It helps to have a sense of humor in the ministry.
Spurgeon would occasionally find a nasty anonymous letter lying on his pulpit when he would stand up to preach. There would be a letter but no name. One day he got to the pulpit and there was a piece of paper with one word written in large letters … “IDIOT” … So, Spurgeon said to his congregation, “Normally I get letters without signatures, but today I got a signature without a letter.”
I hope Nehemiah possessed a sense of humor because he also received nasty, anonymous letters that he recorded for us to read. If you like to read other people’s mail you are going to like Nehemiah 6.
Nehemiah was the consummate leader.
1. Leaders show concern for God’s work (Nehemiah 1:1-4)
2. Leaders pray for God’s people (Nehemiah 1:5-11)
3. Leaders follow their leader (Nehemiah 2:1-8)
4. Leaders motivate their followers (Nehemiah 2:9-20)
5. Leaders organize their work (Nehemiah 3:1-32)
6. Leaders handle their opposition (Nehemiah 4-6)
A. Leaders handle opposition from without (ch. 4) (Ridicule and threats from the enemy which produced discouragement for the workers)
B. Leaders handle opposition from within (ch. 5) (Selfishness from believers)
C. Leaders handle opposition from without (ch.6) (Personal attacks from the enemy on the leader). The first opposition was against “the Jews” (4:1). The personal attack on the leader is stated by Nehemiah in 6:2: “They thought to do me harm.”
Sanballat and the other enemies once again attack God’s work but with a new strategy: Attack the Leader. “Sack the QB;” “Shoot the officers,” “Kill the snake by cutting off its head.”
The enemy launches a three-pronged attack against the leader.
1. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Distraction (6:1-4)
A new scene is introduced with the episode marker, “Now it came to pass” (וַיְהִ֞י vayehi). The opposition comes after a great accomplishment (6:1). The Jews had completed the walls except for hanging the doors. Paul’s thorn in the flesh came after his heavenly experience in 2 Corinthians 12. Jesus’ temptation followed his baptism.
Also, the opposition comes disguised as an opportunity (6:2).
To the request to stop his great work and meet halfway in Ono Nehemiah said, “Oh no!” Most leaders have “To Do” lists. I write one out every Monday. Most leaders need to write out a “To Not to Do” list. I am not talking about a “To Not to Do Sin” list, but a “To Not to Do Good” list. Good can take the place of the best in our lives. Lee Iacocca, who rescued Chrysler from bankruptcy, is an example. “During the first half of his tenure, Iacocca produced remarkable results, taking the company from near bankruptcy to nearly three times the general market. During the second half of Iacocca’s tenure, the company slid 31 percent behind the market and faced another potential bankruptcy” writes Jim Collins in “Good to Great” (131-133). After saving Chrysler, Iacocca became a national hero. The reason for the decline is that Lee Iacocca lost focus on Chrysler and started dabbling in many other enterprises. He “headed the Statue of Liberty renovation, joined a congressional commission on budget reduction and wrote a second book. He began a syndicated newspaper column” and on and on other interests could be documented.
Nehemiah kept saying “No!” to what would distract him from doing his “great work” (6:3). It would take one day to travel there, one day to conference, and one day to travel back. Nehemiah added, “Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?” (6:3).
Alexander McClaren was so dedicated to expository preaching that when he was invited to give the prestigious Yale Lecture on preaching, he refused because he said it would take him away from preparing to preach God’s Word to his flock. For that reason we still read his sermons today which are recorded in The Exposition of Holy Scripture (click to open).
2. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Rumors (6:5-9)
There is a time change in 6:5 indicating a new scene and new main division in the sermon. Most official letters were sealed with a drop of hot wax that was to be broken only by the recipient. This letter was unsealed so its inflammatory contents could be read by all. Today, the equivalent would be a disgruntled church member criticizing his/her pastor on Facebook.
They accuse Nehemiah of impure motives in 6:6. “He is feathering his own nest” or “He is building his little empire.” The open letter was blackmail (6:7).
Someone defined gossip as “news you have to hurry and tell somebody else before you find out it isn’t true.” The source of the rumors is usually unknown. The content of rumors is wrong. The result of rumors is hurt. This slander is intended to hinder Nehemiah from doing God’s work.
Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I am personally convinced that the number one enemy of Christian unity is the tongue. It’s not drinking, not drugs, not poor homes, not inflation, not TV, not even a bad church program----it is the tongue” (Hand Me Another Brick, page 131). God thinks so also. Just read Proverbs 6:16-19. Some believers need to get a Post-it, write three of the seven things God hates that have to do with an unruly tongue, and stick it on their cell phones. Who is ultimately hurt by rumors? The person who spreads them. God blessed Nehemiah, not Sanballat and company.
Nehemiah’s response to rumors is two-fold (6:8-9) and should also be our response.
He denies the rumor to the person spreading it (6:8).
Then he prays for God to give him strength (6:9). Someone called Nehemiah’s praying “Hit and Run” praying. He is hit by the opposition and he runs to God.
3. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Peer Pressure (6:10-14)
There is a change in location which points to a new scene and main division in the sermon at 6:10. Nehemiah is pressured to run from the problem by Shemaiah who is identified as a priest in 10:8. Nehemiah refuses to run (6:11). When appeals to compromise did not work and rumors did not hinder, the enemy reverted to threats conveyed through Nehemiah’s peer in 6:10. Nehemiah refused to run from his great work in 6:11.
Because of Nehemiah’s knowledge of God’s Word, he recognized Shemaiah as a false prophet in 6:12. God’s Word forbade anyone but the high priest from entering the holy of holies (Ex 16). There were other false prophets hired by Nehemiah’s enemies in 6:12-14.
Every pastor should listen to and read John Piper’s lecture: Charles H. Spurgeon: Preaching through Adversity (click to open.)
What is the greatest theological threat to evangelical churches today?
1) Pastors who present Christianity as therapy and self-help do not present Christianity. They are like the liberals that J. Gresham Machen denounced. Machen said that people who don’t believe the Bible should be honest and stop calling themselves Christians because they have in fact created a new religion that is not to be identified with Christianity. Similarly, the promoters of the American religion of self-help and therapeutic pop psychology ought to be honest: they don’t believe the Bible is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16) (9Marks Click to open).
2) It’s not the significant external problems of rising antagonism against convictional Christians in the West or the barrage of lies about gender and sexuality assaulting the rising generation. An even greater danger threatens the church from within. Many Christians don’t know the Bible (Ligonier Click to open).
3) A few weeks ago, Tommy Nelson, pastor of Denton Bible Church, in promoting an upcoming conference said that “wokeness” is “the most insidious and dangerous and pervasive ideology I have ever seen in all of my life” (The Gospel Coalition click to open)
4) Dr. Sinclair Ferguson answered with a startling statement of obvious deep conviction:
“Probably Christianity in this century. That’s a greater threat than Islam. Christendom is a far greater threat to Christianity than Islam is. Islam can never destroy the Gospel. But Christendom can easily destroy the Gospel, and is destroying the Gospel, where it has the Gospel in its hands destroying … the Church is the greatest threat to real Christianity in the world. God help us” (Puritan click to open).
5) In a survey of evangelical Christian leaders from around the world, 71% cited secularism as the biggest threat to the religion. The emphasis on consumerism (67%) and sex and violence in pop culture (59%) were also cited as major threats to evangelical Christianity (Pew Research click to open).
6) The question we probably should be asking is “What is the greatest theological threat to our local church?” What theological danger is threatening our congregation?
When Nehemiah’s ratings in the polls dropped in 6:14, he prayed in 6:14, went back to work in 6:15, and finished the work God had given him to honor of God in 6:16.
Warren W. Wiersbe writes that Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan on more than one occasion was the target of savage gossip that accused him of unfaithfulness to the Christian faith. His usual reply was, “It will blow over. Meanwhile, I go quietly on with my work” (Be Determined, page 76).