Date:   10/12/08

Text;   Nehemiah 13

Title:   Spiritual Renewal

Theme: Spiritual renewal requires human effort and cooperation with God.

Introduction:

  During the last two years we hear about the possible discovery of a spiritual gene. For those with this gene, they have the propensity to focus on spiritual matters. Such as search for God, in touch with the spiritual world. Wouldn't it be nice to have this gene? If so, then those spiritual disciplines; reading and meditating on the Scriptures, long hours of prayers will be a cinch.

Well, with or without this gene, how satisfied are you with your spiritual life? On a scale of 1 to 5, one being the lowest and 5, the highest, how would you rate your relationship with God? In recent years, many books, both Christian and non-Christian, have been written about spirituality or spiritual formation. This reflects that even in the midst of material prosperity, deep within, we're yearning for something more meaningful and satisfying. We may be very vague or unsure of our search, nonetheless, many of us are seeking for some form of spiritual renewal.

  As we read the passage before us, the situation in Judah was not a very pleasant picture, but rather downright disappointing. For those of us weekly following this story, may even feel slightly distressed. As if everything that happened prior ended in disarray leading to feelings of futility. Before we jump into any conclusions, let's first take a look at the background of this passage.

  In chapter 12 we read how the Israelites dedicated the completed Jerusalem city wall with a joyous worship service. Besides this worship, they kept their promise to be obedient to God's Law, indeed a very happy and healthy conclusion of this rebuilding project. Nehemiah was the governor in Judah for a total of 12 years, then returned to Persia to continue serving the Persian King. Sometime later, he requested and was granted permission to return to Judah .

  You remember, upon his first return, Nehemiah immediately took a walk around the city and surveyed the condition of the broken walls and destroyed gates. Now, at his second return, instead of surveying the wall and the gates, he surveyed the spiritual landscape of Judah 's residents. In this chapter we see words such as: I discovered…., I also found…, I saw, also I saw… A very depressing picture was what he saw, found and discovered. Yet, like his first return, he did not allow the negatives to discourage him. Rather, he was challenged to rebuild the spiritual life of the Israelites. From this chapter, we want to learn from Nehemiah what are some of the keys in rebuilding one's spiritual life.

I.   Spiritual vitality requires a realistic assessment of our condition.

  What did Nehemiah see, find and discover? First,

1 •  Temple defiled-----Secularism. During Nehemiah's absence, 13:4, “…” Eliashib the priest emptied a storage room for tithes and offering in the temple area and let Tobiah use it. Ah, Tobiah again. You remember in our previous study of Nehemiah, he was a loud opponent of the rebuilding project. He was their enemy and now, the priest was giving him a room in the temple complex!!!. Can you imagine this: a room for their enemy in the center of their spiritual life??!!. In chapter 13:1-3, Nehemiah clearly reminded the Israelites that no Ammonites are to be allowed in their midst. Here, Tobiah, an Ammonite, was allotted a room in the holy temple area. This is a clear violation and indifference to God's word. Yes, they had the word of God among them, but they made no attempt to obey it.

Not only was the temple defiled, it was also neglected. In 10:39, they promised that they would not neglect the house of God. But during Nehemiah's absence, tithes and offerings had ended. 13:11, “….” They neglected to take care of the temple resulting in the Levites and the Singers returning home. The Levites are those reading and teaching the word of God. The singers are those helping with their worship. Do we see what is happening here? When they became indifferent to the word of God, they also marginalized spiritual matters and priorities. In other words, we see the secularization of a community.

This is an alarm to us in the 21 st century. Increasingly we see the scriptures being pushed aside. It is no longer the center of our religious life. We are increasingly seeing the bible as a book to help us be better persons, have a more blessed family. We do a lot of selective reading. The bible is no longer God's word, a book for us to obey. Recently I was told that in a survey among the evangelical churches, the incidents of domestic violence is just about, if not higher, than the society in general. This is sad, right? In this and other areas such as divorce, abortion, sexual activities outside marriage, and pornography are rampant within the churches. We have clearly disobeyed God's word.

Not only this, how about spiritual matters? Worship, tithing, Sunday School or bible study, fellowship with other believers have all taken a back seat. As I shared with you before, when there is a conflict between a church function and a social function, church usually loses out. Seldom do we hear: I am sorry I can't attend this party because I have a church meeting tonight. We may have marginalized matters pertaining to God.

2 •  Sabbath neglected----- Materialism. When Nehemiah was with them the first time, he had instructed them to stop trading on the Sabbath. The Israelites obeyed, but during his absence, the practices returned. 13:15-16, “…..”Without people buying on the Sabbath, it would be difficult to sell merchandise . It's not just a matter of not keeping the Sabbath holy as instructed in the Law, it is also about money, about materialism. They had allowed their hearts to follow money as money mattered more than God.

Money is never enough, right? Millions of people buy lottery tickets because they covet to be millionaires. But one who has become a millionaire says, “Life is such a drag now that I can afford anything I want….to be honest, it's a little boring.” Materialism is like ‘the opium of the people'. There is a huge thirst for more, better and bigger. Good is just not enough anymore. Herbert Schlossberg described it 25 years ago, “All true needs---such as food, drink and companionship--- are satiable. Illegitimate wants---pride, envy, greed---- are insatiable…Enough is never enough…..” this is how the wicked witch in Narnia used the turkey sandwich to entice and control Edmond . It is never enough.

The more money we make, the higher our living standards. The whole concept of a ‘simple life-style' has become so foreign to us.

3 •  Married to foreigners------ Pluralism. 13:23-24, “….”In Nehemiah's absence, some of the Israelites married foreign women. In an earlier study, we learned that the issue was not their foreignness, but that the Israelites were led astray by their foreign wives, and followed their gods. Nehemiah in vs.26-27, “…….” He retold them the story of Solomon. 13:26-27, “…..”He married many foreign wives and in the end, was led astray and followed their gods. Did Solomon and Israelites forsake their Creator God? As far as we know, they did not. They were still God's children. But now, besides this Jehovah God, there were other gods. They have totally neglected these commands, Exodus 20:1-3, “ 1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 1 ????????? , ? : 2 “ ???? ??? ? , ???????? , ????????? 3 “ ???? , ???????? ” It is the Jehovah God plus other gods. This is pluralism.

Recently an Indian woman said, “I am a Hindu, but I also believe in Jesus.” In our present society, there is much emphasis on tolerance and harmony. We dislike those exclusive statements. We may even feel embarrassed to quote Jesus' claim, John 14:6, “…..”“I am the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the father except through me.” Acts 4;12, “ 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Statements like this are very offensive in this day and age. The news media are itching for the moment when one of the presidential candidates would make such a statement. Frequently, we do our best to stay away from them. We want to be all inclusive, loving and kind. In doing so, we have subtly succumbed to pluralism. We have lost the offensiveness of the Cross. Too often a Christian message is equally welcome in a mosque, synagogue and Buddhist Temple . Why, for we have lost our uniqueness.

4 •  Relativism. When the Israelites became indifferent to the word, they marginalized spiritual matters. They drifted further and further away from God's truth. They treated God just like any other gods and idols among and around them. Right or wrong don't exist any more. They are just being different. This sounds familiar, right? We call this relativism. There is no more moral absolutes. You do your thing and I do mine. We are just being different. Everything is fine and dandy.

This description of a distant country in a distant era can bring some discomfort to us, right? Isn't it true that we all see some traces of secularism, materialism, pluralism and relativism right here among us? Can this be one of the reasons we feel so ‘blah….' in our spiritual life. Can this be the reason for being spiritually lethargic? You have heard the story about the frog being put in a kettle with boiling water. If the water is hot, it will immediately jump out. But if you put it in a room temperature water and slowly increase the heat, the frog will stay until it is boiled to death. Spiritual lethargic does not happen overnight, it occurs slowly. We compromise a little here, a little there, and before long, we lose all that vitality. But we don't stop here:

II.   Spiritual vitality requires……

  In this passage we also read what Nehemiah did to correct the problem. Upon his first return, he saw the broken wall and destroyed gates, and began the rebuilding project. All this time, Nehemiah knew there was more to the rebuilding of the physical wall of Jerusalem . The rebuilding or reformation of the people's spiritual life is just as important. He saw their sad spiritual condition, and did not let it bog him down, but swung into action. In this passage we had a record of Nehemiah's actions: He threw out Tobiah's furniture (vs.8--this reminds us of Jesus' cleansing the temple), he rebuked the leaders (vs.11), confronted the nobles for allowing business to be carried out on the Sabbath (vs.17), he closed the gates on Sabbath (vs.19), and removed the foreigners among them (vs.28), He read the word to them and purified them. From these descriptions, I would like to make some observations:

1 •  Recognition and confession of sins. Nehemiah clearly pointed to them that such behaviors are displeasing to God. In today's society, sometimes even in the Christian church, we focus heavily on expressing one's potential. We teach that God has given each of us spiritual gifts and we need to use them and fully express them. Yes, this is important, but isn't it also true that we need to recognize our sins and failures before God, how short we have come of his glory? We may have let the pursuit of happiness and material fulfillment take over our pursuit of God. We, too, have marginalized the spiritual matters and practices such as worship, Sunday School and fellowship with other believers. In the name of family and busy work schedule, we have pushed God to the back of our priority list. Yes, we still believe in this creator God, but we may also allow other gods to slowly creep into our lives.

In every revival in the Christian church history, there is always the recognition of one's sinfulness. In the west, we think of the revival in Jonathan Edward's time. His sermon, ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God” brought people to their knees, crying and asking God for forgiveness. In the east, the revivals in Shangton and the time of John Sung, all were accompanied by a deep awareness of one's sins.

We also need to know our sins and how far we have gone astray from God. We have tolerated sins in our lives for too long. If we seek spiritual renewal or revival, it begins in our recognition and confession of sin. There is more.

2 •  Coming back to the word. In this passage, we repeatedly see the pattern of Nehemiah's emphasis on God's word. He may not be quoting verses, but his words were from the scriptures. He wanted people to return to God's word, acknowledging its priority in life. For those of us in the ministry, it is paramount that we bring people to God's word. Yes, other ideas and insights about church growth and marriage are important. But even more importantly,, are we being obedient to what God has revealed to us in the scriptures.

Few days ago I got a call asking if HCC can help supply their pulpit ministry. I asked what are some requirements, such as ministry experience and gifts. This was his response, “Anyone will do.” I felt sad. When a church doesn't put emphasis on the word, we have really lost our reason of existence. Individually we also need to put God's word right back into the first place in our Christian life. I am always encouraged to see how some of you take the word seriously by faithfully attending Sunday School, BSF and other bible study groups.

3 •  Commitment to holiness. In 30-31, “ 30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits….” After rebuking the leaders and correcting their behaviors, Nehemiah purified them. He knew the importance of holiness among God's people. What they did defiled God's holiness, so now they needed recleansing. At the end of this spiritual rebuilding, he purified them. As believers in the 21 st century, we must keep this in mind. To be holy does not mean keeping a list of dos and don'ts, it is about being obedient to God in all areas of our lives. w e are to be obedient to God in our family life, at work and at church. We are to examine and reflect on a regular basis, are my words, behavior and attitudes pleasing to God?

A Christian doctor was invited by the deacon of his church to a lakeside vacation home for catching crabs. There was a law forbidding the catch of female crabs. If you catch one, you have to put it back in the water. But female crabs also carry much eggs, even though high on cholesterol, it is a favorable food for many. They caught some and the deacon's wife said, “we can keep them for dinner, even though it is against the law, because no one knows anyway.” This bothered the doctor greatly so he gently explained that this is not right and not pleasing to God. You see, Holiness is to permeate in all reas of life. Then lastly,

4 •  Dependence on God. In this chapter, ‘remember me to ? God' appeared 3 times. Every time after he corrected a behavior and practice, he offered this prayer to God. Nehemiah knew that he could not do it alone. He also knew that by human power, such a reform could not be sustained. Later, from the Jewish history, we learned that this reformation and renewal did not last too long. Once again they reverted to their old ways. And then with the coming of Jesus, he (who?) again issued a call to follow him. He provided us with guidelines to follow and obey. Not just another set of rules, but also a promise to give us the strength to be obedient. He promised that he would live within us, and because he is within us, we can be obedient to him. Later, his apostle Paul wrote, Philippians 4:13 “ 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Conclusion:

   If there is indeed a spiritual gene, then much of the scripture's teaching will mean little to us. If I don't have this gene, then there is really no need to read the scripture and be obedient to it. Without this gene, no matter how hard I try, it's not going to work, right? I don't think this is God's design. His puts in each one of us a desire for him. There is a desire to know him more deeper and more thoroughly. There is a yearning for more meaningful spirituality. This yearning can be satisfied when we face our sins and failures head on. Not just recognizing, but also turn away from them and turn to God.

  About 3 years ago I met a Christian worshipping in another church. She came up to me after a my talk and wanted to personally share some of her recent experiences. Feeling spiritually dry for some time, she was yearning for something deeper. Consequently, she began attending all kinds of meetings: anointing gatherings and healing services. Satisfied for a while. but before long, her hunger and yearning returned. Then she said, “after a few years, I realized what I needed to do was to come back to God's word.” We all need to come back to God's word. Not just reading and studying, but also obeying God's word.