His Work, His Way, For His Glory: The Story of Nehemiah
Sharing God’s Focus
Nehemiah 6-7
Introduction: Good morning! I want to invite you to open your bibles to the Old Testament book of Nehemiah… Some sociologists have labelled our present day as the “age of anxiety.” Well, you look at these fears – all of which are real – and you can begin to understand why we are living in a society governed by fear. Fear can interrupt processes in our brains that allow us to regulate emotions, read non-verbal cues and other information presented to us, reflect before acting, and act ethically. This impacts our thinking and decision-making in negative ways, leaving us susceptible to intense emotions and impulsive reactions.
While fear is a natural human emotion, the problem with it is that if we let get hold of us it paralyzes us and keep us from staying focused on doing what God wants us to do. However, the most often repeated commandment in the bible from God is this: do not be afraid. Depending on how you translate the different verb forms which this commandment takes, it well over 300 times. Each time we are called not to fear, it is because God wants to redirect our focus off ourselves, our circumstances and put them on Him! This morning, we will see how Nehemiah combats the emotion of fear by maintaining his focus on God’s assignment, God’s resources, God’s commandments, and celebrating God’s faithfulness – and thereby, he maintains his focus on his divine assignment to rebuild the wall. My hope is that today will also encourage you as you seek to be faithful to what God is calling you to and us as a church today. Let’s pray…
Nehemiah’s historic place in history
586 – Jews taken into exile
539 – Cyrus defeats Babylon and establishes the great Persian Empire
538 – Cyrus makes a decree for the Jews to come back to their homeland
516 – Temple was reconstructed under the guidance of Zerubbabel and Jeshua
458 – Ezra the Priest goes to Jerusalem to help spiritually lead the community
445 – Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem to help rebuild the walls
History: Why hadn’t the walls been rebuilt yet?
I shared with you about the prophecy Moses makes in Deuteronomy 30 (one of the most important chapters in the Bible!) about the return of the people to the land following their repentance. Moses predicts that they will have circumcised hearts by the Spirit of God and live under a new covenant. This prophecy is later fleshed out in more detail by the prophet Jeremiah (31) and Ezekiel (36-37). So, what Nehemiah is looking for is the sign of the prophets. Now, the people had returned from exile and were initially overwhelmed by the task of rebuilding the ruins of Jerusalem that lay before them. God sends the prophet Haggai, and the godly governor Zerubbabel and the priest Joshua to help encourage the people to the work.
However, by the time of Nehemiah, though the temple was rebuilt, the walls were still broken down. I shared last week that the broken walls were a sign of the spiritual condition of the people. There was an apathy, a complacency, and a lack of concern to pursue God’s purposes for them. They seemed to be content with just trying to survive and get by the best they could. They weren’t idolaters like the previous generation, they were orthodox in their beliefs – it’s almost as if they were saying: we’ve done enough! We have restored the temple, repopulated the land, and maybe a future generation will see the Davidic king, and the promises Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel lay out; this is our time to simply catch our breath and enjoy the small beginnings the Lord has given us.
However, as we will see in Nehemiah, the service to the temple was slack (not giving their tithes to keep it in proper operation), the people were intermarrying the local populations around them, and there was continued economic disparity that violated the law of Moses. Worst of all, the temple had not been visited by God the way it had under Solomon. In short, the people who were supposed to be preparing for the way of the Lord were complacent, and lukewarm. And the fact that almost a hundred years had gone by with no one attending to the walls was a sign of this. And so, Nehemiah comes to share God’s vision with the people and remind them of God’s great purposes for them as a nation. Those purposes can be summarized by the prophet Malachi (a near contemporary of Nehemiah). Malachi 1:11
Exposition of Nehemiah 6-7
Two weeks ago we were introduced to the main enemies Nehemiah faced, the unholy Trinity of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham. I said that God’s work being done in God’s way will always attract God’s enemies. With every genuine work of God there will always be spiritual opposition – we see this in the Bible, in history, and I know many of you have experienced this as well.
Today, in chapters 6-7, Nehemiah’s enemies return once again to do all they can to distract Nehemiah and get the people to lose focus and stop building the walls. Like last time, the main tactic they use against the people is: fear. Fear that leads to anxiety, doubt and spiritual paralysis. Ultimately, to get their focus off of God, and on their circumstances; to get their focus off God’s assignment and on their own self-preservation. Let’s turn our attention to chapter 6 and watch how Nehemiah responds to these challenges…
Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham invite Nehemiah to make a “compromise”- Nehemiah 6:1-3
So, what’s going on here? They invite Nehemiah to come meet with them and make a compromise, a peace-treaty, and become allies instead of enemies. Perhaps if Nehemiah actually thought their intentions were sincere maybe he would have gone forth with the plan. But instead, he realizes what this is: a ruse in which they are trying to get him to stop doing the work of building the wall. Notice Nehemiah’s response in verse 3. Watch what happens next…
Nehemiah stays Focused on God’s Assignment
Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham accuse Nehemiah of sedition – Nehemiah 6:4-7
Now they draft a letter accusing Nehemiah of sedition, and in doing so stir up trouble between the Jewish community and Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. So, keep in mind that even though the Persians had allowed them to go back into the land, there was a financial obligation (taxation), as well as an expectation of loyalty. For all intents and purposes, Israel was now a vassal state of Persia. This wouldn’t be the case forever, but presently that was their situation. So, the accusation that Nehemiah wants to set up himself up as a king is a serious one. But notice Nehemiah’s response: Nehemiah 6:8-9 – He doesn’t go for the ruse and distract himself with defending his own reputation against them. Think about all the work, the effort, that a counter PR campaign would have taken. Weeks if not months? So, what do we see Nehemiah do? Simply ignore them and continue on his way of doing God’s work – and praying specifically for God to strengthen his hands to keep on going.
Nehemiah stays Focused on God’s Divine Resources
Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham attempt to trick Nehemiah into hiding – Nehemiah 6:10-14
The next scheme they come up with is to try and get Nehemiah stop doing the work and go hide in the temple. The hope here is that in doing so, they could expose Nehemiah as a coward, and, again, sully his reputation. But again, Nehemiah doesn’t fall for this temptation to act out in fear, but instead he turns back to God and stays focused on his work.
Nehemiah stays Focused on Commandments
Now, here comes the moment we have been waiting for: the wall is finished!
The rebuilding of the wall is completed in 52 days! – Nehemiah 6:15-6
And so it had! Amazing what God can do through His people when they trust Him and stick to the assignment He has given them. In the coming chapters we will see how they celebrate this amazing accomplishment. But before we get there, we learn some other details that will become important later in the story.
Nehemiah 6:17-19 – So now we get some clearer understanding of why Sanballat, Tobiah and Gesham seem to have some kind of influence on the community: there are marriage and kinship ties to Tobiah – ties that should NOT be there but are due to Jews intermarrying with the local Gentile population. We will see how this plays out later in the story, but for now, notice again that Tobiah continues to attempt to make Nehemiah afraid. But notice Nehemiah’s response to the ongoing threat:
Nehemiah prepares the people for worship and spiritual renewal – Nehemiah 7:1-5
What is he doing? He is organizing them and preparing them for worship and to renew their covenant with God. Rather than fear, and getting tangled with the mess of Tobiah’s family, Nehemiah once again refocuses himself and the people on glorifying God and trusting Him.
Nehemiah stays Focused on celebrating God’s faithfulness
Main Idea: God’s people overcome fear by focusing on God’s assignment, divine resources, commandments, and celebrating His faithfulness.
Application: Overcoming fear by focusing on Christ
So, for we who live on this side of the cross, how do we learn from Nehemiah’s example and overcome fear in our own lives as disciples and followers of Jesus? Remember what Peter tells us that the prophets knew they would not live to see what we have today… 1 Peter 1:10-12. I want to suggest that if Nehemiah had reasons not to fear, we have even more! He experienced and understood a high degree of God’s faithfulness in his day, but we have even more. So, let’s reset what we see from Nehemiah and look at overcoming fear from a Christ-centered viewpoint:
First, stay focused on God’s assignment in Jesus Christ:
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Second, stay focused on God’s divine resources available to us in Jesus Christ:
2 Timothy 1:6-7
Third, stay focused on God’s commandments in Jesus Christ:
1 John 3:19-23
Finally, celebrate His faithfulness…Nehemiah completed the wall in 52 days. Jesus Christ secured our salvation over 3 days, and to that we turn to now…
Nehemiah is tempted to compromise –Nehemiah 6:1-3
Nehemiah is tempted to defend his reputation –Nehemiah 6:4-9
Nehemiah is tempted to hide –Nehemiah 6:10-14
The wall is finished! –Nehemiah 6:15-19
Nehemiah prepares to worship – Nehemiah 7:1-5
Application: Overcoming fear by focusing on Christ
Questions for Life Groups:
- What are your top 2-3 fears in life?
- What things did Nehemiah’s enemies do to get him to stop the work out of fear?
- What can we learn from Nehemiah’s response?
- How are you learning to overcome fear by focusing on God’s assignment, divine resources, commandments?
- How are you celebrating and reminding yourself about God’s faithfulness?