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Apr 19, 2015

Urban Heroes

Passage: Nehemiah 11:1-36

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Rebuilding the City

Keywords: heroes, leadership, lottery, reconstruction, urban, kingdom lovers

Summary:

Chapter 11 deals with the three groups of people that are needed to rebuild any city. It also underlines the importance of every person in making a city prosper. God noticed and continues to notice everyone's labor and place in this process of Kingdom building.

Detail:

Urban Heroes

April 19, 2015

 

I have a strong belief that the most important, the really important people in the world are not the “super-heroes” of the culture or even the famous people in this world.  They are the unsung, unknown, unrecognized, un-glamorized, day-to-day heroes of every community.  They are the people who live outside of themselves.  They love their neighbors, build their communities, raise their children to be productive citizens, cherish their families and probably will never be mentioned in any book but God’s. 

            When you stop to think about the life skills you learned that you actually use most days of your life, it usually goes back to someone who never got famous, never made a lot of money and never got a medal pinned on their chest in public recognition.  But they shaped and changed and hopefully blessed your life.  

            So let me ask you, did a “super-hero” or someone famous…teach you to tie your shoe?  Brush your teeth?  Get dressed?  Prepare breakfast, lunch or dinner?  Drive a car?  Vacuum the carpet?  Do the laundry?  Read?  Mow the lawn? Talk?  Love? Make good decisions?  Work hard? Know God?  Pray? 

            Fact is, for most of us, the most influential people in our lives will never be known as heroes.  Life, a really good life, is made up of the millions of every-day constructive contributions by thousands of ordinary people, be they family members, friends, neighbors or passing acquaintances. 

            And my guess is, most of them were not pastors or priests or professional Christian ministers.  Most of them were blue and white and no-collar people.  But they built something into your life that contributed to you being who and what you are today. 

The reality is, most of us…maybe all of us…will never be written about in a book of heroes or famous people.  But every one of us has the potential of serving God in this life such that all of heaven and all of eternity will hear the most important acclaim ever given from the most important Being to ever exist, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” 

That is one of the reasons, I think, that God has included chapters 11 and 12 in the book of Nehemiah.  These chapters are filled with dozens upon dozens of names of people who simply did what God asked them to do…when He needed them to do it…in the places He wanted them to do it. And the vast majority of them were not priests or pastors or professional God-seekers.  They were simply ordinary people God wanted to use to show the world the greatness of His kindness and love.

That’s the way God’s kingdom has always been.  It’s not the professionals who make the difference.  It’s the little guy, the steady-Eddies of the church, whose names God is writing down for all eternity to see.  And I think many of you are on that list. 

I won’t torture you by trying to read two chapters of names most of us can’t even pronounce.  But there are a few things in these chapters that I think God wants to say to all of us and especially to those of us who call Mosaic Fellowship our home. I think these two chapters are both a call to urban dwellers and urban ministers.  And, frankly, I hope that ALL of us are either one or the other.

We pick this story up in chapter 11.  In chapter 8, the Israelites who had come back from Babylonian captivity had come together to hear the Word of God read and explained.  They stood for hours so they could take in the word of God.  (Be thankful for padded chairs!)  They then spent days celebrating the goodness of God and their calling as God’s people. 

In chapter 9 we see them confessing their sins and praying together for God’s mercy on them as a nation.  (It makes me wonder what it will take again for God’s people in America to own up to our sins, confess them and call on God for mercy.  Another 9-11?  A massive drought?  An economic collapse?  Believe me, I’m not looking forward to any of that.  That’s why I think more and more of us need to be a part of public prayer meetings for our nation, state and city.  So mark your calendars for a special National Day of Prayer city-wide prayer gathering on Thursday, May 7th, @ 6:30 @ Life Center.) 

Now, in chapter 10, the people signed their names to a covenant agreement with God that renewed their spiritual practices of things like worship, giving, God-centered business practices, observing the Sabbath and holy living.  They put their priorities on God in gratitude for the privilege of living in the Land of his blessing. 

But there was still a problem.  Jerusalem was THE place God had said he would meet with His people.  The Temple was THE place God wanted that to happen.  But both had been decimated by invading armies.  Both had been rebuilt by the Israelites led by Ezra the Priest (the Temple rebuilding) and Nehemiah the government official (the city walls).  But the city itself was still in ruins.  There was a shortage of people who wanted to live in Jerusalem.  Most preferred their country homes in smaller, more prosperous towns.  There was a ton of hard work to be done in the city, a mountain of rubble yet to be removed.  As with most big cities that have undergone urban blight, most people preferred to walk away from the challenges rather than roll up their sleeves, sink down their roots and be the people of change. 

Let’s read beginning in vs. 1 of chapter 11:

“Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. 2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.”

There are three groups of people who staked their claim on living in Jerusalem.  They parallel 3 groups of people who will be needed to turn our city into a vibrant, healthy place.

1.)    The leaders of the people—Vs. 1

2.)    The winners of the lottery—vs. 1

3.)    The lovers of the kingdom—vs. 2

These three groups of people will be needed in any city that has experienced social destruction and urban blight. 

#1. It takes LEADERS to rebuild a city.  Among the names of leaders listed in these two chapters are everyone from priests and politicians, heads of families to heads of finance.  Rebuilding a city is not a one-dimensional job. 

            The same is true of rebuilding Spokane.  It isn’t going to be enough to get all the business people together, ask them to pour a lot of money in this city, and expect that it is going to thrive.  It won’t be enough to get all the Christian agencies and churches together to try their hardest to disciple everyone downtown.  It isn’t enough, either, to get government on board and convince them to pour a lot of money into our city.  And it isn’t enough to get all the social service agencies we can to jump into downtown and try to solve the problems of the downtown core.  We can certainly improve how things look.  We can get people off the streets and into empty buildings.

            But if we want to see this be a place where God is honored and people are restored and renewed, it is going to take ALL the leaders of this city coming together to make this place a city that reflects the goodness of God. 

ILL:  This past week at a luncheon about reaching business and professional people in Spokane with the gospel, I ran into a couple of men who are helping us as we prepare to launch new businesses on mission here downtown.  They are with an organization called The Way of Business that seeks to help Christian business people prepare, launch, run and manage their businesses based upon the principles of God’s word.  They want more business people to see their businesses as the means by which God wants them to minister to this city. 

            After I told them of the rather sudden location change we are having to make in the midst of all this, they asked if they could meet me in this room to pray for Mosaic.  So Thursday morning we met right here and prayed for Mosaic and our place in the renewal of our city. 

            In the course of that conversation, one of the men, Carl, shared a project he is working on to address some of the very challenges we see in this community every day.  So he is pulling together the key players from the social service/spiritual sector, the housing sector, the educational sector and the employment sector to begin to develop a working plan that will take every downtown resident, whether on the street or on the government dole and provide them with a clear and workable pathway to the next step in their development process.  And he has the horsepower to get this plan before our mayor and into the hands of 1,100 business leaders who are willing to put their weight and wealth behind a plan that will actually deal with people as people, one persona at a time, to help them make whatever the next step is in their personal journey. 

            City transformation takes leaders from every level and sector of a community.  And that is what Mosaic is being asked to help with in our city.

#2.  Rebuilding a city takes “winners of the lottery”…or losers, depending on your heart and mindset.  What on earth am I talking about? 

In Nehemiah’s day there simply were not enough people to go around to repopulate Jerusalem.  Scholars estimate that there were about 100,000 inhabitants at the time in Israel.  Many of these people had fled Jerusalem years before when the nation was conquered by the Babylonians.  Many of them had returned after the 70 years of captivity to try and rebuild the nation.  The national population was rather thin.  And the population of Jerusalem was even thinner. 

            So they apparently agreed to cast lots (throw dice) and trust God for who was going to have to leave their country living and move to the city.  They apparently felt led of the Lord to take a tithe (a tenth) of the entire country’s population and move it to the city.  So if you’re “lottery number” came up, you won…or lost, depending upon your view of urban living. 

            APP:  Most of the residents downtown are not here because they won the Mega-Millions Jackpot.  Most are here because of what they may perceive to be some loosing lottery issues of life.  Yes, personal choices and often bad choices may have reduced their living options to the low-rent district of downtown.  For others it may be mental or emotional issues that seem out of their control.  For others it might be PTSD or abuse or destructive addictions that forced them to move downtown.  The reality is, most residents of the buildings around us are here, not because they prefer to live here but because life circumstances have brought them here.  And we need them on the rebuilding team of this city. 

            The tragedy of even well-to-do people looking at this large segment of the downtown population and deciding that it would be better if we just ran them out of the core and resettled them somewhere else is that they fail to see downtown residents as an asset to the community.  They fail to see that they are the seeds of the miracle that God wants to do in the lives of people.  They are some of the BEST candidates for God’s transforming power, for “experiencing the heart of God in the heart of the city.” 

            If you’re one of those people today, don’t despise where God has you.  Start praying for miracles.  Start working with us to see every block and every resident down here experience the power of God in the next few years. 

Which leads to the third group of urban heroes in this passage:

#3.  Lovers of the Kingdom—These are the urban heroes who choose to live, work and play in the city.  In the case of Nehemiah and Jerusalem, vs. 2 describes this group as, “…all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.” 

            I don’t know how many people and families that was exactly in Jerusalem at that time.  But I know about how many that is in Spokane today…and it’s probably easily less than 300 people in a city of 300,000! 

  • It’s those of us who choose to set up businesses downtown here that change this city.
  • It’s those of us who choose to come and BE the church in this urban center week after week. 

We have “willingly offered” to minister in one of the most rubble-filled places relationally and spiritually in our city.  We are the “lovers of the Kingdom” in this place—not the old Davidic kingdom and the Mosaic Law but the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and His New Covenant of grace.  We’re here because we believe that God is here.  We’re here because we believe that God has plans for this place that will enable us to experience His heart in ways the suburban church won’t.  We’re not better for that; we’re just “willing” to change some things about our lives so that we can bring the life of Jesus Christ to the urban experience of our city. 

The transformation of a city into what God knows it can be and wants it to be will take more and more people willingly choosing to invest in the lives of the urban core. 

            Thank you to each of you willing and eager to do that.  And may I challenge you to invite more and more of God’s people to accept the challenge with us and come do something BIG that is on God’s heart for our city? 

            Like the experience I had again this week, you will run into good and godly people who are tired of traditional church and tired of church that is done primarily to make more Christians comfortable.  There are hundreds if not thousands of God’s children in this city who need a new challenge.  They need to start living life and particularly life in the church “on mission.”  Well, we’re desperately trying to be a church “on-mission”.  We’re far from perfect and have a LONG ways to go.  But let’s not be ashamed to invite God’s people to join us on an impossible journey downtown that will grow their faith and change our city.

APP:  And if you weren’t here last week, you missed hearing about the latest wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the core.  [Talk about Pioneer Pathways ministry team—once/week, 2-3 hours, year-commitment to teach basic life skills, share a meal together, see what God does to open your heart and theirs to life-changing relationships.]

[Ask for a show of hands as to which group you consider yourself—leaders, lottery winners or lovers of the kingdom.]

What is striking about these two chapters is the quantity of names along with a variety of roles and responsibilities that are noted. There were literally hundreds of families and thousands of people doing different tasks to make the Temple a living, breathing place where people could connect with God.

Chapter 11 lists the heads of families in Jerusalem (11:3-9); the priests (11:10-14); the Levites (11:15-18); the gatekeepers and temple servants (11:19-21); various officials appointed by the king of Persia (11:22-24); and, the people who lived outside the city (11:25-36). Each served in his respective sphere for the effective operation of the city and the nation. Those who lived outside of the city had to farm the land to provide food for those in the city. Each had a different role, but each role was vital to the entire cause.  

APP:  The same is true with the church here in downtown. We’re just a piece of the puzzle, albeit a significant one and growing in importance every day.  But this is not about a few “priest-types” like me or Eric or Jesse doing it all.  IF this city is to experience the transforming power of Christ, it will take the Bobs and Darla’s with Changing Lives, the Candice and Morgans with children, the Dan and Bills with tech and cleaning and dozens more.  That is going on right now.  A wonderful percentage of our church is actively engaged praying and teaching and mentoring and just making it all happen. 

            But too many are still missing out on the experience.  As we make a move, we’re going to have to increase teams of people.  A bunch of our hard-working Moody students are graduating and moving.  A number of our young, energetic couples are moving to other parts of the country.  We need to be asking God to populate this ministry and church with new workers, fresh followers of Christ. 

            And what you notice still isn’t what it should be around here may just be a symptom of how God has gifted you. What people usually notice is missing in a church often reveals the person’s area of spiritual gift. For example, if a person says, “This isn’t a very caring church,” she is probably gifted in mercy. The one who says, “This church doesn’t emphasize outreach enough” is probably an evangelist. The guy who says, “This church is a disorganized mess” is probably a gifted administrator.

The solution is not for the gifted person to sit around criticizing others for not doing what probably is not their area of gift or shuffling off to have the same experience in the next church down the road.  Rather, each of us needs to get involved in the areas that we think need fixing! The merciful person should help us all become more merciful by showing mercy. The evangelist should show us how to reach the lost. The administrator should help us get organized. God has made us all differently, and we only work as a body when we work in our sphere and affirm others in their sphere.

If you’re like me, you’re tempted to think that what you are doing for the Kingdom of God is really pretty insignificant and probably won’t matter to God.  But here is where God’s kingdom is so different from the way we do business here on earth.  God is all about individuals.  That’s one reason we have these chapters in the Bible. God is clearly saying, “I notice.  I keep track.  I see what your role in this place, in your generation.  I’m taking note of who is actually doing the work that needs to be done in this place. 

            Notice the little hidden commentary in 11:14.  Besides all the heads of families named, this verse notes that there were “mighty men of valor, 128; their overseer was Zabdiel the son of Haggedolim.”    Not 127 or 129.  There were 128!  God was keeping track.  And their names didn’t make it into the short list of Nehemiah.  But they did make it into God’s list.  God saw fit to record these names that mean absolutely nothing to us. But they meant something to God, and that’s what ultimately matters.

            Hebrews 6:10 reminds us, “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” 

            Our city still needs lots of rebuilding.  Every life in this place matters to God.  Every act of kindness, every prayer for someone, every step of faith to become involved in a life needing the transforming power of God is recorded in God’s book.  None of us will be written about or remembered or applauded by our culture or the secular historians.  But, God willing, people all over this city will discover life abundant and eternal in Christ because we are here in this harvest field. 

            So, my last question is, are you in?  Have you made the decision to not only show up but to make the heart of the city where you also “grow up” in giving your life to others?  Are you ready to seed your life, your heart for Christ and your time into the people Jesus died for down here? 

ILL:  Rufus Woods is probably not a name any of us know or remember.  Rufus was a twin, born in the late 1800s to farming parents in a little place called Surprise, Nebraska.  He attended a little one-room schoolhouse and graduated first in his class of 11 students in 1898.  He and his brother moved to the Puget Sound area, finished their college and both became lawyers.  But by 1904, Rufus left the law and moved to Wenatchee. He eventually become a long-term resident and newspaper owner and editor of the Wenatchee Daily World.

            It was through this platform of business that he became instrumental in one of the most important visions and ventures in the state of Washington.  Rufus Woods’s primary goal was to make Wenatchee a livable, prosperous city, attractive to settlement and business. His editorials soon helped bring about Wenatchee’s first sewer system, improved electrification, paved sidewalks, and better local and country roads.

Civic improvement and moral reform remained paramount, as, in Woods’s view, vice did not contribute to prosperity.  In concert with the Commercial Club, the Daily World took on prostitution and liquor in Wenatchee. Though impossible to drive out completely, prostitutes were forced to ply their trade less conspicuously, and in 1909, under the new state local option law, Wenatchee became a dry town. Woods supported the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and refused to run tobacco and beer advertisements in his paper.

            On May 1, 1909, Rufus married a former Nebraska neighbor, Mary Greenslit.  By 1912, they had two children, Wilma and Walter. In the days before mandatory pasteurization, several Wenatchee residents, including their two children, died in July 1913 from drinking tainted milk. The distraught parents left Wenatchee temporarily to travel about Eastern Washington.

            In July of 1918, Woods first published an article talking about an idea that was being proposed by attorney Billy Clapp from Ephrata, Washington—a large dam on the Columbia River that would irrigate the entire Columbia Basin of Washington. Rufus liked the idea so much that he became the primary advocate for the creation of Grand Coolie Dam.  The project would take almost 25 years of his life to bring into reality. 

Initially very few saw any need for increased electrical power. Of course Avista, then Washington Water Power, did not want competition and fought the project. Others foresaw only a glut of power for which there would be no buyers.

Yet from the beginning, Woods was envisioning the need for both water and electricity: “[I]n the 20s, the 30s and the 40s he had repeatedly raised the alarm of ‘power shortage’ and each time he was opposed and scoffed at” (Cleveland, 17).

Then WWII came along and with it the need for the production of aluminum for aircraft needed in the war effort.  The pivotal role that electricity from Grand Coulee played in World War II was one of many evidences proving Woods to have been right. His leadership among a group of regional advocates who dubbed themselves the “Dam University” was critical to our nation’s ultimate success in the war.  

Yet Rufus Woods is hardly known of today in the area of the country he impacted most.  But he was a simple business man running a simple newspaper in a simple little central Washington town who was one more God-fearing businessman who may well have changed the course of world history by changing the little town God had given him a heart for in the heart of our state, Wenatchee. 

APP:  Are you ready to let God change your heart so you can be part of changing the heart of a little town called Spokane?  Are you ready to experience the heart of God in the heart of Spokane? 

            If you are, I’d like you to do one more thing today.  Take the communication tear-off, fill it out and write somewhere on it, “I’m IN!”   Then, sometime before you leave today, drop it in one of the offering boxes as a physical demonstration of a spiritual commitment you are making.  Then get ready for God to change this city and your life. 

Questions for further study and reflection on Nehemiah 11-12

  1. What was probably challenging, even difficult, for the people who were chosen to populate Jerusalem by moving from their home towns?  What blessings might they have encountered in that move?
  2. What is challenging about living in an urban setting?  What are the potential blessings? 
  3. What do you think are the challenges we face actually seeking to BE part of the church IN downtown?  What are the potential advantages?  How can we better capitalize on the advantages while overcoming the challenges? 
  4. Read the following verses and answer the question, “What does God say your “calling” in Jesus Christ is?”  See Romans 1:6,7; I Cor. 1:2,26; Eph. 4:1; Phil. 3:14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 3:1; Jude 1:1.
  5. Has God called you to a particular ministry or people?  How can the church help you be fruitful in that calling?
  6. Think of some follower of Jesus who was relatively unknown but impacted your life for Christ.  What made them significant as someone used of God in your life?
  7. How can we know where God wants us to live?  What should be the priorities and issues that determine that?
  8. What were some of the heart characteristics and actions of the people mentioned in these two chapters that made Jerusalem a great place to live again?  How could we as a church cultivate those same actions and hearts?