Extreme Ownership: Nehemiah 10

Prayer

Introduction

Open up with me to Nehemiah 9 & Nehemiah 10.

How many of you have ever heard of Jocko Willink?

Willink is an author, podcaster, an retired Lieutenant Commander with the Navy Seals.

Since retirement he’s built a wildly successful consulting business that takes military principles and applies them to business & leadership.

He’s also an incredible follow on Twitter, or X, whatever we call it now.

People will “tweet” him questions regarding advice about personal or professional matters, and his responses perfectly summarize his tone and tenor in life.

One guy, said he wanted to lose weight but couldn’t avoid sweets, “How do you do it?

Answer: “I don’t put them in my mouth.”

Another guy, said he wanted to start waking up earlier but always slept in anyway, “How do you do it?”

Answer: “I set my alarm, and when it goes off, I get up.”

So profound, yet so true.

You see, the these questions aren’t really wanting advice, they’re wanting a quick fix. A microwaved approach to life, that bypasses all discipline

These questions reveal that we want results without personal responsibility.

but if you’ve read anything by Willink you know he’s all about personal responsibility, and is most famous for coining the Phrase “Extreme Ownership.”

Extreme Ownership

According to Willink, Extreme Ownership means “that you’re not going to blame anyone or anything else when something goes wrong. You’re going to take ownership.”

Man, talk about a totally counter-cultural way to behave today.

Our collective society plays by a totally different playbook than this don’t we.

Our gut reaction to problems is blaming!

The path to flourishing, is actually found in Extreme Ownership.

And that’s what we are going to see in our text today.

In Nehemiah 9, the people of Israel are in great Distress and they call out to God in prayer.

They’re in Distress because for the first time in hundreds of years they have heard from the Word of God, and received a Picture of God as well as an accurate picture of self.

And the disparity between the 2 is so great, that the people are experiencing such conviction that they’re miserable!

They’ve seen from Scripture how gracious, and loving, and committed God has been. And consequently they’ve seen how wicked, and rebellious, and uncommitted they have been.

But fortunately, they aren’t going to blameshift, or excuse their behavior, instead they are going to take Extreme Ownership, and in so doing they’re going to provide us an incredible example to follow.

So let’s begin at the end of Neh 9.

Nehemiah 9:33–37 ESV

Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

He had been righteous, yet they had been wicked!

He had been good, yet they had rejected him.

So they see, for the first time, that the circumstances of their current indentured servitude to Persia was because of their sins.

And they don’t blame it away, ignore it, or make excuses. Instead they take Extreme Ownership of their Relationship with God with the Confession of Sin

Extreme Ownership: Confession of Sin

Confession of Sin’

Look at Nehemiah 9:37 “And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins.

That’s Extreme Ownership.

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 we are commanded by Paul to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”

One of the ways we can examine ourselves, or to test the authenticity of our faith is to evaluate how we handle the sin in our lives.

A sign of a true believer isn’t rather you sin or not. Christian’s aren’t perfect, we just worship a Perfect Savior. Christians are going to stumble. We are going to slip up.

Now hopefully it won’t be a pattern or habitual, but the test of a true believer is what you do when you sin.

If you ignore it or act like it’s not a big deal, you may need to test yourself.

But I think this begs a pretty important question…

The Bible says that in Christ, God has forgiven us. And if he has forgive us, why would we need to make confession a constant practice?

Right!?

Eph1 says we have forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace.

If that’s true, should we even be confessing at all?

That’s a really important question, and I think it reveals a misunderstanding of forgiveness.

I hesitate to say that there are 2 types of forgiveness, but its more that forgivenvess is multifaced.

Hang with me and let me see if I can explain this.

First, according to Scripture we have Positional Forgivenss in Christ.

Positional Forgiveness

Just as the scriptures of Eph 4 and Eph 1 state, “we have been forgive in christ.”

Positional forgiveness is attained by every believer in Christ, not by works like confession, but solely by the grace of God found in the crucified and resurrected Christ.

Because of Christ’s death for you, God’s wrath toward sin was satisfied, and your sins are forgiven by your faith in Christ’s sacrifice.

Consequently, you are no longer sin, but are righteous because you are IN CHRIST.

Your CONFESSION as it regards Positional Forgiveness was Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

It was a confession in response to Salvation.

You are positionally forgiven.

But, what do you do with your sin, AFTER you are positionally forgiven in Christ with Salvation?

Because listen, you’re going to sin.

1 John 1:10 “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

If you are positioned in Christ, and come to realize that you have sinned, you need to CONFESS for Relational Forgiveness.

Relational Forgiveness

When you sin, your fellowship or relationship with God is hindered.

You haven’t lost your salvation, that position is secure by grace.

But you have broken relationship, and your intimacy is negatively impacted.

Church, proper fellowship with God cannot happen with unconfessed sin in our lives.

Confession is the proper way to take Extreme Ownership of your relationship with God.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Father & Son

Let me illustrate the difference.

My Son is my Son. His position as my SON will never change, his righteousness, or good deeds don’t make him more my son, nor does his sin or disobdeience make him less my son.

His Position is Secure because of My unfailing love for my son.

But, when he falls short of my standards and expectations, and repeatedly disobeys and disrespects, our relationship is negatively impacted.

Our fellowship is hindered. Our relationship becomes disjointed and disconncted. A distance begins to grow between us.

But, once he confesses his sin, that fellowship can be restored.

A Christian, takes Extreme Ownership of their relationship with God, by making the confession of sin a habitual pratice.

my encouragement would be to pray for the Holy Spirit to search you and know you and test you and see if there was any wayward way in you.

And then let the Holy Spirit who is your comforter, reveal your sin.

Then simply Extremely Own it. and Move on.

Extreme Ownership with Confession of Sin.

But let’s keep reading

Nehemiah 9:38 ESV

“Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Extreme Ownership: Recommitment of Covenenant

Characters of the Covenant

After they took Extreme Ownership with the Confession of Sin, they proceed to take Extreme Ownership with a Recommitment of Covenental Relationship

This chapter clinches the confession they just made, by communicating a recommitment to keep covenant.

And to show that they mean business, the leaders of Israel seal it and sign it.

What follows in chapter 10 is the list of those names.

Beginning with Nehemiah Nehemiah 10:1 ““On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah,

Then flows to the priests, Nehemiah 10:1–8 ““ Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests.”

Then moves to the Levites Nehemiah 10:9–13 “And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.”

Then concludes with other leaders and officials Nehemiah 10:14–26 “The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Wow, you and Coleman are so good at reading and rehearsing these Jewish names,” and I apprecaite you thinking that, but let me let you in on a little secret.

Coleman and I both assume that you have no idea how to say these names. So we just stand up here and say them confidently, hoping that you’ll defer to us as experts.

But in all seriousness, the listing of these names, signifies the seriousness of their Extreme Ownership.

But what follows is the actually content of their committment

Content of the Covenant

Nehemiah 10:28–29 ESV

“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

We are going to look a little more in detail in the remainder of the text, but here in 28 & 29 we have a cliff notes version of what they were committing too!

First, it shows that it’s the entire community of Israel, and not just the leadership who are taking Extreme Ownership.

The list of names was just a representative, and here in vs 28 we read that this commitment was takn, “by all who have separated themselves.”

Separating was a call to holiness.

And always required separating from something, and to something.

seperate from and to.

In their case, they were to separate from the peoples of the Land, and it’s important to remember that this isn’t about ethnic preservation, but about religious purity.

It’s about avoiding syncretism.

When God was leading the People of Israel into the land of covenant he knew the temptations that awaited them.

They would have neighbors that worshipped gods that are no gods, and walk in a lax morality that was not on par for the rules and standards God was requiring of his covenatn people.

As he says clearly in Leviticus 20:23 “And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.”

So they weren’t to possess the land and adopt or assimilate to teh practices of the peoples.

Instead they wre to be Separated.

Leviticus 20:26 “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

So they were to separate from the peoples around them, but they were also called to separate to also.

And in their case itwas to the Law of God!

Nehemiah 10:28 ““ to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding,”

In essence, they were committing to

Nehemiah 10:29 to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.”

And as they remembered, the Mosaic covenant that they were committing to keep came with great blessings for obedience, but also dire consequences of discipline for faithlessness.

Which is what was reharsed in Neh 9.

So that’s the content of their commitment.

They were taking Extreme Ownership of their relationship with God by separating themselves from syncretistic, polytheistic influences, and separating themselvs to the Law of God as laid out in the Mosaic Covenant.

In the same fashion, we too can take Extreme Owneship of our relationship with God by Separating from and to as well.

As Christians we are called to Separate from Worldly Living

Not from the world, as we’ve discussed often, we are actually sent into this world. To be in the world, but not of the world.

We are not called to be world avoiders, but to be world witnesses and we do that by separating ourselves from worldly living, while still living in the world.

We are to live in this world, by living according to the rules of another.

You see Philippians 3:20 “ our citizenship is in heaven,”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”

But as we wait for our citizenship to be realized, we live as exiles in this world.

1 Peter 1:17–18 “ conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,”

1 Peter 1:19 “but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Church, this is a must.

James 4:4 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

I think our comfort seeking Christianty has totally led us astray here.

Some actually believe we can be Christians, and live in a way that accomodates the values and beliefs of this world that run contrary to the will of God.

But Peter warns us not to be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

You are to be holy as He is holy.

And Galatains says that these worldly works are evident:

Sexual Immorality, lustful pleasures, idolatry, hatred, striff, jealousy, fits of anger, divisions, envy, drunkness, and things like these…

those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now is Paul in Gal 5 here saying that we will lose our salvation!? NO! Positional Forgiveness is given and never taken away, but he is saying that if you live in an accomodating way in the world, you may need to test yourself becasue you may not be in the Kingdom to begin with.

As I stated previously, how we handle sin in our lives is a good indicator of our standing with Christ, and a Christian wants fellowship with God, which simultaneously means they do not want fellowship with worldly ways.

But we must also separate To, and in our case it is to separate ourselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ!

He gave himself for us to redeem us from all worldliness and to purify for himself a people for his own possesssion.

We are a people of his own possession, and as such we must walk in nearness to Him.

To abide in Him. To learn and live in light of the ethics of His Kingdom.

Church, in essence it’s a Separation. A distinctiveness.

True Confession always shows itself in Renewed Commitment.

That is how we take Extreme Ownership of our Relationship with God.

But let’s look at the details of their Renewed Commitment, because there were 3 specific recommitments they are going to make.

3 Recommitments

The First had to do with Intermarraige.

Nehemiah 10:30 “We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.”

As they read and understood the word of God they began to see that one of the primary areas of sin in their collective lives was the problem of intermarriage.

The law of Moses was clear, Deuteronomy 7:3 “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,”

And again this isn’t about ethnic purity, but religious purity.

Deuteronomy 7:4 “for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods.

What God understood, and what the Law of Moses prescribed was an equally yoked marraige, because your spouse more than any other relationship will promote or hinder your fellowship with God.

So they had been intermarrying. Marrying those who did not worship YHWH, and were consequently being led astry.

God directly calls this an affront to the covenant.

Malachi 2:11 “Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.”

So in taking Extreme Ownership they Recommit their Romantic Lives to the Lord.

What about you? Is your romantic life an area where you need to take some Extreme Ownership?

2 Corinthians 6:14–16 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

If you’re single, and yearning to be married, make sure you take some Extreme Ownership in the selection of your spouse for the choice of your spouse has dramatic spiritual consequences, positive and negative, on your fellowship with God.

Many of you here this morning, know the negative consequences I speak of.

You were married, and hoped your spouse would change over time, but unfortunately that hope never materialized, and has led to divorce in your past.

If that’s you, you too can take Extreme Ownership.

If it was sin on your part, don’t hesitate to confess.

And just a little tip, if you have confessed, trust your forgiveness to the sufficiency of Christ who is always ready to forgive!

So many who have this story live in such shame and regret, that you spend almost every day in confession of the same sin or situation.

And this too is a demonstration of a lack of faith in the forgiveness of God.

So some may need to confess, but some may need to receive forgiveness.

But you can also recommit.

By separating yourself unto the Lord in your new found singleness, and vowing to avoid the patterns of your former ignorance.

For many of you this isn’t about marriage per se, but definitely involves your romantic life.

Paul says your body is a temple of the HS, yet goes on to say that in light of that you choose to join your body to others in sexual immorality.

Sex outside of marraige between one man and one woman, rather virtual or physical, is a violation of God’s desire and plan for you.

Sexual relations, outside of God’s intended design, should never expect God’s blessing and flourishing.

And if that’s you in any way, I’d encourage you to heed the example of those in our text.

Take Extreme Ownership by Confessing and Recommitting.

The Second area of Recommitment had to do with their Business Lives.

Nehemiah 10:31 “And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.”

In this statement, they were Recommitting their Business Lives to the Lord.

Choosing not to work on the Sabbath had massive implications on their work and trading arrangements.

Let me ask you, can you make more money working 7 days a week, or 6!?

Right, it’s just logical, but once again we are separated to a different Kingdom, with different ethics and different economics.

And in not working the Sabbath they were expressing their trust and depednence on God and not on self.

What is it for you?

Now we don’t live under the letter of the law, but dedicating a day of the week unto the Lord is still very valid and profitable.

Actually, for many of us today I believe taking a legitimate sabbath would totally reveal some idols, and may be the pathway to destroying some idols.

I mean let’s call a spade a spade, most of us worship our work don’t we.

It’s all we think about, showing that we love the Lord our work with all of our minds.

It’s all that makes us stressed, happy, or mad showing we love the Lord our work with all of our hearts.

It’s what wears us out, and makes us work for the weeknd showing we love the lord our work with all of our strength.

And Church, I’m not saying these things to condemn.

In fact, Pastors may be the ones needing to take the most Extreme Ownership here.

Most pastors, myself included, are available 24/7, and what’s worse is congregations praise us for this level of workaholism.

There’s a joke in the ministry, that really isn’t funny, that says a Pastor would be fired for breaking 9 of the 10 commandments, but promoted for breaking 1… Honor the Sabbath.

So this text will preach to me, and hopefully preaching to you as well.

We are to have no gods before YHWH, and maybe we need to take some Extreme Ownership by recommiting our business lives to the Lord.

Thirdly, they Recommitted their financail lives to God.

Nehemiah 10:32–39 ESV

“We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”

Finally, they vowed to take Extreme Ownership of their financial lives but recommitting their giving unto the Lord.

First, their recommitted giving was to support all the ministries of the House of God or the Temple.

And the ministries of the Temple, much like the ministries of the church, cost a lot.

Look at vs. 33, we see the showbread, the regular offerings, the sabbath costs, the feasts, and sacrifices, everything.

And these were to be provided by the generous giving of the people.

And they recommited that their giving would once again be of the “firstfruits” (vs.35) of the the “firstborn” of their livestock (vs. 36).

This is so important, because giving like this was risky.

If you give your first harvest of produce, what if your field doesn’t yield again? But yet, that was their recommitment. To give sacrificially.

The alternative was to hold the firstfruits, or firstborn and give the leftovers…

How about you? How do you give?

Do you give first, or are you content with giving God the leftovers.

But finally they recommitted their giving with the Tithe.

Tithe means Tenth, and the Law of Moses dictated that they give 10% of everything unto the Lord.

Now, the New Testament doesn’t emphasize a 10% hard and fast, but neither does it ignore it.

But if you survey the New Testament you will find very clear principles of giving, many of which I covered when we looked at NEH 5, in a sermon titled “Money Problems”

If you want to give it a listen.

But the point for us today is Maybe this is the area you need to Recommit and take some Extreme Ownership over.

Conclusion

Conclusion

What we’ve seen today is the Outworking of Submitting to the Word of God.

When we sit underneathe the Word in Neh 8, we get an exalted picture of God and Self in Neh 9, and to reconcile the disparity thereof we need to take some Extreme Ownership of our relationship with God by confessing sin, and Recommitting to Covenant Relationship with him.

But… if you are not in Christ, or a follower of Jesus, than you won’t have any ambition or concept of taking Extreme Ownership for your relationship with Jesus, because that relationship doesn’t exist.

And for it to exist, let me remind us all of JESUS’ Extreme Ownership.

You see, the disparity between God and ourselves is actually much greater than we tend to understand.

In fact, it’s a distance of eternity. Where the wages of our wickedness is phsycial, spiritual, and eternal death. Fully and irreconciably separated from relationship with God.

But, praise be to God that in Christ God took Extreme Ownership for that separation and made it possible for us to have relationship.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

That’s Extreme Ownership, and becasue of that… we get to respond by taking Extreme Ownership

Not of our position, but of our relationship and we do that with confession and recommitment.

This morning, I’d like for us to close by reflecting on the Extreme Ownership Christ took on our behalf with the taking of Communion.

Communion

Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, clearly symbolized the Extreme Ownership he was planning to take.

Sitting around the table with his closest followers…

Matthew 26:26–28 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

In the breaking of the bread, he was symbolizing the personal responsibility he was to take in the sacrifice of his own body.

In the taking of the cup, he was symbolizing the personal responsibilty he was going to take in the establishment of a new covenant resulting in the forgiveness of our sins.

And everytime we partake of this meal together, we get to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ Ultimate Ownership of our relationship with him.

Now, if you’re not a believer in Christ I’d like to kindly ask you to let these elements pass you by, as Communion is an institution for the believer, but as they pass you by, maybe today is the day that your relationship begins.

So take a moment, as the band plays, and I”ll come back up and lead us through this time together.

Let’s pray.