I read a book that really challenged my thinking in the area of leadership by Hans Finzel entitled The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. He defines leadership and identifies leaders.
Finzel's definition of leadership: “Leadership is influence. Anyone who influences someone else to do something has led a person. A leader takes people where they would never go on their own.” That definition includes you!
Finzel's identification of a leader: “You are a leader if you are leading a company, a ministry, a department, one or two coworkers, a Girl Scout club, an army platoon, a committee, or your family” (Hans Finzel. The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. pages 19-21). That identification includes you!
Here are the Six Marks of Leadership in Nehemiah:
The leader shows concern for God’s Work (Neh 1:1-4)
The leader prays for God’s people (Neh 1:5-11)
The leader follows his leader (Neh 1:11-2:8)
The leader motivates his followers (Neh 2:9-20)
The leader organizes his work (Neh 3:1-32)
The leader handles his opposition (Neh 4-6)
Nehemiah is now actually facing his second impossible conflict as a leader.
The first was persuading a Persian King to change his law. Through prayer and planning God enabled Nehemiah to influence King Artaxerxes to reverse the Law of the Medes and Persians.
Now, Nehemiah faced his second impossible conflict: Motivate God’s complacent people to rebuild the walls that had been broken down for more than 100 years. One main characteristic of narratives is the conflict/conflict resolution format. This is true in this narrative in 2:9-20. For example, in scene one, the conflict is in 1:2-3, the walls are down and the solution is in 1:4, the leader shows concern and in 1:5-11, he prays. In the case of Nehemiah 2:9-20, there are three conflicts and three solutions.
Conflict Number One: Enemies Opposed His Leadership (2:9-10)
1500 miles and two months later, Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem. You can identify a new scene in the narrative sometimes by time and location changes as in 2:9-10. The identification of scenes can help in dividing the sermon into main divisions for a sermon as in 2:9-10. Nehemiah in his planning anticipated opposition and had secured the king’s army to accompany him. Here Nehemiah only introduces his opponents: Sanballat and Tobiah. In chapters 4-6, Nehemiah instructs us in detail on how to deal with opposition.
Every significant work for God will be opposed. Read the book of Acts for confirmation. What is the old saying, “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.” The only problem is your life as a leader is the kitchen. You live in the kitchen. One of my favorite biographies of Spurgeon is Ian Murray’s The Forgotten Spurgeon (click to view) in which Murray describes the three great conflicts in Spurgeon’s ministry: 1) Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism, 2) Baptismal regeneration, and 3) the “Downgrade” controversy, which caused him to die prematurely at age 57.
Spurgeon once confessed in a sermon: “Down on my knees have I often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Salvation of the Lord, May 10, 1857 Scripture: Jonah 2:9 From New Park Street Pulpit Volume 3).
Conflict Number Two: Overwhelming Task (2:11-16)
There were almost two miles of broken-down walls with massive stones tumbled into the valleys below. There is another time and location change at 2:11 that identifies the next scene and the main division. Maybe your impossible task is not a broken-down wall but an unsaved person who refuses to even listen anymore to your gospel or pleas. One broken-hearted Christian mother told me her unsaved son blocked her from calling him. She said in tears: “He has broken my heart and now he is crushing the pieces.”
Solution: Identify the Problem (2:12-16) (Solves Conflict Two)
One verse covers two months of travel (2:11) and six verses (2:12-16) describe one night of fact-gathering. Scene depiction in narratives is when the author speeds over unimportant material (2:11) and slows down to emphasize what is important and advances the storyline (2:12-16). Again we see Nehemiah planning. He had generally planned before his arrival and now he gets specific.
He spends the night walking through the broken-down walls and assessing the damage. If Nehemiah were alive today he would do a demographic study of his area of ministry. He does not just haul off and do something. Proverbs 18:13 gives this wisdom, “He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
Nehemiah saw both the problem and the potential but he did not sugarcoat the conflict. Nehemiah 2:13-16 is Nehemiah’s “Houston, we have a problem.” What is the problem you face? Is it that unsaved person who will not answer your calls? Is it a habit? Is it a broken relationship? Is it your ministry that is stale? Do we have the courage to admit there is a problem or that I am the problem?
Conflict Number Three: Complacency about God’s Work (2:17)
The wall had been down for over 100 years and the people had grown accustomed to the status quo. This new scene is identified with a content change. The new content is dialogue. Dialogue is very important in narratives. Sometimes the narration of the story prepares the reader for the spoken dialogue.
Another attempt was made about 13 years before and Artaxerxes stopped it as recorded in Ezra 4. In Nehemiah 2:17, Nehemiah has to stir up the complacent with his dialogue or speech.
You’ve tried to conquer that sin, but you have failed again and again and now you are just worn out. You’ve tried to grow your ministry and it has declined. You are defeated. Your people are defeated and complacent. What can you do?
Solution: Challenge God’s People (2:17-18) (Solves Conflict Three)
We can call this pastoral preaching. Nehemiah addresses the problem head-on in a public address.
A. We must identify with the people “us” and “we” (2:17a).
In 1 Thessalonians 5:12, leaders “Labor among and preside over” (see post The Pastor/People Relationship). Leaders not only identify the problem, but they also volunteer to be part of the solution. Nehemiah was not a top-down autocrat but a bottom-up servant leader.
Peter F. Drunker in Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices wrote, "The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say, 'I.' They think 'team.' They understand their job to make the team function. They accept the responsibility and don't sidestep, but 'we' gets the credit" (quoted in Hans Fenzel's "The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make" page 103).
B. We must challenge with godly inward motives, not external financial rewards (2:17b)
Nehemiah did not offer bonuses or all-expenses-paid vacations to Hawaii. Nehemiah did not want to build a memorial to himself: Nehemiah Memorial Church. Nehemiah wanted to honor God (“that we are no more a reproach”).
It would be like me challenging you to read through God’s Word this year with the reward of $500.00. What is a better reward? Read to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ in order to be a more useful servant of God.
C. We must challenge with God’s past faithfulness (2:18a)
Nehemiah challenged his followers with the past victory God had just given with King Artaxerxes. David did the same as he faced his impossible situation (Goliath) in 1 Samuel 17. David rehearsed how God had given him victory over a bear and a lion in protecting his sheep. Now God would enable him to defeat Goliath to protect God’s sheep, Israel. John Maxwell talks about the Law of Big Mo (click to view) (Momentum). To change bad momentum “celebrate small wins.” Take a minute and recount recent answers to prayers, be encouraged, and share these victories with your people.
D. Response of the people to the challenge (2:18b). The people respond to Nehemiah’s challenge with “Let us rise up and build.”
Dale Carnegie tells of a mill manager whose men on the third shift were not producing. The owner, whose name was Charles Schwab, asked why. The manager had no idea. “I’ve coaxed the men; I’ve pushed them; I’ve sworn and cussed; I’ve threatened them with damnation and being fired. But nothing works. They just won’t produce.”
“How many heats did your shift make today?” Schwab asked.”
“Six.”
Without saying another word, Schwab picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a big figure 6 on the floor. Then he walked away.
When the night shift came in, they saw the 6 and asked what it meant. “The big boss was here today,” someone said. “He asked how many heats the day shift made, and we told him six. He chalked it on the floor.”
The next morning Schwab walked through the mill again. The night shift had rubbed out the 6 and replaced it with an even bigger 7. When the day shift reported the next day, they saw the 7. So the night shift thought it was better than the day shift, did it? They’d show them. They pitched in furiously, and before they had left that evening they had rubbed out the 7 and replaced it with a 10. It was a 66 percent increase in just twenty-four hours, and all because of Schwab’s challenge. Carnegie concludes, “If you want to win … spirited men …. to your way of thinking … throw down a challenge” (Dale Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963, pages 173-176).
“Leaders can’t do the job by themselves and workers can’t accomplish much without leadership” (Warren W. Wiersbe. Be Determined. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992, page 33). Pastors “reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim 4:2).
Solution Number Three: Overcome Opposition (2:19-20) (Solves Conflict One)
Nehemiah now addresses his opponents who were introduced to in 2:9-10.
A. The Opposition (2:19)
This new scene begins with a content change. This time the dialogue is from the enemies of God’s work. The opposition ridiculed: “They laughed us to scorn.” Why? Only because Nehemiah was doing what God had put in his heart. The opposition “despised us.” Why? Only because Nehemiah was saving God’s work from extinction. The opposition criticized: “What is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the king?” Criticism is the weapon of those who have no other. We need to remember, however, that suggestions for improvement are not the same as criticisms. Suggestions for improvement are welcomed and necessary.
B. The Opposition is Overcome with (2:20)
First, trust in the God of Heaven who is not opposed to the work. Nehemiah was God-centered. This new scene is new content. Nehemiah verbally responds to the enemies’ dialogue.
Next, focus on building not on the opposition: “Therefore we his servants will arise and build.” Nehemiah did not allow others and circumstances to be an excuse for quitting or not succeeding. Jim Collins in his Good to Great analyzed eleven Fortune 500 companies that transitioned from good to great companies. The CEOs of these companies refused to take credit for their success and never blamed others or circumstances for poor results. Collins calls these leaders Level 5 Leaders. Nehemiah could be described as a Level 5 leader in many ways.
Lastly, Nehemiah did not cave or compromise. Paul had to encourage Timothy who apparently was timid at times. As Paul was facing martyrdom for the gospel in 2 Timothy, Paul challenged Timothy: “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Nehemiah dealt with this critical issue of complacency by casting a vision of rebuilding the wall and then motivating his people through what some would call today pastoral preaching. There is a distinction between preaching and pastoral preaching. Preaching can be for greedy purposes or the praise of man. In Pastoral preaching, the pastor casts the vision and employs his pastoral preaching to fulfill that vision for his flock.
Richard Caldwell wrote: “I make the case that these two subjects (preaching and pastoral work) must be joined in our thinking. Preaching is a pastoral work (Richard Caldwell, Pastoral Preaching: Expository Preaching for Pastoral Work, 17-18). See my review of Pastoral Preaching (click to open).
Dr. Danny Cochran in his dissertation calls pastoral preaching rhetorical leadership. He writes: For the purpose of this study, [rhetorical leadership] refers to pastoral leadership expressed as the pastor leads through the sermons preached in the church worship services. This definition is based on the principle presented by Michael Quicke, that pastors’ “preaching of God’s Word should exercise leadership by envisioning, confronting, encouraging, stretching, releasing, and uniting God’s people to live out his will” (2006, 17) (Danny R. Cochran, “The Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Pastoral Preaching” (Ph.D. diss., Piedmont International University, 2018, 17).
In pastoral preaching, the pastor casts the vision, and then he pastorally preaches to fulfill the vision for church growth, training leaders, protecting the flock from false teaching, and solving church problems with theology.