Nehemiah 3 – Team

The story of Nehemiah is a story of team. It’s a story of individuals who believed in a common task. They believed it was worthy of the sacrifices. They believed it was worthy of their time and money. It was literally worthy of their blood, sweat, and tears.

It was a worthy task because it was God’s task.

In chapter three we see that most of their work was that of “repair”. The word is used 35 times in this chapter alone. However, this was not the kind of repair we might normally think of. The word for “repairs” is the Hebrew word chazaq. It has the idea of strengthening, encouraging, of making something strong. These are principles that have application to far more than material gates and walls.

These are the benefits of team. When the sum is greater than the whole. Strengthening, encouraging, and accomplishing something together we never could have done as individuals.

“The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.” – Nehemiah 3:3-5

But not everyone pitched in. It’s interesting to me that it was the “nobles” who failed to be a part of the team. Shows you what pride and position can do to us. Maybe they thought they had a better plan, maybe they didn’t like how Nehemiah was doing it. Whatever their reason, I bet they regretted it later. They stand in infamy as the only people mentioned in this chapter who did not join in the work.

I wonder how their leadership suffered as a result. Also makes me wonder what part of the big picture I’m not “putting my shoulder to” that I should be.

1 Sam 29 - Divine

God is incredibly divine. As if we didn’t know that. His ways are truly higher than ours. Early in the book of 1 Samuel, God had already made a promise for David. He was called out through Samuel to be the succeeding King of Israel. Yet at this point, chapter 29, it seems unlikely this would ever be realized. David was no longer under the favor of Saul, and he was now partnering with the enemy of Israel.

But to the best of his ability, David had lived a biblical faith in remembering God’s calling. David didn’t force this issue… if he did… he probably never would have settled for “harp player” of the King. Instead he knew God would remain faithful. Even in the chase, we see the heart reflected in David to never raise his hand against Saul,

"And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way." (1 Samuel 24:6-7)

In 1 Chronicles 16 we see a reminder of how God remembers His covenant and the connection between his faithfulness and ours in respect to our treatment of His anointed.

“He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations… Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." (1 Chronicles 16:15, 22)

The same is quoted in Psalm 105:15

So here is where I’m blown away by God’s sovereignty: David was in a sticky situation here. As an ally to the Philistines… he HAD to be “ready” and “willing” to fight when needed. And apparently he was. I wonder if he was literally tormented in his heart knowing that the possibility was ahead that he might stand toe-to-toe with Saul. But the scenario never arrived. He was rescued.

“But the Philistine commanders were angry with him and said, "Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle.” 1 Samuel 29:4

God was in this. He carried out his “punitive” will on Saul and Israel by the hands of the Philistines. David and his men did not have to rise up against the “Lord’s anointed”. And he became one step closer to becoming the King of Israel.

Father, So many steps don’t make sense to me. But I know that to you they do. Help me to trust each step forward, each step backwards, each waiting period, each moment of crisis, each moment of hope, each success, and each time I see failure. More than anything God, may I be found faithful in doing what you have called me out to do as a husband, father, friend, and pastor. Amen.

1 Sam 28 - Scary Tactics

In this chapter God remains absent from Saul. As a result Saul is seeking guidance to why He is no longer speaking to him. He cannot find a word from God. Since he no longer has any spiritual advisors, he essentially seeks out a “witch” to be a spiritual mediator for him. Are you kidding me? How far has he fallen?

I can’t figure out which is more odd to me; the fact that Saul had cowered to witchcraft or the fact that God used it for His good. He actually speaks to Saul through this way. What a sad spiritual indictment of Saul that God would rather communicate through a witch than directly to a man He had once appointed as King of Israel. In it… Samuel appears… weird… but here is the reply, and it affirms the removal of God’s hand from Saul, and His continued favor of David.

“Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines." 1 Samuel 28:16-19

Just a thought… we place too much stock and pride in our position or title. Here, Saul was still the King of the nation of Israel, yet he was at the lowest point of his spiritual life. His position was not proof of how he was doing. His distance from God was the proof. None of us would trade places with Saul in this moment. Makes me think of the lame 1987 movie “like father like son” (I know it’s probably redundant to use “1987” and “lame movie” in the same sentence) where Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron swapped places… no way, no how would I want any of that.

Strategy of Leading

Seth Godin's brain is larger than his head. That leads to a pressure that apparently must be released through him writing blogs. Good for us! Here are some of his thoughts (and some of my thoughts following them) on his post: "Leadership is now the strongest marketing strategy"

Yelling with gusto used to be the best way to advertise your wares. There was plenty of media and if you had plenty of money, you were set. Today, of course, yelling doesn't work so well. What works is leading. Leading a (relatively) small group of people. Taking them somewhere they'd like to go. Connecting them to one another.

It's enough if the tribe you lead knows about you and cares about you and wants to follow you. It's enough if your leadership changes things, galvanizes the audience and puts the status quo under stress. And it's enough if the leadership you provide makes a difference.

Go down the list of online success stories. The big winners are organizations that give tribes of people a platform to connect.

Go down the list of fashion businesses or business to business organizations. Same thing. Charities, too. Churches, certainly.

It's so tempting to believe that we are merely broadcasters, putting together a play list and hurtling it out to the rest of the world. Louder is better. But we're not. Now we're leaders.

People want to connect. They want you to do the connecting.

I guess what stands out to me is first of all is the statement that "it's enough" for the tribe you lead to (1) KNOW you (2) CARE about you and (3) WANT to follow you. Those are huge... to know and to care comes only from vulnerability. It's the key between "knowing of" or "about" someone and really "knowing" a leader. It's the catalyst for creating empathy and connection on a team regardless of circumstance. It's the key for building two-way trust and loyalty. And it's our responsibility as a leader to create that kind of culture.

The second thing that stood out was the statement that the list of success stories constantly show organizations (certainly churches, he said) that give tribes of people a platform to connect. This doesn't happen in a corporate gathering of one-way communication to multiple tribes at once... it happens in chewable bites. And it doesn't happen because of casual contact... it happens specifically through a unified vision or purpose to action... call it addressing a CRISIS... or together simply fixing something broken or improving something that needs improvement. In the Army we had what we called a "Rally Point". If something goes wrong... and we disconnect somehow... we all know, we can meet back at that place and regroup. It's a necessary, if not life saving, element of connectivity. No one wants to go at it alone. It's alone that we are at our weakest. And together that we are at our strongest.

Good to Great

Last week my staff and I spent a few days in Atlanta at Catalyst, a Cultural Leaders conference focusing on the next generation of church leaders. I can't help but post some thoughts from Jim Collins (Author of "Good to Great" and "Built to Last") on Building a Great Church. Here are just a few thoughts from his talk for those of you who couldn't make it.

· Within every organization or company that is great…you will find a culture of discipline.

· Most overnight successes are really about twenty years in the making.

· It took 7 years for Sam Walton to open his 2nd store. It took Starbucks 13 years before they had 5 stores.

· How do the great typically fall? It’s not through complacency. It is typically over-reaching that derails great organizations. Going too far, too fast.

· A great organization is more likely to die of indigestion of too many opportunities rather than starvation of not enough opportunities.

· #1 sign of over-reaching and the start of decline: When you grow beyond your ability to have the right people in the right seats on the bus.

· It is the undisciplined pursuit of more that will kill an organization.

· We need to spend more time on who and less on what. If you have the right who, they will figure out the right what.

· The people who do well in difficult, unpredictable situations are never any better at predicting the future than anyone else.

· We are in turbulent times. The years 1945-2000 were an anomaly. The convergence of stability and prosperity. It is unlikely we’ll see this again in our lifetimes.

· The greatest CEO’s from the greatest companies in history had one distinctive characteristic that separate them from other leaders. The trait is HUMILITY. Humility is the key to level 5 leadership.

· If it is about you…you will not build something great. And only you know if you are all about you.

· If you make your church dependent on your powerful personality…you are being irresponsible.

· It may take 30 years to build a reputation. It only takes 30 seconds to destroy it.

· Every generation needs to determine their own practices to passionately adhere to the values that cross through all generations.

· Everyone on your team should be able to articulate their responsibility and not just their title.

Moral Authority

“Simply put…” said Andy Stanley, “…moral authority is maintained when your creed matches your deed”. Individually this is both simple and profound but also true. Culturally and corporately it is as well.

I love Andy Stanley. Not because of his success (while that doesn’t hurt his credibility) but because of his posture. I’ve never sensed arrogance from him. His words always seem to come from a pure place. He always seems to share something profound that simply resonates with my spirit… better yet, I’ve never heard him stick his foot in his mouth (which is rare among such highly scrutinized church leaders of today).

And he’s convinced that moral authority has everything to do with how people view whether or not we do what we say is important to us. Because if we don’t, we lose respect (credibility), and when we lose respect, we lose our ability to influence (lead).

As a church leader, this is an important thing to understand. Andy exposed the fact that we do not have an official authority over anyone. We may think we do, and many times we operate as if we do, but we really don’t. If we lose the respect of our members, they just leave. If we lose the respect of our staff, they can do the same. They may last for a while, but eventually we lose our influence and ability to lead them.

Most unchurched or de-churched people aren’t reading our church purpose statements, values, and doctrinal statements to see how we’re different one from another (Other Christians who treat the church like a buffet line at Luby’s do, but not the unchurched). They somehow just know that Christians are supposed to love others and not judge others. To them, that’s our true “creed”, it’s ironic that our reputation in the secular world is the exact opposite. Ed Stetzer wrote recently in “Lost and Found” that a massive majority of unchurched and de-churched claim hypocrisy and judgment as their number #1 and #2 reason they stay away from the church. That’s a problem. We’ve lost our moral authority in the eyes of many. To them, we’ve lost their respect. The result, we’ve lost our influence with many. Our cultural reality is that this is how the “church” sits with the majority of the unchurched in America.

Today I'm reading in 1 Samuel 8. In it we clearly see that the sons of Samuel had lost the respect of the people as well as their moral authority. Inevitability their moral influence was compromised. Their deed did not match their creed. Verse 3 says, “…his (Samuel’s) sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.”

They had lost their Influence… their credibility… and their power. And so the people called out for a different kind of leader. They called out for a King.

But in our nature to make everything about us, let’s not lose our perspective. God reminds us that this condition is not fully conditional. This loss of influence was directly impacted by the degrees of separation of the nation of Israel from their God. Not just the lack of influence of Samuel’s sons. They were already one click away from falling… and the loss of the Judge’s moral authority was the tipping point. This is evidenced through verses 7-8, “And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.”

Israel was big, and as they say, “the bigger they are the harder they fall”. Even a small ripple can have a massive impact. As Leonard Sweet put it, “Big trees fall over in a storm; the little and mid-sized trees are best equipped to stand and sway in the storm”

I don’t think they knew why they felt they were in a vulnerable position, they just knew that the leader and process they had, they no longer had confidence in.

We are in a similar position in the American church today and most certainly in our post-modern culture. Our personal gods are numerous. Money, position, pride, success, the list goes on and on. And moral authority is often questioned. I would venture to say most feel we are one “click” away as well. And in these moments of felt crisis and uncertainty, the world needs to see the church rise in their influence. We don’t rise by our words and creeds alone, we rise through God’s truth and our actions… it’s HIS creed and our deed.

When we think about making an impact on the unchurched world, we should shape our efforts from this posture. That's our hope at Austin New Church. That it would shape our starting point. When we don’t, we’ll see that our target is really other believers or existing church, not the lost. When we look at those who are skeptics of faith, we should acknowledge their true starting point and meet them there. That’s what Jesus did. He went to Samaria. He went to the Sheep Gate Pool. He went to the temple to address the Pharisee’s. He went to the wedding party. He went to the Tax Collectors house. And His creed matched His deed.

One final thought. Isn’t it interesting that the Israelites said, “Give us a King to judge us”. Yet when that’s what they ultimately got (Jesus) they rejected him? We have a heart problem. We know what we need. We know what we ought to do or have. But without a heart transformed, we just don’t have the “want”. If we could somehow remember that, we’d stop pointing the finger, we’d claim a humble posture, and I think we’d discover more of God than ever.

Okay. That was probably three blogs in one.