City on a Hill Church - Somerville

Ministry Associate Calvin Chu continues our sermon series with Nehemiah 8:1–12. Discussion points: God cares about everyone being able to access his word, God’s word is like a clear mirror to help us see ourselves clearly, God’s faithfulness in the past can help us have joy and hope in the present.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 8:1–12] And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month, and he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from the early morning until midday in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for this purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, amen," lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Also, Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the word of the law.

Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Glad, I'm really excited to be here and, and share God's word with us this morning. I think because, what we're gonna look at today, I think many of us can sort of relate to, and I don't know where you all are at. There's obviously a lot of people here, many familiar faces, perhaps some new ones that I have met before. But I, I, regardless of where we're at, I, I, I imagine that some of us either are currently, or have recently, or will in the future feel tired or overwhelmed.

And very often when we feel this sort of like misalignment where we feel like we're carrying too much or or or whatever. We often seek renewal, right? We, we, we, we just need to relax, some sort of relax, relaxing experience. And many of us do this in different ways, right? Some of us will be like, you know what, Like it's, it's like the middle of the workday and you're just like, ah, I need a, I need a coffee. That would really renew that really restore my soul, right? Some of us, like, you know, I really wanna go outside. I just need, I've been in, I'm cooped up in my office all day and I can see the outdoors, but I cannot be there and experience it. and sometimes people are, some of us are like, there's been so much talking and loud noises, I just need to go and be quiet, so it can be renewed.

Some of us, we do the retail therapy thing, we scroll, and we go to the mall, or we go to the store, or whatever, and we go buy something. Some of us spend time playing games or hanging out with friends, and, and while I'm not saying that any of these are inherently bad. I just think that they're kind of poor substitutes for a deeper renewal. Sure, maybe you didn't get as much sleep, you get a little bit of a caffeine boost, and, and that gets you through. OK. But when we experience a heaviness in life, or a burden in life, You know, you'll need to buy a lot of things, spend a lot of time outdoors to to fill in that gap or or lighten that that load on our shoulders.

And then honestly, I think this bleeds into the experience of many of us as a sort of a modern American church, right? We, we too are not immune from having similar experiences. There's no shortage of books to buy, programs to sign up for, opportunities to do something, to deepen our understanding of something that promises us spiritual renewal. And again, same exact idea. That's not bad, but like committing to the Daniel diet for 60 days, so you'll grow in your faith, you know, in Jesus. Is that really what's going to give us a deeper renewal when things get really, really heavy? Will the promise of wearing a pair of Jesus sandals with leather built in the Middle East, is that going to lighten the load that we feel?

I just feel like, OK, maybe the book, maybe the Daniel diet, or whatever, those can be helpful, but you know were those things central to God's people before such products existed? And when we read in this passage, when we see and hear how God's people were renewed. Did it result, or was it the result of some sort of doing or buying? Or or program. And as you can sort of imagine, and see where maybe where even I'm leading. No, it really wasn't that. Again, not saying those things are bad, but let's really get to what is the core of experiencing spiritual renewal, and how do we get there? And we see this through Nehemiah chapter 8. So let me quickly pray for us one more time, and then we're gonna dive into the word.

Father God, I, I pray for spiritual renewal. Some of us may be really, really close to you, and really feel an immense amount of, recognition of you in our lives, God, and we praise you for that. But God, I pray for those of us who aren't there, or maybe haven't been there in a long time. And God, we pray that as we look at this passage, that your spirit would open up our eyes, so that we can see these ways that we can actually get this true, deeper spiritual renewal. Which is from you, and God. We, we, we pray that you would help us see and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

OK, so starting off here, it's really interesting because in verses 1 to 5, what we see is there's actually a lot of emphasis on like the location and like the people who are present in this moment, right? Where, where Ezra's gathering all the people, right? He's gathering all the people as one man in the square before the Water Gate. Again, this is, these are really specific details that the person who's capturing this wants us to understand. And then they told Ezra, the scribe to bring the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. And Ezra brings it before everybody.

And I wanna put verse two here is really specific. It says, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month. And he read it facing the square before the Water Gate. Again, Water Gate, early morning til midday, in the presence of men and women and those who could understand, and all the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on the wooden platform that they had made for the purpose, and beside him were all these people, I'll spare the rereading of all these names that I'm sure they're gonna mess up.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and I opened it, and as he opened it, all the people stood. There's all this conversation about all the people, men, women, all who could understand the specific places. Why is that? What we see here is a glimpse of God's heart. Because he cares about accessibility of people to his revelation. He wants people, men, women, all who can understand, which surely probably included children, like older children who can understand his revelation, his word, him revealing himself to his people. He wants people to know him. Right? The reading could have been in the temple courts, but it wasn't. It was in this large gathering, this public square, right? And the people, if they, if it had been in the Temple Square, maybe not, it would have restricted how many people could have heard, but in God's infinite wisdom, he said, no, it's gonna happen here in public with all of these people here to hear it.

But not, not just the, the, the, the physical space, but also the population, right? He says that, again, men, women, all who could understand. Right? Again, if you think about broad stroke, but think about how society was certainly in that time. Certainly, you know, men would have been counted and they them hearing would have been a high priority for the people at that time. Perhaps slightly lesser. Or maybe significantly lesser depending on the situation, would have been the women. Because again, that's, that was the society at the time. And that alone, if it were just men and women alone, it would've been like, wow, God actually really wants people, not just the men, but the women, all people to understand.

But God, not to be outdone, not to fit in the box that we wanna put him in, he says, and all who could understand. Which again, it's not specifically clear who, but I don't know who else is left. Men, women, and aliens, I know, it's probably men and women and children who could understand, those who could understand. And so the idea is that God wants people to have access to his word. He, we see that God's word is not something that is to be restricted. And held only for the elite, only for those who have advanced enough degrees, and they're the only ones that can really grasp it and understand it. What we see in these first 5 verses is that God says, it doesn't matter. Who you are I want you to hear my word. I want you to experience my revelation. And he goes to great lengths to to show this, right?

And so, yes, there are those who can understand scripture to a deeper level because of their study, and, and, you know, we, we should be thankful. I'm very grateful for Patrick Fletcher. Pastor Fletcher, when he comes up here and preaches, and anyone that opens God's word and treats it with the respect it deserves. Very, very grateful. But throughout all of scripture we see God reaching towards those whom society overlooks. and excludes and rejects. And God acted so that people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue can know Him. And really I think that that that's so important because God gives opportunities for people to hear and experience him through his word.

And is this not the embodiment of the incarnation of Christ? Right, God Out of his deep, deep grace and mercy and love. And desire to make himself known to his creation. Sent his one and only son. Coming from heaven, taking on human flesh. So that through Jesus, people could hear his words, see his works, encounter his compassion, witness his life. And the apostles who heard him and saw him, you know, were able to capture it, record it, proclaim it, and then it was captured, written down, and passed on for generations. God has made Himself known through Christ, and, and the good news of Christ is proclaimed to the to the world through His word.

And so if there's any doubt that God wants to make Himself known. Yes, look at the scriptures, yes, look at passages like this, but ultimately look at Christ. The word incarnate. And so, like, this probably isn't a surprise at a church like ours to hear that God reveals Himself through His word, right? I mean, much of our, our worship services are centered around His word. Much of our church programming is centered around His word. even when we, you know, do like fun things, I, I, I feel like somebody's praying somewhere in Jesus' name, which is, which is, which is fine, which is great. So we're probably not surprised there.

But the question is from this passage. What can we understand as to the why? The Bible, like the the accessibility to his word is so important. Like, like what are we supposed to get out of it, right? And, and, and, cause I think it's easy for us to fill in the blank, especially if we grew up in the church, and we go, oh well yeah, of course, like the Bible, it's important. And then the, the, the guilt triggers and it's, oh I, I haven't, my quiet times haven't been very, very good, and, and we kind of beat ourselves up as if just the, the, the having a Bible on our nightstand itself or cracking it open periodically is, is, is sufficient enough.

But I think really why is there such an emphasis on God's word here? And I want to notice a couple of things in verses 5 and 6. Let me read them. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and as he opened it, all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. See, these, these actions listed here are physical manifestations of their worship. And, and these are sort of like the expected responses when somebody is coming before them. They said, hey, look, Ezra, come read the word for us, and they, they were ready. Their, their ears were attentive, they were ready to listen. They were ready to, you know, again, worship may not have been worshiped as we experience it, but they were ready to engage with the word, engage with God through his revelation, and they physically were, were ready to do so. Right?

But, but see what happens next, verses 7 and 8, where it tells us that the Levites helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so the people understood the reading. So again, it's not just the one part. Right? These, these acts of worship, these physical manifestations of it were good. They were great. But paired with it was the, the ensured understanding of what they had read and what they were supposed to get out of it, right? And so what happens after that? We see here In verse, let me pull it up here. Verse 9, Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep, for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.

Did you catch that? There's the worship, there's the hearing of the blessing of the Lord, the preparation, the attentive ears, the ready to listen, and then the understanding came. The explanation, the exposition. And then what happens after that, the people began to mourn, they began to weep, they were cut to the heart, they were heartbroken. What happened there? Is, is that the prescription for how worship is supposed to be, that every Sunday we're supposed to be leaving here puffy eye all over the place, crying, is that the prescription? No. It just so happens that the lives of God's people in, in this congregation, they were in direct conflict with his teaching. And the reading the law finally made them aware of the ways that their life was falling short, of God's standard, of what God wanted for his people. And perhaps they didn't know what the law had said, or perhaps it was a good reminder, or maybe they just had ignored it. They knew it, and they ignored it, but in the gathering, seeing the rebuilt wall. And, and God had moved and they, he just, they all saw. As Ezra was reading from his scroll scroll, they were like, I hadn't heard this, or I haven't heard it in such a long time, or now I finally understand.

What does this, what does this mean for us? What this means for us is that God's word is revelatory. It reveals things to us. Yes, it is God's revelation. It is God telling us who He is, what He is about, what He desires, what His will is. But it also reveals us. To us when we understand God's word, yes, we understand God better. But yes, we should also understand ourselves better. It's like looking in a mirror.

So one of the challenges that I face. Is that I can't really grow a good beard. Like, the, these parts don't ever fill in. This is, I'm getting there. I'm in my, I'm in 40, and like it's, I'm almost there. These sideburns are never gonna reach this is just not gonna happen, OK? And so because of that, because of you're some of you like where this is like left field sort of illustration. If, if you're new, hi, I'm Calvin,. And so for that reason, like I, I'm not, there are some people that are like I gotta people need to shave every single day. That's just not me. It's just, there's just not enough here. And so it's infrequent enough where I sometimes I'm just like, oh, I should really shave now cause I kinda look kinda scraggly. And so then, you know, after a shave, I, I choose to shave. I'm like, I take a shower and like my face is ready for the shave. But after the shower, the mirror is kind of like foggy, right? And so, rather than getting like a, a, a towel or whatever and like wiping it clear, I'm just like whatever, I'll just shave. And inevitably. I mean, I, I, I, I shaved yesterday, to make sure that I try to look as clean as possible, but inevitably, if I'm not doing a normal routine, I'm missing a spot, and the worst is I'm driving into work, and I see there's like a like a spare hair hair here, and I'm just like, oh, and no one else cares, no one looks at my face like that, so, but it's like, it's in my own head. But I miss it, right?

And what God's word does. Is it wipes that mirror totally clear. Turns on the, the, the vents, and just really sucks up all the steam, so it's crystal clear, so that I can see myself. God's word doesn't put the, the, the flaws there. It just helps me see myself clearer. When I really understand what he's telling me about himself, and what he's telling me about myself. It's revelatory, it reveals who I am, my flaws, my faults. But also my growth. Where he's been faithful, where he's been pushing me forward. And so, God's word is not there to make us feel bad about ourselves. That's not its point, but it's to give us a clearer view of ourselves, revealing our sin, so that we can turn from it, turn to Him, repenting, and learning to live in the ways that He has set before us. And so we can, as we see more clearly, then we can respond more faithfully.

But there's another thing here. The other thing here is that there's a version of this passage, like if there was like a multiverse of Nehemiah 8, where the congregation gathers and there's this reverent worship full of amens, and lifting of hands, and bowing of heads, and worship of faces to the ground, and all that. That doesn't follow, that isn't followed with a deeper understanding of his word. And in that version, what happens? Well, there's no conviction of sin. Thus there's no repentance. And this lack or partial understanding can lead some to believe that there is a genuine connection to God. Again, they were ready to listen. They had the right pictures. If they, if you took a picture of that and posted it on Instagram, they would've looked like an amazing congregation. But apart from the deeper understanding of his word, It's, it would have just been empty action. But it would've been, it would've felt like to the people that they were connecting with God.

And I don't know why, if they hadn't connected with God's word for a long time, they knew what to do, so maybe it was like a historical, cultural, behavioral pattern. Right? In other words, it may have just been performative Christianity. Gathering all the people, saying a blessing. Singing a song or whatever they did. But apart from a deeper understanding of the word, it was just performative. And so the gathered people listening to Ezra. And their need to be confronted by the law tells us. That like reverence. And like acts of worship, like like physical manifestations of worship, are insufficient. I'm not saying that they were fake. I'm not saying that they were performing. I'm saying apart from a deeper understanding and a commitment to the word, there is a real possibility that it can become performative.

So what's that mean to us? We can sing worship songs. I love singing worship songs. We can raise our hands and clap our hands, we can say mhm and amen. I grew up in a Chinese Heritage Church, so we didn't really have a lot of outward expressions of faith, so we could just, I don't know, take sermon notes more seriously or something like that. And so it, it, this is not an attack on outward expression. This is not an attack on, you know, singing or, or, or, you know, physical manifestations of worship. It's saying the thing that you do at church is not enough. The thing you do at CG is not enough. The performative Christianity that we can all fall into is not enough. What we really need to commit to as the body of Christ is a deeper understanding of God's revelation. And so yes, do those things. Sing, belt the songs in your car as loud as you can. Raise your hand as high as possible, get your platform shoes so you can reach higher up. That's great. But do not let that be disconnected from a commitment to understand him better through his revelation.

And so as we move to our last point here. Why is it that they end up going from ready to worship, ready to engage, hearing the word, being cut to the heart. And then they move to rejoicing. And they move to rejoicing here, and so I'm gonna quickly read some, some selected passages here from, from the rest of the passage.

Verse 13. On the second day, the heads of the fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law, and they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. And they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns in Jerusalem. Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths as it is written. So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof and on their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, in the square at the Water Gate, in the square at the gate of Ephraim, and all the assembly of those who returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Yeshua, the son of Nun, to the day that the people of Israel had not done so. And there was great rejoicing, and day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God.

They kept the kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. What does that part tell us about what happened between the mourning and the rejoicing? And it's really easy for us to kind of fill in the blanks here, especially if you grew up in the church. We go, someone is mourning, someone is struggling, and inevitably someone can come up to you and quote verse 10 to you. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength, right? I, I can see that on a poster, next to a, a, a, a, a, a placard of a footprints poem, next to a, a live life love, you know, sign. Right? Like we can just sort of imagine it, oh yes, oh of course, I should not be grieved, because the joy of the Lord is my strength. Mm, mhm, mhm, amen, amen.

And it's sort of like, it can feel like, oh of course, yeah, I, I, I, I shouldn't, I shouldn't mourn, because how ungrateful of me. I mean I have a, I have a Lord and Savior who's done all these things for me, how ungrateful. Like, oh, of course, you know, death in the family, of course I can't grieve. Lost my job, of course I can't grieve. Like relationships on the rocks, like of course, like I can't, I can't, I can't be sad. I'm a Christian, I have to be joyous, right? I have to be, I have to be joyous. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

But is that not that performative Christianity that I'm talking about, that this passage sort of highlights for us to see? Right? So what's the difference? What is opening up the word so that we understand it deeper? What, why does that turn mourning into dancing? Why does it turn mourning and sadness into joy? How does that become the joy of the Lord, so that it's, it's in, in our heart, fully understood. What happens? Well, as we saw in this passage here. Verse 12, and all the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions of and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Verse 13. On the second day, the heads of the fathers of the houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites came together to Ezra and the scribe to study the words of the law, and they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths on the seventh month. Why did they rejoice? Not because the, the, the, the Levites and the priests told them not to. It was The understanding that in the law, God's expectations of His people were is set in the context of fully understanding what God has done for them throughout all of history. To the festival of trumpets, which was the, the, the day in which they said, in, in the first part of the passage, was that they do not grieve because this day is set, this day is holy. There was this day that was set specifically for rejoicing. No, no grieving. Remembering, again, what God has done. Same with the festival of booths, which we honestly, the Jewish population recently just celebrated, just a couple, couple of weeks ago. This was a remembering of when God pulled them out and they had to live in booths, these, these, these buildings as a commemoration of a remembrance of God's faithfulness and deliverance.

And so without the core concept of of God's redemptive work and faithfulness. We, God's people, are left to assume that our relationship with God is based on what we do. Hence the mourning. I have not done enough, I am not good enough. I do not deserve your grace, your mercy. And that's why mourning stays there, but mourning turns into joy when we go, but my God is faithful. My God has delivered me. My God has not only delivered me, he's delivered generations of people before me. And so personally this is why, I honestly, I, I, I don't come from a very liturgical background at all, but I love when we read the Lord's Prayer. I love when we read the Apostles' Creed, because it's a reminder that I put myself in the grand picture of his story, history, his story that generations of Christ follows before me have recited the same exact creed, the same exact prayer, and it reminds me that I am just a small part of it. And God, the bigger part, deserves all the credit, deserves all the recognition.

And that's what I put my joy in. Not in my circumstance, not in my struggles, and and the fingers crossed, hopefully it'll be better, because who knows, it might not be. So I'm, I'm gonna conclude with, with, with kind of an application thought here, and I'm gonna pray for us. Here's the thought. If our joy comes from our, our, if our struggle goes to joy from understanding his word better, specifically understanding God's faithfulness throughout history. Then the thing that you can take home right now, on the drive home or the commute home, or the walk home. On the Monday morning commute. Is Look at your prayer life. Look at your journaling. Look at your reflections. Where do they lean? If you're like me, they usually lean in the future. God, would you change this? God, there's a situation, it's causing me stress. I hope that it becomes better. God, I pray for the future.

But what we see in this passage here perhaps suggests a different approach that in our prayer lives, we should be spending time in the past. God, you have been faithful. God, thank you for taking this that away from me. God, thank you for delivering me from that. God, thank you for protecting me from that. God, thank you for protecting me from myself. God, thank you that my decision did not ruin me. Thank you for the history. Thank you that you saved my parents, you saved my grandparents. And if we front loaded, built a foundation in our prayer lives that was looking backwards more at God's faithfulness. What will that change about our present? How will we approach God differently? How will we understand him better? So that when we look at all the collection of God's hand throughout all of our lives and all the lives of those who came before us, when we go. Yeah, this round of layoffs is nothing. I'm not worried about that. I, I'm, I, I'm, I'm concerned, but I'm not stressed because my God is bigger than that. I'm not worried about the spinal. Because yes, it, it, it's, it's the culmination of the entirety of my studies, yes, so don't, don't wave it off, give it its proper due. But don't be overwhelmed by it because my God's got this.

And so I, I want us to be clear. You know, remembering God's faithfulness does not make these things easier. It does not erase pain and sorrow. But does help us face our current circumstances. Without forgetting who God has been, who God is and what he has done. And the joy of the Lord is our strength because Our hope rests not on our circumstances, or our performance, but on the Lord Himself. And I, and I pray that you will base your renewal. Not on prime day. But on looking and seeking to find his faithful hand in our past. Let's pray.

Father God, I just thank you. God, I, I feel like I need this. I need to be reminded of your faithfulness, cause it is easy for me to look forward, to look at my present, to be worried, to be nervous. But God, would you change me? Would you change all of us, all of us who are ready to really embody this thought and, and move forward, trusting in your history, your hand in our lives. And God, I pray for many, many people to have a different approach starting today. Ready to thank you, ready to praise you and step forward in faith, because you have been so faithful. I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches about belonging from Nehemiah 7:1-73. Discussion points: You matter to God and he already knows you completely, we are totally vulnerable to God and beloved anyway, the church should be a place where we can know and love others as brothers and sisters.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 7:1-7a, 61-73] Now when the wall had been built and I set up the doors and the gatekeepers, the singers and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes." The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few and no houses had been rebuilt.

Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy, and I found the book of genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it. These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah.

And now on to verse 61.

The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove their father's houses nor their descent, whether they belonged to Israel. The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 642. Also, of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name). These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise.

The whole assembly together was 42,360 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 245 singers, male and female. Their horses were 736, their mules 245, their camels 435, and their donkeys 6720.

Now some of the heads of the fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1000 darics of gold, 50 basins, 30 priests' garments, and 500 minas of silver, and some of the heads of fathers' houses gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2200 minas of silver. And what the rest of the people gave was 20,000 darics of gold, 2000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments.

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants in all Israel lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Alright, good morning everybody. My name is Fletcher, I'm the lead pastor here. It's a joy to be with you and to be able to preach God's word. I love preaching God's word. I love reading God's word. I've loved Nehemiah. It has been a great series for us, but you know when you're preaching every week, this is our seventh week in Nehemiah. It's the seventh week that I've been preaching in Nehemiah. I don't really get too far ahead, I just kind of like open the text on Monday and say, OK, what, what am I speaking on this week? And this past Monday I opened the text and I said, oh no. Because I was like, another list of names. What am I gonna do with this one? I've already used my list of names sermon in this series.

And so, here we are, here we are. And if this is your first time visiting with us, I hope that you appreciate the fact that we believe that all scripture is inspired by God, and that we teach through it, even when it's not the most exciting passage that you might come to. Many, many of us probably haven't read this chapter very carefully. But I will say that as I have been praying through this passage, and praying for what the Lord would have me speak on this morning. It actually came to my realization that many of the themes in this passage are things that I've been praying for our church, and things that we even, I even led our elders this past Monday, in praying about these themes for our church, and it just seemed so divinely inspired, so divinely providentially placed here in the life of our church. I think that it's really a good thing for us to be focusing on these passages. And so. Don't worry, I'm gonna try to make it as interesting as possible.

There's a lot that's going on here, but I do think that the Lord has a word for us, alright? So are we ready? Let's dive in. OK, verse one. Chapter 7. Now when the wall had been built, and I'd set up the doors and the the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites had been appointed. Alright, so what happens in verse 1 is the wall is finished. Hey, the wall's finished! We've been working on the wall, for the past seven chapters, and basically the entire story of Nehemiah is a story about how God led one man to come and lead the people of God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after they had been destroyed by invaders.

And the people of Israel were pulled out of their homeland, they were set into exile, they were actually forced to go live in a foreign land. it would be like Canada taking us over and then making us move to Canada so that we're all dis disregulated and discombobulated and everything in Canada and don't know where to, how to work and how to live. That's kind of what happened. It was like an ancient form of controlling your people. And so what happened is now the people are returning back, and they come back and the temple is destroyed, the walls are destroyed. Ezra's already led a group of people to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, but there's no walls, and so Nehemiah is leading the people back to create safety for the city here.

And so now the, the walls are finished, but there's several more chapters left in Nehemiah. The work is not done. Because it's not just walls that need to be finished, but it's actually the society and the, the hearts of the people that need to be rebuilt and restored to right relationship with God. And so that's what we see through the rest of the story. There's a lot of work left to be done. Verse 4, it says that the, the city was large and wide, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. They've been focusing all their attention for the past 52 days on rebuilding the walls, and they haven't even touched where they live. They've been on guard against enemies that might come and invade. They've been rebuilding and focused on making sure that the walls are safe.

So there's a lot of work left to be done. They have to rebuild their homes, they have to restore civilization, but where does Nehemiah start? What does the Lord prompt him to do? But verse 5, then my God put it into my heart. Before I assemble the nobles and the officials and the people, before I assemble them, or as I assemble them, but I need to enroll them in a genealogy. So what can be more exciting than. You know, a, a ancient history, but an ancient genealogy. the, a genealogy is just a description of the people who lived there and their heritage.

Luckily for Nehemiah, as he was getting ready to enroll these people in a genealogy, which the Bible is full of genealogies, genealogies play different purposes throughout the Bible. In Genesis, genealogies are often used as time gaps. And so it'll be, the author will be telling us a story, and then it'll have a genealogy, that's to show, hey, hundreds, maybe thousands of years have passed since the. Last event, I'm gonna give a genealogy. And in the Gospels, we have genealogies for a different purpose. They're to show the true lineage of Jesus, tracing back to Abraham and, and Matthew, it goes to Abraham, and Luke, it goes all the way back to Adam. And so they're tracing the lineage is very important for the authors to be able to show that. So genealogies have different purposes. This one also has a different purpose.

And as he was looking to enroll everybody into a genealogy, what he actually found is that the work was basically already done for him. Because Ezra, Ezra was a scribe, his job was to write stuff down. And so he was like, I know Ezra's probably already done this, and he goes and he looks at Ezra's recordings, and lo and behold, Ezra chapter 2. He had already written down all these names, and Nehemiah chapter 7. Is virtually an exact copy of Ezra chapter 2. It's the same thing. Now I don't know about you, but when I'm reading my Bible, or when I was first reading my Bible, cause there was a time before I was a pastor, a time before I was theologically trained, when I would read my Bible, and then I would be reading it, and I would get to a section, I'm like, I feel like I just read this before.

Has anybody ever had that experience? Where you're just like, this, is this not what I just read? And that's because it might be. Sometimes the biblical authors will quote one another. They'll spend long periods of history that just get repeated, and that's because the Bible isn't just like a chronological story, but it's a collection of all these different books that we found, and, and they come together to form one cohesive story, but sometimes they repeat one another. And that is OK. It should just reaffirm your trust that these are historical events, these are things that are documented by multiple people. And we have this going on here with Nehemiah being basically an exact copy. I can't help but wonder what my 7th grade English teacher would have to say about Nehemiah's plagiarism, blatant. But from my perspective, I think it's OK.

So as we get to Nehemiah 7, we see all these names, we, we need to think about, here's what I want you to think about. I don't want you to necessarily think why should I care about a list of names. But I want you to think maybe a deeper question, which would be, why should Nehemiah care about a list of names? What provoked him to write all this down and what was so important about it? And here's the deal, when we get to a list of names, we're reminded. That the people who rebuilt this wall, they're not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Anybody ever feel like a number on a spreadsheet at work? Well, sometimes, sometimes. They're just not they're not just numbers, but it's a community of people who are known. They're not anonymous. These are real people with real lives who did real work to rebuild the walls. They're people with families and stories, image bearers of God.

And here's the big truth for us today. That no one is anonymous to God. No one is anonymous to God. Before I was a pastor, I did just attend local church, was a member of a local church. And I went to seminary back in, the, the late 2000s. That's when I was cool back then. And we, I, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to attend seminary where I, I lived for four years, met my wife there. It was great. I visited a few churches, and here's the thing, Louisville is like, The church center of the world. There are some big churches in Louisville, Kentucky. And if you're from Louisville, I apologize. It's Louisville, and I know that. I know that's how you say it, but no one here understands Louisville. That just sounds like you have marbles in your mouth, OK. it's Louisville. OK.

So I lived in, I lived in Louisville. I visited this church, and I actually attended this church and became on staff eventually. And but when I first started going, it was like 800 people. And here's the thing with mega churches. That it it grew to like 2000 people in the 4 years I was there, went from 800 to 2000. And mega churches, they're great, for lots of different things. I'm not gonna, I'm not a hater of mega churches. They have lots of really great resources, that they have great programs, there's things to appreciate. But even in that 800 person church, and I, many of you might come from large churches like this, but I couldn't help, but when I attended the church to feel, feel completely anonymous. Like have you ever felt this way before? Like you can come, sit, and you just ask yourself, does anybody care if I'm here? Or what would it matter if I wasn't here?

And some of you, even though this isn't a mega church by any stretch of the imagination, some of you might have some of the same questions. Like, is this a place where I can belong? Does anyone care if I'm here? Much of our Western American Christ idea of Christianity leaves us feeling anonymous to one another and to God. And so for people who feel anonymous to God and anonymous to one another in the church, when we get a list of names. It doesn't quite have the same effect on us. Because these people, they knew one another. And for us, God is calling us to know one another and to know him, to not be anonymous.

That's why Nehemiah wrote down the genealogy. He documented all these people, and it's because people matter. And you matter. The work that you do, it matters. You are a person who matters to God. I think we just need to pause on that for just a moment. God wants to know you. You matter to him. In fact, He already does know you. God knows you. He knows your name. He knows where you come from. He knows your childhood and your background. He knows your issues. He knows what makes you tick. He knows you. He knows about your best days and your worst. He knows your preferences, and here's the even better fact. He cares. He cares. In fact, God knows you even better than you know yourself. No one is anonymous to God.

So let me ask you, how does that make you feel? I think for some of us, it might feel rather comforting to know that God knows us and that he cares. But I think for some of us, and maybe even most of us, the fact that God knows all of us, down to our deepest desires and hidden faults, is a bit of a scary thing, that there is no hiding with him. Many times we're like the 4 year old playing hide and go seek. If you've played hide and go seek with your chil with a young child lately, they find the most obvious places to hide, you know, just like big lump under the covers in the bed. And it's like, oh I wonder where Rowan is. And it's like he's right there, it's very obvious.

And we're playing hide and go seek with God. Pretending like we can hide from him, but he knows he knows us better than we know ourselves. And I know that if God knows me better than I know myself, then he knows all my secret and selfish thoughts. He knows when I've sinned against him. He knows my deepest fears. I am completely vulnerable to him, despite what I try to show.

One thing I've realized this week. And you know, this is just a guarantee for me that as I learn spiritual lessons, I end up sharing them, with you all. But I, I realized this week that some that I experienced this thing like three times that I absolutely hate. And it's feeling embarrassed, because, and I can feel embarrassed by being silly as long as I feel like I'm in, I'm kind of in control of that. I don't mind talking in front of people and making myself look silly, but I don't like looking, feeling stupid, like being surprised to feel stupid. And I was telling my wife this and she was like, who likes feeling stupid? And I'm like, no one, but I like have a visceral reaction, like I want to run away and hide if I feel stupid. And which is just a really important thing for me to think through because what she reminded me of in that moment, she was like, well, you know, everybody's pride gets hurt sometimes. And I was like, oh dang, it's pride. Like I had not, I had not realized that it was just like pride that was living there in my heart. I just thought I didn't like feeling stupid.

The biggest example of my pride getting hurt was I, my, my wife and I a few years ago, we went to France. And to go to France as an English speaker who doesn't speak any French,. I didn't realize how stupid I would feel. In fact, I think it's like the French national pastime is to make English speakers feel stupid. Like, we chose to go to France. Like, that's like what they get their jollies out of. And I felt so stupid the entire time. I like broke out in a rash. I was like so nervous. And, and this is how viscerally I responded to that. I came home and said like, I'm gonna learn that language. Like, I don't want to feel stupid anymore. And so like I'm still taking French lessons. My French is terrible, but at least I'm trying. And that's how far I'm willing to go to preserve my ego though.

You see, that's how far I'm willing to go to keep myself from being seen for what I really am. Because the problem isn't That I'm that I'm ignorant. The problem isn't that I look a little silly, the problem is I don't want to be exposed as being ignorant. I don't want other people to know, if I do something stupid in my own backyard while no one's watching, I don't care. But if someone sees me, And then all of a sudden, the fear of man sinks in. And I feel exposed and vulnerable. But here's the reality, when we believe in a God who exists above everything, is that all of us are already exposed. You're already vulnerable. He sees you in the best parts and the worst parts. And how does that make you feel to know that there's no version of yourself that you can present to God that he doesn't already see through? Because all of us kind of put on the mask with different people. We present a a version of ourselves, but God knows who you truly are.

Here's the good news. Even though God sees us in all of our brokenness, and our sin, our shame and our selfishness, he doesn't feel disgust. But what he feels is compassion. And in his compassion, He sent his only son who had lived in triune, perfect relationship with God throughout eternity. He sent his own son to bear our shame upon the cross. That all of our sin, the consequences of our sin, all of our shame was poured out upon Christ on the cross. And in that moment, he satisfied the consequences of sin for us. And if you place your hope in Christ, that means that I don't want you to just hear like hope in Christ and therefore you go to heaven. It's like hope in Christ, and then you're united with Jesus, and it's not just that you become a child of God, but you are hidden in his only begotten Son. And so all the privileges of what it means not just to be one of many children of God, but what it means to be the Child of God, what it means to be Christ. You are hidden in Christ and you have all the privileges of relationship with God as Christ has relationship with God. This is way bigger than, hey, we're all children of God. It's like you are known for who you are, yet you are covered by the one who came to pay your penalty. You're covered by Christ, and therefore you come, and though you are completely exposed, you're completely covered at the same time.

This is the wonder of the gospel. Without Christ, you're left to defend yourself before God. And friends, there is no hiding. You will be found out. No one is innocent. We deserve the consequences for our sin and our selfishness. But in Christ, you are beloved. In Christ, he has lavished upon us the riches of his love and kindness.

Let's get back to Nehemiah for just a moment. There's a group of people in Nehemiah 7 who can't prove their ancestry. This seems like, not a big deal to many of us, but it was a huge deal for them because they couldn't prove their ancestry, so they weren't allowed full participation. Look, verse 61. The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer. But they could not prove their father's houses nor their descent, whether they belong to Israel. So verse 64, here's the consequence. Though they sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there. So they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.

OK, so this feels really irrelevant to us, but look, this is a huge deal. These people couldn't prove that they were actually part of the family of God, and so they weren't allowed full participation into the family of God. This is actually what like half of Paul's New Testament letters were written about, is this issue. This is a huge issue in the New Testament. It might not feel that big to us, but it's huge in the New Testament. Because in the New Testament there were many people who said, in order to be considered a child of God, you need to be, you need to be Jewish. And so there were this group called the Circumcisers, there were lots of people saying that you needed to adopt the Jewish customs. But Paul comes along and Jesus comes along and he says, no, no matter who you are, no matter your background, no matter your past, no matter your ancestry, you're allowed full participation with the people of God. It's an incredible, scandalous reality, honestly.

Ephesians 3:6. Paul says, this is the mystery, the mystery of the gospel is this. This is the amazing thing about the gospel is this, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs. That it's been extended, that the privileges of what it means to be part of the people of God extends to. Anyone who would call upon the name of Christ. This is an amazing reality. That the Ephesians 3:6, sorry I got distracted and didn't finish the verse. The this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Paul says anyone, regardless of heritage or background or past or ethnicity, evil they've done or good they've left undone, anyone can be a member of the household of God.

So the people listed by Nehemiah, they weren't only known by God, they were known by God, but they weren't only known by God, but they were known by one another. When Nehemiah lists these people, he's basically, anybody ever visited like a rural area, and my mom does this, we're we're gonna go visit my mom this week. She's probably watching right now. But anytime I talk to my mom or someone in my family, they'll like mention someone's name, like Jimmy. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know Jimmy. She's like, yeah, you do. His mom is Anita, and his grandmother is Catherine. I'm like, and she just keeps going though, she won't stop, you know, and she just keeps going until I'm like, yeah, OK, I know Jimmy, that's fine. Anybody, you've had that experience, right?

That's like kind of what's happening here is basically the people of Israel, they're known to one another. They're like, it's these people's son. You know, this person's son. We know these people. There was no anonymity within ancient Israel, within the people of God in Jerusalem. Which leads us to our final point, the people of God shouldn't be anonymous to one another. The church should be a place where you are really known. And look, I just wanna say thank you. And I really, I have to say this from like the bottom of my heart, that it's a privilege that not many pastors have, but I feel known here. Thank you. Like, that's a huge, huge, huge benefit. In fact, when other opportunities come that are like bigger or seem better, it's like, no, I feel known. Like, I don't wanna go anywhere else, because this is my family. Like, I feel known by these people and my kids feel known. And they have a place where they can be authentic in their faith, and people can know them, and it's a wonderful thing.

And so I think that we do have this at our church. I'm so grateful for this reality that our church is a place where you can be known. It's meant to be a place where you can belong. And, but I just, I know also that there are some of us who come in this room and we don't necessarily feel that way. And I, I think that it's, it's tough. You might be asking yourself, is this somewhere I can belong? And here's the thing with that mega church that I mentioned earlier that I went to throughout seminary. I showed up and yeah, I felt super anonymous. But like the room was full of other twenty-something white people that listened to indie rock music. And so it was really easy to feel known, honestly. Like I was able to meet a few people and it's like, oh, you like Radiohead too? OK, I think we're good here.

That's not the case in a church like ours, needless to say. I mean, our church is super multi-ethnic, super multinational, we have people from all over the world. In our church, we have such different backgrounds. I think it's a lot harder to feel like someone belongs here, but so much more richer to be a part of a community that's diverse like that. So amazing to not only feel known by people who have a similar background, but to feel known by people who come from way different places. It just expands what I understand reality to be like. It it it it improves who I am to know so many of who you are. And so, I think that it's the thing that keeps us together is really this idea that not because of any cultural thing, do we remain together, but because we have a common face. And that we are all found in Christ. And so we know God. We are a people where strangers, and we once were strangers to one another, have become family. And we pray that more of you, as you are newer to our church, would feel welcomed by our family here.

The biblical idea of church is a place where people know one another and are investing into one another's lives. There is no such thing as anonymous church attending in the early church. To be a Christian meant that you were risking your life. And so to show up, it was a huge deal. And that's one reason why we practice something in our church called meaningful church membership. And we do this just not because church membership is, we have like a membership class, and then you have a conversation, then you're welcomed into like formal membership. And the reason why we do it like that isn't because membership is for like the super qualified. Any Christian. That we set the bar pretty low. Like if you're following Jesus, we're really happy to have you join our membership in that way. It's just so a way for you to say these are my people, and I'm theirs. And for the elders to know who's committed to the mission that we have here. It's for ordinary Christians committed to following Jesus.

Another aspect of this that helps us with like this anonymous aspect of, of church attendance is the City on a Hill network of churches. There's five City on a Hill churches, and we're doing it really like this intentionally, so that you can have a church that you live close by. The majority of the people who go to our church are not driving in from like hours away. The majority of us live very close to here. And that's intentional, so that you can have community around the corner on my street. I have multiple. People who go to our church, who just live on like my block basically. And I run into some of you as I'm walking around the neighborhood, and, and living my normal life. And it's just a beautiful thing to have community so close.

And so our vision is to be able to start churches that can be community centered in that way. And we're start, we just started a church in Lower Mills, Dorchester, and we're looking to start one in Newton. And honestly, I think that, we would love, I'm gonna, you know, we're gonna name this right now so I can have this vision moving forward. But I would love for the seventh City on the Hill church, since we already have sixth in plan, but the seventh to be sent from our church. We would love to to plant a church somewhere within relative distance, maybe north of the city. otherwise, all the City on the Hill churches are gonna be south of the Charles River, and we're all gonna have to travel for stuff. And then that's just gonna be bad. So, let's, we're gonna plant one. North of here at some point. And we'll just have to, I don't know when that's gonna happen. We're gonna pray that the Lord would raise up a church planter who can take a group of people, maybe from our church to reach a neighborhood that we're not currently able to reach.

All right, so let me just bring this down to some application, and then we'll wrap things up. If you're newer to our church. If you're newer to church in general, or to our church, You're probably asking questions like, do I belong here? Who is this place for? Maybe you're new to Christianity. Maybe you're someone who has a past. Maybe you just feel different for a variety of reasons. Friends, we want you to be known by God and by the rest of our church family here. And so we encourage you to maybe take that next step.

This is what we're praying about with our elders this past Monday. We realized that there's a group in the church, they're really well connected. And then there's seems to be like another group of the church who seem committed, but maybe not as well connected. And we would love for you to be more well connected. And some of you are already doing these things, and it just takes time, and you develop safety, and it just takes a while. But. As any relationship in your adulthood does. you can't expect the same type of turbo relationships that you got in college if you're younger, OK? It takes time as an adult to make friends. I've got a lot more history than a 20 year old for you to, to learn about.

But for some of you, you just need to take that next step of what it looks like. The CGs, you could, you could visit a community group, that, that's a really great way to meet people and learn more about them. We have membership class coming up. You could just stay a little longer, or something as simple as the chili cook-off tonight. We'd love to have you. You could, you could build some relationships with people around. And that's what we're saying. We want to see those two groups to kind of like become one group, so that we are able to, to know everyone.

Second, if you've been here for a while, if you're already in a CG, if you're already well connected, I have two encouragements for you, OK? And the first one is this, to be connected and committed is not the same thing as being vulnerable and known. And you, it takes time to feel safe enough to really let yourself be known. But I'm gonna tell you that you can't expect someone else to do that for you. And that sometimes you have to take that step of disclosing things so that you can have that level of intimacy and your friendships that we long for. And so I'm, I'm making a call for more vulnerability. And it doesn't have to be like public vulnerability. It can be, hey, I got together with two people from my community group, we're gonna, we're, and I told them something I haven't told many other people. And that allows you to feel known and supported in a way that's really powerful. So that would encourage you to take a step of vulnerability if you are someone who has been waiting on that. And that's really what allows you to develop a depth of friendship.

And the second thing that I would encourage you if you've already been around for a little while, is that you need to recognize that you have a certain amount of relational power. And what I mean by that is, as newer people come into the church, it's way more intimidating for them to build a relationship with you than it is for you to build a relationship with them. Because you already have this relational power of, you know people. And so keep an eye out and care for people and help them to feel known and valued. in, in the church. So friends, as we close, let's stop hiding. Let us allow ourselves to be vulnerable with God. And with one another. Because through Jesus God has made us family. We don't have to hide from God. We don't have to live our Christian lives alone. We are fully known by God and fully loved by Christ.

I'm gonna take a, take a moment to lead us a prayer of confession as we talk to the Lord about these things. And then we'll have a chance to respond with communion in just a moment. But would you pray with me? You can bow your heads.

Gracious father, you know us completely. Yet we confess that we often try to hide from you and from one another. We care more about how others see us than about who we truly are. We conceal our sins, protect our pride, and resist the vulnerability of being known. We've failed to love our brothers and sisters, to welcome those who feel like outsiders, and to make room for others in our lives. Forgive us for trying to earn your favor and for living as though we must face this world alone. Have mercy on us through Jesus Christ who bore our shame, died of our sins. Amen.

Church hear this assurance from Ephesians chapter 2. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. But you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Amen. Through Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven, our shame is covered, and we are welcomed into the family of God. We do not have to hide our proof or our worth. Or prove our worth. In Christ, we are known and loved by our Father in heaven, and united to one another as brothers and sisters.

In just a moment, we're going to participate in a sacred meal, where we're reminded that Christ's body was broken for us and his blood was shed for us. As we do this, we will, be reminded of the night that Christ was betrayed. When he took a loaf of bread and he tore it. He said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so when we take this, we're being reminded that we're known by the Lord. That we're not anonymous to him, that he cares for us, and that his body was broken for us so that we might be known for him. So if you're a believer, we encourage you to come and receive this meal. If you're not sure you know where you are with Christ, or maybe you haven't followed Christ through the the ordinance of baptism yet. Maybe this is something you hold off on. But anyone who calls Christ their savior is permitted to come. We encourage you to come and receive. As we prepare to receive this meal, would I invite you to stand if you're able, as we respond to God this morning.

Father, we thank you for, for knowing us. And for loving us still, for welcoming us through Christ into relationship with you for lifting us up into the highest places, for giving us life and meaning and purpose. And Father, I pray for anyone here who's still seeking out that life and meaning and purpose, who's still seeking out what it means to be known by God. Would you help them to hear from you today? Would they hear your voice and hear you calling them as a beloved child? Would they hear their name spoken by you and trust that you care about what they're going through? Prepare us to receive this meal. To be reminded of your broken body on our behalf, and to be made new in a, in a sanctified kind of way today. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 6:1-19. Discussion points: We experience resistance when we try to live within God’s will; distraction, compromise, and intimidation are forces that tempt us away from God’s path; our calling is rooted in our identity in Christ and built on our current responsibilities.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 6:1-19] Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the gates and the doors in the gates, Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, "Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono." But they intended to do me harm, and I sent messengers to them saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?"

And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, "It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel, and that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, 'There is a king in Judah.' And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together."

Then I sent to him saying, "No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind." For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands.

Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night." But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in." And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me. But he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him for this purpose. He was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of the month Elul, in 52 days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: All right, good morning. My name is Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor of the church. It's a joy to have you all this morning. This week's message, it was just one of those weeks. It was hard for me to write the message this week, not necessarily because, this is a hard text. I think all of Nehemiah is kind of hard, but I'm getting used to it now, more because I just was. Experiencing this thing that we might call resistance to my writing process. And what I mean by resistance is that every time I would sit down to write, I would suddenly want to do something else.

Has anyone ever experienced this sort of resistance in their life? I would decide that it was a good time to learn a new Beatles song on the guitar, which is not new. That song's been out for a while. I would decide to do an extra set in the gym. I would decide to, you know, play a game of chess on my phone, and then another, and then another, because that is the way that that goes. I just, I, to my wife's surprise, I would even find things to clean, around the house. I, I just didn't want to write a sermon.

Has anybody, I know that you probably don't write many sermons, but, the work that we most need to do is often the hardest thing for us to do. Has anybody ever experienced that? I think that's what the passage is about today. So it's ironic that this was a week that I particularly experienced such resistance. There's an author named Steven Pressfield, who wrote a book called The War of Art. Has anybody ever heard of this book, The War of Art? He's, he's a well-known author. He wrote some novels, The Legend of Bagger Vance in the 90s. Anyways, a few, a few well-known things.

This book I found, and it, someone shared this with me actually, and it really articulates well the idea of this resistance that we experience. And listen, this is how he, he explains it. He says the following is a list in no particular order of those activities most commonly elicit that, that most commonly elicit resistance. It's his word, resistance.

And he says this, number one, the pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, film, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional. Two, the launching of any entrepreneur venture or expertise, for profit or otherwise. Number three, any diet or health regimen. Number four, any program of spiritual advancement. Number five, any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals. Number six, any course of program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction. Number seven, education of every kind. Number eight, any act of political, moral or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better, some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves. Number nine, the undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others. Number ten, any act that that entails commitment of the heart, the decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship. Number eleven, the taking of any principled stance in the face of adversity.

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity, or expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower, any of these will elicit resistance. Now as I read the book I was not surprised to see that Steven, the author Pressfield, was someone who believes in God. Now I don't know much about his faith, but he does say that he believes in God. Because what he is describing, I believe all people experience, because all people experience this resistance to living out our true callings, but Christians have a better description of it than anyone else, because as Christians we know that there is an enemy who does not want us to thrive. There is an enemy who is opposed to the work of God in our life.

Now Nehemiah, maybe more clearly than any other character that we can think of from the Old Testament, had a clear calling from God. He knew what God had called him to do. He was going to build that wall. He, that's all he's about. I've got to build the wall. He had a single minded focus and calling from God. And so today's passage describes opposition to that calling from God. You probably remember some of these characters that we've heard about, Sanballat and Tobiah. I compared, I compared them to Harry and Marv from Home Alone a few weeks ago. They're just always trying to get, ah, I'm gonna get that Nehemiah, you know, they're just conniving, they're trying to get them. This week resembles more mafia-like activity. They're really amping up the tactics to get Nehemiah.

And what we see in this passage is that the tactics that Sanballat and Tobiah and their cronies were using against Nehemiah are the same tactics that the enemy often uses in our life. They're the same acts of resistance that we experience. You know, Satan, he is cunning, but he is not creative. He's, the same sorts of attacks for generations. And so I think as we go through this, I think that we can see how these tactics of resistance might play out in our lives. And then towards the end of the sermon, what I really wanna help you with today is having a clear calling from God on how you were to live your life and how you were to move forward and what you're supposed to be focused on.

So let's look at the tactics that were used against Nehemiah first and then we'll, we'll get to that in a few minutes. There's four tactics of resistance used against Nehemiah in this passage. And the first tactic might be the enemy's number one game plan in your life, in my life, in all of our lives, and it's distraction. Distraction. Let's look and see what happens. Verse one. Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Gesham, the Arab and the rest of our enemies, all those dudes, when they heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors and the gates. So he's like almost done. He's putting the finishing touches on the wall. Sanballat and Gesham sent to me saying, come and let's meet together at Hakkephirim. And the plane of Ono. Now, how do you know, how did Nehemiah know that they didn't have good intentions for him? They named the place to meet Ono. But they intended to do me harm.

So the wall's almost built. They keep on issuing. They, they're like the, the 3rd grader that lives down the street that keeps on calling my son during dinner. They call four times, four different letters, right one after the next. And every time they write a letter, they keep on writing these letters saying, Nehemiah, come down here, man, come, let's meet. And Nehemiah, every time he responds with such a great response, just a clear understanding of what God's called him, and verse 3, and I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come out and play. I cannot come down. Why should the work of God stop while I leave it and come down to you?

Nehemiah is immune to their distraction. You see, they didn't really want to meet with Nehemiah, they just wanted to distract him from leading the cause of building the wall.

One of my closest friends in college was, was kind of like this, these characters. See, when I was in college, I, I had a scholarship that required me to keep a 3.9 GPA, which is ridiculous. Basically they're like, make A's, alright, don't make B's. I, I made one B in college and that's the one that you can't study for. It was bowling. I kid you not, it was just the owner of the bowling alley smoking cigarettes behind us, telling us, hey, throw it better. and I couldn't study for it, you had to average a 140 for the whole year. And I'm sorry, the guy who has to keep a 3.9 GPA to keep his scholarship is not gonna average a 140 while bowling. That's just not, not the way that the Lord built me. So I made a B in bowling. I took the L and I made a B, but. My friend Josh, I, I had to, because I had to keep a crazy GPA, I had to study, a little bit in college and more than my friends, my friend Josh Poor, who's actually visited with us, he played guitar one Sunday, he's a pastor in, in Mississippi, he, he would come knocking on my door every night, saying, hey, come play Mario Kart Double Dash on the GameCube with us. And I would say, I cannot come down. The work of God is too great on my life. I do not have time for that. And then he would just knock again. By the third knock, I'm playing Mario Kart. I tell people that I, I majored in in math and minored in Mario Kart in college, because that's how I spent my time.

But Nehemiah will not come down. He is dedicated to the calling that is before him. Does the enemy ever use distraction in your life to keep you from doing what God has called you to? We all know that we have greater things than just living for this world. We all know that we should help people. We all know that reading our Bibles would be good. But Instagram feels so much more interesting. We all know that prayer would bless our souls and draw us closer to God, but Netflix has a certain draw, does it not? Distraction is one of the enemy's favorite tactics.

Point number two, the next tactic that they use against Nehemiah is the fear of man. Now the fear of man is anytime that we care more about the opinions of the people around us, than we care about God's opinion about us. And so we fear what other people think, and we need them, we need them to love us. We need them to approve of us. Has anybody ever experienced this? I think we're familiar with this idea of the fear of man. Now Tobiah and Sanballat, they sent four letters, and when you would send a letter in old times, you would seal it with your wax symbol and no one else got to read your letter when it was sent there. And then it would arrive and you would open it, you'd be the only person.

But the fifth time they sent a letter, it says they sent an open letter. Now that means that they posted that sucker on the internet for everybody to read. It means that they left it unsealed so that anyone who got the letter could read it and read it out loud. And what they said was not flattering for Nehemiah, verse 6. It is written, and it was written. It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says it too, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That, that's why you're building the wall, everybody knows that. And according to these reports, you, Nehemiah, wished to become their king. And you've set up prophets to proclaim concerning you and and Jerusalem. There is a king in Judah, and now the king will hear these reports, and so now come and let us take counsel together.

Do you see what they're doing? They're twisting what's happening here. Never mind the fact that the king of Persia, the one that Judah at this point is under, commissioned the work. He gave all the property to build the wall. He sent Nehemiah with an army to go and build this wall. They're saying. I heard you wanna be the king, Nehemiah. You see, they're, they're twisting it, and they're trying to make Nehemiah look like someone who is hungry for power, so that he'll stop what he's doing and go address the rumors, the nasty rumors, they're disparaging him.

Verse 8, how did Nehemiah respond? Then I sent to them saying, No such things as you say have been done. For you are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. And I love, I love how it ends. It says, Nehemiah, this happens throughout the entire book. He's telling a narrative and it just flows into prayer, often, and it's just these one line prayers. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands. He knows that he needs the help of the Lord. So basically Nehemiah says, you guys are crazy. I don't care what y'all say about me. I'm gonna do what God's called me to do. And he continues on his way. He has that single-minded devotion to what God's called him to do.

The third tactic that we see is compromise. So they move on from writing letters to Nehemiah or about Nehemiah, and they start to get their hands really dirty at this point because no longer are they just coming out and trying to tempt him by directly, but what they've actually done is they've hired someone that Nehemiah knows, someone from inside of Israel. They've hired this guy named Shemaiah. And he has a lineage, and that means that he's someone who's well-known in the community. Nehemiah knew who this dude was, and they hired him to pretend as though he is a prophet, or maybe he is a prophet and they hire him to declare false prophecy. And so they say, look, go to Nehemiah. Here's what we're, we're gonna send you some money. You go to Nehemiah, you tell him that they're coming to kill you, Nehemiah, you better hide. That way Nehemiah will stop working on the wall. And he'll be even further distracted. And so they use this idea of compromise.

Verse 10. Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let's close the doors of the temple, for they're coming to kill you, Nehemiah. They're coming to kill you by night. And so the trap is set. But Nehemiah, he sniffs it out. He knows that this is a ploy from his enemies. That it would actually be, it's actually wrong for Nehemiah, written in the scriptures, he could see this, that he was not supposed to be going into the holy of the holy places. He's not supposed to be hiding in the temple. Although that is a safe place for him to hide, the lure of safety. He draws him in, saying these guys have it out for your evil, but he knows that that would be disobedient to God. And so he refuses to compromise his commitment to God for the safety and security of his own life.

And so what does he do? Verse 12, and I understood and saw that God had not sent this dude. And he, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat, they hired him for this purpose. He was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

The fourth tactic that we see employed by Nehemiah's enemies here is just pure intimidation. Now this one happens a little bit differently, a little uniquely. verse 15 says, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul, in 52 days. It's an amazing accomplishment. The wall is done in less than 2 months. I could not accomplish learning that Beatles song in 2 months. The wall was totally done in 2 months. But, you know, this was supposed to be Nehemiah's moment of victory. Like he's actually accomplished the thing that he set out to do. And you would think that the enemies would give up at that point, that they would say, ah, you know, he's, he's already done it, but no, they just ratchet up their attacks as our enemy often does, even when the war is over, the attacks continue, and what do they do? They start taking advantage of their long standing ties to the Jewish community.

So within the Jewish community over the past several years there's been a lot of intermarrying between Sanballat and Tobiah. They're like kings of neighboring countries, OK? They're not just like dudes, they're like kings of neighboring countries that don't want good for Israel. They're like the governors. They're also under Persia, but they don't want good for Jerusalem and and for Judea and for Israel and so they. They have intermarried among the Israelites, and they have all this influence among the Israelites. And so they start just like attacking Nehemiah from the inside. And they start sending letters to all the people that they've got connections with. They start using their network to really give Nehemiah a bad name. They're saying Nehemiah, he's a nasty guy with no soul. It's a smear campaign meant to intimidate, and it works. The, the end of Nehemiah 6 ends by saying, also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence. That's Tobiah. They're, they're speaking good of Tobiah and Sanballat in my presence and reported my works to him. And and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. And so it's kinda working. The end of this chapter basically is like, look, I'm afraid, but I will not compromise. I'm remaining commitment, committed to the call of God.

Distraction, fear of man, compromise and intimidation. Have you ever seen any of these tactics at work in your oral life? I think many of us have. I want you to notice that spiritual warfare here is quite subtle. Sanballat and Tobiah, they don't come out and attack. They're not sending soldiers, but they're doing the background battle. They're doing the subtle nature of warfare here.

When we read about Nehemiah's experience with Sanballat and Tobiah, we might be reminded of Jesus being attacked, being tempted in the wilderness. During his during his fast after his baptism. At this point Jesus gets baptized at the very beginning of his ministry. He's 30 when he gets baptized. He goes out into the wilderness where he is tempted for, where he fasts for 40 days and then he's tempted at the end of that.

And Satan, our enemy appears to Jesus and gives him all kinds of temptations, and they're all twists on who Jesus is. He's basically saying, if you're really God, prove it. Turn this rock into bread. Is that something you can do? And Jesus responds each time by quoting scripture, man shall not live on bread alone, but on the words of God. He knows that if he takes power, the way of the world, in the way of the world, that it would be counter to his calling to come and lay down the power, so that others might know God. He knows, Satan takes him up to a tall place and says, look, I'll give you everything. All you have to do is worship me. You can have everything in this world. But Jesus, he's, he's not deceived by that because he knows that nothing is better than being in relationship with his father. Nothing is better than knowing God, and Jesus, he remains committed. Just as Nehemiah was committed to the purposes of God and for his life to build the walls of Jerusalem, Jesus remained committed to the purpose for which he came to lay down his life for so so that we might know the love of God. And this mission, it carried him all the way to his own tomb. And out again as he's resurrected from the dead, victorious, over the evil one.

Now, when we consider how to apply this passage, OK, this is how we're gonna spend the rest of our time here. I want us to consider how we can fight against the tactics of the evil one in our life. But unfortunately, some of us, in fact I think most of us, have a vision so small for our life that we might not even see the tactics that the evil one has used to keep us there. Because the reality is that if you're already just living for the things of this world, what does the enemy have to attack you for? If you're already just trying to accumulate wealth and comfort and security, you're already living the life that he would have you live. But the second you start living for Christ, and the calling that he might place upon your life, you will feel resistance. You will feel the temptation and the struggles.

So with the rest of our time, I just wanna help you discover God's calling for your life. That's really what I wanna do, help you to discover what God wants for you. How you can prioritize your life and how you can think about it. When we think about God's vision, God's calling for our life, what we usually think about when people think about this, is like this grand thing. Like I'm going to accomplish this thing for God. And sometimes God does that in people's lives.

George Mueller was a man in England in the in the 20th, 19th century in the 1800s, and he felt a calling from God to start an orphanage. And George Mueller started an orphanage and it was funded through ways that God provided and it's amazing stories. Very few of us have that because here's the reality. You have to understand some foundational things about what it means to be a follower of Christ, before you can experience that greater calling of what God might be calling you to. I'm reminded of the parable of the talents that Jesus told. And he said, be faithful in the few things, and God will give you more things. So what are the few things in your life?

I think about calling from God, almost like a pyramid. OK, I'm gonna give you a little diagram and help you think about this, and help you think about this calling from God. The first and on the most foundational level of the pyramid is identity. The foundational level is identity in Christ. Who are you? When you're thinking about your calling from God, start here. Who are you? What is your identity? Who has God called you to be? On the foundational level for me, and I hope for most of us here, it is, I'm a believer in Jesus, united in faith with Christ. That means I am a beloved child of God. Before you were a husband, before you were an employee, before you were an entrepreneur, before you were a doctor, before you were a father, before you were a mother, before you were a child, you need to understand your identity in Christ. It is the ultimate, I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. It's the ultimate, because someone says an insult to you and you say. I'm a believer in Christ. I'm a beloved child of God. What could keep me down? You need to have that. It's the thing that has to be foundational about you. This is what you'll fall back on when you're tempted to give in to the fear of man. This is what you need to remind yourself of, when you need to stay on track with who God has called you to be. This is what you need to remind yourself of when you feel like a failure. It's this foundational level of identity.

Now, on the next level above that, so hopefully you can see your foundational level is identity as being your primary calling. But on the next level, there's another level you have to get to before you can get to that greater calling of what God specifically might be inviting you to. The next level is this, it is your current responsibilities. What are you responsible for it today? I've talked to a lot of people who desire one day to get married. But they're a really terrible roommate. And that's not gonna work well. They don't have, they don't, their finances are in trouble. They're just not ready for their current responsibilities. So why would God bless you with more? You have to handle what is in front of you before you can dream about what you might accomplish for God, what higher calling you might be placing on your life. You need to look around and be faithful with what he's put right in front of you.

For me, I am a follower of Christ, foundational level identity. My current responsibilities, I am a husband, I am a father, and I am a pastor in that order. Like those are the, that's the order of that things go in. Beyond that, I have so many other responsibilities. I'm a son. I'm a neighbor. I'm a friend. I am, I'm a boss. I am, a member of the of the Somerville Society. I'm a community group leader. All these responsibilities, and I have to hold those. I own a vehicle that needs to be taken care of, you know, like, and if I don't take care of it, it could like injure someone, you know. So like I have to live up to the responsibilities right in front of me. Before we might start dreaming about what God has for us someday, we have to ask whether we're being faithful with what God has for us right now.

And I honestly think this is what points us to this last level of like specific callings, dreams, aspiration, a greater calling from God. I think that if you're trying to discover what your greater calling from God should be, it should flow through these first two levels. I think if you start living out your identity in Christ, and your current responsibilities, God will show you. That greater responsibility, that greater opportunity, those aspirations, he's gonna show you, it's gonna flow through those things. It'll be natural in that way. What kind of legacy can you leave? What can you do for God?

And so, for just a moment, we're gonna do something a little bit different. I just wanna give you an opportunity to workshop this for a moment. I'm gonna invite you, if you have a pen and paper, to take advantage of that at the moment, OK? If you do not have a pen and paper, do not fall into the enemy's deception. And of distraction, OK, but I'm going to give you permission. To open your phone. And to open the notes app and no other apps. Just the note, if I see you playing chess. Don't make me come down, OK? Unlike Nehemiah, I will come down. so. Go ahead, open it up. Let's work on this together for just a moment. I'm gonna give you like 2 or 3 minutes to work on this, to think through this. Start, I just want you to brainstorm. Start with your identity. Who are you in Christ? Write some things that are true about that. Think about some verses maybe that come to mind when you think about who you are in Christ. Write your current responsibilities. And finally, after you get through those things, you can write a few dreams. Hopefully it's more than simply save for retirement or travel the world. Those things aren't evil, but they are worldly in many ways. And what are some dreams that God might have on your life? And I'm just, I'm gonna give you a minute or two to work on that, and then I'll share what I have for me.

All right, I know that was not enough time, but my, the, the tactic that I'm using is to get you to start on it, to be like, I need to finish this once I get home. All right. So I know that you're gonna need to take a little bit of time and to keep on working on that, and I hope you will. I hope you'll take some reflection time and consider that. I'm gonna share with you what I came up with. I reserve the rights to change this in the future. I wrote it while experiencing a lot of resistance, trying to write. Here's what I came up with. I'm a man who embraces what it means to be a child of the king. I pursue righteousness, godliness, steadfastness, and gentleness. I fight the good fight of faith. 1 Timothy 6. I remain steadfast under trial because I know the crown of life is coming. James 1. I pursue my wife in the same way Christ pursues me, Ephesians chapter 5. I enjoy time with my children and instill in them the love of God. Colossians chapter 3. I am a pastor who cares for his sheep. First Peter 5, I will always be, I will always put the health of God's church over the hype of growth for growth's sake. In the end, all I want to do is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I'm content with a small life. Enjoying God everyday, sharing and representing him to others. And guys, I have to fight for that one. Content with a small life. If I may know God and the power of His resurrection, I am happy. Philippians chapter 3.

And so I know I'm a pastor, and it might look a little different for different people, but I hope that you have many of the same themes. Where you know who you are and what God has called you to, so that you can fight against the tactics of the evil one. You have to know his tactics and how he's going to distract and intimidate you, and I suspect that as you start to live towards that vision, that you might experience those tactics more.

Nehemiah knew the calling that God had upon his life. He was able to say, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Similarly, Jesus knew his calling that the Lord had placed on him, his father above. He was faithful to the very end, and even as he hung on the cross, bearing the weight of the penalty of sin for all those who would believe in him. He could have called down angels. To come and help him off the cross. He had the power, he had the authority to do that. But instead Jesus like Nehemiah said, I cannot come down. And he hung until he died and breathed his last breath, but you know what he said at the end. It is finished. He completed the work that the Lord had for him, and only if I might run the race and complete the task the Lord has for me. I would be blessed. And I'm so grateful that though I fail in so many ways, that Jesus did not fail in the mission that the Lord put in front of him. That I failed to live up to this vision. It's an aspirational vision. I do not always do all of the things in this vision that I said. But Jesus is faithful when I am not. And he finished When I might not, I fail and he didn't. And he remained faithful until the end. He remained faithful to the end of his calling, and we know that our, that we are loved, even when we fail and fall short of the calling that God has in our lives.

So I just, we're gonna take a moment now to confess to the Lord, of our failures, of the ways that The enemy has worked in our life, and then we'll hear an assurance as we prepare ourselves to come and receive the communion meal. Would you pray this with me? The words will be on the screen, underlined portions speak along with me.

Our Father, you have called us to live faithfully for you, but we confess that we are often distracted from what matters most. We confess that we give our attention to lesser things and neglect the things you have called us to. We confess that we fear people more than we fear you. We care too much about what others think and too little about what you have said. We confess that we compromise when obedience becomes costly. We choose comfort, safety, and approval rather than faithfulness. We confess that we're intimidated by opposition and discouraged by our failures. We forget who we are, whose we are, and why we are here. Father, forgive us. Strength in our hands. Give us wisdom to recognize the schemes of the evil one, courage to remain faithful and hearts that desire you above everything else. Amen.

Here's the good news. Jesus. He was faithful when we have been faithless. When he was tempted, he stood firm. When he was opposed, he did not turn aside. When he was mocked, threatened and crucified, he did not come down. He remained faithful to the end, and he did it for us. Because Christ has died and risen again, your failures do not define you, church. The opinions of others do not define you. You belong to Christ. You are a beloved child of God. So, strengthened by his grace, let us return to the work that he has given us. We're doing a great work, and we do not need to come down.

Each week we participate in a sacred meal that reminds us of what Christ has done for us. We participate in, you can call it communion or the Lord's supper, or Eucharist if you like. And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and he tore it and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week as we take of the the bread and the juice of the wine, we're reminded of the way that Christ took our penalty for us, in the way that he gives us life. And so if you're a Christian, we invite you to confess your sins and to come to him again to be reminded of the way that he has died for you, been resurrected. Let me invite you to stand with me as we prepare our hearts to respond through the meal.

God, we pray that you would break through the resistance and help us to hear from you. That in these quiet moments that our life would have meaning and purpose. And that you would call us to a strong vision for what you might have for us. God, we thank you for the grace that you've extended to us through Christ. I pray for anyone here wrestling with what it means to follow after you. Would you guide them? Would you help them to see Christ's faithfulness and not their failures? Understand what he's done for them. God, we thank you for your grace and your kindness. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 5:1-19 about how we respond to power and injustice. Discussion points: Our response to injustice is rooted in how we know God, the fear of the Lord is our response to experiencing God’s holiness and power, God loves to change our hearts to renew us.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 5:1-19] Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers, for there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many, so let us get grain that we may eat and keep alive." There were also those who said, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine." And there were those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers. Our children are as their children, yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards."

I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, "You are exacting interest, each from his brother." And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, "We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations. But you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us." They were silent and could not find a word to say. So I said, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies. Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them."

Then they said, "We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say." And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said Amen and praised the Lord, and the people did as they had promised.

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year to the 32nd year of Artaxerxes the king, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens of the people and took from them for their daily ration 40 shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowance of the governor because the service was too heavy on this people. Remember my good, oh my God, all that I have done for this people.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Preacher: I don't know who remembers the nineties classic starring Jim Carrey, The Mask. I have no idea if this movie is appropriate, at all whatsoever. I feel like it's probably fallen in lots of faux pas, but, I remember watching it as a child and I loved the movie because who didn't love Jim Carrey in the 90s. And, what I remember about the movie is that there was this really comic trope that happened in the movie, which was this idea that when people accumulate power, they really, their most core being of who they are gets magnified. And so with the mask, when Jim Carrey would put on the mask, he would become the zaniest creation known to man, because that is who is at core, who Jim Carrey actually is. But when bad guy would put on the mask, he would become all muscly and mean and like a mafia boss and become overpowerful and all this. It's the same trope that you see in the, Disney classic Aladdin, you know, where Aladdin finds the lamp and he's kind of a good guy, you know, at the end he lets the genie go, sorry, spoilers, and, but like when the evil Jaafar gets the lamp, he becomes very powerful and mean.

And, you know, we're all familiar with this line that was, was spoken in the eighties by Lord something when he said Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts. That's right. But what if the reality was a little bit more unsettling than that. What if the reality is that power might not just corrupt, but it might reveal the true nature of what is lying in your heart. I think that's what we see when we come to Nehemiah chapter 5, is that we see how different people use power and wealth. And how it reflects what is actually going on at their most foundational level.

Everyone imagines that if they had power and wealth, they would use it for good. They wouldn't use it to exploit others, but they would use it to help. But how do you know? I mean, how do you really know what would happen if great power or great wealth was put into your hands? How do you know you wouldn't use it for selfish or evil purposes? What sets apart the people who use their wealth and power to serve others versus those who use it to serve themselves? That's at the heart of Nehemiah chapter 5. So let's look at the story, Nehemiah chapter 5. I'm gonna start in verse 1, and I'm going to walk through the story and help you understand what we just read together a moment ago.

Verse 1. It says now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. Now the people of God, what have they been doing? They've been building the wall for a few months now, and they've been working on it. And what Nehemiah has actually demanded is that everyone works on the walls. And so all the farms have been short-staffed. Not only are they working on the walls, but they have to. Guard the walls at the same time. The farms are short-staffed, and so there's low food, and to compound that problem, there's a famine in the land also. And so the people are hungry, resources are running thin, and so a great outcry of the people and of their wives against who but their Jewish brothers. Because they've hit financial hard times.

And so three different things have, have had to happen because they've hit these financial hard times. First thing that they started doing whenever they reached these financial hard times is they started mortgaging their fields. And so that means that things are really desperate. They couldn't afford to eat, they couldn't afford to, to live their life. They mortgaged their fields, their vineyards, and their houses.

Verse 3, there were also those who said, we are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine. The last ditch effort. They're really putting their life out there. I think when I hit rock bottom, I may have mortgaged my guitar for a moment, but I don't think I've ever mortgaged an actual piece of property such as this. Second thing that they're doing after they're mortgaging their fields is they're borrowing money. Not just to eat, but to pay their taxes. They're borrowing money, and now they're stuck with these high interest rates, student loans, say amen if you've got those. Yeah, I said that all wrong. And if you got a, if you got the student loans, you might say amen. But anyways, and there, and there were those who said, we have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and of the vineyards. And so they're, they're paying their taxes with borrowed money. That's not a good idea.

And what happens next is absolutely crazy, because what happens when people get truly desperate, when they've sold everything they have and they've borrowed against everything else that they have, what do they do? It's beyond imaginable to me, but they started selling their children into slavery. And not to the outside world, but to the Jewish brothers and sisters. And so verse 5, now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children, yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards. What can mark desperation more than putting your own children into slavery? And what's the worst part of all of this is that it's not some foreign nation that is oppressing the, the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, but it is their own Jewish brothers and sisters, their own nobles and officials that are using the power and wealth that they have to serve themselves. They've set up a financial system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Now, how does Nehemiah respond? This outcry comes to Nehemiah in verse 6, he says, I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. So I took counsel with myself. Now this verse has been a little convicting for me this week, and it's because just this idea that Nehemiah saw injustices and he felt angry. And I have to confess that I often lack feelings when I see injustices around me. Some of you have a lot of feelings about injustices. I feel like all my feeling sensors have been like overstimulated by just way too much input. And so, because I see everything around the world's full of oppression and injustice, sometimes I just don't feel anything about those things. And this was convicting again. I, I had to pray and say, Lord, help me to feel again. Help me to feel compassion. And anger when people are being taken advantage of.

Nehemiah saw these injustices, and he was not numb to the suffering. So what did he do? Did he go and, and cause a big scene? Well, not immediately. First it says, he took counsel with himself. What does it mean to take counsel with yourself? It means he reflected. It means he thought about it. It means he sat down, and he meditated on the problems that the people were having. And he really wanted to get to the heart of it. And I think that as Nehemiah took counsel with himself, I think he did get to the heart of it. I think he realized what was going on. His question that he was asking was this, how can our own people treat one another like this? I would expect it from someone else, but how can our people do this to one another?

Nehemiah realizes that there is something far deeper at play than just a systematic issue that needs a better policy. The people, they do have a systematic issue, but it's a systemic issue that is rooted in a heart issue. It's not just a policy problem, it is a people problem. This whole chapter hinges on this idea. The fear of the Lord. Whole chapter hinges on who people are based upon if they fear the Lord or if they don't fear the Lord. The nobles and officials, they lacked fear of the Lord.

And so after Nehemiah takes counsel with himself, he gathers all the nobles and officials together, and he confronts them, and he says, verse 9, so I said, the thing that you are doing is not good. Sometimes you just need someone to look you in the eyes and be like, that's bad. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? He says, the way you are walking does not reflect someone who knows God. And he calls them to repentance, and here's the amazing part of this passage, they repent. They say, we'll do it. OK, we'll stop it. He, he doesn't just call them to stop doing the unjust practices. He actually calls them to give back the fields. He calls them to give back the children, to give back the money, to stop taking advantage of their power and their wealth, to better themselves, and instead use it to better the society. That's what he calls them to do. And so they do it, they follow what he has to say. The nobles and the officials, they follow.

Now, now, here's the second half of the passage. And the second half of the passage, if you look in your Bible, you should have a label starting in verse 14 that says, that it's a break. It's almost a new story, but it's not a new story whatsoever. It's the counterpart to the first story. And this part is labeled in your Bibles as Nehemiah's generosity. Nehemiah's generosity. After Nehemiah takes takes care of the nobles and officials, we get this example of what it looks like for someone who does have wealth, who does have power, but who also has the fear of the Lord. And we get this example, verse 15, Nehemiah is discussing the way that he lives his life, and it says this, the former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration, 40 shekels of silver. That's a tax. They were taxing. The, his, the former governors. Now Nehemiah is a new governor, and even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so. Why? Because of the fear of the Lord.

Nehemiah is the assigned governor of Jerusalem. He had every right to take a tax. In fact, that every governor would do that. They would take a tax. You would get taxed back then and today, at national level, state level, you know, area level and local level. And Nehemiah, he is the state level leader, and yet he doesn't take his tax. Instead, he lives a very generous life. It says that he pays for 150 men to sit at his table. That means he's paying them out of his own pocket. That they're sitting in the, in his banquet hall, he's giving feasts for them, he's paying for them. He's a very wealthy man, but he's not taking advantage of his wealth to just become more wealthy. He wants what's best for the, the society. And beyond that, it says that he's generous even with foreigners. As they come, he gives them food, he cares for them, he protects them.

And so when you look at this passage, you have a dichotomy. You have the nobles and officials who use their wealth and their power. To gain for themselves. And you have Nehemiah, who uses his wealth and and power. To sacrifice and to serve others. You have the nobles and officials who lack the fear of the Lord. You have Nehemiah, who fears the Lord. And so this whole passage, as you see, it hinges on the idea of the fear of the Lord. And so what is it? What is it? I mean, the, the first reading of Fear of the Lord, if you hear that, it feels like you're afraid that God is gonna get you. That if I do the wrong thing, I fear God, and so I'm gonna do the right thing.

But friends, that is not what the Bible's talking about, when it's talking about the fear of the Lord. To have the fear of the Lord is not the same thing as to be afraid of God. So many misunderstandings about who God is and what the Old Testament is about is right from this. It's that we don't understand what it means to fear the Lord. A book I'll recommend, this is from one of my favorite authors named Michael Reeves. If you can, if you can tell, it looks like Gentle and Lowly, it's from the same series as Gentle and Lowly, which means it might have some of the same juju as Gentle and Lowly does. that's good juju, as I would say. I love Gentle and Lowly. We give it out. We have a million copies at the office. I'd love to give you one if you're ever there, but this one's called Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord. Michael Reeves also authored Delighting in the Trinity, which is also one of my favorite books.

And so this one kinda bridges the gap. It's, it's one of the top books I would recommend. I don't hold up books very often, and, and recommend them to you, but this is one that I would recommend to you. And he really dives deep into what it means to have a fear of the Lord. According to Reeves. The fear of the Lord Is the response of someone who sees God. And all of his holiness, his glory, his power, his omnipotence, his omniscience, and also his mercy, his kindness, and his love. That is what it means to fear the Lord, that you see him as he is, and it leaves you weak at the knees. It gives you a trembling fear because you have encountered true divinity. Reeves defines the fear of the Lord as this, the right response to God's full orbed revelation of Himself and all of his grace and glory. Professor John Murray says that the fear of God is the soul of godliness. You don't obey God because you're afraid of what he might do. The fear of the Lord means that you've experienced who God is, that you've encountered the God who is great and mighty, and you've seen that He is kind as well, and merciful and loving, and you draw near to Him and being near to that God gives you the same desires to be merciful and kind and loving.

Look, I'll just give you one example. I could do this all day with different examples from the Old Testament. I had to narrow it down. One example of how it's not about being afraid of God. Psalm 112:1. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. Now, how are you gonna delight in the commandments of a God who you are terrified of? You don't delight in commandments of people that you're terrified of. The fear of the Lord means that it's someone who understands and has encountered who God truly is. And it is a joy. It is a delight, it is a pleasure to obey his commandments, because we know that they are for our good. And we know that he loves us.

What sets Nehemiah apart from the nobles and officials? The nobles and officials have money and power, so does Nehemiah have a lot of money and power. It's not the power that corrupts between these two, but the power and wealth reveal what is at the foundational level of their hearts. For Nehemiah, the foundational level of his heart was the fear of the Lord. And for the nobles and officials, the foundational level of their heart was fear of themselves. Worship of themselves, not worship of God. A lack of fear of the Lord.

Now, it would not be good enough for me to simply say, now, church, go be good people. Don't be like the officials and the, and the nobles, but be like Nehemiah. Be generous and kind. That, that wouldn't work. We all know we're supposed to be nice and generous. That's codified into every fable, every story that we've ever seen. That you're supposed to be a nice person. We know that. But yet, even though every person knows that deep down in their heart, that they're supposed to be nice and generous and kind, because we're made in the image of God, it's wired into who we are. We know that yet. Oppression continues. Injustice is rampant. The world is full of suffering at the hands of other people.

And why? And here's why. Because behavior, it doesn't flow from what we, from the mind, from what we know is right and wrong. It flows from the heart. And the heart is self-bent. This is at the heart of, of sin. It's at the very nature of what it means to be a sinful person. And God is always self-giving, but sin is our Bad reflection of God that is self-bent, which means that we act for selfish purposes. Sin is not just doing the wrong things. Sin is acting in only my own benefit. It's counter to who God is and what He has done for us. Because of the brokenness of the world and the presence of sin, we're all Ephesians 2, carrying out the desires of the flesh. We're driven by a self-interest. We're naturally selfish people. And Nehemiah is telling us that if you want to be a truly good person, it's not good enough just to change your outside. You have to be remade from the foundational level out. That you have, you can't just use your power and wealth differently, but you actually have to be changed, which is another way of saying that you need to be a person who has been changed from the inside out by a real encounter with a real God. If you have a heart that has encountered an all powerful God, who has seen that he is completely self-giving, you will be left changed by who that God is. It is my only hope. It is my only hope.

When I am walking around my house feeling impatient because I have 3 children, and that's chaos, and my only hope of being a nice person is that I've encountered God enough that I've drawn near to Him. It's not good enough for these kids who live with me, for me to be fake nice with them. I actually have to be remade by the gospel, and that's not just a one-time thing. I have to continually go to God and let him remake me.

Here Nehemiah again points us forward toward Jesus. As we've seen throughout this whole book, that this book's actually about Jesus, Nehemiah points us forward so beautifully. Nehemiah refused to take advantage of his position as governor, to demand to be lifted high, but instead he made himself a servant. He paid for his people to eat out of his own pocket. And he opened up his table to even those outside of the family of Israel. Jesus likewise refused to regard his equality with God as something to be exploited for his own advantage. Instead, he humbled himself. And took the form of a servant. He chose to humble himself to the point of the cross. And so let me ask you, what happens when the most powerful person in all of cre in all of the universe, beyond creation, when the most powerful person. Enters into creation. What does it look like? Would we all bow before him because of all of his power and his wealth? But we will. But the first time, we killed him because he did not come to wield his power for self benefit, that is not the way that our God is wired. And instead he came to wield his power in self sacrifice. Giving up his life for you and me, so that we might enjoy life with him in the Trinity for eternity to come. So that we might enjoy being drawn near to the kindness and loving of who our God is, and as we meet this God, we're changed from the inside out.

Jesus says that if you want to be great, if you want true power, if you want true wealth, what do you do? You have to become the slave of all. Listen to what the words of Jesus, which sound a lot like Nehemiah 5. You could almost take this as a summary of Nehemiah 5. Jesus, Mark chapter 10. Verse 42, and Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. I mean, that's exactly what's happening in Nehemiah 5, right? And they're great ones exercise authority over them. Wealth and power. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

True wealth, true power. It's not found in using people to become greater. It's found in becoming the servant of all. That's what Jesus is teaching us. And so, as we conclude here, let me just give you a little bit of application, a few questions to ask yourself, because it's, it's too late if you get the power and wealth, and then the nature of your heart's exposed. It's not actually too late, you can still change, but why wait? Why don't you just go ahead. And see what's happening in your own heart first. Does your life reflect the self-giving love that we found in the Gospel?

Two questions, two places that reveal this, OK? Your power and your, your finances, your power and your wealth, how do you wield it? First, how, how you treat, how do you treat people with less power than you? That reflects who you are. Who has less power than you? That could be a variety of different answers. It could be people at work, your employees, your students, or people farther down the, the career ladder than what you are. Many of us, I've talked with you, I know you, I know the type of professions you're in. Academia is notorious for this, but so is everything else. Our professions are cutthroat. There is a trail of bodies that you've climbed over to get where you are, oftentimes. And I'm telling you, friends, as followers of Christ, you don't have to climb people to climb the career ladder. Don't do it, just refuse, you can't. That's not the way to greatness. It might be the way to a promotion, it's not the way to true greatness. Don't do it. You cannot participate in that.

At home, who has less power than you? A roommate, siblings, your children, aging parents, maybe even your own spouse. How do you use that power? Do you wield it for self-interest? My kids are gonna be, they, we should not let them listen to the sermon. They're gonna be like, no more chores, no more chores, and we have to tell them that's for your good, OK? And a little bit of mine,. How do you wield the power? Socially, the person who's awkward, who's unpopular. Or maybe, maybe the person who has less education than you, maybe the person who has a less good job than you, in a different field. How do you wield that power? Do you use it to lift them up? Or do you use it to make yourself feel a little bit better about where you are? How you treat the people with less power in your life reflects the true nature of your heart. It's a scary question.

Second, how you use your money reflects the true nature of your heart also. Nehemiah's generosity was fueled by understanding and experience with God. Do you have a generosity that's fueled by God? Some questions for you to ponder with your finances. Do you have a posture of generosity first? Do you give out of what the Lord's given you, or only after you funded everything you want? Are you generous to the church, to the poor, to friends? But not from the heart. Maybe you give simply because it's the right thing to do. Do you have enough margin? That you could help someone when an unexpected need arrives? Or are you spending as fast as it comes in? Maybe you can ask yourself, am I willing to spend money on people who can't give me anything back? Or does my lifestyle continually expand to consume whatever income I have?

If you find yourself lacking in any of those categories, as I do as well, know this, that Jesus loves to take people. Who have a selfish heart, and to transform them. And to people who are generous with their power and their wealth. He loves to do that. Case in point. Last story before we conclude here is, the best example of this is, is, is Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a wee little man. And Thank you. Let's do it again, let's do it again. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and. Yeah, thank you.

Once he meets Jesus, something changes in his heart. All Jesus says to him in the passage, he sees Zacchaeus up in that sycamore tree, and he says, Zacchaeus, tonight I'm going to your house, which is such a great kid story, but. Zacchaeus, he has Jesus into his home, and it changes something. But Luke chapter 19. He's Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord. The half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it four-fold. You see, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was in the same category as the nobles and the officials, taking advantage of other people. And here he is, he's got Jesus, and he's saying, if I've defrauded anyone, I'll restore it four-fold. They're gonna be a rich person. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come into this house, since he also is the son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.

This is the heart of Christianity. It's all about meeting a God who gave up his life for you. He was generous with you, he wants to serve you, and you can experience his love. And he will change your heart so that you can reflect the love of Jesus. And so as we close, we're going to take a moment. To confess our sins to the Lord. And to be reminded of the good news of the gospel. We're gonna take a moment to consult with ourselves. I'm just gonna give you a moment of silence and then I'll lead us in a prayer that'll be on the screen where you speak the underlined portions with me. Let's pray and ask the Lord to reveal the unchecked parts of selfishness that continue to live and help us to live in accordance with what He has given to us. Would you pray with me?

Gracious God, we confess that we are often more concerned with ourselves than with others. You have given us power, money, influence, opportunities to serve, but we often use what we have for our own comfort, success, and security. We confess that we often put ourselves first. We can hold tightly to what you've given us. We often ignore the needs of others. Forgive us for our selfishness. Speak with me, forgive us for failing to fear you. Forgive us for loving your gifts more than we love you. Amen.

Church, hear the good news from Philippians chapter 2. Of who God is and how we are to be. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, it is yours in Christ Jesus. Who though he was emptied, and though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God was high has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth. And every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

If you are in Christ this morning, know that your sins have been forgiven. You are loved by the one who gave himself. So receive his grace and rest in his love church and enjoy the freedom that comes with serving others. In just a moment, we're going to participate in a sacred meal. It reminds us that we're not judged upon what we've done, but what Christ has done for us. On the night that he was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and he tore it, and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week as a church, we come together to celebrate the Lord's meal, the Lord's supper, communion, Eucharist, whatever you might call it. The way that we, if you are a believer here this morning, we encourage you to come and receive and be reminded of what the Lord has done. Repent of your sins and come and receive what he has done for you. So, if you would, as we prepare our hearts to come to the Lord's table, would you stand, if you are able.

Father, as we come to this meal, we pray that you would remind us that you are enough for us. That we would never be able to sacrifice as you have, but God, show us your great sacrifice, show us your great love, help us to have a fear of the Lord, so that our lives might reflect the life of Christ on a deeper, more pro more profound level. God, as we come here, we pray for anyone who needs to make great changes in their lives. God, would you give them courage to do that? Would you give those courage to make small changes in their lives? To become a little less self-centered and a little more God-centered. We ask all of this in Christ's name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 4:1-23 about Nehemiah’s response to Jerusalem’s opponents. Discussion points: Nehemiah responds to insults and threats by first going to God with a prayer for justice, our prayer for justice is centered on asking God to save and restore our enemies, we trust in God and persevere through opposition.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 4:1-23] Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews, and he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and the burned ones at that?" Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, "Yes, what are they building? If a fox goes up on it, he will break it down their stone wall."

Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the wall of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry, and they all plotted together to come up and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as protection against them day and night.

In Judah, it was said, "The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves, we will not be able to rebuild the wall." And our enemies said, "They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work." At that time, the Jews who lived near them came to them from all directions and said to us ten times, "You must return to us." So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall in open places, I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes."

When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plans, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, the shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building who were building the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and each held his weapon with the other, and each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me, and I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, "The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us."

So we labored at the work. Half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people at that time, "Let every man and his servants pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day." So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Good morning. My name is Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor here at the church. Good to, good to have you and be able to bring God's word this morning. How do you respond when you are ridiculed, reviled, threatened, or criticized? I think that that's the question at the heart of this passage. Is how do we respond when we have enemies, when we have people that don't want our best interest and don't have those things in mind. So when someone criticizes you, when someone treats you unfairly, when someone undermines you, when some kid is mean to you at school, or even worse, when some kid is mean to your kid at school. Watch out, kids.

When someone makes you feel weak or foolish, that's, that's really what this passage is about. When you get down to the heart of it, is that Nehemiah is responding to what God has called him to do. We're in the middle of a series on Nehemiah, we're in chapter 4 this week, and he's been called by God to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. This is after the time of of exile. He's leading people back to exile. It's just 500 something years before the time of Jesus. And so it's one of the very last parts of the Old Testament as we're getting prepared for the Messiah to come back.

And as he is returning and bringing the people to build the wall, he has enemies. And they start shouting at him, and mocking, and jeering, and threatening. And it's a scary moment for all those who have returned just fearing that their work would be in vain, that their return would be in vain. How do we learn from Nehemiah? How does Nehemiah respond and what can we learn from it? As he's treated unfairly, criticized, and threatened.

Let's just walk through the passage a little bit so that you can be reminded. Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 1. Now when Sanballat heard that they were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. I just think that that is such a cartoon character way to describe him, honestly, he jeered at the Jews, he's angry and greatly enraged. Like it wasn't enough just to say he's angry. Like the man's ears are turning red and the little smoke piles are coming out of his ears. When I think about Sanballat, I, and because he always has his friend Tobiah with him also. Sanballat is like Harry from Home Alone, OK. Sam, Sanballat, he and, and Tobiah, they are like Harry and Marv, they go hand in hand. They're out to get that kid, we're gonna get him, and they're like scheming and conniving. Trying to find their way to take down the good guys. They're very obvious bad guys. It's also Horace and Jasper from 101 Dalmatians, if you prefer old Disney, same thing. It's the same. These guys are the prototypes for that.

So here's Sanballat. I imagine him being the brains of the operation like Harry, and he's shorter, he's balding. He has a New York accent, I'm gonna try my best, OK? And, and he said in the presence of his brothers in the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of heaps of rubbish and burned ones at that? He's just, he's just mocking, he's just a hater, OK? The ESV calls these the opponents. I think that the more 2026 version of that is the trolls, OK? These are just trolls out.

Tobiah, the perennial sidekick, he's the Marv character, he steps up, he adds his two cents, verse 3, Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, yeah, Harry! What they are, what are they building? If a fox goes up on the, on it, he'll break down their stone wall. Good one, Tobiah. But behind all these insults, I think that what we find is, is a lot of different biblical principles, but one biblical principle is simply this, that when God's people are obedient to God's calling and try to do things for God's purposes, they face opposition. The trolls come out. They face opposition.

And Nehemiah, with the way that he responds, he really teaches us how to respond in so many different good ways. And for the rest of the sermon, we're just gonna look at Nehemiah's response and really the way that I like to think about this is it's a four-step response to responding to criticism. I hope that you can use it in your own life, but I think that if we look at Nehemiah, he has a four-step response to responding to the trolls, responding to the critics, responding to injustice, to threats, and there's these four steps, they actually are an acrostic for the word pear, P E A R. Pears have nothing to do with this sermon. It just made a word, and I felt like I needed to tell you that.

Number 1: Pray, cry out for justice. That's the first thing we see Nehemiah do. If you have the, the passage open, what you'll find is that there's this quote, and then without even a new paragraph, it goes into Nehemiah's prayer. It's just that, it's so fast he couldn't even start a new paragraph. It's like boom, we're praying, and he says this, here, oh our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where their captives. Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

Now, there's something kind of weird about Nehemiah's prayer. And it's this, that he's specifically praying, God, don't forgive them. God, get them. That's the, that's the full context of his prayers. He's like, God, give them what they deserve. Imagine you're in community group at 7:50 p.m. We're in a prayer circle. And Bob, who's new, he, he volunteers to pray, and he starts his prayer. Oh gracious God. Destroy my enemies. Not gently but forcefully, bash their heads against the ground, make their blood drip. Do not forgive them, do not cover their guilt, they deserve to die. Wow, Bob The surefire way to get a phone call from your community group leader afterwards. It's pretty counter to how Jesus taught us to love our enemy.

And this prayer, it's actually a whole category of prayer found in the new in the Old Testament and maybe sometimes in the new, but it's what we call imprecatory prayers, OK? And you might be familiar, if you've read the Psalms, you've come across a few imprecatory prayers. And usually what we do when we get to the imprecatory prayers, imprecatory, to invoke evil, to call down a curse or to wish misfortune upon someone. Usually what we do when we get to imprecatory prayer is we skip it because we don't know what to do with it, right?

And let me just clearly say that if you're reading the Bible year over year, sometimes it's OK to skip something if you don't understand it. I've read the Bible like well over a dozen times. I'm still getting the passages and being like. I think I probably should figure out what this one's talking about. It's like the 15th time I've read it now, and I still don't know what it means, like the whole book of Ezekiel, basically, you know, I need to just do a big thorough study of the book of Ezekiel because that one I read, I'm like, that's weird. And I just keep going. I roughly know what's happening in Ezekiel, OK, I'm not, I went to seminary.

But the reality is that you can get answers when you get to these tough passages, if you don't know what to do with them. There are lots of resources. I would love to point you to resources, believe it or not, this is my full-time job. I love answering questions about the Bible, even hard ones, and you know, if you email me and I don't know the answer to it, I'll just forward it to Alexis. And, and she'll figure it out for you.

So what we can learn from imprecatory prayers is this, we can learn a few things. First, God cares about justice, and he is just. God cares about justice and he is just. Nehemiah is praying an honest prayer. That's another thing we can learn, that you can pray honestly to to God when you feel like you've been slighted. We can all resonate with Nehemiah. He sees injustice and he hates it. And he wants God to get justice upon those who are unjust.

I don't know if there's any better feeling in the world than when you're riding on I-93 and you see someone being a complete idiot, zooming through all the lanes to see those blue lights turn on. It's just the best feeling cause it's like justice, like you were about to kill someone and like I'm so glad that you were getting a ticket and hopefully a night in jail or something, like you were being crazy. In our passage, Sanballat and Tobiah are threatening to harm Israel. They're threatening to do a terrible thing. They have armies with them, and they're threatening to invade, to turn back all the work that they've been doing. They're threatening to attack. It's natural to pray for justice.

And so the first thing we should do when we experience injustice or mockery or criticism or attacks or persecution is just what Nehemiah does, run to God in prayer.

The second step is this, entrust your enemies to God. Entrust your enemies to God. Notice that Nehemiah, he's praying for God to get justice. He's not going out as a masked vigilante to dole out what he thinks is right. The next chapter is not Nehemiah putting on his leather suit and going out there to secretly kill Tobiah and, and Sanballat. No, he, he's entrusting God to do the right thing. We're reminded of Romans 12:19. Where it says, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.

And so Nehemiah, he's really threatened by these guys. He has his own army. And he might pray to God and he says turn back their taunt on their own heads and and to give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives, do to them what they want to do to us. But He doesn't act upon it. He entrusts it to God. He says, God, do the right thing. I entrust you that you will do the right thing. I know you are sovereign over everything, and so I trust you, therefore, these guys are evil. Would you do the right thing? It's a great principle. You can pray for justice, but leave it to God to get the justice.

Sometimes God uses governing officials to get the justice like those blue lights that might turn on. Sometimes God uses natural consequences to get injustice. An entire record setting American television show named America's Funniest Videos has showed us that God will oftentimes use natural consequences to help people to learn about stupid choices. But let God do it. You cannot assume to understand justice so thoroughly to where you alone can decide what is right and how to punish it. Nehemiah's prayer is a prayer for justice according to the revelation available to him at the time.

But now, one thing that we can actually learn from this passage is to see where this passage is pointing us. And so the third step in responding to the trolls is just this, allow the gospel to reshape your idea of justice. Nehemiah's prayer for justice really points us forward to the ultimate moment of justice when Christ is crucified. Jesus was the recipient of terrible injustice and mockery and criticism. He was rejected in his own hometown. He was rejected by the religious leaders of the day. He was betrayed by one of his closest followers and friends. He was abandoned in his time of highest need and framed for a crime he didn't commit. And as Jesus was being prepared to hang upon the cross, what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing.

On the cross, what actually occurred in that moment is that Jesus took on the full wrath of God reserved for sinners, reserved for those who perpetuate injustice. He bore the sins of all those who would call upon his name. Now, Nehemiah knows that God is just. He knows that God will always respond to injustice with justice. But what Nehemiah doesn't know that we do know is that God has made a way for him to respond with full justice at all times, but to also be merciful. At the cross, where he sent his own son to bear the punishment for all those who would call upon him. So that they might receive forgiveness and grace. He doesn't have to choose between justice and mercy. He accomplishes both at the cross.

And so when we're wronged, we should cry out for justice, but because we know what Jesus has accomplished on the cross, we should allow the gospel to reshape our ideas of justice. As Christians I hope that this is your heart, and I hope that you can get to this place, and I know that you might have to go through steps 1 and 2 first before you get there. This, there's a reason why this is step 3. You don't skip to step 3. You pray for justice, you trust God that he will get justice, and then you go to 3 and you remind yourself that he has gotten justice. And that your deepest desire is for our enemies to actually repent of their sin and to follow Christ. Because as they do, God will give them a new heart and our enemy will become our brother or sister.

Isn't it a beautiful thing that God is able to do that? And it's as if we're saying, God, deal with their sin, but save them. When one of our brothers or sisters sins against us, therefore, we have all the more resources to forgive and to reconcile with the brother and sister who's sinned against us, because we know that if they trust in Christ, their sins have been paid for already. We don't have to dole out vengeance once again or to punish them with our emotional distance. We can forgive because the way that he has forgiven us.

My primary seminary teacher was a man named by the name of Doctor Russell Moore. Doctor Moore is now the editor in chief of Christianity Today. He had a stint, working in, what do you call it when you are trying to influence govern governance and lobby, yeah, he worked in like a religious lobby for a little while,=. And back in 2016, something really surprising happened. I took like five classes with this guy. So I, I like don't know him well, but I know him. If I see him, we'd speak to one another, right? And in 2016, something really crazy happened. Then candidate for the United States presidency started tweeting at my primary seminary professor. And,, he, you know, he started to attack my primary seminary teacher on Twitter, which was really a surreal moment. And regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump, hopefully you don't agree with him just like attacking seminary professors online.

But this was, this, this was a man that I've known personally who's been a huge influence in my life, in my ministry, and he's being insulted by the future president of the United States, and what it came down to was like, Doctor Moore disagreed with some of his immigration policies, and he had written about that in The New York Times. And Trump's tweet read as follows, Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of evangelicals and all of the good that they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart. He went after him. And Russell Moore the next morning was invited to news programs to respond, and he could have easily defended himself or doubled down or critiqued the future president further.

But instead, this is what he said, Mr. Trump and I can agree on this. I am a nasty guy with no heart, which is why I need forgiveness of sins and redemption through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just the best Jesus Duke that I've ever seen in my entire life. It's so good. He said, we sing worse things about ourselves in our hymns on Sunday mornings. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. You really can't respond better than that. Where he's able to say. Look, everything that you're saying about me has some validity. I actually deserve the judgment of God too. But because I know Jesus, my sins have been paid for, and I go free. And so your insults, they can't hurt me because I know Jesus.

So in this story, let me ask you this, who do you resonate with the most? In the story about Nehemiah. Is it Nehemiah? Or maybe we can resonate with Sanballat and Tobiah a bit. Weren't we at one point enemies of the cause of Christ? Weren't we at one point against living for the causes of Christ, pursuing our own selfish advantages? Colossians chapter 1, and you who are once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds. Hostile in mind, we were enemies. Romans chapter 5. For for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. This is what changes everything for Christians. If you have been saved by Christ, you know that you are actually no better than, than those of your harshest critics or haters. When weren't you at one point, an enemy of Christ, an enemy of Christ, deserving the punishment of death. Yet Christ bore the wrath reserved for you and me, so that we might be declared righteous before God, so that we might have freedom from our sins.

This changes the way that we respond to our worst critics. Their words might still hurt, and that's OK, they should hurt. You have to go through steps one and two, you have to call out the hurt. But we have the internal resources, far beyond what Nehemiah had to actually forgive and to love our enemies. And that's what empowers us to be able to do what Matthew 5 and everybody's favorite Beatitude says, Blessed are you, when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account, rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And so the last step in your dealing with critics is just this, number 4, remember God and persevere. I don't know where you're at right now. Maybe you are facing some real criticism in some area of your life, or maybe you have something that this could be encouraging for, but remember God and persevere. After Nehemiah completes his prayer, he goes back to the people. The people are terrified. His people are terrified. They see the armies camping outside of the city gates. They're so afraid. They know Sanballat and Tobiah and their armies could attack at any moment, but Nehemiah calls them to be courageous and to trust in God.

Verse 14. And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles, and to the officials, and to the rest of the people, so he's giving a speech. It's got them all there. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, Yahweh on high, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, fight for your sons, fight for your daughters, fight for your wives, and fight for your homes. He's getting people riled up and saying, God is for us, who can be against us? He commissions the people to stand guard, to build with one hand and to keep the other hand on a sword. Nehemiah is confident that God would protect them and provide for them, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be prepared for an attack.

And so he gives them instructions on what they should do if they're attacked. Verse 20, in the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there, our God will fight for us. Nehemiah is 100% convinced that God is on their side, that he's been called to this. And friends. If you were in Christ, God is on your side. Not because you were the good guy. You're not, the story's not about you so much, not because you were the good guy, but because Christ is. And in him, your sins have already been punished. There's nothing else to do else to dole out. Jesus is enough. When you're critiqued or judged or threatened, run to the cross. When your enemies are wrong, know that God gets justice. And look, friends, We can't be so bold to say that our enemies are always wrong. Sometimes they're right, and when you're fairly critiqued, run to the cross. Your sins have been paid for. You don't have to die for them again. You can remember the love of God in that moment, and you can endure, and you can persevere. Remember God and persevere.

So what do you do when you are critiqued, judged, or treated unfairly? Step one, pray. Cry out for justice with God. Step two, entrust your enemies to God. Step three, allow the gospel to reshape your idea of justice. And step four, remember God and persevere. PEAR.

I cannot think of anyone in recent history who exemplified this better than Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. Doctor King was faced with constant hate, constant oppression, yet because of his understanding of who God is and what he has done. Doctor King always preached nonviolence and love for enemy. All the way until his dying day. Doctor King said that Christian love means defeating evil without seeking to defeat the individual. Here are a couple of quotes. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system you love, but you seek to defeat the evil system. Or love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

And so friends, when you are insulted, don't pretend it doesn't hurt. But when you are wronged, cry out to God for justice. And when you want revenge and trust vengeance to God, and despite and desire their repentance rather than their destruction. And why can we live this way? What empowers us for all of this? It's the exact way that Jesus. Treated us while we were still his enemies. He loved us. Despite those things, he desired our repentance more than our destruction, and so he took on our destruction himself. And even now, he's calling us to return, to be reminded of what he's done, what he continues to do, and to receive him again, and to entrust him with all of our lives.

As we close today, I'm going to invite us for a time of confession. Where we take some of the realities of what we've learned from the scripture this morning and we give them to God. And I will, I will have some words on the screen that you can pray along, and then we'll have some underlined words that you, you speak out loud with me. And as we prepare to do that, I'm just gonna encourage you to, to seek the Lord in prayer for a moment. How can you remember what Christ has done for you? How does that change the way that you respond to the, to others? And how does that change the way that you can persevere? Would you just take a moment to pray? Pray with me. Remember the underlined portions are for you to speak.

Gracious God, we confess that when others wrong us, we often forget you. We are quick to defend ourselves, quick to return insult for insult, and quick to imagine how others should be punished. We want justice, but often we want to be the ones who deliver it. Forgive us for taking vengeance into our own hands. Forgive us for holding on to anger and refusing to forgive. Forgive us for allowing the words and actions of others to control our hearts. And when we are rightly criticized, give us humility to repent. When we are falsely accused, give us faith to entrust ourselves to you. In every circumstance teach us to remember Jesus. Lord Jesus, you were reviled, yet you did not revile in return. You were betrayed, yet you entrusted yourself to the Father. You bore the judgment we deserved so that you, so that we could be forgiven along with me. Help us to trust you with our enemies, our hurts, and our desires for justice. Teach us to love those who oppose you, to forgive us, we have been forgiven, and to persevere in doing what is good. Amen.

Hear this word of assurance from Romans chapter 5. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. In Christ, you are forgiven, you are reconciled, and you are held by God.

We're gonna prepare our hearts to receive a communion meal. Each week we participate in a sacred meal that we call communion or the Lord's supper, or Eucharist, whatever you wanna call it. And what we're remembering at this time is that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and he tore it. He said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week when we take the sacred meal, we're being reminded that Christ's body was broken for us. That his blood was shed for us so that we might have life. He got what we deserved. If you are a believer here with us this morning, we encourage you, repent of your sins and come receive this anew, be reminded of what Christ has done for you. I'm gonna invite you to stand as we respond. And pray with me.

Great Father in heaven, who is great and awesome, you are, would you fight for us as we fight the good fight of faith? Would you help us to receive the truths of forgiveness and love, to see with humility what you have done for us so that we might in turn do the same for others. Would you help us to love enemy? Would you help us to see enemies turn to friends? Would you help us to respond, knowing that nothing can shake us? In Christ we are full, we cannot be shaken. Would you give us that power? We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 3:1-32 about the people of Jerusalem rebuilding the wall. Discussion points: God cares about the ordinary faithfulness of non-heroes; being part of the body of Christ means serving, suffering, and rejoicing together; Jesus restores our relationship with God, not just our society.

Scripture reader: I'm going to be reading from Nehemiah 3:1-32.

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Gate of Yeshanah. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River. Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired. Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.

Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate. Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king's garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men. After him the Levites repaired: Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. After him their brothers repaired: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah. Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.

After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, repaired. After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress and to the corner. Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the buttress and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber. After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper chamber of the corner. And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Good morning. Thank you for getting out of bed early this morning to come read a long list of names with us. That took about 5 minutes. And some of you, you know, you might get to a passage like this in the Bible and you think, you know, that's why I don't even try with the Bible. Like, like, what is this even here for? You know why? Why, why am I reading this? Isn't this book supposed to help me with my life?, how could an ancient list of people working on a wall supposed to help me? How is that ever supposed to help me? And more than that, how am I ever supposed to preach a sermon on this passage? And how are we supposed to get any sort of devotional value from a text like this?

If you're asking those questions, I just want to let you know that I'm glad. I'm glad that you're asking those questions. Those are things that you should be asking. You shouldn't just be reading your Bible and getting nothing out of it. You should be able to read it and say, why is this? Here Because here's the reality, we believe that the Bible is fully inspired by God. Under the authority of God, human people, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote every book of the Bible, every piece of the Bible, and it's there for our benefit. But sometimes it is difficult.

Now sometimes we think about the Bible as a collection of wise sayings. A lot of times appro people approach the Bible, they know it's a sacred book, and they think about it as just a collection of wise sayings to live their life by, or a sto a collection of fables or legends to live, to look and emulate. And so they'll open the Bible to a random page and say, OK, well, I guess I should be like this guy, or I guess this is a nice saying, but then you open the Bible to a passage like this, and there's no one really to emulate. And there's no real wise sayings in it. And what do you do?

I think that our idea of what the Bible is has to change. That's the way that we think about the Bible. The Bible is not a collection of wise sayings, it's not a collection of stories of legends, it's not a collection of fables. The Bible is a story, one cohesive story, but told through 66 different books. And each book has a slightly different perspective on things. It has, it's written by different people. Many of the different books of the Bible were written by different people over the course of thousands of years. And it tells one cohesive story over the long story.

And so, in the Bible, you do find answers for your life, though it might not be in the way that you think about it. The Bible answers questions like, why are we here? Why does the world exist? How does it exist? What's wrong with it? What's gonna make it better? What is our hope in this life? And where are we all going? Those are the main four questions that are answered throughout the Bible. And as you approach the text, you have to be able to approach it and say, where in the history of the world do we find this text? And what is going on, and why is this relevant to me with that understanding?

Now, some people, they do disregard the Bible as a collection of made up fables and legendary heroes. And that's almost certainly because they haven't read it. Because if you've read the Bible, you know that there are very few heroes to be found in this book. Even at the end of Nehemiah, which we think was written by Nehemiah, he kinda loses his mind and starts attacking people violently. Like, it's. Not many. Heroes to emulate here. If someone were inventing A heroic story about Nehemiah. This is a very strange chapter to include. I just want you to think about your friends who might say, I don't believe that the Bible is true. OK, why include this chapter if you don't, if it's not true? This seems like a chapter that was written by someone who cared a great deal that people remember the names of the faithful who rebuilt the wall.

And that is part of the heart of this is God cares about ordinary faithfulness. I hope that that brings you some encouragement today. That is you are doing your life and it feels small and insignificant in times that we think we need more and we need to do more. And then we read a chapter like this and we see that God cares about ordinary faithfulness. Now, let's, let's zoom into this passage a little bit more and get what we can from it. I'm not going to pretend to you, that this chapter is as important or as applicable as like the book of Romans, if you were to give, if I were to give you one chapter of the Bible to read, it would not be this one. And so if you're joining us this morning and you've never read any of the Bible, let me encourage you, go read the book of John, go read some of, you know, Ephesians, something like that.

But that's not to say that there's not anything good and important here. We'd not, we would not spend a whole week studying it if there wasn't. Now, I need to zoom out a little bit and talk about what is going on with the story of Nehemiah so that you can understand what's happening in this passage. Nehemiah tells the story of how, God called one leader, a man named Nehemiah, to lead a remnant of the people of Israel. Out of exile and back to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the walls so that the city of Jerusalem might thrive for generations to come. And so we're right now in chapter 3 of Nehemiah's Make Jerusalem Great Again plan. And surprisingly enough, it also involves building a wall.

And he's investing and the casting the vision and now we actually see how the work is done. The people have gathered and they are building the wall. And so this long list of names, which is sometimes called an onomasticon, academics will come up with a name for anything, is a list of people who rebuilt the wall. So let's just look at it. And I'll draw a few things out.

First they start at what we call the sheep gate. OK, verse one. Alexis's Hebrew, far superior to mine. I'm so thankful that she read this passage. Then Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set the doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

So, the Sheep Gate, this is, if you were an ancient Israelite reading this account, you would understand all these things. The people it was written to knew these locations. It would be like saying, and they started at the salt and pepper bridge in Boston, and they made their way around. So basically they start at Faneuil Hall, and they make their way around in a in a a clockwise way around the whole city of Jerusalem. And they're stopping at each gate along the way and describing it. But they start at the sheep gate.

And the sheep gate has significance because the sheep gate is the gate that is closest to the temple. And it's called the sheep gate because this is the gate where all the sacrificial animals would enter into Jerusalem every year around the day of Yom Kippur. And many other days throughout the year as well as people would bring their sacrifices, the sheep would come in through the sheep gate. So it's a sacred gate, it's where the sacrifices for the people sin would enter into the city, and that is why the priests are working on this gate. And after they work on this gate, they consecrate it. Consecrate is this word that means to set aside for holy purposes. And the word that we use in the New Testament for consecrate, basically the same word is sanctify. So they set aside this gate for holy purposes, saying this is a gate for the Lord.

After the sheep gate, the passage just works all the way around Jerusalem clockwise. We get a tour of how the how the walls were built. Name after name, group after group. Some interesting things that we see in this passage is first we see that everyone is pitching in. You have the ruling class and the working class working together. You have the nobles, and you have the merchants. You have every profession pitching in. You have the merchants, you have the goldsmiths, you have the rulers and the priests and the clergy. Everyone is pitching in, men and women both. You have the guy with his daughters, and then you have many people working as family units to build this this wall, repair it, restore it to its former glory. Everyone is important. The priests could not build this wall by themselves. The clergy is working right next to everyone else.

And you know, every scholar when they write on this chapter, what they notice, one thing that they notice is there seems to be a change from focusing just on the leaders of Israel to starting to focus on the work that the people do. And this is a progression that we see that makes its way throughout the Old Testament until you Get to the New Testament, where the progression has gone from the leader Jesus Christ, giving His Holy Spirit to all of the people. And so when we read this and we see this account of the people of God doing the work of God, we should be seeing a shadow of the church, which is the people of God. Called together to work side by side, doing the work of God.

A lot of times people in American culture at least and maybe some other nations treat church as kind of a consumer activity. We come to hear what the pastor has to say and enjoy the music that the band might put together and you know, maybe, suffer through some small talk or like a long list of names that are being read. But that's not the New Testament picture of the church. In the New Testament, believers are described as a royal priesthood. 1 Peter chapter 2. You yourselves like living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a royal priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now if you are a royal priesthood, then that means that every person in the body of Christ is called to ministry of one sort or another.

And you might not have ever thought about your life that way, but the Lord has given a calling to your life to build his kingdom, to be his church. And if you're in the church, you don't just come to church, but you are the church and you function as the people that Christ has redeemed loving one another. As the pastor of this church, one of, yeah, I'm not here just to do the work of the church. One of my primary jobs, Ephesians chapter 4, is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And that means that my one of my biggest jobs is to equip others to do the work that God has given you. And so one of the biggest ways that I do that is by preaching and teaching the word, by praying for you day in and day out, by meeting the discipling leaders who can meet and disciple others. But the goal is to hand things over and allow each of you to flourish with the giftings that God has given you.

In Nehemiah, everyone is pitching in, except one person, one family. OK, verse 5, and next to them, the Tekoites repaired. But their nobles would not stoop to serve their lord. When you get to the end of your life, you don't want that to be in your obituary. That this person would not stoop to serve the Lord. Friends, do not let that be said of you. That you would not allow your heart to be to stoop to serve our king.

Now usually pastors would take this opportunity, myself included, to recruit people. To volunteer into what we might call the church machine, OK? What is the church machine you ask? Well, that it, it is, it is, I do understand, it sounds rather derogatory, but it, it is true like. Church on Sunday mornings, what we're doing right here takes a lot of work, OK?, every Sunday morning I went and counted, we have an app that manages all the volunteers. Every Sunday morning we have at least 35 people volunteering on a Sunday morning. That includes people setting up chairs, that includes people making coffee, which is oftentimes the same people., that includes Lots of kids servants. We have a lot of kids in the church. There's probably 35 or 40 children in the kids ministry right now. And that includes lots of volunteers with the children's ministry. That includes our worship team, that includes people coming here to welcome you and to to invest into reading the scripture for you. And it includes people praying, leading the service, putting out signs, working in the back with the slides and the, and the sound, the production ministry.

And we do need more people to fill the slots to carry the burden there because we, it does end up being a lot of the same people doing the same things week in and week out. But here's the thing. I am trying to learn my calling and. I do not want to be called to being the CEO of the church machine. I hate that. Like my, if my job just gets reduced to making sure that a program is put together on Sundays, like I'll go ahead and retire, all right?, that's not what I'm here for. I am called. To be a shepherd of God's sheep. And so before you think and and and as you think, I think sometimes we we downgrade the church to think about it as a church machine.

But really friends, I want to encourage you and empower you to think about the church more as an organism than a machine. Like in an organism, every part is valued. In a body, everything is valued. In a machine, you're a cog. If you break, you can get a new one. Look, I broke my pinky at the retreat last year. It's still not good, OK? I can't, I can't do, I can't straighten it all the way, OK? Maybe I should've gone to PT some say. Well, aren't you smart? But when a member of your body hurts, The whole body hurts. And you can't just, I can't get a new pinky. This is the only one I have. And they can't put a new one on there yet. Eventually you could grow Fletcher Pinky and put it back on there. But that's not. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

We need to think about the church as an organism. Not as a machine. Here's what the scripture teaches us. When it comes to serving, being a part of the body, that we all have gifts. We all have gifts. You're not here by accident. A church this small, no one walks into the room by accident. Everyone walks into the room with a certain amount of gifts. There are certain hands you can hold. Certain burdens you can carry. That no one else can carry in this room. And we need to know one another and to come together and share our lives with one another in such a way that the members of God's body might support one another and build up His kingdom together.

Ask yourself this, how can God use me and my experience to reach people and to shape people? Maybe you don't feel like you have much to contribute to the machine, but let me encourage you, you absolutely have plenty to to contribute to the body. You can't build up a body without knowing the people who are a part of it. So it's going, if you're a regular here, that some of this might fall on deaf ears for a moment.

But if you are someone who's not too involved yet, let me just tell you, relationships are really hard. I've lived in Boston for 15 years now. Boston will eat up and spit out friendships. It is a hard place to live and to thrive and to have deep relationships. And after you do that a few times, you're like, man, I'm not sure I wanna do that again. Maybe I should just move somewhere easier and. Let me tell you that it's worth it to keep investing. And that there are a group of us who are committed here for the long term. And that we have to make room to welcome more people into our lives. And I know that that risk hurt, but CS Lewis said that a heart that doesn't allow itself to be hurt is a heart that's lost the ability to love. And so we have to love in that kind of way.

Now if you are newer, let me encourage you that it takes time. It takes investment. It takes time to get to the place where you feel where people feel safe with you and you feel safe with people. It just takes time. And you have to invest and invest and invest and sometimes you have to do things that are a little inconvenient. You have to do things like joining a group where you sit around and sometimes have an awkward conversation. You have to suffer through some, some small talk on Sunday mornings. You have to. But you know that's, that's the way you represent Jesus sometimes to people is by listening to them, caring for them. You have to stick around, have a bagel, you gotta. You gotta love people, let them into your life. There's no other way.

No one can zap a relationship. You can, I honestly think that you can, a lot of times fast forward through the first few stages of a friendship very quickly. I think we felt that sometimes you feel a kindred spirit with someone else. But friends, even, even if you do feel that kindred spirit with another person, you get to like level 4 and then you pause. It and it just takes time. And we have to be willing to give that time.

Now, these people, they're working side by side on the wall, and for one common purpose. And I do think that sometimes volunteering for a ministry is a great way to build relationships. My wife and I got to know each other because we were teaching a 4 and 5 year old kids class, for 6 months before I ever asked her on a date. And so every week at at the playground, we would get to know one another and and chat. And it was a great way to build that relationship. And then by the time we started dating, we felt like we knew one another. And so sometimes volunteering is a good thing to do. But I would encourage you. To focus not on being a cog in the machine. We don't need more cogs. But being a member of the body, the organism of Christ, how can you invest in relationships? How can you be the church? How can you represent Christ to others?

This past week, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, my wife and I went on, a hike. And when I say hike, I really mean a 3 day, 20 mile death march through the New Hampshire wilderness. We stayed at the AMC Huts up there, which if you don't know about those, they have these nice little buildings that are in the, in the backcountry in New Hampshire where there's a crew, a small crew that'll cook for you, and there's a bed that you can sleep in, and it's, it's nice, you get breakfast and, and dinner, you have to bring your own, your own bedding and your own, lunch and that sort of thing. So you're still carrying a huge bag, like I probably had 30 pounds on my back as I was hiking through New Hampshire.

And you know, a lot of folks hate on New England hiking, a lot of folks from the West Coast are like, oh, the mountains are so tiny, and I'm like, they might be smaller, but they are mean. Like, the New Hampshire mountains are really rough. Like, it's all granite. Like everything you step on is hard, which I never would have complained about in my twenties, but I'm 40. Like that hurts my knees. Like, I'm old now. It's, it just hurts. It's really rough terrain, it feels less like leisure and more like survival, I think, and. And I loved every single minute of it. Anybody else love every minute of that sort of thing, of the pain? Yeah.

With a hike like this, you need every member of your body to cooperate, OK? No one can take a day off. Like if my fingers suddenly decided, I don't wanna work anymore. Then like my whole body suffers, even though you think you can hike without without fingers, but the, you really, it's really difficult. Like, how would I get the water thing into my mouth, you know, like, and then I'm just dehydrated and the rest of my body stops working. The funniest part of the whole hike was certainly the fact that we got to the second hut, which you have to hike like 6 miles over mountains to get really rugged territory to get to this hut. It's very secluded, very remote. You cannot hear any cars. It's wonderful.

But you got, we got there and they told us a story of how they were rebuilding the hut in the 90s and 99. And the US government stopped their rebuilding because they weren't doing it by code, because they were not putting in wheelchair accessible ramps. Into the hot Which is hilarious, because no one has ever taken a wheelchair up that ramp. So they literally had to stop what they were doing and make it all handicap accessible, which I'm all for accessibility, but the very nature of what that place is, is not accessible. But the funny thing is that MIT had a group of students that said, well, let's take advantage of it. So all the wheel, all the, all the disabled students at MIT or, or, I don't know the politically correct term anymore, I'm sorry, got together and they used a system of pulleys to work their way up to the hut to where they could use the wheelchair ramp. So, it's, it's funny.

All that to say that it's, you need every member of your body to, to make a hike like that work. And similarly, you need every member of your body. For the church to thrive, to do what it's called to. At one point during the hike, we were doing, it, it's part of that, Appalachian Trail, if anybody's familiar. It's a trail that goes from Georgia all the way to Maine, like the longest trail in the world. And this is like the toughest part of it. Literally the hardest day, the, that's what the people at the hut told us at least that it's the hardest day. My, my wife and I. We're, hiking, and we got to what we assume is the hardest part of the hardest day, which is like a 50 ft tall waterfall that you just summit. It's like as tall as this building and like basically straight up. So you really, it's not hiking, it's like scrambling up it.

So we started our way up the, the waterfall hiking trail, there's no way around it. And Megan scurried up that faster than I've ever seen, faster than I could say, hey, could you help me with this? She's up on top of the waterfall, you know, she is terrified of heights. She's out of there. And so I love. That sort of thing. I could just dangle off of any mountain like the Villa Ferrada things where you hang off the side of the mountain. I'm in. Like, don't even strap me in. I'm just like, I'm good on the side. Any other crazies with that? Yeah, maybe not.

But I took one step and my back just like started spasming, you know, and now I had my knee all the way up to here, you know, and the back was just like, mm I don't think so. So then I'm like stuck on this waterfall with a wet ledge of about this much underneath my boot, and I'm literally stuck, like cannot move, my back is just protesting at that moment. My, my back is refusing to stoop to serve the purposes. Of the moment And I'm just stuck there. Now, I'm here, so obviously, I worked it out. But the point is that it was touch and go.

Here's really the point I, I, I'm making. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 26. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. If one member of my body is hurting, all of me is hurting. If the church, in the church, when you are hurting, we are all hurting. You might be hurting silently. But that's still hurting all of us. If you're not thriving, we're not thriving.

And look, the whole reason why Nehemiah is building this wall is so that he might have a thriving city for generations to come. And he achieved it. He built the wall. He built the thing. Similarly, if we're going to have a thriving community for generations to come, it's going to require us to build, to commit, to stick together. There's a number of people doing that and I'm so blessed by it. Today we've been talking about rebuilding the walls, but let's remember why they were broken in the first place. The walls of Jerusalem were broken because for generations. The people of God rebelled against God. They worshiped idols. They would not bow to God as their king for generations. Hundreds, a thousand years, maybe not a thousand, for hundreds of years, they refused to worship God. And so God sent them into exile as a form of discipline so that they would stop bowing to the things of this world. And so that they would look to him who is on high.

And so now, Nehemiah, the rebuilding of the wall is not just the rebuilding of the wall, it's a restoration project. But you know the wall isn't far enough. That's what we find when we get to, I'm gonna ruin the ending of Nehemiah right now. Sorry. Keep coming, please. They find at the end that building the wall wasn't enough. Because you don't just need to have a thriving society, you need a thriving relationship with the Lord. And that Points us forward to what Christ has done. That while we work on this wall, While Nehemiah was working on this rebuilt city, Jesus brings us a rebuilt relationship with God.

And that's why the story ultimately leads us to Jesus. Jesus is the true and better Nehemiah. He doesn't just build a wall, he rebuilds centers. He doesn't simply restore a city, he restores us to God, and he does it by becoming the Lamb who was sacrificed for us centuries later. Along these same walls Jesus would enter. And as the Lamb of God, he would enter through one of these gates built by Nehemiah and his people. And on his way in, he would be celebrated. People would shout Hosanna, which means please save us. They would celebrate him as a king, but then just days later, he would be sent out of the same walls, carrying the sins of the world to be born on a cross. So that we might have restored relationship with God.

You see Jesus doesn't just rebuild our society, he rebuilds our relationship, our true place as children of God. He brings us into the relationship that he's enjoyed throughout eternity with God the Father, that he was crucified for our sins that they were placed on Him and on the third day he rose from the dead. Jesus would become the sacrifice sent outside of the city, carrying the sins of God's people. He would become our atoning sacrifice. And so the call to Nehemiah for Nehemiah isn't simply get to work, but it's this come to Christ. Repent of your sin, trust in Jesus, be reconciled to God. And then having been brought into the family of God, we get to work, building up the body of Christ.

Each week we take a moment after we hear the word, most weeks at least. We take a moment after we've heard the, heard the word preached to have a time of confession, to come to the Lord and confess our sins, and to be assured of his grace and his peace. And so, if you would turn your attention to the screen as we confess together. You can read the underlined portions along with me.

Father, we confess that we often try to live as though we don't need you and don't need one another. We trust in our own strength. We carry our burdens alone. We resist being known, asking for help. Or admitting that we are weak. We confess that we have sinned against you and against the people you've placed around us and sometimes like the nobles of Nehemiah, we are unwilling to stoop and to serve. We think certain people, sacrifices or acts of service are beneath us. Forgive us. Turn us again from ourselves to Christ. Restore to us fellowship with you and with your people. Teach us to depend upon you, to receive from others, and to gladly give ourselves for the good of your church. Thank you for Jesus, who did not remain distant from us, but stooped down to save us. He humbled himself, became a servant, and gave his life for sinners. Amen.

Church, hear the good news. Christ has not left you to restore yourself. He has done for you what you could never do for yourself. Through his death and resurrection, he has forgiven your sins, reconciled you to God, and brought you into his family. So, as we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, know that you don't have to carry it all by yourself. You don't have to prove yourself, you don't have to save yourself in Christ, you are forgiven. You are reconciled and you belong. Even the biggest failure among us.

On the night that he was betrayed, Christ gave us a sacred meal so that we would be able to remember what he had done for us. He took a loaf of bread and he tore it and he said, this is my body, broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week we take a small piece of bread, a small bit of wine or juice, and we're reminded of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. If you're a Christian here with us today, we encourage you to repent of your sin, come and receive these elements so that you can be reminded of what Christ has done, so that you can experience that power again. I'm going to invite you to stand as we prepare our hearts to come to the table.

God, we thank you for your word this morning, and we pray that you would help our little body that resembles you, that reflects your glory, would you help us to thrive? God as we link arm in arm and work together, help us to care for those around us, to not just see projects, but to see people. And God, we pray that you would give us a, a slow and gentle spirit, that you would create in us a new heart. And God, we thank you for this communion meal. May we enjoy it to your glory. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 2:1–20. Discussion points: Nehemiah was bold in his request to the king and his prayers to God, we participate in God’s purposes with whatever God has given us, Nehemiah’s work and experiences point forward to Jesus rebuilding the people of God.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 2:1–20] In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart." Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, "Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"

Then the king said to me, "What are you requesting?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it." And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will you be gone and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time, and I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy."

And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river, and I gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen, but when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So I went to Jerusalem and was there 3 days.

Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate into the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate and so returned, and the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build a wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision." And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good and also of the words that the king had spoken to me, and they said, "Let us rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" Then I replied to them, "The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem."

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: All right, good morning, everybody. It's good to see you all. My name is Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor of the church here. If I haven't had a chance to meet you, I'd love to get that opportunity.

Last week we started a series in the book of Nehemiah, and Nehemiah tells the story of how God gave a vision to one man to do a great thing for his kingdom. In chapter one, Nehemiah is described as someone who is the cupbearer of the king, that means he's an official in the king's,in the king's court. And in chapter one, his brother shows up, tells him that the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed, and Nehemiah responds with deep lament. He responds by weeping, and he pra and he fasts and he prays, he prasts as you put those together. He fast and he prays for 4 months. And so that's what's been happening as we lead up to Nehemiah chapter 2.

And in Nehemiah chapter 2, we see Nehemiah take those prayers and that fasting and put it to action. He sees the place that God has put him in, the place that God has positioned him, and he says, I'm going to take action. I'm going to live out God's purpose for where I am positioned currently. And so I'm just going to go ahead and tell you what the main point of this sermon is as we walk through, and it is just this idea that no matter where you are, God has a purpose for you. No matter where you are, God has a purpose for you.

Whether you're a student or a stay at home mom. Whether you are a board member of a high ranking company, or you are nearing retirement. Whether you are a single father or a young professional, whether you are just trying to get the kids out of the bed and out of the bed into school, or you just can't get yourself out of bed in the morning. God has a purpose for each other. And I think many of us That that's a truth that rings true for for most of us that you we know deep down God does have a purpose for each of us. But we spend so much of our lives trying to figure out what that purpose is.

I remember as a young man, I would oftentimes try to think through what is God's calling upon my life? What does he have for me? And I think that the mistake that most of us do is when we think about God's purpose for our life is we usually think about. Something like what is God's purpose in my career? What is God's purpose in my family? And that's what we usually think about with purpose, with spouse, career.

But the big idea here is that God has primarily called us to participate in his purposes. And how would that change your life if you stop thinking through what's God's purpose for me? And instead, you just thought of what is God's purpose? And how do I live for His purposes? And so that's what we're going to see as we walk through this. We're gonna walk through this passage in three acts. And the first act is God prepares us to participate in His purposes. And the second act is going to be God's people enter the mess together. And the third act is we participate in God's purposes with whatever God has given us.

So first, God prepares us to participate in His purposes. As I walk through these three acts, we're just going to walk through the whole story. I know that when you read a long chapter. Chapter like that, like a history. Sometimes it's easy to just kind of,I'm lost, you know, as you go through it. And so that's OK. I'm going to just read the read each verse and we're going to walk through it and explain what's happening. Actually, this is an incredible passage for us today. Nehemiah has been praying for months and now we come to chapter 2, chapter 2, verse 1, once again, in the month of Nisan, which isn't the month after Toyota and before Honda. It's just March, OK? In the month of March, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, he, I took up wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

So Nehemiah 2 starts at a party. The king is throwing a huge party. So think palace, ancient palace. 2600 years ago, something like that, ancient palace. Big party, lots of wine, and Nehemiah's job is to taste all the wine before it goes to the king. So it's not a bad job, you know, the best wine is going to the king, he's tasting it, making sure it's good to go to the king. He's making sure that the party is going. Nehemiah's at work though. He's like the king's personal sommelier, and he's working this party. And here it says that Nehemiah had not been sad in the presence of the king. It was extremely offensive to be sad in the presence of the king, you, there was just something you didn't do, especially at a party. It might harsh the vibes if you're sad in the presence of the king.

In fact, in ancient Persian art, people had to be very careful with how they approached the Persian kings, and some of the ancient art, you would see people approach the kings while covering their mouth. And the reason why they would cover their mouth is because they didn't want to offend the king with their bad breath. See, there's things that all of us can learn in ancient literature on a Sunday morning, especially me.

Verse 2. And the king said to me, Why is your face sad seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid. So the king is basically like, Nehemiah, what's wrong with your face? And Nehemiah is like, oh, because he knows that better men have been killed for lesser things than being sad in the king's presence. We've all heard of gentle parenting. Yeah, Nehemiah did not participate in that. He, he was not a gentle ruler, not Nehemiah. King Artaxerxes did not participate in the gentle parenting of ruling. Nehemiah had been fasting and praying for 4 months, and now he knows that this is his moment though. The king is asking him what is going on Nehemiah?

And so what does Nehemiah do? He takes a moment. And he is very afraid, but he goes to the Lord and he says, verse 3, I said to the king, let the king live forever. You have to say that or you're gonna get your head chopped off with King Artaxerxes. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruin and his gates have been destroyed by fire. Now Nehemiah has a lot more reasons to be sad about Jerusalem being crushed than just this, but he is saying these things because he knows that these are things that the king will appreciate. The king understands what it means that you care about your ancestral homeland. And so because he cares about his ancestral homeland, he's saying, please let me go back and take care of the place where I come from.

Then the king said to me, verse 4, what are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven. So the king Artaxerxes, he knows that Nehemiah's got a big request. So he's like, what, what do you want? What do you want, Nehemiah? And Nehemiah, he just takes a moment. He's already been praying for 4 months, but now the moment's come, and he doesn't pray out loud. He just takes one of those quick inhale prayers. You guys ever do those? Where it's like, here I go. And he just says, I trust you. He just says a quick prayer, and then he asked the king. And I said to the king, If it pleases the king and your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it.

Now this is a bold request, because Judah is 600 miles from Susa, excuse me, more than that, it's 900 miles from Susa. Judah is a long way from the capital of the Persian Empire. It's Iran to Israel. And the, the nothing political in this sermon, it's just, the passage. Those two have not always, you know, they've always kind of been the way they are. So this isn't just Nehemiah asking for a weekend off. He's basically saying, I need to make this 900 mile journey. That's going to take probably months. And then I need to be there to rebuild the city wall, and then I need to come back.

And so, The king said to him verse 6, how long will you be gone? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. Now it doesn't even tell us what time Nehemiah asked for, but he asked for, he, he gets bold. He doesn't just ask for time off. He asked for more than that. He asked the king to send him on official duty from the king, to send him with an army for protection, to send him to and fund the whole endeavor.

Verse 7, and, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters, these are like ancient permission slips, be sent with me. Be given to me, to the governors of the province beyond the river. That was basically everything west of Iran here, and they that they may pass through until I come to Judah, and let a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest. That he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy. I like how he threw that one in, you know, and I'd like a house while you're at it, you know, give me all the other stuff, pay for the, the rebuilding of the wall and a house, please.

Continuing, and the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of my God was upon me. Now when we read Nehemiah, sometimes it can really feel like God is in the background in Nehemiah. God does not speak in the entire book of Nehemiah, but here we see that just because God is in the background, just because he's silent, doesn't mean that he's absent. Because the good hand of God is upon Nehemiah in this moment. Nehemiah reminds us that God's silence does not mean God's absence. So, let's continue the story. That's chapter one. That's the first, first part of this. God prepares us to participate in His purposes.

The second point, the second act here that we're looking at is God's people enter the mess together. God's people enter the mess together. So Nehemiah, he sets off on his trek, going all the way to Judah. He's trekking through the long expedition with all of his letters and his army that the king has sent with him, and he's going from what is modern day Iran to modern day Israel, and he eventually makes it to Jerusalem, and what's the first thing he does? What would you do if you've been trekking for months? He takes a break, he takes 3 days off, and he rests for 3 days. And then after that, he actually does something quite amazing. He wakes up in the middle of the night. Because he wants to get a lay of the land. He wants to inspect everything. You, a man such as Nehemiah could have arrived and started giving speeches. And start motivating the people to get to work. Instead, Nehemiah arrived and he says, I need to take good accounting of what is happening here.

And so what he actually does is he wakes up in the middle of the night, verse 12. Then I rose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me, but the one in which I rode. And the reason why he only took that one animal is because animals make a lot of noise. If you have a whole bunch of horses, I don't know what that's called, but if you have a whole bunch of horses that are going to. Herd, yeah, OK, thank you. A herd of horses going through the city to inspect the wall. It's gonna cause some people to listen, but instead he just took one animal, surefooted, and went to inspect the walls. And what he found in the middle of the night is that the walls, they're in shambles. The walls are all torn down in Jerusalem, and he knows that the city of Jerusalem cannot thrive without walls. You need walls in an ancient city, not only to protect the city from invaders, but also so that the people within the city can live a life of security and safety, so that the people inside the city can live and have economic freedom, so that the people inside the city can have a political system that might work. None of that works without walls, because an invader can come and just take you out in a moment. You live in fear. You have to have the security around you.

And so Nehemiah knows that if Jerusalem is going to thrive, and Jerusalem needs to thrive, if Messiah is going to come in his mind, he needs to rebuild these walls. So after he inspects the wall, he calls the who's who of who's living in Jerusalem and invites them to participate in God's purposes. Now a few people have already come back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is starting to be reinhabited by the Jewish people once again, and he calls all the priests and all the different people. The landowners, and he calls them, and he basically, he gives a speech. But there his speech is amazing because the way he does it. He doesn't point fingers, but he identifies with the mess of the people.

Verse 17, then I said to them, Come see the trouble we're in. How Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer. So do you notice how he starts this meeting? He doesn't start with Hey, you guys have really caused a mess here. You've really messed things up. It's really terrible around here. What have you done? He includes himself in the mess. He says, then I said to them, you see the trouble that we are in. He doesn't supervise from a distance. He identifies with the people, their problems are his problems. He enters the issues of those he's trying to help. It's a good leadership principle. Nehemiah is not primarily a book of leadership principles, but there are some, and just don't ever give someone else a work, a job that you're not willing to do yourself.

And we see Nehemiah, he enters in the mess. Most of us as Christians, we love the idea of helping people. I don't know if there, you'd be a bad person if you didn't love the idea of helping people. But for most of us, if we're honest, we love the idea of helping people as long as it's not too inconvenient. We'll give money or maybe take a mission trip as long as we're staying in a nice hotel. And we don't get too involved in what's happening. Not Nehemiah. The community's problems are his problems as well. He didn't have to do anything. I want you to know that. Nehemiah was living in relative luxury, living in the palace of the king. He had a good job, but yet, God said, I have a purpose for you in this position. And Nehemiah lived out the purpose that God had for him. He chose to enter the mess of his people at the risk of his own life.

Here, Nehemiah reminds us of Jesus. Who was seated throughout all eternity at the right hand of God. Yet, He entered into our mess. He didn't have to, but he took on our mess. He bore our sins on the cross. We don't worship a God who remains removed from his people. We worship a savior who gets his hands messy. We worship a savior who sympathizes with us, who's willing to suffer alongside of us, one who knows what it means to suffer, one who knows what it means to be tempted. Not only did he suffer alongside us, but he actually suffered for us. By dying on the cross, he bore the sin of the world, so that we might enjoy the same privileges of what it means to be a son of God that he has enjoyed in the throne room of God throughout eternity past. Jesus Christ, he enters the mess so that we might enjoy fellowship with God for eternity. He died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day. He walked the earth for 40 days, appearing to over 500 people, and at the end of the 40 days of appearing to people, he ascended back into heaven in front of his followers.

And before he ascended back into heaven, he actually left his people with a job to do. He said in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. And so do you see what happened here? Nehemiah enters the mess of his people, and he says, come, let us build. And Jesus likewise enters the mess of his people. He pays for their sins himself, and he says, come, let us build. Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Jesus has given us a different kind of building project, making disciples of all nations and building up his church.

Which leads us to our third point, which is this, we participate in God's purposes with whatever God has given us. We participate in God's purposes with whatever God has given us. Nehemiah continues verse 18, and I told them of the hand, and he's giving, remember, he's giving his speech to the who's who of Israel. He's trying to motivate them to rebuild the wall, and this is what he says. He says, and I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me, and they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthen their hands for the good work. Nehemiah He recounts the story for them. He tells them of how good God had been and how God's hand has been upon them. And then he challenges them to rise up and build. They do it with him sometimes.

What, and, and we're kinda in one of these seasons as a church right now, where there's a lot of people who they might, you, you might be here and sometimes this happens regularly, where someone will be at our church for a few months. And they might say like, I really like what you guys are doing here. And every time, like, I should probably just say thank you, but I want to say, I probably do say thank you usually. I'm not usually snarky to guests, but I want to say, why not we? Why, why do you see it as you guys? Why not we? Why is it something that we're doing together? Why are we not seeking God's kingdom together? The church is a family. It's not just something you attend, it's not just something that you consume as a consumer and then you go home, but it's a family. We're called to do this together. You don't sit around like a spectator, you get involved.

And if you're a part of a family, that means you have a job. There's something that I'll say to my kids on occasion, and they usually don't like it very much, but it's, it's just, you eat, you work. We got any supporters of you eat, you work in here? Yeah, a few, a few supporters, you know. My kids are like, I don't wanna do dishes. I'm like, you ate. You work. Like, we, we take turns, you know, you eat, you work, that's just kinda how it is. You're a part of a family and that means that you have a part of the work to do.

And so I'm, you know, I'm not gonna go to the normal place that I would go to with this because I think that a lot of times when I might preach you eat you work here, it would be like, so we need volunteers, and we do, but that's not the main point here. I, I think that before I want you to think about. Working, I want you to think about eating. And I want you to think about, are you a part of the family? And if you are a Christian, you are called to not just go to a church, but to be the church and to be a family. And so if you need to take that step, I challenge you to take that step, and here is the best way to take that step today. It's easy.

Next week, we're launching our community groups. And so before you start thinking about taking on the work of the family, think about just being a part of the family, and the best way to do that is to get into a community group. After the service today, we're going to have, meet the CG leaders, you can meet someone, and the community groups is not the solution to being family. It's not like you join and then you're instantly family, but it's like it gives you that opportunity to start to meet people and to start to build those relationships. And so I would challenge you, if you haven't done that yet, we haven't had groups going during the summer, I would encourage you to take that step. Because it's how our value of family gets played out.

So chapter 2, it ends with some opposition, verse 19. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king? I just love that they jeered at him because I just, I just imagine these like three guys standing outside going boo. Oh, like it just sounds ridiculous to me, but I wasn't there. I'm sure it was more epic than that, and they say this, this, what is this thing that you've done? What is this thing that you were doing?

And that's a question that when it pops up into the Bible, there's an insinuation that what you're doing is really terrible. Like if I walked into a room, there's a difference between saying. What are you doing? And what are you doing? It's more the latter than the first one. It's the same question that God asked Adam and Eve when he comes down. He says, what is this thing that you've done? He asked a question to elicit an answer. It's the same question that when Abraham takes. His wife and gives her to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Pharaoh comes back once he figures it out, he says, what is this thing you've done? This evil. It's the same thing that happens with Isaac giving away his wife, Rebecca, to Abimelech. And Abimelech responds in the same way that Pharaoh responded, what is this thing you've done? When Laban rips off Jacob, and by giving him Leah instead of Rachel, Jacob goes to Laban and says, what have you done? You see, this is an insinuation that not only a wrong has been occurred, but a great wrong.

And so these opponents of Nehemiah, they are the governors of the foreign enemies of the ancient enemies of Israel. They don't want to see Israel rebuilt. They're anti-Israel people in this ancient time. And so they're saying, Nehemiah, you are leading a rebellion against the king. Little do they know that the king's actually made Nehemiah the governor. We don't actually find that out until like chapter 4 or 5. Little do they know that the king has endorsed all of this work, that the king is paying for all of this work, that the hand of the Lord is upon Nehemiah, that they are trying to make Nehemiah out to be the bad guy, which just reminds us that answered prayer and favor does not translate to a lack of opposition. Sometimes when you have a calling from God, you have to remain faithful to that. Even if it means that you're opposed.

Now it doesn't mean that we walk around and that we're jerks to people, OK? I think that some Christians translate persecution. When they're really just being a jerk. And they should be nicer, like Jesus, you know, told us to love our enemies. But sometimes you can be the nicest person, resembling Christ in every way. And people will just be opposed to it. And friends, we have to expect that. We have to expect that.

So there you have it. Nehemiah chapter 2. After a season of prayer and fasting, Nehemiah uses the position God gave him to participate in God's purposes. And as Christians, when we read Nehemiah, we don't stop at Nehemiah, but we go all the way to Jesus, because Nehemiah points us toward our greater savior. Nehemiah left the palace to enter the ruins of Jerusalem. Jesus left the throne room of God to enter the ruins of humanity. Nehemiah came to rebuild a city. Jesus came to rebuild a people, and having saved us, now Jesus commands us, come, let us build. A universal question that we all ask.

Every person has asked this question, is this, what am I supposed to do with my life? What is my life for? How am I supposed to be using my life? It's really this what it is? Like I wake up, I go to work, I have kids, but like, is that it? How do I use my life? The answer isn't necessarily find the perfect career, find the perfect spouse, but rather God calls us to look where God has us. That's your first step. Maybe the Lord is calling you to take a greater step. Maybe the Lord is calling you to do that greater thing. Maybe he is calling you to the mission field. Maybe he is calling you to start that business. But right now, look around and see where does God have me. And a lot of that might be less attractive to you, but who else is gonna do it? Where has God got you? With your family? Where does God have you in your workplace or in your schooling? How can you participate in God's mission right where you are?

And I know God's mission is vast. I mean, Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations. And so, so he's going to call some of us to go and make disciples of all nations in other places. But just because God has has called us to such a vast mission, just because it's so big, sometimes we can feel daunted like we can't do anything. But just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do anything. And you have to look at where God has you right now and say, what can I do right now? And maybe that is really simple. Maybe that's just loving your children, maybe that's just loving your elderly parents. Maybe that's just caring for this one co-worker. Maybe it's just being nice, when you live your normal life, maybe it's sharing the gospel with your next door neighbor. Maybe it's taking that step of faithfulness.

Wherever God has you, how can he use you? This church was born out of this conviction. I know that City on a Hill Somerville cannot reach the world with the good news of Jesus. Yet our vision is that everyone everywhere will experience the good news of Jesus. But we do what we can right here. Everything we can to reach the people in Somerville, we're going to do that and beyond. We want to send people throughout the globe. And so this church, when we started this church, we knew we couldn't do everything, but it didn't stop us from doing what we could.

Several years ago, like around 10 years ago now, my wife and I, we felt pain of friends moving from the city. And we recognize that, one of the reasons why they moved is because they just weren't getting good gospel centered counseling that they needed to hear someone who loved Jesus be able to connect their problems with the real news of Jesus. And so what we did, and it just felt like it landed upon us. It wasn't like we had this big dream. It was just like, well, I guess we have to do this. Cause we then went and started a counseling center that now sees like 1000 people every year, if not more. And the Boston Center for Biblical Counseling was just burst out of this. This is where God has us. I have connections with the counseling world. I have connections in the pastor world in Boston. I'm not a counselor. I'm just gonna use the connections God's given me to start a counseling center. And the God, God did it. It wasn't anything about us. It was just he, right, right place, right time and listening and being faithful.

Tell you a couple of more normal stories. There's, well, kind of. There's a guy who used to be a member of our church who just said, Where's God got me and how can he use me? And this guy's name is Jonathan McLatchie, so some of you guys know Jonathan. Jonathan has a PhD in evolutionary biology., he studied in the UK. He's from Scotland. And he got a position, like a biology professor position at a local university here in Boston, but while he was here, what the Lord had really laid on his heart was like this joy for apologetics because what he had seen is that so many people rejected the claims of Christianity without even thinking about them. And so he said, I have to do something about this. So we started getting networking apologists all over the country, people who are experts in their field, who can really defend the cause of Christ. And what he did is he just started a simple website called Talkaboutdoubts.com. And with with that website, there's like a dozen people every week who fill out a form, get connected with an expert in the field that they have questions about and have their questions answered. He did this great thing for the kingdom. By just doing what he can right where he was with the opportunities that in front of him.

I'll give you another illustration, maybe one that's a little bit easier. I have a friend who's an architect, he went to Boston Architectural College, so he just started from the ground up here. He's a member of a different City on a Hill Church. He, he was really faithful at his company for a long time. He was eventually promoted, promoted, promoted until he became a principal, and then a couple of years ago, he became the principal of the company. He bought it out from his co-owners. So now he owns this architecture company that makes schools. That's what they do. They design schools. But he also has a big passion for the church. And so he uses his skills to bless local churches and church plants to think about how to renovate their space or build new ones. And so it's just a way that God has used him. To be able to build the kingdom. It's a unique gifting that he has.

Friends, do you have a vision for how God could use you to build his kingdom? You may think, I don't have a position of leadership, I don't have any leverage. What could I accomplish? But God has commissioned all of us in this vision to reach the nation.

Let me tell you one more story before I close here, and it's the most simple of all of them. It's a story of a janitor at a local company in Cambridge. And this is not someone of power or prestige, it's just someone who cleaned buildings. When one day someone walks in and is in tears. And he sees that sad face the same way that the king Artaxerxes saw a sad face. And he says, What's wrong? Can I pray for you? And that sparked in the life of this person. New life, a curiosity about how Christians can live. They saw the joy of Christ on the face of this just this janitor in their building. That simple interaction led this employee to give their life to Christ and to follow him faithfully. As a member of our church today, and I won't give away the, the secret of who, who I, I don't want to embarrass the person.

So, but Nehemiah had influence in the palace. You might be in a position of influence in the boardroom. You might just clean the boardroom. But God can use you where you are. The question isn't how much influence you have. The question is whether you're willing to use whatever God has given you for the sake of his kingdom. Because you don't have to do everything. You just have to be faithful where God has put you. We're gonna end with a little bit of prayer. And let you seek. God, how, how would you like me to follow you today? How would you like me to live out this mission with my family, with my roommates, with my coworkers? With maybe this dream that I've been putting off. Would you join me in prayer?

God, I pray that you would place on our hearts here today. Visions big and small. That you would give some of us a vision just to live the Christian life in a consistent, thorough way. That we can deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow you. And that for others of us that you would help us to take that step of obedience. For that calling that you've been bringing to us for many years now. God, would you give us courage to take these steps. We trust in you. We thank you. We pray that the mighty hand of our God would be upon us as well during this time.

Let's take a moment to confess our sins together, church. You'll see the words on the screen, the underlined portions, you can read along with me. Heavenly Father, you've placed us in this world with a purpose. You have given us gifts, resources, and relationships to participate in your work. But we confess that we often fail to see them as gifts from you. We complain about where you have placed us. We envy the gifts and opportunities you've given to others. We convince ourselves that we have too little to offer. We wait for some great calling while ignoring the people you've placed right in front of us. Forgive us, Lord.

God does not ask us to build His kingdom so that we might earn his love in Christ, we have already been loved, forgiven and welcomed into the family of God. Jesus Christ entered into our mess, bore our sin on the cross, and rose again so that we could be reconciled to God. And now because we belong to him, we are free to participate in his work, not to prove ourselves, becau but because we are already his children. Thanks be to God. Amen.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took a loaf of bread and he broke it. He said, This is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, This is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week at City on a Hill Somerville, we participate in a sacred communion meal that reminds us that the good hand of God is upon us. It reminds us of the gospel that his body has been broken for us and his blood has been shed for us. Let us stand if you are able as we prepare our hearts for the communion meal.

God, as we come to your table, we pray that you would meet with us again. That you would take my feeble words and use them for your purposes. That you would help us to hear from you again, that we would live into the calling that you've given to us, that we would not deny what you have for us right where we are. That you would help us to take those small steps of obedience that lead to big steps of obedience. And we ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher starts our new sermon series with Nehemiah 1:1–11. Discussion points: Nehemiah was a highly trusted and valued member of the king’s court, Nehemiah spent months in prayer over Jerusalem’s situation, confession helps heal our hearts and brings us closer to God and others.

Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 1:1–11] The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.

As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Preacher: Today we're starting a new sermon series through the book of Nehemiah. We will be spending the next 13 weeks going through the book of Nehemiah. And it's one of these ancient history books that we have, and sometimes someone will tell me, you know, Nehemiah is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and it's at that moment that I immediately know that this person is a liar and should not be trusted. Nehemiah is an obscure politician in ancient Persia. He's been given the task to lead a political movement to bring people to rebuild an ancient wall of a city that most of us haven't visited. A few of us have.

And it's really difficult on first glance as you read Nehemiah to see any devotional value whatsoever in this book. You read it and you're like, this stuff happened 2500 years ago. It's really hard for me to understand what is happening here. Yet, Nehemiah remains one of the most popular books for preachers and pastors to preach on week after week and year after year. And the reason why is because Nehemiah was a great leader. He, he really was. There's a lot of great leadership lessons to learn from Nehemiah, and so pastors love to preach on leadership lessons, but that's not the main point of the book of Nehemiah. Even worse, some churches use. Nehemiah as a kind of a fuel for like a building campaign. So someone might say, Nehemiah, was commissioned by God to go rebuild the walls. I want to build a family life wing on the west side of the building. Who's with me?

And that's the way that Nehemiah is often preached, but these are not the point of Nehemiah. These types of sermons reflect actually a deficiency in our ability to read and understand the Old Testament. Because what's happening in the book of Nehemiah is not a story of an ancient hero that we are to emulate. In fact, none of the stories of the Old Testament are really just stories of ancient heroes that we try to imitate with our lives. Rather, the book of Nehemiah is carefully placed by the divine author on high, written by human hands down low, so that we can see that our God is a God who keeps his promises. That is the main point of the book. That is what we're going to see as we walk through the book, week after week for the next 13 weeks, you're going to be seeing a God who keeps his promises.

The book of Nehemiah is really pointing toward the ultimate Nehemiah, the one who would leave his place of comfort in the throne room of God on the on high to be with his people, and at the risk of his own life, and in fact at the cost of it. Would bring his people into the city of God to make them citizens. It's really a book pointing us forward toward Jesus of Nazareth. So let's start our study of Nehemiah. Some of you brought Bibles this morning. I'm proud of you. If you brought a Bible here. I'll just honor you. You can hold it up so that you can be honored here. Some of you are like, no way that is happening for me. Anyways, there's more people than the zero that held up their Bibles just now. I, I do love it when you bring your Bible cause it means that you can follow along and you know that you don't just believe what I'm saying, but you believe what's in, in, in the word as I try to expose it and help us to see it.

This, the book of Nehemiah. If you were to, to look at your Bible, OK, so you've got in your Bible, those of you who are newer to the Bible, there's two testaments. There's Old Testament, New Testament. New Testament is Jesus and after the early church, and Old Testament is everything that happened before that from Adam and Eve all the way to Malachi, which was the last prophet, and then there's a 450 year, period of quiet, of silence. And so, basically your Bible is like mostly Old Testament and somewhat New Testament. I know this is really rudimentary for some of you, but it'll get more interesting here.

Nehemiah, where, so where's Nehemiah? Almost smack in the middle of the Old Testament. And so you might think that Nehemiah is a story in the middle of the Old Testament narrative, but no, it's doesn't work that way. The Old Testament isn't organized consequentially. It's not organized in order like sequentially, not consequentially. I don't know what that, it's not ordered sequentially, like that. The Old Testament is ordered by category. So the first category is the law and the, is the laws, the Torah. You have 5 books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And so after you get through the law, which is, it is sequential at this point, it's the earliest part of the history of Israel. You move into the histories, and there you have several books that span years and thousands of years of time from the time of the judges all the way to the final kings of the northern and the southern kingdoms.

And so as you work your way through these histories, what you actually find is that some of these books cover the same topics over and over again. You might read the same thing in different ones. Because it's different accounts and different perspectives on the same stories. But then at the end of the histories as we get to Nehemiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, then we move into the, the poetic books, and the wisdom literature. You have Job, you have the Psalms, you have the Proverbs. The Job is thought to be written before Genesis. And so in no way are these things sequential. They're, they're taken out of order and taken categorically, and then you move into the prophets. You have the major prophets and then the minor prophets. They're not minor because they're less important. They're just shorter. That's all that means. And so you have your major prophets and your minor prophets. So they're organized in a way, it's kind of sequential as you go through, but it's not completely.

And so when you get to Nehemiah, Nehemiah is not actually in the middle of the Old Testament. Nehemiah is at the very end of the Old Testament. This happened way after the, the events of David, way after the events of Moses. This is almost leading up to the time of Christ. And so, if you're going to really understand Nehemiah, you're going to have to understand basically the entire story of the Old Testament before you get there, OK? So let's go. All right. what, what I'm gonna do for you though, I, I do actually have to give a quick recap, and, but I'm going to make this as painless as possible. It's gonna be, it's, think of this as, you know, that bumper when you start a new series of TV, a new season of a series you love, and you're like, wait a second. This was complicated. I don't remember exactly what was happening, but they give you the little video that has like the tidbits of, of what you need to remember. That's what I'm going to try to do for you, OK, from the Old Testament.

So I'm going to try to give you the pertinent details leading up to the time of Nehemiah in 5 minutes or less, OK? Stick with me for 5 minutes. Here we go. Let's start with Moses. I'm gonna talk fast now. God leads his people out of slavery in Egypt and gives them the promised land of Israel. He establishes a covenant with his people and promises to be faithful to them. God warns that if they turn away from him, He will scatter the people as an act of judgment, but he also promises that when they return to him, he will gather them again. Now this is really important, this covenant with Moses, super important for all the scripture, but especially here in Nehemiah, a very important promise. If you are faithful to me, He, I will be with you always, but when you are unfaithful as a form of discipline, I will scatter you among the nations, and when you return to me, I will return to you. I will bring you back together to be your, to be people again.

OK, so let's fast forward to David. We're gonna skip a whole bunch of stuff that happened between Moses and David. David, he's a great king. most of us have heard of David, but from what I can tell, David is not an awesome dad. He has a lot of issues with his sons and his daughters, and he does not always, live faithfully as a parent. And we see that apparently with Solomon. Solomon, was the king after David, and Solomon, you know, was not the firstborn son of David. It was just the firstborn son of David's favorite wife. So, a little messy history there. there's a lot of stories actually about how Solomon became king, and I'll let you discover those as you go through chronicles and, and everywhere else in the, in the Bible.

It's actually a pretty riveting story. I got really into telling that story to my wife. This doesn't count against my 5 minutes. I was telling. I was, I read it recently and I got, I got so excited. I was like, this is awesome. Like the, the commander of a different, of a different son, he came and anyways, there was like, it, it's great drama. You just have to like slow down and actually read it, pay attention. OK, back into my five minutes.

So Solomon. He is a good king for the most part. He builds the temple to the Lord, but then at the end of his life, he actually builds temples to other gods, uh, from his foreign wives that he had married throughout the years, and he builds temples really close to Jerusalem to gods that aren't Yahweh. And so he's breaking the covenant. And what happens after that? When Solomon dies, the kingdom, it splits. You have a northern kingdom of Israel and a southern kingdom of Judah, and then you're the histories just go on from there. You have a succession of kings from the northern kingdom that are all rebellious, they're all bad. In the southern kingdom, most bad kings, a few good ones, that, that get rid of the high places, that get rid of the foreign gods, and they're faithful to God again. And so you get this glimmer that there might be hope, but then. They, they die and their sons, usually go right back into the same type of sinful behavior worshiping other gods.

And so you have just this repeated pattern of rebellion throughout the scriptures. This is just constant from Moses on that the people are rebelling against God. And so what happens? God completes his covenant and he scatters the people first. The northern kingdom falls to Assyria, and then second, the southern kingdom falls to Babylon a few years after that. And not only do they fall and they then become occupied, but as a way of controlling territory, these ancient kingdoms would actually move the people out of the land, at least the most important ones, would move them out of the land and would move them to their country. Where they're expected to live in a different country. And so in this country, this is what we call exile.

And so the people of Israel, Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom have been in exile for several years. Now, another country has come and taken over both Assyria and Babylon and Persia. And so this has all changed a lot over the past 70 years or so that they've been living in exile, and now we're catching up to Nehemiah. So what happens right before Nehemiah, you have the book of Ezra, and, and Ezra, the, the leaders, Zerubbabel and Ezra finally convinced the kings to let their people start returning. So they go back to build the temple, they go back to establish justice and have a cultural renewal, and then we have that, that's already happened. So we have two groups have already returned to Israel, and now we're ready for Nehemiah.

Now, Nehemiah is still living in Susa, is the citadel or the fortress of the nation of Persia. It's a, he is living in the king's palace, and we know that Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king. Now that might not seem very important. You might think, I would like a cupbearer, someone to hold my cup over here. That's what my son Rowan calls me from time to time. I am his cupbearer, as I follow him around with his water bottle, and, but. The cupbearer is actually a very important advisor to the king. To have that type of proximity to the king means that the king trusts the cupbearer a great deal. And not only that, but. This cupbearer, all the food that would go to the king eventually, the cupbearer would taste. So the cupbearer has to be someone very trustworthy, or you would never get in that position because if they weren't very trustworthy, they could easily kill the king. They could easily betray him.

And so having that type of proximity to the king made Nehemiah a very important person, made him part of the king's court. He may have potentially. been the most important member of the Jewish community at this time. He was a high ranking official in this foreign nation of Persia. And so we're prepared to start Nehemiah chapter one, even though he says that at the very end of Nehemiah chapter one, but Nehemiah chapter one, I just want you to think, OK, let's make this really epic, OK? Let's just think about it as if it's an epic television program that's coming out. It's a dark night. It's a little stormy. It's in the middle of November. It says it actually is in the middle of November here. It's Cheslev, so however you say that, but that's November in the Jewish calendar, so it's a dark, cold, stormy night. There's a mist in the air. Nehemiah is sitting in the, the, the palace. Surrounded by guards, he's sitting, he's lit by candles all around and opens the door. Sir, your brother's here.

Hanani, he walks in, he has his special forces team along with him, a small group that Nehemiah has commissioned to go and spy out the people of Israel and see how they're doing. And they come in, and Nehemiah says, my brother. Bring me good news. What is going on with our people? And Hanani draws near and he says, I fear not my brother. The people of Israel, there is a remnant remaining, but they are in trouble and great shame. The walls are crumbled to the city, and the gates are smoldering as though they've just been burned down. This is a huge deal. Nehemiah immediately, he starts to weep. The wall, it represented safety, it represented security. Not only did it keep all of the bad guys out of the city, but a city without a wall could never have justice, it could never have jurisprudence, it can never have a thriving economy because you require safety to have all of that sort of thing.

Nehemiah, he's broken down at this moment. It says that he prays from the month of Cheslev until the month of Nissan. Nissan, however you say that. He prays for those months, that's 4 months of prayer. And in fact, the entire campaign to rebuild the walls only takes a little more than 2 months. Nehemiah prays for longer than it would take him to actually accomplish what he did. I want you to see what he doesn't do. Nehemiah is an important guy. Nehemiah, he could have done what you or I would have done when we have an emergency or something major like this come. What do I wanna do when we have something important like this? Set a meeting, set some goals, get to action. Nehemiah knows the king personally. He could have gone in to see the king. Instead, Nehemiah falls on his knees and he begins to pray.

It reminds me of the Luther quote, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first 3 hours of each day in prayer. I think that everyone knows that prayer is an essential aspect of the Christian life. But very few of us would say that we are good at prayer. I think that I've never met a, a Christian who wouldn't say, I wish I was better at prayer. In fact, if anyone ever asks you, I'm gonna give you a little tip. If anyone ever asks you, how can I be praying for you? You, if you don't have anything to say, you can just say, you can pray that I would be better at prayer. And that, that's just a great prayer request. There you go. I gave you something you can use at least as we go through Nehemiah when we pray.

I'm gonna spend the rest of our time talking about Nehemiah's prayer because it's the rest of this chapter. And I want you to see these few things here, OK? First, when we pray. God uses our prayers to align his people to his purposes. God uses our prayers. He uses prayer to align his people to his purposes. You cannot use prayer to twist God's arm and get to give you what you want. Prayer is about aligning ourselves to what God wants. Because what God wants is ultimately what's best for us. It is the ultimate fulfillment of your deepest desires, is what God wants.

Now, second, And a mysterious tension with the first. You have to hold both of these together. You can't hold one apart from the other, they have to both be there. The second thing here is that God uses the prayers of His people as the means to accomplish what he wants. So not only does God use prayer to align our hearts to what he wants, but he actually uses our prayers. As the means to accomplish what he wants. Prayer prepares us to participate in God's work. Prayer prepares us to participate in God's work. We're gonna dive into this prayer of Nehemiah.

You're gonna see basically four things that Nehemiah does. What's the amazing thing is that they reflect what we did earlier in the Lord's prayer, that when Jesus taught us to pray, that his prayer looked much like Nehemiah's prayer did in Nehemiah chapter 1, and that as we learn from Nehemiah how to pray, we're learning from Christ how to pray. We're gonna be seeing it as a mirror for all of our prayers. So, let's dive in.

The first thing that Nehemiah does when he starts his prayers, he starts with adoration. Nehemiah starts with adoration. He looks to who God is. And he says this, oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments. Remember what I said? The point of Nehemiah is, the point is that we have a God who keeps His promises. And so here he is saying, oh Lord, God of heaven, you see how Lord is in all caps. That is the sacred name of God. Oh Yahweh, God of heaven. He's using God's sacred, holy name to address him personally. He says, great and awesome are you. This word for awesome. This is the same word that we might get for like our fear of the Lord. When you see the, the Bible telling you to fear the Lord, it's talking about our God is an awesome, not like in a cool, awesome, but like in a in a beyond words kind of awe and respect that we might have for Him, who keeps his covenant. And steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandment.

This word for steadfast love, it's a very famous word. It's a word that's used often to describe God's love. It's chesed, chesed. And the word said, it can mean it, it has such a rich meaning, it cannot be translated into English. I think that the best translation, my favorite translation of He said love is, found in the Jesus storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. It might be because I've read that about 400 times to my children, but, Sally Lloyd Jones puts it like this, that it's God's never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. That's the type of love that he has for us. And so Nehemiah, he starts with the adoration, and as we pray to God, we start with adoration. We think about who God is and what is true about his nature that we can praise Him for on this day.

And second, what Nehemiah does is confession. So he thinks about who God is and then he says, who are we? Confession. Similar to the Lord's prayer when Jesus says, forgive us our sin as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Which is kind of interesting that he would teach us to pray that way when Jesus never had any sin to be forgiven of, but he was just teaching us to be forgiven of our sin. And Nehemiah spends time confessing his sin. Listen to this verses 6 and 7. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant. That I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you have commanded your servant Moses.

I honestly think that confession is the secret sauce to prayer. I think that confession is the hardest part of prayer for most of us. But it is the part of prayer that actually shapes our souls the most. It is hard. Confession requires humility. It requires you to have this ability to say, you know what? I wasn't right. I did something wrong, but it also, here's the other thing about confession, and this is, I think the, I don't think that actually the problem with most of us is pride. I think that most of us would be willing to confess sin if we saw it. The problem for most of us with confession is insight. That we don't take the time to consider our words, actions, thoughts, and deeds, and the impact that they have on ourselves and on others. That we don't really consider. Instead, we're too entertained by short videos, one after the next, or we're too distracted by what's happening at work or with our family or whatever it might be. We, we don't have the insight to confess. We lack the ability.

And this may be why our prayers remain so superficial. Because we lack this insight. I'll give you a personal example. I wrote about this in the newsletter a few weeks ago, and so I'll just tell the story again. A few weeks ago, I had a friend, a well-meaning friend, a, a Christian brother who I trust. he committed to do something, and he didn't do it. And it wasn't a major thing, not a big deal at all, really. It didn't hurt me. It was fine. but he just, he didn't do it. And so I was tortured. Like, what do I do? Like this guy, he betrayed my trust. He said he would do something, but he didn't do it. I think I need to confront him. And so I was kind of tortured by this as I was just thinking, disappointed, disappointed in what does this mean for our friendship, disappointed in him.

And really, as I, as I considered, and, and so this is where it took a different turn, cause I woke up one morning and I sat on my back porch, which is the quietest place in my house, and I Just seethed on this for a little while, like I just felt angry. And then as if a bird whispered it into my ear. It was like, you could forgive him. Because what purpose would it be? If I was to confront him. He didn't do it on purpose, and it's not really part of his character to do this. I haven't noticed it as a repeated thing. It was more just, I wanted him to feel the uncomfort, the discomfort of having betrayed me.

But an alternative is that instead of holding it against him, I could forgive him. Because what was actually happening in my heart is I felt hurt. And then what was happening to the hurt? It was becoming bitterness. And then slowly after that, it started to become resentment, which is what happens to unchecked hurt in our heart. It slowly becomes bitterness and then resentment. And so while I may have been the one who has sinned against, the ugliest effects of that sin were in my own heart. I didn't need to confront him about his sin. I needed to be confronted about my lack of forgiveness. About my ability to hold on to resentment and bitterness, and to not let go and offer forgiveness. I confessed, I confessed my lack of forgiveness to the Lord, and God gave me freedom.

I didn't need to confront this friend. It's no one here. They're not hearing this. I, I'm not subtly jabbing at any of you. But that's the power of confession. It forces us to stop asking what did they do to me and instead start asking what is going on inside of me. If you want to grow as a person. Confession, it requires insight, but here's the beautiful thing about confession.

And here's what empowers us to do it. Charles Spurgeon once said, little sin requires a little savior, but my sin is great, so therefore my savior, my savior is great, so therefore my sin must be great also. Because Jesus has already paid for my sins, I can confess my sins boldly, knowing that my righteousness is not what makes me right before God. And the more I confess my sin, the greater he is made because he died for those sins, and it brings him glory to see me trusting him with each of my sins. Many of us, we bring shame into our confessions, but I encourage you, the Lord already knows, you can't hide it from him, to confess your sins to the Lord and as he empowers you to confess your sins to one another.

When it comes to confession, many of us probably had really bad role models. And I'm committed that we be a church where we stop some of the patterns of generational sin. That we received from our parents. Many of us here grew up in homes where we never heard an apology from our parents for our entire lives. And I am sorry. That's not how it should be. And I'm determined that we will stop the generational sin here, that we will have the insight to confess our sin to the Lord and to one another, and even the humility to confess it to our children, if we have them. Here's something that we say to our kids every day, when it comes to confession is that you can only handle your side of the street. I don't care what he or she did, you can only control what you did. And I think that that prevents us a lot of times from confession as we think, oh, this person actually sinned worse than I did. So therefore, I'm not gonna confess what I did, but that's not an excuse. You can only handle your side of the street.

Here's the most amazing thing in all of Nehemiah's prayer to me, is that Nehemiah is confessing sins that he did not participate in completely. That many of the sins of breaking the covenant as he's confessing those things were done before he was even born. he takes credit for it also. He says, me and my house, we've also broken your covenant, but he is confessing sins from a previous gen generation. Nehemiah isn't claiming pers personal responsibility for every sin committed by his ancestors, but he's identifying himself with the people of God. He refuses to stand a safe distance and say, look what those people did, but I'm good. Instead, he goes to God and he says, we have sinned.

Let's continue. The third thing that we see Nehemiah model with prayer is scripture, what God has promised. We have these monthly prayer meetings and we've done them more often than that, maybe we'll get back to more often than monthly, and one thing that we always say during our prayer meeting is that we want to pray from the riches of God's word, not the poverty of our own hearts. Because when I am left to just pray, what I'm thinking, I don't have good thoughts. But when I study the word, the Lord gives me insight and he gives me the words to say. God loves for us to use his word to shape our prayers, and that's what Nehemiah does. When he's going through this, he points out different scriptures. Nehemiah knows his Bible. He's quoting, he's riffing off of Deuteronomy. He's riffing off of probably some words that Daniel had said just in the previous generation or just a few years before Nehemiah, and he's quoting these important things.

Look, verse 8, remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the people. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them. Though you are outcast in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I've chosen to make my name dwell there. And here he's basically paraphrasing Deuteronomy chapter 4. As we meditate on God's word, it fuels our prayers. And so if you want to grow in your ability to pray, I would encourage you to spend time in God's word and praying God's word back to him. And if you want to learn what that looks like, join us at a prayer meeting. We would love to teach you what that looks like as we do it together.

And then the fourth thing that we see, Nehemiah, and it's kind of the thing that we default to when we are praying is supplication. What we're asking God to do. How many of our prayers look like a request list to the Lord? But that's not how you have a relationship with someone. If my kids only brought their requests to me, it would not be a good relationship between us. Do you, any kids in the room need to hear that? Uh. Instead, they have, we have to relate with God as he is our Father, as he cares for us. We use the scripture to pray back, we confess our sins, but we also ask God to do things. Supplication means it's prayer request, it's an act of asking God for something. And he doesn't get to it until the very end.

Verse 11, 0 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to hear your name. And give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now when Nehemiah says this man. I just want you to know that that is disrespectful and pejorative, because who he's talking about is King Artaxerxes. And King Artaxerxes, when Nehemiah goes in, in just a few verses, he goes, you know, 4 months from this prayer, but a few verses from now, he goes into the king's throne room, and he gets down on a knee and he says, O king, may the king live forever. But here when he's praying, he's just like, this dude, give me a favor. To Nehemiah, he knows that the true king is on high. And that the man next door is just a dude, just a man.

It reminds us of the passage in Proverbs chapter 21, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. and so we will see as we move into this next chapter, what happens as Nehemiah goes into the king to get permission to, to lead people back down to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. It's a story of restoration. It's a story of revival. It's a story of, of recapturing the wonder and what God can do. And it's a story of a God who keeps his promises.

Nehemiah, it's a fantastic book of the Bible that deserves to be preached, even if it's not preached in the same way that many do. Before God uses Nehemiah to build the walls of Jerusalem, he uses prayer to rebuild Nehemiah's heart.

In conclusion, Nehemiah's prayer points us toward Jesus. Jesus sought his father in prayer at all times. As he taught us with the Lord's prayer. He was constantly allowing himself to be shaped by prayer. And in his final hours, and he's found praying in the garden of Gethsemane. Where he says, if there's any way for this cup to pass, Father. May it be He's asking for another way. To accomplish God's purposes, but then Jesus says quickly, but not my will be done, but yours be done. Jesus taught us to pray, not my will done, but yours. And it was the will of the Father for the Son to die on our behalf. Jesus, He is our mediator. He takes our prayers as broken and feeble as they are, and he takes them to God, he prays on our behalf. He makes our prayers worthy of the God Most High.

Nehemiah is preparing to go out of his place of comfort in the palace and to lead the people of Israel into the promised land again to rebuild the wall and give them safety. But Jesus, he goes out of his place of comfort in the throne room of God and leads his people into his place, which is no longer a land, but it is a people, it is a church, and one day we will also occupy. The city of God. We also will be found in the new heavens and the new earth. Nehemiah succeeded at building the rebuilding the wall, but it was only a partial success. Because at the end of the book, spoiler alert, Nehemiah kinda goes crazy. He grows his hair out long and he starts to beat people, for breaking the covenant again. And we see that though Nehemiah can rebuild the wall, he cannot rebuild people's hearts.

And so we need a greater Nehemiah, one who can actually rebuild our hearts and lead his people to His place. And so each week, and this weekend in particular, we take a moment to confess our sins together. And so I'm going to encourage you as we get to confess our sins, as we consider what Nehemiah has shared with us, as we consider what God has shared with us this morning, confession is such an amazing opportunity that we have to allow our souls to be shaped. And so, we're going to be confessing using a, a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. And so if you would speak these words along with me as we prepare our hearts to confess.

Most merciful God, we confess that we've sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. Amen.

The good news of the gospel is this, that though we are sinners, Christ died for us, and that if we confess our sins, First John chapter one. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm gonna give you a moment to confess. A moment to have a just an inkling of insight into your life. I don't know what you're struggling with or what the Lord is bringing you to. But it's an opportunity to confess any places of unbelief. Strongholds that the enemy might hold in your life. There's freedom. As we confess. So just where you are take a moment. As we confess our sins, we're reminded that God is faithful. And that as we confess our sins, he allows us to enjoy his presence. But he's faithful, and enough. That your sin has already received punishment, brother and sister. You don't have to be punished for that once again. That Christ has done enough for you.

Each week, God reminds us of this, of what he's done for us through a sacred meal that we call communion or the Lord's supper. As we participate in this meal, we're reminded that Christ's body was broken for us. His blood was shed. On the night that he was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and he broke it, and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup, and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this remembrance of me. And as we participate in this meal, we're reminded that God is with us in a real kind of way. Though he is not in the bread or the juice or the wine, he is with us. And so I encourage you, if you are a believer here today, to come and receive this meal, if you're walking according to Christ. With that being said, I'm going to invite us to stand as we pray together and prepare our hearts to respond over the next song.

God, as we prepare our hearts for this communion meal, would you bring us life and peace and joy and patience? Would you, help us to connect with you, to hear from you. God, we pray for the sacred meal, that we would enjoy your presence, that we would enjoy the freedom that comes with confession, and that you would teach us to pray as we ought. We ask all of these things in Christ's name, Amen.

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Acts 17:16-34. Discussion points: We want to have a gospel witness strong enough to shape our very influential city, Paul preached the gospel to the Athenians with passion and perseverance, we ask God to work in our church to make us a city on a hill.

Preacher: [Acts 17:16-34] Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities," because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you're presenting, for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean."

Now, all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: To the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods in the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. As even some of our own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring.

"Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone and an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world and righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this. He has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, "We will hear you again about this." So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom were Dionysus, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

This is the word of the Lord.

Nearly 400 years ago in 1630, a group of pilgrims boarded a ship in England called the Arbella, and they set sail for the New World. And in their journey across the Atlantic, the future first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a man named by the name of John Winthrop, delivered a sermon, and the sermon was called A Model of Christian charity. The sermon has been better known as the city on a Hill sermon. This sermon has entered the national psyche of what it means to be an American. It's been quoted by almost every single American president. Everyone since Kennedy has quoted this sermon at length at some point during a speech.

In the sermon, Winthrop argued that they must form a different kind of society in the city that would become known as Boston. A society that models the virtues of charity that are found in Christianity. He argued that they must found the city upon the ideas of mercy and justice, and that when one person in our society suffers, everyone suffers. Drawing from Jesus's famous sermon on the Mount, John Winthrop proclaimed that we must be a people that can be a beacon of hope, shining the light of Christ back to what he called the heathens in England. Sorry, English, those of you who are with us today, we, we don't feel so poorly about you.

This is what he said. He said, for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are watching, are upon us. This is where the nickname for the Boston, city has become City on a hill. To this day, Boston is still known as the city on a hill. if you were around a few years ago, there were buses with an advertisement on every bus in the city that said A City on a hill starring Kevin Bacon, because there was a Showtime television show called City on a Hill. It was like a crime mystery. I never watched it, but it had Kevin Bacon in it and it was set in Boston. So you see, before Boston was a city, it was actually a sermon.

Boston area is a far cry from this vision that we shall be a city set upon a hill. Boston is still a world leader in many different areas. We're still leading the world in education. We're leading the world in healthcare, and biotech. We're even leading the world in drunk sports fans. Well, maybe 2 to Philadelphia. But we are leading the world in many different ways. The opportunity in Boston is amazing. Boston is disproportionately influential. The Boston area currently ranks as the 8th most influential city on the global index, so the global cities index. So, every year, these people put together a list of, a ranking of cities based upon global influence, and Boston ranks number 8. Which is surprising given how small we are. While every other city on this global index is this huge megalopolis, you know, you've got your New York's, your LA's, your London's, your Paris. Boston, relatively a small area.

The reality is that Boston does not just produce graduates, it produces the people who run the world, the policies, the research, the institutions, the ideas that travel everywhere and shape how the world works. And so, just to give you, just to pose a question for you today as. Many of you are believers in the greater Boston area. What do you think would happen if a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit swept through our city and caused thousands of people to become followers of Christ? Think about the potential that you could see not only in this city where our ideas could shape and honor Christ by the way that we live our lives and the way that the society that we formed, but globally. As people take these ideas into their home cultures as they go throughout all the world as leaders, as people who have been equipped to lead throughout different cities and nations. Businesses would be changed from merely seeking a profit to seeking God's kingdom.

As a City on a Hill network of churches, we exist to recapture this vision for our city. We exist to shine the light of Christ into a spiritually dark city, one neighborhood at a time, so that the world might see Jesus as he truly is, the redeemer and King. Over the past 6 months, the leaders of each City on a Hill Church have been dreaming together about what God has called us to be. And so I'm happy to present that that vision to you today, that today is a vision Sunday. It comes with all kinds of exciting things. We've been, we're each church is presenting the same vision in very different form. We didn't work on our sermons together this week of all weeks. we didn't work on them together this week, but we're presenting the vision that we have come together to form for what it means to be a city on a hill church and what we're seeking to accomplish together.

And as we have crystallized that vision of what it means to be a City on a Hill church, it has come with a fresh, like a vision. It's come with a fresh logo, fresh branding, a fresh look for the, the church as we've crystallized. Our values, we've wanted to see those reflected in our visuals as well. So I'll be able to share that with you, later on. Our central belief as churches, as a network of churches in our city is this, that a city that shapes the world demands a gospel witness strong enough to shape the city.

When I was presenting this, it was actually to AB, a few months ago. I was kind of showing him some of the stuff, getting him ready for, for how we're gonna present it and everything, and he said, I, I think I get what you're saying. It sounds like you wanna be an Acts 17 type of church. And I said, that's a good idea. And so today we're basing the passage out of our, our scripture from Acts 17 to show you what it means to be a faithful witness in a city that is like Boston. because the closest similar city that we have in scripture to what we have in Boston is the city of Athens.

Athens was this historic traditional city, well known the world over as being a leader in intellect, philosophy. It's being an education leader. It was a city that was filled with historic, intellectual and cultural leaders. It was a city filled with artists, philosophers, intellectuals, and tourists, and it was a city where the gospel had not taken root. And so in many ways, when we look at the city of Athens, we see a paradigm for what it means to be a faithful Christian in the city of Boston. And so I wanna walk through this passage together, and then I'll present more of our vision as we, as we do that.

Verse 16. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So Paul was waiting. Who was he waiting for? He was waiting for Silas and Timothy, because this is a great story. I just have to include it. It's not actually in the passage. It just happened earlier in Philippians 17. Paul, Timothy, and Silas, they were traveling from city to city on a missionary journey to tell people about Jesus. They get to a city named Thessalonica. We did a series on Thessalonians not too long ago. They get to the city of Thessalonica. They're there for like a couple of weeks. And then people get really angry because they're there and proclaiming the good news of Jesus, and an angry mob collects and chases them out of the city.

So they have to get out of Thessalonica very quickly, but the damage is already done. The church is established. He has to write them a letter later on. And so they run to Berea. They get to Berea, and they're there trying to start another church, and they succeed there as well, but they're working in the in Berea, and what do you know? The mob is crazy enough from Thessal Thessalonica to chase them all the way to Berea, to chase them out of Berea. So what happens is Paul gets on a boat, he, he sets sail for Athens, and he waits on Paul, and he waits on Timothy and Silas there. He leaves Timothy and Silas in undercover back in Berea so that they can start the church while he moves on to Athens.

So Paul is solo at this point, he's walking around Athens, and when you're walking around Athens, what do you notice? If we go to Athens today, what would you be seeing? You'd be seeing altars, you'd be seeing places of worship, you'd be seeing statues dedicated to the Greek gods. If you've seen, the Odyssey, if you've Seen Percy Jackson, you know what I'm talking about. We got, we got Zeus and the boys, we got Athena, we've got all the different, gods of the ancient Greek, culture. And so he's walking around, he's noticing all of these statues, these idols, and he says that he saw the city was full of idols.

Verse 17. So he ran, so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happen to be there. And so Paul is doing this thing where he's going to the religious center and he's making an argument for who Jesus is there, and then he's going to. The marketplace, and the marketplace isn't the grocery. The marketplace is a, a place where people came together to share ideas and they would argue about things. They might buy things also there, but it was this place where ideas were shared, where he shared with more of the secular people of Athens.

And I want you to notice just one thing that that happens here. What does he not say? He doesn't say, woah, the city's too far gone. There's not enough to start with here. No, he goes in there, he engages, he listens, he goes into the intellectual center of the city, and he preaches Christ. And verse 18, it says this, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also converse with them, and some said, What does this babbler wish to say? Others said, And he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Now, the original readers of Acts, many of them may have known who the Epicureans and the Stoics were, but most of us, unless maybe we have a degree in philosophy, don't know who the Epicureans or the Stoics were. And so I had to go back and look, and I, I'll give you a basic summary. This will not do justice to all of their beliefs. That is not my goal. This is not a philosophy lecture. But let me give you just a little bit about who the Epicureans and the Stoics were. Pretty much everyone in the ancient world believed in God or the gods. There was no one who was just purely secular. That was very rare.

The Epicureans, they believed in the deities, but the thing is they just believed that the gods were completely uninterested with human life. And so what the Epicureans more focused on was the fact that all of us are made up of atoms or particles, and that what's real in life is what you can feel, what you can taste, and what you can touch. And when you die, you just die, that there's nothing else there. In other words, there was no divine purpose governing your life and no meaningful existence beyond death. They believe that what you can touch or observe is all there is, and when you die, that's all there is. Now what does that sound like? A bit like Somerville. OK, let's continue.

The Stoics, on the other hand, believed in all kinds of gods. They were pantheists, believing that God was found in everything. The Stoics believed in the underlying principle of the logos or the Lagos, and with the Lagos, we have this idea of a rational principle that bound together the entire cosmic order. And so we actually see many of the writers of scripture engaging with this idea of the Logos, especially John. He engages with the Stoic idea of the Logos. And what you see with the Stoics is they might not be quite religious, but they're very spiritual. They believe in a spiritual purpose behind all things, that all things are kinda bound together, and what does that sound like? The other half of Somerville, right?

That we have the, we have the materialist on one hand, and we have the spiritual, not religious on the other hand. You've got the Epicurean saying, I believe what I can see, measure, and prove, and the Stoics saying I'm spiritual, but I'm not really interested in organized religion. So, while the Epicureans and Stoics were quite different, they found common ground though in one place, they didn't like Paul. And as Paul argued for the deity of Jesus and the resurrection, they were not compelled to believe him, and instead, they said, what does this babbler, yes, that's an insult. What does this babbler wish to say? What is he trying to prove to us today?

And so what they decide to do is take him to what they call the Areopagus. Now, Areopagus is a word that just means hill of Ares. So the ancient Greeks, they had gods. Then one of the gods was the god of war, Ares. In the Roman society, they called that same god Mars. And so many of your Bibles as you grew up, you may have learned that this was the sermon on Mars Hill. It's the same thing here, but it's just a different translation. We have the Areopagus instead of Mars. I will say Mars Hill is a lot easier to say than Areopagus.

This hill was a meeting ground for the cultural and intellectual elites of Athens. The Areopagus was a place where the civic and philosophical leaders would gather. So just imagine that you have a gathering of the Somerville and Cambridge politicians along with the, the faculty of MIT and Harvard, and you kinda have a bit of an idea of what it was like to speak with Areopagus. They were the cultural elites at the time. And so Paul is taken to them, and he does not miss a beat. I love how bold Paul is. Now he's well educated. He, he presents himself well, but listen to what he has to say, verse 22.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, for I passed along and observed the objects of your worship. I found also an altar with this inscription: To an unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. And so Paul, as he was walking through the city of Athens, he noticed all of the different altars dedicated to the different gods of the ancient Greek world. And then he came across one that really caught his eye, and it said to an unknown God. And they created this altar because it was a bit of like a spiritual insurance policy where they said, what if we're missing one of them? Wouldn't this God be angry with us? And so they made another altar and said, The one we might have forgotten about, that we didn't give an altar to, may you be appeased also.

But Paul sees this as an open door. He says, what you worship as unknown, let me tell you what I know of him. As Christians, we don't claim to have everything figured out, but we do have an announcement that God has made himself known. And here's how Paul says it. It's very different than how he would present it in the temple synagogue. The way that you would present the gospel to irreligious people or to philosophers has to be different than the way you would present it to religious people.

And here how he says it. He says the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man. So here he's he's contradicting what they believed already. Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives all mankind life and breath and everything, and he made from one man every nation of. Mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

This is interesting. Well, this is an interesting way to present the Gospel, as he's declaring this to folks who believe all kinds of things, like we might believe. And maybe you found yourself here this morning in a similar place to where these Athenians may have found themselves, where you might be spiritually curious. You might believe in some sort of deity. You might look at the fine tuned nature of the universe and the fact that all these things are quite coincidental that we would have a planet where we can be habit where we can live and where we can. Thrive and how we can get to this place in society and be created in this way, and maybe that leaves you wondering, is there actually a God? There sure seems to feel like there is one.

And what Paul would say is that you should seek this God, and perhaps you can even feel your way to him. He is actually not far from you, currently. Maybe you've been a believer for a long time and God feels far from you at this moment. The same is true for you, that you can come near to God. Paul told the Athenians about the triune God, the one true God who has reigned eternally throughout eternity past and into eternity future, and who so loved the world, he sent his very own Son, the one who would come and who would live the life that no human could ever live. He lived an entirely perfect life free from sin.

And then he bore the death that each of us deserve to die. And as he bore that death, he took on the sins of the world, so that we might be counted righteous in the sight of God, so that our sins could be placed on him, so that we can receive His righteousness. And after he died, they took him and laid him in a tomb. And on the 3rd day, he rose from the dead. And as Paul continues to describe this, when he gets to that part. And he says, and he rose from the dead. That's always the part that catches everyone. Because while that might sound common in our ears, if you listen to that, like it's the first time you've heard it, it sounds crazy.

And not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but he promised resurrection to all those who would believe in him. And so the invitation today to you is just the same as the invitation was in Athens 2000 years ago. You can receive the resurrection from the dead. By placing your hope, trust and faith in Jesus, that he's called men to repent, that now is your opportunity to turn from the things that you live for today and to live for Christ. And if you have not done that for the first time today, I would encourage you to do that. I would love to walk through that with you. Undoubtedly there is someone here who has not made that step, and the invitation is so open. But for those of us who do follow Christ, the invitation is still so open that he still calls all men to repent, that we can experience more of His grace and his power and his truth through belief and repentance as we continue to live those things out.

So how did the people respond in Athens? As he proclaimed these truths to them. How did the people of Athens respond? Usually as pastors, we like to think about Paul being this hero. We think about the, the sermons from the Book of Acts. We think about the time that Peter preached the gospel and 3000 people got saved. And so as church leaders, we think, you know, if we could just do it right, if we could just get all the pieces just right, that people will respond and it will just be revival all the time. But as Paul preached this, what did they say? They mocked him. They mocked him. It was not revival. You can't manufacture revival. The church in Athens, it grew, but it grew slowly.

Verse 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. And so you see when you're reaching people who don't have the same framework of religious activity that you might have grown up with, it oftentimes takes more than one conversation. They said, we'll hear you again about this. That is if you talk to a friend about Jesus and they say, I'll hear you again about this. Praise the Lord like that, you've won, like as long as they're not mocking you, like keep going, basically.

And people did come to know Christ. The the scripture says that some men joined Paul and believed, among whom were Dionysus, a member of the Areopagus. That's amazing, this person that was well respected academic, and a woman named Damaris and others with them. And so just as God built his church in Athens through the slow proclamation of the good news of Jesus, he's doing the same in Boston. What does Athens teach us about Boston? If we wanna reach our city, we have to be willing to engage in thoughtful reasoning and conversation. This is our calling. We're to be a city set upon a hill within our city.

And second, we shouldn't expect this, explosive growth in a city like this. When Peter preached in Jerusalem, 3000 got saved, but in Athens, it was just a few. Boston is far more like Athens than Jerusalem. Jerusalem might be more like Atlanta. Sorry, I'm gonna throw some strays in Atlanta there. You go plant a church in Atlanta, you're gonna have a lot of people pretty quick. but nothing is impossible for God, of course, and so we pray for revival, but God brings the growth.

And so for the past 6 months, the leaders of our churches have been asking a very simple question. What would it look like for us to be faithful to do that together? This is a key moment for the life of our churches. We have 4 city on a hill churches, each one, it, it's kind of unique. It's a unique model of church. Each church is completely. Autonomous. Each church has their own budget, their own leaders, their own 501c3. Everything is individual. And so over time we've kind of been drifting in different directions as we've been led by different leaders. But right now, we haven't planted a church in about 5 years. And right now we have two churches ready to be planted in the next 2 years. We're planting a church in Lower Mills, Dorchester, and next month, and then we're planting another church next year in Newton.

And as we plant these two new churches, we decided that it's time to get on the same page about what it means to be a City on a Hill church, to get on the same page about how we can work together. And so we've been working very hard to do that. we've, we've grown over the years, and, and one of the things that we've done as we've reached maturity and as we've grown in different ways is we, each church has taken their own identity, and I'm proud of that. I don't want to look like the other churches. I'm proud of our Somervillian, identity here. If anything, we should be known for, it's our independence here in Somerville.

But that might not be great in every way because while we've adopted new core values at our church since we launched and those being that we're sound we have sound doctrine, gospel culture, and multi-ethnicity, all things we care about a lot as a church, but we're trying to shift to all get on the same page so actually everyone in the network is changing their core values today so that we can be on the same page. No one. Got to win that argument. We all are changing to something different. And so with that in mind, I'll, I'll present to you some of the language and style that we've come up with.

You've already heard the belief statement, a city that shapes the world demands a gospel witness strong enough to shape the city. And here's our, our vision of Boston where the gospel has taken root in every neighborhood, and the city that shapes the world is itself being shaped. Our core values are shifting away from sound doctrine, gospel, culture, multi-ethnicity, although we still believe those things, they're still baked into our core values, as you will see. Our new core values are gospel, family, and sent.

So first gospel, that Boston, like Athens, is a city that thinks it has all the answers. But we witness to the eternal God who is the only one who can save. And so we are all about helping people to experience the story of God in their lives. That is at the heart of everything we do.

Second, family. I wanna be very careful when I say family. Family does not mean that we are a collection of families, as I preached just two weeks ago, we very much value those of us who are single, but rather family is descriptor of what type of community that we should be. That we are not just a community, but we are a community that functions as a family. Boston produces people who are credentialed, connected, and profoundly alone. The gospel forms belonging that crosses every cultural line, in a city that's driven a community that looks like heaven is the evidence of a God who is near.

And finally sent. Boston forms people who shaped the world. We form people who who are sent back into the world. So equipped with the gospel, living visibly in our neighborhoods, vocations, and community. Our city is exceptionally transient, as many of you have experienced over the years. It's like if I have to say goodbye to one more person, don't tell me today. It's one of those days, OK? If you're leaving, it's OK, you can tell me. I don't care,. But we, we, we hate it in some ways, we mourn when we send people, and I've always seen it as a bug to our system, but I'm starting to see it as a feature instead of a bug because we get to equip people with the good news of Jesus, equip them to live life on mission, and then we get to send them out.

What, what if we recognize the great missionary potential of a city like Boston? What if Boston isn't just a city that we're trying to reach, but what if Boston is a city God is using to send missionaries into the world?

And so, while words communicate vision, we've also refreshed the visual identity of city on a hill. The goal isn't to be a different church. Hopefully you see that the things that I'm saying really just reflect who we are, and it isn't just a new, it's not a new vision, it's more just a better description of who we are. And so I'll give you the visual, representation now. So we, we start with some of these ideas that are core to who we are, but it's light being this idea that we, we are the city on a hill. The body made up of different images and different shapes and shapes and sizes, every member of the body is different. And then the city where we, we come together and we seek the good of our city, and it comes to this logo. Oohs and ahs are OK, you know, oh, thanks. Yeah, I like it too. we'll keep moving.

OK, so there's the light. You can see the light radiating from the center, and I go to the next one with the body being different shapes and sizes around the side. And you also, you can see the C, but it's a cool one where, where the H's are hidden in there. You guys see the H's yet? Yeah, that's right. That's right. And then you have the city, and so you can see the logo almost like it's looking down at the top of the city on a hill, like it's the, the top, that's kind of cool. So yeah, that's the new logo and we'll keep going. There, there's, there's our new way that it looks, yeah, we'll just keep flipping through here. we're we're just gonna embrace CoaH. I mean, people call us CoaH. CoaH feels like insider language to me, you know, but it stands for City on a Hill. We'll just live, we'll just embrace it. It's OK. Welcome, CoaH.

OK, and then here are our colors. Yeah, each congregation gets like a default color that they'll use whenever the, the congregations are distinguished differently from one another. And so our color, which one do you want? Not We're, we will be, that's rust, thank you, not orange. we will be gold, OK? They, they know what they're doing, yeah.

400 years ago, John Winthrop dreamed of a city on a hill. But there was something profoundly wrong in his vision. This no human city is ever meant to represent the kingdom of God. Rather, the Lord has placed his church to represent the Kingdom of God. And when Jesus proclaims in the Sermon on the Mount that you shall be a city set up on a hill, he's not talking about a city or a nation, but he's talking about a people who live within the city.

And so in many ways I see John Winthrop's sermon as well intended, but wrong, and that we are living out what his what the better intentions would be. God has called us to be the light of the world. He's called us to be His people, to carry that light into the darkness. And so I want you to dream with us, to dream about where God is taking us. What would happen if the gospel really took root in Boston? What would happen if our neighbors encountered Jesus? What would happen if people came to Boston, met Jesus, and then carried that gospel to new nations? And what would happen if this city that has spent centuries shaping the world was itself shaped by Jesus?

If you're new here, we're really happy that you're here, and the reality is a lot of you are new here today. We've had a lot of newer people come, and I've said this before, but if you've been here more than like 3 times, you're not new anymore, OK? so now we lean on you and invite you to join with us in these dreams and on this mission. this is a, a particularly good moment to join us because you get in on the, on the, on the first floor, you get in and, and be able to be invested in this new fresh, articulation of the vision.

It's a great time because we have a membership class next week that you can jump into. Really great first step to getting to know us better and learning about the church. We also, our community groups are launching soon, and there's lots of places for you to jump in. But more than anything, I want you to know that what we're, what we're asking you to join, we're asking you to join us in the mission of seeing Boston and the entire Boston area shaped by Jesus. May God make City on a Hill a people who shine with the light of Christ into every neighborhood until the city that shapes the world is itself shaped by Christ.

We're gonna take a moment to pray, to offer up some confession to the Lord, to ask him to forgive us and to to receive assurance of what he has done for us. As we cast this vision, this big vision, we want to give ourselves opportunities to recognize the places in our hearts where it's not true yet. And so if you would, I have the prayer on the screen and you can speak the underlying portions along with me.

Our Father, you have called us to be the light of the world, a city on a hill whose light cannot be hidden. But we confess that we have often hidden the light. Lord, forgive us. We have been afraid of what our neighbors might think of us. We've avoided difficult conversations rather than lovingly speaking the truth. We've been more concerned with our reputation than with your glory. Lord, forgive us. We've been tempted to retreat from our culture, to despise those who think differently than we do or to believe that some people are too far from you to be reached. Lord, forgive us. We confess that we have often lived as though our comfort mattered more than your mission. We have received the good news of Jesus as though it were only for us, forgetting that you have sent us into our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools and communities to make your goodness known. Lord, forgive us. And yet God, we thank you that the hope of your church does not rest on our faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of Jesus. He is the true light who came into the world. He died for our sin, rose from the grave, and has brought us near to you. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

On the night that he was betrayed, Christ initiated a sacred meal that we partake of every week here at City on the Hill to be reminded in a physical way of what he has done for us in the spiritual realms. He took a loaf of bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week we practice this sacred meal, so that we can be reminded of what Christ has done for us, that his body was broken, his blood was shed, and that we have unity with him now, today in the spiritual places.

And so if you are a believer here today, we encourage you to receive this meal, to be reminded of what Christ has done for you. So with that being said, let me invite you to stand as we prepare ourselves to respond.

God, we thank you for the vision and mission that you've given us. We thank you for a church that we get to do it with. God, we thank you for making us family. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you for sending us out. God, we thank you for those that we've been able to reach. We thank you for the newer Christians in our midst. God, we thank you for being persistent in our lives. God, we thank You for our church network that we get to work with together. God, would you bless each of these things. That we might know you, that we might experience you, and even now as we take the sacred meal, would you prepare our hearts to hear from you? And would we be able to dwell with you. Help us to respond as your people have responded. God, we pray for anyone who has not trusted in you with all of their heart, would today be the day. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Ministry Associate Calvin Chu preaches from Colossians 3:20-21, read for us in Hindi. Discussion points: God does not relate to us as a “because I said so” authority, our primary responsibility to our children is to raise them to know and love God, as adults we continue to honor our parents in the Lord.

Scripture reader: Good morning church. Our scripture reading today is taken from Colossians chapter 3, verse 20 to 21. I will be reading from the Hindi Holy Bible, and you can follow along in the English version. When I finish reading, I will say, this is the word of the Lord, and we will all finish by saying, thanks be to God together.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Morning, church. I have to admit, you all read it, I'll, and, you know, unless you also speak Hindi. But you, you all read, and I'm gonna reference the passage, but obviously we've got a lot going on here, both kind of the parents and children, and for me when I was preparing for this message and when, when I think about this, just even like in my own reflections. I gotta admit to you, I'm actually really bad at both sides of this kind of picture.

I, like many of you, am a millennial, and in many ways, that means I'm a bit of a bridge generation. And so what do I mean by that? I'm a son of immigrants, but most importantly for this morning's purposes, I'm a son of boomers, which means I grew up with the assumption that the parents were the authority and the children obeyed, and if I asked why the answer might simply be: Because, because I said so, exactly. We, we have a shared experience. I'm glad we're all here together. And so then my responsibility was to obey. There was no need for an explanation.

But now, I'm raising children in what feels like a very different culture, right? The one that's taught us to listen to children, to validate their emotions, explain our decisions, and give their preferences a much greater place in in family life. And so like the concept of like a yes day, if I'm not sure you guys know what a yes day is if you have kids, you kind of know what it is. If you don't, then you might not. Yes day is like where like parents are like we're gonna give, we're gonna say no, we're not gonna say no at all today. Everything's gonna be a yes and like that concept would be just totally foreign to my parents that they would not know what that word kind of even means, in the sense of the request that I'd be asking them. It would have never crossed their mind.

And so sometimes I look back at like the parenting that my parents got to experience, with a little bit of like envy because it's like they had this luxury of justifying their requests and commands with only because I said so. And then just walking away. And there was, there was an expectation to sort of that I would blindly obey. They were royalty, and I was the subject.

Meanwhile, my role now feels more like a consultant. Presenting a slide deck to a well thought out and calmly delivered options for my children, the clients whom I'm supposed to serve. To that they kind of help them decide and choose between all these perfectly valid options. And so my because-I-said-so card is collecting dust in a box in the basement, because I never get to use it.

Of course, I'm, I'm mostly kidding. Actually, I do think a lot of what's changed in parenting is, is genuinely good, but I do think that I've sort of inherited this interesting problem where, again, I was raised in a world where parents were not questioned, they were the central authority, and that shaped me as, as I was a kid who grew up to become a parent with this, you know, my formation was with that type of parenting. And now as this parent with bringing that sort of expectation, that sort of background, as some would call it baggage, I'm now raising children in this world that's, you know, where children are actually often treated as the center of the family. So I, I feel like I missed it, right? Parents were the center of my parents, and then now my kids are kind of the center. It's like, where's my chance to be the center, and it's never gonna come. It's OK, it's all right.

So then. So thankfully, thankfully God doesn't operate in this way, right? God does not, you know, have this. God actually in this passage gives us a lot, and I, I'm going from a bunch of other passages to, but really, we're gonna see from this passage and others, what can we gain from the understanding of parent-child relationships, like how are they supposed to actually work, and what does that teach us about God's design for all human relationships, not just parents, and, and children. Because I, you know, I know that not everyone here is a parent, and you know, I make no assumptions, maybe not everyone here is a child, and I totally get that. So with that being said, thanks on the three of you who got that one.

Let, let's pray, and we'll, we'll look to these passages are talking about. Father God, I just thank you, because obviously we are all children and, and we, but we all know that we come from different places and not even just like physical locations but the, the upbringings that we had, the generations that raised us, the, the family makeups, parents who were there, parents who were not, parents who were, we would consider good, parents who would consider not so great and complicated relationships and.

And so Lord, I know that we, we may bring a lot of baggage with us in this topic. Maybe we don't really like thinking about it or talking about it, but God, would you help us see that it is a part of your scripture, and so it can inform us, and, and even if we're not parents, it can inform how we can, approach all human relationships, but knowing that we are all children, then maybe it'll also help us form and think about how we relate to our parents as well. And Lord, we thank you, that you hear our prayers and pray that you'd be with us as we look at your word and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

OK, so, one of the core premises of, of, of, the morning's kind of reflections on, on scripture is, we obey our parents, right? We see that in the first verse, and our parents refuse to provoke us, right, the second verse, because these relationships reflect the state of our submission to God. So how we relate to our children and how we relate to our parents is, is very often a reflection of how we are in our, the state of our submission to God.

And so clearly Paul gives us commands here. Children obey your parents. Fathers don't provoke your children. But before we get into that, I think it's really important to take a step back and really ask us this fundamental question of why. Like, because we can jump into it, and I, I could give us, we could do parenting tips, we could do, you know, how to, how to become adult, parentified children. Oh, we could, we could do the whole thing, but that's not really what we're here for. We're really here to understand our relationship to each other in this larger, you know, relationship with God.

And so to get to that, we have to really ask ourselves why. Like why should a child want to obey his parents, right? Why should a parent care about whether their approach discourages their children or not? And why should we obey any command that comes from God that we read in scripture, right? Because that question why can be asked of every command that God gives, every command that we read in the Bible can be asked why.

And so, so, again, to, to kind of put it around this, this section of, of the Colossians specifically, you know, maybe you don't remember, but verse one of chapter 3 says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. If you were raised with Christ, seek the things where Christ is. And then verse 17, which was before, right before this. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. So whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of Jesus.

And Paul is describing what happens to a person when he or she has been raised with Christ. Jesus becomes the central driving force, this hub of your life. So that you no longer organize your life and orient your life around the old self.

See, before the Holy Spirit came and opened up our minds and our hearts and our eyes to see our sin and our need for Christ, we naturally organized our lives around us. What do I want? What makes me happy? What makes me comfortable? What do I think is right? Before Christ I was the why. Before Christ me was he or she. Before Christ, before the Holy Spirit changed us fundamentally, we were all about ourselves. And now that we've been changed, it's now about him. And as we grow closer to Christ, this mentality of this old self begins to fade. And so then we can, you know, grow in this way that Paul calls us to live.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whatever you do. Not just what you do at church or a community group. We're serving, you know, in meals ministry. It's in everything that you do. Not just the obviously spiritual parts. But in your marriage, at work, in your friendships.

And as Paul makes very explicit here, how you relate to your children and how you relate to your parents. Which brings us to verse 20. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Take note here, Paul does not say, Obey your parents because they know better than you. It does not say obey your parents because they are always right. Obey your parents because they're smarter than you. It does not lay any of those grounding for the understanding. It says because it pleases the Lord, for this pleases the Lord. God, God's pleasure is the ultimate reason for obeying our parents. And so essentially, you and I obey our parents ultimately, because you want to please the Lord.

An astute reader might notice, go, wait, hold on a second, Calvin. Yes, it says that verse 20 says, obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. But it doesn't actually say anything. There's no actually parallel statement for the parents. There's actually a whole other set of reasoning. But again, we find the same motivation even in the, the section where, where Paul is talking about kind of ordering your household, ordering your, your, your home. Again, verse 17, I already read that whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Verses 23 and 24, after this, whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord, not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive an inheritance as a reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. And verse 4:1, masters treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you have a master in heaven.

And so if all those things are true and all these other human relationships that we fall underneath this ultimate authority. Whatever authority parents have over their children, that sits underneath God's authority. You have been entrusted with children. If you are a parent here, you have been entrusted with children. And your authority over them is ultimately an assignment from the Lord. That means, yes, the parent, you as the parent have authority, but not absolute authority. And that means a child owes you obedience, but not ultimate allegiance. Because both parent and child are standing underneath the same Lord.

So what does this mean like practically, like theologically, OK, like, like we get it here, OK, God is above all, God, you know, orders these things and and puts them in place. But what does it actually mean like in the day to day? It means that in your relationships with your children or with your parents. That relationship is one of the primary places where your relationship with Jesus actually gets lived out. Not everyone will have a romantic partner, not everyone will have a spouse, not everyone will have children, but everyone will be a child. And everyone will have a parent.

And so how we understand that relationship, how we navigate that, how we show up in that family relationship is a reflection of your love and submission to God. And so then if, if, if pleasing God is the central piece of all of that, then I think the natural question is, well. Why should I want to please God? Right, it's not lost on me that this can sound like obey God's commands because it makes him happy, so just do it. Like almost like the, the, the, the God version of because I said so. Right, it's like, well, God said so, so we just gotta do it, right? And so, OK, well then I'll just obey you. I'll, I'll follow the commandments and, and then all everything that God tells me to do.

I think there's, there's so much, there's so much more here because I, I think if we were to approach it that way, I think it'd feel hollow. And I think that there are actually a lot of people who in the, in the name of Jesus or, or, or they, they think they're following Jesus do hold a perspective of following God's commands in this very shallow understanding that says, OK, well you said it, so I'm gonna understand it.

I was listening to, a, a sermon last week, Tim Keller's sermon was on First Peter, which actually, I, it definitely informed some of my thinking here, but he's got a really great, illustration. He says people will come up to him and say, Pastor, I wanna take God, following God, really, really seriously. He's like, Great, that's amazing. And they go, very often the first question is, so I read in the Bible that tithing is really important, and so like, you know, we, we understand that to be like kind of like 10% of, you know, my, my, my money, and so Pastor, should it be like pre-tax or post-tax?

And then Tim Keller, you know, his, his response was. Isn't that like a funny way of looking at it, right? It, it is, it kind of scratches this sort of hollow, shallow understanding of love and appreciation of God's, you know, grace and God's mercy and God's generosity. It says like, what's the best thing for my taxes? Like what's Fidelity gonna choose here, right? What's, what's my financial consultant gonna think is better here? And it's going to these short end of the stick to God view. When the perspective is kind of not really there, understanding that everything that is ours is already God's.

And so you know, I, I understand that some of us may even be there right now, and, and we may even feel like, OK, well, God, you're, Calvin, you're, you're, you're, you're telling me that God is calling me to, you know, to, to obey Him. It, it almost feels like conditional love. what we read in the Bible, he talks about unconditional love. Right, and there's nothing in the scripture that says we have to earn his love, and, and, but when I hear this, I, I feel like I almost have to do things, obey Him so that I can win his favor.

And I think especially if we carry a lot of baggage with from our parent relationship with our parents who maybe did do that, they maybe had the expectation that we would earn their love, that it was conditional, that it could be taken away, sometimes we carry that into our relationship with God too.

Growing up, my mom was a, a a furious parent. She was incredibly impatient, incredibly short tempered, like everything set her off. When I was young and I didn't like finish like, like some bits of my food, I would be like, oh, like, do you, do you want like this piece of, you know, whatever, steak or chicken or whatever. And she'd say to me, in Cantonese, like, I don't wanna eat your leftovers. Like, oh, [Cantonese] like I don't want, I don't want the, the, the, the, the ends of your saliva basically like kind of translated. It's Cantonese, is just a fun language. And so then I remember one day where she like didn't finish her food and she was like oh do you want again it was all kind of like it was all cool like it wasn't whatever. And I said back to her that phrase and I, I remember it being like fun but maybe I don't know I was not the greatest kid so maybe I was there was a little bit of barbs there, but she got so angry. Cause she was like, you're talking back to me, and she got so mad, she took the bowl of food, she slammed it on the ground, it broke and like a a shard of the bowl cut my dad's leg and had to go to the hospital. Like she would fly off the handle, like she would be really, really mad.

So needless to say, I finished every bite of food in my house. You know, from that moment on. But growing up with a mom like that, like I got really good at submitting to her authority, right? Like I, I did what I was told, but it wasn't out of love or desire to like please her. It was a desire to placate her, to avoid her wrath. Right? I mean, I, I praise God that God changed her heart. You know, when we healed our relationship before she passed, but I, I, I, I share this with you as an example of sort of like not what God is calling us to. God does not want us to have a view of him, God does not wanna have a view of our parents that is like that, where it's more driven by fear and, and wrath avoidance than anything.

Christian obedience isn't about trying to get God to love us or about avoiding his wrath, it's actually quite the opposite, we obey because we've already been loved. Peter puts it beautifully in in first Peter one, verses 14 to 15, which says. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. I'll give 16 too. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

And when we hear holy, we often think moral. But Peter is not quoting, in, in, in Peter here, he, he's, he's quoting Leviticus. He's not thinking about morality. He's not thinking about moral. He's, he's actually talks about how in that part of Leviticus it talks about these items, these, these, these like bowls, they were made holy. They were holy. And what that means is they were set apart for a specific purpose. And so what makes something whole is that it's been, but something is holy is that it's been set apart for God's purposes. So when we read, you shall be holy, for I am holy, it says, you should be set apart for my purposes. Like I am set apart for my purposes. I am entirely other and I expect that you will also be entirely other because you are loved by me. You belong to me. Right?

I don't know if you had this when I was growing up we had like. So, growing up in an immigrant home, like, you know, we're kind of multiple cultures, right? So my parents were from China, like southern China, Taishan, and then, Hong Kong, and so then they, they're carrying all their culture with them, and obviously some things were being left behind, family, memories, all that stuff, and they came here and then they would like slowly like, become integrated into the American culture. Right, and so, it, it would play around in different things and being kind of like bicultural, like we just did, we were. Like BTS wasn't a thing when I was growing up, like, like being Asian is like way cooler now than it was then. Like they're like Asian stand-up comedians, like an Asian stand-up comedian would have been like, would just it would have been very. Margaret Cho, she would have probably the only one at the time, you know, I'm not trying to go all there, but.

We gathered different aspects of American culture. And so one thing that we had gained through, I don't know where my parents got this idea, but they're like we should have fine china. OK, and we should have a dining room set. I will tell you, friends, we never used our dining room, and I understand that's also kind of American culture. Like no one really uses their dining room or whatever. But we, we, that I, that fine china is probably still in that like the cupboard, you know what I'm saying, that like the cupboard with the door and like the special drawer. I don't know. I don't even know what it's called, but we had it and it just collected stuff, and we just never used it.

But had we used it, that fine china would have been holy to an extent. It would have been set apart for a very particular use. It would have been set apart for a very specific purpose, and it wouldn't have been used for any other thing, but only that specific purpose. And my hope, my prayer, friends, is that you will be holy. Not sitting in a cupboard. A china cabinet, I think that's what it's called, a china cabinet. Just collecting dust.

Because God has set you apart. He says, be holy, for I am holy. And so the call for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ is to be holy, be set apart, accomplishing the purposes that God has for you, and a part of that is obeying him. Not to get in, not to be on the inside, not to be then become special, you're already special. Jesus already died for your sins. So then go and be the special that God has set you apart to be. Because you're already God's child, live like one. He's given you this new identity, it came first, now the behavior follows. And so then out of that, you can say I love and trust the Lord. I belong to him. Therefore I want my life to please him. And again part of this is obeying our parents.

Or put it another way, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. That is exactly what Paul is bringing into the family in Colossians chapter 3, verses 20 to 21, and honestly the whole thing. A child obeys because he, this pleases the Lord. The parent refuses to provoke his children or her children, because this is how someone who belongs to the Lord exercises authority.

This parent passage shows us that the parent-child relationship reflects the state of our submission to God, which is why we should actually want to obey it. Not just tolerate it.

And so then like. How does it actually look like to live this way? I, I think this is where the, the, the Christian vision like of this differs from kind of the extremes that we, we can touch upon so far. The answer isn't put the parents back into the center. We need to go back when parents had real authority and children knew their place, nope. Nor is it we need to make the children the center. Everything they want, their happiness is central to everything, build everything around them. Children are the center, no. I think the, the Christian answer, and this will feel a little bit like Sunday schooly, but the answer is to put Christ at the center. Christ needs to be the center of our family relationships.

So I, I wanna start here with a, a kind of brief word focusing on parents, and I know that not all of those are parents, but this is clearly a responsibility that parents have to establish first, right? A child cannot initiate obedience and then parents fall in line to, to, you know, not frustrate their parents, their, their children. So the foundation starts with us, for those of us who are parents, right.

So then if Christ is the center of the parent-child relationship, then the goal of parental authority is to help form children into people who know and follow the Lord. Right? The, the, the, the, the reason that God gives parents authority over their children is so that they can help form their children into people, adults who know and follow the Lord, not just simply children who comply, and not, not even just you know, compliance to us as a parent, but also again, not this blind, hollow, shallow compliance to God's commands. It is a true following of Him that we're called to.

If my kids only obey me when I'm standing in the room, which is a very, very regular occurrence, by the way. That if I only do that, then I've only taught them compliance. I've only taught them to work hard when the boss is looking. And then they'll apply that to their relationship with God, so they're gonna be great in church. They're gonna be great in the youth group. They're gonna be great when whoever from church is around, but once they're gone, they're gonna be something else entirely. Where they gradually learn to recognize what is good, desire what is good, and eventually choose what is good, even when I'm not there. That's much closer to what scripture calls maturity.

That is my call, that is my command from God is to raise children who do that. Which is why Paul immediately follows the command to children with the command to parents, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. God knows how easy it is to get this wrong. Catch a mom or dad on the wrong day, you'll see them frazzled. You'll see them very short. They're super nice at church, incredibly friendly. Passing the peace is amazing with them. Catch them on the wrong day with their kid. Oh yeah. God knows how hard it is, so that word provoke sort of means it has a sense of like irritating or embittering and discouraged carries a sense of losing heart or losing motivation.

So this verse essentially is about parents guarding the inner life of your children. Creating an environment where they can see possibility, not just failure, or an impossible standard to meet. If we don't do this, they may carry that excess baggage into their relationships, even their relationship with God. Ask any pastor, ask any, you know, counselor who has a, a, a, a biblical world who, who can openly talk about that. Many people carry that baggage into how they see God. That is your charge as a parent. Is to help your children become adults who know and follow the Lord.

But then there's another side to this, parents. It's not just about making your kids feel good all the time, which is a real temptation if you're on social media and you follow parenting Instagram or TikTok reels or whatever, you can see that I gave my kid this and he's so happy. That is a real pressure that parents feel, and there's a keeping up with the Joneses of how happy are my kids compared to how happy are your kids. But that is not the goal either. Sometimes parents need to say no. I know that's hard, that might be controversial. Sometimes before a child can, even before, sometimes a child can really understand why.

A toddler's not going to grasp electrical currents. And so when they get the fork and they're trying to plug it into the wall, you say no, bad, don't do that. You can try to explain, you can do your best, and I'm sure it'll be great. Right, it'll be fantastic, but they're just not really gonna go., they're, that's just how kids are. So some that, that's your responsibility, and then, and if you take the fork away, you just, just try it. Find a young kid to if they're trying to do something with them that's kind of a little off, take it away. You will see them tears, crying, slamming head, punching, all of that. And if you, if you buy into the idea, well, no, my baby's feeling bad, he or she's not happy. I need to make, OK, well, here, here's the fork back. Oh, you look how much you love Daddy. Look how much you love Mommy.

Right, what's the, what's the more loving thing? What's the more loving thing, saying yes and harming your kid or saying no and protecting them? So a boundary isn't a failure of gentleness. It's a part of formation. And so one question I, I think is helpful as we're thinking about like navigating this is, is my decision for my child to follow Christ, merely reinforcing my own control, or simply protecting my child's happiness at all costs. In the moment they can all feel like all valid. But if you're a follow Jesus, only one of them is the goal. Only one of us in the goal. Which is that we were forming them to follow Christ.

Spend time talking with the parents, thank you non-parents for being patient. Let's talk to you now. What is this, what, what does, what does this actually mean for us, because most of us aren't living in our parents' place, right, and the, and the kind of being under their roof, being under their authority. Right, so then I, I think sort of the thought process is, do I still have to obey my parents? Like, you know, I, I, I don't have to know if that's the right question to ask. I think the right question to ask is what does it mean for me to relate to my parents now that I'm an adult.

Because don't leave here being like Calvin told me I need to obey my mom and dad, and so they, they told me that I should quit my job. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put my two weeks in on Monday. No, please do not do that. Calvin said I gotta obey my parents, and they, they want me to, to break up with this person. So listen, I'm gonna text you right now. My mom and dad said we can't be together anymore. That's not what I'm saying, OK? Please don't do that because your, your, yeah, your, your, your loved ones will come find me.

So, so I understand that relationships with parents are complicated. I myself have understood that you've seen a little bit of that. And some of you have like really amazing parents. Some of you have parents who are super wise, they love the Lord, they've given you good counsel, you go, you, you have a weekly call with them, maybe even more frequently than that now, and you love it. And when they speak into your life, you probably are gonna really weigh it as an option.

Some of you have much more complicated relationships with your parents. Maybe they're not Christian, maybe they're not emotionally mature, maybe they made some serious mistakes. Or maybe they weren't around that much at all. Or maybe in a room with this many people for some of us. Maybe they used their authority in genuinely sinful or abusive ways. And if that's you, I, I wanna kind of say very plainly like. It's probably really hard to hear things like obey your parents or honor your father and mother. Like that's not lost on me. I, I totally get that. Cause it feels like I'm almost kind of making you relive a painful history.

And if that's what you're at, like that's OK, like, you know, maybe I've already lost you and that's OK, but tune out the rest of this message that, and then, but I would hear this if that's where you're at. And you haven't like talked with like a a counselor or a pastor about that like I would really encourage you to. Because if, if you want to, you know, whether you're in, maybe you're in a romantic relationship now, maybe you want to be in the future, maybe you have kids now, maybe you want to have kids in the future, I'm, I'm gonna tell you that that stuff follows us along. And a counselor could really help you navigate that and I think our church has resources for exactly that and I, you know, would love to connect you if that's where you're at. There's no shame. There's no admitting defeat if you are reaching out for that sort of assistance. I said, if anything, that's very brave and very wise. So please, I, I hope that you would, you know, explore that.

But then kind of practically for for the rest of us, what does this actually look like? I think it's really important that Paul gives us two different commands, not one, right? We have obey, and then in, in Ephesians chapter 6 there's actually a parallel passage in Ephesians chapter 6, which talks about, it says, oh, you know, obey your parents. But then he also goes on to say honor your father and mother. And I think that's really, really helpful to understand because. Sometimes it feels one and the same.

I know my parents definitely felt that, you know, growing up in, and again I, I don't, I talk a lot about my, my like culture today. I don't always do that. Sometimes I do. Being Chinese American, we have a really unique, maybe it's not unique, it's unique to me because that's the only culture I, I knew. I was never raised, you know, any other culture. So, it was, it was really interesting because like I'm kind of still the kid if that makes sense, even though there's like multiple generations or I guess one generation after me.

And, and this is embodied because, my grandma, so here, so look at this right. My mom in Cantonese was calling me Ah-jai, which means like son or like kind of like basically like son. But then my grandma would also call me Ah-jai, and so like, but there's not like a grandchild, and then, but the thing is my grandma would also call my uncle Ah-jai and so that there'd be like interesting family hey Ah-jai, and then they'd be like, yes, I'm like, oh they're not talking to me, they're talking to the other one, even though like my uncle's like pretty significantly older than I am.

And then like with my kids, maybe this is like a Chu family thing or yeah or whatever when my kids were when Miles, my, my eldest was born, they'd call him up B as in BB like but they they like calling it short, but then when, my Silas, my youngest was born, they call him Sai B, which means like little baby, like the smaller baby, and I forget what they call my nephew, but I think it's like extra small B like. And so, like these, these monikers never really leave us, if that makes sense. And so we're kind of always seen as like children.

And so, I, I think that the, the, the factor that's kind of here is. I think my grandma definitely, although I'm I'm a bit older now and she's much older too. I think that she kind of thinks, you know, honoring her would be obeying her if she would ask for something that that I would go do it. But Paul breaks it down that this actually those are not exactly the same. Obedience is not the same as honoring. And so I put it this way: Obedience is listen and do. Honor is listen and consider. Cause obedience, I think that belongs to childhood, to a season where you generally don't yet have like the wisdom, or the insights or the, the, the, the vantage point that your parents have, and so they're teaching you, right? Electricity, bad. Not electrified good, that's hard for a toddler to understand, so they should obey.

But I think honor is broader and I actually really think it extends beyond, in, into the rest of your life and the rest of their life. It doesn't disappear when obedience ends. And so I think if my grandma were to tell me, hey, can you go get me this. I'm not doing it out of like, oh, this blind obedience, I'd have to do what my grandma tells me. I do it because I think it would honor her. I do it because it shows that I care, it shows that I love her. And so it's less that she's making me do it, even though I, I definitely felt that way when I was younger, I'm not, you know, for sure. But when I do it now, it's because of love.

Same with my dad. My dad is like obsessed with, he's just really started like he's really into like racket sports right now. He discovered pickleball, so like he got to me. He's like, Calvin, can you order me a pickleball paddle and a pickleball bag? And oh, we have, I have a, I have a, this is totally aside, not planning. I have this bag. It's like a small little bag. I'm, Oh Dad, I have a bag. He, he looked at it, he goes, Oh no, no, can I get like a real pickleball bag? So anyway. And so my dad makes these Amazon requests. All the time. I don't do it because like my dad, dad, oh I hate you so much, no. It's it's, it's because I know we have this established relationship now. Where I, I, I, I could say no and he would be kind of OK with it, but I wanna say yes. I wanna be able to, with the years that we have left together, do something for him, to honor him, so that he has memories of his son not fighting him about buying, you know, badminton racket.

And I think that's what honor looks like. I think it means that you take your parents' counsel seriously. You take their requests seriously. You don't dismiss them reflexively and just be like, quiet you, just because you're an adult. But I think it does mean humble enough to say, maybe you don't, you see something I don't. Maybe you need this help because you actually can't do something. Maybe I can. I think it means there's a sense of gratitude and respect and care for them as they age. And this may be the hardest part, but maintaining a relationship. You know, assuming that that relationship can be healthy and possible.

But I, again, it's not the same as obedience, it's not the same as unlimited access, it's not the same as unlimited trust, it doesn't mean sugarcoating and pretending harm wasn't there for those of us who have that. It doesn't mean obeying sinful command just because it came from a parent. It doesn't mean staying in a relationship that continues to wound you. You could tell the truth about your parents' failures and still refuse to let bitterness define you. You can set a boundary and still speak respectfully. You can forgive someone without handing them the same access to your life that they once had.

On the other side though, if your parents like are wise, are faithful. Then I think honor means don't let like this, this thing in the air, the ether, that says like, I don't need to listen to you because I'm old now, I'm grown now, so I don't need to care about you because I could do my own thing. I know better. You know, I don't think maturity is refusing your parents' counsel or refusing your parents' calls. I think maturity is being able to receive it but not be ruled by it.

And I think the reason that both of these are possible throughout the entirety of our life is because God is the one that's there. The parents are never your ultimate authority. Christ is. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. The phrase is so important. And Paul is placing this parental authority inside the lordship of Christ, the real authority, the ultimate authority. And all the stuff that comes from the parents is delegated, it's accountable, it's limited. And so, you know, your life, your decisions, your obedience is never theirs ultimately to hold, it's his.

As I wrap up here, I, I think there's actually a really interesting reason that Paul kind of puts it all under Christ, and not just because it's a Sunday school answer. But in the relationship with Jesus and the Father is a reflection of us and our parents, right? I get not one for one necessarily, but Jesus, who was equal with the Father, Scripture tells us that he learned obedience through what he suffered. He did nothing on his own accord, but only what he saw the Father doing, which is the basis for him to do what he called the Father called him to do. He submitted, giving his life, dying on a cross. Being made new again in submission to the Father. But he didn't do it so that he could earn the Father's love, he was already loved, and that's why he did it because it was a reflection of his love to him. But the Father did not do more than was necessary to save us. It's not like the Father said, I'm gonna crucify you 12 days every single year for the rest of eternity. He didn't do more than he needed to do. He did the bare minimum and it was enough, and then it was declared it is finished.

And of course we cannot be Jesus, we cannot be the Father in our parent-child relationships. But know that is the ultimate authority, the ultimate authority who sits over us is the ultimate authority who not just gave us an example in Christ, but through Christ's sacrifice made it possible for us to obey. Because left to our own devices, and I think we can all maybe admit this, some days easier than others, but left to our own devices, we would never choose to obey. Because we are always gonna wanna orient our lives around us.

So if you're here, my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, maybe you know Jesus, you've known Jesus for a long time, maybe this is not really the call. To ask ourselves, who is my ultimate authority? Is it Jesus? Is it my partner? Is it my boss? Is it my friends? Is it society? And I hope, I pray, that for yourself and if you're a parent for your children. You are continually, perpetually orienting your life around him, so that you can make yourself someone that knows and follows Jesus better or creates an environment for your children or your future children to do the same. Let's pray.

Father God, this is heavy for me to preach because I know that later today I'm gonna mess this up. I'm gonna lose my temper, I'm gonna be impatient. I'm, I'm pro, I might even be mean to my dad. God, I know that I fall so short of the goodness that you have shown me. But Lord, I thank you that there is forgiveness for when I fall short. The blood of Christ which makes it possible for me to obey, also washes my sins, washes me clean, makes me whole, makes me new, restores us. So we can continue to work and to grow in this way.

And so for every single one of us here, would you move us to grow in this way? To trust and submit to you knowing that you are the ultimate authority who loves us, cares for us. Regardless of how good or challenging our parents were, regardless of how good or challenging our children relation, the relationship with our children are. And God, may we continue to grow in trust and faith in you. And pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.