YOUR TURN DAD
Nehemiah 7:1-73
Father’s day, Dad’s we are called to be leaders.
What are the characteristics you appreciate in leaders?
There
was a new nurse in Dr. Blake’s office. And as she was passing by his office,
she heard Dr. Blake yelling, "Typhoid! Tetanus! Measles!" Needless to
say, she was taken aback by this strange occurrence. So this new nurse asked one
of the more experienced nurses in the office, "Why is he doing
that?"The experienced nurse replied matter-of-factly, "Oh, he just
likes to call the shots around here."
Dad’s your family wants more than
just you calling the shots.We
do have higher expectations of our leaders than that!
We
want them to have wisdom, confidence and integrity. And probably more than
that…
As
we come to our text today, we see that…The wall is finished!
In chapter 6,
we see that Nehemiah has led the people successfully. In 52 days, during the
heat of summer, and in spite of intense opposition, the task of rebuilding &
connecting the wall has been completed.The completing of the wall has been a
magnificent and unforgettable achievement. During the time, Nehemiah has been
uniquely used.
Yet, God is NOT done with Nehemiah. He
is still a good work that God is finishing.
1.
Today, we observe of leader Nehemiah has been & is becoming.
When others would crumble, Nehemiah has stood strong.
When others might be
frightened and given up,
Nehemiah has found strength and encouragement.
Nehemiah knows how to lead.
Nehemiah has learned to lead with grace.
2.
We need to have the courage to LEAD
and learn
to do it graciously.
But how do we do that?
We see 7 principles that
demonstrate how one leads graciously.
Gracious Leaders….
I. Establish right PRIORITIES
Neh 7:1
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball &
saving a falling infant, she will choose to save the infant
without
considering if there are runners on base!
Then it was, when the wall was built and I had hung the
doors, when the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been
appointed,
1. There was a physical need of protection.
Nehemiah
realized the need of supervision of the city’s main gates. They would need to
have guards and watchmen.
2. There was a spiritual need of worship.
a) Nehemiah appointed singers to lead in worship. He understood that there is
more to life than work and money.
It was in the heart of Nehemiah (we see over & over again) that
WHAT ABOUT YOUR HOME?
b) He understood that worship
keeps the personal life balanced.
c) Worship also keeps the local and national life
balanced as well.
In worship we reflect on the meaning of life with God. In worship we gain
confidence in our faith & assurance of
forgiveness. We need the singers, because without worship, we are reduced to the
values of the godless, and once again
become
a city without walls.
d) When others see you go to
worship, Your witness begins…..
3. There was an intellectual need of teaching.
Nehemiah
appointed the Levites as Israel’s teachers.
Their responsibility was to engage the minds of the Israelites
& communicate the great realities of the faith. God’s
Word is living and active & engages
our mind,
even when we think we have heard a subject before.
Word came to me, that someone said, They weren’t getting
a lot out of my messages. (Reasons
unclear? something like not spirit
filled, or deep, or new! Problem:
Isa 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It
shall not return to Me void, But it
shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I
sent it.
Which brings the question: if your not
getting anything, whose missing?
Am I shepherding /teaching right or not?
If GOD promised His Word not to return void, WHO MISSED IT?
Now that the wall is finished, he demonstrates his ongoing care for the needs of
the people of Jerusalem. He is making sure
they have their physical,
spiritual and intellectual needs met.
AND Gracious Leaders...
II. Organize for PROGRESS (2-3) It means “change.”
1. Leaders need to FIND other good leaders,
requires
courage & grace. Courageous because many leaders believe
no one can do
as well as them Gracious to give up a role they enjoy themselves.
Nehemiah
shows the importance of discipleship by turning leadership roles over to Hanani
and Hananiah.
a) reliability-Nehemiah
faced a difficulty @ end of Chapter
6….
So, he looks for
leaders, they must be people that can be trusted.
They must
be reliable, faithful and loyal.
He needs to know
they will not be manipulated by the enemies or be
after some monetary gain.
b) reverence—God must be their priority. Nehemiah knows
those who genuinely honor God can be trusted.
When God is first,
then the good of the people will matter. Nehemiah leads graciously,
by letting go and letting others
follow
in his footsteps.
Gracious Leaders have a...
III. Hope-filled view of POTENTIAL (4)
Have you ever noticed some have poor insight of the future?
example…
A
Western Union internal memo in 1876 said…“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be
seriously considered
as a means of communication. The device
is inherently of no value to us.”
In
the 1920s,
David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for
1965 Fred
Smith wrote a paper proposing overnight package delivery His Yale University
management professor
in response to the paper said “The
concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a
‘C’ the idea
must be feasible.”
Fred Smith, by the way, went on to found Federal Express Corp.
Nehemiah
writes…The
city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had
been rebuilt.
A. Leaders should not be satisfied with the status quo.
Nehemiah
observed correctly, Jerusalem’s walls were built, & it was still empty.
Nehemiah
saw it as, Jerusalem having great potential.
It was his desire that God bless Jerusalem
economically & socially
Jerusalem could be a thriving community
when it increased in numbers.
B. Nehemiah is
leading graciously and patiently.
He is not
done yet. There is still more to do and one of those things is painting a
picture of what is yet to happen.
C. DAD, MOM, LEADERS, Do we see BIG
picture, GOD’s view????
Gracious Leaders….
IV. PRAY to know God’s Heart (5a)
Then my God put it into my heart to assemble
the nobles and the officials and
the people to be enrolled by genealogy.
A. Leaders need to know the heart of God.
This principle is closely connected to the previous.
The idea to invite people into Jerusalem
did not start in his own mind.
The initiative belongs to God.
B. God wants to
communicated His heart,
1. He calls the people together to PRAY.
2. Nehemiah is a man of prayer.
3. He spends time in God’s presence.
4. He depends on Him for direction.
Now as the people are called together,
Nehemiah does not keep the message for himself. Instead, we see the
clear
direction
God continues to give. It is time for a history lesson…
Gracious Leaders….
V. Preserve the Story. (5b-60)
Let me read just the first couple of verses of this
section…
And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up
at the first, and I found written in it: These were the people of the province
who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to
his town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah,
Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah…Same
in Ezra 2
A. Leaders look at the past finding lessons.
1. They discover the living story.
a) It is a record of Israel’s
families that have returned from Babylon. But it is much more than a list of
forgotten names.
It is a
declaration of a godly community’s spiritual commitment.
It
is a powerful testimony to me, to read my Grandpa’s WORDS.
b) These people Nehemiah had
gathered together needed to understand the
significance of their past.
Nehemiah records the history as a living history that will serve the present and
the future.
2.
The recognize the continuing faith. These
people tell a story with truths and values.
They were heroes
who have stayed dedicated. Willingly, uprooted themselves from their secure and
familiar
surroundings to follow God’s
call to a more precarious and vulnerable existence.
They moved to a
city that had been ravished by the enemy.
But they were men and women
of faith.
Recognize your roots.These who have gone
before have transferred their faith to them.
Gracious leaders need
VI. A Passion for PURITY (61-65)
A. We need leaders that have a passion for pure faith.
Context: families
applied to the priesthood, but can’t establish genealogy.
1.
As a result, they are excluded. Please
note this…This
was not about a pure race or ethnic cleansing.
This
was about pluralism and being unequally yoked.
Other races
brought into Israel a host of other religious allegiances.And as a result,
Israel was always compromising their
beliefs.
2. They were letting go of the uniqueness
of God and allowing Him to be
considered just one of many other ways.
Like the farmer
who went each week to the Farmers’ Market to sell, among other things, the
cottage cheese and apple butter made
on his farm. He carried these in two large tubs, from which he ladled the
cottage cheese or apple butter into smaller
containers
the customers brought. One day he got to market and discovered he’d forgotten
one ladle. He felt he had no choice but to use the one he had for both products.Before
long he couldn’t tell which was which.
B. Israel was
always in danger of losing its uniqueness.
After a
while, you could not tell.You see, this was not about a pure race, but about a
pure faith.
C.
What Nehemiah faced then, we still face us today.
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.
We must never give up on the purity of our belief or fail to defend it.
D. Nehemiah
shows great grace here. He
realizes some families may be legitimate & provides a way to find it.
VII. A Pattern in Giving. (66-73
A. Leaders that
love God and His work will sacrificially give.
1. Those who love God’s
Word will not neglect God’s work. Nehemiah
leads the way in sacrificial giving.
This is more than giving the tithe. We can tell by the totals these were
gifts over & above expectations.
2.
All given when homes, farms & businesses weren’t established
But even though the economics of the time were far from stable, the
people put God first. GAVE SACRAFICIALLY
This was
a new paradigm in giving, preparing for the giving observed in the New
Testament…giving because you want to,
not have
to.
As
we consider Nehemiah’s example, we see that…
1. It is essential for
leaders to have courage.
Nehemiah
has led courageously.
He has held steady. He has never given into
the opposition.
2. Nehemiah has done it
graciously as well.
recognizing the larger picture.
Nehemiah has not been proud. His focus has been to include others to be a part
of the bigger picture.
He succeeds because he knows how to be a man of grace.
A
MAN WHO SURRENDERED ALL.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Invitation
Hymn: 275 “I Surrender All”