Post Sunday January 4 2009

1st Post Sunday of 2009! Woo Hoo! We are off and running! Stay in the race! Each day lived for God this year will bring you that much closer to Him come December 31, 2009! Today is important!

Nehemiah 1:6 “please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned.”

Yesterday, I believe many of us were shaken by what we heard our hearts telling us. Some to tears, some to anger, some to frustration, some to an encouragement to the steps we’ve already taken, some to full acknowledgement and some to a combination of some or all of those. We all know that there are multiple conversations going on around us, toward us and within us and we all from time to time for some of these conversations in one form or another have said the conversation ends here or at least have said, I really want the conversation to end here. If your life or parts of your life are in limbo was yesterday’s conversation enough to push you to act?

What does it take to push us to action? Do you remember as kids being dared to jump from high heights to a river below or maybe dared to ride in the front car of a rollercoaster, watching Friday the 13th, walking through a graveyard at night, kissing someone, playing a prank on a teacher, as teens doing pretty much anything that we knew was wrong or would tick off our parents or teachers. As we grow older the dares are really not as explicitly stated as they were when we were younger, but they are still there, they are unspoken, subtle, I dare you to write a letter or confront the boss with the problems you just stated to me, I dare you to flirt with that woman or man even though you’re married, I dare you to have one more drink and then drive, I dare you to defy your wife’s wishes and buy that motorcycle, I dare you to defy your husband’s wishes and buy that outfit, and that one, and that one and pairs of shoes to go with them all. I dare you to play full court basketball even though you haven’t played in 20 years. We can all run through our minds the dares we’ve entertained either directly or indirectly in our lives. All these dares have one thing in common, they are all dares in which are given to us to glorify ourselves or to make ourselves feel good about ourselves.

This conversation that Nehemiah had in the first 3 verses of chapter one could have evoked a response to glorify himself, something like: “I’m going to rush in and save the day!” “I’m the man!” “I’m a professional all you amateurs back out of the way!” “I have lived righteous before God, so let me in the front of the line!”

Instead? Nehemiah says… “please.” Please listen to me God…oh and he said this “day and night”, not just once as a courteous, mind your manners, school of etiquette. How do we know it wasn’t a school of etiquette please? Well, I had parents that taught me my manners when I was a child and I used them, but I never would have gone on to say what Nehemiah then said because for many of those school of etiquette comments I made I guarantee you if you would have known my true heart, I was exactly the same as the child that wasn’t taught manners. In fact the Bible states that as well…. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). It is clear that Nehemiah’s request is not the request of a self-proclaimed, self-righteous man, because after saying please he then goes on to do something absolutely unthinkable, he includes himself in with the sins of all the people. The walls of Jerusalem are burning and the people are perishing because they sinned. Nehemiah didn’t cause that, nor did he grow up among the generation that caused this, but yet he includes himself in with the sin that brought this all about. Why? Because the conversation ended with him.

So what? Well what if you were to place yourself in the sin of the person you feel has sinned against you the most in your life? What if you went before God and placed yourself in their sin instead of placing yourself “above” their sin? What if you honestly went before God and confessed before God just as if you committed the very atrocious acts that you have pointed out in the life of the one you are set against on this earth? It is then that you will begin to understand the heart of Nehemiah. His heart is selflessly heroic and it is that loyal heart that God desires and it is the heart that already understood what the apostle Paul would write years later; “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The only reason we have the possibility of being declared righteous is because someone greater than us took on our sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

What if instead of declaring the sins of others to others we instead took on the sins of others? You mean I’m supposed to accept their sin! Come on now, don’t think that thought, God forbid as Paul would say! No, do as Nehemiah, fall on your knees in prayer before God and claim their sin as your own. But, but, but, but….But what? What do you think God would honor, you declaring the sin of others to others, ignoring their sin like it isn’t happening or you in prayer, broken before God taking on the sins of others and saying; “please forgive us God for we have sinned before you, please forgive us and may we find favor with You.”

The conversation was able to end here with Nehemiah because he took on the full mantle of responsibility for it. Not just the heroic part of getting the walls rebuilt, but the shame part, the part we like to distance ourselves from, the part that embarrasses us….being directly tied to a sinner or sinners.

I know what some of you are thinking because I’m thinking the same thing. Aren’t we supposed to separate ourselves! I’ve yet to say participate in the sin, approve of the sin or begin doing the sin yourself, I said take on the sin in order to go before a Holy, Purifying God with it. If you and I will sincerely do this we are truly humbling ourselves and in His due time God will exalt you (1 Peter 5:6 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,”). The people in Jerusalem when Nehemiah arrived still went on a rollercoaster ride with sin and Nehemiah continued in prayer and proclaimed the Word of God, he never forgot the fact that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Remember this fact better ensures that we are glorifying God and provides ourselves and others around us the true opportunity to be forgiven, redeemed and restored.

How do I get to this point? Nehemiah 1:11 “O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

Did you catch what Nehemiah ended his prayer to God with in verse 11 above? He desires to fear God and at the same time he is asking for mercy in the sight of this man. This man is King Artaxerxes, who happens to be a foreign sinner. Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” It is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10), it is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13). When we fear God we will know how to proceed. We will know how to “be separate” yet at the same time still operate our God called lives among sinners. (We can’t possibly separate ourselves from sinners, unless we live by ourselves on a deserted island and we are still with a sinner, ourselves and we will probably all go crazy sort of like Tom Hanks in Castaway) We do not fear God if we are somehow above the sins of others and somehow beyond others. Why? Because the closer we are to God the more vivid our OWN sin should be and it should reveal the incredibly stark contrast between ourselves and God. Comparing yourself to others in the presence of God will be impossible because God will overwhelm you, believe me you won’t be thinking about anything else but God when you are in His presence!

The “Conversation Ends Here” when we understand Who it is we stand before, that will evoke a healthy fear of God, which will cause us to willingly take upon us the whole weight of responsibility because we would not dare cast blame elsewhere. God has called us and God will direct us we will know how to proceed for the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” God will then work in and through the lives of the other sinners around us. Let Him do that work for He is the only One that can purify them and use them for His great purpose and kingdom.

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. What are some of the conversations around you that you know God is using to communicate His purpose for your life?

2. What conversations have you allowed to continue instead of taking on the full weight of responsibility yourself and stopping them once and for all?

pastor e