Nehemiah 7

How many of you when you’ve finished watching a great movie, take any notice of the credits at the conclusion? The Producers, the Directors, the main actors of course, right through to who provided the lunch, made the coffee, did the haircuts and makeup and swept the floor? They’re called credits for a reason because the people who made the movie want to acknowledge the efforts and input of those people who made the movie possible.

Similarly I think of an event like a memorial/remembrance service like Anzac Day, and there are many other examples, but at the centre of these events are men and women who have lived and died…when we read those long lists of names at War Memorial sites, there are many whose names, titles and roles might to us be inconspicuous or even insignificant, but many nonetheless who were formative and foundational to what we have today and how we live.

I know the last time I went to an ANZAC service I was determined to listen to every name that was read out. Because to someone, that name meant (or means?) something.

The specific names of families and descendants and numbers of them in Neh. 7, mean something?

There’s probably a few us who haven’t paid much attention to some chapters in the bible because they’re “just lists of names”, like in Numbers, in Ezra, Neh 3 and here in Nehemiah 7, like I’ll skip these chapters and move onto the meaty stuff. I was tempted to miss out chapter 7 until God showed me otherwise,

So why repeat a list here that’s similar to Ezra 2 and Neh. 3, what’s the place and point of this list of people in connection to the completion of the wall?

In Ezra, the purpose of the list was religious and cultural.  It was about determining who was a Jew. Which is what you would expect from a religious leader like Ezra.  Nehemiah’s list serves a different purpose….that purpose was Practical and Spiritual

Practical: “Who is available to repopulate the city and to provide resources for temple worship?”…the wall was complete, they needed people to come and build their houses and live in the city and contribute their time and finances

Spiritual: “who is available to be part of the spiritual reformation, and of what God is building?

The city needed committed people and leaders to become, again, all that God intended it to be. A holy people, set apart for him. His city, his people fully devoted to him.

Therefore Ch. 7 serves as a demarcation between the wall rebuild and Jerusalem’s spiritual rebuild. He uses this list (record) as part of a registration process to instil in the people a reminder of their role and identity as God’s people and to encourage them to fulfil their responsibilities in light of this identity.

And what follows is a 7-day worship, revival service, and 24-day spiritual retreat (note: 8:2 & 9:1)…

…pretty serious ‘church’ commitment, eh?! God certainly had done and does his part, but it was to the people to put God first, to make their commitment, for Jerusalem to be all it could be for God.

A Place for Everyone

Nehemiah wasn’t digging up old antiquated historical facts for no purpose, he was affirming the place the purpose and the importance of these people and their families in what was ahead for them as a people of God. He knew that there was no way that he could be standing looking at a completed wall, apart from all the work and the foundation that had gone before him.

We know absolutely nothing about Ziha, Keros, Sia, Mehida and Hatipha. But their names with others aren’t just filling useless space in the scriptures, each of them was important, significant, part of the heritage that built the wall, and we could say the story of God.

There are only a handful of people in this church who have been here from the beginning.

Gordon Finlay, Roy Davis, David & Elizabeth Snook, David McMillan, Peter Belchamber …now lives in Cambridge and Joyce Grimmer (nee Holland) who lives in Tauranga.

And a lot has changed over the years. A lot of names and faces have passed through here. Some we remember and some we don’t. But the Lord has used each one to contribute something to where we are today.  So I want to acknowledge in the context of this passage the work, the mission, the prayer, and the worship of God of all the people that laid the foundation for this present moment.

Where are we today? Now, reaping the benefits of the hard work, the discipleship and prayer of others and the work of God at the centre of all that…where are we today? We are looking forward with great anticipation, in faith, seeking the vision and purposes of God for what he wants us to do in this city…

…God certainly at work doing his part, what’s our part?

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says…But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:22f)

What does God bless? God blesses obedience

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Rom. 12:1)

What pleases God? Sacrifice. Giving ourselves to God costs us something.

Because we know what was ahead we know what Nehemiah intended here, He was essentially putting the call out: ‘who is available to be a part of what God is building’…God had put it in his heart to assemble all the people in preparation for what was ahead!

…who is going to step up? Who will “choose this day whom you will serve”? Obey…???

You see the worth of what we do for God is not determined by who knows about it, but it is determined by our faithfulness and obedience in it (Legge)

It’s a big thing, our availability, but should it be?

Our availability is determined by our willingness to obey, not by what we think we can’t do or what we can’t offer or what we’re not gifted or skilled in.

Yes, we want to be able to place people in the areas of their gifting and skill and see this body operating in the spiritual gifts, functioning at its best, but there will be a place and a space for everyone.

…this is a place where you matter, where what you can bring and give matters, (P) you are not just a name, on a page, that means little!

1 Cor. 12:12f – “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…. ¹³ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many….God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body….²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. ….²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

 

Rom 12:4f – ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

We as a church are strong when we are individually strong in the Lord, we are strong when each one of us is contributing and serving and bringing our gifts and strengths to bear in the life and ministry of the church…not one of us is insignificant. Widow, widower, single, married, children, young people, families…

…if you are someone who says “I don’t have much to offer” I would love the opportunity to work with you to find your place…

Jesus said: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matt. 16:18)

You know what Jesus said then, is still active today?! Not just a name in a directory, or on a list, but part of his church, that he is building.

I want to drive home the authority of Jesus’ promise here. God’s mission for us is not ultimately dependent on us. It is ultimately dependent on the power and wisdom and faithfulness of the risen and living Christ to do what he said he will do and is doing.

It isn’t Ross “You build my church.” Or, “Gaylene, you build my church.” Or, “Alan you will build my church.”

BUT IT IS, Ross you GO, you love others….see it’s not apart from us he builds, it’s in us, through us, through our obedience, and our giving ourselves away to him.

So what could be seen as a chapter that doesn’t mean much is text that actually means a lot. These are people and groups of people significant to the story of the spiritual rebuild of God’s people.

You, us, we are people significant to what God is building here.