Building a strong church--accomplishing the impossible!

Building a strong church--accomplishing the impossible!
Nehemiah 3:1-32
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 22, 2011 AM

Has anyone ever told you that you cannot do something and so to prove him or her wrong, you went ahead and did it anyway? That attitude can be seen as being headstrong, if it is motivated by pride. I remember when I was in High School I told a young lady I could ski. I had not been on skis since I was a very young boy and I knew nothing of getting on or off a ski lift! This fact was embarrassingly revealed when I agreed to take her skiing at Crystal Mountain near Mt. Rainer. The first time down the slope, I nearly killed several others and myself all because I wanted to impress a girl. However, if your attitude is motivated by what God has shown is possible in your life, then, there is a whole new dynamic at work! The Apostle Paul wrote that he could “...do everything through Him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) We discover that Nehemiah had the same kind of attitude.

In our lives, we need to understand that if God is in the details God can and will give each of us the ability to accomplish the impossible! Nehemiah learned this as he watched the people of Jerusalem respond to God’s call to rebuild the walls. From this passage of Scripture, we can learn three principles for accomplishing the impossible as we build a strong church or lives in Christ.

READ: Nehemiah 3:1-32

I thought skiing would be a cinch. After all, how hard could it be? When I was rushing down that 45-degree ski slope, I soon realized there was nothing I could do to improve my situation except to go with the flow! Needless to say, I felt helpless. My feet would not work the way I wanted them to, and my ski poles kept flying up and hitting me in the head and face! You could say I was out of control. Our lives can be like that. So can our Church. Nehemiah teaches us…

I. The Principle of Coordination.

1. When your car breaks down, someone needs to push, but someone also has to steer!
1) Coordination takes people who are willing not just to do a job, but who are willing to follow directions! In 1 Corinthians 4:2 Paul reminds us that, “Those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Amos asks us, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3) Each of these passages refers to the principle of coordination. Anyone who has raised children knows it takes coordination to do just about anything as a family. It takes each person doing an assigned task to get a job done. This is especially true when going on vacation! We find this with the builders who helped Nehemiah. It took coordination to get all those people going in the same direction, working together, helping to rebuild a section of the wall. It took the coordination of time, talent, and treasure!

EXAMPLE: When people look back at any great task that was accomplished, usually the one thing that stands out is how people came together with their personal resources and did the job! When the Vancouver shipyards were at full swing during the W.W.II, they were able to produce several ships a day! Why? Because of coordination! Grace can build, and we can build a great church through coordination of our resources -- the resources of our people, our time, our talents, and our treasure. We want to see our church succeed so that men, women, boys and girls in our community come to faith in Christ. It will take the coordination of us all! Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem through the principle of coordination.

The girl I was with, the day I decided to show my prowess as the “ultimate skier,” asked me if I needed help. Being like all sensitive male 16 year-olds I said, “Help? I’m fine!” Then I began to make excuses as to how it was probably the skis, the poles, the snow wasn’t quite right, or... well, you get my drift. I was just like many of us who allow our pride to get in the way: we do not think we need anyone’s help. However, in order for us to build a strong Church or life in Christ, we learn from Nehemiah…

II. The Principle of Cooperation.

1. Cooperation is spelled with two letters--WE!
1) Nehemiah knew that rebuilding those walls would require more than a one-man building team. He needed help. Not just any help though, because some help can be worthless. Have you ever been part of a team effort where one person does the job, but grips or complains the whole time? We all probably have. Nehemiah needed helpers who would cooperate and cooperation begins with a willing heart! Why? For people to work at a hard dirty job day after day, it takes a lot of cooperation, especially during Nehemiah’s time. Most work back then required a lot of manpower. Working together in harmony was extremely important. Jesus taught about cooperation when He related to His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) It is the rhythm of the heart, soul, mind, and strength in perfect spiritual harmony whereby the love of God is your focus. Now that’s real cooperation! Those workers could not focus on their blisters, the heat, or how tired they were because if they did, they would soon become discouraged. Nehemiah, I am sure, reminded them moment by moment who they were doing this for and as they worked, they began to see and sense God’s direction. This is why Jesus described our love of God is to be with all our “heart, mind, soul, and strength.” Cooperation describes the relationship between a disciple and their Lord, and for a church or a life in Christ, cooperation must begin there!

EXAMPLE: I enjoy going to Bonneville Dam. It is fascinating to realize just how powerful the Columbia River really is. The fantastic thing is realizing that mighty river is made up of individual drops of water! Separate drops formed from snow, rain, clouds and fog. Droplets of water that come together to form one of the most powerful rivers in the world! Tiny drops of water bonding together, making enough power to move giant turbines that create huge amounts of electricity. A river is powerful because each of those drops of water bond together. Nehemiah and his friends understood the power of cooperation as well. We must also in order to build a strong life in Christ or a great church. However, group harmony is seldom achieved without personal sacrifice! In a family or in a church it is the same. Each person must come together and learn the principle of cooperation. To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength!

There is nothing like skiing all day to reinvigorate a person! Especially if you spend most of your time, hitting trees and being dug out of snow banks. Even if I did not know how to ski when I first started out, by the end of the day I had learned--how to keep my cool. When a church begins the process of building, it takes all of the members keeping their cool. When you begin your journey with the Lord, it demands the same cool-headedness. Nehemiah teaches us…

III. The Principle of a Cool-head.

1. Any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream! We can either float or swim! Look at Nehemiah. He could have quit in disgust or anger when some of the leaders refused to help (v. 5), instead he remained true to his task. A cool head means: 1) Not believing more in our problems than in God’s promises! Remember, Nehemiah kept the people focused on what God wanted done, not on outside distractions! Like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) 2) It means remembering that for God’s people, our worship must come before our work! If Nehemiah’s people were not rebuilding for the Lord, they would have failed. Solomon, someone else who built for the Lord, wrote, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) 3) A cool-head also means that each of us must realize that people will not remember how fast we did the work, but they will remember how well we finished it! Take a look again at the verses and see how those people took the time to do a good job and to do it right! It takes a cool head to keep-on-keeping-on! Remember, those walls and gates were not rebuilt in a day, week, or month -- it took them years to rebuild Jerusalem! A great church or a great life in Christ takes time and cool-head!

EXAMPLE: Little children can get frustrated easily when a task gets to be too much for them. One little girl, when she could not stay within the lines coloring, threw her crayons down and declared, “I need new crayons! I DO NOT like coloring with these STUPID crayons! They can’t stay inside the lines!” As time progressed, though, she learned that staying on task, and seeing a job through, helped her to remain focused. She learned how to “stay in the lines” herself by remaining cool-headed. It is easy to get frustrated, want to hurry, or forget that God wants us to remain focused on what He desires for our lives or for our Church. As we build Grace or our lives in Christ, it will mean keeping a cool-head like Nehemiah did.

Conclusion:
There’s an old saying that asks, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer: “One bite at a time.” Nehemiah’s task could have seemed impossible. The walls were in desperate need of repair; the people did not have the resources to repair them; and Nehemiah’s enemies were very vocal they would not succeed. Nehemiah’s teaches us the lessons of coordination, cooperation, and keeping a cool head in building our lives in God or building our Church.
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Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.

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