NEHEMIAH 3 WORK HARD FOR THE LORD2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Nehemiah 3 Work Hard For The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Well, this morning as we look at Nehemiah chapter 3, again, we're looking at really an incredible book. And one of the things that's great about Nehemiah, that I like about him anyways, is he really sets for us a good example for, well, outside of...

religious activity type of example. So Nehemiah sets a good workplace example, you might say. His occupation was cupbearer. He was not a priest. He was not a prophet. He wasn't, you know, in the temple or anything like that, but he was a cupbearer before the king of Persia.

Later on, he kind of changed occupations and became a wall builder. And so he built the walls there in Jerusalem. That's the main subject of the book of Nehemiah. He also became the governor of Jerusalem as a result. And so he had these different roles, but his main occupation wasn't religious in nature. And yet in the same way, or at the same time, we see a great example in him really serving the Lord and accomplishing the work of the Lord and the purposes of

And so as we look at Nehemiah, I've titled the message this morning, Work Hard for the Lord. And he really does set a good example of that for us. He works hard to accomplish the Lord's will, the Lord's purposes, and to build the wall of Jerusalem.

And I think that's really important for us to consider because in our minds, oftentimes, if we think about serving the Lord or working for the Lord, being about our Father's business, we relate that to things that are just limited to church-related events and activities, religious types of activities or those kinds of things. And we need to broaden our understanding a bit and understand that

Well, working hard for the Lord does not just apply to that one little slice of our life, but it applies to every aspect of our life. And we see this through the example of Nehemiah. As a cupbearer, as a builder, as a governor, he was serving the Lord in every aspect and showing us what it looks like to work hard for God.

Now, just to give a little bit of context to what's happening here in Nehemiah's time, here's a quick look at the timeline for what we call the restoration of Jerusalem.

And what happened was Israel had been led into captivity because of their rebellion against God. And so Babylon, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Jerusalem, conquered Judah, and led all of the Jewish people from that area captive into Babylon. And they were there in Babylon for 70 years, just as God foretold.

But then there was this restoration time where the Jews were now coming back to Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the walls, and establishing themselves in the land once again. And Nehemiah came on the scene during that time frame.

It was about 536 BC when King Cyrus of Persia said, all right, Jews, the Lord's told me to let you go back to Jerusalem to build a temple. So if you want to do that, you're free to go, go build the temple unto the Lord. And about 50,000 Jews went out of Persia and Babylon back to Jerusalem to build the temple. We talked about that a little bit last week as we were in the book of Ezra. And

And so the work began on the temple. It paused for a little bit, but it was finally completed around 516 BC. A little bit after that in 478 BC is when Esther comes on the scene and she becomes queen back in Persia, unrelated to Jerusalem, but it's what happened, you know, back in the Persian empire. And so we're going to read through that in the book of Esther next week and get into that account as well.

But then after that, then Ezra comes back to Jerusalem. And then in 444 BC, Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem. And his mission is to build the wall. Now, if you think about the timeline there a little bit, that...

The temple had been rebuilt. So there was the temple there. There was the altar. They were worshiping the Lord and sacrificing to the Lord in the way that they were called to. But at the same time, Jerusalem was largely in ruins. And it's been about 70 years now since the temple has been completed. And it's been about 70 years since the temple has been completed.

And Nehemiah hears word back as travelers have come to where he is in Persia. He hears back the condition of the city of Jerusalem and how the walls are still destroyed and they're in danger perpetually. And it really stirs him up. And the Lord lays a burden upon his heart to go back and build the walls. It is a work of the Lord, but not because the Lord was needing the structure, but for the people of God.

And so he is in prayer for the city of Jerusalem and he asked God to send him to participate in this work that he could work hard for the Lord.

Well, as we jump into chapter 3 this morning, what we're seeing is the actual work taking place. He's arrived at Jerusalem. He's surveyed the scene and seen what needs to be done. And then he gathers the people and assigns them different portions of the wall. And we only read verses 1 through 5. But the rest of chapter 3 goes over all the different parts of the wall and the massive amount of people delegating to each one. There's this section and this section. And all of that detail is laid out for us in chapter 3.

But as we look at this subject and talk about working hard for the Lord this morning, we're really going to focus in on and zero in on verse number five and spend our time considering that. Looking at that again, here's what verse five says. Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord.

And here, this group, these nobles from Tekoa, stand out as different than the rest of the people in the chapter who were all about the work and doing the work of rebuilding the wall. But these guys, these nobles, they would not participate in the work. And so we look at them as a contrast and we see they stand out because they're, in essence, the only group amongst them who will not participate in this work.

And so we're going to learn from their example what not to do, starting with point number one this morning, and that is submit to the Lord. If you're at all interested in working hard for the Lord, if you are, you know, along with the song that we just sang about how worthy God is, and you would agree that God is worthy and you want to serve him, you want to obey him, you want to walk with him, you want to be about your father's business. If that's your heart at all,

You need to understand and come to terms first that it is going to begin with a submission to the Lord on your part. That there is going to have to be a surrender of your will, a laying down of your ways and your ideas and your concepts and your thoughts and what you want to do, and submitting that all to the will of God in obedience to him. To work hard for the Lord begins by submitting to the Lord.

The people of Jerusalem were in great distress and reproach. But as Nehemiah is informed of that, he spends some time in prayer. He doesn't immediately just go do what he wants to do, but he submits it to the Lord and says, Lord, this is a terrible situation. I want to help provide for and take care of your people. And so he submits himself to the Lord before he heads back to do this work.

Now, this idea of submission is important for us to understand, and a good picture of it is hidden inside this verse, because as it says, the nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. It pictures for those, you know, in their culture, it would have made a lot of sense. It may not pop out at us immediately, but it pictures for us the yoke that would be used on a team of oxen.

The putting their shoulders, that word shoulders also could be neck, and it's translated neck throughout the Old Testament as well. And it references this idea of this yoke that would be applied to oxen to team them up together so that they could work together for whatever the master was seeking to do, whether plow a field or pull a cart, whatever it was.

And that exhausts the knowledge that I have about what teams of oxen do. But you get the point, right? So whatever the master is wanting to do, he'll link them together with this yoke. And this yoke was essentially a bar that would go across the necks of the two oxen. And then there would be this loop that would come underneath and boom, lock it in. And then they would be joined together and be able to work together. Their strength and their power would be joined together to be effective for the work that was at hand.

But as it says that they did not put their shoulders to the work, it's picturing instead this resistance to that, this pulling away. No, I'm not going to put my head in the yoke. I'm not going to allow that to be placed there around my neck and on my shoulders. And these nobles of Tekoa, they were refusing to submit to the Lord in this way. This was a work of God.

to rebuild the walls. Again, not because God needed the structure, but because of the people of God. And it was essential for the work of God that he wanted to do for these walls to be rebuilt. But these nobles would not submit to the Lord. Tekoa was a little city just about 10 miles away from Jerusalem. So this wasn't some foreign people who didn't know the Lord. These were Jewish people who were there nearby,

But it says that they would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. They would not submit to the Lord. Now, this is something that we have to consider because it's a battle that we all face. Really, life and relationship with God is a battle of wills. And what we must endeavor to do is to lose that battle regularly and consistently. That is, that we would give up our will and surrender it to God's will.

But it is a battle. And we do have our will. And we do have what we desire. And there is this conflict of wanting to and working to accomplish what we think is best, what we desire, what we would want to pursue and rather and prefer. And it can be quite a challenge to submit to the Lord. But in order to do any work for the Lord, it has to begin there.

I like what Pastor Charles Spurgeon said about this. He says, the sons of men have universally been guilty of a lack of conformity to the will of God. They choose their own way and will not submit their wills. They think their own thoughts and will not submit their understanding. They love earthly things and will not submit their affections. Man wants to be his own law and his own master.

And that is really an accurate statement. We want to be our own master. We want to be the ones who get to say, this is what goes, this is what's going to happen, this is the plan for my life, this is the work I'm going to be involved in, this is the path I'm going to be on. We want to be our own master. But to walk with the Lord, we need to learn to lay down our will and to let God be our master.

We must learn to submit to the Lord. But it's a battle. And he kind of lays it out. I like the way that he thinks about it. He says, they choose their own way and will not submit their wills. I want my way. Even if the objective is the same, I want to get there the way that I think is best.

But we know from the scriptures that our ways are not God's ways. And boy, that is hard for us to accept many times. And what God requires and desires from the different situations that we face is often different than the way that we think it should be handled. But we need to submit to the Lord and surrender our ways for his ways. He says, they think their own thoughts and will not submit their understanding. You know, sometimes people,

We refuse to believe what God says because we don't understand. We don't either understand it because, well, it's difficult or beyond, you know, what has been revealed to us. Or we don't understand because we don't understand the plan and the purposes and the end results and all of the things that God knows. And because I don't understand, well, I won't accept God's thoughts. I won't accept what God says because

I'll accept my own thoughts. I'll keep my own ideas about things that I can understand, that I can grasp hold of. And instead of, well, laying aside that necessity of understanding and trusting God at his word and surrendering to his thoughts. He says they love earthly things that will not submit their affections. You know, there's a lot of things that we can be affectionate about and passionate for.

that God has instructed us to not be affectionate for and passionate about. But we like being passionate for the things that we're passionate about. We like pursuing those things and filling our minds and our hearts with those activities and behaviors and things. And we like those things and we're drawn to those things and we love those things. We love earthly things. We need to learn to submit our affections, to submit our passions to the Lord.

To work hard for the Lord is going to involve a laying down of our will, our thoughts, our ways, our passions in submission to God. This is modeled for us, of course, by Jesus himself. In John 5, verse 30, Jesus says, I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.

Jesus himself said, I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. Now let me just ask you real quick, are you greater than Jesus so that you're free and you have the right to pursue your own will and not the will of the Father? No, of course not. Jesus says, I'm submitted to the will of the Father. And he proved that in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember right before the cross and there was the conflict and he's praying and he's saying, if there's any other way for this to pass, let the cup pass from me.

but not my will, your will be done, he says to the Father. And he went to the cross, submitted to the Father. He sets the example for us. We must submit to the Lord. And this is important to understand that it's not just in church-related activities and things. That is a submission to the Lord when you're the cupbearer or the builder, the construction worker, the governor, the office worker, whatever capacity that you might have in life,

Well, there is an aspect of that that requires you to submit to the Lord in His ways, His plans, His thoughts, and not your own. And so we need to submit to the Lord. Now, what that involves as we continue to consider this thought is, well, things that are still more difficult for us to grasp hold of and accept. And so that brings us to point number two this morning, and that is to submit to human authorities.

It is very difficult for us to submit to God just that by itself is tough. To lay down our will, to die to ourself, there's some serious battles that we will face in the process of doing that. But it gets really difficult now as we consider the idea of submitting to the Lord will now also involve submission to those authorities that God has allowed and placed in our lives. Human authorities, not just the Lord.

Looking again at verse 5, it says, Now, we read the words there, the work of their Lord, and I made the point about submitting to the Lord, talking about the Father, right? But the word Lord there actually doesn't require that it be talking about God the Father, right?

The word Lord there is not Yahweh, which is the name of God. Oftentimes, or you'll see that throughout your Bible with capital L-O-R-D, all capitals, L-O-R-D in all caps. When you see that in your Bible, that's a reference to the name of God, Yahweh, sometimes pronounced Jehovah, but it's the name of God. This word Lord is not that. This word Lord, well, it's a different word that doesn't,

have to be talking about God, it can refer to any kind of authority that's in place. Sometimes it's referred to as, you know, princes or kings or governors or even husbands in the Old Testament. Sometimes we're referred to as Lord, husbands like that, but it could be any type of authority. And the word is actually plural. And so they would not

And so there's a real likelihood that this is not directly referencing the father, but referencing those authorities that were in place, such as Nehemiah. So much so that the New Living Translation, as well as other translations, puts it this way. Their leaders refused to work with the construction supervisors.

And so we can consider these nobles of Tekoa and understand that it's not just that they were not submitted to the Lord. It's not that maybe they would say, I don't want anything to do with God. But the reality is they were not submitted to the Lord. And the reality is they were not submitted to the authorities that God had established over them.

Now, Nehemiah wasn't from around there, right? He was born in Persia. He was raised in Persia. He was serving the Persian king. He'd never been to Jerusalem before this. But now he shows up and it's possible. I'm just kind of making up a scenario, but you understand that it's possible they were thinking, hey, you're not from around here. You haven't been here for the past 70 years and faced all the hardships and difficulties we've faced. And you don't know what's going on. We're not gonna listen to you. We don't wanna do what you say.

We have different priorities because we know better. It's possible they just thought, who is this guy from out of town? We don't need to submit to him. We don't need to do what he says. And so they would not submit to Nehemiah as governor, as a leader of this project. But also there was supervisors and, you know, people, foremen and such on the project who, you know, were involved. And it could apply to those as well that they were like, well, you know,

I'd be all in for the work, but you're trying to put me in, you know, Cisco's clan, you know, and I don't want to have Cisco be my boss. That's going to be too rough and difficult. And, you know, he just goose around and stuff and he is not a swing and hammer. So, you know, I'm not going to, I just can't participate in this. Whatever reason they thought, whatever reason they had, the end result was they would not submit to their lords. Even nobles have masters.

No matter how high a person has a standing in society, we might long for that place where we could be without masters in this life. But there is no place that you can be without masters in this life. You think you can go off on your own and then you be your own boss and you'll find out that's not really the fantasy that you had in mind.

In fact, there's a problem in your life when you have no authorities. There's a problem. It indicates a problem. When you have nobody that you will submit to, when there is nobody that you will follow instruction and do what is required of you, when you will not submit to any authority, that's not a ultimate freedom. That is a real issue in your life. It's a problem.

If you look at this account, you can understand that even Nehemiah is submitted to authority here. He's submitted to the authority of the king. He finds out in chapter one about the condition of Jerusalem and he doesn't just drop everything and go to Jerusalem because it's such a burden to him. It is a burden to him. He's praying and fasting for a season as a result of this news and he wants desperately to do something about it. But

Well, first of all, he submitted to the Lord and he's asking the Lord to work things out to send him that he might go. But he's also submitted to the king. The king of Persia needed to give him permission for him to be able to go. And he was pretty nervous about it. As you read the account there in chapter two and to present his request, oh, it was a difficult thing because, well, the king of Persia at that time, if he didn't like what he heard, he'd just chop off your head, you know, like you're done.

But it was a burden on his heart. He presented the request. He asked for the king's permission. He submitted to the authority of the king. Now, if the king had said, no, you can't go, but God told him to go, that's a different matter. And in those cases, you know, you must obey God rather than men. But I don't want to focus on that too much because I think we use that sometimes as like the escape for this is why I won't submit. But it's really just an excuse to allow our rebellion to continue.

It's pretty rare for us here in talking about Southern California to have to, you know, have that kind of issue and confrontation. Now, Nehemiah submitted to the authority of the king. He asked for permission to go. Not only that, but he was submitted to the authority of the king in that he set a time frame and stuck to it. The king said, okay, yeah, you can go. How long are you going to be gone? And Nehemiah sets the time frame and says, I'm going to be gone for this time period.

And we read through the account of Nehemiah, we find that he stuck to that time frame. I'm sure it must have been difficult. Although the wall had been completed, there was other things outstanding, but time was up. He had to submit to the authority of the king and go back. Now, later on, the king sent him back again. He had to be submitted to the authority of the king of Persia. He didn't just go rogue and do whatever he wanted, what he thought best, and it was really burdened on his heart, so he just went and did it.

But no, he was submitted to the Lord and submitted to the authority that God had placed in his life. But in contrast to Nehemiah, we have these nobles, these so-called nobles. Not really noble because, well, they won't submit to authorities that God has established in their life. The commentator Mark Roberts says this, it comes as no surprise that some persons of power and status in Judah failed to support Nehemiah.

in our offices, our schools, and often in our churches, we too encounter nobles who will not submit to leadership. These individuals invariably cause problems for leaders, and I would add on to that, not just the leaders, but for everybody that's involved. There's problems. There's issues when people will not submit to the authorities that God has established. Now, it's no surprise, he says, because, well,

If you think about your workplace, you've seen resistance to authority. I would pray and hope that that resistance hasn't been you. But I can trust in your workplace, you've seen that. I've been, you know, back in the workplace. It's been a long time since I had a full-time job like I do now. But I've been back there for a month now. And you know what? It doesn't take a long time to see there's resistance to authority. There's resistance to those who are...

placed in a position of authority and well, they have plans and they have purposes and they have, you know, things that, and people under that authority have different plans and think that's stupid. Why would you ever do it that way? That's the wrong way to go. And I should, we should do it this way. And so I'm going to do it this way, even though you told me to do it that way. And there is this battle of wills between employees and employers. Employers.

So it's no surprise that we see that pop up here. We've seen it in our homes. We've seen it in our offices. We've seen it in our schools. We've seen it in our churches. People who are unwilling to submit to human authority. But let me remind you of what the apostle Paul taught us in Romans chapter 13. He says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. Paul says very clearly here, there is no authority that exists that is not appointed by God. And this can be really challenging for us to grasp hold of, for us to really accept as the truth. But this is the truth presented in the Word of God. There is no authority that exists that

apart from God's permission and allowing that authority to exist. They're appointed by God, Paul says. And so resisting that authority is a resistance to God. Rebelling against that authority is a rebellion against God. Again, with the exception where authorities are in opposition to God. But aside from that exception, authorities are there appointed by God.

Now, you can think about David and Saul for a good example of navigating the difficulty of this situation. Saul is king. He's the anointed of the Lord. And yet he's determined to kill David. And so there came a point for David in the service of Saul to separate, to remove himself and say, I can't stay here. You're trying to kill me. That's not what God wants. God doesn't want me to stay here. And so he removed himself.

But he also kept his heart in line with the will of God and the heart of God in that he respected the position in the office of King Saul. And so even when he had opportunity to kill Saul, to end, you know, all of the trouble that he was going through himself by putting Saul to death, David said, no, I won't touch the Lord's anointed. I don't have the right to just take out the authority that God has appointed, even though it's,

difficult for me that this authority is there and this authority isn't really behaving appropriately and doing what's right. And even though all of that, David kept himself in a place of submission to God and submission to human authority with the honor and respect that was appropriate for the position. This is an example for every one of us. Let me put it this way. Submitting to authority is doing the work of the Lord.

So many times we see it as like the authority is in opposition to or holding us back, right? If only I could throw off this authority, then I could really do the work of the Lord. But submitting to authority is doing the work of the Lord. I can sit in the office during the day and think, can't wait till four o'clock, man, four o'clock. And then I can go to church and really start serving the Lord. That's bad doctrine. That's bad theology.

Serving the Lord doesn't start sometime in the future when you're going to be doing religious activities or church-related things. Serving the Lord starts right now where you're at. And if that's in the workplace, then in the workplace, serving and submitting to the authorities that are there.

It's not just one little aspect of your life when we talk about working hard for the Lord. But working hard for the Lord involves your workplace. It involves your home. It involves, well, many aspects of our lives. There's lots of things that we could consider regarding human authorities. Paul talks about the governing authorities in Romans chapter 13. He talks about the home authorities in Ephesians chapter 5.

authority is in the home while the parents have authority in the home over the children but he also gives the order within a marriage even the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church and the husband is to be submitted to the Lord the wife is to be submitted to the husband there is order there is authority that is established by God within the home and submitting to those human authorities is

Well, it is serving God. In the workplace, there are authorities. You have supervisors and bosses and foremen and whatever other managers and names you might have. There are those authorities that God has established and appointed. There's authorities within the church.

Paul also calls us to submit to one another. And so in many ways, there are, you know, authorities that God has given us as we work together and walk together and serving the Lord and growing together. There's a need for us to be able to come to a place where we submit in the same way that we submit to the Lord, that we lay down our will, our thoughts, our ways for someone else's, for those that God has placed in authority over us. Now,

Again, this can be really challenging, not just because it's hard to lay down our will, and we fight that fight with just submitting to the Lord, period, but then to submit to some human. I mean, this guy, he's messed up. His thinking is wrong. His wiring is wrong. He's not perfect. He's wrong, like, regularly or often. It's like laying down my will for something that I don't think is going to work because some other faulty person asked me to do it. Boy, that is really challenging and difficult.

But it's what God calls us to do. We need to submit to human authorities. Those that God has placed over us, they're there for a reason. And yes, they're imperfect. And yes, they make mistakes. And sometimes our way is better. But walking in our way in opposition to authority is not better. Now, submission doesn't mean that

You don't get to express your opinion. Submission doesn't mean that, you know, you just do what you're told, even if it's wrong or against the word of God. That's not what submission is. You still get to have the discussion. You get to, you know, give that opportunity for the master, the authority to rethink, redirect. But once the decision is made, once that discussion has been had, you need to lay down your will, your thoughts, your ways, and submit to the human authority that God has placed in your life.

No one can serve two masters. Remember, Jesus taught that. You can't serve God and money. You can't serve yourself and God. When you serve a human authority, it's not the issue of two masters. It's one master. Because when you serve that authority, you're serving the Lord. But when you say, I want to serve the Lord, and then you refuse to submit to human authorities, it's

And you go your own way. You're trying to be your own master and say that God is your master. And you're trying to serve two masters. And Jesus says that that doesn't work. You can't do that. In order to submit to the Lord, you need to submit to those authorities that God has placed in your life.

God used this illustration of a yoke in Jeremiah chapter 27. He tells Jeremiah, make yourself a yoke. Put that bar, put that loop in, lock yourself in, and use that as an illustration to my people about how they need to submit themselves to the nation of Babylon. Now that was the worst thing that

the Israelites could have thought of at that point. To submit to Babylon? No way. We will never do that. We don't want to do that. But God was calling to them to do that. And then he tells Jeremiah, go send other yokes, make some more yokes, and send them to the surrounding nations and tell them, listen, I've given this whole region to Nebuchadnezzar. I've appointed him as the authority over this region. You need to put on this yoke and submit to the authority of Babylon.

They refused to do it. But that is what God called them to. And the only way that they could submit to the Lord was to submit to that authority that God had established. Serving the Lord is not just in church-related things and religious activities. Serving the Lord involves every aspect of our life. Whether you're a cupbearer, a builder, a governor, whatever it might be, we have those authorities. The Lord first, but then also others that he's placed in our lives.

And we need to fight this battle, the battle of wills. And that gives us point number three, and that is submit yourself willingly. Submit yourself willingly. Listen, if you're going to work hard for the Lord, if you're going to accomplish God's purposes and be part of what he wants to do, you need to do this freely, giving of yourself, willingly surrendering your neck. Again, as it says, they did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord. The idea here is that

The yoke is being applied and the oxen are pulling away and say, no, no, no, we're not going to, no. And they're moving their head and the farmer's trying to put the thing on. They're like moving around and trying to shake it off. But it's a different thing when the ox is willing and it presents its neck ready to be submitted, ready for the work that's at hand. Pastor John Gill puts it this way. They refused to give any assistance to it with their purses or presents because

but withdrew from it as stubborn oxen withdraw their necks from the yoke. This is observed to their disgrace when the common people of the city were ready to work and did. Here again, you have the contrast. The people around them from their town, they went to work. They said, hey, sign us up. Where do you want us? Well, we need you at this part of the wall. Okay, we're there. And the nobles were like, nope, no. We wanted to be on that side of the wall.

We wanted to do something else, or perhaps it was just a matter of, we don't want to do anything at all. We will not submit ourselves. There was this unwillingness, this stubbornness, holding themselves back. But the rest of the people of their town, they went. It was a willing movement. They volunteered. Submission really only works when it's volunteered. In order to work hard for the Lord, we need to volunteer and submit ourselves willingly.

Think about the way that Jesus put it in Matthew chapter 11. Famous passage, we know it well, but consider that Jesus is talking about the yoke in this passage. In verse 28 of Matthew 11, Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Here Jesus gives the invitation. It's an invitation. He says, come to me.

It's an invitation. You get to freely choose. You get to volunteer to come to Jesus. Now, you could maybe try to read into Jesus's tone something different, right? He's like, come to me and let me clap this on your neck and you're going to be my servant. You know, like you could try to, but that's not, that's not at all the heart of God or the way that Jesus was speaking. He, he's inviting. Come to me. He's talking to people who are worn out.

who are just exhausted and exasperated, and they've tried everything, and they're just so worn out. And he says, you want rest? Come to me. But then he says, take my yoke upon you. Now, to find rest, you would typically think of like taking off a yoke, right? For the oxen to rest, that's not the time when the yoke is on. When the yoke is on, that's the time to work. But Jesus says, like most things,

My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. If you want rest, take my yoke. Submit to my authority. Submit to my ways. He says, I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. What you need most is to be locked in the yoke with Jesus. For you to willingly offer, it's an invitation for you to come, for you to volunteer and say, I'm coming to you, Jesus. I'm accepting your yoke. I'm presenting my neck. Yes, I will surrender myself

to you. Now we fight against surrender so much in our lives and we're convinced, oh boy, if I give into that, it's going to be terrible. Everything is going to be better our way. If only everybody would just do what we say, then life would be so much better and problems would be solved and everything would be great. If only people would just do what I say. We resist surrender. We fight against it. But Jesus says, look, you're not going to find rest that way. If you want to find rest, you need to do the opposite. Let go of your ways.

All your ideas that are so amazing and brilliant, all your ideas that are going to resolve everything, if only everybody would listen to you. No, no, let go and submit to the Lord. And that is when you will find rest. It's a willingness. It's a giving of yourself willingly to the Lord, as well as those that he has appointed over you. The author of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 13, 17, obey those who rule over you and be submissive.

Have you ever known somebody to give authority grief? Have you ever been someone to give authority grief? We probably all have. Here we're told, don't do that. Make their job joyful.

They have a job to do. They have a responsibility and they will give an account to the Lord for it. It's not your job to hold them accountable. The Lord will do that. Your job. Let them do their joy or let them do their job with joy. Don't give them grief. And it's unprofitable for you.

Again, you think you're going to find rest by resisting that authority, by insisting on your way, by forcing that, and by doing your own thing, by ignoring what they say and doing what you want. You think you're going to find rest that way, but oh no, no, that's unprofitable for you. You're going to be exhausted. You're going to wear yourself out. It's going to be so hard on you. No, submit yourself willingly that it's a joy for the Lord to be your authority, that he doesn't have to wrestle you with every decision, but that you just submit to him.

Follow his ways. Let it be a joy for those human authorities that are appointed in your life. That you would willingly submit. Willingly surrender your neck. And along with that gives us point number four. And that is submit yourself energetically. Putting your shoulders to the work of the Lord. Again, it kind of can be taken both ways. The neck. Presenting the neck. That's the willful submission. But then also the shoulder speaks of the strength.

Now as the ox and our team together, boy, now there is some real power that can be put into effect. There's some real work that can be done when you put your shoulder into it. Here, the nobles of Tekoa, they did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. And from their example, we learn what not to do. Instead, here's what we need to do. We need to do the best that we can to really give ourselves to the work of

In a way that we are giving it our very best. That we're putting forth the effort. That we're engaged in a way. That we're invested in a way. That we're really seeking to accomplish what it is that has been set before us. By the Lord or by those human authorities that he's appointed. You know, there's a way to kind of half-heartedly comply. To kind of pretend like we're submitting. But not really work hard at it. So that...

Hopefully the plan fails and then we can be proven right and say, see, I told you, you should listen to me. No, we are to submit ourselves energetically. We would give ourselves and really put effort into it. J. Vernon McGee had a funny thought on this. He says, if you've seen the stones in the walls of Jerusalem, you marvel at the work and maybe you have a little sympathy for the nobles. It took a lot of manpower to move those stones.

It took a lot of grunting and groaning to build those walls. This work created a lot of sore backs, sore hands, and sore feet. And it could have been a matter of just, that is way too much work for me to do. That the nobles said, no, we will not submit to that. I don't want to be sore. I don't want to work so hard.

I mean, the walls of Jerusalem were stones that were buried in rubble. So they had to dig them out. They had to lift them. They had to put them in place. It was hard work. You're going to crush your fingers sometimes. You're going to be bloody. You're going to be sweaty. You're going to be worn out. You know, it was going to be exhausting and great effort would have to be applied. Now, as you read through the account here in chapter three, you see all the other people who, well, they were submitted.

And they gave themselves energetically. They put their heart into it. They did the best that they could. And so it tells us in chapter 6 that the wall was completed in an amazing amount of time because the people had a mind to work. They really put their hearts into it as opposed to these nobles who would not put their shoulder. They wouldn't give their efforts. They wouldn't put their strength into it.

Paul the Apostle in Colossians chapter 3, talking about bondservants and masters, says, Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. In talking about bondservants and masters and

The Roman Empire in Paul's day, it was a similar relationship to employee-employer relationships that we have today. And so here's what Paul says. Don't obey as men pleasers just when they're watching you, just when their eye is on you, but in sincerity of heart. That is really buy into the project and the task and the direction and the thoughts and the ways that sincerely, genuinely own that.

And do the best you can. He says, whatever you do, do it heartily. Do it wholeheartedly. Give it your best. Don't hold back because you think it's dumb. Don't hold back because you know a better way or because, you know, whatever. Again, you can have those discussions. Submission doesn't preclude the idea of having those kinds of discussions with authorities. But then once the decision is made, do it with all your heart. Do it heartily. And he says, as to the Lord and not to men. Amen.

Convince yourself in your mind, understand this is the Lord's decision, even though this dumb person made it. This is the Lord's decision. And in doing this, I'm going to do it the best that I can because I'm serving the Lord. And he says, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward because you serve the Lord Christ. You see, submitting to authority is submitting to the Lord. And so when you do, do it with all your heart, wholeheartedly, energetically, do the best that you can to

to make it a success, to bring it to completion, to bring it to fruition. Again, whether that be in the workplace, in the home, in society, within the church, whatever realm may be appropriate to where you're at and what you're going through. The battle of wills is at play. It's going on. Will you submit to the Lord? Will you really submit? Will you submit in word only because, you know, you're just trying to get through without...

actually having to do anything, you know, as little as possible, will you really just lay down your thoughts? Say, God, your ways are best. You know what's best. You're over all these things. You have all these things in your control. Lord, I'm going to trust you. And that's going to involve you submitting to those human authorities that he's appointed in your life. Now, just a quick side note, not every human is authority in your life. So that doesn't mean you do everything that everybody says. But

There are those that God has appointed in your life. Submit to human authorities in a real and meaningful way, in a sincere way, that you would be about your Father's business by giving yourself wholeheartedly, willingly to do what is set before you.

Again, it's bad doctrine to think, oh, I can't wait until I get off work so I can really serve the Lord. Or you might think, I can't wait till I retire and then I can really start serving the Lord. Listen, if you don't understand that you are serving the Lord all day every day, or if you're not serving the Lord, you're serving somebody else, then you need to correct your doctrine in your head. You're submitting to somebody. Who is it? And if it's not to the Lord, well, then you're not working hard for the Lord.

Those activities, those occupations, those authorities, they're not obstacles to you serving the Lord. They're part of how God has called you to serve him. Work hard for the Lord, submitting to him, submitting to those he's placed in authority over you. Submit yourself willingly. Surrender your neck and say, I'm here to work. I'm here to do what needs to be done. And then to do it with your whole heart, energetically, giving yourself, not holding back.

And in that way, you have opportunity to honor the Lord and serve the Lord. Again, with Nehemiah, the project was not so much about the structure. It wasn't like God was like, man, I really need a wall. I just would love to have a wall. Bunch of rocks stacked on top of each other. That would just fulfill me. That's what God was saying. No, no. It was about the people of God.

The work was part of the process and the work in the people of God through the process was part of the objective of God, but then also the lasting effect upon the people in the city. That's what God was after. And in the same way, it's not so much about the plan or the task or the job or whatever. It's about the people. And when you are not submitted to the Lord and not submitted to human authorities and not submitted willingly and not submitted energetically, you're not working hard for the Lord because you're dishonoring the Lord.

And you're affecting the people that are involved, the people that are around. But when you do the opposite, when you will lay down your will and submit to him, boy, you can work for the Lord in ways that perhaps you never even thought were possible. But the work that God can do when you're submitted to him, and again, it doesn't have to be in a religious context. God can do a mighty work through you, through your obedience to him and his word. Let's pray.

God, I pray for each one of us, and you know our hearts and our situations and where we're at, what we face, and areas of our lives, God, that we are submitted to you and areas that we are not submitted to you. And I pray, Lord, that you would highlight those areas where we are not submitted. Lord, that we might bring correction into our hearts, that we might correct the bad doctrine in our minds and heads and come back to the understanding that you are Lord.

And you've called us to submit to you, to lay down our will and our ways and to follow yours instead. I pray, God, that you would teach us to do that. And Lord, I pray as we head into this week that you would give us reminders throughout the week, Lord, that we would be aware of the battle of wills that is taking place, that we'd be able to recognize when we're insisting on our way instead of your way. Lord, when we are fighting against you rather than surrendering to you, help us, Lord, to recognize that.

Lord, that we might come back to a place of submission and surrender. Lord, that we might work for you and bring glory to your name. And so, Lord, we pray that you'd lead us by your spirit, that we might accomplish your purposes. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.