Nehemiah and Missional Communities
Nehemiah 1
As the call to gospel mission in our city and community has grown louder, more resounding and more compelling, I have been seeking for a Biblical attitude and pattern for how to approach the lost, broken and needy around me.
In Nehemiah I found an example of the thoughts, attitudes and actions that we as believers can emulate, especially as we are sent, like Nehemiah, on mission to a broken city in desperate need of the gospel.
What did Nehemiah think, do and say before he was sent on mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?
1. His mind was bent towards the status and welfare of the city.
And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. Ne. 1:2
Nehemiah was inquiring about the well being of the city that was on his heart. He was asking questions, looking for answers, and trying to discover the physical state of the city. He was on a fact-finding mission to discover the heart of what issues plagued the city.
We need the same type of attitude, that of a researcher, a student, a learner, a detective bound to peel back the calloused exterior and see the beating heart of our cities.
Questions I am asking:
What is God doing in my city?
What are the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of my city?
How would a church start to meet these needs?
How does the gospel answer these obvious needs of the city?
What are the biggest barriers to the gospel in this city?
What does the Bible have to say about this city’s barriers to the gospel?
2. His heart was broken for the city.
“The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Vs. 3-4
Nehemiah’s heart was broken for the trouble, shame and the broken walls of his city. These are emotional, physical and spiritual ramifications of man’s fallen condition, the result of sin in the lives of man. This sin and its consequences shattered Nehemiah and moved him to cry, to fast, to pray and to repent.
Whether it is because I am insulated or my heart is hard, sin and it’s consequences in the lives and community of my city doesn’t always rend my heart. My prayer is that the things about my city that break God’s heart would grow to break my heart, and that I would be moved to the point of tears and prayer by the state of our broken condition without Jesus.
3. He began to preach the gospel to himself and those around him in prayer, in context of his city’s brokenness
And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Vs. 4-7
Nehemiah begins to worship the God of the universe and declare
a) God’s greatness, bigness, awesomeness,
b) God’s faithfulness in the covenant of salvation
c) God’s steadfast love
d) The sin in the lives of Nehemiah and his people.
This is the Gospel! Nehemiah, even from the distance of his captivity in Persia, begins to intercede and preach the gospel to Jerusalem.
This cycle of worship, declaration and confession in context to our city’s specific needs, sins and gospel barriers is our pattern for mission.
4. He caught a redemptive vision for his city
but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. vs. 9-10
Nehemiah sees what his city could be in the righteousness of God. He sees them as “servants, redeemed by the great power of God’s strong hand.”
This is the beginning of a great movement of God’s spirit among his people in Jerusalem. Against great odds the city of God begins to be restored, the people of Israel come back, and the words of the Law are read again in a prophetic allusion to the coming of Jesus, the Word in flesh.
In Nehemiah we find some first steps for how we can start to live this big thing called “mission.”
thanks for this.
ReplyDeletevery convicting and inspiring.
well spoken.