Have You Got What It Takes To Be God’s Man?
Nehemiah 3&4
Are you tired this morning? I feel like I’m still trying to recover from the hour I lost when we did the “spring ahead” a couple of weeks ago!
America is a tired nation. Recent news stories have focused on the dangerous levels of tiredness and exhaustion that ravages our society. The National Safety Foundation released its "2005 Sleep in America Poll" conducted among a random sample of 1,506 adults over the age of 18. It showed that the average American adult sleeps only 6.9 hours per night -- less than what experts suggest is necessary. Sleep deprivation has safety and lifestyle consequences. Of those polled in the NSF study, 37 percent reported they have nodded off or fallen asleep while driving a vehicle. According to the NSF Web site, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that more than 100,000 auto crashes each year may be fatigue related, causing an estimated 1,500 deaths and many more injuries. Much of the exhaustion is caused by our workload. We live in a culture that is addicted to work. The average American man spends 57 hours a week at work.
We are continuing a series entitled, “Have you got what it takes to be God’s Man?” If we are going to be serious about becoming the men that God has created us to be, then how we work is going to be a big part of the puzzle.
For men, what we do is how we identify ourselves. If you meet a new person, most likely the first question you’re going to ask, after their name, is what they do for a living. We find our identity in our jobs. On the game show Jeopardy, when Alex Trebeck asks contestants to “tell us a little about yourself,” women will respond with information about their children and their families 85% of the time, while men answer about their job at an almost identical rate. Men don’t only find their identity in their work, we also find our value in our work. It is men who wear the name of their company on their shirts –right over their hearts, by the way. When I worked for Marriott Corporation in middle management, we used to sit around and brag about how many hours we had put in the previous week, and how many weeks it had been since a day off. Sure it was packaged as a gripe – but deep inside it was a source of pride!
The key issue for men is their work. And yet surveys reveal that 92% of men have never heard a single sermon on their work. This most important issue to a man has never been addressed for most men. It’s no surprise that most men feel that church isn’t relevant to them – it ignores the most important part of their lives!
Today we’re going to see that your work matters to God – in fact, the concept of work and the sense of fulfillment that a job well done brings with it is a part of God’s image that has been stamped on us. For many of us work is a delight – but it’s finding the right job that is difficult. Some of us are doing exactly what we need to be doing both in our career and in our kingdom work. Others of us are struggling to find our niche. It might help you feel better if you hear someone else’s story:
Ø My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned because I couldn’t concentrate.
Ø Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.
Ø After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job.
Ø Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.
Ø I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn’t cut it.
Ø I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I just couldn’t cut the mustard.
Ø I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patients.
Ø I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.
Ø I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
Ø I studied to be a Chiropractor, but it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Ø I found being an electrician interesting, but the work was shocking.
Ø After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a historian - until I realized there was no future in it.
Work is a part of the very nature of God – God was the first laborer! In Genesis chapters 1 & 2 we read all about God’s first recorded work project – the work of creation. In Genesis 2:2 we read, God rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” It also says, just a few verses earlier, that God had looked over his work that he had done, and described it as “very good.” There was a satisfaction that came from a job well done. That part of God’s was stamped on humanity during creation. When God created human beings, He did so with a job in mind. In Genesis 2:8 we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Work is not part of the fall of humanity after sin – work was part of the paradise of the Garden of Eden before sin entered the picture! It is a good part of God’s creative work.
But when man chose to rebel against God, and sin entered the picture, all of God’s good creation was tainted by sin - including work. God said in Genesis 3:17-19, that as a result of Adam’s rebellion and disobedience, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life…By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…”
“Work” became a four-letter-word as a result of sin. What God had created as a noble duty of his greatest creation became a toil-filled difficulty-laden source of frustration for men and the families they spawned.
Turn in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. It’s an Old Testament book, at about the 1/3 mark of your Bibles. If you come to I&II Samuel, I&II Kings and I&II Chronicles, keep going toward the back; if you come to Job, Psalms or Proverbs, move more toward the beginning of the Bible. Nehemiah’s book in the Bible is actually a copy of his journal. Nehemiah was a Jewish man who got a burden on his heart to rebuild the city of Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by invading armies. The city had sat in ruins for over 100 years, and Nehemiah felt compelled by God to rebuild it. He got permission from the king, went to the city, examined the ruins, and called the people to join him in the work.
In chapter 2, verse 18 it says,
[The people] replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
In Nehemiah chapter 3 we have a long list of the people who joined in the work. It is a list of people from Jerusalem and from surrounding cites. It is a list of professionals and blue-collar workers. Men and women, sons an daughters, people who worked close to home and people who commuted long distances. At first glance, this chapter may rank right up there with the long list of genealogies from the book of Numbers – boring!!! - but I believe that in this list of people, we can see some different attitudes about work that you might recognize.
1. Put God First!
Nehemiah starts in verse 1 with Eliashib the high priest. “Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the sheep gate.” That is significant, because it shows a couple of important principles. First – the spiritual leaders led the way. They didn’t just sit around in their priestly robes and watch everyone work – they got their fingernails dirty along with everyone else. The principles we are learning here apply to church leaders as well as to every person in this room. I feel privileged to have been a bi-vocational pastor for the first 9 years of this church – and to be honest, I miss my work outside the church. But a pastor doesn’t have to be working outside the church to be legitimate – but he does have to work.
Secondly, It is important that Nehemiah had the priests start their work first, and they did their work on the Sheep Gate. That gate got its name because it was the gate closest to the Temple, and the sacrificial sheep were brought in through it. The principle for us is that our work should honor God first. In our work we must have the proper perspective. Paul echoes this thought over and over again in his writings. In I Corinthians 10:31 he writes, “So whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God…” In Colossians 3:17 he says, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” And again in verse 23 of that same chapter, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
The work we do, be it prestigious or lowly, takes on new significance when we do it for the Lord. I occasionally will have some well-meaning person say something about “doing the Lord’s work” as a pastor – but the truth is I was doing the Lord’s work when I was running school foodservice operations at public schools, colleges and universities all over the country. I was doing the Lord’s work when I was a salesman. I was doing the Lord’s work when I worked on oil rigs. Every job we have is the Lord’s work when we do our work “as working for the Lord, not for men.”
2. Get to work!
But not everyone feels that way about his or her job. It is true today, and it was true in Nehemiah’s day too – even among the people of God! In verse 5, we read of the men of Tekoa, who went to work on a section of the wall, “But,” it says, “Their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.” Don’t you just hate it when there’s a job to do, everyone can see there’s a job to do, everyone has been asked to do their part, but there’s that few who “won’t put their shoulder to the work?” In this case, it was the “nobles” who wouldn’t work. Maybe they were afraid of ruining their manicure, or getting their noble robes dirty! It always seems that there are a few who are simply unwilling to do their part, but it is especially disheartening when it’s the leaders who are resting while everyone else is working. But the truth is this – they may have had the titles of nobles but they were not leaders – the people of Tekoa did their part in spite of their leadership vacuum. Out of 42 groups of workers described in this chapter, those leaders get the unwanted distinction of being the only group described in negative terms. They weren’t leaders at all! They weren’t noble at all! They were dishonored for their laziness!
Get to work! The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If a man won’t work, he shouldn’t eat.” Now, notice that doesn’t say if he can’t work because sometimes you can’t. It says if he won’t work. If it’s a matter of character, you’re just lazy. The Bible says you shouldn’t eat. God wants us to earn an honest living.
3. It is your job!
In every workplace, there are going to be people who say, “It’s not my job!” In my years of business management, that was one attitude that I could not, and would not tolerate. When we work, every job is everyone’s job! Our job is to serve our employer, to serve our customer, and to advance our cause. If I have it in my ability to assist someone with his or her work, even if it’s not my responsibility, then I have an obligation to do it. Now, that doesn’t mean that I do jobs that I haven’t been trained for, or take a job from someone who should be doing their part, but if there’s a person who needs a little help, or a situation that needs addressing and I have it in my power and ability to do it, then I have an obligation to do it! If I am walking through the storeroom, and I see a spill on the floor, I don’t have the right to walk over it, and say, “It’s not my job!” No, I go get a mop and clean it up…before a customer or a co-worker gets hurt. If I’m a cashier, but the stock people are behind and I don’t have any customers to wait on, then I go help them. If I’m trained to work in the office, but there are customers backed up on the sales floor, then I go out and do what I can to help – it’s my responsibility.
That attitude is shown in this chapter, too. In verses 8, and 31 we see that there were people who were trained in a very highly skilled area, but they got involved in the work of rebuilding. In both passages, goldsmiths, and perfume makers laid down the tools of their primary trade, and went and worked on the walls. In fact, all through this story, the work of building is done by priests, tradesman, farmers and government officials who laid aside their tools, got up from their desks, left their plows, and went to do the work that needed to get done. Now that doesn’t mean that we ignore our own responsibilities indefinitely – but it means that we are willing to go and do what needs to get done when the situation warrants it. The next time you hear yourself saying, “It’s not my job,” catch yourself, and ask instead, “How can I help?”
4. Work with passion!
In verse 20 we read of a guy named Baruch, son of Zabbai. Nehemiah wrote of him, “Baruch sone of Zabbai zealously repaired another section…” In the listing of 42 groups of workers, this is the only one that contains an adjective. And this is an interesting adjective! The Hebrew word that Nehemiah wrote in his journal is a word that is usually translated, “angered, angry, became angry, became furious, burned, kindled, rage, very angry,” and this one time, “zealously.” Nehemiah could have been saying, in our day, “Baruch worked like a mad man!” Or, perhaps, “He worked like a possessed man!” It is a word of passion, and intensity. Baruch was not just working – he was consumed by his task! His passion obviously caught Nehemiah’s attention. As a boss, as a leader, you just love it when you have a person who works with passion. We have some “Baruchs” in this church – Trish comes to mind – she works with such passion for the Lord – and it is an inspiration to others. Men – whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord, and do it with passion! If your going to be working 57 hours a week at a job – do it with conviction – do it zealously, and if you can’t – maybe do something else!
5. Do more than expected!
Finally, in verses 27 and 30, we see one last lesson in work from this passage – do more than expected. Take a look at verse 27. It says, “the men of Tekoa repaired another section…” Remember these guys? They were the ones whose “nobles refused to put their shoulders to the work” in verse 5. Yet here they are, not only doing their section, but moving around and doing another section! They didn’t let the fact that their leaders were wimps keep them doing more than was asked – they saw more to be done and got after it! One of the best ways we can show that we are truly working “as for the Lord” is to go above and beyond the job description. When we see work that needs to be done – “Get R Done!” is our motto.
We’ve seen that work is a good part of God’s creative work, but it has been corrupted by the effects of sin. What was meant by God to be a wonderful part of our lives has been made a curse. But remember what this book is all about? REDEMPTION! God wants to redeem our work along with everything else in this world. He wants to do it by incorporating these five attitudes into our workday:
1. Put God First! - “Do your work as working for the Lord, not for men.”
2. Get to work! – Be willing to do your part – everyone needs to be doing his part.
3. It is your job! – Instead of “it’s not my job!” ask, “how can I help?”
4. Work with passion! – If it’s taking 57 hours of your week – you’d might as well love what you’re doing!
5. Do more than expected! – Men of God will be leading the way in doing above and beyond the call of duty.
In closing, let me take you back to verse 1. I said earlier that the first work done was on the Sheep Gate – it was the gate to the temple, the gate through which the sacrificial lambs were brought in. It was the first gate repaired, because without sacrifice, there is not redemption. If you read this chapter, you will notice that this is the only gate that did not have locks or bars…the gate of salvation is always open to everyone.
My point is this – God does want to redeem your work – He wants to give your work-life purpose and meaning. But He can’t redeem your work unless He has first redeemed you. Every one of us has rebelled against God, just like Adam, and as a result our work has been cursed. But God wants to redeem us, and our work. That’s why Jesus came, lived and died. He did the work the Father gave Him to do so that you and I, and the work we do, can be redeemed – made of value again.
If your life seems an endless bore – if your work is meaningless, then maybe your life is meaningless, purposeless. I would ask you to allow Jesus to bring new life to your soul and your work, your marriage, your relationship with your kids, and every other part of your life. If you would like to have Jesus do His work in your life, then pray with me:
“Heavenly Father, so much of my life seems meaningless. I work, eat and sleep. I’m living under the curse of sin and evil – my life isn’t what you want it to be. Lord, save my life from meaninglessness by making me Your child. Forgive me for my rebelliousness, for my sins, and give me a new life through the life of Jesus, and through the work He did on the cross. AMEN.”