Nehemiah 3:1-5; A Foundation of Unity

Jason Sterling October 5, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting Nehemiah 3 in Context
• 3:03 Why Hard Work Changes Us
• 6:49 Unity Means Everyone Matters
• 13:08 Naming the Holdouts: Honest Barriers
• 18:43 From Excuses to Gospel Freedom
• 22:53 Ownership: Building Opposite Your House
• 27:23 From Stones to Living Stones
• 30:33 Renters vs Owners in the Church

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

If you have a copy of God's word, turn with me to Nehemiah chapter three. So if you're looking for Nehemiah, go to the center of your Bible. I want you to keep your Bibles open this morning, but go to Psalms and then start looking backwards. You'll run in to the book of Nehemiah. We've been in a series in Ezra, Nehemiah this fall as we build uh this new sanctuary ministry space and this generational building program. We're building physical foundations, but more importantly, we are building spiritual foundations. And so we've been talking about that. What does that look like for us to move forward as a church, building healthy spiritual foundations together, which is the most important thing as we move into the next 50 years in the life of our church? And so this morning we are looking at this idea of building a foundation of unity. And you'll notice here this is a long chapter, 32 verses in chapter 3. Lots of names, lots of gates, lots of walls. I'm only going to be reading the first five verses to give you a sense of the pattern. And then I'll be referring to some other verses during the sermon this morning. So follow along with me. Nehemiah chapter 3, verses 1 through 5. This is the word of God. Then Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the tower of the hundred, as far as the tower of Hanel. And next to them the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zachar, the son of Imri built, and the sons of Hasanai built the fish gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts and its bars. And next to them Merrima, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakaz, repaired. And next to them Meshulam, the son of Barakiah, the son of Meshebel, repaired. And next to them Zadek, the son of Bana, repaired, and next to them the Tokoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord. How'd that do? Now you know why we're not reading 32 verses. No, I'm kidding. Let me pray and let's ask God to help to be with us as we receive the word, but also for me as I preach the word. Let's pray together. Father, you've put this passage with all of these names and gates and families and different people into your word in Nehemiah 3 to teach us. And so I'm asking that you would use this passage to change us, to bring us to repentance and faith, to encourage us and to point us to Jesus. We come from lots of places every week. Some of us are struggling with belief. Others of us, anxiety and stress, and so many pressures in our lives. Would you clear all of that out for the next few minutes and speak to us? This word is living and active, and you've brought us here for a reason. And I'm praying that you would give us an encounter with Jesus through his spirit and word. Only you can do that. And that's what I'm asking in Jesus' name. Amen. This past summer, my daughter Kate served as she loves camp. And so she served after her first summer of college as a camp counselor for several, really the entire summer summer, several weeks. And I was in campus ministry for 12 years, and I had lots of students that would serve as camp counselors over the summer. And if you've ever done that kind of thing, uh, it's exhausting work. It's very difficult. You have long days, you have little sleep, uh, difficult counselor or campers and minimal pay. But here's the common theme after everyone hasn't encountered that situation that I've come in contact with over the years. It was the same for my daughter Kate. I wouldn't trade it for the world. That was the best summer of my life. That has shaped me into who I am today. And the same thing goes with missions trips. If you've been on missions trips, uh you sleep on church floors, you eat questionable food, you work in sweltering heat. And what does everybody say? It was the greatest experience, one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. It changed my life forever. Why do people say that? Why do people look back on those very hard where you're just pouring yourself out? And they look back at it as being a highlight of their life. Why? Because it taps into who you are as a human being. That's the way God's made you. They caught a vision for something worth giving their life for. Something bigger than themselves. They were protecting God's house. They were protecting God's name and the place where he would dwell. They were building the walls around Jerusalem. And this morning, Nehemiah invites us to the same vision. He wants to show us what happens when God's people actually pick up their tools. They unify and they build the kingdom of God together through the church. This passage is going to show us how to build and what it looks like to build a foundation of unity. And a foundation of unity involves, we see in this passage, three things. If you're a note taker, it involves everyone. Secondly, it involves honesty, lastly, ownership. Everyone, honesty, and ownership. So let's dive in or look at our first heading. If we're going to build a foundation of unity as we move forward as a church, it involves everyone. Look at verses one through three. I mentioned this 30 verses of names and people and gates and people coming from all over. And here's what's interesting is when you read Nehemiah chapter three, it's easy for us, I think, to focus on Nehemiah, the great leader, the great organizer, the visionary, and turn this into just another sermon of principles on effective leadership. But here's what's interesting about Nehemiah chapter three. It isn't really about Nehemiah at all. The passage barely mentions Nehemiah. This passage is about everyone else. It's about the priests and the goldsmiths and the perfume makers and the merchants. And what strikes me is that God, think about this, God could have just summarized the entire project with one sentence and said something to the effect, and the people of God gathered and rebuilt the wall. Done. Let's move on. Let's forget the names and move on to chapter four. But that's not what happens. We have an entire chapter devoted to a list of people who worked over who worked on the wall. Over 40 different individuals and groups are named. Why? Well, these names were not Nehemiah sitting with a clipboard keeping track of who was reporting to work. This was not a construction report. This is showing us that in God's economy, everyone matters. Bill Beck was an owner of several Major League Baseball teams in the 1940s and 50s. And the teams, much like they do today, they would hold these special nights where they would honor a player and they would give the player gifts and accolades. And there was a night watchman by the name of Joe Early who wrote a letter to the Cleveland press, and he just simply asked a question why do all of the baseball clubs, why do they honor the players who are already rich and famous? What about the regular people, the fans who support the team and buy tickets? And so Bill Beck decided to throw a good old Joe Early night at the baseball field. And so Joe Early did not just get a couple of gag gifts, but he actually got a new Ford convertible and got a fine watch, appliances, and many other things because you see, Bill Vec understood something very important that it's not just the players who make everything work. It's the ordinary, faithful people who show up. He got the fact that everyone matters. That's Nehemiah chapter three. It's God's good old Joe early night for his people. It is a chapter in the Bible that says, I see you. And the Bible, it says, only functions properly when every part of the body is doing their work and being involved. Friends, God doesn't just tolerate your contribution, He has designed the church to need your contribution. You are not an optional add-on. You are part, people are a part of how God has sovereignly chosen to build his kingdom through the church. Unity happens when the church functions the way God designed it. And that is every member contributing. One of the lies of the enemy is to whisper to you, you're not important enough. Let the leaders, that's their job, let them do the work. Or to say, I'm just ordinary, they've got a ton of people, they really don't need me. But this chapter refutes that and says, that is a lie. God listed every single person because every single person mattered. Your section of the wall matters. Your contribution counts because there are no small people in the kingdom of God. And that's what Nehemiah is proving to us and showing us. It's one thing to know that, to know that we matter, but it's a different thing to actually pick up our tools and start getting involved in God's work in this world. Those are two different things. And so what keeps us from actually picking up our tools? That leads to the second point. Honesty. Look at verse 5. The men of Tokoah, they were repairing, but notice, but their nobles would not stoop to serve the Lord. I mean, think about this. Verse after verse after verse of all of these people getting involved, and then you hit this jarring note in verse five. It says, the men showed up, but the nobles refused to get involved and to start serving. And we don't know exactly why, but here's what their refusal did. And you see it in the passage, you feel it in the passage. It broke the unity. Everyone was serving and building, but the nobles were standing on the sidelines refusing to get involved. Now, listen, it's easy to do this with the Bible. But it's easy to look at the nobles and to shake our heads at their stubborn hearts and their refusal. But we need to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth. They had their reasons, and we often have our reasons, don't we? And what are some of those reasons? Well, before we look at those reasons, again, know what we said about prayer. The answer of when we look at our hearts, it's not to just say, I've got to get more committed, my family's got to plan our calendar better, okay, but we must go deeper than that. We must get underneath the reasons for not getting involved in the work of the kingdom, and we must be honest about that. For example, we say, and listen, I've said all of these things. But we say things like, I'm too busy. Yes, we're all too busy. A hundred percent. Life is overwhelming, family pressure is overwhelming, there is so much pressure pressing in on your life. But here I think is the question. The real question is are we too busy or have we just prioritized other things? Because I I do this, you know this is true. We make time for the things we love. We make time for the things that we treasure. And Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We say, I just don't feel gifted enough. There are so many other people more gifted than me. And at first glance, that sounds really humble. But did you know that even in that statement, I don't feel gifted enough, that is actually or can be a form of pride. Because true humility says, I'm not gifted enough, but I know God can use me anyway. Where do you need me? And you serve anyway. False humility says, I'm not gifted enough, and so I shouldn't even try. You see the difference? One focuses on God and His work, the other one focuses on us in a negative way rather than a positive way. Or we say, I just don't know where to start. And yes, listen, there are lots of the needs are overwhelming and it feels overwhelming, but sometimes even that morphs into I need to find the perfect place to use my gifts before I start. And so it becomes a little bit about wanting to guarantee our success before even trying, which underneath that is a fear of failure dressed up as discernment. And so, which one describes you this morning? What is keeping you on the sidelines? God is always exposing our hearts so that he can make us more like himself and to change us and grow us. And one of the ways he exposes our hearts is through the kingdom work going on all around us. And so God wants to expose our hearts through a passage like this, where they're picking up their tools and they're working for the kingdom of God. But here's what is crucial that I want you to understand the gospel, and because of what Jesus has done, allows you to be honest about all of those things I just mentioned and more. It allows you to get to the root. I heard a quote this week: you can name, because of Jesus, you can name your sin without hating yourself. And the difference between conviction, listen to this, between conviction and condemnation is one calls you home and one locks you out. Condemnation locks you out, conviction calls you home. Jesus calls you home and he calls us home because he allows us to look at our excuses and not beat ourselves up, but run to Jesus in repentance and faith and change. Honesty opens the door to change and transformation. And so when it comes to serving, if you genuinely don't know where to start, would you talk to someone this week? We've got plenty of places for you to start. And if you genuinely are afraid of failure, or maybe you've been hurt by ministry, or you've been hurt by the church, would you let someone walk through that with you? But if you are too busy and that's really just code for the church is not a priority, or if you really don't know where to start, but that is coming from a place that you just don't want to be uncomfortable, would you be willing to be honest about that? To take that to Jesus and experience repentance unto life. And so unity requires everyone, it requires honesty, and lastly, it requires ownership. Look at verses 10 with me. If you have your Bible open, 23 and then 28 through 30. What do you see repeated there? Opposite his house, in front of their house, opposite his house, again and again and again. And now think about this with me and what this means. These families, these people could have said, Hey, would you assign me a portion on the other side of town that's small and that is safer and one that doesn't require much work for me? But no one does that. They chose the work that was next to their homes. And the question is, why? Why does that matter? Well, think about it. When you're working next to your house, you've got skin in the game. This is the passage, your children, get in it, are sleeping 50 feet from this wall that you're building. And so if the enemies break through, breaking through your section into your neighborhood, it is threatening your loved ones. The point is this this isn't abstract. This is deeply personal to these people. Unity requires more than participation, it requires ownership. These weren't just hired contractors working on a distant project. This was family. This was fathers and mothers and children working on a section of the wall in order to protect their family, in order to protect God's house. And here's what we need to see in this image that working opposite of your house, friends, is a shadow of something much greater. They were building, and what they were building pales in comparison to what we are building for right now in the church, as the church in the world. Now, don't get me wrong. What they were doing is very significant. They were building walls around Jerusalem to protect God's presence, the temple where he dwelled, but they were building and it was made of stone. It was in location and it was for the Israelites. What about us? We are building the church of Jesus Christ, not made with stones, living stones, made with living people. The church, the eternal dwelling place of God's Spirit for all the world, for every nation, tribe, and tongue, in all places and for all time. They were protecting a physical city that would one day crumble. We are advancing a kingdom that will never end. That's what you're a part of. In the church, the gates of hell will not stand against the church. You see it? Jesus changes everything, doesn't he? Because Jesus didn't just work opposite his house. Jesus left his house. He left his home in heaven and he came to earth. And he didn't just invest a little bit personally. He invested his entire life. He gave his life. He didn't just pick up a tool, he picked up a cross. He lived for you. He died for you. He rose again for you. He came into the world to rescue you and to forgive you and to bring you into his family and to make you his own. And if you believe that and you're a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, something radical happens in your life. Because the Bible says that if you are in Christ, if you're a believer, you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. And that's not just a religious language and a religious statement. That means that you, think about this, you have a new identity, you have a new home, you have a new reality. So what? Well, you see what that means is that if you're in Christ, this place called the church is not just some place you attend on Sunday morning. It's your family. This is your family. It's not just a religious organization that you support. We are a body. And it's a body that you're a part of. It's not just a building that you visit, it is your home. And Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 12. He says, Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, they are my brother and sister, father and mother. And you see what that means? You know your primary family? It's this right here in this room. Your number one family and your people is the church. And when you grasp that, it changes how you show up on Sunday. It changes what you make a priority in your life. Because ownership doesn't just start with commitment, it starts with your identity. And please don't miss the gospel order. Okay. You don't serve the church to earn your place in God's family. You serve the church because you're already in God's family. You don't work on your section to prove that you're a good Christian. You work on your section because of what Jesus has done for you and uniting you to himself and this and his and his church, uniting you to himself and uniting you to the church. That's the gospel order. But let's be honest about something. And maybe you're not aware of this, perhaps you are, but did you know that as churches grow, that what ends up happening is that 20% of the people end up doing 80% of the work. Why 80%, the 80% assume that everyone else has got it covered. Now, to be fair, I don't think anyone sets out with that intention. But what ends up happening is the faithful 20%, they start to wear down and they start to burn out, and then ministries throughout the church start to struggle, not because there's not enough people, but because people have drifted into spectator mode without realizing it. And so as we move into this new season of ministry, and when we move into this new ministry space, I am begging God that that does not become the story of our church. That really is my prayer. And I and you might say, boy, that's crazy. We pray that in our session meeting. We pray that there'd be a waiting list on every ministry of our church for people to serve. That you would want to serve somewhere and we'd say, We're full, we've got a waiting list, we've got to find somewhere else for you to serve. We want to be a place where serving isn't the exception, it's the norm. Where the question isn't, who are we going to get to do this? But the question is, look at all these resources. Lord help us to steward these willing hands. You see, our prayer and vision, as we see in Nehemiah 3, is that we as a church would catch a vision of being owners, not renters. Think about the difference. Renters show up when it's convenient. Owners, they show up because it's their home. Renters show up to consume what's being offered. Owners show up to contribute where is needed. How do you get there? The gospel. The gospel takes renters and makes them sons and daughters. The gospel takes consumers and makes them family. The gospel takes spectators and makes them living stones. You start to be an owner because God owns you. And I think this is what this world is longing for. People want purpose. People want something bigger than themselves. They don't want another transaction. They don't want another service to consume. Want to be able to give them somethingselves to something that's worth building for and bigger than themselves? And that is the Church of Jesus Christ. That is what you were made for. And so here's the call. Will you make this place your home? Will you look around and make these people in this church your family? If you do that, you will discover that your joy doesn't come from comfort and convenience. It comes from losing your life to find it. Isn't that what Jesus said? Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But if you lose your life for me, you will find it, friends. This is your home. And Jesus is building the church with his own hands. And it's worth giving our life for. Thank you for calling us into your family. Thank you for making us living stones, for uniting us to yourself. Forgive us for the excuses that we make for the times that we've treated your people and your church like renters instead of family. Holy Spirit, come. Give us courage to be honest about what's holding us back. And I pray that you would give us hearts to serve, and may we overflow with great joy in the fact that we're giving to you because you have so graciously given to us. Help us to grasp that in Jesus' name. Amen.