Ground Zero journal by Gordon MacDonald:

September 18, 2001

We parked our car at Chambers and Broadway and walked into the World Trade Center area, visited a few of the Salvation Army canteens and then, suddenly, we came around a corner and there was Ground Zero, as they are calling it. You are standing at the edge of an area that is, at the very least, six square blocks in size, and “nothing remains….” (to quote Shelley’s poem) “and the lone and level sands stretch far away.” In this case, it is rubble, just twisted rubble. 110 floors of two buildings have imploded and their entire volume of rubble is less than two stories high. It is like a gigantic European plaza with open sky. But each building surrounding the plaza is lifeless, every window (and often the façade) is gone.

Then you notice the workmen—several thousand of them—mostly cops, firemen: like ants crawling over the rubble, bucket brigades with a hundred or more men and women in line. When I asked why they were using such a primitive form of rubbish removal, I was told that it was only way to get at the bodies.

At first I was mesmerized by the unbroken line of men (and a few women) going into the crater: like soldiers headed to the front in a war. Each was carrying some kind of tool: a shovel, a pickax, electronic equipment. But the line just kept going.

And there was another line, just as fascinating, but far more disturbing. Men coming out: exhausted, filthy, hardly able to walk.

Virtually every man had someone in the pile. Almost all of them had lost more than one person they knew well. Many had lost relatives (the police and fire departments are full of related people). Almost no one refused my offer to talk. They would spill their guts. I talked with men who’d just uncovered body parts. You could smell death in their clothes.

More than once I asked myself –as everyone asks—is God here? And I decided that He is closer to this place than any other place I’ve ever visited. The strange irony is that, amidst this absolute catastrophe of unspeakable proportions, there is a beauty in the way human beings are acting that defies the imagination. Everyone—underscore, everyone—is everyone else’s brother or sister. There are no strangers among the thousands at the work site. Everyone talks; everyone cooperates; everyone does the next thing that has to be done. No job is too small, too humble, or, on the other hand, too large.

Tears ran freely, affection was exchanged openly, exhaustion was defied. We all stopped caring about ourselves. The words “it’s not about me” were never more true.

It occurs to me that this should be a picture of the church – people working arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, at the edge of a pit with the smell of death in the air; working urgently in a frantic rescue and recovery effort. No one has time for bureaucracy, or bickering, or infighting, or petty criticisms – because its “not about me”. it’s about the enormous task of rescuing, redeeming, and rebuilding lives.

We have a similar picture in Nehemiah 3; a picture of workers side by side at a disaster site. Nehemiah 3 is one of those “list” chapters that you’ll find several places in the Bible, like in the book of Genesis, or Numbers, or Chronicles. God loves lists, because lists are made up of people, and people matter to God.

What we have in Neh. 3 is a list of the people who helped to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Remember, the walls were broken down, the gates had been burned with fire. The people of the city were living in disaster and disgrace. But God gave Nehemiah a vision for rebuilding, and Nehemiah challenged others to share in that vision.

And we have been studying the principles of rebuilding that we find in the book of Nehemiah, because God wants all of us to be rebuilders – spiritual rebuilders – people who are committed to clearing away the rubble left from the sin in our lives, and in others’ lives, and building something lasting for God.

So the workers began to work. Let’s find out who they were and what they did. (You might think it’s like reading a TTC bus schedule, but its important and there are some key ideas in here that we don’t want to miss.)

Read ch. 3:1-12

Several things become quite obvious as we read through this chapter.

1. The first thing we notice is that these people were not professionals. They were not experts. There is not one construction worker, engineer, carpenter, or stone mason mentioned in this chapter.

On the contrary, there were:

1. Priests Eliashib and his fellow high priests (v. 1; other priests v. 22, 28)

2. Politicians – Rephaiah (v. 9); Shallum (v. 12) – rulers of a half-district of Jerusalem (deputy mayors)

3. Private businessmen

   1. Goldsmiths – Uzziel (v. 8); Malkijah (v. 31)

   2. Perfume makers – Hananiah (v. 8)

4. People who joined the project from outlying areas – Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon, Mizpah and other places are all mentioned

5. Women involved – daughers of Shallum (v. 12) – (In those days extraordinary!)

6. Whole families involved

7. Well-known people as well as unknown people.

But every single person in this project was significant. God mentioned them all. But not one of them was a professional!

Principle: When God gives us a work to do; he always equips us to do it. It didn’t matter that none of these people were experts; what mattered is that they were available to God. God equips unskilled people for the work of rebuilding.

And when God equips us, we are well equipped. Just remember: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by professionals.

The same is true when it comes to the church – God has given us a tremendous job to do as a local church:

• heralding the life-changing message of Jesus Christ

• discipling people so that they become fully-devoted followers of Christ

• loving people and serving people so that they will understand that God loves them

• Teaching people to build their lives on the Word of God

That’s an enormous task! How can we do all that? We’re just amateurs. We don’t know how to do all that stuff! We don’t’ know how to change people’s lives.

But remember: When God calls us to do something for Him, he always gives us the ability to do it. God has given each one of us a special spiritual gift – a supernatural ability to contribute to some part of the mission of the church. And each one of us is significant because of that – each one of us is a first-string player on this team; we each have a job to do.

The church is not a place to come and get fed and just sit there! We’ve got a job to do, and everyone needs to be involved. We need to get busy using our spiritual gifts:

• teachers

• evangelists

• mercy

• helps

• administration

• craftsmanship

• giving

• hospitality

• leadership

If you are not involved in some way in the ministry of this church, there’s something seriously wrong! You need to get involved! (see church directory for list of ministries and ministry opportunities)

You might be saying “Well, I don’t know what my spiritual gift is.” See me – I can put in your hands a little tool that will help you to find out what it is.

2. The second thing is that these people were a team. God formed them into a team. You will find that the phrases “adjoining” and “next to them” (such as in v. 2) appear over 30 times in this chapter. That tells us that these people worked side-by-side. There was tremendous cooperation and unity in this project.

They worked on the wall in front of them, they didn’t build walls between them.

Just like at Ground Zero in NYC, the urgency of the task bound them together as brothers and sisters.

Likewise, in the church, God wants to mold us into a team. He’s seeking workers who are willing to work side-by-side. But in order to be on a winning team, you have to check your ego at the door. No place for pet projects, or personal agendas – you give all that up for the sake of the team and the overwhelming urgency of the task.

But this is what we were made for. Being on that kind of a team is fun. A man named Kingman Brewster once said “There is a tremendous satisfaction in losing yourself in something that is more important than you are.” And there’s nothing more important than the cause of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said: “If you try to carve out a life for yourself, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll really find it”.

3. God takes note of the workers, but also the shirkers.

Look at v. 5…

The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

The Hebrew expression literally means “they refused to submit the back of their neck” to the work. The picture is of a team of oxen being placed under a yoke. These “nobles” – and the word means “mighty, majestic, splendid” – wouldn’t bow their necks under the yoke of God’s work.

Wow! How would you like to be remembered for that! God is always making lists – he remembers the workers and also the shirkers.

Nov. 10 – Next Saturday work day – let’s show God how serious we are

Bulletin – list of deacons

4. As the people rebuilt the wall, they also repaired the gates. There are ten gates mentioned here. And remember, the gates of a city served as centers of its civic life. Most of the important things that happened in a city happened at its gates. They were the central meeting places of the community.

These gates of Jerusalem had names, and the names of the gates suggest some parallels to some important areas of our Christian life. The gates of Jerusalem were broken down and needed repair – and likewise, there are areas of our spiritual lives that can become broken down and neglected. And these may be areas that need to be rebuilt.

Let’s take a walk around the city and look at the gates…

1. Sheep Gate – v. 1

• northern wall, adjacent to the Temple compound

• where the sheep, lambs were brought into the Temple for sacrifice

• reminds us of the Lamb of God who gave up his life for us

• Jn.1:29 – “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

• this where the Christian life begins

• how is this gate in your life?

2. Fish Gate – v. 3

• where the fish merchants from Tyre, Galilee brought their catch

• Peter and John and the other disciples would have set up their stands here

• Mt. 4:17-20 “I will make you fishers of men”

• this speaks of our witness; our concern for the lost; our impact on others

• how is this gate in your life? Is it in need of repair?

3. Jeshanah Gate, or “Old” Gate – v.6

• also referred to as the Corner Gate (2 Ki.14:13; Jer.31:38; Zech. 14:10)

• located at the NW corner and most vulnerable area of the city to attack

• speaks of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives

• the enemy will always attack us here; our commitment to his Lordship

• Eph. 2:20 – Christ is the chief cornerstone of our lives

• how is this gate in your life?

4. Valley Gate – v. 13

• opened down to the Central Valley

• speaks of our willingness to “go down”; humility

• John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease”

• Phil. 2:5-8 – Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

• Ps. 9:12 – he forgets not the cry of the humble

• how is this gate in your life?

5. Dung Gate – v. 14

• where the residents of the city hauled their garbage out of the city to the Valley of Hinnom – landfill; rubbish dump; continual burning; Gehenna

• speaks of the need for purity; cleansing; holiness of life

• 1 John 1:9 – if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us…

• 1 Pet. 1:15 - But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do

• how is this gate in your life?

6. Fountain Gate – v. 15

• opens to the spring En-rogel; Pool of Siloam inside city walls

• speaks of the filling of the Holy Spirit

• Jn. 7:37-39 - If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit…

• Eph 5:18 – And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit

• how is this gate in your life?

7. Water Gate – v. 26

• opens to the spring Gihon; main source of water for city; people got water for washing

• 8:1 – large plaza or square where all the people assembled and Ezra read the Law

• speaks of the central importance of the Word of God in our lives

• Eph 5:25ff - Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word

• interestingly, this is the first gate mentioned that didn’t need repairing

• Ps. 119:89 - Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens

• how is this gate in your life?

8. Horse Gate – v. 28

• on the palace grounds and where the king’s horses were taken to stable

• kings owned horses for warfare

• 2 Chron. 23:15 – where wicked Queen Athaliah was slain

• speaks of spiritual warfare, conquest, victory

• Eph. 6:10-17 – we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

• Rom. 8:37 – but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us

• how is this gate in your life? Do you have your spiritual armor on?

9. East Gate – v. 29

• opens to the sunrise

• there is a gate in the same location in the modern wall (built by Turks in 1517) called the Golden Gate

• speaks of the blessed hope of the Christian; the return of Jesus Christ

• Ezek. 43:1-4 - Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east.

• Tit.2:13 – Paul talks about the blessed hope

• 2 Tim. 4:8 – longing for his appearing

• how is this gate in your life?

10. Inspection Gate – v. 31

• where the king reviewed his troops

• speaks of the judgment seat of Christ

• 2 Cor. 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

• How is this gate in your life?

Q. How am I building? Do any of these gates need repair in my life?