THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Year after year, Coach Joe Hendrickson pulled out his Bible and told his team about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They say football coaches in public high school are not supposed to do that, but Coach Hendrickson was going to share the gospel no matter what the cost.
This was over forty years ago, and my father was one of his players. He accepted Christ because Coach Hendrickson was willing to live out his faith consistently. He was a coach in a tiny south Alabama town, and he had no idea he would impact the kingdom simply by living a consistent faith. I never met Coach Hendrickson, but he had a personal impact on me. He shared Jesus with my dad, who in turn shared Jesus with me.
Coach Hendrickson “protected” his walk with Christ; he lived a consistent faith. Nehemiah had to hold those individuals building the wall in Jerusalem to the same truth: to honor God by living out a consistent faith. As Christians, we cannot separate who we are from what we do. We can protect our own walk with Christ as we live for Him every day.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Nehemiah 5:1-5
1 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
The people were rebuilding the wall, and Nehemiah’s plan was working. Everything appeared in order, but a serious problem threatened the work and the workers. In the previous session, we saw the Jews were facing a threat from outside opposition. But now we see a problem that surfaced from the inside.
The people faced a two-fold challenge: (1) many of the workers were pulled from their farms to help with the rebuilding; and (2) a famine had hit the region. Grain prices skyrocketed as agriculture came to a grinding halt. The workers were forced to mortgage their properties to pay the inflated grain prices and the king’s taxes on land.
The workers had begun the rebuilding effort on faith. They saw the need to do the work, and they left their businesses and farms to work on the wall for six weeks. (See 6:15.) The times were tough enough with the famine, but the high interest and debt they were experiencing at the hands of their fellow Jews made life extremely difficult. Some of them were even forced to sell their children into slavery. It was a devastating situation that brought a heart-rending cry: “It is not in our power.”
“A great outcry” arose among the people. They were not complaining about the threat from their enemies, but “against their Jewish brothers.” A few of the Jewish leaders had taken advantage of the people, and the leaders knew better. The law commanded not to take advantage of each other.
“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it” (Deut. 23:19-20).
Nehemiah 5:6-11
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”
Famine and high interest rates were crushing the financial stability of the people. Like retailers who price gouge during a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis, the leaders were “working” the system and benefiting greatly from the dire situation.
But Nehemiah would not let this remain the status quo, and he responded three ways.
1. Nehemiah responded emotionally with anger. More to the point he “was very angry.” Nehemiah experienced righteous indignation because of the injustice being done to God’s people.
2. Nehemiah responded thoughtfully. He gave the matter serious consideration. This response was one of the mind. Instead of hastily succumbing to his emotions, Nehemiah took time to think about a legitimate solution.
3. Nehemiah responded willfully. His emotions and thoughts became actions when he called the leaders into a meeting and accused them of taking advantage of the people. He reminded them they should fear God and counseled them to return all the property and goods back to the people immediately, which they agreed to do.
Nehemiah took responsibility to ensure he did what was right, and he expected the other leaders to do the same. In the same way, we are to “walk in the fear of our God,” an attitude that honors Him. Doing the right thing is more than just stopping the wrong we are doing in the present; it is also correcting past wrongs.
Ideally, we are to treat one another the way Christ has treated us.
Nehemiah 5:12-13
12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
As we’ve seen, the focus of the Book of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. But what good are beautiful walls surrounding a reconstructed city if the people inside the walls are destroying each other? They were sinning—and they needed to repent. Repentance involves more than just words; it involves action and change. The leaders repented so God changed hearts and returned the people to a lifestyle that gave Him honor. God works in our lives the same way when we repent.
- Repentance calls sin what it is: sin. We often attempt to relabel our sin as a blunder, error, mistake, or weakness, but we’re fooling ourselves. Repentance means we see what we’ve done as exactly what it is: sin.
- Repentance acknowledges what we’ve done against God. When we sin, it is against God, not just against society or another person. Sin—any sin—is taking control of our lives, control that belongs to the lordship of Christ.
- Repentance means change. Repentance is not self-pity. A person wallowing in self-pity is only sorry because of the consequences, like a stubborn mule being kicked and tugged. Repentance includes remorse over the sin itself and real grief over the sin because we have offended God.
- Repentance is a way of life. When we repent, we not only admit we did wrong, we also demonstrate an understanding of why we sinned. We are sinners prone to sin. We must consistently uncover our sin before God so that He can cover us with His forgiveness.
LIVE IT OUT
What you believe is seen in your actions. How will your actions reflect your walk with Christ?
- Reflect. Reflect on times you have been selfish. Think how your view of God will help you become more selfless.
- Repent. Confess and repent of any sin in your life. Be specific and ask God to help you develop a lifestyle of repentance.
- Restore. Identify someone you have used for your own advantage. Ask for forgiveness. Work to restore the relationship by doing something sacrificial for this person.
Faith is not meant to be part-time, but full-time, touching every area of life. We must give all we are to God, not just part. Let’s use every day as an opportunity to live out what we believe about God.
Hope to see you on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
Teacher's Notes:
Teacher's Notes:
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Video: American Sniper - “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4) Who will do as God commands and stand up for the weak? In the movie American Sniper, after a playground battle involving his two sons, dad teaches a life lesson. He says there are three kinds of people.
1. Wolves prey on the weak.
2. Sheep either endure or run from attacks.
3. But sheepdogs are “blessed with the gift of aggression” and have an “overpowering need to protect the flock.” Dad identifies his older son as a sheepdog because he defended his brother against a bully.
How do you feel when the weak are attacked and no one comes to their defense?
How does God feel about it?
Can the Christian be a wolf?
How can we protect the integrity of our walk and witness for Christ?
One of the important lessons from Nehemiah is that there are two parts to real service for God: talking with Him, and walking with Him.
I. We Protect Our Own
We protect things that are valuable to us. Many of those things are tangible items:
· Money, property, keepsakes, family members
As Christians, what are some intangibles we should protect?
· Relationship with each other
· Fellowship of the church
· Our reputation as believers in the community and our witness for Christ
External Threats: The latest threat from Sanballat, Tobiah, and other regional officials had been averted and a security plan put in place to fend off any secret attacks (4:1-21). With the exception of the nobles of the Tekoites (3:5), participation by the various families in rebuilding the wall and resetting the gates appeared to be widespread and representative of the various social strata of the population (chapter 3). In spite of differences, the people were bound together by the common goal of fortifying their city.
Internal Threats: Alas, things were not as good as they appeared on the surface. Internal dissent threatened the building project as much as the threat of attack by external forces. The dissent came because of tension between the poorer residents and the nobles, the wealthier members of the population. Upon hearing about these things, Nehemiah stepped up to find a solution that would protect the work and the unity of the people.
Nehemiah 5:1-5
Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
How would you summarize what was going on in these verses? Nobles were acting like wolves.
· After working to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, Nehemiah discovered that there was an internal problem. The rich were taking advantage of the poor. It angered him. It angered God. This practice had angered God for a long time. It was one of the reasons the wall had fallen so many years before.
· A scandalous crisis. The people told Nehemiah of a terrible financial crisis. The land was plagued by famine. They were probably shorthanded for the harvest, since so many men were working on the wall. Many of them had mortgaged their land to buy grain. They had borrowed money to pay the king’s taxes. The Babylonians had imposed taxes on land, and the Persians continued the practice. They had been forced to sell their children into slavery. This was an issue of integrity. The law had specific rules about lending money. They were allowed to charge interest to foreigners, but not to their own countrymen. They were not allowed to take necessities from poor people as security for loan (Deuteronomy 24:10-13). People could be sold into slavery for debts, but certain conditions were to be observed (Leviticus 25:39-43). These were not just sins against their countrymen, but against God.
· Some of our most painful attacks can come from people we expect to be kind and supportive.
· Rights and advantages, we enjoy are not to be used to bring hardship on others.
· Christians have a responsibility to act toward fellow believers in a way that builds them up, not tear them down. We are to consider other people more important than personal gain.
Point: Believers are to support and not take advantage of others.
Nehemiah 5:6-11
I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”
How does Nehemiah respond to the cries of injustice? Like a sheepdog!
· Stern caution. Nehemiah became angry when he heard what was happening. Anger is not always a bad thing. The Bible speaks of the wrath of God. Jesus became angry on occasion. Righteous anger is not self-centered. Anger can be dangerous. Righteous anger can become unrighteous (Eph. 4:26-27). Righteous anger should never lead to unrighteous actions. He warned them about the gravity of their actions. They were acting hypocritically. They had just been released from captivity, but now they were forcing their own people back into captivity. They were flagrantly violating God’s law. What happens when God’s people break His commands? We ruin our own testimony. Nehemiah was capable of being bluntly honest with his people when they were sinning.
What is our responsibility toward the injustices that we see? What does our treatment of others say about our faith and walk?
· We ought to be angered by the injustices against the weak, and innocent. We are in the right to take intentional, direct action to correct injustice. We have a responsibility to use our resources to care for others rather than only amass wealth for ourselves. As Christians, we protect our integrity, witness, and service when we treat others, especially our spiritual brothers and sisters, with godly concern.
Point: How I treat others reflects how I honor God.
Nehemiah 5:12-13
Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
How did the people respond to Nehemiah’s rebuke?
· Suitable consequences. The people agreed to Nehemiah’s instructions. They agreed to restore what they had taken. They would restore the land they had taken from their debtors. They would return the interest they had charged. Nehemiah shook the front of his garment. This symbolized what God would do to anyone who did not keep his promise. His house would be “shaken” and emptied. By saying “Amen”, the people were affirming their vows in the presence of witnesses. What should you do when you fail God? Remember that you have an Advocate (1 John 2:1). Confess your sins to God (1 John 1:9). Make restitution when necessary.
What’s the difference between repentance and an apology?
· Once we are confronted with our sin, the next step is repentance. Our promises to God are not to be taken lightly or ignored, but are to become the desires of our hearts, shape the way we live, and bring honor to God. We run the risk of God’s judgment when we disobey our promises to Him. The restoration of a broken fellowship should lead us to worship and praise of God.
Point: Repentance means turning to a lifestyle that fully honors God.
How can we protect the integrity of our walk and witness for Christ?
II. We Can Only Have One Silo – Our Life in Christ
Do you have silos in your life? Do you compartmentalize your Christian faith?
SILOS: Some people think it’s easy to be a Christian in our culture. I don’t. In fact, for the same reasons some people think being a Christian is “easy,” I find it hard. Explain.
In the typical American way of thinking, people would define me as: a husband, a father, a teacher,
a business man, a golfer, a Christian. And all that is true. But if I were living in a country hostile to Christianity, I would simply be labeled: a Christian. Period. Everything else would be colored by the fact I choose to follow Jesus. I could lose my wife, my rights as a father. I might be unemployed. All because of my allegiance to Jesus.
Do you see the difference?
In our American culture, being a believer is seen as just another category in my life. A silo. And what makes the Christian life hard is the fact that it is easy to let my relationship to Jesus be just another silo in my life—a part of my life that doesn’t necessarily affect the other silos in my life.
We are called to have one silo—our life in Christ—and everything else is to be poured into that single silo. Catch the singular nature of life as described by the Apostle Paul:
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory…. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:3-4,17).
Creating silos with our lives is nothing new. Many Jews returning to Jerusalem after exile did the same thing. Nehemiah was working with the people to restore the walls of Jerusalem; they were working to rebuild the city of God’s temple, the place where God’s glory was to be on display. Building the walls for God’s glory was great, but their treatment of each other was inconsistent with that. They were taking advantage of one another, and that never brings glory to God. They had created silos in their lives, separating their work for God from their treatment of each other. (Nehemiah 5 shows how Nehemiah led them to change their tune.)
As Christians, we should only allow one silo in our lives—that of a faithful follower of Jesus Christ—and let everything else be poured into that one silo. Everything in our lives—and I do mean everything—needs to reflect Jesus Christ and bring honor to Him.
· By not separating who we are from what we do. As Christians, we cannot separate who we are from what we do. SILOS
· Following Christ is not an on-again, off-again exercise. Our call to honor Christ is not limited to what we do when we are actively serving. We are to protect our walk with Christ and our witness for Him by living with integrity, having a singular desire to honor Him in all areas of life. To live any part of our lives apart from Him adversely affects our ministry. Conversely, a life fully devoted to Christ greatly strengthens our service to Him.
Conclusion: Years ago, there was a popular comic strip called “Calvin and Hobbes”. Calvin was a rambunctious six-year-old boy who constantly got into trouble. Hobbes was a stuffed tiger who came alive in Calvin’s imagination, and he was also Calvin’s sidekick. They often discussed philosophical and moral issues. One day they were walking along in a field, and Calvin asked Hobbes a question: “What do you think matters most – your actions, or what’s in your heart?” Hobbes replied, “I think your actions show what’s in your heart.” Calvin thought about that for a minute, then he looked at Hobbes and said, “I resent that!” Like it or not, your actions do show what’s in your heart. Vance Havner used to say, “What’s down in the well will come up in the bucket.” If your heart is truly devoted to God, then it will show in what you do. You cannot separate what you do from who you are. None of us are perfect, but we do need to be real. When you mess up, admit it. This world is watching you. As the old hymn says, “Your life’s a book before their eyes, they’re reading it through and through; say, does it point them to the skies? Do others see Jesus in you?”
Faith is not meant to be part-time, but full-time, touching every area of life. We must give all we are to God, not just part. Let’s use every day as an opportunity to live out what we believe about God.
A popular book on the market a while back was The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur. MacArthur argued against the kind of theology that taught it was possible to have Jesus as your Savior without obeying Him as Lord. He noted that one does not “make Jesus Lord”. Jesus already is Lord, and the question is whether or not we are going to obey Him. If we refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives, can we really call ourselves His followers?
