Preparing to Serve - January 13th, 2013 Sermon

By Pastor Greg

In 1966 Don Knotts stared in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. It’s the story of Luther Heggs; a typesetter for a small town newspaper in Kansas who is given a great opportunity. But unfortunately this great opportunity would take a great amount of courage on Luther’s part. He would have to spend the night in a haunted house (Show Clip).

Like Luther, it seems Nehemiah was just as nervous at the opportunity God had given him. And perhaps you and I feel the same way. Perhaps we are just as hesitant to obey God’s call for fear of what obedience would cost. But there are a few lessons I think we might learn from Nehemiah as we consider serving God.

Last week we talked about the call God placed in Nehemiah’s heart. When God revealed the situation in Jerusalem to Nehemiah he knew something needed to be done, he knew God had placed him in the king’s palace for this very reason, and he knew he was the one God was calling to get involved. But Nehemiah doesn’t walk up to the king that very day and explain his calling. Nehemiah waits four months before an opportunity presents itself to share this calling with the king. It is during this time that God was at work preparing Nehemiah to serve (read Nehemiah 2:1-8).

Nehemiah waited before he spoke with the king. He received the news and the calling in December, but didn’t speak with the king until April. And I think there are lessons you and I can learn from this waiting time; this time between calling and serving. Before Nehemiah began doing what God had placed in his heart, Nehemiah prayed. And I see three things that happened from this time of prayer.

¹ It’s clear Nehemiah realized that in order to accomplish this calling, certain things would need to happen, such as the king agreeing to let Nehemiah take some time off from work. ² If Nehemiah were to accomplish this calling, the people in Jerusalem would have to be willing to cooperate. And Nehemiah would need an official document from the king signifying that he had permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem – which actually meant that the king would have to rescind an earlier decree (see Ezra 4:21). Truthfully, these were monumental obstacles. But it was not just the obstacles that stood before Nehemiah. Based upon his earlier prayer it seems Nehemiah wasn’t overly confident about his ability to accomplish God’s calling in the first place. He prayed, “O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me” (Nehemiah 1:11). So Nehemiah knew that not only did God need to take care of all the other obstacles that stood in the way, but ³ his fears needed to be conquered as well.

Nehemiah realized that he was taking a huge step of faith. And part of the preparation that needed to happen was for Nehemiah’s faith and dependence in God to grow. There would come a time when all his skill, all his experience, and all his knowledge would not be sufficient. He would have to take a bold step in blind obedience. It was either back down from this calling and remain troubled, or speak up in faith; trusting that God had indeed been preparing the king’s heart all along. You can see the lump in Nehemiah’s throat when the king asks what’s wrong (Nehemiah 2:2). You can feel the great leap of faith Nehemiah is about to make through his short prayer just before he answered the king (Nehemiah 2:4).

Like Nehemiah we feel God tugging at our heart. Yet even before we begin serving, we are convinced that it will never work. We are convinced that we will fail. We are sure that God has asked the wrong person. But while we wrestle with this, we become more and more troubled. And as we battle with God, our misery grows.

Too often I think we have our eyes fixed on the obstacles and not God. Too often we focus on our weaknesses and not God’s strength. Too often we rely on our present faith instead of allowing God to strengthen and stretch our faith for the task He has given us. At times it seems a bit strange to me that we would question the wisdom of God; that we doubt His power and grace. When you consider that the creator of the universe, the Great I Am has placed a burden in your heart (that He has called you to a task or a ministry), do you really think He is unaware of all the obstacles that lay before you? Do you really think He is unaware of your limitations and weaknesses? Is He surprised by the shallow depth of your faith?

Maybe this is why many people ignore God’s call in their lives. Looking toward the desired results they see nothing but a mountain of obstacles. Oh, they’ve heard the call. They’ve felt the tug in their heart. But there are just too many things that stand in their way. The sacrifices are too great. They feel unworthy and unequipped for service. And obedience would take a tremendous amount of faith. So they attempt to ignore the call. But no matter how much they struggle to silence the call, it will grow louder and louder each day. Nothing will drown out the voice of God. And in the end the burden becomes so great that even those around them can see that something is wrong. They have found themselves fighting with God instead of surrendering to the call, and allowing God to prepare them for service.

So the Lord has placed a burden in your heart. He is calling you to serve in some particular way. Naturally you are hesitant. It’s normal to feel unworthy and undeserving. God chooses to work through ordinary individuals with weaknesses and failures (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). It’s also normal to have your faith tested. This isn’t the boss asking us to take on a new responsibility at work. This is Kingdom work. So what then should we do as we prepare to serve? ¹ We need to spend time in prayer seeking God’s direction. How will He accomplish this task through us? What must we do in order to fulfill His calling in our lives? ² We need to spend time with God seeking His instruction. Are there attitudes and behaviors that need to change in order to make us more fit for service? Do we need teaching or training or experience before we begin to serve? ³ We need to realize that God’s calling is also an opportunity to strengthen our faith.

To ignore God’s call will lead to misery and distress. We will spend a lifetime wondering what might have happened if we had obeyed. Yes, the idea of obeying God’s call is scary. Serving will involve sacrifice. And obedience will test our faith. But after all, we are considering doing the work of the Lord. The calling will break our heart. The serving will test our faith. We would be deceived to think otherwise.