Sun 3 Sep 2006
3 September, 2006 - You Can Make A Difference.
Posted by Chuck Holton under Sermons
You Can Make A Difference
Message: The Potential of Great Beginnings
Nehemiah 1 (September 3, ’06)
Dr. Larry Halsey, Senior Pastor
Download and listen to a podcast of this sermon.
Several years ago, I pulled up on my motorcycle at a stop light on Harper Road. Unbeknownst to me, a group of our church teenagers and their leaders, were also sitting at the light, returning from an activity. Donned in leathers, full helmet and sunglasses, I was pretty much incognito.
They got into an intense discussion about whether or not that was Pastor Halsey on the motorcycle. Several said,
“Yes, it’s him.”
“In a leather jacket, on a motorcycle? “No, it’s not him.” Others agreed,
”Is too…”
”Ain’t neither.”
Probably no one has been subjected to more stereotypes than preachers—…fat, chicken-lovin’, dour, rigid preachers.
Yet spiritual leaders don’t always look like we expect them to, do they?
They come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and backgrounds.
There is a notable OT leader who doesn’t fit the mold. I don’t know if he rode a motorcycle but at first glance, he seems to be…
…the wrong person,
…at the wrong place,
…at the wrong time.
In the introduction to a biography of the 19th century preacher Rodney “Gypsy” Smith, the writer says,
“A gypsy camp is the last place from which you would expect a great
evangelist to emerge.”
The inner circle of a powerful Persian king is the last place you would expect for find a Jew, destined to make a difference, to emerge.
His name is Nehemiah; Let’s turn to the book that bears his name. Nehemiah chapter 1.
Read Verses 1-3.
There are four words that summarize the message of this dynamic book… The first is:
*Rebuilding—Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer, becomes a construction
foreman, then a governor.
This book speaks to us in times when God sets to rebuild our lives after a time of sin, disobedience, or spiritual auto-pilot; perhaps a marriage that has be weakened by pressure, problems or moral failure.
*It speaks to the building of our lives—as new creatures in Christ Jesus.
*Its principles promote healing in a church that has been torn by sin or
disunity!
The second key word is:
*Leadership
It’s a “Leadership for Dummies” guidebook for leaders and would-be leaders wherever you find yourself serving: at home, at your job, at school—any place where you have responsibility as a leader or a follower. If you…
…want to learn how to impart your vision to others, Neh is your book!
…(If you) want to learn the nuts and bolts of teamwork…
…how to deal with severe opposition…
…practical help for dealing with stress
…(If you) want to learn to inspire others with integrity…
…to understand the power of persistence…
Nehemiah is for you! I’ve intrigued by how often secular leadership
writers reference this book of the OT!
The third key word is…
*Difference-making
Deep inside each of us, God has placed a desire to make a difference, not just to take up space, or tread water.
Nobody is picked to be on a team and then wants to sit on the bench. Nobody gives a gift to somebody else and then hopes that it is never opened.
Nobody devotes years of service to a company and then plans that when they
retire, nobody will notice.
Nobody dreams of dying and then having an unattended funeral…Or a trivial
obituary— The most spiritually significant phrase reading, “he was of the
Baptist faith.”
We want to make a difference…I became aware of this during the last year of seminary, when for almost four years, we had been dad and mom to 12 mentally disabled young men. I never questioned that what I was doing was impacting lives. No one else did.
One day, a visitor stood in our living room, looked around and said emotionally, “You are serving in the Garden of the Lord.” I thought, “Lady if you only knew. There are days around here when it’s more like “the garden of the devil.”
We resigned, moved to an apartment; I got a job at Planter’s Snacks. Forty five hours a week, in the heat of a southern summer, making these babies: Sweeping, inspecting, boxing. It took no skills at all.
There were times over the next six months when the only way I staved off boredom and an incredible sense of unimportance, was imagining a family on a picnic…laughing, talking…enjoying a can of my potato chips.
Nehemiah says, “You can make a difference.” no matter what kind of lie stage you are in; no matter how unapplauded your life seems.
The fourth word is…
*Inspiration
During the Viet Nam era, General Westmorland, the chief of military operations, reviewed a group of paratroopers, asking them about their role in the military.
”Son, how do you like jumping out of these planes?” he asked one soldier.
”I love it, can’t wait,” he said.
”And how do you like jumping?” he asked another.
”It’s the greatest experience of my life, sir!”
Turning to a third man, he asked: “And what do you think about jumping?”
”I hate it,” he said.
Puzzled, Westmorland implored, “Well, then, why do you do it?”
”Because I like to be around people that jump, Sir!” he said.
As we move, scene by scene, through this book, if you are open, Nehemiah’s spirit will rub off on you, because he was a man willing to jump.
In the words of William Carey, we are exhorted and inspired in these pages of sacred Scripture, to “attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.”
This study could not come at a better time as construction of the worship center continues and the challenge set before us by our leaders finish the auditorium (top level) debt-free, summons our best prayers, commitment and sacrifice.
Left to ourselves we will always gravitate to the comfort zone…the place of least sacrifice and resistance, to wallow in the status quo, which Howard Hendricks defined as, “the mess we are in.”
During his illustrious career as head coach of the Dallas Cowboy, Tom Landry—a committed Christian— was having lunch with a group of church leaders, when the subject turned to the whole role of how you do what you do when you’re a professional football coach. Landry answered without hesitation, as if he had been thinking it through for some time:
“My job,” he said, “is to get men to do what they don’t want to do in order to
achieve what they always wanted to achieve. That’s what coaching is all
about.”
That’s what the book of Nehemiah is all about.
From the opening verses you are griped by the vision, commitment, courage, convictions and compassion of this man.
Living in the comforts of the king’s palace in Persia, he asks some recent travels to Palestine, what they saw in Jerusalem. This is the report, in the words of Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase, “The Message,”
“The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad
shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble;
the city gates are still cinders.”
There are several words there that catch your attention:
”exile survivors?”
”still rubble?”
”still cinders?”
Nehemiah, who is Jewish, had never been to Jerusalem. But his great grandparents has been part of a holocaust of sorts. The Babylonian king Neb and his armies invaded the southern Kingdom—Judah. It was an Iraqi style invasion except the educated and skilled people were kidnapped to Babylon, 1000 miles west (modern Iraq).
Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire. And after 70 years in captivity, (as Jeremiah has prophesied), God touched the heart of pagan King Cyrus and he, having a different foreign policy, announced that the captives could go home- There has been three kidnappings (“deportations); There would be three returns.
…50,000 returned under Zerubabel. The vision was to rebuild the Temple.
80 years later a priest/scribe Ezra led 2,000 home, concerned with rebuilding the people—revival.
Twelve years pass and it’s time for a third return. That’s where Nehemiah comes in. He’s on an evening walk (Josephus says) and he happens upon his brother and some friends…
”You just returned from Jerusalem?”
”How are things?”
”Indescribable!”
The report is sooooo depressing.
The word translated ”great distress” (in verse 2), means- Misery or calamity
”reproach”- Conveys the idea of “sharp, cutting, piercing”
The Jews were being verbally shredded by pagan enemies of God who occupied the region.
This scenario passes right over our heads because we are 21st century Gentiles. “Big deal, who cares about a wall?” We’re talking about Jerusalem! The Holy City! Three things are precious to the God-fearing Jew: His land, his language, His city—Jerusalem.
Former Prime Minister, Meacham Began, expressed the Jewish consensus well. He was asked,
“Would you consider dividing up the city of Jerusalem, and perhaps
sharing a part of it with the Arabs and PLO?” He replied, “till the last
drop of blood falls from the last Jew in Israel, Jerusalem will never be
divided, and will never be surrendered.”
A wall in that day meant several things:
1. Protection.
The enemy could be kept out by a wall. They had watchmen on the walls to protect the city. In the ancient world there was a saying: “A city without locked gates and lofty walls is no city at all.”
2. It also meant separation.
A city had identity by its walls. It was distinguished; it was made special by its walls.
3. Anticipation.
The wall of Jerusalem was a testimony to those around of what God was going to do in Jerusalem. In Ps 50:2, the city of Jerusalem is called the perfection of beauty (check out). It didn’t look like that in Neh’s day; it was in shambles.
A ruined wall, reflected upon the character and power of the all-powerful God! The enemy would look at the city and say, “They worship the true God of the universe, but He can’t build them a wall. They follow the God of heaven but He can’t keep their walls up.”
By the way, did you know Daniel made a prediction that the wall would be rebuilt “In troublesome times.” (Dan 9:27). Why is that important? Because of the anticipation that one day the Lord would send the Messiah, who would die on a cross outside a rebuilt wall for our sins and the sins of the world.
His inquiry about the city, becomes a burden to see the wall rebuilt. The burden becomes a prayer— and God answers that prayer, He says to Nehemiah, “Go, build the wall.” The Psalmist writes: “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of our heart.” ”Lord, I want a light blue BMW!’ No! When you are delighting in Him (His person, His prerogative to make the plays; to call the shots) that His desires becomes your desires! Answered pray is just an expression of His will and purposes!”
The wall is rebuilt in 52 days—An incredible miracle of God.
The first six chapters have to do with the building of the walls of Jerusalem. The next seven chapters highlight the reviving of God’s people.
Three Timeless Principles:
1. God has his people in unbelievable times.
You see, the more difficult the times, the more definite the testimony. Don’t ever let the difficulty of the times cause you to be discouraged. Never get idea that because we are living in difficult days that God can’t get his work done. Oh no! The work of God does not depend upon favorable times! The work of God depends upon the power of God!
2. God has His servants in some very unlikely places.
Don’t ever get the idea that there are some places that are off bounds to God; that men can close the doors and God can’t get in.
I know it’s hard to believe in times like these: God still has His people in Washington, DC. There are some people in Washington who love the Lord. There are!
There are people up there who are praying just like we are; who are studying their Bible just like we are! People who love Jesus just like you and I do! And God can do his work in a difficult, difficult place.
He has placed many of your in a difficult place, to shine for Him! He is using you. Some of you are shining amid unpleasant, challenging circumstances!
God is using you!
3. You Can Make A Difference
What does it take to make a difference? When Neh arrives in Jerusalem and challenges the people… You find a down-trodden people eager to glorify God through ownership, commitment and determination.
During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln regularly attended worship services at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. The pastor was Dr. Phineas Gurley.
As he walked home after on one particular evening, one of his aids asked about Dr. Gurley’s sermon. Mr. Lincoln said:
“The content was excellent…he delivered it with eloquence…He had put
work in the message…”
”Then you thought it was a great sermon?” asked the aid.
”No,” replied the president. “Dr. Gurley forgot the most important ingredient. He forgot to ask us to do something great.”
In the book of Nehemiah God will repeatedly ask you and me to do something great. I do not hesitate challenging you to make a difference…To passionately give ourselves to God anew, as Neh and the people did.
…through purposeful…
…ownership of the task of completing the worship center
…ownership of the ministry God has given us.
…commitment and determination…that demands that we examine our
priorities…the way we spend our time, our money, our energies.
That we be a people marked by kingdom risk.