Week #1 in the “When the Walls Fall Down” Series  …Pray

July 15, 2018

Introducing the series

Before reading the text this morning, I would like to take a moment to introduce this sermon series.  Entitled, “When the Walls Fall Down,” this series is based upon the book of Nehemiah and his quest to help rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem as well as the faith of Hebrew people.  As we look at how God used Nehemiah as an instrument of restoration, we may find some insights that will be helpful and encourage us when life takes us in directions we did not expect.

It may be helpful if we set the context for our journey. 

The once great nation of Israel is only a distant memory.  After the death of King Solomon, it split into two kingdoms – one northern and one southern.  The Northern Kingdom was known as “Israel,” and would last a little more than 200 years before it was conquered by the Assyrians.  The Jews who lived there were scattered and became known as the “the lost tribes of Israel.”

The Southern Kingdom – which included the city of Jerusalem and the great temple of Solomon – was called Judah.  In the year 586 B.C., it fell to the Babylonians.  Jerusalem was destroyed.  The city’s walls were knocked down, and the temple was burned.  The people were exiled roughly 1,000 miles from their homes and forced into slavery.   

Fast forward roughly 140 years.  The Persians have defeated the Babylonians and shortly afterward, they began allowing some of the Jews to return to Jerusalem.  When the Jews returned to Jerusalem they discovered it was in ruins and desolate.  Life there was dangerous and difficult.

One of those who had returned was a Jewish priest named Ezra.  He led the effort to complete the rebuilding of the temple.  It would never be confused with its former glory, but it became a place of worship once again.     

Which brings us to Nehemiah. 

Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra.  More than 440 years before the birth of Jesus, these two men – one a priest, one a layperson – would help rebuild the city of Jerusalem, the temple and the spirit of the Hebrew people.  In doing so, they helped reconnect with God.

Here is the beginning of Nehemiah’s story…

Nehemiah 1 (NIV)

 ¹The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, ²Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.   ³They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."   ⁴When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.  ⁵Then I said: "LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my ancestral family, have committed against you.  ⁷We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.   ⁸"Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'  ¹⁰"They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.  ¹¹Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king.

Introduction

Every community in which our family has lived and served over the years has a story.  There are stories of celebration and joy:  Meade County proudly boasts of a tremendous county fair.  Shelby Countians talk with great joy about their Boys’ Sweet Sixteen State Tournament Championships.

Likewise, every community has had its share of heartache and sorrow.  In Brandenburg, the county seat of Meade County, every time the skies become overcast and the weather looks even the slightest bit threatening, people start nervously looking for cover.  That happens when the only recorded F-5 tornado in the history of Kentucky destroys your town and kills 31 of your friends and neighbors as one did there in 1974. 

At Shelbyville Centenary, I encountered a church with more locked doors than any I had ever seen, but, when your church was nearly burned to the ground by an arsonist, a church is inclined to take security a little more seriously.  

What is true of communities and churches is equally true of us as individuals.  Each of us has our own stories with both inspiring and soul crushing moments.  Proverbs 14: 10 says, “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.”

Our past, for good or for ill, influences how we see ourselves, what we think about our present and how we approach our futures. 

That was certainly true for Nehemiah.

Transition

In the ancient world, a city’s walls served primarily as a source of protection.  A city with high sturdy walls around it was certainly easier to defend than one that had no wall. 

Just as our community is rightfully proud of the cut–through project, the residents of an ancient Near Eastern city with high, sturdy walls took pride in their city.  They lived with security and confidence.  If the walls were broken down there was no way that the people could feel confident or secure.  In that respect, the broken-down walls of Jerusalem perfectly reflected the brokenness experienced by the Hebrew people of this time.

Most, if not all of us, know what it is like to experience brokenness and a loss of confidence in our life’s journey.  Life doesn’t always go the way we think it should.  We’ve been battered at different points along the way.  It’s not a question of if it is going to happen.  It is a question of when and how will we respond.

What do we do when the walls fall down?

The first step Nehemiah took was to pray.  Now, I want us to hear that again, “Nehemiah’s first step was to pray.” 

When encountering terrible circumstances, difficulties or tragedies, we are often tempted to try and fix things ourselves only to discover that we cannot.  When that reality dawns upon us we often say things like, “Well, the only thing we can do now is pray” as if prayer is a last resort or a sign of resignation.  Sisters and brothers, prayer was not a last resort for Nehemiah.  Prayer was his first option.

Prayer is also one of the overriding themes of the book and one of the secrets to Nehemiah’s success.  It’s a story of compassionate, persistent, personal and corporate prayer.

Some of Nehemiah’s prayers are long and drawn out; others short and to the point and still others were what one biblical scholar referred to as “Mute Prayers” – silent prayers Nehemiah lifted to God in a moment of urgency.

Prayer gave Nehemiah perspective.  It widened his horizons, sharpened his vision and calmed his anxieties.

Nehemiah’s public life was the outflow of his personal life, which was steeped in, and shaped by, a lifestyle of prayer.  

We can learn a lot about how to rebuild the broken-down walls in our own lives if we look at Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter one.  In this prayer, there are five elements that led to his effectiveness and can inspire us in our service to Christ.  They are:  concern, conviction, confession, confidence and commitment.

CONCERN

As the cupbearer to the king, Nehemiah had a fantastic job and a great life.  True, if someone was going to try to kill the king, Nehemiah would be the first to go, uhh I mean the first to know, but he had a great life in the palace. 

And yet, when one of his brothers returned from a road trip to Jerusalem, Nehemiah asked for a status report.  He was greatly concerned about what was happening in Jerusalem.  He could have insulated himself if he chose to, but he didn’t.  He sought the travelers out and asked them for a first-hand report.

This is an important starting point.  Whether it is a personal heartache or despair for a group of soccer players trapped in a flooded cave half a world away, our first step to rebuilding broken down walls is being concerned. 

What Nehemiah heard concerned him.  It broke his heart and left him in tears.  Even though the first Jews began returning to Jerusalem almost 100 years previous, Jerusalem was still in ruins.  Worse yet, it appeared that his Hebrew brothers and sisters were content to live in a demolished Jerusalem.  It is as if they are saying what we hear so often today, “It is what it is.” 

In our own lives, it can be easy for us to look around and see things as they are and just get used to them. 

Nehemiah refused to do so.  His concern led to a conviction.  Things had to change.  If we are ever going to rebuild the brokenness in our lives and in our world, we first have to be concerned.  If we are concerned enough, we begin to develop some conviction.

CONVICTION

Nehemiah’s concern would not allow him to just say, “Oh that’s too bad.”  His concern led him to action – his first action being a season of prayer.  Before anything else happened, Nehemiah had an ongoing conversation with God that lasted at least four months. 

In a world with an incredibly short news cycle, stories come and go so quickly.  We live in a society that seems to want to become mad about something all the time.  We rapidly move on to the next headline, blog or article and the accompanying outrage it brings. 

When we develop conviction about the broken walls we encounter, we are so moved that we will not forget even after the cameras are gone and the news cycle has moved on to another topic. 

Concern leads to conviction.  Conviction leads to confession. 

CONFESSION

Even though Nehemiah lived 1,000 miles away from Jerusalem, and had never seen it, he was convinced that he was part of the problem.  In a day and time in which it would have been oh so easy to blame his ancestors for the problems of the Hebrew people, Nehemiah stepped up to say, “My people and I have failed to do what we need to do and for that we are deeply sorry, O God.”

Sisters and brothers, the Church – not any one expression of the Church - but all of us, the Church Universal – have failed Jesus to some degree.  We often think the problems of others do not concern us, but we decry the state of the world around us. 

While there is debate over who uttered the words first, the words themselves are very true, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

Many of us function like an elderly lady I remember from one of the churches I served.  She was, to be fair, suffering from confusion and an early form of dementia, but one Communion Sunday, as we were reading through the liturgy, we got to the part where we confessed our sinfulness.  We read, “Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved You with our whole heart…” and then she added, “except me.”  She proceeded to add “except me” to each part of our confession.

For us to become the Church and the disciples Christ calls us to be, we need to acknowledge that we have often failed Him and confess not only our failures but our need for God’s presence and strength in our lives to do that to which He has called us.  

Concern leads to conviction.  Conviction leads to confession.  Confession leads to confidence.

CONFIDENCE

While Nehemiah spent time in confession, he doesn’t wallow in his – and his fellow Hebrews – failures and brokenness.  He owned his and their failures, but then began to make the transition from their failures to God’s promises.

Nehemiah recalled the words of Moses about the danger of Israel’s unfaithfulness and the promise of God’s mercy.  His words wove wonderfully a quilt of Old Testament teachings by quoting from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles and Psalm 130.

What was the promise Nehemiah was getting at?  It was twofold. First, if Israel disobeyed, they would be sent to a foreign land.  That had been fulfilled.  The second part, however, was that when the captivity was over God would send them back to Jerusalem.  They were still waiting for that to be fulfilled. Nehemiah prayed, “Lord, the first part is true. We’ve disobeyed and we’re in captivity.  But Lord, you’ve made a promise to bring us back home and protect us there ­ and that has not happened yet. I’m claiming your promise that you’ll make it happen.”

We, too, can claim the promises of God. 

Let me preface this by saying, I am not referring to the claiming the promises the way that some famous preachers refer to it.  These pastors, some quite well-known, advocate what is called a “prosperity gospel”.  This line of thought says, “God loves us and wants to bless us financially and materially.” 

What I mean in suggesting that we can claim the promises of God, is that God has promised He will help us work towards building the Kingdom of God and bringing people to a saving faith in Jesus.  I believe with all my heart, that God longs to help us do those things that honor him.  When we align our with God’s, we can boldly approach him and, with confidence, claim the promises of God.  And then, like Nehemiah, we can make a commitment.

COMMITMENT

In the prayer of Nehemiah, we see a progression that led him to make a decision.  His concern about the problem led him to the conviction that the Hebrews were a broken people.  This conviction led to a confession of their sins.  Even the midst of the tears and sorrow, there was a confidence in the character of God which led Nehemiah to pray boldly. 

Ultimately, Nehemiah prayed, “Lord, let me be successful at what I am about to do….”  And with that, Nehemiah makes a commitment to do more than complain about what is wrong but to attempt to do what it takes to fix the problem.  It’s the prayer of Isaiah, “Here am I.  Send me.”

Someone has said that the key word in the book of Nehemiah is the word, “so,” which occurs 32 different times. Again, and again, Nehemiah assesses the situation, is moved to concern and “so” is compelled to action. The true measure of our concern is whether or not we are willing to make a commitment to get involved. The early church leader Augustine, once said, “Pray as if everything depends on God, then work as if everything depends on you.”

Concern, conviction, confession, confidence and commitment.  For Nehemiah, this all flowed from his life of prayer. 

Now, maybe – just maybe – you are one of the truly fortunate individuals whose life is solid and perfect.  Even if that is true, our world has some walls in need of being rebuilt.  I believe God wants to do just that.  I believe God wants to restore that which is broken; bring healing where there is hurt and hope in the midst of despair.  The first step is to pray… 

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray….