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Remember last week we saw how there were two kinds of enemies who were coming against the remnant. There was an outside enemy and an inside enemy. One rule of combat is that you have to deal with the most imminent threat first. In other words, you have to deal with the closest enemy first. Whatever is going to kill you first is what you have to worry about first. So, it’s interesting to me the order that Nehemiah dealt with the enemies. Back up in verses 7-9, he pointed out the fact that they had some outside enemies. He pointed them out, but all that he did to deal with them was watch and pray. He didn’t spend a whole lot of time planning an active defense against them. Why? Because he had more pressing matters to deal with. Before he could concentrate on the outside problem, he had to deal with the inside problem. Because the inside problem was the problem that would kill them the quickest. How many churches do you personally know of that have been torn apart because of people and issues coming at them from outside the walls of the church? Probably not very many, if any. But how many do you know of who have been torn apart from the inside? It was the same way for the remnant. Nehemiah knew that internal problems would destroy them a whole lot quicker than their outside enemies would. So he dealt with those problems first. He led the people in conquering their discouragement. They conquered it by listening to and spreading encouraging words instead of being drug down by discouraging words. They conquered it by taking their eyes off the rubbish and putting them back on God and the mission He had given them. And the third way they conquered it was by making a transition. They transitioned from dealing with the inside problem to dealing with the outside problem. You see, just because they had conquered the inside enemy didn’t mean that everything was rosy. They still had an outside enemy waiting for them. It’s just that now they were going to be able to deal with them. You’ve heard me say it before. Nothing unites like a common enemy. We tend to forget who our common enemy is when we begin to fight amongst ourselves and get discouraged. Who is our common enemy? 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” I thank God that we don’t have infighting and strife in this church. But we don’t need to take pride in that. Instead, we need to always stand guard against it. Our enemy is not each other. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It was the exact same way with the remnant. They had overcome the problems of internal strife and discouragement. But just because they had, didn’t mean that they could sit back on their laurels and brag about what a great fellowship they had. They still had an enemy to fight. So the last thing that Nehemiah told them to do in verse 14 was to fight. But this time, instead of fighting with each other, he told them to fight for each other. And that’s where we find ourselves in our passage tonight. The remnant has conquered the enemy within. Now it’s time for them to stand against the enemy outside. They were to do the exact same thing that Peter told us to do with our enemy, the devil. He didn’t say that we’re to attack him. He didn’t say that we’re to worry about him and focus all of our energies on him. What did he say? He said that we are to be sober—we’re to be serious about him. We can’t underestimate the threat. We need to take serious steps to guard against his tactics. We are to be sober and we are to be vigilant. The dictionary defines being vigilant as being “alertly watchful especially to danger.” We are to be alertly watchful of our enemy the devil. Just like Nehemiah led the remnant to be alertly watchful of their enemy. But vigilance doesn’t just happen. It is something we have to equip ourselves for. We have to equip ourselves with the tools of vigilance. It seems like anytime I set out to do a project at home, I have to go to Lowe’s or Sears to buy a tool. Part of that is because I like to buy tools. But most of it is because, in order to do a job the right way, you need the right tools. The right tool for the right job. And when you have the right tool, you can accomplish the job you set out to do. In order for the remnant to accomplish the job that God had called them to do, they needed the right tools. They needed the tools of vigilance.
As you look through this passage, several items are mentioned. Out of all the items listed, they can be summed up into three categories. Nehemiah told the remnant that the tools of vigilance are a sword, a trowel and a trumpet. First, they were to bear the sword. Spears, shields, bows, habergeon. A habergeon was basically a breastplate or a type of personal armor that was worn. All of those things were weapons of warfare. Verse 17 says that everybody was to be armed. Whether they were actively engaged in building the wall, or were just carrying loads. In other words, whether you were the most skilled people involved or all you could do was carry stuff… you were to be armed for battle. Verse 23 is very difficult to translate. Out of the 20 translations I checked, it was translated about 10 different ways. The original literally says, “each his weapon the water.” However it’s translated, what it indicates is that from Nehemiah on down to the lowliest servant, they were never without their weapon. The parallel is obvious, isn’t it? What is our chief weapon against our enemy? I read Ephesians 6:12 to you a minute ago, but I want to read it to you in its complete context, starting in verse 10-17: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” We have an enemy that wants to devour us. The only time that the enemy will leave us alone is when we aren’t doing anything. Sanballat and Tobiah had no problem with the remnant when they were living in ruins. They didn’t start their attacks until the remnant got busy doing the work that God had called them to do. But one thing about our enemy—he’s not in control. He is not all powerful. He is not all knowing. He is powerful, but he is limited. And we have a weapon that is guaranteed to defend against him. We have the whole armor of God. We have the belt of truth. We have the breastplate of righteousness. We have our feet readied to run with the Gospel. We have the shield of faith. We have the helmet of the assurance of our salvation. We have all of the defensive weapons we need. And above all those, we have a weapon of both defense and offense. We have the sword of the Word of God. This sword is what we are to carry in our hearts at all times. We are never to be without it. No matter how smart or skilled we might be, we carry it. If all we are is a burden bearer, we carry it. Whether you’re the top leader or the lowliest servant, the Word of God is your weapon. And a warrior never leaves his weapon. He learns it. He knows it. He lives it.
But a sword wasn’t the remnant’s only tool of vigilance. They also carried the trowel. The word “trowel” isn’t actually mentioned in this passage, but it is a good picture of a tool to build a wall with. Verse 17 says that they worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. Verse 18 says that they worked with a sword strapped to their side. The point is, the work didn’t stop. They didn’t just circle the wagons and quit building. They kept building. They had a mission and the mission was to get the wall rebuilt. Remember back up I verse 6—the people had a mind to work. They were there to accomplish the mission that God had given them. They weren’t full-time warriors. As a matter of fact, I want you to notice something. How did the remnant expend their energy? Did they expend their energy attacking the enemy? No. The expended their energy building. They armed themselves for defense—not attack. They didn’t plan an offensive attack at all. They planned for their defense. And the whole time, they continued doing the work that God had called them to do. They didn’t let a little thing like a powerful enemy get in the way of their mission. One of Satan’s best tools is distraction. If he can get us distracted chasing off after a bunch of different “good” things, we will never accomplish the best thing that God has intended for us. So many times, you see churches get distracted. Most of the time, the distractions aren’t bad things. Sometimes they get distracted by social ministries. They get so involved in doing good things like helping the poor that that becomes their focus. Sometimes, churches get distracted by political movements. They get so involved with marriage amendments and abortion laws that those things become the focus. Sometimes churches get distracted by programs and events. Everything revolves around planning and promoting the “next big thing” and that becomes the continual focus. Anything can distract us from our mission. What is our mission? The Great Commission. Our mission is to train and equip ourselves to leave this place as disciple-makers. We fill up on all the training and teaching in here. Then we leave those doors with our trowel in hand—ready to build the Lord’s kingdom. That’s our mission. It isn’t politics or marriage amendments or social ministries or activities. Those things are good things. We can and do deal with those things in the church. But the second that they become the focus, we’ve become distracted. And when we get distracted, our enemy starts winning. If we spend all of our time offensively chasing after the enemy with our swords, we might win some battles. Think of what would have happened if Nehemiah had told the remnant to put down their trowels, pick up swords and make a massive attack against Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem and the Ashdodites. First, they would have gotten whipped, because that wasn’t what God wanted them to do. Second, they would have lost all of the work that had gone on before. After the enemy whipped them, I’m sure they would have destroyed the wall. But they wouldn’t have stopped there. They would have gone on to destroy the temple as well. The remnant would have lost the support of the king and every good thing that had happened from Zerubbabel on would have been lost. I’m convinced that many of our problems from the government right now are caused by churches attacking government instead of sticking to our mission. And we have just begun to see the backlash. We are called to strap on our sword as a weapon of defense. We will viciously attack our enemies when they come against God’s people and prevent us from doing the mission He’s called us to do. But that’s all our weapons are for. Our weapons are not to engage in crusades that distract from our mission. That’s why we arm ourselves with the Sword of the Word. But at the same time, we equip ourselves with the trowel. We can never forget our mission to make disciples. Are we warriors? More than that we’re builders. The first tool of vigilance is the sword of the Word of God. The second tool of vigilance is the trowel, because we have got to keep working the mission God has called us to. Finally, the third tool of vigilance is the trumpet.
Nehemiah gathered together all of the leaders and gave them a plan for what was going to happen. He realized that the people were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They were scattered. They would come together to be equipped and instructed. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing here? When we come together in church, it isn’t to get our batteries recharged. It isn’t to make us feel better about who we are. It isn’t even primarily to fellowship. We gather together to be equipped. We get equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit when we corporately worship God and lift up the name of Jesus. And we get equipped and instructed when sit under the teaching of God’s Word together. That’s what happened with the remnant. That’s what verse 19 is about. But when church was over, they scattered. They scattered because they had work to do. And their work wasn’t sitting around the fellowship table together. It was scattered around different parts of the wall. Joe’s job was different than Bob’s job. Sam’s job was different than Jake’s job. And they couldn’t all do their jobs if they were still hanging around the meeting. And if they didn’t do their jobs, the mission of building the wall would not be accomplished. So they scattered to all parts of the wall and city. But just because they were scattered, did that mean that they weren’t unified? No—that’s what the trumpet was for. When an attack came from the outside, a trumpet would sound. Verse 18 says that the one who sounded the trumpet was with Nehemiah. As their leader, Nehemiah was constantly watching for an attack. And if an attack came, he commanded the trumpet to sound. The purpose of the trumpet was to sound an alarm. The trumpet next to Nehemiah wasn’t the only one there. He had trumpets stationed at various points along the wall also. So if an attack came from any point along the wall, the trumpeter would see it and sound the alarm. And when that trumpet sounded, the people knew what to do. They knew what to do because they had been equipped when they were gathered together. Verse 20 says that when the people heard the trumpet, they were to gather to the spot where they heard it. They would gather together in force. United against a common enemy. Is that what we do? When we see someone or something being attacked in our church, do we rally together around them? We can talk about unity all day long, but that’s where it happens. It happens when we unify around the gospel against our common enemy. Just like the remnant, we rally together at the point of attack. Many times, churches do the opposite. If the enemy attack is some sort of strife or disagreement, many times we don’t rally around that attack and unify against it. We like to get caught up in the strife. We like to choose up sides and draw battle lines. Instead, we should see it for what it is. We should see it as an attack from the enemy. And when we see that attack, we should sound the trumpet against it. And when that trumpet sounds, we should all come running. Not to get into the fight. But we should come running to unify against the enemy. But once again, we’re faced with something we can’t do ourselves. The harder and harder we try to create unity in our own strength, the more we will fail. The more we try to resist the attacks of our enemy in our own strength, the more we will fail. Because when you get right down to it, the enemy’s attacks aren’t what it’s really about. His strength and our weakness isn’t what it’s really about. What it’s about is God’s strength and our weakness. The enemy doesn’t really have that much say in it at all. Nehemiah knew that. That’s why he said in verse 20, “Our God shall fight for us.” I have good news for you. Our enemy isn’t in control. He can only do what the Lord allows him to do. And the things that the Lord allows him to do will work together for good. So, what do we need to do? We need to keep our sword sharp. We need to read and learn and live the Sword of the Word of God. We need to keep our trowel busy. We meet together for training. We leave this place to do our work. The church gathered is for corporate worship and equipping. The church scattered is for building the kingdom. Keep your trowel busy. Finally, we need to keep our trumpet ready. When the enemy attacks, we must rally together in unity at the point of attack. Knowing full well that our defense doesn’t rely on our ability. Our defense is only based on the fact that our God will fight for us.
In a few minutes, we will walk out of these doors as the church scattered. Are you ready?
