Sermon Tone Analysis

What Example?

Sara and I were sitting around a dinner table w/ several couple friends, talking about raising kids, and one of them said a counselor had told them that they should be completely open and honest w/ their kids about all the bad stuff they had done as teenagers and young adults themselves.

The reasoning, they said, was so your kids would know you’ve been there and done that and learned the lessons from it.

So, now they should take your advice and not do it.

I think that is some of the worst advice I have ever heard coming from a counselor.

I am just a pastor, not a trained counselor.

But, one of the things I have learned thru observation of families in the churches I have served is, whether it’s sub-conscious or not, kids will use the behavior of their parents as kids as an excuse to do the same thing.

That is, no matter how the consequences are explained later.

I never conducted a scientific poll, but I would say when a young couple has come into my office to talk about their future b/c they were unmarried and pregnant, a very high percentage of these at least one of their parents’ got pregnant before they were married, too.

Sara and I were both saved as teenagers.

I was junior in high school and she was a junior in college.

Our families went to church, some of the time, but a number of family members didn’t know Jesus, and neither did we.

We didn’t know each other at the time.

My family was in KS while I went to college in TX.

Sara’s family still is in Tucson while she went to college in MO.

We met in Dallas at church.

By the, we both knew Jesus and had come to faith.

Honestly, we were typical teenagers of the 70s.

We were finding our own way doing what our friends were doing.

Neither of us were horrible, but we each have some things from our past we’re not proud of.

So, what did we do when our kids asked us, “Mom, Dad, did you ever do that?”

Let me just say this, never lie to you kids.

That will sneak up to you at some point and bite you.

It will make whatever the situation is you’re dealing w/ much worse.

But, if you don’t know how to tap dance, yet; I would learn.

Your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews; someone is going to ask you.

They may be looking for ammunition against their parents; your kids.

Be careful.

Whether you want them to or not, they will follow your example.

Therefore, do the best you can to give them an example that will keep them out of trouble.

They never saw you do it.

But, if they know you did it on some level they say, “What’s dad going to say?

He did it.

He turned out okay.”

They will find enough trouble on their own anyway.

Just don’t give them any sense of encouragement.

This is also true w/in this community.

Whether it’s the different boards, associations, clubs we all participate in, neighborhood groups or this church.

When ppl see others do things, say things, either for good or for bad; on some level they take as permission for them to do, too.

Don’t you hate it when you hear that people around town are talking about you in not so favorable terms.

You wouldn’t believe what so-and-so is saying about you.

Listen to this.

They are such gossips.

And, what’s going here.

You’re gossiping.

Talking in derogatory terms about a 3rd party, who may have been doing the same about you, but their behavior doesn’t give you permission or justify your behavior.

The bible is fairly clear on this subject.

Don’t do it.

But, it’s so much easier to talk about them than it is to talk to them.

How about this, if you’re not going to talk to them, then don’t talk about them either.

The winter series is entitled “Do-Over”.

We’ve been thru Ezra and are deep into Nehemiah, now; ch.5.

Up to this point Nehemiah has had his hands full dealing w/ critics and voices from outside Israel.

Now he has to deal w/ some problems w/in.

What kind of leader is he?

What kind of community member is he?

Does he have the character, integrity, and reputation to call out those who are mistreating others and causing division in the community?

Is his behavior on a high enough standard to call people up to it?

Yes.

Today’s big idea from is this;

Be the person you want the people around you to be whether they are watching or not.

Nehemiah had leaders setting poor examples taking advantage and exploiting ppl who didn’t have resources.

He had to confront the problem head on.

This is the problem as he described in 5:1-5

The Problem Within

The threats I’ve talked about the past 2 weeks from outside were still threatening them.

They were physically and emotionally exhausted from it all.

As difficult as it was to deal w/ these threats, threats from w/in are always more difficult and potentially more devastating.

The wall-building was unfinished and still progressing.

Then, in the midst of the progress Nehemiah found out that a number of wealthy Israelites were exploiting the poor among them.

There were 4 factors that set the stage for the exploitation.

There was a food shortage.

It’s possible there was a famine in the land due to bad weather.

Or, it’s possible they were so busy building the wall and watching for a sneak attack from their enemies that their crops were being neglected.

A famine of circumstance.

Everyone had to eat, though.

So, it was a challenge to find enough food to sustain the families as they worked.

There was grain available from farmers of other nations in the area.

Some Jews were wealthy enough to buy some w/out assistance.

Those Jews who were not wealthy enough to buy grain had to borrow money from those who were wealthy and they put their houses and farms up as collateral.

Also, they did not have enough money to pay their taxes to the king of Persia so they borrowed even more against their homes from the wealthy Jews.

The Jewish lenders charged their fellow Jewish borrowers and exorbitantly high interest rate taking full advantage of their desperate situation.

There weren’t any competing banks to keep the interest rates down.

4. When the borrowers got behind on their payments they had to sell their children into slavery to the Gentile nations around them to pay off the loans.

They were losing their homes and farms at the same time they were losing their children.

You can imagine morale was at an all time low as you can imagine.

Even though they were making good progress on the wall and their enemies had shown little interest if following thru on their threats of a sneak attack.

What would be left for these poor families after the wall was completed?

They would have no home, farm or business to support themselves b/c the wealthy Jews foreclosed and built up their own estates.

Their kids were gone.

Already sold into slavery w/ no way to buy them back.

What would motivate them to work hard and finish when this is what awaited them when they were done?

This is what Nehemiah faced.

In order to get them to stay motivated and finish strong he had to resolve this.

But, this presented a bigger problem than exploiting the poor and destroying their families.

And, it ticked him off.

The leaders in Israel were responsible for the problem and they knew better.

He called them out publicly and pressed them to change their ways and do the right thing.

This is how he did it.

Nehemiah’s Response