The struggle INSIDE the wall
Nehemiah 5:1-19
“The worst threats the church has ever encountered have come more from within than without. External pressures are like water on a grease fire– causing the church to intensify and spread. Internal strife and bickering are like AIDS– sapping the strength and vitality from the Body.”
Russell Brownworth
**Dateline August 1999, Landover, Maryland: Article entitled- “Church Splits Down the Middle Over Issues Regarding Piano Bench.” (www.landoverbaptist.org/news0899/piano.html)
-Some people believe that Christians should never disagree about ANYTHING...we call these people “non-Christians”. They have a completely unrealistic view of what “spiritual unity” means.
-But realistically...there should be an OBVIOUS difference in the way we treat each other. God does expect that the way we LOVE and HONOR and CARE FOR each other would reveal the difference that HE has made in our lives. That’s why I asked our elders to read the passage from John 15 rather than the Nehemiah text we’re covering this morning. “This is my command, Jesus said, LOVE one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Nehemiah 5 deals with strife between the Israelites as they work on the wall...and how it’s solved by determining to honor (fear!) God and obey His word.
1.) Nehemiah hears the people’s COMPLAINTS
- “We’re STARVING” (v.1 & 2) “Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, ‘We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
As the work on the wall began– people have left their jobs...their fields...and their vineyards to work on it...but that has created problems. This group complains to Nehemiah- “There are a LOT of us and we’ve run out of food!”
- “We’re going BROKE” (v.3) “Others were saying, ‘We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
This group has a way to get food, but it’s not a good situation. As they participate in the building of the wall, they are borrowing against the value of their farmland, vineyards and homes to survive. WE ALL KNOW how hopeless a position that can be. (living by the credit card!)
- “We’re being ABUSED” (v.4-5) A “large” and very complicated complaint: “Still others were saying, ‘We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
3 problems:
TAXES- Even though we are in desperate circumstances, the king still wants his “cut”…would this be a good time to remind you that April 15 is only a month and a half away? BUT I will tell you right now that Nehemiah’s answer is NOT going to be to ignore the king’s tax. The problem is something else.
SLAVERY- Once the property has been mortgaged for all it’s worth, the only other possibility was for a person to sell themselves or, sometimes their whole family, into slavery. Listen to the frustration in their cry: “We are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen…” We’re all sons of Abraham! We’re of the same nationality! Why do we have to be treated this way?
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP (no way out!) This is one vicious circle: If we sell our land because we are broke, we can’t earn money. If we have no money and no land, we have to sell our children into slavery. If our children are slaves and working for someone else, we’ll never be able to get earn enough money to get our land back. This is HOPELESS
2.) Nehemiah CONFRONTS the problem We know Nehemiah well enough to know that he’s going to DO SOMETHING about this, don’t we??!!
-He is genuinely ANGRY (v.6) “When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.” “Oh!….Nehemiah is angry...that’s bad!!” Where did we get the idea that ALL anger is bad? Anger CAN be bad, that’s for sure, but Ephesians 4:26 says- “In your anger...do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”
Jesus was angry and didn’t sin...he chased money changers out of the temple on more than one occasion...but didn’t sin. He was angry that his disciples were telling parents to keep their children away from him...but didn’t sin. He was angry that the Pharisees made it very difficult for people to come to God...but still didn’t sin. KEY? Jesus’ anger was at INJUSTICES done to other people.
Let’s be honest...most of our anger is SELFISH: You made ME feel bad. You made ME look bad. You inconvenienced ME. You slighted ME.
Righteous anger is being angry at the things that grieve the heart of God...NOT the things that “bug” me.
-He presents his CASE (v.7-11)
“I pondered them in my mind (he was angry, but before acting he took a “time out” and had a talk with himself before simply ‘reacting’!) and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet because they could find nothing to say. So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them– the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil.”
You MISTREAT the poor- (You are taking advantage of the fact that these are difficult days...that food is scarce and money is tight...to add to your portfolio. They were taking advantage of the plight of the poor and buying up their land for pennies on the dollar.)
You make the heathens look GRACIOUS- (We have been “buying back” our Jewish relatives from the people around us, but when they arrive in Jerusalem and get into “debt trouble” with a fellow Jew...they find themselves SOLD BACK into slavery. What do you think the Gentiles think of our GOD and HIS FOLLOWERS who treat each other so carelessly??)
You are UNFAIR in your lending- (Charging “usury”...abusive, unfair interest)
Note: The rate of interest the Israelites were charging their poor brothers was 1%.
Why would Nehemiah say that was unfair?
See: Exodus 22:25 and Leviticus 25:35-42
“If you lend money to one of My people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.” Exodus 22:25 (NIV)
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.”
Leviticus 25:35-42 (NIV)
Don’t miss the point: The way the people were treating each other showed that they did not FEAR GOD. They forgot that just generations earlier, they had ALL been slaves with nothing to call their own. That God had delivered them...that everything they had was a gift and provision from God...and when I think this is MY STUFF that I earned and I deserve, then it’s easy for me to justify my defense of it.
3.) Nehemiah insists on REPENTANCE- They’ve been going in ONE direction...Nehemiah has called them on it...now it’s time to go the OTHER direction. An “about face”!
-They promise to stop and take an OATH- (v.12 & 13) “We will give it back,” they said, “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of His house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!” At this the whole assembly said, “Amen.” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.”
4.) Nehemiah’s personal EXAMPLE (for 12 years)- Verses 14-19 are one of those “parenthetical” portions of the Book of Nehemiah where he steps out of the narrative and gives us a broader perspective: 8 YEARS into this rebuilding and restoring process (he was sent by Artexerxes during the 12th year of his reign) he was officially made the “governor of the land of Judah”. He records the CONSISTENT DIRECTION of his life so that people looking at this record will understand that this is the KIND OF MAN he was...not “what he acted like” in ONE isolated circumstance.
-Didn’t take a “SALARY” (v.14 & 15) A governor is entitled to pay. He didn’t take it.
-Did real WORK (v.16) He and his men WORKED at the rebuilding task (example of former President Jimmy Carter and his hands-on work with Habitat for Humanity)
-Sacrificed FINANCIALLY (v.17-18) I ran my household, fed my servants and entertained foreign guests at my own expense...so as not to burden the people more.
-Satisfied with God’s REWARD (v.19) WHY did he do this? Why would Nehemiah not even take that which he was “entitled to”?
-He’s providing real leadership
-He’s doing real physical labor
-He’s caring for the people and enacting meaningful reforms...isn’t that worth something?
YES...but he has a goal. Look at verse 19 again:
“Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.” Paraphrase: "God– if I’m going to be blessed...I want it to come from You. If I’m going to receive a reward...it’s going to have to be from You."
A week and a half ago, at the Promise Keepers Pastor’s Conference, Max Lucado spoke and he shared two statements that a friend challenged him with. Max asked the man- “What is the greatest lesson God has taught you this past year?” and the man replied, “God has shown me that IT’S NOT ABOUT ME, and IT’S NOT ABOUT NOW.”
Pick a problem in ANY church and I guarantee you that there is an element of “It’s about ME”...and “It must happen NOW!” behind it.
Pay close attention to Nehemiah here: It’s not about HIM...he’s taking up the offenses that grow out of a lack of “fear for God” and injustices done to OTHERS.
AND it’s not about now...he is sacrificing for his people knowing that God’s approval and God’s reward in the future are what really matter.
