1811. The Context of Nehemiah

Welcome to The Daily Platform. Our program features sermons during the fall of 2023 during Monday's chapels. In today's sermon, Dr. Alan Benson will help us understand the context of the book of Nehemiah. One of the things I find that God does in my life in particular, whenever I'm wrestling through a time of uncertainty or decision, or I find myself in a place where I know I'm going to need to seek God regularly for wisdom, is that God tends to lead me to a scriptural framework.

What do I mean by that? Wisdom is really skill for living. It is the ability to assemble theologically a grid through which you can filter the affairs of life. The questions that may come, the problems you may face, the challenges that may come your way. That you assemble a theological grid made up of God's truth through which you can filter those things and thus not just make right choices but learn to live in light of God's wisdom. There's a sense in which God directs me when I'm facing times of needing wisdom or challenge or needing to find a direction with a framework. Every time God will direct me to a particular passage of scripture and then as life unfolds from that passage of scripture, I'm able to take the questions that I face and kind of hang them on that framework or the challenges that come.

I'm able to hang them on that framework and God slowly builds them together for me the means of being able to act confidently and live confidently. As I was this summer praying about the beginning of this school year in light of me being acting CEO, I again sought the Lord for an extended period of time about how he would direct my steps in decision making and challenges and the Lord led me to the book of Nehemiah. I hope that as we spend Mondays together in chapel in the book of Nehemiah that you will find not just another book of the Bible or not just a narrative story or not just a historical piece, I hope you won't just find some guy's journal with how he managed his time period and the problems that he faced. I hope that you will find a number of things. I hope that you will find primarily a source of God's wisdom for living. I hope that there you will find a friend, that as Nehemiah has presented to us through kind of the memoirs that we read, that you will find that you're resonating with this man's heart. I hope that you will find there some practical advice in contemplating, okay, Nehemiah, why did you do things the way that you did? Why did you take the time that you took or why did you have that conversation the way you had it?

Why did you position people in building the way that you did? You'll find some really, really practical advice that you can apply to your life. But more than that, I hope that God will shape our hearts around the big priorities that as we read this book become very obvious in the life of Nehemiah. This is very much, if you will, in our language, a personal diary. It is a journal.

It is a set of memoirs. And in fact, I think you'll find if you read Ezra and Nehemiah, which I think in the Hebrew Bible were actually one book, it was well into Christendom where these two began to get separated. You find one historical saga, if you will, and both of them tend to be written using personal pronouns like I and we, Ezra in his setting, Nehemiah in his setting.

Then there's some interjected historical documentation that is there. There's a section 8 through 10 that it seems like somebody else wrote and Nehemiah incorporated into his setting. But what I hope you'll see is beyond all of that, that this is literature that is inspired by God as part of our Bible that he intends to impact our lives. And so as we study this book together, we are going to be uncovering the working of God in the heart of his servant as he is used by God to make a difference in people's lives both individually and corporately.

And from that we can draw applications about how we can live effectively for God in our own setting. So let's read some of the opening verses. Nehemiah chapter 1 and verse 1. The book of Nehemiah, as we just read in this little description, begins with a nation that is in disarray. One that Nehemiah's expectation was clearly that it wouldn't be in such disarray, but it was.

A wall in disrepair and a people in despair. The book of Nehemiah catalogues for us the working of God in a man who dedicates himself to seeing God rightly worshipped by his people. As we work our way through this book, we'll see several things. We'll see Nehemiah's deep, personal walk with God, and I hope we'll be challenged by that. We'll see his practical advice for problem solving, and I hope we'll be helped by that.

We'll see a powerful plan for team building. We'll see a purposeful approach to dealing with distractions and prioritize thinking for overcoming challenges. In the midst of all of those life lessons, I hope we will be challenged, as Nehemiah was, to seek for and to protect the working of God in our own lives. I don't want to avoid giving you an understanding of the context. At the same time, I don't want us to get into this book and to get you bogged down by all kinds of historical details.

But I think it's important for us to understand what is going on in the context because very quickly the whole narrative gets framed because of the setting. And so we have the people of God in exile. Nehemiah actually is going to give us a historical understanding, maybe better than any other book in the Old Testament, about the work of God in the post-exile time period of how the people were living and how they were responding.

Really you have several waves of the people of God in exile being allowed to return back to what we would know as the Promised Land in particular, to the area and then to the building of the city of Jerusalem. And part of why historically that is significant in Israel's history is because that was the source, or if you will, the center of the worship of God. And in fact, in Nehemiah's prayer in chapter 1 and verse 9, he's talking to God and as he's recounting the truth of God back to God, he actually talks about the fact that God himself said that this was a place that he would put his name.

And in a sense that is not just referring to the fact that his name was written there, but God would in a sense set his reputation there. So for Nehemiah to hear that the place was actually in such disrepair and the people in such shame, I want you to see that what is going on here in this saga is that you have a man that is not just burdened for his people's reputation. He's not just burdened about building a great city, he actually is burdened about the worship of his God.

That's the burden of the heart of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is intensely concerned about the purity of faith in Yahweh and how the people of God would live it. And so I want you to see that this is a man who as we get into this study, and even in this first chapter you will see that he is a man who knew the word of his God. As he prays, he actually recounts back to God the things that God had said. He knew the promises of God. He understood that disobedience would bring the judgment of God. He knew the word of God, and I hope as we look at how God uses this man, who never set out in the course of life to be an incredible builder, an incredible leader, just someone God used because he was burdened to do what he could do to see God rightly worshiped. That what God used in using him to do that was the word of God that was within him. In other words, Nehemiah also had a framework of God's truth through which he would navigate life.

And you will see that again and again and again as he is faced with challenges and decisions. There are things he says, oh I can't do that, and the reason he can't do it he states is because here's what God has said. And so he himself has a theological framework through which he successfully navigates the challenges of life. I hope you will be challenged by the life of Nehemiah and what we see God do through his life to also know the word of God. We see that he is not just a man who knew the word of God, Nehemiah personally communed with his God. We see his response when he hears about the walls being broken down and the people being in despair and God not being worshiped. We see a man that is moved to go to his God. In fact, as we get into this prayer in another message, I want you to see that as he talks about immediately he was impacted in such a way that he went to his God and he was broken in heart and he fasts and he prays.

The time period over which he does that before he has a conversation with this Persian king, Artaxerxes, is four months. He remains in this kind of abiding, pleading prayer with his God for a period of four months. This was a regular habit for him and it's evidence for us then throughout the book. As you read the book you'll find then over and over these kind of little episodal interjections in all of the challenges of life. But it says, so I prayed to the God of heaven or I cried out to my God or sometimes it won't even be. You'll just hear him all of a sudden talking to God.

I find that in my counting 11 times in this book. It was a regular habit for Nehemiah that he walked and he talked with his God. And I hope it'll stir your heart. For Nehemiah, prayer is almost an instinctive knee-jerk reaction to every stimulus in life. And I hope that we will live that way in prayer. And thirdly, Nehemiah was passionate about the worship of his God. He was passionate about the worship of his God.

Not just that others would do it, but that he would be worshiping his God. So I hope as we work through this book together that we'll learn much about Nehemiah. But if that's all we learn, I believe we could greatly waste our time. Because that's not what Nehemiah wants us to learn.

I hope we'll actually learn more about the worship of Nehemiah's God. You see, we could come to this book and many have. And we could get ourselves a great manual on leadership. I think we could go through every chapter of this book and we could think through a lens of what does a leader do. And we actually could identify really key principles of things that leaders do.

And that could be helpful. But I don't think this is why the Holy Spirit had Nehemiah write this book for us. I actually, it was given to us more so that we would understand why he was so passionate.

And that passion for God is what drove him then to live the way that he lived. We could read this book and say, ah, now I get it, I see. Ezra, people had already come back, they'd begun building.

Artaxerxes got some bad information. He called off that building and then the people wrote again. And it was restored again that they might build and finish the temple. But come to chapter 10 of Ezra and the worship is still all broken down. And that's what Nehemiah hears in chapter 1. And thus looking there, what was the big difference?

The big difference was walls. And that's what this book is all about. What I need to do is learn to build the right walls in my life. Because if I build the right walls in my life, then it will just happen by osmosis.

God will be rightly worshiped in my life. But then I challenge you to go to the end of the book of Nehemiah. When the walls are built and dedicated and everything else.

Nehemiah finished his job and he goes back to Susas, to Shushan, the palace. And what happens in Jerusalem is backsliding. All the things that were happening before the walls were built are documented for us at the end of the book that they're happening again. And Nehemiah comes back and what you will see is that walls are not the key to right worship. In fact I would say to you that walls are for cities, not for souls. Are they necessary? Are they helps? Can they bring support?

Yes they can. But at some point there has to be a decision to rightly pursue God. Because no matter how high the walls are built or how thick they are made, walls alone will never cause you to rightly worship God. And so I think we need to see more of what is happening in Nehemiah's heart than he longs to see God do in the hearts of these people that are in despair in order for us to actually understand what it was Nehemiah was after. And so I want us to see really today just a couple of things as we launch out into this. We'll come back and we'll actually look at the prayer of Nehemiah in our second message.

But today I want to kind of set the context, if I can, the context. The context here is the promises of God. The promises of God. Nehemiah knew them.

That was very clear. In fact if you go back and I did it this morning, I read the book of Ezra this morning just to have the context in my own mind. You will find that Ezra also understood the promises of God. And those promises actually had three factors to them that I think is really important for us to understand how Nehemiah navigates this book. First of all, in light of the promises of God we find that obedience brings God's blessing.

Obedience brings prosperity. God wasn't out to judge the people. God didn't want a people to live in fear of Him. God wanted a people who had awe of Him and thus that awe would lead them to right worship. You see the idea, mostly in the Old Testament, of the fear of the Lord could be rightly connected to our New Testament understanding of faith in the Lord. It was a reverential understanding of God that caused us to believe Him when He said who He was and to trust Him when He said what He would and what He could do.

This is the fear of God. Nehemiah knew and understood that fear of God, do you? And in doing so he understood that God was a God who was ready to bless, a God who was ready when needed to pardon.

And thus he understood that obedience would bring prosperity. We don't have time to read it, but if you're taking notes, Mark Leviticus 26, 1-13, you'll find exactly God saying this very thing. By the way, as I say that, we're not going to have a book published for you this year, but for those of you who are AGLs and GLs and then others, if you're interested in getting it, today, midday, there will come out after this message a prompter that will help you with leading discussion based upon this message for your discipleship groups. You'll have questions there in light of the message and some truth there that will help you then further discuss and apply this.

But I want to encourage you, engage, take notes, listen, help yourself with regard to taking this truth and knowing what to do with it so that you might live it. That's part of what Israel missed. But obedience brings God's blessing. Understand when I say that, obedience doesn't bring salvation. Israel's a covenant nation. They're already in a relationship with God, if you will.

This wasn't about them proving themselves savable. God has already claimed them as his people, and he's already made a covenant with them. This is how do I now live in light of my covenant relationship with God. Obedience wasn't the means of salvation. In fact, it was the means of joy for God's people. God is saying here is a better way, a right way, a faithful way to live in light of the relationship that we have. I think that's really important for all of us. I'm not living this life somehow to find a way to curry God's favor.

I'm not trying to find a way that I could make God more inclined to me, that God would like me more. It's interesting the contortions we go through when we face a life of testing, and I don't mean by that the trials. I mean a life as a college student where you're facing tests on a regular basis.

Maybe you haven't prepared really the way that you need to prepare. It is amazing what can happen in the hours before a test with regard to your relationship with God, the commitments that you make. Oh God, if you would just, all of a sudden we all believe in miracles.

A's are possible without work. That's a miracle. But you know what? The penchant of our flesh is actually to fall back into some kind of retribution theology. We turn God into some kind of a vending machine, and that's the nature of our relationship with Him. God challenges His people to obedience. God challenges us to obedience.

It actually is in light of a relationship with Him so that we could actually live in a path of joy. Nehemiah understood this, and so when he heard of the people's destruction and despair, he understood that secondly disobedience results in judgment. The latter half of Leviticus 26 and in particular verses 33 through 39 say, And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbath, as long as it lies desolate, and ye be in your enemy's land. Even then shall the land rest and enjoy her Sabbath.

Why? Because you aren't there, and you aren't working it, and you aren't enjoying the blessings of God. Verse 38 says, And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies lands. It's exactly the condition that Nehemiah hears is true of Jerusalem. The third thing about the promises of God is this, that repentance brings restoration. And as Nehemiah cries out to God, he cries out to a God who is faithful to his word. And you see that he understood the truth like Deuteronomy 31 through 10. God says, If you return, I'll return you to me. You'll obey my voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations. You see, I want us to understand the context here was that Nehemiah understood the promises of God. I hope that you do as well as you walk with God. That you pursue obedience for the right reasons. That you understand that this obedience actually leads to destruction. And when you find yourself there, you'll remember the promises of God that call you to return.

As John reminds us, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so in Israel we see a process. They went from spiritual decision with Ezra to spiritual decline. And then we now come to Nehemiah where he is going to come in, in a sense, try to create a context of spiritual defense. And that leaves us then with this last point and that is the cupbearer, Nehemiah.

Nehemiah, we see he's a cupbearer. A lot has been written about that. He's just a slave. Not worth anything.

There's probably thousands of them. You drink it, you're poisoned, you die and they get the next one. And actually I don't think that's the understanding at all. I think much like Daniel of old, he's a man that is in a position of trust and trustworthiness. And he is serving a foreign king in a unique way. Somehow he is a courtier and because of that he has direct access to what would be known as the most powerful man in the world in that day. You see in the requests that he makes and the king's inclination to grant them that there's something beyond just a servant relationship here.

There's trustworthiness. And I hope you'll see as we look at this man that God used him because of his character. We see him in a position where he is trustworthy. We see him in prayer where he is tender hearted.

And then we see him actually in program, be tactical. And I want to challenge you with these three truths. If we're going to see God do a work in and through our lives, pursue integrity or trustworthiness if you will. Live out the truth that matters to you.

Actually live it. Keep a heart that's tender before God. Keep your walk with God fresh and regular and passionate.

Don't let it become stale and don't let it become distant. And then in light of those two truths, young people, I want to challenge you. Live your faith. That's what we see in this book. Here's a guy that somehow decided, God, if you'll give me the opportunity, I am going to do something.

These are days for us to live life on mission. That's what Nehemiah does. A purpose of heart to live out then his conviction. God used him greatly because of three things I believe. One, he was unconcerned with his own position.

We see that in the opening verses one through three. How does a guy doing the job that he's doing live for up to four months in a condition of mourning? And the idea there is that this was somehow disruptive to his regular life. There were things that mattered more to him than his own position. A genuine concern for the condition of others. He was broken for the people of Israel. And then thirdly, and I think most importantly, a supreme concern for God's glory.

And that's what drove him. I want to close with an application. Chapel. What is chapel and why do we do it?

Why is it important? I want to encourage you. I've thought through chapel and a preaching time and a singing time and a setting time.

And actually I want to use maybe a different description. I want you to think during these college days of as chapel as a vital part of your personal walk with God. Your own time in the word is essential. A corporate time together in the word is an essential secondary part to learning and living. And thus, as you see Nehemiah decide that he is going to prioritize the right worship of God.

And thus do something about it in the lives of the people of God if God would allow it. I want to challenge you with this one simple thought. As we gather for chapel, think through in light of the truth that we have heard, what it looks like for you to prioritize chapel.

And I want to give you some challenges. Young people, I think the primary obstacle to rightly engaging in the worship of God in chapel will quickly become the device that you carry in your hand. It can be a massive aid to you. In fact, let me ask, how many of you this morning, you are actually in your Bible with me this morning on your phone.

Let me see your hands. That's incredible. It's an incredible tool. But you will also find that you actually can have all kinds of social media connections there at the same time. You will find that you actually can get connected and have conversations with people in this building and outside of this building at the same time.

And I want to challenge you. Make chapel about God and his word. There's not a conversation that you will have that can't wait 30 minutes. Nothing will happen on social media that's going to change the world during these 30 minutes. But I believe that when we dedicate our hearts to rightly worshiping God, that it is true that he can actually change your life. Nehemiah changed his entire life in light of the priority of seeing God rightly worshiped. And I hope in maybe just a simple way like this, we can begin to change our lives because we make a similar choice. Let's enjoy studying Nehemiah together. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Alan Benson from the study series called Nehemiah Life on Mission. Thanks for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue the study preached from the Bob Jones University Chapel platform.