Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to Roots of Faith with Pastor Ken Gimme. Today we open our bibles to Nehemiah 2 and read the account of Nehemiah's survey of the destruction he found at the walls of Jerusalem. But Malachi the prophet reveals a deeper issue in the lives of the remnant. We need to survey our actions and defenses spiritually because we must render an account to our Lord and Master at the judgment seat of Christ. Listen, as we learn our own accountability to serve Christ Jesus, our king.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: I wonder sometimes if we just think about ourselves and feel like we're just going through the motions.
Can't you see the remnants been back there for many years by now they come back with Zerubbabel. Another group came back with Ezra. And now here's Nehemiah and the people that were sitting in Jerusalem, living in this broken city that is supposed to be the name of the Lord, where years before, under Cyrus, God had commanded and the king Cyrus had decreed that the temple be rebuilt.
So the temple is back into some sort of function.
But the world around them is looking at those broken walls and all of that destruction, and they're saying, huh, they were the ones that said they had a powerful God. Look at that.
They can't even defend themselves.
How discouraging must that have been?
And there's actually a very unique parallel to our own thinking, because there are some times when we come in our lives and we look at our lives and we feel like the world is crashing in, that the walls have crumbled.
Sometimes it's physical needs, but sometimes it's actually the spiritual needs within us. The Lord starts talking to us and we sit there and wonder, lord, what a mess.
Have you ever walked through the ruins of your own spiritual life sometimes, your family, your faith, your purpose, and wondered, how did it get this broken?
How did we get to this place?
Well, that's exactly where Nehemiah was.
In a very physical sense, that's where Nehemiah was, but in the background, very spiritually, that's where the remnant were.
The physical appearance was only a shadow of what the spiritual condition was.
Now, remember, Nehemiah came to this place and came to this opportunity, and he was sent as the governor of Judea, of Judah, of that part of Israel.
He had the letters from the king that said, let them pass through.
Also helped that he had a whole contingent of cavalry with him that rode in there with them.
It's always nice when you have soldiers behind you.
And he gave the letters to Sambala Tobias, and it was, let them go through and he also had the letters that said, the king has promised full provision for rebuilding.
And in the text that we read in verse 12, Nehemiah had come to this place that the Lord had put a burden on his heart for that. He prayed for four months for the Lord to answer and to provide him an opportunity. And when the Lord did, he was kind of surprised, put up a quick prayer, if you remember last week.
And then the Lord supplied more and abundantly because God works even in the hearts of those who are not his people.
It says that King Cyrus, back at the very beginning, it says he was a servant of God.
He was a servant in the sense he was doing what God's plan was and was God was going to accomplish.
The same thing was true about Artaxerxes.
And this is the king that has said, okay, I'm going to provide you with everything. Now, Nehemiah, you're my right hand man, but I am going to let you go for a period of time because I see that it's a burden that is on your heart. So now you have to promise me how much time you're going to spend there.
And then you have to come back and be my cup bearer.
In Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 12, he said, I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.
He hadn't shared that with anybody, Artaxerxes wouldn't have understood it.
And I'm sure that a broken hearted people, a discouraged remnant, we're not going to jump up real quick if he just simply said, okay guys, we're back here to build the wall.
Nehemiah didn't walk into Jerusalem and just outright say, okay, now you guys, you work on this part of the wall. And you guys, you work on that side of the wall. You do it outside your house. Build that part up. No, it says in the text that we read, he was there for three days before he did anything.
No doubt from what we see in chapter one, Nehemiah probably spent three days praying, lord, I'm here. What do I do now?
And then at night he went around to survey the damage.
If you look at a map of the Old Testament Jerusalem, the valley gate was kind of over here.
And he went out the valley gate and he came around and he came to the dung gate, which was one that directly led out into the Hinnom Valley. Of Hinnom or Gehenna was the burning dump, wonderful place to be.
And then he and I, in my mind I see him, it said he was on A mount. So he's probably on a horse or a mule. He was the only one that was on a mount or a mule. The rest of the guys that were with him that he took with him were all walking.
And in the dead of night, he's going in and out these gates, looking at what needs to be done. And it says he came around to the fountain gate and the horse couldn't even get through.
And then it says he came out and went up the valley.
If I understand the text correctly, basically what Nehemiah did in the dead of night, he went out from the valley gate and he came around the walls of Jerusalem counterclockwise and came all the way back to the valley gate.
He surveyed all of the damage.
He surveyed all the needs.
He didn't begin with a blueprint.
He began with a burden.
And that burden was from God.
And that leads to a call of action.
He acted in private before he ever acted in public.
He didn't run out and start rallying troops. He took time. He prayed. He went and surveyed the walls.
And yet he took personal responsibility.
You and I have personal responsibility, first of all, for our own lives.
Have we ever taken the opportunity.
No more than opportunity. Have we ever taken up the need to really get down on our knees before the Lord and say, lord, what do you want out of me?
Where am I?
Where are my walls broken down?
Where is my faith, the weakest?
Lord, what? What do you want from me?
God may not call you to build a wall, but in the case of those who love the Lord and are committed to him, God has committed certain tasks to us.
Where do we see that requirement?
Romans, chapter 12.
In Romans, chapter 12 and verses 4 to 6, and let me turn there to Romans, chapter 12 and verses 4to6.
We're very familiar with the first two verses where he says, therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies a living sacrifice. But you go down to verse four and into the beginning of verse six. Verse four reads, just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function. Oh, where have we heard this before?
Isn't this what we've been looking at in Sunday school?
It says that each of us has responsibility.
Verse 4 says, you do not all have the same function. Verse 5, so in Christ, we who are many form one body, the body of Christ, the Church.
And verse five says, and each member belongs to all of the others.
You belong to one another.
And verse 6 says, we have different gifts.
According to the grace given us.
Oh, then shouldn't there be a burden along with that for the body of Christ as believers, he's committed to us to do the work that the Lord designed for his body.
Have we ever looked at the walls of the church?
We said this last week.
But I want to reiterate that the church today is far from what God said was the design.
Now I'm speaking the church in the name only.
There are many who will say, lord, Lord, we knew you. He said, I never knew you.
But still, where is the fire and determination of the living church to display Jesus Christ and to call us to service?
There's no blueprint.
It's a burden that we come to.
And when we look at the broken walls, we come to a place of broken worship.
Nehemiah 2:17.
Nehemiah, when he spoke to all the people, when he called the public meeting and called them all together, he said, you see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins.
And then he says, we need to build up so that we are no longer in disgrace.
Oh, that the church today would have the fire that Nehemiah saw to rebuild.
But Nehemiah faced something that he did not see when he just looked at the physical aspects.
There was one prophet that was a contemporary with Nehemiah.
That prophet you find at the very end of the Old Testament, Malachi.
Malachi was the prophet that was contemporaneous and there in Jerusalem with Nehemiah, now the city bore God's name, and that was what was the shame.
Understand this.
If God puts his name someplace, and then we who are tasked with serving the Lord are not doing what we're supposed to do. Just as God dealt with Israel, the northern 10 tribes put them in captivity and finally had to take the two southern tribes put them in captivity. And now he's bringing back the remnant who's going to be the testimony of a living, powerful God.
That God that Nehemiah prayed to Jehovah, God of heavens.
Oh, how much the Lord desires from us as we serve him, and it's our responsibility before him.
So you go back to the Book of Malachi, and when you come to the Book of Malachi, Malachi had God's earth and understood, because the Lord laid it on him, that not only were the walls broken down and were a visible testimony of disgrace.
In Nehemiah chapter one, we read, beginning at verse one, an oracle, the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
I have loved you, says the Lord.
But you ask, have you loved us?
What A terrible thing to say.
The Lord answered, he says, was not Esau Jacob's brother? The Lord says, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau have I hated. I have turned his mountain into wasteland, left his inheritance to the desert jackals. Edom may say, though we were being that Edom reference there is to the land of Esau's inheritance.
And Edom may say, though we have been crushed, we will rebuild of ruins.
Now, remember what's. What's Nehemiah back in Jerusalem for? To rebuild ruins.
All the people of Edom, they're saying, we're going to rebuild. Well, we may be crushed, but we're going to rebuild.
But this is what the Lord Almighty says.
And that word, the Lord Almighty is Jehovah, Sebaoth.
And Jehovah Sabaoth means the God of armies.
It is the term that it talks about the very power of God over all things.
And it says here, but this is what the Lord Almighty says, they may build, but I will demolish.
They will be called the wicked land of people who always under the wrath of the Lord, you will see it with your own eyes and say, great is the Lord even beyond the borders of Israel.
Wow, that's quite a testimony.
Malachi is saying, hey, look, I am here. I am the God who is all empowered.
I have a plan and my purpose for my people.
Verse 6. The very next verse says, a son honors his father and a servant his master.
If I am a father, where is the honor due me?
If I'm a master, where is the respect due me? Says the Lord Sabaoth, the Lord Almighty.
Now listen to this and think about the position that I'm talking about.
It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
Ouch.
The priests, the very ones who were supposed to be the living representatives of the Lord to the people of Israel, were the very ones despising God's name and a disgrace.
The passage goes on to describe that what they were doing is they were functioning.
But it actually says, they said, what a burden.
Serving the Lord is a burden? No, but they came to the place of saying, what a burden.
And so they approved lame, broken, blind sheep to be the offerings. It's a sheep. Okay, put it on there.
It was a disgrace to what God had designed for Israel and for the sacrifices that were to be acceptable unto God.
Well, all well and good, but the problem is those sacrifices were not pleasing.
They say, what's that got to do with me? I'm not back in Jerusalem probably right now. If you think about it. You're probably glad you're not in Jerusalem. It's those air raid sirens that get to you.
But what it does say is that they were not offering the spiritual sacrifices that God required.
So while I'm glad I'm not back there in that place and at that time, I want to come and read to you from the book of First Peter.
Because in First Peter, chapter two, verses four and five, we read this as you come to him, the living stone Christ, rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him. You also, like living stones, are being built into the spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, comma, and listen to this statement and take it in as conviction, because it says you're being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. That's we as believers offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Where are we?
Are we offering up lame, blind offerings?
Or are the offerings that we present to Christ that which are spiritual and acceptable unto him?
It ties it right back to Nehemiah's time. That was God's economy under the Old Testament rule. Under the Old Covenant.
In the New Covenant, the responsibility is for us to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are holy and acceptable unto God.
Oh, that phrase comes up someplace else.
In Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. You know the verses.
What do they say when you go look, In Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 in the King James, it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That's what God gives to us.
That you present your bodies a living what?
Sacrifice unto God, which is your reasonable service.
You can also translate that as your reasoned service.
Reason it out.
And it says, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I still like that old cliche I said to you before.
The only problem with living sacrifices, that they crawl down off the altar.
And that's what we do so many times.
You see, my life and your life as believers is not a place where we have the opportunity to. Well, Lord, when I feel like it, I'll serve you.
The very text that we've been looking at says that we have a responsibility before God to serve him, because he has given to each of us a gift according to the measure of faith that we have to serve him.
You have the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation on. That is our power center.
We have the very living God living in us, and we are to be a temple unto the living God.
Nehemiah's problem was the walls were broken down.
And there was a hidden problem back there for Nehemiah that Malachi shows and says, hey, you know, you're offering up lame sacrifices, you're offering up broken sacrifices, you're offering up blind sacrifices that are not acceptable.
If I'm a father, where is the honor do me?
If I'm a master, where is the service do me?
If we call Jesus Christ, Lord of our lives, then where is the service due him?
Those gifts aren't just something ornamental, but they are functional gifts and they are a reasonable act of worship.
Worship is not just coming here, sitting in the pew, singing a few hymns, listening to some poor old preacher harangue you and then say, okay, good enough. That's the rest of the week. See you next Sunday.
Our lives are to be an act of worship.
I want to remind you of something else, and that's in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 10. It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The Bema seat judgment.
And I mentioned this in Sunday school, the Bema seat judgment is not a judgment concerning salvation or not. It is only for believers. It is a place where salvation is already determined. And every believer must stand before a living God in judgment. And what it says in Scripture, it is to be a judgment of what we have done in this body, whether good or bad.
In Sunday school, Dave pointed out, and it is the crowns.
When you go to the Book of Revelation, you also know that the 4 and 20 elders fell before the throne of God and they threw their crowns down because that was the worship that it comes. Or use the other term that comes along with it, worth ship.
God is worth our service.
What's he done for us?
When we come to the foot of the cross and we hear that story of salvation, the God man who came dwelt among us, knew our very frame as individuals, and yet without sin, was placed on a cross, condemned for being the king, laid in a tomb, but on the third day rose again.
And what he says is the most simplest thing, because he says that if you believe on him, thou shalt be saved.
The message of the Gospel is so simple, and when you look at it, it's so simple. And it says that then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our lives and he equips us to serve.
We don't need a letter from the king that says, to the owner of the forest, hey, make sure you give him what he needs for the beams.
We have the very living presence of a holy God living in us that binds us together as one body in Christ and fully equipped to serve.
We're just like Nehemiah was back in Nehemiah, chapter one.
We should be praying, lord, you are almighty. You are the God. And this is the problem that we see.
We want the church to be built up.
Lord, give me the opportunity.
God gave Nehemiah the opportunity. He was kind of surprised by it.
But then he opened up what God had put on his heart.
We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord.
We try and persuade others.
Now, many times that text is used to say, well, we need to go out and evangelize.
I think that text has more to it, because when it says, since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.
What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. That's what Paul said about himself.
We're persuading others of our Lord and Savior, and what do we do?
Are we freely giving our gifts or are we being stingy?
Do we sit there and hold back?
If you want to see the deepest of this, I want you to understand, go back and look at Matthew 25, verses 14 to 29. When you have an opportunity today, open up that portion of Matthew 25. Go to the Parable of the Talents.
If you remember, the Master was going to go away, and he committed to his servants according to their abilities. That's what it says.
He gave to one, 10 bags of gold, to a second, five bags of gold. And to one, he gave one bag of gold so that when he came back, they could give an accounting. And when he came back, the one that had 10 bags had 20. Now the one that had five had 10.
And the one that had one, he buried that in the ground.
So he drug out the dirty old bag and said, here it is. I kept it for you.
Here's. Here's the. The whole thing.
Oh.
Oh, what a time of looking at Jesus Christ and realizing that our time with the Lord is that we are to serve him.
We are to serve as first Peter, chapter 4 and verse 10 says, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.
What are you doing?
What are you doing today with what God has given you to be a steward over?
Whether it's 10 bags, five bags or one bag, you have stewardship in your life.
What will you do for Christ?
What will be your accounting when you stand before a living Lord at the bema seat? Judgment.
It'll just be I believe it'll be a private meeting between you and the Lord.
He's not going to air all your dirty laundry to everybody else.
He's going to say, you and I need to talk.
What have you done with what I gave you?
Christian I hope that convicts your heart as it has torn me apart. This week I will be confessing before God's throne that there are times that I fully wasted and I've come to a place at 77 years old that I'm not going to waste anymore.
What does he have for you to do today?
What will you be accounting for?
What does your bank account show?
What do your finances show?
What does your time show?
I want to challenge you with David's words from Psalm 139, where David said, search me God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Take those verses with you and this week open yourself up to that asking the Lord. Search me, try me, so that when I come to stand before a living Christ, I will be able to give an accounting for what I have done as acceptable sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God, which is my reasoned service.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Re Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you were blessed by this episode, please share it with friends and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. We would love for you to join us on Sunday at 10:30am at 5566 Elizabethtown Road, Route 241 in Lawn, Pennsylvania. As always, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in Christ.
