Conflict From Within

Conflict From Within

Nehemiah 5:1-13

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to each and every one of you in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am Steve Garrabrant, and I am blessed to serve as Vicar here at Gloria Dei and the Head of School at Lutheran South Academy.

We are in the midst of our sermon series on Nehemiah and the rebuilding that took place historically in the days of Nehemiah as well as looking at how God is rebuilding his people now.

As a recap to what we have learned so far:

· We have learned that Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and after hearing that the survivors living in exile are living in great trouble and shame with the walls of Jerusalem broken down and the gates destroyed, 4 months later Nehemiah boldly asks permission of the king to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and gates. The Lord moves Artaxerxes to grant permission to Nehemiah—even granting him resources and protection.

· We learned that service for the Lord is always born out of a personal devotion to the Lord.

· We learned that building and rebuilding always starts in the home.

· We learned that being faithful to God requires us to get out of our comfort zones.

· We learned that God uses ordinary to the do the extraordinary!

· We learned that we should not be surprised at the opposition faced doing the will of the Lord.

· And, in the midst of great despair, we learned that God does some of His greatest work in caves—especially the cave of the tomb of Jesus where He conquered the despair of sin, death, and the devil.

This morning as we venture into chapter 5, we are going to be looking at a difficult and challenging topic—conflict from within.

You see, in earlier chapters of Nehemiah, the conflict was faced by the likes of Sanballat and Tobiah and those who did not like the Jews. But here, in chapter 5, we see a more devastating conflict. Here’s the sad truth—Satan does not need to raise up enemies against God’s work if he can turn God’s people against each other. And that’s just what happens in chapter 5.

Here we see poor Jewish families struggling to survive. Rich Jews were exploiting them rather than helping them. The poor needed to eat. The rich offered to help—but at a steep price. The poor were forced to mortgage their property. When the property was not enough collateral, they took their Jewish brother’s children as slaves. The rich charged such a heavy interest that the poor had no hope to get out from under the burden of debt.

A never ending cyclical problem.

All of this was rooted in the high tax that the king levied. This is what caused the people to get into debt to begin with.

The rich didn’t help but only increased the burdens of the poor and cycle went on and on. A classic case of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

There were 3 problems here all wrapped into 1 giant mess:

· The king’s oppressive tax

· A struggling poor group of Jews

· And, a skewed responsibility of the rich

We need to think of ourselves as stewards. We need to recognize that everything we have belongs to God. We need to be mindful that God entrusts us with resources like money so that we can use it for Him and others around us.

The rich in Jerusalem did not think of themselves as stewards. They were selfish. They thought, “This is my money” and I will use it to make more money for me. And so, they created conflict from within.

Yes, Satan does not need to raise up enemies against God’s work if he can turn God’s people against each other.

So, how did Nehemiah handle the conflict from within? We have already seen how he handled external conflict…how he handled despair and self-doubt of those he led…but what is going to do with his own kind—his own people—mistreating each other and creating conflict from within?

In the previous 4 chapters of Nehemiah, we have seen the goodness of his leadership. And we see it again in chapter 5:

· A good leader is invested emotionally in his people. The old saying is quite true: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Nehemiah shows he cares for his people.

· A good leader takes action. Nehemiah shows righteous anger. He’s trying to help people face external adversity from those who didn’t like the Jews, and he was dealing with his own people’s despair and now he hears that they are mistreating each other! He channels his righteous anger.

· A good leader is not afraid to confront sin. In verse 7 Nehemiah demonstrated confronting the wrongdoers privately before any public confrontation. He most likely confronted and reminded them of Deuteronomy 23:19…

“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.

· A good leader wants his people to be a good testimony. Nehemiah realized that their actions would be scrutinized by others. By treating each other poorly, the unbelievers around them would have reason to criticize and slander them. Why would anyone want to believe in the God of the Jews if they saw the Jews exploiting and abusing each other?

· And perhaps the best attribute of all, a good leader restores those he leads. Nehemiah rebukes them but didn’t leave them with a rebuke. Instead, he offered them a path to restoration. He offered a solution.

No one likes being scolded. No ones like being reprimanded. In our disciplining, our goal should not be to make people feel bad; however, disciplining may be necessary to bring about repentance. You see, the goal is to restore.

Take a look at Nehemiah 5:9-13 with me…

So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

Here’s what Nehemiah did:

· He confronted them out of care and concern.

· He asked them to stop charging interest.

· He directs them to immediately return to the poor that which was taken from them.

· He challenged them to a specific and achievable action.

· He led them to being restored.

Let me tell you another story of restoration. It’s found in the 21st chapter of the Gospel of John—hundreds of years after Nehemiah. It’s after the resurrection. The disciples have returned to their former ways of living with their fishing. They are catching nothing. A voice from shore cries out to them to throw their net on the other side of the boat. “Are you kidding me?” they must have been thinking—after all their livelihood was catching fish and someone from shore is giving them suggestions?!? But they did. And they had a miraculous catch. And Peter realizing it was the resurrected Jesus on the shore, leaps out of the boat and hurriedly gets to his teacher…his mentor…his friend…the one who just a few days earlier denied knowing him. Jesus is cooking fish on a charcoal fire. By the way, the Gospel of Matthew lets us know it was around a charcoal fire when Peter was warming himself when he denied knowing Jesus. They eat. And after eating, Jesus has a conversation with Peter. You know the conversation. Three questions. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Wow…a full name. Like when I have to use Silas Dale Garrabrant or Elijah Michael Garrabrant or Jonah Steven Garrabrant when I need to get the full attention of my sons. Jesus wants Peter’s full attention. And, Peter’s answer is the same all three times—an exasperated…an embarrassed…a grieved “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

3 questions and 3 answers for 3 denials…and each time Jesus restored Peter with a response of “Feed my sheep.”

And then Jesus says this:

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-19)

Friends, we’re going to mess up with those entrusted to our care. We’re probably going to contribute to in-fighting. But, just as Jesus prepared a meal of fish for His disciples and restored Peter, He prepares a meal for us—a meal of His very body and very blood—and He forgives us and restores us and invites us to follow Him.

You see, when Christ hung on the cross, God only saw 1 sinner. We have been forgiven. We have been reconciled. We have been restored. In closing listen and take comfort in these words from 2 Corinthians understanding that Nehemiah followed the promise of the Messiah to come, and we follow the Messiah who came and have continual restoration in His promises:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

To God alone be the Glory! Amen.