Caring about the Right Things

Nehemiah 1:1–2:8 – Ezra-Nehemiah: God’s Construction Project – Oct 23, 2022

Introduction

Reading of Nehemiah 1.

Opening illustration from Paul Tripp’s Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God. Story of “Kristi,” pp. 251–259.

“If someone wrote the history of your life, what would be the one thing that they would say you lived for?” (Tripp, 257).

It’s from the book of Nehemiah. Part 2 of a single work, Ezra-Nehemiah. Covers the story of God's people returning from Babylon and then needing to rebuild...everything. Ezra and Nehemiah are the two main human characters but all is presented as God's Construction Project. God building and restoring his people.

As we get into Nehemiah, we’ll find many ways where he is held up to us as a model to imitate.

The Bible is filled with good models to imitate and bad models to avoid.
We won’t read the Bible correctly if we see only models for good behavior to imitate and models for bad behavior to avoid.
But we’ll also miss it if we don’t see the models held up to us and think about what they’re supposed to teach us.
Nehemiah is a model of many things, but in these opening scenes, he stands out as a model of caring about the right things.

The big idea: What it looks like to care about the right things. See it in (1) Our concerns, (2) Our prayers, (3) Our sacrifices.

I. Our Concerns (1:1–3)

1:1 – “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.” So begins the “Nehemiah Memoirs” as it’s sometimes called.

1:1 – “...in the twentieth year.” Of Artaxerxes.

Cyrus the Great was king who sent first exiles back to Jerusalem. He enters Israel’s story when he conquers Babylon in 539.
People return and begin to build the temple, but work stops almost immediately in 538. For rest of Cyrus’s reign, no work.
Next king is Cambyses 530–22 (CAM-bi-sus or Cam-BY-zees). Still no work.
Then Darius the Great. Rules for a long time and expands Persian Empire. 522–486 is his reign. Work on temple resumes under Darius in 2^nd year, then completed in 6^th
516 or so work completed.
Then Ahasuerus (ə-HAZ-ew-EER-əs)/Xerxes reigns 485–464. 21 years. Esther’s story has events in his 3^rd year and up to his 12^th He gets a mention in Ezra 4:6. Some of your Bibles might refer to him as Xerxes.
THEN Artaxerxes 464–423 BC. Hot and cold toward Israel. In Ezra 4 there’s a letter where he says that work on the walls and rebuilding of the city must cease. But then in Ezra 7 he blesses Ezra’s mission and helps to fund it. Takes place in the 7^th year of his reign.
Ezra’s reforms with intermarriages take place and then there’s a period of silence. We don’t know what’s happening.
But in Nehemiah 1, it’s now the 20^th year of his reign. We read that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire” (1:3).
Still restoration hasn’t come.
End of Nehemiah of will take us to 32^nd year of Artaxerxes’ reign. He reigns 41 years, so from Ezra’s mission to the end of Nehemiah’s spans almost the whole reign.

1:1 – “I was in Susa the citadel” – The “winter resort” for Persian kings (Kidner, TOTC, 84). From Jerusalem this was hundreds of miles away. East of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, just north of the Persian Gulf. Southwest modern Iran.

We learn later in the chapter that he’s “cupbearer to the king.” Just what it sounds. In charge of making sure the wine tasted good and wasn’t poisoned. A role that gave a person much access to the king. Expected you’d be a good conversationalist.

Very different from Ezra in our last sermon, who was a “scribe skilled in the law of Moses” (Ezra 7:6). Nehemiah was a political figure where Ezra was a priestly one.

1:2–3 – The report from Hanani and “certain men from Judah.”

In this conversation two concerns pop up.

First is “the remnant,” those who had “survived the exile.”
Don’t miss that at this moment, about 445 BC, Nehemiah is referring to the people who come back from exile in 539 BC, almost a century earlier. But still, in some ways their identity was “the remnant who escaped the exile.”
Second concern is “Jerusalem,” the city itself.
After almost a century of being inhabited by Jews, still it’s “broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire” (v. 3).

Nehemiah in one of the most privileged positions in the world at that time. No exaggeration. And yet, what was he “concerned” about? “The Jews…who had survived the exile” (v. 2), “the remnant…who had survived the exile” (v. 3).

He’s concerned about God’s chosen people in God’s chosen place. At that time, “God’s chosen people in God’s chosen place” meant “the Jews in Jerusalem.”

But that’s not what it means now. “God’s chosen people in God’s chosen place” means being one who believes in Jesus Christ and is about of “the Jerusalem above.”

In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith....And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26, 29)

You are part of God’s Chosen People “through faith.” That’s why Peter calls Christians, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

Then Paul looks at Abraham. Abraham had a child first by a slave woman. Then by his wife Sarah. Paul says that you can see in these two situations a deeper meaning. One child connects to going back to the Law of Moses. The child of Sarah connects to living by faith in Christ which is true freedom.

But listen to what he says about Jerusalem:

24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Gal 4:24–26)

You are God’s chosen people THROUGH FAITH. And as God’s chosen people you are citizens of “THE JERUSALEM ABOVE.”

APPLICATION: Caring about the right things. See it in our concerns.

Our concerns line up with God’s concerns. Caring about what he cares about.

Caring about the right things at this time and place means we need to imitate the spiritual mission of Nehemiah, not the literal one.

The spiritual mission of Nehemiah was to work and sacrifice for God’s chosen people in God’s chosen place. For us that means to work on behalf of Christians and the church.

You can’t say you care about the Lord and then not care about the thing he most cares about on earth, which is the church.

You can’t say you love God and not love his people.

God’s Construction Project in Ezra-Nehemiah is a project to be those who build up Christ’s church and see it as the worthiest of all sacrifices in this life.

John Stott:

If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center? No, we shall seek to become responsible church members, active in some local manifestation of the universal church. We shall not be able to acquiesce in low standards which fall far short of the New Testament ideals for God’s new society….If instead we keep before us the vision of God’s new society as his family, his dwelling place and his instrument in the world, then we shall constantly be seeking to make our church’s worship more authentic, its fellowship more caring and its outreach more compassionate. In other words, we shall be ready to pray, to work and if necessary to suffer in order to turn the vision into a reality.
John Stott, The Message of Ephesians[1]

II. Our Prayers (1:4–11)

Caring for the right things will be reflected in our prayers. Nehemiah’s prayers are powerful.

1:4 – Nehemiah’s response to the report.

1:5 – To whom does he pray?

Nehemiah prays like a man who knows God.

Prays to God as “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God.”

Knows the name revealed, “YAHWEH.” “I AM WHO I AM.” First revealed to Moses in Exodus 3 at the burning bush.
“God of heaven” (used twice in vv. 4, 5). Interesting. Very rare until the exile. Appears in Daniel 2 three times. Then in Cyrus’ Decree in Ezra 1. Cyrus himself uses the phrase:

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” (Ezra 1:2)

Throughout Ezra-Nehemiah, phrase gets used a lot.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
With the exile, when God’s people are in a foreign land surrounded by false gods, they learn that God is not only “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”; he’s the GOD OF HEAVEN.

And then he’s “the great and awesome God.”

“Awesome” has to do with “fear.” He is the God who inspires fear. He is the one and only one we are to fear.
Nehemiah would have been inspired by passages like this one from Deuteronomy 7—written to encourage Israel when they’re in the promised land and fighting new enemies:

You shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt....You shall not be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. (Deut 7:18, 21)

But when Nehemiah prays to this “great and awesome God,” he also prays to him as the FAITHFUL and LOVING God—read rest of Neh 1:5.

“Who keeps covenant...steadfast love”
When you are his, you are always his.
When his love is upon you, it’s always upon you.
COVENANTS always have two sides—his faithfulness and love upon us is his side. Our side is to “love him and keep his commandments.”
This shouldn’t surprise us. We are his BY FAITH, but those who have faith will express that faith love for him keeping his commandments.
If it’s a true faith, a living faith and not a dead faith, it will overflow with love for God and obedience.
In this life, never a perfect love and never a perfect obedience.
But some amount of love for God and obedience of him.

So much of what determines whether our prayers will be good ones or bad ones, wrong ones or right ones, has to do with how we think of the God we’re praying to.

1:6–7 – Confession of sin – Identifies with the sins of his people: “I and my father’s house have sinned” (v. 6). Then, “We have acted very corruptly” (v. 7).

But not vague. Gets specific: “have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rulers that you commanded your servant Moses” (v. 7).

1:8–9 – Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses.

Remember what? The promises of restoration like in Deuteronomy 30:

4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. (Deut 30:4–5)

Do you hear the similarity between Deuteronomy 30:4 and Neh 1:9?
Essentially claiming that God yet to fulfill his restoration promise.
They’ve been brought back to Jerusalem from Babylon.
They’ve rebuilt the temple.
But…God’s promise of restoration of the scattered hasn’t been fulfilled.

1:11 – “Grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

Like in the Lord’s Prayer, praying to “Our Father who is in heaven,” and for his kingdom to come and will to be done doesn’t mean we ignore our immediate and practical needs.

Jesus says to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us, help us to fight temptation” (Matt 6:11–13). Practical needs.

Nehemiah is asking for something specific. “For what I’m about to do, be gracious to me, bless me.”

APPLICATION: Caring about the right things. See it in our prayers.

Want our prayers to match the prayers of the Bible.
Left to himself as a “cupbearer to the king” (1:11), he would seek health and wealth and influence. He would follow the gods of the Persians and go for “his best life now” as someone close to the king.
But he let his mind and heart be “transformed by the renewing of his mind” (Rom 12:2) by letting them be conformed to God’s Word.
Who God is
What God wants
What we should pray for as a result
ESPECIALLY: The promises of God. Ones not yet fulfilled.

III. Our Sacrifices (2:1–8)

Read Neh 2:1–8.

In our third point we see that caring about the right things will always have a practical impact on our lives. If it doesn’t, we’re not caring about the right things.

Here Nehemiah sacrifices everything for what God cares about.

2:1 – Month Nisan (Mar/Apr) where Chislev in v. 1 was Nov/Dec, so four months later.

2:1 – The historical descriptions here are accurate in terms of what is known about Artaxerxes. Lavish parties involving alcohol. Could be ruthless.

2:2–4 – A dramatic conversation

1^st person
“Then I was very much afraid” (v. 2).
“I prayed to the God of heaven” (v. 4).

2:5 – A bold request.

2:6 – The king’s favor.

2:7–8a – A compelling plan. Nehemiah clearly had been contemplating this since the report from his brother Hanani.

2:8b – Success! “The king granted me what I asked.” Then Nehemiah’s explanation for why he experienced success: “The good hand of my God was upon me.”

A Believer Among the Elites:

Elites = The powerful, influential, men and women who run the major institutions of the society.
Some of us are “elites” in our field and even in the culture.
But to be a BELIEVER AMONG THE ELITES requires something of us.

Requires a willingness to sacrifice.

Caring for the right things. See it in our sacrifices—and sacrifices we’re willing to make.

Nehemiah was an ELITE in his day and is a model for us.

He is able to say, “Let the king live forever!” (2:3) but also refer to him simply as “this man” (1:11).
He is able to appeal for God’s people, but he’s skillful. He doesn’t mention the name Jerusalem in this whole conversation. Name “Jerusalem” doesn’t appear till 2:11 when it’s Nehemiah’s personal recollection: “So I went to Jerusalem...”
But also, he maintains a God-centeredness even while he’s with the elites. “I was afraid” (2:2), but, “I prayed to the God of heaven” (2:4). Most of all, he makes the bold request to “rebuild” “the city of my father’s graves” (2:5).
He knows it’s better to suffer with and for God’s people than to enjoy a life of luxury among the elites.

APPLICATION: Caring about the right things, even if it costs us everything. Ultimate example of that is the Lord Jesus Christ:

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Conclusion

Our concerns: Especially for Christ and his church. We’ll see it in a commitment to an actual local church. Kind of like marriage. You can say, “I love marriage. I’m committed to it. And to show that commitment I’m committed to all the women in the world.” Nope. Choose one and love her well.

Our prayers: Care for the right things means our prayers reflect what we see in the Bible. In Neh’s prayer: (1) Great and awesome God who (2) loves us with a “steadfast love” (3) practical needs connected to what God has said in his Word.

Third, as you gain influence and maybe find yourself among the elites of our society, don’t forget where you first allegiance lies. Be willing to sacrifice it all.

“If someone wrote the history of your life, what would be the one thing that they would say you lived for?” (Tripp, 257).

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:1–2)

Let’s pray.

[1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians, Bible Speaks Today (InterVarsity, 1979), 129–130.