Nehemiah 13:10-13
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THE title for this sermon comes from a question posed by Nehemiah as he faced another problem in the church of his time which needed reform. In verse 11 he asks the officials of the temple, �Why is the house of God neglected�. The importance of these verses is because they relate to church and its health today. What I want to do is to look at the situation Nehemiah faced, see what the problem meant for Israel at this time, and then draw from it some lessons for the church today, and indeed at any time.

When God gave the Israelites the promised land in the time of Joshua, each of the tribes were give a portion of land as their own, for them to use and work in order to provide a comfortable living for every member of the tribe. The tribe of Levi, however, was not given a portion of land. The allotment of these portions of land are detailed for us from Joshua 15 onwards. The Levites instead were given towns in the various tribal areas by each of the tribes and this was for their maintenance.

The Levites were set apart for the sacred purpose of looking after the tabernacle and later the temple, and all the worship and ceremony attached to these sacred duties, and in order that they may be free for these duties, the tribe of Levi was supported by the rest of the tribes of Israel, and lived off a portion of the offerings brought to the temple. The book of Numbers gives long details of the setting apart of the Levites for their work, e.g. Numbers 3ff, Number 8 and Numbers 18.

In a word the Levites were responsible for the maintenance of the worship of God in Israel, and were required to promote the honouring of God, and the proper way for the people to approach God. The health of the spiritual life of Israel could be monitored from the state of the ministry of the Levites, and the care that was given to the temple worship. When Nehemiah came back after his term of duty in the court of the king of Babylon he found a very sad state with regard to the spiritual life of the people which is embodied in the question concerning the neglect of the house of God.

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem he found the spiritual life of the people at a very low ebb. The worship of God in the temple had all but ceased. The Levites had left their duties at the temple because they had no maintenance for life from the people, and so to make a living they returned to secular life in order to live. This left the temple without leadership in the worship of God. Thus the spiritual life of the people had declined, and God was neglected by the people.

Why did the Levites leave. No doubt it all started because the people neglected their duty to God, and ceased to come to the temple. The sacrificial system on which the religious life of Israel depended for their access to God gradually ceased. This meant that the people were not bringing their tithes and offerings to the temple, and so the Levites who ministered in the temple had nothing or too little to live on.

The question as to how all this spiritual decline commenced is not given us. It may have been that the quality of service of the Levites left much to be desired and so the people were discouraged in worship; or it may have been that the people neglected their spiritual duties to God, and so ceased to bother to seek the ministry of the Levites, and so no offerings were brought to the temple.

What is important is that the neglect of the house of God had become critical, and this meant that the nation had forsaken God, and the spiritual life of the nation was in a very low and dangerous ebb.

What do we learn from this neglect of the house of God in Nehemiah�s day. Surely, first of all, we learn the importance of the church and the worship of the church. God gave Israel their worship and ceremonies so that they may have their contact with him maintained. The ceremonies and sacrifices taught the people the nature and requirements of God, and taught them how they could approach God and know his love and blessing. The worship and ceremonies of the temple maintained the spiritual life of the people, and kept them faithful to God. The fourth commandment about keeping the Sabbath day holy was also for the purpose of keeping the people in honouring and worshipping God, and the temple worship and ceremony was the vehicle given by God to help them to maintain this spiritual devotion to God.

If the temple worship declined then the spiritual life of the people declined, and the same principle relates to the church in our day. It does not matter whether the decline is because the people cease to attend worship, or whether the ministry of the church is poor and lacking in spiritual vitality, the result is the same, and devotion to God and the progress of the Gospel is hindered. The worship and ministry of the church is important for building up the people of God, and calling people into the salvation of God. When the church is alive, then Christians honour God from their hearts, and the church grows, and society is blessed by God. The state of the church of God needs to be at the forefront of the concern and prayers of all true believers.

The people in Israel ceased to attend the worship of the temple. They ceased to bring their sacrifices according to the law of Moses. The result was spiritual decline in the nation.

This is true of the church. If Sunday worship is neglected, and the nurturing of our souls through spiritual activity in the week is dropped, then the spiritual life of people decline. We need our souls nourished on the word of God. We need to be taught the truth of God. We need to have our understanding and faith maintained in truth by continual reference to God�s word. We need to give ourselves to the worship of God, because this is what we were created for. We need the fellowship of other Christians in order to be strengthened and encouraged by mutual support.

These days church attendance on Sunday has declined. Many churches only have services in the morning. Christians more and more feel that attending church once on Sunday is sufficient. Of those churches that have an evening service, the congregation is a tithe of the size of the morning attendance. For more and more people giving time to God in worship and in seeking his presence is taking second place to all the many activities we want to do in our temporal existence.

All this is very sad, and it accounts for the decline of spirituality amongst us, and the decline in the numbers who confess that they are Christians. From this decline is a decline of the moral standards in our society. The church is a spent force. What Christians have lost is the joy of the Lord and in spiritual things. They have lost the understanding that our souls need nourishing, and one service on Sunday is hardly enough for this. But where is our desire to meet with God and worship him? Is one hour on Sunday all that we feel God is worth to us? Is God of so little concern to us that we give him the crumbs of our life?

There are times when the flesh makes us feel Sunday worship is a burden, and then it is discipline that keeps us going, and we prove over time that such discipline reaps spiritual rewards that are beyond price. How much do we appreciate Christ and his great love in dying for us. Should we not desire to come and give him thanks and sit at his feet to hear his word? There is no doubt that attendance on the house of God is essential to our spiritual lives, but much more importance is to realise that neglect of the house of God reveals in us a low view of God, and a weak desire to know God and dwell in his favour.

It has to be said that poor ministry in the church today has a lot to do with the decline in attendance. If people come to church and the service is routine and lacking in spiritual power, then people will grow discouraged or bored, and cease to attend. For this reason if the church is declining then the ministry must be looked at and spiritual ministry revived.

The Levites left the temple and the people found no spiritual leadership. There may have been very good reasons why the Levites could not continue, but there first duty was to God to serve God whatever the cost, and having been called to the ministry and appointed, they should have continued in the ministry and served God by ministering to the people.

How important to the spiritual life of the church is the ministry of the church. A minister, priest or presbyter must never take on this work unless he or she is called by God. It is the churches business to seek, through prayer and waiting upon God, that all those ordained to minister in the church show true indication that they are called by God.

A minister or priest must be truly a believer in Christ, and have the experience of salvation through faith in Christ alone, for unless the minister knows experimentally the truth he or she preaches, how can it come with conviction to the people, and how can God bless anything but his own revealed truth.

The minister must come from the presence of God, with the message God has given, to minister to the people. The minister must be one who lives in the presence of God so that the conduct of the service comes from the Spirit. The minister must also be open to the Spirit so that all avenues of worship are used under the direction of God.

Nehemiah called all Judah to support the ministry of the temple by bringing their tithes and offerings to God. Nehemiah called them to this giving and service so that the ministry of the temple had all that it needed.

The ministry of the church has to be supported by the people who come to church. The minister has to be paid a living wage. The church property has to be maintained. The work of the church has to be financed. The ministry of love and outreach to the community needs resources, and this rests on the people of God.

So much more could be done for God if only there were adequate resources to do them. How often are ministers weighed down with the responsibility of raising money which hinders them from their spiritual duties.

The problem is often left to fund raising activities, but this is not God�s appointed way. That is not to say such activity is wrong, but it should not be the chief way the work of God is maintained. God has called on his people to give. The Old Testament Christians were called on to give a tithe of their income. The minimum for the tithe was a tenth of all that they received. If we returned to this throughout the church today, there would be no want in the church, and what a difference it would make. This tithe should be the first call on every believers resources. We so often leave it as the last call. This shows our priorities. We place God last, and his work last. We show by it that we have little faith in God to provide. Like so many others I have proved that putting God first in this matter of giving is found to be a joy and a blessing, for not only do we find we are able to give a tenth and more, but that God is good and we seem to have more than enough for all our temporal needs.

All this boils down to one thing, and that is how much we love God, and how much we live in gratitude for the love of God who gave his precious only Son to come and give his life as a ransom for our sin. I would trace the decline of the church today to one thing over all other considerations, and that is that in the ministry of the church we seem to speak about almost anything except Christ, and his great work of giving his life for the atonement for our sins is rarely proclaimed. This may not be true of the church you attend, but it is a lack in the church at large. It is not that all the other things we teach and major on are not true and important, but I know no other thing that is so important to me as the fact that Christ has died for me. Christ is my only refuge, and as Wesley speaks in his hymn �hangs my helpless soul on him�. It is the fact that Jesus has loved me by dying for me that fills my heart with love for God, and this is the only power that makes me seek God, and live for him.