Opposition
Mike Biolsi
Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Resistance is Good
Resistance is Good
Historical Recap:
Historical Recap:
While we are spending a bit of time in Nehemiah because the application is so rich, it is important to remember that this book is here, first and foremost, as a historical narrative to show us God’s work among his people.
The rebuilding of the walls is a reminder of the kingdom that once thrived under kings David & Solomon, and a reminder of the promise of God that someday a kingdom will be established that will rule for eternity.
The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, will create a charred, imperfect wall that will serve as a reminder of the tension of the present reality, the past splendor and the future hope. It is symbolic of the nation of Israel and also of the life of faith and the meta narrative of the Bible (but THAT is for a message that is yet to come!)
Application Recap:
Application Recap:
So far, in Nehemiah, we have learned:
God will burden you with things he wants you to do
Where God guides, God provides
Plan and prepare for what God wants you to do
God wants to use all his people to accomplish his work
We also learned the importance of bathing all of this in prayer.
TODAY we are going to learn that we should expect opposition and problems when we engage in the work of God.
Doing the right things for God does NOT guarantee that you will have smooth sailing and everyone will be happy. Actually, that is probably as far from the truth as you can get!
ASK: Can you name one character in the Bible that had everything go as planned and had it easy while following God?
Let’s think about some Biblical examples:
Moses - the people continually complained against him and he had to spend 40+ years in the wilderness
David - was promised to be king after Saul but spent years hiding for his life from Saul
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego - got tossed in a furnace for doing what honored God
Daniel - thrown into the lions den for praying to Yahweh
Job - that poor guy!
John the Baptist - beheaded for calling out sin in someone’s life
Jesus - did the will of the Father and it caused him much grief, conflict and eventually his life
Stephen - stoned to death for believing that Jesus was the Messiah
Paul - was blinded, imprisoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a deadly snake, imprisoned some more for his faith
If the evidence of scripture is that those that follow God often find themselves facing opposition, why are we so often surprised when we face opposition or challenges when following God? Perhaps we have this inner sense that since I have a new life and I am a new person, all my old problems and all my opposition will disappear?
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
I don’t see this verse as a magnet on a fridge or on a coffee cup (unless they only quote the END of it!)
Jesus spoke those words to his disciples after telling them that they would be scattered and that he would be leaving and that they would be hated by the world for their faith in him.
WHY is it that people who follow Jesus have opposition?
WHY is it that people who follow Jesus have opposition?
Let’s answer this question before we see some types of opposition we can expect to face as Jesus followers.
Quite simply, without spending and hour taking the deep dive into the meaning of the word “faith”, we face trials, challenges, opposition so we can grow and be like Jesus. Jesus’ brother wrote this:
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
The challenges and opposition we face become opportunities for our faith to grow. They create moments where we can rely on God in ways we may not have needed to before. They can also create opportunities for us to put God on display for others to see the way he rescues and sustains.
While ranting on social media about the problems may feel like therapy for us, relying on God through the problems can produce maturity and provide real peace.
Now that we have answered the question of why we face opposition and challenges, let’s so how this relates to the book of Nehemiah.
What kind of opposition can we face?
What kind of opposition can we face?
One way to categorize opposition is to look at where it comes from: inside the family of faith or outside. Both should be expected, and Nehemiah gives us examples if both.
Opposition from Without
Opposition from Without
1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews 2 before his colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?” 3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!”
Mocking.
Mocking.
Sanballat fires off a string of mockery that is meant to discourage and deflate the Jews and make them want to quit.
You are feeble
You are not strong enough
Your God cannot help you
You will never get it done
You don’t have the resources you need
The people of God are doing the work of God and their enemy wants them to believe that they are feeble, not strong enough, will not get it done, are not equipped to do the work and that God cannot help them.
Then, Tobiah the Ammonite says that their wall is so weak that even a single fox walking on it would make it fall.
My friends, when you set out to do the work of the Lord, expect that some people, be they family, friends, co-workers, etc, will take sides against you and will mock you. They will try to discourage you from continuing the work God has called you to do.
How Should We Respond?
How Should We Respond?
I think our first response is often an emotional one. It is easy to get angry. It is possible to be angry and not sin (Eph. 4:26) - and the difference will be how you respond.
4 Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from your sight, because they have angered the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall until the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had the will to keep working.
Nehemiah prayed. This is the 3rd prayer we have in this book. But prayer should be our first response. Talk to God. He is bigger than the opposition, and we must remember that one of the purposes of trials is to teach us to trust him. So our best, first response should be to talk to him.
Now, I am not sure I would counsel you to model this prayer ;) Jesus gave us a different way to pray for our enemies:
27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
FAITH TIP - it is really hard to feel oppressed by those you are praying for and blessing.
They kept working. They built the wall to half it’s height. They kept working. Opposition is not an excuse to stop doing what God has called us to do. Similarly, to listen to opposition and use that as an excuse to disobey God is basically elevating the mocker as more important than God, which is idolatry.
In the end, these are just WORDS. and we should expect to hear words of discouragement from those who do not fear God.
Let’s keep going, because there is more opposition to come:
7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.
Confusion.
Confusion.
Creating confusion is a great way to get work to stop! Confusion will often lead to fear, discouragement and even disunity which are all things that will hinder the work of God.
In this case, it is physical harm that they wanted to bring against the Jews, but it can be any kind of activity: physical, legal, financial, etc that can create confusion.
Reading on, we see the response:
9 So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard because of them day and night.
Response.
Response.
They prayed and took defensive action. This is the 4th prayer recorded in Nehemiah.
It was not that they prayed and went home. They prayed, took action AND KEPT BUILDING the wall. The work continued.
10 In Judah, it was said: The strength of the laborer fails, since there is so much rubble. We will never be able to rebuild the wall. 11 And our enemies said, “They won’t realize it until we’re among them and can kill them and stop the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived nearby arrived, they said to us time and again, “Everywhere you turn, they attack us.” 13 So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows. 14 After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.”
We catch more of the story: the people were getting discouraged because the work was great (the discouragement was working) and also because those outside the city walls kept getting attacked. The answer was to defend themselves. BUT, it is important that we examine verse 14:
14 After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.”
Remember God. When we get discouraged and feel attacked, we need to remember God. He is great and awe-inspiring. He led the people out of Egypt, he parted the Red Sea, he made food from the dew, he brought water out of a rock, he carried them through the exile and he has given them a work to do in Jerusalem. He can carry you safely through your current situation!
At times of attack we can often doubt God’s intentions - even if we do not say so verbally.
In Exodus 14:10-14, as the people faced the armies of Pharaoh and the threat of being wiped out that they questioned if God cared or if he just wanted to bring them to the wilderness to die.
In Nehemiah, do you think God gave Nehemiah favor in the eyes of the king and resources to build the wall just to have that work ruined by a few mere men? What do you think? Did God intend to set them up for failure?
We must choose to remember who God is, what he has done and what he wants to do and fear him more than we fear humans.
Oh, and then be ready for a battle!
There could be conflict. There could be a battle. The command from Nehemiah was:
Do not fear men
Remember God
Fight
FAITH TIP: You will not win all your battles, and the success of your mission, in your lifetime, is not guaranteed. God’s plan, timing and purposes will be accomplished - do not be discouraged if things do not appear the way YOU think they should be. [Check our Proverbs 19:21 some time!]
Faith requires action. James says that faith without works is dead. There is a heart issue: who do you fear. There is a mind issue: what do you believe. There is strength issue: what will you do.
Let’s finish reading this chapter:
15 When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, every one of us returned to his own work on the wall. 16 From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers supported all the people of Judah, 17 who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. 18 Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building, and the one who sounded the ram’s horn was beside me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is enormous and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!” 21 So we continued the work, while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out. 22 At that time, I also said to the people, “Let everyone and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.” 23 And I, my brothers, my servants, and the men of the guard with me never took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon, even when washing.
Did you catch verse 20, “Our God will fight for us”. When you are doing the work of God and being obedient to him you can count on him to fight your battles.
They continued working, even though it was now much more laborious and I can imagine that emotions were high and the tension was real.
When you and I choose to do the work of God we will face opposition from those outside of the family of faith. Some will mock and some with threaten to try to throw you into confusion and keep you from working. This does NOT mean that God wants you to quit! The response is to pray, trust God and keep working.
Fear will keep you from the work - faith will keep you working through the challenges.
Challenges from Within
Challenges from Within
In a perfect world, people would act in a perfect way, and the people of God would treat each other in a way that perfectly reflects the love of God, in perfect obedience to his every command.
Have we mentioned that we live in a fallen world, not a perfect one?
That means that even inside the family of faith we can expect there will be problems and challenges. Some will be sin issues, and some will just be personal preferences and opinions. But we can be certain that since the family of God is made up of imperfect, fallen people who live in an imperfect, fallen world - there WILL be challenges, even from among our brothers and sisters in the faith!
1 There was a widespread outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish countrymen. 2 Some were saying, “We, our sons, and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live.” 3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during the famine.” 4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. 5 We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
On top of the opposition from Sanballat AND the enormous task of rebuilding the wall, there was a famine. I do not think I mentioned that sometimes the challenges come directly from God - but they can!
To help survive the famine, some borrowed money to buy grain and were now indebted (slaves) to the ones they borrowed from. This is similar to the situation we had when Joseph was second in command over Egypt after being sold into slavery.
Some were even desperate enough that they “sold their children to slavery”. Now, before you freak over that, let’s understand the concept of slavery from the Jewish perspective:
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 4: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job 1. The Complaints of the Poor (5:1–5)
In times of economic distress, families would borrow funds using members of the family as collateral. If a man could not repay the loan and its interest, his daughters, his sons, his wife, or even the man himself could be sold into bondage. A Hebrew who fell into debt would serve his creditor as “a hired servant” (Lev 25:39–40). He was to be released in the seventh year (Deut 15:12–18), unless he chose to stay voluntarily.
In addition, the king’s taxes still needed to be paid. Basically, they were in need of money and food. They were broke. Some of the situations were just circumstantial. However, some were sinful.
Response.
Response.
6 I became extremely angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. 7 After seriously considering the matter, I accused the nobles and officials, saying to them, “Each of you is charging his countrymen interest.” So I called a large assembly against them 8 and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish countrymen who were sold to foreigners, but now you sell your own countrymen, and we have to buy them back.” They remained silent and could not say a word. 9 Then I said, “What you are doing isn’t right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God and not invite the reproach of our foreign enemies? 10 Even I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending them money and grain. Please, let’s stop charging this interest. 11 Return their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses to them immediately, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and fresh oil that you have been assessing them.” 12 They responded, “We will return these things and require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.” So I summoned the priests and made everyone take an oath to do this. 13 I also shook the folds of my robe and said, “May God likewise shake from his house and property everyone who doesn’t keep this promise. May he be shaken out and have nothing!” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the Lord. Then the people did as they had promised.
Nehemiah called out the sin and the heart issues.
First of all, they were violating the Law. It’s pretty clear:
19 “Do not charge your brother interest on silver, food, or anything that can earn interest. 20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother Israelite interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do in the land you are entering to possess.
Second, they were violating each other. For they failed to treat each other as family, and brothers and sisters. They were not loving their neighbor.
Then, Nehemiah called them to repentance. To do the opposite. That is the definition of repentance - to go the other way. I like the way Paul explains repentance in his letter to the Ephesians:
28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
Remember, repentance requires confession and action. Just like faith requires belief and action. So in this case, Nehemiah calls out the specific sin, calls the people to repentance and they agree AND DO IT!
And they “praised the Lord”. They just got called out for sin and they praised God? Yes - for God gives us repentance as a gift to restore us to him and to each other. There was a healing that took place here.
FAITH TIP: Confession and repentance keep us in tune with God’s grace and enable us to partner with God on his mission.
Then we have this little postlude that explains how Nehemiah, as a leader, set the example but being faithful to God’s way of living and treating his family as opposed to following the example that was before him:
14 Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah—from the twentieth year until his thirty-second year, twelve years—I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor. 15 The governors who preceded me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them food and wine as well as a pound of silver. Their subordinates also oppressed the people, but because of the fear of God, I didn’t do this. 16 Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of this wall, and all my subordinates were gathered there for the work. We didn’t buy any land. 17 There were 150 Jews and officials, as well as guests from the surrounding nations at my table. 18 Each day, one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me. An abundance of all kinds of wine was provided every ten days. But I didn’t demand the food allotted to the governor, because the burden on the people was so heavy.
In verse 15 it says that it was the fear of God that made Nehemiah live they way he did. That is faith in action!
And we end our chapter with the 5th prayer of the book:
19 Remember me favorably, my God, for all that I have done for this people.
That is an interesting prayer. There are several views about this prayer, and the other “remember” prayers:
It could be that Nehemiah is looking back at what he did after the wall was rebuilt and how the people turned away from God, again, and wanted to disassociate himself from their actions.
God, if you are going to punish them, please keep me out of it!
The term “remember” in this passage had legal or court overtones to it, and it could be that Nehemiah is pleading his case in obedience to the covenant saying he has kept the law, therefore invoking God’s blessing on the people and the kingdom.
God, we did what you said, now we look for your blessing on us
In any case, there is not a commentator I could find that thought this to be an arrogant, boastful or selfish prayer on the part of Nehemiah. That brings us to a third view of this prayer:
CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 5
J. G. McConville writes, “The invocation of God’s favour is not so much a plea for a reward as an emphatic way of claiming that he has acted in good faith and from right motives. It is a statement of confidence that God is judge, and judges favorably those who sincerely seek to do his will.
We started our time together with the statement that challenges some to test our faith. Those challenges can come from those outside the faith, inside the faith or even from God himself. The goal is to test and grow our faith.
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Challenges force us to live by faith, and if we live by faith there is a reward. If God promises to reward us, then it seems Nehemiah’s prayer for God to remember him for his faithful living is valid.
So what is the REWARD of passing such a test of faith?
The favor of God. The blessing of God. This was the command that God told Aaron, the first priest, to say over the people in order to bless them:
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. You should say to them, 24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’
May God bless you and keep you, show you his favor and give you his peace as you live your lives in faith, in spite of the oppositions and challenges you face.
