The Opposition

last week we talked about the work. This week we are picking up In Nehemiah 4. Before we dive in let’s recap to this point.

Background and Context

Exiled Jews return from exile to Jerusalem—>(zerubabel)Rebuild the temple (fail)—>Ezra reinstates Torah Law to reject Persian ideology—> Nehemiah rebuilds the wall

Nehemiah at this time is cupbearer to the king

broken over the state of his ancestral home, crying, fasting and praying Nehemiah 1:4-11

God lays on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall

So broken the king recognizes his hurt sends him to Jerusalem Nehemiah 2:4-6

Faithfully begins the work as we heard last week. Progress is being made, God is being faithful, and then we reach

The Opposition

Nehemiah 4:1-23 Nehemiah 6:1-16

Today we see through Nehemiah that God calls us to be

Faithful in the face of opposition

*PRAY*

What a first sermon to get to preach! Surely after these last couple of years we can all agree that everyone faces opposition in their life!

Respond with Prayer

Types of Opposition we face (facebook posts we don’t agree with, parents that won’t let us do what we want to do, children who don’t listen, coworkers with a vendetta, boss’s who are simply ignorant)

How do we respond to the opposition in our life?

anger, defensiveness, revenge, aggression, feelings of defeat

In my own life, I think of times I get on Facebook and see someone slathering my feed with their “opinions.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself boy oh boy I could set them straight! Or when someone shares something that very clearly goes agains’t what scripture tells us or out and out slanders christians. It just swells up in me, “Oh yeah, they don’t realize how wrong they are, but I’ll sure tell them!

How does Nehemiah respond to opposition?

god laid on heart 3 things. 1st is …in Nehemiah 4:1-9 we see that Nehemiah responds with prayer (v.4, v.9)

Nehemiah is mocked, he prays—>he’s threatened with violence, he prays

In light of the New Testament, we still respond with prayer Matthew 5:44

Take a moment to discuss difference in OT prayer of wrath and NT prayer of love

Maybe the opposition isn’t a person, maybe it’s just a difficult choice, or a divisive choice.

Leah and I’s struggles with getting the vaccine or not, giving it to God and seeking His answer

Philippians 4:6-7

Respond with Diligence

Nehemiah respond after making preparations for protection by instructing them to not be concerned with their opposers, but to be concerned with the task at hand Nehemiah 4:11-23

When we are in the face of opposition, do we stop to face it, or do we turn our eyes to the Father?

Season of Covid resurgence, ongoing racial unrest, to mask, not to mask. It’s easy to become fearful of what we can’t control

What can we control? THE TASK AT HAND

Task at hand is preparing ourselves by studying God’s word and growing in christian community so that we can share the Gospel, and be the salt of the earth.

Individually you may have a more specific task at hand (being there for a friend in need, witnessing to coworkers, being the support your spouse needs in a season, teaching bible studies, serving in the sound booth, etc)

Nehemiah couldn’t control Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, or the rest of his enemies. Nehemiah could control Nehemiah, so he chose not to focus on Sanballat’s opposition, He chose to focus on Nehemiah’s mission.

Nehemiah knew to “Remember the awe-inspiring Lord”

When we face a season of opposition do we see it as an obstacle for us to overcome, or an obstacle for God to overwhelm

Sanballat and company knew that Nehemiah’s strength came from his trust in the lord. Look at Nehemiah 6:10-13

What is distracting you from the task at hand? Job’s too busy, Kid’s are too crazy, money’s too short, boss is too mean, husband is too lazy. Submit the opposition to God in prayer and focus on what God is calling you to do

I remember vividly seeing a close friend of mine struggle through a season of life because there was so much opposition in their life. Their wife was sick, their children were chaotic and unhappy, their job was demanding , and it felt to them that everyone was against them. Painfully I watched him struggle to find joy and meaning in life trying to fix everything. I still think about how their life may have changed if they could have put away their focus on the problem and turned their eyes to the one who was really in control.

Jesus tells us his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We don’t have to suffer in the face of opposition. What can you control?

Respond with Humility

Nehemiah gave God the glory for the wall being completed Nehemiah 6:15-16

not Nehemiah’s leadership or the strength of the exiled Jews, but God’s might.

who do we give the glory when we overcome opposition?

I think about a time in my life when I was working 40 hours a week, serving as a worship leader, and going to college full-time. I worked hard. Easy to think about how great I am, how much I did. God deserves the glory. Knit me together, gave me my intellect, inspires me and motivates me to work hard, and ultimately gives me the very purpose of life

When you make a big sale, get a new job, find peace in your marriage, become financially table, we take pride, not in our own achievements. We boast only in Christ.

God is glorified through our battles

When the world looks at what we endure, they see God at work in our lives by the way we go through it.

Do you face opposition with the Joy of the Lord? Can others see Peace that passes their understanding when you’re in trouble?

When you mess up or are in the wrong, do you respond with hate and pride or do you respond with humility and love?

You ever been to the beach or the river? I’m not a huge fan of the beach. Sand gets in all kinds of places that it shouldn’t be. It’s very course, has the tendency to rub me the wrong way. If we are to be the salt of the earth, we cannot be sand

Conclusion

Nehemiah’s opposition was verbally and physically aggressive and yet Nehemiah responded with Prayer, Diligence, and Humility.

I’ll leave you with one more thought I came across while doing the devotional pray the circle with Leah, a book by Mark Batterson. “There is a branch of history called counterfactual theory that asks “what if” questions, imagining how history would have played out if certain things had or had not happened”… What if the Israelites had stopped circling Jericho on day six? What if Nehemiah had gone home? What if the disciples stopped sharing the gospel? What if Dean had decided all this church planting was too hard and decided to just be comfortable?

Following Jesus isn’t something that is easy. We are guaranteed in John 16:33 that we will have suffering, but Jesus has conquered the world.

If you don’t know the peace of Jesus Christ, if you feel like your life is in a constant state of unrest, if the world is against you, know this: 1) Jesus Christ loves you and gave his life for yours, so that you could know the father and a better life. 2) you are not alone. We have all gone through seasons of bitterness, doubt, fear, anger. Some of us in this room are going through it with you right now. God has given us this family, the church, for a reason, so we can support one another when we’re down and hold one another accountable when we get a little too high. If you aren’t apart of the family I want to invite you to join the family of God. Romans 10:13 tells us… If you’d like to do that or talk to someone, please talk to myself or pastor Dean after the service and we’d love to be apart of that life-changing moment! If you don’t have a church home we ask that you would pray if Family Church is the place God is calling you to be apart of, to serve alongside of, to be supported by, and to support. Just like the Jewish people responded with unity, we as the people of God face our oppositions together.

Take heart, have hope, for the Lord is on our side. When we face opposition in the world, we know that the King we serve is greater than any enemy or opposition we face, and that as we respond with prayer, diligence, and humility, our God will be faithful to hold us fast and see us through it, and through it, HE will be glorified.