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Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas
Posted on: 2009-09-11
Series: Nehemiah

Introduction

We all have dreams and visions that we pursue in life. We dream about our family, job, ministry etc and we try our maximum to overcome every opposition to accomplish our goals. But when people are highly motivated there arise opposition, and it is all the more discouraging if the opposition is from within our own group. Soon our attention is taken off our goals and handling the conflict is the need of the hour.

Brief History

God burdened Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall around the city. Nehemiah went to Jerusalem, gathered the people, and started rebuilding the wall. Soon stiff opposition came from the enemies around Jerusalem. When the opposition came from outside Nehemiah united the people, change the strategy of building, and placed guards at important places. The work of the wall continued but very soon it came to a halt again.

As we turn to the 5th chapter of Nehemiah, we discover that a strike was declared by the laborers who were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They were not carrying signs, blocking traffic, or shouting slogans but they had stopped working & were loudly complaining about their grievances.

Nehemiah 5:1 Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews.

The people were unhappy, and they stopped working to voice their grievances. Now the work
had stopped not because of external opposition but internal problems.

Problems faced by the workers

1. No food.

Nehemiah 5:2-3 2 Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”

It was a time of famine and food was scarce and expensive. People were pledging their fields and homes to get grains.

Food was in short supply and greedy merchants were taking advantage of the shortage by raising prices higher and higher. Listen, the people are working on the wall but there was no food for themselves and their families.

2. High tax.

Nehemiah 5:4 Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

Israel was ruled by the Persians now. The Persian king had delegated the task of collecting the tax to some of the Jews who lived in Jerusalem, who send a set amount of money to the King’s treasury back in Persia. The King really didn’t care how or how much these tax collectors collected from the people. All he was concerned about was that they sent in to the treasury the amount that he expected. So the tax collectors collected exorbitant taxes from the people and keep for themselves as their pay. The tax collectors were getting rich while the people were getting deeper and deeper in debt.

3. High Interests.

Nehemiah 5:5 Although we are of the same flesh and blood as the rest of our people and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.

Now the people had borrowed money to buy food and to pay their taxes, the interest rates on the money they borrowed were so high that people were not only having to mortgage their homes and fields, but some were even selling their sons and daughters into slavery just to survive.

Does this condition sound familiar to you? This is the same condition even today. The Bible is not an outdated book. It speaks here of famine, shortage of food grains, high prices, high interest loans, high taxes, working like slaves. The rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer. This is exactly what is happening in the world today. We are all going through this. The Bible relates to our present conditions.

Now when the struggle and injustice became unbearable the people stopped working. Remember we all work together as a group in our families, at our church, at our work places, and various places that God has placed us. We all have enough opposition and struggles from the outside, but alongside that many of us are facing internal battles. Some of you are crying, “Lord my own people are against me. I am facing discouragement from the very same people whom I look for encouragement. I do not what to do Lord.”

Many times opposition from outside is a boon in disguise because external opposition unites people. When Sanballat, Samaritans, Tobiah, Ashdod, and the Ammonites opposed the work they never stopped, they only re-strategized and continued their work. This is not the strategy to go by when we face opposition from the inside. See what Nehemiah did?

Overcoming internal battles

1. Understand the Problem.

When you face problems from the inside stop and take time to understand your problem. Here, the people had literally stopped the construction. They did not have anything to eat and they were literally waiting to fight with the upper class Jews because of injustice. What about the walls? What about the vision? Well nobody was concerned about the vision other than Nehemiah. But Nehemiah just kept the vision on hold for sometime and started listening to the people’s problem. We need to slow when we face internal problems.

Nehemiah could have said, “Look, everyone, give priority to God. I can’t bother with your complaints right now. Get working on the wall.” But Nehemiah saw that the people were overburdened and overtaxed. He backed off and said, “Let’s slow down. Let’s fix this problem.” He listened. Nehemiah never lost his sensitive spirit. He dropped everything to concentrate his thoughts on the outrage of his workers.

Many times members of our family, members our group may behave very different, the point here is not to push them but understand their problem. If your child is not able to study understand the problem, if your spouse is not supportive stop, take time to understand the problem.

2. Feel the pain. Feel the burden of others.

Nehemiah 5:6 When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.

The worker’s hurts touched Nehemiah. Nehemiah felt the pain and he got angry.

Why was Nehemiah so angry? Nehemiah knew the rich Jews were violating God’s word. They were charging high interests from their own people, which was against the law.

Nehemiah 5:7 “You are charging your own people interest!”

God told them not to charge interest. Exodus 22:25 God had told them, “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.” God says, "If a fellow Jew is in need it’s all right to loan him money but don’t act as a moneylender. When you lend to him, don’t charge him interest."

Deuteronomy 23:19-20 19 Do not charge an Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. 20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but not another Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

God was saying that he wanted His people to be unique – they had to share, charge no interest and in fact God was telling, "I will bless you so richly that you won’t have to charge interest to your own brothers. I want you to love and help your brothers and sisters in need,and your sharing will be a living testimony to the Almighty God."

There is another scripture in Leviticus that may also have been in Nehemiah’s mind.

Leviticus 25:39-40 39 “‘If any of your own people become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40 They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

No Jew was ever to enslave another Jew. Making a slave of a fellow Jew was evidence of an absence of love & concern for his brother. Their love for each other as God’s people was to supersede love of money. This was to be a testimony to the pagan world.

So when Nehemiah hears the outcry of the laborers, and investigates, he becomes very angry for 2 reasons. Firstly because the officials had deliberately violated the Law of God and His people were suffering. The second reason for Nehemiah’s anger was that it was God’s name that was being tarnished. If believers fight with one another it is God’s name that is tarnished.

Nehemiah got angry. Anger from a man of God! Yes. He got angry for the right reasons. Nehemiah’s anger was controlled and constructive. It’s not sinful for a leader to get angry. We have to be on guard so our anger won’t become sinful anger but God expects us to be angry for the right reasons. Nehemiah felt the pain of the people.

3. Solve the problem before you proceed.

Nehemiah faced a dilemma. He had a problem and he had to solve it. But the problem was that the rich people were doing injustice. So he had to deal against the powerful and the influential. He was also aware that this same group of people had the potential to have him run out of town because their wealth gave them influence.

But Nehemiah took a risk by confronting the rich and the influential. Nehemiah 5:7-8 7I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them 8 and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.

To ignore what they were doing, to pretend everything was fine, would have been a compromise of integrity. So, he put the vision on hold in order to address the issue. It is okay for us to have problems. It is not okay to ignore them. Problems are a fact of life. How big they become will be determined by your willingness to address them.

The usual human tendency is to wait and see if things will work themselves out, but things rarely work themselves out. The longer we wait, the more complicated things become. When it appears things have worked themselves out, it is usually a case of a problem going underground. And the next time it surfaces, there are more people involved and more issues to resolve.” So if you sense a problem in the inner circle, stop your building, roll up your sleeves, and solve the problem.

How to be a problem solver?

1. Think before you speak. Consult before you confront.

Nehemiah 5:7 I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them.

Think before you speak. When you think or consult in times of crisis, God will be able to speak to you what to say next. Don’t just shoot the gun, consult yourself! Problem solvers consult before they confront. If things are beyond your capacity make sure that you consult some godly spiritual leaders that God has placed in your life.

2. Do not compromise. Do not compromise with the Word of God.

Nehemiah 5:8-9 %8 So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say. 9 So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

Here the Israelites were compromising God’s law, secondly it was a bad example before the gentiles. Nehemiah never compromised. Problem solvers do not compromise with the word.

3. Lead by example.

If we need to solve problems and carry on with what God has put in us, we need to lead an exemplary life. Look at Nehemiah’s example:

a. He gave food and money without interest.
Nehemiah 5:10 I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest!

Nehemiah is presenting himself as an example. He’s saying that he and his team lent money to needy people without charging any interest. We cannot afford to say something and do another thing; we need to lead by example.

b. Restricted his privileges.
If you are a builder, you are a leader. If you are a leader, there are privileges. Can you use them without abusing them? When we work in a company or government jobs we have privileges and perks. Do we use them or do we misuse them? Look at Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 5:14-18 14 Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years— neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. 15 But the earlier governors— those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. 16 Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land. 17 Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. 18 Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.

Nehemiah sacrificed his privileges. Nehemiah was entitled to a food allowance from the Jewish people. But he chose to cover his entertainment expenses out of his own pocket. Nehemiah had saved his salary as the cup-bearer to the King of Persia. He did not make money out of this project but he sacrificed his own resources.

Nehemiah had great moral standards and great integrity. As people of God we need to have high moral standards. No wealth, education, talent, or anointing can make up for a lack of moral standards. Moral authority is a fragile thing. It takes a lifetime to earn. But it can be lost in a moment. And once it is lost, it is almost impossible to restore.

Moral authority and high integrity makes you a leader worth following. Parents who maintain these are able to maintain their influence throughout their children’s lives.

As a leader, I become a blessing when I restrict my privileges.

Conclusion:

We are all involved in building good relationships, good ministries, good jobs but are facing serious struggles within. There are cracks within your foundation and we need to rectify them.

Illustration: The community of Pennsylvania built a red brick building to be their city hall, police department, and fire department building. When it was dedicated the whole
town showed up. They were so proud of it. But within a few weeks cracks started to develop in the walls. They thought at first that the building was just settling & they weren’t too concerned. But soon the windows wouldn’t open, & they couldn’t close the doors. Large cracks appeared in the floor, & the roof began to leak.

Finally the building had to be evacuated. Experts found that blasts from a nearby mining area were slowly destroying the building. Down beneath the foundation, there were small shifts & changes taking place that caused the whole foundation to crack. They couldn’t feel it or hear it on the surface, but quietly & down deep there was a weakening. Finally,
the city had to post a sign, "Condemned. Not fit for public use." And then the building was demolished.

We are all in the process of building differing things all for the glory of God; let us fix the cracks in our team with integrity and high moral standards. Amen.