Nehemiah 3 | Join Him in The Mission

Intro

Hey Y’all! How are y’all everybody good?

It is September 1 and i think fall just keeps creeping closer every single year. I noticed yesterday, that the daylight seemed to not last a long, and did y’all see what else is going on? I feel like we are about to see shift in the seasonal development of your planet, i’m not sure if scientists have found a shift in the axis of earth, but did y’all see what event happened way sooner than it was supposed to? Like it happens every year, but this is the earliest I have ever seen it happen in my lifetime. This is kinda serious, this is going to have some serious affects on our culture, or economy, this kinda shapes the cycle of the year a little but. Did y’all see what happened on Monday I think?

Pumpkin Spice Lattes, in August. No, it seems so early, do y’all even like those things? I mean, they’re alright. But it’s entirely too early for fall, it’s still hot outside, aint nobody need any flannel fall stuff when it’s 90 degrees out

Context

What is this book about? Why is this chapter in here?

Anyways, we have a lot to look at tonight. normally I would have a question to kind of start off with, but looking at this chapter here in Nehemiah 3.

I’m not going to lie, I had some trouble when i first started reading this chapter about how do you preach this? Because for me this is one of those chapters in the bible where the point doesn’t immediately jump off the page at you. it’s 32 verses of just people building stuff. You know this isn’t exactly John 3:16, or the Great Commission. It doesn’t just preach itself.

— and that’s a good thing.

These passages are in the bible for a reason. If we believe the bible is God’s word, then this passage was designed for the people of God to use to know Him deeper, to know Him closer.

So when I started to really study this chapter, I had to take a couple steps back to really see what is going on. So I want to kinda go through the questions that I asked while studying this, and try to give you some insight in to how to study scripture for when you read something and you ask, “why is in there? What is the purpose of this?”

At first glance, this is a list of people just building a wall, this is there names and where and what they did. Like good for them, they got some positive PR in the most read book of all-time, but is that why they are in there? IS that why this chapter exists? I don’t think so, I think reading this as just a list of deeds is missing out on the bigger picture. How does this help you see the Lord clearer and know the Lord Deeper?

So when you come to a passage that is built like this, where you aren’t sure what is going on, ask your self, what is going on in the rest of the book? How is the book written?

So when we do that with Nehemiah, we see that this was this written in a different style than some other books. Like you wouldn’t read nehemiah the same way you would read Romans, Romans is straight Theology. Nehemiah is a story. Stick with me, this is important, I want you to know the Lord deeper, and I want to equip you to help yourself know the Lord deeper.

So, Nehemiah is a story, for those of you who have AP World this semester, if you’ve talked to me about it, I’ve tried to get you to put what you are reading in to a story form. So when you read the dates and people you can see how they relate, and how that impacts the rest of the story.

We want to ask that same question tonight. How does Chapter 3 impact the story of nehemiah? How does chapter 3 let us know the Lord deeper? How does Chapter 3 let us see the Lord clearer? How does this chapter point us toward Christ?

and this is one of those chapters, like a lot of the bible that aren’t about us, in fact most of the bible is not about us. Like The Great Commission, it’s about us, we are the part of the people told to go out. but most of the bible is not a 1 to 1 relation to us. Like you shouldn’t read Daniel, and think, I should be bold like Daniel, that’s missing the point. Most of the bible is not about us, but we need to remember that all of the bible is for us. the Bible is the word of God, and was written for our encouragement and to know the Lord deeper.

So chapter 3 of Nehemiah, who how does this impact the story of Nehemiah and how does this impact the story of the whole bible?

So the theme in this chapter, the main idea for tonight, is going to be, how does the Church come along side God in His mission?

While we are studying this chapter I want you to think about that, how does the Church come along side the mission of God?

So tonight I want to look at some things in this chapter and see how this chapter speaks to the greater story of the bible.

But before we get in to this let’s pray for our time in the word tonight.

pray

Okay so if you haven’t figured it out, we are in Chapter 3 of Nehemiah, so if you need a bible throw a hand up and we will get one to you. If you don’t have one at home, take that one with you we can always buy more bibles. But you’ll want to have a bible in front of you because we are going to be looking at differnet verses as we go through this.

So let’s look at this passage, I’m not going to read the whole thing because it is very long, so we are going hit the highlights of it. So stick with me. The synopsis of the passage is, there are lot of different people working together to build the wall. Nehemiah lists them by name and what they did and where they helped build. I would encourage you to read the whole thing on your own.

SO we are going to to hit the different spots in this text and see what the Lord is telling us through this passage.

The Church is God’s Chosen Instrument to Carry out His Mission.

So ready with me the first verse. Nehemiah 3:1

Nehemiah 3:1 ESV

1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.

Okay so the first thing we see here in this text is who kicked off this building endeavor? Who acted first? The High Priest is out there leading in the building effort, and not just like as an overseer, or a supervisor, but hammer in hand, building these walls back up. We them building and praying through the process.

The text uses word here, to consecrate, in the hebrew - hedaash- to be made holy. They were consecrating the walls, they were consecrating the work. This was not just a building project but it was a way the Lord was restoring his people. This was a holy thing they were doing, rebuilding the people of God here on earth.

So what does this tell us. The first truth that we need to see here in this text, is the church is God’s chosen instrument to carry out His mission. if you are writing things down, write that down, the Church is God’s chosen instrument to carry out His Mission.

Through out scripture, God has used His people to bring about his mission for redemption. The Story of the Old Testament is the story of God saving and redeeming His people, His people are continually pointing to the need for a savior, that we cannot measure up to the Law of God. The Story of the Old Testament is God’s people rebelling and being redeemed, the Law is given to them, they cannot keep the law, they law becomes a mirror for us to see the need for a savior.

In the new Testament, we see Christ come, to be the savior, to redeem His people once and for all. To take on the sins of the people and be the final sacrifice. The whole story of the New Testament is Christ has come. We no longer live under the law because Christ has come to fulfill the law. The Church, the people of God are the chosen method of redeeming the world and bringing ultimate Glory to God.

This is a holy work, the church is called to come along side God in the building of His Kingdom. God is restoring and using his people for His glory.

This work is holy, is it set aside, it is the only work in this life that will have any ultimate impact on eternity. This is not something to be taken lightly.

I think that is where we miss this sometimes, this is the work of the church, when we say Go be the Church, this is what we mean, join in building the Kingdom. We miss this, we like to point out that this world is crazy because people have turned from God. And that is true, there is a lot in this world that is screwed up because people are trying to do this, without God. But we are quick to say “well they need Jesus” and you’re right they do, here is how we do this, here is how we give them Jesus. Here is the chosen instrument, here is the Church.

Lately we have become very willing to place the responsibilities of the church on other things. look at how invested the church as a whole has been in politics, i know some of you are young and don’t really care, but adults in the room look at how much the church has handed over to political parties and political powers. That ain’t it. Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, that ain’t it.

No, if we want to see real change in our world today, the church needs to rise up and help build the kingdom. Here is the chosen instrument, here is the chosen method. The Church is God’s chosen instrument to carry out his Mission, to build His kingdom.

When I was in school i worked at Advance Auto, slinging car parts. And I saw all kinds of people come in and try to do all kinds of just wild stuff with their cars. not like wild cool, but wild like, you might die if you do that. But have you ever seen someone try to do something with the wrong tool? Like sometimes it works but usually it just fails and makes things worse. So we had this dude that kinda lived in our parking lot, he was a mechanic, well, he was a guy who would work on your car for a very low cost. but you got what you paid for. And when I say he lived in our parking lot, he had a van that he lived in that he parked in the back of our parking lot. It was weird. Anyways, George came in and needed a floor jack, you one of those things that you jack a car up with. We had one that would do like a Prius, or like a little civic. Not and big car it was rated at like a 1.5 tons. Not a lot of weight could be put on those things. But George, the guy that lived in our parking lot, that’s his real name, was working on a big truck, like a Chevy 3500 early 2000’s tank of a truck, and he figured he could jack it up with our little 1.5 ton jack. we told him, hey that’s a bad idea, well dude takes it out there anyways and we aren’t really going to fight him cause he kinda crazy, so he gets out there, and starts jacking this big ole truck up and about 30 seconds after he gets it about a foot off the ground, the hear this sound like a gun shot followed by this loud crashing thud. sounded like a 33.5 ton car falling to the ground, so we run to the window and look out and we see this jack just snapped in half and crushed, and thankfully we see George standing there looking confused. wondering why that didn’t work.

And that is sometime us, we know what we are supposed to do. We know how we are supposed to do it, God told us right here in His word how we are to join Him in building the kingdom. We sometimes look at that as say, no i think I see a better way to do that, and it never works, we trade God out for something that is not God.

Scripture doesn’t say “If my people, which are called by my name, will just vote this way” or “will pass these laws” or “will let so in so run that” no scripture says “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, pray and seek my face”

If we find ourselves thinking that the mission is something other than what God has called His people to do, then we have missed out, and we have traded God for ourselves. We have replaced God with ourselves. Think about this. What are you placing your ultimate hope in? Think about it.

Everyone is Called to Play a Role in the Mission of God.

Okay, let’s keep going, that was verse 1, we have 32 more to go. No I’m just kidding.

Look with me at verse 5 and then at verse 8

Nehemiah 3:5

Nehemiah 3:5 ESV

5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

Nehemiah 3:8 ESV

8 Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

Here we see some different things,

in verse 5 we see the Tekoites were pulling double duty, their nobles did not want to help, they would not stoop to serve the Lord. Remember the Tekoites, they are going to show back up.

In verse 8 we see Uzziel and Hananiah, they were working on something that did not involve their skill set.

Okay, so what is the truth we need to see in these verses? We see here three different scenes where there are bunch of different people doing different things. They are all working in rebuilding the wall. What we need to see here is Everyone is called to play a role in the Mission of God. If you are writting things down write that down, Everyone is called to play a role in the Mission of God.

Look at the Tekoites, they are working twice as hard because their nobles don’t want to work, they just want to be around when it’s over and get to reap the benefits of having the wall being rebuilt without lifting a finger. Think about that. We love to try and see ourselves in scripture, and I want you to think about what your goals are here in coming to church. If your goals are to just come and have fun that is great, we want you to have fun and enjoy being at church, but when it comes time to dig in, and comes time pour out what has been poured in, and you are like, “you know that’s not really me, I don’t want to get my hands dirty” Or “That’s not really my thing” Then you might see yourself here in this passage, just not in a way that you might want to see yourself. If you are wondering how you can get involved more, if you are wondering how you can help lead, ask how you can serve. The goal of the church is not just for a few people to pour in to everybody, but for everybody to pour in to everybody and that flow outside of these 4 walls.

If everybody comes to take, there will not be enough, but if everybody come to give there will be more than enough for everybody. The nobles here wanted to lead with out serving.

But look at the other scene, we see these two guys who are not by trade people who build walls. One of them is literally a guy who makes perfume. Like these guys are not known for their skill in building walls. Uzziel is a gold smith, he made jewelry, and Hananiah was a guy who basically made cologne. They heard that they were building the wall, and they said “well i normally don’t do that, but if they can swing a hammer, I probably can too”

Think about this attitude they had, this is the mind set all of us need to have, we don’t have to have an answer for every question or even know everything about deep theology or scripture, that will come. The Lord cares about more faithfulness than he does about how well you can answer deep theological questions. Is it important for us to learn and grow in our faith, and understand God on a deeper level, yes it is important. But at the end of the day, God is wanting people willing to swing a hammer. If you know all you can about the head knowledge of God with out the willingness to swing the hammer, then we have missed what our calling is. We are all called to swing hammers. Everyone is called to play a role in the Mission of God. IF you aren’t sure of what that looks like, ask someone, we would love to show you what that looks like. How do you live out your faith daily. Come talk to come of us.

Let’s keep going.

We are Called to Bring Others into the Mission.

Read with me verse 12 and then verse 27-28

Nehemiah 3:12 ESV

12 Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.

Nehemiah 3:27–28 ESV

27 After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. 28 Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house.

Look at these two groups of people. the first one is a Dad and his daughters, they are all out there building the wall. If I had to guess, Shallum was not out there with his daughters because they were master masons, masters at creating and repairing walls. No, Shallum is out there with his daughters because he knows this is a holy work. He is bringing them in to the mission of God. The last truth we need to see here is We are called to bring others in to the mission. if you are writing things down, write this down, we are all called to bring others in to the mission.

This is a perfect picture of discipleship here. This guy did not invite his daughters out there because he was going to be able to cover more ground. He brought them out there to involve them in the work of their father. They are learning while they are watching Him. This is the same way for us.

All of you probably know this, because I will talk about it with just about anyone who will listen but I really love to bbq, it is one of my favorite things. And I got in to BBQ because my dad was in to it. and I learned by just watching him, being apart of what he was doing on the days that we would fire up the smoker. he didn’t set me down and give me a book about how to smoke ribs, i did it with him. I sat there by the smoker, and watch him move, i smelled what it’s supposed to smell like. i have since read about different techniques and methods, but my base knowledge is from watching him make ribs. there is an art to it, that you can only learn by watching and doing.

This is what is going on here, we are called to bring others in to mission. If someone is asking you how to study the bible, tell them how you do it, study with them. If someone is asking you how do you talk to someone about Jesus, show them, bring them with you. involve them.

Look at verses 27-28, we are called to bring others in to the mission. Again we see the Tekoites, they have left their place and gone to another to help bring about rebuilding the wall. Look at verse 28, they stayed in their community and helped rebuild. The got their community involved in the building.

This needs to speak to all of us in here who are followers of Christ. For all of us, we need to bring others in to the mission. For some of you in here, that means serving faithfully where you are at, right here in your community. You are called to be here, and serve faithfully to see your community brought in to the mission of building the kingdom. For others in this room, and I think there are a few of you, and I pray that I am right. That God is going to call you to somewhere else to show others how to join in the building of the Kingdom. I know there is a couple of you who have felt the tug of missions, have felt the call to change your entire life plan around, to bring people in to the kingdom from somewhere that you are not from. This passage is calling all of us to bring people in to the Kingdom and show them to the King. We are called to follow the King where ever He may lead, to serve faithfully no matter where we are.

We are about to sing another song, and while we are doing that, I want you to think about what is your calling life? How can you join God in the building of the Kingdom? If you are a follower of Christ, this is the thing that matters most. How can you join in the building of the Kingdom of God? If you are in here and you are not a follower of Christ, or you do not know what it means submit your life to Christ, please come and talk to one of us. You need to ask yourself which kingdom are you following? Which Kingdom is going to remain? The Good News of the Gospel, is that Christ died in your place. you will be with Christ forever in eternity, knowing true and eternal joy.

Y’all pray with me.