Nehemiah 5: Avoiding the compromise trap

DC Talk – What if I stumble?

2 kinds of people in this story:

·                1 group of rulers who had compromised on God’s plan for how they lived their lives.

·                Another ruler called Nehemiah who did not.

What made them different?

1. WHAT – What will you stand for (and against!)?

Nehemiah stood up for justice

He was angry (5:6).

There is a marvellous story tucked away in Edward Gibbon’s seven-volume work “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” It tells of a humble little monk named Telemachus living out in the farming regions of Asia Telemachus had no great ambition, just loving his little garden and peaceful life One day in the year 391 he felt an urgent call from God to go to Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire He was afraid, but he went anyway, praying the whole way for God’s direction When he arrived, the crowds were in an uproar The armies had just returned from victorious battle and were turning out for a great celebration They flowed through the streets like a tidal wave, and Telemachus was caught up in the crowd and carried into the Coliseum Telemachus had never seen a Gladiator contest before, but now his heart sickened as he saw men hacking away at each other with swords and clubs The crowd roared as they urged their favourites on to the death Telemachus couldn’t bear the site and worked his way down to the wall and shouted: “In the name of Christ forebear!” Nobody heard him, so he climbed up on top of the wall and shouted again: “In the name of Christ forebear!” This time a few heard him but they only laughed But Telemachus would not be ignored He jumped off the wall into the arena and ran through the sands toward the gladiators shouting: “In the name of Christ forbear!” The crowds just laughed and threw rocks at him. But Telemachus would not be deterred, as he know God had sent him on this mission. Telemachus threw himself between the Gladiators to stop the fighting and shouted: “In the name of Christ forbear!” The Gladiators hacked in apart! They cut his body from shoulder to stomach and he fell to the sand with the blood running out of his life The Gladiators were stunned and stopped to watch him die The crowds fell back in silence, and for a moment, no one in the Coliseum moved. Telemachus’ final words rang in their ears:  “In the name of Christ forbear” At last they moved, slowly leaving the Coliseum. The historian Theodoret reports that:

“Never again was a gladiator contest held there!”

2. WHO - Who will you please?

Will you go for the approval of others or the approval of God?

Nehemiah could have done nothing.

Instead, he took on the powerful, the rich, the influential people – the in-crowd … called a meeting and said:

‘This has got to change’ (5:7-13)

Why?  (5:9) – “Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God?”

The approval of God mattered more to him than the approval of others, even when they were the in-crowd.

Justin at his 21st?

3. HOW – How will you live?

Which do you put your emphasis on?

·                Your rights?

·                Your responsibilities?

Nehemiah was appointed to be governor of Israel. This position had a whole bunch of perks attached.

·                He had the right to demand goods and money from the people who lived in and around Jerusalem.

This is what the Governors before him had done – they had taken forty shekels of silver plus food and wine. (5:15)

Nehemiah instead didn’t ask, ‘What are my rights?” but asked ‘What is my responsibility?’ (5:18)

·                The people were in a really bad way – didn’t have much money.

So:

1.        didn’t ask for food or money for himself

2.        loaned his own money to people who needed it without asking interest (5:10)

3.        actually set up a ‘soup kitchen’ to feed people every day who needed to be fed (5:17-18)

Two kinds of sin:

There was an English missionary in India whose mission board required him to keep detailed records for which he had to be skilled at double-entry bookkeeping. Which he wasn’t. he had no background in accounting or business. He only had a calling. To be a missionary. But his balances were always off, a and the separate accounts he was supposed to keep kept getting mixed, and so the mission board released him. Unfit for the mission field, was their assessment, when in truth he was only unfit for bookkeeping. He left without incident. Nobody knew where.

Years later, a woman missionary visited a remote jungle village to introduce the natives to Jesus. She told them of His kindness and His love for the poor, how Jesus went to their home to eat with them, how he visited them when they were sick, how he fed the hungry, healed the sick, bound up the wounds of the broken-hearted, and how children loved to follow him.

The eyes of the natives lit up, their faces beamed, and one of them exclaimed: “Miss Sahib, we know him well; he has been living here for years!”

When they took him to see him, it was the man who years earlier had been dismissed by the mission board. He had settled there to do his work, released from the double-entry tyranny of bookkeeping, whenever anyone was sick, he visited them and waited up all night outside their hut if necessary, checking on them, tending to their needs. When they were hurt, he nursed their wounds. For the old and infirm, he brought food and water. When cholera broke out in the village, he went from hut to hut, doing what he could to help.

If someone were to come to your school, your lecture, your home, your office and began describing Jesus, would people say “We know him well; He has been living here for years!”

Why? Because in a world that is shrieking for their rights, you are saying .. what can I give?

4. WHAT – What are you here for?

A key way of avoiding compromise is knowing in any situation what God wants you there for.

Nehemiah could have gone the way of all the slobby, greedy leaders that were there in Jerusalem when he arrived.

(5:15-16)  But the earlier governors--those preceding me--placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels n of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that.

NE 5:16 Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we n did not acquire any land.

He knew what he was there for. He understood that in every sitatuion, there was a godly purpose he had to live for.

Movie clip – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – diversion scene.

There are so many diversions in this world that can take you out unless you realise that in the situation you are in right now … God has a godly purpose for you.

King David didn’t get this:  After years of running for his life from Saul the King, after killing Goliath with one stone, after killing bears and lions with his own hands and in victory after victory …

He lost sight of his purpose. He became King. He started to like the luxury.

And there came a night when he should have been involved in a battle somewhere else with his army, but he couldn’t be bothered and so he took a walk outside, saw a married woman … had sex with her and killed her husband.

Why? Because he had forgotten that God had called him to be a godly leader of integrity and courage. And when a pretty diversion came … he fell.

Nehemiah didn’t. He knew his purpose. To help his people and to protect them by building this wall.