This book follows the story of Nehemiah. He led a group of exiles home to Jerusalem and rebuilt the city’s ruined walls. When we first meet him in Chapter 1, he is the King’s wine-taster. Like Esther and Daniel, he had reached a very high position in the Royal Court. He received the King’s permission to rebuild Jerusalem, and he was made Governor.
Chapters 3-7 makes very exciting reading! Nehemiah’s enemies started by mocking the wall-builders: ‘Can you make building stones out of heaps of burned rubble?’ ‘Even a fox could knock it down!’ But the mockery soon turned into threats, attacks, plots on Nehemiah’s life and false reports to the King. Nehemiah succeeded because of his faith in God… ‘But now, God makes me strong!’ In Chapters 8 -10, Ezra appears and reads the ‘Book of the Law’ (probably the Bible’s first five books) to the people. Shocked that they have disobeyed God’s law, they turn back to him. In the last chapters 11-13, Nehemiah leads a joyful procession around the newly completed walls of Jerusalem. Against all the odds, the Jewish people had returned home in style.
The Book of Nehemiah is about:
- One man and what he achieved for God.
- Teamwork and what can happen when people get united and excited in obeying God.
- Putting down foundations, keeping going even when it is hard work, and bringing the task to completion.
- Problems and difficulties (success did not come easily – at one point the work almost ground to a halt when the team lost its unity).
Nehemiah was a remarkable individual, living in a time when God was at work to restore and rebuild his people. Ring any bells? Nehemiah knew what it was that God had called him to do. He knew that he had to be faithful and obedient to God, and to do all that he could to understand what God wanted him to do. Nehemiah was in just the same position as you and me - and everyone else who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Your calling, your purpose in life, my calling, my purpose in life is to be faithful and obedient to God, and to the very best of our understanding, to do what he wants us to do.
God asked Nehemiah to give his time and energy, to use all his administrative and organisational skills, helping the people of Jerusalem to restore the ruined walls of that city. This work was more than just another building project; it was a public demonstration of the work of God… the rebuilt walls would be like a sign announcing the truth that God had not abandoned his people, that he still had a purpose for them and a future for them. We’re not aiming for that? Are we?
We read about how despite the opposition of neighbouring territories, the rebuilding programme had continued… stone by stone, brick by brick. Even when the opposition was so strong that it was thought that an attack was imminent…still the people had been organised so that some defended while others kept on working on the wall. Nothing had stopped the wall rebuilding programme. But now… something came to light, that threatened to make all their hard work useless and without any point or purpose. It wasn’t danger or opposition from outside… it was a threat from the inside. Or to put it another way…. One part of the people of God was complaining about the behaviour of another part of the people of God. There was deep DIVISION in this community. A division that had developed over time, but which had now reached crisis point.
Does that sound familiar at all?
Think of the issues of Women Bishops or Homosexuality.
Now in Nehemiah’s time the people of God weren’t arguing about the role of women, or human sexuality… but they were a divided community. What was going on that undermined the life and witness of the people of God? To answer the question we need to go back a few years, to the time when the people of Israel first moved into the Promised Land, God had gave instructions to see that the whole land and the wealth of the land was shared fairly between all the people of Israel. There was enough land for everyone’s needs, and it was shared equally. In Nehemiah’s time, life in the Promised Land was hard, food was in short supply. And it was not easy growing crops and raising livestock on farmland that had been spoiled by foreign invaders who had destroyed vineyards, olive groves and ploughed salt into the fields. But in this difficult situation there were some people who still had more than enough for themselves, and there were others who were starving. Now you might think this difference didn’t have to be a problem… I mean if the people of God are a community who care for one another, the very rich could help the very poor couldn’t they? Surely they would have known the OT command that said “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Well it seems that some rich people had been helping the poor… but only in a way that helped them. They had been lending them money at extortionate rates of interest that the poor people simply couldn’t afford to pay back.
Does that situation sound familiar?
Debt was a major problem in Nehemiah’s time, just as it is now. People were getting into debt in order to try to keep themselves and their families alive, not getting into debt just so they could watch the Olympics on a new flat screen TV!
When Nehemiah listened to the complaints of the people who were in debt he went straight to the rich nobles and officials and said… “You are oppressing your own relatives by charging them interest when they borrow money!” Nehemiah realised what the real problem was. The people of God had ignored the rules that God had already given to them to help them. In the records of what God said to his people through the prophet Moses… there was a very clear rule for the people of God. If you lend money to a fellow Hebrew in need, do not be like a money lender, charging interest. (Exodus 22-25). In the Old Testament books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, that rule is repeated five times. It was a rule that said if another member of the people of God is in need, you are not supposed to make a profit out of them you are supposed to HELP them!!
There was an outcry and division in the life of the people of God simply because they had taken no notice of God’s commands to them, whether because they forgot them, or ignored them, either way they were not living in the way that God had told them to. That’s why things had gone wrong.
What was Nehemiah’s answer?
He called a public meeting. He told the people that all loans were going to stop right away, even the ones that were OK, where no interest had been charged. He said that all the debts must be cancelled and all the property that had been mortgaged must be restored to the rightful owners and all interest received must be paid back.
What is truly amazing? They agreed to do it!!
I don’t think that’s because Nehemiah was a powerful and domineering figure who bullied people into doing what he wanted. This was a man who had learned to be humble, who had served as a waiter to the King for years. He was willing to be a servant and that he led by example… he didn’t even claim for himself the payments that were his due from the people, so that he didn’t add to their burdens. I don’t think the people did what Nehemiah said just because he was an exceptionally gifted leader, which he certainly was. It seems as if what is going on here is that in this community, struggling to rebuild itself, the people are willing to learn what it is that God wants them to do, and they are willing to be obedient… not obedient to Nehemiah, but obedient to God. A willingness to be obedient to God… that is what is important if divisions are to be healed. The division that there is today in the Anglican Communion can never be healed until we are all willing to be obedient to all that we can understand of God’s word to us in the Bible.
So what has the story of Nehemiah got to do with us, here in St. Michael’s in the parish of Yorktown, Camberley?
Nehemiah’s story is true. It really happened. Jerusalem was in ruins. St. Michael’s Church is not in ruins – not yet anyway – it does need restoration work both inside and out, as do we the people inside and outside. It needed someone with a vision and real concern to get it re-built and Nehemiah set to work and got it done. We need a church full of people with God’s vision for the future on how this wonderful building can be made better and serve not just those who are here today but those yet to come. Yes, and when we get discouraged this story can help us to get a different perspective on things.
Nehemiah set about building a city and a community. This is what we are aiming to do. Yes – one person agreeing with me would be good. In the New Testament this building work becomes a picture of personal and church growth. The Letter from Jude encourages the people to ‘keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith’ (verse 20) and the Letter to the Ephesians tells them to ‘build up the Body of Christ’ (4:12). The important building work for today is in personal spiritual growth, having a building fit for the purpose so that numerical growth can begin, and growth in fellowship.
This story is about the right time – I believe it is the right time for St. Michael’s– it’s about conviction, responsibility – we all have a duty to share the good news with those outside which means change, it means engaging, commitment – Nehemiah’s workforce were not constructors – they were ordinary people who were committed to the rebuilding – How committed are you to the renewal project, unity – we can agree to disagree sometimes, watchfulness – being ever ready, praying regularly, fervently – you may think that you are not able to do very much – wrong – this project is going to need all the prayers warriors we can muster – it’s going to need 24/7 prayer, and battling on even when it looks like a lost cause.
It points out the pit falls of the enemy within and the enemy outside (the devil will do his best to put a wedge in, create division, place doubts about the decisions being made, about the people overseeing it). Brothers and Sisters please if you have a concern, doubt, a question, please come along on the 3rd October, if you can’t then let someone know, if you need a lift, ask someone – if you get no joy – ask another and keep asking till you do or put it in writing and give it to a Church Warden or Simon. If you can’t make it at all and there are enough Simon will come along on a Saturday morning – architects may not be there – he is willing to get everyone opinion.
Your voice matters.
Above all it means change and we all know we love change. Change requires transition. Transition is not the same as change. Change refers to the external factors – new building, men in yellow hats, dust, re-structuring and things being difference. Transition is about the inner emotional, psychological and spiritual adjustments we as a community must make if are to live well and even flourish in what will changed around us. If change is about what is beginning, transition is about the journey we must take to achieve that – from the past, through the present and into the future. This will need time and space and it may seem as if we moving at snails pace. But it is transition that enables change to be effective. Our relationship with our past enables us to embrace the future and this needs time and cannot be hurried. Because change without transition is coercion. It is imposed. Unless time is given for transition, change, however worthy and Godly, will always be resented at some level. To make the journey into the new, we must honour our past.
The Nehemiah story can offer us help in these things. The lessons Nehemiah learned can give us pointers as we think about how we can build this church, how we can grow as Christian people, how the numbers in our church can grow, and how the fellowship that we experience with others can deepen.
Questions
1. Nehemiah prayed fervently each step of the way – what different aspects of prayer can you find examples of in the passage (1:2-11)?
2. How can we bring these different aspects of prayer into out own prayer life: either: - in our private prayers? – our family prayers and in our church prayers?
3. How do you react when trouble and strive come your way?
4. What role do you feel God is calling you to in the life of St. Michael’s and the community outside?
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