Brokenness

Praise Report & Prayer Request

This morning we are starting a new series that will run until the end of April, and will come from the Book of Nehemiah.

It is a series that I started studying for and preparing for to preach when Wayne and I went to Haiti to preach for their revival.

But God has shown me it is something we as a Church needs to even hear, and actually the series is based on a verse out of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:4 CSB

4 Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. You will take up your tambourines again and go out in joyful dancing.

In this series as we go through the story of Nehemiah, we will see how God used Nehemiah to rebuild the walls and the people of Jerusalem and all of Israel.

There are a lot of lessons we can learn from the story of Nehemiah which will go through the end of April.

This morning is the first sermon in the series which comes from chapter one.

A little background before we dive into Nehemiah, he was the cupbearer to Artaxerxes the Persian king, thirteen years after Ezra, in about the year 445 BC.

Nehemiah led the third return of exiled Jews back to the land of Israel. Nehemiah believed God’s promise that when his people repent and return to him, he would restore their land.

The first thing we see in the story of Nehemiah is brokenness, as the city of Jerusalem, and the Israelite people where broken.

We will be looking in Chapter one today, at the brokenness and what Nehemiah’s response was to this brokenness.

The name Nehemiah means The Lord Comforts and through this series we will see how the Lord will do just that for the Israelites.

This morning in our message, we will see four things about brokenness.

The first thing comes from verses 1-3

Nehemiah 1:1–3 CSB

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: During the month of Chislev in the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. 3 They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

I. The News of Brokenness.

The book of Nehemiah opens with the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

Nehemiah tells his story as a first-person account, he is the son of Hacaliah, there is nothing else known about this man except that he is the father of Nehemiah and Hanani.

We are also given the time frame in the first verse, we are told it is the month Chislev, in the twentieth year. The month Chislev is from the Jewish calendar but the twentieth year is from the Persian time.

The month Chislev would fall during our late November and early December. The twentieth year was of king Artaxerxes of Persia which would fall about 445 to 444 BC.

At that time Nehemiah was living in king Artaxerxes palace in Susa, Nehemiah was there as we will see at the end of the chapter, because he is the kings cupbearer.

The city Susa name means lily, and there was an abundance of lilies growing in its neighborhoods. The city is located in the southwestern portion of modern Iran, about 150 miles north of the Persian Gulf.

In verse 2, we see that one of Nehemiah’s brothers Hanani comes to Nehemiah with some men that had just arrived from Judah.

Nehemiah begins to ask them questions about Jerusalem, Nehemiah had concern about how things were going.

The city of Jerusalem had been attacked and the walls and gates torn down by the Babylonians. The people were taken into exile, but Ezra had lead a group of exiles back and there was also a remnant there.

Therefore, Nehemiah was concerned with how the people of God was doing, how things were going.

Although Nehemiah lived hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, he still felt a sense of harmony with his fellow Jews.

These questions reveal the main interest of Nehemiah, his heart, and the main interest of his book.

The rest of the book revolves more or less around the next verse if you will.

Verse 3 is the response to Nehemiah’s question, the Jewish remnant, those that had returned to Jerusalem, were currently in great trouble and disgrace, because Jerusalem’s walls are broken down ad the gates are burned.

The great trouble is a description of the people’s social and economic situation, while disgrace or reproach is a term that announced the spiritual condition of the people.

The nation’s social situation was in distress because of continual oppression by foreign neighbors.

The nation’s economic situation was in distress because of heavy tax burden placed on the remnant by the Persians.

The nation’s spiritual condition was in reproach because of its failure to fully separate from the foreign nations.

Here we see God’s people broken because they were not following God obediently. They were following after things that the world was offering, instead of keeping their eyes on God.

When we allow the world to come into our lives, into our homes, into our communities, into our nations, and into our churches, we have brokenness.

We see today in our world, in our nation, in our communities, in our homes, and even in our churches, brokenness.

The city of Jerusalem also had their walls broken down and gates burned.

This left the city defenseless, when we turn to the world and worldly things we are also left defenseless.

What happens is we think that we can do it all on our own but as the people in Jerusalem begin to realize is that things start to pile up and overwhelm us, and we cannot handle it on our own, we need God.

II. Response to Brokenness. V. 4

Nehemiah 1:4 CSB

4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

In this verse we see the response of Nehemiah to the brokenness of the people and city of Jerusalem.

He heard the words, the report of his brother Hanani and those that were with him, and it caused him to sit down and weep.

This report devastated Nehemiah, he was heart broken over the situation that the people of God were in.

He began to mourn, fasting and praying for days before God.

He didn’t just go on with his normal every day duties and forget about the report no, it burdened him heavily and he spent time seeking God, and petitioned God for the brokenness that was just reported.

Nehemiah didn’t start complaining, he didn’t start blaming others, or pointing fingers, but immediately went to God in prayer.

You can always tell how serious people believe in God, and that God can make a difference - by how they pray.

Instead of complaining about our brokenness, the brokenness of our communities, of our nation, or of our churches, we need to get series about taking it to God in prayer, for he is the only one that can make a difference.

We all face brokenness, in difference shape, sizes, and forms, and it can be the brokenness of families, communities, nations or many other things, but the important thing is how we handle it.

III. Responsibility of Brokenness. Vs. 5-7

Nehemiah 1:5–7 CSB

5 I said, Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands, 6 let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned. 7 We have acted corruptly toward you and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses.

Here we have Nehemiah’s prayer - he begins with acknowledging God, who God is, adoration to God, a form of worship to God.

The great and awe-inspiring God indicates Nehemiah’s appreciation of who God is: the one whom Nehemiah feared and the source and object of his deep faith.

God’s awesomeness is the impression his total character and person leaves on all who encounter him.

Nehemiah then makes the statement - awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands.

Nehemiah prays, in a sense reminding God, or stating that God keeps his covenants, with those who love him and keep his commands.

When we are obedient to God, and what He has commanded us to do and not to do, he will keep the covenant and promises he has made for us.

God is what we may say, a man of His word, he does not go back on his promises.

In verse 6, Nehemiah ask God to have his eyes open and his ears attentive to hear the prayer’s of his servants.

Nehemiah says that I pray day and night, Nehemiah is very persistent in praying the nation of Israel, and God’s people.

As he asked God to open his eyes and have his ears attentive, it wasn’t that Nehemiah didn’t know if God would hear his prayers, or doubted it in any way.

He knew God would, he was asking God to take action.

How great is God that he can pay attention to each of our prayers, millions of them around the world, individually and simultaneously!

Our minds cannot comprehend it, but God is beyond our comprehension.

After asking God to hear his prayer, Nehemiah then confesses the sins he says we have committed, that is as a nation, but he goes further than that, he also says both I and my father’s family have sinned.

We might think what has he done, he isn’t even in the country, he is in Persia serving as a cupbearer.

But he takes to heart 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 CSB

14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

See Nehemiah, says, if my homeland, my kinfolk are going to overcome this, then we got to do what God has called us to do.

We got to humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, turn from our evil ways, once we as a whole, as God’s people, have done these four things, then God will hear from heaven forgive our sins, and heal our land.

Nehemiah could have said well, it is not my fault I am not in Israel, I am not part of the problem, so let me pray for the remnant that they will turn from their evil ways.

He could have said, you know if they would change and do things right God would heal our homeland, and we could rise again.

We hear that here in America, if the Republicans, the Democrats, the left, the right, the liberals, the conservatives, the rich, the poor, the lost people, the Catholic, the Charismatics, or the Southern Baptist.

But we do not hear Nehemiah here pointing fingers, pushing blame on others, what we do hear is Nehemiah say I confess the sins we have committed against you.

He takes the blame, is he guilty of the sins, maybe, but probably not all of or most of them.

But he takes responsibility, we as God’s chosen people need to quit pointing fingers, quit pushing the blame on others, and take responsibility.

God clearly said in 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 CSB

14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

My people, who bear my name, He is not talking to the lost people of the world, or the lost people of America.

No he is specifically talking to the Christians, the disciples of Jesus Christ, that we as born-again-believers need to humble ourselves, that is we need to realize it is not about us, but about Jesus.

Then we need to pray, not just a God is good, God is great thank you for this food, or some other scripted prayer that we have memorized, but a fervent prayer that is from our heart and that is seeking the face of God.

We are told in Jeremiah 29:13

Jeremiah 29:13 CSB

13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

We are only going to see things change for the better when we as true followers of Jesus Christ, begin to seek God with all of our hearts, he does not want just weekend or Sunday morning visitation, He wants full custody, 24/7

Verse 7, Nehemiah explains the sins that have been committed, stating - we have acted corruptly, not kept your commands, statutes, and ordinances.

We can truly see those same things here in our own country, things that we need to repent of, things that we need to seek God about and turn from, in order that God will come and heal our land.

IV. God Can Restore Brokenness Vs. 8-11

Nehemiah 1:8–11 CSB

8 Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses: “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. 9 But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.” 10 They are your servants and your people. You redeemed them by your great power and strong hand. 11 Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man. At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.

Nehemiah continues in his pray here, stating promises that God had previously made, first with a negative for disobedience, if the people were unfaithful God would scatter them.

Well, the people had experienced that, they had been scattered, during times of exile.

Nehemiah continues though, with a promise, yes we mess up, yes we may go astray but that does not mean, that God is done with us, that He is finished.

He is waiting for us to realize we messed up, the Israelites were unfaithful, they started to worship pagan gods, and idols, and would not listen to warnings, so God scattered them into exile.

Once the people turned around, and began to follow after God again, and became faithful again. He promised in verse 9, to regather them from exile and bring them back to the promise land.

The stipulation is they have to return to God, carefully observe his commands, and once they do that He will then regather them.

We can see this country turned around for the glory of God, to be truly be blessed by God again, but it takes us as God’s people to return to him, and carefully observe his commands.

We have to start calling sin what it is sin, not sugar coating things because it might hurt someone’s feelings, and stop doing things because well that is the way it always has been done, and that is the way certain people like it.

We need to realize that we are called by God, we are set apart by God, for a purpose, just as the Israelites were set apart so that the rest of the world would see the love of God, we are set apart, so that the rest of the world will see the love of God.

It is not about being comfortable, it is not about doing things like we always have, it is not about doing things the way certain people want them done, it is about doing what God has called us to, it is about sharing the love of God with the world.

Nehemiah closes his prayer, with pleading to God on behalf of the Israelites once again, stating that they are God’s people, that he redeemed, that he brought together as a people, as a nation.

He ask the Lord to hear his prayer and grant him success and compassion.

There is a lot of brokenness in this world today, broken families, broken lives, broken communities, broken churches, and in reality our country is broken right now.

Some times individuals can be broken due to a number of different reasons, it maybe due to loss of a job, or health, it could the loss of a loved one.

Brokenness many times is caused by not following God in the individual’s life, that brokenness can then flow over into other areas like families, communities, churches, and other places.

But if we do not get right with God, that brokenness will continue to build up, and it will flow over into our families, our communities, our churches, our friends, and on and on.

We see the brokenness in our country today, and we can stand around and point fingers, cast blame on others, but if we truly want to see change, if we truly want to see God at work, then we have to do like Nehemiah.

It doesn’t matter who is to blame, it doesn’t matter who did the worse sin, what matters is do we truly want to see God move and heal our land, if so then we need to get serious about seeking after God.

No matter what the brokenness is that we face, there is always a light that will help us face that brokenness, no matter what it is.

There is nothing we face that God does not have control over and will help us through if we will just seek him.