Presentation Transcript

1. Studies in Nehemiah Presentation 07
2. The Completion Of The Wall Chapter 6v15-7v73 Presentation 07
3. Introduction There's always a tremendous sense of achievement when you're able to stand back from something you have made or some work to which you have contributed and view the finished product. Nehemiah and his building team knew all about that. The walls of Jerusalem were at last built and the city made secure. The task had not been easy and the work had taken its toll at a number of different levels. Presentation 07
4. Divided Loyalties One of the disturbing discoveries that Nehemiah made towards the end of the project was that some of the workmen, were also passing on intelligence to the enemy 6v17ff. The postman was being kept busy as letters went from Jerusalem to the enemy camp. One of the workman, Meshullum son of Bereciah was mentioned earlier as a committed builder 3v4,30. What a contradiction, he wanted the work to advance while at the same time he provided information to the enemy that could be used to hinder that advance. How do we go about explaining this? Presentation 07
5. Divided Loyalties Meshullumwas related through marriage to Tobiah. Here then is a man with divided loyalties. He wanted to please his family and he wanted to please God. But there are times, when it is simply not possible to do both because the interests of each lie in different directions. The believer who refuses to choose to travel in one direction can find himself being pulled in both. Meshullum's behaviour helps us understand Jesus' enigmatic saying, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple.” Lk.14v26 Presentation 07
6. Divided Loyalties We need to put God first and to allow no other loyalties to frustrate our service towards God. Satan can use, our love for family and our concern to please them, to erode our Christian commitment. Pressure can come from parents, spouses or children. Their requests can appear reasonable and legitimate as we are pulled out of our spiritual orbit. “Don't go to church, stay in with me, I’m lonely. Why involve yourself in evangelistic outreach there are jobs around the house you could be doing”. You have heard people say, 'blood is thicker than water' well Jesus makes it clear that In the kingdom of God, 'spirit is thicker than blood‘, for he has a prior claim to our heart loyalty. Presentation 07
7. Divided Loyalties There is good reason to think that Meshullumand other nobles did not realise just how opposed Sanballet and Tobiah were towards God’s work. These nobles were not actively evil, or deliberately seeking to undermine Nehemiah's work. Rather they had not sufficiently thought through what they were doing and as a result became the unwitting puppets of Satan. They were not the first to be persuaded that problems could be solved with a little bit of 'give and take, a compromise solution'. Did they reason, “Surely it is not necessary to make a stark choice. Why must we think in black and white categories”? Presentation 07
8. Divided Loyalties Sadly, many Christians fail to see the stark nature of the spiritual realities involved in the work of God. There can be no compromise with the enemy, only capitulation. Is it not alarming to see just how extensively the enemy had penetrated the work in Jerusalem? It is important to be able to discern what things are dangerous to the church's life and have nothing to do with them. At the same time we need to guard against some witch hunt, where we are constantly imagining that there are signs of devilish activity where there is none. However, we need to be vigilant. Presentation 07
9. The Work Complete The most encouraging thing in this whole passage is that despite the sustained onslaught of enemy activity, the goal of God's people was realised, the walls were built – the last piece was put in place and God's enemies were forced to acknowledge their inability to frustrate his purpose v16 . Put another way the completion of this work says more about the faithfulness of God and his sovereign rule than of the gifts or failings of his people. The work was completed because the source of inspiration for the work was not Nehemiah's bright idea but the sovereign purpose of God! Presentation 07
10. The Work Complete The vision the people had caught was not of human but of divine origin. The evidence of that is seen in the fact that, despite bitterly fierce opposition and colossal mountains of discouragement, their goal was reached. God's stamp was upon it! When we find ourselves flagging in our Christian service, when discouragements breaks in upon our heads, there is one thing we need to hold onto - the work in which we are engaged is God's work and we do it with God's help. Presentation 07
11. The Work Complete Now though the walls were complete and the goal was achieved, it is clear from 7v1that the work was not finished. The building of the walls was never to be viewed as an end in itself. In a sense that work was merely preparatory for something much more important . What? The real functioning of the city as a worshipping community in the purpose of God. Jerusalem formed part of the focus of God's plan of redemption for mankind, not so much her bricks and mortar but her people. We must learn to see beyond a part of God's work as being an end in itself and ask where does it fit into his wider work. Presentation 07
12. The Work Complete Houses are built not just to be permanent show homes but as places to live in, cars are manufactured not simply to look good in showrooms but to be driven. And so Nehemiah indicates the real point of the wall building was to create the environment in which the worship and witness of God's people could develop in safety. This is why we find him appointing, singers, porters and Levites and instituting worship in the city. In this way he was saying, “the city of God is not the stone walls of Jerusalem but the people of God who live within the stone walls”. Presentation 07
13. The Work Complete It is with his people, that God's on-going purpose is focused. When we lose sight of that, we have lost sight of something of vital importance. On one occasion, when Jesus had been praising the sacrificial giving of a widow [Lk.21.1-4], his disciples immediately drew his attention to the spectacular architecture of Herod's temple. Jesus replied that there was a day coming when one stone would not be left standing v6. The disciples were easily distracted from an enduring act of beauty, to the beauty of the impermanent building! Jesus, by pointing out that the temple would not last forever’ drove home the truth that beautiful buildings are no substitute for beautiful acts of worship. Presentation 07
14. Future Development As Nehemiahbegan to order the life of the city he planned for its protection 7v2 and his brother Hanani was given this particular responsibility. It has been suggested that this was a dangerous appointment to make for it opened up Nehemiah to the charge of nepotism - jobs for the boys! The church in the Middle Ages was rife with nepotism as church leaders gave posts to relatives who were ill qualified for the task. But there are clearly times in the work of God when we have to be prepared to risk misunderstanding because our concern for the advance of the kingdom is greater than the preservation of our own reputations. Presentation 07
15. Future Development Hananiwas qualified for the job because he was a man of integrity who feared God. A right fear of God is perhaps the most valuable asset for anyone involved in the work of God. Men who fear God are likely to be faithful in their office for they will not put personal considerations before God's work. We see this in the life of Joseph, who when tempted to an immoral liaison by Potiphar's wife, responded by saying, ‘How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God’ Gen. 39v8ff. He feared God! Presentation 07
16. Future Development When Moses was encouraged to appoint leaders who would judge Israel note the qualifications that he was to look for. “But select capable men from all the people - men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens”. Ex. 18v21 Presentation 07
17. Future Development When the Psalmist observed the transgression of the wicked he concluded, “there is no fear of God before his eyes” Ps.36v1. This deduction deserves a place of prominence in any psychology of sin. When men no longer fear God then they transgress his law without hesitation. The fear of consequences is no deterrent, when the fear of God has been removed. Those who have made an impact for God are said to have 'walked in the fear of God'. However intimate their communion with God, however bold their prayers, at the root of their religious life was their conception of God as both awesome and dreadful. “The fear of God is the soul of godliness”. JOHN MURRAY Presentation 07
18. Future Development God holy transcendence is a theme that runs through the Bible and shapes the character of the saints. The fear of God includes an acute feeling of insufficiency and unworthiness in his presence. It induces a love for God which is so great that we would be ashamed to do anything which might displease him. And so the person who truly fears God is the person best suited for responsibility in his work. It is said that in public office every man has his price, but the man who fears God more than he fears the face of men, cannot be bought and with such men the work is safe. It is not enough to fill posts in the church they need to be filled with the right calibre of men and women. Presentation 07
19. Conclusion Nehemiah recognised that in building the wall he was doing no more than preparing the ground and creating a safe environment for the development of a worshipping people. The work however, because it was God's work, would always come under attack and so he wisely appointed those best qualified to defend it. Our prayer increasingly should be, that God would enable us to realise the goals he has set before us, that we might be preserved from divided loyalties, that we might increasingly become a worshipping people as we cry, 'Lord for the good of your church and the good of our land give us men and women in positions of responsibility in the church who will fear you.' Presentation 07