ah
Selflessness
Nehemiah 5
August 31, 2003
Intro:
A. [Excuses: Any Will Do?, Citation: Zig Ziglar, Something Else to Smile About (Thomas Nelson, 1999); submitted by Bonne Steffen, Wheaton, Illinois]
Zig Ziglar writes:
My brother, the late Judge Ziglar, loved to tell the story of the fellow who went next door to borrow his neighbor’s lawnmower. The neighbor explained that he could not let him use the mower because all the flights had been canceled from New York to Los Angeles.
The borrower asked him what canceled flights from New York to Los Angeles had to do with borrowing his lawnmower. "It doesn’t have anything to do with it, but if I don’t want to let you use my lawnmower, one excuse is as good as another."
B. I think that most Christians hear a story like that it is easy to smile.
1. Perhaps it is easy to smile because we think that we are not selfish and don’t have a problem with that.
2. Let’s see what we can learn about selfLESSness from the fifth chapter of Nehemiah.
I. Rightful resentment
Nehemiah 5:1-11 (NIV), Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. 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 tax on our fields and vineyards. 5 Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons 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 exacting usury from your own countrymen!" So I called together a large meeting to deal with them 8 and said: "As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, 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 reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! 11 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them--the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil."
A. Now this is an interesting story…
1. To understand what’s going on, we really have to pay attention to the first verse.
2. Some of the people were raising a great outcry against their own people.
3. They raised a great outcry against their own brothers; their own extended family.
4. Before Nehemiah had even arrived in Jerusalem there was an economic recession.
a. It was still gong on and the people were having a very difficult time making ends meet.
b. They were resorting to the last resort to stay financially solvent.
c. They had to borrow money and the interest was eating up what little money they had.
d. So they were selling some of their family members into slavery.
e. It was an awful situation, especially when we focus on verse one.
f. This wasn’t King Artaxerxes’ people that they owed money to; this was their own people; these were Jews that were exacting this usury or interest on them that caused them to sell family members into slavery.
g. Men were selling their daughters to their own relatives in order to stay financially solvent.
h. It wasn’t to a foreign government that they were selling to; it was their own relatives.
B. Notice what those who were crying out said…
1. “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
2. “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
3. “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons 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.”
C. Nehemiah said, “When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.”
1. You see it would be one thing if the King were doing this to them, but he wasn’t.
2. The King was exacting property taxes on them, but when the people couldn’t pay, they turned to a few who had the money and borrowed it from them.
3. Those few were charging such interest that the people could not pay it back and were forced to sell their children into slavery in order to stay afloat.
4. And so Nehemiah was angry.
D. There is such a thing as rightful anger.
1. John 2:14-15 (NIV), In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables.
2. Can you imagine Jesus seeing all of this going on in the temple and just sitting down and making a whip?
3. There is such a thing as rightful anger.
4. Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV), "In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
5. It is possible to be angry and not sin.
6. It is possible to be rightfully angry.
7. It is rightful to be angry at the oppression of the weak.
8. It is rightful to be angry when God’s people are willfully rebelling.
E. I spoke last week of the importance of encouragement…
1. I said we need to have far more encouragement coming out of our mouths than rebuking.
2. But I also said there is a time and a place for a rebuke.
3. The time and place is when it is the Spirit of God leading you to do it.
4. The time and place is when and where the Spirit of God leads you to do it.
5. The time and place is when you have spent time with the Holy Spirit praying about it ahead of time.
6. The time and place is when you have gotten the log out of your own eye before you’ve attempted to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
7. The time and place is when you’ve cried tears of sorrow over your own sin.
8. The time and place is when you have cried tears of sorrow for God’s reputation in the situation.
9. The time and place is when the Holy Spirit has let you see the situation from His perspective and you understand how His heart has broken over the situation.
10. And those occasions will be far fewer than the times that we should be encouraging.
11. Our nature should be to encourage, but we should be willing to rebuke when the Spirit leads.
F. If it is our nature to rebuke and we have to work at encouragement, then there is something wrong.
1. If our natural tendency is to look for the negative and being critical, then there is something wrong.
2. If our natural tendency is judging others and fining their faults, then there is something wrong.
3. The part that is wrong is that there is too much self in us and not enough Holy Spirit!
4. When we think it is our job to put everyone in their place and set the church in order, there is something wrong—no matter how much Scripture you use to justify what you are doing!
5. There is rightful resentment, but it is not something that should be our natural tendency.
6. Rightful anger is born of selflessness, not selfishness.
7. Nehemiah had absolutely nothing to gain for himself in rebuking the nobles and elders and it could have divided the people and ruined the work that God had called him to do, but the Spirit of God was leading this man and not his self.
II. Rightful repentance
Nehemiah 5:12-13 (NIV), "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 shook out the folds of my robe and said, "In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!" At this the whole assembly said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
A. The elders and nobles rightfully repented…
1. They said, “We will give it back.”
2. “And we will not demand any more interest from them. We will do as you say.”
3. And they took an oath and made a promise to keep their word.
4. Nehemiah shook out the lap of his robe to demonstrate what God would do with those who didn’t keep their word.
5. But those nobles and elders gave up their interest and their slaves and their self and honestly and sincerely repented.
B. I probably don’t have to say that repentance like that requires selflessness…
1. It takes a lot of selflessness to admit when we are wrong.
2. It takes a lot of selflessness to promise and take an oath to stop doing wrong.
3. It takes a lot of selflessness to genuinely and honestly repent.
C. Selflessness requires not getting defensive when someone rebukes us or points out a mistake…
1. Our nature is to get defensive and to lash back when someone points out a flaw.
2. That is what is wrong with many marriages today.
3. That is what is wrong with many other relationships today.
4. Most people cannot stand the thought they are not a good person.
5. Most people can’t stand the thought they have done something wrong.
6. Most people believe that it is always someone else’s fault.
7. Selflessness requires that we don’t get defensive about it.
8. I don’t know that you are going to be like the old Aqua Velva commercials…
a. Wasn’t it the old Aqua Velva commercials that advertised the cold slap in the face of Aqua Velva?
b. Wasn’t it Aqua Velva that said it would wake you up like a cold slap in the face?
c. In those commercials someone would walk up to another man and slap them on both sides of the face and the camera would zoom in on their face as you can tell the Aqua Velva was sinking into their face and was beginning to make its effect.
d. Then the person who was slapped would say, “Thanks, I needed that!”
e. I don’t know that your always going to respond like that when someone rebukes you and figuratively slaps you in the face.
9. It may sting a little, but a selfless person won’t respond right away in self-defensive anger.
10. A selfless person will go home and pray about it and ask the Holy Spirit if the accusation is true.
11. A selfless person will not go home and pick out all of the faults with the person and convince themselves that the person is so bad that there is no way that God could be using them to speak to you.
12. God spoke to a man in the Old Testament named Balaam through a jackass and God can speak to you through a jackass too!
13. A selfless person who is lead by the Spirit of God will be willing to admit their sin and rightfully repent.
III. Rightful relief
Nehemiah 5:14-19 (NIV), Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in 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 God I 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 poultry were 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, O my God, for all I have done for these people.
A. Now we see a little more of the character of Nehemiah…
1. It has now been twelve years since Nehemiah came to Jerusalem.
2. All the way up to this point Nehemiah has said nothing about this.
3. Back in chapters one and two I told you all about how God did immeasurably more than we could have thought or imagined with Nehemiah…
a. I told you that by law, Nehemiah could have been killed for showing emotion in the king’s presence, but he lived.
b. I told you that he had to ask for a leave of absence from his foreign king and he got it.
c. He asked for official papers from the king for safe passage through other countries on his way to Jerusalem and he got it.
d. The king also gave him timber from his own forest to use in Jerusalem and he sent his cavalry with him to protect him.
e. God did more than Nehemiah could have asked or imagined.
f. But now Nehemiah lets out that God did something else through the king that he didn’t mention in chapter 2.
g. Nehemiah now says that sometime during that same year (possibly that same day), Artaxerxes appointed Nehemiah the governor of Jerusalem.
h. Nehemiah hasn’t mentioned it until now, but he’s not only leading the rebuilding of the wall, but he’s actually been the governor of the city for these twelve years.
B. But now Nehemiah lets us in on how he acted as a governor…
1. First in verse fourteen, Nehemiah says that he didn’t eat all of the food that was allotted to him as governor.
2. Can you imagine that? A government official NOT spending all of the money that was allotted to them!
3. Then in verse fifteen he says that the previous governors had eaten all of the food allotted to them and taxed the people an extra forty shekels of silver and food and wine.
4. Nehemiah also says that the previous governors’ assistants were pretty bossy and pushy.
5. Then he said, “But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. 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.”
6. Also even though he didn’t eat all of the food allotted to him, he did use some of it to feed other people: 150 people sat at his table daily.
7. If the people didn’t have food, they came to his table and ate.
8. And even though he did all of this for the people, he never demanded the food allotted to the governor.
C. Selflessness doesn’t demand what it rightfully deserves; it rightfully serves without demanding compensation.
1. When the Spirit of God is in your life and you are serving people, you will not act like that.
2. Out of reverence for God, you will not act like that.
3. When you serve, you serve and you go home.
4. You don’t get bent out of shape when nobody notices what you do.
5. Like Nehemiah you look to God for your reward.
6. What are you doing for people that you can honestly ask God to remember you with favor for?
7. Are you wholeheartedly serving people in such a way that you can honestly and selflessly stand before God and say, “Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.”?
8. Or are you looking for the pats on the back and the “atta-boys” from people?
9. Do you just take your toys and go home when people don’t appreciate what you’ve done for them?
10. Instead of demanding what he deserved, Nehemiah did what he could to relieve the distress of others.
11. Selflessness doesn’t demand what it rightfully deserves; it rightfully serves without demanding compensation.
Conclusion:
A. [The Giver’s Big Hands]
A young boy went to the local store with his mother. The shop owner, a kindly man, passed him a large jar of suckers and invited him to help himself to a handful. Uncharacteristically, the boy held back. So the shop owner pulled out a handful for him.
When outside, the boy’s mother asked why he had suddenly been so shy and wouldn’t take a handful of suckers when offered.
The boy replied, "Because his hand is much bigger than mine!"
B. Do you see that this is the secret to getting what you want and need?!
1. The secret is not in learning how to manipulate people.
2. The secret is not in demanding your rights.
3. The secret is not in defending and protecting yourself.
4. It is not even in setting your self up as the self-appointed marshal to ensure that everyone lives by God’s standards (according to your interpretation of them).
4. The secret to getting want you want and need is giving up your SELF!
5. Luke 9:23-24 (NIV), Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
6. This really is the secret to life!
7. The secret to life is denying self and following Christ!
8. The secret to life is to let go of the life that you have and embrace new life in Christ!
9. And when you have denied self and embraced Christ you will find life that you never dreamed of!
10. But in order to embrace Christ, we must let go of what is in our hands—what we think we want and what we think we need.
11. It is only with an empty hand that you can take what Christ’s BIG hand offers you!
