1813. The Everyday Work of Living On Mission

I love the series on Nehemiah.

I think it's a great choice for Dr. Benson to go over with Student Body. One thing that stood out when he was talking to Nehemiah 7, he pointed out that the purpose wasn't just to build the walls, it was to see the product after building the walls. So, Nehemiah really did it to see the worship and see the relationships with God. Nehemiah Chapel has been such a blessing to me this semester in some very specific ways. One of them was the important principle of when you're tired, when you're weary, simplify and focus. It's been a good reminder to me to cut out the unnecessary things and then to focus on what my priorities really need to be, especially when it comes to spending time in the Word and with the Lord. That's been a huge blessing to me and something I've needed to repeat over and over this semester. I learned a lot about your doing the work and how they're rebuilding the wall and how they kind of get stopped in the middle of it and they have to defend the wall.

So it's kind of like you're just in the middle of work and you kind of stop and you have to focus on other things, but you have to keep persevering through that and just resume the work no matter what. I've appreciated Dr. Benson's series going through Nehemiah. It's a benefit being able to really show the dependency of Nehemiah on God and how this is about an 11-year time frame of his life.

Determination in the face of a lot of adversity just because if God's on your side, who can be against you. I've been really inspired by Nehemiah and his resilience and I hope I can imply that more in my life. Welcome to The Daily Platform, a radio program featuring chapel messages from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

You just heard several BJU students talking about chapel sermons preached during a study series from the book of Nehemiah. In today's sermon, Dr. Alan Benson will walk us through chapters two and three in a sermon titled, The Everyday Work of Living on Mission. Living life on mission isn't always as glamorous as it sounds. When we think of living on mission, we tend to think of doing extreme, dangerous, pulse-pounding things.

We think of taking risks or leaving everything on the field. And in reality, living missionally means spending a lot of time exercising patience, expectantly praying, expertly planning, and then effectively positioning ourselves and others to accomplish God's will. We see Nehemiah carry out those four steps that enable him to effectively implement his plan to accomplish his mission. Look at me, if you would, at Nehemiah chapter two. I'm going to begin reading in verse one.

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of our desert, sees the king. That wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. I had not been before time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? And the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?

So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would ascend me unto Jerusalem, unto the city of my father's sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, The queen also sitting by him, For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah.

And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber, to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertain to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me." The Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word. One of the things that stirs my heart as I read the story of Nehemiah, is how he is constantly impacted with wisdom. Whether it's facing opposition, or facing an obstacle, or actually facing an opportunity, it seems like there's this ongoing process of seeking and applying the wisdom of God to life. Proverbs 2 10 and 11 says this one, Wisdom enterth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. Another translation says it this way, For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you. This describes throughout this book the processes that we see Nehemiah going through as he is facing all different kinds of life circumstances. And we see it here in his preparation for the great task that we find out he carries out in this book. And so as we see him in this time of waiting, we talked about God's work in our waiting. I want us to look at the other side of the corn and see some of what it is that Nehemiah is actually doing during days of preparation for carrying out his mission.

Because I think they're very applicable to us, and particularly to you in these four years in your university journey. So first of all, I want you to see the exercising of patience. Exercising patience.

And as we consider that, there's a couple of pieces to that. We typically think patience means waiting, and it does, and so I want you to see who's waiting. We find at the beginning of the chapter that with the months that are designated, he waited four months from the time that he learned about the difficulties in Jerusalem to have his conversation with King Artaxerxes. He exercised patience during the time that he was waiting. But then I want you to notice, when he arrives at Jerusalem, he waits three days before he communicates with anybody in Jerusalem.

This one is stunning to me. He has seen the good hand of his God upon him. He has seen it carried out by this pagan king, granting him permission to go, and giving him the resources that he needs to do this job. And he shows up in Jerusalem where there are people that have been in destroyed circumstances for a long time.

People that have struggled with life because of all kinds of pressures, both internally and externally. And somehow, in some way, he shows up and instead of saying, Ta-da! Nehemiah is here, and here's my great plan. And by the way, we're going to do it because I've got permission from the king, and I've got the resources to do the job.

He doesn't actually talk to anybody. And it's one of the things that indicates to me that Nehemiah had a heart that was more about building the people of God than it was about building the walls of the city. He actually is concerned about finding out the circumstances and then relating them to the people in such a way that they are impacted and inclined to serve God.

He says, verse 11, So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. You see, patience is so much more than waiting. In fact, I have learned by experience, I can wait impatiently. Learning patience is the process of submitting the kingdom of my plans and goals to God's timing with a willingness to allow Him to alter them as He sees fit.

Let me say that again. Learning patience is the process of submitting the kingdom of my plans and goals to God's timing with a willingness to allow Him to alter them as He sees fit. You see, a massive part of God's will is God's timing. God always uses timing to prepare the person for the plan by allowing the person time to plan.

You follow that? God always uses timing to prepare the person for the plan by allowing the person time to plan. Doing God's will means doing the right thing in the right way with the right attitude at the right time. Doing God's will means doing the right thing in the right way with the right attitude at the right time. And so we see His waiting.

God is doing a work in His life, and through that, He is attuned to the fact that God wants to do a work in other people's lives. It wasn't just about chomping at the bit. Now I'm finally here.

Let's get to work and build these walls. It actually was a much bigger plan. And so we see His waiting, but part of that is I want you to see His communication. Notice the conversation He has with this king. The king says to him, Why is your countenance at, seeing you are not sick? He noticed there was something wrong with Nehemiah. Is this nothing else but sorrow of heart? And because of that, it says he was sore afraid.

He realized that this was a problem. In that pagan world, for him to come in and somehow affect the tone or the mood in the throne room, particularly when the queen is seated on the throne with the king. Probably a primary advisor. And there's actually the possibility that this is Queen Esther, if you follow the history. A possibility. But it's a time that probably the court is gathering. There's decision making processes going on. The king wants wisdom and insight.

And here's this guy that's downer Dave. And that was enough to get him killed. So this is a really tense moment. And in that moment, he needs to answer the king.

What will he say? Well notice this little expression, it's a common one in the court at that time. He says, let the king live forever. He wasn't actually declaring, king, you are God.

It actually was a statement of respect. He understood where he was. He understood who he was talking to. And though he has been waiting four months, he chooses to act in the right way at the right time.

He's respectful. You know, sometimes when we wait impatiently, it comes out in all kinds of ways in our relationships. One of the things we see in his waiting is that he actually is learning. And through his learning, he actually is picking up on the fact that somehow if God, because the king sees that the good hand of his God was upon him.

If God is actually going to facilitate him doing anything, he is going to do it through human instrumentation. How many of you have spent more time than you ever cared to at the DMV? Anybody?

Yeah, look at those hands. The trial of your faith works patience. I don't know why the DMV doesn't work. I'm pretty sure that if I was tasked with fixing it, it still wouldn't work.

So I'm not being judgmental. But you know what? We feel the tension, don't we? Why is this taking all of my time?

I could do this so much faster. It doesn't have to be this complicated. And then by the time you get up to the counter, and the sweet little lady that spent all morning working with people who are frustrated just like you, gets unloaded on. Like it's her fault.

That's what Nehemiah could have done here, right? Well it's about time, King! Where have you been? But that's not his attitude. He's respectful. God is working in his heart. But then also notice he was honest. He actually shares out of transparency the honesty of the condition of his heart.

Why wouldn't my heart be troubled? He doesn't hide the struggle that he's facing or the battle of his heart. He keeps his emotions rightly in check, but he doesn't turn them off. He actually communicates honestly with the king. Boy, this is God's working of patience in our lives.

Whenever we can come to the place where we can actually control our emotions and yet communicate them in a way that is productive. And so we see him exercising patience. I believe that we will struggle to live life on mission if we don't learn to exercise patience.

We make a mess of things either by running too fast or lagging behind because of not properly exercising patience. Secondly though, I want you to see his expectant praying. Throughout this book we're going to see Nehemiah at every key juncture. Whether it's an unexpected challenge, an unwanted opposition, or an unbelievable triumph.

Intentionally stopping and taking time to pray. We get a glimpse of it here. He's been waiting four months. The king finally brings up the subject. He finally gets an opportunity to talk and tell the king what he obviously has been thinking about and planning and looking forward to for months. Because when he gives the king an answer, it's incredibly detailed. He's thought about the route that he's going to travel, the people that are going to be there, the needs that are there.

He's thought through all of these details, but in the text he tells us, the king says, So, what's going on and what do you need? And he says, so I prayed to the God of heaven. He was a man that was committed to prayer.

And so see his consistent pattern. See I believe a genuine believer will never effectively live life on mission without giving himself to persistent prayer. Consistent communication with God is essential for living with the confident assurance that I am walking in his will. Nehemiah's prayer was real. It was actual, it was heartfelt communication with God.

It wasn't empty platitudes or pious repetitions of religious phrases. You'll see this as you look at his prayers throughout the book. The way that he communicates with God is very real and very frank. Whether it's something that he wants God to do or something that he sees in the lives of others that he needs God to carry out. If it's protection for the process or if it's productivity from the people, he regularly communicates in real terms with God. If you will, Nehemiah isn't a guy that has prayer ease.

You know what prayer ease is? For some reason, when we start to pray, our language changes. I actually am from Northern Ireland. I won't do it today, but I actually have in here an accent. Some of you have asked me to do it. But you know what?

That accent doesn't actually make me speak in Elizabethan English. Somehow we get to praying and all of a sudden, we would never put th at the end of the word in all of our life, but somehow we pray and we do. And I'm not condemning that because I think if that is an expression of respect for us, I think that's a wonderful thing. But if it somehow is detaching us from very real, very frank, very heartfelt conversation with God, I'm not sure that what we're doing is actually praying. Young people, whatever it is, God wants you, whom he made in his image, to communicate with him in a persistent and passionate way. God wants you to speak from your heart to him. Christ told us that in Matthew 6. He said, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.

What does that look like? For they love to pray standing in the synagogues, in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter in thy closet, and when thou shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

What is he saying there? Never pray in public, always find a closet and go pray? No, what he's saying is prayer is personal. It's not about a public display.

It's not about a demonstration for others to see. It's about the fact that you have an audience of one, and it is God alone. And better to not have people around and be distracted and start talking to them instead of talking to God.

It's better to go to the closet and actually talk to God. But when you pray, use not vain repetitions. Don't just cycle through empty platitudes as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. You see, a consistent prayer life is essential for a confident life.

The Bible reinforces this. James 1 says, but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and abraitheth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.

God has linked our ability to live confidently with our ability to commune with him and to pray consistently. James 4, from whence come wars and fightings among you, instability and problems. Come they not hence even of your lusts that warn your members? You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not.

Why? Because you ask not. You ask and receive not.

Because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. We are going to be driven by the everyday desires of our hearts and lack confidence in living for God if we're not regularly communing with him in a way that submits my heart to his will for my living. 1 John 5 says it this way, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us, and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him.

Paul said it this way to the Philippians in Philippians 4. Don't be overcome with care. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And the author of Hebrews said it this way in Hebrews 4 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.

Why? That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. I say it to you again, you cannot live confidently a life on mission unless you are consistently in prayer with your Heavenly Father. Because of that then in his praying I want you to see his confident faith. I'm not sure what this looked like for Nehemiah. I don't know if Nehemiah just took a minute, caught his breath, prayed and then spoke or if he stepped away and then came back to give his answer. But whatever the case, Nehemiah records for us that prayer was a priority for him and he didn't give an answer without first asking God.

Nehemiah is going to lay out an elaborate plan to the king and he's going to make some extravagant requests. And I believe that he got the boldness to make these requests because he was confident in God's will and he was confident about God's blessing. He had walked enough with God and he had talked enough with God that as he made these requests to the king, he believed he was acting in God's will. He wasn't wanting this to consume it upon his lusts and he was asking because he wanted to see God's will done.

These are two things that are key to living confidently. So Nehemiah's prayer life exhibits his confident faith. He didn't just pray as a religious practice, he prayed expectantly. He prayed anticipating that God would answer. And when God did answer, he demonstrated his belief by thanking God for what he had done in answering his prayers. See, many times our response to answered prayer demonstrates that we don't really believe that God answers prayer at all.

What do I mean? We ask, he answers, and we don't respond with gratitude. We move along as though what happened was just chance or faith. And what we actually demonstrate is that we didn't think our praying and God's answering was actually a key to what happened in my life. Young people, if you are going to live life on mission, it is time to develop a passionate habit of prayer. These days are incredible opportunities for you. Opportunities to get together with people your age, living similar life circumstances, facing similar challenges, and looking forward to the opportunities of life and wanting to know and do God's will. I challenge you, fill, saturate this campus with prayer and prayer meetings.

With what you face and the challenges that are there and the opportunities that are before you. These ought to be days where you don't dare get together and find people with whom you can pray and seek God's will for one another. This ought to be the spirit of our discipleship groups. And we're praying for God to lead, guide, direct, for God to open doors and close doors.

Whether they be relational doors or career doors. And then I want you to see that that led lastly as we close to his expert planning. We see his initial planning in this conversation with the governor.

And we see that as he walked through his plans that he actually planned for needs. You know one of the things you ought to be doing during these days is looking forward to your life and saying what am I going to need? What am I going to need to be the right kind of spouse? What am I going to need to be the right kind of employee? What are the pathways that come out of my chosen major?

And what should I be doing in order to be prepared for that? He planned for the needs. He asked for timber because he knew he was going to have to build gates. But then he also prepared for opposition.

He asked for letters that would get him clearance to get to where he needed to get. And you actually need to be preparing for opposition. This is what we call the process of building resilience. There is going to be opposition in life and it's not going to come simply because you're out of the will of God. It actually will come because you're pursuing the will of God. And what you see in Nehemiah in these days of preparation was that he planned carefully with a goal in mind. It was expert planning because he knew there were going to be needs and he anticipated getting what he needed to take care of those things. And he anticipated opposition and he was building what he needed in order to address that opposition. Young people, I believe that God has a great plan for your life. And I believe that most often we try to establish what that plan is by following the path of least resistance. If there's a problem, that can't be God's will. I have to make a shift. If there's a difficulty, that can't be God's will.

I have to go a different direction. But the reality is that the will of God is as much about shaping you to be like Christ as it is about what it is you're going to do. And often I think when we run from need and we run from opposition, when we don't build resiliency, what actually happens is we find God's will is a place, a thing, a job, a career, or even a person. And the will of God actually is about changing you. And so living life on mission is actually about God equipping you to live for him. And we see the working of God in the everyday stuff of life as we think about living life on mission. What is it that God is doing in your life right now to make you more like Jesus?

Answering that question is actually the key to living life on mission today and every day. Let's pray. Father, thank you for Nehemiah and the example that he gives to us, for how he displays the wisdom of Proverbs. May it grip our hearts. God, I pray that as we are pursuing your will for our lives, that, Lord, you would help us to exercise patience the right way, that we would actually carry out expectant prayer, and that, Lord, we would expertly plan keeping our hearts attuned to you and to your will. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 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.