We are in the second week of a sermon series entitled, “The body” where we are exploring this idea that God calls us to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Last week, we dipped into 1 Peter where he calls us living stones, set apart by God’s grace as holy people and that together we are the temple of God - the church - with Jesus as the cornerstone.
This means that church is not a structure. It’s not an event. It’s a movement made up of people.
And the purpose of our coming together is to reflect God's glory.
So, when people see us, the way we interact together, the way we love one another . . . they go, “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that. I want that in my life.”
This morning, I want us to peak a Nehemiah 3. A super exciting chapter. It’s basically a list of names.
Believe it or not, there’s some really good stuff sneaked in here between all of the names. But before we jump in, let me give you an abbreviated version of what’s happening.
The book of Nehemiah is essentially a 2,500-year-old journal of a guy named Nehemiah. And what we know about him is that he is an Israelite living in a foreign city and is working for a foreign king, essentially as a slave, and some visitors come to see him from his hometown, Jerusalem.
And they tell him that Jerusalem has been attacked by the Babylonians and that the walls surrounding the city have been destroyed and God’s people have been hauled off into exile. And the handfuls left behind were living in shame, and disgrace, and poverty.
Nehemiah is absolutely broken over the news. So, he spends three to four months praying, fasting, weeping and asking God, “What do you want me to do? How can I make a difference?”
And God begins to reveal a plan about rebuilding the city and the church within the city, stone by stone.
Nehemiah makes the 100-mile journey to Jerusalem and when he arrives, gathers a small group of people together – and tells them what God has put in his heart to do.
This vision catches like wildfire and the people are pumped up about what God is doing and that they get to be a part of it.
But Nehemiah knows that he can’t just have a pep rally, hand them a T‑shirt and say, “and go.” In order to be successful with what God has tasked him with it will take some intentional planning and effort.
So, he surveys the city . . .
Now, the city of Jerusalem is one big city which is surrounded by one big wall with a few gates for people to come in and out of. And within the city are of a lot of different neighborhoods. And each of those neighborhoods is identified by other walls and gates; kind of like gated communities.
Nehemiah investigates each of those neighborhoods so he can see who is there and what the needs are.
What he finds is that every neighborhood is destroyed; and he realizes that if he is going to restore an entire city it’s going to have to be done one neighborhood at a time.
So, he takes this small group of people and starts putting together teams.
- Some of the teams are built on pre-existing relationships; family, friends, and co-workers.
- Some teams are made up by specialists
- And some teams are made up by people who don’t know each other nor have any kind of construction background . . . they are just willing to be used. Mark of a disciple.
- And each team is given a neighborhood to serve.
What’s interesting is that Nehemiah doesn’t assign himself to a Neighborhood because he doesn’t want to get so focused on that portion of the wall that he loses sight of the big picture.
Every neighborhood is important but the goal is to transform the entire city.
And he writes in his journal the names of those who are involved and the neighborhoods they are working in and as he’s writing he repeatedly says the phrase, “next to him”.
Next to him so and so worked and they did this and next to her this dude did that and next to him was this dad and his daughters . . .
“Next to him” . . . that’s a key phrase here. It means that although there were lots of different people doing lots of different jobs in lots of different neighborhoods, they were in this together!
But that’s what it takes to be a part of God’s work . . . it takes next to him . . . and next to her . . .and next to him . . . and next to her; everyone working together in unity for a common goal.
It’s what Peter said, living stones, placed side by side, unified for the purpose of glorifying God. And what we are seeing here is a wonderful example of that kind of unity Peter was talking about
And I can imagine Nehemiah looking at each one of these workers as he walks by the walls and encouraging them saying, “you are so valuable in the work of God. Thank you!”
And then he writes down their names in this journal so that he will continue to pray for them and encourage them throughout this project.
To us this may just be a list of names . . . but for Nehemiah, this is a prayer journal and for those people who worked hard and served God . . . this is an affirmation of unity!
So, the teams are formed; they’ve been assigned to neighborhoods, they know the needs of that neighborhood, they been encouraged by their leader, and now it’s go time!
The work begins at the sheep gate. This was the gate through which they brought their animals to be sacrificed as a substitute for their sins. So, every time they entered this gate or even walked by this gate, they were reminded that God forgives and restores.
Do you see what Nehemiah is doing? . . . He is making sure the priorities are in order. If this project isn’t about God and his restoration to the city and redeeming work through sacrifice . . . than what they are doing is nothing more than picking up rocks and hanging doors.
And what’s really cool is that right outside of this gate is a garden called Gethsemane and 400 years later, Jesus would pray in that garden and then walk through this very reconstructed gate and be led as a lamb to bring final restoration not just to that city but to all people in every city; including us sitting right here in the living room of a house . . . isn’t that amazing.
What these guys did 2,500 years ago wasn’t just a construction project or a revitalization project or urban renewal . . . they were a part of God’s bigger plan and that plan extends to us.
God continues to work in our city and he’s inviting us to be a part of that work.
That’s why as a church we do two very important things; Gather and Scatter. We gather to worship and to be encourage by the gospel and then we scatter to be the gospel; to be the hands of feet of Christ in our neighborhoods.
There are a lot of names on this list . . . There are young people, old people, educated people, uneducated people, single people and married couples, daughters and sons and God invites all of them to be a part of his work
And behind every one of those names, there is a story; There’s a father and his daughters working together; what a beautiful image of the family working together for the glory of God.
There are a couple of single guys who work on the section right outside their house. Granted their motives may have been more about getting the house ready for a party but they are a part of it.
There was a noble man who humbled himself and volunteered to work on the dung gate.
I wish we could look at everybody on this list and talk about their story because I’m sure that we could relate to each of them in some way.
But in the end, what you see are all these people working together . . . a beautiful picture of the church serving the city, being the hands and feet of Christ, demonstrating humility and love and service, working together in unified teams, and redeemed families . . . all for the purpose of bringing God’s restoration to the city!
And I can’t help but think that Peter had these guys in mind when he was describing the church.