“When it was built for an international exposition in the last century, this structure was called monstrous by the citizens of the city, who demanded it be torn down as soon as the exposition was over. Yet from the moment its architect first conceived it, he took pride in it and loyally defended it from those who wished to destroy it. He knew it was destined for greatness. Today it is one of the architectural wonders of the modern world and stands as the primary landmark of Paris, France. The architect, was Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. His famous tower was built in in 1889. In the same way, Jesus is loyal to another structure--the church--which he entrusted to an unlikely band of disciples, whom he defended, prayed for, and prepared to spread the gospel. To outsiders they (and we) must seem like incapable blunderers. But Jesus, the architect of the church, knows this structure is destined for greatness when he returns.”
(John Berst)
Take a look at one of your hands. It consists of several elements, a palm connecting four fingers and a thumb. Each finger and the thumb has a distinct position and function and all together work as a unity called the hand. Likewise we can think of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit, as separate personalities but unified in the Godhead. The Shema (Deut 6:4), the prayer ‘Hear O Isreal the Lord our God, the Lord is One” that Jews recite daily, uses for the word one in Hebrew, a form of the noun that is understood to be a compound unity. This is also the same word that is used to describe in the Hebrew texts, a man and woman united in marriage, the two becoming one flesh, and the twelve tribes of Isreal being of one nation. The next, new testament, new covenant usage of this word is that we though many are one body in Christ, royal priesthood a spiritual house.
God is building a spiritual house, not made with human hands but in the hearts of all believers and we are likened unto lively stones. The blueprint for the building is in God’s word. Broken fellowship and spiritual disease and death result when we don’t follow the master the design. But restoration can always be realized when lives are broken by sin.
Let’s look go back to an original design in God’s word of a real building project broken by the sin of the people. The book of Nehemiah is a powerful story about how prayer, repentance and hard work can accomplish seemingly impossible things when people determine to try to trust and obey God.
Nehemiah was a governor of the Jews in exile in Persia. Like Joseph in Egypt he had a secured a high ranking government position as the cupbearer for Artaxerses the ruler. Word came to him that the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed and the gates burned down. The remnant of the people left were being terribly threatened by hostile groups around them with no defenses. He prayed for four months fasting, weeping and asking forgiveness for the sins of Isreal and his own sin. The Lord gave him the boldness to approach the Persian ruler and ask permission to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the broken down walls of the city and his request was granted. Nehemiah prepared himself with fasting, repentance and prayer first and formost.
Once in Jerusalem, Nehemiah inspected the walls of Jerusalem, alone for three night under the cover of darkness. On the third day, he explained to the people how the hand of the Lord been on him and he encouraged the people to rise up and build. There were some nay sayers, by Nehemiah told them and all the people that The God of heaven would make them prosper and that they his servants would arise and build. Nehemiah went alone to get a vison of what needed to be done and then encourage the people to catch the vision once he had all the details and facts. He also did not want to draw any attention from the enemies while he was out looking, smart man.
One group of people rebuilt the Sheep gate and others restored the broad walls, The gate of yeshanah was repaired as was the Valley Gate. Homes were repaired,priests houses, buttresses,the watchtowers, As the building progressed the enemies became more vocal and gathered others in strength, so the Nehemiah’s men had to build with one hand and hold their spears with the other. The whole wall was finished in fifty two days and the enemies of the Jews were greatly afraid and realized that it had been accomplished with the help of the hand of God. Nehemiah matched people’s gifts and passion for the jobs that they were doing as much as possible. People worked in groups, developing a sense of community again.
While the people were building there were the constant taunts and threats from without, there was also division from within, but in the end they were able to put aside their differences and work as one body for the greater goal of restoring the walls of the city. When they were tired or threatened, Nehemiah arranged for additional security or work rotation and focused their attention again on God and the task that was set before them. His approach was very effective.
After the walls were rebuilt, the temple worship was reinstated. Exiles returned in number from Persia and all heard the book of the law of Moses read to them for the first time and realized that God had so much more for them. They responded by bowing their heads and worshipping God. There was a great revival in their land. They were becoming one people again. Their identity, lost as exiles in the strange land of Persia, was being reclaimed in their homeland as was their faith and traditions.
I think the story of Nehemiah has a lot to say to us today. There are many ruined and desolate places in our lives, our communities our workplaces, homes and nation. Some of these places may be physical like the broken down city, others relational or spiritual. God wants to restore the broken down walls and burnt gates around us.
First we need to acknowledge the brokenness exists and ask God for forgiveness for our part in it. Like Nehemiah we can’t skip the first step when he wept and repented for his people Isreal and for himself personally.
Repentance means to change your mind or change your attitude. The holy Spirit will guide us to repentance if we are willing. God is holy and hates sin. We need to come before him with clean hands and hearts cleansed by the blood of His Son. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, working together to make us whole and holy.
We tend to wear masks and pretend that all is well in our lives. When we admit our struggles, people can relate to us. They see us as authentic and it give’s them permission to be open about their own struggles. This helps with the relationship building process, helping build the spiritual house of the Lord.
The good news is that joy does not depend on our circumstances or how much of the building is left to be built or how much of the tower is still to be completed. We cannot buy joy it is only found in God himself, in his presence is the fullness of joy, scripture tells us. We may not always be happy but we will always know the true source of joy when we abide in Christ. When we adide in Him the work of building His kingdom and being fit together is easy.
We can build the walls up or we can tear them down. A building of quality takes patience, time, diligence. We all have seen how fast a building can come down during a catastrophe.
A Builder Or a Wrecker, Unknown author
As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled,
And the men you'd hire if you wanted to build?"
He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need."
"I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do."
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
"O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!"
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