Making Sacrifices
From the Series—Dream
February 15, 2004This evotional concludes our Dream series. Before we jump into the book of Nehemiah, let me throw out a couple caution flags.
The Great Dream
I think the topic of dreams makes some of us feel insignificant or insecure because we don’t have what we would consider “big dreams.” But the truth is: if you are a follower of Christ you are part of the biggest dream ever dreamed—the redemption of humankind. Matthew 28:20 is commonly referred to as The Great Commission but I like to think of it as The Great Dream. We don’t always think of Him in these terms, but no one was a bigger dreamer than Jesus.
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
If you are a follower of Christ you’re part of something bigger than you. You are part of The Great Dream. You may feel insignificant, but you are an invaluable and irreplaceable part of that dream becoming reality. I got the following email from an NCCer this week and they gave me permission to share it.
Pastor Mark, I came to NCC expecting little. I was content remaining a Christian in the hostile world of higher education: if I could just survive these four years of college with my faith intact that would be success. That was the closest thing I had to a dream. But that was less than God had planned. Coming to NCC I found myself caught up in something bigger, something faster. There is something going on, something that cannot be explained by economics or politics or reason. This dream, this hope called Ebenezers (NCC’s future coffeehouse on Capitol Hill) has reignited in me such a history of wondering, of thinking ‘what if’? I am reminded of all the people I claimed in God’s name. I am reminded of all the beautiful things I wanted to say, the truths I wanted to share. I remember from my long, brief life that there is more to Jesus than width and depth—there is a distance. A distance to run, sometimes to crawl, but nevertheless one which He takes with us. What is my dream? I can’t exactly say yet, but you’ve reminded me of what it feels like to look for it , what it feels like to breathe. You’ve reminded me that this search is not an anomaly and not an error. It is, in fact, life itself.
I love that description of what God is doing at NCC—it is something bigger, something faster. That is what being part of a local church is all about. You’re part of the greatest dream ever dreamed.
Clout
Last week I spoke at the memorial service for an NCCer named Jayonna Beal. It was held in the Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building and it was packed with people coming to pay their respects. I couldn’t help but think about the irony of where the service was held. Some of the most important people and some of the most important hearings in our nation’s history have been held in that room—if those walls could talk!
And here was a woman who had no rank. She was an administrative assistant in charge of constituent correspondence for fourteen years in a Senate office. She didn’t have power or position. But that room was packed with people’s lives that she had touched in small ways. She baked cookies and sewed buttons and bought breakfast and showed interns the ropes. And she did it all “in the name of Jesus.” Jayona practiced what St. Francis of Assisi preached. “Share the gospel everyday, if necessary, use words.”
I always try to share the gospel in situations like that because I know that there are people who will come to a memorial service who would never darken a church door. So I said that Jayonna would want everyone to have what she had—a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And I shared the gospel in explicit terms. Afterwards I was thinking about what a unique opportunity to share my faith. But that opportunity to share my faith was made possible by Jayonna living her faith day in and day out for fourteen years! In some ways you could say that Jayonna never achieved what some would call success—fame or fortune, position or power. But she played a part of the greatest dream ever dreamed—the redemption of humankind.
I think sometimes we feel like we can’t make a difference because we don’t have power or position. If I was this or that or if I was him or her then I could make a difference. Let me just remind us that Nehemiah was a waiter! The book of Nehemiah is about someone with zero clout.
The Goal
Let me throw up a second caution flag. God’s primary goal is not what we do or what we achieve. God’s primary goal is who we become in the process. I think God was pleased with the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. It was a God-inspired dream. But God is always more concerned with who we become in the process of pursuing a dream. Oswald Chambers said it this way. “The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.” In other words, God’s goal is the process! It’s not about what we accomplish. It’s about who we become in the process.
Our corporate dream is to build a coffeehouse. But let me tell you why we need to pursue this dream. It’s not primarily because we need more office space. It’s not because we want to have a Saturday or Sunday night service. It’s not because we want to create a marketplace where the church and the community can cross paths. It’s not because we need more space for small groups to meet.
The primary reason we need to pursue this dream is because we need to be stretched spiritually. And the way God stretches us spiritually is by giving us God-sized dreams. This is not about building a building. The building is a by-product. This is about who we become in the process!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited about the coffeehouse, but that isn’t the ultimate goal. The goal is not what we do but who we become in the process.
The Genius of the AND
In Nehemiah 4, Nehemiah and the Jewish remnant are experiencing opposition as they pursue their God-given dream of rebuilding the wall. Two ancient thugs named Sanballat and Tobiah are talking ancient smack. They are mocking the dream God has given them. Nehemiah 4:8 says that they even “made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem.” And here is how Nehemiah responds. Nehemiah 4:9 says, “But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.”
On one level, I think some people could look at this verse in Nehemiah—the prayed to God and guarded the city—as lack of faith. If you really prayed about it then guarding the city belies a lack of trust doesn’t it? Aren’t you assuming that God won’t answer your prayers? So you could look at it and see a lack of faith. But I have a slightly different perspective.
In his book Built to Last, Jim Collins talks about what he calls “the tyranny of the OR” and “the genius of the AND.” It’s a fascinating concept. He says that most companies fail because they see in either/or categories instead of both/and categories. In other words, they have a one-sided perspective.
That principle is nothing new. The genius of the AND is actually a biblical concept. In Job 11:6, Zophar the Naamathite says, “True wisdom has two sides.”
Zophar may be the original both/and thinker. He understands that truth is two-sided. But what does that have to do with Nehemiah 4:9? When I look at that passage I don’t see a lack of faith. I see our core value: pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you. It takes both/and to turn dreams into reality!
I’ve talked a lot about the prayer side of the equation during this Dream series. I think prayer is what keeps dreams alive. If you’ve stopped dreaming you need to start praying. But let me talk about the work side of the equation because I think sometimes we use prayer as a crutch. It becomes an excuse to sit back and do nothing . But as Oswald Chambers warns, “We cannot do what God does and God will not do what we can do.”
Hard Work
I think we underestimate the spiritual value of good old-fashioned hard work. I think God loves it when we work at something with all of our hearts. Colossians 3:23 says. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not for men.” The word “heart” is the Greek word psuche which is sometimes translated “life.” So Paul is saying, “Whatever you do, do it like your life depended on it.” And that’s what Nehemiah and the Jewish remnant are doing. Nehemiah 4:6 says “the people worked with all their heart.”
Nehemiah 4:21 says, “So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I said to the people, ‘Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve as guards by night and workmen by day. ”So they are up at the crack of dawn and working till the stars came out. And they are pulling double duty —guards by night and workmen by day. And they were on call all the time. “Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each has his weapon, even when he went for water.”
I think some dreams die because we’re trying to do something we’re not cut out for. Two words: American Idol. Thousands of people audition for American Idol who can’t sing, but they think they can sing. Some dreams die because you’re not cut out for it genetically. But I think most dreams die because we’re not willing to work for them. Thomas Edison said it best. “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% inspiration.”
Sports fans know the name Wayne Huzienga. He is a billionaire who owns the Miami Dolphins. But let me tell you how he got there. As a twenty-five year-old in 1962, Huzienga bought a used garbage truck for $5,000 and a list of twenty customers. He drove the truck himself from two AM till noon. Then he would shower, put on a suit and tie, and try to drum up new business. In five years his operation expanded to forty trucks. In 1971 Waste Management Technologies went public with an aggregate share value of $5 million. By 1984, WMT was valued at $3 billion.
It’s easy to envy someone like Huzienga. You want what he has. But the problem is that most of envy what he has or what he does. We don’t envy his work ethic. We overlook the fact that it took good old-fashioned hard work for him to get where he is. He drove a garbage truck in the wee hours of the morning. And if we were willing to work as hard as he works we might be where he is!
I read an interview with Huzienga this week. He was talking about the blockbuster video chain he created. He said, “I don’t think we’re unique, and we’re certainly not smarter than the next guy. So the only thing I can think of that we might do a little differently than some people is we work harder.”
And that is where a lot of dreams die. We aren’t willing to work like it depends on us. I remember hitting the proverbial wall this past summer during our launch of a second location. We were burning the candle at both ends. And we were feeling the pressure as we approached d-day. And then I read something Oswald Chambers wrote. He said, “If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. Thank God He does give us difficult things to do!”
It’s hard to describe, but that was like a shot of adrenaline to my spirit. We can take or leave those things that come easy. The things we really appreciate are the things we have to work for and fight for!
Commitment
Dreams die because we aren’t willing to work for them. And dreams die because we aren’t willing to commit to them. I think Nehemiah was a great leader because he didn’t just motivate the people. He pushed them to commit themselves to the dream.
The rebuilding process almost stalls in Nehemiah 5 because the nobles and officials weren’t pulling their weight. Nehemiah confronts them, deals with the problem and then he does something interesting. Nehemiah 5:9 says, “Then I pressed further.”
I view myself as your spiritual coach. What that means is this: my job is not to make you comfortable. My job is to push you and stretch you. I didn’t always like my coaches pushing me, but at the end of the day the people that we really appreciate in life are the people who pushed us past our limits because they saw our potential.
The nobles and officials were milking the economic and political situation and essentially ripping off the working class with outrageous interest rates. Nehemiah tells them to give back fields and vineyards and he tells them to repay what they’ve taken. But he does something significant in Nehemiah 5:12. It says, “Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials formally vow to do what they had promised.”
Nehemiah is always pushing for commitment. Nehemiah 9:38, “We are making a solemn promise and putting it in writing.” Nehemiah 10:29 says they “heartily bound themselves with an oath.” I think a lot of dreams die because they remain abstract.
Do or Die
I think there is a “do or die” moment for every dream. Something has to die for the dream to stay alive. Nehemiah put his career on the line when he told King Artaxerxes his dream in Nehemiah 2:5. He passed the point of no return. And Nehemiah challenges the people to do what he did by making formal vows, written promises, and solemn oaths.
I think my “do or die” moment came in college. At the end of my freshman year I realized I had never asked God what he wanted me to do with my life. So I asked Him. That began a six-month process of seeking God for direction. That process culminated for me in August of 1989. Our family was on vacation in Alexandria, MN. I got up early one morning and did a prayer walk down some dirt roads and took a shortcut through a cow pasture. In the middle of that cow pasture I heard the inaudible but unmistakable voice of God. I knew that God was calling me into full-time ministry and I had a choice to make.
To make a long story short, I gave up a full-ride scholarship at the University of Chicago to transfer to Central Bible College. The U of C was the third ranked university at the time and I had people telling me that I was committing academic suicide. And frankly, that is exactly what it was. But it was my “do or die” moment. My full-ride scholarship at the University of Chicago had to die for me to pursue my God-given calling.
Did I ever have second thoughts? Absolutely! But here is what I know for sure. I would have never been ready to plant a church at twenty-six if I hadn’t made the move.
One footnote. Nehemiah says, “It pleased the king: so I set a time.” I think a lot of dreams die because they don’t have deadlines. Our dreams gather dust because there is no sense of urgency. Deadlines turn abstract dreams into concrete goals.
Before Jim Carrey became one of Hollywood ’s blockbuster names, he was a starving actor on the verge of bankruptcy. But he did something that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. He wrote a check to himself in the amount of $10 million and postdated it three years. Almost three years to the day, Jim Carrey signed a $10 million contract for his starring role in Ace Ventura.
Sacrifice
Dreams fail because we aren’t willing to work for them. Dreams fail because we aren’t willing to commit to them. And dreams fail because we aren’t willing to sacrifice for them.
I think most of us have a natural aversion to the idea of sacrifice, but sacrifice is the key to joy. A lot of people have never experienced true joy because they’ve never made personal sacrifices. We think we find happiness by pursuing things for self. But true joy is found in giving ourselves away. There is a coupling of sacrifice and joy in Nehemiah 12:43. “Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy.” Let me give you a simple equation: more sacrifices = more joy.
There is no such thing as success without sacrifice. The things in life that we appreciate the most are the things that require the greatest sacrifice. I don’t care whether you’re talking about a world-class athlete or a self-made millionaire or a world-famous performer. All of them made tremendous sacrifices practicing their sport or building their business or perfecting their art.
You can’t experience true spiritual success without making sacrifices. Jesus sets the example. He made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. And that sacrifice was his greatest success!
God-sized dreams cannot be achieved without sacrifice. Nehemiah made unbelievable personal sacrifices. For the entire twelve years that Nehemiah served as Governor of Judah he never took the official food allowance. Nehemiah 5:17 says, “I asked for nothing even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands. The provisions required at my expense for each day were one ox, six fat sheep, and a large number of domestic fowl. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowances because the people were already having a difficult time.”
But it gets even more impressive. In the ancient world, land was everything. It was your identity. It was your security. But Nehemiah 5:16 says, “I devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire land.”
Nehemiah made tremendous personal sacrifices. And then Nehemiah 7:70 says that when it was time to fill out the commitment cards and invest in the dream, Nehemiah gave 1,000 gold coins. Those coins weighed 19 pounds. Gold is trading somewhere around $425 an ounce so that means Nehemiah invested about $125,000 of his own money in the dream of rebuilding the wall. He put his money where his mouth was. But he found tremendous joy in that. That is where true joy is found—on the far-side of sacrifice!
Shareholders
Let me close this series of evotionals with a challenge. My prayer has been that God would birth dreams and resurrect dreams in your life. I’ve been praying that you would dream bigger dreams.
But we also have a corporate dream of building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. And we want every NCCer to be a shareholder. We’ve never had a $ goal. Our only goal has been a # goal. We want every NCCer to be a shareholder by making a financial investment in the dream. Here are a few ways to become part of the dream.
You may want to sell something and invest it in the dream. A few years ago we did what we called an Acts 4 Experiment. Acts 4 says, “From time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it as the apostles’ feet.” It was amazing to see the creativity and the sacrifices that NCCers made during that experiment. One way to invest in the dream is to sell something and invest in the dream.
Some of you may want to sacrifice something. Nehemiah sacrificed his food allowance. If you were to give up one tall latte per week you’d save approximately $175 over the next year to invest in the dream. Or you may want to invest the old-fashioned way and give something.
Nehemiah 7:70 says, “Some of the family leaders gave gifts for the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold coins, 50 gold basins, and 530 robes for the priests. The other leaders gave to the treasury a total of 20,000 gold coins and some 2,750 pounds of silver for the work. The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold coins, about 2,500 pounds of silver, and 67 robes for the priests.”
Provision
One of my spiritual aphorisms is that when God gives vision He always makes provision . And we’ve seen that in incredible ways. It started two years ago with two checks totaling $7500—the exact amount of money we needed to make a down payment on 201 F Street, NE two days before it was due.
After we purchased the property I remember telling a pastor friend about the dream and without even asking he wrote a $25,000 check. At the end of last year, before we even started communicating the dream of building a coffeehouse, we got several checks for several thousand dollars. And I felt like those checks were God’s way of making provision and they were a precursor of things to come.
This week I got an email from a student at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. A group of students were visiting NCC two weeks ago and she said they want a copy of our dream video so they can do a fundraiser for the coffeehouse.
God is making provision! And He’s doing it through the people who are making commitments and making sacrifices to be part of the dream. My prayer for each person who invests in the dream is the same prayer that Nehemiah prayed in Nehemiah 5:19. “Remember, O God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.”
If you’d like to see an artist’s rendering of Ebenezers or invest in the dream of building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill just follow the Ebenezer’s link.
Keep on dreaming!