How God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong

Well, I think that reading must be a record! I was given this many months ago, and it is the whole of Nehemiah 11 and the first half of Nehemiah 12, and it consists of nearly 200 names.
Wow. And I was wrestling with what to bring, because those two chapters were totally different.
So, I started on Nehemiah 11, and I started doing a detailed study on why Jerusalem wasn’t being populated.
And I was looking at Nehemiah 12, and it goes back 100 years before Nehemiah 11. And I just felt that the Lord is speaking more from Nehemiah 12. And I can’t do both.
I could do both, but it would be rather long. And we don’t want that because it would lose what God is going to say to us.
So, for those who like titles, I’m calling this ‘God loves to move in the small things.’ Nehemiah 12:1 starts with this, and this is the verse that spoke to me, that jumped out at me. “These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua”
Zerubbabel was a civic leader, and Joshua was the high priest. And they came with the first wave from Babylon.
And the whole chapter is just a list of people’s names.
So, we didn’t really want to read them out, but they’re in God’s word, and they are real people, real people struggling at that time.
They were really struggling because the land was desolate.
It was totally demolished by the Babylonians. And so to expand further on this, Nehemiah 12:1, about Zerubbabel, and Joshua, we need to look in other books in the Bible to find out what was going on.
If we look in Ezra, that starts with Zerubbabel. But Ezra then goes on about 80 years to when Ezra came to the second wave that came from Babylon. And we also need to look at some of the prophets who were speaking during that time.
So that’s enough of the introduction. So as I say, they were real people struggling at that time because the whole land had been ravaged by the Babylonians.
Judah had been warned for 23 years by Jeremiah to turn from their wicked ways, and they didn’t turn.
Then Jeremiah had a new message, and he had to say, this whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years. Prophecy was fulfilled. The Lord carried out his threat.
The land, the cities, the villages, and the crops were just laid waste for 70 years.
Then a special moment happened. And I love this terminology. ‘And then Daniel understood the times.’ He realised that the time was ripe.
The Lord wanted Judah back now, the 70 years had been and gone.
And Daniel saw that a door was about to open. He understood the times.
Daniel 9:2, “I, Daniel, understood from the scriptures according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes.”
Daniel saw that the door was going to be open, and he reacted to it. He was not the only one, obviously there were others in the Bible.
If we look at one Chronicles, we don’t need to turn to it because I’m going to mention it very briefly. 1 Chronicles 12:32 says, “from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” Literally, the offspring of Issachar, not necessarily just men, but they understood and discerned the times.
And even better, they knew what Israel should do.
So, can we discern what doors the Lord is opening now to us?
Do we understand the times? Where is the Lord moving in and around our church?
So the Lord stirred up Daniel, but not just Daniel. He stirred up a secular leader, not only just an ordinary separate leader, but a superpower leader.
We may think that is impossible, but it’s not impossible with God. God was moving within that very powerful man.
But that’s not all. The Lord was also moving within the hearts of the people. Ezra 1:5, “everyone whose heart God had moved prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.”
People were energised. They had a vision that He wanted to see a place of worship being restored in Jerusalem.
And God was moving in all these areas as one big plan. But Colin, can I have that diagram up please? The diagram is basically of God moving, and it shows different groups of people coming from Babylon.
If you remember, there was the first wave that came from Babylon, the second wave and then the third wave.
The first wave was Zerubbabel and Joshua, the second wave was Ezra, and the third wave was Nehemiah, and hopefully Colin can put that up at the end of the service. You can look at it more.
But you can see that the yellow is where God is bringing in prophets and speaking into those situations. And it is one complete plan.
The gap between the left red arrow and the right red arrow is about 100 years.
So the first group arrived, which is the one we’re talking about, Zerubbabel and Joshua. It’s fantastic what they did first. They built an altar amongst the ruins in Jerusalem.
Ezra 3:3, “Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundations and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord. Then they laid the foundation for the temple.”
But wham, suddenly opposition comes in.
Now, I don’t know whether you believe that if you’re in the middle of God’s will, then everything will go smoothly. There’ll be no problems. I don’t know whether any of you believe that.
Well, try and say that to the Apostle Paul. And he was imprisoned and flogged. Why?
For doing God’s will. Five times he received the 39 lashes. Three times he was beaten with rods. Why? He was trying to do what God wanted. Three times he was shipwrecked. Why? Because he was trying to extend God’s kingdom.
So, when you and I, when we try to do something for God, we in effect put our heads above the parapet and we will get shot at.
It can be an obvious attack. It can be a full blast bang straight in your face, or it could be more subtle, more devious.
Ezra 4:4. This is what they had to contend with: “Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed the officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, and down to the reign of Darius, king of Persia.”
And obviously, it happens in churches. There are blatant attacks, and there are devious, subtle things of discouragement going on.
And why not? Because Satan wants to block God’s work.
Those people there, well, let’s say Zerubbabel and Joshua had to put up with the discouragement for 17 years. The word of God was blocked for 17 years.
But then the Lord sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to get that work moving again.
To stop focusing on your own house and making it superb and lovely, and the best house we can live in?
No! God wanted their attention to be turned towards rebuilding that temple.
Haggai 2:4, the Lord said through Haggai, “But now be strong, Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, Joshua, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land and work, for I am with you.”
They were encouraging words. God was moving, but many people couldn’t see it.
The reason? Because everywhere they could see ruins, burnt bricks and impossible obstacles.
The problems were so big, it was like a mountain was in their way. And so often we can look around and only see problems.
Zerubbabel knows all the things to do but there’s a lack of people, et cetera, et cetera. But then Zechariah, the prophet, steps in. Zechariah 4:6, he said, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. What are you, mighty mountain, before Zerubbabel? You will become level ground.”
Then the Lord says something very interesting. Zechariah 4:10, “Who dares despise the day of small things?”
What is Zechariah saying here? He’s saying, do not focus on the impossible task, that mighty mountain, because it’s not by your strength.
It’s not going to be due to your expertise because you are weak. You’re too weak to move the mountain, but God’s power can.
It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.
And that mountain can be flattened, totally flattened.
And notice that Zechariah doesn’t say, don’t despise the day of small things. He says,
“Who dares despise the day of small things?”
The reason it’s the small things is because God is initiating those small things, and they’re like the apple of his eye. You’re touching the apple of his eye.
And it is at your peril that you do that.
We need to concentrate on what the Lord is achieving now.

It may be small, but he is opening doors, making things happen.
Yet in our minds, we may be stuck in a negative place.
But the Lord opening doors is a very biblical concept.
Colossians 4.3, “Pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ.”
Let’s pray that more doors may be opened. Let’s look to see where God is actually opening the doors.
Last week, the preacher spoke about the church. He mentioned what Jesus had said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.”
How will Jesus build his church? The biggest part of building is by preaching the word of God. How? By a big megaphone from heaven? No. By an angel? No.
No, by weak, insignificant, small instruments, ordinary people.
And it’s an awesome responsibility to preach from God’s word.
And so often, this is where churches get it wrong. They look for the big things, the people with the highest qualifications.
But the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:27 that God loves to choose, wait for it, “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” Think about it, the foolish things.
God chose “the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Think about it. He’s choosing the weak things.
God chose “the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are.”
Sorry, I forgot to mention, “So that no one may boast before him.”
Yet many churches seem hell-bent on doing exactly the opposite.
They ignore God’s resources, and they choose the most academic, the strongest, the most important, and then wonder why there are so few conversions.
Many churches don’t increase by conversions.
They say growth is when people move into their church, but they’re not conversions.
It’s because the churches, many churches, are choosing man’s methods.
They’re not open to looking out for God moving in the small things and the despised things.
I’ve got a story now. which is really well known. But I want you to, well, hopefully it’s a sort of different angle on it.
Now I want to imagine two armies camped on two hills, and every morning and evening they form up their battle positions, and they’re shouting their war cries, and they’ve got their shields and their armour and their swords.
They’ve got their acres of muscles.
They’ve got the stench of body odour, and they just love forming their lines.
It’s the correct thing to do, isn’t it, for armies? Why not?
Yes, there’s an enemy army on the other hill. Yes, this is what we do.
We stand in our lines, we rattle our swords, and we shout out things to the enemy.
And that’s what was happening here in 1 Samuel 17:10, Goliath shouted, “This day I defy the armies of Israel, give me a man and let us fight each other.”
Did you know that happened for 40 days?
And it came on the 80th time that Goliath came and stood in that valley:
There’s the army. They were still prancing up and down, shouting, raising their weapons. That’s the right thing to do, wasn’t it? For the Israelite army.
God wants them to do that, right? Because that’s what the armies always do.
The army of the living God does this. But hang on.
There’s a young lad walking in the valley. Does he know where he is?
He’s just a young lad. Goliath is twice his size.
What’s he doing? Why don’t you tell him to get off the battlefield?
He hasn’t got any armour on. He hasn’t even got a sword.
Can’t someone tell him to get out and get off the battlefield?
There was Goliath standing there. The lad was just walking. No protection, no sword. What a crazy situation. It was stupid. The lad had no soldier’s training.
Can’t someone tell him to stick to being a shepherd?
He’s pulling out a stone. Can you believe it?
He’s pulling out a stone in this situation, and he’s got a sling.
That is ridiculous. That stone is going to bounce off Goliath’s armour!
The little chap won’t stand a chance.
Oh! Goliath has fallen. He’s fallen flat on his back.
The lad is running towards Goliath. He’s picked up his sword, and he strikes him dead.
Do you know that many churches behave like the Israeli army in the Western world? Churches march up and down. They form their lines.
They shout the war cries. Obviously, not exactly the same things, but that’s what they think they’ve got to do.
But the Lord may be saying, I don’t want you to do that. Look for where I am moving.
The Lord saw David as a young shepherd lad whose heart desired to follow God.
And when David got to the battlefield there and he was trying to see his brothers, he heard Goliath mocking God.
He heard Goliath mocking Israel’s army. 1 Samuel 17:26. David said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
You could see what was in his heart. Goliath was mocking God!
As David had approached Goliath, Goliath abused him.
He said to David, “Am I a dog that you can come at me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Come here, he said, I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.”
But David’s heart was full of the Lord.
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
If you think about it, so many of the Bible stories logically shouldn’t happen, like Gideon. Many churches would have said, ‘Oh, we can’t fight against the Midianites.’
And that would have been it. We haven’t got enough resources to fight against the Midianites.
We haven’t got enough people. And you know what sort of language that is, that is business managers.
Business managers are taking over the church, the churches of the Western world. Business managers cannot think beyond resources.
And God has limitless resources. He sees different resources for us.
So let’s start seeing His resources.
Here, in this church, God is moving in special ways and in different places.
And we mustn’t despise these little, small things.
We need to look for where the Lord is moving and embrace that.
And it’ll probably be a young lad when we’re looking for a big soldier.
Dare we restrict God?
And that’s where many churches stumble at that point.
Are we looking for where God is moving?
Are we willing to surrender to those areas?
I’m going to finish with this book. You remember the Israelites in the desert, and they had to follow a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud during the day.
And it was obvious when God was moving.
Now it is the age of the Spirit.
Well, let’s think about that.
The pillar moved, so they had to pack up their gear and follow the cloud.
The cloud stopped, so they had to unpack and put their tents up.
And then a year could go by, or it could be the very next day that God moved.
That cloud would move again.
I wonder how many people grumbled because God was moving.
And it could be the same for us.
We can think, ‘oh no, not change. God’s moving. I don’t want that.’
So, are we going to get annoyed that the cloud is moving?
Or are we excited that God is moving?