Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Good Morning!

I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.

As we gather this morning, it is imperative that we understand why we gather.

We gather to worship and exalt the name of the one who has become our salvation.

The right hand of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ!

If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to know that ...

We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love people, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”

That is our mission, our purpose, why we exist as a church.

We have a connect card in the pew in front of you.

I invite you to take one and fill it out!

If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well.

I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon.

You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.

Who’s Your One?

Scripture Memory

Opening Scripture Reading

Opening Prayer

Introduction

Do you trust today’s media?

I, certainly, hope not!

These days, it is a well known fact that we are inundated with “fake news” and accusations of “fake news,” on a daily basis.

Some pundits even say “journalism is dead!”

Did you know that one of Virginia’s earliest colonial governors, Sir William Berkeley, actually thanked God publicly that there was not a newspaper in the Virginian colony (Weaver, p. 28).

He understood well the journalist’s temptation to paint something in a way that would lead to gossip, slander, and conflict.

Richard M. Weaver, in his book, “Ideas Have Consequences,” published in 1948 captures the temptation of journalism to create friction and conflict, as he wrote,

It is an inescapable fact that news agencies thrive on friction and conflict....Conflict, after all, is the essence of drama, and it has proven true that journalists deliberately start and prolong quarrels....They create antagonism where none was felt to exist before.... Journalism, on the whole, is glad to see a quarrel start and sorry to see it end (Weaver, p. 97).

James Fenimore Cooper, writing in, “The American Democrat,” in 1938, seems to have stated the essential evil of the free press with a truth and eloquence, impossible to improve on when he argued, that journalism had evolved from a tool for the free flow of constructive ideas to one of the free flow of false information,

Listen to what he wrote in 1938,

In America, while the contest was for great principles, the press aided in elevating the common character, in improving the common mind, and in maintaining the common interests; but, since the contest has ceased and the struggle has become one purely of selfishness and personal interests, it is employed as a whole, in fast undermining its own work, and in preparing the nation for some terrible reverses, if not in calling down upon it, a just judgment of God.

As the press of this country now exists, it would seem to be expressly devised by the great agent of mischief, to depress, and destroy all that is good, and to elevate and advance all that is evil in the nation.

The little truth that is urged, is usually urged coarsely, weakened and rendered vicious, by personalities; while those who live by falsehoods, fallacies, enmities, partialities, and the schemes of designing, find the press the very instrument that the devils would invent to effect their designs (Cooper, p.134).

Matthew Arnold, after a tour of the United States in 1886, wrote in his account of that tour an essay titled, “Civilization in the United States,” where he said,

“if one were searching for the best means to efface and kill in a whole nation the discipline of self-respect, the feeling for what is elevated, he could do no better than take the American newspapers” (Arnold, 1888).

These men of old warn those of us today of the danger of living in an age of “Fake News.”

They rightly argued that the press would, most likely, destroy the common good, rather than elevate our culture.

Satan loves the media.

It amplifies his destructive power exponentially, as it allows him the ability to introduce innuendo, slander, and gossip in a way that creates conflict where no conflict existed before.

This problem is not unique to us, Nehemiah had to learn how to persevere in an age of fake news, as well.

In today’s passage, Nehemiah’s enemies will attempt to control the message in regard to Nehemiah and his mission.

They try to use gossip, rumor, and slander to intimidate Nehemiah into succumbing to their snare.

Today, we are going to examine the danger of fake news and learn how to persevere through it......

I invite you to join me in Nehemiah, chapter 6 and verse 5. We will examine verses 5-9 together this morning.

Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Prayer for Illumination

Context:

Remember, Nehemiah has been mocked, despised, accused of leading a rebellion, physically threatened, oppressed.

He has had to deal with internal turmoil and disunity from within his own camp.

Despite all of this, he remains faithful, generous, and steadfast.

He has been undeterred in his mission and now the wall is almost complete.

Because of this, his enemies are going to pull out all the stops to prevent the completion of the wall.

Last week, we watched as they tried to distract and deceive Nehemiah into a snare of fatal compromise.

He wisely said, “no” to their trap and effectively resisted them.

Today, we see just how unrelenting our enemy can be as Sanballat and the stooges continue to be a thorn in Nehemiah’s side.

How will he persevere in an age of fake news?

First, we must understand what Fake News is and what it does....

1. Fake news utilizes the sins of gossip and slander to discredit and destroy.

Look at verse 5!

Sanballat ups the ante with this fifth attempt.

Nehemiah tells us that he received an open letter from Sanballat.

What was an open letter?

It was an unsealed letter which allowed others to read the letter as it passed from village to village with the intent of spreading news far and wide.

The enemy is getting out in front of Nehemiah, attempting to change the story of Nehemiah’s mission with false accusations or fake news.

Their strategy was simple, “Since we can’t deceive Nehemiah, let’s discredit him.

The letter was designed to personally attack Nehemiah’s character as well as his motive for rebuilding the wall.

Sanballat was trying to bully and intimidate Nehemiah into doing what he wanted him to do: stop the work and come meet with him so they could murder him and destroy his mission.

So what was in this open letter?

Look at verses 6-7

What a bombshell!

Sanballat has started a rumor that has the potential to totally destroy Nehemiah’s credibility—which is precisely what he wanted to do.

Can you imagine how this fake news spread throughout Jerusalem.

“Nehemiah wants to be our king—that’s been his purpose all along!”

This was nothing more than using the power of gossip to spread a slanderous rumor like a wildfire in the wind.

This was political hardball.

This was an accusation of high treason against Nehemiah with Gesham and others as witnesses.

This slanderous gossip could have serious repercussions for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Once gossip gets going it is nearly impossible to stop.

Stephen Davey once shared this brief bio of Gossip.

I have no respect for justice.

I maim without killing.

I break hearts and ruin lives.

I am cunning and malicious and gather strength the older I am alive.

The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.

My victims are helpless.

They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face.

To track me down is impossible.

The harder you try, the more elusive I become.

I topple governments and wreck friendships.

I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights and heartaches.

I make innocent people cry in their pillows.

I make headlines and headaches.

I am nobody’s friend.

Even my name hisses.

I am Gossip.

The enemies slanderous strategy was very subtle; on the one hand, it could have diverted Nehemiah from his purpose.

On the other hand, this gossip, if left unchecked, could affect public support and quite possibly bring down the wrath of King Artaxerxes on the entire Jewish community.

These rumors had an appearance of truth.

The Jews did not intend to rebel, but fortifying the city could be interpreted that way.

Nehemiah never intended to become king, but he did have a messianic hope.

He was looking for a king from David’s line, and if one had arisen he would have celebrated his appearance.