“What Great Vision Does God Want four you?”

Nehemiah 1

February 6, 2000

Introduction: Batang, Tibet, has been called the most dangerous and most remote place for a mission station anywhere on the planet. Hudson Taylor, the legendary head of China’s largest missionary organization, once said, “Converting Tibetans to Christianity was like trying to rob a lioness of her cubs.” These two facts being so did not stop a Hoosier from going to Batang, Tibet, with the intent of establishing a mission station for the express purpose of converting Tibetans to Christianity. The Hoosier was one Albert Shelton, born in Indianapolis in 1875. It would take Shelton and his wife, Flora, who grew up near Madison, IN, 6 hard months to make the difficult journey from Indiana to Batang in the year 1907. They would serve God there until Albert was tragically murdered by Tibetan bandits in February of 1922, at the young age of 47.
If we were able to travel to Batang, Tibet, today, we could see row upon row of healthy apple trees still bearing fruit called “Jesus” apples by the locals living there. The trees are from the Midwest, carried there by the Sheltons when they went out to establish their Tibetan Christian Mission. Albert Shelton was a medical doctor trained in Louisville, and his hospital in Batang was the only medical facility within a radius of 700 miles. As we might guess, it was unceasing work in a rough region—“sword cuts, gunshot wounds, accidental broken bones, and things of this nature were constantly occurring,” he would write.
Albert and Flora raised two daughters in this context where life was dangerous and uncertain. “The blond girls, Dorris and Dorothy, wore starched dresses and prim bows in a region where transport was by yak and coolie sedan and where food was yak meat and roasted barley.”
I’ve quoted some and paraphrased some from Douglas Wissing who wrote his fascinating article for the Friday, January 28, 2000 issue of the Indianapolis Star.
The brief story of Dr. Albert and Mrs. Flora Shelton seemed a fitting introduction to our text for this morning. We read a story like this and have to ask the question, "What is it that moves a man and his wife from Indiana to Tibet?” What kind of a person goes to a place that takes six months to get to, whose work required long days in the medical field, whose life is in danger every day, and whose life is finally brutally taken by pagan bandits?
There is only one answer: This kind of man and this kind of woman have a vision that God has placed before the eyes of their heart. This vision becomes such a burden that there is no escaping its call. And so he or she must go, convinced that this vision is the call of God for one’s life, and this vision is the controlling purpose and mission for one’s life.
Our text from the Scriptures today tells a similar story. It is a story of vision and calling and burden and mission and purpose. It is a story of work and weeping, of hardship and opposition, of risk and faith, and finally of success. And because this text is the Word of God, it has a message for each one of us. I want to offer us this morning the path to a life of purpose and meaning. I want to suggest to us that God has a marvelous vision He’s waiting for us to see. I hope to convince all of us that God is calling us to something that will bring us to the end of life with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Anyone interested?
Turn with me to Nehemiah 1. We will be reading the 11 verses of chapter one and the first 10 verses of chapter 2. From this text we want to see 4 steps in the process of catching a vision from the Most High God, then we want to explore some applications to our own lives.
“The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
(Just a bit of historical background here: Susa or Shushan was the winter residence for the monarchs of Persia. It was built on an acropolis and was a citadel, a fortified royal palace. It was in this same city that Daniel had his vision of the rams and goats—Dan. 8—and it was this same city in which Mordecai and Esther lived and where their story unfolds.)
In answer to Nehemiah’s question, (vs. 3), “They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven. I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.
We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’
They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful to day and grant him compassion before this man.”
Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it please the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time.
And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.
Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.”
As the story continues, we know that Nehemiah finished building the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. He knew great success as he enlisted the sons of Israel in the project to restore the city.
Now in the initial portion of Nehemiah that we just read, I see four principles that we can understand as we think about God calling us also to a great vision.
First, it is always God who orders the circumstances of our visions. It is always God who works behind the scenes to help us see the vision He has for us and hear the call that He makes upon us.
Notice Nehemiah’s experience. He’s minding his own business one day when his brother comes with a report from Jerusalem. The text says, “Now it happened…” Now, friends, we know that things don’t just happen in life. Our view of God is so great that we understand He is the One overseeing every dimension of life. So, on this day, Nehemiah comes face to face with something God has planned. That something is a visit from his brother. It is likely, though the text doesn’t say it clearly, that Hanani was in Susa (or Shushan) and had made the 1000 mile trip, probably taking 4 months to go round trip. He brings back a report about the conditions of the remnant who were left there when the exile took place. This report will move Nehemiah to the second principle of a Godly vision.
But before we go there, let me illustrate how God orders the circumstances of our visions. When Suzie and I were at seminary, we found ourselves in a web of circumstances that were all of God’s making. A chapel speaker from Central America spoke one day during my third year using the text of Acts 20:24. These words of Paul’s testimony bore deep into my heart. (“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”) Up to that point my life had been pretty dear to me! God was now calling me to give it up. Secondly, beyond the chapel speaker, there were the personal relationships that were developing between me and some fellows with connections to the mission, Overseas Crusades. OC seemed like a worthy outfit to get to know.
Thirdly, while at Dallas Seminary, I got to know Chris Marantika, an Indonesian national studying for his doctorate in theology. Chris had a burden from God for his vast homeland, and he had a unique vision for a church-planting seminary. Fourthly, Suzie had grown up with missionaries often visiting in her home, and from an early age she was interested in serving God on a mission field.
It’s not hard to see the hand of God ordering the circumstances of the vision He had in store for us. All of these things ‘just happened’ under God’s sovereign hand.
The second principle we see in our text regarding a vision from God can be stated this way: God orchestrates the need that becomes a burden upon our hearts. There are not many great things done for God that don’t begin with an awareness of someone’s need. We see Nehemiah in our text hearing the report of the desperate situation of his countrymen in Judah and Jerusalem. The issues of verse 3 take Nehemiah’s breath away, and he is overwhelmed by the needs of the people of God in their homeland. God’s vision for Nehemiah is developing further.
So it was with us back in the mid-seventies. In looking through an alumni directory of our seminary, we found that there were more graduates of our fine institution in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex than there were in the rest of the world! In the mid-seventies, there were 278 Dallas grads in the metroplex and 241 serving on mission fields around the world. We asked ourselves, “What’s wrong with this picture?” From God’s perspective, as He would look upon the world, it didn’t seem right that North Texas had the benefit of so many men with a fine theological education in comparison with the rest of the world.
If an understanding of the Word of God was important to living well, there seemed to be a great need outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. God was placing a burden upon our hearts for a world in great need of the great truths of the Scriptures.
The third principle we discover today regarding God’s way of planting a vision in our hearts is this: A vision begins to blossom in power! The circumstances have led to an awareness of great need, and now the vision begins to blossom. In Nehemiah’s case, in the face of this great need of Judah’s, this layman goes directly to God. We see him weeping and mourning, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. If Nehemiah’s great burden is going to be lifted, if he’s going to find any relief from the pain of their need, he must turn to God for a way of escape, for a solution, for his vision to blossom.
We see this vision blossoming in four distinct ways. First, he concentrates on having a right relationship to the God of heaven. We see him offering praise and a great deal of confession of sin, verses 5-7. Secondly, we see him aware of the promises God had given to His people, verses 8-9. Thirdly, we see him coming to a growing conviction that he is the man for this task of providing relief to the suffering remnant of the exile, verse 11. And finally, we see Nehemiah sensing that God has the ability to provide the resources, 2:4-8. Nehemiah’s vision begins to blossom in power.
The fourth principle concerning a vision from God looks like this: Our vision survives its tests. Nehemiah shows us how to verify that our vision is indeed from God and not just something bubbling out of our own minds and dreams. There is the test of resources. When the king gives him an armed escort (2:9), letters of passage to Judah (2:7) and a blank check (2:8), Nehemiah has confidence that the vision can be fulfilled. The second test is of priorities. Nehemiah gets permission from the king to take time off from his regular duties to the king and focus his energies upon this task in Judah. This vision of restoring Jerusalem’s wall cannot come to pass if Nehemiah cannot cut some of his other responsibilities, if he cannot reprioritize his goals and objectives.
The third test is the rumor test. Nehemiah will face much opposition to his vision; when word gets out of what he is trying to do, many voices say, “It can’t be done!” The vision will fail if Nehemiah gives in to the rumors and gossip about the impossibilities of his task.
The fourth test is the recruitment test. Will Nehemiah be able to recruit others to go with him? When he arrives in Judah, will he be able to convince the people there that the task can be done? Will he be able to share what God had done so far to the point that others are willing to be a part of the grand vision? Of course as we read the rest of the story, we know the people rallied to the vision, and in 52 days the wall was completely rebuilt.
Needless to say, our vision for serving in Indonesia survived all four of these tests as well. And from our vantage point here, it is not hard to look back and see how our vision for BASSYCS passed all these tests as well. If we reflect back upon our commitment to Co-Mission and the vision God gave Bob for that project, we come to the same conclusions.
But what about us in this day? What about us of the UCC here at the dawn of a new millenium? Let’s ask ourselves some questions together this morning.
What about a new educational ministries building? Has God ordered the circumstances for this building? Is the need real? Are there those among us with a burden for meeting that need? Where is the vision in the process of blossoming? Are there promises in the Word we can hold onto? Can God provide the resources? Is anyone coming to the conviction that he is the one to spearhead this project? Is anyone ready to reprioritize his/her goals in order to make this project a new priority? Is there anyone who will take a sabbatical to make this happen? Are we ready to go get the money? Can we recruit others to work with us so the project can become reality?
How about our asking the same questions regarding the adoption of the Dancers in Turkey? How about the addition of pastoral staff? What about the sister relationship with the church in Haiti? Could it be possible to add 200 seats to our sanctuary so we could stay in a one-service format? How about planting a church in one of our needy, neighboring communities that lacks a solid evangelical witness? Has God given anyone here a vision for upgrading these facilities as worthy of the great God of heaven? What about supporting church planters in the Philippines? How about a community outreach Jump Zone?
If I had to guess, one of the first things that always comes to our minds with these kinds of questions is money. When the five of us went to the conference in Dallas last October, we were moved as Bruce Wilkinson shared with us the foundations of the message I’ve shared this morning. He shared how God had given him several visions. He is now working on his fourth. The first was the Walk-Thru-The Bible ministry. The second was the Co-Mission project. He didn’t tell us about the third and fourth. He did share how he and his wife remortgaged their home twice so they could give to the visions that God had called them to. If we are not willing to sacrifice some of our savings, some of our retirement funds, some of our needs for newer cars and bigger homes, why would God open the treasuries of heaven on our behalf? If twenty of us could find $10,000 each, we could expand our sanctuary; we have the beams, we have the plans, we could probably recruit a general contractor and do much of the work ourselves. It wouldn’t take many of us pooling some resources to replace the carpet in the gym. Even a new ed.min. building is within our capability with as many families as we have.
The question always is: Is this vision from God? If it is, what are we going to do to play our part in seeing it come to completion?
Conclusion: Nehemiah is a great model for us in doing the will of God! From his experience we can see the way to be a part of what He is wanting to do in this world. Will we be alert to the circumstances He orders in our lives? Will we let the need that surfaces burn in our chests? Will we follow the vision enough to see it begin to blossom? Will we put the vision to the tests and pursue to the end what God is wanting us to do?
God help us to be what He wants us to be in our world.


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