Building in Faith
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 2: 11 – 18 (NIV)
11I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.
13By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
17Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
Message: Building in Faith
Who was Nehemiah?
Nehemiah was one of God’s people who lived in exile
He was faithful and served God in a foreign environment
He excelled to be the cupbearer of the Persian King (Iran) - a high-ranking position in the government of the king, one with emmence influence
Nehemiah loved Jerusalem and wanted to do something about his beloved city that laid in ruins
In his mind, Jerusalem represented the relationship between God and his people and he knew that God’s people were ready to restore their relationship with God
He persuaded the king to let him go back and rebuild the city
The rebuilding of the city was attempted two times before, but was met with resistance and infighting and threats from local enemies
Nehemiah was successful and he rebuilt the walls of the city of Jerusalem in just 52 days (less than two months), mobilizing the people to come together and work side by side to achieve this important milestone
He worked with Ezra to reform the community and led the people to restore their relationship with God, through practicing the Sabbath, re-evaluating foreign influences and focussing on uplifting the poor in the community
Nehemiah was a man of prayer, action and integrity who felt strongly to lead the people back to God
He understood the significance of physical building in the psyche of God’s people and how it would restore their commitment to God
God put in his heart
So here’s Nehemiah telling his own story - in the first person… how it came about
And the first thing he says, is that God put it in heart
God moved him, not claiming that this was his idea
God was initiating the restoring, God was bringing hope in people’s hearts
I beleive that this was the secret to the success of Nehemiah’s attempt to rebuild the city
There was no room for his ego, it was all about God
Even the way he surveyed the city at night to avoid a scene was striking to notice
It was not about this big announcement and telling people what his plans were
He was just going about his business, determined and meticulous, driven by the passion God put in his heart
Forward in Faith - where do we start?
I believe that the mission of “forward in faith” can also be worded as “building in faith”
I believe that God is putting on our hearts a building project to restore our relationship with Him
The story of Nehemiah and the re-building of the city of Jerusalem is also our story…
It has already begun when God moved our hearts
We are living in strange times and in a secular world where we have to be mindful of our presence in the community
And yet, it is in this time that God put the mission of “forward in faith” in our hearts
So can learn from Nehemiah’s approach?
After God put this mission on his heart, he did not rebel, he went to the king of Persia…
There’s a lesson for us here - perhaps being followers of Christ in this world not about opposing and fighting everything that is wrong in this world
I am wondering if the previous attempts to rebuild failed because people were just out to criticize and pointing out what is wrong all the time, instead of focussing on the task at hand
It’s easy for us today get stuck in pointing out what is wrong with the world around us…
To move forward in faith, we will have to stop looking for excuses not to build and focus on the reasons to build
I believe we should focus on moving forward in our faith because we all need our relationship with God to be restored
We can just look around us and see the ruins of a desperate world that needs God more than they care to admit
Just think about how individualistic our world has become, everything is about me and my needs and what I want - everything is sold to me in a way to meet my needs
Think about how materialistic our world is, we just need more and more, better and better, always due for the next upgrade
Think about how unhappy our society has become, so serious about everything… we miss joy and laughter and innocent fun
It is striking to notice that Nehemiah did not start with rebuilding the temple, but with rebuilding the walls
The rebuilding had to start with the community, feeling safe and being inspired to work towards the common good of the community
Under the leadership of Ezra the temple was later rebuilt, after the city walls were restored
When we reflect on the mission of going “forward in faith” we should be mindfull that this is not another church-building slogan that is designed to fill the pews and bring in more offerings
Forward in faith is about God moving our hearts to build the community (walls of the city)
We live in a community that needs God - spiritually, our society lies in ruins
Our focus cannot be to have a nice church and ignore the spiritual hunger of our community
We are here to make our community better - salt and light…
Forward in faith is about coming together to work side by side to restore our community
Nehemiah says: “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem…”
Look around you… see the trouble we are in…
Our society lies in ruins
You, believer in the God who so loved the world that He sent his only Son…
You need to look around you…
You need to get your hands dirty…
You need to help people around you to heal…
You need to stop criticizing and whining…
You need to move “forward in faith”
Because “forward in faith”, means building in faith
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