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 timeframe of his life. That if one prices prayer enough, it can become an automatic reaction no matter what the circumstances and not just one thinks they need or want something. It's 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. I love the two parts of that message about God being in your middle.
I thought that was awesome. I learned that it's okay to be discouraged in the middle but you can't stay there. You got to keep moving and it's really hard because you've already done half the work but you're still sitting in the middle and you got to do the rest of it. But you can keep going and God's going to help you through. One thing I've learned from the Nehemiah Chapel theme this semester is that when you get really close to the end, you should just continue to push, continue to grind, never quit, stay solid. God taught me a lot about leadership and how no matter how you lead, there's going to be certain difficulties just being able to lead according to the Bible and being able to set that model for other people. God has taught me that patience and what we want is taken into consideration but God knows what is already best for us. No matter the trials that you may be getting put through, the end is always going to be for your better. I think the biggest thing I've learned from the Nehemiah series and chapel is that it's all right to wait and plan. You don't always have to be doing something to be doing the right thing. I learned a lot about you're 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 would say I have noticed a trend through the shovel messages about trusting God which has been really good because I feel like for me I'm at the point with almost graduating that I have a lot of big life decisions coming up and it's hard to stay rooted in God's promises and that He will provide and He does have a plan because I'm so focused on what I want the plan to be. I feel like the big theme that I've learned is God's faithfulness to His people and it's not just the Israelites, it's also us today. The thing that I've learned the most from Nehemiah is just how we have to have a plan and trust God to help us accomplish it. The biggest thing that I think I've learned is that we need to rely on God for wisdom. Something I've learned from Dr. Benson's Nehemiah series is that God is in control and we have to follow God's commands. Dr. Benson talked about a lot of the obstacles that Nehemiah faced, I guess just persevering through things. One thing I've learned is just to trust God in every situation.
It's often hard, especially in college, there's a lot of changes that happen. I'd say just working on waiting and being patient and just trusting that everything will be done in God's time and not my own. One of the chapel messages that really stuck out to me was Nehemiah towards the middle of the semester when we have midterms and talking about just not giving up and turning to God like even when we're stressed or just have a lot going on, it was just really encouraging. I've been reminded of the importance of prayer in daily life and all the chapels have really taught this so well that no matter what we're going through, the best thing we can do in any situation is pray. I've learned a lot this semester about when Nehemiah was going through the trials, like how do we respond when trials come when we're faced with a lot of adversity and even not so what we're doing when we're on the mountaintops, we need to trust God through that and how we respond matters. 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.
Today's sermon is from parts of chapters two and three titled Living Out the Priority of the Ordinary. Dr. Benson will first give us an overview of the book of Nehemiah. And 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 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? I hope 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. 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. Let's enjoy studying Nehemiah together. Turn again to Nehemiah in chapter two.
Today we'll start there and finish through chapter three. As we continue to talk about life on mission living life on mission requires that we ask and answer our why and continuing to ask and answer the why affects how we live every day. Sometimes I think that we think about life as one of those I think it's Facebook or Instagram you know where they every now and again they pop up and they give you a memory video and it has like eight or nine pictures of it. Sometimes I think we think of life that way that really life at its best is just some form of a highlight reel. And the reality is that most of life is lived and most of God's purposes in our lives are accomplished in between those mountain peaks. Living life on mission is more about serving God in the mundane than it is about serving God whenever something incredible or extraordinary happens.
And so today I want to preach a message entitled living out the priority of the ordinary. Living out the priority of the ordinary and it's in looking at this that we actually see Nehemiah make the real transition to actually starting to build the walls. How did he motivate the people to build the walls? He didn't offer them a free day at an amusement park.
He didn't incentivize them with some kind of multi-layered marketing scheme. And if you can get people to place a certain number of bricks, you get, I don't know, more bricks. Like it actually was in helping them understand the importance of who they were and their everyday life. You in this stage of preparation for life are actually going to get the greatest preparation for life by embracing the fact that God is at work in the everyday ordinary stuff of your life and living with that priority. So that when opportunities for the extraordinary come, you're not just prepared to serve Him.
You're willing to serve Him. Look with me if you would in Nehemiah chapter two and verse 18, the word of God says, then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me as also the King's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
After over a hundred years of living life in ruins and seeing these walls and piles of rubble, somehow these people look at that same destruction and they see the work as a good work. And it has to do somehow with how Nehemiah presents the challenge that is before them. And so I want us to see some tactics, if you will, that are carried out through very strategic thinking. There's a strategy, there's a why, there's a motivation. And he manages to get these people through fresh eyes to embrace their why. So let's see just a couple of things.
First of all, I want us to see the messaging of the task, the messaging of the task, understanding what I am called to do and what it will take to do it. Nehemiah says, I told them, he communicated with them. As he comes to the people of Israel, they were faint hearted. They were used to being unprotected. So they developed a mindset of vulnerability. They were resigned to loss and failure. This is just the way things are.
So suck it up, buttercup. You know, there's a defeatist mindset that if we're not careful, impacts our living life on mission. Well, I'm not the smartest person. I'm not the most athletic person. I don't come from the best family.
I don't have all the opportunities others have had. And all of those things may be absolutely true, but if we're not careful, we put them all into the formula and allow it to affect what we believe are the potential outcomes. And living that way as a believer denies the fact that we believe that I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. They were not just faint hearted, they were also faithless. They didn't just lose belief in themselves, they lost belief in God. They were not trusting God because they did not have a right relationship with God. They were living in a place clearly every day that was marked by the judgment of God without ever thinking about the rest of God's promises with regard to how He would bless if they would return.
And so they had no confidence in Him because of their own failings. There are some of us that won't live life on mission because we believe that we have blown it so bad and are under the hand of judgment from God that life will never be different. We will have to live life as second class children of God. And I want you to know today that there is no such thing because of grace. It wasn't said to a certain class of sinners that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't come claiming of that promise to the throne of mercy there to find grace and mercy in our time of need and have God say, oh yeah, sorry, that didn't include you.
You see, when we do that, we actually deprecate the cross of Christ in its capacity to actually cover, atone for, and have us be forgiven for every sin. But that's how they were living. And so this foreigner to them, with no money to pay them, no army to protect them, is somehow going to pursue getting them to rise up and work with a mindset that sees the work in addition to their everyday lives as a good thing. Nehemiah is actually going to present for us a master class in team building. And so I want you to see how he does it.
First of all, there's a clarification of the problem. If you'll notice again, what he does in verses 12 through 16, he doesn't talk to anybody and he actually goes out and if you read the description of what he does, he actually makes a circuit at night. He goes from where he started all the way around Jerusalem, all the way back. In other words, he did a very thorough investigation. He does an inspection of the circumstances. He wasn't speculating.
He was well studied and well informed and he made sure that he had a firm grasp of the problem and the proposed solution. One of the things that we're going to live life on mission is that we actually must stop and investigate our why. Is it really possible? Is it what God has for me? What is the need? Am I answering that need? Am I getting prepared so that when opposition comes, I can actually overcome the opposition? There must be an inspection.
You living life on mission, having a goal that actually will direct the pathway of your life isn't going to happen by happenstance or chance. But then secondly, there was an identification. First of all, there was a recognition. He was able to show the people what was wrong. He was able to help them understand why it was wrong and that there was a possibility of it being changed. He didn't hide the problems.
He didn't make the job seem small. He didn't come to them and say, oh, come on, just give it a try. He actually identifies this is a real problem.
This is a real challenge. But then he enters not just from recognition, he enters into relationship with them. He identified with the people instead of playing the blame game. He knew that he could never guilt them into this task with any hope that they would stick to it when opposition came. He actually was accepting responsibility with them and letting them know that as God's hand had been good upon him and as the king had favored him, that he was actually doing it to all the people. He was helping them to see in the midst of judgment that if they would listen to God, God was for them and not against them. And then thirdly was the idea of responsibility. The problem was theirs to fix.
Nehemiah didn't show up with a building crew and an engineering crew. It was their job to fix because in doing what God had called them to do and returning to God was actually the place of God's will. The city was theirs to live in as a gift of God, and the benefit of living there was theirs to have. And so he leads them to take ownership, and that motivates them to work. And so we see clarification of the problem, but then we see clarity of purpose.
And so here there's a proposition. He proposed a solution that would create hope. There's a possibility that will create a positive frame of mind.
There's not just a can-do mindset. There's a presentation of a pathway that allows people to see that while I cannot run the journey all at once, I can continue taking steps in the right direction of my why. And that leads them to praise. He called their attention to what God had already done. One of the things that happens when we are facing challenges, particularly challenges about our lives, is we become forward-focused and myopic.
We actually get focused on the problem, and that's all we can see. And one of the things he does is he helps them to turn around and see what God has already done. God has already made provision for you in ways that you have never experienced before. God has already prepared you in ways that you didn't realize He had prepared you. And God has already provided for you the things that you would need that you didn't have before. Stop and take an inventory of your life as you are looking forward to what God might have for you to do. And so Nehemiah actually is teaching them, and through writing it, teaching us a pathway for success. And so Nehemiah presents the task to the people, and what a task it was. The walls had been in ruin for over a hundred years, and these people had lived next to destroyed walls all of their lives.
They didn't know anything else. Is it possible for us to get so accustomed to the ruin in our lives that we are no longer bothered by it? Is it possible for us to live with a mindset that so accepts second best that we never strive for more? Do you notice in Dr. Minor's testimony when a doctor said to her, you can't? She didn't just say, I can.
She said, watch me go. That's this very mindset that says, you know what? My can't will rest in the hands of God. I'll go as far as I can go on the right road, pursuing, serving God with all that I have, and I'll let God determine my can't. See this is the right pathway for motivation. The simple servant shows up and somehow inspires these people to work.
And after over a hundred years of ruin in 52 days, they built a wall that was two and a half miles in length, which enclosed an area of 220 acres in 52 days. To do that, he moved from messaging rightly to motivating rightly. You see principled transformation is born out of perceptive observation. Make sure you see things as they really are.
Proper contemplation. Make sure you understand why things are the way they are and practical connection. Make sure you understand the people involved. I think these are three very key points.
If we are going to be disciple makers, if I'm going to help people grow in their faith, I must make sure that I see things as they really are and I make sure I understand why things are the way they are and that I make a practical connection so that I understand the people involved because no two people are alike and neither are there circumstances. You see that as I come to motivate people, I have to realize there really are two kinds of motivation. There's extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic is an external reward based motivation that fosters a what's in it for me mentality.
Intrinsic motivation is an instilled inward zeal, a motivation that is sourced in the recognition of a need and the acceptance of a proposed solution with the understanding that as I make progress towards the solution, I actually am growing. You see, I believe that there is a process to maturity. I think we see it in the Bible as we talk about starting out as infants and learning about life through obeying. That ends somewhere at the end of our life as we fully embrace and understand what it means to honor.
There's a continuum. To honor actually is a volitional choice, a choice of the will to elevate another in their wishes, their goals, their desires, their priorities by intentionally showing deference in an area of preference. Honoring requires maturity, yes, but it also produces it. As I choose to honor others, it actually helps my character be formed as I learn to practice self-control. And so you see, this kind of maturity is a values proposition. Rather than making a decision based upon what's in it for me, I actually make decisions based upon how could it actually help others. And so it leads me to a living life in an evaluation that's not just about right or wrong but it's actually about what does this do to others.
The question then is not about do I value myself enough to get a reward, it's actually do I value others enough to make life's choices that impact how they get to live. And I believe that this is exactly what Nehemiah does when we see him lay out throughout this third chapter how he goes about this accomplishing the goal of getting these people motivated to build. And so you see it in some key ways and I'll go quickly. You see it in the assignment of the task. Notice how he allotted it out. There's a comprehension of the need. You'll notice throughout this third chapter that he talks over and over and over again about people building next to his house.
Why would he do that? Because if everybody else builds next to their house and I decide I'm not going to, where do you think the hole in the wall is where the enemies are going to come to? A culpability for the failure.
You don't do your job, look what happens at your house. But then also a capability for the work. They knew what that piece of the wall should look like.
The area at the wall was familiar to them at their own place. And so carefully he allots the task but then in doing so he creates an association in the task that somehow they would be rightly motivated because they'd be challenged by the progress of others. It's one of the wonderful things about being in a university. I actually get challenged by the progress of others. But then I'm also changed by the progress of others. What they are doing and how they are building directly impacts my ability to build.
Can I connect to their section of the wall? But then notice what he does in assembling of the team. He realizes that unity brings cooperation.
He says to one group of people, you have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem. That meant that everybody that was building did. This was their place. Because of that there was a unity in purpose.
Some 40 different sections of the wall are mentioned in the chapter. Each assigned to a different group. To work effectively and quickly the wall builders displayed a sense of common purpose and commitment. But then there's unity of power. No one could do it alone.
They were well aware of that and that is why no one ever started the job. But together it could be done with an understanding that diversity brings completeness. Not every person could do everything. Each person could do something and the whole needed the involvement of every individual.
This is how community works. And then he takes the common everyday people that are having now a mind to work and he brings about cohesiveness with them because everybody was necessary and each individual was necessary. And so you will see that the people he uses are listed here for us as goldsmiths and apothecaries and rulers and merchants and priests and gatekeepers. And they came together through a process that is described as building and fortifying and repairing and restoring. There's a group of people that are diverse and we each have their own abilities. They each have their own passions but together they accomplish through synergy much more than anybody could accomplish on their own. And thus they build the wall and they build towers and pools and stairs and sepulchres and palaces and furnaces and in the end they build the place for the gates, which are the unifying thing of this chapter. So stop for a moment and ask yourself, where am I?
What is my why? How motivated am I? Are you looking to the future and saying, dude, college is just hard and mundane?
And it is, and it is, but understand it is living with the priority of the ordinary that equips us to do the extraordinary. Who are you doing this with? Who should you be learning from? How do you rightly relate to your faculty who have expertise? How do you rightly relate to your peers who are walking the journey with you? How do you talk to them and understand that you are different and diverse and yet you need each other in community to live out the priority of the ordinary so that you are ready to serve God when he calls? I hope that you look at Nehemiah and you look at what God is doing in the building of this wall and you along with Dr. Minor will say, okay, watch me go for God's glory. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and how practical it is and I pray, oh God, that you would motivate us to live for your glory every day, whether we eat, drink or whatsoever we do by prioritizing a values-based system of living life. Motivate us to live for you in the ordinary. I pray in Jesus' name, 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.
