In today’s study, Selwyn looks at the ability of Nehemiah to co-ordinate the work of rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem. In addition, he draws our attention to Nehemiah’s skills in leading the people to co-operate with each other. “Under God he brings together a powerful taskforce from different walks of life – priests, Levites, rulers and ordinary people, Temple servants, guards, farmers, and goldsmiths.” And, as Selwyn points out, this group also included people who did not live in or near Jerusalem – but they had a heart for God’s work.

He concludes: “… if we belong to Christ than all personal preoccupations and interests ought to be secondary to the building up of His kingdom. Nothing, nothing must take precedence over this.” This is (selfless love) the common bond which brings all people together – people with different ranks, skills and from different countries – to be servants to all, by delivering the Good News - declaring what Jesus has done!

What did you think about today’s study?

[The prayer is also worth out time to meditate upon: "Father, I take the challenge to heart once again. Help me evaluate my time and activities in the light of the needs of Your kingdom. Give me grace to make Your priorities my priorities. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.]

Selwyn now looks at verses, 3 to 5 of Chapter 3 of Nehemiah (in italics below): the first five verses of this Chapter follow (NIV): “Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower  of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel. The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zaccur son of Imri built next to them. The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Meshullam son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baane also made repairs. The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.”

I think it’s interesting that Nehimah gives credit to those who were prepared to do the work as well as document those who did not want to get their hands ‘dirty’. As Selwyn outlines, these nobles probably were too proud to undertake manual work. He goes on to say: “Pride, we must not forget, was the very first sin. It turned an angel into a devil (Revelation 12:7-9). There will never be much spiritual progress where there is pride. Keep this always in mind: pride must die in us if Christ is to live in us.”

In John, Chapter 13, we read about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet - Jesus, says in verses 14 & 15: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.” He is saying, and demonstrated by example, that we should be prepared to perform the most menial services for one another.  We can match these words, with what’s written in Luke 22:24-26; “Also a dispute arose among them (the disciples) as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. …’” That is, we should not consider ourselves superior to anyone else because of the position we hold in society – we must always have the heart of a servant – one, where pride does not reside. Do you agree?

Like yesterday, I agree with Selwyn’s conclusion: “When you have no understanding of what your basic gift is then it is likely that you will go through life with minimum effectiveness and maximum weariness. When you do understand what your basic gift is, I promise you that you will go through life achieving maximum effectiveness with minimum weariness.”

Every follower of Jesus has spiritual gifts which they can choose to use, to rebuild broken ‘walls’, as was the case with Nehemiah.

Today, I heard a very good sermon on Luke 19:11-27, the verses, are as follows (NIV): “While they were listening to this, he (Jesus) went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’  “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’  “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’  ” ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’  “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’  “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’  “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

” ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.”

Two, important points which you need to consider; a mina (about three months wages) can be thought of as our spiritual gift given to us by God, for us to further His kingdom. Notice how the person who was given a small spiritual gift but did not use it, was condemned – not only that, the gift was taken off him. It is not an option just to go to Church each Sunday and think, I’ve done my duty. You have been given a gift, an ability, which you must exercise. It is essential that you take the time to find out (through prayer) what it is – and then use it.

The second point is this, those who don’t accept Jesus as Lord  and King (the last verse, highlighted above) will be bought before Him and killed (eternal death). Hard words, which many don’t want to acknowledge – God, is a God of love but also of justice – with justice, comes punishment for the wicked. Do you agree?

[Selwyn has produced a leaflet providing guidance on how God's people might discover their spiritual gift(s).  What did you think of this leaflet?]

Today, I don’t have much to add to Selwyn’s comments. I agree with what he says, especially his conclusion: “Those churches with the priest/minister/pastor does-it-all approach will never develop properly. Such an attitude hinders the ministry which God has given to every believer. If there is no co-ordination there is no corporal or individual development and growth. It is as simple as that.”

Every follower of Jesus has been given an ability to progress God’s kingdom; it’s not an option to exercise this ability – it’s a necessity!

I often get the feeling these days that many tend to dismiss Satan as a superstitious invention of the Church - a personification of ‘evil’ – used by us to scare people into being ‘good’.  I would imagine that Satan likes everyone to have that impression of him. The main reason is that if we hold this view; we are not on the lookout for his attempts to disrupt or destroy our work, which is intended to glorify God.

Selwyn is right when he says: ” … when we hear the challenge ‘Come let us rebuild’ Satan quickly marshals his forces and says, ‘Come let us (divide), disrupt and destroy’.”  I’ve added the word ‘divide’ to Selwyn’s sentence because one of the main tactics of Satan is to cause division, often over a small issue, between various Christian communities. The history of the Christian Church is full of such examples.

Further on, he says: “How desperately we need men and women like this in the Church today – people who will stand up to the devil and his works and declare, ‘Make all the threats you like. We will not be diverted from our purpose of building walls in God’s kingdom and bringing praise and glory to our King.”

[As we follow Jesus, we will encountered Satan, and the main feature that has stuck in my mind (from my persoanl experiences) was how well he knew all my faults and weaknesses. It is only, by the Holy Spirit working in us, that prevents us from being deceived by Satan - we can not go against his schemes solely by our own strength - we must always look to God for protection. Do you agree?]

In these verses (2:19-20) from Nehemiah, we can see how Satan uses people as a means to disrupt God’s work: “But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. ‘What is this you are doing?’ they asked. ‘Are you rebelling against the king?’ I answered them by saying, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.’”

Notice some of the common elements used by Satan: ‘they mocked and ridiculed us’; casting doubt on Nehemiah’s authority (by asking the question  re ‘are you rebelling against the king?’, they are trying to put doubt in people’s minds about the king granting approval to Nehemiah for the walls to be re-built; yet they would have known from the king’s letters, granting safe passage, what the answer was  - yet, they still attempt to distort the truth); and thirdly, placing distrust and animosity in the minds of the three trouble makers, perhaps causing them to think that if Jerusalem rebuilt its walls, that this may reduce their influence in the area.

Do you agree that we still see these elements (mocking, ridicule, distortion, distrust and animosity) being used by Satan  today?

Yet, we can be sure that Satan and his followers will have no share or claim to the eternal Jerusalem – God’s city of peace – Heaven. Once safely home and the gates are shut, we will never ever have to worry about Satan again!

We are now up to verses 17 & 18 of Chaper 2, Nehemiah (NIV): “Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins; and its gates have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace.’ I also told them about the gracious hand of God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.”

In addition to what Selwyn said about these verses; note how Nehemiah identifies with the people, when he says: ‘we will no longer be in disgrace’.  He also presents his credentials to the people – God’s hand is guiding him; and, the powerful king, Artaxerxes has given his approval by allowing Nemehiah to make the journey and providing him with resources.

Selwyn is right when he says: “Sometimes with spiritual matters our view becomes clouded by familarity and we need someone with a clearer spiritual perspective to confront us and say, ‘This is not the way things should be.’”

His conclusion is worth our meditation: “Permit me to say this to you: ‘Take a look around. See the walls that are lying flat?That is not what God wants. Ruined walls do not glorify God. Come let us rebuild.’ When I have done this I have discovered some ‘walls’ in my own life that needed rebuilding. Can you identify any? If so, start rebuilding – and without delay.”

In my case, it’s often the last two words which are the problem ones: ‘without delay’. I’m usually okay with the ‘identification’, and then spend endless hours on ‘planning the rebuilding’ – but it’s often the starting, ‘without delay’, where I get stuck – what about you?

So, I have to admit that the prayer for today is very appropriate: “O Father, Your Word strikes deep into my soul. I hear Your call to rebuild – and I respond. Today I will take the first steps towards doing this. Please help me, dear Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” 

Today, Selwyn looks at the following  – Nehemiah Chapter 2, verses 11 to 16: “I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate.

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.”

Selwyn, reinterates a view, he has expressed many times before – that we should accept the reality of what is before us. He says: “Whenever a work is about to be undertaken by God, some faithful, burdened person has to make a journey similar to Nehemiah’s. … Some Christians believe that we should not even look at something negative in case it becomes an impediment to faith. What kind of faith is it that can’t be upheld while facing things as they really are? We don’t have to linger over negative situations, but we do have to examine them. All great movements (really , any movement – large or small) of God begin with someone who, like Nehemiah, is brave enough to look fully at the facts, analyse what should be done, and then rise to the task.”

As the prayer for today, states: we can, with God’s help, understand how to be a realist without being a pessimist. As you know, a pessimist tends to always look on the gloomy side of things; yet, we live our lives knowing that Jesus is always in control. We can look at the ‘broken walls’ around us, determine through prayer what needs to be done and have the confidence that we are working with God in undertaking the repairs -  we are never ‘alone’. Do you agree?