You Cannot Do It Alone
Working Together Toward A Common Goal – You Cannot Do It Alone
Nehemiah is famously known for rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. This was an important job because a city without walls was vulnerable to attack and exploitation.
Chapter three of Nehemiah is a beautiful story of what can be accomplished by a group of people moving together toward a God-inspired goal.
Historical reference tells us that the wall was 2.5 miles around, 39 feet high, 8 feet wide, and included 10 different gates. After Nehemiah’s assessed the damage to the wall, he realized that some sections would need to be repaired, others rebuilt, and one section completely relocated! The magnitude of the vision and calling God has given Nehemiah was huge!
As you read the story, however, you get the sense that Nehemiah never felt like he was alone in accomplishing it! Nehemiah 2:17 says, “Look at the trouble we are in.” Nehemiah identified himself as part of a people. He knew he wasn’t alone and he knew he couldn’t accomplish God’s calling one his own. A good lesson to learn, no matter the nature of God’s calling in your life is that you cannot do it alone either!
God’s design for us is always for community. God’s wants us be connected to others. Think about this. God has promised to always be with us. God has also designed us for community. The reality is, God often makes his presence known to us through other people! I have no doubt that as the people worked to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, they experienced God’s presence through the presence of other people.
As you read through Nehemiah chapter thee, there is this phrase that pops up a Over and over again. The phrase is “next to him” or “next to them.” Look at the first few verses of chapter three:
“Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel. 2 The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zakkur son of Imri built next to them. 3 The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. 4 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. 5 The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.”
Now look at verses 17-21 of Nehemiah 3:
“17 Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district. 18 Next to him, the repairs were made by their fellow Levites under Binnui son of Henadad, ruler of the other half-district of Keilah. 19 Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section, from a point facing the ascent to the armory as far as the angle of the wall. 20 Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21 Next to him, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the entrance of Eliashib’s house to the end of it.”
If you are going to accomplish your God-given calling or if the Church is going to accomplish it’s God-given mission, we have to adopt a “next to him” attitude! You cannot do it alone!
Here is what I want you to see. God has the work he wants to do in the world. On a broad scale, that work is restoration. Restoration is what God is up to in the world. He has chosen to do that work through the Church. The Church is His Body made up of believers from all places and expressions of Christian faith. The Church, and we often miss this, is made up of churches. That is to say, the capital “C” Church is always expressed in the local gathering of believers around the world, that make up small “C” churches. Churches are made up of people like you and me.
In other words, God’s work in the world, in a very real sense, begins with you!
Think of it this way:
World —— Church —— churches —— You
God works through us as we work together. Nehemiah chapter three gives us a great example of how a group of people worked together toward a God-given mission! You cannot do it alone, but we can do it together.
For more ideas on how we can accomplish more together, click on the resources below from Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins.
Download the sermon discussion guide
Prayer: Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Source: Book of Common Prayer, For the Unity of the Church, p. 818)