Let's just bowing our heads, remain standing.
Father, as we come now to, we've heard your word written,
and now, Father, we come to look at it again more carefully
and listen to it more carefully.
Father, you know how easy it is for our thoughts to flit away
and flit away and flit away,
and you know how hard it is, Father, for us to hear your word
and realize how it's speaking to us, us directly.
And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would do a gentle
but powerful work in our lives to bring your word home to us
in light of who Jesus is and what he has done for us on the cross.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
Homes and houses are in the news a lot,
and they have been for the last couple of years.
It's a great concern for a lot of younger people
and a lot of new Canadians as to whether they'll ever be able
to own a home of their own, given how expensive they are.
And it's just a great concern.
And I think part of the reason it's...
I mean, it's always a concern, of course,
because there's something about owning your own house
or your own condo that's yours,
that has a sense of real security to it.
And it's also because, in many ways,
we feel like we live in an insecure world.
And I think we feel we're in an insecure world
because we don't have any roots.
At least a lot of people in our culture,
I'm not saying everyone here in this room don't have roots.
Many of us, in fact, hopefully our roots are sort of in the gospel.
But a lot of our culture, we feel unrooted, uprooted, rootless.
A lot in our culture actually sort of think they can find their roots
by, you know, making up stories or rituals
or try to find the roots in themselves.
But, you know, many people don't think they'll have a job
with the same employer for a long time.
They worry about whether their marriages will last,
whether they'll even get married.
And so there's a lot of insecurity connected to not having roots
and wanting a home, something that you can own.
And the text that we're looking at today
speaks directly into this need for a home
and a need to have roots.
So if you would turn in your Bibles, it would be a great help to me
if you turned in your Bibles and to yourselves,
if you turned in your Bibles to Nehemiah, chapter 2.
And Victory began reading at verse 11,
but we're going to begin reading at verse 9.
Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 9.
And what's just happened prior to this
is Nehemiah has a very prestigious position in the court
of the emperor or the king of Persia, mighty empire.
Persia, up until I think a few decades ago,
Iran was called Persia.
So very old, longstanding, powerful empire.
He had a very high position in the court.
He's Jewish as well.
He hears a tale from people who've come back from Jerusalem
of the state of the city, how it's all in ruins,
how the people are sort of in a bit of weakness and confusion,
and there's no walls.
And it really cuts him to his heart,
and he fasts and he prays,
and he senses that God is putting on his heart
to approach the emperor, the king,
to see if the king would allow him to go back
and rebuild the walls and build a fortress
and have proper gates.
And he fasts and prays for four months,
and then the time comes when God opens a door,
and he goes and he speaks to the king,
and there's a great miracle that the king actually says yes.
And what Nehemiah did required a lot of courage
because he would have known, Nehemiah,
that it was this same king
that had earlier stopped a rebuilding effort of the walls
and caused the work to be put into rubble again
and to burn the wood.
And Nehemiah speaks to Artaxerxes,
and Artaxerxes says, yes, you can go back and do this.
So this is what happens next.
So if you have your Bibles, here's verse 9.
So he leaves.
Between verse 8 and verse 9,
they don't tell you about how he gets organized
or how long it took him to leave.
It just now tells you about him coming into the region.
It goes like this.
Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river
and gave them the king's letters.
Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
But when Sanballat the Horonite
and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this,
it displeased them greatly
that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
Now just sort of pause here.
It's translated very well when it says,
it displeased them greatly.
But it goes even beyond that.
As we're going to see in the text,
they despise the Jewish people.
And the word in the original Hebrew
is that it's implying this great displeasure
is connected with maliciousness
and the hint and the promise of violence.
That's how deeply these people,
they don't know anything about what Nehemiah is going to do.
They just know that he's Jewish,
that he's coming here to do something to help the Jewish people.
And immediately, unbidden, out of them
pours this emotional, visceral dislike
and hatred of anything to do
that's going to benefit the Jewish people.
You know, as I've talked about over the weeks
and over the years,
the Bible doesn't have any doctrine of race.
There's just human beings who are made in the image of God.
But the Bible very deeply addresses the issue of racism
and murderous prejudice.
One of the problems sometimes with people
who interpret the book of Nehemiah
is they miss this aspect.
You might remember, I've talked to you about it before,
in Ezra chapter 4,
which is all the same book as Nehemiah,
there's this little aside.
And in the aside,
it just paints a picture of over 100 years
and intergenerational hatred,
an intergenerational prejudice.
And here Nehemiah is coming in
almost exactly 100 years after the first decree.
And he comes into a situation
where it's still there and it's still strong
and it's just there as soon as it comes to the fore.
And that's going to be the context
throughout the entire book.
Why it is that Nehemiah is going to do the things he does,
how he goes about and does it,
it's in this context of this great,
great displeasure,
this hatred.
And it's key to notice,
notice what it says here
about how they're the governors of the land.
Or maybe it comes up a little bit later on
that it mentions that they're the governors.
It's a little bit later that it mentions it.
But it's actually really important to understand this,
that it's a little bit like
if you've watched movies set in the south,
you know,
in rural Alabama or Mississippi
or something like that during the 50s
at the height of segregation,
that great evil of segregation in the American south.
And if you've watched some movies
and maybe somebody from the north
comes to do something to help the local population,
the African Americans,
and the locals are terrible
and the locals are bad,
and he goes to complain to the police
or to the judge or the prosecutor,
not realizing at first
that the cop is with the Ku Klux Klan,
the judge is with the Ku Klux Klan,
the prosecutor is with the Ku Klux Klan.
So how do you go to them for help?
They're all not only part of the problem,
they are the problem.
And they have the power and they have the authority.
And it's in this context
that Nehemiah has to function.
So what happens next?
The next bit's actually a bit boring
and a little bit odd,
but the boring bit,
which I'll explain to you,
is actually going to be very significant
for the whole arc of the story.
Let's see what it says.
Verses 11 and following.
So I went to Jerusalem, right?
He goes first to the governors and all.
And now he goes to Jerusalem,
verse 11,
and was there for three days.
Then I arose in the night,
and I and a few men with me,
and I told no one
what my God had put into my heart
to do for Jerusalem.
There was no animal with me
but the one on which I rode.
I went out by night,
by the valley gate,
to the dragon spring,
and to the dung gate,
and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem
that were broken down,
and its gates had been destroyed by fire.
Then I went on to the fountain gate
and to the king's pool,
but there was no room for the animal
that was under me to pass.
Then I went up in the night
by the valley and inspected the wall,
and I turned back
and entered the valley gate
and so returned.
And the officials did not know
where I had gone
or what I was doing,
and I had not yet told the Jews,
that's the people,
the priests,
the nobles,
the officials,
and the rest
who were doing the work.
He hadn't told them his plans.
So here's the thing.
All of these things
are sort of incomprehensible to us,
but if you ever go to Jerusalem
and you sort of look at it
a bit of a higher level,
it's sort of there's a valley,
then a hill,
then a valley,
then a hill,
then a valley.
And back when,
before the wall had been destroyed,
you had walls that encompassed
the valley, the hill,
and the valley,
and all around it.
So it was quite a big wall.
And one of the things that,
so what's going on here
is that Nehemiah,
he obviously came having
a bit of a plan,
but he'd never been to Jerusalem.
And he's like a good consultant.
He's like a good planner.
He has an idea that he knows
he wants to build the wall,
but he has to see
what's really happening
on the ground.
And so he does it secretly at night,
whether it's a full moon
and a cloudless night,
and he can see,
or he can see well enough.
He doesn't have to know
all the little itsy-bitsy details.
He can see very, very clearly.
And obviously,
during the three days
and this other time,
he's made a decision
that all of the other attempts
that there have probably been
over the hundred years
to deal with the wall,
they've probably tried
to deal with the whole wall,
and most of the city is empty.
And what they've just described here
is that he's now come up
to the plan
that he's going to move the wall
to the top of the hill
on this side,
and he's just going to fortify one hill.
That's all he's going to do.
He's going to leave the bulk
of the city unwalled.
But he's going to take a smaller job,
a doable job,
as part of his plan.
Now, once again,
it's important to understand
that the reason he's doing this at night
is because he's picked up very quickly
the deep, settled hatred
of those in authority.
So he can't do this publicly.
He has to do it secretly,
under cover of darkness.
So now he sees
what's going on with the wall.
He's had his ideas
about what he's going to do,
and he's probably had to change them all
in light of what's actually
in front of him.
He might not have realized
that there was a valley,
a hill, a valley, a hill,
a valley,
and that the original wall
encompassed all of it.
He might be looking at it,
and if you ever found his notes,
you might say, well, no wonder
they couldn't build the wall
or it's going to take them too long.
That's just way too big
for our resources
and for our people,
and most of it's all,
it's all just empty anyway,
that whole other section.
So he comes up with a different plan.
And so this next bit,
there's this very helpful word,
but for scholars,
it's an unhelpful word
because they'd like to have it
be more precise.
Look what happens in verse 17.
It says this,
then I said to them,
just before I go,
so here's the thing
about that's frustrating,
then means the next thing
we're going to be told about.
But it does,
then doesn't mean
that it meant like that morning.
We don't know whether he took a week,
two weeks,
three weeks,
a month.
There's a period of time.
And after he's had this period of time,
then he speaks,
verse 17.
Then I said to them,
you see the trouble we are in,
how Jerusalem lies in ruins
with its gates burned.
Come,
let us build the wall of Jerusalem
that we may no longer suffer derision.
This is the big cry,
the leadership cry of Nehemiah.
It's time to build.
Let's arise and build.
And it continues,
verse 18,
and I told them of the hand of my God
that had been upon me for good
and also of the words
that the king had spoken to me.
And they said,
let us rise up and build.
So they strengthened their hands
for the good work.
Now,
just one little aside here.
It's an important aside.
One of the things,
sort of under the pressure
of a type of a belief
in process and technology
and all that,
we tend to have a sense
that if God's hand is upon us,
we won't have enemies.
But one of the important lessons
of the book of Nehemiah
is God's hand can be upon you
and you still might have enemies.
God's hand being upon you
doesn't mean you will no longer have enemies.
God's hand being upon you
means you can stand
in the face of your enemies
and build in the midst of your enemies.
That's what it means.
But here's the thing.
Actually, here.
I think it's going to be on the screen.
Just put your fingers in the Bible here
and turn for a moment
to Proverbs 26, verses 4 to 5.
Proverbs 26, verses 4 to 5.
And this little two-verse bit
of Proverbs 26
sort of captures
an issue with all of the Proverbs.
So Proverbs 26, verse 4 says,
Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Good piece of advice.
Don't answer a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
In other words, you have to answer the fool
because you don't want him
to think he's wise.
So one moment,
those are contradictory pieces of advice.
What's going on?
Well, in a sense,
what God is saying is exactly.
In all of the Proverbs,
the issue is
that you need to have
the wise man or the wise woman
has to, in a sense,
be so attentive to God
and so attentive to the real world
and so attentive to the people
in front of him
that he or she has a sense
about when the right proverb applies.
It's a little bit like
in using secular Proverbs.
We might say,
look before you leap.
But in another context,
we might say,
he who hesitates is lost.
Well, okay, which is it?
Do it right away
or take some time to look, right?
We might say,
too many cooks spoil the broth
or many hands make light work.
Well, which is it?
Well, it just depends
on the specific time.
So this is very important to this.
You see,
the book of Nehemiah
is justly famous
for its lessons on leadership,
its lessons on courage,
its reminder that God is big,
and it's rightly remembered
for this rousing cry,
let us build.
And I have to confess
that especially this week,
I have been wondering
if we as a church
are in a Nehemiah 2 moment.
Like, is it part of God's providence
that we are reading this text?
Like, is it the case
that God is saying to us,
it's time to arise
and get a church building?
Like, let's do that.
Or there's other things to build.
Like, it's time to really
take seriously
planting more churches
in the city of Ottawa.
Let's pray into it.
It's time to take
the training of clergy
and future church leaders
more seriously.
Let's build up Ryle.
You know, it's time
to really take seriously
the need to bring the gospel
to the universities.
It's time to build
a university.
Like, I don't know.
Is God calling us that?
Is that this time?
But, you know,
here's the thing.
So this really is a thing
that we need to take seriously,
but you also have to take seriously
a very different story
in Kings and Chronicles
that God,
that David wants to build
the temple
and God says no.
So which moment are we in?
Well, that's where wisdom comes.
That's where prayer comes.
You can't just take this
and then always say
it means that we have to
arise and build.
No, but we need to take it seriously.
But part of the wisdom
that God wants us to have
by being close to him,
by being attentive
to the meaning of the Holy Spirit,
by looking at the world,
is to know and say to ourselves,
you know what?
I think we're in a Nehemiah 2 moment
in this area,
in this area.
And we need to arise and build.
I don't know.
I think one of the things,
a word of all this passage for us
is to pray into that issue.
Whether it's the church
or some other type of thing,
is God calling us
to build something
at this point in time
in our church's history.
And one of the things
we might say,
well, one moment,
that George,
God can't be calling us
to do this
because it's impossible.
Well, you see,
this is where the hand
of our God
being upon them
is so important.
I mentioned last week
that Nehemiah
was almost definitely a eunuch.
It means he was castrated.
And in terms of Jewish culture
and law at that time,
and even whether or not
he could be in the temple
and his place in leadership,
it was very questionable.
I mean,
in a very real physical way,
he was a broken man.
And he confessed his sins.
And these people are weak
and they're not powerful.
And that's part of the story
is that God doesn't want us
to look at our resources
but who he is
and whether he's calling us
to do something
that only he can do.
not because we are
great and powerful
but because we are
the servants
of a great and powerful God.
And as long as we look
to our own resources,
then it's the devil
speaking to us.
I'm not saying
we should be
completely foolish.
But we need to look at God
and ask what he's calling us
to do.
Now,
I just want to say
one other thing.
I'm not going to talk
about it very long
but it's important
in terms of what I've just said.
It's also important
to understand
the overarching story
of Ezra and Nehemiah.
If you could put up
the first point.
The wall was spilt
to serve the beautiful vision.
The beautiful vision
does not serve the wall.
I talked about that
a couple of weeks ago
about this beautiful vision
in the midst of people
who believed myths
and stories
that legitimized incest
and legitimized
the males
using their rapacious sexuality
on any woman
that they felt like
in a culture
where babies
would be served
and burned to Moloch
where every human being
was viewed as a slave.
There's this overarching,
profound, beautiful vision
of the Bible
about every human being
being made in the image of God
that both men and women
and children
have an integrity
and a dignity
just by virtue
of being human
that's bestowed by God
and not the state
that God wants friends
and children
not slaves
and there's this profound,
beautiful vision
and it's important
if we think
we're in a Nehemiah 2 moment
is that the gospel
doesn't serve buildings.
Buildings should serve
the gospel.
That's our beautiful vision.
So,
there's another thing
which we get
the first hint of
that's going to be
very important
throughout the entire rest
of the book of Nehemiah
and it's important
for us
to recognize as well.
You know,
sometimes we have people
who say they're with us
but they're not with us,
they're really against us
and they plot
and conspire against us
and one of the things
that's going to be coming
very clear
as the book proceeds
is that Nehemiah
is going to have
problems leading
because he has moles.
He has people
who are aligned
with the people
who hate the Jews
and give them information.
Look what happens
in verse 19.
But when
Sanballat the Horonite
and Tobiah the Ammonite servant
and now a new person,
Geshem the Arab,
heard of it,
they jeered at us
and despised us
and said,
what is this,
what, sorry,
and what is this thing
that you are doing?
Are you rebelling
against the king?
Now,
once again,
these are very good words
but we have to understand
that in the original language
it's even
a deeper,
deeper.
They
despise
these people
who are Jewish.
They despise them.
They look down
their nose
at them
and they publicly
point out
everything about them
that from their
twisted world
and way of seeing things
that makes them
look inferior
and petty
and small
and worthless.
That's what jeering
means at them.
And the other thing,
and this is
why it's,
this is part of the reason
why this text
is so important to us
for us to meditate upon
especially in our day and age
where there's a problem
ongoing of cancelling
where
there is
public denunciation
and hatred
and lies
because you see
they just make up a lie.
Notice that again?
What is this thing
that you are doing?
Are you rebelling
against the king?
Let me tell you friends,
figuring out the truth
is hard.
Arguing for the truth
is hard.
It's way easier
just to make up a lie.
lie.
It's always easier
just to lie
on one level.
I'm not saying
it's the right thing.
I'm just saying
on one level,
that's how a lot of people think.
Like, oh gosh,
like why to actually
try to listen well
and, you know,
spend some time
doing research
and listen to both sides
and try to come up
with an argument
and try to sort out
the truth
and be willing
to change your mind.
Why do all of that
when you can just
make up a whole pile of lies?
And here's another thing.
Jeering implies
they're yelling this
in public.
They're public.
They're proud of the fact
that they despise
these people.
They're not embarrassed
about it.
They're not ashamed
about it.
They think they're right
about it.
They call them names.
And here's the thing.
Lies yell.
The truth can be whispered.
The truth can be spoken
plainly and calmly.
But lies yell.
In fact,
when faced with arguments,
the best solution
is to yell louder.
It's to yell louder.
Nothing has changed
much in 2,400 years.
If you could put up
the point just very briefly,
this is one of the things
about the text.
The gospel,
when I say the gospel,
I mean who Jesus is,
what he said and did,
what he accomplished
on the cross,
and what he promises
to those who put
their trust in him.
That's the gospel.
The gospel forms you
to be a person
of the truth
who rejects lies.
I don't know
if you noticed,
it jumped out at me
when I was reading
the John text.
What does it say
when Jesus says,
I'm going to send
the helper?
Talking about the Holy Spirit,
and he calls the Spirit
the Spirit of truth.
If God pours his Holy Spirit
into us,
he's pouring his Holy Spirit
into us for us
to be people
who know the truth,
love the truth,
seek the truth.
We'll change our minds
to stay with the truth,
who want to learn
more of the truth,
and who recognize lies
and reject them.
So how does Nehemiah respond?
Remember I said,
this is one of the things,
he responds quietly,
not by jeering and yelling,
he responds quietly.
Look what he says
in verse 20.
Then I replied to them,
the God of heaven
will make us prosper,
and we as servants
will arise and build,
but you have no portion
or right or claim
in Jerusalem.
Then I replied to them,
the God of heaven
will make us prosper,
and we as servants
will arise and build,
but you have no portion
or right to claim
in Jerusalem.
Basically he says,
God is big.
Yes, we're small.
We're nobodies.
But that's fine,
because God is big.
And yes,
we are nobodies,
but we're his servants.
We're the servants
of the great God of heaven.
And by the way,
you are not with him,
so we are not with you.
You are not him,
so we are not with you.
Now, okay,
I mean the big question is,
there's two sort of
big questions.
One of them,
why didn't they just move?
Right?
I mean,
isn't that what a lot
of us would do
if we somehow bought a house
and we discovered
that all of our neighbors
hated us?
We'd sell the house
and move to another house.
Like, there's other places
to live.
Like, why stay?
Why stay with people
who hate you?
And why does it matter?
In fact,
it's very interesting.
God in his providence,
a person who's a friend of mine,
saw me preparing my sermon
in my local coffee shop
and said,
are you preparing your sermon?
What's it about?
And it's always interesting
when questions like that happen,
because now I'm trying
to think very quickly,
how do I make this sermon
relevant to him?
Like, why does it matter?
Why would it matter to him?
I mean,
other than the fact
that it matters to him
and it should matter
to all Canadians
to recognize
the power of the lie.
And I think all Canadians,
at least on one level,
would say they want
to be people of the truth,
even if they,
in fact,
would rather just make up
and invent lies
rather than engaging
with the truth.
But why don't they just move?
Like, why stay there?
There's lots of other land.
So, to understand it,
I think it's going to be
on the screen.
If you go to Nehemiah 1, verse 9.
Did I tell you Nehemiah 1, 9
or Proverbs 1, 9?
Eh?
Okay, I sent you the wrong text
because I had a mental block.
So, it's not going to be
on the screen.
You just have to listen to it
or look in your Bibles.
Look what happens
in Nehemiah 1, 9.
This is part of,
this is part of Nehemiah's prayer
and it's something
that's really important
to understand
in terms of everything
that happens in Nehemiah.
But it's also something
really important
to understand about
your longing for a home
and for roots.
He says this,
but if you return to me,
this is,
he's saying what God has said.
He's saying,
God has said,
if you return to me
and keep my commandments
and do them,
though your outcasts
are in the outermost parts
of the heaven,
from there I will gather them
and bring them
to the place
that I have chosen
to make my name dwell there.
The place that I have chosen
to make my name dwell there.
if you could put up the point,
all of the Old Testament
and what we know
from the New Testament
makes this big claim.
There is no square inch
of reality
that the triune God
does not say,
mine.
The way he taught that
is on one hand,
he taught it
because you even see
at the beginning
of Genesis chapter 1 and 2
that he's created
the whole world,
he's made the whole world
to be the home
for human beings.
You see later on
in the Psalms,
the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof
and all of this,
but partly how he taught them
was not by teaching them
just the big idea,
but by trying to get them
to understand it
in one little concrete area.
Why did he want to do it
in stages like this?
I don't know.
We have to ask God
when we get to heaven
why he wanted to do it
in stages,
but that's what he's saying.
He's saying,
you know,
you live in a world
where kings claim the land
and gods and idols
claim the land
and I want people
to understand
that in this piece of land
this is mine.
This is mine.
It's not the kings,
it's not the gods,
it's not even yours,
it's mine.
One of the reasons
why we do not have land
that we need to,
that there's no type
of Christian land
is that one of the things
we understand from the gospel
is that the good news
of Jesus is to go
to every people group
throughout the planet.
In fact,
I hope I haven't forgotten one.
I did a very quick thing.
In this congregation,
part of those
who call Church of the Messiah
their church home,
people were born,
who are part of our congregation,
were born in Canada,
the United States,
Mexico,
England,
Italy,
China,
Taiwan,
Nigeria,
Rwanda,
Uganda,
Burundi,
Sudan,
Ethiopia,
India,
Syria,
Indonesia,
Barbados,
Korea,
and Australia.
And if I missed your,
and that's just
where you were born.
If we added
first generation Canadians,
I would be one.
I'm from Northern Ireland,
my parents.
Louise,
I could have
a Northern Irish passport.
Louise could have
a Polish passport.
She's a first generation Canadian.
And if we went around
for first generation Canadians,
there would be a lot more.
But that's part of what Jesus does.
Jesus' salvation
is a universal salvation
that's offered.
And we are to go
to all the world.
And part of what God
is doing
is he wants
all the world
to come to know him.
And he wants us
to begin to know
that all the world
is his.
If you could put up
the next point,
God says,
mine,
so you will have a home.
See,
that's what he wanted
for those people.
He wanted them,
it wasn't just so much
that he claimed it
to be mine
as if it was
a power play.
But,
you see,
where God is,
that is where
our true home is.
Where God is,
that is where
our true home is.
And in Genesis chapter 1 and 2,
we see that God
intended that the entire world
would be our home,
that we would understand
that he's made it
for us to live in.
And that we're to develop
gardens and cities
and art
and song
and culture
and business
and mold it,
all knowing
that we are with him.
And when we are with him
and reconcile to him,
then we are home.
You know,
Augustine said,
God has made us
for himself
and our hearts
are restless
till they rest in him.
And it's a very true
and profound thing.
So,
why a wall?
I have to,
I have to come
wrap this up.
It's part of the deep
formation of the Bible.
So,
there's not much
you can do about this.
Other than educate
and catechize your kids
and pray for your kids.
But you know,
if kids watch cartoons,
apart from the really
woke ones,
but even the,
just the ones
that we think
are very safe,
like the old Disney ones
or something like that,
what all those
old Disney films
and all those
old cartoons do
is they form you
to not pray.
They form you
to live in a world
where God
does not exist.
Nobody in the cartoons
praise.
Nobody thinks
they should
to read the Bible.
Nobody thinks
they need to trust
in a Savior.
Their goals
are fine.
They can accomplish
them by themselves
with some humor
and some courage.
And they teach
some valuable
moral lessons.
I'm not saying
that people
shouldn't watch them,
but it forms you
to believe
that you live
in a world
that God
does not exist.
stories like this
form you
to understand
that the real world
matters.
Our friends here
who are
from India
can tell you
that in India
Hinduism,
in a sense,
doesn't concern itself
with history.
It has myths
and rituals.
The goal
is a type
of private
illumination
that will move
you to break
the spell
of reincarnation
and reincarnation
to merge
with God.
And if you
have that,
that it's just
something private,
it means in a sense
it doesn't matter
about the poor.
It doesn't matter
about industry.
It doesn't matter
about art.
It doesn't matter
about education
because these things
are all just illusion.
They're all things
to pass away.
But the Bible
at a very deep level
is forming us
that you need
to care for the wall.
The wall is going
to serve the beautiful vision.
The wall is going
to help to protect
them from being robbed
and being beaten
and being raped.
It's going to become
a place that can
become a platform
to do all of these
other things.
It's why it isn't
just the case
that I can just
present you some
ancient myth
about Jesus
but that Jesus
isn't just some
ancient myth
but that Jesus
actually came
and lived amongst us
and walked amongst us.
He walked the streets
of Jerusalem.
He died upon a cross.
He died upon a cross
and historians
can pick
he died on the cross
on one of two days
because it happened
in history
and he rose from the dead
and scholars can say
it was on one of two days
that he rose from the dead
and history matters
and the body matters
and the physical matters
and that's why it is
that Christians
this is what I shared
with my Jewish friend
who asked me
about this yesterday
I said that's why
Christians and Jews
especially Christians
no offense
wherever we go
we've set up hospitals
we set up schools
we care for the poor
the body matters
culture matters
it's why we have art
it's why we have poetry
and song
and hymns
our physical existence
matters
and it's all part
of this forming
of what we see
by the fact
that the wall
has to be built
and the wall
serves us
you know
I'm going to read
it's not going to be up there
I'm going to read
Isaiah chapter 53
verse
just in closing
Isaiah chapter 53
as I bring this
to a close
Isaiah 53
3-6
remember I said
that this is a story
about Nehemiah
leading a despised people
in the face
of their despisers
who are in positions
of authority
how he works
to build the wall
and I was very mindful
this week
of Isaiah 53
3-6
he was despised
and rejected
by men
a man of sorrows
and acquainted
with grief
and as one
from whom men
hide their faces
he was despised
and we esteemed him not
surely he has borne
our griefs
and carried our sorrows
we esteemed him stricken
smitten by God
and afflicted
but he was pierced
for our transgressions
he was crushed
for our iniquities
upon him
was the chastisement
that brought us peace
and with his wounds
we are healed
all we like sheep
have gone astray
we have turned
everyone to his own way
and the Lord
has laid on him
the iniquity of us all
Jesus was despised
so that the despised
and the despisers
could repent
and be loved
by the triune God
he was despised
so that the despised
and the despisers
could repent
and be loved
by the triune God
you could put up the point
the triune God
is real
so he acts
in real history
so he can be
really known
and Jesus
the next point
is forming the real you
to follow him
and make him known
in the real world
Jesus is forming
the real you
to follow him
and make him known
in the real world
you know in a sense
there's many people
in our culture
who think that
to come to a church
like this
and believe the things
that we believe
is completely
and utterly foolish
and there's many people
who think that it's evil
follow Jesus anyway
make a difference
in the city anyway
share the gospel anyway
build anyway
and if you and I
think that there's a way
of behaving
so that people will
though people who think
that way about us
will not like us
dislike us less
I just want to say
to you
for people who hate us
hate the things
that we stand for
before this service
they had 19 reasons
after this
they'll have 21
don't think about it
people hate you
for being a Christian
love them anyway
share the gospel anyway
pray for them anyway
do good anyway
build anyway
and in all things
pray for them
and if you're here
and you don't know
where you are
with Jesus
if you're here
and you don't know
where you are
with Jesus
it is so worth it
because he loves
the real you
he wants to fit
the real you
for a real life
with him
in this real world
and at the end
of the end
there is a real
new heaven
and new earth
you will have
a resurrection body
and be with him
you know
it's very interesting
the Bible begins
with God
having human beings
in a garden
in the center
of the world
if you go back
afterwards
and you read
Revelation chapter
21 and 22
it ends with a city
and in the center
of the city
is a garden
in all things
that's what God
is making us for
to live with others
under his rule
to have homes
in him
that are rooted
and deep
and thick
and have hope
please stand
let's bow our heads
in prayer
Father we
we ask that you
bring this story
home to us
in a real
and deep way
and
we thank you
Father
that
you claim
every single
bit of who we are
and that when
Jesus died on the cross
he died for
every single
bit of who we are
and you want us
to give
every single
bit of who we are
to you
and Father
you are taking
every single
bit of who we are
and you are
fitting us
for resurrection
bodies
in a new heaven
and a new earth
where we will dwell
with you
and with others
for all eternity
and
and so Father
we give you
thanks and praise
that you claim
all of us
that Jesus died
for all of us
and we ask
that your Holy Spirit
would so move
in our lives
that all of us
that all of makes us
us
that we would recognize
that it's
it's to serve you
and to give back
to you
and that
you will only
make us more whole
whether it's
with our money
whether it's
with our sexuality
whether it's
with our time
our plan
our creativity
our intelligence
our thinking
Father
we give you
thanks and praise
that you claim it all
and have redeemed it all
and help us to live
under your rule
and under your gentle hand
making it all for you
giving it all to you
and we ask this
in the name of Jesus
your Son and our Savior
and therefore
we ask more
thank you