Brick by Brick - Part 6 - FINISH

Part six of our brick-by-brick series. We've only got one more week after today in this series, and I'm gonna be honest

I'm gonna be a little bummed. I've totally enjoyed just getting into the book of Nehemiah. It's been such an encouragement to me

personally, just my preparation, my prayers, that it's been meaningful to you as well. Today we're gonna see them finish the wall.

The wall is finished around Jerusalem, but the work isn't done.

I don't think I'm being hyperbolic when I say it's possible that this is the most

important message of the story as it pertains to you and your life, because I think there is so much

application for us here that if we miss this it's possible that we miss

God moving in our lives. I think this is a very, very, very important message.

So let's get our hearts ready for what God has for us this morning. Would you put your

arms out with your palms up,

close your eyes,

just a posture of surrender.

Take a deep breath.

Remember, God is just as near as the air you're breathing.

God, today would you guide us closer to you?

Help our minds put away the frustrations of the past week, to put away the distractions of the coming week.

We want to fully focus on you. We come empty with nothing to offer but surrender.

Fill us up as only you can. Holy Spirit, move in here today with power. We believe that in advance.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said,

Amen. Amen. Have you ever started something that seemed like a big,

daunting task, and then as you finish this big, daunting task, you realize that the work wasn't actually over?

That part of it was over, but the work actually just changed. There was still more work to do.

Have you ever been in one of those situations?

I think the one maybe most in here can relate to is when you're gonna have a child, right?

I remember when Kelsey and I were expecting Coop, our firstborn.

I came home from work one day,

and I had a drawer that formerly had my socks and underwear in it, and then it was replaced with diapers and creams and wipes.

Don't know where my socks and underwear went, but I knew that we had that stuff there.

There's so much excitement around having a baby, right, leading up to the due date.

There's all this work with like preparing, and obviously,

mama's having a baby, and then the baby comes, and you've crossed the finish line, so to speak. The baby's here.

The work isn't over, right? It actually just got started.

That's a bit what we're gonna see here in Nehemiah 6 and 7. They're gonna finish the wall,

but the work is not done. A quick recap just to catch you up to this point.

Previously, on Brick by Brick,

Nehemiah, he's the king's cupbearer. His homeland was Jerusalem.

He hears that Jerusalem is, the walls are in ruin, and that the gates have been destroyed. He weeps. He fasts.

He mourns. He says that he prays day and night, and eventually he gets a moment of boldness.

He asked the king for permission to go home and to rebuild the wall.

He asked the king for resources. He would need to make this happen.

He asked for the king's lumberyard account, basically.

Definitely a bold ask, because he is asking the very same king that told the last group of people who are working on it.

He explicitly told them to stop. He asked that same king. God is in it.

The king gives Nehemiah everything he asked for, and even gives him an escort to the city. Nehemiah gets there.

He takes it all in, sees that there is a lot of work. The next morning, he rallies the people of God and says, hey,

everybody work on the section of the wall that is right in front of your house. They're working together.

They're moving forward. They face some opposition from Sam Mallett and his crew to buy.

There's some usual suspects in there, and we're gonna see even some of that continue in today's passage as well.

But Nehemiah doesn't respond to the opposition. He just keeps working.

He stays on mission.

And last week, we looked at chapter 5. We saw how they deal with some injustice that is happening, and it's like friendly fire, right?

They are taking advantage of one another financially.

The people of God against other people of God.

They're forcing their relatives to basically refinance their livelihoods, their homes, and some even sell their children into slavery

so that they can survive.

Nehemiah sees this. He calls it out.

He calls the people who are causing the injustice, and it literally is in the Bible.

I mean, it literally says they have no response. They have no defense to give for themselves.

They apologize, and they make the wrongs right, and here's the deal. They get back to the mission.

They just keep moving forward.

They just keep doing the next right thing. So today, we're gonna start in verse 10 of chapter 6.

We're just gonna see this to continue. We're gonna see some opposition.

We're gonna see them finish the wall and keep pushing on. Verse 10 says,

Later, I went to visit Shemiah, son of Deliah, and the grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home.

He said, let us meet together in the temple of God. Both the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.

Nehemiah is going to visit Shemiah, and Shemiah tells him, hey, you've got some enemies.

They are on their way to kill you tonight. You need to go hide away in the temple.

He's trying to pitch to Nehemiah.

Hey, you got to have a safe house.

You got to get over there, and if you're just kind of reading this story on the surface level,

that seems like a reasonable response. People are coming to kill me. If I go here, I'm gonna be safe.

It's a secure location, but there is actually a lot more going on here than we get on the surface.

I think if we look at Nehemiah's response, we're gonna unpack it a little bit more.

It's gonna make a little bit more sense. Verse 11, but I replied, should someone in my position run from danger?

Should someone of my position enter into the temple to save his life? No, I won't do it.

I realized that God had not spoken to him

when he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

I love Nehemiah's response. He says, should I run from danger?

For starters, Nehemiah, he's just a baller for responding like that. He's an OG.

He's just, he's got it, right? Should I run from, you think I'm gonna run from danger?

He's got some,

some charisma there. His attitude reminds me of Proverbs 28.1. It's on the screen here.

It says, the wicked run away when no one is chasing them,

but the godly are as bold as lions.

The godly are as bold as lions. The boldness of the godly isn't in themselves, it's in the Lord.

The wicked, it says they run away when no one is chasing them. Why do they run?

That's, I mean, they're, they're wicked.

The point being they run because they are guilty. That it is in their guilt that they run even when no one is chasing them.

But the godly are bold

because they've been pursuing righteousness.

Nehemiah knows he's done nothing wrong. He has no intention of running.

And

it says in verse 13, he says, I realized God had not told him these things.

He's kind of saying that God had told him these things. So basically Nehemiah's saying, hey, he's a liar, right?

He's calling a spade a spade.

He knows who he is, he knows what he needs to do, and when you know,

you are, when you know what you are doing is what God wants you to do,

you don't feel pressured to walk away or make compromises or

because everybody else is worried.

Like, like public opinion doesn't rule you, the majority doesn't rule you, people don't rule you. Here's the, God

rules. He's not worried about what anybody else thinks. He is concerned about what God thinks.

We need to be concerned about what God thinks.

Next thing, I want to make sure we get this because I think this is so pressing for us today. Religious terminology does not guarantee

legitimacy.

Right? Shemai, he uses language that would make him sound religious, right? Like religious terminology doesn't guarantee

legitimacy. I think it's more important than ever that we need to be able to discern what people are saying.

It is more important than ever to be grounded in the Word of God for yourself.

Because it is easier than ever for someone to create a platform or a following where they twist or

distort the Word of God to mean what they want it to mean.

Just this past week, I saw a video of a politician.

Not really a big surprise there, right? He was just forcing his worldview into Scripture, making these broad statements.

You know, Jesus said, and I'm like,

that in no way represents the Jesus that I see when I read my Bible.

But people eat it up because they are not in the Word. They're just listening to the sound bites.

Religious terminology does not guarantee legitimacy.

We have to be discerning like Nehemiah. Nehemiah hears this, he hears what he's telling to do, and he says, that's not from the Lord.

That's a lie.

Verse 13, Nehemiah unpacks it a little bit more.

They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.

So again, we don't fully understand the depth of the request if we just stay at like a service level reading.

It's not that he's just saying go to a safe place, somewhere to find refuge.

They are saying to be disobedient to the way of God.

Be disobedient to the way that God ordained this all to work. If Nehemiah, who is not a priest, entered into the temple,

he would have, according to the law, he would have desecrated it. And then he would have brought God's judgment upon himself.

That's what we see in the law. Nehemiah is saying that I'm not gonna do that because I'm not gonna disobey God.

I'm not gonna disobey God and try to gain personal safety from my enemies.

I'm not gonna go against what God said so that it's gonna keep me safe.

I'm gonna do the right thing, even though there is imminent danger on my life.

That's what it feels like. If you go to 2 Chronicles 26, we actually see a king.

It's King Uzziah, and he goes to the temple, attempts to go to the temple,

basically for the same reason, to seek some refuge, to have a safe place.

And he is struck with leprosy, right?

He tries to hide out, to circumvent the rules so that it works for him.

And it says he's struck with leprosy. Our actions have consequences. They do.

So Nehemiah is saying, not only would that have been disobedient to God, like I'm not gonna do this because God,

it would upset him, it would bring God's judgment on me, but here's the deal. My enemies know this too.

And if I would have done that, my enemies would have used this action to discredit me.

They would have used that as ammo to take me down.

On the surface, that seemed like a really reasonable question. There are people coming to kill you. Go hide out in the temple.

They're not gonna get you there.

There's so much more. They're basically saying, Nehemiah,

you need to just, this is not the right thing, but hey, you'll be safe. They're testing his character.

They're testing his integrity. He said, I'm gonna do what God wants me to do, even when it's hard.

So how does, how does Nehemiah avoid falling into this trap? He simply does what is

right.

He just does what's right. I know we did a deep dive on opposition a few weeks ago,

but it's worth mentioning

again.

If you are living on mission for the kingdom of God, you should expect to have some opposition.

If you claim that you are living on mission, and you don't have opposition,

that might require a long look in the mirror. The enemy doesn't attack someone who's already defeated.

He doesn't attack somebody who's on the sidelines. The enemy attacks people who are on the battlefield.

Nehemiah is experiencing more opposition.

They're telling him, people are gonna come, and they're gonna kill you. Go do this thing

that's gonna, basically, it's not the way that God wants you to do, but you'll be safe.

He is not gonna let his integrity be attacked. He is going to do the right thing. He's bold as a godly man is.

He's not gonna rise and be bold like a lion. He's not running away from his issues. He's standing up strong.

He does the right thing, break by break, step by step. That's what Nehemiah does.

He doesn't let the opposition stop him from the mission he keeps

building.

Verse 15 says, so on October 2nd, the wall was finished, just 52 days after we had begun.

So on 52 days after they started the work on the walls, they were finished. A little bit of a

refresher memory, that's about two and a half miles long,

eight to ten feet wide, and on average, forty feet tall.

That is a lot of work.

More work than you could claim credit for as a person.

It was God's work,

their hands.

They finished the wall, and the word gets out that the walls have been rebuilt.

Verse 16, look at this. It says, when our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it,

they were frightened and humiliated.

They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

This is such like an amazing passage to me.

Their enemies realized it is the work of God.

People who don't believe in their God

are acknowledging that it was a work of God.

Really puts it in perspective that this work is so unbelievable, but even those people who don't believe,

they believe that God helped them do it.

It's crazy.

I know we keep hitting this. How many bricks did God put into that wall?

He used his people, and they built it brick by brick.

Everyone just working one day at a time, one brick at a time.

Remember that old saying, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right?

Oftentimes the steps we take can feel insignificant or small,

but when we keep moving forward over time, it has a much bigger effect than we could ever realize.

Especially when God is in it.

God's work, our hands.

Look at verse 17. It says,

During those 52 days many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the nobles of Judah,

for many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him.

They kept telling me about Tobiah's good deeds, and they told him everything that I had said, and Tobiah kept sending threatening

letters to intimidate me.

Nehemiah is saying, throughout the rebuilding of the walls, throughout those 52 days, there was opposition.

Like in his context, it's literally people using their political power and connections to try and intimidate him.

They're trying to get him to stop.

When you are on mission, expect opposition.

Don't let it distract you or keep you from moving.

You can't

break by break, step by step.

If you let the opposition stop you, you will never finish the task.

Focus on the task at hand and keep working. I know all this is gonna sound a little bit silly in this context.

And when I was a senior, my parents got a dog. He was awesome, senior in high school.

Baxter, and Bax was an Aussie, and he loved to play fetch.

You could be in the backyard, there could be people in the pool, there could be music playing,

there could be a million things going on. As soon as you picked up that tennis ball, he was like,

singular

focus. He was staring at that ball.

And you could have thrown that ball into a fire, and here's the deal, he'd have ran into the fire to get it.

He did, right? There we go.

He had one focus, get the ball.

There was no distracting him or discouraging. Like literally, you had people come over who would just throw the ball over and over.

You had to hide the ball because he would not quit running until he had like bloodied paws from just getting after it.

He did not know how to stop.

He always kept going.

You

can't finish what God has called you to do if you keep pumping the brakes.

You can't finish what God has called you to do if you keep letting the opposition distract you.

The only way you finish is to take your next step.

It doesn't have to be a big step,

but you need to take the next step.

Nehemiah leads the people with laser focus on the wall. There's so many things happening. There's opposition,

there's injustice, and he just keeps moving forward. I mean when they first have opposition, he says, hey, we're gonna keep doing this,

but instead of working with both hands, you're gonna have one hand on your sword,

you're gonna have one hand on the bricks. Like that's how serious they were.

We are not going to stop. And God blesses it, and the walls are finished in just 52 days.

Now we see a shift here.

They've had opposition, they've had people trying to intimidate him this whole time, and then in chapter 7 verse 1,

it says, after the wall was finished,

I'd set up the doors in the gates, the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites were

appointed. The wall's finished, but the work isn't done. So there were jobs that were

appointed. Verse 2, I gave the responsibility of governing Jerusalem to my brother Hananiah, along with Hananiah,

the commander of the fortress. He was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

I said to them, do not leave the gates open during the hottest part of the day, or

even when the gatekeepers are on duty, have them shut and bar the doors. Appoint the residents of Jerusalem to act as guards,

everyone on a regular

watch. Some will serve a sentry post, and some in front of their own homes.

There's a lot to kind of unpack there. Nehemiah, in his wisdom,

he's saying to the gatekeepers to kind of alter how the customs would have been at that time.

Usually, hey, the gates are open, sunrise to sunset. He's telling, hey, we've had opposition.

We've had people say they're gonna do stuff. We've heard all these threats and intimidation. We've had opposition for the past 52 days.

Hey, let's be wise about how we open up the city. All right, let's close the gates and set up people with a job.

It's their job to guard, to make sure that everything is safe. Let's not put ourselves in an unnecessary danger.

They have a responsibilities, different parts, to make sure that the city is safe.

I want you to imagine that for the past 52 days,

you've been busting your butt to get them bricks up on that wall, right? The job is done.

And you're finished, and he's like, and you're on patrol.

Right, you got a new job.

I think we can, I mean, you guys are already resonating with it because you're laughing. You feel it.

I thought we finished this thing.

They aren't mad about their new jobs. We don't, we don't hear any of that right here.

They fill the role well because they know without the wall, it wouldn't have even been an option.

I

think there's some who react a little bit differently of having a new role, a new role.

I think like if our mind isn't right, if we think we're just getting finished and then we're done, we're mixed up.

Yesterday at the key house,

we did some spring cleaning.

I expected my son to say amen. He didn't, all right. He was not excited about it.

But here's the deal. We cleaned out, everybody cleaned out the rooms, the closets, deep cleaned the bathrooms.

Cut down some trees, dishes, laundry. House is looking so much better.

I've got to start off spring break right because if not, it's gonna be an absolute pigsty by the end. But

whenever we'd finish one part of the house,

you get this question from many and all the kids. So now am I done?

Right, right. I mean, that's just how it goes. I'm not hating. All right, so now am I done?

Looking for an opportunity to go play and I get, it felt like a never-ending list, right?

It's just, it's a lot of work. You've done your room, cool. Now go upstairs, right? Back patio, right? Let's keep going.

You have to imagine how much work they put in for the past 52 days.

It would have been so easy for the people of God to feel the same way. Like we've just been getting after it.

They are finished with the job. You'd think they want a break to cease from their work.

But instead they jump at the opportunity, the next opportunity to serve. They jump at the next opportunity to serve.

It's the difference between I have to and I get to.

They weren't feeling like I have to do this. They were feeling like I get to do this.

This was an excitement about it being the next thing.

Do you know why they're ready to jump at it?

Because before the wall was built, there was no need to stand guard.

They're already defeated if somebody attacked.

No defense to speak of.

When it comes to you and your life, where's your mindset at?

Do you have to serve Jesus or do you get to?

Have to or get to. Do you have to read your Bible or do you get to read your Bible?

Do you have to serve a church or do you get to serve a church?

Do you have to tithe or do you get to tithe?

Do you have to love your neighbor or do you get to love your neighbor? Have to versus get to. There is a huge

difference in them.

Maybe not in the steps, but in our heart, there is a huge difference.

I want you to just imagine for a second if you served

your spouse with a have to attitude instead of a get to.

Well, I wanted to go be with your family, but you know, Sunday's my only day to sleep in.

I don't know if that would sell with the better half, right?

Maybe I'd really like to do that, but I'm pretty busy, right? Can I just be real with you?

Can I tell you why I spent a good chunk of my Saturday cleaning?

It was not because I woke up with a zeal to have a clean house. I'm certain of that.

I literally got up, ran a few errands, and I come home and the house was in motion. Mama had that thing moving.

And it was easy to complain, right? Right? Saturday's my one day. I don't have any responsibilities.

You're gonna fill my place, my plate with chores? No, no, no. Wrong attitude.

Because I don't have to, I get to.

Get to clean the house that God gave us.

I get to do that with the family that God has blessed you with. I get to serve alongside them.

It's a blessing because I know that if I didn't have that house, that place for my family, it'd be tough.

I know if I didn't have my family, life would be different.

I am so incredibly grateful for the blessings that God has given me.

I'm not gonna complain about the work that comes with them. I get to do the work.

I'm not gonna complain about the things I've prayed and asked God for.

I'm not gonna do it.

Proverbs 14 4, it says this.

Without oxen a stable stays clean.

But you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

Let me put that into context,

into my context, and I think some of y'alls as well, most of y'alls.

Without children, your house stays clean.

But homes are better with the kids.

Put that in the context of your walk with God.

We don't have to serve Jesus. We get to serve Jesus. It is from a place of gratitude, not obligation.

And here's the thing about following Jesus. I think this is the most important part.

We will never be finished.

Now you might finish a job, you might finish a task in following Jesus.

You might finish reading through the Bible, right?

But the mission is never complete.

Not on this side of heaven.

And understand how just saying that can feel a little bit daunting.

That you'll always be working, and guess what? You're never gonna reach the end.

But here's the truth. When we finish a task that God has put in front of us,

and then we take that next step,

there is always going to be a next step.

If your faith journey,

your walk with Jesus was a ladder, there is always another rung you can move to.

And I don't say that in a sense of you'll never be good enough.

That's not what I'm getting at. I said it in a sense of there is always room to keep growing.

Always.

Always room to keep growing.

As soon as they completed the wall, what happened?

They immediately assigned new roles and responsibilities, and they aren't upset about the continued work. They are grateful because

before this, that work wasn't even an option.

Without the wall, that didn't even, wasn't even a possibility.

What's your next step?

We are never finished. It's always about the next one.

What's your next step?

We keep coming back to this passage often in this series, and I don't want to hit it again. It's Philippians 1.6.

It's an encouragement. It says, and I am certain

that God, you throw this one up on the screen. Philippians 1.6. It says, and I am certain that God who began the good work within you

will continue

His work

until it is finally finished.

On the day when Christ Jesus returns.

His work isn't finished until Jesus comes back.

He will continue His work in you. The job is not done until Jesus returns.

God is going to do a work in you until that time.

What's your next step?

Where do you need to shift from, I have to, to, I get to.

The mission of God is never finished.

There is always more of Him to be had. You have to take that next step.

Don't miss out on the abundant life that God has for you by playing it safe.

Take your next step.

There's always going to be more, church.

He doesn't want more from you, and this is important. He does not want more from you. He wants more for you.

That's so counterculture. We think about what people want from us, want from us. God doesn't want anything from you but your heart.

And He's not asking you because you're gonna have to pay a price, and it's gonna be hard. Yes, it will.

There is sacrifice. It's because He wants more for you.

There's always gonna be more work to be had.

Don't worry about that. We get to do that.

Take your next step.

So many different areas that it could be for us in here.

It could be serving. It could be hosting a small group. It could be

just a million different things. It could be getting into your Word. It could be tithing. You're giving. It could be

anything. Here's what I know.

You know what it is.

Even if it's just, I'm gonna get here early, and I'm gonna bring my Bible every week.

Yes and amen. Take that step.

Take it.

When you take one step,

God is in it, and if you continue to put those together brick by brick by brick, God will finish

the good work that He started in you.

Make sure and take it. Let's pray.

God, I thank you that we are not alone.

God, that we don't have to finish the task all by ourselves. My God, that you are in it, and you are in the everyday.

Help us to be faithful to take whatever next step you put in front of us.

To not shy away. To not be

hesitant. My God, to boldly, with the boldness of a lion, we would take that next step.

To not run away from the calling that you have for us.

My God, help us to share your love. Share the light of Jesus with everybody that we come in contact with.

God, help everyone here. Help me to take

our next step. Ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.