This morning I want to begin by showing you a YOUTUBE video—so sit back and enjoy.
YOU TUBE STUCK ON AN ESCALATOR– 1:40
We chuckle at this little satire but this is how many people respond to REAL problems. All they know to do is cry out for someone ELSE to save the day. They “sit on the steps of the broken escalators of life” waiting for assistance—frozen—not knowing what to do. On the other hand people who are blessed with good leadership skills don’t just sit. No—they are intent on doing something to solve problems. I mean, if a leader came upon these three people sitting on the steps of an escalator he or she would say, “Okay—everybody up—we’re climbing up the stairs! Follow me!”
I share all this because Nehemiah was that kind of a guy. He was a decisive leader. When problems arose he didn’t fire a letter off to Artaxerxes for help. No—he solved the problem himself. And I have to say that it’s amazing that someone born into slavery with little or no educational opportunities—a guy whose primary job was to drink poison intended for the king—it’s amazing that someone like Nehemiah could be so good at leading people and managing difficult situations. And yet, he was. Again and again throughout the book that bears his name we see Nehemiah respond to challenges decisively and effectively.
In chapter one, he was faced with a PERSONAL challenge. When he heard about what was happening in Jerusalem, he sat down and wept and then broke out into prayer. In chapter two, his challenge was POLITICAL. When the King asked him what he needed, he prayed a “popcorn prayer” and boldly made his requests for help in rebuilding the wall—requests that were all granted! In chapter three, he confronted an ADMINISTRATIVE challenge by positioning the right workers at the right place for the right reasons. In chapter four, he dealt with the challenge of DISCOURAGEMENT. The workers were afraid of the enemies and convinced they couldn’t work anymore. Nehemiah rallied them to come together under this pressure and the building resumed. So it’s obvious that Nehemiah was indeed a skilled leader—a decisive leader—uniquely talented in solving problems quickly and well. I for one believe that PART of the reason he was so skilled in this way was the fact that he lived and worked in close proximity to the king—the guy who led a big part of the known world. He was sort of an unintentional INTERN to the king. Every day he observed Artaxerxes’ reactions to various circumstances and in this way he learned what it means to be a leader.
This is another proof of the Biblical teaching that God does indeed work in all things—even captivity—for our good. And I believe Nehemiah knew this for he SOUGHT good even in this bad situation. For example, I’m sure he told himself many times. “When and if I’m ever in a position to make decisions I will handle similar problems like the king did.” Or sometimes he said, “When I’m in a position to make decision I’ll be careful NOT to make the same mistakes I’ve seen Artaxerxes make.” Nehemiah learned how to respond to problems because he kept a close eye on the king while he was serving him. But of course the MAIN reason Nehemiah was so effective in dealing with situations is he was a man of PRAYER—constantly seeking GOD’S guidance. He knew NOT to lean on his own understanding when problems arose but to acknowledge God—to seek God’s help—in all his ways. Again and again through this prayer journal that bears his name, we see him taking every aspect of this difficult project before God’s throne asking: “God use us, bless us God. Guide us. Protect us God. God grant us success.”
Another thing—all these problems and challenges that kept popping up in chapter after chapter—they didn’t SURPRISE Nehemiah. It’s almost as if he EXPECTED them. And I’m sure that’s another thing he learned from his time with Artaxerxes. His years in the throne room showed him that leadership involves solving problems. The two come together. This is why Nehemiah never appears to have panicked. He never gave up in frustration. He never whined or cried or threw a fit when people didn’t do what he wanted them to do. With God’s help he just responded to each situation and resolved each problem.
Okay, turn to Nehemiah 5 and let’s read about the NEXT problem—the FIFTH crisis—that arose as Nehemiah led the people of Jerusalem in rebuilding the wall.
1 – Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews.
2 – Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
3 – Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields,our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
4 – Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s taxon our fields and vineyards.
5 – Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery.Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
6 – When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.
7 – I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!”So I called together a large meeting to deal with them,
8 – and said: “As far as possible, we have boughtback our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.
9 – So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproachof our Gentile enemies?
10 – I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest!
11 – Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interestyou are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”
12 – We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.
13 – I also shookout the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be shaken out and emptied!” At this the whole assembly said, “Amen,”and praised theLord. And the people did as they had promised.
14 – Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,when I was appointed to be their governorin the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.
15 – But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for GodI did not act like that.
16 – Instead,I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.
17 – Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations.
18 – Each day one ox, six choice sheep, and some poultrywere prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.
19 – Remember me with favor, my God, for all I have done for these people.
Okay—let’s understand the context here. The Jews are more than half-way done rebuilding the wall. Their enemies have backed down—but just when things seem to have gotten back on track on this great WORK for our great GOD—a great CRY was heard among the Jews. And this time they were not crying out against the Samaritans or the Ammonites or the Arabs—but rather against their own people. Jew was exploiting Jew financially and the situation had become so desperate that even the wives (who usually kept silent in this culture) were joining in the protest. In essence a STRIKE was called. There were no picket lines of course—but work stopped on the wall because the people were struggling to have enough to eat.
Now—how did they get that way? How did they become so impoverished? I pose this question because the Jews who FIRST returned from captivity were very well-off. If you did the reading assignment then you know that according to the first chapters of the book of Ezra those who had come back from exile returned with many worldly goods. Ezra gave an inventory of their possessions, reporting in summary that there were 5,400 articles of gold and silver (Ezra 1:11) In addition, King Cyrus had himself opened his treasury and had contributed “the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem) (Ezra 1:7) It’s almost like the first exodus when the Egyptians were moved by God to send riches with the Jews as they returned home. I mean in the beginning the returning Jews were very wealthy. In fact, once in Jerusalem, many of the Jews were either wealthy enough or had prospered sufficiently to panel their homes, a luxury reserved for only kings. When the temple was rebuilt, the people gave generously for its decoration. And—just 13 years before Nehemiah’s arrival a second group of exiles had returned with Ezra and these had brought additional “silver and gold”—and“the freewill offerings of the people” left in Babylon (Ezra 7:16). Other gifts fro m Babylon seem to have been arriving regularly (Zachariah 6:10). So what changed? How did they become so desperate?
Well, the main cause of this financial crunch was FAMINE. A lack of rain and the consequent crop failure was a big problem—especially with the increased population growth caused by more exiles returning. A second complaint was the king’s taxation—but most of the commentaries I read said this was not the real issue. Taxes were not that burdensome. No—the REAL problem was that the wealthier Jews had been exploiting those who were less well-off and actually reducing some of them to the desperate state of slavery. Three classes were being exploited. First, there were the workers whose resources had been used up. Then there were farmers whose lands were mortgaged to their rich countrymen. Then there were people who were having trouble paying their taxes because they had already lost their fields. They were in the process of losing some of their children through slavery to rich Jews in order to raise the money necessary to pay Artaxerxes his due. In other words a great injustice was being done by the rich Jews—and the poor Jews were suffering for it. The rich were taking advantage of the famine to become more rich—by making their brothers more poor. I’m reminded of Proverbs 29:2, which says, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” The rich were being wicked and were ruling and so this great cry went out!
Do you remember when Hurricane Andrew tore through southern Florida several years back? After the storm we got a glimpse of the greed of some people—something we see in the wake of most disasters. Although there were many who were reaching out to help, there were others who saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of those in need by price gouging and stealing. And—that’s what we see here. This should be a warning to us. You see prosperity can be a trap—something the adversary will take advantage of. Thomas Carlyle put it this way: “Adversity is hard on a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred who will stand adversity.” Few people can live in the lap of luxury and maintain their spiritual, emotional, and moral equilibrium. The love of money is indeed the root of all kinds of evil and we see it taking root in this fifth chapter. Another thing we should note is that when our adversary fails in EXTERNAL attacks—like the threats of Sanballat and his buds—he will attack from WITHIN—which is what he did here. When people are attacked from without they tend to unite—but when attacked from within they divide—and the devil knows this—which is why down through the years our adversary has attacked Christians and churches over and over again like this—from within. People who yielded to the adversary have destroyed friendships, marriages—and precious congregational harmony. This is why in Ephesians 4:2-3 Paul says, we must “…be completely humble and gentle.” We must, “be patient, bearing with one another in love.” We must, “Make EVERY EFFORT to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” I’m using the word “MUST” so frequently to help you realize that it is IMPERATIVE that we UNDERSTAND this fact and then strive to guard ourselves—from these attacks from within.
Now—what was Nehemiah’s solution? How did he resolve this INFERNAL INTERNAL problem? What would he say to leaders today who face similar difficulties? I am indebted to Steve May for my outline this morning.
(1) First, he would say, “Get GOOD and ANGRY.”
Look at verse 6 again where Nehemiah says, “When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was VERY ANGRY.” Understand—he had already dealt with this kind of problem once. Look at verse 8 where he says to the nobles—the people who were the source of this problem. “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. AND NOW YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN! But you are JEWS and you should know better!” You see, God had clearly forbade what they were doing. In Leviticus 25 the Jews were commanded NOT to enslave their fellow Jews. It says, “If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.” In Exodus 22:25 God says, “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him, you shall not charge him interest.” It says the same thing in Deuteronomy 23—but this time God gives the reason for this no interest—no slavery deal. It says, “Do this—so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake.”
God was saying that He wanted His people, the Jews, to be unique. In effect, He was saying, “I will bless you, and you won’t have to charge interest to your own brothers. You won’t have to enslave one another. You will maintain a distinction that will cause the foreigner to rub his bearded chin and say, ‘How in the world can that nation continue?’ and you can answer, “The Lord, our God provides for our needs without interest among ourselves. Slavery is wrong and the success of our country proves it!’”
Well these rich Jews were breaking these well-known laws. This made Nehemiah hopping mad. And this kind of anger is not necessarily wrong. In fact right in Ephesians 4:26 God commands us to, “BE ANGRY—yet do not sin.” Now, nowhere in the Bible will you find a command to “Be lustful but do not sin.” or “Be greedy but sin not.” No—because lust and greed are wrong PERIOD. But not so with anger. In fact, if we learn to control it, anger can motivate us to do very GOOD things. I mean it’s possible to be GOOD and angry. It was GOOD anger that motivated Lee Iacocca to fix what was wrong with Chrysler back in the ‘80’s. After his success with that corporation Iacocca wrote, “Wonderful things can happen when Americans get mad. I think some well-directed anger can cure most of what’s wrong in America today.”
And I would agree. In fact, history gives us numerous other examples of the positive results of GOOD anger. For example: It was good anger that led Candy Lightner to found MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) after a drunken driver plowed his vehicle into her 13-year-old daughter—and a Californian judge gave the repeat offender a light sentence. That organization has saved countless lives. It was good anger that led people in England and then in America to end slavery and work to right the continued wrongs committed due to racial prejudice. It was good anger that motivated Martin Luther to start the Great Reformation. Ironically, the world would be a sadder place without GOOD anger—selfless anger—anger that is motivated by wrongs committed against other people.
Don’t get me wrong. As we are all well-aware, it is very easy for ANGER to lead us to sin. But the fact is it doesn’t have to. It can motivate us to do a lot of good. And that’s what happened here. Nehemiah’s anger prompted him to act to right a great wrong.
Perhaps there is some wrong in your life—and you need to get angry enough to do something to right it!
(2) The second advice Nehemiah would give us when we face a problem—especially one that ticks you off is: “Give yourself TIME to THINK.”
Look at verse 7 where Nehemiah says, “I pondered them in my mind—and THEN accused the nobles and officials.” Nehemiah got mad—but he THOUGHT before he SPOKE. And—I think this was another one of those “bullet prayer deals.” I mean, in those moments of self-consultation, Nehemiah was able to speak to God about what to say next. Self-control like this is a virtue that the leader cannot afford to be without. Nehemiah thought before he spoke. He looked before he leapt. He cooled down and consulted with himself and listened to God’s voice.
By the way, the Hebrew word for “consult” here means “to give one self-advice” “to counsel oneself.” That’s the very best thing to do when you get angry. You need to have a quiet place where you can lay all the emotions of your soul before God. Marvelous therapy comes from sharing with God the hurt and the anger as you “consult with yourself” before you proceed.
Listen. You can’t solve problems on a whim. You can’t fix situations on the strength of an emotional reaction. In fact, many times our FIRST impulse isn’t our BEST impulse. Though it is right to respond to injustice with righteous anger, anger can’t be your ONLY response.
You see, most of the time our anger leads us to cross the line into SIN in that FIRST emotionally-heated response—when we fly off the handle and SAY things or DO things we shouldn’t. And, as I’m sure you know, flying OFF the handle is easy—but flying BACK ON the handle can be a tricky maneuver. I mean, so many times our initial unbridled anger causes us to say things that we can’t take back or do things that we can’t undo. So, whenever we first feel our blood beginning to boil, it’s wise to step back for a few minutes and think—to delay our reaction long enough for us to calm down and evaluate what’s going on. I mean, follow Thomas Jefferson’s advice and count to ten—or a hundred—-or however long it takes you to cool down enough to think clearly. The fact is sometimes the only way to prevent an explosion of sin-filled rage is to physically remove ourselves from the “detonator”—the source of our frustration for a few moments. If we give ourselves a time out like this—if we step away for a bit or ask the person if we can call back later, well, we will be less likely to say something we will regret.
How many times have you been RIGHT about something but because you foolishly lost control of your anger in those first minutes—you ended up looking WRONG? Isn’t that frustrating!?
This is why Solomon says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” (Proverbs 29:11) and, “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.” (Proverbs 14:29)
(3) Here’s a third thing we see Nehemiah do: Address the problem HEAD ON.
I mean, DELAYING a response to a problem doesn’t mean that you AVOID the problem. After you’ve had time to give it serious thought, you address the problem head-on. Some people think that if you ignore a problem long enough, it will go away. Does that really ever happen?
- If the brakes on your car are going out, they don’t just suddenly get better without a little bit of mechanical intervention.
- If you’re overdrawn at the bank, the money won’t just suddenly appear in your account without you making a deposit.
Wrong things aren’t made right without intervention, without someone addressing the problem. As someone put it, “Problems that go away by themselves also come back by themselves.” Ignoring a problem is never a good strategy. You have to face it. You have to address it. This is what Nehemiah did. Look at verse 7: “I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, ‘You are charging your own people interest!’ So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: ‘As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!’ In verse 9 he said, “What you are doing is not right.” The nobles’ response was to keep quiet for they had no defense. They knew what they were doing was wrong. Nehemiah hit the problem head-on—because that’s what decisive leaders do.
Some of you who are facing similar problems need to do the same thing.
- You have a friend who is messing up royally—but so far you’ve not said anything. A read friend would!
- Your younger children are speaking disrespectfully toward you and your spouse, and you’re pretending not to hear. You need to deal with that.
- Your older children are hanging with the wrong crowd. You have to address that.
These kinds problems will not go away by themselves. In fact they will only get worse so you have to address them head-on. You have to say, “This is what is happening and it’s not right.” You’ve got to lead those who are doing wrong into a commitment to do right—and you have to do it NOW. After a meeting with the nobles privately Nehemiah gathered the people and had a public meeting. Then look at verse 12 where Nehemiah says, “I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.”
Nehemiah called the clergy in—the priests who represented the Jews to God. Pointing to the moneylenders he said, “You men make a promise to these men over here. And you men (the priests) remember this before God.” It was a public hearing, a public declaration and a public promise before the Lord. Nehemiah knew how to come to grips with an issue! Then Nehemiah shook out the front of his robe and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise!”
There are times when leaders need to challenge people with ideas, to encourage them to think things through, to pray about their options. And there are times when leaders need to say, “This decision needs to be made now. Let’s not put it off any longer.” Effective leaders know the difference.
I remember reading in Billy Graham’s autobiography about how in the early days of his crusades southern cities wanted the congregation to be segregated. They set up sections for blacks apart from the whites. Billy Graham said “NO. It’s not going to be that way. God loves all people EQUALLY and we’re not going to divide like this. We’re not going to continue the sin of segregation—not in my crusades.” He didn’t wait for a committee discussion. He didn’t call for a vote. He just went into the stadium himself and took down the ropes that roped off areas for black people—tore down the signs telling them where to sit and where not to sit.
(4) The fourth thing Nehemiah would advise is “Offer a WORKABLE SOLUTION.”
I mean, anyone can tell you what’s wrong with a situation. That doesn’t require skill, knowledge or wisdom. It just takes a pair of eyes. Leaders, however know how to take it a step further. They do more than say, “The escalator is broke.” They say, “The escalator is broke—and here’s what we’re going to do about it.” Effective leaders not only identify the PROBLEM, they identify the SOLUTION—a solution that works.
Many times people will offer so-called solutions that are so simplistic they are unrealistic. For example, have you ever been at a football game where you heard advice like this: “What the defense needs to do is tackle the guy with the ball.” Or “What our team needs to do is score more points – that’ll keep us from losing games.” I know what you’re thinking so everyone say it: “Duh!” While these statements are true, they’re not problem-solving solutions. They’re not workable, practical, or implementable. They’re just words; they don’t yield results. And speaking of results, did any of you have a coach in high school who would make you run laps whenever you made an error? I did. I think that must be something they teach in coach’s school—that running laps fixes all problems. But that’s silly. Let’s say you were an outfielder and you missed a fly ball. How does running laps help develop that skill? How about instead of laps—having some catching drills or something. Fielders who miss a fly ball don’t do it on purpose. They do it because they aren’t skilled in that area. That’s what a coach is for—to train you to play better. Running laps may make you a better runner. It may increase your endurance. But it won’t help you handle a ball glove.
My point is that effective leaders know how to say, “Here’s the problem; here’s how to make it right.” That’s what Nehemiah did. He told them what they were doing was wrong—and then he told the nobles and officials exactly how to make it right. Look at verses 10 and 11. They were to:
- Stop charging interest
- Give the people back their land
- And return the interest that had been paid.
Too many times when we have problems—we focus on the problems instead of the solution.
(5) One last bit of advice Nehemiah would give us is to lead by EXAMPLE.
If you want others to do the right, it helps if they can see you do the right thing. In verse 10 Nehemiah says, “I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest!” A careful look at various translations and the context here shows us that Nehemiah was saying that he had been loaning money without interest—and the nobles must follow his example. In verses 14-18 went on to say that when he was appointed governor of Judah he did not take advantage of the opportunities that office gave to him. Nehemiah and his assistants did not use the official expense account for their household expenses, nor did they tax the people. They paid out of their own pockets and didn’t ask to be reimbursed. Nehemiah also rolled up his sleeves and participated in rebuilding the wall.
He also shared what food he had with others—A LOT of others—150 each and every night. Nehemiah is saying, “Look, if anyone could have gotten rich in this situation, if anyone could be living a life of luxury, it’s me. But I didn’t do it. I didn’t take advantage of these opportunities because I didn’t want to benefit from the burdens of others. And if I, the leader of this project and now the governor of this territory, have not benefitted from my position, neither should you.” Nehemiah led by example; it’s what effective leaders do.
- Leaders cannot expect their people to be punctual if they are not punctual themselves.
- Parents cannot expect their children to speak with respect if the parents themselves speak to others with disrespect.
The things that you expect from others need to be visible in your life as well. If you’re not an example to follow, you will have a difficult time resolving problems effectively in your area of leadership. It seems as if every day another one of our nation’s leader—a senator or congressman or president, is caught in some sin. They haven’t walked the talk. They haven’t led by example. And this is nothing new. It’s what made Frank Capra’s movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington a hit. Our world needs leaders like Mr. Smith—leaders like Nehemiah who will lead by example. It needs Christians like you and me to lead by example—showing that God’s plan for sexuality and marriage is best.
- showing that God’s guidelines for raising children are best.
- showing that human life really is sacred from womb to tomb.
- showing that racial injustice is wrong.
- showing by our lives that God’s way is always best.