God's Calling

We're going to continue on our series with the book of Nehemiah and we're going to be looking at Nehemiah chapter two, the last half of that. But before we get into that, I read a story recently of a man by the name of Doctor Peter Marshall who was a fairly unknown Presbyterian minister in the US in roughly the first half of the twentieth century. And the story was written about him that he had selected during a service or for a service a particular hymn that some of us may know actually quite well, "Take My Life and Let It Be". And he selected this particular song but before the congregation got to singing it on this Sunday service, He did a double take and he said, woah, woah, woah, let's stop. Let's have a think about these lyrics that we're about to sing.

And he requested the congregation to give particular thought to the words, "take my silver and my gold, not a mite will I withhold". A mite being equivalent to like a penny. Not a single penny will I withhold. "Take my silver and my gold, not a mite will I withhold." And drawing attention to these words, he asked that all who could not sing this line with true sincerity refrain from singing it at all.

And so he says, let's start. And hundreds of voices started lifting to God with the organ accompanying them and they started singing this great hymn with great gusto and great energy up until this stanza. Then suddenly only the sound of the organ could be heard, not a single voice dared to make this claim in worship that morning. It's sometimes hard and I thought about this cause I knew I was gonna share this, but I thought about this this morning as I was singing these words. Do I really mean this?

And it's hard sometimes to align our intentions in worship and our intentions in service to God with the reality of our actual decisions. We can hear a great sermon and it's as if God is speaking right to the core of our soul, convicting us, challenging us to give up something, to change another thing, to be encouraged to do another thing. Now some might say, that's not me. I haven't heard a good sermon here yet. But maybe some other podcast that you've been listening to, God speaks into your souls and He convinces you to change something about your life.

We might be receiving that as we spend time in God's word, as we spend time praying. We hear His still small voice nudging us into new pastures in our work, in our life. He might be asking us to do something completely counter cultural in our business. God may severely call us out in how we are looking to our neighbours who are in need. He may severely challenge selfishness in our time for others.

Yes, God may even challenge us in our spending habits when we sing about the gold and the silver, "not a mite would I withhold". But perhaps with me you're tired of making excuses. And perhaps you're with me in feeling tired of being guilty about these things. Perhaps you're ready to take the next step. What you know for certain God is calling you to.

What you know for certain God has been convincing you and persuading you by His spirit about. I hope this morning then, as we open God's word, we'll shed some light into not only what God is doing in your life, but some very practical wise steps to follow in making God's calling very real and very doable for the task He is assigning you. So this morning, as I said, we're going to look at Nehemiah chapter two. So if you want to open with me to that, Nehemiah chapter two and we're going to read from verse 11 to the end of the chapter. Nehemiah chapter two verse 11.

This is Nehemiah speaking again. He says, I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days, I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night, I went out through the valley gate towards the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates which had been destroyed by fire.

Then I moved toward the fountain gate in the king's pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through. So I went up the valley by night examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and re-entered through the valley gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or the nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. Then I said to them, you see the trouble we are in.

Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned by fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace. I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, let us start rebuilding. So they began this good work.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. What is this you are doing? They asked. Are you rebelling against the king? I answered them by saying, the God of heaven will give us success.

We His servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it. So far, our reading. You have to remember that Nehemiah was not a priest. Nehemiah was not a prophet. Nehemiah was not a king.

He wasn't nobility. He wasn't an elected leader or an elder. He was just an ordinary man with a slightly better government position as cup bearer to the king. But God, as we noticed a few weeks ago, had given him a special calling and through his prayers he discovered this calling to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that had remained broken and in ruins for over a hundred years. Now we no longer obviously live in walled cities anymore.

We don't understand the concept of the importance of walls around a city, but if we think with some sanctified imagination, we can understand maybe in part or imagine in part why this was important. It was not only for security reasons, it was for economic reasons. A safe city was a prosperous city. Traders would want to set up there. The people of that city would become rich or wealthy.

But also, we have to remember that Jerusalem was the centre of Israel's worship. It was the heartland for the Jewish faith and here was the centrepiece of God's earthly kingdom on earth in ruins. It's no surprise therefore that commentators like John Calvin and Matthew Henry were quick to see the walls of Jerusalem as comparable to the structures of the church today where God's kingdom is being established. And they say that it's even in a small scale relatable to one's own household, these walls that Nehemiah was called to rebuild. They say the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall symbolised far more than simply a project of engineering or construction.

Without those walls, there was no protection. Without those walls, there was no sanctuary for God's people. No space created by those walls for family life. No opportunity to leave the walls, to go outside these walls renewed and refreshed having met with God in His temple. Nehemiah's calling was one of restoring not simply a city, but restoring the kingdom of God in a sense.

We'll see this morning that this call from God wasn't simply to rebuild walls by himself either. It was to motivate and inspire and invite others who God had also called to do this work. Maybe today you are also confronted with an opportunity to do something that is important. To change something that needs to change. You've been thinking about it for a while, you've prayed about it, God has laid it on your heart, but now, now the time to start building has come.

It could be a project that is bold and it's costly, but it will really make a difference whether that is in your workplace, whether that is in community service of some sort. Maybe the project is a degree at university and we know that that is costly and we know how demanding that is. The biggest costs to our life are often not financial costs. The biggest costs in our lives are often not financial ones. Possibly the project is to get married or to raise a family in a God honouring way.

Maybe the project is just to take some self control or some control in your life. Maybe it is your health that needs to be overhauled, that needs attention. Maybe it's something to provide a small improvement in the life of others. Perhaps social justice. Perhaps making a difference to a few struggling kids in the neighbourhood.

Maybe making the decision to throw yourself into something new is so hard for you this morning. But I want to challenge you a little bit more that not simply the decision to make these changes is difficult, but the act of changing is really difficult. So in many ways, our church, our congregation is in that place. We've just shared with you, our elder Jason did, of unsuccessful attempt to have a vicar, a ministry student come and join us. To come and create capacity in our church to help us grow, to help us reach out, to help us incorporate more people, to tidy up our little church.

And the question is what now? We've made a decision. The decision was hard in a sense to be a church planting church, but now in this year we're at that place where we have to have the rubber hitting the road. We have to make decisions to invest in other people, to invest in staff, to expand and to clean up our premises here. We have to do some serious hard work.

But our text this morning in verse 13 shows us some very clear and some very practical steps of how to not simply have made this decision but also what to do about it. Our text tells us in verse 13 that Nehemiah got up in the middle of the night having arrived in Jerusalem, spending a few nights sort of just resting and recuperating, he gets up in the middle of the night and starts doing a lap of the city walls, looking at all the gates in the middle of the night. You may have experienced that sort of phenomenon, night riding. I have a good friend who during moments of intense stress and worry will get up in the middle of the night, doesn't matter if it's 11:00 or 3 AM in the morning, he'll drive thirty or forty minutes to a place that he loves going to and he prays and he prays. It's called night riding.

This might happen to us at 2:00 in the morning when we can't sleep, when we lie in bed staring at the ceiling. We saddle our anxieties and we ride them around the project and inspect the various elements of it, and we count the cost, and we see the debris that needs to be replaced and repaired. We turn the situation over in our minds. And I wonder as Nehemiah was doing this, as he was being led around by a few people, if he had anxiety in his heart, if he saw this is bigger than I thought, this is a massive task. But I think we see a very good pattern starting here and that is Nehemiah counted the cost of what this calling was about.

Jesus Himself spoke about a builder who would be foolish if he started building a wall or a tower or a house without counting up the costs. He says a wise builder counts the cost before he starts and we see Nehemiah seemingly over the course of a few nights, I think, those three nights, going out in silence, in solitude, carefully investigating the project at hand. It might be worthwhile for us before we jump into something that is worthwhile, that we feel God is calling us to, it might be worthwhile before we jump in to listen to our intuition to count the cost of this project, to count the cost of what God is requiring of us to weigh it up in our minds. Again, some of the greatest costs are not financial. The citizens of Jerusalem, remember this, the citizens of Jerusalem had grown used to the city not having a wall.

What were they going to say when Nehemiah said, I'm a foreigner, I'm a Jew, but I've come from Persia. We're gonna start rebuilding this wall. Meanwhile, they had tried to and failed and they may have been severely punished for having done it. What was that gonna cost Nehemiah? What was the reaction going to be?

But to rebuild the city, the walls of the city of God, Nehemiah would have to struggle perhaps and deliberate with those who had learned to cope with how it was. He needed to do that night riding to understand exactly the urgency of the situation. So I think the first lesson we learn here is to spend a good amount of time weighing up the situation and counting the cost. The second thing we see is the moment when Nehemiah needs to inspire change. He comes into the situation to not simply grab a brick and just start placing it in.

He needs a whole city to be involved in this. The call of God on Nehemiah was a personal one, but it wasn't limited to him personally. He was called not simply to build the wall but to organise the building of this wall. There were entire families in Jerusalem that needed to be motivated, that needed to be captivated by this idea. And he had to remember and we have to remember that these people were also called by God.

These people were also called by God to be involved in this project. This is something that's a real challenge to me as a, you know, someone as a leader, but for anyone in positions of authority or leadership. Sometimes we can think we are superheroes. I'm reminded this week again of a pastor in the US that I read about who was asked by his eldership to step down because he had issues of pride, of arrogance, of bullying in the workplace. Why?

Because he's a superhero. He tells you how you should do things. And so he was removed from his office after repeated offences in this. It's such a temptation for pastors. We're not in this by ourselves.

The building of God's kingdom is always a team effort. Nehemiah begins with something that would come out of any textbook on change leadership and Jason here can agree with me because he is an expert in this field. He says Nehemiah goes to the people and leadership gurus would be so proud of this. He begins with creating a sense of urgency. He begins by creating a sense of urgency.

He says this is the vision but have a look in verse 17. "You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins." And my saying, do you see it? Do you see how perilous the situation is?

Do you see how much need there is? Can you imagine what would happen if someone wanted to take advantage of us in this situation? Do you look forward to better days for this city? Nehemiah sees the need and he awakens the sleeping beast in the heart of the people. Do you see the problem of not making changes to this situation?

If you're ever in need of inspiring change, whether that is for yourself or for others, whether that's in the workplace or inspiring change to your kids in the family even. It's a brilliant tool because until people own their problems, they cannot own their solutions. If people don't own their problems, they cannot own their solutions. Do you see the trouble Jerusalem is in?

But it is not enough for Nehemiah. He gives this picture of an urgent need to change but it is not enough to give this urgency. Addicted people don't make changes just because they know they're addicted. Those who know life is falling apart are not always ready to rebuild. Before anyone is ready to take on hard challenges of making changes, they need to feel empowered to make changes.

They need courage to change. And this is exactly what happens when Nehemiah continues in verse 18. He says, I told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. He says, I know this is a daunting task, but listen to what has happened. God has made the king favourable to us.

God has made the king so favourable that He's allowed us to use the timber from the royal forest to rebuild these gates. He's made the king so favourable that God has sent me cavalry and army officers to protect us while we do this. There's a plan here, guys. There's resources that we can use. We're going to start doing this because we know how to do it.

But then, at a deeper level so he's talking about resources, he's empowering them to be able to make this change. But then at a deeper level, deeper than these practicalities, and because Nehemiah is a Christian, and because he's speaking to other Christians, he comforts and encourages them at a deeper level. He reminds them who their God is. Did you see that? He reminds them who their God is.

This is the strongest motivation for us as Christians. When we remember what God has done in our past, what God has done for us, what God has done for our people, what God has done for our ancestors, we find the courage in remembering to move forward in His grace. Christian author and academic Leonard Sweet has described this dynamic as a child on a swing. He says it is only you know how it looks like when a child swings or any person swings, it's a backwards and forwards sort of motion. Right?

Pulling back, swinging forward. He says it is only by pulling back that we have the energy to kick forward. We pull back, he says, into our memories of the faithfulness of God and then we have the energy to kick forward into the future with that. This is one of the greatest reasons we come to worship God on Sundays. It is our regular opportunity to kick back or to swing back, to be reminded like we said this morning again, of that sacred memory, of that sacred story that God has done and worked in our lives.

That's why we feel refreshed when we leave this place. That's why we feel comforted when we leave this. That's why we feel so secure when we leave this place because we know the God who we serve. We know what God has done in our lives. When we get overwhelmed by challenges, it's because we've forgotten.

And you might realise you haven't spent enough time in worship or at church. It's only in pulling back into that sacred memory of who God is and what He has done that we are free to kick ahead with passion, to do something important with what we've been given. I would love for something like this to happen in our church where we end the service with a benediction, you know, where I raise my hands and say, let's start rebuilding. That is our benediction. What God has done in us, we've celebrated.

Now let's start building. But then thirdly, so we've seen explaining the vision, understanding the vision and communicating that with urgency, resting in the history of what God has done. But then thirdly, our passage, we see another aspect of what may happen if we follow through with God's calling. Verse 19 to 20, we see opposition. We see opposition and this is going to be a theme right through Nehemiah the whole way through.

But we see three names, Sanballat, the Horonite, Tobiah, the Ammonite, and Geshem, the Arab. They start mocking Nehemiah. They start mocking the people of Jerusalem. They say, you can't do this. Now again, if you were to get a map of ancient Israel or ancient Judea, you would see that Sanballat was from Samaria to the North.

We have Tobiah the Ammonite to the East in Jordan, and we have Geshem the Arab who was according to history, a desert king to the South, and then the Mediterranean Sea to the West. So they were literally surrounded by enemies. They were literally hemmed in and they were told, you can't do this. Now they were probably, these three were some sort of puppet kings or governors of that time. Their hands were tied, they couldn't stop the Jews from rebuilding this because the king had said they are allowed, but they were trying as hard as they can in a subversive way to stop it.

But this is something that we should not be surprised by. If we are going to do the will of God, we know that there's still an enemy around. We know that this world is still not God's completed kingdom, and so we should not be surprised if opposition comes up. But and I wanna maybe put this in parameters. I don't wanna make the mistake of saying once you have a sense of urgency, you're a law unto yourself.

You go and you do it. You're not a law unto yourself. You are accountable to a church. You are accountable to leaders. You are accountable to the word of God ultimately.

You are accountable to godly wisdom. So be ready to be rebuked or exhorted or encouraged and be ready to listen and respond. But when you know that God is definitely and certainly calling you to do something, if you are faced with criticism against that, that is definitely not from God, look to this example of Nehemiah. He pulls back, he pulls back and he remembers and he kicks ahead again and he says to his mockers, we are going to start rebuilding. We are going to go ahead with this.

Why? Because the God of heaven is with us. Because this is God's will, we are going to accomplish this. I've heard the testimony of missionaries, both modern day missionaries and missionaries in the past who have shared this testimony of moments where they saw so little fruit in their ministry, where they saw so few people coming to faith, where they copped so much flak from those they were serving and the people that had sent them that the only thing that kept them going was the knowledge of God and Him having sent them in the first place. That is the only thing they were operating on.

They were operating on those fumes when they had nothing else to run on, they operated on the memory of God's calling. And so when we are tempted to give up, knowing that there is something we definitely need to do, when you receive resistance, stand firm against the opposition and remember the God who you serve. Remember the God who has called you to this task. I want to finish by saying that if God has blessed any project that we do, if He's going to bless this church and what we endeavour to do, if God's going to bless your work, then it will not fail. If God blesses it, it cannot fail.

And if God has not blessed this project, it cannot succeed. But that is God's business. God will finish that work as He wills. Your calling, my calling is to be obedient when God calls and to trust then that God's grace will be sufficient in that situation.

Remember, friends, always remember your past, the past of God's faithfulness to your friends, the past of our spiritual ancestors, the God we serve, and it will give you strength to endure the toughest resistance and circumstances. We live by grace and grace alone. And so we also trust that the grace of our Lord Jesus is big enough to forgive our mistakes if we make them, to forgive our wilful sins of laziness or resistance, sins we know we are making and choose to make regardless. But remember that we serve a God of grace who has shared His very spirit with us to comfort, to guide, and to lead us for His will and His glory. Let's pray.

Father, it is encouraging and inspiring to see faithful men and women accomplish the task that You have called them to. It is encouraging to open Your word again and to see the example of Nehemiah, a man who boldly stood by a calling that was placed on his heart. But it was full of emotion and full of passion and zeal. It was full of earthly wisdom and planning, but we know ultimately Lord that the God of heaven was with this man. The God of heaven made this succeed.

And so Lord, we pray for our various callings and projects, things in our life that we need to give attention to. Father, give us an insight of Your calling and Your guiding, of Your leading in our lives. Give us courage to stand against resistance when we know it is the right thing. Give us humility to listen and to change when we know, Lord, that there is godly counsel and wisdom, there is input and insight from Your word that causes us or needs us to change. But Father, we pray that we may motivate and encourage and equip our brothers and sisters, our colleagues, our family members around us to inspire them to communicate the urgency of what needs to change.

And Father, we do pray that we may also have the wisdom, the objectivity, the knowledge to count the cost to know exactly what needs to happen and what we need to do. We thank You Lord ultimately for the forgiveness, the grace we have received in Jesus who is gracious enough to deal with our mistakes along the way, who has given His life as a complete forgiveness of our sin, who stands as our risen resurrected Lord and Saviour and encourages us by His spirit poured out for us. We thank You that we may stand in that strength. We pray Lord that we may now go and build what You are calling us to build. In Jesus' name. Amen.