Overview / Nehemiah 1-13
A Call to Something More
Well, welcome to you. Go ahead and grab a seat. My name is Brad, and I have the privilege of hanging out with you here today. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, turn to the book of Nehemiah. We are going to start Nehemiah today and spend the next twenty or forty weeks—or however long it takes—walking through it.
Truthfully, I am just encouraged that you are here. Many of you were here last week. You know, there are some messages that if you were a people-pleaser, you would just skip. Last week was one of those. It was kind of a jab. It didn’t hurt real bad, but it certainly got your attention. It popped a little bit, and yet, you came back.
Last week, we really challenged the body to consider what it means to be a part of a church. What is our calling? What does God want for us, and what does He want from us? We recognized the gravitational pull toward absolute apathy, mediocre spirituality, and a pathetic Christianity that claims the name of Jesus but lives like crazy the rest of the week. We took the shot because if you are here today and you don’t know Christ, you need to know that we think like you do: we don’t like hypocritical Christians either.
It has been fascinating getting the responses. Some people are pretty fired up and excited to be a part of a movement. Some people decided not to come back. At the end of the day, our hope for all of you who know Jesus is that this might be an opportunity for you to pursue Christ in a special way. We are going to keep that theme going as we enter into our fall series in the book of Nehemiah.
To What End?
I want to begin with an introductory question. Let me play out a scenario: A person comes to faith in Christ. They begin to read their Bible and pray. They learn what it means to worship and get involved with a life group. They find a community of friends. They feel the tug of God to pack their bags, get their passport ready, and head overseas. They see what God is doing across the world. They come back, learn what it means to be a steward of their time and resources, and they even attend church faithfully.
The question I would ask is: For what? To what end? What is the purpose of all of that? Why should a person go through those things? What is it that should be stirred in them?
You start reading in your New Testament in books like Titus, where Paul is writing to a young pastor in the city of Crete. He tells Titus that we have been gathered together by God as a people for His own possession who ought to be zealous for good deeds.
Titus 2:14 (NASB)
who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Paul tells the church at Ephesus that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 (NASB)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
There is a sense that when God calls us to Himself, He does so for a very specific purpose: the purpose of being used by God. Just out of curiosity, how many of you would like to be used by God in some way? Like, you’d say, “I’d like to make a difference for the Kingdom.” Go ahead and raise your hand really high.
Looking around, virtually everyone wants to make a difference for Christ. Nobody really says, “My goal in life spiritually is to be pathetic. I want to put my faith in Jesus, but never make an impact for the Kingdom. I’d like to go to church, but not often. I’d like to read my Bible, but not much. I’d like to pray, but only for meals. If I could just die having made zero impact for eternity, that’d be great.”
Nobody wants that. When you come to faith, God starts to mess with your life. He gives you a sense that you are called for something bigger than this place. It is what Solomon called “God putting eternity on your hearts.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NASB)
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
As Peter says, we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land. This world is not our home; it’s not the final destination. We were created for something bigger than ourselves.
1 Peter 2:11 (NASB)
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
The Kind of Person God Uses
But what type of person does God use? If you’re like me, you look in the mirror and say, “Lord, obviously You aren’t picking people based on intelligence, or You’d pick someone else. Can You use me even if I’ve got a past? Can You use me if I’ve got things I don’t like to talk about in public? Can You use me even though I don’t feel talented or gifted or credentialed?”
Who is it that God uses? Is there a pattern? I think there is, and it’s tucked deep within the recesses of a small book called Second Chronicles. It’s the part of your Bible where the pages are usually stuck together because we skip through it. But there is this small verse in chapter 16 that carries a profound truth. If you set yourself to do what this verse says, you will feel what this verse says you will feel. It says that the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth to strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB)
‘For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.’
What if that were true? What if, right here and right now, God is searching this crowd? He isn’t looking for the most talented or the super-spiritual. He isn’t looking for the person who can quote the most Greek or the one with a passport full of mission stamps. He is looking for the person whose heart is completely His.
If you will give yourself to Him, He will mess with your life. He will place a seed inside of you that, when nurtured, will germinate into a “holy discontent.” It’s an issue where you say, “God, that needs to be fixed, and I need to be a part of it.” You won’t be able to sleep at night until you’ve been a part of the solution. You’ll say, “God, if it takes every last breath I have, I have got to do this.”
In many ways, the thirteen chapters of Nehemiah are about one man’s holy discontent. I’ll caution you: if you don’t want God to mess with your life, or if you’re afraid that giving your life to Jesus might actually require something of you, you might want to ditch church for the next twenty weeks. Nehemiah is a normal, everyday Joe, but his heart is completely God’s. And God says, “That’s the kind of guy I want to strongly support.”
Normal People, Extraordinary Purpose
When we talk about being used by God, there are usually three groups of people. There’s the minority who are already frothing at the mouth, saying, “Bring it! I’ll run through a wall for God!” Then there’s the middle group that says, “Me? Really? God, do You want to pick again?” They feel they have too much baggage.
But remember, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. He doesn’t want the arrogant. That’s why Jesus called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs”—clean on the outside but dead on the inside. God loves the broken. He loves normal, everyday, unimpressive people like us. If our hearts are His, He puts that holy discontent in us and raises us up to change the world.
Then there is the third group, which is where Nehemiah begins—stirring with anticipation, thinking, “Maybe God can use me. I’m not the smartest, but I’m all in.” Nehemiah is like the boy with the five loaves and two fish. He says, “I’ve just got this measly sack lunch, but if Jesus multiplies it, I’ll do all I can to feed His people.”
Nehemiah is one of the greatest leadership books in the Bible. It captures the heart of a reformer. Nehemiah was sitting in the lap of luxury in the Persian capital. He lived in the “MTV Cribs” world of his day—pimped-out house, great wine list, complete comfort. Yet, he looked at God’s people and his heart broke. He said, “Even though I’m comfortable, the things of God are more important than my comfort.”
This book got in my face in 1998. I was in grad school, and a professor named Howard Hendricks—everyone just called him “Prof”—taught this text. He reached inside me, grabbed that seed of holy discontent, and lit my life ablaze for my passion: God’s church. Years later, I read a book by Andy Stanley called Visioneering about Nehemiah. I still have notes in the margins from back then: “God, I want to be a part of shaping the church for the next generation. I want to build something that endures after I’m gone.” Those were the seeds God was watering.
The Historical Context
To understand Nehemiah, you have to understand the backstory. In the Hebrew scriptures, Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book. They cover about a hundred years of history during a dark time for the people of God.
It started with a theocracy—God was their King. But the people wanted a king they could see, someone who could bench 300 pounds and wield a sword. God warned them that a human king would be an egocentric maniac who would take their best, but they insisted. So they got Saul. Saul was handsome and tough, but he was a “spiritual bulimic”—he’d binge on God and then purge.
Then God raised up David, a man after His own heart. David was the “emo kid” out in the field playing guitar to sheep. God didn’t look at his stature; He looked at his heart. David had his failures, which expanded in his son Solomon, and eventually, the nation split.
Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
The Northern Kingdom (Israel) fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. While in captivity, the Persian Empire eventually took over. The Persians were religiously tolerant, and they allowed three primary returns to Jerusalem.
First, Zerubbabel went back to rebuild the temple. They started well, but when opposition came, they quit. God had to send the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to kick them into gear. Haggai asked, “Why are you living in luxury while God’s house lies in ruins?”
Ezra 5:1 (NASB)
When the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them,
Haggai 1:4 (NASB)
‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [lies] desolate?’
Sixty years later, Ezra the scribe led the second return to rebuild the spiritual life of the people and bring them back into alignment with the Word of God.
Ezra 7:1-10 (NASB)
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, [there went up] Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God [was] upon him. Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God [was] upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice [it], and to teach [His] statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Finally, we get to Nehemiah and the third expedition. His mission was to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. In those days, a wall was your security. Without it, you were vulnerable to any group of roughnecks who wanted to walk in. Nehemiah’s name means “Yahweh has comforted.”
Exodus 3:14 (NASB)
God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ’Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’
There’s some irony in that name because Nehemiah was a tough leader. By the end of the book, he’s confronting people, cursing them, and even pulling out their hair because of their sin. You probably wouldn’t want Nehemiah on your church’s care team!
Rebuilding the Wall and the People
The book of Nehemiah is divided into two parts. Chapters 1 through 6 focus on Nehemiah and the wall. They built a two-and-a-half-mile wall in just fifty-two days. It was an engineering miracle led by a guy who was a cupbearer, not a contractor.
Chapters 7 through 13 shift the focus to Ezra and the people. It moves from construction to consolidation. The first part is a physical job; the second part is a spiritual one. Nehemiah is a leader with dirt under his fingernails, while Ezra is the one reading the Torah until the people weep at the hearing of God’s Word.
Nehemiah is a leader who balances practical action with prayer. He prays eleven times in thirteen chapters. He knows that a leader seeks the heart of God.
Here are a few leadership traits you’ll see in him:
- A Dislocated Heart: He weeps for the things of God more than his own comfort.
- A Broken Spirit: He takes ownership of the people’s sins, saying, “I and my father’s house have sinned.”
- Radical Faith: He risks his life by showing sadness before the King.
- A Strategic Plan: He doesn’t just pray; he prepares. When the King asks what he wants, he has the list ready.
- Personal Commitment: He builds alongside the people. He even has people build the section of the wall in their own backyards. If you’re building a wall in your own backyard to protect your own family, you’re going to make sure those bricks are perfect!
- A Courageous Soul: He ignores the critics “talking smack” at the playground and stays focused on the work.
Finding Your Holy Discontent
Ultimately, this book is about God. It shows His sovereignty over kings and circumstances. God used the Persian King’s checkbook to fund the rebuilding of His city. Nehemiah repeatedly says, “The good hand of my God was upon me.”
All of life is about God. You can think He doesn’t exist, just like you can think gravity doesn’t exist, but it doesn’t change the reality. God cared enough to birth a holy discontent in Nehemiah, and He wants to do the same in you.
But be careful. Once God puts something in your heart, it is nearly impossible to get away from it. Remember Jonah? He tried to go the opposite way, but God had a fish ready to burp him up right where he belonged.
If you have the courage to say, “God, my heart is completely Yours,” He will begin to strongly support you. He will implant a holy discontent that will become a burr in your saddle and a splinter in your mind. You won’t be able to get away from it—but why would you want to?
You’ve been bought with a price. You’ve been crucified with Christ; it’s no longer you who lives, but Christ in you.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
God has called you to be zealous for good deeds. Most Christians are bored to death because they just come and listen to guys like me and call that “church.” I don’t want you to just listen to me. I’d rather you hear something, pray about it, and then go “play the game” instead of sitting in the stands.
Can you imagine what would happen if you found your holy discontent? How much fun would it be to be a part of the body of Christ? That’s where we’re going. Nehemiah is going to mess with us, but it’s going to be encouraging. If you really want to be used by God, I’d love to show you what He can do through you.
Closing Prayer
Father, I thank You for Your Word and for the privilege to teach it. I thank You for what it communicates, for what it challenges, and for what it raises up in us. Father, we want to be those who are used by You—those whose hearts are completely Yours so that You might strongly support us.
God, we know there are those who are more talented, more spiritual, or more intellectual, but Father, like David of old, You do not look at the external but the internal. You see our heart. Fill us in such a way that we would see Your purpose for us and pursue our holy discontent for the glory and honor of our King. We thank You in His name, Amen.