Pastoring and Renovating
A few years ago, my family was able to purchase a home here in San Diego. With the rate of homeownership barely at 50% here, this was no small thing. Over 22 years of marriage, this was our 4th home purchase. The previous three were all nicer, larger, and together, didn’t cost what our California address currently does. So, for the past few years—and into the foreseeable future—my time has been divided between two things: pastoring a church and renovating an old home.
And in many ways, the two are not dissimilar. There is always way more that needs to get done than I have the time, resources, or experience to do. My work is being built upon other men’s work—some for good and some not so good. In both worlds, I regularly encounter things that I am inadequate to accomplish and that, apart from dependence upon others, will never get done.
But over these past few years, I learned of another more foundational similarity. In home renovation—or really any construction—there is what’s referred to as rough work and finish work. The finish work is the necessary and important detail work. It includes the obvious things that make up the home—drywall, the tile work, the baseboards, the fixtures—all the visible things that provide functionality to the house. Good, detailed, and precise finish work is essential in construction. However, good and accurate finish work is dependent upon proper rough work. While you can’t see the framing, the plumbing, or the structuring of your home, all the finish work is dependent upon it. Put all the time, effort, and money into the finish work as you wish, if it’s built upon shoddy rough work, all your labor will be a waste of time.
Over these few days, the question before us—even if it hasn’t been explicitly asked—is how are we to build God’s church? How are we, as pastors, to build a gospel people—a culture committed to the Glory of Christ and His mission in our cities and the world? Well, in one sense, we can’t. And we won’t. God, the Holy Spirit, builds His Church. But God, the Holy Spirit, builds His church through particular means—of prayer, preaching, evangelism, and the right practice of the ordinances. The oversight of which He trusts into the hands of pastors and the work we call pastoral leadership—the topic I’ve been assigned to address this morning.
And I want us to spend our time considering the rough work of our calling in pastoral ministry—the work behind the work; the work that all the necessary and visible finish work of pastoral ministry is dependent upon. Now in making this distinction, I am in no way diminishing the finish work of our calling. We must preach the Word. We must oversee meaningful membership, faithfully administer, and shepherd alongside other godly men. We must lead our people to evangelize the lost and make disciples. And we must raise up leaders and send them to the nations, all of which we are addressing this week. Our calling cannot be understood apart from such finish work. However, as in home construction, it’s possible in pastoral ministry to spend all our time, effort, energy, and resources into the finish work of our calling, and yet it all be a waste of time if it’s built upon shoddy rough work.
So, from Nehemiah chapter 1, I want us to get behind the walls of our pastoral calling and do a bit of rough work inspection. And I want us to see from Nehemiah chapter 1 that behind and beneath it all,
Pastoral ministry is laboring for the Glory of God while pleading for His purposes in and through His precious people.
The events of Nehemiah come on the heels of a dark moment in redemptive history. Due to the people’s sin and idolatry, God brought the nation to its knees at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army. The temple was dismantled piece by piece, the walls of Jerusalem destroyed, and its treasure and people were marched some 800 miles into slavery, just as God warned.
But through the Persian king Cyrus, God began orchestrating the return of His people in three waves. The first two were successful in rebuilding the temple and reinstating proper worship, as recorded in the book of Ezra. The third wave concerns the book of Nehemiah as he leads God’s people to rebuild the walls of the city.
What’s recorded in this book is a massive building project, most of which concerns the finish work of Nehemiah’s calling. But in chapter one, we are given a glimpse behind the walls of this man’s leadership. Everything in this book, everything that takes place—all the building, organizing, and laboring—is dependent upon the rough work in this opening chapter. And brothers, it’s rough work that directly relates to our task of pastoral ministry.
And it begins with Holy Concern that our labor must be motivated by.
OUR LABOR MUST BE MOTIVATED BY A HOLY CONCERN.
As evident from the opening line, Nehemiah is not a “known” figure. He’s the son of Hacaliah. Remember that guy? No, neither do I. Nehemiah comes from no special family. He is no scribe like Ezra. He is no priest or prophet, like Jeremiah. Yes, he is indeed a cupbearer to The KING. But he is still just a cupbearer to the King. Nehemiah is an ordinary man—but an ordinary possessing an extraordinary concern that drives every aspect of his life.
Nehemiah reminds us that there is no one in this room beyond God doing great work through. God will work mightly through this man. Or to use the language of the book—The good hand of His Sovereign God is upon Nehemiah. But what makes Nehemiah a useful tool in the hand of God is not his abilities, gifting, or leadership capacity—none of which are mentioned in this book. It is His Holy Concern in the hand of a Sovereign God. Nehemiah possessed—or might we say—he was possessed by a Holy Concern that drove every aspect of his life and ministry.
Learning of visitors from Jerusalem, Nehemiah immediately begins to interrogate them. He knows of the previous two waves of Jews who have returned, and his concern leads him to ask “how things are going?” Specifically, he is concerned about the “Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.” But sadly, he hears things aren’t well. “The wall of the city is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
His response in v. 4 is meant to jolt us and set the context of this man—“As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days . . .” His response can’t be due to the original destruction of the walls. No, Nehemiah knows of some sort of attempt to rebuild the walls, which now he learns has been thwarted, probably referring to the events back in Ezra 4. Without the wall, the city is left vulnerable and the hope of restoration is compromised.
But that phrase in v. 3 that the city is in “great trouble and shame” speaks to the real concern driving Nehemiah. Maybe your translation reads “disgrace.” Nehemiah’s concern is for more than just his people and his home country. Nehemiah, almost assuredly, has never even been to Jerusalem. He was born in captivity. All he knows is a foreign land. He has never seen the city or the temple himself. In fact, it’s been 141 years since the city was toppled by the Babylonians. And yet, Nehemiah’s concern is such that the first thing he does is ask these men about the city, resulting in him losing himself for days.
Nehemiah is so concerned about these people and this place because of what it represents. Jerusalem is the city where God had chosen to set His glory. The Jews were God’s special covenant people whom God had set His great name upon. All the promises of God’s restoration and purposes in redemptive history were bound up with this city and these people. If we look down into Nehemiah’s prayer at the end of v. 9 he speaks of Jerusalem as the “place that God had chosen, to make his name dwell there.”
Nehemiah is concerned—might we say, consumed—with the glory of God’s great name in and through His people. The current state of the city represents the dishonoring of God’s great and glorious name and the thwarting of His purposes through His people in redemptive history. Nehemiah’s concern—brothers— is a Holy one.
Pastor, what concerns you? What drives and motivates your work in pastoral ministry? If we were to get behind the walls of your labor—and inspect the rough work—what might we see? Why are you doing this thing called pastoral ministry? What is it that drives and motivates your labors?
It’s an important question to consider as it gets at the very existence of the church and the office of a pastor. You see, concern—of some sort—is driving your ministry. Something is causing you to lose sleep at night. Something is motivating you to get up early and go to bed late. Something is leading you to sacrifice your time and energy, or causing you to refuse to do so. What concerns you, pastor, in your labor?
Does your concern rise to the level of Nehemiah’s? Or to speak in New Covenant language for us in this room, does it rise to the level of what’s recorded in the NT—The glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ manifested to the world through His Church?
What concerned the apostle Paul—what drove and motivated His labor and kept him awake at night was the renown of God’s glorious grace, the mystery His will (as outlined in Eph. 1); His divine decree set forth in Jesus Christ— a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in heaven and on earth. What fueled Paul’s labor and defined His calling was the unsearchable riches of Christ and the bringing to light for everyone what is plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Paul’s concern mirrored Nehemiah’s with New Covenant focus. His concern was for the glory of God’s great and glorious name made known among all people through the church. Brothers, the question we need to come back to regularly in the midst of our labors—is, do we/I see the high and holy calling God has graciously allowed us to take part in as pastors? What gets us out of bed, what motivates our work, and what helps us endure through difficult seasons—must be the manifold wisdom of God—in the gospel of His glorious Son among all nations— through our labor in our local churches.
Charles Bridges spoke of the “Constraining desire to promote God’s glory” as a “primary Ministerial qualification . . . a special kindling within”—in character, if not in intensity, “like the burning fire shut up.”
Pastor, what is your work—all the myriad of things you are called to do—being built on top of? Such inspection of our labor is essential not because, in a room like this, we don’t know what the concern of our labor should be but because of the danger of what it might be.
The concern for God’s glory in and through His people—that must drive our labor— can so easily become seduced by the selfish ambition of our hearts. Over my short seven years of pastoral ministry, it’s evident this tendency is always there. I believe I’m even on good ground to say that if I/we are not battling this tendency, we are probably being given over to it.
This can manifest itself in myriad ways, like desiring to pastor the church you want rather than the church you have been privileged to lead. It can look like your excitements and disappointments being connected to the size of the room on Sunday morning. This can look like you receiving every critique or criticism (any member who leaves) overly personal.
Brothers, we must remain on guard against that sneaky tendency to view the church—and God’s people—as assets to assist you in gaining in ministry—gaining influence, notoriety, or ministry success—rather than precious gifts God has entrusted to us meant to display the manifest wisdom of His glory among all people.
Beloved, you may master all nine marks of a healthy church. The finish work of your ministry may be right and true. You can preach expositionally, practice meaningful membership, possess good discipleship structures, and articulate and teach an airtight presentation of the gospel, but if it’s all built on top of the shotty rough work of self-glory and selfish ambition, it will all be meaningless no matter the size or status of your work even amongst a network like this one.
Pastor, see the high and holy calling of your labor. You are called to labor for the Glory of God’s great name being made known among the nations through your local church. Is that the concern driving your ministry? Is that concern in danger of being seduced by self-glory and ministry success? Such inspection of our labor is necessary in faithful pastoral ministry.
If our concern rises to the level of Nehemiah’s, then our response will follow. Laboring in light of the high and holy calling of pastoral ministry will produce an honest awareness of our utter inadequacy for the task. Such inadequacy for this Holy Concern will lead to a Holy response.
So while our labor must be motivated by a Holy Concern it must also be shaped by a Holy Response.
OUR LABOR MUST BE SHAPED BY A HOLY RESPONSE.
Nehemiah’s concern for the glory of God leads him to deep dependence on God in prayer. Verse 4 says, “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God Heaven.” Nehemiah is no idle man. In this book, the brother gets things done—he plans and he produces.
But Nehemiah is first a man who prays.
In the opening line of Spurgeon’s lecture entitled “The Preacher’s Private Prayer,” the Prince of Preachers himself says: “Of course, the preacher is above all others distinguished as a man of prayer. He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, else he were disqualified for the office which he has undertaken . . . if there be any man under heaven who is compelled to carry out the precept—“Pray without ceasing,” surely it is the Christian minister.”(Spurgeon)
Pastor, what role do you see that prayer plays in our pastoral calling? Is it part of the finish work of ministry? In other words, is prayer a useful and necessary instrument in the tool belt of your calling?
If prayer is viewed as just another important/even essential aspect of our labor—then given its private nature and the limited amount of time we have—the tendency, at least in my life, is for it to just get tacked on at the end. The public and visual work will take over. But if we view prayer as the rough work upon which every other aspect of our ministry is dependent, prayer will be viewed—as Oswald Chambers said—”not just as what fits us for the greater work, but the greater work itself.” In just 13 short chapters of this book, you find no less than 10 different prayers from the lips of Nehemiah. And all of them foundationally flow from what’s recorded here in chapter 1.
I want to provide us with two exhortations regarding prayer as the rough work of our ministry.
1. WE MUST PREVAIL IN PRAYER.
Notice that it’s the month of Chislev (November or December) when Nehemiah gets word of Jerusalem and begins fasting and praying. But if we look down to 2:1 it’s the month of Nisan (March or April) when he approaches the king to make his bold request. Nehemiah—a man of action who gets stuff done—spends four months patiently praying to his God before he does anything.
Spurgeon again contends that “All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our closets. We grow, we wax mighty, we prevail, in private prayer.” And beloved, prayer that prevails—prayer that perseveres—is dependent prayer. And dependent prayer possesses a clear vision of who God is and who we are not.
Nehemiah begins his prayer in Verse 5, fixated on the greatness and glory of His God— “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.” Small thoughts of God will never sustain our ministries, particularly as it relates to prayer. Nehemiah bows his heart before the sovereign LORD—the maker of heaven and earth.” The One who is awesome and majestic in all His ways. The One who is perfectly reliable and unquestionably faithful, unlike us. Nehemiah is convinced that the surety of His covenant faithfulness is secured in His steadfast love.
Brothers—hear the words that I often have to exhort my own soul with. Beloved, it will be ok. That does not mean ministry won’t be hard, that members won’t hurt you, that you won’t feel like quitting on some days. It doesn’t even mean that your ministry will not fizzle out. It does mean that our labor is connected to and in the service of the sovereign King of glory, the maker of heaven and earth. The great and awesome God who is perfectly reliable in His steadfast love towards us in His Son. Brothers, our God can sustain our souls and the labor He calls us to.
Nehemiah’s prayer reaches high, but it also swings low with honest confession concerning His inadequacy and inability. Remember, Nehemiah has never been to Jerusalem. Meaning, he played no direct part in the events surrounding the exile. Yet, notice how he prays here in v. 6. “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.”
The personal pronouns “we,” “I,” and “our” jump off the page. Nehemiah prays personally, confessing his sin and inadequacy before God. It wasn’t just the people’s sin, it was his sin that led to the demise of Jerusalem. It wasn’t just his fathers’ sin; it was his spiritual inability.
The portrait and progression of Peter is instructive for us in our pastoral calling. Peter’s failure and restoration forever framed his pastoral ministry. The public expression of his failure resulted in him denying Jesus three times. But Peter’s failure really didn’t happen that evening around the campfire. It happened in Gethsemane when Peter failed—three times—to prevail in prayer. Peter’s public failure was the result of his private failure to pray. “Could you not watch and pray for one hour,” Jesus asked. “The Spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak.”
Peter’s inability to pray stemmed from what Matthew and Mark depict in the previous verses when Jesus tells Peter that tonight the people will strike me—the Shepherd—and you will all fall away and then I will rise again. Peter says, even if everyone falls, I won’t. I will die with you before I would deny you.
But the good shepherd used Peter’s failure to fit him for ministry. Jesus was instructing Peter regarding the high and Holy Calling of ministry—one that He was woefully inadequate to take part in. Peter learned dependence. He learned how to humble himself under the mighty hand of God.
Brother we must prevail in prayer.
2. WE MUST PURPOSEFULLY PRAY.
Verse 8 reminds us that we don’t pray aimlessly as God’s people. We pray with purpose. We pray from the purposes of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and for those purposes to be fulfilled in our people.
Verse 8 says “Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, “if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the people, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.” “They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.” Keep reading. . . .
Nehemiah’s prayer flows straight from the stream of God’s great plan of redemption as revealed in the Scriptures referencing the Exodus account. You rescued your people from slavery in Egypt, with your great power and strong hand, v. 10 says. But that leads him to also prays for God’s future restoration in his people. Nehemiah understood his life and ministry within the stream of God’s purposes in the Bible and therefore, he prayed from redemption and for restoration in the people.
Nehemiah’s request is for God to grant him mercy before the King. But notice his request is grounded in v. 10—”they are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Therefore, grant me success today.” And His prayer would be answered in part, in his lifetime. Nehemiah does lead the people to rebuild the wall. Worship is restored in Jerusalem. Many Jews do return. But as the final pages of Nehemiah make clear, it’s short-lived. The sin and idolatry bring about the demise of the nation again.
A greater Priest than Ezra and Shepherd than Nehemiah is needed, not just to reinstitute temple worship, but to create in us hearts that can truly worship God. We need one who will come not to bring about the temporary restoration of a nation, but redemption and restoration for all nations. While Nehemiah left the comfortable refuge of Susa, a winter retreat for Persian kings, out of concern for God’s glory in his people, Jesus left the comforts of heaven as the manifestation of the glory of God to purchase the redemption of His church through whom His message of restoration is being made known among all peoples. Jesus not only prayed for God’s purposes in us—sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth—He fulfilled all the promises of redemption and restoration on the cross—not my will but yours be done.
Brothers, as Nate said last night—in accordance with Ephesians 4 that you are a gift to your people. You are gift to your people in so far as you see your people as ultimately God’s people whom He desires to manifest His great purposes of redemption and restoration through. “God use, shape me, equip me for the betterment of your people——your servants and your people whom you redeemed by the power of your cross and the resurrected hand of our Savior.” Is that how you pray? Do you pray purposefully for God to extend the ministry of the gospel far beyond in the lives of your precious people?
This past Friday, I stood right here and led a funeral for a man, whom 57 years prior, kneeled right here on this platform to exchange wedding vows with a wife whom I still have the privilege of pastoring. As I sat on the front row watching a slide show of memories, which included that picture of them kneeling in that platform 57 years prior— I did so alongside the two previous pastors of this church stretching back over 40 years. At that moment, I could not help but reflect on just how insignificant and yet essential my labor in pastor ministry actually is.
Beloved, before you know it—in just a short while—someone else will be building on top of your labor. Another will be leading those elder meetings, doing those membership interviews, equipping those leaders, and hopefully sending members to serve among the nations. You, me, and every pastor in this room is far more insignificant than we tend to believe. If we knew just how fast our name and notoriety will be forgotten, we may be shocked. But that’s the point.
For we are laboring and pleading for another’s name and His sovereign purpose to be at work among His people that will resound throughout eternity. While our labor is much less significant than we believe, it is far more essential than we can imagine. Our calling, brothers, is to oversee the great work of God’s redemption and restoration in His people among all nations. Something we are woefully inadequate to do, but graciously allowed to take part in.
Inspection is a good and necessary thing. What is all your visible labor being built on top of? Is the glory of God’s great name manifested among all peoples through the local church what is motivating your labor? In what ways are you susceptible to exchanging that for self-glory?
Are we men known to prevail in prayer? Possessing a deep resolve for the glory of Christ and an honest awareness of our inabilities, are we dependent men? Do we see the distinct privilege we possess of laboring and praying for God’s great purposes to be advanced in our people?
Pastoral ministry is laboring for the Glory of God while pleading for His purposes in and through His precious people.