Continuing our survey of the book of Nehemiah, Pastor Derek teaches us that "God is at work for His people as His people work together to advance His Kingdom".
For more resources join us at www.pgfirst.com
Continuing our survey of the book of Nehemiah, Pastor Derek teaches us that "God is at work for His people as His people work together to advance His Kingdom".
For more resources join us at www.pgfirst.com
Doing a Great Work, Nehemiah 4:15-23
When the famous missionary Hudson Taylor made the voyage to China on a sailing vessel, the ship neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra. Suddenly the missionary heard an knock on his door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship. “Mr. Taylor,” he said, “we have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are heathen, and I fear they are cannibals.” “What can I do?” asked Taylor. “I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind.” “All right, Captain, I will, but you must set the sail.” Protesting that this was ridiculous and that the sailors would think him crazy for doing so when there wasn’t any wind at all, Taylor insisted on the course of action. Forty-five minutes later the captain returned and found the missionary still on his knees. “You can stop praying now,” said the captain. “We’ve got more wind that we know what to do with!”
This story helps illustrate one of the interesting paradoxes of the Christian life. Obviously, it was God who brought the wind. It was God who rescued Hudson Taylor and the sailors from potential danger. But it was also true that work needed to be done. Hudson Taylor knew that it was his responsibility to pray in faith. After all, James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” (Js. 4:2) And he also knew that if God was going to bring the wind, then the sailors needed to hoist the sails beforehand. What good is it to have wind to carry you out of danger if you don’t have sails to catch the wind? God’s sovereignty over the wind was met with the human responsibility to act in faith.
This is the norm of the Christian life. Yes, there are many things that God does in a unilateral fashion. Because He is omnipotent, God does all that He pleases (Dan. 4:35b). But it’s also true that God gives us human responsibility. Clearly, we are responsible to do many things- to read our Bibles, pray, gather together, disciple one another, practice evangelism and much more. The Bible is filled with hundreds of commands that we must obey. This requires that we engage our wills, work hard, and do the great work that God calls us to. Here is the mystery. God is sovereign, but His work is often accomplished through strenuous human effort. In a way that doesn’t not rob God of any glory, God works, and we must also work (Phil. 2:12-13; Gal. 2:20).
The story of God’s people rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem is a fine example of this tension. This was God’s work. He providentially changed the king’s heart. He secured the provisions. He moved His peoples’ hearts (2:8, 18). And God was actively working to frustrate the enemy’s plans by fighting for His people (15, 20). God could have chosen to rebuild the wall out of nothing, instead, He chose to accomplish His work through His people- weak and as inadequate as they were. But to do their great work, they needed a wise and skilled leader, and they needed to exert maximum effort. So it will be for us as we seek to accomplish a great work for the Lord. Nehemiah 4:15-23 teaches us that...God is at work for His people as His people work together to advance His Kingdom.
When we left off, Nehemiah and the people were facing three types of opposition. They faced opposition from unbelievers, as the regional leaders hurled verbal assaults and threatened them with physical violence. They also faced opposition from within their own
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hearts, as they questioned their ability to finish the task (10). If that wasn’t enough, they faced opposition from fellow Jews who sought to distract them from their work (12). Nehemiah combated this opposition with faith-filled action (13-14), and by praying an imprecatory prayer (4-5). In this prayer he divested himself of his desire to retaliate and entrusted the matter into the Lord’s hands and asking for His intervention. What follows invv.15-23 is the Lord’s response to the prayer and the adjustments Nehemiah made in response to the enemy’s threats. Here we see three activities we must engage in as we work to advance God’s Kingdom.
First, God is at work for His people as His people fight to advance His Kingdom (15-18a).After a brief hiatus, the people “all returned to the wall, each to his work.” (15) They could do so because God had frustrated the enemy’s covert plan to attack the builders of the wall (8,11). In response, Nehemiah developed a comprehensive defensive scheme, providing the protection for every worker at every portion of the wall and enabling the people to both work and fight.
First, he divided up “his servants” (probably his entourage 2:9) into workers and soldiers(16a). Then, those who were carrying burdens (rocks out of the rubble) worked with one hand and had a sword in the other (17). This “sword and trowel” approach afforded them protection in their vulnerable position. And those whose work required both hands had a sword strapped to his side (18a). Although God had frustrated the enemy’s plan, Nehemiah left nothing to chance- the work could continue, and the people could protect themselves. Remarkably, we read of no casualties during the rebuilding of the wall.
These countermeasures provide an illustration of what it looks like to engage in kingdom work. The Christian life is a spiritual fight. We are engaged in a continual and irreconcilable war against the Devil, the world, and the flesh. The Devil roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8-9a). The world, which is under the control of the evil one, seeks to lull us to spiritual sleep and get us out of the will of the Lord (1 Jn. 2:15-17). We also wrestle against our flesh, the residual effects of our fallenness, which desires that which is opposed to God. Realize it or not, the battle always rages on in us and around us.
The Christian life is both working and fighting. The only way you are going to accomplish a great work for the Lord is to simultaneously engage in the spiritual battle. Without fighting, we will be defeated. Peter writes, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Pet. 1:13 NIV) And like the Jews, we can’t have any soft spots (Ro. 13:14). Listen to Jerry Bridges. “The pursuit of holiness requires sustained and vigorous effort. It allows for no indolence, no lethargy, no halfhearted commitment, and no laissez faire attitude toward even the smallest sins. In short, it demands the highest priority in the life of a Christian, because to be holy is to be like Christ — God’s goal for every Christian.”
Or J.I. Packer, “Any idea of getting beyond conflict, outward or inward, in our pursuit of holiness in this world is an escapist dream that can only have disillusioning and
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demoralizing effects on us as waking experience daily disproves it. What we must realize, rather, is that any real holiness in us will be under hostile fire all the time, just as our Lord was.” God will frustrate the enemy, but you must engage in the battle.
So, we fight to advance the Kingdom of God. But we don’t do so alone. We fight together. Secondly...
It wasn’t just fight; it was fight together. The people were spread out over the distance of about a mile, and in small pockets, there was no way that they could adequately defend themselves. So, Nehemiah devised a plan to rally everyone to the point of attack. The trumpeter would sound the alarm, and the rest of the people would join their brothers in the battle. Alone they would have be defeated, but by fighting together, they could successfully overwhelm the enemy.
Likewise, we are not just called to fight; we are called to fight together. God never intends for us to live isolated lives in which we attempt to fight our battles alone. He calls us to engage in meaningful discipleship relationships so that we can advance God’s Kingdom together. When we isolate from each other, and the attacks from the evil one come, and discouragement sets in our own hearts, and others seek to distract us from our work, we are more likely to become defeated, more discouraged and more distracted than if we had God’s people at our side.
We need people like Aaron and Hur, who held up Moses’ arm as the Israel fought in battle against the Amalekites. “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. So Aaron and Hur held up his hand, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun”. (Ex. 17:11-13) We need people like Epaphras, who was always wrestling in prayer for the Colossians, that they would stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured (Col. 4:12).
One day a group of young ministers came one day to visit Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s church. After showing them the massive sanctuary, Spurgeon offered to show them his“boiler room.” The guests were not interested because boiler rooms were not pleasantplaces to visit. Spurgeon led the young ministers down to the basement where they foundabout one hundred people in prayer. “This,” Spurgeon said with a smile, “is my boiler room.” Whenever Spurgeon was asked the secret of his ministry he always replied, “My people pray for me.”
When God’s people rallied together, they did so with the promise that God would fight for them (20). The undefeated, sovereign of the universe, who the demons tremble before, will fight for us. As Moses charged the Israelites who were about to cross into hostile territory, “Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you."
(Deut. 3:22 NIV) Or, as they were pinned against the Red sea. “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
God is at work for His people as His people fight together to advance His
Kingdom (18b-20).
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(Ex. 14:13-14 NIV) When we rally to each other’s side, when we hold each other’s arms up, when we fight with each other, we can rest assured that our God is fighting for us.
So, we fight to advance God’s Kingdom, and we fight together. Thirdly,
Just because God is fighting for us and frustrating the enemy’s plans does not mean it’s going
to be easy. All the people sacrificed- they all labored at the work. Whether they were holding spears from dusk to dawn or had a sword in one hand and a trowel in another, everyone had to sacrifice and exert a sustained effort. They all sacrificed, but some had to sacrifice even more. When it became ill-advised for those who were making the commute from the surrounding villages to go home at night, Nehemiah asked them to remain in the city and pull double shifts- serving as guards by night and laborers by day. Even Nehemiah or those closest to him refused to pull rank (21).
Our God will fight for us, but we must sacrifice together as we work to advance His Kingdom. We are going to have to exert maximum effort (1 Cor. 15:10). We are going to have to give sacrificially of our time, treasure, and talents. In order to see people become the committed followers of Christ, it is going to cost us. God will save as He wills, but we will have to sacrifice. If we are going to corporately grow up into Christ, it will cost us our time and energies. And if we are going to partner together financially to advance the Kingdom of God, it will be costly. It will be costly, but it will be worth it.
God is at work for His people as His people work together to advance His Kingdom.
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God is at work for
His people as His people sacrifice together to advance His Kingdom (21-23).