Fight For Your Church

Nobody can deny that we face difficult times.  Financially, we have all felt the pinch of these days.  We have had many in our congregation who have lost jobs or have faced the threat of losing their job.  As we try to put together a budget for next year, the financial shortfall we are experiencing is all too clear. 

We also look around and we miss people.  We’ve lost a number of saints as they have gone to be with the Lord.  We’ve seen families move away.  We’ve seen others simply fade away.  We know the challenges of trying to make disciples in a society that seems ambivalent (at best) to the Gospel or has been seemingly inoculated to the Gospel.  We know the difficulty of trying to make an impact in our community and the struggle it is to help the church to grow. 

We see these things are we are tempted to despair.  We are tempted to give into gloom and doom.  We are tempted to give up.  Or if we don’t give up, we’re tempted to operate out of fear.  And then we’re afraid to do anything because we calculate the impossibilities. (Oh, we can’t do that - Oh we’ll never be able to make it – You know, things are bad and they probably won’t get any better.)  Listen to us!  We talk like we’ve got one foot in the grave when we serve a Savior who has conquered the grave!

Last week, I was reading a commentary by Raymond Brown and something he wrote struck me: “It has been said that in the history of the church, pessimism has always been a greater problem than atheism.”  Pessimism is in many ways ‘practical atheism’- living as if God doesn’t exist.  Atheists are at least somewhat honest – they don’t believe or don’t want to believe in God.  Christian pessimists, however, claim to believe in God but evidently don’t believe that He will do actually anything.  They are, in a sense, spiritual schizophrenics – believing all sorts of wonderful things about God, but not really believing that He will really do any of them.  Now I’m not saying we should be spiritual ‘Pollyannas’ – we are to be realistic about reality - but we, as believers, are called to believe and to trust that our God is the living God who speaks and acts and triumphs.

Nobody can deny that we face difficult times, but as Raymond Brown reminds us, “Blessings emerge in affliction which are rarely found in periods of ease. Sorrow is not purposeless if it drives us to God, increases our dependence on him, enhances our sensitivity to others and makes us more like Jesus.  Christ told his followers that they were unlikely to escape trouble and mature believers prefer rather to learn from adversity that to bemoan it.”

I believe that the story of God’s people during the time of Nehemiah has much to teach us in this. You see, the Israelites had returned to the Land after 70 years of exile in Babylon.  Zerubbabel led the first group and Ezra the second.  A third group returned with Nehemiah.  Nehemiah had heard the report while still in Persia that, “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.”  Nehemiah got permission to leave the Persian court, at which he served, and go to Jerusalem.  There he found the report to be true.  The walls of Jerusalem were still broken down and gates charred.  In the face of such destruction, it’s amazing that Nehemiah was able to say, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace."  And equally amazing that the people replied, "Let us start rebuilding" (2:17-18). That brings us to our text:  Nehemiah 4.

In his commentary on Nehemiah, Raymond Brown points out some principles that we find in this passage. The first is that conflict is inevitable. Following the Lord involves conflict from our own sinful nature, from other sinful people and from the devil who has been sinning from the beginning. In Nehemiah’s case, that conflict took the form of the local rulers who were furious that the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt and who mocked and ridiculed the Jews who were working on the wall.  These local rulers were planning to fight against Jerusalem and to stir up trouble against it.  They were bullies attempting to intimidate and discourage the people with their insults and to instill fear in them with their military presence so that they would give up on the work.  But Nehemiah and the people were willing to deal with the conflict and to face the opposition with courage and faith.

 

The second principle is that discouragement is understandable (10-12).  Discouragement was understandable because the work was extensive and the conditions were difficult. Discouragement was understandable because they were exhausted: “The strength of the laborers is giving out.”  There was so much work to do and such pressure to get it done that the workers were pushed to their limit.  Discouragement was understandable because the opposition was fierce and it surrounded them. 

But how did Nehemiah and the people respond to the conflict and the discouragement?  The next four principles show us. 

Prayer is crucial.  When Nehemiah heard the threats and the mockery of Sanballat and Tobiah, he didn’t run and hide, nor did he retaliate.  Instead, he prayed.  “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Nehemiah cried out to the Lord – to “our God” – for help, revealing that prayer should not be our last resort but our first recourse.

Unity is essential.  We read that the officers posted themselves behind all the people who were building and everyone was to be ready, at any time, to rally to the point of need or defense.  Just as a breach in the wall was a danger, so any breach in the unity of the people was a danger.  The work was extensive and the threat was very real.  Without unity among the people, they would fail and their enemies would prevail.  The people literally had to stand by each other and look out for each other.

Sacrifice and hard work are vital.  In order to accomplish the work, everyone had to give up something.  Whether it was giving up personal freedom in order to work on the wall, or giving up ones home to stay in the city at night or Nehemiah and his men sleeping in their clothes so as to always be ready.  And the people worked hard.  We read in v. 6, “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” That can also be translated as “the people had a heart for the work”.  The people had a heart for the work and so they worked with all their heart.  They didn’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves and dwelling on the past, rather they got to work, building for the future.  And all of the people gave of themselves – their time, their efforts and their resources to build up the walls and defend their community.

Because what they were defending was valuable.  They fought for their brothers, their children, their wives and husbands, their homes and for the city of their God.  Though broken down, it was still valuable and was worth their effort – worth the fight.

Though conflict was inevitable and discouragement was understandable, the people showed that prayer is crucial, unity essential, sacrifice and hard work vital and what they were defending valuable.  And they could show that in their lives because they believed that God is invincible! The ESV translates v. 10 this way: “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 recognized that the task was too great for them alone.  They needed outside help.  They needed the Lord. Therefore Nehemiah shouted to the people, “Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”  And again in v. 20, “Our God will fight for us.”  God fights for His people and God is invincible.  Nehemiah charged the people to remember that.  God is great and awesome.  So we need not be afraid when we are trusting in Him.  Rather, we can confidently fight for our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our spouses and our homes, knowing and believing that God wins!

So as you look out on the broken places in our lives and in our church, what will you do?  Despair?  Moans and groan?  Complain?  Assign blame to someone other than yourself?  Give up?  Conflict is inevitable.  Discouragement is understandable.

Will you respond with prayer?  For Nehemiah, prayer was his first recourse.  Is it yours?  Nehemiah fasted and prayed when he heard the news of Jerusalem, will you fast and pray for our church? 

Will you respond by striving for unity? “They” are at it again.  I’ve heard a lot about “them” recently.  “They are doing this, they are doing that.” “Can you believe they did that?”  “What do they think they are doing?”  “They” talk is a sign of disunity.  It is divisive because it separates the speaker from the subject and suggests that you (the speaker) are powerless, yet innocent and right and “they” are domineering and wrong.  Enough of “they” talk!  WE are the church.  WE are God’s people.  WE are commanded to love each other.

Will you respond by giving sacrificially and working hard?  Will you give of yourself; give of your own resources to bless others and build up the church?  If the walls of our lives and our families and our church are broken in places, will you offer your hands and your back to do the hard work of building them back up?  And will you work to build not a monument to the past, but build for the future – with a vision of what can be?

Will you respond because you see that what you are called to defend is valuable?  I started off talking about the problems we face as a church, but this is a good church and God is moving in our midst.  We have children and new families.  We have a loving community.  We have ministries that are reaching out into our community.  Family Night rocks.  Our LINC groups are growing strong.  People are growing in God’s Word and many have a Godly dissatisfaction and a desire to grow more.  Our church family is worth the effort and the sacrifice and the hard work that God calls us to.  It’s worth the fight!

And will you do the hardest thing?  Will you believe that God is invincible?  Will you believe it not simply with your head, but with your heart and your will and will you express it in your attitude and your words and conversations and your actions?

We are called to fight for our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our spouses and homes, knowing that it is worth it and knowing and believing that God fights for us and God wins!