Chapter about mission

a_favourite_proverb.PDF

Dedication

Something is being dedicated – I.e. Set apart for God’s purpose

• the preparation has been done, the groundwork is complete and not it’s being marked out as belonging to God, identified as being something to achieve His purpose

Nehemiah – a people

Story esp re glory of God >>>

purification of the people (fleshed out in next chapter.)

Palm Sunday – a saviour

Story esp re glory of God >>>

completion

Something is being completed.

Ages ago IW made a kit of HMS Victory – 353 parts – took ages (rather boring at times)

the groundwork is over, now its’ ready for its purpose, to be displayed so you can enjoy it, display it – completion.

Nehemiah – a wall – it’s now ready for its purpose – a wall to protect people.

Palm Sunday – the public ministry of Jesus is in the past and he’s coming into Jerusalem for his life’s purpose – a saviour to rescue people

celebration

Something is being celebrated

Nehemiah – the goodness of God

Story – 2 choirs – opposite directions – focus on the temple

Palm Sunday – the salvation of God

antiphonal singing, Ps 118 – Hosanna “God saves”.

Focus

What is the focal point of the celebration

Nehemiah – the temple – the place where God is

Palm Sunday – the cross – the place where God isn’t

Rebuilt walls are of little use without renewed people and in this chapter we see how God began the renewal of his people in Jerusalem and draw some lesson for revival today.

Reading: Nehemiah chapter 8

Nehemiah – name one characteristic that you think is typical of him? …

• leadership? yes
• prayer? yes
• Celebration? not usually – but here is a man who got God’s people celebrating!

Neh 8:17 The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.

We’re going to spend most of our time today looking at exactly what it was they were celebrating so enthusiastically

There is a wonderful promise about God’s word in Isaiah

Text: Isaiah 55:10-11 The Lord says “as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth … so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”

In Neh 8 we’ll see what happens when ordinary people like us allow God’s word to take root in its rightful place – the human heart

This chapter is the start of the second half of the book.

Chapters 1: – 7: have been Nehemiah’s own account – written in the 1^st person – “I did this / that” – a very personal account of how Nehemiah masterminded the rebuilding of the derelict walls around Jerusalem

Chapters 8: – 12: have someone else is composing the narrative – it’s a description of what was going on written by someone who was there at the time. “they did this / that”

More significantly

• 1 – 7 is about the rebuilding of the wall <ppt>
• 8 – 12 is about the renewal of the people <ppt>

The one is incomplete without the other.

Chapter 8: is an account of a spiritual awakening / renewal / revival

Can I say something about the terms we use to describe this.

• Renewal, revival (even spelled with capital R!) Outpouring of the HS / Pentecost experience / awakening are all words to describe what we see in Nehemiah 8

I don’t mind what you call it!

• I observe in my travels and discussions with Christians that there is today a real hunger for more of God
• I detect the same here – we’re grateful – and I mean really grateful to the Lord for the wonder of what he’s done in bringing Victoria to the stage that it’s in today – but we’re aware that there’s more land yet to be possessed.
• I detect some Christians who are weary with well-doing – and the answer is not a rest, it’s a renewal

Isaiah 40:31 <ppt>… those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I distinctly feel that God is saying that to some of us. We need to renewed, re-energised in your spirit.

• This is a deep liberating, life-changing work of the HS that he freely gives to ordinary Christians like us

Principle <ppt> In God’s economy, rebuilt walls are of no use without renewed people

• if the people of Jerusalem did not experience a spiritual awakening then history would simply have repeated itself.

… Departure from God’s will, leading to Defeat at the hands of Israel’s enemies

Now do you understand why building the walls was only half the story?

Do you also understand what we believe the Lord is saying to us?

we are thinking and praying about what to do with our premises here – new walls – new roof

what I believe the Lord is saying is that hand-in-hand with this he desires to bring a spiritual renewal / awakening in us – God’s people who inhabit the physical walls

So first Principle for today: rebuilt walls are of no value without renewed people

• and the two go hand in hand

How did this work out in Nehemiah 8:

I want to phrase a simple question

What should we say to the Lord in order to be renewed?

The principles are here in Neh 8

Lord we know it’s needed

8:1 “all the people assembled as one man in the square”

looks like an entirely spontaneous gathering – 1st day of seventh month

• they just descended upon the place.
• difficult to explain why but it seems that either the HS brought them miraculously or the word had gone out around the families.

Heb 10 “Don’t give up meeting together”

We are the body of Christ and that body is incomplete without your physical presence!

We are hungry for you Lord

v1 “They (the people) asked Ezra to read the book of the law”

Here are some people hungry for God!

• so much so that they took the initiative is asking for God’s word.

That is my consistent prayer for meetings like this “Lord, make us eager to hear your word”

Lord, we will listen

v3b “Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon in the presence of all who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the book of the Law.”

Here is a classic sign of spiritual renewal – a hunger for God and his word

This our first serious encounter with Ezra (so far attention has been focused on Nehemiah)

They stayed all morning – so their physical hunger trumped their spiritual hunger!

Why were they so willing to listen?

• because they knew Ezra so well. He was a man of unusual spiritual leadership.

Ezra 7:10 (AV) For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do [it], and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements.

(I want that on my tombstone!)

His life’s aim was to study, practise and to teach God’s law

• Many people want to study and teach God’s law – only a minority have a heart to do God’s law.
• so the people respected Ezra because his life was consistent with his teaching.

I believe that this is a word for all of us who have any position of spiritual responsibility – deacons home group leaders – teachers in schools

• our lives will be effective for God only in so far as we do the law of the Lord.

They were devoted to understanding

We will feed our souls on you

v8 “They read from the book of the law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.”

This is important because of the dramatic emotional reaction that followed.

This verse has two interpretations, depending on the way it is translated.

• Could either mean that Ezra carefully enunciated his words
• or that the law was read section by section and explained each time
• (my money on second!)

Which ever – real communication took place so that they understood both at head level (intellectually) and at heart level (spiritually and emotionally)

And then something remarkable happened:

• Spontaneously the crowd burst into uncontrollable weeping.
• And from the text we get the distinct impression that Nehemiah and Ezra didn’t quite know what to make of it all!

v9 “Nehemiah, Ezra and the levites said to the people “This day is sacred to the Lord your God – do not mourn or weep!” for all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the law.”

In fact it couldn’t have been manipulation or auto-suggestion. That theory is ludicrous! just imagine it.

• people standing in a vast crowd in the open air
• straining to hear what Ezra was saying (no PA)
• He was reading Leviticus and Deuteronomy! (how many have read those in quiet time recently?)

This is not an atmosphere conducive to manipulation – this is God’s Spirit sweeping through an assembled group of tired, but hungry, believers who were drinking in His word.

• (How can my heart respond to something that my mind rejects?! )

God can do the same today

And there we would leave it were it not for the fact that I believe God can do the same renewing work in us today.

An example: (‘Korean Pentecost’, Blair & Hunt, p71)

“Man after man would rise, confesses sins, break down and weep, and then throw himself to the floor and beat the floor with his fists in perfect agony of conviction. My own cook tried to make confession, broke down in the midst of it, and cried to me across the room: “Pastor, and tell me, is there any hope for me, can I be forgiven?” and then he threw himself on the floor and wept and wept and almost screamed in agony. Sometimes after a concession, the whole audience would break out in audible prayer, and the effect of that audience of hundreds of men praying together in audible prayer was something indescribable. Again, after another confession, they would break out into uncontrollable weeping, and we would all weep, we could not help it. And so the meeting went on until two o’clock in the morning, with confession and weeping and praying.”

Another example from the 1950s where revival happened among some missionaries (notice this started with God’s people)

(“Signs of revival” Partick Dixon, p190f) A missionary had had a premonition while praying that God was going to do something unusual

“We had hardly started the meeting when we noticed a different note in the prayer of the evangelist who had struck his wife [=an internal difficult situation they had been dealing with], a great pleading note, an earnestness which tended to be extreme, He seemed very agitated, and was soon crying, tears flowing freely. He ended up falling down on his seat. There was a silence for a few moments, then the chief elder, a very tall man, shot up to his full height, his hands stretched out, shaking and shouting at the top of his voice “Thanks, thanks Lord Jesus!” In no time the whole place was as if charged with an electric current. Men were falling, jumping, laughing, crying, singing, confessing and some shaking terribly. It was a terrible sight. …

They went to one another, or called out a name at the other end of the building, asking for forgiveness from some wrong done. Another called out the name of his wife, telling her he was filled with the Spirit and urging her not to hold out against the Lord. One evangelist made public confession that he had made wrong entries in his report book …

On the singing went, every line, every verse with punctuated emphasis, people glancing at their neighbours with a smile, indicating their fullness of joy at the victory of Jesus. There was such a volume of praise that angels must have stopped their ministering to gaze down at the wonderful sight.

(I could give you numerous stories like this from the pages of church history!

Some of us are afraid of opening ourselves to this deep working of the Holy Spirit for fear that the same reaction might ensue

• God does not force anyone – The Holy Spirit is the perfect gentleman!
• many people experience renewal in the Holy Spirit in the privacy of their own homes
• but my dear friends – don’t let our so-called British reserve rob us of the mighty power of God’s Holy spirit sweeping through us personally and Victoria Baptist Church as a consequence!

However I do believe that this deep repentance and heart level response to God is an integral part of spiritual renewal.

It is the gateway to the renewal that I believe God longs to bring

v9 – Levites tried to calm them down ! >>>

What happened?

Renewal begins when men and women break down and weep over their disobedience. It is immediately followed by spontaneous reforming zeal “We want things to change – and change in God’s direction”

When repentance and new life occur – reformation follows.

responded with joy

v12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Tears of repentance and tears of joy are not far removed from each other.

• having allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the gravity of our state before God, we are then in a position to experience the liberation of sin forgiven. Freedom to be the person God made me to be
• I cannot truly know what it feels like to be on a mountain top until I have experienced the confinement of a valley.

A desire for more of God

Neh 8:13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law.

It’s significant that ti’s heads of families – i.e. men.

• Dear Men – get hold of God – be renewed in him and be the spiritual head of your family as God intends you to be.

they rediscovered truths they had forgotten

v14 “the found [discovered ...] written in the Law … that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month … v16 “so the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths …”

It seems that this part of the law had been forgotten / lost

• or at least it had been relegated in its importance.
• That’s what happens in times of spiritual dryness. We don’t actually forget what we’ve learned of the Lord in the past, we simply relegate it to a position of less importance.
• It get into the second division of our lives instead of the premier league

Doubtless there were Levites who knew that they ‘ought to have’ a feast of booths, but “well, nobody really bothers with that these days”.

The spiritual atmosphere changed completely

“we must get ourselves right with God” – and the Holy Spirit lays on the people’s heart that here is a feast we must celebrate.

they celebrated!

v17 From the days of Joshua … until that day the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their Joy was very great!

18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days,

if you want to know the joy of the Lord, then let the Word of God find its target!

Is 55:11 as a result of the Word of God achieving God’s purpose for it “you will go out with Joy and be led forth with peach and the mountains and the hills will burst in to song before you!”

Joy! Peace! “Only Christians have the capacity never to pretend about anything”

I am never short of people who will tell me what’s wrong with the church (either global or local). More often than not, the blame is placed elsewhere – his fault, her fault, the system’s fault – the church would take off if we do this or that or adopt this structure or that method

well, some of that may be true

Many years ago in the Times there was a fascinating correspondence in response to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” The most profound letter was the shortest. It read “Dear Sir, I am, Yours sincerely”

Pray

Lord I want to take those statements on my own lips

I know I need you

I tell you I’m hungry for you

I will listen to what you’re saying to me

I will feed on you and receive the renewal which is your offer.

My dear friends – please don’t look for revival, renewal awakening in our fellowship here in any other place than your own heart.

allow the word of God to find its target

allow the Spirit of God unhindered access to every part of life

and when it comes to you – share that renewal far and wide with your brothers and sisters.

Then our rebuilt walls will be filled with renewed people. For the one is incomplete without the other.

[time of open prayer for renewal in VBC]

Reading: Acts 6:8-7:3, 7:51-8:1

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Tonight I want to encourage you to live like Stephen. I hope you will never have to give your life for your faith, but I do hope you will have to give something.

• A faith that costs very little is worth very little!

On the face of it Stephen was very ordinary man, chosen to do a humble job – to serve at tables – he was a waiter

• and in the New Testament he was previously unheard of

To get a grasp of the man he was I want you to look at one key word

full

Back story:

The apostles said to the the wider group of disciples “we need a team of seven, say, to do this waiting at tables role – you go away and find some people – but not just any old people …”

Acts 6:3-4 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility (of serving at tables) over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

1 full of wisdom 6:3

Wisdom is

• more that being clever
• more than having the facts – just knowing the facts doesn’t make we wise
• more than experience – “oh I’ve done it before”

Wisdom

it’s being able to identify the spiritual and moral implications

it’s being able to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, helpful from destructive

its’ being able to accurately discern motives that may not always be obvious from the surface.

• to be able to tease out when someone is appearing to be generous when actually they’re being selfish (like Ananias and Sapphiria in ch 5)
• to be able to tease out when someone is appearing to be very spiritual (lots of God-talk and ‘I’m filled with the Spirit’ language) when actually they’re divisive in the church.

To serve at table we need people with spiritual smarts as well as management drive!

Prov 4:5-7

5 Get wisdom! get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.

6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.

7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding!

2 full of faith 6:5

• Acts 6:5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

faith is an objective quality – must have an object – faith in…

Stephen’s faith in Christ

3 full of Holy Spirit 6:5

No mention of a specific charismatic experience (there may have been one)

• his character was holy, pure, something inexplicably Christ-like in the way he was.
• his attitudes were Christ-like
• his ambitions were Christ-like

the very fabric of his being was holy

• ‘Holy’ means set apart for God’s exclusive use!

In the English Bible we have ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ – “the” is absent from the original text

• it’s just ‘full of Holy Spirit’ – and that conveys a different nuance.

e.g. child growing up – you see something of his father in him and you might say “oh he’s got the spirit of his father”

• Stephen had the spirit of Jesus Christ – and that spirit was evident in all he did

4 full of grace 6:8

Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

To be full of grace winsomeness about him

• approachable – not aloof
• and when you approached you found a warm person
• who accepted you are you are.

(Gk => charis – charisma – gifted)

5 full of power 6:8

(Gk => dunamis – dynamic / dynamite)

did great wonders and miraculous signs

just like Jesus!

But he was an ordinary man who walked closely with God

Up to this point miracles have only been reported as having happened through the ministry of the apostles who were alongside Jesus

Here is the first time someone else is demonstrating God’s power

This begs the question

Like Stephen …

So how can I be like Stephen?

• by recognising my emptiness of the Holy Spirit
• by calling on God to fill me Luke 11:13
• by taking steps of faith

e.g. child – small steps first

• by asking a colleague, neighbour for an evening out at a stepstone event
• by ordering my life so that there are no hindrances to the Holy Spirit’s work in me

Then leave the results with the Lord!

Like Jesus …

I’m going to scamper through the story and I only want you to see one thing – how much Stephen was like Jesus

He performed miraculous signs – like Jesus

He was full of the Spirit – like Jesus

He was opposed by the Jews (6:9) – Like Jesus

Acts 6:9-10 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)– Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen,

He spoke with authority – like Jesus

6:10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

He was convicted on the strength of false witnesses

Acts 6:11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

He was judged by a kangaroo court – Just like Jesus

Acts 6:12 So [these Jews] stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

He was falsely accused of blasphemy – just like Jesus

Acts 6:13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

When he was being killed he handed himself over to God’s care – like Jesus

Luke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Stephen

Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

As he died he forgave his murderers – like Jesus

Jesus said “Father forgive them for they don’t realise what the’re doing!”

Acts 7:60 Then he fell on his knees [probably because of the brutality of the battering] and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Ultimate sacrifice

The death he died 7:55-8:3

Sociologists say that all societies have their taboos

• Our Victorian forefathers talked about death and suppressed sex
• We talk about sex and suppress death

Why? we live in a materialistic age

• it says “the only things that are real, are the things I can see, touch, taste, smell and hear.
• => death is the one thing that the materialistic life-style can do nothing about
• post-modernism can’t cope with death because post-modernism is all about ‘my personal story’, and death brings that story to an abrupt end

Without recognising spiritual reality we have no answer to death whatever

So we tend to ignore it

• Woody Allen “I don’t mind the thought of dying – I just don’t want to be around when it happens!”

What does Stephen’s death tell us about dying?

Stephen’s death highlights some important principles

1 When a Christian dies it is at God’s appointed time

On the face of it this was a tragedy

• Stephen – a young active man
• a spiritually sensitive man
• a leader – a wise man

Cut down

But No incident or accident can take God by surprise

• there is not often an answer to the question “Why?”
• and even if we knew the answer – it wouldn’t help us much!

Psalm 31 “my times are in His hands”

Psalm 139 “you knew me before I was born – you scheduled each day of my life”

John 14: Jesus talking to disciples just before his own death

“I go to prepare a place for you – and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself so the where I am – there you may be also.”

One particularly tragic incident that sticks in my mind happened in 1978 –

• 12 OMF missionaries were killed in a car accident – 3 were pregnant mums

This rocked the mission – and the UK Christian world as a whole

• Cable from General Secretary “don’t allow the questions you can’t understand limit the joyous certainties you already know”

When a Christian dies, it is at God’s appointed time.

2 When a Christian dies, he is given God’s grace to die

Many Christians feel they can’t face death,

• but the Bible tells us that at the time of our death, the Lord gives special grace to see you through – as He does for any crisis in life.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Stephen was “full of grace and power” – it was God’s grace that enabled him to die as he did.

D. L. Moody was an American evangelist – just before he passed into the presence of the Lord, his loved ones heard him say

“Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet – there is no dark valley here. God is calling me and I must go. This is my triumph, my coronation day!”

Dr. M L Jones. a year before he died was visiting Rev Vernon Higham – long time friend in Cardiff. At Lloyd-Jones’s funeral. Vernon Higham told of this event.

“The doctor asked me to pray for him – and I wanted to pray that he might be healed. But he said “Pray that I might have an abundant entrance into glory. I am a sinner saved by grace – that is all”

No wonder Ps 116:15 says “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints”

What a prospect awaits you.

3 When a Christian dies he goes home to the Lord

v59 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”

The more Stephen had walked with the Lord, the more he realised that this world was a fallen, passing and alien place

• he didn’t belong here!

Old Chorus “this world is not my home I’m just a-passing through”

No wonder Paul could say of death “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

• for me to live is Christ – and when that is our experience – “to die is gain!”

4 When a Christian dies his friends mourn for him

8:2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

Grief is a very natural thing and a very necessary thing.

shortest verse in the Bible “Jesus wept” – and they were tears over the loss of a friend he loved.

He does care, does feel, does understand what we go through when we grieve the loss of someone we love – because He has been down that road too!

“they buried him”

Incidentally – I’m sometimes asked about cremation and burial – which is right for the Christian?

• after all, some say cremation is of pagan origin (so are the days of the week!)
• some say that the fire is reminiscent of the fire of hell, so shouldn’t Christian avoid it at all costs.

Let me answer this very carefully

• the way a body is disposed of depends to some extent on the customs in the land and the tradition of the family.
• whether a body is buried, burned or lost at sea – (or conceivably in space) – it will make no difference when the Lord comes at the resurrection

Philippians 3

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

21 who … will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Many of the bodies we die in are racked with pain and disease – we will not want them back – and the promise of the Bible is that God will give us a new one.

“Comfort one another with these words”

5 When a Christian dies, the work of the Lord goes on

8:1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

After Moses – Joshua

After Elijah – Elisha

“the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”

work grew – church expanded – God’s wonderful work of transforming lives – bringing new life and power went on

With God there are mysteries – but no mistakes

pray >>>

So here Nehemiah is encountering something that often takes young leaders by surprise the first time it happens – opposition from within.

In Chapter 4 (and part of 6) Nehemiah and his team of builders were on the sharp end of opposition from next door. But you might expect all God’s people to be passionate about seeing God’s work progress, to see the wall be built. Not so!

Internal opposition to a project, and especially to God’s work comes in all sorts of colours. Sometimes it is explicit and direct, other times it is passive and much more sneaky.

The opposition that Nehemiah experienced here is of the passive and sneaky kind.

Nobles were behaving unethically and assuming that their behaviour was acceptable.

Here’s the situation

Nehemiah had brought with him some Jewish men from Babylon to help with the rebuilding of the wall and other civil engineering work in the city. Although the main wall was completed in record time (about 52 days) it’s clear that they stayed on for some considerable time to do the renovations within the city.

Then when a food shortage struck, things got very difficult.

Do you remember that (in ch 3) when the wall was being built, even the nobles of the city got their hands dirty and did some of the building.

The complaints

Not enough food (v1)

Neh 5:1-2 Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers.

2 Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”

We have to eat! Clearly the common people were suffering economic hardship and it was affecting their ability to provide for their families.

These were not people complaining that they couldn’t afford a holiday in the summer, they couldn’t afford to buy food to stay alive.

Borrowing (v2)

Neh 5:3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”

They had acted out of necessity (in order to eat) and ended up in deep debt

Taxation

Neh 5:4 Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

From archaeological records we estimate that the Persian king was extracting about 20million darics (the local currency) a year and almost none of it was being fed back into the local economy. This was usually in the form of gold and silver coin or artefacts and by Nehemiah’s time it was producing hardship.

Most of it was just melted down. When Alexander the Great invaded he found 340 tons of gold and bout 1500 tons of silver had been squirrelled away!

Unfairness

Neh 5:5 Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”

To grasp the severity of this situation you need to know this: If you borrow money (as a mortgage) to buy a house, you put up the house itself as collateral. In Nehemiah’s time you could put up people as collateral, because they could be worth something as servants or slaves. That’s what is happening here. If a man couldn’t repay the loan his children, his wife or even the man himself could be sold into slavery

• Because of their desperate situation these people were being caught by loan sharks.

• In Israel their rule was that if an Israelite had to sell himself into slavery, he should be released on the 7^th year – the ‘jubilee’.

BUT the people who were the loan sharks here were fellow Israelites!

You may remember I said that Nehemiah has more journal-type material than other similar OT books. And here is a good example:

Nehemiah was an angry man.

So what made Nehemiah mad?

• The lack of food – probably
• the necessity to borrow – probably,
• the taxation – even more probably

but I think the clincher was the sheer inequity of it all!

• The Hebrew word is hard to translate but it means something like “Holding your fellow Jews as pledges for debt” (NEB)

And when he realised that fellow Israelites were fleecing the honest, hard-working people of the land, he just saw red!

Neh 5:6 When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.

This man was seething!

OK, so you’re a leader. And someone inside your organisation comes to you to protest about something. You hear what they have to say and everything within you revolts against the injustice of it all. In that moment what do you do?

• Lash out, fire somebody, send an angry e-mail – and make sure that the right people get circulated in on it so as to give it the maximum embarrassment factor?

Be careful with anger! It can have such destructive consequences is it’s not used wisely!

Here’s how Nehemiah reacted -

Nehemiah was a controlled man.

Neh 5:7 I pondered them [the accusations] in my mind

he spoke to himself

Nehemiah had, under God, developed a vital skill for any Christian leader – to know what he was thinking and why before the thought could escape his control and run riot in his head!

• Modern psychology helps us here Capturing negative or unsettling thoughts before they take root and play themselves out in our thinking can help us to avoid the trouble that comes from reacting instantly.

• Paul said (2 Cor 10:5) We … take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. <ppt>
• He thinks before he acts. He reflects before he remonstrates,

And in that split second he probably realised that this extortion angered God more than it angered Nehemiah.

• You take the initial thought and you reason with it, you remonstrate with it, you don’t let it get away with creating a life of its own inside your mind

He adopted a good leadership strategy – first

he spoke to the people causing the hardship

Neh 5:7 I pondered them [the accusations] in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials.

Nehemiah did not allow himself to be manipulated He is by this time very clear about what the issues are and who should be changing their behaviour.

• So he goes to see just them

v7 … I told them, “You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!”

“extracting usury” is another hard to translate word – but it carries the idea of extortion. This is God’s people placing financial burdens on other people of God

and there is, at this point, no evidence that they took Nehemiah’s accusation on board or even acknowledged it

So Nehemiah finds it necessary to take the issue wider:

v7 So I called together a large meeting to deal with them

and at this point the nobles could have relented and stopped the financial pressure – but they didn’t.

They may not like Nehemiah for raising the issue, but at least they know where they stand. Nehemiah is not being two-faced!

He called a meeting

He got the nobles and the people into the same room so that the nobles could see the consequences of their greed.

7 … I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!”

So Nehemiah brought back from Babylon some Jewish brothers, let’s call one of the Amos

And having settled back in the land, near Jerusalem to help with the rebuilding, Amos finds himself in severe financial hardship – probably because of taxation – and now because of a lack of food and prices therefore going through the roof. Amos borrows to help his family eat but can’t repay and ends up selling himself as a slave. Slave Amos now has some value to his new masters (the Jewish nobles) who sell him at a profit to the other people with money, Nehemiah and his leaders.

Making an unjust profit from someone else’s debt – does that sound familiar?

• This is precisely the ethic that has got many nations, including our own, into such debt in the last decade.

Named and shamed

It seems that Nehemiah’s hope was that they would have compassion and relent. But they didn’t.

8 … They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.

9 So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

What is it that really matters? It’s the reputation, the glory of God that really matters here. There is no way these people should find themselves exploited by their fellow Israelites. That’s wrong by itself

But the bigger picture is what this says to the nations around – the Gentiles. “What will they think of our God is this is the way we behave!?

• “No mercy! no compassion! What kind of Godliness is this guys!?”

Neh 5:10 I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop!

Usury is hard to translate, but it’s tone is the exploiting of cash-strapped people for personal gain.

So Nehemiah’s theology is very clear: Failure to relate others – especially other believers – with compassion – is an insult to our God himself

Prov 14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.

1 Pet 2:12-15 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

It’s a challenging message to Christians like us to take every opportunity we can to relieve genuine poverty and act with compassion when we get the chance.

Nehemiah was a decisive man

He asked for a decisive, binding commitment

Neh 5:11-12 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them– …

12 “We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.”

Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.

Nehemiah was wise in the ways of the rich and knew they could do the same again The greed-gene that got them where they were would not be changed by a simple hand-shake!

Nehemiah was a thrifty man

Neh 5:14-15 Moreover, [for the 12 years I was governor of Judah] — neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.

He had the right to a lavish lifestyle, and it was a right he relinquished. <PPT>

15 But the earlier governors — those preceding me — placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people.

But out of reverence for God I did not act like that.

Now Nehemiah is governor, his post entitles him to levy taxes – but he chooses not to.

When Jesus was on earth there was a moment when the disciples were arguing about who should be greatest

Luke 22:25-30

25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.

26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

… and here is Nehemiah living just like that!

Power always carries with it the temptation to exploitation (after all I’m the boss now) and corruption (no-one will notice a bit on the side, will they?)

He could have used his position to pander to his personal craving for pomp and luxury

It’s the glory, the reputation of God again!

• If God is going to be seen for who he is, He will be seen in Nehemiah’s words and actions!
• This is a man of integrity.
• He was a man with a vision from God – he worked staggeringly hard to see that vision become a reality and he did not exploit people in the process. That’s integrity!

Nehemiah was a prayerful man

He’s praying – again! And again this prayer tells us more about Nehemiah and gives us another dimension to his communication with the Lord.

Neh 5:19 Remember me with favour, O my God, for all I have done for these people.

This soulnds as if he’s asking God to congratulate him for his doings. But this is not salvation by works

He’s saying ‘examine me!’, ‘Look at my behaviour – and grant me your favour as a consequence’

Ps 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

(pray)

Nehemiah 3:1-32

Just look at the Hebrew names!

• If someone has a grudge against you they could get you to do the Bible reading when the church reaches Neh 3 – that’s the time to go to another church!

(to business) in Nehemiah 3 we have one of the most extensive matches between archaeological remains and a single chapter of the Old Testament. All of these gates can be identified and the walls traced.

On the surface Nehemiah 3 it’s an obscure piece of civil engineering peppered with a list of Hebrew tongue twisters. However this is part of God’s word and therefore there is something for us to learn and grow from – and as soon as we start looking at Nehemiah we see all sorts of spiritual lessons coming out, especially in relation to leadership.

• It’s a wonderful example of what can be achieved when God’s people work together with a single aim in mind.

I was reading about a man, Viggo Olsen, who helped rebuild ten thousand houses in war-ravaged Bangladesh.

• He said he derived unexpected inspiration from reading a chapter ordinarily considered one of the least interesting in the Bible: “I was struck.. that no expert builders were listed in the `Holy Land brigade.’
• There were priests, priests’ helpers, goldsmiths, perfume makers, and women, but no expert builders or carpenters were named” (with J. Lockerbie, Daktar [Chicago: Moody, 1973], p. 324).
• It’s an extraordinary piece of joint building that reconstructed the wall in fifty-two days flat (see 6:15)

Few things have transformed society like the internal combustion engine

• whatever you drive from 600cc fiat to a 6 litre Ferrari >>>

When we start our cars few of us give any thought to the mechanism by which all the energy embedded in the fuel gets converted into massive amounts of force that can get half a ton of metal hurtling along a motorway at 70mph

• induction, compression, ignition, exhaust – suck squeeze bang blow >>>

Prayer is the great engine of the Christian church.

• It provides the motivating power of human beings and releases the divine power of God himself.

• But few of us give much thought to the mechanism of how the energy produced by prayer turns into the reality

Answer – here in Neh 1-3

How did Nehemiah’s prayer become a reality? If he had just prayed it would have been little more than a spiritual exercise But add 4 things to it and God’s plane of a rebuilt wall and a city that would give him credit could come about

• relationships <ppt>, (Nehemiah had cultivated key relationships in his life. There was a whole network of relationship turned the crank of God’s plan)
• initiative <ppt>, (Nehemiah took bold steps that nobody else had done to make things happen)
• responsibility <ppt> (he took charge himself and motivated the people to get the job done)
• devoted hard work <ppt>. (he, and the people, all got their hands dirty!

Let’s start with a principle that we glossed over last time I preached on this.

1:11 – I was cup-bearer to the king

Ask the question – how did Nehemiah get to be cup-bearer to the King?

• How did Nehemiah become the right man in the right place doing the right for the right reason?

Principle:

He bloomed where he was planted

Nehemiah simply could not have had the clout among the residue of people in Jerusalem to get all these other people working for him had he not been the King’s representative.

Just think how he got there.

Back at home, Nehemiah and his family had every right to be bitter about their lot

• Taken forcibly from their homeland, compelled to live in an alien environment, having to learn a new language, eat new food, submit to new laws
• >>>

The way it almost certainly did not happen was that Nehemiah read an advert pinned to the palace gate when he was wandering idly past one day “wanted: cup-bearer no previous experience required! – apply within!

• N had painstakingly worked his way up the court ladder to end up where he was

He built himself a reputation

• Every time the palace wanted someone to do something with excellence, Nehemiah came to mind
• Whenever they wanted someone who was trustworthy – N came to mind
• Whenever they wanted someone to manage a project well, N came to mind
• Whenever they wanted clarity and someone who wouldn’t use management speke, someone who would give a straight insightful answer to an honest question and not twoddle – Nehemiah came to mind.

And (based on the other things we know about Nehemiah) I can imagine that when there was a gap where anyone could take initiative and step in, likelihood is they’d find Nehemiah was in there sorting things out, making them better, solving problems and getting himself knows as a man of potential.

And all the time he carried this very Jewish name “Nehemiah” so the people in the palace knew, every time they used his name, that there was the God of the universe behind this man.

• And he ended up in this position of enormous influence while at the same time he never forgot his Jewish heritage.

There’s a whole hidden story behind how N becomes cup-bearer to the king.

He’s worked his way through the ranks to this position of responsibility and influence

Important life principle:

Climb the ladder you’re on!

So many men – esp young men today – deep inside – are waiting for the big break!

To suddenly jump to a different career ladder because someone has spotted their potential and will trust them with fame and fortune (preferably fortune)

I know a lady called Wendy – she works of us at Spring Harvest – does a fantastic job. And I can tell you that if you’re going to get asked to speak on the main stage at Spring harvest the phone call will probably come from her (so be warned!)

So one day you pick up the phone “It’s Wendy from Spring Harvest here – I hear you’re a good chap – you’ve don’t a bit of speaking”

“yep, I’ve done a 5 minute spot … at my small group … once last year”

“We’d like you to preach on the main stage at Spring Harvest! We want to book you for 5 nights at Minehead”

Does it happen like that – no!

Wendy looks for people with track record, the very best Christian communicators in the world and asks them – men and women who have built a reputation for Godliness, theological insight and great communication. (That’s why it’s worth going!)

It didn’t happen like that with Nehemiah – he climbed the ladder he was already on, working faithfully and with excellence in the palace, and God expected him and needed him to do that”

• He couldn’t have got where he was by any other way.
• It’s honouring to God to do your best, whatever it is your doing.

Col 3 “work at it heartily as serving the Lord and not men” (that’s what’s going on in Neh 3)

• It gives you such a buzz when you realise you’re serving someone bigger than your boss.
• Whether or not you get the big break.

I heard of a senior minister who was writing to a friend about one of his staff (not here!) “he needs to learn to work cheerfully in the inconspicuous.”

• And where you’re planted may be hidden from view.
• I think that’s what N was doing week in and week out! – for maybe 30yrs before in the economy of God he was catapulted into the lime-light.

In the history of revival it’s often the totally unknown and unheard of. People who have just been praying for years that God uses most powerfully.

They were content with the inconspicuous and God used them.

E.g. Christian and Peggy Smith – 82 & 84 years of age. One blind, the other crippled with Arthritis. They prayed in the 1949s that God would pour out blessing on the far reaches of Scotland n the North of Scotland . Praying God would send revival to the Hebrides. The last great move of God in the British Isles (arguably) took place because of two praying sisters.

• Whoever said that to be effective you’ve got to be famous!

Be a DNA bearer

Every project or organisation or church has its own DNA, it’s own set of values that make it what it is

• Nehemiah was the one who carried the DNA for this project. His drive, His initiative, his insight, his team building all worked together to achieve this remarkable project.

And did you notice the list of people involved- let me talk you through some of them.

5 The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

Tekoa was a small town 5 miles south of Bethlehem

The job got done but they didn’t put much effort into it.

• ‘nobles’ (Literally ‘exalted ones’) – aristocrats who disdained manual labour
• ‘shoulders’ Literally the word for the back of the neck. Probably a reference to oxen pulling a yoke
• Possibly they thought repairing walls was beneath them. (=> always be willing to do the humble job)

‘supervisors’ Literally ‘lords’ (adonai) Interestingly, 600 years later the Tekoans were called up to fight in a war by another king (Bar Kochba) and they refused to be mobilised. (Possibly thinking this too was too much like hard work) so Bar Kockba turned his troops on them and wiped them out!

8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

You know how rough the hand of perfumiers are!

“What can I do Nehemiah” – “here’s your pick-axe!”

These people (goldsmith and perfumier) were doing something that wasn’t in their direct line of expertise, they were just turning their hand to it.

And they embodied the DNA of the project.

We have to be just a bit careful about our theology of gifting >>>

• We’ve got to be careful that when we find our spiritual gift that that that’s the only thinking I’m ever supposed to do!
• Our gifting policy >>>

9 Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section.

Here is the governor getting his hands dirty!

12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.

The same applies here but look at who else was getting their hands dirty!

• The whole family brought in to the task of rebuilding.

13 The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. They also repaired five hundred yards of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

500 yards is a huge distance – probably this was less damaged

17 Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district.

Spiritual leaders getting their hands dirty too – He could have said “oh I’m a levite, a priest, a minister I ought not to be doing this!”

• instead he bore the DNA of the project

20 Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

Zealous about their work! >>>

27 Next to them, the men of Tekoa repaired another section, from the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.

The men of Tekoa did double duty, whereas their nobles ducked out!

I’m calling you to a massive building effort in 40 DOC! >>>

Know who’s driving

This comes on the back of Ezra 4 where Ezra tries to build a wall but is prevented. He’s a priest – he’s a spiritual leader and gets the run-around from the local authority.

Ezra had a great pan for refurbishment BUT

Ezra 4:4-5 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.

5 They hired counsellors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

News got back to the king and it was spun to him in such a way as to make it look like a rebellion

Ezra 4:21-22 Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order.

22 Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?

So now we can see what a remarkable turnaround this building all the wall represents! – All because Nehemiah bloomed where he was planted!

• And here he was in the driving seat, as the King’s representative, having no nonsense from people who thought they would try to stop them (even though it obvious hurt Nehemiah deeply at times) If no-one claims to be driving then seldom will anything happen!

Principle: When gifting and ministry coincide then god’s blessing flows. That was Nehemiah in this situation.

Pra

Dear Uncle Screwtape*

Good grief, you’re on Facebook! I must admit I never expected to get a friend request from my old Uncle who helped me all those years ago but this is a very pleasant surprise. Now where have you been all this time – taking a career break or something? They say old devils never die but you’ve been keeping your head well below the radar. Dare I ask, are you into black ops? Or can you not tell me?

I’ve been quite pleased with myself recently. Even got a commendation from our Father Below for screwing up a conference – you’d be proud of me. My patient was the main platform speaker (the minions glorified him as a spiritual hero) and I’d been working on getting him to mess with a woman who wasn’t his wife. The trick here is to manage the exposure correctly and I got the news out just in time to hit the twitter feeds when it really hurt. What happened? Well the conference wasn’t cancelled it just went off at half cock. The place was alive with rumours, half-truth, innuendo and gossip. A much better result if you ask me because no-one will want to book for next year. (And by the way, I must tell you about twitter although I don’t think you’ll like it. Too mindless by a mile for you I guess!)

That conference was a big coup and I’ve never forgotten your advice to me, honest (I hate that word). “Don’t tempt the patient to do anything too extravagantly wicked” you used to say. Most patients just aren’t that gullible so I’ve spent much of my time honing my drip-feeding skills so that temptation only catches patients one slip at a time. Much more effective in the long run. After all my aim is to befuddle, confuse and eventually corrupt the patient and I’m proud of the way I can make them so preoccupied with entertaining themselves that worship, prayer and reading the awful book become optional extras. Then they can easily let these threatening habits slip without anyone noticing – except me! Much success here because, as we both know, the safest path to hell is a gradual one.

Anyhow – let’s not lose contact again. I’ve always valued your advice.

Still your admiring nephew.

Wormwood

* Just in case you’re wondering what all this is about, Uncle Screwtape is a senior devil who many years ago had the job of educating a junior devil, Wormwood, in the art of tempting Christians. In this article they re-establish contact. The original letters from Screwtape to Wormwood were written by C S Lewis and you can buy the book “Screwtape Letters” from the Victoria Baptist Church bookstall (preferably) or from here.

Have you ever heard some news that made you feel really depressed? – that’s where Nehemiah is in this story.

Reading: Nehemiah 2

You may be wondering what on earth has the proceedings of an ancient Babylonian court have got to do with us today.
The wonder of the Bible is its timelessness. God’s word is able to speak to us even though the event recorded took place nearly 2,500 years ago.

• Have you ever heard some news that made you feel really depressed? – that’s where Nehemiah is in this story.
• Have you ever had to make a big ask of someone you’re a bit scared of? – that’s where Nehemiah is in this chapter.
• Have you ever faced a nerve-wracking situation and said under your breath “God, help!” – that’s where Nehemiah is today.

And all the way through we’re going to see the enormous difference that having God in your life makes!

This book of the Bible is in effect Nehemiah’s personal journal <ppt> and over and over again we’re going to see him calling on God for a steer in tough decisions and for help when things get tough

We’re going to see a sovereign God working <ppt> behind the events of Nehemiah’s life and we’re even going to see God achieving his purpose through King Artaxerxes who, so far as we can tell, had no time for God at all!

So here the bible teaches us about depression and the effect it had on Nehemiah

and the difference that having God in his life made.

• it teaches us about praying – especially ‘arrow’ praying when we’re desperate
• and it teaches us about initiative-taking if God is going to use us to make a difference in our family or society

(quite a bit for one Sunday morning!)

backstory

The city of Jerusalem was attacked by troops from Babylon (modern Iraq) and most of God’s people there carried off into exile. Some had returned and others stayed in Babylon, including Nehemiah’s family.

Nehemiah has risen through the royal palace and is now the King’s butler – an enormously influential position in the realm.

The story begins in ch 1 with Nehemiah hearing about the state of Jerusalem from some other Jews who had travelled there – and the news wasn’t good, The city had fallen into disrepair and the walls were dilapidated.

• Then something unusual happens. Instead of saying ‘that’s sad’ this news plunges Nehemiah into the pit of despair

• Now this is not normal behaviour and I wonder why it happened.

We can get a grasp on this by asking ‘what kind of home <ppt> was Nehemiah brought up in?

• We can tell from his name is was a devout Jewish home. His parents were committed enough to God to give their son a name which means ‘the Lord comforts’

• “What’s Jerusalem like daddy?”
• “Oh it’s fantastic, the buildings are magnificent, the streets are wide, the people trust God and the temple – one day you’ll see it I hope!”
• Every year the family would celebrate the passover and look forward to going home. One key line in the passover script … “next year in Jerusalem!”
• So Nehemiah grew up longing for the day he could go to his home to his roots in this stunning city. “next year in Jerusalem”

So when some of his Jewish brothers arrived and he asked about the remnant that were in Jerusalem, he heard a very different story. The place was a wreck. The buildings ruined, the walls tumbled down, the gates burned and the morale of the people was at rock bottom.

This was devastating news <ppt> to Nehemiah! His emotions spun down a vortex of despair and wept for weeks. (While, keeping up a jovial and pleasant personality in front of his master, the king.)

Why was Nehemiah so depressed? Surely he had one of the best jobs in the land! His peers would envy him for his success in the Babylonian court – he had everything going for him! This tells us two things

• Depression can strike anyone, <ppt> even high achievers – No-one is immune – in fact there are some very famous high profile achievers who battled with it (Winston Churchill <ppt> and Stephen Fry <ppt>)
• this is a particular form of depression, a reactive depression which sets in as a response to a profound loss <ppt>
• (different from other types of depression like endogenous depression where sadness can go on for years and requires different treatment)

Losses are inevitable. We lose things all the way through life and God knows this!

• The moment you were born you lost the snug warmth and comfort of your mother’s womb. You may not remember it, but it was a profound loss!
• When you left school you lost the company of many of your friends
• When you became an adult and you may have taken on the responsibilities of a marriage you lost some freedom – and when it comes to having children – you’ll sometimes feel as if you’ve lost the lot!

I remember talking with one man we prepared for marriage a few months after his wedding. I asked him how it was going. ‘Marriage is good, but I can’t just go out with my mates any more, I’ve always got to be thinking of Jane’ – with all the gains of marriage, this was a loss to him! He wasn’t a free agent any more.

• As we earn money we may make choices which may lose us our money – that’s a loss
• We may lose spending power because of the economic plight of UK PLC – it’s a loss.
• As we move into middle age we may lose our glamour or our athleticism. (E.g. IW – remember how I felt the first time CJW raced me in swimming pool and won!)
• Much later on we loose our faculties, our eyesight, our hair and eventually lose life as we know it.

Looking at life through the lens of losses, life is not a happy prospect but this is how God has ordained it.

One of the most vital spiritual skills we can develop in our walk with God handling losses with Godly resilience.

And not only losses that are inevitable in life, but also those that aren’t. Especially those losses that are the consequence of our own choices. E.g.

• Investing all your money in your business and the business goes belly-up – and I made the choice
• Getting into a marriage which turns out to be a violent nightmare – and I made the choice
• or seeing your children go off the rails that you so longed they would run on.
• Or having a plan for your career which you’ve set your heart on, but has never materialised in spite of your best efforts.

I’ve found that I’ve grown as a Christian, and as a man, more through my losses than my gains – and I’m still growing.

So for Nehemiah to hear that the home he’d set his hopes on was in ruins was a deep loss

And it appears that he did what most of us men do when we’re depressed – he hid it. <ppt>

Neh 2:1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,

This is four months after he’d heard the news and prayed.

Nehemiah was typical! Men tend to struggle with losses because we’re schooled to be winners and successful, not losers and underachievers. This is the way we tend to socialise young boys!

• Be at the top! Compete and win!

Nehemiah, schooled in the ways of the palace, had kept the lid on his loss for 4 months

But finally the tension had got too much for him and his prayer in chapter 1 finished with

Neh 1:11 … Give your servant success today by granting him favour in the presence of .. the king.

Today is going to be the day when I come out with it, when I let my guard down.

1 … when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;

There’s something significant here:

• Men and women tend to show their depressions differently

I know I’m stereotyping here, but hear me out!

• Men tend to blame others for their depression, women tend to blame themselves.
• Men tend to act out their depression, women will turn their feelings inwards
• men will try to keep control of themselves at all costs! But women will allow the dam to burst much sooner.
• Men will tend to turn to some anaesthetizing behaviour to smother their depression (TV, alcohol, sex (pornography)) , women will tend to turn to food, or friends

Overall – men tend to act out (to behave) their depression – you won’t hear it in their words but you will see it in their behaviour

2 <ppt> so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

What God gave Nehemiah was a person who deduced his inner state from his behaviour and brought the problem into the open.

• How insightful was that king! “This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” – and we call it depression
• and Nehemiah was acting out one of the classic symptoms – anhedonia <ppt> – a lack of joy in something he would otherwise have relished – being the King’s butler.

Then Nehemiah showed another classic male trait when he heard the king say this. He realised that the truth was out, he’d been rumbled -

2 .. I was very much afraid,

fear <ppt>

Whenever a man feels his innermost secrets have been exposed he feels scared!

So Nehemiah now has nothing to lose by telling the king what’s on his mind.

3 but I said to the king, “May the king live for ever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

This is the heart-stopping moment when the hang-glider first jumps off the cliff – is the air going to hold him or not?

arrow praying

4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

What a remarkable answer to Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter 1 “Lord grant me favour with this man!”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven,

Chap 1 was full of a long prayer, no time for that here. This is an arrow prayer “God help!” “Lord I need you here!”

Nehemiah was balancing two competing realities here.

• The need to pray in faith <ppt>
• and the need to have a practical plan of action <ppt> and therefore know what you need to say.

The first requires sensitivity to the Lord, the second requires clear, decisive and logical thinking

Question: How did Nehemiah know that what he was about to say to the king was right? A: He didn’t

So here’s Nehemiah’s arrow prayer method – Pray earnestly and quickly, and then just say what you think God wants you to say (using your mind, your intelligence, your wisdom – that which the Lord has already invested in you) – then leave the rest to him.

Neh 2:5 <ppt> and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favour in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

Remember that Jerusalem was under the king’s jurisdiction so Nehemiah was asking him to make a trip to another part of the empire to rebuild something that was broken down.

6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.

Go for it!

Taking initiative

Now here is Nehemiah going for the big ask!

7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah?

8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?”

Here’s the key -

And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. <ppt>

9 So I went to the governors of Trans-euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.

(NIV)

Today we start a new series: the spiritual principles that emerge from Nehemiah, one of the bible’s great leaders.

In particular we will see that Nehemiah was a prime example of someone who put structures in place to achieve God’s will for his life. Especially a structure of prayer.

These were both personal structures in the way he approached life and organisational structures in the way he managed a huge civil engineering project which he completed in record time

History records that Nehemiah was a man who build one of the greatest walls in history.

• <ppt> Offas dyke – was supposed to keep out the marauding Welsh
• <ppt> Hadrian’s wall – was built to keep out the marauding Scots
• <ppt> Berlin wall was built to keep the east Germans in
• <ppt> And the great wall of china was built to keep out the Xiongnu people who threatened invasion from the north.
• <ppt> Here is the wailing wall of Jerusalem which is still a potent symbol of Jewishness for the people of Israel

Nehemiah was a Jew, passionate about God who was living in a foreign land.

Who was Nehemiah <ppt>

<ppt> Nehemiah started out in life as a butler but God had other ideas.

<ppt> he ended up as a leader of God’s people and a project manager

In fact few leaders achieved what Nehemiah accomlished in such a short time

why? – one of the main reasons is that he was a man of earnest prayer! This was one of the personal structures he had in his life. It was a framework around which other things happened

Nine prayers recorded in this book, most of which is Nehemiah’s personal journal.

• he poured his heart into it.
• we pick up his heartbeat – his joys – his frustrations
• and his journal is peppered with his praying

This first prayer is long and carefully worded

• others are mainly urgent prayers to meet a specific need. – ‘arrow prayers’

However the common pattern is that N is very confident that God hears and responds to his praying – although not always in the way we would expect!

As we go through the book of Nehemiah we will see that it would often have been the easiest thing in the world of Nehemiah to give up.

• He had opposition on every side! From inside and outside and a lesser man would have given up in despair.

So the primary question for today – What made Nehemiah one of the world’s great examples of a man who walked with God?

To dig into that we need to know about

Nehemiah’s background

Notice that

He was a member of an oppressed minority

Possibly born in exile

• so he knew what it was to be part of a hounded group.
• It would seem that his parents sought to keep up their Jewish tradition by giving him the name Nehemiah – ‘The Lord comforts’.

He was successful in his imposed homeland

Risen to the top of the tree – cup bearer – one of the most important posts in the land

• in his hands was the safety of the head of state. – therefore the appointment was not made lightly.
• it was a position that he could not obtain through influential friends – it was the gift of the King himself.
• appointed on the basis of stable character, sharp eyes, intimate knowledge of palace intrigue.
• And since his own life might depend on it too, an attention to detail.

Spiritual principle: bloom where you’re planted! >>>

He was prepared to hear and obey God’s voice

Many of these qualities were to be taken by God and used in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He was like a butterfly just ready to emerge from his cocoon – perfectly formed, but never having tried his wings

Important spiritual principle here

• in God’s economy – no experience is ever valueless – even though we may not be able to explain it at the time.
• Our experience are often a training for what God has further up the road for us.

N’s training for God’s task was in the palace at Susa. – watching men, guarding his position, understanding the motives of people as they are displayed in their actions.

BUT (you may say) what about bad, bitter, experiences?

• As we yield them to Him – repent deeply of any sin that we’ve got caught up in – God is even able to use them to our good.

It may take time, it may involve the help of trusted friends,

it will involve praying

But I believe that God can even turn the bitter experiences of life for our good.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

How come?

When the Lord makes good come out of tragedy or tough experiences, He is recapturing Satan’s ground

part of His grace – unmerited generosity.

When people come to talk to me about tragedies in their lives, one of the most common questions is “Why?!” Why did God let this happen? Why did it have to be me?

• It’s a perfectly natural question and the honest answer is ‘I don’t know why’
• but what I do know is that the One who saw it happen, and was with you in the happening
• the One before whom no action or attitude is ever hidden

And He is good to his children

So what made Nehemiah one of the world’s great pray-ers?

He allowed trauma to be a messenger from God not a missile from Satan <ppt>

Nehemiah’s praying was rooted in reality

And it starts with a traumatic BOLT OUT OF THE BLUE

• We sit in our cosy worlds and in a matter of a few minutes we are bounced out of our lethargy when momentous news reaches us.
• Our world can be shaken by the information we receive
• Actually, to be more precise, it’s shaken by our reaction to it.

It is said that anyone who as alive when John F Kennedy was assassinated can remember what they were doing at the time

• same is true of with first landing on the moon Princess Diana’s death, or the destruction of the twin towers
• However, when momentous news has to do with someone close to us it affects us more deeply.

Nehemiah was concerned for the state of the land <ppt>

Jerusalem was N’s spiritual home. – The centre around which his life revolved. So it was more than just the geographical city that mattered to N – it was the people that city represented.

“those who survived the exile are in great trouble and disgrace” v3

However, there is a deeper reality

N was concerned with the reputation of the Lord

• that was intimately bound up with His people
• here they were, living in an indefensible city, and being derided by other ethnic groups living in the surrounding region.

So if N was going to do anything, he was going to do it because God’s reputation was at stake!

the importance of being earnest

His true feelings were not hidden

N now experiences a flood of emotion

v4 <ppt> “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven”

Look at what happened to N!

• Sat down => his physical strength left him
• Wept => he could no longer keep a cheerful face – so intense was his feeling for God’s land, God’s people and God’s reputation
• His whole being was gripped with the seriousness of the plight of Jerusalem.

Have you ever felt like that?

• a burden in prayer has been laid on your heart so heavily that all you can do is sit down and weep before the Lord?
• A Catholic writer calls it ‘the gift of tears’
• it continued this for “some days”

I’m not saying that we should only pray when we feel strongly about something

• e.g. Mrs. J O Frazer “When I’m driest, then I most need to pray”

But when our hearts burn within us that God wants to do something then we must pray

e.g. John White

Years ago in a daily prayer meeting missionary prayer-letter files were passed around. One morning my file contained a letter from a missionary in the Philippines. In it she described her hospitalisation in Manila for spinal tuberculosis. Her condition was serious and at the time called for a prolonged period in a sanatorium in a body cast. Unexpectedly (for the woman was a stranger to me) I was not only profoundly shaken but found myself virtually insisting that God heal her right away.

My prayer was remarkable in that I did not believe such healing was possible, and so I was astounded both by the content and the urgency of my own prayer. I suppose you could say that the Holy Spirit was allowing me to ‘see’ two realities – the need of the young missionary, and God’s power to do something my theology and medical experience told me was impossible. To the astonishment of her physician, this woman in the Philippines was miraculously healed that same day

… and soon after became my wife.

(See “Excellence in leadership” THI/WHI/350)

What had happened in N? God has shown him two realities

Nehemiah’s twin realities <ppt>

• a) God’s ideal of how his people should be
• b) the actual state of how they really were
• this brought tension <ppt> between God’s vision

Jerusalem restored -

once again displaying God’s glory

so that people would say “if their God is like their city – then He’s awesome! ”

… and the current reality

a city derelict and in shambles

he cried out to himself “Lord it ought not to be like this!”

In so doing,

Nehemiah grasped the true nature of God

v5 “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands”

This is not simply a flashy preamble to make his prayer sound good!

• it’s an expression of N’s faith in the Lord

Faith is not a feeling (although it involves feelings).

• It is the act of relying on someone who is both able and willing to do what I ask of them.
• “is anything too hard for the Lord?” >>>

His faith rests on the character and personality of God

• God of heaven
• No higher authority
• Great and awesome God
• No words can describe him, no mental concept can completely define him
• Whatever I think God is like – he’s greater!

Keeps his covenants

>>>

If this prayer shows N’s faith in the Lord, then it also shows his persistence

• his whole being was dominated by this burning desire to see God do something for several days
• Waking or sleeping it was always in the back of his mind
• It’s likely that this prayer was not just uttered once
• it’s a summary of what went through his heart over those few days.

v6 “let your ear be attentive and you eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants the people of Israel”

This is why a prayer diary is useful >>>

Scripted praying >>>

Nehemiah’s confession

(he understood the people)

v6 “I confess the sins that we Israelites, including my father’s house, have committed against you”

He confessed the sins of the people as if they were his own

• N’s life wasn’t free from sin, but this is more than that!
• he’s confessing, on behalf of the people, sins of rebellion and rejection of the Lord that he hadn’t personally committed.
• He’s saying “Lord, I AM one of your wayward people, I confess that we have turned against You”

It is almost as if

Nehemiah held God to ransom

Nehemiah claimed God’s promises – always a good path to travel in prayer!

Key word is in v8 “remember” – in so doing he was taking hold of God’s promises!

e.g. When our children were at school we’d often hear ourselves saying things like:

• “if home work is completed by eight o’clock you can watch “the Bill” on TV”
• 8 o’clock comes, all the homework is complete – But I don’t let them turn the TV on
• They object – “Hey, Dad – you promised that if our homework was done we could watch the Bill!”
• there’s insistence in their voices – they’re indignant that what I promised is not being delivered

and they’re right!

That’s Nehemiah here! “Now look here, Lord, you promised!”

Nehemiah 1:18 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’

The Lord takes this kind of praying very seriously indeed.

It was this which led to

Nehemiah’s unbelievably, irresponsibly, unreasonably short shopping list

If it was me I’d be asking for everything from the first sentence of prayer!

But he had more insight that Ian White! He asked for what he thought he needed – and the request was a tiny one!

v11 “Give your servant success today by granting him favour in the presence of the King!”

Now – in the light of all that has gone before in this prayer we might find the smallness of his request something of a surprise.

• Why such a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

The lessons is this

the major achievement of prayer is not the shopping list

prayer is never a monologue

We know he wept for days and if we compare 1:1 with 2:1 we see a gap of four months!

• Therefore this prayer represents the traffic between God and Nehemiah over a period of 4 months.

When you pray next, ask “Lord – how do you want me to pray? What are you asking of me?

• We think we know what we should pray for (an of course we should use our minds to think it out carefully – as N did)

but there is place – a larger place – for us to spend time carefully asking the Lord what he wants of us in our praying.

e.g. Napoleon -

• high vantage point -
• captains listening to him -
• brilliant strategist -
• “seize that barn at all costs”
• apparently trivial – but it was the key to the whole battle

We need to listen to our heavenly commander in prayer.

[recap]

Pray

 Victoria Baptist Church – 06/01/2011 (reflective only)

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

This morning I want to encourage you to turn up the heat in your spiritual life as an aim for 2012 and in order to do that I want you to look at a letter that Christ dictated to John in the book of Revelation. I want you to see that this letter is packed with penetrating insight and a large dose of encouragement. It’s not he negative missive it’s sometimes made out to be.

We know the Christian group in Laodicea was once a thriving church.

• When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians he asked that it should also be read in Laodicea too and that letter contains some of the greatest Christology (statements about Christ) anywhere in the New Testament
• However by the time John hears Jesus dictate this letter it seems the church has lost much of its fire. So much so that the allegation of lukewarmness is the one that shouts the loudest.

However, as I read and meditated on this passage in preparation for this morning I realised that Jesus’ accusation of being lukewarm is only part of the story. This letter is full of grace and generosity. It comes from the heart of God who wants his children to thrive – and that makes it a good passage to reflect on at the beginning of a new year.

• Its major message is not an accusation of lukewarmness but ‘I want you to be hot!’

Here is God the Father saying to his children through the lips of Jesus, ‘don’t be satisfied with half measures, I long for you to be on fire for me, to know my love and to receive my grace in every aspect of daily life! That is what will fill your heavenly father with joy!’

Look at who wrote it

Jesus describes himself with some pictures:

the amen

A curious term to use to describe yourself but it had real meaning for them

I was talking with a man this week who told me about asking some famous Christians speaker what the word ‘amen’ meant. He wouldn’t tell me what answer he got and I had an unnerving feeling that I was being tested here! It means ‘so let it be’

In Isaiah’s prophecy ( about 800 years before Revelation was written) the prophet heard God promise blessing on people who served him

<ppt> Isa 65:16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of the amen; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of the amen. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from sight.

In the gospels, when Jesus began to teach he sometimes started with ‘amen, amen’ – it’s a ways of saying “this is important – I’m using my authority here >>>

<ppt> So, in the letter to Laodicea Jesus is speaking with authority

the faithful and true

What is going to come out is Christ’s honest and truthful assessment of the church. Justice is undermined when faithfulness and truth are absent so Jesus is speaking here about what he knows to be true and sees with his own eyes. He is a faithful witness to the facts. He is an witness who can see the interior attitudes of the people of this church

<ppt>. So Jesus is speaking with integrity

the beginning of God’s creation

The word behind ‘beginning’ is the one for a ruler.

The Arians of the 4^th century did not believe that Jesus was eternal – and used this verse as one of their proof-texts. (the Jehovah’s witnesses do the same today)

• Jesus was God’s greatest creation, yes, but not eternal. He became God’s Son at a particular point in time.
• BUT this word not only means first in time, but first in rank, the originator, so Jesus is the premier of all creation. Paul uses it this way in Colossians

<ppt> Jesus Christ is the premier [person] in all the church so that in everything he might have the supremacy (Colossians 1: 18)

<ppt> Jesus is eternal

Christ’s analysis of the church <ppt>

What is Jesus analysis of this church.

<ppt> Rev 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

Laodicea is now called Pamukkale (near Istanbul in Turkey) and in the first century it was the wealthiest city in the area. It was famous for its banking, its medical school and its textile industry. But its major difficulty was its water supply.

And Jesus says: “It’s not just the water supply that is lukewarm – it’s you!”

v16 So, because you are lukewarm– neither hot nor cold– I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Notice very carefully that Jesus does not say he has already rejected them – he says he’s about to if things don’t change!

• And it’s a very strong phrase. The word behind ‘spit’ is actually the word for vomit – “You almost make me puke!” (although no translator is ever going to put that into print!)

Why such a strong reaction?

Rev 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

“But you don’t realise it” – The tragedy of this church was not so much that they were lukewarm, but that they couldn’t see they were lukewarm! They had become desensitised to their true spiritual state.

• They had become so accustomed to lukewarmness that they no longer noticed it as unusual any more
• they had lost touch with what spiritual ‘hot-ness’ looks like

So the church in this city, which was renown for its

• bankers in their suits
• medics in their lab coats
• and textile makers with their high fashion

actually masks something very dark indeed.

The prosperous and successful outward appearance masked a wretched and pitiful internal reality.

What is true of Laodicea can be true of any Christian church to some degree.

I’m not saying this with any attitude of criticism that I’m aware of

But many people look at Victoria as an outwardly successful church – and we have so much to thank God for!

• I was on leave last Sunday and during the last week I’ve only picked up one comment about last Sunday’s service – a lady said to me (quite unprompted) “Ian your team did you proud last Sunday” Clearly God spoke through Carl’s preaching and the other people taking part – and that’s just trilling to hear

But – probably the greatest danger of a church like ours where most of the key ministries are in place and ticking over nicely is just that – ticking over.

• The greatest danger of a successful church is coasting.
• Flicking on the cruise control button, sitting back and letting everything just happen.

My prayer for 2012 is that we will go beyond coasting.

• That we will turn up the spiritual heat in Victoria

So that the ministries we have will grow, the power of God will be more evident and we will develop our spiritual muscles so the kingdom of God is strong and vibrant here!

• I want this to be a safe place for a dangerous message!

And this is where Christ letter to Laodicea helps us enormously

So if you’re looking back over the past year and thinking that ‘yes, things might have gone a bit lukewarm’ – here is Jesus Christ’s remedy – His way back to spiritual life and vitality.

He tells us

How to be hot

Christ give three pictures to set out what spiritual hot-ness looks like

be rich

<ppt> Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich

Don’t you wish you’d done that in 2000?

• $282 per oz, now $1616 per oz – that’s a 43% increase on investment per annum!

Of course it’s not financial investment, it’s a spiritual investment Christ is telling us to make.

• It’s to put resources of time and money into things that will bring a spiritual return.

Maybe you could invest some time – in encouraging someone’s spiritual growth – or serving on one of our ministries here – (Neil need some helpers for starters.)

Maybe you could reconsider what your giving is to God’s work her so that the ministry won’t be hindered by tight budgets

maybe it’s buying the book, getting hold of the DVD, going to the conference (we have just one 4 berth chalet left of our allocation for Spring harvest this year) >>>

Can I suggest that in 2012 you might invest in your spiritual growth

And God will bless you richly from his grace – and his blessing if free

Listen to Isaiah 55:1-2

1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

<ppt> Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

It’s making and investment from which you soul is fed.

What does being hot look like? It’s making investments in your spiritual life.

be clothed

Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me … white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness;

When Adam and Eve listened to Satan they became aware of their nakedness.

Previously they’d been naked and unashamed, now they had something they wanted to hide.

What did God do? Rip off the fig-leaves and say “you’re not to hide your bodies?” No!

• He made them clothes – and clothes that would last (made out of skins, not leaves)!
• He was going to deal with the very deepest of all the issues they faced at that time – how they thought about themselves. How they must have tortured themselves over their failure,
• how every time they saw their nakedness it reminded them of what they’d lost.
• That shows me how grace-filled God is! He even covers their failures.

As you look back over 2011 do you see failure in some area of your life?

• Here Jesus is offering covering for previous sin and failure

This is what God is like!

• Grace-filled, forgiving, desiring his children to be confident in him, living with nothing to be ashamed of.

Too many of us see God as a divine examiner, constantly finding fault in us. And the logic goes something like this

• We know what’s on the shadow side of our lives and realise we’re sinful people
• God (being all knowing) knows what’s there too
• therefore (we think) God must think I’m an awful person

No! He treats us, in Christ he sees us as covered, forgiven, cleansed

• Although they had a kind of soap made out of tallow and ashes, it wasn’t commonly in use and white-ness in clothes was very difficult to maintain
• so white robes were very highly prized in this textile-rich city
• wear one of those and you were a cut above the rest
• that’s what the white robes are all about!
• And that’s how God sees us!

How to be hot? Let God deal with the shadow side of your life!

be aware

Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me … salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.

They couldn’t see their true spiritual state so Christ says “buy some Optrex!” so you can see!

Looking back over 2011, I recall an incident of misunderstanding with a friend.

• He thought I was angry with him when actually I wasn’t. I’d given out the wrong message – and he was gracious enough to point it out to me so that I could see.

Here’s a dangerous prayer to pray “Lord, what do I need to see about myself that will make me more like you?”

In v 20 we have one of the best known verses in the Bible

Rev 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Preachers (including me) will often use this verse to encourage people who aren’t yet Christians to invite Christ in (and it certainly has that message)

BUT now we can see that this verse is addressed to coasting Christians – to lukewarm believers!

In the first century there were no door bells. The way you made your presence known was to call out from the doorway – and that’s what Jesus Christ is doing here!

And it’s Christ saying “I am so close to you!” “I’m right in the doorway!” “all you have to do is invite me in” and we can enjoy intimacy of a meal together.

Will you do that?