A Mind to Work
Prairie Baptist Church – 11/29/09
P.M. Service
Text: Nehemiah 4:1-6
Key verse: Nehemiah 4:6 - So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Premise: God encourages to steady the course no matter how rough the seas or the attack from enemies. He has a work for us to do.
The Introduction
After the list of the workers in chapter three, we see Nehemiah dig his heals right in.
Here, the key verse of this whole chapter, indeed maybe the whole book, says that the people had a mind to work.
They were loyal and dedicated to the task at hand.
I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives? If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee? If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it works most of the time.”? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think the Electric Company would mind? If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month in your church, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian? We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us.
As is usual, opposition starts from the very beginning.
There will always be people opposed to the work that a Christian is doing
The world opposes us and mocks us for what we believe
Sadly, there are sometimes people within the church that become enemies within and make it a hardship for others to be encouraged and do their work.
Body
1. What the Enemy Will Do
A. Resent – 4:1
i. Anger and frustration over someone doing something that they are opposed to
ii. This can come even when the cause is right, and it often does
iii. Ecclesiastes 7:7-9 - 7Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift (bribe) destroyeth the heart. 8Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth (settle down and remain) in the bosom of fools.
B. Recruit – 4:2a (2And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria,)
i. They will often try and get others to join them
ii. They look for those who are just as critical and biased as they are
iii. Proverbs 29:22 – An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
iv. Evil does not fare well standing alone – Matthew 12:14 - Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
C. Ridicule – 4:2b-3
i. A young fellow by the name of Sammy liked to hang out at Mom and Pop’s Grocery Store. Pop didn’t know what Sammy’s problem was, but the other boys would tease him all the time, calling him "Slow Sammy", and punching him on the shoulder as they passed. To mock him for being slow, they would offer him a dime and a nickel, telling him he could have just one. They said he always took the nickel because it was bigger. One day after Sammy took the nickel, Pop pulled him to one side and said, "Son, don’t you know they’re making fun of you? They think you don’t know that the dime is worth more than the nickel. Are you really grabbing the nickel because it’s bigger, or what?" "No," Sammy said, "but if I took the dime they’d quit doing it!"
ii. The enemy will often find ways to belittle and tear down what others are doing
iii. Several tactics are used:
a. Attack ability (What are these feeble Jews doing?)
• Designed to make the workers feel inadequate
• Accusations of weakness and inability, whether skills or knowledge
• The problem: if the Jews were really that weak, why is Sanballat getting so worked up about their proposed efforts?
b. Attack lack of workers (Are they going to restore it for themselves?)
• Literally “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?” (Keil)
• The work of God is not done in strength of numbers.
Gideon was reduced to 300 to fight an army of tens of thousands
David felled a giant on His own
Jonah preached to a violent culture without others
Jesus began His church with twelve weak and culturally backwards men.
c. Attack faith (Can they offer sacrifices?)
• Faith for the Christian is considered silly and superstitious
• If one can reduce your faith he will also reduce your effectiveness
d. Attack enthusiasm (Can they finish in a day?)
• Some start off strong and let others bring them down
• Some can go to a sports event and yell and scream and carry on and your considered a die-hard fan and praised.
• Get excited about God and even some within the body of Christ will look down their snooty noses at you.
• The reason the young people of today lack enthusiasm for God is not the fault of the world, it is because the people of the church have lost a vibrancy and passion for God that shows and spreads.
e. Attack method and materials (Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”)
• Call them unorganized
• Accuse them of using substandard materials, inadequate.
• There will always be critics, unfortunately, who think that can do a better job in a better way because they are somehow better.
• NOTE: This was an unjust accusation by the way. If you will notice, the walls were not burned. It says in Nehemiah 1:3 that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” (see also 2:13, 17)
• Scorners do not need facts to scorn, only an audience (John G. Butler)
f. Attack effectiveness (3Now 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!”)
• This is the “it won’t last” or “it won’t be that good” crowd.
• The naysayers who stand on the outside and criticize the outcome before it arrives
• God’s work will always have it’s share of critics and ridiculers.
2. How the Christian Should Respond
A. Pray – 4:4-5
i. In one adult Sunday School class there was a discussion on prayer, when one man remarked, "I do some of my best praying while driving." From the back of the room, in a quiet voice, the man’s wife agreed. "I, too, do my best praying while you’re driving."
ii. The first course of action for any Christian is prayer
a. All problems are solved first by prayer
b. This was where Nehemiah’s strength was, in his action to pray
c. Especially when doing God’s work and receiving grief over it
iii. Where do you go first when faced with tough opposition? Or anything in life for that matter?
iv. This imprecatory prayer is not something we should imitate today for God’s Word says – Matthew 5:44 - But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
v. Prayer:
a. Calls on God to take action
b. Tells God where we place our faith and focus
c. Keeps our heart on track for the task at hand
d. Strengthens our resolve
vi. See Jer. 29:11-14
B. Progress – 4:6a-b (So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof)
i. Rowland Hill once visited a home and saw a child riding a rocking horse. After watching the boy for some time he wittily remarked, "He reminds me of some Christians. There is plenty of motion but no progress."
ii. People still worked while they prayed, for prayer is no substitute for work.
iii. We should never allow ridicule to stop or slow us down in our ministry; we need to take it to God in prayer and keep working.
iv. Psalms 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
C. Passion – 4:6c (for the people had a mind to work)
i. This phrase in the Hebrew literally means “the people had their heart in the work.”
ii. Work is a byword nowadays:
a. Indeed some cannot help themselves and need help from others
b. But there are many people today who live off of the system
c. They can work, but they choose to be lazy and take a handout.
iii. What does God say about those who are lazy?:
a. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – 10For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
b. Proverbs 13:4 – 4The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
c. Proverbs 20:4 – 4The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.
iv. Many seek some new path to grow a work:
a. The newest fad or book to tell us about church or ministry growth
b. There must be some secret prayer that will make us a success
c. There has to be some three or four step program that will explode the growth of a work
v. REALITY CHECK:
a. We already have a book on church growth: The Word of God
b. We already have an effective tool for getting the job done: Prayer
c. We already have a proven strategy that will grow any ministry: Work
vi. The only thing we need now are people with backbone
Conclusion:
What is your mind geared to do?
Do you have a mind to depend on God no matter what the opposition?
Do you have a mind to keep working in the strength of God?
Do you have a mind to see the task through to the very end?
Luke 10:2 - Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
