This classified advertisement appeared in a rural New York newspaper: “Farmer, age 38, wishes to meet woman about 30 who owns tractor. Please enclose picture of tractor.” I often wonder if this selfish farmer got pictures of John Deere tractors from desperate women. Nehemiah was also dealing with believers who also valued possessions over important relationships.
In Nehemiah 4-6, leaders handle opposition:
1. In Nehemiah 4, the leader handles opposition from without i.e., Sanballat, etc.
2. In Nehemiah 5, the leader handles opposition from within i.e., greedy believers.
Evangelist Billy Sunday said, “The devil would rather cause a fuss between believers than sell a barrel of whiskey.” That was saying a lot for the preacher who almost single-handedly produced the prohibition movement.
Nehemiah describes the bad economic times for God’s people in Nehemiah 5:1-5.
This new section is set off grammatically by what is called a “waw consecutive imperfect” (וַיְהִ֞י vayehi) in 5:1 which can be translated as “then.” This verb indicates a sequence of actions. Thus, there is a time change to indicate a new scene and thus a new main division in the sermon.
There are also three cases of dialogue in 5:1-5 where the abused people of God are complaining of selfishly being treated by their fellow Jews. Again, dialogue announces the theme of the narrative. There was high inflation. A famine that had driven prices up. There were high taxes and interest. Wealthy Jewish believers were exploiting poorer believers. The rich believers were loan sharks.
Remember that narratives are framed with a biblical problem/biblical solution. The biblical problem of greed is presented in 5:1-5. The biblical solutions are stated in 5:6-19.
There is greed in the universal church or the body of Christ today in the form of the Prosperity Gospel (click to open). There is also greed in the local church (click to open).
Church consultant, Joseph Miller in Building The Church: A Comprehensive Manual for Church Administration by Joseph Miller reports that national surveys of evangelical churches indicate that
80 percent of the giving in those churches comes from 20 percent of the constituency.
The balance of 20 percent comes from another 30 percent of the people,
leaving 50 percent of the constituency contributing nothing.
Miller also cites statistics the Southern Baptists released that 80 percent of the giving in their churches came from people who were fifty-five or older.
Miller writes that if the average church constituency gave the tithe of their income to the Lord in the local church, the church budget would be four times as big.
How do leaders respond to crippling selfishness? Nehemiah shows us how to deal with greedy believers.
1. Leaders deal with selfishness with anger at the sin (5:6)
This new section is set off grammatically by another “waw consecutive imperfect” in 5:6 which can be translated “then” and points to a new scene and a new main division.
Nehemiah did get not angry at Sanballat, Tobiah, or Geshem who were threatening from the outside.
Nehemiah was angry at God’s people for disobeying Scripture that forbade usury or charging high interest on loans to God’s people: Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35-38, and Deuteronomy 23:19-20. Money could be loaned but not with interest according to Deuteronomy 23:19-20.
He was angry at the fifth column internally defeating the work. The enemies that will paralyze most of our local ministries are not the ACLU, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court with their anti-marriage rulings and decisions. The greatest threat comes from our sinful bent to have it our way.
2. Leaders deal with selfishness with self-control (5:7a)
This new section is set off grammatically by another “waw consecutive imperfect” in 5:7a translated “then” and points to a new scene and a new main division. Nehemiah “consulted with himself” or had a committee meeting of one. Before he hauled off and dealt with this sin in selfish anger, he “sinned not” (Eph 5:26). He got his composure with God’s help and then he rebuked the sin.
Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju in their book The Pastor and Counseling posed this counseling scenario: Let’s say a professional Christian counselor and a professional secular counselor advise your member to go into his bedroom and punch a pillow (click to open) when his wife angers him. This seems reasonable. It’s certainly better than punching his wife, and the pillow is replaceable. If the professional Christian counselor (click to open) has advised this, your member might assume that this is biblically-based advice. After all, it doesn’t seem unloving to others or dishonoring to God to treat a pillow viciously. A professional Christian counselor giving such pillow advice would likely cite Scripture to make his point, maybe showing how Jesus directed his anger appropriately by overturning the money changers’ tables and not striking the money-changers themselves. This would seem reasonably biblical to your members (Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju. The Pastor and Counseling (9Marks, Crossway. Kindle Edition, 123-124).
I agree with the response of Pierre and Reju: The apostle Paul would scoff at such advice, saying that it merely indulges a “fit of anger,” which is a “work of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19–20) (124).
Jesus was angry at sin
Was Jesus merely “punching a pillow” when he turned over the money changers’ tables in the Temple? No. Jesus was angry at religious fruitlessness and specifically hypocrisy in the nation of Israel in cleansing the temple. Just before cleansing the temple, He cursed the fruitless fig tree symbolizing spiritually fruitless Israel (Mk 11:12-14). He was angry at sin in the nation for rejecting Him as their Old Testament prophesied Messiah. He was not angry at an individual. Peter says that when Jesus was reviled personally he reviled not. When he suffered he threatened not (1 Pet 2:23). Jesus in the temple episode was practicing what Paul would later advise: "Be angry and not sin" (Eph 4:26).
The husband is not angry at sin
The husband who is ticked at his wife is not angry at sin but he is angry at some mannerism of his wife or her failure to meet his expectations. Even if the wife had sinned, anger is not the response of Jesus to an individual nor the Scriptural solution. Again, Paul commanded, “Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:25). That is the example of Jesus to be followed. Punching a pillow doesn't solve the problem of out-of-control anger it only directs it at another object. The anger issue is still there unresolved.
The solution to anger is not punching anything
The solution for the counselee is first to be saved if he is not saved. If he is a believer, he needs to feed on God’s Word. David wisely said, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). Then the husband can be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and not by anger. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit which is the opposite of sinful anger: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control."
Even if the husband is saved and Spirit-filled marital conflicts will arise. John Maxwell advised that we practice the 24-hour rule. Within 24 hours resolve the issue, if another person has made you angry. If we let the anger build up, the anger will fester like a sore and eventually explode. Make reconciliation immediately. Paul exhorted, "Don't let the sun go down your wrath" (Eph 4:26). There are many Biblical solutions to sinful anger.
3. Leaders deal with selfishness by rebuking the sin (5:7b-13)
This new section is set off grammatically by another “waw consecutive imperfect” in 5:7b translated as “then I rebuked the nobles, etc.” and points to a new scene and a new main division. Through dialogue, Nehemiah continues to advance the storyline and the theme. Nehemiah rebukes this selfishness privately and then publicly.
In private, he tells the guilty leaders, “You should love your brothers. Be a brother, not a broker. (5:7b)”
In public, he rebukes them for the poor testimony their selfishness had produced in the unsaved community (5:8-11). Nehemiah stated that these selfish actions were bringing on the “reproach of the nations.” Not only were the walls down a “reproach חֶרְפָּה herpah) but now their greed was the cause of “reproach” חֶרְפָּה herpah) among the heathen nations. Contrast the selfishness in Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day with the unselfishness in Jerusalem in the early church and the powerful impact the generous believers had on their city in Acts 4:32-33. This kind of sacrificial giving enhanced the pastoral preaching of the apostles.
To their credit, the believers Nehemiah reprimanded repented in 5:12. Their dialogue is recorded in 5:12. To guarantee that the guilty were not just responding emotionally, Nehemiah called the priest to witness the promise to repay with interest what they had wrongfully taken. Because this was not just a business transaction, the priest was called not the Notary Public.
Next, through more dialogue, Nehemiah informed the repenting believers, that if they did not fulfill their pledges, lawyers who sue would not be called; God would be summonsed to judge them (5:13a).
Finally, when the witnessing congregation heard all Nehemiah had accomplished they responded with “Amen” (5:13b) not a second and a motion. This was not a business meeting. This was a revival service.
4. Leaders deal with selfishness by setting a generous example (5:14-19)
The next scene is identified by a time change in 5:14 when Nehemiah refers to his twelve-year leave of absence from Persia and therefore a new main division in the sermon. This was Nehemiah’s first term as governor. His second term is referred to in 13:6. Nehemiah did not take his Persian Perks as his predecessors had (5:15). He unselfishly shared his wealth with the needy in Jerusalem by feeding over 150 people daily. Nehemiah as the cupbearer was paid well enabling him to give sacrificially to his workers (5:16-18).
Nehemiah set an example for the greedy to follow. Jesus who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) set the ultimate example of unselfishness. Paul describes Jesus’ sacrificial coming to earth to die for our sins: “For you know of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor 8:9). We pastors could pastorally preach a series through 2 Corinthians 8-9 entitled Grace or Sacrificial Giving (click to open).
We can also defeat the internal rotting of greed by getting angry at the selfishness and sinning not, by checking our own emotions lest we fall prey to selfish retaliation, by privately and if necessary publicly exposing greediness, and by modeling sacrificial leadership like Nehemiah and more perfectly Jesus Christ.