Intimacy With God Pt. 2
The Work of Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Work Of Revitalization
The Work Of Revitalization
Good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. If you are visiting today please take a moment to fill out our connect card, either on the back of the pew in front of you, or online at burroak.org. We took a break from our main series this past two weeks that were filled with much celebration. A rededication, 5 baptisms, and two new members added. Plus the celebrating of the Lord’s supper together. And now it is time to get back to work.
We pick up where we left off from two weeks three weeks ago in Nehemiah. If you remember three weeks ago we had our first message from Nehemiah looking at chapter 1. What we saw in this first chapter was that of an intimacy that Nehemiah had with his God. This was demonstrated through Nehemiah’s grand prayer that read in 1:4-11. Nehemiah’s prayer ultimately teaches us how to pray. But it doesn’t just teach us how to pray, but how to pray in response to what is going on around us.
It teaches us how to pray not from a ritualistic standpoint but from a relational standpoint.
What we see is that prayer is not just a formality, but rather a foundational aspect to intimacy with Yahweh. When it comes to the work of revitalization prayer is essential. When looking at the markers of revitalization, prayer falls in that first marker.
Hearts soften & desire to grow in Godly wisdom
Repentance of sins
Growth in knowledge and understanding
Increased attacks by the enemy
New conversions & baptisms
Our hearts being soften and our desire to grow in Godly wisdom forces us to prayer. Prayer leads us to repentance of our sins. Andy, Davis in his book Revitalize says this about prayer.
“Prayer conforms us to God’s heart and plans and makes us long for them to be consummated. When we pray we turn our backs on Laodicean lukewarmness …
When we pray, we are remembering the height from which we have fallen, we are repenting of having forsaken our first love like the Ephesian church ...
In this way we are pleading for Christ to not remove our lampstand.” - Andy Davis, Revitalize, pg. 99.
We pray to plead that Christ will not remove our lampstand. We pray that Christ does not remove our witness and testimony from this community. We pray that Christ does not decide to close our doors. The way we get to this type of prayer is remembering that church revitalization is primarily the transformation of human hearts. I know that I am in need of my heart being transformed. Our hearts are so desperately wicked that only Yahweh truly knows them. Let us come before him now, petitioning him to transform our hearts.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Please pray with me.
PRAYER
Father you have again allowed us to come together today. Lord as we prepare to receive your word open our hearts and minds to understand it. Father may you present yourself to us today. For those that are sorrowful bring them comfort. For those that are fearful bring the courage. For those that harboring sin, bring them conviction that they might be able to walk in the freedom of the light of Christ. Father we ask your blessing on our message for today. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
The title of our message for today is “Intimacy With God: Gives Birth To Action” and we will be looking to the second chapter of Nehemiah. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn there now. If you are using the blue pew Bible it is on page 438. Or you can follow along on the screen.
PASSAGE
Let us hear the word of the Lord.
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”
6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.
7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah,
8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.
9 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.
10 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.
11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
12 Then I arose in the night, 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.
13 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 that had been destroyed by fire.
14 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.
15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
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.”
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.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite 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?”
20 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.”
May the Lord bless the reading of his word.
As we consider this morning how our intimacy with Yahweh is to give birth to our action, we are going to consider three biblical truths related to action. Preparing for Action, The Plan of Action, and Resistance to the Action.
Preparing For Action
Preparing For Action
As we begin to look at Nehemiah’s action we need to be reminded of what lead to this point.
And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah has learned that his homeland is in great distress. That the Holy City lies in ruins. Continuing into the next verse we read his reaction.
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
We see a timestamp at the beginning of chapter 1 indicating that this report and Nehemiah’s reaction happen in late fall. When we get to chapter 2 we see another time stamp.
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
This would now be spring time. What we can see is that in the four or so months that have passed Nehemiah has spent his time praying and fasting. Yet, he did not just stop there. He did not stop with just petitioning Yahweh through prayer and fasting. In fact if you remember at the end of our message from Nehemiah chapter 1 we saw that when it comes to prayer, we need to be asking God how he wants to use us to answer our own prayers.
As we see this chapter play out, we see that not only did Nehemiah pray and fast, but he planned as well. Plan, that can almost be a dirty four letter word in some churches. Many American Christians are resistant to their pastor or church making any type of ministry plan. There is a belief that planning is the opposite of being led by the Spirit.
They tend to have several verses that they run to as well to support their lack of planning. They’ll say, “A man’s heart makes plans but it is the Lord that directs his steps.” Or they will say, “Man’s way seems right but it is the path to destruction.” Or they will say, “We are waiting on the Lord.” Often times in using these verses they take them out of context. They use them to justify a lack of obedience through action whether they understand they are doing this or not.
If you recall, busyness with the lack of a strategic plan is a marker of a complacent church. Being busy just to be busy. What is the hesitancy to a strategic plan? When you make a plan and write down on paper, you are now accountable. You are now held to a standard. This is the struggle that people have with strategic plans. To operate under a written down strategic plan means that each person involved now has to release some type of control for the betterment of others. This is where your flesh responds in opposition to a plan because you now realize that you are held accountable to something that you are no longer in entire control of. Yet, the plan is there to help achieve a desired outcome.
One of the most practical ways that we see this play out in our lives is through the means of a budget. This is one area where I can share that God has worked in mine and Corey’s marriage. For the longest time we did not operate on a budget and we were constantly living paycheck to paycheck. I always felt like I just needed to make more money. And God would provide and he allowed for me to make more money. Yet, we still lived paycheck to paycheck. Until we figured out how to get onto a budget and honor God with the use of our finances. See a budget is nothing more than a strategic plan for your finances.
Operating under a strategic plan also shows that we are operating in God’s likeness. Our Bible is made of two testaments or rather two covenants, old and new. Within the old covenant we read of several other covenants. We can understand that each one of these covenants progressively reveal more of God’s plan to us. This is the position Stephen Wellum and Peter Gentry take. They state,
“Progressive covenantalism argues that the Bible presents a plurality of covenants that progressively reveal our triune God’s one redemptive plan for his one people, which reaches its fulfillment and terminus in Christ and the new covenant.” - Gentry & Wellum, Kingdom Through Covenant, pg. 35.
To put the time in to develop a strategic ministry plan, means that we take serious our command to go to those around us and to the ends of the earth. It means that we want to operate in the likeness of our God who himself operates by his grand plan. Nehemiah understood this as we see within this chapter. So what does Nehemiah’s plan of action look like?
The Plan Of Action
The Plan Of Action
We see the start of Nehemiah’s plan at the end of chapter 1. Chapter one closes out with Nehemiah stating that he was cupbearer to the king. This meant that Nehemiah had direct access to the man that held the power to help rectify the issue Nehemiah had. Yet, as a servant, Nehemiah could not just enter in and ask the king to do this. We see his plan pick up in verse 1 of chapter 2.
Nehemiah 2:1 (ESV)
... Now I had not been sad in his presence.
Why is this significant? Within this culture kings truly held the power of life and death of their servants without question. While Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king, he could easily be replaced if the king so chose to dispose of him. Coupled along with this is a matter that most men innately understand. Men are we supposed to carry our personal troubles with us into our places of employment? No. It is a distraction from being able to get our job done. Personal issues have no place in the work environment. Nehemiah would have understood this as well. So as his plan plays out what do we make of verse 2?
And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
Is Nehemiah’s fear from finding himself in a position that he doesn’t want to be in? Did he let his guard drop and now he is worried for his life? Derek Kidner suggests that while this may be true there are more likely deeper reasons for Nehemiah’s actions. He states,
Ezra and Nehemiah: An Introduction and Commentary The Matter Is Broached (2:1–8)
Nehemiah has resolved to speak out ‘today’ (1:11). He may even have decided to precipitate the enquiry by allowing his feelings to be obvious. Now the moment has come, and if he mishandles it there will not be another.
Nehemiah’s fear is not the “I got caught” type fear, rather it is the fear that comes when you realize you are standing at that moment that you hoped for, that moment you prayed for. That moment you were not sure if it would come, and now you face the choice. Do I follow through, or do I back away. Do I trust Yahweh, or do I back away to the place that I am most comfortable? Do I step out into the unknown, or do I remain in the familiar?
Nehemiah has petitioned God for months through prayer and fasting, he has developed his plan and now he is at the point of stepping out in obedience. As we see the beginning part of Nehemiah’s plan play out there are a few things we can learn.
First it is understanding who it is we are communicating to. Nehemiah was talking to a Persian king. His concern for a wall around a conquered city will be unlikely. Instead Nehemiah communicates his concern in a way that the king will understand.
I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Nehemiah communicates that he wants to rebuild the place of his ancestors. This type of ancestral honor is something the king would have understood.
The next key that we see is Nehemiah’s ongoing reliance of Yahweh. Once the king showed he would entertain Nehemiah’s request we see Nehemiah again turn towards his intimacy with Yahweh.
Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah prayed for months. Those prayers brought a plan to mind. But he did not leave prayer behind when it came time to work. Commenting on this Peter Adam states,
Ezra & Nehemiah: Walking in God’s Words (Nehemiah and King Artaxerxes)
“These quick prayers are often called ‘arrow prayers’, prayed briefly in the midst of other activities. They show our constant dependence on God, and show that we can pray short prayers as well as long prayers. They are prayers to pray when there is no time to pray. ... Our ‘arrow prayers’ will be sharpened by more extended and thoughtful prayers which are based on the words and works of God.”
In the pastoral prayer, you will often hear me say “Lord when all we can do is pray, let us pray without ceasing, but if you have given us the means to act, let us pray while moving.” That principle is demonstrated here in Nehemiah. There are times when we need to stop and petition God through prayer and fasting. But once Yahweh has shown the plan, then we pray while moving.
Our hesitancy here is in knowing when God has shown us the plan. This is where we need to grow in trusting those that Yahweh has placed in the position to discern the plan.
The next thing we see is that when Nehemiah put his plan together he had it as thorough as possible. He had an idea how long it would take, who he would need to communicate with, and who he would need to get supplies from. He did not bring just a suggestion, he brought as well of a detailed plan as he could without having seen the actual devastation yet.
As phase one of Nehemiah’s plan is coming to completion we see that he realizes that is is Yahweh who is causing all this to take place.
Nehemiah 2:8 (ESV)
And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.
Moving to his next phase of his plan, we see Nehemiah in Jerusalem. After settling in, we see him take an inventory of the city.
So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, 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.
There is a couple things we need to notice here. Nehemiah does a night time recon not telling anyone what he was doing and only taking a few people with him. This is important to know when assess a situation. There will be those who for whatever reason deny the severity of their troubles. At the same time there will also be those who all they see is their troubles.
This is true for church revitalization as well. Some in a church will not be able to see the reality of how they suffer from gospel malnourishment, and others will see nothing but all the trouble and fallout from the malnourishment. Nehemiah had heard the reports from the people who had been there, but he had not personally gone through it, and he had not physically seen it till this point. He was in essence and unbiased set of outside eyes that could clearly see the reality of the situation.
The next thing we see here is the relationship between intimacy with Yahweh and action. Nehemiah believed that what he was setting out to do was from Yahweh. Daniel Akin comments on this,
Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Nehemiah Arrives on the Scene (Nehemiah 2:9–20)
That phrase in verse 12 about God giving him these ideas sheds light on the relationship between Nehemiah’s prayers and his plans. Nehemiah understood God’s will, and here he indicates that he is doing what the Lord has led him to do.
It is important for us to see this. This was not Nehemiah going about rebuilding because he believed he knew best. It was because he knew this was what Yahweh wanted him to do, and had placed him in a position to be able to. Having assessed the damage it was ow time for phase 3 of Nehemiah’s plan, getting others onboard.
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.”
Nehemiah tells the Jews living among the city the reality of their situation. The fact that their city and it’s walls lie in ruin has brought a disgrace upon them. The reason for this is in the ancient world the wall around a city demonstrated not only the strength of the city and it’s people, but also of their god. We see this most clearly played out in the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho.
But who is Nehemiah and how will the people respond?
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.
Nehemiah explained to them how Yahweh had been with him and provided for him to get to this point. Upon hearing this the people were encouraged and ready to get to work. And while this all sounds easy it did not come with out resistance.
Resistance To The Action
Resistance To The Action
We read in this chapter that there was those who did not want to see the rebuilding of the city.
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.
We read of these people in Ezra. What we had determined at that point was that they are representative of the family of Satan that does not want to see Yahweh’s purposes come to fruition. But how does this apply to church revitalization? While there are more and more people beginning to speak out against the church, the church’s greatest enemy for closing down, currently resides within it’s own walls.
We have looked several times at the stats showing that more churches are closing each year rather than opening. This is not do to government policies that force them shut. This has to do with a complacent attitude dwelling within the people of that church. It comes from your apathetic heart.
Anytime we believe that ministry is a young man’s job. Anytime we believe we need to leave it to the professionals. Anytime we believe we have done our part so we are good. Anytime we believe we are out of energy and cannot go on any further. Anytime we believe that God cannot use us. That is Satan convincing us to retreat back to where we are familiar, to where we are comfortable. And there are many Christians and churches even in our own area that are content with that. That are failing to plead that Jesus not remove their lampstand.
What does Nehemiah show us about this? When the men that represent the enemy came against them and accused them of rebelling against the king, what do we see as Nehemiah’s response?
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.”
Nehemiah does not explain himself, he does not justify what they are doing or even show that he had the king’s approval. Instead he showed that his trust was in Yahweh. When those thoughts creep in that would like to keep us complacent and apathetic, we need to take those thoughts captive and remind ourselves that it is Yahweh that will cause us to be strengthen and prosper in our endeavors.
Closing
Closing
Yahweh’s plan has always been to work in union with his people.
That they go forth as his representatives. That they carry forward his image into the world. It is easy to understand that a complacent church is not living up to its full potential, what is harder to understand is that a church that operates without a strategic plan also is not living up to it’s full potential. Scripture tells again and again, that our God is a planner.
The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Yahweh is the great creator. He is the grand designer, and the perfect strategic planner. There is nothing that happens outside of his will, outside of his plan. And the epitome of that plan was what he did for mankind.
Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ... but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ... For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
At the right time, Christ died for you. At the right time Nehemiah approached the king. At the right time Nehemiah approached the Jews. At the right time Yahweh continues to still work through man to see his purposes completed. There are many that say if God calls you to do something and you fail to do, he will move on to someone else. And that may be true. But what we see from Nehemiah is that if we have prayed and planned, believing what we are doing is in accordance to God’s word and will we should step out in faith and courage, trusting that our Lord’s good hand will be upon us.
Yahweh has seen us in our weak and lowly state. He has provided reconciliation to us through the blood of Jesus at the right time. And now he has called us to take this message of reconciliation to those around us. Let us rejoice in the work of our Lord, trusting in his perfect timing.
END IN PRAYER