MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(This is the fourth of a Leadership series featuring Nehemiah. Some ideas & illustrations in these messages were based on or benefited greatly from, to varying extents, the book “Hand Me Another Brick” by Charles Swindoll.)
The theme of the book of Nehemiah is "Leadership." And almost everyone who dares to assume the mantle of leadership soon finds himself facing darts of criticism.
But it isn't just "leaders" who are criticized. I am sure that every one of us, at one time or another, has been the target of criticism. Sometimes the criticism is deserved. At other times we are convinced that the criticism is absolutely wrong or unfair.
Now the important question this morning is, "How do we respond to criticism?" Especially, "How do we handle criticism that is destructive, & not constructive?"
When we left Nehemiah at the close of the 2nd chapter last week, the darts of criticism were flying thick & fast. Nehemiah was organizing the people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. God had called him to that task, & now the work was ready to begin.
By the way, I’m skipping over the 3rd chapter. It is simply a listing of a lot of names along with the tasks they were assigned to accomplish. I’m not sure that I can pronounce all those names correctly, anyway. So, on to chapter 4, vs. 1.
I. OPPOSITION ARISES
“When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry & was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews…”
A. That is an amazing reaction. Sanballat should have been pleased about the
rebuilding of the wall. After all, there is nothing attractive about a pile of rubble. You would think that Sanballat would say, "Nehemiah, I’m really glad you’ve come here to rebuild the wall & remove this eyesore.”
But Sanballat didn't react that way at all. As the construction started, Sanballat became very angry & mocked the Jews.
B. Why? Why was Sanballat so opposed to Nehemiah rebuilding the wall? I believe it was because he felt threatened by the changes that were going on. As long as the Jews were weak as long as Jerusalem was in ruins - as long as the wall was down - Sanballat felt secure. No one would be strong enough to defy his wishes & his plans.
But once the Jews were united - once the wall was rebuilt - once Jerusalem was strong & secure again - then Sanballat would lose his power over them. So the wall starting back up again was a threatening situation to Sanballat - & he couldn't deal with that threat.
So Sanballat became angry. "I don't want the wall up! I want it to stay the way it is!" There is something secure about the status quo, isn't there? Someone once said that "status quo" is Latin for "the mess we are in." That might be a pretty good definition.
In any organization, those who are most critical of change are those who are the most inflexible. They like the status quo because everything stays the same. And that is exactly what Sanballat wanted!
C. A poet wrote "Of all the words of tongue or pen - the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.'" But may I suggest that in the church among the saddest words that you’ll ever hear are these, "We have always done it this way."
Have you ever heard anybody say that? Have you ever said it? Now, please don't misunderstand me. I’m not talking about changing anything that is taught clearly in God's Word. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, & forever - & that His Word & His will for the church has not changed.
But I am suggesting that God expects His church to grow. He expects His church to be winning people to Christ & helping them grow as Christians. The church must be reaching out & seeking to attract people to Jesus.
A congregation full of Sanballats will never transform the world. A congregation full of Sanballats will die - & sometimes they don't even know why it is happening.
Folks, we must never let that happen here. If it means doing some things differently than we have ever done them before - then do it! Don't ever be one who follows in the footsteps of Sanballat & his crowd.
II. THE CRITIC SEEKS REINFORCEMENTS
A. Sanballat & his crowd yes, that is right, for Sanballat did the same thing that all critics do. Once he became angry & started criticizing he went out looking for reinforcements.
Vs. 2 says that Sanballat, “. . .in the presence of his associates & the army of Samaria . . .said, ‘What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble – burned as they are?’”
You see what he is doing? He is criticizing the work of Nehemiah & the people of God to others. Critics are never comfortable alone. When they begin to criticize they eagerly seek someone else to agree with them.
The critic will search for someone to listen to his criticism. Then that person will add their criticism. They egg each other on, & the first thing you know there will be a whole circle of critics - because critics love other critics.
B. That is exactly what happens here. Sanballat voices his criticism, & then Tobiah joins in. Listen to vs. 3 – “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, ‘What they are building – if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!’”
I believe that pretty well portrays in one sentence the philosophy and spirit of most critics. Tobiah is saying, "We may not be able to stop them from building, but don't worry, they’ll never succeed."
When critics can't stop something, almost invariably their reaction is "Well, they may do it, but it will never work. It will never last." And if by chance they prove to be right you can bet that they will be the first to say, "I told you so!"
But did you notice the key word in Tobiah’s criticism? He said, "their" wall will fall down. Now that was a serious mistake for it was not their wall it was God's wall.
God had commissioned Nehemiah to rebuild it. God had changed the mind of King Artaxerxes. God had instructed Nehemiah on how to rebuild it. It was God's wall & God's wall was going to be rebuilt no matter how many critics were opposed.
III. NEHEMIAH ASKS GOD TO TAKE CARE OF THE CRITICS
A. Please understand that some criticism is constructive. Some criticism needs to be heard. Some criticism may even be of God. But this criticism was not, & therefore had to be dealt with severely.
So how does Nehemiah handle this criticism? What does he do about it?
In vs. 4 we find that the very first thing Nehemiah does is to go to God in prayer. We should have expected that because that is exactly what he has done before whenever he faced a difficult decision. Nehemiah doesn't even think of facing Sanballat & Tobiah & all the others until first he has sought God's direction & help.
This was also probably the hardest thing for Nehemiah to do. By their very nature leaders want to fight back. Nehemiah probably wanted to punch Sanballat right in the nose. But he knew that would be a terrible mistake.
So, notice his prayer in vs’s 4-5, “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”
Now that is a different kind of prayer, isn't it? All through scripture we read prayers that say "Forgive them." But in this prayer Nehemiah says, "Don’t forgive them. Don't forget their sins. They have demoralized the people who are building the wall."
B. Do you know what Nehemiah is doing? He is fighting the battle on his knees. I want to tell you, there is no time when we are stronger there is no time when we advance more rapidly than when we’re on our knees.
Nehemiah is saying, "God, it is in your hands. Please fight the battle for me. And here are some suggestions don't forget their sins – turn their insults back at them." And God did start fighting the battle for Nehemiah.
Don’t you remember? That is exactly what David did when he fought Goliath. Over here stands the giant Goliath & there stands little David. And all the time that David is picking up those stones & getting his sling ready he is saying, "The battle is the Lord's, it’s not mine."
To Goliath this made no sense at all. "What is this puny little guy saying about 'The battle is the Lord's?'" But about that time - smack - right between the eyes! That was the end of Goliath because the battle belonged to God - & God gave David the victory.
What about Daniel? Daniel was commanded to pray only before the idols of King Darius. What did Daniel do? He went to his room & faced Jerusalem & prayed to Almighty God & dedicated the battle to Him. And God delivered Daniel from the lion's den.
What did Jesus do? The night He faced arrest & trials & tomorrow the crucifixion - He went to the Garden of Gethsemane & poured out His heart in prayer. The next day He stood before His accusers &, despite everything they did to Him, He didn't say a word.
ILL. I know of a preacher who went into a church that had a history of being a fussing, feuding church. Everybody in that church was related to everybody else. You couldn't say anything about anybody else without a fight & they were fighting all the time. But, do you know what the new preacher did? He loved them. That's what he did, he loved them.
Proverbs 15:1 says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but the harsh answer stirs up anger." He went in there & held their hands, & prayed with them. He buried their dead - married their young. He cried with them & worked with them & laughed with them. And that church started to live again.
Soon they were hugging each other & really acting like Christians ought to act in their fellowship with the Lord. They began reaching out into the community & the church grew.
Ten years later the preacher moved on. After him came a preacher who was an agitator - a brilliant person who graduated with honors - but who had never learned the lesson of loving people. Do you know what happened?
Every time an argument arose he jumped right into the middle of it. Every time they disagreed he clenched his fist & got into the middle & fought back. Within six months he had destroyed nearly everything that had taken a decade to build. All because he didn't learn the lesson of Nehemiah.
SUM: Folks, when critics come, the first thing we must do is go to God & seek His peace & retaliate with a gentle answer that will turn away that wrath. Criticism & arguments cannot survive alone.
IV. THEY BUILT THE WALL BECAUSE THEY HAD A MIND TO WORK
A. Did you notice? After Nehemiah prayed he went right back to work. He didn't
stop construction & say, "Folks, we have problems there are all kinds of critics out there so let's just shut her down & forget about it."
No! Instead, he kept on doing what he knew God wanted him to do. He kept on building the wall, & all of Jerusalem is a beehive of activity.
Listen to vs. 6: “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.”
B. Now, what happens next? Do the critics leave? Do they say, "We’ve been overwhelmed by their tenacity. There is nothing we can do, so we will stop being so critical?" Not at all!
Vs’s 7 & 8 say: “But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites & the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead & that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come & fight against Jerusalem & stir up trouble against it."
C. Now we learn another great lesson from Nehemiah. Nehemiah always backed up his prayers with action. He exercised great common sense.
Vs. 9 records: “But we prayed to our God & posted a guard day & night to meet this threat.”
Nehemiah says: "They’re getting ready to attack us. What are we going to do just pray to God?” Not at all. “Post a guard. Let's make sure we’re prepared for their attack."
ILL. You think that maybe somebody is going to break into your house? Well, pray about it trust your home to God - but don't forget to lock the door. Back up your prayers with common sense.
Nehemiah wanted a wall built & so did God. He not only prayed about it - he made sure the guard was there & kept on building the wall.
ILL. Listen to these words from Teddy Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts. It's not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust & sweat & blood who strives valiantly . . . & who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they lived in the great twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
I pray you will never be a part of Sanballat or Tobiah's crowd. Don't be quick to criticize. Don't be quick to point your finger at those who are trying to run the race & do the job.
The world is full of those who will stand back & say, "Why, a fox could jump on it & it will fall down."
But it takes a special person to keep picking up one stone after another & keep putting it on the wall. Anybody can be a critic. But I ask you this morning, "Are you willing to enter the arena? And build the wall for the glory of God?" If so, this is your invitation.
