Let’s jump back to chapter three and
let me ask you a question: Which
location would you be least excited to serve?
Where would you feel that you drew the short straw? You’ll have to read the whole chapter over
again. Please don’t skim…remember these
people are jacked up that their families have been remembered!
Who remembers the game show Family
Feud? When I survey myself 100 times with
regards to the question – least excited to serve, I come up with verse 14 and
the location – THE DUNG GATE!
Nehemiah
3:14
The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son
of Rekab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He rebuilt it and put its
doors with their bolts and bars in place.
As many of you know I spent a handful of
years in Junior High ministry but seriously Malkijah got the worst assignment
of anyone re-building! He got placed on
the wall were poo was hauled out of
the city. This was the gate where refuse
was taken from the Jewish Temple and city into the Valley of Hinnom where it was
burned.
Each of the gates surrounding the city also
has some spiritual symbolism. The Dung
Gate describes, how the flesh
will die. Through the Dung Gate, trash was taken out of Jerusalem, to the
Valley of Hinnom, in which trash was burnt. In the same way as trash couldn't
stink and smell bad in Jerusalem, but were burnt in the Valley of Hinnom, so
sins must die from the heart of believer.
The Dung Gate’s spiritual meaning is that sin, which smells bad and destroys our heart and mind, must be put away by dying of the flesh. We must face our issues concretely, by putting them away from our heart. Those issues include:
The Dung Gate’s spiritual meaning is that sin, which smells bad and destroys our heart and mind, must be put away by dying of the flesh. We must face our issues concretely, by putting them away from our heart. Those issues include:
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies:
All these evil things come from the heart, and defile us. All sins, which live in the heart, must die. The Holy Spirit renews our mind, and affects our desire to reject sin. We are not going to be perfect, but told to die to our flesh and grow in righteousness.
Paul writes…
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
God washes the heart of believer through faith in the Holy Spirit. When we understand that we are not perfect, and are not becoming perfect in this time, but are growing toward it, that can't be an excuse for us to sin. But the fact is…we need to grow and that there is the need to grow in righteousness. So we as Jesus' disciples, can't ever accept or support sin, but reject it and grow in the grace of God.
Faith at Home:
Yesterday the challenge was to be obedient to God’s BIG and
step into it. Today…lets press pause and
look inwardly regarding what might be affecting our ability to hear God’s
BIG. Is there unconfessed sin that is
thwarting your relationship with God or others?
Stop right now and ask God to first CONVICT you of your sin
and then CONFESS your sin to Him! And
for those who want to really button this all up…bring another into the loop and
confess you sin to a brother or sister in the Lord and receive support and
encouragement to leave it in your past!
Remember the truths of I John 1:9
If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
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