Before God moves the multitudes, he often moves one.
Before God moves the multitudes, he often moves one. Nehemiah was in Susa, one thousand miles away from Jerusalem,a 3-4 month journey from Jerusalem. When he heard about the trouble God’s people were in, and what a disgrace God’s city had become,Nehemiah was deeply moved. He sat down and wept. He mourned, and fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven for help!
In Psalm 50:15 (NIV) God invites us to, "... call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Our problem is that we are comfortable— and our comfort breeds complacency. Very few things bring us to our knees. Weep about what? Mourn about what? Fast about what? Pray about what? When we are comfortable, we grow increasingly indifferent to the realities that God would have us see. But God has a way of getting our attention, and he got Nehemiah’s attention. He moved Nehemiah to see, to weep, andto cry out for God’s help in his day of trouble.
God moved Nehemiah from his place of complacency.
Nehemiah became so keenly aware about the trouble in Jerusalem thathe laid everything on the line. He allowed himself to be sad in the king's presence. When asked, he told the king about the trouble Jerusalem was in. He had the courage to request a leave of absence from the king’s court. Then he had the audacity to request letters for safe passage through territories hostile to Judah. And he had the audacity to ask for timbers with which to rebuild the gates of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah had guts. He had the guts to make unconscionable requests of a king who could just as easily have requested Nehemiah’s head. The guts to make a 3-4 month journey over hostile terrain. But he did it because he believed God’s words as spoken in Nehemiah 1:9 (NIV), "...if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name."
When is the last time God moved you or showed you something troubling?Something thatwas a disgrace to the name of God? And what was your response? Did you have guts to act?
Nehemiah made a plan to rebuild the wall for God's glory.
Before God moves the multitudes, he often moves one. We pick our story up in Nehemiah 2:11-16 (NIV)."I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three daysI set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on."
"By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through;so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work."
It is true that Nehemiah had a plan and that he chose his timing carefully. It is true that before God moves the multitude, he often moves one. But a critical turning point came when God began moving the leaders in Jerusalem to see what Nehemiah had seen. Nehemiah 2:17-18 tells us, "Then I said to them, 'You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.' I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me."
Under Ezra’s leadership, the Jews, priests, nobles, and officials had rebuilt the temple and altar. But now it was time to restore the city of God and for God’s people to return and bring honor to God. It was Nehemiah who inspired a sense of hope and optimism."God’s in this!God has already been at work!"
Now that you see what God wants done,what willyou do? Nehemiah 2:18 (NIV) says, "They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.'So they began this good work."
When God moves his people, there will always be trouble.
Immediately there was trouble. Whenever God moves his people, there will always be trouble. We’ll explore this topic more in-depth next week. Nehemiah 1:19-20 (NIV) says, "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. 'What is this you are doing?' they asked. 'Are you rebelling against the king?'I answered them by saying, 'The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.' "
Remarkably, despite the danger, the residents in andaround Jerusalem, along with Nehemiah and the Jewish leaders, were moved to do this good work. They saw the trouble. But more importantly, they caught the vision of the city of God being restored, and of multitudes returning to worship their God.
God moved his people to "adopt" sections of the wall.
Individual by individual, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood, they began adopting gates,towers, and sections of the wall to repair. Every part of the wall had a unique function that was vital to health of the city.
The sheep gate was used to bring animals into the city, which were used to provide food and sacrifices to God. The fish gate was used by merchants who brought fish from the Mediterranean sea. The old gate provided passageway to a newer section of the city. The dung gate was used to dispose of waste and keep the city from disease and sickness. The fountain gate and the water gate were used to supply the city with fresh water. The horse gate was used for horses and chariots in orderto conduct warfare. The east gate led people into God’s temple for worship.
Now you can begin to see why the city was in disgrace. If all these gates had been destroyed, imagine the disruption! No sacrifices to God, no food, no commerce, no cleanliness, no water and refreshment, no defense or protection! All of this dramatically hindered worship.
But for the city of God to be restored it was going to take more than a Nehemiah and a handful of leaders. This is,my friends, where we get down to brass tacks. It takes a community.
It takes a community to restore the city of God.
Warren Wiersbe has the right angle on Nehemiah 3. "There was a place for everyone and a job for everyone to do."Every single person counted. Rulers and priests,men and women and daughters, professional craftsmen, and even people from outside the city. Governors, perfume makers, temple servants, goldsmiths, and merchants were all included.
Leaders had to set the example. Weirsbe says, "If anybody in the city should have been busy in the work, it was the priests, for the glory of the Lord was involved in the project. That the high priest used his consecrated hands to do manual labor shows that he considered the work on the wall to be a ministry to the Lord."
Some people had to pick up the work of others. Eliashib didn’t remain true to his task and later worked with Jerusalem’s enemies. Other people, like the nobles, refused to work. They were too important in their own eyes to perform manual labor. Some, like Baruch, worked harder than others. Some only worked on the sections of the walls nearest to their homes. Some worked in large teams, some worked in small teams, and some in supervisory capacities. Some took on enormous sections of responsibility hundreds of feet long.Some took on sections as little astwelve feet in length.
As we’ll see next week, there was nothing romantic about the blood, sweat, and tears they shed rebuilding their city, but they rose to the occasion and did it. They saw the trouble. They believed in God, they took him at his word, they united together, they contributed sacrificially, and they persevered.
Nehemiah 4:6 (NIV) says, "…the people worked with all their heart." And you know what? They finished in just 52 days.
For theChurch today, discipling men and women is our priority.
So what does all of this mean for us today?If I might be so bold, I would say thatdiscipling men and women is the priority around which our lives should be oriented. In Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) Jesus gave us these marching orders. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."And in Matthew 28:20 (NIV) he added this assurance."And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
As Robert Coleman wrote in his classic book The Master Plan of Discipleship, "The Great Commission is not a special calling or a gift of the Spirit; it is a command— an obligation incumbent upon the whole community of faith. There are no exceptions. Bank presidents and automobile mechanics, physicians and schoolteachers, theologians and homemakers— everyone who believes on Christ has a part in his work, and equally share the responsibility to make disciples."
The Church isn’t a movement of one, or of a few.It’s a movement of many. Coleman writes, "...the Spirit of Christ flows through his church, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. The narrative describes acts, not committee meetings or study conferences. Miracles are happening; lives are being transformed; the world is being turned upside down... if making disciples of all nations is not the heartbeat of our life, something is wrong, either with our understanding of Christ’s church or our willingness to walk in his way."
Here are some questions for your reflection.
1. What is God showing you, I mean really showing you?
2. For what do you cry out to God, pray, fast, and mourn?
3. Do you believe God is at work, faithful and true to his word?
4. What door is God opening for you? Are you willing to step through it?
5. What are you willing to risk or sacrifice for God’s kingdom and glory?
6. Do you have a specific responsibility in contributing to God’s work?Are you part of a church, a true member of Christ’s body?Or are you one of those consumers, a church shopper, one of those critics who goes about judging the work of others?
7. Do you believe the work your church is about is a good work ordained by God, and necessary for salvation of the world?
8. Do you have a willingness to begin a good work, and stick with it, and see it to completion no matter what the costs?
9. Are you working unto the Lord with all your heart?
10.Are you stepping up and taking responsibility as a father, mother, son, or daughter?As a professional, as a public official, as a tradesman, as a schoolteacher, as a medical professional, or as a homemaker? Asyoungor old, strong or weak?Or are you content to abdicate your responsibility to a few?
Before God moves the multitudes, he moves one.
Before God moves the multitudes, he moves leaders.
Before God moves the multitudes, he moves congregations.
Are you being moved, or are you saddled with complacency?