Text: Nehemiah 2:9-20, Title: Leadership Essentials, Date/Place: NRBC, 9/9/07, PM
A. Opening illustration: Read the quotes about leadership on p. 27-28 of Sanders’ Spiritual Leadership down through Truman’s quote.
B. Background to passage: Four months after this intense burden for the kingdom and for Jerusalem, and after his presentation of that burden to Artexerxes, Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem bearing the letters that the king issued him. When he gets there he assumes command and gets his vision started with unusual prowess. In this he gives us several marks of godly leadership. Within a church, we tend to set the leadership standard at a certain level in our minds, and even when the leaders change, the standard doesn’t. We tend to get into ruts with expectations about ministry and discipleship. And since we have kinda entered a New Day at New River, my hope is that the leaders, and everybody catches the vision, adopts the vision, and pursues the vision. And that we can break the molds and the maintain the status quo mentality. So, my prayer tonight is whether you lead the prayer or social activities in your Sunday School class, or whether you are a ministry head, or deacon, or simply lead your family, you will take to heart the example Nehemiah sets.
C. Main thought: in the text tonight, we will see how a godly leader begins to achieve his God-inspired vision.
A. Assessed the Situation (v. 11-16)
1. What Nehemiah did was not as interesting and what he didn’t do. There was no pomp or triumphal entry, no public announcements, no royal delegation, no ball. In fact, for three days he didn’t do anything, or at least anything public. During these three days Nehemiah was doing some important things. I think Nehemiah was assessing the people. Remember the work had been stopped 13 years earlier, and people were probably discouraged, tired, and pessimistic. So, wisely Nehemiah says that he didn’t tell anyone about the vision that God had laid upon him. He just listened, talked, and tried to figure out who the key people in this project would be. Then it was time for his midnight ride with a few trusted men. On a moonlit night he set out to view the walls and the ruins for himself. The word used here was one used of a physician inspecting a wound with great care. No doubt he saw the trash and rubble that had built up there. And at that point, he surely began to formulate a plan based on the condition of the walls, the condition of the people, and the resources that he had available to him. He needed to formulate a plan that was conceivable, inspiring, and achievable.
2. Pro 24:3, Matt 10:16, Pro 20:18,
3. Illustration: “to get where you are going, you must know where you are.” NAMB gave us an hour long interview, then a four hour assessment after a bunch of written material. Bill McCartney retired as the head coach of the Colorado football team several years ago. His reason for retirement was not because he was unsuccessful as a coach. His teams had won the national championship. They had been in the top 10 many times. McCartney said that he was retiring because he wanted to reevaluate his priorities. He said, “I’m leaving coaching, & I’m going to take a whole year to re-evaluate my priorities. Is God first? Is my family second? Is my work third?” And when that year was over, Bill McCartney had dedicated his life & talents to Christ, & threw his efforts into founding the great men’s renewal gatherings that we know today as “Promise Keepers.”
4. A proper assessment of your ministry, your job, your family is necessary before you can begin to formulate a plan to get to where God is leading you. Sometimes we become blind to what is really there. So it is helpful as a leader to seek outside help in discerning problems, goals, and issues. However if you are a leaders, you cannot delegate the task of assessment; get help, but consider it your responsibility. You must also assess the status of your people around you. Are they discouraged, poised, prepared, apathetic, committed, spiritual, etc.? We should make a habit, at least periodically, of taking midnight rides of our ministries, our lives, our families, our jobs? Each new season of ministry or life should begin with some evaluation and assessment. When you are assessing, pray that God will give you openness in your spiritual eyes to see the things that you pass by everyday. Pray that God will help us get unused to the dark. Ask God to help you see where your life or the class you teach could be going, and help you with the proper planning of how to get there.
B. Rallied the Troops (v. 17-18)
1. Already known to be a man of excellent timing, Nehemiah chose his day to share with the people of Jerusalem what God had laid upon his heart, and convince them to join him. He did several things here that are essential in rallying the troops. First he appealed to their sense of dignity by speaking about the distress of the city. He was probably linking it in their minds to the glory of God and the glory that Jerusalem was supposed to reflect of Him. Second he again identified with the people by saying we and us. Even though he had only been there three days, he was their brother and fellow burden bearer. Next he was open and honest about the condition of the walls and gates; trying to open their eyes to what they were living in and content with. And he challenged the people to commit to action. And finally he assured them that God’s hand was in it.
2. Illustration: In an old Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demanded that her brother Linus change TV channels and then threatened him with her fist if he didn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asked Linus. "These five fingers," said Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" sighed Linus. Turning away, he looked at his fingers and said, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?" The experiment began with nine teen-agers voting for the wrong line. The stooge would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip his hand up with the group. The instructions were repeated and the next card was raised. Tell the story about the night shift and the day shift’s competition at the saw mill, after their challenge by Charles Schwab.
3. If you want to rally the troops in your family or class, you should appeal to their sense of calling to glorify Christ. Aim for the highest motivation—which is always the glory of Christ. Always include yourself in your admonitions so that you don’t sound self-righteous. This creates a team atmosphere. Always use “we, we, and us” instead of “you, you, and you all.” It is difficult to be frank with others about their problems, but we must if we are going to motivate them to step up to the plate. If people always think everything is rosy, or only a little bit off, they will never must up the effort to begin to change. Pray that God would open blinded eyes that they might see in reality. Then challenge people to action. Give them a plan for fulfilling the desire for better that you have just helped create. If people are really believers, and they are convinced that God is in something, they will go for it.
C. Prepared for Opposition (v. 9-10, 19-20)
1. There will be much more instruction about opposition later in the book of Nehemiah where he confronts it specifically. But for now suffice it to say that as a good leader, he prepared himself and the people for upcoming obstacles. These two men were probably Jewish proselytes that had an interest in keeping Jerusalem in ruins, because of the temple in Samaria. And when they began to talk a little trash. Nehemiah gave one answer to quell the apprehension that this would have caused. Remember these were probably the same people who had stopped the rebuilding efforts earlier with similar rumors. He shows four significant things in his response. He gave a God-oriented response, keeping faith near the center of the debate. He maintained a servant’s heart, reminding everyone whose business they were doing. He kept their focus on the work that was being done. And he kept their perspective right about who these people were—superficial false believers being used of Satan.
2. Pro 27:12, Eph 5:15, Josh 1:8-9,
3. Illustration: the membership class challenges potential members to commit to a high standard. "The breakfast of champions is not cereal, its the opposition."
4. We must be prepared for adversity, and as good leaders we will prepare others for adversity. The best thing you can do for anyone is to keep them focused on Jesus Christ. But especially for a team, a ministry, a class, keeping them focused on Jesus is the highest priority. After that we must as leaders maintain a servant’s heart, so that people are comfortable with. God resists the proud, and if we want His hand to be upon us, we will work toward a servant mentality of humility. We must also constantly remind those on our team of the goal that we are working toward. Distractions in our lives are constantly pulling us away, vying for our attention, getting us sidetracked, and so we must keep their eyes on the prize. One of the ways we do this is by biblical preaching of an all-sufficient Christ! Keep the perspective toward opposition biblical. Remind them that Satan and all of his lackeys are nothing without the permission of God to do anything. But they are sent to harm, so we must be prepared and alert against their tactics.
A. Closing illustration: read the last quote from the before mentioned book p. 28 about the meeting of the Chinese mission leaders and their discussion of the qualifications for leadership.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
