What Is Your Focus?

To Be Whole Again   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Revelation

Nehemiah 5:1–13 CSB
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.” 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.

Big Picture

Let me quick give the big picture as to what is happening here before we move into the details to draw out what we see
We have been talking about the people of God going through the process of rebuilding and restoring their relationship with God
And also in physical reality, the nation itself
And mind you, for context sake, at its greatest point, the city of Jerusalem was around a 135 acres
And when the people return to rebuild the nation, that is where they are starting
So assuming they are rebuilding ALL of Jerusalem, we are talking about a space half the size of Pitcairn
This included the temples, walls, homes and fields, the economy and structure of HOW they were to live and conduct themselves in the midst of ruins
So imagine for a second, Pitcairn, except no one lives here.
Imagine this community totally abandoned to ruins
Years desolate
And we the church, are the FIRST to move back in to the land to begin to restore this community back FIRST into a relationship with Jesus
While that took also physical manifestation in the tangible reality around us,
That is buildings, businesses, houses, stores, fields etc
And in the process, right, we aren’t just doing all of the work for free
Because nothing is every actually free
And if the goal is not just a pretty shell,
If the goal is actually a functioning community,
That means it has to function
That is the exchange of money for services and everything that goes into a WORKING economy
So what is happening here, is if those who have plenty, and would be able to lend money or resources to others in need
If we in the church who had plenty, would lend that money to those within the church who did not have, AND THEN
charge interest in return
The main accusation is not that they money or resources were demanded back
This was not to say you should be offering without a return
The key here was the personal gain at the detriment of your fellow members
So let’s begin to look at the details of this passage before we move forward into application
the key here in the details of understanding this passage is
Nehemiah 5:7
Nehemiah 5:7 CSB
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

1. Selfishness Corrupts Character - 5:1-5

Let’s take a walk through the first 5 verses where we will see this play out
Nehemiah 5:1-2
Nehemiah 5:1–2 CSB
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.”
So the first category of outcry is coming from amongst the regular people who were working but those who had not their own property
We know this because they are separated from the next verse
Nehemiah 5:3 CSB
3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during the famine.”
Here is the second category of people from the outcry which is those who have property and the are mortgaging that property in order to feed themselves
And what is behind the scenes in the grammar of the Hebrew is this isn’t a POTENTIAL action but something that has already happening and is continuing
They already have, and are continuing to put themselves into greater debt in order to survive
Nehemiah 5:4 CSB
4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.
And here we see those borrowing money to pay the tax on the land - which as we said, it isn’t the lending here that is condemned but as we will see in a second
It is the interest charged on all three of these categories of people that is being condemned
Nehemiah 5:5 CSB
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.”
Lastly, and most significantly, the people of God are selling and pledging their children to one another because they cannot pay as a result of the interest
It is their own people charging them interest and that interest is crippling them!
Their is clearly here, a difference between a standard up and running economy of the people and one that is seeking to build from scratch
And if one is building from scratch, It is key to keep in mind the main goal!
Is the main goal personal gain and prosperity in the name of “helping everyone”
Now listen, let me say, We are speaking of application to the people of God
And many will take this and attempt to FIRST make application to current economic systems but I think that is inappropriate unless we look inward first
We are talking about the economy of the people of God, of the kingdom of God
Which is only such as the people of God are different than the people of the world as they have had the “spiritual heart surgery”
Because those of us who follow Christ, our character, that which makes up who we are is different because we have been brought from
Spiritual death unto spiritual life because of our faith in Christ
But it is a failure to keep in step with the truth that abides in us, a failure to keep in step with humility,
That breeds selfishness that corrupts our character
And if we are having trouble understanding what I’m getting at, we need only look at American Christianity around us
We look around and see prosperity gospel preachers telling people to “sow their seed” of x dollars so they can see the prosperity God has for them
And yet, the only one who prospers is the Pastor of the church
It is the spiritual cannibalism
Proverbs 30:14 CSB
14 There is a generation whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, devouring the oppressed from the land and the needy from among mankind.
Luke 20:45–47 CSB
45 While all the people were listening, he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”
And yet also you have the territorial ism of churches that fit here just as well as in Nehemiah 3 of the nobles who would not lift a finger if but for their own benefit
Truly we can see selfishness corrupts character

2. Mindfulness Strengthens Character - 5:6-11

When we say mindfulness, we are not speaking as some mysticism concept or anything like that
I am literally meaning this in the sense of when like you’re parents would say to “be mindful of your surroundings”
It is speaking to this idea to not just passively walk through surroundings but rather to do so consciously, thinking about what you are seeing
Nehemiah 5:6–7 CSB
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
Nehemiah here, after hearing the outcry, gets extremely upset but stops to take into careful consideration the problem and godly solution
And notice he calls together then those responsible for charging interest
Because this interest was significant enough that it wasn’t like
“Hey can I borrow your cow? Sure just give me a cow and a chicken back”
No they are selling property and houses and children to make the payments
Nehemiah 5:8 CSB
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.
So Nehemiah calls out their selfishness in order to remind them of what the focus should be!
It was not personal gain, they were rebuilding a nation from seemingly scratch!
And Nehemiah’s condemnation falls on guilty silence.
Because they know, they know they have lost track of the primary focus and mission and they have begun to turn so inward,
that they only one left in the “circle” is them!
Nehemiah 5:9–11 CSB
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.”
Nehemiah is mindful of what is happening and its effects on their testimony
That this selfishness, or as I would call it, this spiritual cannibalism was bringing disgrace upon the nation as the enemies would look within and say:
There’s not need for us to defeat them, they are doing it themselves!
That they people were in such a state of selfishness that they were no longer walking in a fear of the LORD!
Now Nehemiah places himself as one who has lent but not charged the interest
But then shows the role this places in the whole of the community by saying let “us” stop charging this
We see how Nehemiah’s mindfulness leads to a strengthened character to take action

3. Repentance Cleanses Character - 5:12-13

So after being called out what do we see
Nehemiah 5:12–13 CSB
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.
The people repent and correct that which they have wronged
And in that, we see the prophetic curse Nehemiah pronounces for anyone who would not repent, that all he would have would be shaken and take from him
and the people, in repentance, begin again to live out the character which is fitting as ones who are walking with the LORD
It is almost this cleansing
It is not this good deed which gives them new life,
There is death to life repentance, and then after being brought to spiritual life, that is to be a Christian, there is this process of sanctification
The process of walking in a way that progressively reflects the holiness of the LORD
And there are times where we might push against this, and cover ourselves again in the mud and filth
We are not dead as we once were, but we are acting like it
And here we see how this repentance is this washing of all the mud away
But do we take from a passage such as this?
How do we begin to apply the truths of this passage?
1) Let me ask you, have you been raised to spiritual life?
That is, we can’t talk about the application of those within the community if you are not yourself in the community
2) Have you said yes to engaging in this working of rebuilding and restoration we are working towards in our community?
3) Who and what are you living for? Yourself? For your own personal gain? You are living therefore a hollow life and not one in right fear of God
The work of rebuilding and restoration means keep the end goal the end goal
That end goal is not you and your pedestal
It is not you and your success
It is not even simply the success of the whole
It is as Nehemiah called the people out for
He says they are not living in fear of God
The end goal is that God would be center, that God would be glorified,
That in all things, the people of God, would have Him at their center
It is the dwelling of God with His people that brings them to flourishing,
And that flourishing isn’t always reflective of this current reality,
But He, God, will always sustain and carry His people on to the end
He is the goal, He is the power that sustains us through and He is the reward
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