Recognizing the Rubble
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Have you ever made a really big mistake?
IDuring the early summer of 1985 Coke-a Cola made a big announcement that they were going to make a change to their famous recipe and they were calling it the “New Coke”.
And that seems like not that big of a deal right?
I mean places change their recipes all the time
But the issue is f you are a coke fan you know that Coke is known for their classic taste
In fact of every can of coke it actually says “original taste” because people love the timeless taste.
And so Coke-a Cola made this hiuge announcement and it did not take to long for them to realize they made a huge mistake.
In fact some people began to hoard the old coke
There was one man in Texas who bought 1000 dollars worth of the old coke (which got you a lot further in 1985)
A lot of people began calling the coke-a-cola head quarters, in fact it was recorded that at one point they would recieve 1500 calls a day complaining about the new coke
There were protest groups orginized and they actually has a protest in Downtown Atlanta
Where people carried signs that said “We want the real thing”
and “Our Children will never know refreshment”
And really all together the Coke-a-Cola Company lost 34 million dollars from this change
30, million of this was actually the “New coke that never made it to the shelves.
And so it became pretty clear that Coke-a Cola made a big mistake, and now they found themselves at this place of I made a mistake, now what?
And in case you are wondering in July of 1985 (only a couple of months after the change) Coke announced they were going back to the original flavor.
And I know this is a little bit of a silly example, but as I thought about this, we are people that make mistakes.
And sometimes these mistakes are huge, and other times they are small,
but regardless when we find ourselves in the middle of a mistake the question becomes how do we respond to the mistake?
When we say something hurtful, do we just ignore it and keep moving on?
When we tell a big lie to someone do we go back and tell the person or do we just ignore it
When we do something really damaging in our marriage or maybe in another relationship in our life, what do we do?
And really where we are today we have been in this sermon series called “The Story” and we will be looking at how the Isralites respond to a mistaker they made (actually) a long time ago.
But let me catch us up to speed because the past couple weeks we have seen the Isralites returning from this place of exile where they have been taken away from their home country and are now in surrounding areas
And so they have been retuning and they have begun to rebuild their homes, and the temple that they would worship in,
But now new person enters the picture and his name is Nehemiah.
And Nehemiah was one of the Jewish people who had not returned from exile.
but he actually found himself in a high up position as the cupbearer of the king for another nation.
however something happens because one day Nehemiah hears about how the Jewish people have begun to return from exile, and this is great news
But there is an issue, because while homes are being rebuilt and the temple is rebuilt Nehemiah hears that the wall around the city is still destroyed.
And this doesn’t seem like a huge deal does it?
I mean its just a wall, but during this time it was a huge issue, bucause without a wall you were a sitting duck to other nations that may want to attack you
And so you kind of get this picture is they can build things up, but in a momments notice another nation could attack them and they would start over.
Its kind of like how when me and Liam build legos, we will build a giant tower and Finn comes over and will destroy it.
And everytime Liam gets very angry and distressed about it.
And this is kind of where the Israelites are.
They are because they can build, but it will proably just be destroyed and the city is unstable.
And so Nehemiah hears these things and I want to look at his responce, because he is really troubled and look what it says in Nehemiah 1:4-7
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
You know its really interesting because Nehemiah hears this news and he begins to weep, (probably ugly cry)
But whats interesting he is not just sad about this news, but he is also mourning the fact to what has gotten them into their current situation which is straying from God.
But its important because before anything else he recognizes his wrong.
And the truth is when we catch ourselves in a mistake we need to understand that we actually did wrong.
I mean think back to highschool, because if you were failing a class because you never turned in any papers, but you did not know that you were failing or and you thought you had all your papers turned in you probably are not going to change and fix the problem. Right?
And this is so simple, but we need to understand if we have made a mistake if we want that mistake to be fixed.
And not only that, but in this story Nehemiah does not just recognize the mistake, but he repents of it.
And its kind of weird because you hear what Nehemiah is saying and he repents for himself, but he continues to repent for his parents generation and all of Israel for things that happened over 70 years ago.
And does anyone read that and go that seems ridiculus, because why does Nehemiah need to repent of somthing that the generation before him did and people that he is not even that close to did other then they were Jewish.
I mean that seems unfair, but here is the thing we are called to be a people who repent.
I love this story I heard recently of a Japenese missionary who was in South Korea visiting and at one point during his trip he was with some people from Korea to this museum and memorial for the south Korean/ Japenese war.
And this war took place in 1910 and if you know any of the history it was s brutal war
In fact their were reports of the Japeneese soldiurs assulting the woman, they would get them pregnant
Their murder
And some of the effects even seep into South Korea even today
And the missionary from Japan who was a younger guy that was unaware that any of this even happened was just broken
And at the end of the tour he was crying and he turned to the pastors from Korea and He said I am so sorry for what happened.
And we could say well don’t worry about it these guys were not even around when this happened or you didn’t do this!
But I love this phrase he said because he says “Until the pain is gone I will repent”
And at that moment both men broke down and began to cray embracing eachother (which is that culture is rare)
But you know the power of repentance is so strong, and its so easy for us to be people who say well I shouldn’t need to repent for this thing,
But here is the thing we need to be a people who repent, when we have wronged others.
Because repentance has so much power and its really why throughout the Bible you see so many repeant.
We need to repeant towrds God and others.
Because that is one of the best ways for healing to take place.
So back to the story, because Nehemiah does all this and he heads to Jeruselum.
And they begin to rebuild this wall, but their is an issue, because other nations begin to catch wind of what is happening and they are not happy because they want them to remain week.
And so we see these people close to them begin to make threats against them.
but while this is happening look at Nehemiah’s response. He says this in Nehemiah 4:13-14
13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 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 of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
So Nehemiah hears these threats, but I want you to notice what he says because first off He recognizes how great God is.
God is greater then these people trying to stop the work
(it seems like I have said this every week recently) but we need to recognize God is greater then the challenge
But Nehemiah does not just stop their but he also recognizes whats at stake.
because at the end of verse 14 that we read he says Fight for your families, your sons and daughters!
You know we need to recognize whats at stake in our life when it comes to mistakes
Because some mistakes are not the end of the world
a mistake I maid the other day was I put the Ice cream in the fridge and it went bad.
It was a sad mistake, but not the end of the world.
But there really are mistakes (that are often intentional) and cost us so much more.
You know, you might wrestle with an addiction of some sort, but if you do, you need to understand what the cost is of that addition
How will this impact your job, your family, other relationships, because it might not seem like a big deal, but so often these can cause so much destruction in our lives
And really even outside of additions we are trying to break out of something we need to understand or recognize the cost and remember exactly what the cost of this could be.
Because it might be hard to break free from somthing, but when you understand whats at stake it is a good reminder.
Fight for your families!
And look at the next part because Nehemiah recognizes why they need to fight, and because of that he has everyone be on guard. look at Nehemiah 4:16-18. It says:
16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
So there are all these threats and in the middle of it they have all the workers have tools in one hand and a weapon in the other.
Because if the stake is high, then we need to do the best to guard that area.
You know if your marriage is important then you want to guard it in anyway possible right?
If your kids are important, then it is important to protect them
I mean once we understand whats at stake, we need to find ways to ensure we do not allow satin to slip into these area that are so important!
And that looks differently for each of us, but it might mean finding someone who loves you to hold you accountable in areas in your life
For some of us it could be adding an internet filter because pornography is causing issues in marriage and really even in our lives.
And some of these things might be inconvenient! I mean I am sure it was inconvenient to work with a sword in one hand and a hammer in the other
But if it is important it is worth it.
And look at this last part because they end up reconstructing this wall (and they celebrate), but there is another area they realize needs reconstructed and that is the peoples relationship with God.
And look at Nehemiah 8:2-3 because they finish the wall and they do this. It says:
Nehemiah 8:2–3 (NIV)
2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
So they do all these things and the last thing that happens is they read the law (and really they read God’s word) before the entire nation from sun rise to noon (I bet you are thankful my sermons don’t last that long_
but they did this because they understood that families were important, they understood they needed to recognize their mistakes
But more important then anything they needed to understand where God wants them to be through His word..
Because the people knew the word of God was life giving and they recognized that there was an importance in being in step with where God desired them to be.
And they wanted to know what God viewed as good and what He viewed as bad.
And I know this is simple, but really we want to be a people who are diving into the word of God.
Because its not just a manuel.
I mean think about it a manual is somthing you use once or when there is a problem, but as people who are Christfollowers, we should be a people that dive into the word of God to know more about God and what he desires in our life.
Because the truth is this is one of the best ways for us to live out what God has called us.
And so I know this was a lot, but I just want to end on us looking at our lives.
Are their things that we look at that we just need to repent from this morning.
What mistakes have we made?
And how can God redeem that issue, because I truly believer we serve a God who sees the broken pieces in our life and he wants to use them in a way that is better than we can imagine.
But we have to be willing to say yes.
And that might be difficult. It might require some hard work. (Rebuilding a wall around a city required some hard work).
But I believe when we put in the hard work we will see God move ina way we cannot imagine.
Will you pray with me as we get ready to close?