You may be seated. And it's Nehemiah chapter 3 is where we are. And if it seems like, wow, seems like a long time ago, well, it's been four weeks. So it's been about a month since we were here. We took a Wednesday night for the Christmas program for the school, and then Christmas Day, and then New Year's Day, and now here we are. That's why it's been four weeks ago since we were here on a normal Wednesday evening together in the book of Nehemiah. So we're back in chapter 3, and I'm just going to read the first couple of verses here in a moment. But thinking about this chapter and what we can learn from this chapter, the book of Nehemiah itself I've mentioned in the past is a book that oftentimes when you see it being taught, it is often taught in kind of a leadership class kind of setting. There are leadership principles. that are gleaned from how Nehemiah dealt with the circumstances and how God used him to accomplish something so big, a job that was so big in such a short period of time. So there are things we can learn from this. And I say that because tonight we're going to be looking at some leadership things that we see in this chapter. But what we don't want to do is look at it and think, well, that's not for me because I'm not a leader. Well, the fact is, each one of us is both a leader and a follower. In one circumstance, we're a leader. In another circumstance, we're a follower. We can gain insight into the principles that he used here. And they're principles really that obviously are applicable to the church. and any opportunity we have in the church, but it's in life in general. Even in our homes, I think we can take some of these principles. If you just spend some time thinking about it as a parent, you're likely to be able to figure how you could make application of some of these even and how you raise your children. So I think these are important and we won't spend as much time on each one as we could, simply because we do need to keep moving on, especially after losing four weeks, but they're important and I hope you'll take note of them. So to kind of acclimate ourselves once again here to Nehemiah 3, the title of this chapter I've called What a Team. Teamwork is the idea that I think is really behind what this chapter is teaching. Just to give you a flavor, because if we read all 32 verses, you would basically hear a repeat of this with different names. So I'm just going to read the first couple of verses to kind of get us to have a sense of what this chapter is containing. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren, the priests, and they builded the Sheep Gate. They sanctified it and set up the doors of it, even under the tower of Miha. They sanctified it under the tower of Hananiel. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zachar, the son of Imri." And so on, and so on, and so forth. Here's what we gain, trying to get the big picture. What we see are a bunch of individual names. It's a reminder that we're all individual and we all have the responsibility to have an individual relationship with God and of course we know from our being part of the church with the New Testament that we have a relationship with God in Christ. Individually, we each have to make that decision. We each have to make that choice. There's no corporate sense of where we're all part of the same corporate thing, and as a part of that thing, we gain salvation. Salvation is an individual matter. We each have to make that choice. Now, having said that, the beauty is that having made that choice, each of us individually, God then places us into a community called the church. The church is the body of Christ. We each constitute a part of the body of Christ. We are a local part of the body of Christ. Of course, the body of Christ is represented by all true believers around the world and throughout time, basically. So we are a part of the body of Christ. We have an individual relationship with the Lord in Christ, but by virtue of that, we now have a relationship with one another. So we are interdependent individuals, and that's important Sometimes we get the idea that, you know, it's all individual in the sense that I don't need anybody else. The fact is we need other people. That's the whole point of the church. It is a body of believers. It is a group of believers and we are to minister one to another. So we see a repeat of the phrase, one another, one another, one another. Because it isn't that I'm just this pillar solely unto God and you guys don't matter. If I have a right relationship with God, I have a right relationship with God's people. Or at least that should be something that is important to me. So he wants us to work together. And perhaps to illustrate that, God is a trinity. And so we have three persons in perfect unity and harmony. And God wants his people to reflect his image. And the unity and harmony in the Godhead is reflected in the body of Christ by the unity and harmony that we share together as believers in the body. So that is another way that we are demonstrating, manifesting how we are made in the image of God. But now it's not easy to do. I mean, that's the reality. We can talk about the ideal and say, oh, that's right. But then we have to make it happen. And yes, we all are part of the body, but we all still are individuals. And so we each have our own likes, our own dislikes, our own strengths, our own weaknesses, our own wishes for the way we want things to be that might not always match up with the way someone else wants things to be. And so we have the entire New Testament giving us these instructions about how we are to set aside our own desires to seek the good of the other person, right? We talked about humility back in December when it came to Christ and the example of his humility to us. So when we come here to chapter 3 of Nehemiah and we ask this question, well, how then are we to be unified? How is it that we have this harmony? How do we do that? Well, here's an illustration. That's what I really think chapter 3 is doing, is providing us an illustration of this answer. What could we accomplish? if we truly had the unity and the harmony that God would have us to enjoy in his body, the church. They accomplished a great task in a short period of time. Now granted, it was physical, but much of what we do does involve some physical something, right? So it really is a question that we should sometimes wrestle with. What could we really accomplish if we really enjoyed this unity and this harmony? Here's an example. Here's an illustration of just that. Here's an account of the division of labor that I believe that Nehemiah set in place that culminated in the rebuilding of the wall. Not an easy passage to preach. Some allegorize it. Some use it as a launching point to go somewhere else. Why did God include Nehemiah 3? A bunch of names. Here's who built this and here's who built that. Why did God put it in the Bible? It is there for a purpose. All scripture is given to the inspiration of God. So even passages like this are intended to teach us something. Now we have to be careful that we remain true to the spirit of the scripture and not just use that as a launching point to go, you know, chase our own hobby horse. But God put it here for a reason and he wants us to learn from it. And I think that this chapter highlights the very important principle of working together to accomplish God's purpose. So this is a reminder from five weeks ago, maybe, but that's really what God wants us, I think, to take from this chapter. It is important that we work together to accomplish His purpose. So to do that, to accomplish God's purpose, we have to have a common vision. We've talked about this, but because it's been so long, I don't want us to miss this point as we build on this part of the chapter. We need a common vision. You can't work together if everyone has a different notion of what we're trying to accomplish. their task was specific and measurable, but they still had to have a common vision. Even if it was, okay, you're going to build from point A to point B, and then the next guy will go from point B to point C, and all the way around the wall of Jerusalem, you had this division, you had these units, and you had people responsible to build a certain, it wasn't just a bunch of people running out willy-nilly and starting to build. They had to have some common purpose. We are here to rebuild the walls. If you're rebuilding them, then you're putting them back where they were, right? I mean, that's part of the plan. And what style of wall are we building? I said it a few weeks ago to kind of poke fun at the idea. But if one person is building a strong wall that's going to withstand the enemy, and somebody else is building a nice decorative wall that looks beautiful, but it's paper thin because, you know, that's his vision. Well, that's going to look like an odd wall, isn't it? If every section somehow differed from the other section, you would end up with a hodgepodge of a wall, and how effective would that kind of wall be? You may have some really strong points and you're gonna have some really weak points. It's at the very least something people would laugh at. It's not going to bring glory to God. So the only way that it could be something that would bring glory to God is if they had a plan that they all are mutually working to accomplish. They had to have the same vision. This is what we're trying to do. Doesn't mean that stylistically you may not have been able to go and look and say, you know, I think Brian built that part of the wall because, you know, see the way that the mortar is between the bricks, you know, that's kind of the way he does it because, you know, he's right-handed and you kind of see a right-handed swirl. Now, that over there, that's Tom, because Tom's left-handed. You see there's a little left-handed swirl in his? I mean, you get the point, right? That, yes, each one would have done the wall, and there probably was something identifiable. If you knew the person well enough, you could say, oh, I think so-and-so may have done that. But at the end of the day, they're still all working on the same plan. and they're trying to accomplish the same thing. They had a shared vision. If we're going to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish, we have to understand what the vision should be for a church. And what is the vision? Well, our vision is taken from the words of Christ himself. In Matthew 28, we have what is called the Great Commission. What is the Great Commission? that the church is tasked with the responsibility of taking the gospel and proclaiming it to every people group on the earth. Every believer shares that responsibility. Now, we all can't go to every part of the earth just like people who rebuilt that wall couldn't rebuild the entire wall themselves, but they had their portion of it, right? And collectively, each one building their portion, they were able to surround Jerusalem once again with a rebuilt wall. So God's people, as each one of us takes our part of the commission, and we seek to fulfill our part of the commission. It may be a little small piece in Western New York that may not seem like much, but collectively, the church around the world is preaching the gospel to multitudes of people and to people from every people group. It requires raising up churches among every people group. That's why we have missionaries, because we're partnering with them. We can't go but we can send someone to go. And as we are supporting them financially, we are giving them the freedom so that they can take the gospel to people, whether it's in Ecuador or Brazil or wherever it might be. We are a part. We share a vision. We're not all missionaries. We're not all pastors. We have different roles, but we're all pulling in the same direction. We have a shared vision. The supreme goal of the church, the supreme purpose of the church in doing that is not just doing that in the name of doing it. It is ultimately to bring glory to God. We bring glory to God as we take the gospel of Christ and we proclaim to the world that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. As we take the gospel, we are bringing glory to God. And so our goal is to spread that passion, a passion for God's glory among the nations by proclaiming the gospel and by helping saints to grow in their relationship with him. So that's our vision. That's the vision that we must share if we are to accomplish what God has called us to do. Everything we do, by the way, is important in this. Obviously, witnessing to someone. Well, I know that's part of the Great Commission, right? But as we shared a few weeks ago, what about cleaning the kitchen after one of our fellowship meals? are we demonstrating a heart that wants to glorify God and is that enabling us to honor Him and even get the gospel out in an effective manner because you help wash dishes. Now on the surface it may be All I'm doing is helping to wash dishes. There's nothing important about that. That's not part of the big picture, but actually it is an important, it is a vital task. It contributes to the overall cause because if it's not done, then it will hinder the well-being of church. I mean, this coming Saturday or Sunday, we will have another meal. your nationality or however you want to define what that is for you and your family, but the reality is when we're done and there's a pile of stuff that needs to be washed and put away and cleaned and trash needs to be taken out, if everybody looks at that and says, that's not important and they just leave it there. Now, ignore that we have a school that's also going to be impacted by that. What's going to happen when we do that the second week and the third week and the fourth week? And then we have a visitor come to church and we say, hey, why don't you come eat with us? And they walk downstairs and they see all this dirty stuff everywhere because nobody wants to do the little thing of cleaning the dishes. That's not what we're called to do. I want the big task. It may seem unimportant, but it really is very vital. It is part of the well-being of the church. It can be done in a way that honors God or not doing it can hinder the church. It can be done with a grumbling spirit. I'm going to do this, but so and so should be down here doing this too. Maybe so. But a servant's heart is hopefully they're upstairs listening to the preaching and God will touch their hearts. I'm going to pray. It can be done with joy because God has saved you and made you a part of His church. The point is, even in the little things, somebody had to make the mortar. Now, what would you rather have done? Would you rather have been the gopher? bringing the blocks and bringing the mortar for the guys who are actually putting the stones in place. I mean, when you read these names and it talks about Eliaship, was Eliaship the only person building that wall? How many other people would have had to have worked with Eliaship? How many helpers did he have who were not named? Are they less important than Eliaship? No, because God knows who they were. who they are. And if it's done to the glory of God, and that's one of the points about leadership, it's not about, I want the glory. It's about, I want God to be honored. So we have to remember that a shared vision, proclaiming the gospel, helping all of his saints savor Christ as their greatest joy and treasure, seeking to encourage and build up each other in the faith. This is part of that shared vision. Now, it takes work to develop a common vision. This is an important part of the overall picture, I think, that we see here in this chapter. Remember, these people had lived here their entire lives. I mean, by the time you get to this chapter, you may have some, you had 5,000 that came some 10 years before with Ezra, but the vast majority, 50,000 came some 90 years before in that first group. Well, the adults who came 90 years before aren't no longer there. These are their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. They've grown up there, and they've grown up in the midst of a broken city wall, and they haven't fixed it. Nehemiah comes on the scene, and as he is able to help them gain this shared vision, They roll up their sleeves, they get busy, and in 52 days, they accomplish what they hadn't done in 90 years. I mean, even if they had just once a year, if they'd gone and laid a row of block, in 90 years, they probably would have had it done. But they didn't do anything. I'm sure there were a lot of complaining and, you know, right? In 90 years, somebody needs to go out and do something. Why isn't somebody stood up and done something? Nehemiah comes along and he is able to rouse them to get busy and do the job. So it's interesting, Nehemiah's name isn't mentioned in this chapter. There is a Nehemiah in verse 16, it's a different guy. Just like we can have Peter Fichter and Peter Scharf in our church. Same first name, not the same person. So it's a different Nehemiah. He himself, the Nehemiah who's written this book, was not mentioned. There's seven things about an effective godly leader. I'm gonna run over these. Hopefully I'll get through all seven before we finish up here. As I said earlier, I could park on each one and we could spend a lot of time on these, but I just want to kind of challenge our thinking. These are principles for leaders, but they're principles I think that parents could apply to raising their children. I think that even in our relationships with other people, we may not have a title for a leader, but if we want to have an effective impact on the lives of others, these should be, the spirit of these should be true, I think, of all of us. So number one, an effective godly leader does not seek credit. Now this is based on the idea that Nehemiah, he's not mentioned in the chapter. Does that mean Nehemiah didn't do anything? I mean, in this whole chapter, as they're finishing the wall in 52 days, did Nehemiah come and give a rousing speech? And then he went and took a seat and let them go get busy. No, Nehemiah brought a plan. We've talked about that. Nehemiah brought organization. They lacked that. Nehemiah had to make sure that whatever was necessary, you can't just start building a wall unless you have all the components of what it's gonna take to rebuild that wall, right? And you can't start building it and then, oh, wait a minute, we don't have mortar. What are we gonna do? You gotta make sure you have mortar. You have to make sure you've got wood. All the pieces are important, they've got to be there. I think it's clear Nehemiah came with a plan, the organization. He's the guy who is really affecting everybody with enthusiasm to roll up their sleeves and get busy. And he's the guy making sure that when they need that next block, there are blocks there. That whatever's necessary. But he's not mentioned. He wrote the book. Could he not have said, and I did this, and I did that, and so and so needed something, and I got it for him the next day. I mean, can I say it this way? If a politician wrote this book, what would this chapter look like? It would be all about the glory of the politician and what the politician did. And all those who did the heavy labor, well, weren't they blessed to have me here to make sure they could do the job right. Human nature, that's not what you see with Nehemiah. Nehemiah did not want a huge sign over the main gate, a bronze plaque that read, The Nehemiah Memorial Wall. It wasn't about Nehemiah saying, look at me and look what I did. It was about the glory of God. He was committed to the task. He wanted that wall built. He wanted Jerusalem to be protected. But remember, as we saw in chapter two, he knew that God was being dishonored by this wall lying in ruins. God was a laughingstock among all the other peoples who looked and said, look at the God of the Jews. It's been almost 100 years that wall's been, actually been by that time, 90 years plus the 70. It's been 160 years that wall's been like that. What kind of God do they have? This is about lifting up and honoring the one true God. He was motivated, not for himself, but for the Lord. I believe that he was motivated by a sincere desire to hear it said, well done, from the Lord. Well done. Would you rather have someone pat you on the back here or have the Lord say, well done? You know, it's funny, things that you remember in life. When I was in grad school, I worked with a fellow who pastors in the Colorado area today. And he and I, we got along really well. We were good friends. He helped us move a couple of times. So a good guy. And I can't remember what it was, but one day we worked in the administration building together, and one day I had done something, I don't know what it was, and I told Dan about what I did. And Dan looked at me and said, well, that's good, Dana. Guess you got your reward now, then, didn't you? I mean, he said it with a straight face, you know, not raising his voice level, but it was like he took a knife. Because I understood his point. I hope I wasn't doing it to gain some kind of earthly glory. But just the idea that, yeah, you know, I guess that could have come across like I wanted credit. And I need to be careful. And I've never forgotten that. It's something that through the years I've thought about oftentimes, Lord, I don't want to talk in a way that says, look at me. I want my actions and my words to bring glory to you. I think that's what we see in Nehemiah. He wasn't seeking the credit. An effective godly leader isn't seeking credit. Number two, an effective godly leader seeks to motivate others. Ninety years they've been back there. These are now their children, grandchildren, perhaps great-grandchildren. They haven't rebuilt the wall. Nehemiah comes along. Everybody gets excited. They build the wall in record time. Motivation. That's the key to productivity, isn't it? I mean, I think we all understand this intuitively. Have you ever procrastinated that he who has not procrastinated be the first to cast his hymn book or something? I don't know. Because the fact is, we all procrastinate. That's not an excuse. I'm not advocating it. but it's a recognition, but have you ever procrastinated and then something changes and the urgency gets ramped up? And what you haven't been doing, suddenly you dive into the project and you get it done. You could have had it done already or maybe you could have done a better job if you had started earlier, but you're no longer procrastinating. I'm sure every one of us has probably got a story about something like that, right? Especially if you have taken college courses and you know there's a big project. And the teacher tells you day one, here's the project, and here's when it's due, and here's everything you have to do to finish that project. And you know it's coming, and you're going to do it, but you just don't get started right away because, you know, I can do it tomorrow. And tomorrow comes, well, you know it. It's early in the semester. Before you know it, you got a week. And now you're crashing. Because something changed. Now it could be cleaning the house before relative visit. It could be many different things, but the point is motivation. They could have been rebuilding this wall. Even if it's just a small portion. Maybe they couldn't go at the whole project wholeheartedly, but couldn't they have done something in 90 years? And I'm sure they had their reasons, just like we do. But Nehemiah came along and he brought the right motivation. He challenged their heart. He was able to share his vision about glorifying God through rebuilding that wall, and they got busy. But now let me ask you a question. did Nehemiah get everybody equally excited? Let me read verse 5 to you. Well, the nobles of Tekoa Whether it was pride, I'm not gonna lower myself to do manual labor. I don't know what their motivation was, only God does, but we know what the reality of the situation became. Other people, other nobles, if you read the chapter, were building. They didn't build. So we can say Nehemiah did a great job of motivation, but he didn't motivate everybody. And isn't there a lesson in that? Can we motivate everybody? Can an effective godly leader bring motivation to everyone? It's difficult to motivate everybody. And here's a practical reason why. Because what motivates one person won't motivate the next person. That's just reality. So, you know, you've got to get to know your people and what can you do to motivate this person and what can you do to motivate this person. But, you know, the larger the job and the more people you have to motivate, the more difficult that's going to be. But Nehemiah didn't shrink from the attempt. He came having prayed about this, bathing this project in prayer with a vision to honor God, and he succeeded in bringing that challenge. Number three, very quickly, an effective godly leader plans and organizes. I've touched upon this already. I won't spend a lot of time on it. But clearly, when you read this chapter, you see where certain people would work on certain portions of the law, from this place to this place, et cetera. He had a plan. He was organized. That's what he brought to the project. He broke it down into manageable units. people did their part. And churches, you know, it may be 2,500 years later, but people are still people. And even for us, organization, we are, people say churches are organisms, not organizations. And that's true. But that doesn't mean that because a church is an organism and not an organization, that it doesn't need organization. Because what is the opposite of organization? But we're supposed to do everything decently and in order, according to 1 Corinthians 14. So if we're going to do it decently and in order, we have to have some organization. And so he brought that to it. Number four, an effective godly leader must delegate. Nehemiah couldn't possibly have done this work by himself. He had to entrust it to the workers who gave, and gave them the authority to do the job to get it done. You know, honestly, I think we've all been there. Isn't it easier sometimes just to do it yourself? I mean, I know what I want done. I know how I want it to be done. I know when I want it to be done. So, I'm just going to do it myself. But is that being an effective leader or effectively ministering to other people? Especially if the job grows, the necessity grows for delegation. So let me challenge you. If God calls you to lead in any area of life, always ask yourself this question. Can someone else do this job as effectively or maybe more effectively than I can? And if not, then spend some time helping to build that person. to help that person grow. Be patient when that person makes a mistake and help them to learn from that mistake. Mentor them. Edify them. Edification is building up. That's part of our ministry to one another in the body of Christ. So that's why I say these are principles that are important in a family. What do you do with your child? You delegate. Now, you have to delegate according to what is fairly acceptable, right? You can't tell your three-year-old, go cut the grass. That's not going to work too well. But a 13-year-old? But did you take time to train your 13-year-old? help your 13-year-old over time to know how to do it and how to maintain the machine, et cetera, et cetera. It takes some work and effort, but it's very rewarding in the end, very quickly. An effective guided leader must oversee. Delegating doesn't mean dumping or dictating. To dump something on someone and walk away is not effective leadership. To dictate every detail is not proper leadership. While Nehemiah delegated the work, you can be sure that he went around inspecting the progress and talking to others, and he helped them to keep things moving toward the end, but his job was not to, you know, hyper-manage, nor was it to just go sit in the office. In fact, he makes this statement in verse 20. He says, after him, Barak, the son of Zebei, earnestly repaired the other piece, et cetera. It's an interesting phrase. Why does Nehemiah take Barak and single him out saying he zealously? The only way he knew to do that is he had to be watching Barak. He was observing him. Point being, delegation doesn't mean micromanaging. It doesn't mean going and sleeping in the office. You're still there. You're still part of it. You're helping the person succeed. You're not doing for them what they ought to be able to do, but you're there to help support them, et cetera, et cetera. Apparently, Nehemiah knew what was going on. I have two more very quickly. An effective guy, the leader, must give proper recognition He mentions these folks by name. Could you remember all these names? Kind of hard, but we can't even know how to pronounce them, let alone remember who they are. But even if these were names we're very familiar with, there were a lot of people here. And he is listing their names. He is acknowledging, he is recognizing what they did. Some are mentioned as completing more than one section of the wall. He is showing they went above and beyond. But the important thing was that Nehemiah recognized every one of these folks. But more importantly than that, God knows the names of everyone that was there. I'll be honest. I'm always a little nervous to give recognition from up front. Not because I don't want to, but because I'm always afraid I'm going to forget somebody. and then that person will be offended. Well, you mentioned everybody but me. I guess that tells me what you think about me. No, it's more about what I forget. I use that excuse a lot these days. But the reality is we all are susceptible to maybe in a list of names forgetting a name. So I'm always fearful of forgetting, but at the same time, it is proper to give recognition for a job well done. So we can't not do it because we might forget a name. Maybe take a step and write every name down. I mean, laugh at me if you will. When we have our church family of the week, And, you know, I'd like to think I know everybody and the names of their kids. You know, I'm always afraid when I'm up here that I'm going to have that, oh, wait, what's the name of Rick and Donnett's baby boy? So I always write it on the card. So I always have some cheat sheet that I can look down at if my brain suddenly freezes over. And Isaiah. Well, I got that one out because I am afraid of that, but recognition is something important. And then finally, an effective guided leader must not get distracted by those who are not cooperating. I already mentioned the folks in Toccoa. Okay, fine. They didn't want to cooperate. He mentions the fact they didn't cooperate. So now for 2,500 years, every generation of God's people since, those nobles at Toccoa, they didn't get with the program. They didn't share the vision. They weren't ready to get busy. What was going on there? But he didn't let that stop him. Those who were willing to work, he worked with them. And to be effective for the Lord, we can't be rattled by those who don't want to serve Him and honor Him and please Him. and spend all of our time distractedly over here. We need to focus, hey, these are the ones who want to please God, and I wanna help them do that. How can I do that? And I think that's what we see in this chapter. And there's more to say. We'll pick up on this next week. A willingness is what we'll be talking about next week. But these are principles that are important. I hope you'll think about them, meditate upon them. And by God's grace, I hope that we will make application, not just for if you're in a leadership position per se, but in life in general, that we would honor him in our influence with others. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for our time as we've tried to catch up for the last four weeks to bring us up to speed and then to cover the material we need to cover tonight. Help us now, Lord, to have a good prayer time, and then bless, Lord, as we plan on having a quick business meeting following. May you be honored, Father, in our lives. We pray in Christ's name.