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November 9, 2008 "You Want Me to Do What?"-Rev. Vicky Ney
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November 9, 2008 “You Want Me to Do What?” Rev. Victoria Ney
Nehemiah 1-2 (selected verses)
Have you ever heard words like these: “What this church really needs is….” “If I were governor of New Jersey, I would…..”. “We may have a new president, but the first thing he needs to do is….” The economy is a mess. Someone ought to do something!
It seems that there are lots of gripers, complainers, self-proclaimed prophets, and armchair quarterbacks everywhere. It’s easy to analyze, scrutinize, diagnose, and talk endlessly about all the problems around us—or even in the world. But what we actually need are people who will not just discuss situations, but will do something about it!
The man we read about in our scripture passage this morning, Nehemiah, was just such a person. He saw a problem and was deeply distressed. The scripture passage said he actually wept over it. But instead of complaining or wallowing in self-pity and grief, he took action. I’m sure we all have had situations in our lives that seem hopeless. And we all have the choice to do nothing or take action. For Nehemiah, doing nothing was not an option—he needed to act.
Let’s look at just who Nehemiah was for a moment. The story we read in the Bible takes place about 450 BC. Nehemiah was a Hebrew. Perhaps his parents, or grandparents, had been brought to Babylon as slaves in 586 BC when Israel had been destroyed by a war with the Babylonians. Time went by. Eventually, the Persians conquered the Babylonians. Restrictions were raised and some Jews went back to Israel. Other Jewish people were assimilated into the Babylonian population and just stayed there. That probably described Nehemiah. He had assimilated into the Babylonian population. And now he had a cushy job. It was probably one of the best jobs in the kingdom and he knew he was lucky to have it. Work wasn’t always easy to find, especially if you were a foreigner. Most of his friends probably worked as laborers or in unskilled positions. Even those who had a professional pathway found a lot of doors closed because of their race or religion. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
There have always been those kinds of barriers—let’s be honest here, those same barriers exist still today. But Nehemiah had risen above it. He pulled himself up by his own boot straps, so to speak, and had made good. It was kind of a “rags to riches” story. And I’ll bet he never let a day go by without thanking God for being where he was.
Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer. He did exactly what his title implied—he carried the king’s cup. In a time when leaders of nations weren’t elected but disposed of in permanent ways—I think you can catch my drift—a king needed someone who would not only carry the cup, but make sure it wasn’t hazardous to his health! He needed someone to taste it first. If the cupbearer didn’t drop dead after he tasted the wine, the king drank it. I would imagine Nehemiah’s motto was “So far, so good.” As long as no one wanted to poison the king, he had it made!
Nehemiah had a comfortable life. It’s easy to get used to a comfortable life, isn’t it? Nice income. Good connections. Great relationship with the boss. Comfy life.
There was just one thing. Nehemiah loved the land of Palestine where his family was from, even though he had lived his entire life in Babylon. He knew there was a God. He knew about being part of God’s family. He knew there was something important that needed to be done. Someone needed to unite the Jewish people back in Palestine, rebuild Jerusalem’s broken-down walls, and restore the reality and the sense of power of God’s presence among the people.
About 25 years ago, when Apple Computer’s co-founder Steve Jobs approached John Sculley, Vice President of Pepsi, about coming on board with Apple as chairman of the company, he asked him this important question: “Are you content to spend your life selling fizzy water or do you want to change the world?”
Basically, God laid that same question on Nehemiah’s heart: Do you want to spend your life carry the king’s cup or do you want to change the world? God put that “call” on Nehemiah’s heart.
What is a “call?” Christians throw that word around a lot. They kind of use it interchangeably with another big word—vocation. And if you were to look it up in Webster’s dictionary is says it is a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action; specifically a divine call in religious life. In other words, it’s a strong inner prompting to a particular course of action. And it also recognizes that there is divine intervention related to one’s decisions to know what to do with one’s life.
I hope you’re aware that there is a fundamental premise for Christians that we have a purpose here on earth. We believe that each of us has value and our lives have a purpose. God calls each of us and each call is unique. God calls us to do things that match the gifts we have been given. St. Paul wrote to his church in Corinth about gifts and abilities. He said, “Now God give us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.” (I Corinthians 12)
So how does God call us to use all those gifts and abilities? Unfortunately, we probably aren’t going to get a letter or a phone call. But, God’s call can come to us in a variety of ways. It might be a gradual dawning of God’s purpose for our lives—a sense of inner direction. Maybe it can be a sudden awareness of a path God wants us to take. It can be emphatic or unmistakable, or it may be obscure and subtle. But make no mistake, God wants us to be part of his work and God will guide us. Five thousand years ago, the Psalmist even wrote, “God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8) But first of all, we need to be open to that possibility.
It seems that in Nehemiah’s case, he felt a sudden strong urge to go back to Jerusalem. Maybe this call even took him by surprise. He was doing pretty well where he was. But his heart told him he needed to go back to his war-torn country and use his gifts of energy, enthusiasm and organizational skills to rebuild it.
Later on in Nehemiah’s account of the rebuilding of the wall, he named all the people that he put in charge of the various sections and gates. Priests rebuilt the Sheep’s Gate. A man named Shallum and his daughters worked on the part of the wall by their house. Even the dung gate, the gate where the people brought garbage, trash, and other waste for burning, was rebuilt by a man named Malkijah and his family. It seems to me that this gate in particular—the dung gate—had to be the least desirable of all the sections of the wall being rebuilt. Maybe Malkijah’s first response was, “You want me to do what? The dung gate?” But Malkijah, along with his family, made himself available for this task. Indeed, all the citizens of Jerusalem did their part on the huge job of rebuilding the city wall. Men, women, and children used their special talents and abilities and worked together to accomplish their mission.
You see, God is in the business of working through people to accomplish impossible tasks. God shapes us with personality characteristics, experiences, and training that prepare us for God’s purpose. And sometimes we have no idea what God has in store for us! God prepared and positioned Nehemiah, along with the priests, and Shallum and his daughters, and Malkijah and many others to accomplish one of the Bible’s “impossible missions.”
Now we get to another buzz word—ministry. Ministry is merely the use of our special gifts and abilities that we use in response to God’s call. This is not done because we “ought to,” it is supposed to be a loving grateful response, given freely, to the enormous gift of grace God has given to each one of us. This is the way we participate in God’s work in the world. In essence, we become God’s hands. Jesus actually commissioned us personally. He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21)
Jesus didn’t mean he’s just sending clergy into the world. I’m not in this alone! Ministry takes all kinds of forms. It’s not just pastoral care—like visiting the sick or feeding the hungry and helping the homeless—that’s certainly part of it. But we can also look at ministry as just being there for someone else. It can even be simple things like listening to people, praying for people at work as well as our families. Helping someone be all that he can be, and helping take down obstacles that hinder people on their way in this life. It might even include the concept of competency at our own jobs. This last idea is rather intriguing and probably the topic of another sermon some Sunday. But ministry might also include being good at what we do. Sort of sounds like the old saying “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” We are called on to continue God’s creative process through the work that we do each and every day.
This morning I’m challenging you to figure out your connection with God and call and ministry and your every day life. We can all go to church and learn all sorts of Biblical facts. But unless it affects living out our faith in our every day lives, it’ll be useless. If we cannot find come spiritual connection in what we do every day, we will be condemned to living a double life—one in which there is no connection with what we do Sunday morning at church and what we do the rest of the week. And frankly, I have a strong suspicion that’s why a lot of people have quit coming to church in almost every denomination. It’s just another activity on the “to do” list, rather than helping us make a connection living a life with God every single day.
This morning when we watched little William being baptized, it wasn’t a one time event—all done—that’s it—over. His baptism, just like when each one of us was baptized, was a beginning. It was our beginning of being part of God’s family. It was God’s first call on each of our lives—it was the first time God told us we all have a special part in God’s plan for this world. It’s the first time we’re told we have been given unique abilities to use in this life—for God and for others.
You may not feel you have Nehemiah’s particular abilities or feel that you are in a position where you can do anything great for God, like building a wall around Jerusalem. But we all need to remember that God intends for us to start looking and listening for opportunities to serve him. To paraphrase former President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what God can do for you, ask what you can do for God.”
I think there are two ways that we can become more useful to God. First be a person who talks to God. Welcome God into your thoughts and share yourself with God—your feelings, concerns, and dreams. Second, be a person who walks with God. Get closer to the One who desires to walk with you.
Perhaps then you won’t be tempted to say: “You want me to do what?” Your response might be: “God, show me some opportunities where I might serve you and change the world.”
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