Confront to Reform

Introduction:

Good morning once again and welcome. Go ahead and turn in your Bible to Nehemiah chapter 13.

How do you feel about confronting others? What happens in your heart and mind when you realize that someone needs to be confronted and it needs to be you doing the confronting? Most of you just got a queasy or uneasy feeling in your stomach. We typically don't like confrontation. Let me ask this: How do you feel when you are confronted about sin in your life? Most of us don't like that either. Do you respond with humility and repentance or with anger and running away from the confrontation?

The day has come and we are finishing up our walkthrough of the book of Nehemiah. I know it's been a challenging one for me and I trust that it has been for you as well.

In chapter 13, the Israelites have dedicated the rebuilt wall and provided for the ministry of the temple. Some time passes before we get to the first verse in chapter 13. We're not sure how much but it's apparent from the context that it wasn't the next day. What we see is that there was this need for ongoing correction and repentance among the people. Nehemiah, as the leader, took the initiative to confront the evil that he saw being done before him. We don't like confrontation. Well, most people don't. There are a few who just love it. Unfortunately they often love it too much. But most of us don't like confronting people and we don't like being confronted. But that is exactly what is called for more often than we are sometimes comfortable with. It makes me wonder how serious we are about holiness and how much we truly love others if we will passively let them continue to operate against the way of the Lord.

Read Nehemiah 13:1-31

Nehemiah 13:1–31 ESV

On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service. In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?” And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

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This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray and ask Him to bless our understanding and application.

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For some context, let me quickly walk you through he previous twelve chapters of Nehemiah. In chapters one through six, the returnees rebuilt the wall. In chapters seven through thirteen the people were rebuilt, led by Ezra and Nehemiah. We walked through chapter seven that established the Israelites' identity based on genealogy. In chapter eight Ezra read them the Word of God and the people were convicted of their sin. There was a season of confession and repentance in which they cried out to God for mercy. This was chapter nine. Then when we hit chapter ten the people renew the covenant. They make a binding agreement to keep the covenant of God and they get into specific ways they will do that. Keep that in mind. Then they decide who will live in the city and dedicate the wall to God. That brings us up to where we are now with Nehemiah's final reforms. The first key I want you to see about these reforms is this:

I. Reverence for God's Word is the starting point for reform.

- what God had said and their response to it

- Nehemiah reminds the people of their history/heritage

- Balaam story

- God protecting his people and blessing when others meant for cursing to happen

- Expect sinners to act like sinners but expect Christians to act like Christians

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- Both corporate and personal

- They people had broken the covenant already... (time frame?)

- You have to call evil out for what it is if you want to be rid of it.

- It will try to seep into he people if God (if possible)

- Shepherds feed the sheep and run off the wolves.

II. Faithful leadership required confrontation of sin.

Nehemiah's reforms in four areas.

-Separated the people from the Ammonites and Moabites

The reading of Scripture did for them what it does for us today. It convicts of sin and compels us to repentance. Nehemiah gives

- they are dealing with the same problem they first dealt with almost thirty years before...

If you will recall, I mentioned that there were three areas where the people got specific in their covenant renewal. These areas where:

1. They would not intermarry with the pagan and idolatrous people around them.

2. They would keep the Sabbath holy and not trade or do business on the Sabbath, even with the idolatrous people around them who did not practice Sabbath.

3. The third promise they made had to do with keeping up the temple and providing for the ministry of the temple.

- Cleanses the temple

(like Jesus)

Someone that was part of Eliashib’s family married someone from Tobiah’s family and therefore the two were now related. So here you had a picture of a spiritual reality. They had cleared out the things necessary for the proper worship of God and instead had housed the idolatrous enemy of the people of God in the place. They had refused to submit to the rule of God and had allowed the enemy to be right there in the house of God.

Nehemiah had been gone to the king for awhile and when he arrives back he discovers that this has gone on. He responds to this news with a high level of passion. Back in the book of Ezra, when Ezra learned of the intermarriage of the Israelites with pagan nations, he responded in similarly passionate ways.

Ezra 9:3 ESV

As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.

Now go back and look at verses 8 and 9 of Nehemiah 13. How does Nehemiah respond to this evil thing that had been done?

Nehemiah 13:8–9 ESV

And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

He threw them out. He got rid of the thing that shouldn’t be there and didn’t stop there. He had the proper and right things returned to their obedient spot. Some who hear this may think it sounds violent or extreme. But this is foreshadowing someone else who would cleanse the temple in righteous anger when He witnessed the temple being used for something other than the worship of God. Just like Jesus would act later, Nehemiah acted decisively. He was like that the whole time. He rebuilt the wall of the city in 52 days against opposition. He would not allow any compromise. Nehemiah had no problem with confrontation. However, he was a righteously confrontational person. His confrontation was not born out of wrong done to him but out of seeing people who were sinning against God. People who should have been serving and loving God were acting in ways against God and God’s people. Nehemiah would not allow the people of God to compromise on their worship of God.

They were in covenant. They had signed it and made specific promises and they now broke those specific promises.

When we see sinful behavior in the lives of people in our church who have covenanted with us in membership, you should rightfully confront them. There are ways that we are to go about this. I wouldn’t recommend throwing them out of where they are living like Nehemiah. But you can be a channel of love and of the kindness of God. Rebuke can be loving.

Your relationship with God is personal, yes, but it’s not private.

Hamilton writes, “When the sin was confronted, and when the Levites were put in their stations, revival broke out.” Worship of God happens when sin is dealt with.

- Enforces the Sabbath

The Sabbath was supposed to be a set time for the Jews to meditate on the Word of God and remember the mercies of God. It was for worship. It was to be set aside so that the people could enjoy God. It was not legalistic but was genuinely good for the people. It’s about people knowing God.

Understanding this helps us see why this was such a big deal to Nehemiah. Again, the people were breaking the covenant they had made.

Principle: boundaries around our time so that we can spend time studying the Word, meditating on it, and worshipping God… Our world is full of distractions… It is for our good that we set aside some time to rest in God. We have to be hawkish about keeping watch for this because our culture will do everything it can to steal this time away from us.

- Cleanses the people

In verse 23 we find that the people who they had intermarried with are the women from the people they were to separate from in verses 1 through 3. Why would this be a big deal? Well, again they had broken the covenant they had made. But Nehemiah points out the problem of language in verse 24. Hamilton, in his commentary, points out that this isn’t just nationalistic pride in their language at stake but, “What’s at stake here is the Bible. Holy Scripture is in the language of Judah. They need to be able to speak Hebrew so that they can read the Scriptures.”

So if one generation compromises on this point, their entire nation could lose the Bible. Losing their language would also begin to erode their identity.

Nehemiah is not losing his temper but more likely he is bringing prescribed punishments upon the people.

We look at the way he dealt with these sins and confrontations of them and we think, “how extreme is Nehemiah?!?!” And it’s true that reading how he beat some of the men and pulled out their hair does seem extreme to us. But let me ask you something. Nehemiah saw the breaking of the covenant as extreme and in need of extreme correction. Why are we so unwilling to go to extreme measures to deal with sin in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters. I’m not talking about beating people so don’t hear what I’m not saying. But shouldn’t we, if we follow Christ above all, be willing to go to extremes in our lives to be rid of sins that so easily entangle us and things that steal our affections from God.

Matthew 5:29 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Jesus isn’t telling you to literally pluck out your eye. But that is how extreme we should be in our drive and action to rid sin from our lives. This is born from loving God above all and wanting to see Him glorified in ALL of our lives.

Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Finally, Nehemiah’s reforms were done with prayer and reliance upon God.

III. Reforms were done with constant prayer and reliance upon God.

Reflects who he was before any of this and was key in how he responded to all of this.

He recognized and acknowledged who this was about and who was ultimately in control.

Nehemiah entrusted himself to the Lord.

Not in what you’ve done but in what Christ has done…

Verse 22

He’s not asking for people to him but God.

Our response to what Christ has done and who He is should be to reform any area where we are out of line with the will of God. This is not because we are trying to earn his approval but because we have it already in Jesus.

Conclusion:

Call back to need for ongoing correction and repentance... just like us today...

We can look at this and be discouraged by it or be encouraged by it.

Discouraged - They just keep falling back into their sin… we do as well…

Encouraged -

That God has given us grace. That impulse to repent of our sin is a gift of the grace of God in our lives.

Pray