Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

We have been looking at the book of Nehemiah and seeing God being a God of faithful restoration - not of just a wall, but of all of the world through Jesus Christ.

He is the God of the Wall, the God of Action, the God of Sanctification…and this week we see His faithfulness played out in that He does all of this while constantly facing opposition.

In fact, He is the God OVER Opposition

Two weeks ago, I was walking with a friend through downtown Atlanta at General Assembly when my friend and I were at a Crosswalk.

All of the sudden a younger man, who looked like he worked out as evidenced by his tight shirt, obviously not sober came up behind us saying things like, “What?

You got something for me?

Come on!

What you got?”

At that moment, he was on my left, I continued to talk to my friend on my right and we took the, “If we don’t look, he doesn’t exist” approach.

He continued to talk junk, but to our great relief, the light turned and he walked off with a, “that’s what I thought!”

The he continued talking smack to all the people he passed.

What we didn’t realize until he was past us was he had a 9mm strapped to his hip…open carry.

When I got back to my hotel room I thought, “What on earth did I do to deserve that?

All I was doing was going out with a friend for dinner!’

Opposition for NO reason at all!

Guy with the 9 mm in Atlanta

A few weeks ago, we talked about how a few characters emerged who would throw a shadow across the landscape of this book.

And today, they are back.

The Israelites had literally done nothing to provoke the surrounding nations, yet as we discussed, they are now literally surrounded by those who hate and despise them.

It goes on to say, a few verses later, that they were despised and jeered because of it.

Why did they oppose them?

Was it a good reason?

Were they up to something malicious?

No! It simply didn't please them that someone had come to seek the welfare of Israel!

They jeered and despised them!

Racist.

Probably.

Nationalists.

Sure!

But there’s more - Israel in the OT are God’s people.

And when God’s people are hated, it is a clear indicator of something far deeper:

Have you ever noticed this in your own life?

Especially with the faith?

Have you ever noticed this sort of thing in your own life?

Especially with the faith?

From the outside: You may have outright had a person who is just like these characters - opposing you for no other reason than you follow Christ.

I had a family member whose husband would follow her around the house while she got her children ready for church on Sunday making fun of her mental capacity.

From inside - A sudden iciness to going to church on Sunday.

A Bible you once loved to read, or prayer that you loved to pray, or a sharing your faith that used to bring such life, now is lifeless.

Cold.

No motivation.

What we will see today is the continued pattern that has existed since and continues through today

FCF: ever present opposition to the Lord and His work (in us, the world around us) until Jesus returns.

Prop: Our God is a God OVER opposition - "great and awesome (14)" and God will ultimately "frustrate their plan (15)" and "fight for us (20)."

So we are reintroduced with the guys who I told you two weeks ago cast a long shadow across this book:

Why?

Battle Cry (1-5)

The Battle: Unwarranted hatred (1-3)

feeble or finish up in a day (2) - they really don’t know what they are doing!, will they restore it themselves?

Statements of their own weaknesses.

Will they sacrifice?

This is getting at what many of us may have heard in my life…oh, are you going to pray to your God? Oh, prayer, now that works!

And they were exaggerating the whole stone thing - it wasn’t burned.

The gates were, but not the stone.

And then in v. 3 Tobiah jumps in and says a fox will break it down.

Friends, this wall was 9 feet thick.

They were simply punks.

This is bullying at its best.

It was like Crabbe and Goyle with Malfoy in Harry Potter

Friends, I see it all over the place today.

Mention you believe in Jesus and you are instantly misogynistic, racist, homophobic, demonized, no fun.

The Cry: Divine Vindication (4-5)

So if we read our Bibles we do find other places where God’s people prayed curses on their enemies.

for instance.

These are imprecatory Psalms, or Psalms that utter curses on the enemy.

So should we do these things when someone sins against you?

I would say let’s consider some of the further understanding of interacting with our enemies from the New Testament: Let’s look at Jesus’ sermon on the plain.

You see, we look back on these things through the lens of the Cross: The God of the universe in Jesus Christ, died for His enemies on the cross to save them…us, to make us His children.

I would not go so far as to say it is wrong, per se, or that Nehemiah was wrong for praying this way, but the cross does change how we interact with our enemies after we see how He interacts with us.

However...

There is something we can learn from Nehemiah’s prayer: Derek Kidner, in response to this section says this: “The Christian, while he has been given a better answer to evil, can learn from Nehemiah to look to God, not himself, for vindication”

Derek Kidner, in response to this section says this: “The Christian, while he has been given a better answer to evil, can learn from Nehemiah to look to God, not himself, for vindication”

Illustration of God acting takes away our need for self-vindication

Talk about the reality in this world of being sinned against and facing the battle of oppression.

If we lose sight of who vindicates - the one who is just and right, we will spiral into a sea of bitterness and revenge.

Battle Posture (6-14)

Friends, v. 10 tells us that they were tired.

Tired of the battle.

Tired of the work.

How do we face opposition?

Unity (6, 10)

That first phrase, “We built the wall,” is critical to understanding how God enables us to stand in the face of opposition.

The attacks were dwarfed by the faith, unity and energy of the weak working together.

This was one of the things that was stressed by the text Jacob took us through last week.

I’m convinced, as we read this, that this book is actually breadcrumbs that are leading us to ideations of the local church.

Moving us from so much of what the OT talks about looking a the leaders of God’s people, to the interaction of every member of God’s people in God’s work, and in withstanding opposition.

Friends, not to be a downer, but we see over and over again in Scripture that the Christian life is a struggle.

That statement “Striving side by side” is the Greek term, sunathleo, which means to contend or struggle along with.

Friends, not to be a downer, but we see over and over again in Scripture that the Christian life is a struggle.

That statement “Striving side by side” is the Greek term, sunathleo, which means to contend or struggle along with.

In high school I went to a small private school, and we were always trying to get the best talent to our basketball team.

One year we had managed to woo Freddie to our team.

We were pumped.

We were talking about states.

But guess what happened?