Nehemiah Part 6 - Church Culture
This whole study of the book of Nehemiah has been about building culture
Today, we are going to look at building "Church-Culture"
Building church culture begins with US on Sunday morning:
How we approach church buildings the DNA of who our church is!
Hub City Church is going to be casual on the things that you and I are casual on
There is no "sowing" on culture and "reaping" another
Let’s look at how the people of a newly rebuilt Jerusalem approached spiritual disciplines:
Nehemiah 9:3 (ESV)
3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.
A commitment to scripture
I feel a stirring in my soul to double down on understanding what we believe.
We have to overcome the idea that Theology is for someone else
We will see a dramatic shift in theology in this lifetime
- If you don't know what we believe, you'll never know it happened
2 Timothy 4:1–4 (ESV)
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
This has always been happening - people want EASY Jesus
However, it is as important as it’s ever been
Hold fast to sound doctrine!
If we make a personal commitment to scripture, we are making a commitment that:
Scripture is important enough to incorporate into every day life (Not just church)
Daily devo life
Scripture reading
Praying the scripture
Applying scripture to real life
Scripture should be UNDERSTOOD and not just READ
Get a Bible you can read
Get a Bible that you can write in
Doctrine isn't limited to church-leaders
Theology/Doctrine is for disciples!
Historically, and Biblically, when there was a return to Biblical priority, God responded with blessing!
If we are going to live out the Scripture, then there are some more things that we will have to give attention to:
A commitment to repentance
In our series on Jonah - we talked about repentance being necessary in bringing me into alignment
Repentance brings me back into alignment with:
The Word of God
The Voice of God
The calling of God
The blessings of God
One of the struggles about repentance is our thinking that it is only for lost people as a one-time occurrence
Realize that in Jesus' model prayer, he taught that repentance was a part of daily conversation with God.
You should be repenting - constantly
Of sins you've committed
Of the tasks that you left undone
Of the things that you're not sure about!
Romans 2:4 (ESV)
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
A commitment to worship
Here in Nehemiah is a corporate commitment to worship:
Nehemiah 8:5–6 (ESV) 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
This looks so much like a church service!
As I think about this, I wonder:
What could worship look like at Hub City Church
What if worship was consistently an act of adoration that we could just get lost in?
In worship, do you feel like you are:
Just visiting
Merely spectating
Passively a part of
Absolutely engaged in
I get that some people aren't comfortable being expressive in worship publicly:
The question is: "Are you being expressive in your worship in private?"
In Nehemiah, Israel lifted their hands and bowed themselves to the ground
The reason we do these things is because it is the Biblical pattern for worship:
Psalms is full of instructions to worship God EXPRESSIVELY
Psalm 134:2 (ESV) 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!
Psalm 47:1 (ESV) 1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
Psalm 150:3–6 (ESV) 3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Nehemiah 8:10–12 (ESV)
10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
The response is rejoicing because:
The Word of God had taken root in their lives!
They heard it
They understood it
They were strengthened by it
I want to remind you that we are establishing the culture of our church every single sunday.
