Nehemiah: Godly Leadership For God's Glory

Today we launch into a new series walking through the book of Nehemiah. Often this book is studied in combination with the book of Ezra. This makes sense because this was originally the second half of the book of Ezra. These two books cover one century of history from 539 to 433 B.C.

The Judeans had been exiled in Babylon. The prophets had

Ezra tells of the first wave of exiles who return to Judah under King Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple. This was 539 to 516 B.C.

The second wave returns with Ezra more than fifty years later around 458 B.C. Nehemiah then rebuilds the wall a little more than ten years later from 445 to 433 B.C. The whole book of Nehemiah takes place over approximately 13 years.

Resettle, rebuild, and prepare to fight

The leaders in both of these books Ezra and Nehemiah are in the foreground of the story. You have priests who work in the temple and teach God’s law. And then you have Nehemiah, the governor.

The question that I came upon in my study was this: what kind of leadership does the Bible hold up or present to us as exemplary leadership? I want you to think on this throughout our time in this book.

Nehemiah 1:1–11 ESV

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it to our lives.

PRAY

I. A godly leader is concerned for the glory of God in God’s people.

How we get to some of the dates that I gave earlier. In the month of Chislev, which corresponds with what we know as November/December. Artaxerxes began his reign in 465 BC. In keeping with that timing, the twentieth year would have been 445.

Susa was the winter residence of the king of Persia. So Nehemiah is there and Hanani arrives from Judah. Nehemiah asks how things are in Jerusalem and with the remnant of Jews who survive the exile

The news is not good. Hananai speaks of great trouble and shame. The walls were broken down and the gates had been burned with fire.

Now, I want you to see something in Nehemiah’s response.

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Don’t let it slip by you how passionate he is for God’s kingdom. He is broken hearted that the advance of God’s people is halted. When we are loving God and seeking the advance of His kingdom and His glory, we will feel sorrow when it gets slowed or stopped like this. He weeps and mourns for days. He then moves forward with fasting and prayer. He turns to discipline and diligence in continuing to seek the Lord. This is a man who was already deeply in love with the Lord and seeking His glory. So when this news came, he dove deeper into his devotion. I wonder when the last time was that we were driven to weeping and mourning and prayer to see God’s glory advance in our community.

II. A godly leader is prayerful.

We have here recorded Nehemiah’s prayer to the Lord. The statements that he makes about God are informed by Scripture.

Nehemiah, knew God’s Word and his strength of character was built in his study of God’s Word. He knew God’s Word and knew he could trust God to answer his prayers because he knew from God’s Word, what God had promised to do.

This prayer is based on Biblical teaching as we find in Deuteronomy 4:25-31.

Here was Nehemiah, in the midst of the exile, living through what had been prophesied. He was hoping to experience what God had promised would come after the exile. He prays and confesses sin. He asks God to hear the confession of his sin.

He calls on God to remember the covenant He made with His people. This is just praying scripture. It’s not trying to hold God hostage or like trying to trick God into doing something that you feel He owes you. This is not that. This is praying the promises that God had made in His Word.

At the end of chapter 1 Nehemiah reveals the position that he held in Persia. He was highly placed. He was cupbearer to the king meaning that he likely took a taste of everything that went to the king before the king drank it. One of the fears of kings in that day was being poisoned. So they would have a cupbearer who would try it first so that the king didn’t die. If it was poison you’d need a new cupbearer. According to history, the cupbearers of the Persians and Meades would take the wine from the vessel into the cup, then pour some into their left hand and sup it up. Then they would take the cup to the king with three fingers.

So Nehemiah had a position where he was before the king on a regular basis. This is important for what comes next. Let’s continue to read in chapter 2.

Nehemiah 2:1–8 ESV

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

III. A godly leader acts.

Nehemiah had an opportunity here and he acted upon it.

The king wanted to know why he was so sad. But before he answers, true to his character, Nehemiah prays. This wouldn’t have been a long, drawn out prayer like before. It probably wasn’t out loud. I saw this described as one of those arrow prayers where you just pray to the Lord for strength or courage or the words you need right in the moment that you have to act. So this godly leader prays and answers.

The king grants him permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.

I want you to see that he had thought this through. This wasn’t a spot of the moment request. He had thought through what he needed. He asks for these letters so he can have safe passage and timber for the work.

Not only does a godly leader act but he plans his action. It’s not a reaction but a strategy to see God’s glory advance in His people. In the next section, verses 9-20, we will continue to see Nehemiah plan and act. Let’s read the rest of it.

Nehemiah 2:9–20 ESV

Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work. Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

Nehemiah had a vision for what to do. He had a plan. He had a strategy. He set to work enacting the plan. Some of us talk a really good game. We can see what should be done and tell everyone about it but when it comes to putting the work in to get it done we fall short. This is the opposite of the Monday morning quarterback.

Inspection - Nehemiah goes out and inspects the site. He gets eyes on it and checks out what needs to be done. He sees the work ahead and he realizes that he can’t do it alone. So he talks to the people and gets them to follow him to rebuild and restore the city of God’s people.

Inspiration - He inspires people to follow him.

Not everyone in this story was excited for the city walls to be rebuilt. We see that a godly leader faces opposition.

IV. A godly leader faces opposition.

In chapter two we meet Sanballat and Tobiah. The text tells us that they are greatly displeased that someone is seeking the welfare of Israel. They’re upset that someone wants good for the people of Israel. They seem to want to assert their authority in Judah. These Samarians are going to come back up in the coming weeks but for now they allege that what Nehemiah is doing is rebelling against the king. This was a serious accusation and the king, Artaxerxes had believed it in the past. (Ezra 4) Now it’s not just Sanballat and Tobiah, but they also have this guy, Geshem the Arab with them. They jeered and despised the Israelites.

What was Nehemiah’s response to this opposition?

Nehemiah 2:20 ESV

20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

Even though Nehemiah knows the king is on his side as he sent him back here, he doesn’t trust in the king. His trust is in the God of heaven who is strong and able to save. This reminds me of David facing Goliath who didn’t trust in armor or weapons but in God to deliver Goliath into his hands just as he had the lion and the bear when he was herding sheep.

Conclusion:

Nehemiah keep the goal in sight. He wanted God’s glory and the restoration of the city of God’s people. He prayed and acted to pursue the reclaiming of glory. He faced opposition.

As I was preparing this message, I thought about those main points about godly leaders and I was reminded that we see these things in Jesus Himself.

Jesus was concerned for the glory of God.

John 17:4 ESV

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

Jesus would get away and pray. He spent time with the Father.

Luke 6:12–13 ESV

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

He acted for the glory of God and advancement of the kingdom.

John 8:50 ESV

50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

Jesus also, most certainly faced opposition.

From the religious leaders, from the government leaders, and from the people.

Jesus was willing to give His life to accomplish God’s mission for Him. The result is better than a rebuilt wall. The outcome is God being glorified in the rescue of souls from certain judgment.

All during His earthly human life, Jesus lived perfectly and without sin. He perfectly fulfilled the commandments in our place because we could not. He gave his life on the cross, also, in our place, as the perfect and once for all sacrifice for our sin. He stood in our place and took the wrath of God for our sin upon Himself. Those who opposed Him thought they had won. He was laid in a grave and it was sealed. But three days later, He arose. He rose to life by the power of God. This proves that He is worth it. This proves that God beat death and that the sacrifice for your sin was accepted. It worked! We can have life instead of death if we trust in Jesus. Repent of your sin and believe THIS good news!

So what about you and me? What is our concern here? How do we become godly leaders for the kingdom of God.

First, we must belong to Jesus. Repent of your sin and believe the good news. Trust Jesus for salvation.

Second, seek the glory of God in Dixon, in our families, in our church, and in the community around us. Pray for it. Love it. Live for it. Weep for it.

Third, act for God’s glory. If you know Jesus and are his follower, you have a ministry. You have a mission. Get on it. Pray and act. Your prayers, like Nehemiah’s should be informed by the Word of God. Your actions should be consistent with the Word of God. You’re not acting out there on your own but you are working according to God’s Word and will for God’s glory and the advancement of the kingdom.

Fourth, when you face opposition, dive deeper into your trust of the Lord. Notice I said “when” not if. You will face opposition if you work for the glory of God. We must persevere and trust that God wins in the end. We are not responsible for the outcome. We are responsible to be faithful and obedient.

Persevere in faith and complete the work set before us. The challenge for you today is: will you?