Careful Consideration

Revelation

Nehemiah 2:11–20 CSB

11 After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days, 12 I got up at night and took a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the one I was riding. 13 I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s Well and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14 I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through. 15 So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then heading back, I entered through the Valley Gate and returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews, priests, nobles, officials, or the rest of those who would be doing the work. 17 So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” 18 I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work. 19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, “What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 I gave them this reply, “The God of the heavens is the one who will grant us success. We, his servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”

1. Godly Leaders Consider The Task Ahead - v. 11-17

Nehemiah was being called by God to return to rebuild the walls of the people of God

And yet, even secure in His calling of God, He still takes the time privately, to examine exactly what the LORD called Him to

He does this before bringing it to the people!

Think about that, Nehemiah says:

Nehemiah 2:11 CSB

11 After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,

He has been there for 3 days and hasn’t said a word as to why He specifically has returned

There is a nature to Godly leadership in which, before bringing something to the people, you must:

1) be secure in the calling of God and

2) understand the detailed nature of that calling

Right in your day to day life, you do things hopefully living for the glory of God

As you walk through life, there are the things that every Christian should be doing (prayer, worship, evangelism, discipleship)

and then there are specific functions, or outlets in which to do those things, sometimes on a bigger scale

Right like planting a church is the basics that every Christian should be involved in but on a bit bigger scale

And in order to do things like this yes, but also to the things that you sitting there are called to do,

you must be secure in your “calling” as a Christian to engage in those things

As in you must be firm in your understanding that the God of all eternity did not save you so that you could just sit on your butt on the sidelines

You must have a firm understanding of that but also, of the specifics of that

Right like, evangelism isn’t just closing your eyes and BAM evangelism

No it means knowing the details of what you are sharing, how you are sharing and who you are sharing it with!

And here is the thing, this principle isn’t what gets people excited

This isn’t the new flashy method

This is a bit of a grind

but it is vital to take pause before jumping in

And before Nehemiah opens his mouth regarding rebuilding the walls,

he first does his homework so that he knows what he is talking about as it is what he was called to do

2. Godly Leaders Motivate The People For The Work - v. 18

Nehemiah doesn’t keep the information to himself! because he recognizes that the task cannot be accomplished by himself

God has called him to rebuild the walls, but God has called him to take part but also to supervise, to lead the rebuilding of the walls

Now I don’t want to touch on this point too much because next week is going to hammer this home

And I promise you, you REALLY don’t want to miss next week

we are going to get really down and dirty into application

But Nehemiah doesn’t keep this too himself

Our Story of getting involved here in Pitcairn - 1) I did what Nehemiah did, I came out and served silently

2) Encouraged us to get involved

3. Godly Leaders Recognize Opposition - v. 19-20

And again we come to opposition

If you have been following along with us, you’ll recognize that this is not something new!

Time and time again, the work of the Gospel, the work to see people raised to spiritual life,

There will time and time be opposition

Here Nehemiah and the people face opposition from leaders of neighboring communities

They say that the work of Rebuilding is actually rebellion against the powers that be

That they should cease the work because they are rebelling against the king

Ironically, those people, do not realize they have repeated authority from the king

We even saw that last week

The issue wasn’t that the people were rebelling against the king and Sanballat and Tobiah and Gesham called them out

The issue was Sanballat and Tobiah and Gesham were rebelling against the King of Kings !

They had hearts that were not submitted to God and therefore could not see the value in the work being done!

But when we see Nehemiah respond, we see that

4. Godly Leaders Understand The Nature of True Success - v. 20

Nehemiah isn’t living to please people who have no interest in the work of God, he is there to rebuild the walls!

And he is confident enough in that calling to say:

Nehemiah 2:20 CSB

20 I gave them this reply, “The God of the heavens is the one who will grant us success. We, his servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”

Who will grant us success...

That is confidence bordering on arrogance to many

But there are tasks, such as this that the Christian can have such a full confidence in

Particularly in the work of building God’s kingdom

Right like is there ever a time that God is going to stop using the spread of the Gospel to save people, to plant churches, which will send people out to preach the Gospel and save people....

Is that ever not going to be a thing?

Well no! Jesus says He WILL build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it

But the key is this, it is the GATES of hell…gates are not offensive

So long as the people of God are moving forward on mission, Jesus promises nothing will stop them.

And Nehemiah says to those who would not take part in the work but would rather stand aside and mock

“You have no share, right or claim” But we who do, we will rebuild

Listen, church, dear Christian

You need to stop listening to those who do not follow Jesus about how you should follow Jesus.

Right like family and co-workers and neighbors or whoever, everyone not following Jesus is going to take issue with you telling people follow Jesus by preaching the Gospel

they are going to oppose that

The issue is, when we the people of God, begin to take advice from and listen to, not God and His Word, but to those who have no share in the Kingdom of God,

Who have no right to the Kingdom of God or claim upon our lives because they do not know Jesus!

So who will you listen to?

The voice of God beckons you in His Word. To read this book, to consider and then act on its commands

To follow Jesus no matter the cost! In life of in death.

Because church, if you think things are uncomfortable now, just wait.

This is nothing compared what the persecuted church around the world faces daily.

But you must begin building that disciple to follow Jesus no matter the cost with little things

Right like no matter the cost might be skipping that show to read your bible

Or skipping that movie to talk with your neighbor about Jesus

Those things are costs. Sure they are small but they are costs but they can, built up over time show what you are actually living for

What you count as success

Is success in this life, those things....or is it the kingdom of God

And does your life represent that?