There are those who put aside their labour, bringing their families from all over to gather in Jerusalem, spending time offering sacrifices to worship God. What is the benefit of all this trouble? A leader who does not build a national defense system to resist foreign enemies, but instead gathers people to sing and dance, yet the nation begins to get on the right track. What exactly happened? Let us delve into it.
Questions for Reflection:
If you were to extract the most fundamental thing from Nehemiah's heart, it would be to please God. So, what is the basis for pleasing God?
Is gathering together so important? Is this form necessary? What does Nehemiah value that is worth so much trouble and expense?
There are many ways to worship God. What is the reason Nehemiah pleases God?
Nehemiah Prepared a Dedication Ceremony for the Wall
Background of the Scripture
The background of this scripture is: Nehemiah organized a dedication ceremony for the wall. A spiritual leader loves to gather people together to sing hymns, worship, praise, and make offerings. If you look at these things from a human perspective, you may not be able to understand it. First, it wastes time; second, it costs money; and third, it is a waste of manpower and resources. Nehemiah took half the people, and the others took the other half, each walking half a circle around the wall, completing a total of one circle. According to worldly logic, this is incomprehensible. What is the benefit of this? A large group of people were invited to sing hymns, and because those who sang hymns were professionals, they had to be supported with offerings. Isn't this a waste of money?
Nehemiah also invited a large group of gatekeepers, who did no other work, neither tilled the land, nor did any business, nor raised cattle or sheep. As a result, everyone had to make offerings to these gatekeepers. Isn't that strange? And it doesn't end there. After people made offerings, they had to give a tenth to the Levites, and the Levites then took a tenth to give to the priests and the descendants of Aaron. There is absolutely no way to understand their actions from a human perspective! So why did Nehemiah insist on doing this? Actually, he was not trying to please men; he was trying to please God. We must learn to recognize the key points behind these things.
Nehemiah's Heartfelt Desire: To Please God
Everything Nehemiah Did Was According to God's Will
Nehemiah's logic is very simple. This logic is not human logic, because it cannot be understood by human logic. If there truly is a God in this world, sitting in heaven, who created the universe, then you only need to do one thing right in your life, and that is to please God. Nehemiah believed that if you have the approval of God, everything in this world will be easily solved.
The 《Bible》 says that Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were both remarkable leaders. What did these remarkable leaders do? In the era of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, the Israelites were required to give a tenth to the Levites, and the Levites gave a tenth to the priests. And those who kept the gates and sang hymns were restoring a life centered on God.
Very interestingly, the 《Bible》 mentions twice that they praised and thanked God according to the command of David the man of God, group by group (《Nehemiah》 12:24); verse 45 also mentions that Nehemiah also mentioned that the singers and gatekeepers did likewise according to the commands of David and his son Solomon (《Nehemiah》 12:45). Therefore, do not think that you can invent your own way to please God. You cannot do something according to your own standards to please God.
Pleasing God According to His Revelation
And for the courses of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of God, and for all the vessels of the house of God by weight.(《1 Chronicles》 28:13)
The revelations that David and Solomon received were not invented by themselves, but were personally instructed to David by God. Including the priests singing hymns, and all the arrangements, God told David how to do it. So the 《Bible》 says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (《Proverbs》 3:5)
So what is the reason Nehemiah pleases God? It is not that he does whatever he wants, but that he traces back to the revelation God once gave to David and Solomon. Sing hymns and worship God according to the divisions, for Nehemiah was determined to restore the worship life that had been neglected for a long time.
Value Gathering, Without Form There Is No Substance
We must change a concept. In fact, without form, substance is also empty talk. Some people might say: I believe in the Lord, the Lord is in my heart; I love the Lord, and the Lord loves me, so let's skip the meeting! There is no need for such a waste of manpower and money, we love God and God knows it! A sister once gave me such a difficult problem. She said to me: Pastor, I don't think coming to church necessarily means loving God, and not coming to church doesn't necessarily mean not loving God. I replied: That's a good question, let's discuss it.
The result of the discussion is that coming to church does not necessarily mean loving God, because if your heart is not on God, you are coming in vain, just like playing a supporting role. However, if you do not come to church, then you do not love God at all. Just like Nehemiah recruited these people who sang hymns and worshipped, there must have been some who did not come. The gatherings led by Nehemiah were to please God.
Recall that last October, all the pastors of Ling Liang Church gathered in Taipei. Was it a waste of manpower and money? We flew a long way from Singapore to Taipei, and a pastor started from a small place in Africa, taking a bus for eight hours. After getting off the bus, he took a small plane to another big city, and from that big city he flew to Europe, and then from Europe to Taipei. Some pastors were stranded somewhere halfway through, and by the time they arrived, the meeting was over. It was really hard!
Another example is when I was in college, a classmate of mine went home, taking a train from Beijing to Harbin, and then taking a car from Harbin to a small place, and then taking an eight-hour bus back home from that small place. This round trip took a week, which was really hard. I think those pastors I mentioned earlier worked so hard and paid so much, even if they didn't reach their destination and the meeting was over, did they please God? They also pleased God.
What God wants is our heart, you have that heart, to gather together for the sake of longing for God. Gathering is a very, very important thing in Christianity. Because this gathering is not for your benefit, to learn some knowledge, nor is it for what you can get. It is just to please God. With the form of gathering, there will be substance. Therefore, brothers and sisters, value the gathering.
Does Believing in the Lord Really Require Paying a Price?
Believing in the Lord Means Pleasing God; We Should Do More of What Pleases God
Living a God-centered life means pleasing the Lord of lords and King of kings. If you please Him, all problems can be solved. Recently, I have been quite concerned whether our hearts have stopped just because we stopped the cell group meetings. Actually, looking back over the past years, we have come step by step, and we have indeed received a lot of grace from God. And we always thought that being able to live such a normal life was something that should have been. If you have such an idea, you need to repent, even if I offend you by saying this. In fact, it is not easy for us to live such a normal life. All this is because we have pleased God!
How did we please God? We come to church on Wednesdays to study the Bible, and we come to church on Fridays to study the Bible. No matter how busy we are with work, we squeeze onto buses and subways to come to church at the time of the meeting. Therefore, I understand everyone's hard work, although I have never squeezed onto the subway like you. When I learned about the crowded conditions on the subway, I felt quite uncomfortable. Everyone rushes to the church from afar, and if I don’t let you gain anything after you come, I will feel very guilty. So when studying the Bible, I try my best to pass on the best information to everyone, so that everyone can get spiritual food and spiritual nourishment. Let everyone be able to rekindle the fire in their hearts and want to please God when they end the meeting.
Pleasing the World Will Not Please God
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
People ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. (1 Thessalonians 4:1) No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. (2 Timothy 2:4)
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (2 Corinthians 5:9)
Paul is trying his best to persuade everyone to dedicate themselves completely and become a person who pleases God. Pleasing God does not mean suffering losses, so brothers and sisters, because we understand everyone's hard work, we have stopped some gatherings. However, don't let your heart to please God stop. Don't think that we can gain more by stopping the gatherings.
If the time you save is filled with worldly things that please the world, I am really worried for you. Because we will begin to lose God's pleasure. And if we lose God's pleasure, we will get further and further away from God. If our days become worse and worse, busier and busier, and our lives are full of pressure and all kinds of problems, then start to turn back and please God. Gathering together for God's sake, praying for each other, serving each other, and becoming one body, this is God's will.
Be a Leader Who Pleases God
A Leader Who Pleases God Will Lead the Church to Strive to Enter into God's Will
Because of Nehemiah's efforts, the people of Israel entered into a life of pleasing God. Without Nehemiah, people would enter into a life of pleasing the world. Today, I encourage everyone to think carefully, if there is a leader or pastor who pleases God, who dares to offend you, dares to demand you, dares to organize everyone, you are blessed! Without Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, the history of Israel in this period would have to be rewritten. But when we observe carefully, we see that these are the days when the Israelites please God. Therefore, if you don't like your life being filled with messy things, start filling your life with things that please God!
I think when Nehemiah was doing this, he was trying his best to please God. And when Paul was doing those things, he was also trying his best to please God, not to please people. Today, the pastor standing in front of you, or the cell leaders who share weal and woe with you, if they are trying their best to lead everyone to live a life that pleases God and build up this kind of fellowship, I beseech you, I urge you to support your cell leaders, this is a blessed thing!
Of course, when Nehemiah does this, some people will complain, some people will not like it, some people will have negative emotions, and some people will feel pressure. Maybe their house is half-renovated, or their project is half-done, and they are called to lead worship songs on Sunday, to sing or not to sing? Should they go and deal with family matters? There are too many things we have to be busy with in our lives, maybe my program has not been written yet, my project has not been completed yet, and I have an interview next week. There are a thousand and one reasons why we can enter into a life that does not please God, but Nehemiah did not care about these at all, he did not want to leave us with a bad memory. And are there people who do not want to enter into a life that pleases God? There must be!
Paul's Teachings to the Elders of the Church
Nehemiah Chapter 13 tells that as soon as people left Nehemiah, they began to return to their original lives. So brothers and sisters, the reason why you can live a blessed life today is indeed because there is someone willing to please God leading you. In Acts Chapter 20, a history is recorded: Paul was going to Jerusalem. Paul knew that some bad things were going to happen to him when he went to Jerusalem, so he sent people from Miletus to Ephesus.
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe trials because of the plots of the Jews. (Acts 20:17-19)
And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. (Acts 20:25)
Paul wrote this passage to please God and build up the church of God. Therefore, there is nothing that he does not shy away from and does not tell everyone.
A Leader Who Pleases God Will Lead Everyone to Live an Abundant and Grace-filled Life
If you have a leader who tells you the word of God without reservation, letting you enter into a day of pleasing God, you are blessed. Because if you please God, you will gain joy; because if you please God, you can live an abundant life; because if you please God, you can live a life full of grace. Although your leader may give you a little pressure and ask you to give offerings, it is to let you gain grace; maybe your leader constantly asks you to attend meetings and prayers, and sometimes speaks a little harshly, but that is for your benefit.
If there is no leader to ask you, no Nehemiah to ask everyone to restore a God-centered life, restore a life of worship, and restore the path of pleasing God, what a great loss it would be for the Israelites! If today, our shimu(pastor's wife) is constantly asking us to enter into a life that pleases God, maybe you will be offended, then I hope you forgive us, we are really for everyone's benefit. There is a difference of more than twenty years between our ages. We don't know what the future holds. Maybe we will walk with you and keep walking, but maybe I will leave first. Don't wait until your leaders leave you to realize how precious this is! Amen!
Living a God-centered life
means pleasing the Lord of lords and King of kings.
If you please Him, all problems can be solved.