> Sermon - Saddling up your Donkey. Nehemiah chapter 2.
>
> For something to be regarded as a success it needs to get beyond the
> dreaming stage to something that is effective.
>
> When discussion centres around the modern motor car and the genesis of
> it's development there is much talk about Otto and Daimler. But few
> people have heard of Hugon in France or Bischop in Germany - they had
> built internal combustion engines but, as one comentator states - there
> was no commercial success.
> But Damlier's name is written firmly into the history of the Motor
> vehicle because he persisted with his invention until he saw it through
> to it's logical conclusion which was commercial production and
> wide-spread use.
>
> Last week I talked about how God has a plan for each of our lives and
> longs to see them reach their full potential.
>
> Many of us carry in our hearts great dreams and great dreams for our
> futures.
>
> Martin Luther King the Black civil rights leader of the 1960's once
> said - I have a dream! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), who went
> on to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and
> to become a symbol of the movement's commitment to militant, nonviolent,
> direct action against segregation. He and his supporters not only talked
> about their "dream" they lived it.
> By eliminating the most overtly racist practices denying blacks access
> to equal education, jobs, and the voting booth, the civil rights laws of
> the 1960's enabled black Americans to make unprecedented gains in all
> these areas by the early 1980's.
> Martin Luther King carried out his dream at the cost of his life.
> As a civil rights leader in America in the 60's it was almost inevitable
> that he would die as a result of his prominence.
> The passion that Nehemiah felt for Jerusalem was like that - Like Martin
> Luther King he belonged to a nation that had been taken off to captivity
> and had been enslaved.
> Yet despite that Nehemiah had risen to prominence in the land. He was
> the cup bearer to the King Artaxerxes 1 who lived 464 - 424 before
> Christ.
> his position shows that the King found him completely trustworthy and he
> obviously has great favour with the King.
> Last week we looked at from chapter 1 of three great attributes that
> Nehemiah demonstrates when confronted with the bad news that Jerusalem
> is in a state of ruin.
> The three points that we gained from it that apply to our own lives
> were;-
> 1. Identify the areas in our lives that have opened up gaps in the
> wall.
> 2. Confess these areas to God in prayer and ask for His help in
> restoring the breach Interestingly the month of Kislev in chapter 1 is
> four months before the beginning of chapter 2 which we are told was the
> month of Nisan - for four months Nehemiah, then wrestled in prayer about
> his problem.
> 3. Effect change by taking initial practical steps to bring change.
> Nehemiah had a great dream - it was a big dream - a dream that was
> seemingly preposterous -
>
> But Nehemiah has to move on from there. In order to see the restoration
> of Jerusalem he does need to effect change. But in effecting that change
> he needs to demonstrate certain qualities and attitudes without which he
> would be doomed to failure.
> This morning I would like to explore chapter 2 of Nehemiah with you and
> show you three of those qualities and then demonstrate how we can show
> the same Kingdom building blocks we can build into our lives to effect
> major changes.
>
> The first building block is put in place when our spiritual life
> impacts on our ordinary life. The collision is deliberate and is our
> own doing.
> Nehemiah was a Godly man. He had served the King but his heart had
> always been towards God and he had a deep concern about God's Holy city,
> Jerusalem, and her plight in just the same way that today a Christian
> should have a heart for the fallen state of this world.
>
> It is incumbent on every Christian to allow the Christian life to impact
> on their world.
> Jesus words are recorded in Luke chapter 9 verse 26 - If anyone is
> ashamed of me and my words, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when
> he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy
> angels.
>
> You will note though that some Christians collide with the world they
> seem to aim to do the maximum of damage. They are so offensive that
> they drive people away from God rather than draw people towards him.
> Nehemiah has much to teach us - about how to let the two worlds meet.
> When the American space shuttle comes from the heavens back into earths
> atmosphere it has to come at just the right angle - at the wrong angle
> ist will simply burn up - it has a heat shield of tiles underneath it to
> absorb the heat otherwise it would never survive.
> When Nehemiah wants to bring something of the heavens or the Kingdom of
> God into the world he recognises that he has to come at just the right
> angle and he needs a heat shield or he will literally burn up.
> If you and I mess up in our christian lives we can, at the most, expect
> to feel uncomfortable or be rejected.
> not so with Nehemiah - if he messed up he was likely to be beheaded.
> The first thing he does is puts his heat shield in place.
> Firstly he prays - he prays for four months and then he goes before the
> King.
> When he goes to the King he stops hiding his grieve from him.
> This frightening moment
> when Nehemiah stood before the king began when he decided to be honest.
> For four months he
> had been weeping in the presence of God, mourning the sorrows of his
> people. God had seen his
> tears, but the king had never seen them. Like most individuals who have
> absolute authority in the
> world in which they live, the king never permitted anyone to bring their
> difficulties into his presence.
> If the king were to have a moment's indigestion, everybody in the room
> ought to feel the indigestion.
> If the king were to have concern about new gray along his temples, then
> everybody should be
> concerned about it. If there was a chill in the air, then all should
> rush to meet the needs of the king.
> He shouldn't be uncomfortable for even a moment. But no one was allowed
> to walk into the king's
> presence with their own heartache, their own need, their own weakness.
> Why should the king care
> about anyone else? He was the sun in the sky, the only personality that
> mattered. So it was a breach
> of convention to go to the king with a puffy face and red eyes,
> obviously having been crying.
>
> This is true, I think, for powerful people everywhere. Prima donna
> athletes and performers are used
> to having everyone jump and cater to their whims, and are astonished
> when anybody else has
> concerns or problems or needs. It's true of self-impressed, powerful
> corporate executives, political
> leaders, and every other sort of person who imagines himself or herself
> to be at the center of
> everything. Probably the literary figure who best makes the point is the
> Queen of Hearts in the story
> Alice in Wonderland. When she didn't get what she wanted, her cry was,
> "Off with their heads!"
>
> King Artaxerxes, an absolute despot, had things exactly his way. But on
> this day Nehemiah walked
> into the king's presence, and he hadn't used a cool cloth to reduce the
> puffiness of his cheeks and
> hadn't wiped away his tears. He went in with his broken heart obvious on
> his face. He was very
> frightened. Nehemiah was a sheep in the presence of a wolf, a dove that
> couldn't defend itself. All
> he had were the words of God, if the Spirit would give him words to say.
> He had nothing else to
> protect him.
>
> Then the king said, "You're not sick. What I see surely must be sadness
> of heart. Tell me about it."
> And wonder of wonders, the door of opportunity opened.
> It was a miracle - but Nehemiah not only knew his God - he knew the King
> as well and like the space shuttle he entered at the correct angle.
> The wisdom that Nehemiah displays here is incredible - he manfully faces
> the clash of worlds that is necessary for him to achieve his purposes in
> relation to Jerusalem but he takes the careful path where he can effect
> the most Good. Matthew 10:16:
>
> "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as
> shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."
> The moment I am most proud of people in this parish is not when someone
> reports that one of our members has abrasively shared their faith - that
> doesn't happen very often, in fact I can't think of an example, but when
> it does you feel that the cause of the Kingdom has been set back rather
> than advanced - Nor is it when someone says - oh - so and so are part of
> your church - they are really great you'd never know they are religious.
> That doesn't blow my hair back either - but what pumps my heart with
> pride is when someone tells me about one of you in a way that says they
> really respect your faith and have been touched by it in some way.
> What Nehemiah demonstrates here is good management between the meeting
> of the twin currents in his life the current of his faith for God and
> the current of his job. The two meet in such a harmonious way that there
> is scarcely a ripple on the surface.
>
> The second Kingdom building block I can identify here is that Nehemiah
> takes all the ground that God has given him.
> You can tell that he has given all of this a great deal of thought
> -Proverbs 19:21
>
> Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that
> prevails.
>
> Another verse says:
>
>
>
> Proverbs 16:9
>
> In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
>
>
>
> We must also remember that God plans ahead.
>
>
> Jeremiah 29:11
>
> For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to
> prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
> future.
>
>
> 1 Cor. 14:33, 40
>
> For God is not a God of disorder but of peace
>
> everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
>
>
> And the Bible says that wise people plan ahead.
>
>
>
> Proverbs 14:8 [Living]
>
> The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won't
> face facts.
> Nehemiah has faced the facts of his situation and he knows that he
> doesn't just need to escape from the King with permission to rebuild the
> walls he needs the authority to do it and he will need timber - he gets
> all of this and more. The reasons he gets this is because he exhibits
> qualities of wisdom tact faith and boldness undergirded by prayer.
> We too need to plan to maximise our advantages when opportunities
> present themselves to advance the Kingdom purposes of God.
> We need to land the shuttle.
>
> The third building block that Nehemiah puts in place is he takes time
> out.
> You notice in American Basketball games that when things are under great
> pressure the coach can call time out - this is an opportunity for him to
> calm the team down and to reassess what is to be done. Jesus does this
> in the last supper and in the garden of Gethsemene - it is a time of
> being apart before you face major hurdles in your life.
> Recently after a fairly vigorous year I took a generous five to six week
> time out period to study and to pray and think. I found this period
> invaluable and am very grateful to you for allowing me that time.
> Nehemiah has just arrived in Jerusalem - he is already aware I think of
> growing opposition to his presence for as it says in verse 10 his
> opponents were much disturbed that someone had come to promote the
> welfare of the Israelites.
> HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED HOW PEOPLE ATTACK GOD'S PEOPLE WHEN THEY EMBARK ON
> A WORK GOD HAS CALLED THEM TO DO FOR THE KINGDOM?
> But Nehemiah wisely ignores that and just stays in Jerusalem for three
> days. He just hangs out for three days praying - resting - recharging
> his physical and spiritual batteries - then he takes some more time out
> on his own to have a look for himself - he wants to get a on site
> picture of what the damage is like so he rides around Jerusalem.
> He knows from his Jewish history what Jerusalem should look like and now
> he looks for himself. What he finds moves him to action.
>
>
> Finally after he has assessed all the facts he goes to the Jewish
> people.
> It is now time for sharing his vision and moving quickly from vision to
> action.
> Nehemiah is able to do that because he has taken all the necessary
> preliminary steps that had begun months before when he was first alerted
> to the state of Jerusalem.
> To go back to the beginning last week - there may be something that you
> have identified that God has laid on your heart.
> You may have wrestled with God for months in prayer about it until you
> have decided that it is time to do something.
> If you are one that wonders what to do next then Nehemiah shows the way
> to go
> Firstly you need the courage to allow your spiritual life and your
> physical life to collide.
> What you believe needs to impact into your life in action.
> Secondly you need to take take all the ground that God has given you
>
> Thirdly - Take time out to think about your journey midstream - reasses
> the situation mid - journey.
>
> Finally - Expose your vision to other Christians in a proper manner.
> Describe to them how God has bought you to this point. Listen for God's
> voice in their cautions and encouragements. Seek support from your
> leaders first and find others who want to journey with you. When all
> these things come together you will have powerful allies who will take
> you on to see progress in the repairing of the walls in our society.
