Nehemiah 13:1-3

On that same day, as the Book of Moses was being read to the people, the passage was found that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted to enter the assembly of God. 2 For they had not provided the Israelites with food and water in the wilderness. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse them, though our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When this passage of the Law was read, all those of foreign descent were immediately excluded from the assembly.

Its here in the last chapter of the book of Nehemiah that we come face-to-face with some big time backsliders. Now one would think that the last chapter of this great book would contain encouraging and compelling stories of how God’s people took their spiritual commitment to the next level. But the book does not have a happy ending because within a relatively short period of time, the children of Israel returned to their old ways. They violated God’s laws, allowing the world’s system instead of the Word to press them into its mold. It’s here that we see Nehemiah confronting compromise head on and calling out those who were living in compromise. Which forces us to ask ourselves a difficult question, are we living life as committed Christians or compromising ones? Now there are times when we need to learn to compromise but more often than not we need to confront compromise. The story is told of a hunter who raised his rifle and took careful aim at a large bear. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the bear spoke to him in a soft soothing voice, “Isn’t it better to talk than to shoot? What do you want? Let’s negotiate the matter.” The bear said. So lowering his rifle, the hunter replied, “I want a fur coat.” “Good,” said the bear, “that is a negotiable item. I only want a full stomach, so let us sit down and negotiate a compromise.” So they sat down to negotiate and after a time the bear walked away, alone. The negotiations had been successful. The bear had a full stomach, and the hunter had his fur coat. While this is a funny joke compromise is not, because the truth is that sometime compromises will kill you. My prayer for Christians is that they will come to the same conclusion as Nehemiah, and will have the courage to confront compromise and not become comfortably complacent in their Christian walk. As we see their commitment being replaced with compromise Nehemiah reminds us about the importance of our promises. When it comes to promises we are all guilty of failing to keep our pledges. Our good intentions and plans often fall by the wayside. Sometimes we blatantly break our promises but other times, we just kind of drift away, a little at a time. So often moral failure and spiritual decline are a lot like a flat tire. Most flat tires don’t occur as a result of a blowout, they get flat because air leaks out over time, often imperceptibly. Often you don’t even know that you’re going flat until your life becomes difficult to steer. This is the slow fade, where one compromise is followed by another until the only thing we are following is failure. Within a relatively short period of time, the children of Israel went spiritually flat, returning to their old ways of doing things which leads us to a simple but sobering lesson; Good beginnings are not a guarantee of great endings. At the end of chapter 12 Nehemiah went back to Persia to fulfill his commitment to the king. He had come to Jerusalem because he had a powerful prayer life and had clearly heard God’s call to come and not only rebuild the walls of Jerusalem but to rebuild its worship. For 12 years Nehemiah invested his life into God’s people, leading them to not only listen to God but to live for and love God. He left Jerusalem amid great revival and rejoicing and in Nehemiah 12:43 we read that the “sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away” yet when he returns he find the walls intact and the worship in ruins. Just like them we can spend more time on our buildings than our beliefs. Can you imagine how Nehemiah must have felt? He comes back planning to enjoy his retirement years in worship with God’s people, but instead of finding them in a right relationship with God he finds them living in rebellion. The work on the walls may have come to an end but his work leading God’s people in worship was far from over. You see Faith is like a fire; it needs to be fed to keep it aflame. So how are you doing at tending the flame, are you cultivating your relationship with God or compromising and killing it? Now there is a literary link between chapter 10 and chapter 13 where God’s people making 4 promises. In chapter 10 first, they pledged to submit to God’s Word, second, they vowed to live separate from the world; third, they promised to Savor the Sabbath, and fourth, they agreed to support God’s work. Sadly, by the time we get to chapter 13, each of these promises has been broken. Chapter 13 is best understood in light of chapter 10, and so in the coming lessons we will see how each of these four promises are broken. So where are you at today? Are you living in the blessing of God’s promises or in the pain of broken promises? Are you living a faithful life or a failed life? There are a lot of Christians who start strong but then fade away one compromise at a time. God’s plan is for us to live a life of commitment not compromise, so are you clinging to His promises or are you clinging to your compromises?

Nehemiah 7:5-6, 61-73

5 So my God gave me the idea to call together all the nobles and leaders of the city, along with the ordinary citizens, for registration. I had found the genealogical record of those who had first returned to Judah. This is what was written there: 6 Here is the list of the Jewish exiles of the provinces who returned from their captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar had deported them to Babylon, but now they returned to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah where they originally lived.

61 Another group returned at this time from the towns of Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Kerub, Addan, and Immer. However, they could not prove that they or their families were descendants of Israel. 62 This group included the families of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda—a total of 642 people. 63 Three families of priests—Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai—also returned. (This Barzillai had married a woman who was a descendant of Barzillai of Gilead, and he had taken her family name.) 64 They searched for their names in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were disqualified from serving as priests. 65 The governor told them not to eat the priests’ share of food from the sacrifices until a priest could consult the Lord about the matter by using the Urim and Thummim—the sacred lots. 66 So a total of 42,360 people returned to Judah, 67 in addition to 7,337 servants and 245 singers, both men and women. 68 They took with them 736 horses, 245 mules, 69 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. 70 Some of the family leaders gave gifts for the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold coins, 50 gold basins, and 530 robes for the priests. 71 The other leaders gave to the treasury a total of 20,000 gold coins and some 2,750 pounds of silver for the work. 72 The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold coins, about 2,500 pounds of silver, and 67 robes for the priests. 73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Temple servants, and some of the common people settled near Jerusalem. The rest of the people returned to their own towns throughout Israel.

Fifth leadership principle

5. Preservation – Vs 5

It’s here that Nehemiah points to the past because these people needed to understand the significance of their past. What Nehemiah does is make their history a living history that will serve the present and the future. Throughout Israel’s history God often had them build memorials as a reminder of what he had brought them through and where he had brought them too. We too need a reminder of both what God has brought us through and too. This is not about living in the past it’s about learning from the past. If you want to get reenergized take time to remember your roots and what God has done in your life. If we don’t remember when we have come from we will forget where we are going. The sixth leadership principle is:

6. Purity – Vs 63-65

We need leaders that have a passion for pure faith. Now the context that we find here is families who applied to the priesthood, but they cannot accurately establish their genealogy. As a result, they are excluded. Now, this was not about a pure race it was about a pure faith. God was the one who set up the priesthood Nehemiah was just protecting it. Likewise, we also need to make purity a priority because if we don’t it will not be long before just like the nation of Israel we will compromise and bow to other beliefs. We live in a world that demands that we consider the Christ of Christianity as just as one of many ways to get to heaven. But we should never give up on the purity of our belief or fail to defend it. There is only one way to come to God and that is through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross of Calvary. You don’t come to God through Buddha it’s the blood of Jesus, it’s not about Mohamad it’s about the Messiah Jesus Christ. It’s not about being good it’s about God’s grace. So let me ask you do you have a passion for purity or are you polluting God’s principles. Many of the people who call themselves Christians are making compromises because they are chasing after a comfortable life instead of a Christ-centered one. The last leadership principle is one Nehemiah not only preached but one he practiced over and over, it’s a:

7. Pattern of Giving – Vs 70-72

Leaders that love the Lord will sacrificially give to God. Notice that Nehemiah models the message by leading in sacrificial giving. Many pastors ask their parishioners to sacrificially give but are they leading by example? Notice that Nehemiah gave so much more than just giving a tithe or a tenth. “The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold coins, 50 gold basins, and 530 robes for the priests.” And notice that the people followed his lead. You want your people to have a heart for God and desire to give to Him, then you have to model sacrificial service. If leaders don’t lead the way no one will follow. You have to show them what it looks like to be a cheerful giver. Now I want you to notice that these gifts were given at a time when things were tight for the nation of Israel. They were not a powerful and prosperous people and times were tough. But even though the economics of the time were far from stable, the people put God first. We need the reminder that tithing is not based on the times its based on trusting God. It’s here that Nehemiah reveals that tithing is tied to the heart, not the head, giving because you want to, not because you have to. God loves a cheerful giver, not a compulsory one. What you leave with the Lord will be based on your love for Him. Sadly because many have a small love for the Lord what they leave is little. We give Him just a little of our time, talents and treasures, investing the rest in earthly things instead of the eternal. So what kind of a leader are you, how are you doing when it comes to your priorities, passing the baton, seeing the potential, prayer, preservation, purity and your pattern of giving?