work hard you earn your way into heaven

it is not a message to say doing the “good deed” of restoring a community earns you brownie points with God for Him to “let you in”

It is the God of Grace who called us in to His eternal glory

It is FROM salvation we labor for the kingdom not FOR It

Peter says it is the God of grace who first called us who Himself will restore, and strengthen and establish us and it is His dominion forever

This message in most, because of our text, is for you who are already the people of God

You have already been saved and been raised to new life

You who have already repented that is turned away from sin to follow Jesus

If that is not you, seek not first the restoration of your community, Scripture calls you to seek first the restoration and rebirth of your soul

Come to Jesus and you will find Him to be a powerful enough Savior to restore and whole community, yes

But come to Jesus and you will find Him to be gentle enough to cast your cares onto, and sufficient enough that you can bank your whole life on Him

And He will bring you to the end and welcome you home in glory.

In all things, church Trust Jesus and ready your armor

For those who don’t know Jesus, trust Jesus today .

If that’s you I’d love to talk with you more about that.