Sermon Tone Analysis

!!! Arise And Build!

All Things Are Possible With God’s Help

!!!

The People Had A “Heart” To Work

Nehemiah 4:1-6

 

 

*“Wheelbarrow” Christians*

 

       At the entrance of one of the great manufacturing plants in America is a sign that reads, “If you are like a wheelbarrow - going *no* farther than you are pushed - you need *not* apply for work here!”

In spiritual endeavor, too, one must always manifest personal initiative and zeal and be willing to go the second mile.

*/Obviously, this little illustration is about the proper attitude.

Having the proper attitude is crucial to accomplishing what God wants us to accomplish./*

In the book of Nehemiah, we find a group of people who had the proper attitude with respect to work.

Although Nehemiah is a book about leadership, leadership is worthless, if the people don’t have minds to work.

Where does the mind to work come from?

It comes partly from the motivation of Nehemiah and partly from the people themselves.

No leader can motivate people who do *not* want to be motivated.

*/As a matter of fact all people are already motivated./*

They are motivated to accomplish that which is important to them.

Secondarily, before we get into this, we must understand that God is a God of work!

The Bible states in:

 

John 5:16-17 (NASB-U), “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

[17] But He answered them, ‘*My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working*’” (/emphasis mine/).

Did you hear Jesus’ words?

“My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

*/God works, the Son of God works, and God created us to work!!!/*  That’s right!

Work is *not* a part of the curse, but was before the curse.

The curse was that work would be less productive and done with sweat.

*/Consequently, we are to work for God now!/*

We think of this as having a job at the church, but 98% of believers will never have a job at the church, so we must learn to work for God wherever we are.

The same is true of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Only a very minuscule part of the Jews ever worked in the Tabernacle of Moses, The Tent of David, the Temple of Solomon, or Herod’s Temple.

They worshipped in the holy buildings, but they worked in the market place.

*/Therefore,/* */we must learn to worship and work!

We worship in the church, but we work for God in the market place, i.e. on our jobs./*

And, finally, we shall work in eternity, i.e. we shall reign with Jesus!!!

       */So, the proper attitude towards work is not only biblical, it is crucial to our ability to please God!!!/*

 

/(Now, let’s survey the verses before us and see what happens when people have the proper attitude about work.

Please notice with me Nehemiah 4:1-6.

I will read this aloud for us.

Let’s look first at:)/

 

I.

The Attack (vv.

1-3).

/(First of all, we can see that the attack upon the Jews came in the form of resentment.

*Resentment is anger that has soured through rumination.

Rumination is what a cow does.

He regurgitates his food and chews it again.

Rumination is thinking about something over and over, until it becomes more negative.*/

/First, we see:)/

 

A.

The Resentment (vs.

1).

The opposition that Nehemiah and the Jews faced was the fury, anger, and resentment of Sanballat.

*/We see here the principle that/* */those who seek to do the work of God will face opposition!!!/*

Many of us think that the will of God protects us from problems and troubles.

Not so!  */On the contrary, doing/* */God’s will guarantees us Satan’s wrath./*

You would think that Sanballat would be inspired by the work of the small band of Jews, but he isn’t.

He is resentful because he represents Samaria to the north and is an enemy of the Jews.

How do we respond to such anger and resentment?

Paul gives us one answer in:

 

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NASB-U), “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

[11] Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

[12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

[13] Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

The struggle is *not* against people; it’s the schemes of the devil, the rulers or demonic principalities, the world forces of this darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places!

And all of this takes place in the context of an evil day!!!

 

\\ /(Not only do we see resentment, but we can also see:)/

 

B.

The Ridicule (vv.

1-3).

*/One of the main sources of opposition we must face is the poison arrow of criticism./*

Most of us cannot stand criticism, yet Jesus perpetually faced it.

He was criticized by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, the High Priest and His own people.

He was criticized on every hand.

*/If they did it to Jesus, they will certainly do it to us!!!/*

I have suffered great criticism, it is painful, but I will *not* let it determine my destiny.

Some have been asking me, “Then why are you still talking about it?”

A great question!

The answer is:  God has commissioned me to teach about these things for three reasons:

 

1.

Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it;

2.     We have not learned what we should have learned from the past; and

3.

There are still those among us who are trapped in the past, who may hear me and still be set free.

 

*/Even as those who criticized Jesus did not realize who or what they were criticizing, we should be careful about criticizing that which we do not understand./*

Not only do we see criticism, but also the open mocking and ridicule of Sanballat and the wealthy Samaritans.

*/It is important to note that constructive critics usually come to the source, while destructive critics usually do their criticizing behind your back./*

Sanballat went to his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and mocked those who were rebuilding the wall by:

 

Questioning their strength through calling them “feeble Jews.”

Questioning their motives with the question, “Are they going to restore it for */themselves/*?”

Questioning their ministry, ability, and authority, “Can they offer sacrifices?”

 

Questioning the feasibility of their plans, “Can they finish in a day?”

 

Doubting their understanding of the job, “Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”

 

       */If you are a teacher, ministry leader in this church, or just a believer, you have probably been mocked in many of these ways./*

*/I have been mocked in all of these ways./*

When I organized this church, and I prefer the word “organizer” or “establishmentarian” to founder, because of the words of the hymn which state, “The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” stating there is only one foundation or founder of the Church, i.e.

Jesus Christ; be that as it may, I was told:

 

·        “You can’t start a church!”

·        “You don’t have any denominational backing!”

·        “You are *not* dynamic enough!”

It was rumored that I wouldn’t go along with the church program, which was partly true—at first—and that I left in an uproar, which was *not* true.

It was said that I just wanted to do something for selfish reasons.

My spirituality was attacked:  I was told that I hadn’t been saved long enough.

I was told that I didn’t know what I was doing.

Our plans have been mocked.

Our early buildings were laughed at and called warehouses.

I was told as we prepared to purchase Thornton Street, Brown Street, rent J.C. Penney’s, buy land and build the Worship Center and Educational Building that we were making a mistake and getting in over our heads.