Battling and Building

We are going through Nehemiah as we believe that God is calling us to do a work in seeking the benefit of our city and so we are hoping that we willed be spiritually prepared for the work that God has called us to do.  Adam spoke on the first part of chapter four last week and touched on the theme of opposition and that the Christian life is hard, even at times painful, and I’m going to continue on in that theme as we cover the second half today. My message today is called “Battling and Building” in recognition of these two essentials elements of life.  Battling and building.  Let me explain how this works on some different levels and then we’ll jump into the text for God’s authoritative word.

Here is my thesis that I wish to explore today: much of our happiness and success in life, not to mention our endeavors in the Lord, stems from our preparedness and willingness to battle and to build. Here what I mean.  Take your health for example.  Here is the truth: although everyone gets sick, not everyone is healthy. You can be in great health and still get pneumonia or catch a virus or whatever.  So every one will have to “battle” with sickness at some point in their lives – you don’t beat yourself up because you get sick – you battle the sickness. Yet some people get sick more often because they are routinely unhealthy.  These people need to “build” health into their lives.  Getting through a sickness is not the same as living a healthy lifestyle which promotes well-being. One is short-term crisis response, the other is long-term proactive habit-forming discipline.  We could be talking about mental health as well – you may go through or have friends going through crisis – anxiety, depression, eating disorder, whatever – and we have to learn to battle to get through the crisis, yet they may also have to learn to build, how to renew their mind, how to take thoughts captive, how to pray and praise and build their life around the grace of the gospel.  Leaving behind health, consider relationships.  Your marriage will hit times of crisis, rocky times, arguments, painful seasons that you will have to battle through – not battle each other, but fight through the crisis. Yet, the secret to a healthy marriage is to continually be building, strengthening the relationship.  Parenting’s the same: crisis are going to come, you are going to be in the depths of pain and you got to fight through it, but you also can be proactive in building a household of love and affirmation and godliness.  Church is the same – we may face opposition or crisis together and need to be reactive at times, but we also labour and strive to build healthy community.  Battling and Building.  Let’s see what God has to say to us through Nehemiah.

Battling (Nehemiah 4:15)

In 15 we have one of the most anticlimactic verses in scripture:

When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 

Just to recap for you, this is the third time the phrase “when our enemies heard” is uttered in this chapter.  The first time, verse 1, “When Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.”  Scripture actually records their trash talk and Nehemiah prays and simply ignores them. Don’t get involved. Don’t strike back. Pray to God, let him take care of them. Keep building.  The second time is verse 7, “When Sanballat and his friends heard that the repairing of the walls was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.” They turned up the heat and made plans to attack.  Again Nehemiah led the people in prayer, but now also set up a guard as protection and prepared the people to fight leading up to the great Braveheart moment of verse 14: “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” That’s where Adam left off last week.  Escalating battle.  The wall of Jerusalem becomes Helm’s Deep. Ready to fight, Get your battle paint! To arms, to arms! And verse 15: When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. Literally verse 15 says, God had broken their counsel.  You can read to the end of this chapter and the rest of the book and not one arrow was fired by the enemy. All of the Lord of the Rings fans are like – where’s the battle? I told you – anticlimactic. I want you to notice a few things about the battle here:

• God had frustrated their plan: At first glance that is the interesting phrase, isn’t it? God frustrated their plan.  How? In what way?  Well what was their plan? Remember, we were told in verse 8: their plan was to fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it. This is probably the best translation.  Another translation might read, to cause vacillation – doubt, division. Should we continue on in this manner?  And if you remember from last week, they almost succeeded.  The people of Judah tried to bring their young men home.  Come home! Don’t fight! Come down off that wall – you’ll be killed.  That’s when Nehemiah gave his braveheart speech, and, look here – that’s what won the battle.  The Lord gave the people the spirit to fight! The victory wasn’t the winning of the battle, the victory was the willingness to fight.  The battle is won without the drawing of a sword.  Nehemiah recognized that the will to fight is a gift from the Lord!

• Satan is a coward: This is what I want to proclaim to you today – Satan is a coward!  The will to fight is victory because Satan is a coward.  James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. He will flee!  Run to God, and resist the devil and he will flee!

 Satan, you’re a coward!  How do we resist the devil? 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Humble yourself under God, humble yourself before your brothers.

• Confession of sin.

• Take captive every thought (don’t be double minded)

• Remember that your brother is not your enemy.

• Remember that victory is the Lord’s.

Building (Nehemiah 4:15-23) When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 

We returned to the wall: Nehemiah had indeed taken a few days to get organized to deal with the threat, but then they got right back to the work. There is no shame in Sabbath.  Whether we are talking about physical or mental health, relationship issues, the mission of the church, whatever, there is no shame in taking time to battle before getting back to building.  Two errors we fall into is that we just keep building, ignoring the warning signs, arrows flying around our had and we just keep driving ourselves until we crash never dealing with the crisis.  The other error that we can easily fall into is to never get back to building.  Here I am thinking of the church I just visited.  They’ve been through crisis.  They went through a church split, some of their leaders had family issues, they’ve been through pain, and their response has been, shut it down, circle the wagons, refuse to ask questions of mission and purpose and future.  It’s not healthy to ignore the crisis signs and just press forward without Sabbath, but its also not healthy to remain on the sidelines.  Once the immediate threat is weathered, Nehemiah gets them back to building, but, notice this – they build in a way to protect them against ongoing threats.

16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” 

Neh. 4:21   So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.

One question that encourages me as a leader here: Why wasn’t this Nehemiah’s plan from the beginning? Shouldn’t he had known that there would be opposition? Sometimes leadership is reactive.  Nehemiah possibly never imagined that it would come to this.

• They divided the labour (verse 16)

o Some were building and some were ready to fight the leaders were supporting them and overseeing and ready to call to arms. Everybody had his role, people were using their gifts.  Some worked, some served, and some waited for battle, sitting in armor waiting to go. Prayer ministry – labor.  Here’s the plan.

• They equipped themselves to build and battle (17-18). This is vital. Some people go through their Christian life from crisis to crisis rather than equipping themselves for health, vitality and maturity.  

o Christian identity: Victory over the Darkness

o Living by grace

o Discipleship: First Principles

• Marriage, Work, Purpose, Mission 

• They came to the aid of others (19) Every one was ready to come to the aide of others. They encouraged each other: God will fight for us.  Not messiah complex I can fix your problem – but pointing to God. Now I’ve seen this happen in our church as well – often it is not publicized.  

o Fellowship groups.

o Other churches.

• They persisted. (21-23). Day and night.

o Move to Westboro.  Not just an anointing service and initial outreach.  We need to organize ourselves for continual sustainable prayer and community involvement.

o We persevere to proclaim the name of Jesus. 

Jesus came to battle sin and build his church.

Listen Now!

Work and Grace

This is the week that we actually get to work.  You’ll see that this chapter is not as exciting as the others.  It’s a list of 38 hard, unpronounceable names and some others split into 42 different working teams in the seven neighborhoods of the city of Jerusalem. Some commentators skip this chapter completely, saying, “they built the wall.” Other commentators focus on the actual wall, so it reads like a lonely planet tour guide from someplace you’ll never go to: “and next is the tower of the cauldrons, probably better referred to as the tower of the bakers because you could get a nice bagel there.” As I read the chapter however, I am more interested in the people.  These are the people God uses.  They are regular people working jobs, raising families, volunteering in their community.  We are introduced to goldsmiths, perfumers, community leaders, and merchants who dedicated themselves to the service of God as well.  Think about this for a second, they spent their whole lives dedicating themselves to their vocation, but were recorded for history not for their successful career, but for what they did as volunteers.  

In America one of the stories we tell our school kids is of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.  If you don’t know the story, Paul Revere was one of two riders who rode through the colonies warning of the advancement of the British armies. Upon seeing two lamps lit in the steeple of North Church tower, Revere set out on his midnight ride yelling, “The British are coming!”  This story was so ingrained in my mind as an American, that I was surprised last summer when I went to Boston with Jean and found in many churches there bells made by Paul Revere. Paul Revere had a job? I guess in my mind his whole life was just waiting on the hill for the signal and riding on his horse.  

Author and consultant Susan J. Ellis writes, "Paul Revere earned his living as a silversmith.  But what do we remember him for?  His volunteer work.  All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about.  Remember, no one gets paid to rebel.  All revolutions start with volunteers”.  American president Woodrow Wilson expressed the volunteer spirit, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."  

These are the people from 2:18 who rose up and responded to Nehemiah’s call with a “we will arise and build!” I spoke last week of this crucial moment when the vision of one person or a small group is picked up and assumed by the group as a whole.  Yet as important as that moment is, that moment actually accomplishes nothing.  We could conceive of being part of organizations that talks about its vision and defines its purpose and mission statement, yet does nothing except reward itself for its vision casting.  And nothing is more discouraging to a leader when everyone is saying yes, lets do it, we will rise up and build! And then you organize the first workday – and no one comes.  We don’t need cheerleaders - we need laborers.  If we are going to accomplish the things God sets in front of us as a church, its going to take everyone working.  If we are going to be a church that shines for Ottawa, we have some building to do.

The Work is Spiritual (3:1-2)

The account begins with the work of Eliashib, the high priest, and his brothers the priests working on the Sheep gate, and then the chapter continues along following the wall in a counter clockwise direction.  So the work begins and ends with the Sheep Gate, near where the temple of the Lord had stood. Notice here and through the book the priests are getting their hands dirty, doing the labor alongside of the others.  This is a powerful principle in itself, but it is magnified in the New Testament church that affirms the priesthood of all believers and sees no distinction between clergy and laity.  Jesus is our high priest, we need no and have no other mediator besides him.  Yes, Jesus does give to his church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers, and sometimes churches hire these as full-time ministers of the gospel, but these ministers are to work hard to set an example in their service and their labors for the Lord. Acts 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Notice as well that here at the beginning Nehemiah notes that the work is dedicated to God, once again underscoring that this is ultimately not our work, but his.  So these priests were not doing there regular duties of serving in the Temple, but they were building the wall, and still they recognized that the work they were doing was spiritual work.  See we make this distinction too fast – the distinction between sacred and secular, between God stuff and our stuff.  We compartmentalize our lives.  Church, my devotions, fellowship, thise are sacred things that God speaks to and works in.  My job, my family, my ambition those are secular things that God doesn’t have to much to speak to.  Sunday: God’s, Monday: my Boss’, Saturday: my own. Some things are God’s and some things are not.  Some of us then go to the other extreme because we’ve seen that compartmentalization as a bad thing, so we say every things is spiritual, but go to far and we become like zen-New Agey, Ohhm meditating be one-with-every thing because God is everything.  I’m God your God, the chair is God,  The third way, the Biblical way, is to recognize that there is God and there is us, but that everything that is made and everything that we do, is for God’s glory.  My work is not God, but it can be used for God’s glory.  This is what the priests do in this chapter.  They consecrate the wall, setting the entire work in the context of faith.  Yeah I’m carrying bricks, but its for God’s glory.  

The Workers Labor By Grace (3:3-5)

We have to dig a bit deeper in this next section.  It starts off simply enough with the sons of Hassenaah rebuilding the Fish Gate, but there are a few interesting names here which remind me that the Lord is not looking for perfect people with perfect backgrounds to do his work, but that He provides the grace for our labor.  

• In verse 4 we meet Meremoth, whose family had been rejected from the priesthood as unclean in Ezra 2:61-62 because their family name could not be found in the official genealogies.  Now imagine, Meremoth had seen his father and his uncles and himself excluded from the priesthood, having been told they weren’t fit to serve the Lord, yet here he is, showing up on the first day to work.  He could have been bitter – cut off from the community, he could have cut himself off.  Rejected, he could have retaliated or retreated.  Yet the Lord gave him grace and we find later that his family is indeed restored to the priesthood.  He reminds me of a guy in the New Testament named Mark who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.  For some reason, he left the team along the way and returned to Jerusalem, and when the missionaries were getting ready to go on their second trip Paul wouldn’t let him back on the team.  Again, does he get bitter? Does he blame others? What we do know is that God restored him, to the point that in Paul’s old age he calls for Mark to come to him because he has been a great benefit to him, not to mention that he also became the author of the Gospel of Mark!  God uses rejected people.  Joseph rejected by his brothers, Moses rejected by both the Egyptians as their Pharoah and the Hebrews as their brother. And of course Jesus, of whom the prophet Isaiah says, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”, John says that Jesus “came into his own and his own received him not.”  Yet God did not reject him and remained well-pleased with his own Son.  Have you been rejected, strengthen yourself in the Lord, who was rejected for you.    

• We also meet a guy named Meshullum.  Now Nehemiah doesn’t tell us here now, but later in the book we find out who Meshullum is.  Meshullum daughter is married to Tobiah’s son.  Who’s Tobiah?  We’ll we met him last week and shows up again and again throughout the book as Nehemiah’s chief opposition to the building of the wall.  In fact in 4:3, Tobiah is literally standing at the base of the wall where the Jews are working and teasing and mocking them: Look at that thing!  If a fox hops on it it’ll fall down!” Meanwhile, his son’s father-in-law is up on the wall sweating away.  Fun family dinners in that family, I’m sure.  Some of you can relate.  God has done a work in your life and your family does not understand or even teases or mocks you.  Or you feel a call of God on your life and you family offers no support or even puts up obstacles in your way.  They may even be Christians!  Even in the same church! Again, Jesus’ family – who had witnessed his virgin birth – thought he was crazy and was taking this whole Messiah thing too far.  They tried to take him home to his hometown.  Only after his resurrection do we see his brothers come to believe in Him.  Bryan Phipps story.

• Finally, we are introduced in verse 5 to the Tekoites.  They are not named, and we are only told that they are not the nobles of Tekoa, because the nobles held back because they couldn’t bring themselves down to serve in the vision that God gave Nehemiah.  Now this is interesting, because who else do you know from Tekoa? Of course! The prophet Amos.  And what was Amos’ job – of course! A stinky shepherd.  And what was Amos’ message? Of course! That the rich and powerful people should stop taking advantage of the poor people and stomping on them!  Amos is the original social justice prophet.  In Martin Luther King Jr.’s. ”Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he refers to Amos as “an extremist for justice” citing Amos 5:24: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."  Apparently, even after going into exile for their sins, the nobles of Tekoa still did not get the message.  They would not stoop to serve their Lord – most commentators point out that the Hebrew more likely refers to Nehemiah than to Yahweh, which might speak to their reason for not participating.  Some people refuse to participate unless they are in charge.  God’s work becomes a power struggle.  Nehemiah, we hear you’re going to rebuild the walls.  You need us right?  We have all this management experience, we could be co-advisors, sit on your board – what are you doing with that shovel.  You want me to what?  See ya.  You know who comes to help? The guys that the Tekoa guys have been stepping on all these years.  They come out to help – it’s like a vacation!

So these are the people that work on the wall.  The rejects, the conflicted, the humble.  The imperfect volunteers who maybe never built a wall before, but they trust Nehemiah and believe in the Lord’s work.

I want to pause here and press in a little more, because some of you are hurting.  Some of you have been rejected, some of you have been conflicted and some of you have been hurt, either by others or by the accuser of the brethren himself.  Perfectionism is a lie from the pits of hell that binds the church and its laborers.  We need to learn to live and work by grace.  I’ve been rejected – but I am perfectly accepted in Christ Jesus as a child of God.  I face conflict in my family or have little support, but Jesus supplies the strength and support I need.  I have been oppressed or abused, you can have wholeness in Jesus.  Look, I am not going to guilt you in to working for the Lord – that doesn’t work and it burns people out.  We’re not going to shame you into it either, if your burnt out and need a break, tell someone and take one.  And if you’ve got deep-seated issues you’ve never dealt with in the Lord, let’s work through them,  help you to understand the Gospel so you can learn to live out of grace.  But none of us is perfect, but Jesus calls us his workmanship, his poem.   These are not perfect people – but they made the Bible.  You’re not a perfect person, but maybe if you live out of grace, your children and their children will tell stories of you.

The Work Begins at Home and Extends Outward

Six times in this chapter Nehemiah records of individuals who “repaired opposite his house”.  As Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary: “When a general good work is to be done, each should apply himself to that part which is within his reach. If every one will sweep before his own door, the street will be clean; if every one will mend one, we shall all be mended.”  Don’t know where to start? Start where you’re at.  Yet also in the chapter, we read of those who come to work in Jerusalem from elsewhere.  The men of Tekoa were from 11 miles out from Jerusalem. Gibeon (7) was six miles away, Zanoah (13) twelve miles away.   

I think this is an appropriate illustration for us as we seek the welfare of this city. You all live in neighborhoods and have access to arenas of ministry that are set in from of you.  As we get into the seek the welfare study we’ll be talking about using your home as a center for mission. Yet as a church, God has placed us in a community – namely Westboro, so that even though most of us don’t live in this neighborhood, we can adopt this community as ours and seek to shine God’s light for the people here.  

OCBC: What walls?

• Fellowship groups: join one!

• University Fellowship: new leaders

• Sunday School/Junior Fellowship coordinators.

• Sunday School Teachers.

• Youth Sunday school teachers.

• Nursery workers

• Outreach teams: Alpha Courses? Door-to-door?

Seeking the Kingdom

God's gospel will be brought to fulfillment by the Lord Himself at the end of this age.

9. We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His holy angels when He will bring His kingdom to fulfillment and exercise His role as Judge of all. This coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission. 

Today we get to look at one of my favorite passages in the Bible: Acts 1:6-11:

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

This passage hits all the big points in our 9th article: kingdom, mission, return.  Jesus is coming back, when he does he will bring his kingdom to fulfillment, and until he does we get busy on mission.  Simple right?  

Yet this is often the point at which churches split.  Joke: God, Christian, Born-again, Return, Pre-millenial, Dispensational, Tribulation, Pre-trib – post-trib.

 This is also a point at which some Christians have been very publically embarrassed by speculations – the most recent being this Harold Camping non-sense.

One of the most encouraging core values of the EFCC is that its desire for unity around essentials. There are three ways to achieve this sort of unity.  The first is to become relativistic and contend that because we don’t know what view is right it doesn’t matter what you believe. The second way is “to agree to disagree”, holding strong convictions with charity toward the others whom you believe to be wrong.  I prefer a third way – constructive theology in which the parties dialogue, attempting to uncover as much common ground as possible.  I have found this approach may be helpful in bridging the gap in the camps. Furthermore, as modern evangelicalism has trended toward the construction of Biblical rather than Systematic theology, there is growing dialogue and consensus around the following points.  That is why the EFCC took the bold step in removing labels from this article.

1) We Proclaim a Kingdom: Jesus (in his first coming) was not interested in setting up an earthly kingdom, but to announce the spiritual character and requirements of the kingdom.  Each of the gospels portrays Jesus as “proclaiming the kingdom” and charging people to pursue the kingdom through repentance and faith.  You can almost see the exasperation in the disciples’ question: Now are you going to do it Jesus?  Yet again he points them to their spiritual mission.

2) Not of This Earth:  John 18:36. The church is not to pursue a theo-political kingdom on this earth until Christ returns to set up the kingdom himself. The instructions given to the church in Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, and 1 Peter 2:13-17 all presuppose a relationship in which members of the church carry out their duties as citizens of heaven in respect and submission to the state in which they reside. 

a. “We are in the awkward position of being called ambassadors of a disputed king, whose sovereignty itself is in question, leaving us vulnerable and without worldly legitimization.” “The temptation is one of relieving the awkwardness of our position by accepting a lesser authority from another kingdom.  In other words we are tempted to use some power of this age – the power of money or of academic reputation or of political clout - to make the other members of the world court listen to us, rather than faithfully relying on the validation of Christ as our Lord and King.”  Tim Tebow.

b. Canadian Context: we are given the freedom to vote, to have a say in out government, to assemble, to voice our opposition.

i. Be careful of those who would manipulate the Christian voters

ii. Choose our battles wisely: there is a time to speak out, and even a time for civil disobedience.  In America the church is too political.  In Canada, perhaps not enough.

3) Intent on Mission: The mission and essence of the church is not to bring in the kingdom, but to embrace, embody, and bear witness to the kingdom.  When the apostles ask Jesus in Acts 1:6-8 about whether he was going to set up the kingdom right then, he pointed them toward their mission to be witnesses until his return. As members of the church, we are to focus our efforts primarily on the ministry of proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom.  Christian Reconstructionism, Zionism, Salvific Judaism and over-zealous eschatological speculations are diversions that keep us from our primary task of preaching the gospel while living sincere and quiet lives before unbelievers.

a. Seek the Welfare of the City: Jeremiah 29:17-These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon … It said:  “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

b. Tried By Fire: The church will be continually be hated and persecuted by the kingdoms of this world until the Messiah’s return. Jesus said in John 15:18 that we should not be surprised at this, for the world hated him first. 

i. Prepare for persecution: 

ii. Spontaneous expansion of the church in Southern Hemisphere.

4) Until Kingdom Come: There will be an ultimate physical expression of the rule of God at the end of the age, in which the Lord himself will rule over the earth from Zion/New Jerusalem.  Revelation 22:3 locates the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of worshipful servants.

a. Jesus returns personally, bodily, and gloriously. Acts 1:9-10

b. At a time no one knows

c. This is the kingdom we long for.  That is the real world – video game illustration.

d. We labor for that kingdom.

5) The present spiritual occupation of the church and the future eschatological dominion are understood as the “now/not yet” character of the kingdom.  That Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10 that God’s kingdom be realized now, both suggests that it is not yet fully realized even as believers pray for and experience some aspects of it.  

God's gospel will be brought to fulfillment by the Lord Himself at the end of this age.
9. We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His holy angels when He will bring His kingdom to fulfillment and exercise His role as Judge of all. This coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission. 
Today we get to look at one of my favorite passages in the Bible: Acts 1:6-11:So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”This passage hits all the big points in our 9th article: kingdom, mission, return.  Jesus is coming back, when he does he will bring his kingdom to fulfillment, and until he does we get busy on mission.  Simple right?  
Yet this is often the point at which churches split.  Joke: God, Christian, Born-again, Return, Pre-millenial, Dispensational, Tribulation, Pre-trib – post-trib. This is also a point at which some Christians have been very publically embarrassed by speculations – the most recent being this Harold Camping non-sense.
One of the most encouraging core values of the EFCC is that its desire for unity around essentials. There are three ways to achieve this sort of unity.  The first is to become relativistic and contend that because we don’t know what view is right it doesn’t matter what you believe. The second way is “to agree to disagree”, holding strong convictions with charity toward the others whom you believe to be wrong.  I prefer a third way – constructive theology in which the parties dialogue, attempting to uncover as much common ground as possible.  I have found this approach may be helpful in bridging the gap in the camps. Furthermore, as modern evangelicalism has trended toward the construction of Biblical rather than Systematic theology, there is growing dialogue and consensus around the following points.  That is why the EFCC took the bold step in removing labels from this article.1) We Proclaim a Kingdom: Jesus (in his first coming) was not interested in setting up an earthly kingdom, but to announce the spiritual character and requirements of the kingdom.  Each of the gospels portrays Jesus as “proclaiming the kingdom” and charging people to pursue the kingdom through repentance and faith.  You can almost see the exasperation in the disciples’ question: Now are you going to do it Jesus?  Yet again he points them to their spiritual mission.2) Not of This Earth:  John 18:36. The church is not to pursue a theo-political kingdom on this earth until Christ returns to set up the kingdom himself. The instructions given to the church in Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, and 1 Peter 2:13-17 all presuppose a relationship in which members of the church carry out their duties as citizens of heaven in respect and submission to the state in which they reside. a. “We are in the awkward position of being called ambassadors of a disputed king, whose sovereignty itself is in question, leaving us vulnerable and without worldly legitimization.” “The temptation is one of relieving the awkwardness of our position by accepting a lesser authority from another kingdom.  In other words we are tempted to use some power of this age – the power of money or of academic reputation or of political clout - to make the other members of the world court listen to us, rather than faithfully relying on the validation of Christ as our Lord and King.”  Tim Tebow.b. Canadian Context: we are given the freedom to vote, to have a say in out government, to assemble, to voice our opposition.i. Be careful of those who would manipulate the Christian votersii. Choose our battles wisely: there is a time to speak out, and even a time for civil disobedience.  In America the church is too political.  In Canada, perhaps not enough.3) Intent on Mission: The mission and essence of the church is not to bring in the kingdom, but to embrace, embody, and bear witness to the kingdom.  When the apostles ask Jesus in Acts 1:6-8 about whether he was going to set up the kingdom right then, he pointed them toward their mission to be witnesses until his return. As members of the church, we are to focus our efforts primarily on the ministry of proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom.  Christian Reconstructionism, Zionism, Salvific Judaism and over-zealous eschatological speculations are diversions that keep us from our primary task of preaching the gospel while living sincere and quiet lives before unbelievers.a. Seek the Welfare of the City: Jeremiah 29:17-These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon … It said:  “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.b. Tried By Fire: The church will be continually be hated and persecuted by the kingdoms of this world until the Messiah’s return. Jesus said in John 15:18 that we should not be surprised at this, for the world hated him first. i. Prepare for persecution: ii. Spontaneous expansion of the church in Southern Hemisphere.4) Until Kingdom Come: There will be an ultimate physical expression of the rule of God at the end of the age, in which the Lord himself will rule over the earth from Zion/New Jerusalem.  Revelation 22:3 locates the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of worshipful servants.a. Jesus returns personally, bodily, and gloriously. Acts 1:9-10b. At a time no one knowsc. This is the kingdom we long for.  That is the real world – video game illustration.d. We labor for that kingdom.5) The present spiritual occupation of the church and the future eschatological dominion are understood as the “now/not yet” character of the kingdom.  That Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10 that God’s kingdom be realized now, both suggests that it is not yet fully realized even as believers pray for and experience some aspects of it.