Sermon Tone Analysis
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Review
From sermon last week, this week, and next week, are ways for us to consider how we might resist our enemy , living courageous holy lives for Christ, who is the victor over our enemies!
Last week, we look at a few observations about our enemy and observations about being faithful under attack.
They were
Our Enemies: Mock/ Discourage
We saw this as the enemies of the Jews tried to discourage the faithful Jews who were building the walls.
They didn’t shoot flaming arrows with bows over the walls, they shot flaming arrows of discouragement at the workers.
They tried to tear down the builders instead of the walls themselves.
Nehemiah 4:2 (ESV)
2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing?
Will they restore it for themselves?
Will they sacrifice?
Will they finish up in a day?
Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”
The Faithful:Trust God and Be Hopeful
Our response to discouragement, mocking and slander, is not to fall prey to believing it but instead, focus on the work of God in us and his power to do greater things than we can imagine.
Nehemiah’s response as a great leader:
Nehemiah 4:14 (ESV)
14 “Do not be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
I didn’t spend a lot of time on this last week, but I appreciate the call of Nehemiah, to not only trust God’s power to see them through, but to call the Jews for fight the battle for the sake of God and their brothers.
This sense of community applies to us as a church, who as we see spiritual turmoil raging around our family of faith, may we put on our swords and fight along with them.
Our war is a war fought in community of the church.
Our Enemy: Hatred/Violence
Again, our enemy is one who is angry at the world.
They are discontent with their situation and they lust for more.
They clammer for the top of the world, only to find themselves constantly slipping down the slope of worldly discontent, knowing what this world offers is never enough.
This is why they slander, this is why they rage.
We saw in Nehemiah 4 that the enemies Sanballat and Tobiah were enraged and angry at the Jews.
By chapter 6, they wanted to lure Nehemiah to a meeting to “do him harm.”
The response to this hatred and violence is not retaliation.
Instead we stated,
The Faithful: Trust God’s justice and pray
Nehemiah was faithful to not retaliate against his enemies with his own rage and violence.
Instead, he trusted God’s justice and prayed to God for protection against them.
Romans 12:19-20
Our response to evil should never be evil, but instead we should trust and pray to God knowing that his justice is fair and just in his timing.
Now we look at the final observations from our enemies:
The Way of the Enemy: Stir Up Fear
Nehemiah 4:11-12
It is clear that the enemy of God wants to incite fear among the people of God so that they are hindered from his work.
Some of those fears are fear of sickness, fear or death, fear of instability, fear of the loss of family, fear of social acceptance.
If we can be paralyzed with fear then Satan has crippled the work force of the church that would otherwise be active and faithfully serving each other.
I want to bring something to your attention that you need to see from a grand scheme.
COVID has been masterful at shutting down a functional society in a matter of days.
When the shutdown happened, it came quickly.
What sprang up from that was at home....everything.
We had at home business, at home fitness, at home delivery of products and goods, at home social gatherings via ZOOM, at home church.
This has already happened and with the variety of variants of this virus, it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
Here is what else was introduced during this time…the METAVERSE.
Let me explain what this is and how it relates to a great concern over fear!
The metaverse is essentially a world of virutal reality beyond video games that our teenagers may play.
It is moving beyond this to a world of shopping, interacting, worshipping, etc. Facebook just changed its named to META and there are already virtual worlds being created, visited, and enjoyed.
There are already churches testing their virtual services, where a live sermon is streamed on a virtual stage, with virtual congregants sitting next to you in your virtual chairs.
It’s scary and it all stems from FEAR....fear that you will get sick and die if you get around anybody.
Fear that the world outside is unsafe.
It will be marketed as safe place in the current health crisis but it is a major shift in the life of humanity.
It stands to be a bigger change that the invention of the internet.
It tell you all this because we have no reason to fear as followers of Jesus.
Jesus tells us his disciples regarding our enemies, which by the way is fearing sinful effects, sinful people, or spiritual evil:
Luke 12:4-5
Nehemiah was not going to let the people live in fear.
He gathered them together and reminded them about the strength of the Lord in our battles.
Let us see in Nehemiah 4:15-20 how the faithful are to respond instead of fear!
The Way of the Faithful: Be Alert and Resist
Nehemiah 4:15-20
Nehemiah 4:15–20 (ESV)
15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.
16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.
And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall.
Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.
18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.
The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.
20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.
Our God will fight for us.”
Nehemiah calls the people to arms…physically.
Can you imagine working with a tool of labor in one hand and a tool of protection in the other.
Its a commitment, not to give into fear, but to push forward in courageous faithfulness.
Notice that the courage did not come from the honed metal blade or the shield.
It was that “God will fight for us!”
We have recognized through this series that everything falls back to God’s character, his might, his faithfulness, his holiness, his glory.
Therefore, being alert and resisting the devil is all done so with the strength of Almighty God in mind for he fights for us.
1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful.
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
It is important to see that that alertness to spiritual attack is not a reason to shrink back in fear.
God is not calling us to continually live in a fearful alertness like an obsessed home owner that is constantly watching their security cameras thinking that a thief might break in.
Thats a poor use of God’s time given to us.
Instead, we are alert as we live in this world, understanding an interpreting conflict realistically, as Satan trying to disrupt God’s people from living as He desires and doing what He commands.
Look at verse 9,
1 Peter 5:9 (ESV)
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Here is another command.
The first be alert and the second resist him as you stand firm in your faith.
Peter is clear to point out with a verb here that resisting Satan is possible and necessary.
The church resists Satan with their obedience to the Word of God and by the power of the Spirit of God.
We deny the efforts of the name it and claim it Word of Faith movement, who dance around rebuking Satan like a bunch of goofballs.
Our words cannot resist Satan, God’s word resists Satan.
Memorizing his words, declaring them over and over in your mind, living your life in obedience to them is the ways we resist him.
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