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Well, if you’ve got your bulletins with you this morning, you can open up to the inside and find some notes that go along with the morning message. Before we dive into that, there’s a couple of things I need to say. And if you guys you guys are recording this morning’s message. Cool. I say it on the record. So here’s that. On behalf of my wife and I, I just want to say thank you to you as a as a church family for all your prayers and, and the way that you guys have been coming over and providing for us. Uh, Stacy had a had to have an emergency C-section with the baby and so that, you know, put you out for a little bit. And so you guys just coming over and providing meals for us has been very helpful. And and so we’re thankful for you guys as our family. I’ve told you, as Stacy was pregnant. Um, we’ve moved away from our family for the purpose of doing what we feel like the Lord has called us to do, moving from the east out here to the west. And so you guys, like it or not, have to become our family. All right. So. So I just want to say, on behalf of Stacy and I to our adopted family here in Utah. Thank you for for meeting that need. And we have that on record. All right. And with, uh, with, um, with that, I just want to say, you know, when I know when most pastors have a young child coming to their life, they throw all kinds of baby illustrations into the sermon.
So I’m only going to limit myself to two today. And you guys hold me accountable for that. Okay. But this morning we’re going to continue the series as a church family. There’s a there’s a few things we’d like to do as we study together on Sunday mornings. Sometimes we go through things topically. We study series that are significant to our lives. We just went through a series called How Good Is It? Good enough. We studied a series on prayer together, what it means to have a prayer life, and we’ve just entered into a series on the book of Nehemiah. And the great thing about going through a book, my favorite thing to do as a pastor is we come on Sunday morning and we worship God together as to study through books of the Bible, because your Bible should be something that you carry with you. And by the time we get done with this book of Nehemiah together, you guys should be able to have an understanding of what the book of Nehemiah is all about and how it can. You can draw spiritual principles to your life, and even begin to share that with your family. And thinking of me having a young child, here comes one of my illustrations. It’s great for me to be able to study that and share with him the book of Nehemiah together, just as a basis for us to understand where we’ve been as a as a church family.
The Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of a broken city and a broken people. 140 years before the time of Nehemiah, the the nation of Babylon came into Jerusalem and to the to the people of Israel. And they took them captive, carried them off into captivity. And for 140 years the the city of Jerusalem really virtually laid desolate. There were a few people who were left behind, but by all measures and means the city was destroyed. Medo-persia eventually conquered the nation of Babylon, and Nehemiah was one man who finds himself under the Medo-persian Persian rule. Directly below the king is what they call the cupbearer. Nehemiah is living in a town or a capital city of Medo-persia called Susa. It’s just within about 100 miles of the city of Jerusalem. And something interesting about the life of Nehemiah that we learn in chapter one is after 140 years of this city lying desolate, all of a sudden Nehemiah’s heart begins to break for the city of Jerusalem. It tells us in chapter one that Nehemiah weeps for that city. Nehemiah gets news from friends who had traveled from Jerusalem, and his friends told him that the city still remains 140 years later, desolate. But this wasn’t any new news to Nehemiah. Nehemiah had already known what happened to the city of Jerusalem and to the people of Israel, and the news that he heard from his friends was familiar news.
Life for the people of Israel, for the Jewish people, continues to stink. And Nehemiah began to weep. And the reason that Nehemiah began to weep is because God began to open up the eyes of the heart of Nehemiah, to see the city of Jerusalem, the same way that God saw the city of Jerusalem. And just as Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem just before he was crucified on his on the cross, he wept for a city who didn’t know him. And Nehemiah began to carry that heart of Jesus for his people and for that city. Nehemiah was no doubt familiar with the Old Testament, and he understood that the Messiah was promised to come to Jerusalem, to be within the nation of Israel, and to come from the throne of David and to die for those people. Nehemiah desired it once again, as God desired for that city to grow, and for it to prosper, and for that Messiah to come and fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel, but not just to the nation of Israel, to the entire world. 140 years later, Nehemiah’s heart broke for these people. It tells us for the next four months that Nehemiah began to pray and to fast. Nehemiah was put in a position. It tells us in acts chapter 17 that God appoints all of our time and the exact moment and the exact place in which he desires for you to live, because he has a purpose for your life.
And Nehemiah, understanding his position, being right underneath the king as a cupbearer, knew that he was in a in a place in which God could work in his heart, begin to work upon the King. That way he could go back to Jerusalem and see this city rebuilt for God. And so for four months Nehemiah fasted and prayed, and finally his day came before the king, and he went before the king, and he shared with the king. And the king literally says in chapter two, notice that Nehemiah’s countenance was sad. Being sad before the king was something that no one did in the time of Nehemiah. Because to be sad before the king was to show a display of dissatisfaction for the king’s ruling and and leadership, maybe even treachery to who the King was. So the king had a lot of weight to bear on his shoulders. And you can imagine being the king of Medo-persia, all the enemies that you’ve made as you’ve conquered this nation. If one person you want to be happy and satisfied with your life, it’s got to be the cupbearer. I mean, he literally hold your life in his hands. He is the one whose lips touch the drink before it comes to you to test whether or not it’s poisoned.
He could poison the king’s drink, and the king notices that Nehemiah is sad. And so the king asks Nehemiah why he’s sad, and the king is basically told by Nehemiah, I’m not too keen on your Middle Eastern policies. They don’t please or satisfy what it is that I think I desire, and what it is that God desires for the nation of Israel. And not only did he tell the King that he’s dissatisfied, He he had the courage to ask the king for 12 years off from his job. You guys think about that this week, asking your employer for 12 years off and see how that goes. And then on top of that, he asks the king to provide all the financial support that’s necessary to go back to Jerusalem, to build Nehemiah a house to live in and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And the king said, yes. And so Nehemiah travels that hundred mile journey, which would have taken a few months to get all that equipment into the city of Jerusalem. And now he’s got the task of explaining to the people, the 50 some thousand people who’ve made a journey from Medo-persia into back to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the city, but hadn’t been able to do it to this point. He has the opportunity now to explain to these people that now is the time that they need to build. Just a few years later, the previous to this, Israel had attempted to rebuild the Jerusalem walls, but were stopped by the very same king who now is permitting them to build.
So Nehemiah travels with all his equipment and begins to explain to the people of Israel God’s desire for them to build. And today we get into chapter three, and I just want to tell you that chapter three is one of the most difficult portions of Scripture for all of us to look at together and share with you this morning. Uh, chapter three is really like reading from the Jerusalem phone book. I don’t know if any of you guys have ever tried to come up with a message from a phone book before, but we’re going to find in chapter three there are over 35 different names mentioned, 42 different working groups mentioned, half a dozen different gates mentioned. Every time you see the word gate mentioned in in the scripture this morning, just recognize it as a different portion of the city, a different area of the city, like the northern side, the eastern side, the western side. And as we begin to read this together, some of us will wonder why in the world chapter three is even in the book of Nehemiah. If you were to read some commentaries on Nehemiah chapter three, what you’re going to find out is a lot of commentaries. Just skip over this chapter. But here’s what I think about Scripture. All Scripture is God breathed. It is literally the words of God.
And God has a desire for us to know his words. It’s God’s way of communicating to us who he is. And I have a God given desire, I believe, for us to understand the totality of what the book of Nehemiah is all about. By the way, I found out as I studied this and having not had a kid yet, there’s my second illustration that’s done. Chapter three is a great place to come up with baby names. So as we read this together, we’ll find out this morning some good baby names you can maybe think of for your future. And these people had the benefit of having their names in Scripture, because they were willing to sacrifice so much by giving up the rule under the Medo-persian rule to go back to Jerusalem and to the city that’s desolate and attempt to rebuild it. They made tremendous sacrifice as people for what they thought God wanted them to do. This morning, as we begin to look at this chapter together, there’s one thing I want us to recognize and begin to see for ourselves as we examine these people in this passage of Scripture, and that is, we are preparing ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. Chapter three of Nehemiah kind of rings true with that theme for all of us. Just as Israel was preparing themselves for what God wanted to accomplish in their lives, we can look at the Scripture and examine and see what what it is we can do to prepare to prepare ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives.
If you look in Nehemiah chapter two at the very end of chapter two and verse 18 and verse 20, Nehemiah, when he went into the city, and he begins to convince the people that, okay, we’ve had trouble in the past. Yes. People outside of the city have given us difficulty in and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The king? Yeah. He stopped us previously to this. But this time it’s going to be different. And this time we should attempt to build. And the reminder and the power that Nehemiah gave to the people for them to understand that, yes, we’re going to be able to accomplish this task that God has called us to, as found in verse 18. It says in verse 18, I told them how the hand of God had been favorable to me, and also about the king’s words, which he had spoken to me. In verse 20 it says, in the midst of opposition Nehemiah says this. So I answered them and said to them, The God of heaven will give us success. Preparing ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. Do you realize, similar to the nation of Israel, that God’s desire for you is to give you success? God created you for a purpose God created you for a reason in which he desires for you to live in.
To understand his glory and be able to commune with him in a relationship. To have a life in God’s eyes that would be considered a success. It tells us in Psalms chapter 119, verses 17 and 18. I believe it might be up here on the screen. Oh, no it’s not. It says, how precious also are your thoughts to me, O God? How vast is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake. I am still with you. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any hurtful way in me. And lead me into the everlasting way. In first John chapter four and verse nine, it says, by this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. God’s love is manifested to you and that you might live through Jesus. God wants you to be successful in what the measure of his eyes calls success. And how do we prepare ourselves for that journey that God desires for our lives? I’m just going to pull out three principles for us this morning from this passage of Scripture. And what I want to do is we begin to look in the scriptures, just simply read the first 20 verses to Nehemiah chapter three.
Okay, so together I’m going to read this. I know some of these names. I’m not going to say the way that they were intended to be pronounced, but I’m going to say them with confidence and you’re going to believe that’s how it goes, right? Then Elijah, the high priest, arose with his brothers, the priests, and built the sheepgate. They consecrated it and hung its doors. They consecrated the wall to the tower of the hundred and the tower of Hananeel. Next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zachariah, the son of Emery, built. Now the sons of Hezekiah built for the fish gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars next to. Them. Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hazak, made repairs. And next to him is Shula Meshullam. Excuse me, son of Berechiah, the son of Isabel made repairs. And next to him Zadok, the son of Bina, also made repairs. Moreover, next to him the equites made repairs, but their nobles did not support the work of their masters. Jehoiada, the son of Jesse, and Meshullam, the son of Zechariah, repaired the old gates. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. Next to them, Malatya and the Gibeonite and Jadon, the Maranatha, the men of Gibeon and the Mizpah also made repairs for the official seat of the governor of the province beyond the river. Next to him, Uziel, the son of Hariya of the goldsmiths, made repairs.
And next to him Hananiah, one of perfumers. Don’t name your kids any of these names. I was kidding about that. Made repairs and they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall next to them. Rafiah the son of her, the official of half the district of Jerusalem made her prayers next to them. Jedaiah, the son of Muhammad, made repairs opposite his house, and next to him Hattush, the son of Hashminiya, made repairs. Malachi, the son of Hiram, and Hassum, the son of Metharme, repaired another section in the tower of furnaces next to him. Shalom, the son of Joash, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, and his daughters Hanan and the inhabitants and Zechariah made repairs to the valley gate. They built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and the thousands of cubes of the wall to the refuse gate. Malachi, the son of reek of the official of the district of Beth Hakerem, repaired the dung gate. He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. Show him the son of Kohlhaas, the official of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, covered it, and hung its doors with its bolts and his bars, and the walls of the pools of Shila at the king’s garden, as far as the steps that descended from the city of David.
After him Nehemiah, the son of Azubuike. This is a different Nehemiah, official of half the district of Bezer made repairs as far as the point opposite the Tomb of David and as far as the artificial pool in the House of the Mighty Men. After him the Levites carried out repairs under Rehum, the son of Banai. Next to him Hashabiah, the official of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for this district. After him their brothers carried out repairs under Bovi, the son of Henadad official, to the other half of the district of Keilah. Next to him, Ezra, the son of Jeshua, the official of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent of the armory at the angle. After him, Barak, the son of Zibiah, zealously repaired another section from the angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib, the high priest. There you go. There you go. Wow! This is a difficult passage. This morning I just want to give you three principles from this passage of Scripture, and how we want to prepare ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. The first part you’re going to notice in verse one is they very pointedly shared to us, I’m sure we all remembered from that passage of Scripture what was said first in this passage of Scripture that I find most significant to where Israel’s heart is in these moments. It tells us in verse one, Then Elisha had the high priest arose with his brothers, the priests, and built the sheep.
Be, excuse me, built the sheep gate, and they consecrated it. This helps us to recognize where Israel’s heart is. In the moments that they begin to rebuild this wall. They don’t see it as a people who are beginning just to rebuild a wall, because the focus is they start this endeavor together is to begin around the temple and consecrating what it is they’re about to do to God. It’s something a desire for all of us to recognize as a church. And and I think God communicates to us very beginning of of Scripture in Genesis chapter two, is that everything in this world that we do as people is spiritual, whether we recognize it or not. In our own lives, everything that we do is spiritual. And we were created in this world as spiritual beings, in a physical world. Sometimes people get their perspective or ideas flip flop from what God desires for us to know and understand. Some people see us as physical bodies who happens to have a a spiritual part. But when I read scriptures, what I find a lot of times is that we are spiritual beings who happen to have a physical body. Our physical bodies are the means by which our spiritual eyes are able to communicate and see and identify and relate to this world and the nation of Israel, at least in this passage of Scripture, as they begin to rebuild this wall, understand that everything in this world is spiritual.
I don’t have a spirit. I am a spirit. God created me both body, soul and spirit. It says in first Thessalonians chapter five. In Genesis chapter two and verse seven, it says, the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. If you notice and read Genesis chapter one and chapter two, as he as he creates this world, and he creates the animal, animal kingdom, and the plants and and the vegetation and the and the water and the skies, God creates all of that by the word of his mouth. But when it comes to man and woman, it says that he shapes us with his hand. He creates us physically, but not only physically. God literally breathes his breath into our lungs, giving us a spirit. So when God created the animals, God simply said it was good. But when God created man, he said it was very good. God has given us a physical body to identify with this world in which he created, because we are spiritual beings in charge. God told us to be fruitful and multiply and subdue this earth. It is our responsibility as people, whether we realize it or not, to recognize that everything in this world is spiritual, because all things in this world are to point to the glory of who God is.
It tells us in Romans chapter one that where we fell as creature, as creatures created by God, is that we corrupt the image of God and we exchange his glory for corruptible images. I have the power to turn lights off. Oh! My spiritual life perceives things through this physical world, and we are intended by people to see the spiritual meaning behind everything that we encounter in this life, even if it’s to the point of just building a wall. I was thinking about this week as I studied this portion of scripture in Israel. Just building a wall. That’s all it was, was a wall. They had the opportunity to miss the spiritual blessing that God wanted to work in their lives, but it tells us that they didn’t miss it. In verse one, they understood from the very get go of chapter three as they were getting ready to build. God was behind them. So the first steps they wanted to take as people is they wanted to consecrate the work that they were about to begin. I thought about Jesus’s life in the Bible isn’t real clear in what Jesus did in his life for the first 30 years. It wasn’t until the last three years that we have written in the Gospels all that Jesus did. Because Jesus is primary purpose was to come to this world and die for our sins. And so the Gospels communicate that last three and a half years of his life and ministry for us to understand that, yes, Jesus was that ultimate sacrifice.
Yes, Jesus died for your sins. Yes, you have a great hope in him. And Jesus did everything that he was promised to do in the Old Testament. That’s good that Scripture communicates that. But what about the first 30 years of Jesus life. Was it unholy? Was it insignificant or unimportant? You can’t say that about Christ’s life. Everything that Jesus did, even being a carpenter, even demonstrating a life of integrity and growth, it tells us that he grew in knowledge and wisdom. Jesus lived a consecrated life. Israel is living a consecrated life. The Bible tells us, excuse me, that consecration is not the Bible. Webster’s dictionary tells us that consecration means dedicated to a sacred purpose. In First Corinthians 1031 it tells us, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, whatsoever you do, do all of it to the glory of God. Paul declares this within first Corinthians chapter ten, because Paul understands that we as people, whatever we encounter in this world, all of it is sacred. All of it should be consecrated to the glory of God. All of it is spiritual. Whether it’s building a wall, whether it’s working in your normal job, whether it’s being a mother at home, taking care of the kids, all of it is intended by God to be seen through your spiritual eyes. All of it brings him glory. We dedicate to a sacred purpose.
We have a way of dividing with our minds what is significant in life and what isn’t. We come to church on Sunday and this is a sacred moment. But we leave for Monday and it becomes a secular world. Jesus, when he walked this earth with his disciples, took every moment to teach spiritual truths in his disciples as they encountered life events. Because Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that everything you encounter is spiritual and everything you encounter is significant to the glory of God. One of the beautiful things of what consecration offers. This is an invitation for God to move. This should become a habit in your life. Consecrating to God’s purposes. Anytime a major event happens in your life, like the nation of Israel building a wall, you should take the opportunity to understand and recognize that God has created me in a spiritual being. He’s given an opportunity here for me in my life to see him work. And so I’m going to dedicate and make sacred the purpose of what God is attempting to offer. Now, I know I said I can’t give any illustrations of this from my childhood anymore. So let’s just arbitrarily say anyone who has the birth of a kid when that child is born, God has passed a torch of responsibility to you as parents to see that that child is raised in his understanding and truth. When Grayson was born this past week, Stacy and I took the opportunity of recognizing that this is a beautiful gift that God has given to us and that we should take the opportunity to consecrate what he’s doing in our lives.
It’s simply yielding to God and saying, God, I understand that everything in this world is spiritual. Everything in this world has its purpose. I understand that you’re in control of it. And so, Lord, I’m just subjecting myself to what it is that you want to accomplish. It is yours before you can even begin to inherit the blessings of what God wants to bring in your life, to grow in that relationship, to live in that purpose. You guys got to let them have control. And I’m not saying you’re not. But every day as human beings, we fight the battle of living for the world or living for Christ. And the battle is won as we take the opportunity to consecrate those moments to God, waking up every morning and saying, God, today is your day. Whatever direction you desire for me to take however high you want me to build this wall. God, let me do it according to your will. This is yours and this is sacred. It’s an invitation for him to move. And it tells us in Romans 12, you guys are probably familiar with the passage. I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice to him, giving God the invitation to move in our lives should be our habit.
Consecrate your steps. And you know the nation of Israel, because they were able to do this, and they were giving God control as they began to build this wall. It tells us in the book of Nehemiah, it only took 52 days to literally build a wall that was 14ft high and three feet wide. 50,000 people surrounding this city building this wall together. And they were able to do it by God’s power. It tells us in Nehemiah chapter two, and they followed in that power as they consecrated their lives to the service that God has called them to live. The results of a consecrated life. Israel found what it would bring. If you refuse. It’s Israel because they decided not to give their lives to God, because they decided to disobey God and live for whatever their desires were. They fell into a pit of sin and despair and were eventually led into captivity under the Babylonian rule. It tells us, during the silent years of Israel, right after the captivity, when they come back. God no longer speaks to the nation of Israel because Jesus is about to come. But while the nation of Israel was in captivity, we had all kinds of world religions begin to start Confucius, Buddha, Socrates. All of them began to teach during the time that Israel was in captivity. God’s glory wasn’t being pronounced through the nation of Israel.
People couldn’t see God in his glory through the people that were supposed to be following God. And in so doing, people began to seek truth in their lives, begin to seek and follow after other religions. And so thus they started. There’s a quote that says, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. We talk about the opposite of consecration. That’s the type of life that we’re referring to. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. And sometimes you’ll hear people say that I’m not just I’m not interested in spiritual things. Well, it’s too late because God has already created you as a spiritual being, and he’s got a purpose and significance for your life. You think about what it means not to live a consecrated life to God. You know, they say, statistically, a child who grows up in a home of alcoholics has a higher likelihood of becoming alcoholic. A child who grows up in an abusive home has a higher percentage of one day becoming abusive himself. A child that grows up in a godless home, or parents who don’t treat God as if he is significant to their lives and don’t consecrate the moments. What does that produce in this world? Do you see the significance of consecrating the steps that God has laid before you. No one does the nation of Israel consecrate in verse one. I want to look at what the nation of Israel talks about the most in this passage of Scripture.
You notice, as we read that lengthy portion together, there was a lot of one significant word that kept popping up next to or after or beside them. They kept referring to the people who were working with them. Israel is, by and large, a cooperative community. These are words of a cooperative community. As funny as we look at the word community. You can’t have the word community without common unity. God desires for his people to work as a common unity. And Israel understood what God was trying to do in their lives. As they consecrated, they became a missional people relationally working next to or after one another, theologically Connected to one another as friends, working together for a common purpose. God’s desire not only for the nation of Israel, but for us, is to work as a. Excuse me, a cooperative community for his plan, for his purpose. It tells us in Hebrews chapter ten, do not forsake the assembly of one another together. So as a church family, we have a missional idea of what it is that God wants us to do. We we think that the purpose of life, according to Mark chapter 12, 29 and 31 is relationships. It tells us, Love God with all your heart and love others and loving God. We begin to love the things that God loves as well. And that is loving others. God created his church and he says the gates of hell will not prevail against this.
This was God’s missional community created to carry out his functional purpose in this world. If you want to get a part of what God is doing, and you want God to be a part of your lives, and you desire for God to work in your hearts and your minds, you’ve got to be a part of the community where God is moving his church. If you really want to love God, you’ll love his bride. The Bible illustrates his church as his bride, and it tells us that he literally shed his blood. He gave his life. In Ephesians five four, that bride tells husbands to love their wives in the same way. But you should love the church in the same way that Jesus did, to the point that he gave of his total self to the benefit of the body. So the Bible uses selective terms to refer to what the church is. He calls us a body working together. He calls us a church, which is an assembly. He refers to us all collectively as a bride, a cooperative community with common unity for us to set ourselves up to be successful in what God desires for our lives. Not only do we have to consecrate, but we need to get with the people of God who are desiring to accomplish what God desires. Second Timothy 222 says, flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace, as are all good things.
Then it says, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You know, my tendency is, when I am by myself, I. Revert to sin. Think of me. Live for whatever I want to live for. Desire what it is that I desire and who cares about whatever else. But there’s something about the people of God whose ambition and desire is to walk with God that encourages me down that same path. And I’m no different than any human being. Paul said that the law, the purpose of the law caused him to sin more. In Romans chapter seven, just seeing the rules of the law drove him so crazy that he just wanted to break those rules. And we don’t live according to rules here. We live according to God’s grace. But the body of Christ holds one another accountable towards God’s call. I love the way that Nehemiah did it in this passage of Scripture. If you saw in in verse one, do you notice where the priests built? They built next to the sheepgate. Do you know what priests sacrifice? Sheep? You know what the priest would be interested in seeing built first on that wall? The sheep gate. It was next to the temple, and it brought in their livelihood. As Nehemiah selected the people to build these walls, he assigned people to particular positions. And guess where he put them to build next to the places of interest.
If your home’s here, you’re going to build here because you’re going to protect your home. If you’re a priest, go build up by the temple, because that’s what’s interesting to you, and you want to protect that. If you live outside of the gates and you’re going to run into the city of Jerusalem, if someone comes to attack it, we want you to come and build the place that you’re going to run to first. The body of Christ really works the same way. By God’s grace, he moves in your heart, in your life, and the Bible tells us he literally gifts you for areas of ministry. God’s desire is for you to serve him. It says in Ephesians chapter two and verse ten that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. He saves us by his grace. But he’s got a plan for you to live, for him, to follow after him. And in following after him, you really learn what a relationship with him is all about. You get the opportunity to serve in a place of interest. We don’t tell you where to serve God. I mean, you can serve it collectively within the church. You can serve it outside of the church and reach the lost people. But God’s called you to serve in some capacity in form, and he’s given you the gift to do it. And as he’s given you a gift to serve him, what area of interest do you have? And just like the nation of Israel working as a cooperative community, Nehemiah put him in places that they were skilled and desired to see this wall complete.
We as a church have that giftedness to fix, and I love the way that they rebuild, because it tells us in this passage of Scripture that what they did was repair. They didn’t start over. And that feels good to me. They weren’t interested in starting over. You know, when I first became a Christian, I always looked at myself and thought, what in the world is God going to do with a person like me? I hated to talk in front of people. And so I thought, you know, if there was like a closet, I could participate in some sort of activity, you know, where I wouldn’t get noticed. That was where God wanted me. But he taught me something about his relationship and power and working in our lives. So God’s not interested in necessarily thrown out the bat, but he’s able to repair what’s there. Isaiah chapter nine and verse six tells us that he is a wonderful counselor, meaning he’s the best counselor you’re ever going to have. He is an everlasting father. He is the Prince of Peace. And if there’s anything in my life that can come and repair and heal the needs that I have, the Bible tells us in Isaiah nine, it’s Jesus. Life is about picking up and reusing the broken pieces.
And if I were honest with wanting God to work in my life and I came to know him and I still even to this day, as I come before God and I consecrate those moments, I say to God, God, I’m still that broken piece. God is in the business of repairing what’s broken, And God is able to heal those needs. It tells us that he, as a nation of Israel, they began to use the old stones. I love, as I’ve learned about my relationship with the Lord, that God loves to take his kids to work. You ever think about that? I mean, God literally could step in and do a job better. But that’s not what the Christian life is about. God loves to take his kids to work. He loves to show them what he’s doing, and he loves to let them be a part of it. If all of us waited for somebody better to come along to do the job, the job would never get done. The wonderful thing about it is when we step out in faith and we begin to work in that job, we learn to trust in Jesus more and grow closer to him greater. You know what preaching on Sunday drives me to do for for 20 hours a week, I spend worried about the message, and then for the next 20 hours I spend writing the message. You know, because to this day, it’s still not comfortable for me to stand in front of groups and talk.
Believe that or not. But God does a repairing work in me. And it’s the same with everyone here. God wants to use you. God will take whatever broken piece that you feel that you are, and use those old stones to build that new wall. God has created you for a purpose, appointed you in a time, and he has that desire in your life. He loves to take his kids to work and let them be a part. You know, as I think about repairing, I think about the, the, the idea of our church with relationships, loving God and loving others. I thought about the most significant thing that we as people oftentimes work to repair is relationships. You know, 95% of all counseling needs before a counselor deal with relationship issues towards somebody else. And I thought about this nation of Israel working together. They probably had their their fights with one another. But when it came to doing the job that God had called him to do, it says that they worked next to one another or after one another or beside one another. And I thought about the relationships in our lives and understanding as a Christian, what God has called us to do is repair those relationships. The Bible literally says, if you’ve offended a brother and you’re coming to worship, leave that offering that you’re about to worship to him.
Go and make right that relationship with that brother that needs reconciled and come back and worship. That’s pretty good. I thought, you know, God wants me to make my relationships right when I’ve wronged somebody that’s just like Jesus. But the Bible also goes on a step further. It says, if a brother has wronged you and you know that brother has wronged you, and there is a rift in your relationship and you are about to worship, it tells you in the book of Matthew, literally leave that house of worship, leave that opportunity that you’re consecrating in those moments to God, and go and find that brother and make that relationship right, even though he’s the one that offended you. That is a tough pill to swallow. But there’s something that rings true with a statement like that for us to repair the work that God has called us to do. We have to be a cooperative community, and we’ve got to be in a common unity. God doesn’t work in that tension. And for us as a group, to consecrate what God wants us to do together, we’ve got to gather together. Lay that down and seek to work through relationships in Christ. Last point I want to make this morning is something that was said powerfully. In verse 14 Says Malchijah, the son of Reck of the official of the district of Beth Hakerem, repaired the dungate. He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars.
I love the identity of the person here that’s building the dung gate. You can imagine as a kid, let’s say four generations from now, you’re in the city of Jerusalem and the walls are being built. And so it’s time as kids to learn about the history of the city and the history of Nehemiah. And so all of you leave that day for a field trip, and you begin to walk the journey around the wall, and your teacher begins to explain, because he’s an older fellow and he understands everything that built and all the sacrifice that people made, as 50,000 people came back from Persia and built this wall. And he explains to the kids, there’s where it started, over there with the priests as they built the sheepgate and consecrated to God. We believe that’s why God did such a great work in our lives, because we’re about making him our first priority and what he wanted to accomplish. And the wall continued to be built. And there’s the fish gate over here, and the wall continued down and down there. We’re not going to make the journey down here, but there was a little piece built and built, and we’re just not going to be in that area. And the kids just begin to say, why? Why do we want to go down there? Well, that’s the dung gate. We don’t want to get your school clothes dirty.
It stinks down there. And one of the kids begins to pipe up. Well, well, tell us about the dung Gate. What was what was so significant about the dung game and what? What purpose does it serve? And he begins to share that. Well, the dung Gate, even though all this was built, one of the most fascinating things that happened as the city of Jerusalem was built was that the the dirtiest part of the wall was built by one of the largest leaders within the city. Micaiah was the official of the district of Beth Hakam. One of our leaders took upon himself to take the lowliest position that you would ever want when you’re building a city wall. I mean, nobody wants to build the poo poo gate, right? Third illustration I know my kids are great at this. He’s he’s an open dung gate, and I don’t want to get anywhere near that. And in verse 14, it tells us that Malchijah, in understanding what the Dung Gate was, took it upon himself to build him. A good leader is always willing to lead with humility. Sometimes we think about what God has called us to do, and we prepare ourselves for the journey that God has for our lives. And we think about doing that as a community. We think about doing that as a church. It requires certain people at particular moments to take a leadership step and lower themselves for us to begin our relationship with God.
It really took Jesus from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, to come to this world and literally humiliate themselves for us. And in his leadership, we grow together and in his leadership we have hope and we have freedom. And Jesus has to take something as torturous and ugly as a Roman cross and make it the symbol of our glory. Malchijah took a dung gate, and he taught us in a practical way further about what it means to lead with humility. We as a church family are only going to go forward as far as we humbly lead for our God. When people offend us or say things that wrong us, we seek to reconcile that community of relationship and in humility we lead. Do you know the word human comes from the Latin word, which also relates to the word humility. As human beings, the word humility, or the word human is to reflect us the lower position that we have before God. We are his servants and he is our king. A lot of times we reflect on him as a loving father, but still Scripture declares he is also our King. And so humbly we are to serve. How do we prepare ourselves for what God wants for our lives? Leading without humility will stop us from doing what God desires in our lives. See, God is preparing in all of our lives to begin a journey to begin in our lives of movement, if we would just surrender ourselves to him.
Nehemiah recognized before the nation of Israel it wasn’t anything different than they shouldn’t understand. God wants to move in your life. In chapter two and verse 18, God had blessed them with the opportunity, had blessed Nehemiah with the opportunity to come to Jerusalem and rebuild those walls he had gifted him. And he tells the enemies of Israel in verse 20, God is going to do this work in our lives and as a church, God has promised you the same thing. The Bible tells us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the power of the church, and Christ as individuals has set you free. Do you understand what God wants to do in your life? He’s got a wonderful plan for your future. He’s given you the invitation to follow after him as you consecrate yield your life. He desires for you to connect with his community, to grow with one another. And it’s a wonderful thing because we get to work next to one another in the gifted areas that we desire. And and he can use any old stone to get the job done. God desires to work through your life, but in humility we subject ourselves to one another. You know what picture that that paints for us as a church family, a powerful community that lives for Christ? You know how I know this? Because the nation of Israel was able to rebuild all the walls in Jerusalem within 52 days as they subjected themselves under what we’ve talked about today.
That’s how God moves. Make it a habit. Make it a habit in your life to just give him control and follow after him in his steps. Let’s pray together. God, I thank you that you have set us free and the power of your word and all these names we read about today, because all those names came together for one purpose in you. And they thought about their city, Jerusalem and God. As we look at Nehemiah, these broken people and this broken city, I think about Lehi. I think about northern Utah County and God, I think about us being here at this appointed time for a specific purpose. And, God, you’ve made us giants for your kingdom. If we would just stop and let you have control. I pray that we’re not selfish in our relationship with you. God, we understand what it means to walk after you, to be a part of your community, and to take a stand. To let you work in our lives, to heal the brokenhearted, to heal a city, to heal a people and allow them to follow after you. Thank you for setting us free. God, I pray that you bless. Bless our week. May we be an encouragement to one another throughout this week and we just ask it in Jesus name. Amen.