Nehemiah - Living Stones Built Together: A Group Effort Made Up of Individuals

Twenty years after Ezra had left Persia and gone back to Jerusalem to help build the Temple and reestablish worship there, Nehemiah, the cupbearer for the king of Persia, heard that things were still in a state of disrepair in Jerusalem. Nehemiah fasted and prayed for six months before he approached the king of Persia for permission to go to Jerusalem. In his prayer he:

1. Praised first (addressed God as great.)
2. Confessed the people's sin.
3. Reminded God of His promise that if the people repented, God would bring them back from the nations they had been scattered into.
4. Asked for success in approaching the king for permission to go.


While Nehemiah worked rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, three of his "haters" tried to get him to come down and meet with them. He knew that their intent was to stop him from building. The names of the "haters" were Sanballet, Tobiah, and Geshem. In our effort to build up our confidence in the finished work of Jesus, the enemies could be named Anxiety, Distraction, and Doubt. We have to say to them like Nehemiah said to his enemies in Nehemiah 6:3, "...I am doing a great work...why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?"

Anxiety, Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? Phil.4:6 says "Don't be anxious about anything."

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Distraction, Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? Luke 10:38-41 describes what happened when Martha was so distracted with cooking and serving that she neglected to choose the "good part," of being in the presence of Jesus:

³⁸ Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. ⁴² But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Doubt, Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? Mark 11:23, says that if I have no doubt, that I will receive answers to my prayers.

²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

The Bible, in I Peter 2: 4-6 says that we are all "living stones," being built up together, making up God's Church.

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”(also in Isaiah 28:16)

 

So as living stones, refusing to come down from the work, ignoring Anxiety, Distraction, and Doubt, we are also built up together. The rebuilding in Nehemiah is a group effort.  Although Nehemiah was the master builder (just as Jesus is our master builder and chief cornerstone,) the work was done by many people and the site was guarded by many people, armed with swords, spears and bows.

Ephesians 2:20-22 tells us   ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

 

 

One of the most partially quoted passages of scripture is Nehemiah 8:10 "for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

 

The people were gathered in the open square. Nehemiah was the govenor and Ezra was the scribe and priest. The people had begun to cry because the Book of the Law was read aloud in the square. The people, knowing they had not kept the Law, wept when they heard the words being read. In response to their weeping, Ezra encouraged them with the phrase "The joy of the Lord is your strength.."

With this encouragement, the people were able to worship! The prayer they offered up to God is written in Nehemiah 9: 5-38. The people actually signed the prayer and took an oath to follow God's laws. In chapter 12, the Levites and priests who lived in the surrounding areas moved into Jerusalem to resume their roles as worshippers.Nehemiah 12:27-47 describes the arrangements of the singers and musicians at the Temple. Verse 44 describes the storehouses for the offerings.

 

Amazingly enough, while Nehemiah was called away back to Persia, the people reverted back to their own ways and even defiled the Temple.The storehouse for the offerings had become a room for Tobiah, one of the enemies of the rebuilding.  The Levites and singers were no longer being supported and had gone back to their fields. The people were treading grapes and buying goods on the Sabbath and the men had again, married foreign women.  When Nehemiah returned, he reversed the practices that had taken place and asked God to remember him for his good.

 

Holding on to our position as "living stones" is wrought with temptations, but  God promised  in Phillipians 1:6 that the "good work He started in us, He will complete."