Master Delegator
Nehemiah 3
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MasterDelegator.html
Last time we saw Nehemiah's vision, and now it must become reality beginning in chapter 3, and that's gonna take a lot of help.
Many people skip over this chapter because it reads like a Hebrew phone book. It's all names and sounds like the 'begat' chapters in Genesis. But it is a very important chapter.
It is the most detailed description of the layout of old Jerusalem, with intricate details about the placement of each wall and gate. Even archaeologists sometimes use this chapter as a map to help them as they dig in the old city.
The first 2 chapters have been all about preparing to do the work of God. Now the actual work will begin. Nehemiah was given an assignment from God, and YOU should find out your assignment from God as well. You have a life and family to build, a business, a ministry...a church!
Nehemiah could never have completed this great work so quickly w/out a lot of good help he delegated to.
1. Superior Organization.
v. 1, 2a, 4a, 5a, 7a, 8a, 9a... "and next unto him"
This thing is organized like a Swiss watch. Everyone knew their place and what was expected of them.
I believe in following the Spirit's leading, but I reject the notion that we should not organize and plan, but just fly by the seat of our pants. Some might say we organize the Holy Spirit right out of our church. But God doesn't want chaos in His church. He says all things must be done decently and 'in order.'
ill.--look at the organization in creation, from the cosmos of stars down to earth and the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human body. By the way, when we see organization is suggests there is an organizer. When we see design in the universe it suggests there is a designer.
God believes in organization. If our bodies weren't organized they wouldn't function properly, or function at all. And the spiritual health of the church is dependent upon organization. But the church is special, because we're not just an organization, we're an organism, a living, breathing entity. Some don't like the 'business' of the church. I'm one of them. I hate business. But the reality is that there is business to take care of. I look at it this way--it's not just a business, it's God's business, by far the best business in the world, and it deserves an organized approach! We need to be good stewards, and takes some work!
Just look at the family. There must be a head. Each must play their role in the family. When the home isn't organized God's way the result is poor spiritual health. If dad lets the maintenance go around the house it will eventually fall in on itself. If mom lets the house go to chaos and allows hallways to degenerate into pathways everyone will be depressed. In some houses if there was no microwave or McDonald's everyone would starve, because there's no plan, no organization. One guy said, "If the stove were as hot as the TV around here we'd be in fine shape!" Glad he said that.
Our finances should be organized. Our business should have a plan. And some of us need to clean our desk...we'll find that there's wood under there!
Our personal lives need to be organized and prioritized properly or the result is chaos. When all else fails, read the directions! God's Word instructs us in how to organize and prioritize our lives. We are not supposed to just live on our whims and impulses. We need to live for what is truly important, not just what is urgent. I want to live my life, not have others live it for me. I need to decide what is truly important, and the directions of the Word will help me.
For instance, the Bible teaches that family is to be more important than work. No man ever lay on his death bed saying, "I wish I had spent more time at work." And there's something more important than family, and that is God and His kingdom, His church, and things of eternal value.
Matthew 6:33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
What will it take to get some to make God their first priority, to take the Lord's Day off their calendar where no one is allowed to make any plans that day...no touchee! Hands off!
Is God even more important to you than family?
Luke 14:26
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
God doesn't really want us to hate them. He wants us to love HIM so supremely and make Him such a high priority that by comparison our love for our family seems like hatred. He's also saying that if we are in conflict between making Him our priority or anyone else, we choose Him.
But blood is thicker than water isn't it! And anytime somebody leaves the church they take their whole extended family with them. It proves their loyalty is higher to family than to God. Blood really is thicker than water, and would to God we realized that it's the blood of Jesus that makes a church family and that is supposed to tie us all together.
This problem is the reason why some won't confront their spouse about coming to church. It's why some won't correct their adult children who aren't doing right. They are saying, I don't want to do any harm to our relationship so I'm not going to push you spiritually. In other words, FAMILY BEFORE GOD!
God is a God of superior organization, and we should strive to do His business in a careful, thoughtful manner, with proper priorities put into place, not just living on impulse.
v. 2 'build', 'builded'. The Hebrew word for this is used 6 x's in reference to the wall, and it means REBUILT. The implication is that no new material was needed to rebuild the wall. Now the gates that were burnt required new timber, but laying in the rubble was all they needed for the walls.
That's how it is in building walls for God. It is not by inventing clever new things that we build a church. It's by going back to the old doctrines that are lying in the rubble. We have many broken down walls and if we would just raise them back up we would be miles ahead.
Sometimes it means going back to old methods. Now I'm all for trying new things as you know, but in principle they need to still be aimed down the old paths.
Many churches today are getting away from preaching, saying that people don't have much tolerance for that anymore. They may be right about our intolerance. Not many want to hear about hell or the end of the world or sin or judgment, and as a result, many preachers have stopped preaching it, and some today are laying aside preaching altogether, just doing dramas and playing videos, more music based, etc.
I like drama and music and videos, but there is no substitute for preaching.
1 Corinthians 1:17
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:
1 Corinthians 1:21
21 ...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Titus 1:3
3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
2 Timothy 4:2
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
We need to get back to the old path of preaching God's Word! It's nice when we can have great special music, but we can't have that all the time in every service, and I'm thankful I'm part of a church that isn't here for the music anyway, they're here to hear the Word of God!
Some churches just put a so called Christian rock band on the platform like a stage and many people come just for the show. Well if that's what it takes to put butts in seats then maybe we'll have a smaller crowd, but praise God they'll be here for the right reason, because they're a sinner who needs their toes stepped on and they are thirsty to hear the truth of the Bible!
Built = rebuilt
We don't need a lot of clever new devices, we need to do the old things. The website may reach out around the world, but it won't build the local church, so how about we revive our visitation and rebuild that wall. It was good enough years ago and it's good enough today!
Let's rebuild the wall of discipleship, and sacrificial service, and tithing, and giving to missions. Let's rebuild the wall of faithfulness and just purpose in our heart that we're gonna be here each time the doors are open. I know many places don't do it that way anymore and many Christians don't see the point anymore but that's a broken down wall and God wants us to rebuild it! I want God to call someone to rebuild the bus route or we might as well sell the bus!
v. 4 'repaired' is used twice. It means to make strong or firm.
Nehemiah is not interested in a quick fix, he wants to establish something permanent. He doesn't want a whitewashed wall that will just crumble in a few years. He wanted to build something to the glory of God that will stand the test of time. And I want to build a church of people that will last. Grounded people who aren't easily uprooted. Not flighty. Rooted in God's Word. This is why we teach doctrine. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it.
Anything worth doing for God is worth doing right!
1 Corinthians 14:40
40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
Superior organization...
2. Splendid cooperation.
People worked together to get the job done. 38 individuals are named, and 42 different groups are identified. And this is just a small representation or leaders.
Remember the story of the little red hen? In the tale, the little red hen finds a grain of wheat, and asks for help from the other farmyard animals to plant it. However, no animal will volunteer to help her. "Not I said the dog, not I said the pig, etc." "Ok then, I will do it myself," she would reply.
At each further stage (harvest, threshing, milling the wheat into flour, and baking the flour into bread), the hen again asks for help from the other animals, but again she gets no assistance.
Finally, the hen has completed her task, and asks who will help her eat the bread. This time, all the previous non-participants eagerly volunteer. However, she declines their help, stating that no one aided her in the preparation work. "And so, I will eat it myself," she states.
Here's an alternate ending for today:
That evening some guests arrived and there was nothing to serve but bread. The little red hen was so busy doing things that others could have helped in that she failed to plan and make a main course. The meal was a disaster. The hen went into a depression and lived unhappily ever after.
The moral? A good leader gets others involved. To do it all yourself is the chicken way out!
We pride ourselves in our work ethic when we do it all, but it is not wise. A leader should work and set the example, but the worst thing a leader can do is try to do it all himself. No one man can do it all, but everyone can do something.
Moody said I'd rather get 100 men to work than to do the work of 100 men, because I'd burn out and it wouldn't be done very well anyway.
Look at how Nehemiah's team worked together to do the job swiftly and to do it well...
4 groups:
• Leaders who set the example. v. 1
The priests are the leaders. They aren't used to manual labor, but they jumped in and got their hands dirty. They didn't say, sorry, we don't do that kind of work. And if they hadn't done that I doubt anyone else would have joined in the work. It's not do as I say, but do as I do.
• Faithful followers who do their job.
"Next unto him..." is used 15 x's in this chapter. There is a principle here. Every section of the wall, every inch was covered. The wall was for protection. And so a hole in the wall was just as dangerous as no wall at all.
It breaks the heart of this pastor to see holes in the wall, people not carrying their load, jobs undone, gaps in God's master plan! The needs listed in the bulletin are something for YOU to consider. Don't expect that someone else will do it. It won't happen until YOU do it!
• Shirkers who would not get involved. v. 5
'The nobles' wouldn't get involved. There are people like that in every church. They might sit back and watch. They might attend faithfully or even give money, but won't get involved personally.
If this church were a wall, would there be a hole where you stand?
Is it right to come and enjoy the fellowship and the preaching but never get involved personally? There's enough to do for everyone to get involved, and much is left undone until you get on board!
ill.--In 1915 Leon Trotsky, future leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, who would one day lead Russia into communism, was invited to a sunday school class in Chicago and he attended. He was a young man in search of ideas in life. The Sunday School teacher did not show up, and didn't cover himself either. The class sat there in an empty room. So far as history tells us it was the last time he ever set foot in a church, and in 1917 he led Russia into atheistic communism. How would things have been different perhaps if on that day standing before him was a spirit filled, Bible drilled, victory thrilled man of God. But he missed his place along the wall, there was a breach!
• Those who were willing to do more.
v. 11 'repaired the other piece'. v. 19, 21, 24 show the same thing.
These finished what they were told to do, and fell back in line to help make up for those who didn't do their job. "Reporting for duty!"
What would our church do if not for multitaskers? We don't want to burn people out, and we don't want to take people out of too many church services, but it's a reality that this group will always be needed.
What would happen if everyone did their part in building the wall?
"Isn't it strange that Princes and Kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And just plain folks like you and me,
Are builders for Eternity?
To each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass and a book of rules,
And each must make ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a stepping stone."
We all have tools God has given us. Will we be a stumbling block or a stepping stone?
Superior organization, splendid cooperation...
3. Spiritual Application.
10 of the 12 gates are named in this chapter, and each one has a deep spiritual meaning...a subject for next time!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MasterDelegator.html
