The Plan (Building Lives #2)

Last week, as we kicked off this Building Lives capital campaign, we started in Nehemiah 1 and watched Nehemiah have a moment.

He is serving as cupbearer to the king of the Persian Empire when his brother returns from a trip to their homeland of Judah, to the city of Jerusalem, and reports that the walls of the city are torn down. As we talked about last week, that was humiliating for a people group. It meant they were exposed to enemies and predators. But it also carried a spiritual sting — people assumed their God must be weak and pathetic.

And in that moment, Nehemiah senses he is supposed to go back to Jerusalem and help rebuild those walls.

In September of 2008, I had a Nehemiah moment. I sensed God saying he wanted to use me to plant a church.

That moment happened in September of 2008. And I did not step off staff at the church I was serving until October of 2010.

Two years went by. Two years of wrestling, praying, crying, questioning, and doubting. But mostly it was two years of waiting.

Waiting Is Awful

Have you ever noticed how genuinely difficult waiting is? It is awkward. It is painful. It is slow.

Whether you are waiting at the DMV, waiting to get married, waiting for supper, or just waiting for a website to load.

Did you know humans supposedly now have a shorter attention span than goldfish? Goldfish are at nine seconds; we are at eight. If the site is not loaded in eight seconds, we are gone — because waiting is painful.

When we are waiting, it feels like we are wasting. Wasting time. Wasting away. Wasting something profitable. Sometimes it even feels like we are wasting our purpose.

This is why we pull out our phones. Why we flip on the TV. Why we do anything at all to distract ourselves from the awkwardness of the wait.

But what we are going to see in Nehemiah 2 is that the wait can actually be profitable. It can be a time of planning and preparation. It does not have to be nothing. It can be an incredibly important something.

The Text: Nehemiah 2:1–8

“In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.’ Then I was very much afraid.

I said to the king, ‘Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’ Then the king said to me, ‘What are you requesting?’

So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.’ And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), ‘How long will you be gone, and when will you return?’ So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.

And I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me 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 of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.’ And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.”

The Hidden Four Months

When we read a story like this and hit that final sentence, we think: what a nice happy ending. Nehemiah made his requests, the king granted them, God was clearly at work.

But if that is all you see, you miss the painful wait. I missed it myself the first time I studied Nehemiah years ago, because it is tucked away.

Let me pull it out.

Last week in chapter 1, verse 1 told us it was the month of Chislev. I am no expert in the Hebrew calendar, so I had to look this up: Chislev is the ninth month on their calendar, which for us lands around mid-November to mid-December.

Today, chapter 2 verse 1 opens in the month of Nisan — the first month of the Hebrew year, which for us is roughly mid-March to mid-April.

Add it up and you realize four months have passed.

Four months of sitting with the knowledge that the walls of Jerusalem are rubble. Four months of heartache, pain, depression, wandering, crying, praying. Four months of waiting.

This Is How God Works

Waiting is hard. It is awkward. It is painful. Sometimes it feels meaningless. But to be a faithful pastor, I have to tell you: this is how God works.

Study the Scriptures and you will find God taking one saint after another through difficult periods of waiting.

In Genesis, Joseph waits through slavery and prison before becoming the leader God told him he would become.

In Exodus, Moses knows he is a Jew raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, wondering whether he might one day lead the Israelites — and then goes into a wilderness where he waits forty years before God sends him back to free the people from slavery.

Take David, Israel’s greatest king. He waited roughly fifteen years from the time Samuel anointed him as the next king until he actually took the throne.

Over and over, God takes people through a period of waiting. Because God does something in those winters. In that dark night of the soul. In that awkward, painful stretch, God is somehow driving your roots deeper so he can then do something greater.

As I often say around here: God wants to do something great through you, but before he does, he is going to do something great in you. And sometimes he chooses a period of waiting to do that deep work.

That is what he has been doing in Nehemiah across those four months. He is preparing him.

The King Who Noticed

But something else has been going on. Notice Nehemiah points out that he had never been sad in the king’s presence.

This is the king of Persia — the greatest empire of the moment — and Nehemiah has a front-row seat to that greatness. You do not walk in looking miserable in front of a man that powerful.

It is not that Nehemiah was trying to deceive him. I think he simply did not want his personal pain to keep him from doing his job well. He sought to serve the king with joy and integrity. But the heartache eventually became too much, and it leaked out through his face.

Studying this week, I found myself increasingly impressed with King Artaxerxes.

When we study the Scriptures we tend to focus on the heroes of the faith. Artaxerxes was not a worshiper of the one true God. And yet reading him, I keep thinking: this guy is impressive.

Because a position of that much power tends to make a person deeply narcissistic. Everyone exists to serve you. So if he sees Nehemiah looking sad, he could easily just say, smile, stop it, you are in the presence of the king — or simply, just give me my wine.

Instead he stops. He is aware enough to notice something is going on, and he says: you are not sick, so this must be sadness of the heart.

And Nehemiah Was Terrified

The very next phrase says Nehemiah became very much afraid. And you can see why.

If he opens up and says, I am sad because my people’s city, Jerusalem, has had its walls torn down, and it is humiliating — the king could look at him and think: Wait a second. You care more about Jerusalem than about Persia? You are practically my right-hand man, and you are worried about your people? No — you are our people now. I clearly cannot trust you to bring me wine anymore. You might poison me and slip away home. That is it, you are finished. And while I am at it, I will have you beheaded.

This is genuinely risky.

But remember the end of chapter 1, where Nehemiah prayed and asked God to give him favor with this man. And now, suddenly, the king is noticing him. The king is aware he is sad.

So maybe, just maybe, this is God creating the opening.

And so he takes the risk and tells him why.

“What Are You Requesting?”

Now watch the king’s response in verse 4. Nehemiah has just explained his sadness. And the king says: What are you requesting?

He does not say that is too bad, I can see why that would upset you. He does not say well, that is simply how it is going to be, because we are Persia, we are mighty, and those walls are staying down.

He senses there is something more going on. This is why I am so impressed with him. Not only was he perceptive enough to notice the sadness — now, having heard the explanation, he perceives there is more to it than sadness. So he asks what Nehemiah wants.

The Whisper Prayer

And notice what Nehemiah does first. He does not roll out a list of requests. He says: So I prayed to the God of heaven.

This is a one-second prayer. A whisper prayer.

And if you follow Jesus, this is a brilliant move.

Right before you walk into a test. Right before you step into your boss’s office. Right before you sit down with someone — or in the middle of a conversation, when they suddenly start pouring out a story and you have no idea how to respond — just say a whisper prayer.

Whisper prayers are not all you should do. By all means, we pray together on Sundays. Pray before a meal. Pray before or after you read your Bible. Pray when people text you requests. We should be people of prayer.

But it is entirely appropriate to fire off a one-second prayer. God, help me. God, give me peace. God, give me wisdom.

I cannot tell you how many times I have sat down one-on-one with someone for counseling and, as they start opening up, found myself praying, God, give me wisdom. The last thing I want is to say something — or fail to notice something — that ends up hurting them further. So I offer a whisper prayer. And I have been amazed how often God answers it.

Nehemiah wisely stops for the briefest of moments, says his whisper prayer — God, help me, give me favor with this man — and then lays out his plan.

He Had a Plan Ready

In verse 5 he makes his first request: send me to Judah.

Then in verse 7 he asks for letters — and he asks for two different kinds.

First, letters granting safe passage, so nobody stops them and demands to know who gave them the right to travel through their territory. The king did.

Second, in verse 8, a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest — and by the way, Asaph is another Hebrew name, so this is likely another Jew in a key position of leadership within the Persian Empire — asking for timber.

So Nehemiah recognizes he needs the king’s authority to go, the king’s protection so nobody ambushes them, and the king’s resources. He is deeply dependent on this man, and he asks for help.

Here is what I want you to see. I do not believe Nehemiah thought any of this up on the spot.

I do not think that when the king asked what he wanted, Nehemiah started improvising — uh, well, how about some lumber? Yeah, that sounds good. Oh, and I will probably need safe passage too. He is not winging it.

The fact that he can rattle it off tells me he has been using the waiting period to plan. As God laid this burden and this calling on him, he started working through the logistics. We will need stone. We will need lumber. I will need people. Wait — I will need permission. And protection.

He was building his list. He was building his plan.

In other words, he did not just wait. He entered into a season of active waiting.

My Own Two Years of Active Waiting

Shortly after I sensed I was supposed to plant a church, part of the calling was to go work with a particular church in Kansas City to learn church planting.

So about a month after that sense came, we traveled down for a weekend. We met the church I felt I was supposed to work with. It was a great weekend, and my wife and I came away ready to go. Let’s do this.

And instead the pastor of that church told us: No. You need to wait. Because you do not know where you are going. You do not know what this would even look like. You have a lot to figure out. Wait until those things are solved.

That was painful. It was genuinely difficult. We felt like God had said go — so we wanted to go — and now we were being told to wait longer.

But we took his advice, and we made it a season of active waiting.

I read every book I could find on church planting. I found podcasts about it. I interviewed church planters, trying to wrap my head around it — because I still had real doubts about whether I was capable of this. I needed clarity. I needed things figured out.

And that is why, two years later, when we sensed it was time and pulled the trigger, we went with an actual plan in place. It may not have been the best plan in the world, but it was vastly better than anything we would have had two years earlier.

So when you find yourself in a season of waiting, do not sit around twiddling your thumbs. Do not try to numb the pain by binge-watching something. Enter into active waiting. Seek after God.

“But I Don’t Have a Calling”

Last week in my growth group, someone admitted: I do not have that kind of burden. I do not have a call like Nehemiah did. I wish I did, but I do not.

If that is you — then guess what? You are waiting for the call. You are waiting for God to say, here is what I want you to do.

And what do you do in the meantime? You wait actively.

You get into the Scriptures. You start serving in ministry. You are faithful to love the people around you and to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And as you give all of yourself to him, he is preparing you for if and when he says, now I want you to do this.

So in a sense, all of us are in a waiting period. And in the middle of our waiting, let us actively pursue God — because it is in the wait that he does something deep in us, and the plans begin to come together and make sense.

What Nehemiah Did on Arrival

To show you how much God seems to value planning, skip to verse 11 and watch what Nehemiah does once he actually reaches Jerusalem.

“So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.”

Notice that Nehemiah does not come waltzing into Jerusalem and make a big show. He does not stand in the middle of the city, gather everyone, and announce, I am here as your savior, the king has sent me, we are going to rebuild these walls.

I think if he had, people would have responded two ways. First: Wait, who are you? Oh, cupbearer to the king — and that means what, exactly? And second: You are coming from the capital. You have no idea how hard life is here. Have you actually looked at these walls? They would have scoffed and dismissed him.

Instead, Nehemiah arrives and spends three days simply living there, experiencing life in the city. Then one night he rides out and travels the perimeter, examining the gates, seeing exactly how bad it is. Some sections were so collapsed his horse could not even get through.

Now he has an accurate assessment. He has lived it and he has seen it for himself. And now he puts together a plan.

How He Presents It

Then it is time to gather the people. Verse 17:

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’ And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work.”

If you are in any kind of leadership position — at work, in ministry here, in a community organization — pay attention to Nehemiah. What he does here is brilliant.

First, having lived there those three days and then surveyed the walls himself, he can stand before them and say, in effect, I get it. I have seen it. Notice his words: “You see the trouble we are in.” He is identifying with them emotionally.

And he takes it further. He does not say, therefore I have come with the authority of the king. He uses we language: let us rise up and build.

And by standing before them saying I understand, I am in this with you, he is simultaneously communicating: and I have a plan. He can point to the lumber he brought. He can describe which sections will take more work and which are in better shape. We have a plan — and it is going to take all of us.

Why We Are Actually Doing This

Next week we are going to look at what it will take for this capital campaign to happen and how it will require everyone. But what I want you to see this week is how God led Nehemiah to the place where he could say: I understand our situation, here it is, and here is a plan, and together we can do this.

As I admitted last week, a lot of churches have used Nehemiah during a capital campaign, and I do not want you thinking we are twisting it.

Some churches inadvertently reach this point and say, therefore we have surveyed our situation and we are in this with you, so here is our plan. I do not think that is bad — it is probably wise. I think God genuinely values wise planning, and a church that plans wisely and submits that planning to God is acting with wisdom.

But I want you to see that we are not doing this because we found a convenient template. We are doing this because it is how we believe God has led us.

So let me tell you what has been happening behind the scenes.

This week we put a guided FAQ brochure in your handouts. Some of you may have picked one up last week; if so, feel free to leave it on the table — or better, take it and give it to a family member or friend who would be excited about what God is doing here. There is also a page on our website with the same information.

We are not trying to broadcast this to the world and nickel-and-dime strangers. We want this church to support this. We simply do not want to shut out anyone who would genuinely want to be part of it.

Three Years of Plans You Did Not See

What the brochure and the web page do not capture is that we have been putting these plans together for over three years.

Three years ago we were meeting at the fairgrounds. Many of you were here then and remember what those days were like.

I remember meeting a church planter whose congregation had converted an auto parts shop, and he was telling me how much he was looking forward to the day they could rip up the old tile and do a really nice stained concrete floor. And I said, we meet at the fairgrounds, and we already have stained concrete — stained with radiator fluid, oil, and coffee. It was a mess. We did the absolute best we could with it.

But there came a point when we realized this was not a long-term solution. The fair was going to move. We were outgrowing the space. And we knew there had to be something else.

As I shared last week, we looked at a number of options, and this building was by far the best.

What I did not tell you is that three years ago, when we first looked at this building, it was for sale — and honestly, the price was good. Our town is notorious for real estate prices running higher than the surrounding region, and this building was priced very competitively.

But as we thought it through — could we get a loan? We thought maybe. Then we realized we would also need to remodel. Then we realized there were repairs needed. And as we added it all up, we started thinking, I do not know that we could carry that much debt. It does not seem wise to load that onto our church family.

So we prayed it through and concluded we had to say no. Even though it was the best thing we had seen. Even though the price was genuinely good.

Which is why it was no surprise when, two or three weeks later, another group swept in and purchased it.

We assumed that meant God did not have this building for us.

What we did not expect was that the buyers had used the same realtor we had been working with — and that the realtor mentioned to them that a church had been very interested in the property.

So the new owners approached us and asked whether we would be interested in leasing it.

Our first thought was, no — we could not afford to buy it, how could we afford a lease? But then we started thinking it through. What if we asked for this, and this, and this? What would it hurt?

So we said we would be interested — but instead of a typical five-year lease, we only wanted a three-year term, and at the end of it we wanted the option either to sign another three-year lease or, if we were ready, to purchase. Would that interest them?

It shocked us when they said yes.

And things moved forward from there.

Now here we are three years later, looking at the final year of that lease and asking: is it time? Do we sign another three years, or do we purchase?

As we crunch the numbers, purchasing seems to be the wise move. You can see those details in the brochure and on the website.

The point is that we have tried to build a plan. We have submitted it to God. We have submitted it to our church partners. And it simply seems to be time to take this step of faith.

We are not doing this because God laid out a template in Nehemiah. We read Nehemiah, we see what God did in his life and what God put into the Scriptures, and we recognize he is doing something similar in us.

That is why next week we will talk about what part you can play — because as we will see in chapter 3, this is going to take everybody.

One More Thing: God Is a Planner

Before we close, I felt a burden to share one more thing.

I think the reason God embeds this idea of wise planning into Nehemiah’s story is that God himself values wise planning. And he reveals that in the life and story of Jesus. This whole idea is embedded into the gospel, which is the foundation of who we are as a church.

In Ephesians 1:4, Paul writes that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Sit with that for a moment.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before God created oceans and land and light, he chose you. If you are in Christ — if you understand this gospel and have put your faith in the whole story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection — then God chose you before the world existed.

It was part of his plan.

When God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said together, let us make man in our image, they already knew mankind would sin. They knew Adam and Eve would rebel. And they knew the natural consequence of such a spiritual catastrophe was death.

And God said: I will take the penalty for them.

God the Son willingly came to this earth to absorb what we should have paid. He did it through the cross. And then, to show he has authority over all things, he rose again from the dead — which we celebrated at Easter just two weeks ago.

This is the gospel. And at the very heart of it is the revelation that God had a plan, and that plan included you.

That is why Paul goes on in verse 7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

We have redemption — we have been purchased. Sin tried to take us away, and it was God’s plan to redeem us. Through what? Through Christ’s blood shed on the cross. And because his blood was shed, we have forgiveness of our trespasses. And where does it come from? The riches of his grace.

This was God’s plan to make you his.

Come to the Table

I do not know about you, but if God planned for me to be his, it makes me want to worship. It makes me want to celebrate. It makes me want to connect.

So let us do that — through song, through communion, through prayer.

If you are in a season of waiting, submit that wait to him and ask him to help you make the most of this period. If you find yourself simply waiting to get out of the wait, ask him for help with that too. Let us come to the one who put together a plan to make us his.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, I want you to know God loves you. Jesus willingly came to this earth for you. He wants to make you his. So there is nothing better you could do right now than let this next moment become a holy one.

Just as Nehemiah sensed God saying I am calling you to rebuild the walls, and just as I sensed God saying I am calling you to plant a church, God may right now be saying to you: I am calling you to become mine.

When people realize the truth of this gospel — that there is a God, that his Son Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died in the sinner’s place, and rose again from the dead — and they go to put their faith in it, they typically find themselves wanting to confess their sin, admitting they fall short of God’s glorious standard. And as they confess, they say: God, I accept your forgiveness. Because as we just heard from Ephesians 1, God forgives your sin. Jesus took it all. So accept that forgiveness.

May today be your moment. May today be the day you enter into God’s plan.

And for those of you who already know God, who know he loves you and has made you his, and yet you still find yourselves waiting — waiting for the pain to end, waiting for the relationship to be repaired, waiting to get into a relationship, waiting for that child, waiting for a different job, waiting for things to improve — enter into an active time of waiting. And as you do, realize you are not alone. You have a church family with you. And Jesus is with you, and you are his.

So come to these elements. Remember that Jesus gave his body for you. Take that cup and remember it is his blood, shed for the forgiveness of your sins. And as you take it, say: Jesus, your story is my story. So I can wait as long as you want me to, while you do a deep work in me to prepare me for the great work you are going to do through me.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, may this next holy moment be yours. Holy Spirit, enter this place and touch the hearts and minds of everyone present. For those online, let them sense that you are with them — in a living room, in a car, wherever they are — that no matter where we are, you are always with us, and you are in the middle of our waiting.

Help us right now to cling to you. Let these elements remind us that you, Jesus, gave yourself for us — and therefore we can trust you, we can follow you, and we can wait.

Minister to hearts right now. Bring healing. Bring comfort. Bring peace, as we offer up our whisper prayers, as we cry out, as we cling to you. We need you. Help us to put all our faith in you and to let you be the foundation of who we are — that this gospel message would be what we are all about: that we are redeemed, we are forgiven, and we were chosen by you before the foundation of the world. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

At any point during the song, feel free to come to the communion elements. If you sense you would only be doing it out of duty, then I would invite you not to. Just sing. Stay where you are. Pray. Stand if you need to. Kneel if you need to. This time is for you to spend with God and to let him do in you what he wants to do — because he wants to do a great work in you so he can do a great work through you.

Let us do this now in remembrance of him.