Don't lose sight of the mission

Opening Statement: The Big Idea that catches the attention.

Hey Y’all, y’all doing good? only a couple days until fall break, anyone going anywhere cool? or doing anything cool? Cool.

Introduction Story: A story that invites the listener into that topic, creating credibility and connection immediately.

Anyways, anyone watch the olympics this year? I really didn’t watch the olympics cause there were no fans and it was weird, normally I would watch a lot of it, but the no fan thing really threw me. imagine you were an olympic athlete, how would you feel about coming in second place? Like we want to say we’d be happy to be there, but you’d be made if you came in second, you’d always have to explain the silver medal, no one has to explain the bronze, there were two other people ahead of you, but the silver medal, you always have to tell the story of how you almost won, Gold medal you’re the hero, Silver medal you spend the rest of your life explain your biggest defeat on the world’s stage. Because the scores are normally super close, like a 100th of a point. Track and field, “Johnson wins by a nose!” then the rest of your life you have to tell people, yeah I got beat by a guy bigger nose than me. I know, I know. If you’d just had uglier parent, boom gold medal.

But this one story from the 2004 olympics, is just wild. In the extremely competitive cut throat world of competitive rifle shooting, Matt Emmons, an American is at the top of his game, this dude was killing it, the event he was competing in was a three stage event where you take three shots from different positions. One from your stomach, one from your knees, and one from standing upright. All of these are from 50 meters, or about 50 yards. and the first two shots rounds Matt is absolutely killing it, he’s like John Wick, he don’t miss. So he goes into the final round, it’s just a shot standing up, from 50 yards out, he’s made this shot everyday of his life. And since he’s already done so well all he has to do is basically hit the target, he can shoot really low and still win gold. It’s like if you’ve ever done so well in a class you can skip the final and still get an A. Matt just needs to hit the target.

So Matt, takes aim, he’s steadies his rifle, slows his breathing, starts to feel his heart beating, and is waiting to take his shot between heart beats, slowly, aiming at the target, he starts to squeeze the trigger, boom! shot rings out, strikes the target, boom, bullseye, dead center, Matt don’t miss.

Matt turns around, not hearing any applause, but stunned silence, and he’s sees his score come up and it reads 0.0, that means he missed. That means he didn’t hit the target at all. and then it dawns on him, he took aim at the wrong target, he shot at the target on the next lane over. Which he was not assigned to shot at. by the metrics he missed the correct target by probably 6 feet, which is basically a mile in olympic rifle. Matt didn’t even medal in that even, he came in 8th place. Which i would hate to be the 9th place guy, you got beat by the guy who straight up missed the target. But Matt didn’t medal. He came in to the lsat stretch and lost focus, he got caught up in being so ahead, he lost sight of his target. he lost sight of everything, he straight up missed, he went for the wrong thing.

Segue: How this message will tie into the introduction story.

So that is where I want our head to be at tonight. in the Christian life we are going to face all sorts of things, and all sorts of distractions in following Christ. The main thing i want you to remember tonight is, don’t lose sight of the mission, don’t lose sight of Christ. When following christ, don’t lose your way, don’t lose sight of Christ. Our aim is Christ in all that we do.

Background: Explain the background of what is happening in the text we are about to read.

So tonight we are going to wrap up our study in Nehemiah, we have a long text, but it is all one story. So if you have a bible go ahead and flip over to Nehemiah 6:1-7:4

we are going to read this whole thing, then look at a part of it, there is a crux moment in this story that I want us to see and look at. There is a prayer in here that I want us to see. So if you have a bible great! if you don’t have a bible throw a hand up and we will get a bible to you. Anyone need one? Okay cool, well lets read this whole thing together, but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word tonight.

pray

Nehemiah 6:1–7:4 ESV

1 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands. 10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” 11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. 15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 17 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. 19 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. 1 Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, 2 I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. 3 And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.” 4 The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt.

Okay cool, I know that was long but look at what is going on here, this is the last bit before the completion of the wall, Nehemiah is putting the finishing touches on the wall. The restoration of the city is almost finished. The enemy is still trying to creep in and come after Nehemiah. Sanballat and company are trying to pull nehemiah away from the task, trying to get him to abandon the work.

First they are just trying to get him to come talk to him them. Basically saying, he we need to talk but as soon as he comes out there they were going to kill him, thats like the oldest trick in the book.

When I was younger, me and my cousins would play hide and seek at my grandad’s house, and I had a killer spot. i used to be a lot smaller, i was probably 10 when this happened. but I had a killer spot, i was in the back of my grandad’s closet, tucked away in some hanging clothes, and my cousins could not find me. They had no idea where I was, i was def winning this game. They were not going to find me at all. but even though i was really small, fat me was alive and well, and one of my weaknesses in life is a really good milkshake, and my grandad used to make us milkshakes, and they were the best, he would hand stir these things, not sure how but my grandad was just straight up strong. He’d get a fork some whole milk, some mayfield ice cream, and some Hershey chocolate, put it in a big glass and he would mix it up and it was awesome. So while I’m hiding. and I hear some one yell. “Grandaddy’s making Milkshakes!!” and boy I tore out of that closet, went running, and i’m still kinda like that today, LL can attest to this, if some one mentions milkshakes, I’m like, “y’all serious? i’ll get down for the milkshake.”

but as I’m running, not paying attention, because i’ve lost all focus on the game. I’m flying and all the sudden, i feel the tag on my back, i had been tagged, and everyone is laughing at me cause my dumb self gave up this killer spot for a milkshake that wasn’t there. I’m mean everyone is laughing at me. Because it’s hilarious. But i lost the game. I wound up getting that milkshake we did convince grandaddy to make milk shakes, but that’s the trick Sanballat is trying to pull.

They are basically calling out that Someone has milkshakes, let’s meet over here only to find out there is no milkshake and they’re going to kill him. But Nehemiah doesn’t fall for that, they ask him four times, and we see him say four times, Nehemiah 6:3 “3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

Nehemiah knew they were just trying to trick him.

Then they tried again but this time saying that Nehemiah was trying to become the King of Judah, they wrote an open letter for all to read, basically lying, they were trying to make everyone afraid, because if Nehemiah had done this, the King of Persia would have come in and killed everyone. Every last person would have been killed. The King of Persia did not play well with other kings, remember at the start of this, we talk about the Persian Kings how they called themselves King of the Universe. Those guys didn’t do well with kings rising up in their territory. Sanballat was trying to stoke the fears of the people by making them think that Nehemiah was planning a rebellion against the King of Persia, Which would be a death sentence. But Nehemiah knows they are just trying to stop the work.

and we see this great line in verse 9, “but now oh God, strengthen my hands.” Sanballat and friends thought they would literally get the workers to drop their tools. Nehemiah know this, and this is a prayer, “Oh God, strengthen my hands.”

Then a prophet comes to Nehemiah and tells him he should go in to the temple and hide, they are going to come and kill him. But it turns out this prophet was hired by Sanballat to make him go in to the temple. Nehemiah was shown by God this was false.

Side bar, no one was allowed in to the temple except for a priest who had been properly cleansed. The temple was the dwelling place of God on earth. To go in to the temple was to go in to the presence of God, and nehemiah was not able to do this. This is pre Christ, the sacrificial system is still in place. In order to go in to the temple you had to be made clean, it was a whole thing. They would tie a rope around priests so they could drag out their body if they screwed up in there, they would be over whelmed and killed by the sheer glory of God. And no one could go in and get the body so they put a rope on him. They also had a bell that would constantly ring while they were moving, if that stopped ringing, then they would know to drag him out. Anyways.

This ‘prophet’ is trying to get Nehemiah to go in there and get killed, which is why Nehemiah says, Neh. 6:11

Nehemiah 6:11 ESV

11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.”

“Are you crazy! I’m gonna get killed! also you’re a liar!”

Then the last bit of this we see that the wall in finished, we see the work is complete. The people of God are starting to be restored.

Build: How does this story answer the question, solve the problem or relieve the tension that the Introduction Story began with? JUST ONE POINT, PEOPLE.

So what should we take from this? Look at back at that line I said we were going to come back to, “Oh God, Strengthen by Hands” this is the prayer. Now we aren’t actually asking God to give us better grips, what we are asking God is to give us himself. We are asking God to give us resolve that can only be found in Him. one of the things that I loved from camp, was in almost every sermon Pastor Erik preached, he said we need to ask God for Today’s grace. that really stuck with me. And We see that here in Nehemiah, he is asking God for strength. Strength to carry out the mission of God. He needs today’s grace, not tomorrows, or next week’s but today’s grace.

Nehemiah is asking God to help him not lose sight of the mission. Don’t let me lose focus. Don’t let me get distracted from the work. So here are some things we can take away from this passage. I only have one real point, so if you are writing things down, write this down, don’t lose sight of Christ.

when distractions come in, don’t lose sight of Christ. basic level Christianity, basic level of following Christ, we have to follow him, that means knowing him deeper. We have to be following him closely. The thing is, that’s hard. It can be hard to follow closely after the Lord. it is a daily thing to follow after Christ. Because the thing for all of us is, we get distracted too easily. We do. we love to focus on other things. So when the little things come, don’t lose sight of Christ. Think right now, when you do go to read God’s word or pray do a million different notifications go off? I know for me they do. In the little things, don’t lose sight of Christ.

They are getting you ready for the big things coming.

It is becoming less and less convenient to follow Christ in the world we live in, I know I have told you this, but I want to make sure you are prepared when you leave here. One of the things that i have seen in dealing with students is, some people want you to dumb it down or to sugar coat things for you. I don’t want to do that, to do that would be a disservice to you. I would not be preparing you well if i told you that following Christ means trouble will not come. Because it will. The society you are about to go in to when you leave here is not exactly receptive to christian ideals, it is not going to be convenient for you to be a christian. It may cost you things in college, it might cost you things in jobs, we need to be ready now.

the next thing, don’t lose sight of Christ when suffering comes. Some of you are already feeling that, you are in suffering right now. some of you have not faced real suffering, but know that it is coming, life is real and suffering is real. We cannot lose sight of who Christ is when that happens. we need to be preparing today for how we are going to react when things get hard, when life gets hard. Think about it, are you in a rhythm right now of knowing the lord deeper, so that when trails and suffering come you do not lose sight of Him? How are you going to deal with trials when they come. are you asking for today’s grace?

Don’t lose sight if Christ.

Crescendo: How does The Gospel ultimately solve this problem? Preaching is about pointing to Christ & the Gospel, not good works, trying harder or moralism.

So last thing, why does this matter? Why are we talking about this tonight?

Because we cannot do this on our own.

And we really try to do this on our own some times, it is so easy for us to get distracted in our walk with Christ. It is so easy for us to try and go our own way, for us to think we know the way better. It is so easy for us to become complacent in this life.

We are too easily satisfied with this world, we start to think this world is all that we need, that this world is where true joy comes from. But it is not, this world is going to pass away, a warning for us as christians is to not be too concerned for the things in this world. We do not need to get comfy in this world becasue we are only here for a limited time.

Now, Should we care about our world and the things that happen here, absolutely, but we lose sight of Christ when we make things of the world ultimate things. When we think we can keep the mission of God going through other means. When we think we know better than God.

We have to stay focused on Christ. That is what Nehemiah is saying when he says, “Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” Why should I try to come take care of a problem that isn’t an ultimate problem.

But how often do we do that? The past 6 years we have seen the world become divided on every issue imaginable, everything is political. Or everything is the most important thing. For as long as I can remember, churches have fought. it is because the world has lost sight of Christ and sometime we Christians lose sight of Christ. We have tried to accomplish the mission of Christ without involving Christ.

When these things come that aren’t ultimate things, we need to realize they aren’t important enough to pull us away form the mission. If they are not helping us follow Christ closer and keeping us from seeing Christ for who He is, we need to rethink our priorities.

The Christian life cannot be lived apart from fully relying on Christ. This text is showing us, that we need Christ today, tomorrow, and forever. When we pray God strengthen my hands, we are praying for God to give us a strength that can only be found in Him, we are asking for a life that can only be found in Him.

A part from Christ we are just going to be struggling in this world. There is nothing that we can do to get to God on our own power. But the beauty of the gospel and is Christ did the work for us, all we have to do is follow in his footsteps. Our lives are spent following after Christ and we have the joy that can only be found in Christ. Joy that meets all suffering, we have an eternal hope in Christ. Christ is there with us.

What this text is telling us is, do not lose sight of Christ, because he will not lose sight of you. We cannot do this on our own, but only through Christ. if you are a follower of Christ this text is telling us that we need christ everyday. When we are not daily asking for today’s grace, we may get turned around, but Christ is not leaving us. Christ knows who you are, if you truly know Him, he is going to always be just ahead, even when you can’t see him, he is there.

If you are not a follower of Christ or you do not know what you believe, this text is calling you to for the first time see Christ for who he is, you cannot do it under your own power and you need the strength that can only be found in Christ. You need to catch sight of Christ for the first time. if you have any questions as to what that means, come talk to me. Come to see the Christ as Lord, come to see him as King.

Pray with me.