August 18th, 2013
How to Live the Better Life of Faith
Part 8 - Persist
Pastor Nelson Jones
Good morning. I was reading several articles this past week and one more just last night
– and I reviewed it again this morning. It was talking about some of the things going on in Egypt
right now. The world can be a tragic place – and this is one of these live tragedies playing out
on its stage right now. Sometimes I think that as believers we just don’t connect with what
brothers and sisters are going through for faith. Just the simple faith that we get to express this
morning – by being here together. In this article – this pastor was reflecting and calling for
prayers – from anybody who might be reading what he had put out there. Prayers for his
country because they are going through a time like they have never seen before. Prayers – not
the prayers that destroy enemies – but – it was prayers of letting reason return. Prayers for the
Christians as churches are being burned – literally children and adults being killed for their faith.
I think… that puts me, I guess, into a somber mood – because I realize how apathetic at times…
it is easy to be here. And when faith is easy – it seizes to maybe be the faith and the quality of
faith that the scriptures talk about.
So today – I want to talk a little bit about…. Last week we talked about two very
important words – ‘follow me’ – the words of Jesus. This week I want to follow that up with
some very important thoughts and teaching on what that means to you – and kind of how that
gets lived out in a faith way. And part of what I want to share here today – I would like to
dedicate to those who have walked the long run with us. Some of you have really walked the
long run with us. Not just in body – but in spirit. You have been trustworthy friends – and
people of faith. I just want to say that for those of you – I just want to lift that up a bit today – I
just want to dedicate some of these words to you today.
Yesterday – we did a memorial for a young man – 30 years of age. A good portion of his
family attends here at People’s. He had grown up in our Sunday School system – and then he
disconnected from a lot of the good things in his life – during his teen years. He was an
interesting young fellow – very good hearted – very good hearted. Energetic – oh my gosh –
this kid could turn a classroom upside down in like 30 seconds. Some of you who are actually
here this morning – were Sunday morning educators at that time – and you know that this was
true. His name was Jean Louis – and he could literally command a classroom. We had a group
of young boys at that time who were highly, highly challenging for anyone who was going to run
a classroom. In fact we recalled a story of one time – there was one particular teaching time in
the older buildings that we were in – on the one side were the children - - and we put this guy
in there this one Sunday morning to teach. A lot of these groups of boys were in there – and
literally… Marcel was one of the leaders at that time – and he came in because he kind of heard
this uproar building in this classroom. So he went in to see what the heck was going on – and
literally the teacher that we had put in for that morning – a younger guy – was sitting there on a
stool almost in shock. In fact he left – he left – he abandoned the class that morning. Some of
you educators – I know, I remember – some of those days. That young man – Jean Louis –
made a commitment to Christ in our Sunday School. We are thankful for that. His life was
certainly cut short. But as I reflect over the years a bit – there are a couple of things that I think
we need to understand when Jesus says, ‘follow Me’.
We are going to focus a bit on one – but mostly on the other. I want to talk to people
who feel discouraged – or felt like God is calling you to follow Him – but you just have this
persistent temptation to just give up. You might be a parent – you know the calling of God
upon parents to nurture and raise children – and how difficult it is in this day to instill values –
or to bring discipline – or to keep your kids in a stream of positive growth in their life. You
understand the challenges – and you just feel like you just want to give up on that. Some of
you are running businesses – but you have been through phases where you just want to give
up. I was visiting with a businessman just recently – and he said, ‘you know, things are going
really good now’ – they have been in business a long time. But when the downturn happened
in late 2007 and in 2008 – things changed dramatically for this company – and his advisors told
him to just get out of it. As we reflected on that – of course things turned around – and things
have strengthened up again and the company is doing very, very well. But – he reflected – he
said, ‘you know – I saw one of those advisors recently and I said, ‘do you remember when you
told me to wind it down?’’ You know – persistence is a difficult thing in the face of the
challenges of trying to build something that is positive in anything in life. If you are going to be
a builder – you are going to have enough people around you – to tear down any brick that you
put on top of another. It is just going to happen. If you are not going to be a builder – well,
more than likely you are pulling bricks off of other peoples bricks. So we want to talk a bit
about that today.
Jim Collins wrote a book several years ago – saying that leaders who have the greatest
impact – they share two basic qualities. One is – humility. And we are going to talk a little bit
about that one today – and then a lot about the next one. Humility – the idea is that these
leaders that he was talking about – they tend not to be driven by their own ego – they are
strong – they are confident – but they are not the center – they are not the idea of what this is
all about. They are doing it for things that don’t wrap up in their own ego. That is one of the
qualities. You know – humility is something that is very misunderstood in our day. Oft times
people equate humility with weakness. If that is the case then Jesus was weak. And we know
that He was not. Humility is actually – the way in which you release your strengths and
compound them, multiply them with faith in Christ. Where Christ is able to multiply what He
has put in your life. See – your gifts alone are meant to be multiplied – not to just come out of
you at the level at which you have them. The multiplication factor is Christ. And that factor is
absolutely hinged upon your humility. Humility is an incredibly necessary thing – to be effective
and to have great impact. I would suggest that it is even more so – if you are going to be there
for a long time. Humility is crucial. Now – one of the things that attacks humility – and it is kind
of a funny thing – and that is flattery. It is an interesting thing – flattery. Flattery is the kind of
thing that lifts you up – but here in fact is what Wikipedia says about it – it was either insincere
compliments – or it was excessive compliments. Right now I want you to just red flag people in
your life – where you have felt that insincerity of a compliment – and where you have also
sensed that excessiveness, they are just so excessive. They are not the ones that you are going
to go to in order to get a little bit of a shot. These types of people use flattery – and Wikipedia
puts it this way, ‘they do it in a way that is there to actually ingratiate themselves to you’. It is
really not about you – it is about them ingratiating themselves to you. You say, ‘what does that
have to do with humility?’ You have humility busters all around you – and one of the big ones
by which people most often get blindsided by is this thing called flattery. And today – in our
world – because we tend to want to avoid talking about difficult subjects with other people –
maybe it is part of the Canadian culture that has been ingrained a bit – but in an excessive form
where – we always just want to hear what we consider to be the positive. The problem is – the
positive is only positive and remains positive if – there is a true picture of the negative. You
have to still be realistic. Flattery – the bible warns about it over and over again. It disconnects
us from the reasoning that we are to have – that keeps us connected to reality. And when you
have something that is just always going, ‘you are awesome – you never do anything wrong –
you are just the best – you are so great – there is just nothing wrong about you – you are so
good…’ – and you know that to everything that you write – or to anything that you say – or to
everything that you do, their only response is, ‘that was wonderful – you are beautiful….’ Oh
my gosh – I don’t know about you but something should be turning inside of you at those
moments. Because they are just ingratiating themselves. Why pay attention to this around
humility? Because the times that you need humility the most is going to be the times where
you want to defend yourself the most. When you are going to want to step up – whether in a
reaction way – to the challenges that you face – and thrust yourself in a negative way – back at
a situation. You need the support. And when you are under that type of a situation – where
you are feeling not so strong in yourself – and someone comes along and is saying that you are
nothing but great and beautiful – that is when you are going to be the weakest – and that is
when humility is needed the most.
We are going to be bordered in this message – part of the message is going to be a
couple of songs. Scott is going to come and sing one for us – and then at the end Charity is
going to come and kind of bookend this with a special. Just listen to the words of this first one
as it is presented – because as you surrender to the Lord – one thing about God is that He is
never going to flatter you – but He will love you – and He will tell you the truth – and He will
value you – and He will lift you up. But He will lift you up as you are – not paint you as you are
not. Enjoy this special from Scott – listen to the words. And then we are going to talk about
the second part that I want to focus on today.
SONG SPECIAL
I love it – did you listen to the words? What did he say? I will try again. That is the next
quality. That is the big quality that I want to spend time on. Because the second thing that
they discovered about these one that were impactful is that – they were tenacious. They had a
fierce resolve. You know – humility means that we get up and we try again. Pride says, ‘can’t
do it – quit’. But it leads us to tenaciousness – and that is the other character. You just can’t
wear these people down – they have strength of character. There was a quote that was made
by Jim Collins that goes like this, “The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly
persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation”. They just don’t give
up. That is why I commend so many that have walked the long run with us. You have been that
– I mean… the path out of darkness, it begins with you – and your persistence and your
incapableness of just capitulating to circumstances. If there were a scale and you had to rate
yourself today – if there was a fierce resolve on one end – and being discouraged on the other
end - - where would you put yourself? Where do you think that you would end up if you had to
say, ‘this is how I rate on that quality’? You go on a diet – but it is hard work – so you just bale.
You try to instill character qualities in your kids but they keep pushing back – so you just let it
slide because it is the easier thing to do. You decide that you want to be generous with your
finances toward God – but it is kind of painful – so you just forget about it. You want to honor
God by showing up to work with your best self and working as though you are working for God
– but the culture just kind of beats you down – and it is easy not to do it. You pray about
something for a while – but when you don’t see the answer that you are looking for – you stop
praying.
I have to tell you that so often the great prize of life does not go to the more talented –
the more gifted – the more charming – the smarter – or the more attractive. It is just sheer
dogged determination or persistence – I am going to be faithful to God – you are not going to
beat me down. Man – if we could rise again and make those kinds of statements to ourselves
in that inner world – where we have those inner thoughts – we talk to ourselves and we have
that fierce determination that says, ‘there are a lot of forces against me – there are a lot of
things that are there to stop what God wants to do through my life’ – whether it is a parent – a
businessman or a ministry – or anything that you are doing – or all that you are doing - - but
when you have a determination that says, ‘I will be faithful to God – you will not wear me
down’. Of course there are times – when you are in a bad relationship – or you are not working
at the right job - - and you ought to stop. We are not going to talk about that in this message.
The question is – when is it time to quit? When do you quit doing something that God is calling
you to do – when you are doing something that you know is good – something that you know
His hand has been on you for – children that you are raising in your home – that marriage that
you are building - - when do you quit about something good? When do you quit in business –
when God is giving you a dream and you are pushing through to that next level – when do you
quit? I want to talk about persistence – not as a human powered personality trait. I want to
talk about doing life together with God – living in the reality of God – and you and God together
going at life. Because as followers of Jesus – when you respond to ‘follow me’ – that is the
reality that you need to live in.
So back to Nehemiah again this morning. To refresh a few things – Jerusalem was in
ruins – the walls are down – spiritual lost-ness and confusion. Nehemiah knew that God
wanted to do something great in the world – through His people – the nation of Israel. So at
enormous personal risk – he approached the king – sacrificed his own career – and got
permission – researched to build the city – and then went back to Jerusalem. And that is where
the story is going to be picked up today. As he comes to Jerusalem – he has already sacrificed
in the major leagues, just to get there. And I think that if I had done that – if I had sacrificed my
own career – or done all the work that this guy had done in order to get resources from people
in Jerusalem – or took the risks that he took – I think that I would have kind of expected
everyone in Jerusalem to applaud saying, ‘that was a heroic thing that you did – man are we
ever glad that you are here’. But that is not what Nehemiah faces at all. In fact – he faces the
opposite. Generally when you seek to do something good for God – it is not easy. Nehemiah is
going back there. I am going to refer to parenting a bit today – because I really think that this is
such a high challenge area today. Most of the time – in our hearts as parents – we know the
actions that we should be taking – the time that should be spent – or the disciplines that we
should be giving. And oft times we get at those discouraged moments – or those weary
moments – or those cost moments - - and we don’t necessarily want to take that next step –
and we will look for the other to do it. Or we will simply ignore it because – this could ruin the
evening – I just don’ have the ability… Look – when we are faced with the types of difficulties –
the calls of God upon our lives – we need to have a courage and a persistence to carry them
out. The very first response Nehemiah receives – is from some of the officials there in that
region. I will just read some of these scriptures for you. “ When Sanballat the Horanite and
Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very disturbed that someone had
come to promote the welfare of the Israelites, someone had come to do good.” This character,
Sanballat was a kind of governor of Samaria – which was to the north. And Tobiah was kind of
his assistant. So already we have the people on the north of Jerusalem resisting this man who
has come to put some rocks together and build some walls. The actually wanted Nehemiah to
fail. Have you ever wanted somebody to fail? We don’t know why they wanted Nehemiah to
fail – maybe they just didn’t like Israel – maybe they were jealous because Nehemiah has
influence with the king of Persia – and the king of Persia was the most powerful man in the
world – maybe they were afraid that Jerusalem would get strong and make them look weak by
contrast – and maybe it would weaken their interests. For whatever reason – they were deeply
opposed to Nehemiah. What we know is that when Nehemiah sets out on this difficult task –
he didn’t have to do this thing – this was all him responding from something out of his heart,
that was passionate about and for God. And the first thing that happens is that the province
directly north of them – as leaders, they are opposed to him. Again – he didn’t have to sign up
for this – he is doing this because he wants to serve God from his heart. Life would have been a
lot easier if he had stayed back in Persia – no question. So – I have a question that I want to ask
over some repeated times today. Is it time to quit now? So when is it time to quit? Is this the
time to quit? Because the going is going to be hard – your next phase that you need to do
parenting or marriage wise – that you need to do economic wise – what you need to do
ministry wise – what you need to do business wise. Is that the time to quit – because you look
at it and you say, ‘oh man, I see nothing but a bunch of work and heavy waters to go through’ –
is that the time to quit? It is harder than what we signed up for. No – that is not the time to
quit yet. If you are going to do anything for God – God is never about easy. Get that out of
your head – that is not biblical. Trying to honor Him in a relationship – tying to raise children –
trying to honor God with my finances – trying to fight against sin - - it is never about easy.
Nothing in the history…. Many of you that have walked with us over the long term, know that
there is nothing that has been built in the history of this particular church that has been easy.
Nehemiah writes “I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days, I set out during the
night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for
Jerusalem.” So Nehemiah actually inspects the city at night – because he knows that when
people find out what he is doing – opposition is going to arise. He actually does this clandestine
inspection – and after he does it he gathers the people of Israel together – he lays out the vision
and he says this to them, “’You see the trouble that we are in? Jerusalem lies in ruins, its gates
have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild this wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer
be in disgrace.’ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king
had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” So – he
courageously assesses the situation – gathers the people – casts the vision – gets the troops all
motivated – the work starts – and you hope it would be simple - it would be all downhill from
here. But no – it would not be downhill from here – and that is often where we find ourselves
getting discouraged. Because when we do the right thing – and we start to take those steps –
we expect often that this should be getting easier – if I discipline and I start going down that
path and doing what I need to here with – the kids – or with myself – or the different things
that I need to do - - it should be getting easier. And it gets harder. Yeah! That is called change.
It goes on and says, “But when Sanballet the Horanite, Tobiah the Ammorite official and
Gesham the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. ‘What is this you are doing?’,
they asked, ‘Are you rebelling against the king?’” Not only does the opposition not go away – it
ratchets it up – the resistance is getting worse. A guy named Gesham chimes in – he is actually
a leader of the people to the south. Now we have the north and the south – and they are also
the leaders of the people in the east of Jerusalem. So now – on all three sides – they have
opposition. And they claim that this act of rebuilding the walls is actually rebellion against the
king of Persia. Now they are trying to scare the Israelites into thinking that the king of Persia
will come and wipe them out – just to dishearten these builders. Is it time to quit Nehemiah?
Not quite. It is a lot harder than what he thought he signed up for – but not time to quite yet.
His response is very interesting. What he says is, “’The God of heaven will give us success. We
His servants will start rebuilding.’” All, of any potential support has eroded – north, east, south
– gone – not only eroded – but now in opposition. And he says that the God of heaven will give
us success. We are His servants and we will start rebuilding. He doesn’t defend – he doesn’t
attack – he doesn’t taunt back - - he just says that they are trusting God so they are not going
to stop and he will not give up.
The story goes on – chapter three – in how they divide the labor of the community. One
section after another gets all kinds of work on the walls – except for the occasional problem. So
he just takes the walls – breaks it down – gets some people working here – another group
working here – etc – and they are starting to build the walls all the way around. And then what
happens. Early in chapter three we read that, “The next section was repaired by the men of
Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their soldiers to the work under their supervisors.” This
is another challenge. These are the nobles – they are supposedly the impact players – the
influence people – high status people – high visibility people with resources – saying, ‘we are
not going to humble ourselves and be bricklayers under someone else’s supervision.’ Can you
imagine – elite, powerful, high status people not wanting to do humble and menial servant
hood. In that day – that was the case. Time to quit Nehemiah – all the guys you would have
looked to who are already strong – already groomed for leadership – they are not there with
you - - time to quit yet? Not yet. The rest of the third chapter is this incredible story where –
people of every category – of every profession – every walk of life – all kinds of families – all
kinds of conditions - - all take their place – they all pitch in – they all say ‘I will help’. And by the
way – to live out our vision in this particular area and region – and in this time – to lead this
generation – transforming relationship with Jesus and experiencing real authentic community is
going to take – every single one of us. If you follow Jesus – you are a part of our community.
Sometimes people can think, ‘I don’t have a lot of money – I don’t have connections – I am not
very important’. Everybody matters. In Nehemiah’s case – all those people were not the ones
who were there building. You can start thinking, ‘I don’t have much to bring’ – but I will tell you
that something happens to a community when a people unite and will – serve – and work – and
will live together. And that is what is going on in Jerusalem. It is quite staggering. Jerusalem
has not seen this kind of spirit or moral or unity – in over 100 years. Because the exile
happened a long time ago. And almost everybody – there are a couple holdouts – but almost
everybody says, ‘alright I am in – count on me Nehemiah – this ought to be a slam dunk’.
Except the scripture, “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was greatly
incensed.” He was actually getting angrier. “’What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they
rebuild their wall? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble?’ Tobiah
the Ammonite who was by his side said, ‘What are they building? Even a fox climbing up on it
would break down their wall of stone.’” You know a lot of people want to minimize what you
are going to do – what you are building – actually even what you have built. You have heard
those words. You put in the big effort – you build some pretty good things in your life and then
people come along and they minimize – and the encouragement is not there. And that is what
they are doing.
Do you ever have a negative person in your life? The capacity of just negativity to – sap
will and energy is absolutely amazing – it is one of the enemies most favorite of all tools.
Because he knows that if he can’t stop the direction that you are going – he just wants to steal
the energy from you to go there. One of the really important questions to ask in life – and this
is so important to you – no matter what area of life or how old you are here today – to which
area of life you are going to apply this - - Which voices do I want to listen to? Which voices do I
want to listen to? You have got some bit challenges – you have a family to build – you have a
relationship to make – you have a ministry to fulfill – you have all kinds of different things that
are positive to be built. Which voices do you want in your zone? It is a funny thing – I don’t
really understand how it fully works but – a lot of times the negative voices – the negative kind
of comments – go in deeper for me than the ones that call me to be my best self. Do I listen to
the loudest voices – or – do I listen to the wisest voices? Is it time to quit yet Nehemiah? Not
quite.
Nehemiah prays to God – he talks with God. You know prayer is talking with God about
what God and you are doing together. See God wants to raise your family to – God wants
impact into the next generations – He is your partner in all of this. That dream is His dream as
much as it is yours. God wants to build your business – because He has formed you for that –
but for His glory – God wants to be that partner – He is your partner in that – He is your best
buddy in this stuff. And prayer is talking to God about what we are both doing. And when
opposition comes – and over and over you find throughout the bible – people just go back to
God – ‘God are you still with me? God are you with me.’ David many times said, ‘God are you
with me? Are You with me? Are You with me? Opposition is here – heats going – are You with
me – are we together in this? Are we still partnered up?’ So it says, “We rebuilt the wall until
all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” I love that phrase – I
mean, if you are going to work – put your heart in it. Teach you kids that – by the way. It is a
great value to teach kids.
I am just going to take a side note – on your fridge – most of you use magnets to put
stuff up on your fridge – on your fridge have a weekly value. Type it up – write it up – color it
up - - put it on the fridge for your kids. And here is a good one to start with – ‘When you work –
work with all your heart’. People have no idea what a community of men and women that are
committed to God can do – if everybody works with all their heart. That is what God always
wants for His people – for us to be an all-out heart church. And that is what they do – and now
they are half way home. But this is such a critical moment because – this is a very interesting
observation as you look at the tasks of life with God for perseverance and persistence – there is
an observation from an Old Testament scholar by the name of Williamson – and this is what he
writes, “In all major undertakings – this halfway point is often a point for critical reflection.
Initial enthusiasm has worn thin – but the end is not yet sufficiently within sight to encourage
that final effort.” When you are trying to follow God – when churches are – when you are
trying to build a marriage, or rebuild – when you are trying to build a business, or rebuild – or
wherever you are trying to put one brick on top of another – and it is a good thing that you are
trying to build – and you get to that halfway point – you are at a dangerous point, the weakest
point. It feels good at one point – but at the other point, man you are so at a critical point in
the process – because you have used a lot of energy to get here and have overcome a lot of
things – but you are only halfway done and you can’t see the end of it yet – and you can begin
to feel that this thing will never, ever break out – it will never get done – it is never going to
arrive. When you are trying to follow God and to do the right things – you are more vulnerable
when you get to the halfway points. When you are almost done – you can see the finish line.
When you start there is usually lots of enthusiasm. When you are at the halfway point – all the
enthusiasm from the beginning is gone – it is not easy it is a drudge. And look what happens –
the wall is half finished. “When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs the Ammonites and the people of
Ashdod heard that the repairs of Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were
being closed – they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against
Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.” This is getting very dramatic now – I mean, now we
have got everybody all the way around – north – south – east – and west. They are totally
surrounded. They are all against Jerusalem – they are all against the next rock going up there.
Everybody is against them – they are in total isolation – and this is where in reading some of
these headlines this past week, and you see how so many Christians around the world are so
isolated in their struggle – I wish that we could reach across and bring them here today and say,
‘brother/sister just keep going – you just keep fighting for the faith – you are noticed – you are
valued – we want to help’. You know the idea of just bringing encouragement to people
around this globe who are standing for things that you and I believe – and they are paying a
cost – there is no one around them who is even safe much less cheering them on.
“Meanwhile”, it says, “the people in Judah…” – that is saying that the people outside of
Judah are opposed to them – but, “Meanwhile the people in Judah said, ‘The strength of the
laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.’” I can’t tell
you how many times I have sat in the office – and I have heard people as they talk to each other
– and they have made some progress – and they are going, they have turned the engines – they
are starting to find some gripe – but their vision now shifts to all the rubble – because they now
start to see all the rubble, not just that they have created – but that they brought into their
relationship – and they start to see how overwhelming the next phases of building are going to
be – and they just start to lose the energy. You know this scripture where it talks about this
discouragement settling in – it is actually a chant – in Hebrew it is actually like a jingle. Hebrew
poetry is marked by meter – and that is the rhythm to it – there is this rhythm and it actually
rhymes in Hebrew. And if you are going to translate this into English it would be very much like
this:
We cannot build this stupid wall
We cannot build this wall at all
We cannot build it with some bricks
We cannot build it with some sticks
If we keep trying we will die
So go away now Nehemiah
Not just that – Nehemiah says, “’Also our enemies said before they know it or see us, we will be
right there among them and we will kill them and put an end to the work.’” It is one thing to
face opposition – but then you throw death threats into it. Not just that – those who lived near
them – those are the folks…. These are dangerous people – these are some of those dangerous
people in your life. If you are going to follow Jesus – these are the ones you have to watch. The
folks who maybe around the border – or right around the other side of the border to you – they
are just inside or outside – the people who are near. And then it says, “Then the Israelites who
lived near them…” You said ‘Israelites’? Yes! “Then the Israelites who lived near them came
and told us ten times over, ‘Wherever you turn they will attack us.’” It is never going to work –
we will never make it. Do you ever notice that sometimes with negative people it is almost like
they like being negative – it is almost like they get a kick out of saying that you are never going
to make it. Are you ready to quit yet Nehemiah? Everything is eroded – now even the strength
of your labor is giving out and nothing but bad news – and they are discouraged. This is on the
upswing. Are you ready to give up now Nehemiah? Not yet – not quite. It is an amazing story
– the enemy is all around – ‘okay God, what do You want us to do?’ He keeps praying to God
and then taking action – praying to God and then taking action. There is great life in prayer –
and there is great life in actually taking action. Sometimes people say to me, ‘yes, I am praying
about that’, and then I want to say to them, ‘you know that prayer is always to lead to an
action’. There is greatness in prayer – and – there is greatness in action.
So what is the action that he takes? He divides everybody up and he says, ‘Half of you
keep building the wall up and half of you I want armed and you are going to stand guard. You
are going to watch over the builders.’ It is not a glamorous task you see – and I want to say that
because it is so central to character – and so counter culture – perseverance is not a glamorous
quality. Being a builder and putting one stone on another – and really building something that
will be there, that God wants to put in this world for the good of this world and the good of His
kingdom – is never a flashy thing to do. It never, ever is like that – it is just people of character
– day after day – week after week – month after month – year after year – staying in the task
and building together – fighting through all of the opposition. It is never glamorous – there is
nothing flashy about it – it doesn’t get you on a magazine. I was thinking about this… you
know, at this time of year, 44 years ago, something quite remarkable happened. Humans
landed on the moon. Does anyone here remember the moon landing? How many here were
alive when they landed on the moon. Oh my gosh. I was at camp – they put a little T.V. up so
that we could watch it. There were a couple of guys who walked on the moon – Neil Armstrong
0 you remember his famous statement, ‘One small step for man…’ right - - and Buss Aldrin. But
– there was a third guy who was in the capsule, who went to the moon with them. Can anyone
remember from history lessons – or from actually observing that history unfold – ask the
person next to you - - can you remember the name of the third person – the third guy on that
trip? Anyone? You can’t – can you? Anybody – who was the third guy on that first moon
mission? You don’t know do you? The other names are famous – you know them right away.
But hardly anyone remembers the name of Michael Collins. Why? Because he never walked on
the moon. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong get the joy and the glamor. Michael Collins never
got to say something that would be written down in history books. He just circled the block a
few times and went around. I will tell you two people who are really glad that Michael Collins
never stepped on the moon. Do you know who they are? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin –
they are really glad that someone was humble enough to say, ‘I’ll circle the block until you guys
are done – I will just come all the way up here – and I will be the guy who made it all the way to
the moon and never walked on it – and then I will go all the way back home. I will just be
faithful – I will just serve – I will just make sure that you have a safety valve, that I am there to
bring you back home.’ The kingdom of God is not mostly about really flashy, glamorous things
– just being faithful. Great parenting is never going to show up on a magazine cover. Great
business building – great leadership – great servanthood – doesn’t show up on the magazines.
Just be faithful – deep humility – fierce resolve. And Nehemiah says, “’After I looked things
over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Don’t be
afraid.’” Guys, I have to tell you that I think God’s word to many people today who have a
really tough hill to climb is – that – don’t be afraid – what you are doing is worth it – what you
are seeking to build is worthy. When you know that the good hand of God is on you for what
you are building – that rock of putting another stone on top of another – and nobody might be
noticing – nobody might be celebrating about it - - I want to tell you, don’t be afraid because
what you are doing counts. “’Remember the Lord’, he says, ‘for He is great and awesome. And
fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives…’” and your communities in that
sense. That is why we have to stay in the fight. That is why we have to take the words of Jesus
‘follow Me’ so seriously – and recognize that the next level of that is this – putting stone upon
stone.
“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot, and that God had
frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. No sooner was that problem
solved than another on popped up.” Again – what Nehemiah has to deal with here is
unbelievable – this one though was internal. It turns out that the poor inside Jerusalem and
inside Judah were starving – they were literally having to sell their homes and lands – and in
some cases even to sell their sons and daughters into slavery – just to have enough grain for
them and their children to be able to eat. Terrible situation – terrible injustice. But that was
not uncommon in the ancient world. Slavery was just the accepted mode of doing business.
There were no other economic systems. But they were having to do this and to sell their
children into slavery to their fellow Israelites – and lose their homes to their fellow Israelites
who were exploiting the situation – getting wealthy off of it. It was all legal. This is an
incredibly sensitive problem for Nehemiah – this is a serious injustice in Jerusalem and all that
Nehemiah has on his side is – spiritual and moral persuasion – he has no legal ground. So he
calls all these folks who have resources together – and he says, ‘Hey guys, this is a time when
everybody is going to have to be a part of this – and give. None of this exploitation can be
going on.’ He actually identifies with those folks – there is nothing self-righteous in what he
says, because he says, ’I have been part of this situation. I have actually been benefiting from it
also, and I am going to lead the way in making a financial sacrifice. And I am going to call all of
you to do the same thing. Quit doing this.’ It is quite a remarkable thing - they actually
changed what was accepted practices – and they gave up wealth and more potential wealth.
Instead of an opportunity for them to build wealth off of the backs of those that were building –
they had to become a part of the building – and support it. And they did. Nehemiah 5:13, “At
this the whole assembly said, ‘Amen’, and praised the Lord, and the people did as they
promised.”
So they finished the wall – but the gates are not in place yet. It is almost operational – it
is almost done. But it isn’t. Which means of course – it is not of any use at all at this point. And
the opposition hears about this. Sanballat – they know they are getting down to their last card
to play against this persistent man. And all of the people who have stood with sweat and toiled
to carry out something that God has put in their hearts. So Sanballat sends to Nehemiah a
message saying, ‘We have to meet.’ Nehemiah says ‘no’. Sanballat tries four times – and
Nehemiah says no four times. Finally Sanballat sends another message that says, ’There are
rumors you are trying to plan a coup – and you want to make yourself king. You are going to
overthrow the power of the king of Persia – and this will hurt you. Nehemiah, these rumors are
floating around – and people are saying bad things about you. It is going to damage you so I am
going to get together and talk with you. You need my political power here right now
Nehemiah. You need to partner up with my persuasion of the others – I can put this to rest for
you.’ As if to say, ‘I am going to help you out now – people are saying bad things about you.’
He is actually slandering Nehemiah’s motives and reputation. He is doing that – but of course
he pretends to Nehemiah like he is concerned. Nehemiah says, “’I sent him this reply. Nothing
like what you are saying is happening, you are just making it up out of your own head.’” I love
this guy. Then the opposition actually hires a guy inside Judah – and Israelite to tell Nehemiah,
‘Nehemiah, they are coming to kill you – run and hide – let’s go in the temple – let’s quit
Nehemiah.’ Is it time to quit Nehemiah? Not now – he is going to keep building.
In Nehemiah 6:15 it says, “So the wall was completed on the 25 th of Elul, in 52 days.
When all our enemies heard about this they realized that this work had been done with the
help of our God.” Time to quit now Nehemiah? Yup – now is the time. Now is the time to quit
Nehemiah. Can you imagine the joy of Nehemiah and all the people – how glad they were?
There were all these points – way back here – and here – when it would have been so easy to
just be overwhelmed or discouraged. Can you imagine how glad they were when the wall was
done – that they just didn’t quit? Can you imagine when those kids have left the nest – and you
know that you put your all into them – that you instilled values and you did the discipline deal –
and you made sure that they were taught respect – and you made sure that they were taught
good hard work and the development of their gifts – and their stewardship to God. And you
lifted high values to them – and called them to surrender who they were to the Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ? Can you imagine when they walk out of your home – and you know that you have
done that? Can you imagine the joy of rebuilding or making that marriage what it can be and
what God has intended it to be? Imagine climbing over the rocks and rubble – and cleaning it –
and working and slaving and laboring – and finally getting the gates in place – and now – it is
finished? I am glad that we did this. Can you imagine hanging in there in a business through
the difficult moments and times when advisors are saying run this thing down – get out of this
now? But you know – no, this is a stone upon stone – this is something out of my heart – this is
something that God is working in and through me – this is a part of the plan --- and you hang in
there and do that thing. Imagine what that feels like? All the other opportunities that God will
bring to those that are builders – because when you have good builders – you have always got
more projects. But if you don’t have builders….?
So when do you quit doing a work for God? When it is finished. Your family is a work
for God – your business is a work for God. What you do – is a work for God. You quit when it is
finished – not when it is hard – not when it is painful – not when it is costly – not when
somebody resists – not when you are tired - - when it is finished. And one of the words we love
– at least I do - is the word ‘easy’ – I just want life to be easy. I have raised a kid – I have
grandkids – I just like being a Dad to easy – or a Granddad to easy – I would just like marriage to
be easy – I just like working at a church to be easy – I would just like to have everybody to do
what I would like them to do and make it easy. It is not supposed to be easy! Do you ever think
about what God uses to grow perseverance – it is quite amazing. Paul writes about this to the
church at Rome. He says, “We also rejoice in our sufferings.” I just have to pause there –
because we can read over it like it is just a cliché or a little pious statement. Yet he really means
this – and he writes this as somebody who has suffered a lot – and he doesn’t expect not to
suffer – he doesn’t wake up in a day and say, ‘oh wow, I expect not to suffer today’. He doesn’t
have that kind of thinking. He does know that in this world – if you are going to build – it is
going to be with some suffering involved. There is going to be cost involved with this. And I
would just like all of us to realize that it is not easy to build. We rejoice in our sufferings – why?
Because suffering is a good thing? No. That is not why we rejoice. We don’t just suffer
because suffering is a good thing –it is because we know that suffering produces perseverance.
Just really quickly I will say this. We live in a society and culture that tends to think that
the highest good is suffering avoidance. To just avoid suffering – avoid suffering – avoid
suffering. No it is not. The highest good is to know and love and treasure God and become the
kind of person that God wants me to be and designed me to be – and to be a builder in this life.
That is the highest good. “Therefore, we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that
suffering produces perseverance – perseverance character – and character hope – and hope
does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit He
has given us.” It is not supposed to be easy. Your life is not supposed to be easy. James says,
“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing
of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you might be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Perseverance – perseverance – perseverance!
Suffering produces perseverance.
Charity is going to do a song special to kind of bookend this. Enjoy – hear the words –
and then I will just quickly close off for today. If you really feel like quitting you need to hear
these words.
SONG SPECIAL
I am just going to share a few words to close this off today. We were going to serve
communion this morning – but I am going to put that on hold for a couple of weeks. I need to
say a few things. When is it time to quit? Somebody showed us – a man named Jesus. He
came – he didn’t have to come. He volunteered for His assignment – and He taught – and He
travelled – and He had nothing – and He healed – and you would think that everyone on the
planet would just stand up and applaud. But they did not. Instead – people opposed Him from
the very beginning. When He was born – the King tried to do away with Him. Crowds melted
away when His words got hot. Hard religious leaders got jealous and tried to trap Him. Herod
got angry and wanted to capture Him. Jesus was sold out by the Judas. Peter let Him down.
Pilot handed Him over. Crowds mocked and ridiculed Him – they even came up with a little
jingle, ‘He saved others but He couldn’t save Himself’. Time to quit Jesus? Is it time to quit?
Not yet.
The path out of darkness began with one exasperatingly persistent individual who was
constitutionally incapable of capitulation. And He kept going all the way to a cross. On that
cross – in some way that we will never fully understand – He took the weight of all of this world
– and all of its suffering – and all of its guilt – and all of its sin, including yours and mine – and
out of sacrificial love He poured Himself out to the last drop of blood. And when He had
poured Himself out completely – then – He said these words, ‘It is finished’. With that He
bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
There is our model. We need to toughen up. Our faith needs to get a little bit
more in touch with reality and not with flattery. We must not be thinking in the days that we
get up – that all of a sudden we can expect ease. Because if you are really on God task – easy is
not a part of that equation. To apply ourselves with faith towards all of the things worth
building in this life with God. And I am challenging this church in these two messages that you
just heard – Jesus’ words ‘follow me’ – and what that means. Nothing is easy. So I leave you
with these two words today. The first two – ‘follow me’. These two words now – do it. Just do
it!
And I want to say, as we come into a fall ministry season – and as we push ahead with
the vision that God has given us in this church – a place where people will hear the gospel of
Jesus Christ – a place where in the midst of hearing they will receive a love that resonates with
the grace of God. That places us all into that position of needing His nurture and His healing. A
vision that says that there is a need for truth to be proclaimed – love to be given and to be
applied – that we are not here for easy – but we are here to make a difference in something
that will be to the glory of God and impact many lives to the glory of God. And I want to
declare to you – as a pastor of this church – that that will continue. And I look forward to the
journey ahead. So I want to encourage us all today – let’s follow Jesus – and let’s do it.
Let’s stand together. Father, as we bow our heads in Your presence today – these types
of messages just seem to come just so strongly at times to us Lord. The times that we live in
demand it. The challenges to our faith and the world that is every shifting around us – needs it.
People all around us are even open to it. But You have said that the problem is not the harvest
– the problem is the laborers are too few. But Father, in the close of this somber service –
where we just put things out there – I pray that something will resonate in people’s hearts
today – and many hearts around this auditorium just say, ‘I have got to get back into business
with God because I have really slipped out of that’. And maybe you are one of those today and
in your heart today between you and God – would you get back into business – the life business
– with God. Would you make the step again – that puts it all out there on the line. The ears
that heard that call on that beach that day of ‘follow Me’ – Father I pray that they will be
resonating in our hearts today – and then that we just – do it. Not because it is easy – we do it
because Lord it is You – and it is for You – and it is Your plan.
As we close – maybe in your heart you are calling out and saying, ‘God I am back in
business with You’. We all need to settle that somewhere in our lives. Hear those little prayers
Father, all over this auditorium. Thank You for this congregation – maybe Your blessing be
upon it – may You bless the families of this congregation – bless the parents – bless every home
and marriage. Father, I pray that You would bless the people who are taking courageous steps
towards You – and in grace. Bless those who are working on change in their life. Bless these
Lord that are taking the great courage to move forward in life and be builders – and have left
the life of pulling down things around them – but have reached out to a different way of living –
Father bless them. Bless the work of these hands as people respond to Your calls. In Christ’s
name we pray. Amen