Scripture: Nehemiah3:1-2; Nehemiah 3:8-10, 31-32; Nehemiah 3:11-12
For the past few years, we have been barraged with
calls to “unity” in the Church. While
this is truly commendable, I’ve never actually heard a good, scriptural
definition being offered from those who seem to proclaim this need the loudest! So I might offer up a few thoughts on what
unity should mean to a Christian.
First, in John Wesley’s pamphlet “The Character of a Methodist”, he wrote “Let us strive together for the faith of
the gospel; walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called; with
all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in
love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace
…”. Wesley believed that unity is established
through the faith that is proclaimed in the gospels, and second, that unity
only exists through the working of the Holy Spirit.
Second, in Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells us that
“20 For where two or three are gathered together in My
name, I am there in the midst of them.”
It appears that gathering in the name of Jesus, with all of the
ramifications that the phrase “in His name” signifies, it is in that way that
Jesus becomes part of our efforts. And
conversely, if our efforts are not based in the name and way of Jesus Christ,
what do you suppose that would imply?
It would seem that Christian unity is secure
when we are together in the Name of Jesus and striving to follow in the way of
the Holy Spirit! But how far can “unity”
actually go in the Name of Jesus? In Galatians3: 27-28, Paul writes that “27 For as
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.“ Again, when we are one with Christ, regardless of who
we are, without exclusion, there must be true unity among us. And when we are living and serving without
“the name of Jesus” on our lips and within our hearts, unity can only be a
word, and can never be a way.
Today, we will consider the
“unity” that occurred during the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, by those
who had returned from Babylon for that express purpose.
Read Nehemiah 3:1-2
This chapter begins to list
the many hands who contributed to the rebuilding of the gates and walls of
Jerusalem. And who are the ones mentioned
first? The priests! The house of Levi, who were only expected to
serve in the temple. No other
responsibilities were placed on this tribe, and as a matter of fact, the other
11 tribes were expected to provide for this priestly tribe – for their food,
shelter, materials for clothing, and whatever else was needed by them and their
families. They had no other job demands,
other than service to their Jehovah God!
(Numbers 1:47-55)
And yet, we discover that the
priestly class accepted their place as common workers for the glory of God and the security of the city. Nehemiah probably
assigned them to a section of the wall, but it’s hard to imagine that they
accepted the work without their own personal desire to contribute in any way
that they possibly could – we even read that the High Priest Eliashib
contributed. We don’t read that he
supervised, or that he oversaw the work, or that he was simply present while
the others did the work – he and the other priests “worked” together to rebuild
a gate, as well as a section of the wall all the way to the next watch tower.
Imagine the reaction that the
others had to seeing their priests at work, right along side every other person
on the wall. Never seeking privilege,
never demanding exemption, but contributing to the greater good of the rebuilding. The Lord God Jehovah never said that they couldn’t
do manual labor, just that they didn’t have to!
And to their credit, I fully expect that they not only worked on the
gate and wall, but that they also cared for their priestly responsibilities as
well.
What a great example of
staying in unity with all of the people of Israel!
Read Nehemiah 3:8-10,31-32
Now we see that even businessmen,
who were used to having special responsibilities, and most likely, were held in
high regard by all of the other folks, were dirtying their hands to help carry
out the Lord’s desire for the city.
Goldsmiths and perfumers were not a run of the mill profession, but, at
least in former days, when Jerusalem was a thriving city, these artisans were
in high demand for their skills, and could command a substantial price for
their service. And here we see them
working alongside the common labors from exile, and possibly even those who had
been left behind to serve the governors and other occupying forces while the
rest of Israel’s elite and educated, were taken into captivity by the
Babylonians.
We can be very certain that
chapter 3’s listing of workers was far from complete, so other “professionals”,
if you will, were also giving their time and efforts on the walls of the
city. Were there merchants who dealt in
colored fabrics? Or former servants,
dancers and musicians to royalty? And
what about temple musicians – were they also working with their gifted
hands and fingers?
And not only these, but the
equivalent of today’s politicians were also hard at work. Could any of us expect that the elected
officials that we are familiar with would actually pick up a hammer or other
tools, or carry heavy blocks of stone, for other than the usual photo opt that
many are well known for?
So far, it appears that the
workers who took on the chore of labor, not just for their own good, but for
the good of the city and nation, were those who may have never worked that hard
in their lives! And yet, here they are.
The concept of “unity” and
cooperation continues to grow ever larger through reports of those who were working.
Read Nehemiah 3:11-12
Here
we have another civic leader who worked to rebuild the city walls, but the
interesting thing about this family was that the man’s daughters were also on
the wall, working right along side the men.
The mix of backgrounds would probably be much greater than what we find
in Chapter 3, and there isn’t even a single suggestion that conflict had raised
its ugly head, or that there was jealousy over who had more help or who
received the prime assignments, or disagreement over who had skilled workers
versus all unskilled ones, or any other issue that would cause delays in the
building or of improper construction that required the stone to be re-laid.
Everyone
who was there had one vision in mind – to rebuild the walls and gates, and even
homes of their city – even those who had been born in captivity and had never
seen the former grandeur of Jerusalem. It
was all about the Lord God Jehovah’s call on the people to rebuild. Priests, servants, artisans, those who once
had been wealthy, those who had never even known sufficiency in their lives,
musicians, singers, common every day farmers, slaves, men and women – just about
anyone you could imagine took their place on the wall to restore security to
the city.
Does
it sound like cooperation and unity at their finest? Wouldn’t the church, as well as our nation,
be a grand place if we set our own desires and needs aside in favor of a common
effort to give God the honor and glory for whatever we are involved in?
As
our church moves forward during the next few years, may we all be focused on
what the Lord Jesus Christ desires of us, and not on what our own plans and
agendas may look like.
May our precious
God and Savior be praised in all that we do in Him.
