Our Safety Net
Nehemiah 4: 1-15
Intro: How many of you watched this week as Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a balloon that was 24 ¼ miles up. This guy goes up and parachutes almost from outer space. While this is nowhere close to the edge of our atmosphere, (320 miles) it’s a looooooong way up. The video shows this guy jumping and for a while he went into an uncontrollable spin. Can you imagine the thoughts that were going through his mind when he started to spin uncontrollably? I don’t know much about parachuting but my guess is that you can’t deploy your chute when you are in a spin like that. I know if I were in his shoes, I would have wished for some kind of safety net at the bottom. Maybe a huge net that stretches for miles and miles so that if anything went wrong or I made a mistake, the safety net would be there to catch me. The net would provide security and inspiration knowing that if things don’t go as I had planned something was there for me to depend on. A safety net.
. Back in the 1930’s they built the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. The bridge was to be built in two phases. During the first phase 23 workers fell and were killed in the waters below the bridge. After the first phase or half was completed they looked and said we need to make some changes. We have had 23 people die by falling off the bridge. We need to do something about people’s safety. You know what they did? They built the largest net ever made and anywhere men were working, the net was stretched out under them to catch them if they fell. During the second phase, ten men fell while working but the net caught them and saved their lives. One of the things that made me realize how important a safety net is was that they finished the work in ¾ of the time that it took to build the first phase. When asked how they accomplished this they said that the men could work faster because they had no fear. They had a safety net under them that assured them that no matter what happened, there was something there to catch them if they made a mistake and fell.
. Now what has all of that got to do with our scripture this morning in Nehemiah.
. If you remember back a couple of weeks we see that Nehemiah has rallied the troops as they say.
. He has organized all the people that live in Jerusalem and some that live outside the city into a cohesive unit with a goal.
. We see teamwork abounding. Everyone working for a common Goal.
. Guess what happens when you finally get things going the way you need them to go.
. Discouragement and Opposition from others start to appear.
. That’s what is happening in our story this morning.
. Discouragement and Opposition.
. What we see though is that the Jewish people who have committed to what God has called them to do find that they have a safety net that they can depend on in times of discouragement and opposition.
. Lets read our scripture: Nehemiah 4: 1- 15
. 1Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews,
2saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices?
Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”
3Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”
4Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land!
5Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.”
6At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.
7But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious.
8They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.
9But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.
10Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
11Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”
12The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!”
13So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.
14Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy!
Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”
15When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall.
. The first thing we see here is that the people who were opposed to the work God has laid upon the heart of Nehemiah and the people began to ridicule the workers . They were trying to discourage them.
. Look at verses 1-3 again:
. . 1Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews,
2saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices?
Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”
3Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”
. They were mocking and making fun of the workers.
. Trying to discourage them.
. Look at these feeble people, do they really think that this task can be done.
. Not only was he ridiculing them, he was ridiculing and mocking God.
. Do they think that just because they make sacrifices to their God that He will make them successful?
. It seems like when someone starts mocking and making fun of others, people love to pile on don’t they?
. When Sanballat got through, Tobiah the Ammonite started piling on.
. 3Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”
. This happens when churches start to seek God’s direction and start to build the kingdom of God for God.
. You hear people say, have you seen what’s going on at so and so church.
. What do those people at that little country church think they are doing?
. They have been there for 200 years and nothing has happened. Why do they think they can be successful now?
. What they don’t realize is that when you are following God and doing what He wants you to do, you have a safety net and you don’t let all this worry you.
. Look at verse 4 again:
. 4Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land!
. Nehemiah say’s, Then I prayed.
. God was their safety net.
. They didn’t let all the discouraging words and the mocking bother them
. Why, because they knew that God was with them.
. They could move forward boldly because God was with them and He would see them through all this mocking and discouragement.
. They had learned to depend on God.
. Folks, have you learned to depend on God when you are discouraged.
. I had someone one day look at me and say Anthony, don’t you ever get tired of doing good. Don’t you ever get discouraged?
. My answer was yes, sometimes I get discouraged but I never give up. I depend on God when I get discouraged and He carries me through.
. I may get tired from doing good but; I never get tired of doing good because that is what God has called me to do.
. Folks, when God calls a person into His service through salvation He will stand with us through thick and thin.
. He is our safety net in and through times of discouragement.
. God answered the prayer of Nehemiah. The mocking and ridicule didn’t stop the people from doing what God had called them to do.
. Look at verse 6 again:
. 6At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.
. They had success. They wall was half completed. Things were going well.
. Guess what happened then.
. They turned form mocking and ridicule to blatant Opposition to Gods plan.
. There was opposition from without and within.
. Look at verses 7&8
. 7But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious.
8They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.
. Old Sanballat and Tobiah found some others that wanted everything to stay the way it was. They didn’t want walls around Jerusalem.
. When the mocking and ridicule didn’t work. They turned to outright opposition.
. I find it interesting that the purpose stated in these verses wasn’t to destroy or kill the people.
. The purpose was to throw them into confusion.
. A little later on they wanted to kill some of them but not in this verse.
. The NIV says that they wanted to come and stir up trouble.
. They wanted to create confusion, stir up trouble.
. What they wanted to do folks was to cause them to forget what they had been called to do.
. They wanted to cause them to lose focus on the task that God given them.
. If people who are in opposition to God’s work can create confusion and keep things stirred up so much that God’s people get sidetracked and don’t do what God wants them to do, They have won.
. It seems that this always happens when God’s people start having success.
. They are attacked, things get stirred up as the NIV says and God’s plans get put on the back burner as they say.
. Look at the first part of verse 9 again.
. 9But we prayed to our God …
. When opposition started, look at what they did, they prayed to God.
. They turned to their safety net. There was no fear because God would be with them.
. Not only had the outsiders started to oppose what was going on, there was Opposition From Within.
. Look at verse 10 again.
. 10Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
. Opposition can come from anywhere folks.
. The people of Judah were starting to oppose the work.
. The people of Judah started whining and complaining that we are tired and the work is too hard and there is so much to do.
. They were ready to throw up their hands and quit.
. They didn’t want to do this anymore and because they didn’t want to do it, they wanted everybody else to quit too.
. Just because there is opposition from within sometimes folks, that still doesn’t give us permission to stop being about God’s work.
. Just because it gets hard is no reason to quit.
. Sometimes it may look like there is no hope or future in what you are doing. Always remember though that you have a safety net to catch you if people mock you or ridicule you and attack you.
. Your safety net is God.
. Look at verse 14
. 14Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy!
Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious,…
. Remember the Lord who is great and glorious.
. Remember that you have a safety net. Just like the workers at the Golden Gate Bridge, We should never fear, there is a safety net that we can depend upon.
. That safety net is God.
. Do you depend on God this morning?
. Can you truly say that He is your safety net?
. The only way that He can be your safety net is if you have accepted His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Defeating Discouragement, Brian Bill
