Introduction:
A. Let’s start with this cartoon.
1. This mother stands at the door of her son’s room, and the room is a mess – toys and clothes are scattered everywhere.
a. Have any of you mothers and dads come upon a scene like this?
b. It’s an everyday experience for you, isn’t it?
c. You clean up the kitchen and put the toys and clothes away every night, but then the next day happens, and you have to do it all over again.
2. What I like best about the cartoon is the little boy’s explanation: “I blame entropy.”
a. Kids, you might want to keep that excuse in your catalog of excuses.
3. Albert Einstein called the Second Law of Thermodynamics “the most basic law of science.”
a. Closely related to the Second Law of Thermodynamics is the fact that everything in our universe, when left to itself, tends toward more and more disorder.
b. This is called “The law of entropy.
c. We might call it “The Law of Disorder.”
4. The fact that everything tends toward disorder in our universe is a phenomenon experienced by every person every day of his or her life.
a. Most everything in our world and life goes from a state of order to disorder.
b. Like this cartoon, for the parent, the Law of Disorder is seen practically every day as they walk into a toy room after the kids are through playing.
c. What about the car owner? What happens to the car over time? It starts out as a beautiful perfectly working machine. Does it stay that way?
d. What about the computer owner? It starts out as a speedy machine, lightning fast, with no troubles, but it doesn’t stay that way for very long.
e. One more example is the garden…you get the garden in perfect shape, nicely plowed, de-weeded, and planted, but then what happens?
f. We won’t even get into the disorder of home ownership, or your desk at work, or the top of your dresser in the bedroom!
B. But what is true of disorder in the physical world, is true of disorder in the spiritual world.
1. The church began and was set up just as God wanted it, but then what happened over time?
a. Falsehood and human innovation infiltrated the church.
b. That’s why reformation and restoration are necessary ongoing activities.
2. What about the Wetzel Road congregation?
a. We can get all our ministries and get our membership relationships in good order, but before long chaos and disorder set in.
3. And what about our individual spiritual lives?
a. We can get our spiritual attitudes, priorities and habits all headed in the right direction, but then before long our spiritual lives are off course.
4. Rather than blame it on the law of entropy, we need to blame it on the work of Satan and sin.
5. That’s why church leaders must give constant attention to the church, and why each of us must give constant attention to ourselves.
C. Today we are completing our sermon series from Ezra and Nehemiah.
1. I wish we could conclude Nehemiah’s story with a beautiful and happy ending.
2. Wouldn’t it be exhilarating and encouraging if we discovered that the children of Israel continued to serve God faithfully for years to come – even after Nehemiah left Jerusalem to return to Susa to serve King Artaxerxes? Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way!
3. Within a relatively short period of time, God’s people returned to their old ways of doing things – which included violating God’s laws and allowing the world to press them into its mold.
D. I’m sure Nehemiah scratched his head and wondered how this could have happened.
1. Throughout our entire sermon series, we have seen God’s people be restored and renewed.
2. They returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple of God and the walls of Jerusalem.
3. And they had experienced spiritual renewal and revival through Ezra’s reading of God’s Word to them and the teaching he and the Levites had done.
4. As we saw last week, they publicly committed themselves to “Keep and to observe all the commandments of God” (Neh. 10:29).
5. And a number of their leaders had signed a sealed document committing themselves to do this.
E. So I’m sure that when Nehemiah eventually left Jerusalem to return to his duties as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, his heart was filled with joy.
1. I’m sure his joy had more to do with what had happened to God’s people, than his own accomplishments.
2. I’m sure he had great hopes for God’s people, and he had no regrets regarding the 12 years he’d spent in Jerusalem serving as governor.
3. I’m confident that he felt that all he had personally suffered and sacrificed was worth it in view of Israel’s response and accomplishments.
4. God had answered his prayers and honored his faithfulness again and again.
F. So, can you imagine how Nehemiah felt when he returned to Jerusalem a relatively short time later and discovered that startling changes had taken place among the children of Israel.
1. Scholars speculate on how long Nehemiah had been gone – some say 2 years, others as many as 6 years.
2. Nevertheless, how could God’ people be violating so many aspects of the covenant they had prepared and publicly signed just a few years earlier?
3. In many respects, this must have been a more difficult thing for Nehemiah to witness than what he saw when he first arrived in Jerusalem so many years before.
4. There were no fewer than 4 major problems that Nehemiah had to address when he returned.
5. So, let’s spend some time in Neh. 13 to see what Nehemiah witnessed and what he did about it.
I. The Story
A. I want to pick up our story for today in Nehemiah 13:4, Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. 6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. (Neh. 13:4-7)
1. The first problem that Nehemiah discovered when he returned to Jerusalem was that Eliashib, the high priest of Israel, had prepared special guest room for Tobiah in the temple of God.
2. Can you imagine Nehemiah shouting, “Not Tobiah! Of all people, Not Tobiah!”
3. Tobiah was one of Nehemiah’s archenemies.
a. He had joined Sanballat and Geshem to try to stop him from rebuilding the wall.
b. During that time, Tobiah had been involved in a conspiracy to attack God’s people.
c. He’d also been a part of a diabolical scheme to harm Nehemiah – perhaps assassinate him.
d. When all these efforts failed, Tobiah continued to do everything else he could to discredit Nehmiah, including writing intimidating letters filled with lies and even hiring a prophet of God to deliver a false message from God to Nehemiah.
4. What made all of this even more shocking to Nehemiah is that the large chamber that the high priest had prepared for Tobiah included several rooms where the tithes and offerings of the people were stored so that the priestly ministry could continue as outlined in God’s Law.
B. So what did Nehemiah do about the problem?
1. The Bible says: 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. (Nehemiah 13:8-9)
2. Nehemiah was very upset, as we should expect, because Tobiah had no business even being in the temple, let alone living in the temple!
a. Tobiah didn’t belong there for numerous reasons, chief among them being the fact that he was not a priest, nor was he even a Jew!
3. So Nehemiah jumped into action and went into the temple and literally threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out the door. (This brings to mind Jesus’ actions in cleansing the temple)
4. Nehemiah then gave an order for the rooms to be cleansed.
a. To put it bluntly, he had the rooms disinfected!
b. He wanted every trace of Tobiah’s presence removed from the temple.
5. How’s that for good strong leadership?!
C. Unfortunately, this was not the only problem Nehemiah would have to address.
1. The story continues: 10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.
2. So when Nehemiah investigated to find out why all this had happened with Tobiah, he discovered that God’s people had failed in their commitment to pay their tithes and offerings.
3. The room Tobiah occupied, which were to be the “storehouse” for the gifts of the people, had been empty, so why not lease it to Tobiah, so thought Eliashib.
4. Tragically, the failure of God’s people to bring their tithes and offerings meant that the priests who were supposed to live off those offerings, as they performed their spiritual services at the temple, were forced to go back to their secular jobs.
D. If you had been Nehemiah, would you have been tempted to load up the car and head back to Susa?
1. It would have been easy to conclude that there was no hope for these people!
2. That was not Nehemiah’s reaction, rather he wasted no time in correcting this abuse.
3. The Bible says: 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. 12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. 13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers. 14 Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services. (Neh. 13:11-14)
4. So Nehemiah called a meeting of the officials and rebuked them for neglecting God’s house.
a. Then he restored the Levites to their posts.
b. And knowing people’s natural bent to be selfish with their money and possessions, perhaps Nehemiah’s greatest task was to convince the people to give.
c. We’re not told how he accomplished it, but we read in verse 12 that “All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms.”
E. Now that Nehemiah had dealt with these two problems, he could pull up an easy chair and relax, right? Wrong.
1. The story continues: 15 In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing--desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” (Neh. 13:15-18)
2. Israel had also put in writing that they would not violate God’s Sabbath day laws (10:31), but they were breaking that promise as well.
3. This was no small infraction of the Sabbath, rather they were treating the Sabbath like every other work day – they were making wine, they were harvesting crops, they were transporting goods, and selling them.
a. And who were buying many of these goods on the Sabbath – the Jews.
4. Verse 17 tells us that Nehemiah rebuked the leaders calling their behavior “wicked.”
a. Sometimes you have to say it like it is, no sugar-coating!
5. Then Nehemiah confronted them with a penetrating question: “Isn’t this what your forefathers had done that caused God to allow their nation to disappear sending them into exile?”
a. Do you want history to repeat itself?
F. Again Nehemiah stepped forward as a leader and addressed the problem.
1. The Bible says: 19 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. (Neh. 13:19-22)
2. Nehemiah put a good system in place – one way to keep commerce from taking place on the Sabbath was to shut and guard the city gates on the Sabbath.
a. In addition to having the Levites guard the gates, Nehemiah stationed some of his men.
3. For a couple of Sabbaths some of the merchants tested Nehemiah by spending the night outside the gates to put pressure on him the next morning to open the gates.
a. Nehemiah said, “You guys aren’t intimidating me. If you do it again I will have to give you a whipping.”
4. Needless to say, the Bible tells us: “From that time on, they no longer came on the Sabbath.”
5. Again, we see that the only reward Nehemiah sought was a blessing from the Lord.
G. So now that Nehemiah had dealt with these three problems, surely he wouldn’t have any others, right?
1. Unfortunately, the last problem he had to address was the most difficult of them all.
2. The story continues: 23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah.
3. Again, looking back at the promise God’s people had made in chapter 10, we notice that they had promised in writing that they would not intermarry with pagan people.
a. But Nehemiah discovered that they had flagrantly violated this commitment.
H. As we will see, Nehemiah was more frustrated by this sin than any of the others and it was, proverbially, “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
1. The Bible says: 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?” (Neh. 13:25-27)
2. Nehemiah rebuked the offenders and pronounced God’s judgment on them.
3. Unlike Ezra, who wept and pulled out the hair of his own beard, Nehemiah pulled out the hair of the offenders and struck them.
4. This is not the kind of approach for dealing with problems that we would welcome in the church, but it reflects a time and culture where shame was a powerful weapon for change.
a. Nehemiah publicly shamed the wrongdoers and in so doing forewarned others.
b. In this case, a desperate ill called for desperate remedies, and like Ezra before him, Nehemiah was willing to administer the medicine full strength.
5. The remedy was for them to stop marrying foreigners.
6. Nehemiah reminded them that that was King Solomon’s downfall.
7. We learn in verse 28 that one of the sons of the high priest Eliashib had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, who was another of Nehemiah’s archenemies.
a. So Nehemiah removed him and drove him away.
b. Nehemiah also purified all the priest and Levites, removing everything foreign from them.
8. The last sentence of the book is: Remember me with favor, O my God. (Neh. 13:31b)
a. Certainly a fitting end to the story of Nehemiah – the book of Nehemiah began with prayer and ends with prayer.
b. Like Nehemiah, it is God’s blessing and favor that we should be seeking.
II. The Application
A. As I conclude this sermon series on Ezra and Nehemiah, I would like us to consider and apply two important principles of leadership.
B. The first important leadership principle is: Good Leadership is Always Needed.
1. It is easy to see what happens in the absence of good leadership.
2. For the Jewish people, without good leaders, the entire nation went astray and had be harshly and extensively disciplined by God.
3. But even after the exiles returned to Jerusalem, they languished without good leadership.
4. The rebuilding of the temple started, but then stalled until good leaders stepped forward.
5. After the temple was rebuilt, the walls of Jerusalem continued to lay in ruins until a good leader named Nehemiah came on the scene.
6. And as we saw today, when Nehemiah left Jerusalem and returned to Susa, God’s people drifted without good, strong leadership.
7. Thankfully, God’s family here at Wetzel Road has had good, strong leadership over the years, and especially since elders were ordained back in the 1970’s.
8. We can look around at some of our sister congregations and feel for them as they have struggled along without healthy and helpful leadership.
9. But the ever-present need for good leadership is an ongoing reminder that our present leaders need to look to God to help us equip and commission additional leaders for the future.
C. The second important leadership principle is: Good Leaders Address Problems When They Arise and Hold People Accountable to God.
1. Good leaders are perceptive and proactive.
2. When good leaders see danger and difficulties arising, they act in obedience to God and in the best interest of God’s people.
3. Incidentally, this is perhaps the most difficult and most distasteful aspects of leadership, but it is a critical part of our God-given responsibility.
4. Church discipline and how to carry it out is a large subject in itself, and I don’t have time to address it today.
5. But allow me to make one plea – if good, godly leaders come to you concerned about you, or confronting you with some sin they have detected in your life, please receive them with humility, and assume that they have your best interest at heart.
6. I like what the Hebrew writer commanded with this regard: 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith… 17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb. 13:7,17)
D. As we conclude this sermon, allow me to encourage each of us to concentrate on the three areas of disobedience that Nehemiah had to confront in God’s people in his time.
1. The question for each of us is: Am I obeying and honoring God in these areas of my life?
2. The first area: Am I disobeying or dishonoring God in my associations with unbelievers?
a. Have I become unequally yoked with unbelievers like Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 6:14-18?
b. Certainly Paul had in mind the dangers of having unbelievers as business partners and marriage partners, but it goes further than that.
c. The question is: who is influencing who? Am I being more influenced by my associations with unbelievers, or are they being more influence by me?
d. Being negatively influenced by unbelievers through close associations has been the downfall of God’s people throughout time, and that’s why we must be wise and careful.
3. The second area: Am I disobeying or dishonoring God with my material possessions.
a. It is so easy to be lured by temptation into selfishness and materialism.
b. Jesus taught that a person’s life does not consist of the abundance of their possessions, and that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
c. But that is not the mold our world is trying to squeeze us into.
d. God’s has given the antidote for the poison of materialism – contentment and generosity.
e. Scripture teaches us to give systematically, proportionately, and generously.
d. When we don’t, we disobey and dishonor God and are in danger of what Paul wrote in 1 Tim. 6:10, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
4. The final area: Am I disobeying or dishonoring God with my time.
a. Although we are no longer under the old covenant and the Sabbath Day Law, God still wants us to set aside time for Him and for His family.
b. How easy it is to neglect our time spent in worshiping and serving God, with other Christians and with our families.
c. When we make spending time with God and God’s family our highest priority, it pays wonderful dividends, but when we neglect God and God’s family, it results in awful costs and consequences.
d. That’s why the Hebrew writer wrote: 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Heb. 10:24-27)
E. So we learn: good leadership is always needed, and good leaders hold people accountable to God.
1. Thank God for good leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah.
2. Thank God for the good leaders in our lives.
3. Let’s be good followers of God and God’s leaders.
Resources:
Nehemiah, by Gene Getz, Broadman & Holman, 1995.
Excellence in Leadership, by John White, InterVarsity Press, 1986.
Hand Me Another Brick, by Charles Swindoll, Word, 2006.
