Monday, June 23

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Nehemiah 2:1-8

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.

I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests.

Last week, along with a couple other guys from our church staff, I took a quick trip to Little Rock, Arkansas. We had arranged to spend a day with a pastor there who we thought could help us with some leadership issues here at FBCG. It was a very valuable time but once our meetings were done we had a little time to kill so we decided to take in a little history.

We stopped by Little Rock Central High School; the site of a famous moment in the Civil Rights movement. In 1957 nine African American students tried to enroll in the school and touched off a national crisis now remembered as the “Little Rock Nine.”

Then we decided to stop by the Clinton Presidential Library. Right off the bat one of our team was frustrated because it really isn’t a library at all, but rather a museum; and it’s not free; you have to pay $7 to get in.

But we went in anyway and took an hour or so to look around. We saw an exact replica of the Oval office; we saw display after display of gifts given the the President by heads-of-state and by American citizens. We saw photos of key moments throughout the Clinton White House years.

But, obviously, we never saw or met Bill Clinton.

How different it would have been had Bill Clinton been there himself to conduct a tour of the Clinton Presidential Library! No matter what I thought of the man and his politics, the power and prestige of the office he once held would have undoubtedly made an impact on how I experienced that visit.

When reading the story of Nehemiah it’s difficult for us to grasp the power that a man like King Artaxerxes would have wielded in the ancient world. As the absolute monarch of the kingdom of Persia Artaxerxes had the power of life and death over all those who dwelled under his reign, and certainly over all those who served in his court.

Chapter 2 begins with these words:

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.

At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much going on in this sentence. We have already learned that Nehemiah was “cupbearer to the King,” so it makes sense that he is bringing wine to the King. We know that one of the responsibilities of the cupbearer was to make sure that the food and drink set before the King were of the highest quality and were safe for him to eat and drink. The cupbearer would make sure that the King’s wine and food had been tested, sometimes even by himself, to make sure it had not been poisoned in some way.

But we also notice that Nehemiah once again mentions the “twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.” While we don’t know for sure, I think he does this as a way of telling us that he has served the King for all of those 20 years. If that is so then we can assume several things about Nehemiah.

First we can assume that Nehemiah had to be very good at his job. A man with the power of an emperor simply would not tolerate anything less than excellence from the position of cupbearer. We can also assume that Nehemiah had earned the King’s trust. Historians believe that Artaxerxes’ own father was betrayed and murdered by one of his own bodyguards, so we can assume he was extremely vigilant about who he trusted with his life.

Finally, we can assume that Nehemiah possessed a degree of political savvy and wisdom that allowed him not only to hold his position for two decades, but also to become a confidant of King Artaxerxes.

I think we see similarities here with several other stories of faithful men and women who who were used by God even though they served under powerful pagan rulers. Joseph rose from a captured slave to second in command in Pharaoh's Egypt and God used his position to benefit his people in a time of great need. Daniel became an advisor and prophet to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Esther became Queen and played a pivotal role in the deliverance of the people of Israel.

The point is that even though we may feel like we are far from where we want to be; and even though we may not understand why we are in this particular situation; God can and will use us for his purposes.

In less than 2 chapters we have already seen two character traits in Nehemiah the man that we can assume were consistent throughout his 20 years as cupbearer to the King. First, he was a man of prayer; and second, he was a man of competent and faithful service.

We may not serve in the court of the most powerful man on earth; and we may not have the opportunity to rebuild the wall of a great city; but we can all be men and women of prayer, and we can all be people of extraordinary service.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Friday, June 20

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Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”  Now I was cupbearer to the king.  - Nehemiah 1:8-11

This final portion of Nehemiah’s prayer gives us a hint of what Nehemiah was really about.  Notice that Nehemiah never mentions the wall that he is going to build.  He never mentions stones, or mortar, or wood, or work teams, or finances, etc.  Of course Nehemiah is not unaware of the resources he will need and God is going to supply all of these things and more.  However, Nehemiah has a vision and purpose beyond the mere building of a physical wall.

If Nehemiah had lacked a vision of God’s purpose, when he heard about the conditions in Jerusalem he would have said, “Why be bothered about Jerusalem? We live in Babylon and have lived here for over 100 years. What’s the big deal about Jerusalem any- way? Why not just settle down and worship God here?”

But Nehemiah knew something about what God wanted to do with His people (1:9): “I ... will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell there.” Babylon would not do. God’s purpose involved His name or His glory being made known in Jerusalem!

God’s purpose in this age involves the building of His church. Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Revelation 5:9 says that Jesus purchased for God with His blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. But why does He want to save people from around the globe?  Be careful how you answer!  We live in such a man-centered age that we easily can fall into the trap of thinking that God’s purpose is to save people because He loves them and wants them to be healthy and happy. But that is a man-centered goal.  God’s purpose is not man-centered; it is God-centered. God does love people and He wants them to be happy, but not as the final end in itself. Saving people is a means toward God’s purpose, but it is not the end of God’s purpose.
As Paul makes clear in Ephesians 1-3, God’s purpose involves building His church for the sake of His name or His glory. 

that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.  - Ephesians 3:10-11

God’s chief purpose is to further His own glory through the joy of salvation that His people experience in Him.

One of the most profound, books I have ever read on this concept of God’s glory is John Piper’s God’s Passion for His Glory, which is built around and includes the full text of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “The End for Which God Created the World”.  I will warn you: it is not easy, light reading!  Grappling with the truths that Edwards presents makes your brain ache!  He argues that the end for which God created the world is, “first, that the glory of God might be magnified in the universe, and, second, that Christ’s ransomed people from all times and all nations would rejoice in God above all things”.

The life-transforming truth is that God’s glory and His people’s joy in Him fit together.  Thus God’s purpose is to magnify His name or His glory through His people. He does that when His people not only know and dutifully obey Him, but when they joyfully know and obey Him. As John Piper often states, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” If you want God to use you, ask Him to give you a burden for His people and a vision for His glory!

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, June 19

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Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”  Now I was cupbearer to the king.  - Nehemiah 1:8-11

This passage is the second half of Nehemiah’s great prayer after he heard the news about the desperate condition of the people in Jerusalem.  Notice that in verse 8, Nehemiah tells God to “remember the word you commanded to your servant Moses.”  He is quoting from Deuteronomy 30 where God promises to bring back His scattered people.  The Old Testament is full of references to God instructing the people to remember, but in this case, Nehemiah appears to be telling God to remember.

Deuteronomy 5:15 - You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand.

1 Chronicles 16:12 - Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.

Over and over again, we are instructed to remember who God and is and what He has done.  This makes perfect sense because we are forgetful people, we lose sight of who God is and we forget His Word and His promises to us - we need to be reminded often.  But why does Nehemiah tell God to remember?  Does he really think that God needs to be reminded of what He said?  Of course not!

Nehemiah knows that the only basis on which he can make his appeal to God the character and nature of God.  In other words, Nehemiah is counting on God to be true to Himself!  He is banking on God’s faithfulness to His own promise.  This is the only basis on which any of us can approach God.  

I think many, if not most, people approach God on the basis of their needs.  They assume that the immediacy of their need, or the desperate nature of their condition, or the sincerity of their plea will gain them and audience in heaven.  The truth is that God hears and responds to human cries, not because we are deserving, but because He is a loving, compassionate, and faithful God.  

Nehemiah understood this and he made his appeal on the basis of God’s faithfulness to His own word - God will do what God has said!

Today, those of who are followers of Jesus Christ make our appeal to God on the basis of Jesus Christ; the Living Word - God has done what God has said!

The Apostle Paul puts this beautifully in his second letter to the Corinthians where he says,  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.  - 2 Corinthians 1:19-20

We do not come to God to convince Him of our sincerity, He already knows our hearts.  We don’t come to God to make Him aware of our needs or circumstances, He knows what you need before you ask Him.  

We come to God in the strength and assurance of the name of Jesus!  Just like Nehemiah we can always count on our God to be faithful to us because He is faithful to His own Word!

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, June 18

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When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.”   - Nehemiah 1:4-7

One of the most striking things about this prayer is Nehemiah’s confession.  Nehemiah not only confesses the sins of those Israelites living in Jerusalem, but he identifies their sin as his own!  This is a prayer that I don’t think any of us would think to pray.

We have to remember that Nehemiah was born and raised in Persia.  The Jews have been in captivity for over 100 years; first under Babylonian rule and now under the Persian empire.  Nehemiah is a jew by heritage, but he has lived his whole life as a member of a captive race under foreign rule.  He has never lived in Jerusalem, in fact it is unlikely that he has ever even seen the ruined city.  He has risen to a position of relative power and prominence as cupbearer in the Persian  palace through the strength of his character and ability.  How can he say that the sins of these people he has never met are his sins as well?

The answer lies in the fact that ancient Israel relied on a deep sense of shared identity as God’s chosen people; called out, blessed with His law, rescued out of Egypt, etc. 

In the church today, we have lost any sense of this communal identity as God’s people.  We live in an individualized and fractured society.  But, we are meant to share the identity of being God’s people; redeemed by the blood of His Son, called to be a part of His body on earth, and set free to live for His glory!

When you hear about a fellow Christ-follower who has fallen into some terrible sin, or has acted in some way that damages the reputation of Christ among non-believers, what is your first reaction?  
Do you feel anger or disgust at their behavior?
Do you want to immediately distance yourself from them?
Or...do you feel deep sorrow for them, and do you even recognize your own potential for sin in their behavior?

Nehemiah included himself with the sins of the people. Staying aware of our own sins keeps us humbled before God and others so that we don’t sit in judgment on them. We are sinners who have been shown mercy. We go to other sinners and offer God’s mercy.

If we start thinking that the real need is better organization or more funds or better methods, we’ll start at the wrong place. The root need is for repentance on the part of God’s people, who have forgotten His purpose and are living for their own purpose. And lost people need repentance so that they can be reconciled to God. Nehemiah’s burden stemmed from feeling the people’s great need. It was focused by seeing the people’s and his own great sin.

Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, June 17

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The first chapter of Nehemiah is the story of how word came to him about the desperate condition of God’s people in Jerusalem and how he responded.  We have already discussed how Nehemiah responded with tears and brokenness over the condition of the city and its people, the rest of the chapter is a recording of Nehemiah’s prayer.  One of the critical aspects of Nehemiah’s prayer is how long it was.  

This is very easy to miss...

Nehemiah 1:1 - The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa.

Nehemiah 2:1 - In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.

The Hebrew month of Kislev is between late November and mid-December.  The month of Nisan is late April to early May.  This is a period of 4-5 months between the time Nehemiah heard the news about the condition of Jerusalem and the time when he took action and went to the king.  

What was Nehemiah doing for those 4-5 months?  He was praying!  He was praying, fasting, and seeking God.  It is tempting to read the first chapter of Nehemiah and think that he cried for awhile, fasted for a few hours, prayed a great prayer, and then got busy with his plan of action, but this is not at all how it happened.  

Martin Luther is reported to have said, "I have so much to do that if I don't spend at least three hours a day in prayer I will never get it all done."  How different from the way most contemporary Christians think!  We are so quick to rush into our ideas and our plans and we often treat prayer as a means of getting God’s blessing for what we think needs to be done.  In fact, I think if we are honest, many of us feel (even if we don’t like to admit it) that spending too much time praying rather than doing something is actually a waste of time.  Luther again - “Prayer does not simply prepare us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work.”  

In prayer, our hearts are aligned with the will of God.  

In prayer, we begin to see things the way God sees them and we begin to feel the way God feels about people and circumstances.  

In prayer, our biases, fears and anxieties are removed.  

In prayer, our faith and trust in God’s provision is bolstered.

In prayer, our courage and resolve to be faithful and obedient to God’s will is strengthened.

1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

God wants to change the world through the prayers of His people, but too many of us are not willing to be patient and persistent enough to have our wills aligned with the will of God.

I think Nehemiah knew in his heart that this need was so great that it was not going to be his leadership skill, nor his natural intelligence, nor his experience in the palace, nor his business sense, nor his charisma and persuasive powers that would accomplish the task...it was going to have to be an act of God!  Of course, God would use the gifts and abilities of Nehemiah to accomplish His purposes, but ultimately, this was beyond mere human capacity to accomplish.  

The most powerful resource we have as Christians, is not ourselves, it is our God! 

Oh Lord God, You alone are our strength and our shield.  Forgive us for trusting in our own strength and wisdom to deal with the problems we face.  May Your Holy Spirit move in our hearts so that our first response is to fall to our knees and cry out to You for whatever we need - Amen.

Jeff Frazier

Monday, June 16

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The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.  They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.   - Nehemiah 1:1-4

The first thing Nehemiah did when he heard the news about the condition of God’s people was to break down and cry.  People cry about a lot of things. They cry at weddings. Parents cry when their children leave home. Sometimes they cry at the birth of their children and grandchildren. Nehemiah cried about a broken wall.

I would like to assume that everyone who reads or listens to this blog wants to be used by God. If this is true about you, if you want to be used by God, then Nehemiah has some powerful lessons for you.

Nehemiah saw the great need, which burdened his heart. He also saw what God wanted to accomplish. And, he committed himself to see it through in spite of the many difficulties.

The person God uses has a burden for His people.

When God wants to use you in some capacity, the first thing He does is to burden your heart with the situation. Perhaps, like Nehemiah, you will have known in general about a particular need for a long time. But then you hear about the specifics of it or you see it firsthand and you can’t put it out of your mind. 

Nehemiah’s burden stemmed from feeling the people’s great need.

Other Jews in Babylon had probably heard about the conditions in Jerusalem, shaken their heads and said, “My, my! That’s too bad!” They went back to their work in Babylon thinking, “What a tragedy!” But they were not burdened by the need of God’s people in the land.

But the man that God used to do something about it not only heard about the need. He felt their need. He wept, mourned, fasted and prayed for days about what he had heard. He just couldn’t put it out of his mind. God used that burden as the basis for action.
Maybe you’re wondering, “The needs are so many and so great! I can’t possibly respond to them all. How do I discern which particular need God wants me to get involved with?”

Don’t let the immensity of the needs paralyze you so that you don’t do anything. Sometimes you hear about the over- whelming needs around the world and run for cover because there is no way to respond to them all. Out of emotional survival, we throw up a barricade around our hearts that blocks all of the needs from moving us. We end up engrossed in our own pursuit of pleasure and ignore the needs of others.

Matthew 9:36-38 tells us something important about the how the heart of Jesus was burdened for the masses of people. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

So we need to pray, “Lord, give me the eyes of Jesus to see the needs of people. Give me the heart of Jesus to feel compassion for them. And raise up workers for the harvest to meet these overwhelming needs!”

Jeff Frazier

Friday, June 13

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Nehemiah 1:1-4

The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

In the course of my life as a pastor I have had the privilege of hearing many people share their stories. Some of those stories are of walls broken down and burned with fire.

I’ve heard stories of marriages that began with great love and hope but have degenerated into coldness and resentment.

I’ve heard stories of addiction and promiscuity.

I’ve heard stories of excess and debt.

I’m sorry to say that some of those broken walls have stayed broken down. Some have yet to be rebuilt and remain full of sadness and pain.

But on the other hand I am overjoyed to be able to point to some broken down walls that have been rebuilt into something far stronger and more beautiful than had ever been before!

I have been blessed to be part of a number of stories where, initially, the walls were so broken down that I am ashamed to say I thought there was no chance they could ever be rebuilt again. “Burned with fire” is too gentle a phrase to describe some of these stories.

Yet, despite my lack of faith, they were rebuilt and restored.

They were rebuilt slowly; through confession, forgiveness, surrender and great, painstaking obedience. The walls of these lives or relationships were rebuilt brick by brick.

The story of Nehemiah reveals to us a God who loves to rebuild broken walls.

We sometimes sing a song in our worship that includes the lyrics:

To only my Maker my Father my Savior
Redeemer Restorer Rebuilder Rewarder
To only a God like You
I give my praise

(“Only a God Like You,” by Tommy Walker)

I love those words. Our God is redeemer, restorer, rebuilder and rewarder.

What about you?

How are your walls?

Are the walls of your personal life; your marriage or your family life strong and holding up to the pressures of today’s world?

Are there any places that, if you are honest, are beginning to show wear? Are there a few crumbling gates that are in need of repair work? Maybe part of your wall is broken down and burned with fire.

Nehemiah teaches us to allow our hearts to be broken with what breaks the heart of God. Nehemiah then teaches us to cry out in our brokenness to the God of heaven in prayer.

Pastor Brian Coffey