Category: Bible studies

I want to ask you a personal question as we begin this lesson: What are you most AFRAID of? In the world of psychological disorders, there are literally hundreds of phobias that are both named and have a diagnosis standard, with most offering a treatment regimen. Grab any medical dictionary and you will be amazed at the number of fears we have added to life over the centuries. Here are just a few from that list that should make you think about how unsafe life on this planet must really be!

• Ablutophobia – fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning
• Acrophobia – fear of heights
• Agrizoophobia – fear of wild animals
• Astraphobia – fear of thunder and lightning
• Autophobia – fear of being alone or isolated or of one’s self
• Barophobia – fear of gravity
• Frigophobia – fear of becoming too cold
• Gamophobia – fear of marriage
• Gerontophobia – fear of growing old
• Globophobia – fear of balloons, or balloons popping
• Hemophobia, haemophobia – fear of blood
• Ichthyophobia – fear of fish
• Melissophobia – fear of bees
• Mysophobia – fear of germs, contamination or dirt

Some I just never thought about:

• Omphalophobia – fear of navels
• Ophthalmophobia – fear of being stared at
• Papaphobia – fear of the Pope

And, of course, my favorite phobia:

• Phobophobia – fear of having a phobia!

It seems like many of us live in FEAR, and some of us are AFRAID that we might someday be AFRAID! I mention this short sample list, because FEAR is the essential subject of Nehemiah 6. Reduce the chapter down, and that is what the whole thing is about: planting fear, manipulating by producing fear, and distracting God’s servants doing God’s work through fear…First, let’s set the chapter before we get ahead of ourselves…We have been looking at the ancient journal of a Jewish wine steward who grew up in the exile of the Persian Empire about four hundred and fifty years before Jesus, and following God’s work in his life over these past lessons. As we followed the adventure from God’s burden on his heart to the journey into Jerusalem to do God’s bidding, we noted this is really a journal of leadership. In fact, there is perhaps no better place in the Bible to see a leader work from the call of God to the construction of God’s work.

The truth is that any time you attempt to do what God has laid on your heart, you will run face to face into God’s enemy, and he will stir up opposition. Every believer needs to KNOW THIS and reckon it into the plan of the work. In this journal, we have seen that spiritual foe stir up trouble in the form of testing against the leader and his workers. It began with criticism of the work, and morphed into planted stories of gossip in the ranks of Nehemiah’s followers. It was further challenged by the draining of his energy through the complaints of abused and battered people involved in the work, and then the lure of gain in the heart of the leader himself. By the time we open chapter six, we see the four previous attacks have been increased in severity, as Nehemiah now faced a trio of very personal troubles – slander, private intimidation and public threats. These all had one thing in common: they were meant to produce FEAR.

How do I know? If you skim the chapter, you will see the words in 6:9 “to frighten us”, and in 6:14 “to frighten me” and again in the close of the chapter in 6:19 “to frighten me”. Nehemiah made no mistake about what the enemy was trying to do. He wanted to stop the progress by bringing fear. He used unsealed letters, unpublished threats and a constant undercurrent of evil men speaking evil words…

Key Principle: Any fear that is greater than the awesome reverence of God acts as an idol of ungodly distraction to God’s people.

The Hebrew word that is used in different forms is the word “Yiraw”. It is used in two different senses in the Bible – depending on WHO is fearing. The very same “fear of the Lord” that anticipates with dread facing a Creator from within the heart of the unbeliever, is in us as we follow the Lord – not as dread, but as an awestruck wonder of the Creator’s magnificence. What is dread for one is reverence for the other. God’s love casts out the dread when we kneel before Him, and replaces it with awe.

Let’s look at the “terrible trio” of potentially fear producing problems with a special eye toward God’s leader – and how he handles each issue, beginning with SLANDER…

Test #5: “Enduring Slander” (Nehemiah 6:1-9)

6:1 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. 5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.” 8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” 9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

The Setting of Opposition (6:1,2)

Look in the opening two verses (6:1,2) at the setting of the opposition. Three items are revealed:

1. Wall breaches stopped – every gap was closed with the exception of the gateless doorways.

2. The constructed and fortified gates were not in place (so they were still vulnerable).

3. A conference was called by the opponents of the work.

The simple truth was this: Since God’s declared objective was the completion of the work, Satan’s objective was distracting from the work’s completion, by slowing or (if possible) stopping the work for a time – in the hopes of eventually destroying both the work AND the workers. The fact that Nehemiah included in his journal the setting of the call to a conference was a specific indicator that he looked with discernment to recognize the enemy’s objectives – and thereby avoided falling into them or feeding them! This is the first truth of the passage – a believer must recognize the enemy’s strategy. Everything that crosses your path during your mission from God will either be the Holy One’s direction or the enemy’s distraction. Every problem will either be a platform to show God’s work in and through you, or it will require you to avoid it altogether. A mature believer must discern the ORIGIN of a test by discerning the PURPOSE of the test.

Remember the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesian church regarding the goal of maturity in this regard? He wrote in Ephesians 4:11 “And He [Jesus] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ…”

If you look closely at the words of the Apostle, they are a warning to recognize strategies, and discern truth. Nehemiah saw through the plan, and that maturity allowed the work to continue unabated. Notice the simple end to verse two: “But they were scheming to harm me.” Often God provides an inner sense of danger or caution that a mature believer can heed. The call is not to overreact, nor under react, but walk circumspectly! You have an enemy, and you must not think that evil distractions arrived at your door by mere coincidence.

The Sounds of Distraction (6:3,4)

Notice verse three the sounds of distraction in the repeated requests that became as annoying as a gnat flying around your face doing yard work. (6:3,4) The fact is that we cannot effectively ignore the problem because the enemy is too persistent at the task of interruption, but we would be wise to keep the priority on obedience to the Word and fervor in the work. A second leadership challenge, behind looking with discernment is to effectively and consistently measure the critical nature of our time and be prepared to choose God’s priorities.

The Slander of the Opposition (6:5-7a)

Look for a moment at the slander of the Opposition (6:5-7a). It included an open letter that cited a false motivation – a lust for power – and included open lies about the work. Here is one of the tell-tale signs of the enemy’s work…LIES. When the Father of Lies touches a work, he will leave a trail of lies behind. It is wise to know the content of what is alleged and by whom, before we take much leadership time to try to and answer lies and objections.

Let me offer you a secret that has helped me decide what to answer and how to answer it as a matter of leadership. If someone questions something we are doing, I look at that as an opportunity to offer counsel and instruction. If they criticize it, I look at that as positive feedback and try to figure out what we can learn from it. If they LIE about what is happening, I evaluate that as an attack from the enemy using a weak brother or sister – and I gauge response accordingly. Sometimes I simply don’t respond at all. Sometimes I make boundaries clear.

Recently a man came to me and asked why I don’t use the “actual Word of God” – by which he meant his preferred version. I took a few minutes and explored two things: His knowledge of the subject for which he had such a strong opinion, and why he felt he needed to confront me in it. When I saw the spirit of the man seems utterly unteachable, I made clear that I was not going to be silent if he lobbied the hallways and made trouble. He disappeared a week later. If he was truly interested in instruction, or wanted to offer helpful ways to help us grow, that would be fine. I believe he was a weak brother under the influence of the enemy to distract believers from the work we have been called to do in this place – which is “make disciples that make disciples”. His initial approach to me signaled that there was no real desire to learn about the subject he brought up. He knew what he thought, and he felt the right of the prophet to stand and pronounce us wrong, but he was not interested enough to involve himself in the process of building anything. There are many self-proclaimed prophets that distract the work of God today, and no good leader can afford to let them run roughshod over the people of God and slow down the call of that people.

The Summons of the Opposition (6:7b)

Look at the summons of the opposition for a moment and consider the sheer “chutzpah” (guts) of someone asking, “In spite of the fact that I have spread lies and rumors about you, let’s sit down privately and “discuss” your mission!” Seriously? Here is the truth: We need not feed the fire of the opposition by communicating more with those who are clearly trying to ensnare us! If a person is open to God’s work, then there is little we should be unwilling to do to make it plain to him. If, on the other hand, they show themselves to be people setting a trap for the unsuspecting, don’t waste time placating them.

The Sure Response of the Leader (6:8-9)

I love that our text offers the sure response of the leader (6:8-9). I call it a SURE RESPONSE because it was delivered without a shaky voice. Nehemiah flatly denied the false charge openly, because the charge was made openly. He returned lies promptly to their place of origin, and then turned to God with a response of his heart. Look closely at the two elements of his “breath of fresh prayer”:

• He acknowledged the objective was to promote fear and discouragement.
• He made clear there was a choice – do the work or slow the work.

Don’t neglect to spot some of the ways the enemy uses intimidation as they are revealed in the text:

1. He cites “cloudy” sources (6:6) “It is reported..”

2. He uses exaggeration and inaccuracy surrounded by baseless rumors.

The point was simple: a GOOD LEADER will never respond at the expense of the work, nor will he respond ONLY to the accuser, the issue isn’t over until you’ve laid it to rest in God’s hands! The last verse (6:9) may not be clear – so let us make it clear – IT WAS A PRAYER. He was talking to God in his journal. He knew how to get peace – it was by taking the complaints and problems to the ONE Who was able to help him get settled and stay with the work.

That opened the door to the next test…

Test #6: “Facing a Personal Threat” (Nehemiah 6:10-14)

This time, the test was fired directly at Nehemiah’s personal sense of safety…

6:10 When I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night.” 11 But I said, “Should a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.” 12 Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered [his] prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this reason: that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. 14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were [trying] to frighten me.

Let’s break the narrative into five points that will help us unravel the problem:

The Disturbance Point (6:10a).

First, let’s look at the disturbance point (6:9). It is clear in reading the whole chapter that fear is the objective, and that spying (as in 6:18-19) and lying (6:6-7) were the methods employed to throw Nehemiah off his planned execution of God’s work. Look carefully at what seems WRONG IN verse 10. Nehemiah went to see a man who was CONFINED AT HOME, but the man called for a conference OUTSIDE HIS HOME because of the word of impending danger to Nehemiah. The situation just didn’t look right on the surface. A good leader cannot let the emotion of the danger blind his senses and force his actions.

The Deception Attempt (6:10b)

The tenth verse continues with the key request that was a rouse. “Let us meet together” was not the point of the proposition. The idea was to get Nehemiah to do SOMETHING GOD DIDN’T ALLOW, so that he could be blamed and defamed. To pull off the deception, Nehemiah’s enemies paid off a “prophet for hire” and gave him the words of a death threat. Note the “religious” nature of the deception. The enemy often uses the “religious sounding words” to mask the “right thing to do”. The issue was not complicated, but the enemy counted on the emotion to throw off Nehemiah. When you cut through it, the issue is this: Will I follow God’s Word to do God’s plan and trust God’s protection? If I believe that I must violate God’s stated Word – in this case the violation of a civil ruler entering the holy space of the Temple – then I close God’s chief source of direction and revelation goes “dark”. How can I follow God forward if I ignore what He already told me to do?

You want to build a big building to house your ministry. A man offers money, but you know the source is from a shady business deal. Do you do wrong to do right? God’s clear answer is no.

The Decision Explained (6:11)

Nehemiah answered directly, “Should a man that represents God by doing the work He called me to do run for my life and in the process break the Law of God? Of course not!” He knew exactly what to do personally – he set the question before the revealed Word of God, and that was enough to get a straight answer. His simple question was this: “Am I allowed to do this?” If not, the choice is wrong no matter how tempting it is! This is the logic the modern church needs to recognize. The answer to what we do will not be found in the badly formed moral conscience of the populous. We shouldn’t look to the polls to figure out right and wrong ways forward – the answers that light the path are found from the same lamp that lit the way generations ago – the Word of God.

The Discredited Prophet (6:12-13)

When the standard is the Word of God, and it has been carefully considered, the messenger’s integrity can be easily measured. Look at the perception of God’s leader. He said: “The man was not from God, he was the source of the so-called prophetic words, he was hired by enemies, he was trying to get me to be afraid, he wanted me to SIN to discredit me…” He seems to have seen all the way through the issue and made a thorough assessment. God gave us the Word to judge the events and the Spirit of offer inner cautions to slow us from danger, but we must choose a path of spiritual sensitivity. Fear is a terrible motivator for right decision making, so it is one that our enemy often chooses to move us in the wrong direction. In the life of a leader, the fear can be for the future of his family, for the stability of his economic safety, for the personal perils that come with opposing spiritual forces, and the like.

The Discussion with God (14)

Nehemiah AGAIN took his troubles, as well as his frustrations to God in prayer – an example to every believer. The fact is that God’s work will always suffer attacks. Leaders serving God have available equipment from the Word to work in the midst of attack if they will stay at the task, allowing God to handle the attacks! They also can’t get caught in the blame game. We have to learn to leave retaliation to God and get on with the work!

Test #7: Answering “Under-miners” (Nehemiah 6:15-19)

The third and final test of this chapter was to confront the situation of spies that were undermining the work from within the camp:

6:15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of [the month] Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard [of it], and all the nations surrounding us saw [it], they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 17 Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s [letters] came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19 Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

The Work Accomplished (6:15)

Finally, the fifty-two day wall project was completed. The work was accomplished (15). It was a tough job, and Nehemiah took it on and got it done, in spite of the distractions of testing and trouble. The man or woman who stays with it until the task is done may collapse, but they will do so with the reward of finished labor. At the same time, every step forward should be met with the anticipation of another level of attack.

The Wicked Astonished (6:16).

Those who boasted that such a project could not be completed were confounded at God’s success. Evil often boasts as though God is their equal competitor – it is bluster. God has no equal. He will finish what He chooses when He chooses – and there is none in Heaven or earth that can stop God. Armies can march against Him, Chiefs can curse Him, whole populations can spurn Him – but He marches on. The people around Judah could see that He was helping the Jewish migrants get the work done… and it frustrates them and robbed them of confidence.

The Workers Anxious (17-19).

While the nations about Judah were flustered, the people in the work camp were not as confident as they should have been. Other leaders attempted to coax Nehemiah into peace at all cost. They cried for Nehemiah to be more TOLERANT and UNDERSTANDING to those who tried every distraction to shut the work of God down. They tried intimidation, undermining, and alas – they were down to “buttering him up”. Nehemiah didn’t like the slippery sensation of being lathered in butter. He turned and saw right through yet another ploy. How did he do it?
First, he carefully discerned the real purpose of the undermining – to create fear in him (Nehemiah 6:19). Next, he recognized the ties that bound people together, and connected the loyalties to figure out what was truly going on. He was not looking for fault, but rather trying to make sense out of the issues. He took the time to observe the results of each offender’s life carefully, in order to make true statements with real substance. He even appeared to understand the loyalites and marriage ties, and simply took them into account in examining the situation.

The bottom line is that he didn’t let fear of men determine his actions, but reverence of God and loyalty to God’s Word. A successful life is not an easy life. It is a life built upon specific character qualities: sacrifice, loyalty, integrity, authenticity. Listen to the words of a wise Pastor of decades gone by:

The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of a king in a limited constitutional monarchy. The king is in such a country no more than a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. He is lauded, feted, and supported, but his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver the tame, colorless speech put into his mouth by the real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make-believe, but it is rooted in antiquity, it is a lot of fun, and no one wants to give it up. — A.W. Tozer (cited from a sermon by Stephen Sheane, The Kingdom of Heaven, Sermon central – 8/24/2011)

The church of our day needs a renewed vision of God. We need a renewed fear of HIM, a new reverence, a renewed sense of our beginning days. In the ninth chapter of Acts, where the story of the Apostle Paul’s conversion was first unfolded, you see a church facing waves of persecution, followed by times of peace and rest. This was our beginning:

Acts 9:26 When he [Paul] came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 And he was with them…31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

Afraid of a man and his reputation of persecution, the church would have turned a deaf ear to the voice of the Apostle that, in the end, wrote most of the Christian Scriptures! Fearing God, they grew into listeners… Any fear that is greater than the awesome reverence of God acts as an idol of ungodly distraction to God’s people.

Maybe you don’t think it cannot happen. Maybe physical threat seems too powerful and spiritual reverence too abstract. It may be because we haven’t suffered much yet: One of the most powerful prayers in the midst of suffering I have read was uncovered from the horrors of Ravensbruck concentration camp. Ravensbruck was a concentration camp built in 1939 for women. Over 90,000 women and children perished in Ravensbruck, murdered by the Nazis. Corrie Ten Boom, who wrote The Hiding Place, was imprisoned there too. The prayer, found in the clothing of a dead child, says: O Lord, remember not only the men and woman of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us: Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering, our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. (Quoted from Pastor Victor Yap, Sermon central illustrations).

Target is taking aim to fight back against those who have been hacking their credit card information, and trying to hold on to weather the storm of disgruntled shoppers. On the one hand, shoppers know that Target took security seriously, and it wasn’t some flagrant mishandling of information that caused the problem. On the other, people are hassled knowing the credit card information of upwards of seventy million people is now in the hands of people who will attempt theft in some way. Watch your cards. Watch for charges of between eight and nine dollars – small ones that will erode your pocket slowly and over a long period of time.

Have you ever gotten ripped off in a business deal? Have you ever come home with buyer’s remorse after you felt pressured into buying something you didn’t really need or really want? You may have felt “hustled” by someone in the marketplace….How about the other direction…Have you ever been in a situation where you felt your heart being tugged by the desire for something you didn’t really earn – but greed and temptation swelled within you?

I faced this many years ago, and I remember feeling the ugliness of it. I was guiding groups in a country where guides typically get a substantial portion of the amount of shopping their clients do, because the store pays a percentage to the stable of guides that uses their store. It is a mutual agreement that works in many countries and sights. In those days, I made my primary income from guiding, and the rate was small, so the shopping was essential to a good paycheck. People would approach me and ask which ring looked better on their finger, and all I could do was think, “Which is more expensive?” As soon as I started my own business in that field, I cut shopping to a minimum, and refused to accept any money from shops. I increased my per day salary to compensate, and told people what I tell them to this day: “Buy anything you want. I don’t accept percentages, and I ask the stores to lower your price to give your money more buying power. It costs them nothing, so they are usually willing to do it.” I did what I did because I hated how accepting that money made me feel. I know it is part of a system, and I begrudge no one else for operating in it, but I couldn’t. I teach Bible on site, and I don’t want that conflict in my heart and mind over money. It doesn’t feel clean to me.

What is clear to me now, is that temptation is a part of life we all have to face on some level. Sometimes we are taking advantage of others, and sometimes they are taking advantage of us. If any of these problems have been in your life, the set of tests from the journal of an ancient leader of Nehemiah chapter five will help you identify and deal with the issues of exploitation and greed!

Key Principle: We are physical beings that can be broken by another taking advantage – but we also have to admit we are sometimes tempted to take advantage ourselves.

Test #3 Handling Broken Spirits (Nehemiah 5:1-13)

When enemies could not blast the leader from his work, when gossip and criticism did not stop the work (as we noted in Nehemiah 4), the tempter loaded Nehemiah’s path with broken hearted “high needs” people, and followed up with temptation to lure the leader into accepting perks…with the promise of gain! Both of these problems is very real for a leader, and we will look at each separately – to take each seriously…Let’s look first at the broken spirited that came before him.

To be clear, a “broken spirit” is one who has been crushed under the load of discouragement, and is, perhaps slowly, becoming ineffective in the work they were assigned.

Reasons people’s spirits become broken: (1-5)

Why do people get discouraged in the work that God gave them to perform? Let me offer four reasons from the text. First, look at the first five verses of the story:

Nehemiah 5:1 Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.” 3 There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” 4 Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 “Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

People can be pressed downward in four ways, according to this story:

• Exploitation by someone trusted (1). In this case, land holding Jewish relatives that were in Judah before the rebuilders came with Nehemiah were taking advantage of those who returned from Babylon to rebuild the walls with Nehemiah. The painful part was not the economics of borrowing – that was common. The painful part was the coldness and lack of compassion from people who were kin. How could they not understand that the returnees were building, not simply for their own benefit, but for the nation’s benefit? I am sure they felt the way some of our veterans have felt when they didn’t get proper benefits after service of our country. They were hurt, and but today’s hurt becomes tomorrow’s anger, and the third day’s bitterness. If you have ever been exploited by people in the family, when you honestly were working to help the many – and not yourself – you know how these abused relatives felt.

• Defense of someone close (2). Along the same line as exploitation by one that was trusted, there is a second issue – the extreme sensitivity we have for those we hold dear – like our children. If you are a normal parent, you know what I mean when I say that “You can hurt me, and I will ‘get over it’, but if you hurt my child, I may struggle to EVER get past it.” When we are protecting others, any pain that comes to them hurts us greatly. As a child, I never believed what my father said until I was one: “It is going to hurt me more than it hurts you!” I believe him now, because I am a dad. Defense of someone close has its own brand it leaves on your hurt heart.

• Defense of things (3). Others in the text simply said: , “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” Any day I call the health insurance provider for my family I feel this level of pain and injustice. One of my children say a doctor for minutes in the hospital and was billed $1118.00. No particular services were rendered, and the insurance decline to pay any of it. The doctor’s office took forty percent off the bill if we agreed to pay immediately. How did we feel? We felt that no one living in our community, regardless of their knowledge, should be able to outlandishly bill a fellow citizen at such an alarming rate, simply because they could. We feel ripped off. They got paid, because I am a local Pastor and cannot leave all of us open to accusation in the way I pay my bills, but I feel ripped off – and I get frustrated trying to fight to hang on to both the things God gave me to steward, and deal in a way that doesn’t harm my testimony. If you have felt this, you know what the people who were facing a famine felt. They were working harder and going backwards…and that is a burden to negotiate in the heart, as well as the wallet.

• Stress of excessive burdens (4). Still others complained: “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards.” Who cannot understand the frustration of having to stretch to make end’s meet so that government can so wisely spend our collective funds?

CNS News reported last month: “The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is planning to spend $3.35 million to ‘improve the quality of media content and strengthen the media’s capacity to meet professional standards.’” The kicker is that this is to improve media quality, not in America, but in Armenia! “No American media organizations are eligible for the grant, but ‘government controlled and government owned organizations’ in Armenia are encouraged to apply.” Doesn’t that warm your heart? Just knowing that Armenians will get better news coverage is worth a few extra pennies out of this week’s check, isn’t it?

The author Michael Snyder has made a career out of cataloging the strange a ridiculous wonder that is our US national budget. He wrote long lists of the things we are spending federal dollars on. I won’t drag out the pain, but a few are just too good to pass up:

• The U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

• If you can believe it, the U.S. government has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.

• The federal government once spent 30 million dollars on a program that was designed to help Pakistani farmers produce more mangos.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture once gave researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.

• A total of $615,000 was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz to digitize photos, T-shirts and concert tickets belonging to the Grateful Dead.

• China lends us more money than any other foreign nation, but that didn’t stop our government from spending 17.8 million dollars on social and environmental programs for China.

• The U.S. government once spent 2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly… (source: Michael Snyder).

We could go on and on… but I think this is enough to produce the groan that is called for to feel the pain of the people in Nehemiah 5:4. We all believe government can do and does do important things that help us stay safe. I want someone checking our food chain and water supply, and holding companies responsible for polluting them and endangering our children. At the same time, I will not personally sleep better at night knowing that Chinese prostitutes are drinking under their legal limits. I admit it: that is a problem I just cannot bring myself to care much about. I wonder what that says about me as a person? Perhaps I have the sense to know they have bigger problems to worry about.

The point is, there are broken spirits that leaders must face. They feel abused, and often have good reason to feel that way. What can a good leader do?

Reactions to a broken spirit (6,7).

Read the next two verses, and you will see the three recorded responses of the leader. Nehemiah 5:6 Then I was very angry when I had heard their outcry and these words. 7 I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, “You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them.

• First, he faced the fact that the problem left him with anger inside that had to be dealt with (5:6). A good leader understands and monitors his emotions – not to be self-focused, but to be self-controlled.

• Second, he took a step back from the situation and considered it before responding. Pondering is a good reaction, because it allowed him to think before he acted! (5:7). How often I WISHED that had been my course of action!

• Third, the leader took the problem to the source in a direct confrontation (5:7). Sometimes that is the only way to right the wrong. Matthew 18 reminds that it is the proper thing to do in cases between believers where one offends another – sin or not.

Reaching out to a broken spirit (7b-13).

The leader did not try to look as though he did not take a side. That is popular among leaders today – but is inappropriate when one has taken advantage of another. Listen to his words:

Nehemiah 5: 7b “…Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. 8 I said to them, “We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? 10 “And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury. 11 “Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.” 12 Then they said, “We will give it back and will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. 13 I also shook out the front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.

Brush by the seven parts of what we just read. We don’t want to get lost in the detail, but the steps offer a pattern worthy of a moment:

• He brought the sides together – and called a forum of two sides (public only when public sin) 5:7b. He didn’t try to solve the issue without all the players together – a very effective method.

• He made absolutely clear the violation as he saw it – in an attempt to lay the sin bare (5:8-9). There were no flowery words and long speeches – just clarity about the events and their meaning.

• He allowed a response time, but there wasn’t one (5:8). Agreement is about everyone getting on the same page with both the problems and the solution, but we must allow time for the other party to answer charges if they can.

• He set clear measurable conditions for reconciliation (5:10-11). There is no sense in trying to decide by committee or in debate what will resolve the issue. That should be decided before the meeting.

• He accepted reconciliation when conditions were met according to the standards of the Word of God (5:12). Interest was wrong, and they were in violation of God’s stated policy. When they admitted that, the conditions for reconciliation became crystal clear: get back into conformity with God’s Word.

• He committed ultimate judgment to God, who sees the hearts of men (5:13). He didn’t try to exact a pound of flesh beyond reconciliation. Either the meeting was to resolve the situation, or to punish people and satisfy the hurting emotions. He chose reconciliation – the right choice.

• He publicly praised God with everyone else because reconciliation was available to all! (5:13).

God called the leader to size up and confront the situation, and reconcile the parties to GOD’S STANDARD – not to feed the emotional need for revenge. This is the path to healing for broken spirits who have experience exploitation.

Yet, there is another side of exploitation the enemy can, and does, work within leaders. It is the danger of accepting the perks of the office…the rest of the chapter is about this problem…

Test #4: The Lure of Gain (Nehemiah 5:14-19)

People get exploited because of the basic GREED in human nature. Yet, it isn’t only something we encounter in OTHERS – it is something with which we must wrestle within as well….

The Privileges of Promotion (15)

The leader had an opportunity to live with four great benefits, in spite of the struggles of those around him.

Nehemiah 5:15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God.

• First, Nehemiah was entitled to tax those under his care, like the other governors. He was entitled to a forty shekel salary stipend. By law, he was allowed – but by conscience he couldn’t do it.

• Second, he was entitled to use the other barter taxes to live well – in bread and wine.

• Third, he was entitled to operate a collection system that allowed for his servants to force the people into submission, and offer him budgets for entertainment, etc.

• Fourth, he was allowed to personally elevate the status of those close to him – to serve his household.

A good leader may not take all that he is allowed to take – because it would present undue hardship on the people he or she leads. Yet, the temptation will be presented to take advantage of people – and that has to be monitored both within and without.

The Policy of the Promoted (14,16)

Nehemiah wasn’t simply self-justifying his practices in this journal – he was explaining what he believed Godly leadership was all about. Look again at his journal:

Nehemiah 5:14 Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance… 16 I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

• He said he did not take rightful salary, because he didn’t require it and thought it burdensome on the people.

• He claimed that he did not withdraw involvement in the work – but labored with the people.

• He stated that he did not take advantage of “perks”, at the expense of people (such as real estate, etc.).

• He made clear that he kept those about him in the work– not as lords, but as leaders!

As a leader, Nehemiah identified WITH the people, not ABOVE the people. He made one law for himself and his house as with them. Dangers lurk when leaders do not see themselves as PART of the work. Even in the work of the ministry, I want people to observe that I give my best to the tasks I am assigned to do – and that I am diligent in even the details. The better the living example, the better the student can see how the model of work should flesh out. If we lack discipline as leaders, we can expect even worse from followers – that comes with the stewardship of the leader’s life.

The Personality of the Promoted (17,18)

Notice how personal and personable Nehemiah was in his leadership. He wrote:

Nehemiah 5:17 Moreover, there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. 18 Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

• Good leaders are aggressively and deliberately generous people (5:17). I am continually amazed at how stingy some people are with their time, talent and treasure. Some of the most influential believers I have known make a regular practice of being generous in every area – and people love them for it.

• Good leaders are comfortable and hospitable (5:17). Awkward people don’t lead well. We need to recognize one of the great needs in leadership is not only character – but comfortable atmosphere. If a man or woman is awkward with people, they will lead poorly.

• Good leaders are careful stewards of what God entrusts to them – both in people and in goods. Notice he counted all that were served (5:18) and could account for all the wealth spent properly.

• Good leaders are sensitive to the needs of people (5:18). If the leader doesn’t understand how the people are feeling, he or she will make critical errors in assumption.

I think this is one of the problems of our day in America. People don’t trust the government and they don’t like the aggressive stance on social change that is being shoved on us. It makes us suspicious of every change in school curriculum or NSA search. We don’t know what they are up to, but we don’t really trust their agenda. When that happens, bad blood poisons good intentions. A good leader moves to make clear what he or she is doing, and why. They know the people they lead – and what is important to them. Yet, even if all that is true – a good leader MUST have ONE MORE ESSENTIAL COMPONENT… Trust in God. Good leaders depend on God. Look at the way the passage ends

The Prayer of the Promoted (19)

Nehemiah 5:19 Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

• He remembered the secret of his success is not found in him or his abilities.

• He recognized the object of his labor was “for this people”, not for personal fame or building a personal power base. God blesses unselfish labor.

The problem is this: leaders DO get perks. It is FUN to lead if that is what God called you to do. While that is true, it is also true that a leader can be tempted to take advantage of the perks and not serve diligently or steward wisely. Thomas Carlyle was right: “Adversity is hard on a man; but for every man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.”

We are physical beings that can be broken by another taking advantage – but we also have to admit we are sometimes tempted to take advantage ourselves.

Let me close this story of two tests by thanking God for the direction given in His Word on practical troubles…During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, “Thank you.” But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?” She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.” Like the contents in this package, the resources for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them. (Observation from A. Todd Coget, Sermon Central illustrations).

The Word provides the necessary means to navigate life well – but it takes the effort of one to open the package…

Did you ever really work hard on something and have to listen to biting criticism about the work you performed? Often the most severe critic is one who has put no time or effort into solving the problem you worked on, but they feel qualified to judge your attempt to solve the issue. You bit your lip, but inside it was painful to hear their caustic comments. You put your best effort forward, and you tried your best to accomplish something, and now you were having to endure it being picked apart by people who put virtually no effort into understanding how hard your accomplishment was, and how much it took to face the challenge in the first place.

Consider the challenge of a football game, and the millions of “self-qualified critics” across the USA today. Someone has described an NFL football team as “fifty-three twenty-five year old muscular and powerfully shaped bodies, led by fifteen middle aged assistant coaches and one fifty-something head coach – all being evaluated weekly by five million swollen and lethargic fans.” For some franchises, the opponent isn’t so much the guy who enters the field wearing the other jersey – his true opponent is in the grandstands and on the local radio talk shows of the city for which they ostensibly is playing the game.

It is undeniable: criticism is everywhere in the modern world. Politicians are either deafened to it, or they will find themselves disabled by it. We live in a time of “politics of personal destruction” where we get to criticize in the harshest term without a modicum of respect – those who are elected by us. Even worse, with the advent of the “mythical anonymity” of the internet, people offer words harsher than ever – believing they are somehow never going to be recognized in the crowd and delivered at lightning speed around the world.

Let me ask you something: How do you handle your critics? I don’t mean the people who mean to help you improve… I mean the mean-spirited, jealous, back-biters at work, or across the shop floor? Do you have in your life people who won’t face you with their disagreement, but they will gossip about you? God’s Word has some words for dealing with people who criticize and gossip – and this is the passage for you…

Key Principle: Opposition can be a point of discouragement, or a point for us to refocus and recommit to the Master and His purpose!

Let’s drop back into our story to “set the scene”:

• Nehemiah got a burden from God while serving in Babylon. The burden was about his people and their condition back in Jerusalem. That burden and the requests which followed it are recorded in chapter one of this ancient, thirteen chapter journal.

• By the second chapter of the journal, the plan was placed in front of the king, and provisions were made for the journey to rebuild walls and renew the hopes of the Jewish people in then broken Judah. Nehemiah took a team of men and embarked on the journey inspecting the damages and planning the work in Jerusalem. He was “on the clock” and couldn’t waste personal time – he had a job to do.

• Chapter three outlined the “people work” principles that we learned from reading the work report diary included in the journal.

• As chapter four opened, a series of “leadership tests” ensue that are covered in the center of the journal. This helps a Bible student recognize the PURPOSE for the narrative. This journal is ALL ABOUT the testing of one who would be a proper leader.

What better place to begin than to pick up the weak attempt from the end of chapter two. Do you recall the “insinuation” test against Nehemiah. It was so weak, we barely brushed into it – but it was a WARNING SHOT.

No sooner had Nehemiah gotten the people “on board” with the work that God laid on his heart in Nehemiah 2:17, the critics started their queries. Look at the record:

Nehemiah 2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

“So far so good”, you say… “The people seem to be following, and the work is about to ‘get off the ground’”. It was at that very point, the opposition stuck its head up out of the hole in which it lived…

Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

Nehemiah replied with poise, and without undue emotion. He projected well, and did not wobble in his answer:

Nehemiah 2:20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

I seem pretty hard on Sanballat and Tobias – right from the beginning. Why? Perhaps they were nice men, and they aren’t sure what was truly going on? Why be so hard?

The fact is that when forward progress begins on a project that was called for from Heaven – God’s work is in play. It may LOOK like a small group of people trying to organize a local church, or a handful of believers trying to organize a children’s Sunday School – it may not LOOK like a very important work according to human standards. The actual work is MASKED by its physical smallness – yet it is a work GOD has called, planned and burdened a man or woman to accomplish. It is the KING’S WORK. What is tremendously important for any fellowship of believers to ascertain in the beginning is this: “Is the proposal from a real Heavenly burden?” If it is, it must be handled with CARE. In that case it is God’s work, regardless of how small, or how trivial the work may appear. Remember, every GREAT WORK of God began in a small place, by a small person.

We also should expect opposition – because God’s opponent doesn’t sleep. We must get on the right side of the work, or we will be used to provide opposition instead of help. With a new work, we should seek clarification and explanation – but we should primarily be seeking prayerfully to understand the truth: “Is this a work order from Heaven?” That is the task of leaders to define. If it is deemed so, leaders must offer it provision and quickly stand at its defense in the place of attack – because the attack will come.

What form will the attack come in? How will we recognize it? That is the BULK of this journal’s purpose – to record the attacks and responses… and it began with criticism:

Test #1: Facing Unjust and Destructive Criticism (4:1-6)

Nehemiah 4:1 Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. 2 He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy [men] of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore [it] for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?” 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite [was] near him and he said, “Even what they are building– if a fox should jump on [it], he would break their stone wall down!” 4 Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders. 6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its [height], for the people had a mind to work.

The motivation of the critic was explored in the opening of the chapter (4:1). When a work for God gets underway, we should expect forward movement to be the stirring influence to get the opposition moving. Intimidation by criticism and sarcasm is often their first line of attack. It takes little to prepare and costs little if unsuccessful. It may, if not properly evaluated, slow or stop the progress – and that is the point of it. There are three details you should focus upon to understand this attack ploy:

• Sanballat HEARD about the wall…. He didn’t go and see it – that is an important detail.
• He was ANGERED by what he heard – it got under his skin emotionally, not rationally.
• He MOCKED what he heard about – what he said wasn’t based on any fact at all.

The critic is often driven by hearsay, and seldom has done careful research on the fullness of the thing they criticize. Don’t forget that. It is EASY to sound intelligent with sarcasm – but it covers a lack of knowledge in the area critiqued. In addition, the critic is often driven by an emotional stresser – not by the logical consideration of the facts. Trying to explain the facts will often tire you – but usually will not move them – because they didn’t hold their position because of the facts – they held them out of an emotional attachment to someone or something. The mocking is the sign that they don’t have serious issues to present. When someone uses sarcasm and comedy to make the point – they seek to overwhelm their opposition with stinging points that may lack foundation, but will seem substantial.

I have watched Jon Stewart do this countless times. He claims to be a comedian, but many Americans get a liberal translation of the news by watching his show. He uses foul language, is openly blasphemous, and does it all in the name of comedy. Yet, if you listen, he is an apologist for a very specific liberal agenda in modern America. He can be hilarious, but his comedy is a mask for a political and moral agenda. It has been very effective, and many would argue in support of him simply because he makes them laugh – even if they cannot see what he is doing.

Be careful about criticism without facts, offered for emotional reasons in sarcastic tones. You won’t find truth without proper examination and research. You may find comedy, but find yourself laughing along with those attacking the work set out by a Heavenly work order. How tragic the time when you meet the Master and recognize you supported His enemy against His own work – all the while claiming to be one of the Savior’s loyal servants!

Next, note the place of the critic: He did his boasting at a lodge meeting where those in attendance were already in agreement.

Finally, the text offers the logic of the critic: Sanballat was surrounded by other critics and ‘PILED ON’ one question after another. He asked five questions in front of a group that had NO ANSWERS:

1. What are these feeble Jews doing?
2. Are they going to restore [it] for themselves?
3. Can they offer sacrifices?
4. Can they finish in a day?
5. Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”

Sanballat used five strategic questions that are classic attacks – we must not be ignorant of any of them:

• Character assassination (ad hominem): What are these feeble Jews doing? Ignoring the issue and attacking the people involved is another common strategy (i.e. Can weak Jews build a strong wall?). This attack seeks to minimize the WORK by using ad hominem attack – if you cannot speak about the IDEA, speak about the weakness of the PERSON offering the idea.

• Scramble attack: Are they going to restore [it] for themselves? Do you remember “pig pen” in the Peanuts character roster? Things were never clear around him. The scramble attack is an attempt to make what is painfully clear somehow unclear – as though it cloaks some vast agenda. What the Jews were doing was building a wall. They were not arming and army against the king. They were not making some alternative taxation system to deprive the crown of its revenues. They were not doing anything complex. They were building a wall, plain and simple. Yet, an effective attack strategy seems to be to employ the question as though the facts are not plain – to suggest a deeper agenda where there may be none. It is done in questions, not conclusions – so the attacker cannot be “tagged” with an actual accusation.

• Taunting of values: Can they offer sacrifices? This attack attempts to draw the focus from success (i.e. Can you pray the wall into place?), to flanking it with the obvious comedy of the opponents value system. An example: “What do these pro-lifers want, more kids for their Sunday School?” By moving the discussion to something that reveals a different underlying value system, the opponent has the opportunity to poke fun at the foundational values without penalty – and it distracts the hearers from recognizing the argument has nothing to do with the wall at all. It has to do with the fact that Sanballat doesn’t believe in the value of Temple sacrifice to Yahweh.

• Poisoning the Well: Sanballat asked: Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones? This argument is the planting of doubts in “apparent progress” (Your stones are not good enough) that distracts from the truth – it doesn’t have to be FAST nor EASY to be APPROPRIATE. If the opponent can distract people with the complexity of the problem, he can manage to draw energy from the project in spite of the fact that it may be totally legitimate.

• Sarcastic redirection: Tobiah the Ammonite joined into the sarcastic attack and offered yet another form of distraction. He said: “Even what they are building– if a fox should jump on [it], he would break their stone wall down!” When all else fails simply use sound bites and comical absurdities! (i.e. “if a fox jumps up”).

Note that the men HADN’T SEEN THE WALL. They didn’t do an inspection. They weren’t qualified in architecture, and probably had little background building amongst themselves… what they had was a STRONG OPINION driven by an underlying set of values and emotions. God’s people have to be able to pick out REAL CONCERN from fluffy distracting opposition.

The point of the passage isn’t just to examine the method of attack, however, it is to offer a leadership defense in the attack. How did God’s chosen leader handle the distracting criticism? The record is found in Nehemiah 4:4-6:

Nehemiah 4:4 Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders. 6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its [height], for the people had a mind to work.

First, we recognize the leader didn’t answer the MEN, he turned the frustration to prayer. He was open before God concerning the opposition (4:4,5). Criticism should first be met with honest prayer! Don’t act like what hurts you DOESN’T – take the hurt to God. You are not wrong for POURING OUT FRUSTRATION on your knees. You can tell God ANYTHING, because He already knows what is in your heart. Tell Him if you want to punch them in the nose or flatten their white-walled tires. He will correct your heart, but I urge you NOT TO HIDE. Intimacy with God is about honesty before God. Prettying up prayer because you think “He cannot handle the truth” inside you is both inaccurate and ineffective. Look at the details of the prayer of the leader:

• First, he asked God to hear the thing that hurt the people.
• Second, he asked God to turn their criticism and sarcasm on them, and make them vulnerable to attack, while he closed the breaches of the wall for his own people.
• Third, he asked God not to let them get away with what they were doing – but make them pay for the pain they caused.
• Fourth, he acknowledged the effect of the attack (“we feel despised” 4a, “they have demoralized” 5b).
• Fifth, he kept the people working. The prayer wasn’t INSTEAD of the work – it was DURING the work.

If the point of God sending Nehemiah to Jerusalem was to GET THE WORK DONE, he needed to stay at the work, no matter what temptation could be presented to cease it. Don’t forget the end of the prayer… it had a positive statement: “the people had a mind to work.” It is easy to overlook the praise the leader picked out at the end. In the end, the work got done, regardless of how the leader and the people felt about it.

I cannot say it more clearly: God’s people must push PAST their emotions and stick to the job God called them to do. “I don’t feel like it is making a difference” is something that you can take to the Lord in prayer, but not a reason to stop working on what God told you to do. Most of us feel that way at sometime in the project God has assigned for us – but feelings are not the basis of our work – God’s call is!

Nehemiah and his people faced the distraction of criticism that somehow reached the ears of the people of Jerusalem. They kept working… but the attacks had just begun. External attacks are not nearly as effective as INTERNAL attacks of the enemy on the troops – and gossip is the next way the enemy attacked. He lobbed a gossip grenade into the command center of Jerusalem’s “God Squad” – people attempting great things from God who were assigned by Heavenly burden…

Test #2: Facing Discouraging Winds of Gossip (4:7-23)

Gossip is not a physical attack, but rather the “conspiring words” (v.8) and the “rumors” (v. 11) that are designed to distract, discourage and destroy the work of God. It isn’t about KILLING, it is about STOPPING:

Nehemiah 4:7 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, [and] that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. 8 All of them conspired together to come [and] fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. 9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. 10 Thus in Judah it was said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.” 11 Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” 13 then I stationed [men] in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows. 14 When I saw [their fear], I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains [were] behind the whole house of Judah. 17 Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took [their] load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. 18 As for the builders, each [wore] his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter [stood] near me. 19 I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. 20 “At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” 21 So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” 23 So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each [took] his weapon [even to] the water.

None of God’s Word is “extra” – and these are not dead words of a fight long ago. They are an example, a pattern to help us discern how the opponent of God foments in the spiritual world to keep up the fire of the opposition in the physical world. With that in mind, look closely at the method of attack in gossip and the rumor mill – it is not unique to Nehemiah’s time. Look at the attack of “words” spread among God’s people:

How Discouraging Gossip derails a project:

If you take apart the text, there are four attack points for gossip and intimidating speech that can cause the work to stop.

• First, there is the temptation to succumb to a focus on the intimidation rather than the project at hand. 8 All of them conspired together to come [and] fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. Just the knowledge that someone is planning an attack – or claims to be planning an attack – is distracting. We can focus on the threat (and to some extent the leaders are forced to do so), or we can keep working while those in the leadership face the need for defense. It is the DISTRACTION the words were intended for. This wasn’t an attack – it was the RUMOR of an attack. Preparation for the real problem is even distracted by panic over the perceived possibilities. Keeping focus on the work and its protection is not the same and spreading panic.

• Second, there was an emerging focus on our weakness and the “undone” part of the project. “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.” When that came up, don’t you wonder why no one thought about this ONE SIMPLE TRUTH? There is LESS to do now than when we started, and NOW we are realizing the size of the job? Here is the truth: they job didn’t grow, the energy was being sapped by panic and threat. A half-finished wall left them in greater peril, but it was easier to panic than keep working on the wall. Leaders have to sniff this out and keep people re-directed.

• Third, there was too much attention and credit given to unseen enemies. Look at verse 11 Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” Can you see the slide into fear of failure? We are going to get killed, and won’t even know it is about to happen. The conspiracy of vast unseen strength is always a winner when used by the opponent of God. He SEEMS so powerful, and evil seems so strong. How could good have survived so long in its face if it were half as powerful as it claimed?

• Finally, the people of God are susceptible to the attack point of “ganging” by people who never believed in the work to begin with. 12 When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times… Can you hear the steady drum beat of the detractors. Ten times they kept saying it.

Remember this: God’s enemy won’t win in the end. If God called you to do something, better to die trying than defect. At the end of this life, He won’t forget faithfulness. He won’t overlook honesty. He won’t neglect the one abused for His name and His call. Don’t get lost in the words of the detractors – follow God’s Word for your life. Let the others look like they are winning. They may gain this whole world – but it will be small consolation in the next world.

How Discouraging Gossip is defeated:

If I am to take a stand in what God called me to do, how can I defeat the power gossip has over me and those I lead? The text offered four answers in Nehemiah’s example:

• First, I should refocus myself, and those on my team in the project, on the Divine perspective through prayers of supplication (4:9) and thanksgiving (4:15).

Keep a sharp eye on how Nehemiah responded. 4:9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Nehemiah’s work was quickly under the threat of physical attack by outsiders. The men building the wall were facing the threat of assault by a stealth army. As a leader, he acted in defense and included with it a short and sincere prayer. The Heavenly petition wasn’t INSTEAD of action, but was PART of the action. That prayer had an added effect. When the enemy was thwarted, the leader made clear it was not simply because of the physical preparation – but the spiritual one as well. He said: ‘When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.’ Prayer and work together acknowledge the truth that two worlds are in conflict– not just one. We cannot reduce a battle of two worlds to a battle in the flesh alone, and expect to gain victories. God’s people must see the world for ALL it is – a reflection of a spiritual battle.

• Second, we must continue to focus on the task at hand and pull the team together in spite of the temptation to panic. The text continued 4:13 then I stationed [men] in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows. Instead of STOPPING the project, they added security to keep it going.

• Third, we must recall the Divine purpose and reestablish the power of God in the project (4:14). The problem didn’t change God’s original call. 14 When I saw [their fear], I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.” Either God told them to build it, or He didn’t. If He did, then any departure from that would have been disobedience.

• Fourth, they needed to define the rallying time and point (4:19-20) keeping the “hard targets” in front, while making sure people knew the team wasn’t just WHAT THEY COULD SEE! He said: 20 “At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Nehemiah didn’t get where he was alone. God got him in that place. God stirred him. God pushed him to act. God gave him favor with the king. God got him to Jerusalem safely. Now God was going to see him through to the end… or he would die trying. That is what God was looking for. Nehemiah got the lesson:

Opposition can be a point of discouragement, or a point for us to refocus and recommit to the Master and His purpose!

Kyle Idleman wrote the book, Not a Fan. It is a stirring call to commitment, written to a generation that may not have grasped the truth of the Gospel message. He wrote:

So in case some left it out or forgot to mention it when they explained what it meant to be a Christian, let me be clear: There is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender. There is no life without death. There is no believing without committing. Kyle Idleman, “Not a Fan” (p. 35)

I would simply add these words: “Even when the enemy attempts to distract you – complete the mission that only commitment can empower.”

Today, I want to walk through a passage with you that explains how people work together to form an effective team and accomplish something God told them to do. It is a tale of leadership, but it is more – it is a tale about living together, sharing the planet, and learning to play well with one another in the sandbox of life. Any work that will endure will need more than one mind, one set of hands, one brain. It will require a team…I believe that. Not only that, but any group that is going to accomplish great things will need to have some understanding of what life is all about. To introduce our story from Nehemiah 3, I will begin with a publicly lauded instructor of leaders of our day…

John Maxwell is a sort of “go to guru” on leadership in Christian circles. He has made a living for many years sharing principles of management, leadership and development. As we look into Nehemiah, our Spirit directed ancient journal of a leader, I thought sharing this anecdote about the “meaning of life” from John would be appropriate, to help you smile for a few moments. At a recent meeting, John shared:

“I turned sixty-five this year and my dad just turned 91. With this reflective time, I want to offer something that explains life a little better. We all ask questions about life, and how we fit in, and what our purpose is…Here is my explanation…”

“On the first day, God created the dog. God said: “Sit all day at the door of your house and bark at anybody that comes by. I will give you a lifespan of twenty years.” The dog replied: “That is too long to be barking! Give me ten years and I will give you back ten of those years!” and God agreed.

On the second day, God created a monkey. God said: “Entertain people, do monkey tricks. I will give you a twenty year lifespan.” The monkey replied: “How boring! I am to do monkey tricks for twenty years? The dog gave you back ten years, so I think I would like to use only ten years, and give you back the other ten.” God agreed.

On the third day God created a cow. He said: “You must go out in the field, stand in the hot sun, bear calves and give milk to help the farmer… I am going to give you a lifespan of sixty years.” The cow, picking up on the dog and the monkey, said to the Lord: “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years… let me have twenty, and I will give you back the other forty.” God agreed.

On the fourth day, God created man. He said: “You are to eat, sleep, play, marry, and enjoy your life. I will give you twenty years!” The man replied: “What? Only twenty years? I will tell you what…I will take the ten years the dog gave you back, and the ten years the monkey gave you back and the forty years the cow gave you back… that makes eighty years. The Lord said, “Ok, ok… you’ve got a deal!”

That, my friends, is why the first twenty years of our lives, we eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy our lives. For the next forty years we stand in the sun, and support the family around us. The next ten years, we grab the grandchildren and do monkey tricks to make them laugh, and the last ten years we sit on the front porch of our homes and bark at everyone that goes by!

That is the explanation of life.

I laughed at John’s explanation when I heard it. I laughed, not only because it was humorous, but because it contained some truth… and that is why I am deliberately focusing on positive subjects in a crowd like ours in days like ours. I sometimes fear that we as modern Christians collectively bark too much and accomplish too little of what God told us to do.

As we move from the frivolous to the foundational truth of life – the Word of God, I want to make an observation. In recent years, the constant flow of articles and books on the fascinating subject of leading and managing people seems to have grown exponentially. Yet, I came to a conclusion about many of the books I read – and maybe some of you have as well. Over the years of reading it seems like many people’s “insights” were actually little more than re-statements of earlier writings. In the area of management and leadership, Solomon’s warnings from Ecclesiastes about “nothing being new under the sun” certainly seem to apply.

Are there good Biblical texts about building the rabble you work with into a team of high performers? Sure there are. Today we are treated to one – but it will take you a few minutes of adjustment to see it because of the “work log” nature of the text.

We have heard it over and over…We can all readily understand that high performing companies have high performance teams – and there is no such thing as random organization when it comes to leading people. We know that the best teams start with the sincere agreement to a core set of principles. Because that is true, it is essential that the vision, the values and the mission of any team must be communicated clearly and team members must “buy in” to become an effective part of the team. We know that leaders will emerge on a team, but leadership is a skill that must be honed. We know that work teams are about collaboration, and productive collaboration is ultimately about effective communication. These are common principles that most any manager has been schooled to recognize and work through.

In more recent days, we have learned that the best teams are those who know how to recover from trouble. Even on the best teams, people make mistakes. One crucial need is to have a process for identifying, analyzing and reducing errors. Another is the ability to focus on the solution, not the blame. When people learn to do these two things well, the team advances from defeat much more quickly. Nothing slows recovery more than a team caught up pointing fingers instead of fixing problems.

Though all these insights are readily available, you may have missed some important truths found in the pages of ancient Scripture on leadership, teamwork and accomplishing a God-given, Spirit-directed task… God hasn’t been silent on team building and people work – since His work IS people work! Consider this principle for the work log of Nehemiah 3:

Key Principle: The key to progress is consistently doing the right things the right way. The definition of “right way” is explained in the Words of the Creator.

Looking back: Principles of Preparation

Since some may not have been following our lessons on Nehemiah, let’s quickly note that we have been moving through his journal for a few lessons, and have discovered Nehemiah to be both sensitive and shrewd. We discovered in previous lessons that:

1. A ministry project prescribed by God often begins with a burden in the heart of a man or woman of God – a deep, throbbing kind of urging within that presses action without. (Nehemiah 1).
2. We recognized that faith is NOT a synonym for disorder or substitute for careful planning – and that sustainable ministry has to be prayerfully and carefully planned, as well as artfully presented (Nehemiah 2).
3. We also noted that in any endeavor of the work of God, opposition should be expected (Nehemiah 2:19). It isn’t strange – it is normal to fight to succeed for God in a fallen world.

As we open the work log of the journal, I want you to recognize as we read the passage together, the close detail and familiarity Nehemiah had with each leader, and each team member. The list is FULL of names. Why do I point this out? Because as Howard Hendricks once said, “You can impress people from a distance, but you can really impact them up close.” Real ministry, impacting and life changing ministry isn’t about buildings, budgets and bands… it is ALWAYS about people. There is no greater way to impact them than in intentionally established and carefully maintained relationships.

Read through the record of the work on the wall in Nehemiah 3…If you aren’t familiar with Hebrew names, this may be one of the longest readings of your life! Yet, if you take the time, you will find in the journal some ancient and inspired..

“Laws of TEAM BUILDING”

First, it is essential that leadership invest FIRST before people join. In the case of the work of God, leadership starts with God’s ordained leaders.

Nehemiah 3:1 Then ELYASHIV the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors. They consecrated the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of CHANANAIL.

In the detail of the verse is the teaching, and this verse is RICH! Observe some truths that ooze out of the words of Nehemiah 3:1:

• The first thing we notice that “sweat” and “godliness” go hand in hand! Work should begin with the godly leadership that is willing to work hard to accomplish what God has called the team to do (3:1a). They are not the whole team – but they are PART of the team. They are not ABOVE the team. That doesn’t mean they will always be found doing the wall work. These guys were PRIESTS – so they built because that was what the team was doing, and then they went back to being priests.

• Beyond the fact that God’s call entails work – we should also remember that work is part of worship! The initial focus of the wall work was directed at the place adjacent to the Temple. The intention was to begin with what kept the vital relationship with God open (3:1b; cp. “sheep gate” adjacent to Temple area). Here is the point: if people are working well and accomplishing much, but aren’t growing in their attachment and daily dependence on God – ministry isn’t happening the way God intended.

Churches can swell in numbers, but the size only matters if people are in the Word and on their knees – growing in dependence and surrender before our Awesome God. Don’t get too impressed by big meetings. Both Matthew and Mark remind us that Jesus repeated Isaiah’s words of old: “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” It is painfully clear that God has never been impressed with “hearts astray in rooms a-full”. Attendance is the BEGINNING of being challenged and drawn to God – not the end goal of the ministry. We may be too easily impressed with the external statistics, and too little concerned with carefully looking for the marks of inner spiritual growth. An effective team focuses on reproduction, not simply of bodies, but hearts on fire for God’s communicated mission held in their hands. The Temple may have been full the day the elderly widow quietly offered her nearly worthless coin, but she may have been one of only a handful truly worshiping.

• Take a moment and notice the second part of verse one: 3:1b “they consecrated it and hung its doors.” That isn’t an idle phrase. They KNEW the work they did was HOLY. They knew it needed to be especially, deliberately and Biblically set aside for God’s purposes alone.

I am concerned sometimes with the familiarity we all have in doing God’s work. It’s just “our kids” and “our little buildings” – and we forget the magnificent God we are serving, and the wonder of the task to which we were assigned!

The children of this work are the heritage of the Lord for the future of our nation. The students God brings to this place, whether local high school age youth invited by a friend, or college students that give a year to study God’s Word at our Bible Institute – they are a holy stewardship of the Lord. The hurting woman in the hospital is a precious soul entrusted to our flock. The widow or widower who aches from loss is our holy charge. I will keep saying it as long as I have voice – ministry is a holy thing. People are forever, and we cannot neglect them – nor are you to feel that you have hired “us” to do that for the body – that isn’t Biblical. We are to equip the saints TO DO THE WORK OF MINISTRY.

We should see all our work as part of what God is doing through us! The work was seen immediately as part of something God was doing, not simply a good idea of a neat leader! We demean the work of God when we see it only in human terms. It was a WALL and GATES – but it was a passageway to worship and a protection to the people of God.

• A third observation: They did the most important thing first! The work began on the “most vulnerable part” of the project (3:1b; “northern wall”) and the most critical to get done well. 3:1b “They consecrated the wall to the Tower of the Hundred [and] the Tower of Hananel.” Jerusalem is most vulnerable on the northern side, and that is exactly where they began.

Let me ask you something: What is the most important thing that we should be focusing on in today’s work of God? If you have spent any amount of time with me, you know my answer – it is training the next generation to face the tsunami of paganism coming to a state near you. Is that YOUR value? Maybe God has a different burden on your heart that our work needs to hear about. Fall before the Lord and ask Him for your burden – then let us know what God is telling you to do. Don’t ask US to do it for you. Nehemiah planned the journey and took the expedition on at great personal sacrifice – and that is what I am telling you a real burden properly grasped will look like in your life.

After leaders have invested and acknowledge the holy work and call of God, what else should mark a team accomplishing the work of God?

Second, the people of God must be led by God to get on board and DO the work.

Look at the next few verses:

2 Next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them ZAKKUR the son of Imri built. 3 Now the sons of HASENA-AH built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. 4 Next to them MRAYMOT the son of ORYAH the son of HAKOTZ made repairs. And next to him Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of M’SHAYZABAIL made repairs. And next to him TZADOK the son of Ba’ana also made repairs. 5 Moreover, next to him the Tekoites made repairs…

Did you notice some recurring phrases? You saw the words “next to them” over and over. You also saw the names of people – but in two cases you observe the names of OTHER TOWNS in Judah – Jericho in the Judean Wilderness east of Jerusalem, and Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem in the Judean Wilderness. Why mention these?

• First, we have to remember that having a burden is the beginning of a ministry, but building a TEAM is a vital prerequisite to get that ministry rolling. We have to get the team on board to distribute the work! Those who understood the need to validate the project as God’s holy purpose got busy first! (cp. “Men of Jericho” in 3:2). 2 Next to him the men of Jericho built…

• Second, there is a detail in all that “next to them was so and so” writing. We know where many of the places they were building can be located archaeologically today. There is stone and mortar evidence of this story that is irrefutable. I have worked on that wall, sat on that wall, and cleaned an ancient floor of a home in the shadow of that wall in my few brief brushes with archaeological study. Here is what I know: NOT EVERYONE GOT THE SAME SIZE PROJECT. In fact, the Tekoites were given work in verse 4, but again in verse 27! They worked double duty!! The teams were given different distances to cover. We aren’t completely sure HOW the locations were chosen, but we are certain that Nehemiah had a hand in the selection and oversight – which is obvious from the passage we are reading.

Effective team work necessitates people getting over the unfairness that workloads are NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED! Some will always carry inordinate loads of work (3:2b-4), and it is right that they be specifically recognized for doing so! Some got more prominent towers to build, while others walled the edges of the public latrines. I don’t think I have to make a point about how vital the latrines were to the society – but it is worth recalling that many duties of the work are not glamorous. If you are a very public leader that cannot take time to join a private prayer circle of some kind, you may need to re-think why you do what you do. Just take a moment and really let the Spirit challenge your motives, as I have to do the same.

Third, it is essential to recall that not everyone will be convinced of the cause and willing to “pull their own weight” – though later they will want to full benefits the work creates.

Don’t miss the little “nugget” in the end of verse five: 5b “…but their nobles did not support the work of their masters. The truth is that some people think they are too good to follow leaders – and they miss the blessing of God for their labors. Forever settled in Heaven is this – the eternal Word of the Immortal God – concerning a small handful of stiff-necked Tekoite nobles who couldn’t get on board.

Why do you suppose those men didn’t join in the work? All you need to do is read the record slowly to feel what Nehemiah is trying to say. They were NOBLES and what they couldn’t do was SUPPORT THE WORK OF THEIR MASTERS. Can you see the attitude dripping from the words? If you have ever worked with people like these NOBLES, you know exactly what he meant. They were too good to do what they were told – and they shall ever be remembered thus.

I am in many places where leaders are trained, and I respect a great many leaders. I don’t respect contentious men, and I don’t think they lead well. We need to be men of peace, patience and purpose. Unfortunately, I get tired when I don’t manage myself well, and then I lose my peace, followed by my patience, and finally I can’t recall my real purpose. It is essential that we work as a team to protect one another from going too far without remembering our own frailty.

Let me say one other thing about NOBLES. When the work is done, they will feel equal ownership, even if they didn’t DO the work to get the wall in place. Get over justice, if you want to lead them. God will teach them through life lessons that you may not see. Rest in that, and don’t feel you need to fix people who aren’t asking you to try.

Fourth, the best team leaders can match causes to build coalitions.

Look at the next part of Nehemiah 3:6 YEHOIADA the son of PASAYACH and Meshullam the son of BESODYAH repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. 7 Next to them MELATYA the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, also made repairs for the official seat of the governor of the province beyond the River.

• Some work can be done in conjunction with others and their objectives without buying into all of their ideas. Did you notice that men from Gibeon and Mizpah, suburbs of Jerusalem, worked on repairs that ALSO related to a governor’s palace from the other side of the Jordan River? These men worked on the wall but had another objective beside the one that Nehemiah brought. They saw themselves as working for more than just one end.

As a history buff, I could point to General Robert E. Lee, and recall with you how he kept the army of Northern Virginia together with the armies of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the other confederate states. It was no easy job building a confederation – but it can be tremendously effective.

If you walk into a local restaurant and see me sitting with a Catholic priest working – it is probably about the pro-life cause that we both support. I don’t have to agree with everything in someone’s life to work on a limited agenda with them for a solidly Biblical purpose. I am not joining their church, nor they mine – but we agree on life and its preservation – so we can work together. This is what Nehemiah was doing collaborating with Gibeonites and Mizpahites.

Fifth, people who have gotten used to the old way things were will be newly inspired when things start happening!

Look for a moment at the wording of Nehemiah 3:9 “Next to them Rephaiah the son of CHUR, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs.” Tucked into the middle of the list was Rephaiah, son of Hur (whose name incidentally is “Ben Hur” for old movie fans). Look at his old job. He has been the official of the half district of Jerusalem. Barring any evidence that he was new to the post, I suspect he was on the job when Nehemiah arrived, and he had let the tumbled walls and humbled streets become normal in his eyes. Nehemiah got the people whipped up, the supplies rolling out – and old Rephaiah saw Jerusalem with NEW POTENTIAL.

Good leadership allows people to feel the future is something to look forward to – and that the mission ahead is both important and attainable. Rephaiah settled for a period in his life – and then he saw things could be different. People like him don’t believe until they see – but later they can be avid fans and strong helpers.

Sixth, the team is made up of the people who SHOW UP and WORK, not the people who think they should have a voice in everything because they have knowledge in that area.

Now go back to verse eight, and continue to verses ten through thirteen. Look at the list of people that came to help and their occupations:

Nehemiah 3:8 Next to him Uzziel the son of CHARCHAYAH of the goldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. …10 Next to them YEDAYAH the son of CHARUMAF made repairs opposite his house. And next to him CHATTUSH the son of CHASHABNIYAH made repairs. 11 MALKIYA the son of CHARIM and CHASHUV the son of PACHAT-MOAV repaired another section and the Tower of Furnaces. 12 Next to him ShallOOm the son of HALOCHESH, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters. 13 CHANUN and the inhabitants of ZANOACH repaired the Valley Gate. They built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the Refuse Gate.

• The work is done by those who “show up”! It shouldn’t matter what “class of people” they are; all worked – and followed the directions given! They included priests, goldsmiths and perfumers district rulers and daughters (12) If you keep reading, you will catch a glimpse of some Levites (17) and even some shop keepers (32).

Do you think it mattered that perfumers didn’t know how to build walls, and goldsmiths weren’t particularly good at architecture? Not really. There were people to lead, instruct and check – as in every good team.

We don’t have time to look at everything this great passage on leadership offers. I CAN say a few quick sentences that may help for the passage…

Seventh, not everyone gets to build the glamorous parts of the work.

In verse 14 I see someone got the REFUSE GATE called today DUNG GATE. What does that tell you? some people work on the parts that are more pungent – because some of the most essential parts aren’t the pretty ones.

Eighth, we can never assume that people are working for the right reason.

Look carefully into verse 10 and verse 23. I spotted a few guys who only repaired the part next to their own house. What does that tell you? Don’t assume that because someone does a great deal, they are doing for the right reasons. Some work for personal benefit – but God uses them! (3:10,23).

Finally, let me end on a positive note… in our principles.

Ninth, count on God to supply some people who do it with such fervency that your heart is stirred!

Look at Nehemiah 3:20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of ELYAHSIV the high priest.

Baruch means BLESSING- and the guy lived up to his name. He didn’t just WORK, he WORKED ZEALOUSLY. The Hebrew term khaw-raw’ is normally “with heat or great anger” – but in this case it meant “furiously” in all the best meanings of the word. The guy was a force of nature, a stoneworker on fire for God. They bless me whenever I see them.

I started this lesson with words of John Maxwell on leadership to make you smile. Let me finish with a concept of that same man as I close – not to make the lesson about him, but to help us apply the text about team building. John talks about a “law of five” in some of his works. Simply, the law of five is this: If you want to cut a tree down in your yard, and you get an axe and hit that tree five times every day, what will eventually happen? The tree will fall. The bigger the tree, the longer it will take you to fell it – but it will come down. Now take the lesson. Whatever goal God has put within you to accomplish – take an axe to that tree in daily, consistent, not exhaustive but powerful swings. Chop at it. Our goal is to build a team. Nehemiah’s was to secure a city and worship center and get home on time. It won’t happen quickly, but here is what I KNOW WILL HAPPEN. If we consistently, patiently, diligently chop away – five times each day – a team will be built. A ministry WILL be established. Lives WILL be changed. How can I be sure?

Because, the key to progress is consistently doing the right things the right way, and the definition of “right way” is explained in the Words of the Creator’s Holy Word.