Nehemiah 5: The Tale of Two Moralities.

As we begin this morning, go ahead and turn in your copies of God’s Word to Nehemiah chapter 5. We will be reading the first 13 verses shortly. If you are using the Pew Bibles, you will find this passage on page 506.

In last weeks message, Winning the Battle With Discouragement, we looked at the reality that:

Our Enemy Doesn’t Give Up Easily, in fact he Never Gives Up.

And we saw that as a result,

Nehemiah was recruiting Prayer Warriors. To join in his continuing battle against the attacks of the enemy.

We also discussed that truth that:

Discouragement, Fear & Depression Can Be Present Even During Times of Victory.

As you may recall I shared the painful story of Pam’s struggle with Discouragement, Fear and Depression in the months leading up to our moving here to step into the leadership at Liberty Chapel. There was one thing I failed to mention last week that is very key. Even in the midst of Pam’s struggles, there was never a point in time that she was not completely surrendered to God. Her relationship with Him never swayed and she and I were never anywhere outside the center of His will. Despite that being the case the pain and darkness were a daily reality.

We also discussed last Sunday how what we were experiencing with all that God was doing on our behalf, the many victories we were watching God accomplish through us, yet still having to battle deep discouragement, depression and fear was very similar to wha was taking place in Jerusalem in chapter 3 & 4 of Nehemiah. In chapter 3 we saw that in a very short period of time they had the wall half finished, God had really done a great work through them despite the attacks of the enemy, yet even in the midst of those victories, discouragement, depression and fear had set in amongst those rebuilding the wall. To combat the discouragement, Nehemiah developed 5 specific steps to deal with discouragement. These are good lessons for us when we deal with the discouragement that often take place in our life. The steps are:

1. Unify Our Efforts Toward A Goal. On this step Nehemiah began to group the families together in units enabling them to work together.

2. Direct Our Attention to The Lord. On this step he directed their attention to all that God had accomplished through them and off of their own discouragement.

3. Maintain Balance in Our Thoughts and Actions. The first 2 steps lifted their spirits and they returned to their rebuilding efforts, but they were also prepared for battle should the need arise, but the battle was not to be done for selfish reasons, but to defend the Lord’s work.

4. Determine a Rallying Point. This was big for them as it is big for us as well, and that is we need to realize that we are not in this battle alone. We need each other and we need to surround ourselves with other committed believers who we can rally to and who will rally around us when we are faced with our own battles with discouragement.

And lastly;

5. Develop a “Serving Others” Ministry. In some ways this is similar to #2 (Directing out attention to the Lord), in that our focus is placed on serving and we are not dwelling on our own struggles.

This morning as we move into chapter 5, we see a whole different attack take place, and this attack was far more dangerous and effective that any of the attacks we have looked at so far.

Let’s go ahead and read through the first 13 verses of chapter 5, please stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Nehemiah 5:1-13; “1 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.”3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards.5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.”

Up until chapter 5, the enemies that Nehemiah and the Nation of Judah faced, were predominantly their surrounding enemies; Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, Ashdodites & Ammonites. To a very large degree the effect of their attacks didn’t do much more than cause a great deal of discouragement, and while the discouragement did temporarily stop the building of the wall, mid-way through the chapter, Nehemiah is able to encourage the builders with the 5 steps we looked at last week and they went right back to their rebuilding efforts. But now, as we enter chapter 5, we see the construction come to a complete halt. In fact no construction takes place at all in the entire chapter.

So what was different about this attack, why was this attack more effective than any we have seen thus far? The difference here is huge because this attack comes from within. Nehemiah lays this out for us in the very first verse of chapter 5:

“Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.”

In his commentary on Nehemiah, Louis Goldberg writes “Fighting enemies from without is one thing, but to face problems from within the believing community is far worse. If Satan can bring distress and division from within, the cohesiveness of the community will be torn apart and its effectiveness to function as a unit will be destroyed.” (Nehemiah. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 316). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.)

What we are seeing in these first few verses is a conflict arise between 2 different groups of Jewish people. The rich and the poor, and the reason is laid out for us in the first 5 verses where we see: Next Slides

The Morality of the Selfish:

The Destructive Power of Greed. Vs. 1-5

Let’s look at these verses to get an understanding of what is taking place. To begin with we see the poor:

Which are broken up into 3 different categories.

1. In verse 2 we see Jews with families so large they are not able to put enough food on the table; “2 For there were those who said, ‘With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.’”

2. In verse 3 we see Jews that had mortgaged their land and houses to buy food; “3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.’”

and:

3. In verse 4 & 5 we see a group that had literally sold their son’s and daughters into slavery in order provide for their families. “4 And there were those who said, ‘We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.'”

Now let me draw a verbal picture of what appears to be taking place here.

Based on what we read in verse 3, there was a famine in the land. We do not know a lot about what caused the famine, but it was likely caused by a few different factors. One is that a good number of people had returned or relocated to Jerusalem to assist in the rebuilding efforts of the Walls of Jerusalem. Some of those same individuals had given up work on their family farms because of this rebuilding effort. This meant that no one was farming their land. Another contributing factor was that they were surrounded by enemies. Now in some ways they had been able to, in the past, live in relative harmony with those enemies, but once they started rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, that relative harmony disappeared because those surrounding enemies now saw the Jews as a threat to their way of living.

The next thing we see taking place is that many of these poor Jews were having a hard time paying taxes to the Persian Empires. The Persian Empire wasn’t known for being patient with people that didn’t pay their taxes, this put the poor Jewish people on a dangerous footing.

Then along came the wealthy Jews to the rescue, and by rescue I mean they tossed their drowning brothers life preservers loaded with fish hooks. In other words their intent was not to help but to enslave! We don’t know for sure who approached whom, but what we do know is that the poor Jews had now become indebted to the wealthy Jews.

The problem wasn’t that they were assisting their fellow Jews, the problem was they had been overcome with the Destructive Power of Greed in the way they “helped”.

In 2012 Pam and I had a house fire. The damage was mostly smoke damage but it did force us to live in a furnished apartment for 4 1/2 months. We were very fortunate to have an excellent State Farm Agent who was as our home before the fire trucks ever left. He immediately put us in to contact with a contractor he trusted and recommended we use his services for all the work that needed to be done. Before long we started to get call after call from contractor after contractor, interestingly, some of them said they were given our number by our State Farm Agent which we found out was not true. Pretty much everyone of them indicated that they had worked specifically with our insurance agent. Somewhat confused we contacted our agent. He was quick to let us know that these were what is considered “predatory contractors” who either listened to police scanners or got their information from local papers and preyed on people who had been faced with the tragic circumstances of a house fire.

This is what we see taking place here with these wealthy Jews. They were not there to come alongside their fellows Jews who were faced with tragic circumstances, they were there to prey upon them. They used these tragic circumstances to obtain their land, their homes and even their children. When it came to obtaining their land, homes or loaning them money for grain, they would then charge such high interest rates that there would be no way they could ever pay them back.

Again, they had been overcome with the Destructive Power of Greed. By the way, I won’t take the time to go into the verses this morning but, based on the Law God handed down to Moses, a Jew was permitted to loan money to another Jew, but they were under no circumstances to ever charge an interest on anything they loaned, and Jews were never permitted to enslave other Jews. A fellow Jew could pay off a debt by working it off, but they were never to enslave one another.

God wanted the lives of His chosen people to be set apart for His glory, which meant they were to live counter-culture and He has the same desire for believers today, that our lives would be marked by love and compassion towards one another, not greed.

So, we have looked at Destructive Power of Greed. Now let’s look at Nehemiah’s response. Next Slides

The Morality of the Godly:

Moral courage demands an unshakable commitment to confront wrong doing. Vs. 6-8

By the way, I want to give a quick side lesson here for us this morning. Confronting sin is an important thing to do, but we need to first be willing to look at ourselves honestly and deal with our own patterns of sin before ever confronting the sins of others. Additionally, if our hearts are not broken for those we are confronting, we are probably not motivated by a heart of love and should reconsider whether or not we should confront them at all. Love is the key here.

Moving on in chapter 5 we see this in verses 6-8 that Nehemiah confronts those who had done wrong. Now I want you to notice how Nehemiah went about the confrontation. Next Slides

1. Nehemiah Angered by the Unrighteousness of the People of God.

To begin with we see he became “very angry”. By “Very Angry” read, Nehemiah was majorly ticked off. By the way, this is the first time in the Book of Nehemiah that we see him get angry. He doesn’t get angry at the attacks of the enemies. But when he sees the sins of these leaders, he gets angry. Now perhaps right now you may be thinking, “Wait a minute, it is right for a man or woman of God to display anger?” And that is a valid question. What we need to understand from Nehemiah is that his anger is not a selfish anger. He isn’t angry because he has been wronged, in fact, I also don’t get the impression that he is angry specifically because the poor had been wronged. Sure that may have played a small role in his anger, but that was not the main reason for his anger. We see the purpose for his anger in verse 9; Next Slide

Nehemiah 5:9 ESV

9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?

Nehemiah is angered because what they were doing was a black eye for the name of God. As I mentioned earlier, what they were doing was a direct violation of the Law of God, and as bad as that was, on top of that it made the people of God and thus God Himself look bad. Their enemies were looking at what they were doing and laughing. You see even their enemies understood that they were supposed to be different.

God had set the Nation of Israel apart not because they as a Nation were special, but because He as a God is special, and they were to display God’s special love to those around them and one of the best ways to display God’s special love to those around them was to display His love to each other.

By the way, what was true of the Jew’s in Nehemiah’s day is true of us as believers today. As believers God did not set us apart because we are special, but because He as our God is special, and we are to display His special love to those around us and one of the best ways to display God’s special love to those around us is to display His love to each other. We read in John 13:34-35; Next Slide

John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Their lack of honoring God and displaying His love is what angered Nehemiah.

So, the first thing we see in Nehemiah was that he became angry.

The next action we see by Nehemiah is; Next Slides

2. Nehemiah Counts to 100. Vs. 7

In the ESV translation we read that Nehemiah “took counsel with myself”. The New King James translation reads “After serious thought” and the NIV says “I pondered them in my mind”. Let me give you a picture of what Nehemiah is doing here, and while this may not be spelled out specifically for us in chapter 5, based on what Nehemiah has patterned for us so far in this book, as well as what we see as we continue through Nehemiah, I believe this is what he did.

Nehemiah went to his knees before the God of the universe. The last thing Nehemiah wanted to do was react quickly in his anger and add his sin onto the sins that had already taken place. So He goes to his knees and prays for God’s direction on what to do next.

Next we see: Next Slides

3. Nehemiah Goes to the Source. Vs. 7

As we continue in verse 7 we read; “and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.”

Nehemiah now goes right to the offending parties and confronts them with their sin. He didn’t jump onto the gossip train and bad mouth these morally corrupt leaders to all his buddies, he went directly to these individuals himself.

If you’re not willing to go directly to the offending party, then you probably should just keep quiet or you will be as much a part of the problem as those who have upset you.

After going to the source, next we see: Next Slides

4. Nehemiah Addressed the Sin Publicly. Vs. 7ff

Another important side note here. Not every sin is to be confronted publicly, in fact the vast majority of the time this should be done one on one with the person who has committed the wrong. The reason Nehemiah calls a public assembly is because this particular wrong affected the entire Nation of Judah.

So, we have looked at how Moral courage demands an unshakable commitment to confront wrong doing. The next thing we see in this mornings passage is: Next Slides

The Morality of the Godly:

Moral courage demands an unselfish commitment to serve others. Vs. 8, 10, 11

Talk about an unselfish commitment, look at what Nehemiah records in verse 8;

Nehemiah 5:8 ESV

8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say.

Nehemiah, and those who were like minded as he was, were using their own money to free fellow Jews who had been sold into slavery to other surrounding nations. Then he goes on in verse 10 to state;

Nehemiah 5:10 ESV

10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest.

The godly Nehemiah was doing the exact opposite if what the nobles and the wealthy were doing. Then he goes on in verse 11 to demand that the nobles and wealthy follow their lead and unselfishly serve others.

This is the challenge for us as well. Sometimes we focus so much on gratifying our own selfish desires that we take no thought of how others around us are living. And yes, we don’t deal with something to the magnitude of slavery in our day and age in America, but we certainly aren’t without our personal struggles. Maybe for you it’s your temper, when you don’t get your way your quick to lash out at others. Maybe you struggle with gossip, you’re quick to share the weaknesses and sins of others, in fact it kinda makes you feel good about yourself because you are nothing like so and so. Maybe it is an unforgiving spirit. The point is, this passage is easily applied to us in today’s world.

Our job is to follow Nehemiah’s lead and unselfishly serve others.

Lastly this morning we see that : Next Slides

The Morality of the Godly:

Moral courage demands an unwavering commitment to please God. Vs. 9, 12, 13, 14-19

In verse 9 Nehemiah gives his listeners their biggest reason to change their ways when he writes; “Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God”.

His challenge must have worked because we read in verse 11; “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.”

But just in case they were saying this as a way to silence Nehemiah and the critic’s, or just as an emotional reaction that would be quickly forgotten, Nehemiah takes their statement a huge step further in verse 12; “And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.”

One thing to note when we look at the type of life Nehemiah lived, the type of example he set was this, Nehemiah didn’t do these things for the applause of men, he didn’t do it to gain their respect or admiration, he did it because with all his heart he wanted to live a life pleasing to God. That was it, no other reason.

The story is told of a young violinist who lived in London many years ago. He was a superb musician. He loved his music and enjoyed playing before small groups of people in the homes of friends. But he was deathly afraid of large crowds, so he avoided giving concerts. The thought of giving a public performance in a big concert hall absolutely terrified him.

The London music establishment was very critical of this young violinist. He was violating all be expected protocols. According to the critic’s, excellent musicians were supposed to give public concert in packed concert halls. In time, the criticism grew so intense that the young violinist relented; even though it scared him terribly, he agreed to give one major concert.

The largest concert hall in London was secured, and when the evening came, the whole auditorium was filled. People were excited to hear this young prodigy. So were the critics, who filled the first three rows, pad and pen, eager to rake him over the coals.

The young violinist came onto the stage and sat alone on a stool. He put his violin under his chin and played for about an hour and a half. No music in front of him, no orchestra behind him, no breaks – just an hour and a half of absolutely beautiful violin music. After 10 minutes or so, many critics put down their pants and listen to like the rest. They too were enraptured by the music of this young virtuoso. After the performance, the crowd rose to its feet and began applauding wildly – and they wouldn’t stop.

But the young violinist didn’t acknowledge the applause. He just peered out into the audience as if he were looking for something – or someone. Finally, he found what he was looking for. Relief came over his face, and he begin to acknowledge the applause.

After the concert, the critics met the young violinist backstage. “It was just as everyone had anticipated”, they said. “You were wonderful. But one question: Why did you take so long to acknowledge the applause of the audience?”

The young violinist took a deep breath and answered, “You know I was really afraid of playing here. Yet this was something I knew I needed to do. Tonight, just before I came on stage, I received word that my master teacher was to be in the audience. Throughout the concert, I tried to look for him, but I could never find him. So, after I finished playing, I started to look more intently. I was so eager to find my teacher that I couldn’t even hear the applause. I just had to know what he thought of my playing. That was all that mattered. Finally, I found him high in the balcony. He was standing and applauding, with a big smile on his face. After seeing him, I was finally able to relax. I said to myself, “if the Master is pleased with what I have done, everything else is okay.”

That is to be our attitude as well, that all we do, our love, our unselfishness, our service to the Lord and the church, that all we do is that the Master would be pleased with us. You see living a live of moral courage can really be boiled down to one question; “Am I living my life to the glory of God?” Do I seek to glorify God in everything i do?

You see if I am seeking to glorify God in everything I do, then that will work itself out in having the courage to serve others.

If I’m seeking to glorify God in everything I do, then that will work itself out in having the moral courage to confront wrong doing, whether it is wrong doing in my life or in the lives of others.

If I’m seeking to glorify God in everything I do then that will work itself out in having the moral courage too please God in every situation I find myself in even though it may not be the most popular thing to do.

If that is the type of life that we as a church live, then we as a body will live out the end of verse 13; “And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.” Which leads to the great victory we will read about next week when we look at chapter 6.

As we close in prayer this morning. Where do you personally fall in our Tale of Two Moralities? Would Nehemiah been pointing his finger at you for your me first mentality? If so, now is the time to deal with it, and not just an emotional response that is quickly forgotten. Do what Nehemiah had his listeners do, make a prayerful commitment before God, and then take the needed steps to follow through. Which may mean you will share this with someone else that will hold you accountable.