Nehemiah
Intro: Audience participation time this morning. I’ll call out the event or thing, you call out the name of someone associated with it.
• Model A automobiles (Henry Ford)
• The American Revolution (Washington, Benjamin Franklin, et al)
• Mickey Mouse – Walt Disney
• The incandescent light bulb – Thomas Edison
• World War 2 (Hitler, Churchill)
• Crayola Crayons - Edward Binney & Harold Smith – not as many got that one!
Behind most significant events of human history there has been a person or persons – leaders. It doesn’t always matter where they came from, or what they looked like. What matters is that there was someone or some people who influenced people around them to some desired end. That’s one of the simplest definitions of a leader – someone who influences others.
Remember, we’re looking at the book of Nehemiah and talking about what to do when life gets BIG. That matters to all of us, because life gets that way for all of us. It’s that way in our personal worlds, and it’s that way in the Church. One of the ways we deal with life getting big is to have big leaders.
That’s one reason we have this book to read today. Nehemiah was a big leader. He influenced people – the king of Persia, the enemies of the Jews, and most important, the Jewish people themselves. This is a hugely practical book. There are great lessons for leaders in Nehemiah:
• How to deal with a touchy boss
• Balance between faith and planning
• Handling executive discouragement
• What to do about underserved criticism
So, if you’re a leader, a study of this book longer than we can do here today would be a help to you. If you’re a leader in the church, it can help you to be more effective at that good work. If you’re a leader at your workplace, it can help you there. But more importantly, it you’re simply going to be a person who influences others, it will help you do that more effectively.
As I read through the commands in the NT, I come across orders like this:
Teach, admonish, give an answer, plead, encourage, instruct, let you light shine, spur -
Those are leadership words, and we’re all commanded to do them. They’re all about influencing people – leading. So, paying attention to the need for BIG leaders isn’t just a message for elders or Sunday School teachers. It’s something that involves every follower of Jesus. When you sign on to be a part of this great family of believers, you accept the responsibility to be an influencer of people around you. That’s leadership, whether you wear a title or not.
Seriously, when Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations,” did that include you or not? When he said baptize and teach them, was He talking about being people who influence people or not?
That means I should have an interest in what it means to be a good leader, amen? Or have we somehow written off “leading someone to Christ” as someone else’s job?
Hopefully, by this point, you’re saying, “OK, I understand! Being a follower of Jesus means being a leader of sorts. What does Nehemiah have to show us about being good at this? How can I be a BIG leader for the Lord?” I’m glad you asked that! Here are just a few points!
Big leaders…
I. Have Big Hearts
A good leader has to have more than just a big mouth! He has to do more than have just a big front! It has to come from a big heart.
Ill - There’s a lady in Joplin who has been teaching Jr. High Sunday school for over 30 years; Dorothy. She’s too old to teach Jr. High kids. She’s way too old to relate to kids who are just teenagers. She’s pretty strict and doesn’t put up with any nonsense in her class. But you know what every one of her students says about Dorothy? “She’s cool!” Dorothy is cool. It’s not because of the way she dresses. They don’t love her because she acts like a kid. The reason Dorothy Meyer is so cool to those Jr. High boys and girls is because she loves them and they know it. She has a big heart, and they thrive on that. Dorothy’s a big leader.
You can tell a leader with a big heart. For one thing, they…
1. Notice
They’re tuned in to what’s going on around them. Nehemiah was a leader who paid attention to the situation. It’s only one example of several, but look with me at…
Nehemiah 4:14 (NIV)
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
Their enemies were threatening. The threat was real. They weren’t in the best defensive posture. So, Nehemiah “looked things over.” I know it’s easier to just go on and deal with your own immediate problems, but leading with a big heart means taking a moment to look at the others around you. Where are you focused? Is it on yourself, or do you look at the people around you? A big heart notices if someone around needs a hand. An immediate outcropping of that notice is to…
2. Care about people
Nehemiah wasn’t just a builder. First, he was cupbearer to the king of Persia. Then, he was overseer of the Jerusalem wall project. But after that, Nehemiah was also governor of the area. So, he wasn’t just dealing with things; he was dealing with people. He addressed their debt issues, their safety concerns, their frustrations, and their spiritual condition.
Big leaders may get big projects done, but big projects get done by people, so real leadership is focused on people. Churches may build big buildings, and have big programs, but the real focus of the church, when it’s correct, has always been on people. That’s what big leaders care about first and foremost.
Ill - Adrian Rogers tells about a man who made his sons work in the cornfields while the other kids all spent the afternoon at the swimming hole. Someone questioned his wisdom, "Why do you make those boys work so hard? You don't need all that corn." The wise father said, "Sir, I'm not raising corn. I'm raising boys."
3. Don’t dismiss needs
Even in our shrinking world, where news travels around the globe in seconds, it’s still easy to become isolationists in the way we think. You have to understand, when Nehemiah asked about Jerusalem and how things were going there, he was talking about somewhere 800 miles away – what ended up being around a 4 month trip, without an air-conditioned cabin! It would have been easy to just forget about it, just like it’s easy for us to not worry about the condition of people because they’re so far removed from our life situation – their language is different, their culture is different, their color is different, and we can’t even pronounce where they live. But I find this: you don’t have to be separated by thousands of miles to dismiss someone’s needs. It could be a person sitting and crying one table away from you in a coffee shop. It could be a kid in your school, or a person who lives next door.
Quote - Ed Danks said, “We need people who, as a part of their responsibility in life, will carry the burdens and wounds of other people and be outraged by them.”
I guess that means big leaders are…
4. Open about their care
Nehemiah wasn’t careful to hide his feelings. He wept. He fasted. He yelled – he even pulled out some men’s hair and beards because of their disobedience. He threw Tobiah’s stuff out of a room in the temple, and he threatened people who were debasing the Sabbath. How do you really feel, Nehemiah?
Big leaders aren’t phonies. They aren’t experts at covering up how they really feel. The best reason for us to know this is the way that Jesus very openly explained what was going on inside Him, constantly.
One of the most touching scenes in the book of Acts is in ch 20. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and at Miletus he meets up with the elders from the church of Ephesus. He gives them a farewell speech, because he doesn’t expect to see any of them in this life ever again. They kneel together, pray together then them all embraced and wept – men, tough men, openly crying in front of each other. Leaders. Big leaders.
Don’t show me a leader who makes a good show. Show me a leader who shows that he or she is good – one who shows a big heart.
OK. This next point is a whole sermon on it’s own, but for today let’s just take a few minutes on it. Big leaders…
II. Are Big Pray-ers
All we have to do for this point is read. Nehemiah’s book reads kind of like a prayer journal. Sometimes it’s just a record of things he was doing, and then out of the blue, he’ll write his prayer to God. So, from ch1, until the very last verse, Nehemiah, the big leader, is in constant communication with God.
Nehemiah 1:4 (NIV)
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:6a (NIV)
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.
Nehemiah 2:4 (NIV)
The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
Nehemiah 4:4-5 (NIV)
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.
Nehemiah 4:8-9 (NIV)
They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Nehemiah 6:9 (NIV)
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." [But I prayed,] "Now strengthen my hands."
Nehemiah 6:14 (NIV)
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.
(chapter 9 – the whole chapter is a prayer)
Nehemiah 13:14 (NIV)
Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.
Nehemiah 13:22 (NIV)
Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
Nehemiah 13:29 (NIV)
Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
Nehemiah 13:31 (NIV) (last verse of the book)
I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me with favor, O my God.
Without saying much else about, I notice this about prayer in Nehemiah’s life:
1. First Response
The king asks him what he wants, Nehemiah prays. Their enemies threaten, Nehemiah prays. The work gets tough, Nehemiah prays. You get the picture. Prayer is a great first response in most situations. Even Peter when he was walking on the water and started to sink, prayed a really quick prayer: “Lord, save me!”
The other thing I notice about Nehemiah’s prayers is that they’re…
2. Personal
Prayer is one place where our relationship with God can’t be about everyone else. It’s you and God. maybe there’s someone else around, but prayer is about what’s going on between you and God.
I once heard of a prayer setting where a boy was asked to pray for a group, and he prayed so softly that almost no one else could hear. After the amen, an older man said to him, “Sonny, you need to speak up. I couldn’t hear a word you said!” The boy said, “Well, I wasn’t praying to you!”
Like I said, this is a whole other sermon. Let’s go on from here to one last point: Big leaders…
III. Have Big Faith
One important reason for Nehemiah’s success was his realization from the beginning this was a God project. Maybe he had good self-esteem. OK. But more important than that was that he understood the real source of success.
Nehemiah 2:20 (NIV)
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."
Nehemiah 4:20 (NIV)
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!
I look back on the “Greatest Generation” and all that this nation did to pull together and win. It’s pretty amazing. But more impressive to me than Yankee ingenuity, or grit, or technology is that the nation was openly seeking God’s help, and openly trying to preserve justice and to do what’s right.
Nehemiah was a big leader, but he didn’t allow his plans to be just as tall as he was. He made plans that were too big – entirely too big to do…on his own. Look at
Nehemiah 6:15-16 (NIV)
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
It’s one thing for the Jews to say that God helped them get the job done. It’s an even greater thing when all their enemies, who hated God, are realizing God was at work. In other words, there was no other explanation. They didn’t want to admit that God had done it, but they had to!
Folks, what if CCC were to have such big faith that we undertook some project so impossible, so big, that when it was done, the people around us, including people who aren’t very kindly disposed toward us, all were saying that God had done something here?
I guess I’m just simple enough to think that God can still do things like that!
Big faith isn’t a way to avoid responsibility and hard work. It’s just makes us able to engage in things that are a far bigger than we can do on our own.
May the Lord save us from trying to do things that are only as big as we can do them on our own!
OK, there are a few points about big leaders. Not everyone thinks of himself or herself as a leader. In fact, some people make great followers and would like to keep it that way. How does something like this apply to all of us? I’m glad you asked that!
Application:
1. If you see leaders who are doing this well, uphold them!
You can do this in the church, in your home, in your workplace, almost anywhere you see people leading well. Anyone can be a professional armchair quarterback. Anyone can stand on the sidelines and take potshots at the guy on the field. Big deal! How much better do you suppose leaders will do when they’re encouraged rather than shot down? Which would you rather have leading – someone who feels supported and encouraged to do well, or someone who’s so beaten up by his followers that he just doesn’t care anymore?
When complaints get ridiculous, I have a guideline: complainers are volunteers! If you seem predisposed at singling out what’s wrong with everything, then you’re the most immediately qualified person to do something about it!
The scriptures tell us to support those who serve by leading in the church. It’s the church’s job to make their service a joy rather than a burden. So, support good leadership!
2. If you see a need for a leader, become one!
Every day, everywhere you do, there’s a need for good leadership. There’s a need for husbands and dads to provide solid leadership at home. There’s a need for leaders in the Lord’s Church. There’s a need for the Church to lead in its community. Don’t just say “someone should do something.” Be that someone!
3. If you find yourself being a leader, do it well!
Pray up, study up, and as you do, re-read Nehemiah and remember some of the qualities of great leadership he showed. If God took hold of a young Jewish woman named Esther to save the entire race of Jews, there was a real need for her to do her job well. If you God has found a place for you to lead, for such a time as this, do it well. Someone is counting on you!
4. Fulfill the call to lead that we all have received from Jesus – lead someone to Him!
There is a sense in which all of us are called to lead.
Leadership is influencing people. That’s part of being a Christ follower, period.
Oh, but I’m busy.
Yes, you may be. OK. In the Bible, God doesn’t tap people who are lazy or just sitting around when He wants to use men or women for His service. He goes to those who are already at work – the busy person:
Nehemiah was busy bearing the king's winecup.
Moses was busy with his flock at Horeb.
Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the winepress.
Saul was busy searching for his father's lost livestock.
David was busy caring for his father's sheep.
Elisha was busy plowing with twelve yoke of oxen.
Amos was busy tending sheep and raising sycamore figs.
Peter and Andrew were busy casting a net into the sea.
James and John were busy fixing their nets.
Matthew was busy collecting customs.
Saul was busy persecuting the friends of Jesus.
So much for that excuse. We are all engaged in a work that needs big leaders, even if you’re busy.
Someone has said that a leader is someone with 2 distinct characteristics:
first, they're going somewhere;
second, they're able to persuade other people to go along with them.
Isn’t that what being a Christian is about?
First, where are you going? Heaven! You’re going somewhere! Amen?
Second, you’re supposed to be persuading others to go along with you!
If you’re a follower of Jesus, it’s because someone influenced you that direction…
