Good morning, church.
It's good to see you this morning.
Our sermon passage today is Nehemiah, chapters 3 and 4.
That's page 371 in the Pew Bible.
Let me invite you to turn there with me.
Nehemiah, chapters 3 and 4.
Now, to set the stage for our text, I want to begin by reading the end of actually Nehemiah, chapter 2, verses 17 through 20.
So let me read verses 17 through 20 of chapter 2 for us, and then I'll pray, and then we'll dive in.
So this is Nehemiah speaking to the returned exiles in Jerusalem.
And they said,
Let us rise up and build.
So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite's servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it,
they jeered at us and despised us and said,
What is this thing that you are doing?
Are you rebelling against the king?
Then I replied to them,
The God of heaven will make us prosper,
and we his servants will arise and build.
But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.
Let's pray together.
Father, we do ask for your blessing upon this time that we spend in these moments attending to your word.
God, with the psalmists, we cry out that if you remain silent to us, God,
we are like those who go down to the grave.
Hearing your word spoken, hearing your voice coming to us through your word,
God, these are our only hope of life.
So we sit before you this morning, God, hungry to hear your words.
God, would you help me as I unpack this passage and preach this word?
Lord, would my human words be swept up into the words of your spirit
to faithfully proclaim what is here and what you are saying to your church?
We pray all this, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, it must have seemed like an impossible task.
Build a wall around Jerusalem.
The year is 445 B.C.,
90 years after the first group of Jews returned to the land of Judah
after the exile to Babylon.
At this point in history, the temple has been rebuilt.
The word of God is being taught,
but the city itself is still largely in ruins.
And Nehemiah has just arrived in Jerusalem
from the Persian imperial capital of Susa,
and he's gathered together the people,
and he's told them of his plan
to restore the dignity of the city
and rebuild its walls.
Now, this was a huge task, a huge task.
It was roughly 2,300 meters around the city.
That's about the length of 250 football fields.
How many football fields would you take up
if this was the project before us?
We'd each have to take about one.
100 yards, each of us.
Build a wall.
And what was left of the original wall
was nothing but charred remains and rubble,
which was utterly unusable for the reconstruction.
But, you know, it wasn't just a huge task.
It was a despised task.
The surrounding people, their neighbors,
hear about it, and they ridicule them.
They despise them.
So how would this small band of returned Jewish exiles
be any match on the one hand
for the magnitude of such a task?
But not just that.
On the other hand,
how would they be any match
for the opposition to the task?
You know, we might ask the same question of ourselves,
the church, today.
Of course, now that Christ has come
and poured out his spirit at Pentecost,
God's people are no longer a physical city
amidst the nations of Palestine.
Rather, we are a spiritual city
amidst the nations of the whole world.
We're not building physical walls anymore.
We're building spiritual communities
of faith and hope and love.
And yet, the task before us
to build the church,
to advance God's kingdom,
is equally daunting, if not more so.
Just like in Nehemiah's day,
there is much work to be done.
The magnitude of the task is great.
And just like in Nehemiah's day,
there's opposition that we need to withstand.
Think about the magnitude of our task.
There are about 860,000 people
who live in New Haven County,
many of whom have never heard the gospel,
many of whom have actually had
terrible experiences with the church
and frankly want nothing to do with Jesus.
Statistics about addiction, poverty,
mental health, abuse,
are at staggering levels.
Not just outside the church,
but inside the church.
And rather than being communities
of faith and hope and love,
churches can often deteriorate
into places of cynicism
and bitterness and burnout.
The task of building up the church
and advancing God's kingdom
is staggering.
The magnitude of the task before us is great.
But think about the opposition
to the task as well.
Christianity is often ridiculed
as sort of an outdated,
antiquated thing, isn't it?
Too old, too prescriptive,
too narrow to be of any real use.
Besides, some think,
haven't we tried it already?
What makes us think it's going to work now?
What good has it done?
But you know,
the opposition isn't just ridicule
or unbelief from the world.
We also have to contend
with our own sinful natures,
don't we?
Our selfish pride
that wants to be made up of,
made much of.
Our sinful desires
that want to gratify ourselves
rather than glorify God.
Our self-justifying spirits
that would rather fester over a wrong
than overlook an offense.
Oftentimes the enemy
is ourselves, isn't it?
But if that's not opposition enough
from the world
and from our own sinful natures,
there's also the one
that Jesus calls the accuser.
A spiritual enemy
whose main weapon
is the lie.
The lie that God
is neither good enough
nor powerful enough
to make any difference.
The lie that we don't need a Savior.
The lie that even if there was a Savior,
God couldn't possibly love someone like me
and want to save me.
And so it's easy,
isn't it,
to grow discouraged
as a church
when we see the magnitude
of the task,
when we see the opposition
to the task.
It's easy
to get discouraged
and it's easy
to grow afraid.
But what Nehemiah chapters 3 and 4
show us is hope.
God has made a way for us
to meet
both
the magnitude of the task
and the opposition
to the task.
We see the magnitude
of the task
being faced
in chapter 3
and the opposition
in chapter 4.
So first,
let's think about
the magnitude.
In chapter 3,
to sum it up,
we see the magnitude
of the church's task
is no match
for a ministry-minded
membership.
The magnitude
of the church's task
is no match
for a ministry-minded
membership.
Now,
at first glance,
chapter 3,
just looks like
a long list
of obscure names
and places
around Jerusalem,
right?
Look down there.
You're like,
man,
I'm glad he's not
going to read
that whole chapter.
And I'd be making up
how to pronounce
about half of those names.
True confessions.
But you know,
actually,
as we take a breath
and glance over
that chapter,
what it is,
it's actually
a description
of the work
and the workers
who took up
the daunting task
of rebuilding
the walls.
It's quite a heroic
and courageous list.
The description
of the work
begins
in the north end
of the city
at what's called
the Sheep Gate
in verse 1.
And then,
we're going to move
kind of counterclockwise
around the city's perimeter,
naming the various gates
and landmarks
along the way.
And the gates
of the city
become the sort
of major landmarks
that divide up the work.
From the Sheep Gate
in verse 1,
you see that there,
we go west
to the Fish Gate
in verse 3,
slightly south
to the Gate of Yeshna
in verse,
is it verse 6?
Then from there,
we take a steep turn south
down to the Valley Gate
in 13
until we reach
the southernmost part
of the city,
what's called
the Dung Gate
in verse 14.
Okay,
you had to really feel
for the guys
who were building
the Dung Gate,
right?
Not the most glamorous job,
but there you go.
They drew the short sticks.
They had to build
the Dung Gate.
But anyway,
keep going.
From there,
the wall shoots north again
up to the Fountain Gate,
the Water Gate,
the Horse Gate
in verse 28,
the East Gate,
the Mustard Gate
until back to the
northernmost part
of the city
where the work began
at the Sheep Gate
in verse 32,
right near the temple
in the northernmost part
of the city,
probably named
the Sheep Gate
because that's where
the sacrifices
were brought into the city
for worship at the temple.
And so we see
that the people
actually tackle
the whole project
at once,
every member
of the community
finding their place,
doing their part,
joining in the great work.
And the priests
in verse 1,
they consecrated,
they set it apart,
not just the Sheep Gate,
but by relationship
to the whole task,
they consecrated,
they set it apart
as devoted to the Lord.
Now it's hard not
to think here
as we see the community
taking up this project
together.
It's hard not to think here
of the description
of the church
in the New Testament,
isn't it?
Think of what Paul
has to say
in Ephesians chapter 4.
Speaking of the church,
he says,
and we heard this earlier,
speaking the truth
in love,
we are to grow up
in every way
into Him
who is the head
into Christ,
from whom the whole body
joined and held together
by every joint
with which it is equipped.
When each part
is working properly,
makes the body grow
so that it builds
itself up in love.
When each part
is working properly,
the body grows,
building itself up
in love.
You see,
in the body of Christ,
our membership
means ministry,
a call to serve
and love
and to find your place
in this great work
of building
the spiritual city
of God.
Let me make
a couple observations
from Nehemiah chapter 3
about this
every member ministry.
First,
what we see here
is that the workers
on the wall
come from all
the social levels
of the community.
If you scan
throughout this chapter,
you'll come across
priests,
Levites,
temple servants,
civic rulers,
craftsmen,
merchants,
men,
and women.
No one
is excluded
from the work.
Everyone finds
their place.
Now,
I think there's
a two-fold lesson
for us there.
On the one hand,
don't think
that there's no place
for you
in the work
of the church
and the work
of the kingdom.
You may not think
that you have much
to contribute,
but friend,
Jesus made you
a part of His body,
a part of His city
for a reason.
There are no accidents.
For the sake
of the kingdom,
you do have a role
to play.
In fact,
you're a needed member.
Remember what Paul says?
Only when each part
is working properly,
each and every part,
do we grow
the way God intends.
You have a place.
We actually need you
on the wall,
as it were.
On the other hand,
if some people
think they're no good
to minister in the church,
don't fall into
the opposite trap
of thinking you're too good.
Notice verse 5.
Look at the end
of verse 5.
And next to them,
the Techoites repaired,
but their nobles
would not stoop
to serve their Lord.
The nobles of Techoa,
a region I think
south of Jerusalem,
were a bit too proud
to get their hands dirty
and build a wall.
Friend,
don't let that be you.
Consider rather
the example
of verse 9.
Next to them,
Rephiah,
the son of Hur,
ruler of half
the district
of Jerusalem repaired.
Or verse 12.
Next to him,
Shalom,
the son of Halahesh,
ruler of half
the district
of Jerusalem repaired.
He and his daughters.
Who are these two men?
They were basically
what we might call mayors
of half of the city
and half of the surrounding district.
But they didn't think
that the work
of rebuilding the wall
was too mundane
for them.
No,
it was an honor
to serve God's kingdom
in this way.
It was a privilege to them.
No matter how great
their social standing
in the world,
they were willing
to be servants
in the church.
another observation
about every member
ministry
that we see here.
Consider that many people
built the wall
even though it wasn't
necessarily
what we might call
their gifting.
In verse 8,
who do we see there?
There are goldsmiths
and perfumers
who are working
on the construction project.
In verse 32,
there are merchants.
In verse 26,
there are temple servants.
And not one of them
seemingly said,
sorry, Nehemiah,
this isn't really
my spiritual gift,
you know.
I took a spiritual gift survey
when Ezra came into town.
It showed that I was
something very different,
not bricklaying,
not masonry,
not carrying stuff.
So I'm going to sit
this one out.
But hey,
when we start
the perfume ministry,
let me know.
I'm on it.
I'm in there.
In the meantime,
I'm going to sit
this one out.
Now,
of course,
it is okay
to want to serve
out of your strengths,
right?
That's a good principle.
But friends,
if a perfumer
can lay bricks,
how much more
can you and I
take up a ministry
that might not necessarily
be a perfect match
for our skills
for the sake
of loving Christ's church.
If the real need
is there,
ministry-mindedness
means that we gladly
engage in the task
wholeheartedly.
We take up our place
on the wall
for the good of the whole
and count it a privilege
to be a part
of beautifying God's city
and restoring its dignity.
And so what's the result
of this every-member ministry?
Jump down
into chapter 4,
verse 6.
Look at chapter 4,
verse 6.
It says,
And so we built the wall,
and all the wall
was joined together
to half its height,
for the people
had a mind to work.
Isn't that awesome?
When everyone
joined the work,
the wall came together,
and pretty soon
they were halfway done.
They started to actually
turn the corner.
This impossible task
suddenly looked
pretty possible.
So let me make
a very simple application
to our life here at Trinity.
And this is going to feel
really mundane, I know,
but let's just go there.
If every member
of our church
served on a ministry team
on Sunday
just once or twice a month,
friends,
we'd almost never have to ask
for volunteers.
If every member
served in some ministry
just once or twice a month,
we'd have more than enough
to do the work before us
and more.
Now,
I know we don't do
a lot of volunteer
asking at Trinity,
but imagine that.
Think of how much
encouraging,
life-giving energy
would be released
in our midst
if we loved one another
in just that simple way
to serve in some ministry
just once or twice
a month around here.
And as our church grows,
imagine how we'd be able
to welcome more people,
serve more newcomers,
allow our body
to grow
into the full measure
of the stature
of Christ,
as Paul says.
So where's your place
on the wall?
Do you have one?
If you don't know
where you should join in,
you can talk to me
after the service.
I can point you
in the right direction.
Or you can email
the church office
through the website.
The staff would be
more than happy
to connect you
with the ministry.
You can talk to someone
who's doing something
around here
that looks like
you might be interested in.
Do that
so you can take
an active part
in the good work
that's going on
around here.
But let me apply
this principle
to our evangelistic task
as well,
our call
to make disciples
and be salt and light
in the world.
You know,
providentially,
God has placed
each one of us
in our particular context
in our city,
in our communities.
Whether it's your job
or your neighborhood
or your campus
or your kayaking club,
whatever,
when you look down
through this list
in chapter 3,
a lot of people
start rebuilding the wall
right across the street
from their house.
It's no mistake
that you are
where you are.
And in this list
from Nehemiah,
we see that people
are taking up the work
right before them.
Look at verse 23.
After them,
Benjamin and Hashab
repaired opposite
their house.
And after them,
Azariah,
the son of Maseah,
son of Ananiah,
repaired beside
his own house.
Where do you belong
in the work
of the kingdom?
Right where you are.
God's placed you there
for a reason.
If each of us
viewed our lives this way
and began praying,
God, use me right here.
Open my eyes
to how you're going
to use me
in these relationships,
in this workplace,
on this street,
in this neighborhood,
in this residence hall,
in this apartment building.
Just imagine
what could happen.
Yes,
the task
would still be great,
but it would not
be impossible.
The wall
would start
to come together.
People will come
to know Christ
and the kingdom
will advance.
How can we be so sure?
I'm speaking
pretty confidently,
aren't I?
Friends,
as we heard this morning
in Sunday school,
it's not because
I have a lot of faith
in humanity.
It's because I have
a lot of faith
in the Lord.
Isn't this the message
of Christianity?
That God loved
the fallen world
so much
that he gave
his only son
to die on a cross
for our sins,
to rise again
on the third day,
to ascending glory
to the Father,
to pour out his Spirit
so that he might draw
men and women
to himself
from every tribe,
every tongue,
every culture,
every city
so that he might
reconcile us
to God
and one another.
Did Christ die
on the cross?
Did he rise again?
If yes,
then our mission
cannot fail.
And he's inviting
all of us
to join in the work,
to take your place
on the wall
and see the city
come alive again.
But that doesn't mean
it's going to be easy.
The work gets off
to an incredible start
in chapter 3.
The people say
they're going to do it
in chapter 2
and then they do it
in chapter 3.
It's wonderful.
But soon,
opposition comes.
Let's pick up the story
in chapter 4, verse 1.
Let me read chapter 4
for us.
Now, when Sanballat,
he's one of the local
non-Jewish officials
sort of of the neighboring
surrounding people.
Now, when Sanballat heard
that we were building
the wall,
he was angry
and greatly enraged
and he jeered
at the Jews.
And he said
in the presence
of his brothers
and of the army
of Samaria,
Samaria is sort of
the district just north
of Judea and Jerusalem,
what are these
feeble Jews doing?
Will they restore it
for themselves?
Will they sacrifice?
Will they finish up
in a day?
Will they revive
the stones
out of the heaps
of rubbish
and burned ones
at that?
Tobiah the Ammonite
was beside him
and he said,
yeah, what they're building,
if a fox goes up on it,
he'll break down
their stone wall.
And then Nehemiah prays,
Hear, O God,
for we are despised.
Turn back their taunt
on their own heads
and give them up
to be blundered
in a land
where they're captives.
Do not cover their guilt
and let not their sin
be blotted out
from your sight,
for they've provoked you
to anger
in the presence
of the builders.
So we built the wall
and all the wall
was joined together
to half its height
for the people
had a mind to work.
But when Sanballat
and Tobiah
and the Arabs
and the Ammonites
and the Ashdodites
heard that the repairing
of the walls of Jerusalem
was going forward
and that the breaches
were beginning to be closed,
they were very angry.
And they plotted,
they all plotted together
to come and fight
against Jerusalem
and to cause confusion in it.
And we prayed to our God
and said a guard
is a protection
against them day and night.
In Judah,
it was said,
the strength of those
who bear the burdens
is failing.
There's too much rubble.
By ourselves,
we will not be able
to rebuild the wall.
And our enemies said,
they will not know
or see
till we come among them
and kill them
and stop the work.
At that time,
the Jews who lived near them
from all directions
came and said to us
ten times,
you must return to us.
So,
in the lowest parts
of the space
behind the wall
and open places,
I stationed the people
by their clans
with their swords,
their spears,
and their bows.
And I looked
and arose
and said to the nobles
and to the officials
and to the rest of the people,
do not be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord
who is great
and awesome
and fight for your brothers,
your sons,
your daughters,
your wives,
and your homes.
When our enemies heard
that it was known to us
and that God
had frustrated their plan,
we all returned to the wall,
each to his work.
From that day on,
half of my servants
worked on construction
and half held the spears,
shields, bows,
and coats of mail.
And the leaders stood
behind the whole house of Judah
who were building the wall.
Those who carried burdens
were loaded in such a way
that each labored
on the work with one hand
and held his weapon
with the other.
And each of the builders
had his sword
strapped at his side
while he built.
The man who sounded
the trumpet
was beside me
and I said to the nobles
and to the officials
and to the rest of the people,
the work is great
and widely spread
and we are separated
on the wall
far from one another.
In the place
where you hear
the sound of the trumpet,
rally to us there,
our God will fight for us.
So we labored at the work
and half of them
held the spears.
From the break of dawn
until the stars came out.
I also said to the people
at that time,
let every man and his servant
pass the night
within Jerusalem
that they may be a guard
for us by night
and may labor by day.
So neither I
nor my brothers
nor my servants
nor the men of the guard
who followed me,
none of us took off our clothes,
each kept his weapon
at his right hand.
So what do we see?
By the end of chapter 4,
this construction site
around Jerusalem
has turned into a battleground.
Brothers and sisters,
let us not think
that the task
of building the church,
of seeing God's kingdom advance,
will happen without a fight.
In this chapter,
notice how the taunts
of verses 1 and 3
become threats
in verses 7 and 8.
As the work progresses,
the opposition
doesn't get less and less,
it gets more and more.
The higher the wall becomes,
the fiercer the opposition grows.
In verse 7,
in verse 7,
the city is now actually
sort of surrounded
with enemies.
Sanballat from Samaria
in the north,
Arabs in the south,
Ammonites in the east,
the Ashdodites in the west,
they are literally surrounded
by their opponents.
And the people get discouraged
in verse 10.
Seeing the opposition
growing,
their work songs
actually turn into
sort of songs of despair.
What they say in verse 10
actually sort of has
a kind of meter to it
in the Hebrew.
One translator rendered
verse 10 this way,
the builders are pooped,
the rubbish piles up,
we're in over our heads,
we can't build this wall.
And yet by the end
of the chapter,
the discouragement
and fear of verse 10
has given way
to renewed energy
and courage to work
in verse 21,
from the break of dawn
until the stars come out.
So what happened?
What changed?
Well, what we see
in Nehemiah 4
is that the opposition
to the task
is no match
for a great
and awesome God.
The opposition
to our task
is no match
for a great
and awesome God.
Verse 14
is the turning point.
Nehemiah says,
do not be afraid
of them.
Remember the Lord
who is great
and awesome
and fight.
Now as Paul says
in Ephesians 6,
today the church
is not waging war
against flesh and blood.
This is now
a spiritual battle
we are in.
The people of Nehemiah's day
had one hand
on the work
and one hand
on the weapon,
the sword
and the trowel
as Charles Spurgeon
so famously put it.
But the armor
that we take up today
is not the literal
steel of a sword.
No, today we actually
reject that kind of violence
for the way of the cross.
Rather today
what we take up
is the spiritual armor
of God,
the sword of the spirit
to fight discouragement,
to withstand
even physical threats,
to overcome our fears.
Paul says
it's the belt of truth
that we fasten on
when the lies
come streaming in.
and it's a breastplate
of righteousness
that we put on
when the accuser says
we're not worthy
of God's acceptance
in God's people.
And it's the gospel
of peace
that becomes shoes
for our feet
when our doubts
begin to trip us up.
And it's the shield
of faith
and it's a helmet
of salvation
that allows us
to withstand,
yes,
even threats of violence
that may come our way.
And it's the word
of God
that is the sword,
the sword of the spirit.
That word,
as Hebrew says,
that is sharper
than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division
of soul and spirit,
discerning the thoughts
and intentions of the heart,
engaging even our enemies
with the grace
of the gospel.
Now, I know this battle,
this warfare language
can sometimes make us
uncomfortable.
I get it.
But friends,
we are in a spiritual fight.
The church
is a liberation movement
behind our great
liberator, Jesus.
And he has stationed us
behind enemy lines
to get about the work
of setting captives free.
Free from sin
and guilt
and shame
and condemnation
and dread
and addiction
and self-pity
and pride
and fear.
But these enemies
don't go down
without a fight, friends.
The work of the kingdom
means one hand
on the shovel
and one hand
on the sword.
Are you taking up
the resources
for this fight
in the word of God
and in the gospel?
But notice,
Nehemiah doesn't just
tell the people to fight.
They have their responsibility
to take up
their defenses, yes.
But underneath
and around
and over
their human responsibility
to fight
is the sovereignty
of God
who fights for us.
Remember the Lord
who is great
and awesome.
At the head
of the church
then
and now
is a great
and awesome God.
But friends,
don't you see
how God
has revealed himself
even further
in the gospel?
that we have
a captain
who took the field
on our behalf
and who strode
into battle
against our greatest foe
sin and death
and hell
and who triumphed
not with the sword
but with a cross
by laying down
his own life
so that you and I
might live.
Do you remember
when Jesus
was in the Garden
of Gethsemane
praying
and the soldiers
came for him
and for his disciples
and he said,
who are you seeking?
And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth
and what did Jesus do?
Did he shrink back?
Did he sort of
lose himself
in the crowd
of disciples?
No,
just the opposite.
He steps forward
to meet them
putting himself
in between
their enemies
and his people
and says,
I'm the one
you're looking for.
Let them go free.
Don't you see,
friends,
in our place
Jesus meets
his accusers
and ours
so that we can go free.
In our place
Jesus bears
our sin
and guilt
so that we
can go free.
That's how
the battle's
been won.
So that whatever
the world throws
at us,
so whatever
the evil one
threatens us with,
they're no match
for our great
and awesome God,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friends,
have you come
to trust
in this
captain
of souls,
this loving
Lord
who will always
protect you
and never
lead you astray?
If so,
then do not fear.
Do not fear
the magnitude
of our task.
It is great,
but he's made us
one body
in himself,
every member
a minister
to complete
the work before us
and do not fear
the opposition
to the task.
It will be fierce
at times.
Do not be surprised.
It may grow
as the work continues,
but remember the Lord
who is great
and awesome.
He has already
won the battle
and we can stand
strong in the Lord
Jesus and in the
strength of his might
to withstand
whatever may come.
It may seem
like an impossible
task before us,
church,
but what is impossible
for us
is much more
than possible
with God.
And so,
brothers and sisters,
to him who is able
to do far more
abundantly
than all we ask
or think
according to the power
at work within us,
to him be glory
in the church
and in Jesus Christ
throughout all generations
forever and ever.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father, we pray
that you would send
out your spirit
upon us now.
Cause the seed
of your word
to take deep root
in the soil
of our hearts.
God, we know
that as soon as
we step out
those doors,
there's going
to be birds
that want to
snatch this seed away.
There are going
to be cares
and concerns
that want to
choke it out.
There's going
to be rocky soil
that wants it
to just stay shallow,
but God,
would you do
a sovereign work
and bury this word
deep in our hearts
and change us
from the inside out.
Clothe us
with your gospel,
we pray,
Lord Jesus,
as we go out
into the world today.
Lord,
help us not
to fear
or grow discouraged
when the task
seems big
and the opposition
seems great.
Help us
to keep our eyes
on you,
Lord Jesus,
the captain
of our souls.
You will hold us fast.
You will allow us
to rise up
and do the work
that you've called
us to do.
Oh God,
help us
to keep in step
with your spirit
as we do so.
In Jesus' name
we pray,
Father.
Amen.
Well,
friends,
in response,
let's stand
and we're going
to sing a song,
Oh Church Arise,
which is about
taking up the armor
of God
for this spiritual
calling that he's
given us as a church.
So let's sing
this song together.
Amen.