Church, Arise and Build!

[This message was shared today at the beginning of our Arise and Build leadership day for the Southwest Ohio Mission District of the North American Lutheran Church. It was a tremendous strategic planning day for the congregations of our district!]

We begin this morning in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

My name is Mark Daniels. I’m pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville and dean of the Southwest Ohio Mission District.

I want to thank Pastor Tom Brodbeck and the people here at Grace Lutheran Church for hosting us today.

So, why are you here today and why did we tear you away from the Ohio State-Penn State game? (Which, I’ll add, the district council originally thought would be held tonight.)

The short answer is that, seven years into the life of our district, we thought it was a good idea to have another strategic planning event to discern our path forward together. We had an event like this right after the NALC congregations in Ohio were split into districts and it has helped inform our priorities and budgeting since then. From the beginning, none of us wanted to form a district just to create more meetings for people. That’s pointless. Instead, we formed into a district so that we can do together what we can’t do or can’t do as well as individual congregations.

And we have done good things together: Supported our pastors and individual churches in fulfilling Christ’s mission of being and making disciples; held district-wide youth events; helped church councils organize around the Great Commission; and other things.

I think we all felt originally that we would do events like this one every five years. But you may recall that we hit a speed bump called the COVID-19 pandemic. So, here we are today.

Our theme, suggested by Pastor Brodbeck, comes to us from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

To put Nehemiah in context, remember that after enduring centuries of faithlessness, idolatry, and injustice from His people, God empowered the Babylonians to conquer and destroy Judah, Jerusalem, and temple in 586 BC.

In 536 BC, the first of the Jewish exiles were allowed to return to their homeland. For more than a hundred years though, Jerusalem’s walls and the temple lay in ruins. This suited the Samaritans appointed by foreign overlords to “govern” what was left of Judah and the returned exiles. But it was a source of sadness to God’s people.

Finally, in 458 BC, Ezra, trained as a priest, returned to Jerusalem to not only rebuild the temple, but also to call God’s people to repentance and faith.

Thirteen years after that, God sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.

As the book that bears his name begins, Nehemiah, a Jew who likely had never seen nor lived in Jerusalem, is cupbearer to the king of the Persians. (The Persians, by the way, had conquered the Babylonians and taken control of all the Babylonians’ colonial holdings.) A cupbearer to a king was important. He would have maintained the king’s stock of wines and ensured the wines were safe to drink. A king would only appoint someone he trusted as cupbearer.

One day, Nehemiah tells us, Hanani, one of his brothers, arrived from Jerusalem. His brother tells him that despite the fact that many of God’s people had returned to the one-time religious and political center of Judah, the city was still a wreck, a heap of stone and ashes. Nehemiah says that when he heard this, he wept and mourned for days.

There’s a lot of mourning in Christ’s Church these days.

Lament seems to be a common theme when Christians get together.

We lament the fact that worship attendance and church membership are down.

We lament the sorry state of the world and the lack of young people on our membership rolls.

Lament and mourning are fine as far as they go. Just as it would be unnatural for us to not grieve over the loss of loved ones, it would be unnatural for Christians not to mourn the loss of faith in Christ we see in the world.

But, as Saint Paul reminds us, it is inappropriate for Christians to “​​grieve as others do who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

We are baptized believers in Jesus Christ, heirs of promises from the crucified Savior that God will never leave us nor forsake us and that, wherever His Word is rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments rightly administered, there is resurrection hope.

Hope is central to our faith in Christ! (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5-6; Romans 10:17)

And it’s here that Nehemiah inspires!

After getting the news about Jerusalem, he spent what appears to have been several weeks fasting and praying. While doing so, he confesses to God that he and his people had sinned against God and deserve none of His favor.

But, as he prays, he also remembers and expresses God’s promises, promises given not to morally perfect people, but to sinners in need of forgiveness and new life.

As Nehemiah prays, a plan seems to form in his mind. Certain that God has laid both a concern for Jerusalem and the responsibility to do something about that concern on his heart, he will leverage his relationship with the king to receive authorization and help to go back to Jerusalem and, though there’s no indication Nehemiah had any experience at all, lead the reconstruction of the city and act as its governor.

Amazingly, the king gives his authorization to Nehemiah and the Jewish cupbearer heads to Jerusalem. He not only finds the city to be as badly off as he’d been told, but he also runs into opposition from people who don’t believe in God and don’t want God’s people to give witness to their faith in the world. (The Church runs into people like that today.)

But, having prayed and planned, Nehemiah refused to be discouraged. He refused to be discouraged!

Certain that God’s hand was on him for good (Nehemiah 2:28), Nehemiah tells the naysayers: “The God of heaven will make us prosper [or, advance], and we his servants will arise and build…” (Nehemiah 2:20)

Friends, Nehemiah well exemplifies what Jesus says disciples and His Church should be like. “Behold,” Jesus tells us, “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

To fulfill the mission God laid on his heart, Nehemiah was innocent as a dove in that he relied not on any pretense of goodness on his part or on the part of His people, but solely on the grace, goodness, and promises of God.

This is the same God Who has decided to use people like you and me, sinners saved by Christ Who offered His innocent life to save us from sin and death, to do His work in the world: to tell all the world, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

To fulfill the mission God laid on his heart, Nehemiah was not just humbly prayerful, but also wise as a serpent, shrewd. He used the gifts, opportunities, and assets God gave him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

On this Saturday, October 21, 2023, our challenge is to pray submissively in Jesus’ name and to use the gifts, opportunities, and assets God has given us now, today, to fulfill the mission Christ has given to us, confident in the power He gives to His people in every time and place.

Today, Jesus tells us again: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Witnesses for Jesus: Let’s take inspiration from Nehemiah as we gather today. Let’s pray and plan so that our churches and our district can be the means by which God brings and builds His kingdom as through us, Christ builds His Church. Let’s “arise and build.” Amen