Every Square Inch

Let's just bowing our heads, remain standing.

Father, as we come now to, we've heard your word written,

and now, Father, we come to look at it again more carefully

and listen to it more carefully.

Father, you know how easy it is for our thoughts to flit away

and flit away and flit away,

and you know how hard it is, Father, for us to hear your word

and realize how it's speaking to us, us directly.

And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would do a gentle

but powerful work in our lives to bring your word home to us

in light of who Jesus is and what he has done for us on the cross.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Homes and houses are in the news a lot,

and they have been for the last couple of years.

It's a great concern for a lot of younger people

and a lot of new Canadians as to whether they'll ever be able

to own a home of their own, given how expensive they are.

And it's just a great concern.

And I think part of the reason it's...

I mean, it's always a concern, of course,

because there's something about owning your own house

or your own condo that's yours,

that has a sense of real security to it.

And it's also because, in many ways,

we feel like we live in an insecure world.

And I think we feel we're in an insecure world

because we don't have any roots.

At least a lot of people in our culture,

I'm not saying everyone here in this room don't have roots.

Many of us, in fact, hopefully our roots are sort of in the gospel.

But a lot of our culture, we feel unrooted, uprooted, rootless.

A lot in our culture actually sort of think they can find their roots

by, you know, making up stories or rituals

or try to find the roots in themselves.

But, you know, many people don't think they'll have a job

with the same employer for a long time.

They worry about whether their marriages will last,

whether they'll even get married.

And so there's a lot of insecurity connected to not having roots

and wanting a home, something that you can own.

And the text that we're looking at today

speaks directly into this need for a home

and a need to have roots.

So if you would turn in your Bibles, it would be a great help to me

if you turned in your Bibles and to yourselves,

if you turned in your Bibles to Nehemiah, chapter 2.

Nehemiah 2 · chapter mention

And Victory began reading at verse 11,

but we're going to begin reading at verse 9.

Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 9.

Nehemiah 2:9

And what's just happened prior to this

is Nehemiah has a very prestigious position in the court

of the emperor or the king of Persia, mighty empire.

Persia, up until I think a few decades ago,

Iran was called Persia.

So very old, longstanding, powerful empire.

He had a very high position in the court.

He's Jewish as well.

He hears a tale from people who've come back from Jerusalem

of the state of the city, how it's all in ruins,

how the people are sort of in a bit of weakness and confusion,

and there's no walls.

And it really cuts him to his heart,

and he fasts and he prays,

and he senses that God is putting on his heart

to approach the emperor, the king,

to see if the king would allow him to go back

and rebuild the walls and build a fortress

and have proper gates.

And he fasts and prays for four months,

and then the time comes when God opens a door,

and he goes and he speaks to the king,

and there's a great miracle that the king actually says yes.

And what Nehemiah did required a lot of courage

because he would have known, Nehemiah,

that it was this same king

that had earlier stopped a rebuilding effort of the walls

and caused the work to be put into rubble again

and to burn the wood.

And Nehemiah speaks to Artaxerxes,

and Artaxerxes says, yes, you can go back and do this.

So this is what happens next.

So if you have your Bibles, here's verse 9.

So he leaves.

Between verse 8 and verse 9,

they don't tell you about how he gets organized

or how long it took him to leave.

It just now tells you about him coming into the region.

It goes like this.

Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river

and gave them the king's letters.

Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

But when Sanballat the Horonite

and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this,

it displeased them greatly

that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Now just sort of pause here.

It's translated very well when it says,

it displeased them greatly.

But it goes even beyond that.

As we're going to see in the text,

they despise the Jewish people.

And the word in the original Hebrew

is that it's implying this great displeasure

is connected with maliciousness

and the hint and the promise of violence.

That's how deeply these people,

they don't know anything about what Nehemiah is going to do.

They just know that he's Jewish,

that he's coming here to do something to help the Jewish people.

And immediately, unbidden, out of them

pours this emotional, visceral dislike

and hatred of anything to do

that's going to benefit the Jewish people.

You know, as I've talked about over the weeks

and over the years,

the Bible doesn't have any doctrine of race.

There's just human beings who are made in the image of God.

But the Bible very deeply addresses the issue of racism

and murderous prejudice.

One of the problems sometimes with people

who interpret the book of Nehemiah

is they miss this aspect.

You might remember, I've talked to you about it before,

in Ezra chapter 4,

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

which is all the same book as Nehemiah,

there's this little aside.

And in the aside,

it just paints a picture of over 100 years

and intergenerational hatred,

an intergenerational prejudice.

And here Nehemiah is coming in

almost exactly 100 years after the first decree.

And he comes into a situation

where it's still there and it's still strong

and it's just there as soon as it comes to the fore.

And that's going to be the context

throughout the entire book.

Why it is that Nehemiah is going to do the things he does,

how he goes about and does it,

it's in this context of this great,

great displeasure,

this hatred.

And it's key to notice,

notice what it says here

about how they're the governors of the land.

Or maybe it comes up a little bit later on

that it mentions that they're the governors.

It's a little bit later that it mentions it.

But it's actually really important to understand this,

that it's a little bit like

if you've watched movies set in the south,

you know,

in rural Alabama or Mississippi

or something like that during the 50s

at the height of segregation,

that great evil of segregation in the American south.

And if you've watched some movies

and maybe somebody from the north

comes to do something to help the local population,

the African Americans,

and the locals are terrible

and the locals are bad,

and he goes to complain to the police

or to the judge or the prosecutor,

not realizing at first

that the cop is with the Ku Klux Klan,

the judge is with the Ku Klux Klan,

the prosecutor is with the Ku Klux Klan.

So how do you go to them for help?

They're all not only part of the problem,

they are the problem.

And they have the power and they have the authority.

And it's in this context

that Nehemiah has to function.

So what happens next?

The next bit's actually a bit boring

and a little bit odd,

but the boring bit,

which I'll explain to you,

is actually going to be very significant

for the whole arc of the story.

Let's see what it says.

Verses 11 and following.

So I went to Jerusalem, right?

He goes first to the governors and all.

And now he goes to Jerusalem,

verse 11,

and was there for three days.

Then I arose in the night,

and I and a few men with me,

and I told no one

what my God had put into my heart

to do for Jerusalem.

There was no animal with me

but the one on which I rode.

I went out by night,

by the valley gate,

to the dragon spring,

and to the dung gate,

and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem

that were broken down,

and its gates had been destroyed by fire.

Then I went on to the fountain gate

and to the king's pool,

but there was no room for the animal

that was under me to pass.

Then I went up in the night

by the valley and inspected the wall,

and I turned back

and entered the valley gate

and so returned.

And the officials did not know

where I had gone

or what I was doing,

and I had not yet told the Jews,

that's the people,

the priests,

the nobles,

the officials,

and the rest

who were doing the work.

He hadn't told them his plans.

So here's the thing.

All of these things

are sort of incomprehensible to us,

but if you ever go to Jerusalem

and you sort of look at it

a bit of a higher level,

it's sort of there's a valley,

then a hill,

then a valley,

then a hill,

then a valley.

And back when,

before the wall had been destroyed,

you had walls that encompassed

the valley, the hill,

the valley, the hill,

and the valley,

and all around it.

So it was quite a big wall.

And one of the things that,

so what's going on here

is that Nehemiah,

he obviously came having

a bit of a plan,

but he'd never been to Jerusalem.

And he's like a good consultant.

He's like a good planner.

He has an idea that he knows

he wants to build the wall,

but he has to see

what's really happening

on the ground.

And so he does it secretly at night,

whether it's a full moon

and a cloudless night,

and he can see,

or he can see well enough.

He doesn't have to know

all the little itsy-bitsy details.

He can see very, very clearly.

And obviously,

during the three days

and this other time,

he's made a decision

that all of the other attempts

that there have probably been

over the hundred years

to deal with the wall,

they've probably tried

to deal with the whole wall,

and most of the city is empty.

And what they've just described here

is that he's now come up

to the plan

that he's going to move the wall

to the top of the hill

on this side,

and he's just going to fortify one hill.

That's all he's going to do.

He's going to leave the bulk

of the city unwalled.

But he's going to take a smaller job,

a doable job,

as part of his plan.

Now, once again,

it's important to understand

that the reason he's doing this at night

is because he's picked up very quickly

the deep, settled hatred

of those in authority.

So he can't do this publicly.

He has to do it secretly,

under cover of darkness.

So now he sees

what's going on with the wall.

He's had his ideas

about what he's going to do,

and he's probably had to change them all

in light of what's actually

in front of him.

He might not have realized

that there was a valley,

a hill, a valley, a hill,

a valley,

and that the original wall

encompassed all of it.

He might be looking at it,

and if you ever found his notes,

you might say, well, no wonder

they couldn't build the wall

or it's going to take them too long.

That's just way too big

for our resources

and for our people,

and most of it's all,

it's all just empty anyway,

that whole other section.

So he comes up with a different plan.

And so this next bit,

there's this very helpful word,

but for scholars,

it's an unhelpful word

because they'd like to have it

be more precise.

Look what happens in verse 17.

It says this,

then I said to them,

just before I go,

so here's the thing

about that's frustrating,

then means the next thing

we're going to be told about.

But it does,

then doesn't mean

that it meant like that morning.

We don't know whether he took a week,

two weeks,

three weeks,

a month.

There's a period of time.

And after he's had this period of time,

then he speaks,

verse 17.

Then I said to them,

you see the trouble we are in,

how Jerusalem lies in ruins

with its gates burned.

Come,

let us build the wall of Jerusalem

that we may no longer suffer derision.

This is the big cry,

the leadership cry of Nehemiah.

It's time to build.

Let's arise and build.

And it continues,

verse 18,

and I told them of the hand of my God

that had been upon me for good

and also of the words

that the king had spoken to me.

And they said,

let us rise up and build.

So they strengthened their hands

for the good work.

Now,

just one little aside here.

It's an important aside.

One of the things,

sort of under the pressure

of a type of a belief

in process and technology

and all that,

we tend to have a sense

that if God's hand is upon us,

we won't have enemies.

But one of the important lessons

of the book of Nehemiah

is God's hand can be upon you

and you still might have enemies.

God's hand being upon you

doesn't mean you will no longer have enemies.

God's hand being upon you

means you can stand

in the face of your enemies

and build in the midst of your enemies.

That's what it means.

But here's the thing.

Actually, here.

I think it's going to be on the screen.

Just put your fingers in the Bible here

and turn for a moment

to Proverbs 26, verses 4 to 5.

Proverbs 26:4–5

Proverbs 26, verses 4 to 5.

Proverbs 26:4–5

And this little two-verse bit

of Proverbs 26

sort of captures

an issue with all of the Proverbs.

So Proverbs 26, verse 4 says,

Proverbs 26:4

Answer not a fool according to his folly,

lest you be like him yourself.

Good piece of advice.

Don't answer a fool according to his folly,

lest you be like him yourself.

Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he be wise in his own eyes.

In other words, you have to answer the fool

because you don't want him

to think he's wise.

So one moment,

those are contradictory pieces of advice.

What's going on?

Well, in a sense,

what God is saying is exactly.

In all of the Proverbs,

the issue is

that you need to have

the wise man or the wise woman

has to, in a sense,

be so attentive to God

and so attentive to the real world

and so attentive to the people

in front of him

that he or she has a sense

about when the right proverb applies.

It's a little bit like

in using secular Proverbs.

We might say,

look before you leap.

But in another context,

we might say,

he who hesitates is lost.

Well, okay, which is it?

Do it right away

or take some time to look, right?

We might say,

too many cooks spoil the broth

or many hands make light work.

Well, which is it?

Well, it just depends

on the specific time.

So this is very important to this.

You see,

the book of Nehemiah

is justly famous

for its lessons on leadership,

its lessons on courage,

its reminder that God is big,

and it's rightly remembered

for this rousing cry,

let us build.

And I have to confess

that especially this week,

I have been wondering

if we as a church

are in a Nehemiah 2 moment.

Like, is it part of God's providence

that we are reading this text?

Like, is it the case

that God is saying to us,

it's time to arise

and get a church building?

Like, let's do that.

Or there's other things to build.

Like, it's time to really

take seriously

planting more churches

in the city of Ottawa.

Let's pray into it.

It's time to take

the training of clergy

and future church leaders

more seriously.

Let's build up Ryle.

You know, it's time

to really take seriously

the need to bring the gospel

to the universities.

It's time to build

a university.

Like, I don't know.

Is God calling us that?

Is that this time?

But, you know,

here's the thing.

So this really is a thing

that we need to take seriously,

but you also have to take seriously

a very different story

in Kings and Chronicles

that God,

that David wants to build

the temple

and God says no.

So which moment are we in?

Well, that's where wisdom comes.

That's where prayer comes.

You can't just take this

and then always say

it means that we have to

arise and build.

No, but we need to take it seriously.

But part of the wisdom

that God wants us to have

by being close to him,

by being attentive

to the meaning of the Holy Spirit,

by looking at the world,

is to know and say to ourselves,

you know what?

I think we're in a Nehemiah 2 moment

in this area,

in this area.

And we need to arise and build.

I don't know.

I think one of the things,

a word of all this passage for us

is to pray into that issue.

Whether it's the church

or some other type of thing,

is God calling us

to build something

at this point in time

in our church's history.

And one of the things

we might say,

well, one moment,

that George,

God can't be calling us

to do this

because it's impossible.

Well, you see,

this is where the hand

of our God

being upon them

is so important.

I mentioned last week

that Nehemiah

was almost definitely a eunuch.

It means he was castrated.

And in terms of Jewish culture

and law at that time,

and even whether or not

he could be in the temple

and his place in leadership,

it was very questionable.

I mean,

in a very real physical way,

he was a broken man.

And he confessed his sins.

And these people are weak

and they're not powerful.

And that's part of the story

is that God doesn't want us

to look at our resources

but who he is

and whether he's calling us

to do something

that only he can do.

not because we are

great and powerful

but because we are

the servants

of a great and powerful God.

And as long as we look

to our own resources,

then it's the devil

speaking to us.

I'm not saying

we should be

completely foolish.

But we need to look at God

and ask what he's calling us

to do.

Now,

I just want to say

one other thing.

I'm not going to talk

about it very long

but it's important

in terms of what I've just said.

It's also important

to understand

the overarching story

of Ezra and Nehemiah.

If you could put up

the first point.

The wall was spilt

to serve the beautiful vision.

The beautiful vision

does not serve the wall.

I talked about that

a couple of weeks ago

about this beautiful vision

in the midst of people

who believed myths

and stories

that legitimized incest

and legitimized

the males

using their rapacious sexuality

on any woman

that they felt like

in a culture

where babies

would be served

and burned to Moloch

where every human being

was viewed as a slave.

There's this overarching,

profound, beautiful vision

of the Bible

about every human being

being made in the image of God

that both men and women

and children

have an integrity

and a dignity

just by virtue

of being human

that's bestowed by God

and not the state

that God wants friends

and children

not slaves

and there's this profound,

beautiful vision

and it's important

if we think

we're in a Nehemiah 2 moment

is that the gospel

doesn't serve buildings.

Buildings should serve

the gospel.

That's our beautiful vision.

So,

there's another thing

which we get

the first hint of

that's going to be

very important

throughout the entire rest

of the book of Nehemiah

and it's important

for us

to recognize as well.

You know,

sometimes we have people

who say they're with us

but they're not with us,

they're really against us

and they plot

and conspire against us

and one of the things

that's going to be coming

very clear

as the book proceeds

is that Nehemiah

is going to have

problems leading

because he has moles.

He has people

who are aligned

with the people

who hate the Jews

and give them information.

Look what happens

in verse 19.

But when

Sanballat the Horonite

and Tobiah the Ammonite servant

and now a new person,

Geshem the Arab,

heard of it,

they jeered at us

and despised us

and said,

what is this,

what, sorry,

and what is this thing

that you are doing?

Are you rebelling

against the king?

Now,

once again,

these are very good words

but we have to understand

that in the original language

it's even

a deeper,

deeper.

They

despise

these people

who are Jewish.

They despise them.

They look down

their nose

at them

and they publicly

point out

everything about them

that from their

twisted world

and way of seeing things

that makes them

look inferior

and petty

and small

and worthless.

That's what jeering

means at them.

And the other thing,

and this is

why it's,

this is part of the reason

why this text

is so important to us

for us to meditate upon

especially in our day and age

where there's a problem

ongoing of cancelling

where

there is

public denunciation

and hatred

and lies

because you see

they just make up a lie.

Notice that again?

What is this thing

that you are doing?

Are you rebelling

against the king?

Let me tell you friends,

figuring out the truth

is hard.

Arguing for the truth

is hard.

It's way easier

just to make up a lie.

lie.

It's always easier

just to lie

on one level.

I'm not saying

it's the right thing.

I'm just saying

on one level,

that's how a lot of people think.

Like, oh gosh,

like why to actually

try to listen well

and, you know,

spend some time

doing research

and listen to both sides

and try to come up

with an argument

and try to sort out

the truth

and be willing

to change your mind.

Why do all of that

when you can just

make up a whole pile of lies?

And here's another thing.

Jeering implies

they're yelling this

in public.

They're public.

They're proud of the fact

that they despise

these people.

They're not embarrassed

about it.

They're not ashamed

about it.

They think they're right

about it.

They call them names.

And here's the thing.

Lies yell.

The truth can be whispered.

The truth can be spoken

plainly and calmly.

But lies yell.

In fact,

when faced with arguments,

the best solution

is to yell louder.

It's to yell louder.

Nothing has changed

much in 2,400 years.

If you could put up

the point just very briefly,

this is one of the things

about the text.

The gospel,

when I say the gospel,

I mean who Jesus is,

what he said and did,

what he accomplished

on the cross,

and what he promises

to those who put

their trust in him.

That's the gospel.

The gospel forms you

to be a person

of the truth

who rejects lies.

I don't know

if you noticed,

it jumped out at me

when I was reading

the John text.

What does it say

when Jesus says,

I'm going to send

the helper?

Talking about the Holy Spirit,

and he calls the Spirit

the Spirit of truth.

If God pours his Holy Spirit

into us,

he's pouring his Holy Spirit

into us for us

to be people

who know the truth,

love the truth,

seek the truth.

We'll change our minds

to stay with the truth,

who want to learn

more of the truth,

and who recognize lies

and reject them.

So how does Nehemiah respond?

Remember I said,

this is one of the things,

he responds quietly,

not by jeering and yelling,

he responds quietly.

Look what he says

in verse 20.

Then I replied to them,

the God of heaven

will make us prosper,

and we as servants

will arise and build,

but you have no portion

or right or claim

in Jerusalem.

Then I replied to them,

the God of heaven

will make us prosper,

and we as servants

will arise and build,

but you have no portion

or right to claim

in Jerusalem.

Basically he says,

God is big.

Yes, we're small.

We're nobodies.

But that's fine,

because God is big.

And yes,

we are nobodies,

but we're his servants.

We're the servants

of the great God of heaven.

And by the way,

you are not with him,

so we are not with you.

You are not him,

so we are not with you.

Now, okay,

I mean the big question is,

there's two sort of

big questions.

One of them,

why didn't they just move?

Right?

I mean,

isn't that what a lot

of us would do

if we somehow bought a house

and we discovered

that all of our neighbors

hated us?

We'd sell the house

and move to another house.

Like, there's other places

to live.

Like, why stay?

Why stay with people

who hate you?

And why does it matter?

In fact,

it's very interesting.

God in his providence,

a person who's a friend of mine,

saw me preparing my sermon

in my local coffee shop

and said,

are you preparing your sermon?

What's it about?

And it's always interesting

when questions like that happen,

because now I'm trying

to think very quickly,

how do I make this sermon

relevant to him?

Like, why does it matter?

Why would it matter to him?

I mean,

other than the fact

that it matters to him

and it should matter

to all Canadians

to recognize

the power of the lie.

And I think all Canadians,

at least on one level,

would say they want

to be people of the truth,

even if they,

in fact,

would rather just make up

and invent lies

rather than engaging

with the truth.

But why don't they just move?

Like, why stay there?

There's lots of other land.

So, to understand it,

I think it's going to be

on the screen.

If you go to Nehemiah 1, verse 9.

Nehemiah 1:9

Did I tell you Nehemiah 1, 9

or Proverbs 1, 9?

Eh?

Okay, I sent you the wrong text

because I had a mental block.

So, it's not going to be

on the screen.

You just have to listen to it

or look in your Bibles.

Look what happens

in Nehemiah 1, 9.

This is part of,

this is part of Nehemiah's prayer

and it's something

that's really important

to understand

in terms of everything

that happens in Nehemiah.

But it's also something

really important

to understand about

your longing for a home

and for roots.

He says this,

but if you return to me,

this is,

he's saying what God has said.

He's saying,

God has said,

if you return to me

and keep my commandments

and do them,

though your outcasts

are in the outermost parts

of the heaven,

from there I will gather them

and bring them

to the place

that I have chosen

to make my name dwell there.

The place that I have chosen

to make my name dwell there.

if you could put up the point,

all of the Old Testament

and what we know

from the New Testament

makes this big claim.

There is no square inch

of reality

that the triune God

does not say,

mine.

The way he taught that

is on one hand,

he taught it

because you even see

at the beginning

of Genesis chapter 1 and 2

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

that he's created

the whole world,

he's made the whole world

to be the home

for human beings.

You see later on

in the Psalms,

the earth is the Lord's

and the fullness thereof

and all of this,

but partly how he taught them

was not by teaching them

just the big idea,

but by trying to get them

to understand it

in one little concrete area.

Why did he want to do it

in stages like this?

I don't know.

We have to ask God

when we get to heaven

why he wanted to do it

in stages,

but that's what he's saying.

He's saying,

you know,

you live in a world

where kings claim the land

and gods and idols

claim the land

and I want people

to understand

that in this piece of land

this is mine.

This is mine.

It's not the kings,

it's not the gods,

it's not even yours,

it's mine.

One of the reasons

why we do not have land

that we need to,

that there's no type

of Christian land

is that one of the things

we understand from the gospel

is that the good news

of Jesus is to go

to every people group

throughout the planet.

In fact,

I hope I haven't forgotten one.

I did a very quick thing.

In this congregation,

part of those

who call Church of the Messiah

their church home,

people were born,

who are part of our congregation,

were born in Canada,

the United States,

Mexico,

England,

Italy,

China,

Taiwan,

Nigeria,

Rwanda,

Uganda,

Burundi,

Sudan,

Ethiopia,

India,

Syria,

Indonesia,

Barbados,

Korea,

and Australia.

And if I missed your,

and that's just

where you were born.

If we added

first generation Canadians,

I would be one.

I'm from Northern Ireland,

my parents.

Louise,

I could have

a Northern Irish passport.

Louise could have

a Polish passport.

She's a first generation Canadian.

And if we went around

for first generation Canadians,

there would be a lot more.

But that's part of what Jesus does.

Jesus' salvation

is a universal salvation

that's offered.

And we are to go

to all the world.

And part of what God

is doing

is he wants

all the world

to come to know him.

And he wants us

to begin to know

that all the world

is his.

If you could put up

the next point,

God says,

mine,

so you will have a home.

See,

that's what he wanted

for those people.

He wanted them,

it wasn't just so much

that he claimed it

to be mine

as if it was

a power play.

But,

you see,

where God is,

that is where

our true home is.

Where God is,

that is where

our true home is.

And in Genesis chapter 1 and 2,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

we see that God

intended that the entire world

would be our home,

that we would understand

that he's made it

for us to live in.

And that we're to develop

gardens and cities

and art

and song

and culture

and business

and mold it,

all knowing

that we are with him.

And when we are with him

and reconcile to him,

then we are home.

You know,

Augustine said,

God has made us

for himself

and our hearts

are restless

till they rest in him.

And it's a very true

and profound thing.

So,

why a wall?

I have to,

I have to come

wrap this up.

It's part of the deep

formation of the Bible.

So,

there's not much

you can do about this.

Other than educate

and catechize your kids

and pray for your kids.

But you know,

if kids watch cartoons,

apart from the really

woke ones,

but even the,

just the ones

that we think

are very safe,

like the old Disney ones

or something like that,

what all those

old Disney films

and all those

old cartoons do

is they form you

to not pray.

They form you

to live in a world

where God

does not exist.

Nobody in the cartoons

praise.

Nobody thinks

they should

to read the Bible.

Nobody thinks

they need to trust

in a Savior.

Their goals

are fine.

They can accomplish

them by themselves

with some humor

and some courage.

And they teach

some valuable

moral lessons.

I'm not saying

that people

shouldn't watch them,

but it forms you

to believe

that you live

in a world

that God

does not exist.

stories like this

form you

to understand

that the real world

matters.

Our friends here

who are

from India

can tell you

that in India

Hinduism,

in a sense,

doesn't concern itself

with history.

It has myths

and rituals.

The goal

is a type

of private

illumination

that will move

you to break

the spell

of reincarnation

and reincarnation

to merge

with God.

And if you

have that,

that it's just

something private,

it means in a sense

it doesn't matter

about the poor.

It doesn't matter

about industry.

It doesn't matter

about art.

It doesn't matter

about education

because these things

are all just illusion.

They're all things

to pass away.

But the Bible

at a very deep level

is forming us

that you need

to care for the wall.

The wall is going

to serve the beautiful vision.

The wall is going

to help to protect

them from being robbed

and being beaten

and being raped.

It's going to become

a place that can

become a platform

to do all of these

other things.

It's why it isn't

just the case

that I can just

present you some

ancient myth

about Jesus

but that Jesus

isn't just some

ancient myth

but that Jesus

actually came

and lived amongst us

and walked amongst us.

He walked the streets

of Jerusalem.

He died upon a cross.

He died upon a cross

and historians

can pick

he died on the cross

on one of two days

because it happened

in history

and he rose from the dead

and scholars can say

it was on one of two days

that he rose from the dead

and history matters

and the body matters

and the physical matters

and that's why it is

that Christians

this is what I shared

with my Jewish friend

who asked me

about this yesterday

I said that's why

Christians and Jews

especially Christians

no offense

wherever we go

we've set up hospitals

we set up schools

we care for the poor

the body matters

culture matters

it's why we have art

it's why we have poetry

and song

and hymns

our physical existence

matters

and it's all part

of this forming

of what we see

by the fact

that the wall

has to be built

and the wall

serves us

you know

I'm going to read

it's not going to be up there

I'm going to read

Isaiah chapter 53

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

verse

just in closing

Isaiah chapter 53

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

as I bring this

to a close

Isaiah 53

3-6

remember I said

that this is a story

about Nehemiah

leading a despised people

in the face

of their despisers

who are in positions

of authority

how he works

to build the wall

and I was very mindful

this week

of Isaiah 53

3-6

he was despised

and rejected

by men

a man of sorrows

and acquainted

with grief

and as one

from whom men

hide their faces

he was despised

and we esteemed him not

surely he has borne

our griefs

and carried our sorrows

we esteemed him stricken

smitten by God

and afflicted

but he was pierced

for our transgressions

he was crushed

for our iniquities

upon him

was the chastisement

that brought us peace

and with his wounds

we are healed

all we like sheep

have gone astray

we have turned

everyone to his own way

and the Lord

has laid on him

the iniquity of us all

Jesus was despised

so that the despised

and the despisers

could repent

and be loved

by the triune God

he was despised

so that the despised

and the despisers

could repent

and be loved

by the triune God

you could put up the point

the triune God

is real

so he acts

in real history

so he can be

really known

and Jesus

the next point

is forming the real you

to follow him

and make him known

in the real world

Jesus is forming

the real you

to follow him

and make him known

in the real world

you know in a sense

there's many people

in our culture

who think that

to come to a church

like this

and believe the things

that we believe

is completely

and utterly foolish

and there's many people

who think that it's evil

follow Jesus anyway

make a difference

in the city anyway

share the gospel anyway

build anyway

and if you and I

think that there's a way

of behaving

so that people will

though people who think

that way about us

will not like us

dislike us less

I just want to say

to you

for people who hate us

hate the things

that we stand for

before this service

they had 19 reasons

after this

they'll have 21

don't think about it

people hate you

for being a Christian

love them anyway

share the gospel anyway

pray for them anyway

do good anyway

build anyway

and in all things

pray for them

and if you're here

and you don't know

where you are

with Jesus

if you're here

and you don't know

where you are

with Jesus

it is so worth it

because he loves

the real you

he wants to fit

the real you

for a real life

with him

in this real world

and at the end

of the end

of the end

there is a real

new heaven

and new earth

you will have

a resurrection body

and be with him

you know

it's very interesting

the Bible begins

with God

having human beings

in a garden

in the center

of the world

if you go back

afterwards

and you read

Revelation chapter

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

21 and 22

it ends with a city

and in the center

of the city

is a garden

in all things

that's what God

is making us for

to live with others

under his rule

to have homes

in him

that are rooted

and deep

and thick

and have hope

please stand

let's bow our heads

in prayer

Father we

we ask that you

bring this story

home to us

in a real

and deep way

and

we thank you

Father

that

you claim

every single

bit of who we are

and that when

Jesus died on the cross

he died for

every single

bit of who we are

and you want us

to give

every single

bit of who we are

to you

and Father

you are taking

every single

bit of who we are

and you are

fitting us

for resurrection

bodies

in a new heaven

and a new earth

where we will dwell

with you

and with others

for all eternity

and

and so Father

we give you

thanks and praise

that you claim

all of us

that Jesus died

for all of us

and we ask

that your Holy Spirit

would so move

in our lives

that all of us

that all of makes us

us

that we would recognize

that it's

it's to serve you

and to give back

to you

and that

you will only

make us more whole

whether it's

with our money

whether it's

with our sexuality

whether it's

with our time

our plan

our creativity

our intelligence

our thinking

Father

we give you

thanks and praise

that you claim it all

and have redeemed it all

and help us to live

under your rule

and under your gentle hand

making it all for you

giving it all to you

and we ask this

in the name of Jesus

your Son and our Savior

and therefore

we ask more

thank you

thank you

thank you