Nehemiah - A New Vision of the Kingdom

This is one of 4 talks that was given at the Lochee Baptist Chapel Weekend Away in February 2025. The talks are available here.

Having seen 'A New Vision of God' in our last talk we want to turn to ‘A New Vision of the Kingdom.’

What are the challenges that face us as the church in Scotland? Scotland is a spiritual desert. The church is weak and divided. The church has imbibed the ‘spirit of the age’. We have no theological moorings – our churches are not confessional – we have very few positions on anything. There are no ‘red lines.’ We lack resources – particularly people. Much of what is happening is un-coordinated and disorganised. Many people are suffering from burnout. There is a fragility about people’s mental health. It is hard not to despair and wring our hands. We are tempted to retreat, but we are called to engage. We are called to rebuild the ruins – to claim the great promises.

But how do we build the Kingdom in Lochee, in Dundee in Scotland?

Well, it’s interesting how little Nehemiah has. He doesn’t have a big team, he doesn’t have great power. But he trusts in a big God. So how does Nehemiah go about rebuilding the walls and what can we learn as we seek to have a vision for rebuilding the kingdom in Scotland?

Well lets look at 4 things: reverence. reality, remember and rebuild.

1.  Reverence 2 v 1-8

Nehemiah has a position of great responsibility and risk. The king clearly trusts him, and he is a diligent worker. But Nehemiah is a broken man. The city where God is to be worshiped, where his people are to gather to make sacrifices is in ruins. The people remain in exile – they are very comfortable in their Babylonian home. Nehemiah has ben mourning and fasting, and finally the king notices.

Nehemiah and Artaxerxes must have spent a lot of time in each other’s presence. The king notices that he is sad. How does Nehemiah respond? With reverence and respect.

Let’s pause and take that in for a minute. Nehemiah is in the inner court of a pagan king. But he doesn’t attack him, he doesn’t despise him, he shows him reverence.  And that is what we are to. We are to respect those in authority over us. Romans 13 tells us that they are put there by God. We may violently disagree with them – but we work diligently, we show that we are trustworthy and we respect authority.  We don't concede and we don't compromise but we are respectful. 

Ultimately it was Nehemiah’s diligence and reverence that opened the way for favour when he laid out his request. We don’t want to get sidetracked with the relationship between church and state but why shouldn’t the state support the work of the church? As long as they don’t interfere with the spiritual authority of the church, we should welcome state support.

Nehemiah also uses tact and discernment. He knew that the King had forbidden Jerusalem to be rebuilt because it is a troublesome city (Ezra 4 v 11-16). Rather than mention the city Nehemiah tells the king about the desecration of the graves of his ancestors. This would have aroused sympathy in the Near Eastern Culture. Nehemiah was not deceptive, but he was very shrewd. He didn’t claim his ‘right’ but worked hard, respected the kings authority and, when the time came he asked for what he needed. The king granted him letters for supplies and protection.

Nehemiah prayed and planned before he put any spades in the ground.

McCabe, James Dabney, 1842-1883

2.  Reality

Like all great leaders Nehemiah starts with how things are not how he would like them to be.  In verse 17 ‘You see the trouble we are in.’

Nehemiah has surveyed the city for 3 days.  In his 2 months journey he had heard of the opposition:

· Sanballat the Horonite

· Tobiah the Ammonite

· Geshem the Arab

When he arrived, inspected the site and addressed the people, the murmurings were unleashed with outright mockery and despising.  Nehemiah doesn’t sugar coat the situation.  He doesn’t start with some bright and breezy choruses.  He acknowledges that the situation is dire.  All the attempts to build the walls had failed.

Nearby tribes felt threatened by a walled and presumably armed Jerusalem.  Ezra 4 v 14 tells us that previous attempts were stopped because people said it was a threat to King Artaxerxes.  If we were project planning and risk assessing this we would say – this is impossible!

Nehemiah acknowledges the challenge.  ‘We are in a mess – the walls are broken down – and they have been for around 70 years.’

That is what we need more of today.  There is far too much sugar coating, far too much man centred project planning.  Scotland is a dark, dark place.  We are in trouble v 17. This word is often translated evil, wicked, disaster.  In 2 v 2 it is translated sad and sadness.  As a nation, as a church, we are in a deep, dark pit.  Unless God intervenes in a very mighty way, our nation faces a very bleak future.  We cannot heal the disease until we diagnose the problem.

3.  Remember

But Nehemiah doesn’t focus the people on the ruins.  He points them to the God who is the only true architect.  Nehemiah gives the people a compelling and energetic vision.  ‘Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’

How do we cast a hopeful, Christ centred vision today?  Well, what does Nehemiah do?  He reminds them of God’s dealings in the past and he looks for God's favour.  

Looking Back 

Nehemiah recounts God's dealings in the past - what we call providence.  Nehemiah looks back and tells of God’s dealings with the king in Babylon.  God was with him in a pagan and hostile environment.  God’s hand was upon him (see v 8)  Nehemiah stood alone among the Babylonians and yet the mighty hand of God was upon him.  God’s hand here means God’s favour -God’s blessing.  We lay hands on people to bless them, to anoint them.

‘You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand’ (Psalm 89 v 13).  Ezra says in 7 v 28 ‘The hand of the Lord was on me, I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.’

You see its not the ruined walls we need to look at, or the lack of resources, it’s the mighty hand of God.

Is his hand up on us? Is his hand upon our preachers and our elders?Nehemiah says – ‘look at how God’s hand was upon me.’  Isn’t that what the Bible does so often?  Isn’t that what the Psalms do?  They force us to remember God’s dealings in the past.  Singing is not just to stir up emotions or make us feel better – singing is meant to drive us back to God’s mighty deeds in the past.  Psalms 104-107 recounts God’s redemptive acts.  That is why singing must be full of God’s dealings with God’s people in the past.

Remembering God's Favour

Nehemiah shows the people that God’s hand had been upon him and that the King had shown him favour.  God had not just blessed his servant but provided, via the king, all that the people needed.  God provides what we need when we need it.  Nehemiah was God’s man at God’s time.  He casts the vision, he reminded them of God’s hand and favour and said follow me!

Without stretching things too far, don’t we see so much of Christ in Nehemiah?  He intercedes for his people, he takes their sins on himself, he pleads for them, and he points them away from sin to God alone.  Nehemiah was saying that this was a spiritual work.  It was not cleverness or energy or inspiration, it was reminding the people of what they had forgotten, Jerusalem was God’s city and only God could rebuild it.

Nehemiah gave them a God-centred vision of renewal and rebuilding.

4 Rebuilding

Nehemiah’s brutally realistic vision leads to the people being energised to work.  ‘Let us rise up and build.’  The best mission statement in history.

Decades of fear, defeat and decline are reversed by a God given vision infusing the people.  We see the critical importance of spiritual leadership in the church.  ‘So, they strengthened their hands for the good work.’

Good leadership strengthens drooping hands.  It galvanises people for the task ahead.

Hebrews 12 v 12 ‘Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.’

When people sit under godly leaders and godly preaching they are motivated to see a bigger vision and they are encouraged and motivated.

We see this in three ways:

Coordination - to each his own.  ‘And next to them.’ Neh 3 v 3, 4 and 5.

See how Nehemiah coordinated everything.  Everyone knew where he belonged, there was clarity of purpose – expectations were clear.  ‘Over against his house’ 3 v 21-23 and 28-30.  No need for commuting – able to build and protect his family.  Nehemiah’s vision for the kingdom, for the church is always interwoven with the family.

Cooperation - pulling together.  Nehemiah inspired all sorts of different people to work together.

· Priests and Levites

· Rulers and common people

· Gatekeepers and guards

· Farmers

· Union Men – goldsmiths, pharmacists, merchants

· Temple servants and women

People ‘had a mind to work’ 4 v 6.  They didn’t do as little as possible – they gave of their best.  Isn’t this how the church should be?  Every class, every nation, every age – all working together for a common purpose?  As Thomas Guthrie said: 

'If the world is ever conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, nor by the great, and noble and mighty, but by every member of Christ's body being a working member; doing his work; filling his own sphere; holding his own post; and saying to Jesus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"

Commendation - the vital dimension.  We all want to feel appreciated don’t we?  Nehemiah commended his workers.  He says they repaired another section (Neh 3 v 11, 19-21, 24-27, 30.  Notice that Nehemiah commends everyone.

· Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired 1500 feet of wall v 13

· Malchijah repaired the Valley Gate v 14

Conclusion 

Nehemiah was a great leader.  Like all great leaders he was able to divide a complex task into something very simple and communicate it passionately.  The wall was divided into around 40 sections – Nehemiah delegated very effectively.

We all have a part to play in rebuilding the walls.  Whether its praying, making the coffee, offering hospitality, replenishing the pastors glass of water, leading the worship, supporting the tech – ‘Let us rise up and build.’

Do we have a mind to work?  The people under Nehemiah certainly did.

There is plenty to do.  As Guthrie says in 'The City its Sins and Sorrows':

'Let each select their own manageable field of Christian work. Let us thus embrace the whole city, and cover its nakedness, although, with different denominations at work, it should be robed, like Joseph in a coat of many colours.'

Worship: the Heart of Religion - Who Should Lead in Worship?

In our last blog post we looked at how the word of God always has the priority in reformed worship.  The modern church has replaced the word with music and entertainment.  The worship band rather than the word of God is central to most of our churches.  Nashville rather than the Scriptures are our inspiration for how God is to be worshiped.  If it sounds good and makes us feel good, we sing it.  That was not the position of those who composed the Westminster Confession and the subordinate standards.  The question in the modern Free Church is, 'do we still adhere to these standards or do we know better?'

In our last post we turned to a book published in 1993 'Crown Him Lord of All - Essays on the Life and Witness of the Free Church of Scotland.'  We took a lot from the chapter by Rev Hector Cameron 'Worship: the Heart of Religion.'  Rev Cameron reminds us in that the Westminster Divines believed that no worship is acceptable unless it is prescribed by Holy Scripture.  As reformed Christians we gently but firmly believe in Biblical principle not pragmatism.  The issue in worship is not what is acceptable but what is Biblical.  

In his essay, Rev Cameron reminds us that the Westminster Divines believed there were 6 parts or divisions belonging to public worship:

• Prayer

• The reading of the Word

• Sound preaching

• Conscionable listening to the Word

• The singing of Psalms

• The administration of the sacraments

Rev Cameron goes on to explain these parts of worship outlining the reformed, and until recently, the Free Church position.  A very live issue in many reformed circles at the moment is who should participate in worship.  This is where the subordinate standards are so helpful and instructive.  To the reformers and (most) Puritans, the worship of God was so important that only those appointed and approved were to be allowed to conduct public worship.  

Pulpit versus Audience Participation

While the congregation are to be involved, the Free Church have always maintained that an ordained and/or qualified and approved preacher should lead, read and preach.  We are not Cromwellian Independents.  We do not believe that every member should take to the pulpit to lead, pray, read or preach.  The person leading must be qualified and recognised as suitable.  It is not the role of the service to display the priesthood of all believers.  This is a spiritual status to be taught and lived out in our corporate church life but Presbyterians have traditionally believed that only those who are approved and appointed should lead in public worship.    

Most commonly this has been manifested in recent years in the public reading of scripture which has been opened out to ordinary members both male and female.  There was some debate at the Westminster Assembly as to who could publicly read the Scriptures and preach with the Scots Commissioners wanting the office of 'reader' to be retained from the Reformation as well as 'pastors and teachers'.  The Directory allows for a divinity student to be involved to test his gift for the ministry.  The Scottish church have generally  interpreted 'teacher' to include lay preachers, missionaries and elders who need to be 'apt to teach' as part of their qualification.  Presbyteries have, in the past, created lists of men (normally elders) who are qualified and able to preach so there is a recognition of their gifts.

The Bible seems clear about women leading in public worship in 1 Timothy 2.  But those who promote the view of woman leading in worship quote verses such as Acts 18 v 26, Colossians 3 v 16 and refer to women being involved in worship in the Corinthian church.  I would argue that Acts and Colossians are simply talking about private discussion at most in the context of a fellowship. If my wife, over dinner, suggested to the preacher (a modern day Apollos) that he might want to consult the reformers or puritans to enrich or correct his theology, I don't see how this is a justification for her publicly reading the scriptures which is a public ordinance.  It clearly says that Priscilla and Aquilla 'took him aside' after he preached.  

So what about Corinth?  Surely that is a justification for women at the very least reading the Scriptures?  The situation in Corinth was chaotic and is not to be taken as a model for church.  As Cameron points out in his chapter (emphasis is my own):  'The Corinthian Church, instead of being seen as representing an early stage in the establishment of Christianity, and as a Church besides where many of the cannons of apostolic teaching and practice were being transgressed, is taken to represent the model Church service scene, normative for today.'  

The Corinthian church was the embryo of the church where the charismatic gifts were still being used and people were involved that God had not ordained to be used at all times and in all situations.  Hector Cameron quotes Dr James Bannerman and again the emphasis is mine:  '[These] formed no part of the ordinary equipment of the Church of Christ or the ordinary staff of office-bearers by which the affairs were to be administered.  Their use and function ceased when the church of Christ through their instrumentality had been finally settled and fully organised and when it had attained to the condition of its ordinary and permanent development.' (The Church of Christ, vol 1, pp 215-16).  

Aside from minor differences in the past over reader, pastor and teacher, the position of the reformed church in Scotland for the last 450 years has been that an ordained and qualified man leads the worship, publicly reads the scriptures, prays and preaches.  The minster leads for the edification of the congregation.  As Cameron says:  'This accords with the Reformation dictum that the ministry is for the sake of the Church, and not the other way round (Philippians 2 v 17).  In any event wider leadership arrangements are seen neither to be needed nor valid for the normal service of worship.  Among exceptional situations would be the Communion service where ruling elders assist the minister in distributing the bread and wine.'

The 8 short essays in Crown Him Lord of All  is a reminder of a very different Free Church, one that still valued its distinctives and was not embarrassed to be different.  We have a glorious heritage that we are in danger of squandering as we grasp at the trinkets and gimmicks of modern evangelicalism.  We mustn't be frightened of suffering for principles that our forefathers fought and suffered for. They may not be popular today but if they are Biblical, they will stand the test of time.  We forget that there have been many periods in history where reformed worship and practice have not been popular.  We need to hold our nerve and trust the Lord and his unfailing word.  

In his Moderators Address in 1920 entitled ‘The Outlook in Regard to the Maintenance of the Reformed Faith’ Rev John Macleod said; 

‘Holding to the historic faith and worship of Scotland’s Reformed Church, she is content in a day of reproach to share the reproach of a despised Evangel, and look for her vindication not only to the day when the Church’s reproach will be forever removed; she also cherishes the hope that with a glorious revival of true godliness the people of the land of covenants and martyr’s will yet retrace the steps of which they strayed from the good way and that will be a vindication of her contendings.’  

For further reading on who should read the scriptures publicly you might find these articles helpful.  They are all American but I couldn't find anything that covered it from a Scottish or UK perspective.  

The Public Reading of Scripture - Presbyterian Style

The OPC Report on Unordained People Reading the Scriptures in Public (1991) 

Who is Permitted to Read the Word Publicly to the Congregation in the PCA?

Worship: the Heart of Religion - The Priority of the Word

"The first want of our day is a return to the old, simple and sharply-cut doctrines of our fathers" 

JC Ryle

I'm currently re-reading Crown Him Lord of All - Essays on the Life and Witness of the Free Church of Scotland.  It was published in 1993, 150 years after the Free Church Disruption.  I was 21 and in the middle of a university degree in Aberdeen.  I remember my father working on the production of the book as he settled into a new ministry in Edinburgh.  The storm clouds were gathering on what would eventually lead to a split within the Free Church in 2000 but in the early 1990's, the Free Church felt like it knew what it believed.  We didn't have the Healthy Gospel Church matrix but the gospel was preached and the ministers I knew were godly and faithful men.  They were men of conviction.  We may not have had the right DNA or culture, but we gathered at the Glasgow Psalmody Recital every year to sing the songs that Christians had sung without interruption for 2000 years.  

One of the many excellent essays in the book is Worship: the Heart of Religion by Rev Hector Cameron.  Those of us who had the privilege of knowing Rev Cameron remember him with great fondness.  He preached a big God and a beautiful Saviour.  He held his principles gently and was a greatly loved preacher and pastor.  As with so many of his generation, he held his convictions with compassion.  Cameron reminds us in his brilliant chapter that the Westminster Divines believed that no worship is acceptable unless it is prescribed by holy scripture.  As reformed Christians we gently but firmly believe in Biblical principle not pragmatism.  The issue in worship is not what is acceptable but what is Biblical.  

In his essay, Rev Cameron reminds us that the Westminster Divines believed there were 6 parts or divisions belonging to public worship:

• Prayer

• The reading of the Word

• Sound preaching

• Conscionable listening to the Word

• The singing of Psalms

• The administration of the sacraments

Rev Cameron goes on to explain these parts of worship outlining the reformed, and until recently, the Free Church position.  

The Priority of the Word
As reformed Christians, we believe that the word of God should be central to our service of worship.  It is not man that is central in reformed worship but God and his word.  We do not believe in idols, vestments, gimmicks, smoke machines, puppet shows or clowns.  We believe that 'faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.'  The pulpit, not the praise band should be central in reformed churches.  The Bible not the drumkit give our service their power and focus.  That is why we, traditionally, have given such a central place to the public reading of the word of God.    As Cameron says:

'To give the Word such a status has practical implications for the style of religious service to be expected from churches which concur.  Presbyterians tend to be viewed as dour and their services dull.  There may well be Presbyterians who approximate to that description.  Usually, however, the criticism has been prompted by the plainness of the church buildings, the subdued complexion of the services, the strictly basic character of the ritual, the conspicuous lack of activity up the front (apart from the preacher) or the less than picturesque attire of the church officials.'

As Cameron emphasises, reformed worship is simple, spiritual, God centered and Biblically rich.  That is why we sing the Psalms, God's ordained hymn book of praise.  New Testament worship is the worship of the Synagogue not the Temple.  The early church could have easily adopted the Greek culture with its music style but it did not. Our worship is prescribed not by Hillsong and Bethel but by the Holy Spirit in the written word.  

We are living in confusing and bewildering times.  Many who love the Free Church feel lost and grieved at the changes and the innovations.  Let me leave you with Hector Cameron's words:

'The temptation is always there to seek to short-circuit this foundation principle of worship and to seek pragmatic solutions to questions concerning worship which are strictly theological; or to shelter unthinkingly behind the views held about worship (on one side or the other) by some good man of former days.  It is a better option to wrestle with the basic principles involved - every question being brought to the bar of Holy Scripture - and to apply the conclusions faithfully.'