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Skip Heitzig: Turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Nehemiah. It just dawned on me today that that is a weird-sounding name if you're not familiar with the Bible. I know this church is, but if you even told the average Christian the book of Nehemiah, they might look at you like, "What is that?" because it's an Old Testament book. He is rather an obscure individual in most of believers' minds, and yet we are studying this book because of valuable lessons about the city we live in, the country we live in, the times we live in, and in many cases, even the situations that we find ourselves in.

We are in Nehemiah chapter three. It is a lengthy kind of a chapter. There's a lot of names in it and places in it, but we're going to try to make some sense of it. I want to begin with something that I found that somebody wrote. He said, "Yes, I'm tired. For several years, I've been blaming it on middle age, iron-poor blood, lack of vitamins, air pollution, water pollution, obesity, dieting, underarm odor, and a dozen other maladies that make you wonder if life is really worth living."

"But now I find it isn't that. I'm tired because I'm overworked. The population of this country is over 200 million. 84 million are retired. That leaves 116 million to do the work. There are 75 million in school. That leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this total, there are 22 million employed by the federal government. That leaves probably less now. That leaves 19 million to do the work. 4 million are in armed forces, which means there are now 15 million to do the work. Take from that total 14,800,000 people who work for city and state governments. That leaves 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 in hospitals, so that leaves 12,000 to do the work. Now there are 11,998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work: you and me. And you're sitting there reading this, so no wonder I'm so tired."

Nehemiah chapter three is the work of building the city of Jerusalem. The work begins, the building begins. It's not one person doing the work. It is a team of, if I read it correctly, hundreds of people. In chapter three, Jerusalem gets a makeover. It had been in ruins. It gets a total extreme makeover. For 11 seasons now, ABC has been doing that show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Chapter three is Extreme Makeover: City Edition. The whole city gets a facelift because of Nehemiah.

The word "built" appears in this chapter eight times as the workers form a two-mile unbroken circle of unity atop the walls of Jerusalem. What chapter three amounts to is a building journal—what they call in the construction business a WIP report, a work-in-progress report, a construction record, a list of workers and locations and activities on the building site of the ancient city of Jerusalem.

Now, we're not going to read all of the chapter, and you'll see why in a minute. We are going to read and notice several verses. I'll extract principles out of it, but let's get a flavor for it. In verse one of chapter three, "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and hung its doors. They built as far as the Tower of the Hundred and consecrated it, then as far as the Tower of Hananel. Next to Eliashib, the men of Jericho built, and next to them, Zaccur the son of Imri built."

And so it goes on and on and on through the entire chapter down to verse 32. It reminds me of that old saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you build a city? One stone at a time, one gate at a time, one section at a time. And that's what chapter three presents. But I think you should also know that chapter three is the outworking of a commitment they made in chapter two. I just want to draw your attention back to verse 18, where the people of the city said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to do this good work.

If you remember last week, we talked about how to fix a problem, and I said, first of all, go the distance. Second, assess the need. And third, get a group. And we saw that Nehemiah had a very small group, then a larger group of leaders. Now an even larger group with him is building the city. What I want to show you are some applicational principles for working together. I'm calling this message "Working Together." These principles are true of any church. They're true of any organization, any business, or any project that requires a team.

These are principles that are universally understood. We even have slogans for such things like, "Many hands make light work" or "Teamwork makes the dream work" or "Unity is strength" or "Strong together." All of these little axioms bear out the same truth of working together. Michael Jordan said, "Talent wins games, teamwork wins championships." I, however, am specifically interested in God's work in this church and in this city, hence the title "City in Shambles."

Let me give you the first principle, and we'll put it up on the screen. God's work should be orderly. The first thing I noticed as I read through chapter three is the order and the organization that is employed in all of these verses. There is a logical, organized flow. They follow, in the description of this chapter, the walls of Jerusalem from the northwest, and they go counterclockwise from what would be to us the upper right corner, and they move to the left and then down, going counterclockwise all the way to the tip and then back up the east side of the city from gate to gate, stone to stone, place to place, beginning at the Sheep Gate with Eliashib—north, west, south, and east.

In chapter three—and again, we're not going to read them all—there are 38 different names mentioned. There are 42 different teams or groups that are working together. There is a phrase that I do want you to notice. It's the phrase "next to them," "next to them," "next to them." We read that a lot, or "after them." It's repeated 28 times. So, let's look at verse two: "Next to Eliashib, the men of Jericho built." Verse four: "Next to them, Meremoth the son of Urijah." Verse seven: "Next to them." Verse eight: "Next to him." And so it goes throughout the entire chapter.

The principle for this is also found in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 14:40, though Paul is speaking about church worship, he said, "Let all things be done decently and in order." We have that presented here: "Let all things be done decently and in order." Seven verses earlier in that chapter in 1 Corinthians, it says, "For God is not the author of confusion," a better translation: "For God is not a God of disorder but a God of peace."

I'm not ashamed to admit that my early life growing up was pretty chaotic. It was hard for me to focus. My wife thinks sometimes it still is hard for me to focus. I made impulsive decisions when I was young. I was chaotic. My mom would keep saying, "Skip, I'm just hoping you come to a place of stability and rest in your life. I want you to settle down." I have found that God is a God of order. When God gets a hold of a life—no matter who you are or your background—God employs that order in your life. He's a God of order, not of chaos.

Think of creation. When God created the heavens and the earth, when he brought the world into existence, he brought order out of chaos. And he created everything in Genesis one and two in a very orderly sequence in six days—a six-day span. He set the world into motion. He made the sun, the moon, the stars to regulate time and seasons with precision and predictability. Order.

Another good example of order is your own human body. Your heart pumps blood to all the organs that are able to receive it, to bring oxygen to them. Your brain fires thousands of messages per second to regulate pain, temperature, respiration, thought processes. The same brain controls 600 muscles, tells them when to contract, when to relax, ligaments, organs. It is an example of organized teamwork. It is teamwork making the dream work—your body.

Guest (Female): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps make clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching available to people searching for truth, direction, and hope. And this month, we want to thank you with two powerful resources to help you follow God faithfully even when life feels uncertain or challenging.

When you give, you'll receive the Expound: Nehemiah seven-message CD series with digital download, along with Pastor Skip's booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind. Together, these resources show you how God rebuilds what's broken, strengthens you when you feel opposition, and gives you peace even in seasons of pressure and weight. We'll send both resources as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let's return to today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: Think of the order if you are just at a backyard barbecue. You are there, they're cooking burgers. Your brain receives a message from your stomach that says, "I'm hungry." Then the brain sends a message to your legs to walk toward the barbecue. As you do, your eyes spot the meat grilling, your nose smells the onions that are also grilling. Your brain sends a message to your hand, your hand reaches out and grabs the whole ensemble, and you stuff it in your mouth. It is a symphony of organization just to have a meal.

I think God's work should reflect his character. It should be orderly. Now, the church is both an organism, but it's also an organization. It's a living entity, but the entity, the organization, must be organized. If the organism is not organized, we have a name for that: it's called a blob. But when the organism is organized, then function can happen. And the Bible says that Jesus is the head of the body of Christ, the church. He sends impulses to all the different parts. I see the Holy Spirit more or less as the nervous system, conveying the wishes of the head to all the different parts so we work together in symphony in an orderly manner. God's work should be orderly.

Here's the second applicational principle: There is a place for everyone. One thing you notice about the third chapter of Nehemiah is that it is not a one-man show. In fact, the name "Nehemiah" doesn't appear in the chapter. This Nehemiah—now there is another guy named Nehemiah, if you read the chapter you'd go, "That's not true," but it's a different Nehemiah. But this Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, the author of the book and the supervisor of this project, is not mentioned, but several others are mentioned.

In verse one, we have priests that are mentioned. In verse two, the men of Jericho. In verse five, the Tekoites—these are people who lived in Tekoa. In verse seven, the men of Gibeon, a town nearby. Verse eight, goldsmiths are building, perfumers are building—they're mentioned in verse eight. And all the way down in verse 32, merchants are mentioned.

Look at verse eight of chapter three: "Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs and fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall." Now, I'm just going to make a guess that goldsmiths and perfumers probably have more delicate hands. They're not used to that kind of hard work. I'm guessing the next day their muscles ached like the other guys' didn't maybe. Or and perhaps they used the goldsmiths to do the intricate work on the locks for the doors, for the gates, but they were all involved.

But I suppose if anyone could say, "It's not my job," it would be goldsmiths, perfumers, and priests. Yet they're all working on the wall, doing the labor. By the way, just a little note, if you ever come with us to Jerusalem, it does mention the Broad Wall here in verse eight. They have uncovered a whole section of Nehemiah's Broad Wall, a 23-foot thick wall in the ruins of Jerusalem. It can be pointed out today.

Look at something else: verse 12. "Next to him was Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the leader of half the district of Jerusalem." So he's a bigwig. Notice this: "He and his daughters made repair." I just find it interesting that's mentioned. Probably he had no sons, or perhaps he had no sons. In the very least, this was a dad and daughter date; they're going to build together on the wall.

But I point it out because you probably know this, but the Bible isn't just full of great men. It's also full of great women that God used powerfully. Deborah, one of the great judges who delivered the children of Israel at a very crucial moment. Esther, the queen of Persia, who delivered the entire Jewish race in Persia. Ruth, the great-grandmother of Jesus Christ, marrying Boaz in the lineage—the great-grandmother of David, but in the lineage of Jesus.

Somebody once said, when God wants to do a great work, he chooses a man. When he wants to do an extraordinary work, he chooses a woman. The point is—I'm not going to debate that, I'll let husbands and wives elbow each other all the way home—the point is, there's a place for everyone in God's work. And given the list of the different types of people that worked on this wall, God loves variety.

You know, one of the things you ought to do in church more often is look around at the people in church and look at how different many of us are, and yet we are here over what really matters. We have that in common. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul writes this—I'm going to put it on the screen: "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it's the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord that we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church."

Years ago, I read this crazy little story about—it's like a kind of a legend—that all of the tools in Jesus' carpentry shop in Nazareth were having a meeting together. And it was presided over by the hammer. So Brother Hammer begins the meeting. And as he's beginning the meeting, somebody shouts out and says, "You have to go. You have to leave because you're just too noisy." And Brother Hammer said, "Well, if I have to go, then Brother Screw also has to go, because you got to twist him to get him to do anything."

And then Brother Screw said, "Well, if I have to go, then Brother Plane also has to go, because all of his work is surface work. He's not a very deep individual." And the plane said, "Well, if I have to go, then Brother Rule also has to go, because he always is measuring everyone by himself." And then Brother Rule piped up and said, "Well, if I have to go, Brother Sandpaper also has to leave because he's rough and he rubs people the wrong way." Just then, Jesus walked in to build something. And he picked up the hammer and the screw and the plane and the rule and the sandpaper, and they all worked together to build what he wanted to build. Everyone of us is an instrument for God to use; we have a part.

Now, I said Nehemiah organized this. His name is not mentioned, but there's a principle even in that. One person, no matter how gifted, can do the work of ministry alone. Nehemiah knew that, that's why he got a group. He began small, got a few leaders after that; now he has conceivably hundreds of people doing it. One person, no matter how gifted, can do the work of ministry alone. 1 Corinthians 12, I just read: "The body is not one member, but many."

Moses learned that lesson when he was in the wilderness. You remember the story when Jethro, his father-in-law, watched him presiding over the people, and he's there from morning until night listening to everybody's complaints, counseling them, doing everything. And his father-in-law that evening said, "I am not impressed. What you are doing is not good. You're going to wear yourself out, and you're going to wear people out, frankly. You need to get other people to shoulder different responsibilities to get the job done."

Back in 1981—how many were alive in 1981?—1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot. There was an attempted assassination by John Hinckley Jr. The President of the United States was hospitalized for several weeks. What's interesting about this, the country didn't shut down. Its executive leader was laid up for weeks in the hospital; the country did not shut down. In fact, it had little impact on the nation's activity. The government functioned.

Hold that thought. A few weeks ago, in Birmingham, England, the garbage collectors went on strike. The city was a literal mess. In fact, it was a health hazard; it stunk to high heaven. The city almost shut down. Question—and this is sort of a trick question—who's more important: the leader of a nation or the garbage collectors in a city? Now, before you answer that, the real answer is both are necessary for the society to function. All of these were necessary for the wall to get built. So, God's work should be orderly. Second, there's a place for everyone. Let me give you a third principle: Your service should fit you.

Your service should fit you. Now, I want you to notice where people worked. Go back to verse one: "Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the what gate? The Sheep Gate. They consecrated it, they hung its doors, they built as far as the Tower of the Hundred and consecrated it as far as the Tower of Hananel." The Sheep Gate, as we pointed out on the map, is on the northwest corner of the ancient city of Jerusalem. It is next to the sheep market, hence the name "Sheep Gate."

These were sheep that were brought into the temple for sacrifice. This would be an area that the priests would have special interest in because they would receive the sheep given by the people, bought at the market for the sacrifices. So, they're building on a section of the wall that fit their personality and their calling.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember: Your generosity helps share God's Word with people all around the world, offering truth, hope, and encouragement where it's needed most. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you the Expound: Nehemiah seven-message CD series with digital download, along with Pastor Skip's booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind.

These resources will help you see how God rebuilds what's broken in your life and gives you peace even in the middle of pressure and uncertainty. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.