Date:   09/21/08

Text:   Nehemiah 11:1-12:26

Title:   Doing God's Work God's Way 2

Theme: Since God is holy, how we do ministry must reflect His Holiness

Introduction:   

  When we study the book of Nehemiah, it is easy to principlize the text. We want to identify leadership principles thereby making Nehemiah our model, the person we should imitate. He becomes the end. Certainly we can learn much from Nehemiah, yet what is even more important is to see how God, through this book and Nehemiah, shows us his redemptive work in human history.

Through the rebuilding of the Jerusalem city wall, we learn of how God builds his visible kingdom on earth. This theme continues into the NT. Paul wrote to Timothy saying, “I write this so that you know how to conduct yourself in the house of the Lord.”

In ministry and life, there is always much to learn from the wise and mature people around us. We can learn from their successes and failures as well. But what is even more important is to find out what God's word says about this. We learn to take our marching orders from God's revealed truth as recorded in the scriptures.

From the passage before us, two weeks ago we learned that Nehemiah's challenge was to repopulate the city of Jerusalem . Yes, the rebuilding of the wall was completed, yet there are few residents. So, how did he approach this task? First, Nehemiah called his people's attention that Jerusalem is God's dwelling place, therefore, a holy city. A city's residents generally reflect the city's characteristics. Residents of New Orleans will reflect it as the Big Easy city. Since Jerusalem is the holy city, then holiness would become the hallmark of its residents. Secondly, we learn that sometimes God would use other believers to call us to serve him, to fill the empty slots of ministry. Other times He wants us to see the empty slots and volunteer our time and energy. There will be sacrificial obedience to Him.

  This morning we want to continue to learn from this passage additional guidelines and principles to follow when doing God's work. In vs.3-10 we are given the names of descendents of Judah and Benjamin who agreed to live in the city of Jerusalem . Vs.11-24 are names that are not related to the repopulation of the city, instead, a description of different people's responsibility in the city. And then in 25-36, names of those who lived in different provinces. The emphasis is on the places where people are living. 12:1-26 are actually names of the first group of people who returned to the land of Judah . Nehemiah was calling people's attention to those who returned some 80 years ago. We want to continue to discover what God wants us to know through these listings.

III.   The Primacy of Humility in doing God's work.

In vs.1 we are told of the leaders that lived in Jerusalem . Vs. 3 is about leaders who lived in other provinces in Judah . Vs.9 about the mayor and vice-mayor of Jerusalem . In vs.16 and 21 are names of those that manage the work of the temple. Vs.6,14, names of the warriors.

  There is another list. In Vs.12, 21, individuals are remembered by what they did. Again in 12:7-9 are individuals without names, but their works were remembered. By looking at these lists, it brings to us the familiar theme that in God's kingdom, there is no one position more valuable than the other. In God's economy, all work is to be treated with equal value. There are people whose names were mentioned, and many unnamed workers. Yet they were all equally important.

  If we look at church history, yes, at different times, there are leaders and individuals whose names are mentioned. In the east, we remember names like John Sung, Wang Mingdao, Watchman Nee, Hudson Taylor, Michael Griffith, David Adeney, and Calvin Chao. They played an important role in the Chinese church history. In the west, we remember names like Jonathan Edwards, David Livingston, DL Moody, Billy Graham. And in the contemporary setting, names like: Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Ed Young Jr, John Piper, Dallas Willard, and ……. I am certain you can add other names to this list. But are they the ones who made church history? I don't think so. They may have spearheaded an idea, a trend or a movement, but it's people we do not know, we've never heard of, that are the ones behind the church history. It is the ‘others', like the nameless ones in this chapter that made up history.

This summer, we drove through small towns in Michigan and the Hill Country of Texas. In almost every town, there are 1 or 2 churches. There are many pastors serving faithfully in towns whose names we have never heard of. This is humility in God's work. This is what Paul explained to us in such great detail in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 about the spiritual gifts. We each are given spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. Each ministry, each member in the body of Christ is important.

  What does this mean to us here? Yes, we know the names of the pastors. We may even know the name of the Senior pastor. Or we may recognize the elders and deacons. Yes, they play an important role in the ministry, at least that is what they think. But really? Do you recognize these names? (Sunday School teacher names…….). You know, without them, there will not be a children's ministry at HCC. Without you, there will not be this HCC. May I encourage you to join these nameless workers, filling the different empty slots in this church's various ministries.

IV.   The Primacy of Family in doing God's work.

  As we look at the list beginning in vs.3, we notice that both here and in other passages; Nehemiah recorded the descendents of so and so, sons of so and so, their brothers, heads of their houses. (Vs.4,5,6,7,8,9,…. ) It is hard to separate family from ministry.

  I asked my students in china about priority in life. Out of a class of 25, they all agreed that the family is very important. I then asked them if this priority was manifested in their daily or weekly work schedule. There was dead silence and, without exception, they shook their heads. Yes, they know family is important, but in practice, their spouse and children were at the bottom of the totem pole. Later they shared with me about unhappy spouses and children, leading to tension and unhappy marriages.

We probably see this around us also. We may know individuals spending too much in the church ministry, thus neglecting their families. Now, in order to safeguard this, we may have gone to the other extreme. In the name of family, we may even withdraw from ministry responsibilities. Public figures like to use family as their reasons for resigning from offices. Sometimes it is true, other times it has become a cliché, trying to cover up for some deeper problems. Are we doing the same?

  Last year an English minister in another city shared with us that nowadays, so many young adults, once they have children, just disappear from the church ministry, or from church all together. He was so glad to see this one young couple continuing to come to church after the birth of their first child. This is certainly not new to us, right? Very often our children have become our idol, the center of our activity. During the early days, weeks or 1 st month or two, this is inevitable. But after two or three months? I have heard that we can't come to church because we don't want to disturb the baby's sleeping pattern. Since our baby goes to sleep at 8pm, therefore we can't come to the evening activities anymore. Or 11am is their nap time, so we can't come to the worship service. Soon, this becomes a habit, which is hard to break. In some fellowship or small groups, it was very exciting when several couples started having children at about the same time; with all those baby showers. But soon, it could spell trouble for the group. For after giving birth, the parents just didn't show up anymore. Then, maybe after 6 months or 1 year, when we are ready to come back, we find ourselves having a hard time reconnecting with the body of Christ. Several months ago, I was much encouraged by a couple who was about to give birth, telling me, “we'll not stay away from church after the child's birth.”.

  Nehemiah made it a special point to record these family units. He wanted the Israelites to once again remember the words of Joshua, 24:15, “ …… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In our study of Psalms 127 few weeks ago, we learned that children are gifts from God. If we believe this, then children should draw up closer to God and not the other way. At every infant benediction, parents promised with the help of God to bring their children to church and God when they are young. We need to ask God to help us fulfill this promise.

V.   The Primacy of Divine Perspective.

  There is more in this passage. In 11:25-36 we notice that these were not people's names. Instead, they are names of cities, provinces where the Israelites were living in. When we do a careful study of these cities, we will find out that they are much more extensive than the provinces of Judah at the time. Nehemiah was trying to bring out the contrast between the present reality and former glorious days. In the days of David and Solomon, there was the complete fulfillment of God's promise of the land he was to give to the Israelites. They reached the pinnacle of their land possession. But now, because of their disobedience, land were taken away from them by their enemies. There was discrepancies between now and God's promise.

And then in 12:1-25, there is another list of names. Vs. 26, “ 26 These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, the priest and scribe.” While listing the names of those in his time, Nehemiah also once again repeated the names of those who returned some 80 years ago. He was telescoping two historical events. It's like when you drive towards the rocky mountains. You see a mountain in front of you, but as you get closer, you will see another mountain behind this one. From afar, they appear to be one, but when you get closer, they are actually two or more mountains. Nehemiah was putting side by side two lists of names which were separated by 80 years.

So, what do we learn from this? In DA Carson 's words, “In the midst of complexity of human history, the eye of faith would see the outworking of divine will.” From the complexity of our present reality we learn to see things from God's perspective. As Nehemiah looked back at history, he wanted his people to remember God's promise that has yet to be fulfilled. He also wants his people to know how God was working through them to show that God had not forgotten his people. He is still with them. And this presence will continue to manifest with the coming of Jesus Christ. We are to look at our world, ministry and life with the eye of faith.

In our personal lives, we all want to have foresight and not hindsight. We want to be able to say, I know for sure this is God's will for me to do this, or go into this or that ministry. However, in reality, there are so many things we simply don't understand. We understand the how's and what's of natural disasters, but not why. We don't understand why this is happening to us now and we want to find out why. Yet, this search often ends in disappointment. While on vacation, I read a book by Sinclair Ferguson. In the chapter on God's mysterious will, he quoted the words of a Puritan writer, John Flavel, “The providence of God is like Hebrew words---it can be read only backwards.” And, God plants his footprints in the Sea. Yes, we may not see him, and we don't understand, but the truth is that he is there. We may not understand now, but afterwards, we say, ah, now I see.

As I look back, there were a lot of misgivings on my leaving STL. The church members often wondered why? However, 6 or 7 years later, some of them said to me, ‘now, we understand why God took you away from STL.”

Some of us may not be happy about where we are in life or in ministry. You feel that you have been treated unfairly, or not able to fully express your strength or gifts. You feel frustrated with your ministry responsibilities. The gap between present reality and the ideal is just too big for you to accept. You see, the greater the discrepancy, the greater is our disappointment and frustration. And often because of the discrepancies, you want to quit. So what does it mean to have that eye of faith, seeing things from God's perspective?

The eye of faith does not mean that we are blind to our present problems. With the eye of faith, we can say:

I am being treated so unfairly. But, it's ok, for God is with me and he is still in charge.

I may not get what I want now, but I trust God has his own timing.

If God wants me to have this ministry, then I trust that He will provide me with the needed resources.

Humanly speaking, it is definitely a setback. But are there setbacks for God?

I may not happy with what I see, but it is ok, for God knows.

At this moment, the sea is so rough. Yet, God is planting His footprints in the water.

You see, with eyes of faith, we learn to see things from God's perspective. Meanwhile, I still do my best, be faithful to the task that is given to me. With eyes of faith, I can learn to be patient.

Conclusion:

  If you live in New Orleans, you may live as if you are ahead of time, just taking things easy and waiting for the time to catch up with you. If you live in NY, you live as if you are always behind time. You walk fast, you work hard, just to catch up with time.

These past two Sundays, we have been looking at ways of living and ministry in God's kingdom on earth. As we live in this community of believers, how do we do God's work God's way? This does not mean that there is nothing we can learn from the wise men around us. There is so much for us to learn by attending workshops, conference and from reading books. They help us to understand the world we are in so we can better serve the people God brings into our lives.

  However, as we come into the house of God, we acknowledge that this is God's dwelling place, it is a holy city. Because this is a holy place, therefore how we treat each other, how we serve must reflect God's holiness. The objectives of ministry is never to demonstrate how great we are, but through what we do, our attitude towards ministry, our family life, and seeing things with the eye of faith, people around us may see the presence of this Holy God among us.

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