Category: Sermon

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[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of the Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Read Nehemiah 7:5-73

v4 – Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt.

v5 – So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there….

v73 – The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns

The city walls have been rebuilt, and miraculously in a record 52 days! However, when Nehemiah looks around he sees that the land is spacious and large but there’s nobody living in it. (v4) God then stirs his heart to bring together all the nobles, officials and people and get them registered so that they can begin to inhabit Jerusalem. He’s helped by a genealogical record of the first returnees. (v5)

[bctt tweet=”What does it mean to be in a covenant relationship with God?” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

I believe this passage highlights the covenant keeping character of God. That’s why the context is very essential.

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With regards to this, we can learn two things:

1) God zealously desires His worship
2) God lovingly pursues His people

1. God zealously desires His worship

At the outset when we look at this passage it may only seem like a story about repopulating and inheriting the land. Prior to this, the story may have appeared to only be a story of rebuilding broken walls. And that’s what we may think when we look at the surface: Construction and Inhabitation. However, when we dig deeper we find out that there’s something very significant that we can know about God and about ourselves through this passage.

The truth of the matter is that by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and by re-populating the city, the ultimate goal was to establish the worship of Yahweh!

Firstly, when we look at their history we understand that the very reason why they were exiled was due to idolatry! The people’s hearts were corrupted and they quickly turned away from God. Most of the Kings who ruled over them were wicked and caused them to worship idols. Every practice that was considered wicked in the eyes of the Lord was now being practiced among the Israelites – people who were supposed to be set apart for God!

1 Kings 14:22-24
“And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”

So God gave them up to their enemies in order to be captured and they were exiled.

2 Kings 24:18-20
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

Verse 20 is a very depressing statement when we look at Judah because they were the people of God, God shared a very special relationship with them, God dwelt among them, through them God was going to bless all the other nations. However, we see how miserably they failed in their worship of God. After everything God did for them, how they responded in disobedience and rebellion. It echoes the statement in Genesis when it talks how Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden because of their sin.

I remember reading through 1 Kings and 2 Kings and just feeling so depressed. The kings who were put in their place by God to lead people to worship were the very ones who turned the people away from God. At some moments I would think “Why do they do that to God? Why do they need to bow down to other idols? Why can’t they obey God? They deserve to be judged”. Just then I realized how my heart also bows to other idols. The biggest idol factory is located in our hearts. Every time we look at our family, friends, relationships, jobs, money, food, things we can buy, our possessions, fame, pride and find greater pleasure in them than God, we are bowing down to idols. Every time we find our identity in the affirmations of people and in the things that we do, we bow down to idols. Every time we find our ultimate security in our bank account, our homes, our jobs and relationships we bow down to idols.

But why would God give up His people and judge His people for worshipping other Gods? Why does He demand His full and complete worship?

And sometimes we feel God is being too harsh on this disloyalty thing. So this illustration helps me understand why the worship and fidelity to God cannot be shared or compromised:

What would you do if your 5 year old child went about calling everyone else “Daddy” or “Mommy”? You may warn him a few times but it’s going to get you really angry beyond a point because that title of a “Dad” or “Mom” belongs to you. It cannot be shared with anyone else. If that’s the relationship and the expectation of a child from the parent, can we actually reserve our worship for anyone else except our God, the one who fashioned and created us?

Secondly, when we look at the professional group of classes of people returning from exile: Priests, Levites, singers, gate-keepers, temple servants, we can infer that worship was a priority and was being emphasized.

What did Jerusalem mean to God and the people?
1. It signified God’s protective reign over His people.
2. It meant that God would dwell among His people.
3. It would be the place where God would meet His people (forgive, demonstrate justice, provide help, show mercy and grace) 1 Kings 8

The idea of the temple and Jerusalem was that it would be like God’s throne from where He would rule His people.
The main reason why the people were brought back into the city of Jerusalem to settle in was not because they were homeless, or because there was a better opportunity for living out there, but because He wanted to re-establish His worship among the people.

It’s so encouraging to know that we worship God who is zealous about His Worship. What would it mean for us to see his worship of the One true God be established in our lives personally? It would mean that we need to repent of the idols in our hearts. How can Christ be the One in whom we find our ultimate pleasure, identity and security? What would it mean for us to see the worship of the One true God be established in Mumbai? It’s a huge question. We’re all trying to figure it out. Definitely through the gospel and by confronting the idols of not only wood and stone but also of the culture.

What idols do you come across through your conversations with your friends, family and colleagues?
What creative ways can you use to confront them?

2. God lovingly pursues His people

v5 – Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it

Nehemiah makes it explicitly clear in this book that it’s not his own initiative but the desire that God put in his heart to bring all this about.

…..And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. (v5, Nehemiah 2:12)

Not only does God zealously desire His worship but He also lovingly pursues His people when they fall away. As we read in those passages in 1 and 2 Kings, Judah and Israel blew it. Yet God was so patient with them. He didn’t immediately destroy them but delayed the judgment. King after King came and acted wickedly against God. If we were in God’s place, we would’ve probably destroyed the people and created a new nation all over again. But no, God keeps His covenant that He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are His people. So what does He do? He remains faithful to His covenant and keeps a remnant for Himself. They are exiled but not completely destroyed. And then He pursues them with love and brings them back to the Promise Land. It’s walls are broken and gates are burned, so God rebuilds the walls…(for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God – Neh 6:16). Isn’t that so amazing and loving of our God?

That’s a picture of the gospel right there. We all deserve the judgment of God as a result of our sin. But God lovingly pursues us. He comes to us. God became man – Jesus. Lived the perfect, impeccable life. Unlike us he didn’t sin. He worshipped God fully and completely. But He shows His love for us by dying in our place as our substitute. So that by His sacrifice every single barrier that separated you from God: sin, Satan and death could be completely defeated. He remains faithful till the end.

Praise God for loving kindness and faithfulness!

Doesn’t that encourage us today? You may think you’ve blown it in your relationship with God. But the encouragement is in knowing that God lovingly pursues us. What He desires is repentance and full trust in what Christ accomplished for you.

Also, another application as we go about sharing the gospel and making disciples is in knowing that it’s not our initiative that changes people but it’s the loving pursuit of our God that’s going to change them. The moment people realize and see what God has done for them, how He’s pursued them in spite of their rebellion, that’s what’s going to transform them. So the pressure is off. You don’t need to feel the pressure of having those “numbers” but can freely, gladly and willingly share about His love and faithfulness! And God who is faithful will bring that about.

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Our text for today is from Nehemiah 6:15 – 7:4, but before getting there I want to share something important that will help us process what’s been preached from this book.

Even though the book of Nehemiah is actually the story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall, you must have noticed that we often link it to Jesus & the Gospel. One might argue why is that so? Can’t we just talk about Nehemiah, his courage, his leadership ability, his perseverance etc?

[bctt tweet=”Are we still bound to the Law and its practices? #law #nehemiah ” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

The reason we do not look at the OT passages in its literal sense is because the bible tells us that everything in the Old Testament passages are a mere shadow of the new covenant in Christ which means all the stories – whether Creation, Exodus, the Great Flood, Job, Esther, Nehemiah – all the people Adam, Eve, Moses, Abraham, David, Samuel etc – all the OT ordinances  Passover, Tabernacle, 10 commandments etc — they all point to the fulfillment of Gods promises in Jesus.

In Colossians 2:16-17 Paul while addressing to the church with regards to complaints from some believers on following the old testament commands about food, drink, Sabbath etc says these words

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Christ is the fulfillment & completion of God’s redemptive work for every human being and therefore when we read and study any passage from the OT we have to see it in the light of the Gospel, the finished work of God or else we will make an error and pick up ideas & thoughts that are not really relevant or applicable to us.

In John 5:46 Jesus himself says these words ^“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

The truth is without Christ and his finished work on the cross there is no other way humanity can find fulfillment in Life.

In the same way the story of Nehemiah is a reflection of Jesus. Jesus, as the better Nehemiah also bore the burden of temptation on behalf of the people (Nehemiah for the Jews & Christ, fully & completely for us).

Nehemiah goes and prepares a place for the exiles to return home to Jerusalem. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Just as the Jews were living as exiles in a place that was not their home, so are we living as sojourners / exiles in this place. Can you see the connection?

With that thought in mind now let’s read our passage. Nehemiah 6:15 – 7:4

We will divide the passage in 3 parts

Part 1 (v15-16) – Completion of the wall

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.  And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

Part 2 (v17-19) – The nobles bounded to Tobiah by an oath

Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife.  Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

Part 3 (7v1 – 4) – Nehemiah guarding what God accomplished

Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.” The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt.

Part 1: Completion of the wall

Now, finally we read that the wall is complete. The task for which Nehemiah was sent is done. And the most amazing thing is that it was completed in 52 days. This wall is said to have been 4.5 miles long, 24 ft at the base and just over 26 ft. tall. It was made using hands. No power tools. No machinery.

It was a humongous and an impossible task. The verses say when the enemies heard the news about the walls been completed, they were filled with fear.

Why would they be filled with fear? Because they perceived that the work had been accomplished with the help of God.

Part 2: The nobles bounded to Tobiah by an oath

The second part of the story tells us that even after the walls were completed with the help of God, the nobles in Judah were bound by an oath to Tobiah, an Ammonite. He was the one who conspired against Nehemiah and wanted to stop the re-building of the wall, which we read in the previous chapters.

How were the nobles bounded to Tobiah?

You see, Tobiah married a daughter of Shecaniah, a Judahite leader, and had given his son, Jehohanan, in marriage to the daughter of Meshullam, another Judahite leader which appears to be done for political reasons, which is why the nobles found themselves bound by some oath.

Tobiah because of his association with the nobles must have promised these Judahites that he will deliver them and give them a good future under his leadership. Maybe that was the reason why the nobles regularly sent letters to Tobiah to keep him updated with the work that was happening and vice versa, they would also speak praises of Tobiah in the presence of Nehemiah.

After receiving news from the nobles, Tobiah in return would send threatening letters to Nehemiah.

The truth which the nobles failed to understand was that Tobiah was not God’s plan for the redemption of His people. It was Nehemiah.

Part 3: Nehemiah guards what God accomplished

In verses 7:1-4, regardless of what was happening with the nobles, Nehemiah guards what God accomplished for them. He appoints gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites.

He appoints his brother Hanani the governor of the castle, a faithful and God-fearing person. Nehemiah even gives instructions on how the gates should be guarded.

Application

How does this passage point us to Christ and give us a picture of the Gospel?

Completion of the walls (Application)

The completion of the wall is what God accomplished for us through Salvation by sending His only son to die for us. The words of Jesus on the cross “It is finished” speaks of the finished work of God in us. Salvation through Christ is the completion of the redemptive work of God in all our lives.

Was it a humongous and an impossible task? Yes it was.

Could it be accomplished by human efforts? No, it couldn’t.

Jesus accomplished it in 3 days (through His death, burial & resurrection) just as he promised to build the temple in 3 days which was a confusing statement for the people then but we know that he was referencing his body.

The work that God did in our lives is often shocking and cause of concern to our unbelieving family members, relatives & friends. They will even fail to believe that a man/women like us can change to this extent.

They have to admit that it is only God who can do this amazing work.

The nobles bounded to Tobiah under an oath (Application)

After reading about the nobles being bound to Tobiah, I was drawn to the passage in Romans 7:1-6, in which Paul is writing to the church in Rome.

Or do you not know, brothers —for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Even after what God accomplished for us through Christ by GRACE we can still be bound to the Law and its practices (just like the women bound to her dead husband or like the nobles bound to Tobiah)  in a way that we feel obligated to do things and say things that are unpleasant to God.

Romans 7:4 says “we have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”

In Jesus the law has been fulfilled and we are released from it, having died to that which held us captive.

Matthew 5:17-18: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

The law was kept perfectly by Christ. And all its penalties against God’s sinful people were poured out on Christ. Therefore, the law is now manifestly not the path to righteousness, Christ is. The ultimate goal of the law is that we would look to Christ, not law-keeping, for our righteousness.

Romans 10:4 – For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

And therefore we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Galatians 3:24 – So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Just like how Tobiah was not Gods plan for the redemption of his people, it was Nehemiah. In the same way the Law was never Gods plan of redemption, it was Jesus.

The Law produces Religion & God hates religion.

Timothy Keller in his book “Center Church” says there are in fact 2 ways to reject God.

“You can reject God by rejecting his law and living any way you see fit. And you can also reject God by embracing and obeying God’s law so as to earn your salvation. The problem is that people in the last group – who reject the gospel in favour of moralism – look as if they are trying to do God’s will.”

If you’ve seen our FB page last week you will see 9 posts on Religion vs Gospel which I picked up from Timothy Keller’s book. You will see how the Gospel is so different from Religion and the kind of response it expects from us. I would encourage you to read it as often as possible.

One of my favorite is the first one which is Religion says “I obey, therefore I’m accepted” but Gospel says “I’m accepted, therefore I obey”

Nehemiah appoints Guards (Application)

In the light of what has been shared so far what do we do?

1. Guard what God has accomplished

Galatians 1:6-9

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Just like Nehemiah we have to guard what God has accomplished for us. Not to let false teachings and doctrines turn our hearts from the truth.

2. Cherish the truth of the Gospel

Galatians 2:15-16

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

We should remind ourselves of who we are in Christ. Because Christ redeemed us from sin, we are no longer slaves to sin (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are adopted sons and daughters of the Most High (Romans 8:15). God loves us like he loves his Son (John 17:23). God looks at us and sees the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ, we are now the heirs of his Kingdom (1 Peter 1:4).

3. Apply & Preach the Gospel to your everyday life

Paul Tripp quote:

Preaching the gospel to ourselves is a spiritual discipline that is both proactive and reactive. It’s reactive as we encounter temptation and frustration and seek to restock in the moment, or as we reflect back on our sin and circumstances and try to evaluate them with a gospel lens.

But it’s also proactive — it goes on the offensive — when we feed our souls in some regular rhythm before the events and tasks and disappointments of daily life begin streaming our way. Make it a daily practice to 1) gaze on the beauty of Christ, 2) remember who we are as a child of God, 3)rest in his power and provision, and then 4) act in reliance upon him.

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/our-defense.mp3″]

If you were asked this question “How complete is your defence against those who would side-track you?” what would your honest answer be? One thing we tend to forget as Christians is that we’re constantly in wartime. There is a battle going on! Scripture is very clear about the battle:

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11-13)

[bctt tweet=”What’s Your Defense Strategy? (Nehemiah 6:1-14)” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

And this attack can come in two forms:

1. From within (Indwelling sin)
2. From outside (other people who distract us from doing what God calls us to do)

Therefore, it becomes very critical for us to know what our weak spots are and to also have a defense strategy in place to tackle that. And this passage from Nehemiah provides us with a good defense strategy.

1. Dedicated focus on the things of God

When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages[a] on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. (Nehemiah 6:1-4)

As the rebuilding project is almost over we see how Sanballat, Tobiah and their cohorts deceptively try to pull Nehemiah aside with the intention of harming him. They knew that if the leader of Judah was attacked, it would immediately stop the rebuilding work. So they ask Nehemiah to meet them on the plain of Ono and made it seem like it was a well-intentioned discussion among the leaders of different nations. Nehemiah suspected otherwise because these were the people who fiercely opposed him and the work in Jerusalem from the start. They consistently discouraged, despised and deceived them from continuing the work. He knew that they were pulling their last straw to get him and his people to stop the work. What is fascinating is the response Nehemiah gives to his enemies. Even if the proposed meeting was sincere and well intentioned, Nehemiah doesn’t allow the good to get in the way of the better. He says in v3: I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you.

He understood the seriousness of the task at hand and was determined to finish what God called him to do! We see a man with a single minded focus! He couldn’t afford any lapses because he knew that it would cause the entire work to stop.

What would it mean for us to have that kind of dedicated focus on the things of God? In fact we see a great deal of focus when people work out in the gym, play games or when we try to meet the deadline or sales targets but the sad truth is that we don’t show that kind of focus when it comes to God. That’s why many young people show a great deal of enthusiasm and focus to serve God until they get married. After that serving the Lord finds no place in their lives. Another thing we see is how young Christians claim to have such a burden to reach out to the lost in their city but the moment an attractive oversees job offer comes their way, they’ll abandon that calling to follow their desires. Why is it that we don’t have a dedicated focus? It’s because we lack a passion for the glory of God. There are competing desires and passions in our heart. A passion for the glory of God will drive us to have a dedicated focus on the things of God.

2. Dependence on the promises of God

Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem[b] says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” 9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.” (v5-9)

Sanballat and the other enemies were trying to instil fear in the hearts of the people with this unsealed letter. Obviously nobody wants to be perceived as opposing the King. By frightening the public, they were hoping to make them stop working on the walls. In spite of these threats, Nehemiah didn’t jitter. We know that because in these verses he doesn’t react by either trying to talk to the King and sort things out or meet with Sanballat to discuss further steps. Rather he responds by rubbishing their allegations. Secondly, you see him firmly trusting in God’s plan of rebuilding the walls. (v9) This has been a consistent pattern of his life. (Neh 2:8,12,18,20; 4:20)

At all times, either good or bad, before beginning his mission or during the mission, he always turns to God for help and trusts in His providence. What would it look like for us to exemplify that kind of prayer life and trust on God’s promises? Sometimes we may think that Nehemiah was a superstar of the faith and he was able to that. The truth is we all have access to the same God. So what if we had a prayer life and a trust like his? Would that completely turn our lives around?

3. Discernment through the Word of God

One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”

11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” 12 I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. (v10-13)

The prophecy of Shemaiah was intended to put fear in his heart and cause him to sin because the OT law forbade people other than priests from entering the sanctuary of God (Num 18:7). If Nehemiah gave into fear, he would’ve broken the law, disobeyed God, received the taunts of the enemy and then be discredited as a godly leader of the people. And that could put all of the work to halt. Instead you see Nehemiah recognizing that Shemaiah was a false prophet because he knew what the Word said and a true prophet would not contradict God’s law and make him sin. What can we learn from this? How can we distinguish between what’s really God’s will for us and the words of a false prophet or a misguided person?

We can do that by asking two questions:

• Does it contradict God’s Word? Scripture is the final, decisive authority to know what the will of God is. We know that from different Scriptures (Prov 30:5, 6; 2 Tim 3:16) Anybody who contradicts or rejects the teaching of Scripture cannot be considered a true prophet/reliable witness of God.
• Does the counsel/advice lead me to love, trust and obey God? We know from John 14:15 that God is interested in the obedience of His people. A person’s love for God is characterized by his obedience. If the counsel isn’t leading us to love, trust and obey God then it’s clearly not in line with what God wants in our lives.

Therefore, it makes it ever so important to know what Scripture says in order to know the will of God.

What are the weak spots in the walls of your heart that need shoring up? It needs to be identified and then defended by dedicated focus on the things of God, dependence on the promises of God and discernment through the Word of God.

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/forgive-one-another.mp3″]

Out text for this Sunday is from the book of Nehemiah 5:1-13.

We are looking at the story of Nehemiah who when he hears the sad condition of his people leaves the King’s palace where he was working as a cup bearer to help his people build the broken wall so they can live with freedom and security.

In the last few weeks we saw how Nehemiah and the people of Israel regardless of the opposition and threat from the enemy continue to remain faithful to Gods calling. Last Sunday we learnt that to remain faithful to the Kingdom we have to trust in God’s sovereignty, continue to remain together in community and guard our hearts against the evil schemes of the enemy that distract us from serving Him faithfully.

In Nehemiah chapter 5 we see a change in the plot. After wrestling with opposition from their enemies outside and inside who were against them building the wall, now the focus shifts to a more serious issue. The issue now is that the people are not able to get enough grain to feed their families and keep them alive.

It is not because there was no food supply in the city but because they did not have enough money to buy them from the vendors.

To give you a background, in those days the people had to pay high taxes to the King.

Ezra 4:20 – And mighty kings had been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.

One of the reason the kings were against the building of the walls were because they feared the people wouldn’t pay the taxes if the city walls are built.

Ezra 4:13 – Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.

Documents from Babylonia show that many had to mortgage their fields and orchards to get silver for the payment of taxes to the king. In many cases they were unable to redeem their property, and became landless hired laborers; sometimes they were compelled to give away their children into slavery. According to some Egyptian data, the taxation was so heavy that the peasants fled to the surrounding cities, but were arrested by the nomarchs and brought back by force.

Nehemiah 5:2-5 is describing the same situation for us.

For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain that we may eat and keep alive.” There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

On the heels of unity as described in chapter 4, because of oppression from outside and inside, poverty was rampant now in the land. Nehemiah was calling on the officials to stop the unlawful practice of exacting interest and return the fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that they’ve have been exacting from them.

This act was creating anger within him v.6 and he had to check his spirit.

Here’s a people of God who came out of slavery & exile, united back because of Nehemiah to build the walls, working together for one purpose but yet we now see those who still seek their own welfare in a clear case of exploitation.

What do we learn from this passage?

Of course the easy application is that we shouldn’t charge crippling interest to the people of God or any people for that matter, (In what regards?) but I want us to look at this passage from a slightly different view.

Here’s the picture I want to paint for you – The people legally had an obligation to pay back their debt to the King by whatever means, but a godly man called Nehemiah, sacrifices his own comfort, his own pleasures, invests his own money and resources to come and fight for these people so they can have secured and a bright future. And in return Nehemiah is now pleading with the people to do the same with each other to forgive debts, stop taking interest, return the fields, the vineyards, money etc.

[bctt tweet=”Nehemiah 5:1-13 paints a beautiful picture of what the gospel does & what it expects.” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

I think it’s a beautiful picture of the gospel – what it does to us & what it expects from us.

Think about it – We legally owe a debt to God because of our sin, but He sent His own son Jesus to pay our debt and to restore our relation back to God and one another. And now he expects us to do the same with others so that the work of the Kingdom can continue.

Now, let’s turn to Matthew 18:21-35 where Jesus shares a similar story and is talking about the same application I just shared with you.

In the light of these 2 stories first and foremost I want to spend some time talking about what it means to be indebted to God so we can have an overall perspective of what it means to forgive others.

We’re not talking about some man who gave us few lakhs of rupees so we can make a fortune out of it and give it back to him. We’re talking about God, the maker of the universe. They say that the visible universe contains 10,000 billion galaxies, each one of these galaxies contains about 100 billion stars.

Our sun is one of the stars from one of those galaxies. The very closest star to our solar system, Alpha Centauri, would take 4.3 years to travel to at the speed of light. Our earth is a tiny little planet that revolves around this sun and we are literally like bacteria living on this planet.

Here’s why I wanted to give this picture, I want you to know that we are talking about someone to whom we owe everything, our mere existence is a mercy of God. No matter what we do we can never ever pay Him back anything.
A God who was there from eternity one day decided to create the world and us. And why did he create the world and us?

I love the way Timothy Keller answers this question in his book Center church.

He says “The answer is what makes the Christian understanding of God profound and unique. While there is only one God, within God’s being there are three persons – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – who are equally God and who have loved, adored, served, and enjoyed one another from all eternity. If God were uni-personal, then he would have not known love until he created other beings. In that case, love and community would not have been essential to his character; it would have emerged later. But God is triune, and therefore love, friendship, and community are intrinsic to him and at the heart of all reality. So a triune God created us (John 1:1-4), but he would not have created us to get the joy of mutual love and service, because he already had that. Rather, he created us to share in his love and service and to live in the same way with one another.”

[bctt tweet=”God created us to share in his love and service and to live in the same way with one another.” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

God created us to adore and serve him and to love others. By living this way, we would have been completely happy and enjoyed a perfect world. But instead, the whole human race turned away from God, rebelling against his authority. Instead of living for God and our neighbors, we live lives of self-centeredness. Because our relationship with God has broken, all other relationships – with other human beings, with our very selves, and with the created world – are also ruptured.

We owe God a lot that we can never repay him back.

God has all the reason to wipe us out and he can do it in an instance. All he has to do is change the settings of this universe to maybe .000000000000001%. We will be gone at the wink of an eye. No time to even feel bad or cry for each other.

But here’s the beautiful thing. God didn’t just create us for his pleasure but the Bible says he loves us, he made us in His own image. Because Love is His character he couldn’t see us in our sinfulness.

Ephesians 2:4-5 – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved.

1 John 4:9-11 – In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

That’s the point I want to drive you to this morning. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

How can we not forgive one another when we ourselves have been forgiven of our own sins?

I don’t want to know how badly somebody hurt you because one thing is for sure that it can’t be more worse than our offence towards God. We have terribly hurt God with our self-centeredness, rebellion and unholy ways, and we continue to do them every single day.

Yet he says “If you confess your sins, I am faithful and just and will forgive your sins and purify you from all righteousness” – 1 John 1:9 “Repent, then, and turn to me, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from me” – Acts 3:19

So, let’s learn to forgive others just as God has forgiven us.

When Nehemiah said to the people in verse 9 onwards

“The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.

I believe God is calling us to do some serious thinking here and to take some drastic steps. And as we step out in obedience and forgive one another, love one another and live in peace for the sake of Gods kingdom – Can we respond to our offenders as God responded to us.

1. Can we hold back anger and respond in Love?

V6 – Nehemiah took counsel with himself = Literally translated, “He dominated his feelings” == He was angry, but he didn’t respond out of his anger.

God did not respond to our sins in anger. David beautifully says in Psalms 103:10 “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

Can we also hold back our anger and respond in love towards one another as God responds to us?

2. Can we forget the feelings of hurt and respond in Love?

In Psalms 103:11-12 David says “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Here’s an interesting thing about that verse –

If you drive to south to the South Pole, then begin driving north till you reached the North Pole, you can travel south again to your starting point. However, you could travel around the world millions of time going east, reaching your starting point over and over without ever driving in any direction but east. You will realize that though there is a South Pole and a North Pole, there is no East Pole and no West Pole. There is no place at which east meets west.

And that’s how far God has removed our transgressions.

Though it is difficult to completely forget what others have done to us, it is definitely possible to forget the feeling and embrace with love.

3. Now that we’ve learnt about forgetting the feeling of hurt can we also stop talking about it anymore and speak positive words?

After all that we have done against God, He still chooses to speak words of encouragement and promises a great future. Isn’t it? And shouldn’t we do the same?

Remember, our words play a very important role. They can be used to show love and affection and also to destroy a person to the core.

Gossip is one of the most harmful sins that we Christians have been neglecting and we have to stop it so that God can heal our wounds and use us for His glory.

There is no point in talking about what happened in the past because what is ahead of us is more glorious and beautiful. So let’s concentrate our energies toward the future.

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/remianing-faithful-final.mp3″]

In the last few sermons on the book of Nehemiah, we talked about the theology of opposition. We learned that when we step out in Obedience to Gods calling and purposes we will face opposition and persecution.

Jesus said if they persecuted me they will persecute you but he also said “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Last Sunday, Jinson shared on the priority of prayer and what it means to be in a promise filled partnership with God. He spoke on the enormity of the problem Nehemiah and the people of Israel had to face, the nerve-racking threat from the enemy and the discouragement that came especially from their own people.

This Sunday we’re going to talk about the practicality of how we live in the light of the things we learnt so far. The question we will answer today is “How do we remain faithful to the Kingdom work even in the face of opposition?“

The battle is real, the opposition is tough, the persecution is evident.

For some of you, the battle is against your own flesh. Though you want to live a righteous and an obedient life as per the scriptures, you often end up giving in to your flesh and the worldly cravings that suck the life out of you and leave you with guilt and condemnation. You disqualify yourself from Gods calling and never reach your full potential in life.

For some the battle is against your own people who fail to understand Gods calling upon your life and often stand as a hindrance in your way. They call you names, they discourage you, they mock at you and instead of living a victorious life you give in to those discouragements and stop pursing what God wants from you.

For some of you the battle is against sickness or financial crisis that make you feel disabled and worthless for the Kingdom work.

And here’s this question in front of us today even as we go through these real struggles in life. “How do we remain faithful to the kingdom work in the face of opposition, discouragement, lack, poverty, sinful cravings, hindrances from our own people, sickness etc?”

The people of Israel in the story of Nehemiah are facing a real battle just like all of us. They are surrounded by not one but many enemies who want them dead and don’t want to see them build the wall or want them to prosper. The lives of their women and children are in danger. They’re facing constant discouragements, mocking and insults thrown at them.

But against all odds, discouragements and threat they still manage to faithfully work for the Kingdom of God.

I believe the text for today from Nehemiah 4:15-23 has some key lessons that we can learn from and apply in our lives as we face opposition and yet want to continue working for the Kingdom.

The very first thing that pops out of those verses is that the people return to work with the knowledge of who God is and a confidence (faith) in Him.

v15 – 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.

Their trust in God’s sovereignty and power motivated them to get back to work with full assurance in their heart that God will give them success.

When we remember who the Lord is and begin to see Him correctly, that shapes everything. Our perspective changes, our response changes.

The Lord is the one who frustrated the enemy’s plans and that changed everything from the people’s perspective to their response, to the way they lived.

In the face of opposition and discouragements, we must always remind ourselves that God is fighting our battles, therefore we have to live and depend on His sovereignty and not on our abilities.

No matter how pitiful or harsh your situation is God still loves you because you are His child. Remember when we were yet sinners God loved us not because we were perfect and obedient. More than 2000 years back God sent his son Jesus to die on behalf of our sins, past, present & future. The day we believed and put our trust in what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross we were adopted into Gods family just the way he found us.

Just recently we had witnessed an American family from Missouri adopt a child from an orphanage in Pune. They already have 2 children of their own but still chose to adopt this beautiful boy. I just can’t explain the joy I felt to see the whole process; it reminded me of God adopting us into his great big family.

In Psalms 40:2 King David writes “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”

In times of despair we have to remind ourselves of who God is, what he has done for us, who he has made us to be.

Jer 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” That’s who our God is.

Remember God is in complete control of our lives and he is working out something beautiful in all of us even through times of failure, discouragements, opposition and calamity.

The people of God trusted in his sovereignty and His ability to give success and got back to work with full assurance in their heart that God will give them success.

Are we willing to trust in God’s sovereignty?

Hudson Taylor, a missionary from China in the year 1832 was one day in a sailboat and the captain of the boat came to him. They were just off the coast of Sumatra and there was no wind, and the boat was drifting towards an island. And the captain came and knocked on the door of Hudson Taylor and said to him the boat was drifting, there was no wind, and this island was thought to be inhabited by cannibals. And Hudson Taylor said to him, “What do you want me to do?” And the captain said, “ I hear you’re a man of God, and I want you to pray, and pray for wind.” And Hudson Taylor says, “Well, all right. But I want you to put the sails up.” And the captain said, “Well, my sailors will think I’m crazy, because there’s absolutely no wind at all!” But Hudson Taylor insisted that he put the sails up. Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the door, and the captain was saying, “You can stop praying now, because we’ve got more wind than we know what to do with!”

It’s a beautiful story of a man who knew who his God was; he knew that God will answer his prayers.

Do we know our God?

In times of difficulty are we willing to put our trust in the God who never sleeps, never slumbers? In The God who promised ‘I will never leave you never forsake you’? Do you believe that he is working on you just like the goldsmith works on the ore till he gets to see his own reflection and brings out pure gold.

The second thing we see in the text is that the people stayed together & worked together in community.

v16 – 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

v19 – 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. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

They stayed together, they built together, they fought together.

I don’t think I need to emphasize too much on this point because one of the things I really cherish and appreciate about ‘The Gathering Community Church’ is our sense of community, the way we love and care for one another, our openness to share our struggles with one another and pray with one another.

I love my meetings with Jinson and Aslem every Thursday. I am so blessed to have brothers with whom I can share my life and find encouragement from each other.

It is encouraging to see the girls connect every Wednesdays where they have grown into friendship and show genuine love and care for each other.

It is beautiful to be a part a community that loves and cares for each other and the benefits are fulfilling.

1. Community challenges us to be more like Jesus
2. Community meets practical needs
3. Community carries us emotionally
4. Community reveals our gifts and talents
5. Community opens our eyes to the needs of others
6. Community empowers our relationship with God
7. Community meets our need for love
8. Community offers opportunities for confession which leads to healing
9. Community teaches us to work through conflicts
10. Community gives us the chance to forgive

Let’s continue to intentionally stay together and build each other even when we grow in numbers.

The third and the final thing that we see in those verses is that they fought and was on guard against the plots of the enemy.

V17 – 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.

v18 – And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.

Along with trusting in God’s sovereignty and being in a community, it is also important to remember that we need to constantly guard our hearts if we want to continue working for the Kingdom.

Luke 6:45

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

When we think about the work that needs to be accomplished we must get rid of the myth of neutrality — — we must remember that there’s no standing still. We’re either gaining ground or we’re losing ground. There is no neutral.

Nehemiah’s skill was to plan for realistic events, the possibility of certain things that were about to happen…the lookouts that he had, the way he prepared the people for battle. In verse 23, right at the end:

“Neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.”

Even at night they were prepared. They were prepared by day; they were prepared by night. He had a trumpeter who stayed by Nehemiah’s side the whole time so that wherever there might be a threat of an incursion into the city the trumpeter would blast his trumpet, and they would come running to the sound of that trumpet. Wherever they would hear that sound, they were to run there in order to defend that part of the city. It’s not just organization, its preparation.

The question I want us to answer today is “What are some of the practical things we’re doing to guard ourselves against to keep us from deviating from the task at hand?”

Since we’re talking about guarding our heart I want to take some time out and talk a bit about Spiritual disciplines.

I believe one of the ways we can guard our hearts is by cultivating spiritual disciplines.

Let me define what Spiritual disciple is.

Discipline in general is defined as “training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior.” It is a natural component of the Christian life. In fact, almost nothing of any significance in our lives is ever accomplished without it. Spiritual disciplines can be described as those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity. This process of spiritual growth and development begins to take place the moment a person encounters the risen Christ and comes to Him for salvation.

The purpose of spiritual discipline is to develop our inner being, that which has been transformed by Christ at salvation.

“A Spiritual Discipline is an intentionally directed action which places us in a position to receive from God the power to do what we cannot accomplish on our own…. The deep waters of God’s life are already flowing. We simply learn the strokes that will enable us more and more to be at home in them…. The human body is our power-pack of mind-body-spirit — we discipline it in order to practice cooperation with God. (Life with God, p. 135-137)”
― Richard Foster, a Christian theologian.

Remember our Lord Jesus when he was on the earth practiced and taught spiritual disciplines. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights before stepping into ministry, he would often go away into solitude to talk to God, he regularly prayed, he memorized scriptures and often quoted from the old testament to prove his point.

Daniel in the Old testament prayed for 3 times in a day and was willing to die in the Lion’s den when the King and the officials passed an order to stop praying to any other God except to the idol of Nebucanezzar.

Paul often instructed the people of God to follow Spiritual disciplines.

1 Tim 4:7 – Train yourself in Godliness
Phil 2:12 – Work out your salvation with fear and trembling
Rom 15:30 – Strive together with me in prayer
1 Pet 2:11 – Abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.

As parents one of the things we want to cultivate in our children is to have spiritual discipline in their lives and therefore we have incorporated prayer, bible reading & waiting on the Lord as part of their daily schedule.

So as I close in, let me list down some of the Spiritual disciplines that you may want to incorporate in your daily schedule as we have talked about guarding our hearts against the plots of enemy and moving forward in working for the kingdom with zeal and passion.

Solitude, Fasting, Worship, Prayer, Fellowship, Confession, Journalizing, Sacrificial living etc.