Jump Start # 2801

Nehemiah 9:38 “Now because of this we are making an agreement in writing; and on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.”

Our Sunday video study of Nehemiah has taken us recently through the great assembly and reading of God’s word found in chapter eight. Then followed the powerful prayer of confession in the ninth chapter. As that chapter ends, it leads to some action. Prayer should do just that. Saying, “Amen,” isn’t the end. It may cause us to open our eyes and raise our heads, but it’s not the end of the story. After “amen,” comes action, action on our part.

So, as this ninth chapter ends, the leaders put their names to a document. They are serious about the changes they are making and the commitment to God. Signing your name is official. A check isn’t good without a signature. You can’t buy a house or get a car without putting your name on some papers. This commitments you. This is your obligation. If you don’t keep up your end of the bargain, you could be taken to court and usually trouble follows.

As the tenth chapter of Nehemiah begins, we find 27 verses of names. Lots of names. More than 80 names. Nehemiah is the first. He heads the list. But these names are making that commitment to keep the promises that they have learned through the reading of God’s word and have confessed in prayer.

There are several things that we ought to see here:

First, this showed how serious these leaders were with what they were doing. Talk is often shallow, cheap and easy to break. Putting your name on a document puts more weight to what you are doing. I’ve heard of folks coming to the Lord, but no sooner do they come, they leave. Little commitment. No dedication. No worshipping regularly. No connecting to the church family. I wonder if they think they have checked off a box and now they are ok. I wonder if they think that’s all there is. Imagine someone going through all the preparation of a wedding, but as soon as the ceremony is over, the groom hops in his car, by himself and zooms away. People would rightly question how serious he was about getting married. Here in Nehemiah’s day, names were put on paper.

Second, we see the value of Nehemiah’s name at the top of the list. Leaders are to lead. Every time a person picked up that pen to write his name, there at the top, first name visible, was the leader, Nehemiah. It’s hard to get others to do things if the leaders won’t. In our times, shepherds are to be examples to the flock. If the leaders are expecting the members to do certain things, the members need to see the shepherds doing them first. Follow the leader is the idea. If the leader won’t put his name on the paper, why should anyone else? It’s easy to be bossy. But showing people and leading them by example, that’s always God’s way.

Third, there was a sense of accountability with names on the paper. That’s the way it works when we sign legal documents. We are now legally bound to what we signed. We are committing to pay a loan back. And, God has preserved these individual names for us. How easily the Spirit could have lumped these all together and said, the priests and Levites signed. That would have been true. But with the names on this inspired word, generations later, people would have made connections. After the passing of my father, I inherited two very large pictures of my great-great grandparents. They were N.T. Christians. Their pictures hang in my home office. I look at them and am reminded of a legacy of faithfulness. Names on a paper would do the same thing.

Also, after the days of this signed document, had one started to drift from his commitment, others could remind him. Others could point out that his name was on the document. Others could show him that he was in the company of more than eighty that had made that promise to follow the Lord. Maybe that would be just the very thing to encourage one to draw closer to the Lord.

Fourth, I wonder how many of us would be willing to put our names on a document committing to faithfulness to the Lord? Would you sign a pledge, a promise to follow the Lord? This would not be a statement of what we believe. That’s a creed. We don’t need a creed when we have the word of God. Anything more than the Bible is too much and anything less than the Bible is too little and anything just like the Bible is not necessary. I promise to keep my commitment to the Lord. Would you put your name to that? Would that help you stay true? Would that help us be accountable?

Names on a paper…signed and sealed.

Roger

Jump Start # 594

Nehemiah 9:38 “Now because of all this we are making an agreement in writing; and on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.”

This week we are going to take a look at the book of Nehemiah, particularly the end of the book, and especially at the dedication and repentance of the nation. There are great lessons about faith found there. We remember that Nehemiah is about rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. It took 52 days and just a few chapters to accomplish that task. The rest of the book deals with rebuilding the faith of the nation. That took years to accomplish.

Nehemiah had to lead the people to return to a true worship and devotion to God. That’s hard to do. People then, and people today, tend to get stuck in routines and we tend to do what we like. We put off, if possible, anything that is unpleasant. We do that with cleaning out the garage, painting a wall, talking to a neighbor about his barking dog, going to the doctor (especially if you’re a guy) and we do that with our relationship with God. Many will say that their relationship could be better, but it’s not all that bad. It’s nothing to get worked up about. Sure, we could pray more. We probably don’t know the Bible as well as we ought to, but all in all, we’re doing better than most folks. That kind of thinking will get a person in trouble, especially with God.

God deserves the best. The reason is, He is the best. Hands down. End of discussion. Nothing beats God. No one cares as much as God cares. No one blesses as often as God does. No one forgives as often as God does. He deserves our best—in worship, in dedication, in heart and in thought.

Nehemiah understood that. He felt that way. The nation wasn’t with him. Their worship was often sloppy, indifferent and at times unbiblical. They left off sacrifices and certain days of worship. They weren’t following God as carefully nor as closely as they should have. The same might be said of us, as well. It’s easy to let other things fill our hearts and minds. God tends to get squeezed out and put up on a shelf. He doesn’t belong there. He belongs in your heart.

One of the steps of getting the nation back on the ball spiritually was to renew their commitment to God. This is where our verse comes in today.  Nehemiah had the leaders sign their names—as a commitment, as a promise, as a pledge to follow God.

Chapter 10 lists the names—there’s a bunch of them, the first was Nehemiah, himself. Then follows 80 names, if I counted correctly. These were the names of the leaders and the priests. They were making an oath to walk in God’s law (10:29). This included remaining faithful to only marry within the nation (30). This also included to pay the temple tax (32).

They signed their names to a document promising to be faithful to God. When a person signs his name on a document, it’s serious business. It often means, you just purchased a car, a home, or got married. I’ve done all of those. Signing your name is serious business. It commits you. You are supposed to stand behind your name.

I wonder how Nehemiah’s oath signing would fly today? I wonder if folks in the church were to sign a document promising to attend every service unless they were sick or out of town, if that would make a difference? I wonder how many would fuss about that? Sign my name? Are you kidding? Promise to come? Promise to give? I expect if I floated that idea, they’d sign commitment papers to send me away to the old preachers home.

There is something about commitment, accountability and dependability that Nehemiah found in having the people sign their names. I like that his name was first on the list. Talk is cheap if the leader isn’t the first to lead. By having his name first, he was saying, ‘You can count on me.’ That’s what this is all about. In getting the nation back to God, he needed to know that he could count upon them. Sure, they could have said yes. Certainly, they could have raised their hands. But when they signed their names to a document, that raised the level of the commitment.

I wonder if we have just gotten to lax with God. Nehemiah’s document was saying, you can count on us. We will put our names to it!

We may never get everyone at the church house to do this, but you can do your own.

• Husband and wife signing a document promising to be faithful to each other
• Parents signing a document for their kids, promising to never leave them
• Making your own pledge to God. Promise to pray every day to God…read His word every day…walk in His way, every day. Sign your name to that. Promise to attend church services. Promise to do the best you can. Keep that promise where you can see it and be reminded of it.

There is something about signing your name to a document. Nehemiah understood it. This could be the very thing that gets you back on board with the Lord. Your name…put it to something good, eternal and worthwhile.

Roger