Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

 

The year is 1940.

Winston Churchill is elected Prime Minister of England.

Pretty soon his leadership would be put to the test as the fury of Adolph Hitler was unleashed in World War II.

Hitler’s bombers devastated English cities, with one bomb after another.

How would Churchill handle this?

In the midst of so much discouragement, Churchill could be heard on the radio saying,

 “We shall not fail.

We shall go on to the end.

We shall fight in France; we shall fight in the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be…we shall never surrender…I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

And, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’

And indeed it was.”[1]

We have been learning about another man who is about to approach his finest hour.

He too is battling enemies and discouragement all around.

Prior to this, there was excitement.

Imagine praying and waiting for something that the Lord has put into your hearts for months and finally having an opportunity to see it come to fruition!

This was Nehemiah’s story.

God had been preparing Him to be a worker for His work.

This preparation we have seen involved brokenness, dependent prayer, deliberate planning, more prayer and trusting God’s quiet hand of sovereignty throughout it.

Sounds easy enough doesn’t it?

Well, Nehemiah learns right away that he will have to fight through something even greater still.

It is discouragement.

It is not even so much that he is discouraged, but he has to face a discouraged people, weighed down by opposition and the overwhelming need…for years.

How is he going to encourage these workers?

How is he going to rally them to start looking up in hope again?

How will he help his people see that their finest hour is not behind them but still to come?

So far we said that Nehemiah was not:

*I.

Discouraged by Opposition (Neh.

2:9-10)*

*II.

Discouraged by the Overwhelming Need (Neh.

2:11-16)*

Here is the only thought for today, which we will try to unwrap:

*III.

Opposition and the Overwhelming Need are Opportunities for God to Orchestrate His Plans (Neh.

2:17-20)*

Nehemiah was called by God to leave his comfortable job in Persia to do a work for God in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, broken down for almost 100 years.

He had to wait for months with the burden, get the King’s permission and resources to finally make it to Jerusalem, another four months later.

He finally made it there to find out that not only does he have opposition, but the damage was devastating and overwhelming.

Last time we saw how big a worker Nehemiah was by the way he handled discouragement.

I totally think he had the shoulders strong enough to carry these burdens and a heart big enough to keep going because God had prepared him in the months before for his finest hour.

You see, nothing is wasted by the Lord.

He leads you beside still waters to prepare you for the dark valleys ahead.

Look at Neh. 2:17-18.

Nehemiah apparently does not take the first camel out of Jerusalem back to Persia.

He stays and he is trying to rally his troops to get the work of God done.

What we have here is an outline of the speech he gave.

This is one of the greatest motivational speeches of all time.

In this, we can learn how to deal with discouragement and why it is an opportunity.

Note this first thing:

a) It is an opportunity to honestly assess our situation (Neh.

2:17a)

We are not sure how much time has passed since his night inspection before he makes this speech.

It could be the next morning, but we are not sure.

But notice how he starts.

He clearly defines the problem.

“Guys, things are bad.”

He does not sugar-coat the problem.

One of my favorite quotes from Pastor James MacDonald is that “God’s love is not a pampering love, but a perfecting love.”

We don’t want people to pamper us either, but people to help us grow honestly.

He does not ignore the problem either, but simply states the truth.

One of the ways the fog of discouragement can begin to burn up is by allowing someone to speak honestly into our lives.

The people here got used to living in mediocrity, sin and tragedy.

It’s been 14 years since they were building anything.

You can live with garbage for so long that you get used to the stench.

They no longer see the problem and have been avoiding the truth.

When I was in undergrad at Wheaton, my favorite professor was Dr. Lyle Dorsett, who now works at Beeson Divinity School in Alabama.

He was such a godly professor, just filled with the Spirit of God.

The aroma of Jesus Christ would just fill any room he was in.

Anyway, I would always try to meet up with him at his office or for a meal.

This would be difficult, because he would have a sign-up sheet outside his door and it was always filled!

I think the reason why people loved meeting with him was that he was genuinely interested in people’s walks with the Lord.

You always left wanting to run harder after the Lord.

In fact, the first question he would ask you was always, “Koshy, how’s your soul?”

Because of this, I always had a time of prayer beforehand, confessing any sin and make sure I had done my devotions.

But he would see through all of that and in love, gently rebuke you.

I so needed that.

It wasn’t always pleasant, but it was needed.

We need to continually assess honestly how we are doing.

For those of us who are married, it is wise to sit down now and then and ask yourselves, “How are we doing in our marriage?”

Do you have someone to speak honestly into your life?

Do you have someone to look past your Sunday face and see the walls broken down in your life?

Have you let anyone in to see the ruins?

If you want to work out of discouragement, you will need this.

Secondly,

b) It is an opportunity to move forward with renewed motivation (Neh.

2:17b)

Nehemiah has really identified with his people.

Remember how he took ownership over the people’s sins as his own sin in Neh.

1:6ff?

Now notice he says, “the trouble /we /are in” and “let /us/…/we/ may.”

He humbly identifies with the people here again.

Imagine if he said, “You folks have gotten into a bad mess.

You know what you need to do?

You need to rebuild that wall.

If you need me, I’ll be in my office.

After all, I wasn’t part of the problem.

You people will have to get with it and do the work!”[2]

This is because when you cast blame and criticism, you destroy motivation.

When you humbly identify with the problem, you encourage motivation.

Notice he offers motivation.

He calls everyone to rise up and build something so they would no longer be a disgrace.