So Nehemiah chapter 5 I'll be reading out of the new King
James Version. The title of tonight's message
is From Greed to Gospel grace, from Greed to Gospel grace.
As you're turning to Nehemiah Chapter 5, apparently it's the
case that if a team of of horses is under attack, that their
instinct is to circle inward and to face one another and then
having their hind legs on the outside kick outward against the
enemy that they're attacked. And apparently donkeys do the
opposite. Donkeys, rather than being like
the horses, united and disciplined and effective in
that way, donkeys will turn outward, losing awareness of one
another, facing the enemy, and end up kicking each other until
they are broken. I think that image I'll start
with, that captures somewhat what is happening for us in
Nehemiah chapter 5, where we left off in chapter 4.
There's external enemies of God's people that are
threatening the work that is taking place as Nehemiah has
returned, he's been cut bearer to the king in Persia.
He's been given permission to head into Jerusalem to commence
rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem.
And there's been some some loud and aggressive and relentless
opposition. A fellow called Sambaya
Sambella, a fellow called Tobaya and and others surrounding the
people of Israel in this work. But in chapter 5, I think what
we we see tonight is the most serious threat to God's work not
coming from outside but from within comes from inside the
community of the people of God. Greed, injustice will read
exploitation of one another and it begins to fracture the very
people who are meant to be united together by grace and
putting their hand together to the work that God had called
them to under Nehemiah here. So for us tonight, it raises
this question that I wish to pose to you, and if you're the
note taking type, and I think it applies to every generation of
God's people and that is this, how can you tell when the gospel
is truly at work in a community of people?
How can you tell when the gospel is truly at work in a community
of people? I would submit to you that it's
not by how busy we are, but it's not by how impressive a project
might look, not even by how strong the leadership appears.
I think what we'll see tonight and and what Scripture again and
again confirms is this truth that one of the surest
indicators of the gospel at work in a body of believers in a
community of people is is found in this.
And we'll see it in our text, how we treat one another, how we
respond when sin is confronted. And then thirdly and lastly for
us, whether our lives increasingly reflect godly
integrity and generosity that God in his grace has bestowed on
us. So Nehemiah 5 for us tonight
will not be just a, a mere sort of moral lesson on social
justice or on on leadership ethics, though there's that
element to it. It's I want us to see a
diagnostic passage, something that we can put the, the finger
on the pulse of us individually and and us collectively as a
community and a body of believers.
How are we going with with gospel grace at work in our
lives, in our midst, in the way that we function in these areas?
Nehemiah 5 exposes what happens when God's redeemed people begin
living as though grace has not truly taken hold of their
hearts. There's a crisis at the
beginning of the chapter. And what we'll see here in our
text is this, that some of the the unrighteous wealthy in the
community are exploiting. We would call it the righteous
poor families are being crushed, children are being sold into
slavery. And all of this is in the the
people of God happening, people who know God's word, people who
have experienced God's grace at work in their lives and in their
community and, and God's deliverance and are actively
engaged in God's work in rebuilding the wall and
ultimately heading on towards the the House of God.
And Nehemiah will hear this outcry that we're introduced in
verse one. And what will follow for us is,
is a movement from greed at the beginning to grace at work at
the end. It's a wonderful, wonderful
story because we'll see that sin is exposed for what it really
is. A righteous confrontation takes
place as Nehemiah righteously becomes angry over what is
taking place. Repentance is expressed by the
people when when Nehemiah confronts them, there's no
excuses made by them that they hear and receive Nehemiah's
rebuke of them and they respond with repentance and restitution
is made. And then at the end, a leader
models for us what it looks like to have a life shaped by the
fear of God and his radical generosity.
But it's displayed Nehemiah's life.
So the main idea for this chapter, if you forget
everything else about tonight, I want you to remember this.
It's simple, but it's confronting.
And that is this. When the gospel is truly at work
among God's people, it reshapes how we treat others, how we
respond to correction, and how we live before God.
It's not abstract theology. It's a mirror for us as we read
these verses. Held up to ourselves, held up to
our church, held up to our families, and May God help us as
we study tonight. There's three things that we're
going to explore through these movements in this chapter #1 the
crisis exposed. We'll see that in verses 1 to 5
and #2 the confrontation pursued from verse 6 on through to 13
and then from 14 through to the end, the restoration displayed.
And as we do, the question before us here is not like, do I
agree with Nehemiah and how he reacts in this?
But I want us to to ask this question as we study.
What does my life reveal about the work of grace in me?
So let's do that. This is 1 to 5, Nehemiah.
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives
against their Jewish brethren. There were those who said, we
our sons and our daughters, and many therefore let us get grain
that we may eat and live. There are also some who said we
have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses that we
might buy grain because of the famine.
There are also those verse four who said we have borrowed money
for the King's tax on our lands and vineyards.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our
children as their children, and indeed we are forcing our sons
and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have
been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem
them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.
So there's this crisis exposed in the verses that we've just
read before us. Verse 1 indicates and tells us
there is this great outcry that comes to Nehemiah's attention
from the men and their wives against others in the community
of what's happening in their midst.
And this word outcry, it's actually the same word that's
used of the Hebrews for when they were in slavery in the book
of Exodus and when they were under the, the slavery of of the
kings, the Pharaohs in Egypt. It says that this outcry comes
up before God. That's the same word that's used
here. So you can imagine this, this
intent. It's not like a a minor
complaint, but this is something that is desperate, something
that is a righteous anguish rising before God and and to
Nehemiah's ears, as it's brought to him now understand verse one,
it says that the outcry of the people was there and their wives
mention they pipe up. Now, culturally, the wives did
not speak up here, but in this chapter they do.
This is this is a pretty big deal for them to be to be
speaking and crying out. It's like, Harry, you better get
up off the couch because this is this is intense.
What is going on here? And we need some change.
This is desperate and this is wrong.
And and so these were godly women who saw something going
wrong and spoke out demanding justice as a consequence.
There's an interesting message in that, and that is that
sometimes we can freak out all the time and complain about
stuff. And it's a bit of that boy
crying wolf type scenario. But in this case, these women
didn't always arc up and complain about stuff.
But the fact that they're doing it here indicates no, this is
serious. And because they, they were
demonstrating that capacity. Now, when they do cry out, boy,
there's impact in those words. I think there's a message in
that for us here. And sometimes we can freak out
over things and but you know, sometimes you've got to freak
out. But it's how how well placed
that freaking out is something critical, something important,
something that's in need of attention.
In verse 2, it's that some had no land and they've got these
large families. And think of the, the, the mass
immigration that's come in from those that have come with
Nehemiah and his journey from Persia back to Israel.
And because of this large mass of bodies, now the
infrastructure's not there and this rebuilding of Jerusalem.
So they're starving. And on top of that, there's a
famine in the land and the war project.
They've dedicated their hands and their energy and their
effort to has left little time probably for them to farm and to
to build up what they need to, to supply and, and meet that
demand. Verse 3, As a consequence, some
had mortgaged their fields, their vineyards and their houses
just to buy grain during this crisis.
There's heavy taxation in verse 4.
You know, even though Nehemiah has come and the king of Persia
has provided all of this stuff free, there's nothing really
free when governments are involved, is there?
There will be heavy taxes afterwards as a consequence.
And there's heavy taxation now that's upon all throughout the
Persian Empire. And the people in Jerusalem are
not exempt from that. And so they're having to to foot
and pay for that bill and try and put food on the table.
And there's all this heightened intensity of that, the famine,
the taxation, the increased mouths to feed in the community.
And now it's like some are losing potentially everything to
the to the point in verse 5, the deepest wound we are forced that
says to sell our sons and daughters into slavery.
And some of our daughters have already been enslaved.
Can you imagine this, these people, I mean, picture yourself
standing in Jerusalem and, and you're working on on the wall of
Jerusalem and with all of your heart, with all of your mind.
And, and you hear your own sister, your own brother cry out
that a child has been sold into slavery because a fellow
believer, we use that terminology, has foreclosed on a
loan that had impossible interest for them, that they had
had no capacity and means to to try and repay.
The text doesn't say here that the rich were evil for being
rich, but it does condemn them for exploiting their brethren in
violation of God's clear commands.
You see, hardwired into the community of God were these laws
in place under the Mosaic law that that we know from the book
of Exodus, from the book of Deuteronomy and and so on that
it was never to be that when loaning to a fellow Israelite
that an Israelite was to charge interest and yet they were doing
so. It was never to be that a fellow
Israelite was to take another into slavery and yet they were
doing so. And then there was also a, a
thing called the year of Jubilee that after every 50 years, if
you'd mortgage land and property to ensure that it stayed in the,
in the, I guess the inheritance in the lineage of the lion, then
that land would be returned. That's in Leviticus 25.
And they weren't obeying them. They're aware of God's commands,
but they weren't honouring God's commands.
And their sin was not necessarily ignorance of God's
word, disregard for God's heart in this matter.
Here, the wealthy, it seems, ignored God's heart for the
poor, turning brotherhood into bondage.
And the people as a consequence weren't just financially ruined.
This flowed on in other aspects. There was a spiritual breakdown
in the community, a relational breakdown.
The crisis threatened the entire project that they were
committing their hands to. Because here's here's the deal.
You cannot build a wall of unity when your own people are tearing
each other apart. Not only would it impact the
work and the labour, but it points to the worship of God and
poses significant problems. You see, relational conflict in
this way doesn't just impact in one sphere, does it?
It flows on into others. Could you imagine these people
in this scenario? And we know it to be true in our
experience coming to gather on the Sabbath to worship God.
And just over there is the family who is in charge is is
charging exorbitant rates and has your daughter working in
their home as a slave. It's difficult to sing about
redemption in such circumstances while practising oppression,
isn't it? It's like today, put it into our
understanding. It's like coming to church and
there's a family that you owe money to driving your car,
wearing your clothes and your daughter is there living nanny
and you're to be in the row next to them or in front of them and
worship God in in the same community together.
This is what's going on here. This is a social crisis.
It's a gospel contradiction in their midst.
The people, ironically, who were redeemed from slavery were now
enslaving others. And the issue is not simple
poverty, though that's that's there, but it's whether grace
has actually taken root in their hearts as God's redeemed people
in how they treat others. And the crisis then reveals not
necessarily a lack of resources, but a lack of grace shaping
their relationships one to another.
So again, can you feel the pain of the people?
Are you sensing the crisis? You know, again, imagine a a
family working in our church, working hard on a ministry
project and they lose their home because a fellow believer
charges crushing interest on a loan or picture worse, parents
selling a child to survive. It's heartbreaking, you know, to
put it in those sort of modern terms for us to understand.
And, and in Nehemiah here, as we've read in these verses, the
the gospel message, if we want to put it into that language of
today, is being contradicted by how God's people are treating
one another. Here's what I want to say on
that. May it never be so in our midst
that we declare and espouse the gospel with our lips, but our
actions one to another contradict that.
So what might we do in light of this tonight?
I think Nehemiah here in these verses forces us to ask him to
consider where might the gospel being contradicted in my
behaviour? Do I?
If I'm to do a self diagnosis, do I?
Do I recognise where greed is evident in my life today?
What's my attitude towards finances to me?
Do I love money and use people, or do I love people and use
money to bless? How am I generally treating
others in Nehemiah? There's a crisis here.
It's to do with stewardship, it's to do with money, it's to
do with the treatment of others. So now that the crisis, the
outcry has come to Nehemiah's ears, the question is, all
right, Nehemiah, what are you going to do?
How are you going to handle this?
What we're going to do in this next section is read verse by
verse through it as there's this confrontation now that Nehemiah
has with the perpetrators, and there's righteous anger evident
in his response. So verse 6, and I became very
angry. It says Nehemiah, when I heard
their outcry and these words, tells us he gets angry.
He gets very angry. What does this mean in Hebrew?
He's ticked, he's upset. Does Nehemiah just have a short
fuse here or just a bad temper? Is that, is that the kind of
individual that Nehemiah is? I don't, I don't think so.
As we've read through the text, his anger here is very
justified, isn't it? Is that a Christian thing to do,
to get angry? Yes.
You know, there's something called justified anger, and some
other religions condone anger altogether.
Don't encourage it. You know, Buddhism, don't get
angry, grasshopper. But I think many times we as
Christians could benefit from getting in touch with our anger
in many respects. You know, one of the attributes
of God mentioned in the Bible is anger over 800 times mentioned
in connection with God. But here's what Exodus 34 tells
us about God and his anger, that he is slow to anger.
Now God gets angry, but he gets there slowly.
And you know this, that if God gets mad, then you've had to
really work hard on him to get him to that point, right?
Oh, yeah. But people say, but that's the
that's the God of the Old Testament.
But, you know, the New Testament's different.
Well, let me ask this. Does Jesus ever get angry?
Yeah, we do. Interestingly, when we read of
Jesus getting angry, one of the the big times that Jesus gets
angry is over a financial scam that's happening in the temple.
He got angry often at the Pharisees.
He got angry at the disciples. So what should our attitude to
anger be as we read of Nehemiah getting angry here in verse 6
and we see it in the Scriptures. Well, in the New Testament book
of Ephesians, here's what it tells us.
It says in your anger, do not sin.
And there's the connection. Many times we get angry and we
sin. What we'll read of Nehemiah is
that there's there's a little. Little valve that he puts in
place, a little preventer of that anger turning into sin.
And I think we would benefit from applying that in our lives
too. But it begs the question, what
are we to get angry at? And we can get angry at our our
sport teams losing. We can get angry over all sorts
of trivial things. And I'm guilty of that.
But we are to, when we read the scripture, we are to get angry
at what God gets angry at. And that is sin, that is
injustice and is unrighteousness.
And in fact, anger can be a very powerful motivator for change in
our lives and in communities. So the question then in that is
how do I direct my anger towards redemption?
Here in this text the women and others raise the issue and and
Nehemiah hears it the outcry and Nehemiah gets angry.
Does Nehemiah act straight away? No.
Verse 7 And here is the key. It says after serious thought.
After serious thought I rebuked the nobles and rulers and said
to them, each of you is exacting nursery from his brother.
So I called a great assembly against them.
So again, this is the key in our anger and it's in Nehemiah's
response. It says I pondered them in my
mind, literally. Some translations have it in
this way. My heart consulted within me.
I like the way that's worded. Serious thought.
The New English Bible says this. I mastered my feelings.
That's a good way to understand it.
In other words, what Nehemiah did not do is respond straight
away and that's what many times we do.
He took a breather. He took time to ask, is this
anger that I'm having that I'm feeling, is this righteous?
Yes, it is. This is what God gets angry
about. And so Nehemiah masters he's
emotions. He doesn't fire off an angry
email. He doesn't lash out in the
moment. It takes time to ensure.
It indicates to us in verse 7 that his anger is directed
towards sin, not a personal offence against him.
And so the gospel then does not make us passive towards sin, but
it does make us patient, prayerful and purposeful in how
we confront it. And this is how he acts.
He confronts and notice what he does.
He first privately goes to the nobles and officials and then
publicly calls the assembly. Notice his his actions at work
in this response. I think many of us would do well
to learn from Nehemiah's example here in Handling anger, verse 7.
You're charging interest on your own brethren.
Verse 8, we've done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who
were sold to the Gentiles and, and now you're selling them back
into slavery. And the irony cuts deep.
But you, you were once slaves and we were once slaves as a
community and, and now there's slavery in our midst.
And verse 9, what you're doing is not right.
Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach
of the Gentiles? In other words, what he says,
verse 9 is look at the message that we're sending to
unbelievers. He appeals to God's word in
their midst. You know what the Scriptures
say. He appeals to their witness that
they're giving out. And then the fear of the Lord.
Verse 10 I also with my brethren and my servants, and lending
them money and grain. Please let us stop this ursery.
Now Nehemiah here says I and my brothers, my servants, are also
lending the people money and grain.
Some people see this as a confession on Nehemiah's part
that he was guilty of the same. Other commentators see this as
Nehemiah saying we lend but without interest.
So follow my example, but I think either way that that verse
is interpreted. What Nehemiah does model for us
is integrity. In his response we see his
generosity displayed later. And so verse 11, he says, now
restore to them even this day immediately their lands, their
vineyards, their olive Groves, their houses also 100th of the
money and the grain, the new wine and the oil that you have
charged them, and give back that which you've generated by
interest. Verse 12 So they said, we will
restore it and we'll require nothing from them, and we will
do as you say. And then I called the priest and
required an oath from them that they would do according to this
promise. Notice in verse 12 again that
the the nobles confess we're guilty.
Nehemiah will give it back. We'll do as as you've charged
and what you've commanded, what you've instructed will will not
demand anything more from them. And they swear an oath before
the priest. I think this to be one of the
the quiet miracles of the Old Testament.
Let me explain here in their response.
Notice there's no excuses of a Nehemiah.
But you know, we're all the other nations and all the other
people in the Persian Empire. There's none of that.
There's no delays. Yeah, you're right, Nehemiah and
we'll do it. And Nehemiah doesn't have to
have to check up on them a month later, two months later.
We don't read that immediately. They respond, no counter
arguments. Well, right, you I'm, I'm
sending my lawyer around and we'll we'll nut this out in
court. There's none of that.
And I think now what we're seeing is that when Grace is at
work as as it seems in this in this case now here repentance is
not negotiated. Nehemiah, yes, we're wrong will
do what you say. And they embrace the challenge
that's been issued by Nehemiah and the repentance now on their
part. And so verse 13, Nehemiah does
this. I shook out the fold of my
garment and said, so May God shake out each man from his
house, from his property who does not perform this promise.
Even thus, may he be shaken out and empty.
This is a prophetic act here of Nehemiah and the people respond
Amen. So let it be, let it be done is
the language and they praise the Lord.
Oh, we worship you God. Thank you for this opportunity
to repent. That's an amazing point.
And then the people did according to this promise.
Do you feel that the power here in these verses of the gospel at
work in repentance taking place in a community of God's people.
What started out in verse 1 is a great outcry in their midst ends
in a great Amen and praise and worship unto God.
What a turn around. You know, the the people at the
beginning of of this chapter so far who were expressing in
anguish this cry are now able to express worship under God over
what's happened in their midst. Righteous anger took place, yes,
but when channelled through prayerful reflection and
biblical confrontation that Nehemiah displays, it leads to
confession. It leads to repentance and to
restoration. And isn't this the gospel
pattern? Sin is exposed, heart is
convicted, and grace is received.
Here's what I want you to understand.
Repentance in our lives is one of the clearest evidences that
the gospel is at work in our hearts.
And here's the the turning point of this chapter because again,
I'll say it, the clearest evidence of the gospel at work
is not what we say we believe, but how we respond often when
our sin is exposed and everything that follows
thereafter will reveal if grace has truly taken root in our
hearts. And you know what happens when,
when the gospel and when God's grace is at work in our lives,
people stop defending themselves, stop throwing out
excuses. And here's what they do.
They start obeying God. So practically, let's consider
this example. How to deal with sin.
For we're all sinners. We're all fallen short.
The Holy Spirit convicts us. What are we to do with this
conviction? Deny it?
That wasn't me. Blame someone else.
No, no, no. The woman you gave me, do we
excuse ourselves? Oh, it's just my genetics.
You know, I'm, I'm Italian and we Italians, you know what our
tempers are like. And oh, it's just the Irish and
me and no, I just call a spade a spade.
And you know, do we, do we throw out those sorts of things or do
we confess? That's to be our response.
To confess means to agree with God. 1 John chapter one, verse 9
indicates that clearly. Now God, you said it's wrong.
I agree with you, it's wrong. Forgive me, wash me and cleanse
me. You know what God has promised
in that verse that he will cleanse and forgive of all
unrighteousness. Now is that it?
Is that all done, finished? No, some of us think so.
That's that's the case. But to repent is to go and sin
no more to stop doing it, you know, and these people here
could have gone, Yeah, you're right, Nehemiah.
And then we'll give back. And then a week later, same
thing pop up. No, they they stopped doing it
all together. And grace, it does not remove
accountability. It empowers obedience.
And what they displayed was restitution.
And that's where I think many times we in our application of
repentance fall short in in modern understanding of
repentance. We don't go into that
restitution mode. You know, you borrow a mate's
car and crash it. You know, I'm free in Christ.
He's forgiven me my sins. Good luck to you.
No, we, we're to work to pay for that damage, right?
To make some recompense. Or here's here's a pretty
relevant example. You lie about someone and you
confess and you repent. You know I was wrong.
I'm sorry I lied. You know, now the next step is
to make restitution. You go and see everyone that you
told that lie to and you say I'm a liar.
What I said is not true. Forgive me.
I've I've asked for forgiveness from who I said these lies
about. And we don't, we don't often go
that next step, do we? That's what these people
displayed of the gospel at work in their lives.
So Nehemiah 5 here shows us how the gospel actually works in
real life. They were challenged, they
confess, they agree. Nehemiah, you're right.
God, we're sorry. Forgive us.
They repented, Amen. And then they said about
restitution in the community, for it was the right and godly
thing to do. And then thirdly and lastly,
what we'll read off from verse 14 through to the end of the
chapter is this radical generosity that Nehemiah
displays as he sets the example as a leader in their midst of
what grace flowing out of someone truly looks like.
And again, we'll read as we go along, it shows his restoration
at work in the community. And Nehemiah shifts to his own
example as governor for some 12 years that he displayed this and
and once again, I want us to see that the clearest evidence of
the gospel at work is is not what Nehemiah claims to believe,
but how he lives before God and others as we're about to read
verse 14. Moreover, from the time that I
was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah,
from the 20th year until the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, 12
years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions.
I never demanded the allotted food that I was entitled to as a
governor. All the governors before him
had. All the governors in the
surrounding areas did, but not Nehemiah.
For those 12 years. It was different.
Verse 15. But the former governors who
were before me laid burdens on the people.
You know, he, he, he here, he knows, you know, this is an
entitlement. This is a right of mine.
But man, they've been taken advantage of in the past, and
I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to place that
burden on them here at this time.
And the others, verse 15, took from them bread and wine,
besides 40 shekhers of silver, yes, even their servants bore
rule over the people. But I did not do so.
Why? Because of the fear of God.
Nehemiah refused because of the fear of God.
Nehemiah's generosity here doesn't earn God's favour.
That's not what it's about. What Nehemiah's generosity here
is evidence of is this, that it flows from a life lived before
God's face. Nehemiah knew who God was, the
character, the attributes of God, and having experienced and
understood who God is, he's thinking, how can I do this to
the people of God? I'm going to be a blessing to
them, and I'll not take what is an entitlement of mine in this
time. And so verse 16, indeed, I also
continued the work on this wall and we did not buy any land.
What many of the governors at the time were doing was, you
know, they've got the the inside knowledge of when heavy taxation
is coming and of what's happening in the land.
And they would buy out property on the cheap knowing that it
would rise and they'd become very wealthy as a consequence.
That wasn't what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah, he has now.
I refuse to buy any of the prime real estate and the property and
all of the things that was typical behaviour of the
governors. That's not what I'm about.
I did not do so, and all my servants were gathered there for
the work. No, we were committed to the
task of what we were called there to do.
He worked alongside the people. He didn't stand off aloof, and
you guys need to be busy about the work.
He, he rolled the thieves up and got down and dirty in the work
that the others were contributing to.
Look at verse 17 and 18, And at my table were 150 Jews and
rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around
us. So he's fed upwards of 150
people at his table daily. And you talk about meal
preparation. Now there's eighteen.
That which was prepared daily was 1 ox, six choice sheep.
Also fowl were prepared for me once every 10 days, in abundance
of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this demand, you
know, the Partridge in a pear tree and all of that, In spite
of this, I did not demand the governor's provisions because
the bondage was heavy on this people.
Do you think Nehemiah is eating into his savings?
A bit? Probably.
Now it's interesting, in contrast, where the nobles of
the community measured how much they could take from others.
What did Nehemiah measure? He took note of how much he
could give and that would be a radical way to think about our
our budget. So I don't know if you're the
budgeting type. You know, often I'll look at our
budget and what, you know, as a household we're we're spending
in the month and so on. And it seems that Nehemiah in
his budgeting is going, I can afford to give this much this
month. And then verse 19, Remember Me
my God for good according to all that I've done for this people.
Again, Nehemiah, he could have profited from his position.
It was his right, it was his entitlement.
Instead we read of him pouring himself out and in this way
modelling the generosity that God provides.
The nobles, they they hoarded and they exploited.
Nehemiah wasn't about that. He gave and he served.
And don't you think this is what happened as a consequence, that
this generosity restored trust, healed division, and kept the
wall moving forward in the work at hand?
In our world of self interest where everybody's out to get
their own, don't you think that such gospel living will be very
powerful in lives? So what to do with this?
When the gospel takes root, generosity becomes normal.
Maybe this week, live it out. Certainly you can.
You can tithe faithfully. You can give to someone in need.
You can serve someone without expecting payback.
Maybe as families, you can discuss what what stewardship
looks like. You know, teaching your children
of what that means that God has given us and we use what he has
blessed us with to be a blessing on out to others.
If you're in a leadership capacity or position, Am I
burdening people or am I blessing them?
All of these are questions that we can ask to be very practical
about what we see with Nehemiah here because here's what happens
when we model what Nehemiah's generosity displays.
You and I, we reflect the ultimate giver, God, our
heavenly Father. And so exemplary lives then in
Nehemiah that we look at here are not heroic exceptions.
They are the fruit of hearts shaped by grace.
All right, so let's finish this. Nehemiah chapter 5 takes us on a
journey. It begins with this great
outcry, the anguished cries of God's people oppressed, crushed
by the sins of their brothers, and it moves through this
righteous confrontation. Is Nehemiah angry?
He, he speaks truth clearly to them and courageously and
without compromise. And it ends with this great
Amen, repentance, restitution, praise, and then and then grace
being displayed as we read of Nehemiah and what he does and in
this chapter is this sobering truth and reality.
There is again a direct connection between the
credibility of our witness and the way that we treat one
another, the way that we respond in repentance, and the way that
generosity and the way that grace flows out of our lives.
You know you and I, we cannot build the work of God while
living in ways that contradict the grace of God.
You and I, we cannot proclaim the freedom in Christ that we
have whilst enslaving one another through greed or power
or self interest. We must be the church before we
can build the church. And ultimately, again, Nehemiah
chapter 5 points us beyond Nehemiah himself to Jesus
Christ. Nehemiah, yes, used his power to
serve. Jesus laid aside, or power to
save. Nehemiah refused profit at the
expense of others. Jesus, the Bible tells us,
became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich.
Nehemiah absorbed personal cost for the good of the people, and
Jesus bore the full cost for our sin on the cross to set us free.
And so may it be true that the gospel is at work in our lives,
that we're not merely forgiven people, but that we're
transformed people reflecting Jesus Christ not only in what we
say, but in what we do Amen. Let's pray.
Lord God, we thank you for this chapter tonight and help us as
we reflect on these verses to consider ways where we might be
taking advantage of others, whether financially, whether
emotionally, whether relationally, to consider how
our sin might be costing them to seek forgiveness.
If that's the case, repentance to work at restitution.
May we be people that reflect your heart.
Lord God, may we know your word. May your word flow in and out
through us to be a blessing unto others.
Help us to not just read a chapter like this and and see
ourselves in the victims, but in Nehemiah in Nehemiah 5 Here what
we see is a an indication that sometimes we can be the
perpetrators and God. Maybe in this we we need to
understand that you expose sin not to necessarily shame us, but
to heal us. So heal us.
Forgive us if that's the case. Convict to bring correction, to
bring grace to flow through our lives.
Help us to make things right where we can, to receive again
the grace that not only forgives sin, but breaks its power in our
lives. And the gospel truly take root
in our hearts. And here in our midst is your
people, that what you have called us to build and to be
about may truly happen in our midst for Your glory and for our
good. Restore hearts.
Heal relationships. May your name, Lord God, be
honoured in our midst and out to the people that we interact
with. May it be like the people in
Nehemiah's day where it says that the people did as they had
promised. If our hearts have been stirred
tonight, may we be obedient to your word.
These things we pray and ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen.