UNDER CONSTRUCTION I external opposition

Amen. How are we doing saw company? Derek and I were arguing, it's whether or not I was an older brother figure or a dad figure. Derek said I was a dad figure. I am not that old. None of you could be my children. I am 39. But we'll go with like Uncle. Can we go there? Middle ground? Uncle? Call me Uncle. Yeah. That works. Like Derek said, I am the lead pastor of Embassy Church. The assault company is the college ministry of Embassy Church. If you've never joined us on a Sunday morning, usually that's where I am. On the state Sunday mornings, Derek's usually here on Thursday nights. Consider this my personal invitation to you. My personal invitation to you, even if we've never met, is come join us on a Sunday morning. Obviously not this Sunday. We won't be here at 9 or 10 or 30. But at Embassy we really believe that the generations need each other. We really believe that the next generation, which is you guys, you all need older generations. You need to get around people who are a stage of life or two stages of life or three stages of life. Maybe a few steps of maturity older than you. And you need to see what it looks like to walk a Jesus for a lifetime. That was unbelievably impactful for me when I was a college student at LSU. Getting around men that just led their families well. Women that led their business as well, men that led, frankly, the state and our federal government well because we have politicians in our church, and just go men. Like, following Jesus is so much more than this four year thing, and it's so awesome to be able to see people stages of life and steps of maturity ahead. So my encouragement to you, my invitation to you, is join us, and it's not just because I think you guys need older generations, I think the older generation needs you guys. So if I can say this and not sound desperate, we need you. I need you, okay, man, y'all's passion, right, your energy, your zeal, especially those of you all that are just starting to walk with you for the first time. I love coming in rooms like this because it's such a reminder of just seasons of my life where man, the Bible just seems so rich and real to me, and God's promises seem so true and so real to me. And so that's the beauty of the church, the multi-generation expression of the community of God. And so if you've never joined us on Sunday, we'd love to have you consider that my personal invitation. If you've got a Bible, Nehemiah chapter four, that's what we're going to be. So you can make your way there. If you're new to the Bible, go ahead, take out your phone, download a Bible app, don't be shy about asking the table of contents for directions. If this is your first night at Salt Company, don't worry, I will catch you up. Nehemiah is a book that we've been looking at for the past few weeks on Thursday nights. And tonight we're going to look at, again, chapter four, chapter four of 13. So we're still kind of in the beginning part of this story, and I want to make sure not only do we understand where we're at in the story of Nehemiah, but we understand where the story Nehemiah is at in the larger story of the Bible. Okay? Nehemiah is a historical book, okay? Historical book, the Bible is consists of 66 books, but we think it tells one story from start to finish, okay? And in this big grand story, God story, Nehemiah in the book right before Ezra, tell a really compelling story, okay? A story of post-exilic Judah coming back to a homeland that's just broken down and trying to rebuild, okay? 586 BC, Babylon Empire comes in and wipes out Jerusalem, all right? This is just this history, okay? I don't know if you, this isn't Western, so this is the Eastern sieve, okay? And then the Persians wipe out the Babylonians and then God uses that as an opportunity to allow a remnant to come back and rebuild from the rubble, okay? And so in our Bible's Ezra Nehemiah two separate books, that's not how originally was, there are one story, Ezra Nehemiah picks up about a half century, 50 years after this just apocalyptic event where the, again, the Babylonians come in and just rip stone after stone, after stone down in Jerusalem, tear that city to shreds, they cart off anything worth taking, okay? That's not just money, but people and everything else is just burned with fire. And so when we get Ezra Nehemiah, we're getting the rebuilding efforts and there's three ways in the story of Ezra Nehemiah, led by three leaders, okay? Zarubabel, Ezra, and then Nehemiah, Zarubabel has talked about in Ezra one through six, he leaves this initial wave back to Jerusalem, okay? Reconstructing the temple, Ezra comes back, teaches God's word and builds community, right? So it's not just the physical rebuilding but the spiritual rebuilding. And then we get Nehemiah, and Nehemiah one through seven really talks about Nehemiah's massive task of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem, okay? And so what we're gonna look at in Nehemiah chapter four is really the opposition that Nehemiah faces in that task, okay? The opposition that Nehemiah and the returning remnant face in their efforts to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, and I want us to see opposition on two fronts, okay? And so if you're a notetaker, you're gonna see the internal discouragement that Nehemiah and this remnant face in this first part of Nehemiah chapter four, and then this external distraction, okay? Because opposition, as we normally think about it, is external. But you and I both know, and especially you as the younger generation, man, so much of his internal, so much of his what happens up here, the narrative that we tell ourselves. And we see that in this passage like Nehemiah. So what I wanna do again is look at this dramatic part of the story of Nehemiah, the opposition that they face, and I want us to see ultimately that the rebuilding of these ancient walls actually does have a lot to say about the reconstruction of our modern lives, okay? You guys are 18 to 22. By that simple fact, being in this room, you are under construction. You are building your life as your uncle, I want you to build it well. I really do. I want you to build on a solid foundation. I wanna run into you 25 years from now at Kroger, pick one, ghetto country, I don't know. But we're gonna run into each other and you're gonna reintroduce yourself. I'm gonna act like I remember you and I want you to be like, dude, still walking with the Lord. God has blessed me, I mentally walk through a lot of stuff, but like I can't imagine what my life would be, had I not continue to grow in the foundation I learned at Salt Company. So just 18 to 22, you are building your lives here. If you are a Christian in here, you're definitely under construction, right? The spirit of God is working in your life. He is changing things in your life. Some of that might be pretty painful right now, but it's for your good. And believe it or not, Nehemiah chapter four, and all that history lesson that don't crit just gave us has something to say about how God is reconstructing or wants to reconstruct your life and help you face the opposition that you're gonna face if you let God really do His work. Okay? So this is Nehemiah chapter four. Let's just look at verse one through six real quick and look at the internal discouragement. Okay? It reads this, when Sambalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, and this is Nehemiah writing, he became furious. He mocked the Jews before his colleagues, the powerful men of Samaria, and said, "What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from mount to rubble? If you highlight in your Bible, highlight that line, we're gonna come back to it." And Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, "Indeed, even if a fox climbed up, what they are building, he would break down their stone wall." Okay? So again, Nehemiah is leading the task to rebuild the wall Jerusalem. Their traditional enemies don't want this to happen, okay? They're actively working to prevent this. Jerusalem being rebuilt was a threat to these other powers and influences in the region. And they're insulting Nehemiah, they're insulting the remnants, that's what all these questions are. They're just talking smack. Okay? They call them pathetic in verse two. They scoff at the idea that they're even able to rebuild the walls because the idea that we get in this text is that it's so impossible of a task they would need divine help to accomplish it. Right? That's what they talk about. Will they offer sacrifices, going like, "Man, they can't do it on their own, they're going to need some divine being to help them?" They describe it as such a crazy thing to attempt when they ask the question, "Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from mounds of rubble?" I.e., there's nothing left standing from the utter destruction of the Babylonians, nothing but burnt stones and mounds of rubble. Now Derek mentioned this a few weeks ago, at least I think he did, Sully might have, but it's worth reiterating, okay? A city without walls in the ancient world will be like a house without doors in the modern one. Alright, I want you to just think about this for a second. Imagine I came to your house, your apartment, your dorm tonight. I roll up my four runner, I got my power drill, I'm a walker. and I just start taking doors off, okay, every door, not just external doors, internal doors, we're talking a bedroom door, we're talking bathroom door, and I just drove away. Like imagine trying to sleep tonight with no doors on your house, like pretty creepy, right? And then imagine like going a week which is like no doors on your house. I'm talking like no external doors, no front door, no back door, no bedroom doors, right? If you live with bros, you know you're getting wet-willed, like it's just, do y'all do that anymore? I don't know, that was like a thing when I was eight. Anyway, stick to my notes. I don't care how how safe you feel in your house, so safe your neighborhood feels or your campus area. If you don't have doors on your house, it's extremely vulnerable. City walls provided the protection, and in the case of Jerusalem, it had no walls, therefore no protection, therefore highly vulnerable. So I want you to get the feel of what the remnants feeling, okay? Everything is absolutely destroyed, and they're an unbelievable danger. Everything 50 years ago was deported, that was of any value, its wealth, taken, its people taken, deported, everything else destroyed, burnt stones and heaps of rubble. And so when God provides a way for the Exiles to return and start over, the task performed is immense, and they're not given this luxury of like nicely-corried stones, like they're going to pick out burnt stones and mounds of rubble to rebuild a wall. So I want you to imagine, maybe it's you standing in the midst of these burnt stones. What do you feel? Let's just pick a word, overwhelmed, overwhelmed at the work in front of you. We felt that feeling, it's college students, right? Exam's finals, we felt overwhelmed. Imagine having a task in front of you, that is so impossible, you're getting mocked for it, that you would even try, because it takes a God to do it, and then if you don't do it, it might cost you your life. That's where Nehemiah and the Rim Interact. Verse 10 gives us a saying in that day to show just how overwhelmed they felt. The strength of the labor of fails, since there's so much rubble, we will never be able to rebuild the wall. It's just, this is impossible. What have we got ourselves into? I can't do this. I'm not built for this. And what I want you to hear is just the internal opposition that yes, it's prodded and pushed by external ridicule, but the internal opposition that Nehemiah and the Rim Interact are probably just battling in their minds. This battle, this internal narrative that they're listening to going, this is not possible. And again I, I, I know that every single person in this room can resonate with that voice. Now bad things get worse. Look at verse 7. We're told in verse 7 that, "Sambalat Vaya, the Arabs, the Aminites, the Ashtadites, heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing. The gaps were being closed. They become furious. They plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion." And then down in verse 11 says our enemy said they won't realize it until we're among them and can kill them and stop the work. So to make matters worse, what gets added to the internal discouragement is external distraction. All right, we're told. Again that even more of the Jews surrounding enemies pile in. They don't want Jerusalem rebuilt. They want to stop it before it starts. They want to fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion. They want to kill them and stop the work. Again this is existential for the survival of the Remnant. And the main point is stopping the work, right? It's throwing it into confusion. Even the threat stops the work and keeps them in an unbelievably vulnerable situation. Opposition on two fronts. Internally every single person here is fighting discouragement. And being ridiculed for even trying. And then externally they're in danger of being overrun. Now what do Nehemiah and the Remnant doing response? This is an awesome paragraph. Awesome paragraph. Look at verse 15 says when our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated every one of us returned to his own work in the wall. From that day on half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. That's awesome. The officers supported all the people of Judah who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads, listened to this, worked with one hand and held a weapon with another. Each of the builders had a sword strapped around his waist while he was building. Verse 21. So we continue the work while half the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out. In verse 23 and I, my brothers, my servants and the men of the guard with me never took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon even when washing. How awesome is that paragraph? I mean I'm jacked up. I mean look we're going to wrestle after this. You know we're going to have boxing matches. We're going to fight. I don't know. I'm pumped. I'm just kidding. I'm old. I pull a hammy. But isn't that legit? Facing opposition, facing this unbelievably overwhelming task in front of them. Imagine the internal discouragement. Imagine the external just fear, their fear of feeling. And Nehemiah and the remnant respond going, hey we're doubling down. We're doubling down. All right we're told everyone did something that half worked while half stood watched. We're told that that half held a trowel in one hand and a sword and another, right? A trowel like, like think of like small like shovel, right? To kind of like spread mortar as you stack stone after stone after stone. Because if you're going to be overrun you want to pick up a sword, right? But if you don't hold a trowel and you don't face the work, you're going to be holding a sword for a very long time. Because if you don't get the wall built, you're in danger. So Nehemiah's going to be doubling down. Everybody all in all the time. Verse 21 and 23 tells they worked around the clock. They didn't even put their weapons down when they washed. It tells us that their sword was their lovey. They slept with it. Like my kids sleeps with the bunny. They slept with their sword. Like that's awesome. Here's what I don't want you to miss that Nehemiah and the remnant with him persevere in the face of opposition, internal and external by looking to and leaning on God and one another. But do you see just the interdependence? Obviously, you see the one another, right? Whether it's like, look, we're all in. Everybody's doing something. If I'm working, you're watching. If you're watching, I'm working. Heck, I'm going to hold a sword in a trowel and I'm just I'm building a wall and I'm ready to fight. But don't you see their dependence on God in this entire endeavor? Like in the midst of the opposition, you see that they ultimately are just leaning on God. Flip your Bible page. Look at chapter six and Derek might cover this next week, but you see kind of the the conclusion of the building of the wall. Look at verse 15. At the start of our chapter in chapter four, let me remind you that mockingly their enemies are saying that they're attempt to rebuild the wall would take a God. That the birthstones and heaps of rubble were so impossible to use to rebuild that God himself would have to help them and look at me in my 615. This is how it closes out. The wall was completed in 52 days. That is astounding. Verse 16, "When all our enemies heard this, all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence for they realized this task had been accomplished by our God." That's not possible. It shouldn't work that way. Somehow, some way got empowered them to accomplish the task. And this is just great narrative writing, right? If you read the story in its context and in its flow, it's the enemies or excuse me it's the Jews that are intimidated, the Jews that have lost their confidence in the face of opposition. And now here when they finish the job, it's their enemies. Because their enemies realized the task has been accomplished by God that God had been working and empowering Nehemiah and the surviving remnant all along. All right, application. Kriter, "Unc, what does Nehemiah chapter four in this ancient wall have to do with us today?" I've already teased it a little bit, but again we've We've called this series Neomaya under construction because, again, I think the principles that we see in this book Talking about ancient walls absolutely can be applied to modern selves In this chapter There's an unbelievable encouragement For what we do when we've been given a task from God and we face opposition Okay, so some of you already are going Manak, absolutely that hits home. I resonate with that some of you are like, nah So isn't it home? Let me just apply it more generally and this is where I just want to talk about this I'm going to use a big theological term this idea of sanctification Okay, this process of progressive holiness if you are a Christian in here you have been justified When you put your faith in Christ because of what he did Right, that means the penalty of sin has been dealt with sanctification Is what the spirit of Jesus is doing in your life now dealing with the power of sin You are under construction You are being rebuilt you are being renovated Because God is trying to make you into something suitable for him to dwell in And that's what the church is it's a bunch of people under renovation under construction which is why the church is so freaking messed up Right, there's no perfect people in embassy church. You walk in you're like they're in here Man if I start confessing my sin to you guys would just be appalled This is Ephesians 2 19 through 22 talking about the role of the spirit in our lives sanctifying us the reconstruction that we're under The Apostle Paul writes it this way to these new believers in The city of Ephesus when he tells them you're no longer foreigners and strangers your fellow citizens With the saints with the members of God's household Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone Listen to this in verse 21 and 22 In him the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in him You are also being built together for God's dwelling in the spirit Isn't that an incredible picture? That what we get in Ezra and Nehemiah is a rebuilding of of Temple and city and walls because God's purpose has always been to dwell with his people That's what we see all the way back in Genesis But sin messes that up and so there's a problem. How do you get a holy God and the sinful people together? And so all through Genesis the revelation There's this theme that runs through it the tabernacle ties into it the temple ties into it and then when you get to the new covenant We're seeing how the church fits into it That those who are in Christ Not holy in any in any way shape or form of anything of myself or ourselves But in him we can have a relationship with the holy God and God puts his spirit in us And little by little from the inside transforms us Rebuilds us See us Lewis and mere Christianity gives a great analogy using this imagery. I'm going to read a quote for us He says this If you've never read mere Christianity put on your list This is like do you have Thanksgiving reading? I know you have kind of Christmas reading but read it great book He says this he says imagine yourself as the living house God comes in to rebuild that house at first perhaps you can understand what he's doing He's getting the drains right stopping the leaks and the roof and so on You knew that those jobs needed doing so you're not surprised But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts Abominably and does not seem to make any sense What on earth is he up to the explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of Throwing out a new wing here putting on an extra floor there running up towers making courtyards you thought You were going to be made into a decent little cottage But he is building a palace. He intends to come and live it in it himself So come here do you understand the unbelievable reality of What the scriptures tell us That because what Jesus Christ has done on the cross he's made a way for you to be right with God But beyond just dealing with the penalty of sin. He's addressing the power of sin in your life To make you fit To be in relationship with the King of the universe is that not unbelievable? That you and I are under construction that he is building us up And to something greater and grander than ourselves doesn't it take some pressure off That you and I are just one little brick in a tiny big wall And nobody's coming to see us But the God that dwells amongst us amen So a few things to stand on As God rebuilds your life to make you fit for him I Don't want you to be surprised when you face opposition. I don't want you to be surprised When there's external opposition Right when this world doesn't support what you stand for when standing for the name of Jesus Christ Costs you some social capital when speaking up from what's right maybe cost you that promotion down the road When saying what's true hopefully in love Isn't really received well, but I also don't you want you to be surprised when you face internal opposition When you're in a monologue from some external external source Says things over you that that really aren't true Because they really aren't informed by the very word of God If we're honest most of us listen to ourselves too much and Maybe what I want you to hear tonight so company for some of you is like you need to talk to yourself more And you need to speak over yourself what God says about you Because your internal monologue is not again informed by this Truth it's informed by things that your dad said that you still can't let go Things that your mom spoke over you that you still can't forget things that that person Sheldon That just resound and resound and resound And God wants to do things in your life. He wants to transform a life. He wants to use you But there's internal opposition and you can't quiet First Peter to Gives us a similar passage Let me read it for us It possibly Peter picking up the same imagery says as you come to him a living stone speaking of Jesus rejected by people But chosen and honored by God you yourselves as living stones a spiritual house are being built to be a holy priesthood To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Here's how I want to close And only his first Peter to instead of Ephesians to because I love the language of living stone speaking to Jesus I just want you to think about it Living stone rejected by people but chosen and honored by God It's Jesus Christ Who's rejected so that you and I could be accepted? And the scriptures calling the chief cornerstone the one on whom all things will rest My question for you if you're in here tonight and you're curious not yet a Christian you don't know Where you really stand your relationship with Christ is what foundation are you building on? And if it's not Christ In the most loving way I want you to hear it is unbelievably shaky and it won't hold up You need something sturdier to build your life upon. And you're going to earn it? You certainly don't deserve it. The good news of the gospel is it's a free gift and you just receive it. You receive it with an "I'm sorry" and a "thank you" or their "pentance and a belief." A humbling of yourself before Lord Jesus Christ. Your trust in what he's done, if you are a Christian in here, God is doing a work in your life and you're going to face opposition. If you haven't already, especially when you get out of the greenhouse that is college ministry, and you're like, "What? It's cold out here, the real world." The things I hate to hear as a lead pastor, I definitely hate to hear as a college pastor, the stories of former leaders, former students, that would leave our college ministry and the cares of this world would just strangle out their love for the Lord. Go out. I want you to be prepared for what you're going to face and I want you to respond with faith. I want you to think about the burnt stone in the mound of rubble that God's bringing back to life in Nehemiah 4, because like you and I are not Nehemiah in this story. So I'm not saying let's hold him up as the hero, let's do like he did. Like if we're anything in this story, we're the burnt stones in the mound of rubble and somehow some way God in his grace has picked you out and wants to use you and me to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, a dwelling place for the very king of the universe. What a privilege. Opposition seeks to discourage you, opposition seeks to distract you. It doesn't have to destroy the work of God in your life, it just has to give in to you to stop working with them in it. Don't let it. I'm a pray force and then we can sing all the songs that are right and good and true, but who God is. Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you, we thank you for your word that even something like this recounting of a remnant returning and opposition that they face can just point us to Christ, point us to the hope that we have because of what he's done. Pray for the privates that it is to be a part of your church, your family, not because we are anything, but because Christ is everything, not because we bring anything to the table and because of your grace and so we just praise you, we praise you for what he's done, pray for this room, I pray that you would just work and move in power, that your spirit would work and move in power and every single man and woman in here. For those that don't know you are not certain that their sins have been forgiven, that don't have the security that Christ is for them, I pray that that would change tonight, that would they would take a step of faith and be forever changed. For those that are yours, that have deep security in that, I pray that you would strengthen them, you would grow them, you would mature them, you would make salt company Indiana University, a beautiful, beautiful picture of who you are as you build us up. Thank you that you are working on us, that we are, or you are not finished in probably things, in authority and power and the name of Jesus, amen.