Vivi Diaz: This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Pastor Justin McVey: How many of you guys enjoy going to the movies? Anyone? Not me. Don't go to the movies much. My family says it's because I'm a tightwad.
I like to say it's because I'm a good steward of my finances. I'm like, why would I pay $15 a person to watch a movie that in two weeks I can stream at home? And don't even get me started on the price of snacks. Listen, if I'm gonna spend $50, I want more than popcorn and a soda. All right?
Second question. When was the last time you went to the movies and stayed for the credits? It was kind of like, listen, Marvel's sequel trailer things, that doesn't count. Okay? That's cheating.
Like the movie ends, the soundtrack begins, the music is playing, the lights start to slowly come up, and we all leave. We go home. Let's be honest, at home even, most of us don't wait the ten seconds for the next episode to start streaming. We're clicking. We're like, yeah, get to the next one.
Get to the next one. Listen, we don't have time to look at all of those names at the end of the movie because we got better things to do. We got to get to it. There was an article in the New York Times not too long ago called why I watch the closing credits of every movie I see. I wanna read it for you.
It says this. It says, our culture of on demand binge watching conditions us to race past the credits. Taking for granted the collective creative efforts behind the movies and TV shows we so voraciously consume. Wow. You see if you actually stick around, if you wait, if you look at the credits, you'll see a list of of hundreds of names.
Names of of people you've never heard, people you'll never see. Electricians, carpenters, video editors, camera operators, set designers, makeup artists, composers. These are skilled craftsmen who love what they do, but whose names will never be recognized. In Nehemiah chapter three, we have what is or what could be called the the movie credits for the for the for the memoir of Nehemiah. And at first glance as you read through chapter three, it just seems like a bunch of names.
And in fact, they're all very hard to pronounce as you'll find out. But what if that's the point? What if God included this chapter which can seem so insignificant at first glance because he wanted us to notice something we easily miss. See, I believe God gave us Nehemiah chapter three to remind us that we need to recognize the beauty and the power in simple, ordinary, everyday faithfulness. You see, we we've been conditioned by our culture to chase after significance.
We want to be seen. We want to be known. But the problem is in the pursuit of that, ordinary faithfulness can can seem insignificant. And we become just a spectator rather than a participant. You see, think one of Satan's greatest temptations isn't outright rebellion against God.
That that just be too obvious. He's sneakier than that. He wants to get us to the place where we're content just watching instead of participating. Let's be honest, we we watch everything in life. Right?
We watch sports. We watch politics. We scroll endlessly through social media. We're always watching podcasts, YouTube. The reality is we spend way more of our time watching other people's lives instead of living our own.
What's even sadder is that's exactly what happens in church. We watch worship. We watch sermons. We watch other people serve. We watch them lead.
We watch people pray. In fact, we spend most of our lives watching other people live out their faith instead of figuring out how to do it on our own. Nehemiah paints a very different picture of what life should look like. You read through Nehemiah chapter three, you see that that nobody's just standing around watching. Everybody has a purpose.
That purpose leads them to a task or a job and they embrace it. They're excited to be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. Even if their task feels unseen or insignificant. And that's what I want you to hear today. That's what I want you to leave this place knowing.
Every name matters. Every single person including you has a purpose. No task is too small, too insignificant because we are a part of a movement that's making a difference. We have the opportunity to rebuild what has been broken. So let's read Nehemiah chapter three.
You can open up your bibles. We're gonna start in verse one. Bear with me. These names are not easy. All right?
Eliashib, the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt rebuilt the sheep gate. They dedicated 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. The men of Jericho built the adjoining section and Zakur son of Emre built next to them. The fish gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hasanah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place.
Merameh son of Uriah son of Hakaz repaired the next section. Next to him, Meshullam son of Berekiah son of Meshezebel made repairs. I told you these names were crazy. And next to him, Zadok, son of Ba'anah also made repairs. The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa.
Sounds like something out of a Moana movie. But their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors. That's a lot of names. It's a lot of people. But a lot of people who are willing to make a difference.
Now in case you've missed previous weeks, let me let me give you the previously on the memoirs of Nehemiah. All right. Nehemiah is the cup bearer, the official wine taster for the king. But he hears that his home city, his hometown Jerusalem is in ruins and it crushes him. He's he's so deeply broken that it literally doesn't just affect him emotionally, that it begins to affect him physically even.
And he just begins through prayer to beg God to do something. Now little warning here, okay? Be careful when you ask God to do something because he may just use you to do it. And that's exactly what he does with Nehemiah. You see eventually the king notices that, man, Nehemiah, something's wrong and he asks him.
And in that moment, Nehemiah shares his heart and the king ends up providing Nehemiah with everything he needs to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. Then Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem and the leader that he is, he goes to work planning, strategizing, inviting others to to join him in rebuilding what's been broken. Then we come to Nehemiah chapter three. I think it's interesting in this moment, I think if I was Nehemiah, I would want to make this this process, this work seem epic. I would want to lay out the spectacular nature of how much wall we were rebuilding, how much rock we were moving, all of the things that were gonna happen.
I would I would want it to seem glamorous and inspire people. But instead, Nehemiah just stops and he recognizes the regular, ordinary, everyday work being done by faithful people who are just willing to to stand in the gap and embrace the work in front of them. I'll just confess, I'm often guilty of of wanting the spectacular, of searching for something more. Instead of just embracing the daily rhythms and quiet obedience of of clearing the rubble away around me, of rebuilding the the holes in the wall in my life and the life of those around me and my community and my family. Even if it is just one rock at a time.
I want you to notice something in verse one, it's really interesting. It says, they dedicated it. It's talking about one of the gates. Your translations might say they consecrated it. Now the Hebrew word that's used there is kadash.
It literally means to declare as holy. Now think about that for a second. What what exactly are they doing here? Why would they declare a gate holy? This is a door.
This is a gate. It is this is a holy gate. It it wasn't a fancy gate. Nothing they did was fancy. It was simple, but they recognized something.
They recognized the work they were doing. It meant more. You see this wasn't their project. This project, everything they were building, it belonged to God and it was for God. See, Nehemiah wants to remind us very, very quietly that our lives have been dedicated to God.
Listen, we have been set apart not for our glory, but for God's glory, for his honor, for his work. Everything we are, everything we do is is consecrated. It's holy. Modern culture has has convinced us that we can actually divide our lives into two sections. We have the the sacred section that's holy and consecrated and then we have this secular section.
This is regular normal life like church, church is sacred. Right? Work? We go on to the job, that's that's secular. Like the Lord's Supper that we have together, that's consecrated.
Family dinner, chaos, secular, right? Listen Sunday is is the holy day. Monday through Friday, not so much. And some of you are like, oh I don't know about that pastor Justin. You know what I've realized is the single greatest indicator of this divide?
It's the way you all act when you curse at church. Right? Like as a pastor, I see it all the time. Someone's in church and they'll be like talking like we have a patio East Valley and they're like, they're like flat out dropping f bomb on the patio East Valley. And they're like, oh, pastor Justin, I'm so sorry.
Lord, forgive me. I'm like, don't even try that. No. I know exactly how you you don't do that at work. Like, you know, when you're on the construction side and you drop an f bomb, you're oh, Lord, let me just bend down right now and confess.
No. Because we've divided. We're like, oh this is sacred space and this is secular space. But God says there's no division. The Bible never divides it that way.
Paul actually says in Romans 12, he says, offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Not a part of your life, not a section of your life, not a season of your life, your whole life. I love the way Eugene Peterson phrases it in the message. He says, so here's what I want you to do. God helping you.
Take your everyday ordinary life, your sleeping, your eating, going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering. You see, God rebuilds through people who see their ordinary work as holy. God looks and sees what you call ordinary work, regular everyday life as holy work, as a consecrated life. Your nine to five job, whether you're building something, you're teaching, you're filing, you're recording, like whatever that job looks like. God says that is sacred work.
Listen, parents, the time and energy you invest in your kids, whether you got young kids and you're chasing diaper, changing diapers and chasing kids around, Whether you're you're driving kids to school, into practice, cooking for them, cleaning up the house after them, all of those things parents. Helping them with their homework. God says, that's a holy calling. Students, when you show up at school, when you're spending time with your friends, when you're doing your schoolwork, when you're when you're at the sports, you know, when you're playing ball, when you're at band, when you're theater, when you're doing all of these things. God says that's a consecrated practice.
Everything you are, man, it's it's holy work and we've got to quit dividing it. We've got to quit pretending that it's separate. Paul says in Colossians three, whatever you do, whatever, no exceptions, everything, all of it, work at it with all your heart. And here's the key, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. We need to to view our lives as dedicated to God, not the not the world, not the pursuit of wealth, not the pursuit of success.
The American dream is dedicated to God. I just want you to ask yourself right now, am I treating my everyday ordinary responsibilities as holy assignments from God? So many of us are missing out on what what God is doing in the world around us, what He's rebuilding because we're waiting for the extraordinary. We're waiting for a bigger opportunity, a better source of inspiration. Let me just be blunt.
The biggest opportunity is usually right in front of us the whole time. The best source of inspiration is right next to us and we don't see it. Nehemiah lists a diverse group of builders. If you look through and you dive into this more, you you see there's priests, religious people, there's goldsmiths, there's merchants, there's the ruling class. It actually talks about a group of daughters who stepped in and were leading and working.
There's old people, there's young people, there's professionals, there's tradesmen, There are people from every walk of life. But as I look through this list, I think what stands out to me more than anything is that families worked side by side. Man, multiple generations coming together, each doing what they could to help create a better future. See, the second thing I want you to to understand is that God rebuilds through people who work alongside the next generation. Now in our culture, like we kind of have these generation wars.
We kind of rag on each other. You know, boomers ruined everything. Gen x just checked out, burn it all down. You know, millennials are so entitled. Gen z is just too sensitive.
And then there's Gen Alpha, and who knows what their mess is going to be. Right? Listen, let me speak to the older generation. If you're not sure if you're the older generation, you've heard pastor Matt, that probably means you're there. Listen, you need you need the love and passion of the younger generation.
They can they can remind us of what it looks like to live with with fire in our hearts, to passionately pursue what God has for us. The younger generation, let me speak to you. You need the scars and the stories of the older generations. They can teach you about the love, the grace, the power of God because they have a lifetime of experiences. One of the things I'm working on right now is is my grandma and grandpa are almost in their nineties, they're 89 and 88.
And I'm just I'm like, tell me all the stories. I want to hear about what God has done in your life. I want to hear about when you messed it up. I want to hear about when you got it right because so much of my spiritual legacy comes from them and there's so much I can learn from and grow in. But at the same time, listen, I just came down from youth camp and you want to talk about some fire.
You want to talk about some passion. You want to talk about some energy and some crazy. Man, it is just it's exciting. I love it. I feel energized as a result of it.
And I realized, man, I got to go back to that place. That's why God says the scriptures say we got to have childlike faith. We need that. And over and over throughout scripture, God reminds us of the importance of this exchange, specifically of handing down our faith to the next generation. Psalm 71 says this, David writes, he says, since my youth, God you have taught me and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me my God until I love this. He says, God, don't let me go. Give me the opportunity before you take me to declare your power to the next generation. Your mighty acts to all who are to come. David's like, I just want to let them know how amazing you are, God.
I just want to let them know of all of the things that you've done. Listen, God is calling us to reach the next generation Sandals Church. There is no greater opportunity to to rebuild the wall. No greater opportunity to to have influence within our culture than to pour into the next generation. Listen, it's been it's been seven years ago now since Pastor Matt asked me to to step out of youth ministry into the campus pastor role.
And and after praying, agreed to to step into that. And as I was talking with people, I would always tell them, yeah, I got demoted from youth pastor to campus pastor. Cause I love being a campus pastor and God has worked in amazing ways. But I'm telling you, is nothing like working with the next generation, pouring into them, man, seeing what God does in their lives. And here's the deal.
Let me just be clear. Churches die when the people in the pews and in the seats refuse to pour into the next generation. And it's going to take all of us owning our part of rebuilding the wall. It's not babysitting. Don't don't think you're just trying to keep them from getting into trouble and hurt themselves.
This is an opportunity to form young hearts and minds into the image of God, to teach them to know and love him. Listen. Yeah, come on. We should get excited about that. Listen, let's raise up a generation who doesn't care what the world thinks, who realizes their life is dedicated to God and they're ready to charge hell with a squirt gun.
They're like, we're in this. Let's go. Let's raise up people who will who will serve in churches, who will go to other nations sharing the gospel. But let's see. Let's raise up the next generation, the greatest doctors, the greatest engineers, the greatest athletes, the greatest teachers, the most influential creatives.
Let's raise up a generation who makes a difference, who brings about revival and awakening because they say, man, there was a generation ahead of me that poured into me and showed me that I was more. And you may hear this and be thinking, but that's big. Where do I even begin? And I think that's why Nehemiah in this short passage keeps repeating this phrase. He says, opposite his house, in front of his home, opposite across from his own house.
You see what's interesting in this whole building process with Nehemiah. Nobody chooses their assignment. Alright. Nobody negotiates with Nehemiah. It's like, well I wanna I wanna build this gate but not this gate.
Like there's none of that. They all simply jump in and start to rebuild the wall nearest to where they live. You see God rebuilds through people who faithfully start with what's in front of them. And you guys grow up reading choose your own adventure books. Like that was a part of my childhood and I loved it.
You know, you read like the first chapter and then at the end, you know, are you going to get in the plane or are you going to go in the train? And then you would turn to a certain page and your decision would have different consequences and implications. The reality is that we want to live our lives that way. We want to choose our own our own purpose. We want to decide how our story goes.
But God says, I've already written such an amazing script for you. I've got a story that before I put the first star into place, before the first speck of dust began to come together to form the earth that I wrote for you. I love Ephesians two ten. I preached this verse more than any other. I'll be preaching it tonight to to youth.
It says, for we are God's masterpiece. You are God's masterpiece. Just think about that. This unique, priceless, one of a kind work of creativity. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus.
So here's the punch line, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. The good things he wrote for us long ago. The good things he created us for. Now don't forget again, don't get hung up on it having to be spectacular or glamorous or epic. Listen to what Paul writes.
He says, make it your ambition, your pursuit, your driving goal not to be great. He says, to lead a quiet life. You should mind your own business, work with your hands just as we told you. Then he explains, so that your daily life, there it is again, what we do each and every day, may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent upon anyone. So many of us are, the reality is we're asking God for a different adventure.
God, know you're kind of sending me this way, but that's I don't think so. I wanna I wanna do this. And God's like, no, this is what you were created for. And when we we try to rewrite our story, we miss out on the beauty of the heavenly script that is our life. Listen, living on mission starts right where you are.
The here and the now. The most important work, the most impactful work is the work that is right in front of us. So what is right in front of you? Where do you encounter brokenness in your daily life? Maybe it's in your soul.
You wake up every morning and there's just a deep hurt and a pain and a longing for more. Start building there. Start seeking God in your brokenness. Start learning to worship him in the midst of the hurt and the pain. Start pursuing rhythms that draw you close to him.
Maybe it's in your marriage. You just sense a brokenness that the wall is starting to crumble and pieces are starting to fall. Start building there. Maybe begin praying together. Maybe begin just praying for your marriage.
Invite others in, find community. Maybe it's your kids. I think this is one of the ones for me that I I hear and I'm like, I need to start building there. I need to start investing and discipling my kids and drawing them closer to God and and allowing them to see me pursue God and allowing him to stir in their hearts a desire for him. Maybe it's at your work.
Maybe you've got the relationship with people that you can begin to share. You can begin to to pray for them in the midst of their brokenness. You begin to invite them into the community that we have here at Sandals Church. This is going to sound funny, but other than my kids, the other one for me right now that God said, here's the thing, here's where you see brokenness. It's it's at my barber shop.
Right? Like that sounds kind of crazy. But like it's the same crew of people and my boy, Javi is is amazing, does great work. You can see the fresh fade. I'm always ready, you know.
And and then there's salsa in the chair next to him and then Wendy's over here. And I'll be honest, I go in there and I'm like the quiet guy. Yeah. That's nice. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. Like I just don't talk much, but I'm like I hear them talking about their hurt and their pain. I hear them discussing what they're going through, what's happening in the world around them. I'm like, God's like, you're here.
You're in the chair. You're not going anywhere. Why don't you start building something simple? Doesn't have to be spectacular. You don't have to preach a sermon from the barber chair.
Just care. Offer to pray. Invite. I love what Ezekiel 22 says. This is before Nehemiah.
Ezekiel writes and he says, God says, I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one. God is asking you today, will you help rebuild the wall? Or are you just going to sit back and watch as it crumbles right in front of you? You know, I'm so glad.
I'm so glad that even when no one was able or willing to rebuild the wall, Jesus refused to sit back and watch us crumble. You see, just like the the Babylonians had broken down the walls of Jerusalem, sin had broken down our lives, had broken down humanity. But Jesus didn't sit back and watch. He enters the rubble. He enters the mess.
He takes up a cross. He shoulders our sin, our brokenness, and he pays the price that we couldn't pay. But here's the beautiful thing. Jesus just doesn't die for us. He now invites us to join him.
To join him in rebuilding the world around us. To join him in in entering into the rubble and the mess of those around us. He invites us to participate in the work of of of reaching of reaching out into the community, of reaching those around us with the message of hope and love so that they can encounter a God who loves them, who would do anything for them, who wants to radically change their lives. And when they encounter him, then they have the opportunity to connect, to connect with the church, to connect with believers, a family that will always be there for them. Think about how beautiful that is.
I think about how amazing it is. And I think, why us? God doesn't need us. He could do this on his own. But I just want to encourage you.
God's goal in and of itself isn't to radically change society. It's not just about rebuilding walls. It's about rebuilding people, individuals, his sons and his daughters who've wandered away from him, but who he loves dearly. And here's the beautiful thing when he invites us to join him in that. Every every time we walk into the rubble, begin to clear away the stones, the hurt and the pain in someone else's life, it shapes us.
We become a little bit more like Jesus. We understand just just a little bit more of his love and his grace, his mercy. Every time we walk in with something we begin to repair a section of the wall to see the stones come into place in that moment. God is repairing and healing something inside of us. First Peter chapter two, Peter writes and says this, as you come to him, as you say, alright God, I'm in.
Let's do this. Show me my section of the wall. Let me step in. Let me build. He says, as you come to him the living stone.
Speaking of Jesus, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him. You also, you and me like living stones are being, circle this word, built as we serve God. He is building us into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices consecrated holy, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. God is inviting you into rebuilding what has been broken. And if you say yes, he promises to walk with you and not only help you rebuild in your world and in your community, but to rebuild us, what's been broken from the inside out.
And the question we all have to answer today, will we accept the invitation? Will we add our name to the credits? Or will we sit back and just watch and allow the walls around us to continue to crumble? Let's pray. God, thank you.
Thank you for the work you have done and thank you for inviting us to be a part of it. God, pray I pray for everyone who hears this, everyone who listens to this, God. I just pray Lord that they would know that they can make a difference. They know that they have a purpose, that they are your masterpiece. God and that would that would just stir within them a confidence and a boldness to say, yes.
Yes, God, I will build with you. And in doing such, God, they would experience your power, your spirit at work in them and through them. God, I just just ask now that you would give us the
Vivi Diaz: strength