Faithfulness in the Ordinary: God's Perspective on Significance
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"So I invite you this morning to open your Bibles with me to Nehemiah as we're going to tackle all of chapter 11 and chapter 12 together, most of chapter 12. And so let me set the stage. Many of you have been through this before with me as we have been making our way through Nehemiah. The word of God changed the people as they returned to Jerusalem, so much so that they made a binding agreement. They said, here's what we're going to do. We're not going to intermarry with foreigners. We're going to keep the Sabbath day holy and not buy merch. Dice or grain on the Sabbath. We'll take care of the house of our Lord. We'll bring the first fruits of everything we have to God. We'll tie the minimum of 10 % to the storehouse, to the church. And if you missed last week's message, I invite you to strongly go back and check that out. We will not neglect the house of the Lord. Now, this binding agreement is important because essentially, they were saying, we promise to be faithful to God Almighty. We promise to surrender ourselves and be faithful to God. And we will not pick and choose the parts of scripture that we like or that are comfortable, but rather we're going to submit to the entirety of the word of God." [00:32:23] (76 seconds)
"And there were some that volunteered and said, you know what? I will go into Jerusalem. I will live in this place. And they were commended for being willing to go. It was decided that out of these people, one in 10 would go. The other nine could stay in their hometowns. Now, the next thing you're gonna see on here is a list of people that as it scrolls through, you will see all, these are all the, wow. Hope someone can read that. Jack really went after it. Yeah, pretty fast. Everyone getting that? Someone try and read it. The gatekeepers, Echob, Talmon, their associates kept watching the gates. Can't do it. Okay, this is all, we're just going through chapter 11 here. Isn't this good stuff? Yep, these are all the people that made their way into Jerusalem. Yeah, a lot of people. Yep. Oh, we just went into chapter 12. Here we go." [00:36:24] (65 seconds)
"We know that all of us, all of scripture is God -breathed. It is useful for teaching and rebuke. And you can go through 2 Timothy in that space. We know that God's word is powerful and that it has a purpose. And this is God's word breathed out for us for learning and instruction and training and equipping. So why in the world would God take up a chapter and a half with all these ordinary names that we do not know? And we will not know. And you can read through it and be like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Rev, there's this one name that I know. No, you don't. We don't know these people. I don't know these people. Not because I don't, but they're not significant names. They're not historic names. They're not the names of people that are made monuments of. They're not the names of in the Catholic church where there are saints of. These are ordinary people." [00:39:09] (55 seconds)
"It's funny, because we start to think that way, and God doesn't necessarily raise, up everybody to be seen. In fact, he loves the ordinary. He loves the ordinary, the faithful, those that are able to stay where they are. Now, as we look at these things, and you were to go through these names, I really have broken them down into five different positions. First, from the descendants of Judah, we have these people, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, and we go all the way down, and what do we know about these people? They just live there. It doesn't say they provided any value. These are the folks that were faithful by just doing what God said and move into Jerusalem. That's all they did. They just came and lived in Jerusalem. 468 men of standing. Next slide." [00:41:10] (53 seconds)
"This group worked there from the priests, the son of yada, yada, yada, yada, the son of yada, yada, who carried on work for the temple. These are the ones that went and served there. They were faithful in their work there. They worked, and they worked. And they worked at the temple. The next slide. The next list. Those who served there, who had charge of the outside work of the house of the God, of God. So we look at this, and we find, okay, so God is taking the significance of ordinary people and saying what makes them significant is that they were faithful. And the first batch is faithful just because they lived there. The second batch is faithful because they worked at the temple. The third batch is that they were serving outside of the temple and maintaining. The grounds around it. Next group." [00:41:51] (49 seconds)
"This group was responsible for keeping watch over the gates. Now think about this. None of these tasks are significant in themselves. Okay, so listen. Your job in Jerusalem is going to be give thanksgiving and prayer. Awesome. Hey, your job over here, you're going to take care of what's outside the temple gates. Got it. You are going to serve inside the temple. Got it. You are going to keep watch over the gates. Super. Next slide. What about this group? These guys are responsible for the service of the house of God. Now, this is something you say, well, this is how this might work. And what this person really is, is Asaph's descendants. So basically, this would be the great -grandchildren of David is what this group looks like. And their responsibility were for the service of the house of God. The musicians, the music leaders, the worship band. Next slide. Think about this. What is the significance of the ordinary?" [00:42:56] (66 seconds)
"And through our lenses, we tend to make snap judgments about the significance of people that we encounter. We see them and we make a determination whether or not they are significant or whether they are not. It starts in school at a young age where kids start to realize, boy, this kid is different. And so they may be insignificant in my mind. I wanna play with this person who is significant and it begins to fester all the way through junior high and high school because we determine significance. We look and we determine, well, this person is less than this way or this person is less than this way. And so that means they're just really not that significant. That's how we do it with our earthly minds. But every one of us is significant to God for he uniquely and beautifully made us. He created us with a plan and a purpose in mind." [00:44:23] (54 seconds)
"Unfortunately, in our culture today, we believe ordinary equals insignificant. We think unless you're doing something amazing, something powerful, something life altering, well, then you're just, you're insignificant. And the difficulty of that is really important for the body of believers because we see significance through the lens of accomplishments and success and fame. We tend to think, well, I'm not that significant. We tend to see significant in terms of traits, of looks or personality or intelligence and talents. And we beat ourselves up for not being more significant. Boy, I wish I was this. I wish I was that. I wish I was smarter. I wish I was better looking. I wish I was, and we go through this litany of things because we think significance comes from such things because our culture, our world has told us that significance is not just a thing. It is predicated on success, on fame. And it's not. These people were just ordinary people." [00:45:16] (76 seconds)
"And so if I've lost you, if I've lost you for just a minute, no one can fall asleep because I can see everybody pretty clearly here. But think about what is in terms of a self -preoccupation. Think about how much time we spend in a self -preoccupation with significance rather than acknowledging the significance that happens by way of the lenses of God the Father and our identity being in him. For those who feel like you have a real significance, and I'm an important person, and I'm kind of a big deal, you're missing it. And for those on the other side that says, boy, I have no significance, I have no value, I am an ordinary person that's valueless, that provides nothing, that too is not what God desires. Significance doesn't come from earthly recognition." [00:46:50] (57 seconds)
"Faithful followers of God who work for the kingdom of God in the ordinary, in the everyday things, in the going to the store, in the going to the work, in the going to, and all these pieces, as we are going, we are seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the ordinary, spaces. Faithful followers who make a difference in the kingdom of God in the ordinary. These are just ordinary followers of God. And we juxtapose this with the earthly recognition and the desire to be significant in this world. Seeking the approval of man. Think about how social media has changed this drastically. We have kids who are having tremendous anxiety because they don't get the number of likes that they want. We have people who have to keep their threads going because if they don't keep their threads going, they're going to be inconsistent and that means insignificant." [00:51:23] (66 seconds)
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"And there were some that volunteered and said, you know what? I will go into Jerusalem. I will live in this place. And they were commended for being willing to go. It was decided that out of these people, one in 10 would go. The other nine could stay in their hometowns. Now, the next thing you're gonna see on here is a list of people that as it scrolls through, you will see all, these are all the, wow. Hope someone can read that. Jack really went after it. Yeah, pretty fast. Everyone getting that? Someone try and read it. The gatekeepers, Echob, Talmon, their associates kept watching the gates. Can't do it. Okay, this is all, we're just going through chapter 11 here. Isn't this good stuff? Yep, these are all the people that made their way into Jerusalem. Yeah, a lot of people. Yep. Oh, we just went into chapter 12. Here we go." [00:36:24] (65 seconds)
"We know that all of us, all of scripture is God -breathed. It is useful for teaching and rebuke. And you can go through 2 Timothy in that space. We know that God's word is powerful and that it has a purpose. And this is God's word breathed out for us for learning and instruction and training and equipping. So why in the world would God take up a chapter and a half with all these ordinary names that we do not know? And we will not know. And you can read through it and be like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Rev, there's this one name that I know. No, you don't. We don't know these people. I don't know these people. Not because I don't, but they're not significant names. They're not historic names. They're not the names of people that are made monuments of. They're not the names of in the Catholic church where there are saints of. These are ordinary people." [00:39:09] (55 seconds)
"It's funny, because we start to think that way, and God doesn't necessarily raise, up everybody to be seen. In fact, he loves the ordinary. He loves the ordinary, the faithful, those that are able to stay where they are. Now, as we look at these things, and you were to go through these names, I really have broken them down into five different positions. First, from the descendants of Judah, we have these people, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, and we go all the way down, and what do we know about these people? They just live there. It doesn't say they provided any value. These are the folks that were faithful by just doing what God said and move into Jerusalem. That's all they did. They just came and lived in Jerusalem. 468 men of standing. Next slide." [00:41:10] (53 seconds)
"This group worked there from the priests, the son of yada, yada, yada, yada, the son of yada, yada, who carried on work for the temple. These are the ones that went and served there. They were faithful in their work there. They worked, and they worked. And they worked at the temple. The next slide. The next list. Those who served there, who had charge of the outside work of the house of the God, of God. So we look at this, and we find, okay, so God is taking the significance of ordinary people and saying what makes them significant is that they were faithful. And the first batch is faithful just because they lived there. The second batch is faithful because they worked at the temple. The third batch is that they were serving outside of the temple and maintaining. The grounds around it. Next group." [00:41:51] (49 seconds)
"This group was responsible for keeping watch over the gates. Now think about this. None of these tasks are significant in themselves. Okay, so listen. Your job in Jerusalem is going to be give thanksgiving and prayer. Awesome. Hey, your job over here, you're going to take care of what's outside the temple gates. Got it. You are going to serve inside the temple. Got it. You are going to keep watch over the gates. Super. Next slide. What about this group? These guys are responsible for the service of the house of God. Now, this is something you say, well, this is how this might work. And what this person really is, is Asaph's descendants. So basically, this would be the great -grandchildren of David is what this group looks like. And their responsibility were for the service of the house of God. The musicians, the music leaders, the worship band. Next slide. Think about this. What is the significance of the ordinary?" [00:42:56] (66 seconds)
"And through our lenses, we tend to make snap judgments about the significance of people that we encounter. We see them and we make a determination whether or not they are significant or whether they are not. It starts in school at a young age where kids start to realize, boy, this kid is different. And so they may be insignificant in my mind. I wanna play with this person who is significant and it begins to fester all the way through junior high and high school because we determine significance. We look and we determine, well, this person is less than this way or this person is less than this way. And so that means they're just really not that significant. That's how we do it with our earthly minds. But every one of us is significant to God for he uniquely and beautifully made us. He created us with a plan and a purpose in mind." [00:44:23] (54 seconds)
"Unfortunately, in our culture today, we believe ordinary equals insignificant. We think unless you're doing something amazing, something powerful, something life altering, well, then you're just, you're insignificant. And the difficulty of that is really important for the body of believers because we see significance through the lens of accomplishments and success and fame. We tend to think, well, I'm not that significant. We tend to see significant in terms of traits, of looks or personality or intelligence and talents. And we beat ourselves up for not being more significant. Boy, I wish I was this. I wish I was that. I wish I was smarter. I wish I was better looking. I wish I was, and we go through this litany of things because we think significance comes from such things because our culture, our world has told us that significance is not just a thing. It is predicated on success, on fame. And it's not. These people were just ordinary people." [00:45:16] (76 seconds)
"And so if I've lost you, if I've lost you for just a minute, no one can fall asleep because I can see everybody pretty clearly here. But think about what is in terms of a self -preoccupation. Think about how much time we spend in a self -preoccupation with significance rather than acknowledging the significance that happens by way of the lenses of God the Father and our identity being in him. For those who feel like you have a real significance, and I'm an important person, and I'm kind of a big deal, you're missing it. And for those on the other side that says, boy, I have no significance, I have no value, I am an ordinary person that's valueless, that provides nothing, that too is not what God desires. Significance doesn't come from earthly recognition." [00:46:50] (57 seconds)
"Faithful followers of God who work for the kingdom of God in the ordinary, in the everyday things, in the going to the store, in the going to the work, in the going to, and all these pieces, as we are going, we are seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the ordinary, spaces. Faithful followers who make a difference in the kingdom of God in the ordinary. These are just ordinary followers of God. And we juxtapose this with the earthly recognition and the desire to be significant in this world. Seeking the approval of man. Think about how social media has changed this drastically. We have kids who are having tremendous anxiety because they don't get the number of likes that they want. We have people who have to keep their threads going because if they don't keep their threads going, they're going to be inconsistent and that means insignificant." [00:51:23] (66 seconds)
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