The Previous Work of Yahweh

Benjamin Sexton

The Work of Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

Nehemiah 7:1–7

Nehemiah 7:63–73

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

Handout

The Work of Revitalization

Good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. I am Pastor Ben and it is a joy to be with you today. If you are new to our services, either in person or online, please take a moment to fill out our connect card. If you are in person you can find a hard copy on the back of the seat in front of you. Or you can find it online a burroak.org.

We have been working through a series titled The Work of Revitalization in which through the studies of Ezra and Nehemiah we have been looking at how Yahweh works to call his people out of their sin and complacency to live fully for him again. We have covered a lot of material through this series so far. We are nearing the end of it though. We have about 7 messages left from this series. Let’s do a quick recap.

We discussed how there are two paths that we can traverse as a church. The path of complacency or the path of revitalization. For either path there are markers that we can look at to know which path it is that we are following.

For a church that is on the path of complacency the markers will be.

Far to easily satisfied

Quick to make excuses

Never enough time

No longer teachable

Content with early success

For a church on the path to revitalization the markers will be.

Hearts soften & desire to grow in Godly wisdom

Repentance of sins

Growth in knowledge and understanding

Increased attacks by the enemy

New conversions & baptisms

We also need to remember that these paths often cross. This is again why we are looking for markers rather then steps. This is because the ending point of revitalization is when Jesus returns for his church. There is no earthly defined finished line for the work of revitalization.

In looking at the three primary characters in Ezra and Nehemiah, we see that through Zerubbabel, Yahweh keeps his promises to his people and the necessity for the establishment of proper worship. For us this proper worship looks like us striving to live in accordance with how Yahweh has called us to live. To let our lives to be marked by holiness.

Through Ezra we saw the importance for Yahweh’s people to stand on Yahweh’s word. This is because his word gives us instruction for how we are to live in regards to our relations with God and with our fellow man.

Through Nehemiah we are learning about Yahweh being our comfort and how that comes through an intimate relationship with him. Nehemiah has shown us this through his different types of prayers. We have also seen that this intimacy with Yahweh leads not only to a prayer life of communication with him, but drives the individual to action, because they have seen, tasted, and experienced the beauty of God.

With all this the key to revival, the key to revitalization, I believe is best summed up by Tim Keller.

“Revival occurs when those who think they already know the gospel discover they do not really or fully know it. This leads to repentance and change.” - Timothy Keller

This is because as Andy Davis reminds us, revitalization is not about saving a building or a bank account, but rather the transformation of human hearts. So let us work on that heart transformation by turning to our focus verse for this series.

Psalm 51:10–12 NKJV

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.

Well last week in looking at how to deal with discouragement, we discover three things from Nehemiah chapter 6. First when, discouraged we are not to entertain temptation. Next, we need to be growing in discernment. Not all good advice is godly advice. Finally, we need to press on with what we have been called to do.

We are going to continue in dealing with the topic of discouragement this week by looking at how we overcome it. Our message for this week is titled “The previous work of Yahweh: Overcoming Discouragement.” And we are looking to chapter seven. If you want to follow along in your own Bible or on your device please turn there now. If you are using the blue pew Bible, you will find it on page 443. Or you can follow along on the screen. For our reading today we are going to look at verses 1-7 and verse 73.

PASSAGE

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

Nehemiah 7:1–7 ESV

1 Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, 2 I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. 3 And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.” 4 The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. 5 Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: 6 These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. 7 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

Nehemiah 7:73 ESV

73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word.

As we consider how to overcome discouragement this morning, there are three biblical principles that we are going to consider. Who is standing with you, remembering what Yahwe has done before, and living for Yahweh.

Who Is Standing With You?

Before we dive to far into our text for today we need to step back a moment to the end of chapter 6. As we ended last week we saw where the enemies of Nehemiah had grown in great fear because of the work they saw accomplished. Yet, those working against Nehemiah were not strictly from the outside.

Nehemiah 6:17–18 ESV

Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife.

If you remember at the end of Ezra it talked about the intermarrying that had occured. The result of that sin is now coming about. Tobiah, an enemy to the ways of God has access to intimate information because Shecaniah had given his daughter to Tobiah as his wife. And Tobiah’s son was married to Meshullam’s daughter. Ezra consider Meshullam a man of insight, yet he married his daughter off to his enemy. Yet we see that these relationships caused an issue.

Nehemiah 6:19 ESV

Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

Nehemiah had men all around him that were working against him. They were trying to convince him how good Tobiah was and they were reporting to Tobiah what Nehemiah was doing. We talked about Nehemiah’s potential discouragement last week. Nehemiah is being threatened and intimidated by Tobiah and yet, some of his fellow Jews are talking about how great Tobiah is.

Many of us can relate to this. We hear praises being sung about a person who has hurt us or someone we care for and all we can think, is if you really knew that person. We hate wrestling with that feeling. Yet, here is where Nehemiah finds himself. So what does Nehemiah do? Our passage for today is going to show us a couple principles that we need to understand for revitalization. We see the first one in verse one and two.

Nehemiah 7:1–2 ESV

Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.

If you recall one of the charges that Tobiah was bringing against Nehemiah was that he was trying to set up himself to be king. Nehemiah denied that claim and what we see him doing here points to that. He is setting up others to govern in his place. Part of this is because Nehemiah had promised to return to the Artaxerxes after the work was completed.

But what does this mean for us? In his book “Revitalizing the Declining Church” Desmond Barrett shares the story of a church that was planted in 1964. In the first decade they had grown so much that they were at the point of needing to build a new building. Yet, as it goes in most churches, not everyone was on board with the growth and the changes needed to keep up with it. Barrett states,

“Change brings out the real character of those being affected by it. Sometimes for the better, but many times for the worse.”

He goes on to state,

“The change expands the kingdom, but it pushes against the little fiefdoms those individuals or small groups have built over time as their power base.” - Desmond Barrett, Revitalizing the Declining Church, pg. 17-18

This fiefdom set in motion a series of actions that caused this church to close by the late 1980s. This ought to cause us to stop and ask what is a fiefdom. Ultimately it is a smaller area of an organization that an individual or small group has determined that they have ultimate control and power over.

In a church we often see this take place in a couple fashions. One will be an individual that serves in a certain aspect of ministry and they will not allow anyone else to serve or have any input on what is done. The other way we tend to see is similar to the example from Barrett. A small faction of individuals who do not want to see any changes whatsoever.

When we operate this way we leave no room for others to discover their gifts or use them. As I have said before, the church is to be a training ground. We are to be helping people discover their gifts and encourage them to use them. One way that I have tried to incorporate this is by the forming of a preaching team.

The purpose of this is not for me to simply get a Sunday off every month, but so that I can train other men in how to teach from God’s word. This is my way of edifying others. In fact, in October you will see each of us preach. Pastor Dick will bring the communion message, and Kerry and Ryan will each cover a week while I am in Wyoming.

This principle of training others was actually something I learn from an uncle of mine. After the company he worked for bought the company I worked for, he became the overseer of the department that I worked in. Up to that time I had the mentality that I did not want anybody else to be able to do the job that I did. It was a way of protecting my position. And in complete honesty it was a way for me to feel more valuable than what I really probably was.

My uncle helped me to see that my position was no where near as important as the over all achievement of the whole company. That what I needed to do was train someone to the point of working myself out of a job, to invest in teaching someone else. He would say that none of us know what is going to happen to us at any given moment. Rather than working for ourselves we need to live for a greater cause, something outside of ourselves.

Bringing this back over to the ministry aspect of things. We do not know when our last moment is coming. As your pastor it would be poor shepherding of me, to not be raising up others who can preach and teach, even for a short time, if something were to happen to me.

This is what Nehemiah is doing, he is putting other men in place to be able to lead in his absence. Continuing in our passage we see the second principle that guides us.

Nehemiah 7:2 ESV

I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.

The qualification for being placed in these positions were not physical skills. It was a character that they had. First and foremost they feared, or rather they revered Yahweh.

The next thing we need to see is what Nehemiah did with these two men.

Nehemiah 7:3 ESV

And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.”

Last week we looked at not entertaining temptation. This goes along with that. By the Jews opening the gates late and shutting them early, and keeping guards posted, they were limiting their points of vulnerability to attacks. With the spiritual attacks in your life, how are you limiting the points of vulnerability? This is a question each of us need to assess within ourselves.

Several months back Corey and I had hit a rough patch. It wasn’t anything abnormal. There weren’t any drastic sins involved. But something was not right and the tension was growing obvious. After reflecting on somethings that Corey mentioned she noticed about me, I believed I owed to my wife to have these areas checked out.

With this I realized I needed a couple things in my life. I needed an older man who could relate with my life, to be able to speak into it to help me see the things I was missing. For this I reached out to a biblical counselor that I know, who has been in active ministry and counseling since before I was born. I knew he would have the insight to speak into my life as a husband, a father, a pastor, and a counselor.

Next I needed men that were near my age that were experiencing life as I was now, to help keep me in check. With this I invited two men both who are married with young families, and work in ministry, to ask me about how things are.

By putting these things in place I can limit how vulnerable I leave myself to sin’s temptations. Is it perfect, do I get it right every moment of every day? No, we are not able to do that, but there is more and more freedom from sin each day. When we live in this type of community with one another, we help to guard each other from sin, to encourage one another in our walks with Jesus, and to begin to feel victory over discouragement.

Remembering What Yahweh Has Done Before

As we have been working through what revitalization calls for and what it looks like, we have seen that part of this process calls for the believers to look both to the future and to the past. In looking to the past we see what it is that Yahweh has done before and find the assurance to continue on. We see this in Nehemiah again this week.

Nehemiah 7:5–7 ESV

Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

This section of Nehemiah is a direct copy of what we read in the beginning of Ezra. One way that we fight off discouragement and the temptations that come with it is by remembering what God has done before. When we remind ourselves of these things it serves as an encouragement to trust in what God still wants to do.

So right now I would like to take a few minutes and invite some of you to share the things that you have seen God do here in Burr Oak in the past. You can stay in your seats just raise your hand and I will bring a mic so everyone can hear you.

LET CONGREGATION SHARE

Isn’t it encouraging to see the things that God has done before. Imagine the things he would like to have done in the future. We have seen him work before and I can promise you he is not done working yet. Let our hands be strengthen to continue after this great work that he has given us.

Living For Yahweh

Coming back to our passage for today we need to see another principle that aids in overcoming discouragement. We kind of looked at this last week through our last point of pressing on. To press on means to continue to live for Yahweh and to do what he has called you to do. Turning back to our passage from today, we see this with Nehemiah. The wall is complete and the doors and gates are in place. But, is his work now accomplished? Has he completed his task and now God is done with him? This is in part where we need to stop and ask what is it really that Yahweh is wanting us to do?

In chapter 3 of Nehemiah we talked about how the wall that Nehemiah is rebuilding relates to the church today. We talked about how, while we do not have physical walls, as Christians we are part of a spiritual wall, founded on Jesus and his word, and all of us coming together show how great our God is, just as the physical wall in Nehemiah’s day did. Yet, what else does a wall do? Let’s look to verse 4-5.

Nehemiah 7:4–5 ESV

The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it:

The physical walls set as a boundary, established a community. The work was not complete with the walls just being built, the city needed to be repopulated. Again, the community needed to be established. What we see Nehemiah do next is turn to the genealogies so that he can begin to establish this community. Commenting on this section Daniel Akin states,

Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah Perseverance after the Project with People (Nehemiah 7:1–73)

So the walls are rebuilt. Who is going to live there? Are the returnees going to let people from the land—non-Jews—live in Jerusalem? No, they have to be a holy people. They must be a holy nation.

A holy nation. That is the same thing we are to be. The community we establish is to be as Peter says, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. This is the work we are to be keeping after, establishing a community of this royal priesthood. But what does this look like? Does this simply entail calling others out for not living according to God’s laws? No, what we will see over the next few weeks is that those that are of this community, first need to work on themselves.

As part of this community, we first need to work through what is going on in our hearts. This is part of what brings us out of discouragement. Stopping and reflecting on what it is that we want, desire, or worship other than Yahweh. We then have to weigh that against God’s word to realign ourselves according to his ways.

Even in Nehemiah’s day when the chosen people of God were more specifically defined by an ethnic group, there was a way for outsiders to become Jews. They had to be willing to separate themselves from the surrounding nations, you had to denounce your allegiance to other gods and commit your ways to Yahweh. For men this included going through physical circumcision. Today we no longer need to do that. Today, joining the global church community consists simply of proclaiming Jesus as your Lord and Savior. James Hamilton in his commentary explains it really well.

If you want to be part of the people of God today, what you need to do is recognize that God is your Creator, He is holy, and you have transgressed against Him. For that you deserve to pay the penalty for sin, which is separation from God forever. The good news for you is that because of what Jesus did—because of His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead—if you will turn from your sin, confess your sin to God, and trust in Christ, you can be saved. You can be part of the people of God.

James M. Hamilton Jr. et al., Exalting Jesus in Ezra-Nehemiah (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 148.

See, Yahweh has always been about community. He cared so much about community that he went to the cross so that the walls that we put up to cause division can be broken down. Paul says,

Ephesians 2:13–16 ESV

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

The hostility that resides between people groups has been destroyed by Jesus. He has now called us to go and grow this community of believers.

Closing

In closing, over the last two weeks we have been talking about how to deal with discouragement. I have thrown a lot at you over these two weeks so I wanted to close by boiling down as simple as possible. Here are the keys to over coming discouragement.

Do not entertain temptation of any kind.

Lean into your relationship with Yahweh so that you may grow in discernment.

Seek out what in your heart that you are wanting, desiring, or worshiping other than Yahweh.

Remember what Yahweh has done previously.

Press on in the work that Yahweh has called you to do.

Continue to establish the community of believers.

As we continue after this great work our God has called us to, eventually that discouragement will be overran by joy.