REMEMBER ME
Question of the day:
Today we finish the book of Nehemiah. I wish the ending had been last week. Last weeks lesson about the dedication of the wall the celebration, the choirs, the musicians, the loud music that could be heard from miles around, the dedication of the walls, what a beautiful fitting end to a book about the rebuilding of the wall. If it were a good movie, the credits would roll as you see all the store houses in order and the people coming together to dedicate the walls together.
But that is NOT how this book ends.
This ending almost kept me from choosing this book, because it is challenging at best.
Before we dive in I want to give you my conclusion. I know usually we wait for the wrap up but it is important here.
I have said many times that it is always important that we read scripture understanding the over arching biblical themes and narratives. All of the bible tells the beautiful redemptive story. Every book and every verse, is another puzzle piece in what becomes the most beautiful completed work. We risk going in directions that can lead to religious fanaticism, cruel prejudices, and even wars. So what is the redemptive story?
If you were to say in one short sentence what the bible says, how would you say it?
What elements would it include?
Now lets read this last chapter.
READ: Nehemiah 13
Nehemiah’s Final Reforms
13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.
10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.
12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms. 13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.
14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”
19 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.
Remember me with favor, my God.
"Remember me", comes at the end of three different sections.
1. Eliashib invites Tobiah to move in/ temple neglected and funds miss used.
We can't begin to fully know why God took this hard stand with the Ammonites and the Moabites, but we do know from Deuteronomy 23 some of the why.
READ: Deuteronomy 23:3-6
3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4 For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim[c] to pronounce a curse on you. 5 However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
2. They weren't keeping the Sabbath.
3. Were still marrying outsiders.
So at the beginning I mentioned how important it was to look at the entire bible. How does this book as a whole fit into that narrative?
What are some of the themes of this book?
1. Listening to the calling of God
2. Being willing to step out in faith even when we are afraid.
3. Stepping up to the plate and being willing to take on huge tasks when we are called to.
4. Organization is key.
5. Be willing to stand together against evil, and fight!
6. Work together, each doing their part.
7. When God is involved amazing things can get done!
8. God needs great leaders.
9. Obedience is important.
10. We need to remember who we are.
11. The joy of the Lord is in being with us, and His joy brings us strength.
12. It is important to remember where God has led in our lives.
13.
All of these are great themes... but what about this week.
Is it that in the absence of great leaders people revert back to their old ways, so we always need to have strong leaders in place?
Chris said this morning, that he would ask, what went wrong? Was it Nehemiah's fault and if so what did or didn't he do that contributed to it all falling apart?
Leadership is a vital part of the church but it is also important to remember no matter how good a leader we are people still have choice! We can't force change or manipulate change that will be lasting.
Let's stop for a moment. What again is the theme of the bible?
How does this story fit into that big picture?
1. Nehemiah
No matter how great our leadership is, no matter how much we accomplish or how much reform happens, no matter how cleaned up we become, it will fail, without our Savior.
We know Jesus said that he came so that we would know His father. We also know that His people, even the great teachers and leaders, misunderstood who he was and what He stood for!
This book highlights that we ALL need a Savior.
2. Israelites
Humanity reacts toward Christ the way the Israelites reacted toward Nehemiah. .
How many times do we even in our lives, have reform, confession, commitment to change, we fight battles, and win battles, and celebrate, and are strengthened by God, only later to decide to go back to where we had been. Go lets evil creep back into our lives and become part of us once again.
What is the answer?
Is it that we need more and stronger leaders to keep us in line?
Do we need to keep white knuckling it and just work harder?
The answer to all this, is that we need what comes later in the Bible, a Savior!
WE NEED JESUS!
TODAY!
TOMORROW!
NEXT MONTH!
ALWAYS!
Look we can learn beautiful concepts, about leadership, about confession, joy, and triumph in this book, but the way it ends brings it all around to a beautiful messy conclusion that makes us remember how all of those good things are worthless outside of a relationship, a saving relationship with Jesus! If He isn't in our leadership then it is a waste of time, if it isn't to Him that we are confessing, then it is a waste of our breath, joy isn't joy at all if it doesn't come from what He is doing in our lives, and so on...
To summarize the entire book, it comes down to this.
This book, rich in beautiful teachings, ultimately reminds us of our desperate need of sustaining change that can only come from one place...
JESUS
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