If you would open your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 1. Here, the word of the living God. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hecaliah, and it came to pass in the month of Kislu in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace. that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down. and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, and the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants. And confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. But remember, I beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, Though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee. thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer." Thus far, the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, sufficient word. Let's pray. Father, we come tonight, we come very much like Nehemiah, your man in Shushan. People with great burden for an afflicted people in a day of reproach and brokenness. We come confessing our sin and confessing our need. Oh God, come and quicken us to remembrance and obedience. Enable us to walk in all of your ways, keeping your commandments and statutes and judgments that you have commanded. And then send us forth with favor into this world to begin the task rebuilding. For we pray this in Jesus name, Amen. Tonight I want to talk to you about words. The proper use of words. Reading the daily entries of Samuel Pepys in his famous diary during the last wave of the bubonic plague that swept through Europe and is a helpful reminder to us in these days. The plague was a scourge that ravaged the world's population again and again and again and again from the 14th through the 17th centuries. And that final wave of the epidemic swept through the city of London in the spring of 1665. with an estimated 100,000 fatalities in the city alone. Once infected, the chances of surviving the plague were terrifyingly slim. Most people, as Daniel Defoe recorded, were immediately and violently overwhelmed with it. The spread of the coronavirus can hardly be compared with a much more deadly plague. But reading Impeep's diary does afford fascinating parallels between then and now. Pepys was a member of Parliament, and he was Secretary of the Admiralty under King Charles II. He gained renown for his trenchant observations of everyday life in the 17th century. The first recorded plague deaths in London were in March of that year. But for weeks, Pepys was far more interested in the trade war that England was then waging with its European neighbors. But by April, he wrote that all the news of his local coffeehouse were of the plague and some of the remedies against it, some saying one thing and some another, and everyone arguing with one another about what they thought they knew to be true but did not know a thing, of course. As the contagion spread, the king and his court left the city for the countryside, as did most doctors, lawyers, and wealthy merchants. Parliament was suspended. Theaters and courts were closed. Sporting events were canceled. Trade at home and abroad was suspended. The Council of Scotland closed the border with England, and according to the Royal Archives, people's lives and businesses suffered terribly because so many were shut up in their homes. Pepys wrote, Lord, how sad a sight to see the streets of London so terribly empty, bereft of all commerce, all people. all hope." Apparently it was at that time that two very familiar words that came to be used by Pepys and others for the very first time. Epidemic and quarantine. Epidemic comes from the Greek epi meaning upon and demos meaning people. It meant whatever was gaining prevalence among the people, referring to any trend or fashion. But during the plague, peeps associated the world with the spread of infectious diseases. And so it has passed into the present in that form. Likewise, the word quarantine comes from an old French maritime term, quarant, meaning 40 days. Pepys uses the word to describe a medical isolation of any kind, of any duration, and thus it was a newly coined word with the connotation that we still use today. The contagion, of course, eventually ran its course. London recovered robustly, at least for a year. Then came the Great Fire. which spread through the city, destroying more than 70,000 homes, nearly 100 churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral and most businesses. It was his account of the Great Fire that has made Peep's classic such helpful reading. But rereading his account of the plague the previous year, I'm reminded of its surprising relevance and the way that current events can actually shape not just our lives, but our words, our language. Benjamin Jowett, in his Victorian idiomatic translation of Plato's Republic, famously rendered one of the philosopher's proverbial quips as, necessity is the mother of invention. You've heard that phrase before, but you didn't know it came from Plato's Republic. He might, though, just as well have said that necessity is also the mother of vocabulary. After all, it is almost always the case that the emergence of new circumstances will necessitate new lexicons to describe them. It can't have escaped the attention of any of us that the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic not only has dramatically changed our lives, it has dramatically changed our language. Our everyday conversations have been suddenly cluttered with epidemiological quarantine jargon. We've all started to talk about things like asymptomatic risks, and case clusters, and frequency curves, and incidence rates. But we found ourselves repeating statistics about droplet transmission, herd immunity, super spreaders, and incubation periods. I even have heard a few folks speak with newfound authority on viral seasonality, pathogenicity, some of them can actually even pronounce it, immunocompromised virulence, and zoonoses. You know what that is, right? It's catching a disease from a bat. I don't know if you have to go to the zoo to do that, but Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the epidemic seems to have spread puns and slang even faster than the virus. So we dismally talk about the Corona session and Coronageddon, which leads inevitably to Depressorona. On the brighter side, coronials have found themselves corona-cocooning or corona-cuffing with their corona-teenies, somehow micro-socializing in their extended virtual happy hours. Inevitably, a few derogatory terms have also crept into our vocabulary. Skeptics and conspiratorialists have been disdained as COVID truthers or quarren trolls. But those who disregard social distancing guidelines, which I think is every one that I've seen so far in Alabama, are dismissed in the New York Times as co-vidiots. But that's nothing new for Alabama. Concern for the more draconian government lockdown decrees has spawned talk of an emerging epidemiocracy or COVID-1984. from the Quorin tech apps that we've been using, to the Quorin tips that we've been trying, from the Quorin trend fashions that we've been wearing below the waist, so that we can still zoom in our meetings. To the core and tough resolve that we've been undertaking, it's obvious that viral jests, jibes, and neologisms have run rampant. Rita Mae Brown has asserted that language is the roadmap of culture. If that's the case, then our post-corona culture is all over the map. Mark Twain once asserted that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. The truth of that quip has come home to me with force. in these fractious, polarized, and divisive days in which we live. Our world is flooded with information and words. Digital communication has exponentially increased the ease, the avenues, and the audience for our words and While to be sure that there are occasions where that great freedom should be celebrated, especially given the fact that there are so many around the world who have no ability to speak openly what it is that they think, feel, or believe, the ability to express ourselves can enrich our lives deeply. However, when our language is unrestrained and unmindful or sloppy or imprecise, our words are meaningless at best, damaging at worst. Again, Mark Twain famously said, I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. Being thoughtful and restrained, careful and precise with what we say takes more time, but it's worth the effort to be selective Because when we sacrifice speed and frequency, our words gain significance, sincerity, and authenticity. Language is not only a gift, it is a responsibility. And these days, it is radical. to be careful and wise with our words. The Bible repeatedly reminds us of the destructive power of the tongue. It is, the Bible says, like a bit and bridle, like the rudder of a ship, like a raging forest fire. Or as the Eagles alum Don Henley sings in his most recent country solo album, it only takes a breath or two to tear your world apart. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can break your heart. On the other hand, the Bible also reminds us that with proper stewardship, The tongue can be a tree of life, a salve of healing, a soft answer of kindness amidst the harsh realities of this poor fallen world. Words are so important. It's so important that in this day we have to recognize that the battle for the dictionary is almost as intense as the battle for the Bible. We live in a day when we don't know what justice or freedom mean anymore. We don't know what gender means, or equality, or intolerance, or legacy, or reparations, or privilege. But we hear people talk all the time in social media or on the broadcast news, and we're tempted to stand up and yell at the television like Inigo Montoya. You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means. Any number of commentators have suggested that 2020 may well go down in history as an annus oriabilis, a Latin phrase meaning horrible year. To be sure, we've had more than our customary allotment of woes. And with months to go before we can turn a calendar page, the mainstream and social media alike have responded with apocalyptic lamentations and mournful jeremiads. A jeremiad is usually defined as a long, and doleful complaint. It's a tale of sorrow, disappointment, and grief. It's a declaration of doom. It's passed into English from the French, first used in 1762 to describe the lamentations of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. It was used as a kind of clever etymological construction intended to call to mind Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid. In literature, it has typically been used as a term of ridicule or mockery, implying either that the lamentations are exaggerated or the proclamations are overwrought. tediously self-righteous. Despite this, well might we plead the cause of having a day of fresh outpourings of Jeremiah's. With the forces of social and cultural disintegration undermining the very foundations of all that is near and dear to us, such a prophetic stance might seem altogether apt. Issue the warnings. Lament the injustices. Expose the evils. Denounce the barbarities. Set forth with zeal the very real consequences of sin and perversity. Hurl upon the land, Jeremiah after Jeremiah, unto this day like unto none other that man nor beast has ever seen. That would be apt. And I'm sure that that is our most natural inclination in days of madness like what we see. But perhaps, perhaps there is a better option for us in these perilous times, an option that bespeaks hope. and resolve, an option that animates reformational vision, perhaps we ought to consider the possibility of taking the course not of the Jeremiah, but of the Nehemiah modeled on the Old Testament reformer, Nehemiah. In contradistinction to the Jeremiah, the Nehemiah does not merely bemoan the transgressions of evildoers. Its first concern is the repentance of God's own people. Unlike the Jeremiah, the Nehemiah does not only have a negative, indictive tone. Its primary concern is constructive. A Jeremiah is a cry of woe, an expression of righteous indignation, and a resolution to mourn over the ruins. But a Nehemiah is a cry of humility, an expression of righteous repentance, and a resolution to repair the ruins. Undoubtedly, our culture is in want of zealous Jeremiads, but in this hour of disarray Resolute Nehemiads may be all the more needful. The walls are down. The rubble is nigh unto impassable. So much is in shambles. So with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, let the Nehemiads begin. Such is the need of the hour. Oh, God. Grant us repentance. And then let us take our places at the wall and begin to restore the toppled stones. In Nehemiah chapter one, Nehemiah hears for the first time of the disarray of the remnant of the people and the horror of the shame and the reproach of the broken down walls in Jerusalem. He knew that he had to win the king's favor. Chapter 1, verse 11. He knew that he needed to obtain the king's blessing. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. He knew that he would need to utilize the king's resources. Chapter 2, verses 6 through 9. But the first thing that he did, before he did anything else, was he prayed. For an entire month, he prayed. At every turn, throughout the rest of his ministry, he would follow that same pattern. He would cry out to the Lord for wisdom. He would cry out to the Lord in confession. He would cry out to the Lord naming himself and his own father's house in the sins of the covenant people of God. He would cry out to God for the hope and the vision, the necessary spiritual nourishment to walk in the commandments and the statutes and the judgments of the Lord. One of the things that I love about Nehemiah is that his prayerfulness invaded every aspect of his life. When he appeared before Artaxerxes to make petition to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, chapter 2 verse 4, he prayed. When he entered the ruined city to begin the task, after having surveyed the walls, chapter 2, verse 12, he prayed. When threats of violence and conspiracy jeopardized the fledgling reconstruction project, chapter 4, verse 2, he prayed. When there were conflicts and crises among the people that required his judicious hand, chapter 5, verse 19, He prayed. When an attempt on his life threatened the entire project, he didn't panic. He prayed. Chapter 6, verse 9. When his own brethren turned against him, he prayed. Chapter 6, verse 14. And when the work on the walls was complete, he prayed. Chapter 13, verse 31. Praying, of course, wasn't all that he did, but it was the foundation of all that he did. He invested himself in careful planning. Chapter 2, verses 5 through 6. He laid the groundwork with cautious and careful attention to detail. Chapter 2, verses 7 through 8. He enlisted qualified help. Chapter 2, verse 9. He encouraged the workers. Chapter 2, verse 17 to 18. He motivated them. Chapter 4, verses 14 through 20. He organized and delegated the various tasks. Chapter 3, verses 1 through 32. He anticipated difficulty and made provision for it. Chapter 2, verses 19 and 20. Chapter 6, verses 1 through 14. He improvised when he had to. Chapter 4, verses 21 through 23. And she worked. Side by side with all those that he called to the task, he worked. Chapter 4 verse 23. He sacrificed. Chapter 5 verses 14 through 19. He led. Chapter 13 verses 4 through 30. And he governed. Chapter 7 verses 1 through 7. But Nehemiah made certain that God's Word took a very prominent place in the life of the people, chapter 8, verses 1 through 8. He encouraged its reading, chapter 8, verse 18, its exposition, chapter 8, verse 13, and its application, chapter 8, verses 14 through 18. He established the Word of God as the absolute standard for worship, chapter 13, verses 10 through 14. And it became the guiding light for the commerce, chapter 13, verses 15 through 18, for governance, chapter 13, verses 4 through 9, for administering justice, chapter 13, verses 19 through 22, and for family life, chapter 13, verses 23 through 29. But undergirding all of these necessary activities was his consistent unrelenting, unstinting reliance upon Almighty God in prayer. Charles Haddon Spurgeon used to tell his students in the pastor's training college that the health of a local church would never be measured by Sunday morning worship attendance, but by Wednesday night prayer meeting attendance. Prayer binds and it loses. Matthew 18, 18. It casts down and it raises up, Mark 11, 23 and 24. It ushers in peace, 1 Timothy 2, 1 and 2. Forgiveness, Mark 11, 25. Healing, James 5, 14 through 15. Liberty, 2 Corinthians 3, 17. Wisdom, 1 Kings 3, 3 through 14. And protection, Psalm 41, 2. Clearly the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5 16. When he undertook his task, he said to the people, chapter 2 verse 20, the God of heaven will make us prosper. And we, his servants, will rise and build. I believe that God is giving us an extraordinary opportunity. But it begins on our knees. not with our microphones and megaphones, but on our knees. I believe in this day and time, while Jeremiah's are most assuredly warranted. And you can find me many a Saturday standing in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Nashville, hurling forth Jeremiah upon Jeremiah. I am unstinting in those. But for this day and time, let the Nehemiahs arise from our midst. Let us cry out to God. Let's suffuse our work in prayerfulness, moment by moment and day by day. But at the end of an extraordinary complex theological argument. The author of the book of Hebrews comes to the to the pinnacle of the doctrine of redemption accomplished and applied and he declares this Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that can not be shaken, and thus offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. How would the American evangelical church be transformed if we simply believed that verse, practiced that verse, lived and breathed that verse before a watching world. In the days of the pandemic, silly neologisms abound. What would it be like if our words, the words of our mouth, seasoned with Scripture, tempered by prayer, were to go forth into the midst of this poor fallen world and It would not be a lightning bug. It would be a lightning. Let us go forth into the midst of a world full of need and change the world with the only power that can. The words of life, the words of the living God, the truth of the gospel. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. We've got marching orders. Let's pick up our sword and our trowel and go to the work. Let's pray. Oh Father, thank you for grace and mercy and truth. I do pray that you would, even now, enable us to read in the book of the law of God have sense and understanding from it sufficient to cry out to you and before a watching world, these things are true. I pray that you would give us grace in this day. to bring the hope of redemption to the lost all around us. Give hope to those who are in the church, who have lost sight of the bright and shining light of hope. Oh, give us, oh God, the unction, the zeal of Nehemiah. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.