Week 20 Day 5 – Kingdom Building 8-11

Lesson 8:  Remember and Repent

Nehemiah 9

In chapter 9, while they were in the middle of the teaching and dedication of the wall, the people were led through a recap of the history of Israel.  It is very important to periodically stop and remember from where you came and the journey that you have made so far. 

When we take the time to walk through our history it does two things for us:

1. It reminds us about how good God has been and leads us to worship Him.

2. It reminds us of the sin that we have battled and helps to expose us to our current weakness.  This leads us to a time of repentance and reconciliation.

If you have not done so recently, take some time to map out your spiritual journey so far.  Try to highlight the one or two significant things for each year.  Make a note of how this process affected you.  As you do it, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and see if He exposes things in your life that need to get shored up with God’s truth.

Lesson 9:  Bring Offerings to God

Nehemiah 10:28-39

Once the teaching was completed the people responded in an overwhelming rededication to the ways of God.  They committed to not marrying foreign wives, to not working on the Sabbath, to bringing the firstfruits, and to tithing regularly.  In this passage we can see that they realized that all of life is a part of our worship to God.  Everything we have belongs to God and we are to commit it all to Him. 

If our church is going to be strong and healthy then each one of us needs to come to the place where we realize that our things are not our things.  Our time, our possessions, our finances, none of it belongs to us.  God has given it to us and He expects that we will be using it for His glory.  How is your time being used this week?  How are you spending your money? Is the tithe going to God, or does He get the leftovers?  Are you using your skills, gifts and abilities to bring glory to Him, or are you feeding your own ego?

Lesson 10:  Support the Spiritual Leaders

Nehemiah 12:44-47

Here we see that some of the people in the community had been set aside to devote their full time to the functions of the Temple; storehouse keepers, gatekeepers, singers, priests, etc.  The people committed to supporting this group physically from their own resources in order to keep proper worship in the Temple functioning.

In Christian community it is appropriate to acknowledge when certain functions are necessary and, being time-consuming necessitate financial support from the community.  In 1 Timothy 5:17-18 Paul says,

Lesson 11:  Stay on Guard

Nehemiah 13

When the building dedication was complete and the people had made their commitments to follow God, it was time for Nehemiah to return to Persia.  12 years later he returned to the city.  What did he find?  The people had begun to slack in all the areas that they had so fervently promised to uphold.

Here’s the simple lesson.  The Kingdom of God does not exist in emotional experiences at campfires or altar calls.  The Kingdom of God exists in the day in, day out, persistent commitment of the pilgrim who is committed to the journey. 

Do you remember the very first lesson?  It was to count the cost.  Being a community that is walking in the Kingdom of God is a wonderful experience.  It is the only place that brings meaning and peace in life.  Yet, it is not easy. 

If we are going to be a strong and healthy community, then we need to stay on guard for the long haul.  Let’s not let circumstances get us down.  When things are going great, let’s rejoice, but let’s not feed our spirits off of success.  When things get rough, let’s mourn, but let’s not let our spirits be drained by failure or opposition.  Let’s let our spirits be connected to God, and overflow into each other, day in and day out, so that the roots of our community will grow strong and deep and the fruitful overflow of who we are in Christ will be a light to all around us, drawing them into the Kingdom of God.

Week 20 Day 4 – Lessons 5-7

Nehemiah 8:1-6

The actual building of the walls of Jerusalem took a mere, miraculous 52 days.  When the walls were finished, Nehemiah made a very important decision.  He invited Ezra to stand before all the people and read the book of the Law.

Why did he do that?  Shouldn’t they have had a really big party and congratulated themselves on a job well done? 

Nehemiah knew that the biggest temptation of the human being is to become distracted.  The people could have easily become distracted and believed that it was just a block wall that they were building to protect a city.  Wrong.  They were building so much more.  The process of building the wall was just one vehicle through which God could teach them how to build what they were really building, which was the Kingdom of God.  So, Nehemiah quickly brought them back into focus by having Ezra read the Law.  This was to say, "Don’t forget, people, this is about God and your heart.  Love Him with all your heart.  Do all you do for Him, and then you will know peace."

We can be easily distracted by the "stuff" of being the church.  We can create meetings and have job descriptions and start ministries. Before you know it we are running wild and not taking time to create space for God in our heart and community.  Let’s always stay focused on our relationship with God and with each other as the primary purpose for which we work.

Nehemiah 8:8

In this single verse we are exposed to a fundamental aspect of the Kingdom of God.  There is a great need for solid teaching.  God has revealed Himself to us through an objective means called the scripture.  Yet there is a great gap that exists between the pages and the people.  It was true in Ezra’s day and in ours.  For Ezra, he was reading a book that was 1,000 years earlier in Hebrew, to a group of contemporaries that spoke Aramaic.  While the revelation contained in the book of Moses was 100% accurate, it was not 100% accessible to the average citizen.  In v. 8 we see the three duties of the teacher in the Kingdom of God.

1. Stick to the book. Ezra was not afraid to simply read the Law to the people, because he knew that, even if they didn’t get it all, these were the living words of God.  In our teaching we need to not be distracted by trendy or topical fads in preaching.  Even though the New Testament was written 2,000 years ago, in a different culture, and in a different language, we need to make sure that we are teaching the people in our church what the Bible says because we believe the Bible is God’s Living Word. 

2. Make it clear. Since the Bible is an ancient text written in a foreign language, it is vitally important the we use the most accurate and accessible means to make the words of scripture clear.  That is why we need to be aware of good, contemporary translations, Bible Dictionaries, Atlases, Handbooks, etc.  There are many tools that are readily accessible to us to make the message of the Bible very clear to us.  Our teaching must not be too lofty to lose people or too muddy to obscure things and confuse people.  We must speak clearly, using the best means of communication -- oral, visual, auditory, technological, and kinesthetic -- to transfer the information of the Bible to our people.

3. Make it relevant. v. 8 says that they gave it meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.  The people to whom Moses wrote the Law and the world in which they lived was very different.  The context had changed dramatically.  Now, the people of God were under the political rule of the Persian empire, and were reduced to living in one city in what was, at the time of Moses’ writing, still the "Promised Land."  How were the people of the restoration to make sense out of the Law in light of their circumstances?  Ezra and the teachers did the important work of bridging the gap of time, language, and culture so that the people of God could grasp the timeless truths of God’s word and apply it to their lives in that moment.  The same task exists for our teaching.  We live a vastly different world than did Jesus and His disciples.  The challenge of the teacher is to be able to preserve the purity of the Biblical message and present it in a way the relates and connects to the contemporary mind. 

Pray that our teachers will stay strong and undistracted.  That we will commit ourselves to "rightly dividing the Word of Truth" and teaching the community in a powerful way that will unlock the gates of the Kingdom and allow the love and power of God to flow into the hearts of all the people.

Nehemiah 8:9-12

Here is a wonderful overflow passage.  When the people heard the Word of God and actually understood it and internalized it, then it was a natural reaction to burst into praise and worship to God.  Worship is our response to the truth of God at work in our lives.  One piece of evidence that God is at work in our community will be the worship response that we give to God. If our church is worshipping well, then that is a good sign that hearts are being changed.

Today’s list of lessons has touched on the "meat and potatoes" of a Christ-community.  To be strong and healthy we must eat well.  Daily, weekly, and monthly we must feed on God’s Word, worship Him, and fellowship with His people.  If we will maintain a regular discipline of doing these basic things, then the space will be present for God to work in and through us.

Week 20 Day 3 – Kingdom Building Lessons 1-4

Today we are going to start a three day mini-series that will walk us through the 11 Kingdom building lessons found in Nehemiah.  We will be drawing an analogy between Nehemiah’s project of rebuilding the walls around the city of Jerusalem and our endeavor to build the authentic Kingdom of God in our hearts and our community. 

Nehemiah 2:11-18
In this passage Nehemiah takes a midnight survey of the damage.  When he was back in Persia he had only heard reports about the ruined condition of the city.  Now, before he would make a public proclamation and commit himself to take on this project, he needed to know what he was getting into.  Not only was he going to be leading a large construction project - which was a big enough task in itself - he was also going to be leading the people into a political struggle as the building of the walls would no doubt raise opposition from nearby enemies.

Jesus told us that, to be His disciple, we must count the cost as well (Luke 14:25-25).  Entering into and dwelling in the Kingdom of God is not an easy task.  It will require sacrifice and commitment through good times and extremely difficult times.  It is not for the weak of heart or the wishy-washy.  To be a follower of Jesus is an all or nothing thing.  Jesus promised that He would provide the strength we need, but He did not say it would be a walk in the park.  Each one of us needs to take a ride around the city wall of our heart and our church and ask, "Am I ready to go the distance with this project, even when it seems like everything is against me?"

As you read through chapter three notice how the project was divided up.  Each section of the wall was assigned to a different family unit.  This is a beautiful picture of how the church should function.  The task of creating space for God to do His work in our lives and spheres of influence is far too great a task for any one person or a small "discipleship" committee.  It is the task of the church itself and if each family unit would take on the full responsibility of their own piece of the wall, then, collectively, we will have a cohesive, solid, well-built space where God can do amazing things.  The key here is to realize that every person -- from the oldest to the youngest, from the most brilliant to the simplest, from the most talented to the most basic -- has a part that they can play in the collective spiritual formation of a church community.  It is our job to discover which piece of the wall each family should take and then, joyfully jump into the job of building it.

Here we can refer back to Monday’s devotional.  Anytime we try to do something that will bring honor and glory to God, we are going to run up against fierce opposition.  Spiritual warfare is alive and well and takes on many different forms.  For some it will come through the physical political entities that will try to squelch any type of organized God-honoring systems.  For others it will come through dissension amongst the ranks, with Christian brothers and sisters fighting with each other and not being able to reconcile.  For others it will be a battle with sinful temptations that drag you away from your first love and take you away from the collective project.

Whatever the enemy may be, be assured that the community will be attacked on several fronts.  We need to stay tied together.  Notice what Nehemiah did.  He divided the population in half.  While the enemy plotted, Nehemiah prayed and posted.  He had half the people working while the other half stood guard over their back.  He told them to work and watch, they were to grunt and guard, and they were challenged to build and beware.

In Christian community this emphasizes the need for two important things.

1. We must be in accountability relationships with one another. Each person needs to have one other person (at least) watching their back against an enemy assault.

2. We must be in constant prayer for one another. Intercessory prayer is the greatest tool against the enemy that we have for our community. 

As the leader of Jerusalem, Nehemiah inherited a huge problem.  The governors who were before him had taken advantage of their political position and had lorded it over the poor.  They espoused a policy that made the rich richer and the poor poorer.  Nehemiah knew that, in God’s economy, there is no place for social stratification.  In order to help the poor and needy to become healthy, contributing members of the working community, he voluntarily denied himself the special treatment that the previous leaders had enjoyed. 

Nehemiah saw his role as a leader as that of a servant.  God had placed him in leadership for the good of the people, not for self-indulgence.  If our communities are going to be healthy and authentically building the Kingdom of God, then our leaders need to have servant hearts.  Also, our "wealthy" need to be willing to help those in need in order to bring every person into a place where they can be a vital, contributing factor to the health and growth of the community.