Opportunity and Opposition

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, which reminds me of one of my favorite characteristics of a great mother: the “Mama Bear” response. Even the kindest, gentlest mother becomes fiercely focused the moment she learns her child is threatened or in danger. In Nehemiah 4, the people of Israel-God’s children-face threats and danger in the middle of their work to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. What should they do? How should they respond? Amidst of the danger, Nehemiah stands up and says, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.” Then he challenges them with words that should stir the Mama Bear heart in all of us. He says, “Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (4:14). I look forward to learning more together about what it means to fight for our families.

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Sermon Transcript

Grace Fellowship Church
Jon Stallsmith
Series: Nehemiah
May 11, 2014

Opportunity and Opposition
Nehemiah 3-4

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 3. If you don’t have a Bible, slip up your hand. We’ll put a Bible in your hand. We’re going to be reading a big chunk of it this morning, so that will be very useful. If you need a sheet for notes to follow along, you can slip up your hand. We’ll give you one of those too.

It is, of course, Mother’s Day. I don’t want to get too political or anything like that, but I think that if there were one day, for the good of our country, for the good of us all, when the U.S. Postal Service should deliver mail on Sunday, it would be Mother’s Day. I’ll tell you why. You remember it’s Mother’s Day coming up, at the beginning of the week.

If your mom doesn’t live in town, you probably get to the store to pick up a card on Wednesday or Thursday…hypothetically. You get up Friday morning. You write it, thinking you have plenty of time. You take it to the Post Office, and it’s already too late for that letter to get to North Carolina by Sunday. Hypothetically, if your mom were watching online from North Carolina, it’ll be there Monday. Love you, Mom.

Nehemiah 3. We’re in the midst of this series on rebuilding. If you remember this story, we’re picking up the history of the people of Israel in the post-exilic time, the time after the exile when a remnant has returned to Jerusalem and returned to Judah to begin cobbling together a life after the great catastrophe of the exile when they had disobeyed God so severely that they were actually carried off by the Babylonians for 70 years.

The book of Nehemiah begins about 150 years after the first exiles have returned. Nehemiah is still in exile in the Persian government. He’s the cupbearer to the king. He hears news that the wall is broken, the gates are burned, and the people are living in great trouble and shame. It just breaks his heart. He prays for four months, with fasting and tearing of his garments. Then, of course, he gets favor from God and from the king to return to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

Of course, when we’re talking about rebuilding the walls (we looked at this last week a little bit also and two weeks ago), the walls are not just a construction project; the walls are the security of the city. Without walls it’s almost impossible to set up good systems to educate your kids, to do business, to sleep well at night.

Of course, the gates are the place in the ancient world where the elders would sit. It was the place of wisdom. It was the place where business transactions occurred. The place of commerce. It was the place where people would hear from the prophets. So if the walls are broken down, you have a city without security and without an identity.

If the gates are burned, you have a city without wisdom, without justice, without commerce. The economy is a mess. So the book of Nehemiah is about much more than a construction project; the book of Nehemiah is about how to rebuild the fabric of society, how to put back that structure that enables good and godly living.

We saw a couple of weeks ago how prayer and broken-heartedness helps guide us and helps guide Nehemiah into that engagement with the work God wants to do. We saw last week how when Nehemiah arrived at the city he went out for a night ride and he was able to assess the damage.

He was brutally honest about the bad things. “Yes, this is broken down. We can’t deny it has crumbled.” But at the same time, he was honest about the resources that were still in the city, the wall that still had some foundation in various areas, the people who were able to work. But now in chapter 3, what we’re going to see is how the people engage with the project.

This is essential for us, because I think probably a lot of us live in that place where we feel heart brokenness. We even pray for things, but when it comes to actually figuring out our spot in the work of God, our spot alongside others in the community, sometimes it’s a little hazier. Sometimes it’s harder to figure out. Ephesians 2 says we are God’s workmanship and he has prepared good works beforehand for us to walk in.

But then in day-to-day basis, we’re not always sure. How do we walk in those works? What’s our place on the wall to work, to labor, to build? What are we called to? How do we get into that? Because we all want to be part of something meaningful. We all want to know that when we wake up in the morning, the way we spend the next 12, 14, or 16 hours (depending on how much sleep you need), we want to know that that day is meaningful for something more than just the trivial, ho-hum business of life.

Particularly, since it is Mother’s Day, it’s interesting. I’ve had a lot of conversations with moms over the last couple of weeks. Some moms are in that stage of life where they have two, three or four really young kids, and it feels like your place on the wall…building, working in the work of God…is pretty much consumed by the brood, and that’s good. That’s a high calling to raise those children.

I know this year has been a hard year from some mothers and some women who would really like to be mothers and have not been able to conceive or perhaps have even had a miscarriage or suffered a tragic loss. So some aspiring moms are in that place going, “Where is my place? What’s God calling me to? I thought it was this, but it hasn’t worked out that way.”

Some other moms I’ve talked to this week, it’s interesting because they’ve been raising kids for years and now it’s graduation season, and so high schoolers are going off to college, which dramatically changes the environment at home. Some moms are even graduating their youngest children and now wondering, “What do I do now? It has been 25 years raising kids. Now what’s my place on the wall?” We all want to know what our place is in the work of God.

That’s where Nehemiah 3 helps us. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of Hebrew names that seem so foreign, but actually there are some gold treasures here that can help us sort out some of the answers for these questions we’re figuring out. Where do we work? Where do we labor? What’s God calling us to do?

Now as a quick reminder, I will show you this graphic. This is what they believe Jerusalem looked like at the time of Nehemiah. On the left, you’ll see a map with all of the walls and the gates labeled. On the right, we’ve got a model of what the city would’ve looked like when it was rebuilt, but remember at the time of Nehemiah most of those walls would’ve been crumbled at various points.

What we’re going to see in Nehemiah 3 is Nehemiah’s account of all the people working in various places starting at the Sheep Gate up at the top and then working around. I’m going to read this whole chapter, so buckle up.

Nehemiah 3:1: “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.” They were too good to work with their hands.

Verse 6: “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.” Which was actually the Domino’s of Jerusalem. “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…” Hooked on Phonics, guys. It’s our only hope. “…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.” Are you hanging in there?

“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.” (Nehemiah 3:1-32)

See, Nehemiah and Ezra is an interesting unit. Jews consider Ezra and Nehemiah to be one book along with 1 and 2 Chronicles. Something that is unique to Ezra and Nehemiah is that they are actually a lot of these lists of names. In Ezra, you have lists of names in chapters 2, 8, and 10. Then Nehemiah, of course, we have here in chapter 3, but then also later in chapter 7, and then chapters 10-12.

One of the questions you ask is…Why is there so much space in these stories of Ezra and Nehemiah specifically devoted to listing the names of the people? Why is that? Part of the point, part of the reason that in the inspired Word of God these names are there is to remind us that when we’re talking about doing the work of God it’s not just handful of spiritual heroes who do the work.

It’s not just the leaders Ezra and Nehemiah. Yes, Nehemiah plays a crucial role here, but without the people the book of Nehemiah would be really short and unsatisfying. Because here’s how it would go. Nehemiah hears the news about Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s heart is broken, and he prays. Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem. And that’s it. Without the people, there’s no more to the story.

Part of the reason this is all here is to remind us that when we’re talking about the work of God and joining in, finding out place, it’s not a calling reserved for just a select few like Nehemiah or Ezra. It’s a calling that has opportunities for the goldsmiths, for the merchants, for the perfumers. I don’t know how good the perfumers were at forming bricks to build a wall. It seems like those aren’t really overlapping callings, but there’s a place for them. There’s a place for all of us.

In the New Testament, it continues this theme where Peter picks up that Old Testament reference and says, “You guys, all the believers, all the saints are a holy priesthood, the priesthood of all believers, that God has space and calling for all of us.” But how do we find that? The word over and over again that talks about what they’re doing in Nehemiah 3 is the Hebrew word repair, and that word carries with it a meaning of making firm or making strong.

So for us today, how do we find out the places of weakness, the places that are low in our community where we’re going to engage and bring strength and make firm once again? There are a couple of clues here that I think can really help us as we’re working this out. The first one is right there in the first verse when it’s talking about Eliashib the high priest. We’re going to talk about opportunity here a little bit then we’ll get over to opposition in a moment.

But Eliashib the high priest is building along with the other priests at the Sheep Gate. If you’re reading quickly, you can kind of skip over that, but the Sheep Gate was named the Sheep Gate because it was the gate through which the sacrificial lambs, the sheep, would be brought into the city and then up to the temple for sacrifice.

So the priests actually had a certain interest in the Sheep Gate functioning well. They had an affinity to build in that place because their whole livelihood, their calling from God as priests, was to maintain that sacrificial system, and so they wanted to make sure that the gate through which all the sacrificial lambs would come was working really well.

1. Opportunity. As we’re working out, “God, where are you calling me to labor?” Affinity matters. Affinity is a word that means you have a certain connection to it. It’s an attraction or a liking for something. It comes from the Latin roots ad and finis, which means literally bordering on. As we’re working out, “Where is God calling us in our lives?” we need to figure out what are our interests or skills or passions, our gifting, our routines of life? What are they already bordering on? Because often our place on the wall is a place of affinity.

But it’s not just a place of affinity. Often, it’s also a place of proximity. That’s another thing you notice especially as you get toward the second half of Nehemiah 3, because there we see a number of the families are building on the wall directly opposite or directly outside their own house.

So there’s a big interest for them. It’s not just about convenience. It’s actually if there are invaders coming across the plain or coming up the hill you would prefer the section of wall in front of your house to be built. If they’re going to get into the city, I’d rather them not come through my backyard. There’s this sense in which proximity really matters.

Most of us live in Gwinnett County, and we are the masters of living lives of not proximity. Usually, we work in one place. Kids go to school over here. They play soccer over there, because it’s the best soccer program, but it’s about 45 minutes from home, then on traffic days an hour and 15. We end up living these lives that are so dispersed.

What’s God calling us to? Sometimes ministry and projects and everything else can really feel like a burden unless we learn to recognize not only the places where we have affinity but also proximity. What’s going on in our backyard? What’s going on in our neighborhood? What’s going on down at the neighborhood pool, at the elementary school where our kids go? Proximity matters.

Then finally, it’s not just affinity, it’s not just proximity, laboring opposite your house, but there’s also a sense of community here. Actually 30 different times it talks about the people working shoulder to shoulder. Fourteen times it says, “And next to him, and next to him, and next to him.” Sixteen times it says, “After him, after him, after him.” Patriarchal society, so they’re identifying by the man’s name, but we also know that women labored on the wall.

There’s this sense that nobody is working on the wall by himself or by herself. It reminds me of Jesus’ pattern as he’s calling the disciples and then sending them out. He always sent them out at least two by two in community. So as we’re working out, “Where’s God calling us to labor? What’s our purpose?” affinity matters, proximity matters, but community matters too. Where are some other people to do it with? Who are the people out there you can glom together and tackle it, not just with 2 hands but with 4, 6, 8, 10, 48…however many?

All of these things. We’re looking at it and it’s just a list of names that quite honestly about halfway through can begin to just inundate us and we become numb, but there are actually some real keys here as we’re sorting out, “Where’s our place?” As we’re thinking about it specifically in terms of Grace, our church here, Grace Snellville, where’s our place in the community?

We have for years looked at the teachings of Jesus, the Great Command, to love God and love your neighbor. We see that and we say, “Wow, God has called us to our neighborhoods.” But then also at the end of his life he gives the Great Commission. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” This sense of making disciples, passing the faith onto the next generation, and not just the next generation of those who are directly around us but also in the nations.

So out of that Great Command of Jesus and out of that Great Commission of Jesus we as a church have really anchored into that idea of the neighborhoods, the nations, and the next generation, that when we look at our society and we look at the fabric of society we see these are areas where God is calling us to engage.

So in the neighborhoods, you guys, we have had amazing opportunities open up. Missional communities every season in the spring and in the summer and in the fall and winter. We have missional communities who get together to pray for and engage in their neighborhood. Or like just this spring our medical mission community has been getting together and two times a month providing free healthcare, doctors, and nurses, and other medical personnel.

Volunteers providing free healthcare in Clarkston and then also in Monroe. Why? Well, because there’s an affinity there. There’s a deep affinity. People have these medical skills that are just amazing. They’re saying, “How do I step up to the wall and use that affinity for medical talent for the good of God’s kingdom and the glory of the name of Jesus?”

This is something we’ll do this year that’ll be great in our neighborhoods. Last summer, you might remember, we did a series called A Journey Home, and we went through John chapters 14 and 15. We had a book and we had just little popup small groups. People could do them in their neighborhoods. People did them with their coworkers. It was really fun, really easy, but really meaningful.

We’re going to do that again. We’re going to do a summer journey together. This time we’re going to be doing Matthew 5-7. So starting about mid-June we’re going to crank those up. We have a book we’ve written and we’re getting printed. Kingdom Come is what it says on the cover. Really, it’s going to be the “Summer on the Mount.” Do you see that? Matthew 5-7 is the Sermon on the Mount, so it’ll be “Summer on the Mount.”

We have groups that are already forming. You may want to lead a group in your own home. Invite some neighbors. You may also want to join a group that’s already existing, or you might just want to do it with your family. So anyway, in the neighborhoods, we’re going to have this coming over the summer, Kingdom Come: Summer on the Mount. We’re going to have Backyard Bible Clubs. All these things are places where people are recognizing where God is opening up opportunities to build on the wall.

But it’s not just in neighborhoods; it’s also in the nations. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to move to another country. It means that just as close as Clarkston, about 10 minutes from here, all kinds of opportunities. And not even Clarkston, but the schools in the neighborhoods all around us, it’s amazing. It’s beautiful how God has brought people from all nations together to be able to interact and build relationships.

How do we engage with that? For some people, that’s a little bit overwhelming. What do you do with that interaction with people from other cultures than our own? We’ve had folks who’ve developed really cool ideas, or God has given them ideas and led them into missional projects.

You guys have heard about Peace of Thread where we recognized the need among some refugee women to be able to develop some income. So a number of our ladies at Grace and some other ladies from other churches have gotten together and helped them learn how to sew. Together they run a business where they sell these amazing, one-of-a-kind handbags to earn income. This is building on the wall. This is a point of affinity and community and proximity all coming together.

This spring we launched another new project. One of our young men who grew up at Grace, Luke Keller, after graduating from college got a job helping to develop projects that will help the community in partnership with a big construction company out in Texas called Lauren Construction. He came back and he said, “Guys, how can we put something together that’ll bless the community, build the walls of society here with the nations?”

So we devised this plan. We started with just an empty warehouse, and it has turned into now The Lantern Project where we have fantastic training, professional-level training over the course of about 14 months. These men are coming in and learning how to be carpenters, welders, plumbers. They’re having a profession. We’ve got about 35 guys from about 25 different countries who are about halfway through the program right now. They’re going to be doing hands-on stuff.

Men from Grace, some of you men have been going down all spring once a week on Thursday nights to help be mentors for these guys as they’re learning. It’s absolutely beautiful. How do we engage the nations? Well, this is how it’s happening. This is where God is showing us those places of proximity, community, affinity, all coming together.

Of course, Generation Salaam. Every summer we load up the buses with kids and parents to go down and hang out with the people in our communities in Clarkston, Lawrenceville, working with those families. It’s beautiful to see how it works. In fact, I have a quick video about how one family is doing Generation Salaam on Wednesday nights. They’ve been doing it, and they’re going to be doing it again this summer. So let’s roll that.

Man: Amy and I like our children attending Generation Salaam because it gives them an opportunity to interact with other cultures and share their faith and just see that everybody likes to play and run and have fun, and we laugh at the same things. It’s just a great opportunity for them.

Girl: Every year I go to Generation Salaam, and I really enjoy playing with the children and getting to know them. Lots of times we play games with them.

Boy: At Generation Salaam, I like playing soccer with all the boys and participating in all the skits and seeing them laugh.

Girl: At Generation Salaam last year I made a lot of friends. When I wasn’t there, I made them a lot of bracelets, and they were so excited when I gave them to them.

Man: I would encourage men to attend Generation Salaam because it gives us a great way to share our faith, and it’s something we really all should be doing.

Man: In other cultures, it makes a big difference when men are talking to men. It goes a long way in building relationships.

Man: Generation Salaam is an opportunity to join God in the work he’s doing. It’s such a blessing to look out and see children playing together, enjoying fun games, soccer, kickball, baseball, making bracelets, singing songs, big group activities, and ultimately having spiritual conversations, conversations about the kingdom of God.

Yeah, so that’s just a little of that. That’s some of that flavor of Generation Salaam on Wednesday nights. And of course, we have people who have felt called by God to move overseas and the other Grace churches and everybody engaging with the nations.

Then of course, the next generation. The next generation here at Grace is just a huge part of who we are and what we do. The Lord is opening fresh doors and new opportunities. It’s just beautiful to see. Already you know we have amazing Wednesday night KidzLife stuff. Sundays are really great with GraceKidz. But then last fall, Denise Cox (who many of you guys know is the head of our children’s ministry, GraceKidz) called and she said, “Hey, there’s this opportunity at Kanoheda Elementary School to do a Good News Club.”

I was like, “I don’t know what any of that means,” because I’d never even heard of Kanoheda. It’s this school. It’s just less than 10 minutes from here. There are students from more than 50 nations at Kanoheda. It’s amazing. So the administration, some of the teachers up there, came and asked if we would help partner with CEF, Child Evangelism Fellowship, to put on an afterschool Good News Club.

So all fall and all spring, our team, our parents, some of our leaders went over there and started building the wall at Kanoheda. Beautiful things have been coming out of that. Salvation. Community. Connection. In fact, this one went so well that we’re going to do a few more this coming fall. If you know Denise, a few more doesn’t mean like, “Hey, let’s just take it slow and do one or two.” She and our team actually have had conversations with 10 other elementary schools, and they’ve all given us permission to do these in the fall, which is just amazing.

This is the place where the wall is being built, so to speak. But then of course our students are just superstars. You guys have raised them well, your children. If you’re here on a Wednesday night, you know during the school year LUG is just jam-packed. This whole room is full of 700-1,000 middle schoolers with some high school leaders who are discipling them, and then some LUG adults. Many of you are LUG adults helping to oversee the whole process and disciple everyone involved.

So Wednesday nights are exciting, but if you don’t know our student ministry very well, maybe what’s even more incredible is that on Thursday mornings and Friday mornings, the very same middle school students who are coming to LUG have gone to their schools and have started campus clubs before school.

So on Thursday morning and Friday morning off of the church campus there are more middle schoolers who gather to worship with Thrive clubs at middle schools around the community than even come here. Which is kind of a shock to some people. “Really?” But yes, more stuff is happening outside the church walls than inside, which is how it should be when Jesus is talking about us as a people going forth.

These clubs called Thrive clubs… Again, we have I think about six. We’re going to be moving up to eight or nine. We have some new schools where we can do some Thrive clubs in partnership with New Hope, moving up into that Berkmar district as well. I just want to show you a little video from one of those Thrive clubs.

Remember these clubs are all student led. It’s middle schoolers sharing from the Scripture, sharing from their own testimonies, leading worship, which is exciting. I mean, middle schoolers playing guitars, working it out, but it’s incredible. Check out this video of one of these Thrives.

This is what God is doing in the public schools. This is what God is doing in private schools, in home schools. Among the next generation, there is a fresh passion being ignited to follow God. Even at the high-school level, our high schoolers over here. Benton is leading our high schoolers and they have their house churches. They’re participating. We have these CLC, Christian Learning Centers, operating in partnership with the major high schools in the area.

If you go up here to the Grace 1123 house during the school year around 7:30, you will find that house packed full of Brookwood students who are going up there and taking classes on the Bible and on Christian history for credit because they’re allowed to do it off the school campus. They can learn that stuff. It’s just amazing.

We have our chaplain ministry. We have all sorts of volunteers who are working with athletic teams around. God is on the move not just in our neighborhoods, not just in the nations, but also among the next generation. Then that doesn’t even take into account everything that is happening at Midtown, at Athens. College house churches at every major university in the state of Georgia. I mean, there’s something stirring here.

This wall seemed a little bit overwhelming at first, but God is just showing us places to build. It’s not just Grace. There are other churches, partnerships engaged, building as well. Last week, if you were here, Scott, during the announcements, said I was going to make some sort of big vision-casting announcement thing.

So all week, I was going, “Oh man, what am I going to say?” The truth is we’re not doing anything new here at Grace. We are carrying on that pure biblical vision that God planted in the hearts of Buddy and Jody 31 years ago. The generations are turning and people are coming and people are going and leading and everything else, but we’re committed to the same things.

We’re going to teach the Bible. We’re going to go out and make disciples. We’re going to love our neighbors. We’re going to reach the next generation without apology. This is what God is calling us to do. He’s opening some new doors in the fall to start in some of these new elementary schools, some of these new middle schools. He’s opening up some doors for some new community groups. That’s all well and good, and that is the vision. That’s the heart.

So when we start talking about renovations or updates we’re going to do in the foyer to this facility, it’s not because we just want a fresh paint job or because we would prefer to make it more comfortable for us; it’s because we anticipate that there are going to be some new faces coming into the kingdom and we want to provide a community where they can be connected and they can worship and they can learn the Scripture and their kids can be discipled and they can dedicate their babies to be raised in the ways of the Lord.

That’s why we’re going to put on one of these new buildings, a little front porch to the front there. Just create a space where people can be welcomed. Some of the changes we’re going to make in the foyer. The really good news is… Because whenever anybody starts teaching out of Nehemiah, some people who’ve been in church for awhile go, “Uh-oh, is there a building program coming? Build the wall; build the church. Is this about putting money in?”

To tell you the truth, like was said at the beginning of the gathering, that NextGen fund has really accomplished its purpose. We believe that most of the money to be able to accomplish all that we want to do has already been raised because you have been so generous. So no, we’re not doing Nehemiah to do a building program; we’re doing Nehemiah to do a program about how we engage in our community with that vision that God has given us in proximity, community, affinity, coming together in the places where God breaks our hearts.

2. Opposition. But I’ve talked to some people at Grace, and they have said things like, “Yeah, but it’s hard to get connected. I’m new. It’s a big place. I haven’t really found my place yet. I haven’t found my spot on the wall,” so to speak. That’s actually a common thing. My response often is, “Well, yeah, of course. This thing we’re doing isn’t easy.” Yes, God has amazing plans. Yes, God has opened up incredible opportunities for us to work, but remember, God has amazing plans, and the New Testament is really clear, Satan has very active plans.

When we plan, we want to join in with what God is doing, and Satan is cooking up a scheme over here. It’s why Paul talks about, saying, “I don’t want you to be unaware about the schemes of the Enemy.” That’s why Peter talks about how we are to be sober minded, watchful, because your adversary, the Devil, is roaming about like a roaring lion looking for people to devour.

Yeah, we want to find our place on the wall. Yeah, sometimes it’s challenging because there’s opposition. The Enemy of God does not want to see the walls built. The Enemy does not want to see those elementary schools get reached, those middle schools get engaged, those high schools, those colleges. The Enemy doesn’t want to see our neighborhoods begin to flourish with godliness.

There’s opposition. This isn’t easy. That’s what we see here. Just take a few moments to see how Nehemiah deals with that opposition that comes alongside the opportunity. The opposition begins in Nehemiah 2 even before they begin building. There is an assault on the very idea of building.

So verse 18 of Nehemiah 2, it 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 strengthened their hands for the good work.” 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?'” (Nehemiah 2:18-19) They attacked the idea of building.

Maybe you’ve been in that spot. Maybe you’ve had some idea that feels like it was from God. “Oh, we could do that. That’s a place where we could work. That’s where we could labor. Yeah, this fall I could be a KidzLife volunteer. This fall I could be a LUG adult. This fall I could join up with some of these other folks and be a part of that team doing the Good News Club. Or this fall I could start up a little Bible study with a couple of my coworkers.”

What’s the first thing that often happens when you have that idea from God? About a half dozen other ideas about why it’s a bad idea flood in. “Oh, I’m really busy. I’m not going to be able to get off work. That’s on Wednesday nights.” It’s just like all these ideas coming fast. So often the Enemy, as soon as we have that good idea and begin entertaining it, will just hammer us with why it’s not even a good idea. If he can kill the idea, well then he doesn’t have to worry about the walls being rebuilt.

But look at how Nehemiah responds to that. It says in verse 20, “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.'” (Nehemiah 2:20) Do you know what to do when you have an idea and you’re praying about it, you feel like it’s from God, but all those negative ideas, the reasons why it’s a bad idea just start streaming in? Do you know what you do? You reject it. Reject it in the name of Jesus.

This is actually a habit. It’s going to be very, very useful. When that jeering, that attack comes in on an idea… I’ve done this especially when we’ve worked in the Muslim world these last years doing Jesus and the Qur’an and some of these other projects we’ve done among Muslim people. A lot of times people come alongside us and say, “Well, that’s not going to work. That’s not a good idea,” or, “That’s really hard, what you’re trying to do.”

I don’t always say this to their face, but sometimes I do. I say, “I reject that in the name of Jesus. That’s not the truth. This idea is from God and that negativity has no portion here. No place on this wall.” Learning how to reject that stuff. You have permission to reject that negative jeering. How do you know the difference between wise counsel and jeering?

Jeering attacks you, doesn’t care about you. Wise counsel has your interests in mind. People who come alongside and say, “Hey, you might want to think about some of these things,” as you’re developing that idea because they care for you, that’s good to listen to. When it’s like, “Oh, this is a terrible idea!” just reject it in the name of Jesus.

When they get past that initial point and they begin building, as we just saw in Nehemiah 3, then it comes to Nehemiah 4. Verse 1: “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 burned ones at that?’

Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, ‘Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!'” (Nehemiah 4:1-3) After the assault on the idea fails, once they begin working, here comes the assault on their identity. Sanballat says, “Oh, you’re feeble. You’re not going to be able to accomplish anything.” We’ve been in that place too, haven’t we?

You start doing something you feel like God is calling you to do. About a week and a half into it, you’re going, “Oh, this isn’t going to go anywhere.” Maybe it’s in your own family. Maybe you feel like God is calling you to restore some healthy rhythms in your family. Eating a meal together once a week. Praying together once a week. Whatever it may be. About a week and a half into that thing, you go, “I can’t do this. This is impossible.”

It’s just like Sanballat right here coming along, saying, “You feeble Jews. What you’re building is never going to last.” It’s a scheme of the Enemy. What do you do? What do you do when that happens. Here’s what Nehemiah does. In verse 4, he says, “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.” (Nehemiah 4:4-5)

He prays. He asks that their scheme be brought to nothing and that there be justice as they face this opposition. It’s a good point here to remember that in the New Testament Paul is very clear. We do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. So if we pray this kind of prayer, often it’s good when we face the opposition to pray, “Let that scheme come to nothing. Lord, let justice rule in this situation.” That’s the prayer to lift up to God.

Then in verse 6, “So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6) What happens when Nehemiah and the people face attacks on their identity and attacks on the quality of their work? They pray and they build. They stay at it. They’re not distracted.

So now when Sanballat sees that this attack doesn’t work, he starts in verse 7, upping the ante. “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls 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 and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a 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.'” They’re losing confidence. “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 from all directions and said to us ten times, ‘You must return to us.'” Stop building.

“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.'” (Nehemiah 4:7-14)

Don’t give up the fight at this point. The wall is half built. But at this level of attack, when there is intense threat of harm, Nehemiah actually pauses. This time he doesn’t pray and keep building. He pauses. He says, “We need to get together. We need to be unified. We need to set up a guard.”

It says he establishes them by their clans into the various places where attack might come. This is crucial because as we’re moving forward and we’re learning how to build what God is calling us to do and we’re facing that opposition, at a certain point, sometimes it feels like we’re about to get inundated, overwhelmed. The Enemy’s attack is coming. Harm is on its way.

This isn’t time just to pray and then keep working. At a certain point, sometimes it’s time to stop and say, “Hey, we need to get some people together. We need to set up a guard. We need to pray. We need to unify. We’re losing our strength alone. We need to remember who’s alongside of us, who’s next to us as we fight.” This unity of the people foils the plot again. They fight in unity together. Not just one family at a time, but all the people know their place.

Then in verse 15, after the assault on the idea has failed, after the assault on the identity of the people has failed, after the assault on the people themselves has failed, we see what the real outcome will be, and this is our goal. This is where we’re finishing today.

It says, “When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, 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, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall.

Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at 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.'” (Nehemiah 4:15-20)

Here’s what Nehemiah sets up, and this is the kind of community we want to be, that we have been, and that we pray God will make us more and more. It’s the kind of community who knows how to build in the midst of the battle. It’s the kind of people who know how to keep working even though there’s a war. What they’ve done is they’ve learned how to carry a sword even while they continue with what God has called them to do.

As we move forward, God is opening all kinds of great opportunities for us as a church, to engage with foster care, with the nations in Clarkston, and some of these new schools. There’s going to be opposition. It’s going to be hard. There are going to be times when you think, “That’s a terrible idea,” or, “I’m not good enough to do that,” or, “If I continue forward it’s going to bring harm to my family.”

But the truth is, when we signed up to follow Jesus, we did not sign up for easy. We did not sign up for comfortable. We did not sign up for convenient. We signed up to follow a Savior who fought evil by laying down his life to the point of death, trusting that God would bring resurrection.

We’re in a war whether you acknowledge it or not. Maybe you’re saying, “Well, I didn’t sign up for a war,” but whether you recognize it or not, there is a war for the hearts and souls of men. There’s a war for the cosmos. We have a choice whether we are going to share in the spoils of victory with Jesus or if we’re going to suffer of the spoils of destruction with Satan. I believe God is calling us to be a people who share in that victory with Jesus even if it means laying down our lives, even if it means that it’s hard sometimes.

In fact, anticipating that we’re pressing forward into areas that will bring opposition, that we’re pressing forward into territory that the Enemy does not want to yield lightly, but as we go, as Nehemiah says, “Remember the Lord who’s great and awesome.” Our God will fight for us. Our God has fought for us. Jesus has cleared the way, won the big victory so we can walk forward in confidence.

As Nehemiah is teaching these people how to build in the midst of the battle, how to work in the midst of the war, you notice in one hand they carry a tool. They’re going to keep working. In the other hand, they carry a sword. In the New Testament, Paul, as he’s talking about this, says, “We carry the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

How do we fight the Enemy? How do we resist his attacks? Man, having a sharp sword, a deep knowledge of God’s Word, having that communion with God where you not only know the written Word, but his living Word is impressed on our heart. That’s carrying the sword these days.

But then also there’s the trumpet to be blown in those situations when it feels like you’re going to be overwhelmed. The attack is coming too fast and too hard, and you blow that trumpet because God’s people will come and fight with you, and not just God’s people, but God himself will come. It’s his promise in Numbers 10, I believe. He says, “When you blow this trumpet, the Lord will come fight for you.”

So let us be the kind of people who carry the tool, who wield the sword, and we know when to blow on that trumpet as God is calling us forward into all the cool building projects in his kingdom. Let’s pray.