Nehemiah 5:1-5

About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. ² They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.” ³ Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.” ⁴ And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. ⁵ We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.”

So far in our series “Building in the Battle” Nehemiah has deal with many different and difficult challenges, in fact we will see that in every chapter Nehemiah confronted a different challenge. Today we get upset when life gets difficult, we complain about the challenges because many of us are trying to pursue a problem free life instead of the provider of life. But the Christian life is a series of challenges, things don’t get easier they get more exciting. When it comes to problems, we need a proper perspective, difficulties are actually a platform from which God’s power can be displayed. Godly leaders don’t cower to the challenges or waste their words complaining about the challenges they confront them.

• In chapter one, Nehemiah was faced with a personal challenge. When he heard about the problems and the pain of what was happening in Jerusalem, he wept and pursued God in prayer. Instead of being calloused and uncaring he confronted the problem with compassion.
• In chapter two, his challenge was political. When the King asked him what he needed, he prayed a “popcorn prayer” and boldly made his requests.
• In chapter three, he confronted an administrative challenge by positioning the right workers in the right place for the right reasons.
• In chapter four, he dealt with both the external and internal challenges of doubt and discouragement. The workers were afraid of the enemies and convinced they couldn’t work anymore but Nehemiah rallied them by reminding them to fight for their families.

Now in chapter five, Nehemiah is faced with a far more deadly and destructive disease, the sickness of strife. This same community that didn’t cower to the external enemy is now crumbling internally, starting to self-destruct because of festering grievances as a result of selfishness. This new internal enemy that the workers face is harder to conquer than the external one. And the timing could not have been worse because the workers had just regained moral and momentum. It took a lot a lot of energy to get the stone rolling again after the last set back so to stop now would have been disastrous. Remember the first attempt to rebuild years before had ended in failure. It’s not just how we start but how we finish and many times we let the challenges of life cause us to quit. It’s here that we see first the:

1. RubVs 1-5

Nehemiah had to put down his hard hat and turn his attention from the construction of the wall to the walls that were being put up between his workers. This internal conflict threatened to divide and destroy them. There’s a word in verse 1 that sets the tone for chapter 5 it’s the word, “against.” Strife was brewing, tension was mounting, and God’s people were locking horns with one another. The problem that they faced was something we have seen over and over again in this country after a natural disaster. After the storm is over, we catch a glimpse of the greed inside many people. While there are many who reached out to help, there are also those who see it as an opportunity to take advantage of those in need by price gouging and stealing. That’s really what was going on here, when Nehemiah arrived the city of Jerusalem was in ruins and people are powerless to help themselves. Taxes are high and because of a long drought there was a bad famine and Nehemiah understood that the biggest obstacle to working on the wall was debt. The same is true today money is what keeps many of us from ministry. You see money is a wonderful servant but a lousy master, either it will serve you or we will serve it. Romans 13:8 says, “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” Nehemiah understood that in order for the people to effectively work for God they had to be free from the distraction of debt. You can’t serve two masters. Those in debt were living with the constant fear of losing their land, their homes and even their children. To confront this problem at great personal cost Nehemiah dipped into his own resources and began paying of peoples debts so they would be free to focus on God’s work and not worry. He spent an enormous amount of personal wealth to buy the people out of slavery and free them up to work on the wall. Jesus did the same thing spiritually, he bought us and brought us out of sin, so that we could serve the Father. Now while many had been working with all their hearts to build the walls there were those who chose to serve self and live for greed instead of God. The wealthy Jews in Jerusalem saw this as a business opportunity for themselves. They thought if we can get our fellow Jews indebted to us then Nehemiah will pay off the debt and we have a guarantee that our loans are going to be paid off. The wealthy were making loans with exorbitant interest rates and taking land and even children as collateral. Families had to choose between starvation and servitude. What about you what are you living for? Are you serving the Savior with the goal of seeing people set free, or trying to take advantage of others as you serve self? Is debt making you a slave to money or are you a servant of the Master?

Nehemiah 4:9-20

⁹ But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.¹⁰ Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”¹¹ Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”¹² The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!” ¹³ So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.¹⁴ Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. ¹⁶ But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah¹⁷ who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. ¹⁸ All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.¹⁹ Then I explained to the nobles and officials and all the people, “The work is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. ²⁰ When you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us!”

After looking at the internal and external causes of doubt and discouragement Nehemiah now reveals the:

CURE  

God’s Word doesn’t just deal with the disease of doubt and discouragement it shows us how to defeat doubt and discouragement. You don’t have to cope with discouragement because there is a cure. First Nehemiah reminds us to:

1. Request God’s Help vs 4-5, 9

Discouragement distracts so how does Nehemiah regain focus, where did Nehemiah go with his problem? He took his problem and wrapped it in prayer. Nehemiah didn’t give lectures to the workers, organize raiding parties against the enemies, or create propaganda campaigns to put a different spin on things. He didn’t work he worshipped, the antidote to worry is worship. Worry give priority to the problems worship gives praise to the Provider. It’s here that we come to the building block of FAITH. What are you going to fall back on in the frustrating and fearful times, your work or His? When people talked against him, he didn’t talk back, he talk to God.

2. Reorganize your life and priorities- v.13

They didn’t just pray they also prepared. Nehemiah had already organized the people in chapter 3 and they had finished half of their task. Now, a new situation had come about that required a change in organization. Nehemiah didn’t give up on the goal, he just reorganized the people and put them in their proper places. If the enemies were going to attack, they would most likely do so at the weakest places. So, Nehemiah put guards at all the vulnerable spots. This served two purposes, it discouraged the enemy and it encouraged the people. When we’re discouraged, one of the things we can do is to reorganize our priorities. You can look at your life and you can adopt a change in approach instead of becoming so discouraged that you quit. Do you have a problem in your marriage? If so, don’t bail on your spouse! Change your approach. Adopt a new attitude. Get some help. Do you have a problem in your walk with God? Don’t stop following Jesus! Reorganize your schedule so you can meet with Him on a regular basis. Don’t be overcome by discouragement. Do something about it!

3. Rely on others vs 13

Verse 13 says, “I stationed the people to stand guard by families.” Notice that Nehemiah grouped them by families. We need each other and throughout the bible, we hear the phrase “one another”. We’re told to “love one another”, “encourage one another”, “serve one another”, “pray for one another.” We need the support of our families to keep from getting discouraged. Are you discouraged, do you need to reconnect with a body of believers where you can get in a small group? Discouragement causes us to want to disconnect but relationship rejuvenate because relationship deals with the real problem:

Fatigue – Relationship brings rest – Someone to lend a hand.

Frustration – Relationship brings satisfaction – Someone who understood

Failure – Relationship brings success – Someone to lift us up when we faltered

Fear – Relationship brings Security – Had each other’s back

4. Remember who God is vs 14

How do we overcome the opposition, by remembering and returning to our Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent Father. Stop focusing on your fears and start focusing on the Father. Are you going to give priority to the problems or to His power and presence? The truth is problems don’t diminish God’s power, they just provide a pallet on which God’s power can be plainly seen. The people complained about all the rubble, but wasn’t the rubble there in the beginning? At the start of the project they were focused on God and His glory, the purpose and the priority not the problem. Now, they are rubble-focused instead of Father focused. It’s easy to become fatigue focused, frustration focused, failure focused, fear focused instead of Father focused. Remembering who is in charge recharges us.

5. Return to God’s Work Vs 15

Satan wants to sidetrack you so he can sideline you. The question is are you going to spend your energy worrying or working? Serving God is difficult and when we get discouraged it’s easy to want to walk away from the work. Peter walked away and tried to go back to fishing. Christ called him to return and reengage in God’s work. Where in your life have you walked away from the wall? God’s call is for us to return and recommit.

6. Rally Together vs 14-20

It’s a team approach where we are willing to serve and support each other. The reason the church is struggling is because we are bashing each other instead of backing each other. Now I want you to Notice the people had to call out for help, if you are struggling tell someone don’t suffer silently. What Nehemiah did was remind them to focus on the real fight, the fight for their families. Are you fighting for your families or against them? God didn’t call us to be worriers He called us to be warriors.