This last fall (September 19, 2014) when Apple introduced its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, a group of workers from Teardown.com lined up at 5 a.m. at various stores in Austin to buy the devises. Then they returned to the company's offices, where engineers began disassembling the new products.
One of the analysts said, “We took a screwdriver and tore them apart. We wanted to know every detail of everything that's inside: who the supplier was for every component, wire and screw, and how much it cost to make.” Over the next 12 hours, the battery, cameras, display, materials, and electronics were analyzed and priced, after which the information was shared with Teardown.com’s clients.
Those clients included tech manufacturers, financial investors looking for market trends, and resellers who wanted to know how much the individual parts cost. Attorneys used the information for patent-infringement cases, and engineering teams studied them for design ideas.
In fact, over the past 15 years, Teardown.com has broken down more than 2,000 products, including tablets, digital cameras and camcorders, notebook PCs, and gaming consoles. Every product the company has dismantled, dating back to the first digital music players and GPS devices, is stored away in the company's morgue. (Lori Hawkins, “What's a gadget cost? Teardown techies know,” The Columbus Dispatch, 1-28-15; www.PreachingToday.com)
Sad to say, there are some people who make it their primary business to tear things down rather than build people up. So expect it when you attempt to do great things for the glory of God.
EXPECT OPPOSITION when God moves you to build His Kingdom in desperate times.
Expect the critics. Expect those who will try to tear you down when you attempt to honor Him.
That’s what happened to Nehemiah. God had moved in his heart to reestablish God’s reputation in the world by rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. But there were those who didn’t like it. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Nehemiah 4, Nehemiah 4, where we see how Nehemiah handled his critics and how we might handle our critics, as well.
Nehemiah 4:1-3 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” (ESV)
Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, the region north of Jerusalem, and Tobiah was the governor of Ammon, just east of Jerusalem. Both of them wanted control of the entire area, so they did not appreciate it when Nehemiah moved in as a new governor and began to fortify the region between them.
Verse 1 says they were “greatly enraged”, but they did not express their anger with blows yet. they expressed it with biting sarcasm and ridicule. Sanballat calls them “feeble Jews” in verse 2. And he mocks their God. “Will they sacrifice,” he asks. In other words, he ridicules their sacrifices as useless, because their God is powerless to help them. They can’t build a wall with “heaps of rubbish”, he claims. And even if they do, Tobiah says in verse 3, the first time a little fox jumps on it, it will come crashing down.
You see, that’s the way people behave when they sense they are losing control. They get very angry, and that anger begins to express itself in biting sarcasm and ridicule.
That’s what happened to Nehemiah, and it can happen to you and me today. When our work for God threatens the control that others think they have, they get angry and will do whatever they can to stop us.
Jonathan Edwards was a leading figure of America’s first great revival in the 18th Century, what we call First Great Awakening. At the time, he was pastor of the prestigious Northampton, Massachusetts, Congregational Church, and spiritual leaders like the famous preacher George Whitefield, traveled great distances to meet with him and discuss spiritual issues.
Even so, Jonathan Edwards had his critics. When he insisted that members of his own church demonstrate genuine conversion, some of them took exception. They launched a slanderous campaign against him, which eventually led to his dismissal from the church he'd made famous. He ended up pastoring a small church in the small frontier town of Stockbridge.
Eventually, Jonathan Edwards was vindicated before his critics. Some of his most vocal opponents publicly confessed their sin in attacking their godly minister; and ultimately, Princeton University hired Edwards as its president. (Henry and Richard Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership, Broadman & Holman, 2001; www.PreachingToday.com)
If it happened to the great Jonathan Edwards during the First Great Awakening, it can certainly happen to you and me. So when you attempt to do great things for the glory of God, don’t be surprised when people try to tear you down. Expect opposition, and then…
PRAY!
Get on your knees before God and tell Him all about it. Don’t retaliate. Instead, put it all in God’s hands and let Him handle your critics. That’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah 4:4-5 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. (ESV)
Nehemiah recognizes that Sanballat and Tobiah’s taunts are not against him so much as they are against God Himself! So He asks God to handle them. Romans 12 says, “Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). Nehemiah never so much as whispers a word to his critics.
Instead, he talks to God, and that’s what we need to do when people oppose us. Don’t counterattack. Don’t even try to explain yourself. Just talk to the Lord about it. Put it in His hands, and let Him handle it.
In his commentary on the book of Nehemiah, Hand Me Another Brick, Chuck Swindoll tells the story about a church in Waltham, Massachusetts. One of its pastors inherited a terrible mess when he first went to the church. Attendance was down, and those who did attend sat in the back three pews. On this pastor’s first Sunday there he picked up the pulpit and literally carried it down the aisle, placing it near the people. Then Sunday after Sunday he kept having to move the pulpit back toward the front of the sanctuary until finally he was almost perched in the choir loft!
Ultimately, the place was filled each Sunday morning. He preached the Word, walked with God, and faithfully labored in spite of opposition. Eventually, God chose to call him to a school that has consistently moved ahead under his guidance.
He was followed by a retaliatory man, a fighter. This man held several graduate degrees; he was brilliant. He had traveled and was an experienced leader of people. He seemingly possessed a lot more experience and brains than the first guy. [And] Like his predecessor, this pastor experienced criticism and hostility on the part of certain segments of the church membership. [However] week by week, through one public argument and retaliatory action after another, the church systematically emptied.
Chuck Swindoll comments: Sure, he won arguments, but he lost the battle. Both pastors were criticized, but what a difference in their responses! One man fought on his knees, the other on his feet (Chuck Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, pp.51-52).
When you experience opposition and criticism, don’t fight on your feet; fight on your knees. Give it to the Lord in prayer and let Him handle it; because when we counter-attack and retaliate against our critics, it only makes things worse. It’s like someone said: “Never wrestle with a pig; you both get all dirty – and the pig likes it” (Bible Illustrator)
Besides, there’s no need to worry about your critics when God Himself has given you everything – all the wealth of heaven, His very presence, and best of all, His own approval.
I like the way Tim Keller put it in his new book, The Two Advocates. He says, “Imagine you're a billionaire, and you have three ten-dollar bills in your wallet. You get out of a cab, and you hand the driver one of the bills for an eight-dollar fare. Later in the day you look in and find out there's only one ten-dollar bill there, and you say, ‘Either I dropped a ten-dollar bill somewhere, or I gave the taxi driver two bills.’
“What are you going to do? Are you going to get all upset? Are you going to the police and demand they search the city for the cabdriver? No, you are going to shrug. You're a billionaire. You lost ten dollars. So what? You are too rich to be concerned about that kind of loss.
“This week, somebody criticized you… But what are you going to do, if you're a Christian? Will this… disrupt your contentment with life? Will you shake your fist at God? Toss and turn at night?
“If so,” Keller says, “I submit that it's because you don't know how truly rich you are. If you're that upset about your status with other people, if you're constantly lashing out at people for hurting your feelings, you might call it a lack of self-control or a lack of self-esteem, and it is. But more fundamentally, you have totally lost touch with your identity. As a Christian, you're a spiritual billionaire and you're wringing your hands over ten dollars. (Tim Keller, The Two Advocates, Penguin Group, 2014, pp. 242-244; www.PreachingToday.com)
When someone criticizes you, don’t wring your hands over “ten dollars.” Instead, put it in the Lord’s hands. Pray. And then…
PROCEED WITH THE WORK.
Keep on going, and continue doing what you know God wants you to do. That’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. (ESV)
I can picture the scene here in my head. Sanballat and Tobiah are shouting their insults. Nehemiah looks to heaven. Then he turns to the guy next to him and says, “Hand me another brick”, and away they go!
When Nehemiah experienced opposition, he prayed; and then he proceeded with the work God had given him to do. And that’s exactly what we must do when we experience opposition. Don’t answer the critic with your words. Answer the critic with your work.
Colonel George Washington Goethals was the man responsible for completing the Panama Canal. In the process, he had big problems with the climate and the geography. However, his biggest challenge was the growing criticism back home from those who predicted he'd never finish the project.
Finally, a colleague asked him, “Aren't you going to answer these critics?”
“In time,” answered Goethals.
“When?” his partner asked.
“When the canal is finished.” (Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, Baker; www.PreachingToday.com)
Answer your critics with your work, not your words. It’s the most powerful argument you have!
However, even the success of your work may not silence your critics. So what do you do then? What do you do when the opposition intensifies? What do you do when the attacks grow worse? Well, that’s when you…
PROTECT YOURSELF.
Guard yourself from any further attacks. Shield yourself from those who seek to destroy you. That’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah 4:7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. (ESV)
The success of Nehemiah’s work did not appease his enemies. On the contrary, it enraged them even more.
Nehemiah 4:8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. (ESV)
Sanballat from the north, Tobiah and the Ammonites from the east, The Arabs from the south, and the Ashdodites from the west, all of them ganged up on Jerusalem from all sides! So what did Nehemiah and his people do about it?
Nehemiah 4:9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. (ESV)
They prayed, and they took the necessary precautions to protect themselves; and that’s what we must do when the opposition gets dangerous. Pray and protect yourself from such opposition. When someone is constantly critical no matter what you do, talk to God about it, but don’t let them talk to you anymore.
You see, there are some people you will never satisfy. You can walk on water, and they will criticize you for your inability to swim. You don’t have to listen to such people. In fact, you shouldn’t listen to such people, because they will only wear you out and destroy you in the end.
Oswald Chambers once said, “A man who is continually criticized becomes good for nothing, the effect of criticism knocks all the gumption and power out of him. (Oswald Chambers, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 4; www.PreachingToday.com)
Don’t let people do that to you!
Titus 3:10-11 says, “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
Do you hear what God is saying in His Word? Have nothing more to do with him! After one or two warnings, stay away from the divisive person!
Romans 16:17-18 is even more clear. It says, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles… Avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites…”
Protect yourself from such people. Get caller ID and don’t answer their calls; don’t meet with them; don’t let them constantly badger you.
When I was a young pastor, I did not understand this principle. I thought the best way to appease those who were constantly critical was to keep on meeting with them, to hear them out, and try to win them over. In fact, there was a guy I met with week after week who always found fault with something I did. He claimed it was his “spiritual gift”, but the only thing his constant criticism ever did was wear me down. Eventually, his contentious spirit nearly destroyed the church until I and the leaders of the church stopped listening to him. Eventually, he left; and only then did the church experience any real growth.
It was a lesson I learned the hard way. We cannot let contentious and critical people run roughshod over others in the church. In fact, we shouldn’t even give them the time of day. Like Nehemiah, we need to pray and protect ourselves from such people.
In his book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, talks about a time when he said something impromptu to the new members standing in a row across the front of the church. He says:
As we received them, the Holy Spirit prompted me to add, “And now, I charge you that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone – myself, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else – that you stop that person in mid-sentence and say, ‘Excuse me—who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Cymbala? Let's go to his office right now. He'll apologize to you, and then we'll pray together so God can restore peace to this body. But we won't let you talk critically about people who aren't present to defend themselves.’
Jim Cymbala told them, “I'm serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And know this: If you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we'll confront you.
“To this day”, Jim Cymbala says, “every time we receive new members, I say much the same thing. That's because I know what most easily destroys churches. It's not crack cocaine, government oppression, or even lack of funds. Rather it's gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit.” (Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Zondervan, 1997)
How right he is! In fact, that is Satan’s favorite tactic to destroy churches. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Satan is the “accuser of the brethren”, and he loves to get God’s people accusing each other. So we have to watch out for that and protect ourselves from such accusations.
I know that sounds a little scary, but here’s the good news! Christ death on the cross has already defeated Satan. It rendered him powerless. The lion has been declawed and defanged, so we don’t need to be afraid of him anymore. We don’t need to let him push us around, and we certainly don’t need to let him cause dissension.
We just need to do what Jesus urged us to do: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).
Remember, whenever you attempt to do anything great for the glory of God, expect opposition. So when it comes, pray, proceed with the work, and protect yourself as much as possible.
And here’s a little bit of encouragement from Teddy Roosevelt for those of you who have found yourself under the gun of criticism.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of the deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; 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 live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” (Knute Larson, “Dancing with Defeat,” Leadership Magazine, Fall 1993, p.107)
Please, don’t ever let any critic stop you from doing what God has called you to do.
