When No One Cares
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“If they don’t care, I don’t care.”- pastor.
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel,
2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.
Nehemiah asked. People who don’t care don’t ask. People who care, ask. Nehemiah asked.
Why would Nehemiah ask about Jerusalem? His life was secure, he had nothing to do with his ancestors sinning over 100 years before.
The reason Nehemiah asked is because of Jeremiah 15.5
5 “Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
Nehemiah was the man.
3 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.”
You need to know that Nehemiah was a cupbearer. to Artaxerxes, 464 to 423 bc.
Cupbearer had responsibility with it. he tested the kings wine for poiiiison. He was a man of character.
Nehemiah was in Susa because God wanted him in Susa.
Esther had been there years before.
Joseph in Egypt.
Daniel in Babylon.
God places who he needs where he wants them.
And Nehemiah asks about Judah/ Jerusalem.
He is told the city is still in rubble. It had been run over 140 years earlier… and it is still a mess.
In particular, they are told the walls are torn down. The importance of the walls are found in the following facts;
The eastern wall of Jerusalem was more than a defense mechanism. The eastern wall is built on a hill, with a series of “steps”, formed my multiples of retaining walls supported by back fill… each successive wall dependent on the wall beneath it… and the final wall being the most substantial of them all… and it was missing, destroyed.
Moreover, in Ezra 4:7-23 an effort was made to repair that wall.... and Artaxerxes had stopped it because of a protest that had been made by Rehum and Shimshai in Ezra 4.7-16
7 In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. 8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: 9 Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River. 11 (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12 be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. 14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15 in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. 16 We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
And so the king made a decree that the wall must cease and desist. Stop.
It is this same king Artaxerxes that Nehemiah is the cupbearer to.
4 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.
Nehemiah’s heart was moved.
Sitting down is a word for mourning. When Job received word concerning his children’s death, he and his friends “sat” down.
In Psalm 137.1
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
Nehemiah fasted.
5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
Note that Nehemiah owned the sin of his ancestors....”We”. WE have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly.
When you have a true sense of who God is, how awesome he is, it will reveal the depth of our own dark sinful nature. Isaiah is a perfect exampled in Isaiah 6.1-5
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Isaiah understood his own sinful nature in the presence of a holy God.
You will recall that Peter was with the disciples and Jesus in a boat in Luke 5. They had fished all night and caught nothing. And Jesus tells them to drop their nets again. They do so and they catch more fish than they can handle. It is in that moment that Peter gets a real sense of who Jesus really is. And his remark is telling in Luke 5.8
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
When one Jewish soldier, Achan sinned in Joshua 7.1 and Joshua 7.11 l Once that sin was dealt with, the whole nation could be blessed by God.
God said that Israel sinned; but only Achan stole and hid...
blessed are those that know their own sinful nature without a draught of fish and without the temple walls shaking as they did for Isaiah… who sense the presence of the Holy Spirit and acknowledge their own fallen nature.
7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.
8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,
9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’
10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
When God permitted Jerusalem to fall at the hands of Babylon, God chastened the Jews for their sins. But He did not forsake them.
They were still his people.
11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.
This final 2 verses are closing the prayer with faith and confidence. God will forgive, God will restore, God will not fail them.
And this final verse reflects that Nehemiah was willing to put feet to his faith, to step up and do rather than just pray.
Nehemiah prays for “success.” Pay attention to that. Nehemiah was successful. Period full stop.
Joseph was a cupbearer, translated “butler”.
He had to be well educated.
He was likely handsome.
He knew what wines were best for a king.
He would have been a good friend to the king
He would have controlled access to the king
He was trusted by the king. (Important to note that Artaxerxes’ father had been killed by his cupbearer.)
He was the King’s cupbearer; possibly the most trusted position in the King’s court; His integrity not only was intact, it was impeccable. He didn’t get here by lottery; he got there by hard work AND protecting his own heart.
And now he prays for success, albeit in a whole new area. NOte that it was this successful Nehemiah who did not allow his successes to bring him to spiritual failure. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Nehemiah had not. His worldly success had not bred spiritual failure; he still had a heart for the sin of God’s people and the restoration of their relationship with God.
He didn’t ask for someone else to be raised up. He said, “Here am I. Send me.”
Abraham cared and rescued Lot from Sodom (Gen. 18–19).
Moses cared and delivered the Israelites from Egypt.
David cared and brought the nation and the kingdom back to the Lord.
Esther cared and risked her life to save her nation from genocide.
Paul cared and took the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.
Jesus cared and died on the cross for a lost world.
God is still looking for people who care, people like Nehemiah, who cared enough to ask for the facts, weep over the needs, pray for God’s help, and then volunteer to get the job done.
Someone said, “God is like Hallmark cards. When you care enough to send the very best.”
God cared enough about this place at this time to send you.
Bottom Line:
God’s Occupation Is The Christian’s Vocation
God’s Occupation Is The Christian’s Vocation