Nehemiah: Calling and Resistance
Pastor Fletcher preaches from Nehemiah 6:1-19. Discussion points: We experience resistance when we try to live within God’s will; distraction, compromise, and intimidation are forces that tempt us away from God’s path; our calling is rooted in our identity in Christ and built on our current responsibilities.
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Scripture reader: [Nehemiah 6:1-19] Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the gates and the doors in the gates, Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, "Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono." But they intended to do me harm, and I sent messengers to them saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?"
And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, "It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel, and that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, 'There is a king in Judah.' And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together."
Then I sent to him saying, "No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind." For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands.
Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night." But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in." And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me. But he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him for this purpose. He was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of the month Elul, in 52 days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: All right, good morning. My name is Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor of the church. It's a joy to have you all this morning. This week's message, it was just one of those weeks. It was hard for me to write the message this week, not necessarily because, this is a hard text. I think all of Nehemiah is kind of hard, but I'm getting used to it now, more because I just was. Experiencing this thing that we might call resistance to my writing process. And what I mean by resistance is that every time I would sit down to write, I would suddenly want to do something else.
Has anyone ever experienced this sort of resistance in their life? I would decide that it was a good time to learn a new Beatles song on the guitar, which is not new. That song's been out for a while. I would decide to do an extra set in the gym. I would decide to, you know, play a game of chess on my phone, and then another, and then another, because that is the way that that goes. I just, I, to my wife's surprise, I would even find things to clean, around the house. I, I just didn't want to write a sermon.
Has anybody, I know that you probably don't write many sermons, but, the work that we most need to do is often the hardest thing for us to do. Has anybody ever experienced that? I think that's what the passage is about today. So it's ironic that this was a week that I particularly experienced such resistance. There's an author named Steven Pressfield, who wrote a book called The War of Art. Has anybody ever heard of this book, The War of Art? He's, he's a well-known author. He wrote some novels, The Legend of Bagger Vance in the 90s. Anyways, a few, a few well-known things.
This book I found, and it, someone shared this with me actually, and it really articulates well the idea of this resistance that we experience. And listen, this is how he, he explains it. He says the following is a list in no particular order of those activities most commonly elicit that, that most commonly elicit resistance. It's his word, resistance.
And he says this, number one, the pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, film, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional. Two, the launching of any entrepreneur venture or expertise, for profit or otherwise. Number three, any diet or health regimen. Number four, any program of spiritual advancement. Number five, any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals. Number six, any course of program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction. Number seven, education of every kind. Number eight, any act of political, moral or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better, some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves. Number nine, the undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others. Number ten, any act that that entails commitment of the heart, the decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship. Number eleven, the taking of any principled stance in the face of adversity.
In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity, or expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower, any of these will elicit resistance. Now as I read the book I was not surprised to see that Steven, the author Pressfield, was someone who believes in God. Now I don't know much about his faith, but he does say that he believes in God. Because what he is describing, I believe all people experience, because all people experience this resistance to living out our true callings, but Christians have a better description of it than anyone else, because as Christians we know that there is an enemy who does not want us to thrive. There is an enemy who is opposed to the work of God in our life.
Now Nehemiah, maybe more clearly than any other character that we can think of from the Old Testament, had a clear calling from God. He knew what God had called him to do. He was going to build that wall. He, that's all he's about. I've got to build the wall. He had a single minded focus and calling from God. And so today's passage describes opposition to that calling from God. You probably remember some of these characters that we've heard about, Sanballat and Tobiah. I compared, I compared them to Harry and Marv from Home Alone a few weeks ago. They're just always trying to get, ah, I'm gonna get that Nehemiah, you know, they're just conniving, they're trying to get them. This week resembles more mafia-like activity. They're really amping up the tactics to get Nehemiah.
And what we see in this passage is that the tactics that Sanballat and Tobiah and their cronies were using against Nehemiah are the same tactics that the enemy often uses in our life. They're the same acts of resistance that we experience. You know, Satan, he is cunning, but he is not creative. He's, the same sorts of attacks for generations. And so I think as we go through this, I think that we can see how these tactics of resistance might play out in our lives. And then towards the end of the sermon, what I really wanna help you with today is having a clear calling from God on how you were to live your life and how you were to move forward and what you're supposed to be focused on.
So let's look at the tactics that were used against Nehemiah first and then we'll, we'll get to that in a few minutes. There's four tactics of resistance used against Nehemiah in this passage. And the first tactic might be the enemy's number one game plan in your life, in my life, in all of our lives, and it's distraction. Distraction. Let's look and see what happens. Verse one. Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Gesham, the Arab and the rest of our enemies, all those dudes, when they heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors and the gates. So he's like almost done. He's putting the finishing touches on the wall. Sanballat and Gesham sent to me saying, come and let's meet together at Hakkephirim. And the plane of Ono. Now, how do you know, how did Nehemiah know that they didn't have good intentions for him? They named the place to meet Ono. But they intended to do me harm.
So the wall's almost built. They keep on issuing. They, they're like the, the 3rd grader that lives down the street that keeps on calling my son during dinner. They call four times, four different letters, right one after the next. And every time they write a letter, they keep on writing these letters saying, Nehemiah, come down here, man, come, let's meet. And Nehemiah, every time he responds with such a great response, just a clear understanding of what God's called him, and verse 3, and I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come out and play. I cannot come down. Why should the work of God stop while I leave it and come down to you?
Nehemiah is immune to their distraction. You see, they didn't really want to meet with Nehemiah, they just wanted to distract him from leading the cause of building the wall.
One of my closest friends in college was, was kind of like this, these characters. See, when I was in college, I, I had a scholarship that required me to keep a 3.9 GPA, which is ridiculous. Basically they're like, make A's, alright, don't make B's. I, I made one B in college and that's the one that you can't study for. It was bowling. I kid you not, it was just the owner of the bowling alley smoking cigarettes behind us, telling us, hey, throw it better. and I couldn't study for it, you had to average a 140 for the whole year. And I'm sorry, the guy who has to keep a 3.9 GPA to keep his scholarship is not gonna average a 140 while bowling. That's just not, not the way that the Lord built me. So I made a B in bowling. I took the L and I made a B, but. My friend Josh, I, I had to, because I had to keep a crazy GPA, I had to study, a little bit in college and more than my friends, my friend Josh Poor, who's actually visited with us, he played guitar one Sunday, he's a pastor in, in Mississippi, he, he would come knocking on my door every night, saying, hey, come play Mario Kart Double Dash on the GameCube with us. And I would say, I cannot come down. The work of God is too great on my life. I do not have time for that. And then he would just knock again. By the third knock, I'm playing Mario Kart. I tell people that I, I majored in in math and minored in Mario Kart in college, because that's how I spent my time.
But Nehemiah will not come down. He is dedicated to the calling that is before him. Does the enemy ever use distraction in your life to keep you from doing what God has called you to? We all know that we have greater things than just living for this world. We all know that we should help people. We all know that reading our Bibles would be good. But Instagram feels so much more interesting. We all know that prayer would bless our souls and draw us closer to God, but Netflix has a certain draw, does it not? Distraction is one of the enemy's favorite tactics.
Point number two, the next tactic that they use against Nehemiah is the fear of man. Now the fear of man is anytime that we care more about the opinions of the people around us, than we care about God's opinion about us. And so we fear what other people think, and we need them, we need them to love us. We need them to approve of us. Has anybody ever experienced this? I think we're familiar with this idea of the fear of man. Now Tobiah and Sanballat, they sent four letters, and when you would send a letter in old times, you would seal it with your wax symbol and no one else got to read your letter when it was sent there. And then it would arrive and you would open it, you'd be the only person.
But the fifth time they sent a letter, it says they sent an open letter. Now that means that they posted that sucker on the internet for everybody to read. It means that they left it unsealed so that anyone who got the letter could read it and read it out loud. And what they said was not flattering for Nehemiah, verse 6. It is written, and it was written. It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says it too, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That, that's why you're building the wall, everybody knows that. And according to these reports, you, Nehemiah, wished to become their king. And you've set up prophets to proclaim concerning you and and Jerusalem. There is a king in Judah, and now the king will hear these reports, and so now come and let us take counsel together.
Do you see what they're doing? They're twisting what's happening here. Never mind the fact that the king of Persia, the one that Judah at this point is under, commissioned the work. He gave all the property to build the wall. He sent Nehemiah with an army to go and build this wall. They're saying. I heard you wanna be the king, Nehemiah. You see, they're, they're twisting it, and they're trying to make Nehemiah look like someone who is hungry for power, so that he'll stop what he's doing and go address the rumors, the nasty rumors, they're disparaging him.
Verse 8, how did Nehemiah respond? Then I sent to them saying, No such things as you say have been done. For you are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. And I love, I love how it ends. It says, Nehemiah, this happens throughout the entire book. He's telling a narrative and it just flows into prayer, often, and it's just these one line prayers. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands. He knows that he needs the help of the Lord. So basically Nehemiah says, you guys are crazy. I don't care what y'all say about me. I'm gonna do what God's called me to do. And he continues on his way. He has that single-minded devotion to what God's called him to do.
The third tactic that we see is compromise. So they move on from writing letters to Nehemiah or about Nehemiah, and they start to get their hands really dirty at this point because no longer are they just coming out and trying to tempt him by directly, but what they've actually done is they've hired someone that Nehemiah knows, someone from inside of Israel. They've hired this guy named Shemaiah. And he has a lineage, and that means that he's someone who's well-known in the community. Nehemiah knew who this dude was, and they hired him to pretend as though he is a prophet, or maybe he is a prophet and they hire him to declare false prophecy. And so they say, look, go to Nehemiah. Here's what we're, we're gonna send you some money. You go to Nehemiah, you tell him that they're coming to kill you, Nehemiah, you better hide. That way Nehemiah will stop working on the wall. And he'll be even further distracted. And so they use this idea of compromise.
Verse 10. Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let's close the doors of the temple, for they're coming to kill you, Nehemiah. They're coming to kill you by night. And so the trap is set. But Nehemiah, he sniffs it out. He knows that this is a ploy from his enemies. That it would actually be, it's actually wrong for Nehemiah, written in the scriptures, he could see this, that he was not supposed to be going into the holy of the holy places. He's not supposed to be hiding in the temple. Although that is a safe place for him to hide, the lure of safety. He draws him in, saying these guys have it out for your evil, but he knows that that would be disobedient to God. And so he refuses to compromise his commitment to God for the safety and security of his own life.
And so what does he do? Verse 12, and I understood and saw that God had not sent this dude. And he, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat, they hired him for this purpose. He was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.
The fourth tactic that we see employed by Nehemiah's enemies here is just pure intimidation. Now this one happens a little bit differently, a little uniquely. verse 15 says, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul, in 52 days. It's an amazing accomplishment. The wall is done in less than 2 months. I could not accomplish learning that Beatles song in 2 months. The wall was totally done in 2 months. But, you know, this was supposed to be Nehemiah's moment of victory. Like he's actually accomplished the thing that he set out to do. And you would think that the enemies would give up at that point, that they would say, ah, you know, he's, he's already done it, but no, they just ratchet up their attacks as our enemy often does, even when the war is over, the attacks continue, and what do they do? They start taking advantage of their long standing ties to the Jewish community.
So within the Jewish community over the past several years there's been a lot of intermarrying between Sanballat and Tobiah. They're like kings of neighboring countries, OK? They're not just like dudes, they're like kings of neighboring countries that don't want good for Israel. They're like the governors. They're also under Persia, but they don't want good for Jerusalem and and for Judea and for Israel and so they. They have intermarried among the Israelites, and they have all this influence among the Israelites. And so they start just like attacking Nehemiah from the inside. And they start sending letters to all the people that they've got connections with. They start using their network to really give Nehemiah a bad name. They're saying Nehemiah, he's a nasty guy with no soul. It's a smear campaign meant to intimidate, and it works. The, the end of Nehemiah 6 ends by saying, also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence. That's Tobiah. They're, they're speaking good of Tobiah and Sanballat in my presence and reported my works to him. And and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. And so it's kinda working. The end of this chapter basically is like, look, I'm afraid, but I will not compromise. I'm remaining commitment, committed to the call of God.
Distraction, fear of man, compromise and intimidation. Have you ever seen any of these tactics at work in your oral life? I think many of us have. I want you to notice that spiritual warfare here is quite subtle. Sanballat and Tobiah, they don't come out and attack. They're not sending soldiers, but they're doing the background battle. They're doing the subtle nature of warfare here.
When we read about Nehemiah's experience with Sanballat and Tobiah, we might be reminded of Jesus being attacked, being tempted in the wilderness. During his during his fast after his baptism. At this point Jesus gets baptized at the very beginning of his ministry. He's 30 when he gets baptized. He goes out into the wilderness where he is tempted for, where he fasts for 40 days and then he's tempted at the end of that.
And Satan, our enemy appears to Jesus and gives him all kinds of temptations, and they're all twists on who Jesus is. He's basically saying, if you're really God, prove it. Turn this rock into bread. Is that something you can do? And Jesus responds each time by quoting scripture, man shall not live on bread alone, but on the words of God. He knows that if he takes power, the way of the world, in the way of the world, that it would be counter to his calling to come and lay down the power, so that others might know God. He knows, Satan takes him up to a tall place and says, look, I'll give you everything. All you have to do is worship me. You can have everything in this world. But Jesus, he's, he's not deceived by that because he knows that nothing is better than being in relationship with his father. Nothing is better than knowing God, and Jesus, he remains committed. Just as Nehemiah was committed to the purposes of God and for his life to build the walls of Jerusalem, Jesus remained committed to the purpose for which he came to lay down his life for so so that we might know the love of God. And this mission, it carried him all the way to his own tomb. And out again as he's resurrected from the dead, victorious, over the evil one.
Now, when we consider how to apply this passage, OK, this is how we're gonna spend the rest of our time here. I want us to consider how we can fight against the tactics of the evil one in our life. But unfortunately, some of us, in fact I think most of us, have a vision so small for our life that we might not even see the tactics that the evil one has used to keep us there. Because the reality is that if you're already just living for the things of this world, what does the enemy have to attack you for? If you're already just trying to accumulate wealth and comfort and security, you're already living the life that he would have you live. But the second you start living for Christ, and the calling that he might place upon your life, you will feel resistance. You will feel the temptation and the struggles.
So with the rest of our time, I just wanna help you discover God's calling for your life. That's really what I wanna do, help you to discover what God wants for you. How you can prioritize your life and how you can think about it. When we think about God's vision, God's calling for our life, what we usually think about when people think about this, is like this grand thing. Like I'm going to accomplish this thing for God. And sometimes God does that in people's lives.
George Mueller was a man in England in the in the 20th, 19th century in the 1800s, and he felt a calling from God to start an orphanage. And George Mueller started an orphanage and it was funded through ways that God provided and it's amazing stories. Very few of us have that because here's the reality. You have to understand some foundational things about what it means to be a follower of Christ, before you can experience that greater calling of what God might be calling you to. I'm reminded of the parable of the talents that Jesus told. And he said, be faithful in the few things, and God will give you more things. So what are the few things in your life?
I think about calling from God, almost like a pyramid. OK, I'm gonna give you a little diagram and help you think about this, and help you think about this calling from God. The first and on the most foundational level of the pyramid is identity. The foundational level is identity in Christ. Who are you? When you're thinking about your calling from God, start here. Who are you? What is your identity? Who has God called you to be? On the foundational level for me, and I hope for most of us here, it is, I'm a believer in Jesus, united in faith with Christ. That means I am a beloved child of God. Before you were a husband, before you were an employee, before you were an entrepreneur, before you were a doctor, before you were a father, before you were a mother, before you were a child, you need to understand your identity in Christ. It is the ultimate, I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. It's the ultimate, because someone says an insult to you and you say. I'm a believer in Christ. I'm a beloved child of God. What could keep me down? You need to have that. It's the thing that has to be foundational about you. This is what you'll fall back on when you're tempted to give in to the fear of man. This is what you need to remind yourself of, when you need to stay on track with who God has called you to be. This is what you need to remind yourself of when you feel like a failure. It's this foundational level of identity.
Now, on the next level above that, so hopefully you can see your foundational level is identity as being your primary calling. But on the next level, there's another level you have to get to before you can get to that greater calling of what God specifically might be inviting you to. The next level is this, it is your current responsibilities. What are you responsible for it today? I've talked to a lot of people who desire one day to get married. But they're a really terrible roommate. And that's not gonna work well. They don't have, they don't, their finances are in trouble. They're just not ready for their current responsibilities. So why would God bless you with more? You have to handle what is in front of you before you can dream about what you might accomplish for God, what higher calling you might be placing on your life. You need to look around and be faithful with what he's put right in front of you.
For me, I am a follower of Christ, foundational level identity. My current responsibilities, I am a husband, I am a father, and I am a pastor in that order. Like those are the, that's the order of that things go in. Beyond that, I have so many other responsibilities. I'm a son. I'm a neighbor. I'm a friend. I am, I'm a boss. I am, a member of the of the Somerville Society. I'm a community group leader. All these responsibilities, and I have to hold those. I own a vehicle that needs to be taken care of, you know, like, and if I don't take care of it, it could like injure someone, you know. So like I have to live up to the responsibilities right in front of me. Before we might start dreaming about what God has for us someday, we have to ask whether we're being faithful with what God has for us right now.
And I honestly think this is what points us to this last level of like specific callings, dreams, aspiration, a greater calling from God. I think that if you're trying to discover what your greater calling from God should be, it should flow through these first two levels. I think if you start living out your identity in Christ, and your current responsibilities, God will show you. That greater responsibility, that greater opportunity, those aspirations, he's gonna show you, it's gonna flow through those things. It'll be natural in that way. What kind of legacy can you leave? What can you do for God?
And so, for just a moment, we're gonna do something a little bit different. I just wanna give you an opportunity to workshop this for a moment. I'm gonna invite you, if you have a pen and paper, to take advantage of that at the moment, OK? If you do not have a pen and paper, do not fall into the enemy's deception. And of distraction, OK, but I'm going to give you permission. To open your phone. And to open the notes app and no other apps. Just the note, if I see you playing chess. Don't make me come down, OK? Unlike Nehemiah, I will come down. so. Go ahead, open it up. Let's work on this together for just a moment. I'm gonna give you like 2 or 3 minutes to work on this, to think through this. Start, I just want you to brainstorm. Start with your identity. Who are you in Christ? Write some things that are true about that. Think about some verses maybe that come to mind when you think about who you are in Christ. Write your current responsibilities. And finally, after you get through those things, you can write a few dreams. Hopefully it's more than simply save for retirement or travel the world. Those things aren't evil, but they are worldly in many ways. And what are some dreams that God might have on your life? And I'm just, I'm gonna give you a minute or two to work on that, and then I'll share what I have for me.
All right, I know that was not enough time, but my, the, the tactic that I'm using is to get you to start on it, to be like, I need to finish this once I get home. All right. So I know that you're gonna need to take a little bit of time and to keep on working on that, and I hope you will. I hope you'll take some reflection time and consider that. I'm gonna share with you what I came up with. I reserve the rights to change this in the future. I wrote it while experiencing a lot of resistance, trying to write. Here's what I came up with. I'm a man who embraces what it means to be a child of the king. I pursue righteousness, godliness, steadfastness, and gentleness. I fight the good fight of faith. 1 Timothy 6. I remain steadfast under trial because I know the crown of life is coming. James 1. I pursue my wife in the same way Christ pursues me, Ephesians chapter 5. I enjoy time with my children and instill in them the love of God. Colossians chapter 3. I am a pastor who cares for his sheep. First Peter 5, I will always be, I will always put the health of God's church over the hype of growth for growth's sake. In the end, all I want to do is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I'm content with a small life. Enjoying God everyday, sharing and representing him to others. And guys, I have to fight for that one. Content with a small life. If I may know God and the power of His resurrection, I am happy. Philippians chapter 3.
And so I know I'm a pastor, and it might look a little different for different people, but I hope that you have many of the same themes. Where you know who you are and what God has called you to, so that you can fight against the tactics of the evil one. You have to know his tactics and how he's going to distract and intimidate you, and I suspect that as you start to live towards that vision, that you might experience those tactics more.
Nehemiah knew the calling that God had upon his life. He was able to say, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Similarly, Jesus knew his calling that the Lord had placed on him, his father above. He was faithful to the very end, and even as he hung on the cross, bearing the weight of the penalty of sin for all those who would believe in him. He could have called down angels. To come and help him off the cross. He had the power, he had the authority to do that. But instead Jesus like Nehemiah said, I cannot come down. And he hung until he died and breathed his last breath, but you know what he said at the end. It is finished. He completed the work that the Lord had for him, and only if I might run the race and complete the task the Lord has for me. I would be blessed. And I'm so grateful that though I fail in so many ways, that Jesus did not fail in the mission that the Lord put in front of him. That I failed to live up to this vision. It's an aspirational vision. I do not always do all of the things in this vision that I said. But Jesus is faithful when I am not. And he finished When I might not, I fail and he didn't. And he remained faithful until the end. He remained faithful to the end of his calling, and we know that our, that we are loved, even when we fail and fall short of the calling that God has in our lives.
So I just, we're gonna take a moment now to confess to the Lord, of our failures, of the ways that The enemy has worked in our life, and then we'll hear an assurance as we prepare ourselves to come and receive the communion meal. Would you pray this with me? The words will be on the screen, underlined portions speak along with me.
Our Father, you have called us to live faithfully for you, but we confess that we are often distracted from what matters most. We confess that we give our attention to lesser things and neglect the things you have called us to. We confess that we fear people more than we fear you. We care too much about what others think and too little about what you have said. We confess that we compromise when obedience becomes costly. We choose comfort, safety, and approval rather than faithfulness. We confess that we're intimidated by opposition and discouraged by our failures. We forget who we are, whose we are, and why we are here. Father, forgive us. Strength in our hands. Give us wisdom to recognize the schemes of the evil one, courage to remain faithful and hearts that desire you above everything else. Amen.
Here's the good news. Jesus. He was faithful when we have been faithless. When he was tempted, he stood firm. When he was opposed, he did not turn aside. When he was mocked, threatened and crucified, he did not come down. He remained faithful to the end, and he did it for us. Because Christ has died and risen again, your failures do not define you, church. The opinions of others do not define you. You belong to Christ. You are a beloved child of God. So, strengthened by his grace, let us return to the work that he has given us. We're doing a great work, and we do not need to come down.
Each week we participate in a sacred meal that reminds us of what Christ has done for us. We participate in, you can call it communion or the Lord's supper, or Eucharist if you like. And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and he tore it and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week as we take of the the bread and the juice of the wine, we're reminded of the way that Christ took our penalty for us, in the way that he gives us life. And so if you're a Christian, we invite you to confess your sins and to come to him again to be reminded of the way that he has died for you, been resurrected. Let me invite you to stand with me as we prepare our hearts to respond through the meal.
God, we pray that you would break through the resistance and help us to hear from you. That in these quiet moments that our life would have meaning and purpose. And that you would call us to a strong vision for what you might have for us. God, we thank you for the grace that you've extended to us through Christ. I pray for anyone here wrestling with what it means to follow after you. Would you guide them? Would you help them to see Christ's faithfulness and not their failures? Understand what he's done for them. God, we thank you for your grace and your kindness. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.