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"Let Us Arise and Build" Nehemiah #5

by The Rev. Clancy Nixon

November 3, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

So far in our teaching series from the book of Nehemiah, we have been looking at

how the book of Nehemiah applies to our lives as individuals. We've learned about how

one individual in 445 B.C., Nehemiah from Susa in Persia, responded to the bad news

that the wall in Jerusalem was in tatters. God gave Nehemiah a vision for approaching the

king for help in building the wall, and God gave him a plan for building it. Last week we

learned that God knows how to accomplish our vision long before we do. We leaned that

Nehemiah had to inspect the wall before he could finalize his plans for rebuilding it. We

have focused on how Nehemiah's life lessons apply to us as individuals, as we consider

the broken down walls in our own lives: things like our marriages; our frustrations and

need for prayer and patience; our personal finances; and our own dreams for our future as

individuals. Now we are going to consider some ways that these and other lessons from

apply to us corporately, as Church of the Holy Spirit.

Like Nehemiah did around Jerusalem in Nehemiah Chapter 2, I'd like us to

consider the walls of protection around CHS. In chapter 3 verse 13, we learn that "Hanun

and the residents of Zanoah repaired five hundred yards of wall as far as the Dung Gate."

Five hundred yards of wall would be too much to rebuild from scratch in just fifty-two

days, so we conclude that much of the wall must have remained intact. In the same way,

much of our original wall of protection here at CHS stands strong. Many of the old

things about us remain in place. We have not changed our commitment to the absolute

truth and authority of the Scriptures, nor to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We have not

changed our focus on family ministries as a bulwark ministry to children, youth,

marriages, women and men. We have not changed our commitment to discipleship in

small groups and mentoring, and two thirds of our people are now involved in these. The

Nixons have not changed our commitment to staying here at CHS both to rebuild the

walls, and to enlarge our territory.

Notice how each working group stands shoulder to shoulder with the next group.

They work together in small groups, and each group encourages the next one down the

wall. Many verses begin like verse 24, "Next to him stood ... Binnui son of Henadad" or

some such obscure name. Binnui may be obscure to us, but not to God! He is on God's

Honor Roll. Notice verse 1, Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests work on the

sheep gate and the Tower of the Hundred, which are right outside the Temple where they

work. Over in verse 23 on the next page, you see Benjamin and Hasshub making repairs

in front of their own house. As long as each one works on the section of wall that is in

front of him, the section that he is most deeply concerned about, nearest his home or

work; and as long as they follow the same master vision of a walled and protected

Jerusalem, then the heavenly Jerusalem is built as well. Halleluiah!

Unfortunately, Eliashib the High Priest did not remain true to his calling. Later he

allied with the enemy and created serious problems for Nehemiah, which you can read

about in chapter 13. This is a lesson for us that some people who enthusiastically begin

the work in a particular place may drop out or turn against it. Others are called to

different works elsewhere. Here at CHS, we have had our share of those who have not

continued the work here. As we left the Episcopal Church in February, we left Egypt with

expectancy. We had all hoped to enter the Promised Land forthwith, but instead, we

incurred losses in our numbers that have felt a bit like wandering in the wilderness for

several months. We give our blessing to those who leave to work in other vineyards to

build the kingdom of God. As long as we are clear about our call to this community, and

remain focused on the task of building here, we will be as bricks in the wall around Zion.

As we celebrate the Sunday closest to All Saints Day, I want to honor a steadfast

saint among us who is solid as a brick in the wall of God's Kingdom among us. Many of

you recognize Tony Lutyk because he occasionally sings in the Praise Band. Did you

know that he gives fifteen hours a week in ministries here? He is a volunteer Youth

Pastor; he has started a Youth Band; he mentors my son Sam, and is mentored by Zoran

Zaev. His career plans have recently changed from becoming a lawyer to going into

ministry. Tony is away this weekend ministering to our senior high on Retreat. Tony is

helping to build the wall higher every day. He is a stone in the wall and a bricklayer; he is

a saint! Let's hear it for Stonewall Tony and his parents who raised him right, Chris and

Nora. [clap]

As we survey the walls, let's look at some new things that are working well. Our

community has not been satisfied to simply rebuild; we are building anew. If you agree

with these statements, I'd like to ask you to say "Amen!" after each one. Our new

affiliation has secured the foundations of our wall and secured our identity. "Amen!" We

love our new Bishop Ben and his wife Lovey. "Amen!" Our new staff Amir, Jackie and

Jan - have strengthened us. "Amen!" I am experiencing a new freedom in the pulpit and

people are responding well to the word preached. "Amen!" We are raising new money

for a permanent facility. "Amen!" While we have experienced great turnover, our new

people have picked up trowels and begun laying bricks. "Amen!" Our new intercessor's

group is praying weekly for our church, for all the people in it, and for revival in

Loudoun. "Amen!" We showed new boldness in taking teenagers to Uganda on mission

this summer, and saw huge evangelistic fruit. "Amen!" Our new Christian Book Club

and new women's small groups have been encouragements for those who have

participated. "Amen!"

While many things that we have done have indeed honored God and are working

well here at CHS, some gaps in the wall have become noticeable. I'd like to talk about

one gap this morning: our corporate evangelism ministries to adults.

As a church, we have had two groups of people we are trying to reach. We want

to reach mature believers - both evangelicals and charismatics; and we want to reach

people who are far from Christ. Our Sunday morning worship service is designed to

reach believers, to feed believers, and to equip believers. When we ran Alpha, it was our

main programmatic vehicle for reaching seekers.

For the current gap in our corporate evangelism wall, God is responsible. Really!

In our first 4 years, we have been privileged to see scores of adults in Loudoun become

saved, commit their lives to Christ, and be equipped for ministry. Praise God! I believe

that God pulled the plug on our Alpha a year ago in order to prune us as a body, to draw

us closer to Him, and to save several of us from burnout. Amir's outreaches to teenagers

through Young Life, our teen mission to Uganda and our VBS last summer have focused

on reaching younger people for Christ, and we have seen much fruit from those. Yet for

the last year, we have not had a corporate approach specifically geared to evangelism of

adults in Loudoun. While our individual evangelistic efforts have continued to bear fruit,

I believe that God is now calling together an Evangelism Core Group to discern next

steps for a corporate evangelistic strategy for our Church, and to help implement it. If

you are interested in picking up a brick and helping that group, I want to ask you to write

that interest on the tear-off response card and turn in with your offering this morning.

Nehemiah was a great visionary who had great faith in a great God, but he would

have accomplished very little without the great dedication of the people who rebuilt the

wall. Nehemiah gave all the credit to the people when he wrote, in chapter 4 verse 6, "So

we built the Wall...for the people had a mind to work." The work of building the holy

city - whether Zion is built in Judah or in Loudoun County - is the work of the people

together. British humorist Jerome K. Jerome said, "I like work, it fascinates me. I can sit

and look at it for hours." [pause] Warren Wiersbe wrote that "[w]hen it comes to the

work of the Lord, there is no place for spectators or self-appointed advisors and critics;

but there is always room for workers." (Wiersbe, Be Determined)

One thing you can't miss in Nehemiah is how everyone came together to do the

work - both the residents of the city, and the people of the surrounding countryside. Well,

almost everyone. In Nehemiah 3:5, we read that the nobles of Tekoa did not work. The

people of Tekoa worked on two places on the wall, but the nobles refused to work in even

one place. Perhaps they thought themselves too refined to get their hands dirty. Paul was

a tentmaker and Jesus was a carpenter. What do we do about those who will not work?

Paul's instruction to the Thessalonians was taken up by John Smith in the early hungry

days of Jamestown, which included several noblemen among the first colonists "If

anyone does not work, he will not eat." (2 Thess. 3:10) In the work of building the

church today, it looks like the stakes are not nearly so high the survival of the

community is not at stake. But look again. The glory of God is at stake, both here in

Ashburn, and in our culture. What troubled Nehemiah about the broken down walls was

not the lack of security for her inhabitants, but rather that Jerusalem was meant to be a

light to the nations in order to show the glory of God, and its broken down condition was

instead a reproach to the Name of the Lord. It's all about the glory of God. Edmund

Burke said, "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." At

CHS today, we do not have idle ones who depend on others to feed them; but we do have

a few who are idle in the work of the Lord.

The truth is, we need you to help in the great work of building the Kingdom!

Our culture today mostly ignores the church, unless it is to reproach her by making

headlines about the sins of her leaders on the eve of elections. Some people say, if your

God is so strong, then why are the people of God so weak? I love the way that the people

of Jerusalem responded to Nehemiah's please for help when the people of God were

weak. Nehemiah 2:18, in the King James Version has them saying, "Let us arise and

build!" Then Nehemiah tells us, "So they began this good work." Our answer to our

critics today is not to despair; our answer is not to get defensive; our answer is, or ought

to be, "Let us arise and build!" Let's say that together "Let us arise and build!" Hand me

another brick.

On All Saints Day, we do not recognize only the men and women which the

Roman church calls saints, but rather, we celebrate the work of all the people of God, you

and I, whom the Bible calls saints. Tell your neighbor that now say, "You're a saint!"

We are both sinners and saints. One of us is known as Crispin, a humble workingman, a

cobbler who evangelized France and was martyred in Rome. His day occasioned a day

off from work for Englishmen at home. Shakespeare imagined that Henry the Fifth said

these words on the eve of his battle at Agincourt:

"We few; we happy few; we band of brothers. For he that sheds his blood today

with me shall be my brother; be he ever so humble, this day shall make noble his

condition. And gentlemen in England now in bed shall think themselves accursed they

were not here, and consider their manhoods cheap while anyone speaks that fought with

us upon Saint Crispin's Day."

Let us arise and build, for the glory of God. Amen?