Harbor Church - Mid City

Neh. 12—Building a Great City (Through People)

Mid-City 12/12/10

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So here we are on our 4^th major list of names in the book of Nehemiah. We preached through one in chapter 7, 10, 11, and now. Our Scripture readers—man. They’ve probably been waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with some of these names running through their head. They don’t just give you Tom, Dick, and Harry in the book

of Nehemiah, you gotta get hooked on phonics to make it through.

But besides the issue of pronuniciation, here is the bigger question: why in the world does God keep inserting these long list of names into the Bible? Here is one thing we know for sure: God didn’t have an editor from Zondervan working with him. If so, the book of Nehemiah never would have gone to print. Can you imagine the conversation, “Listen, God, we actually want people to buy this book. We’re looking for page-turners. You’re killing me with these list of unpronounceable names that you keep throwing into your work.”

The question is why. Why did God think these list of names was important enough to include in the Bible. Remember 2 Tim. 3:16, “All Scripture…All Scripture…including these lists of names God keeps throwing at you in Nehemiah, is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, and correcting and training you up in the way of righteousness.” So, why. Why does God keep including lists? I am going to give you one reason:

(1) Because God exalts those who humble themselves under Him

I Pet. 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” Remember, let Scripture interpret Scripture.

These 4 lists all provide names of people who have humbled themselves under God’s hand. How? They took a risk with their life. They said, “We could keep living here in Babylon. It is safe and secure, but safety and security isn’t what God has called us to be about. So they risked life and limb, and not just their own, but the life and limbs of their entire family to go and see the great city of Jerusalem restored. His purposes became their purposes and that is the essence of humility. And God says, “As a result, I will exalt them. I want everyday, ordinary folks to be remembered for all of human history b/c they put their trust in me.

If you look at the text, you see that v1-7 give list of priest & v8-9 of Levites relating to first return and rebuilding effort in 538 BC under Zerubbabel. See v1 says these were the priests who returned with Zerubbabel—Zerubbabel was like the 1^st Nehemiah. Jeshua, who is mentioned at the end of v1, was the high priest for Zerubbabel. But, as I have mentioned to you, that rebuilding effort failed. Nehemiah comes along in 445 BC (a little less than a hundred years later).

v12-21 is a list of priests, & verses 24-25 includes Levites, from the time of Joiakim. See how v12 says in the days of Joiakim. Remember the high priest of the first return was Jeshua, now Jeshua’s son (Joiakim) is the high priest leading the generation after Zerubbabel) who came and tried another rebuilding effort. I’ve been telling you all along that there were these series of rebuilding efforts that were crushed---now you’re getting their names. God is saying, “Those people that labored, those people that worked for renewal and revival for the last century, they mattered. And I am going to exalt them by printing their names in the Bible.”

Those of you in the military, you get why God is doing this. You know how to honor those who have sacrificed their lives. One of my personal favorites is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. It is a wall with 58, 175 men who were either killed in action or missing in action when the wall was completed in 1982. Going to school in Virginia, we went over to DC from time to time, and I remember the power of walking through that exhibit. I remember thinking, “I live, laugh with my friends, play football, study—do all these things, because these men cared so much about our country and preserving the freedom of people like me, that they were willing to die. People in the military get it that their life really isn’t theirs. They do what their superiors tell them to do and if it means dying for the sake of their country then they understand that this is part of the deal

That is what God is doing on 4 separate occasions in Nehemiah. He is saying, “It is right and fitting to pay tribute to all of these families that have humbled themselves under my purpose for their life to come & restore the city.

Now some of you are not yet Christians. This is the deal breaker for you. Humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. Bending the knee. I have a friend who is in this exact position. He said, “You know, after we have talked about this I actually believe there is more evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus than not, but I just can’t bend the knee to Jesus because I would have to eat so much crow. I have spent my whole life telling Christians why they are wrong.” See, he was saving face to a bunch of people that don’t matter at all. That is what is keeping him from a relationship with the God of the universe. Don’t let that be you.

Now, in our text, let me show you how these people humbled themselves under God’s might hand. How they made God’s purposes of the renewal of Jerusalem their life purpose. (1) Priests—that are listed in v1-21, who humbled themselves and exalted God by making His purpose of spiritual renewing Jerusalem their purpose; (2) the Gatekeepers—in v25—who humbled themselves and made God’s purpose of cultural renewal of Jerusalem their purpose; & (3) Nehemiah—v26—who humbled himself and made God’s purpose of social renewal (justice, mercy, infra-structure change) his purpose. So spiritual, cultural renewal, & social renewal.

Now, let’s think about each one of those 3 expressions of humility. First, the priestly category. These people are mentioned here in v 1-21 because they cared about the spiritual renewal of Jerusalem. They were priests or pastors. So let me ask you—is the spiritual renewal of San Diego your purpose? Most of you never thought of yourself as a pastor or a priest. Do you know that Jesus thinks of you as a pastor or priest? Revelation [5:10], "Through your blood you have made us into priests and kings.” When you become a Christian, you also become a priest according to Rev. 5:10.

Some of you are thinking I just pulled some obscure verse from Revelation. Not so much. Let me just give you one more of many. I Pet. 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom.” You are chosen by Jesus Christ to be a royal priesthood, a kingdom full of priests who have made God’s purpose of spiritual renewal in San Diego your purpose. That means your neighbors spiritual renewal, your colleague at work, your to function as a pastor to them. Some of you are objecting—but I don’t know what a pastor is supposed to do. I wasn’t trained like you are? Here is the cliff notes of 3 years of seminary: love people. All that money I just saved you in tuition for seminary, well, we can talk afterward. See The greatest pastor that ever lived—Jesus Christ. He is the example. I John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” Laying down your life. That is what Jesus did for us—that is how he pastured us.

I heard a story that exemplifies really what being a pastor is all about. Francis Chan told this story and used it in a bit of a different context. Some of you may remember when a group of 23 Koreans who were abducted by terrorists and held hostage in Afghanistan in 2007. The Taliban talked about how they were going to keep killing them one at a time until we met their demands. Francis Chan had dinner with one of the guys who was in prison and he mentioned how the Taliban split them into groups of 3 and took them to all these remote places. They said the last time they were together they took everything from them and they knew that bad things were going to happen to them. One of them kept a Bible in his back pocket and they didn’t see it and he tore up sections of it and gave them to all 23 and they would read it whenever they were alone and it kept them alive. He said that all 23 one at a time quietly said to God, “Live or die, I am surrendering my life for your glory. Whatever brings you most glory.” Then the Senior Pastor said listen, “If anyone dies, I die first, I am your pastor.” And the guy Francis Chan was having dinner with said that he was an elder in the church and he stood up and said, “No, I also am a pastor and an elder in this church, and I am older than you, and you need to respect your elders. I die first.” Then the pastor said, “No, I am the Senior Pastor, and I am ordained and you are not, and I die first.” And sure enough, they killed him. I think they ended up killing one other person and releasing the rest.

I’ll be honest. I am not sure I love you guys this much. I hope so, but I guess we’ll have to see if that moment comes. But here is the question: Do you have this kind of love for your neighbors? For your colleagues? They are your congregation. More than anything else in your life, you want to see them meet Jesus and come alive spiritually. More than taking your kids to Disneyworld, more than getting promoted at work, more than living in a nicer apartment, you want to see your city, your block, your street, your hall at the office experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ. These priests in Nehemiah did, and God said, “Exalt them. Put them in the book.”

(2) The Gatekeepers—Cultural Renewal

But God doesn’t just care about spiritual renewal. He also wants to see cultural renewal in cities. Look at v25 “Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.” Gatekeepers. Now we need to do a bit of work to understand this. There were lots of gates placed around the city. If you go back to chapter 3 you’ll see—great names like the Dung Gate (literally—I guess lots of animals used this gate—let’s hope it was animals, right), the Sheep Gate (Neh. 3:1), the Fish Gate (Neh. 3:3)etc. Jerusalem was a big city, with a wall all the way around it for protection, and people needed several points of entry. These points of entry became the marketplace because inside the gates they were safe and so merchants would gather and sell their things their. And in particular our text talks about those gatekeepers guarding the storerooms. Grains, crops, etc. And God says, “I want to honor those who have made my purposes their purposes in the marketplace. They aren’t just in this to maximize profit for personal gain. But, as followers of mine, they have in mind the cultural renewal of the city, to see my purposes worked out in the marketplace. These are gatekeepers, these are businessmen worthy of exalting.

Let me give you an example of a modern-day gatekeeper that I think would make the book. I have had a few email exchanges with a friend of mine from UVA named Lear who is a follower of Jesus. We met when I was in law school. She is an artist who is in theatre in New York whose career has just taken off. She is a director of plays, she has developed her own production company. Now I could list all of the plays that she has directed and produced—she does excellent work in, as Andy Crouch calls it, culture making. That is one way she is creating to the renewal of cities.

But here is another. As a follower of Jesus, she became troubled by the reality that the arts and theatre has become too expensive for the working poor & even middle class. In 2006, she created and ran the TICKETS FOR THE PEOPLE program through the Culture Project- an initiative to distribute 20,000 theatre tickets to low-income New Yorkers. As part of this pilot program, she created the Artist Ambassador program, in which 40 artists were paired with 20 non-profits to bring new audiences into the theatre.

Interestingly enough, she has been commissioned by the Old Globe Theatre to do a play and she and I are talking about ways that the community of City Heights can be drawn into the arts community. That is an example of a cultural gatekeeper who has made God’s purposes her purposes. It isn’t just about exalting her name, but she has humbled herself under God’s mighty hand and has made her life about exalting his name through the arts.

The point isn’t that you must be a cultural sophisticate like Lear. Remember, God chose to exalt lowly shepherds to announce His good news. They were his gatekeepers. See the point is for each of you to take your marketplace responsibilities seriously. That you are part of the work that God is doing in the marketplace, whether it is by working the cash register at Best Buy, working in the kitchen at Rubios, or if you are in real estate. See God listed gatekeepers here, those who looked after the storerooms and did it as one who made his purposes their purpose as they went to work.

(3) Nehemiah (Social Renewal)

But let’s look at one more expression of humility that God chose to exalt. Social renewal. Look at v26. You see God honors Nehemiah and lists him. Now there are lots of reasons to list Nehemiah, but Nehemiah is most known for social renewal. For righting the wrong of sex trafficking back in ch. 5, for bringing justice to the urban blight of Jerusalem. Nehemiah is a figure that reminds us that the gospel is big enough and wide enough and deep enough to include more than just the salvation of disembodied souls to float in the clouds, but the gospel rights wrongs as the great Christmas song says, “Far as the curse is found.” This is, as the Lausanne Covenant put it in 1974, the whole gospel. Let me quote John Stott, Lausanne’s principal architect, in saying “Evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.” If we’re gIf we’re to be evangelists—that is people who spread the gospel, then spread the whole gospel—a gospel big enough and wide enough and deep enough to claim, as Abraham Kuyper says, every square inch of San Diego. That will take the whole church—pastors, gatekeepers, businessmen and women, artists, service industry workers.

My heart smiled this week b/c I knew I had tangible evidence that so many of you who are followers of Jesus get this. This wasn’t unusual, nor did it surprise me. But I smiled when I went to the petition hearing on Tuesday night. See I walked into the school board meeting for San Diego Unified. The auditorium sat, in my estimation, 200 people. There were maybe 150 people there. Admittedly, I am a church planter, who counts everyone twice, so that probably means there were 75 people. Nevertheless, let’s say 150 people. So one charter school presents first named America’s Finest Charter. They had a handful of people there to support them.

Then City Heights Prep is called and Dr. Marnie Nair approaches the podium, and all at once there is a collective whoosh throughout the auditorium as virtually the entire auditorium flashes a blue City Heights Prep sign showing their support. I would guess there were roughly 125 of us there. Spanish-speakers, Africans, anglos—you name it.

And for the vast majority of those of you who came from Mid-City, you came because of the whole gospel. This was an expression of the whole gospel—it is good news that Jesus cares about righting the wrongs of educational injustice in the inner city. So you were there as a follower of Jesus saying, “My Savior came to redeem the city of San Diego, and I am going to participate in that redemption by supporting a public, charter school that is going to provide a college preparatory education in City Heights.”

Don’t you see what a glorious Savior we have. A Savior who was willing to humble himself under God’s might hand. A Savior who humbled himself in birth, choosing to be born not in a palace but humbled himself under God’s hand to be born stable, didn’t sit on a throne on earth but humbled himself and hung on a cross; didn’t stay in his rightful place of heaven but humbled himself to the lowliest depths of hell…yet in due time, in 3 days of earthly time to be sure, God lifted him up so high that Philippians 2 says he exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, whereby every knee must bow.” This is the one we come to exalt today.

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