The Principle of Every Member Ministry
NEHEMIAH: How God Uses the Ordinary to Revitalize the Kingdom! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:05
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Welcome
Welcome
Good Morning! I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.
Why did you choose to gather today? We believe we are a called people! Called to worship and exalt our God among the nations in order that His glory may be spread over all the earth!
If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to know that ...
We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love people, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”
We have a connect card in the pew in front of you. I invite you to take one and fill it out! If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well.
I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon. You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.
Scripture Memory
Scripture Memory
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Opening Scripture Reading
Opening Scripture Reading
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Introduction
Introduction
The Principle of Every Member Ministry
The Principle of Every Member Ministry
“United we stand, divided we fall”
According to wikipedia,
The first attributed use of this phrase in modern times is to Founding Father John Dickinson in his pre-Revolutionary War song "The Liberty Song", first published in the Boston Gazette in July 1768.
In the song Dickinson wrote: "Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!".
A little later, on December 20, 1792, the first Kentucky General Assembly adopted the official seal of the Commonwealth, including the state motto — United We Stand, Divided We Fall, as recent new members of the Union.
Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, Henry proclaimed,
"Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs."
While this adage is seared into our minds as a revolutionary war era motto, the truth is that the origins of this phrase date back much farther. Jesus is said in the gospels.
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
He also said in Matthew 12:25
25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
We love that old phrase, “United we stand, Divided we fall.” But if we are honest, that is not how many of us live our lives. We are divided on so many fronts in our society today.
We are divided by sex, by race, by political leanings, by social standing and income. We are divided in our homes, in our schools, in our places of work, and yes, even in our churches.
The picture Nehemiah paints for us today is a very similar picture. The people you will meet today were as divided as you can imagine before Nehemiah arrived, yet Nehemiah portrays them as a picture of a people united by a common cause: The Rebuilding of the Wall!
When studying this Old Testament book of Nehemiah, many readers find it easier to simply skip over chapter 3 and follow the narrative straight from chapter 2 to chapter 4.
That’s because when you begin reading Nehemiah chapter 3, you immediately notice that it is filled with one boring and unpronounceable name after another.
In fact, even some biblical commentators ignore this chapter of Nehemiah completely, some even recommending that for time’s sake it is better to skip this chapter.
But............This is God’s Word! Every word of it is inspired and breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the child of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Every word! (2 Tim 3:16-17).
I would argue that this chapter is one of the most important chapters in the whole book. Because here we discover a real secret to Nehemiah’s success.
Here we see what enabled the work of rebuilding a wall and a people which had lain dormant for decades, to be completed in just fifty-two days.
A people unified around a common cause.
A people who were willing to put in the hard work
and
A leader who was a master of delegation.
There are a lot of different attitudes demonstrated by the people of Israel in this passage. Nehemiah understood that if God’s glory was to be reclaimed in Israel, the people had to unite!
Nehemiah understood that for the wall to be rebuilt and Jerusalem to be restored, it was going to require a large percentage of the people buying in to the cause and working together despite their differences to see the mission completed, the wall rebuilt, and God’s glory reclaimed in Israel.
The same is true in the church today. When everyone roles up their sleeves and humbly, lovingly serve one another, that church is actually functioning as a well oiled machine.
When we fight to preserve our unity and work hard at fulfilling our purpose for being and our mission of making disciples we are actually protecting ourselves from spiritual deception and the disabling forces of spiritual apathy.
I want to show you a few personal attitudes you will find along the gates and walls of Jerusalem during Nehemiah’s leadership.
In Nehemiah, we get an awesome illustration of a group of people who are acting like a Church is supposed to act!
People and attitudes we find in an Old Testament Construction Site.
People and attitudes we find in an Old Testament Construction Site.
1. A People Who Were Willing to Work When Given the Opportunity.
1. A People Who Were Willing to Work When Given the Opportunity.
Whether priests or professionals, noble-born or common stock, single men or women—all are mentioned in the work. The same goes for professionals and politicians, native residents and outsiders, construction crews and artisans—all who were willing to work were given jobs to do.
Some would repair the wall closest to their homes. Others were commuters who were sent to various locations. Some repaired existing walls while others started from scratch, using the blocks that had previously broken down.
Some of the workers labored on the different gates, with their massive hinges and bolts, while others picked up rubble and carted trash away.
Almost every member of Nehemiah’s team were willing to work! God expects His church to function in the same manner.
J.I. Packer once said,
The old idea that spiritual ministry is the task of the clergy and some few specially zealous layfolk, while the rest limit themselves to praying, paying, and looking after the church fabric and church meals, is...Spirit-quenching in itself (though congregations have occasionally prospered despite it).
The biblical principle of every-member ministry in the body of Christ must be recognized, and a place must be found in the church’s life for every God-given gift to be used in God’s service.
We also find...
2. People Who Did Not Necessarily Know How to Do the Work but They Were Willing to Learn
2. People Who Did Not Necessarily Know How to Do the Work but They Were Willing to Learn
1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.
It is interesting that the very first group of workers Nehemiah listed in his memoirs were the remaining priests of Israel. Nehemiah planned for them to begin work on the area around the Sheep Gate.
This was the place where sacrificial lambs and sheep would enter to be offered for the sins of the people. Since the priests performed the atoning services, this would be a significant wall to them—in fact, they may have considered it holy ground.
Can you see the significance of Nehemiah assigning them to work in this particular location. They could not possibly have known that approximately four hundred years later, Jesus Christ Himself, the Lamb of God, would walk through that reconstructed gate to pray in a nearby garden called Gethsemane.
Later, He was most likely brought back through that same gate by the soldiers who arrested Him and led Him before the Sanhedrin. He was, indeed, the final Lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).
Priests do not typically work with stones and hammers. However, this was not a typical situation, and they gladly set an example for the rest of the people.
Also look at Neh. 3:8-9
8 Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
9 Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired.
Imagine a politician, a goldsmith, and a perfume maker laying bricks!
What did they know about building walls and slapping on mortar? It didn’t matter. Evidently, Nehemiah provided them with additional workers who could show them how.
The person who says he cannot work because he does not know how should learn a lesson from a perfume maker who has exchanged sweet-smelling vials of delicately scented liquid for a pile of rocks and a trowel.
3. People Who Were Able to Do More Work than Others
3. People Who Were Able to Do More Work than Others
11 Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.
19 Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.
21 After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.
24 After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress and to the corner.
27 After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.
30 After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber.
In each of these verses, there is an interesting phrase that Nehemiah repeated about the attitude of each of these people.
“Repaired another section.”
In other words, these people did the job they were asked to do, and then they did more. What a tremendous testimony of people who went the extra mile!
4. People Who Were Willing to Work in More Difficult Places than Others
4. People Who Were Willing to Work in More Difficult Places than Others
14 Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.
15 And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.
The Dung gate was the gate through which all the garbage, manure, and refuse was taken. Nehemiah tells us that a member of the royal class was willingly working in a filthy place where he could smell the stench from the Valley of Hinnom below.
Compare his working conditions with the location mentioned in the next verse:
In other words, you have one official who willingly works near the garbage dump and another official who gets to work by the pool near the king’s flower gardens.
This emphasizes again that some of the people were willing to work in more difficult places than others—without complaining.
5. People Who Were Willing to Work Harder than Others
5. People Who Were Willing to Work Harder than Others
20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
This is the only person whose attitude or “spirit” is specifically mentioned.
Beside that word repaired you may see a footnote in your Bible that says “In some manuscripts he vigorously repaired, or zealously repaired.
The Hebrew word translated zealously comes from a word that means “to burn or to glow.”
Just because you work willingly at a task does not necessarily mean you are working with a glow, with a spirit of joy and zealousness.
Baruch represents those who work extremely hard—and smile while they are at it. They show up at their posts with cheer and kind words. They are a pleasure to serve with and around. May the tribe of Baruch increase in the Church today.
6. People Who Were Able to Work Would Not
6. People Who Were Able to Work Would Not
5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.
Here are a group of nobles who would not stoop to serve their Lord. We are not told why, the Tekoite nobles wouldn’t work, but the common people would.
It’s not any different in the Church today. The tasks related to ministry are filled with ordinary people with a zeal for the Savior.
Many times those who are “influential” in the world’s eye tend to be occupied with what they think are more important things to do; however, nothing is more important that obedience to God.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
We would do wise to not think of ourselves as to important or noble or as having to much seniority to bother getting our hands dirty in the building up of God’s Kingdom.
7. People Who Worked with Their Hands Revealed the Condition of Their Hearts
7. People Who Worked with Their Hands Revealed the Condition of Their Hearts
I want to skip ahead for just a moment to a verse in Nehemiah 4, that reveals a wonderful description of all those who unlike the Tekoite nobles were willing to work with their hands.
6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
Church work may not be glamorous work, but it is a place where God is honored and the work is never done in vain. In fact, the results will last forever because we are building people—and people last forever.
The Lord has placed you at your “wall”; which of the seven descriptions truly describes your heart attitude and your effort? What does the work of your hands reveal about the condition of your heart?
Here in Nehemiah we have seen a picture of well delegated and inspired work. We have seen a glimpse into a moment in the history of Israel when most of the people were unified by a common cause and worked hard to see that work accomplished.
Yesterday I saw a people who were united around a cause and worked extremely hard in sweltering heat to accomplish our mission. When God’s people unite and work, anything is possible.
I have been meditating this week on a quote I run across. Let me share it with you.
“We may not have it all together, but together we have it all!”
There is much work to be done, but together we can have it all. Today is a day of work, one day when Christ returns, we can find our ultimate rest, but until that day we must work in unity according to our mission.
Earlier I asked the question, “What does the work of your hands reveal about the condition of your heart?” I want you to ponder on that question this week. Allow God to mold you into who he wants you to be.
Invitation
Hymn No. 317
Only Trust Him