HOW TO SUCCEED
Nehemiah 4:1-23
Key Verse: 4:14b
"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
In chapter 1-3, we learned how great a leader Nehemiah was. (1) He was a man of heart. He wept many tears for others (1:4), like the father of the prodigal son whose heart ached for his son (Lk 15:12), like Jesus who wept for Jerusalem (Lk 13:34). (2) He was a man of courage. He wasn’t afraid of losing his life. How can we have such courage? What is courage? Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is when only God and you know that you are afraid. Nehemiah had courage because he had God in his heart. When he feared God, he feared nothing and no one. (3) He was a team player. “Success” is spelled “teamwork.” There is no “I” in “teamwork.” Most leaders expect obedience without question. They place themselves above others, and others below them. Such leaders are like the “rulers of the Gentiles who lord it over” others (Mk 10:42). But Nehemiah was not authoritarian. He identified with his people (2:17). He was a team player, not an autocrat. (4) He was a man of prayer. Though he was actively and constantly in motion, yet in his heart, he was constantly on his knees in prayer (1 Th 5:16).
In today’s lecture, we’ll examine the difficulties Nehemiah faced while building the wall. Literally, he encountered 1 problem after another and faced 1 crisis and ordeal and critical moment after another. Often we wish for a problem free life, or a pain free life. But more often than not, life feels like a gut wrenching battle unto death, as Nehemiah experienced in chapter 4. Nonetheless, Nehemiah prevailed. How did he do it? Let’s learn from Nehemiah how we also can succeed in any situation that we may encounter in life.
1st, expect ridicule (1-3). We think that when we want to do something good, especially something challenging or different, we would be praised and commended for our initiative and creativity. But often the opposite happens. We immediately face objection, opposition, even ridicule. Look at verses 1-3. “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, ‘What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?’ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, ‘What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!’” Nobody likes being ridiculed or mocked or insulted, because we are made in the image of God (Ge 1:27). But Nehemiah and his fellow Jews were badly disparaged. Sanballat, the head honcho among the opposition, called them feeble, which means a bunch of weaklings. He questioned their ability to accomplish their task by asking ridiculous rhetorical questions (2). He basically said, “O, you think you can restore your wall, which has been broken for 90 years! That’s a joke! You’ll never succeed!” So, Sanballat questioned their ability, mocked their integrity and insulted them. Then Sanballat’s sidekick Tobiah piled it on by predicting that even if they were to build the wall, a tiny fox could easily knock it down back to rubble! (3) It’s like saying, “No matter what you do, you’ll fail, because you are nothing but a bunch of presumptuous idiots and losers!”
It’s said that getting started is half the battle won. Thus, many are unable to start, for they are unable to generate the energy and the inertia needed in the initial stages. It’s so hard to start because we always have 2 enemies: (1) the enemy from without and (2) the enemy within. From the outset, Nehemiah had to face the real enemy from without (2:10). Why is there always opposition? There are several reasons. 1stly, people cling to the status quo and adamantly resist any kind of change. They are uncomfortable with change and refuse to change, thinking, “The old way is better.” This may be why some parents have difficulty connecting with their own kids. They relate to their children in the context of their cultural upbringing, rather than changing to understand their children’s generation, which is often quite different from theirs. We must know that unless one changes, nothing changes. 2ndly, people want to have the upper hand over you, which is often the major reason. Sanballat and Tobiah wanted the Jews to be weaker than them, and be subject to them. They absolutely would not welcome the Jews becoming independent and stronger by building the wall. So, they ridiculed them in their attempt to maintain their control over them. What did Nehemiah do with such demeaning ridicule and opposition?
2nd, cry out to God for vindication (4-9). Read verses 4,5. “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.” Nehemiah did not fight back. Instead, he cried out to God for vindication. Like the psalmist he said, “Vindicate me, O Lord. I have trusted in the Lord without wavering” (Ps 26:1). “Vindicate me in your righteousness, O Lord my God; do not let them gloat over me” (Ps 35:24). “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause; rescue me” (Ps 43:1). Once, when running for his life, David wrote, “Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might” (Ps 54:1). To King Saul who wanted to kill him, David said, “May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand” (1 Sa 24:15). Though David faced a man who wanted to destroy him, David didn’t fight him, but prayed for vindication and deliverance. This was also what Nehemiah did when he cried out, “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads.”
After prayer, the people “rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart” (6). There is a saying: “Power comes from prayer; weakness comes from wickedness.” It means that a man is weak because he is wicked and doing what he should not be doing. In contrast, a man is powerful because he is right with God and his strength comes from God. Nehemiah was tough like Maximus the Gladiator. He was fearless like Dirty Harry. It is because he was a man of prayer (1:4). His courage encouraged his people to rebuild the wall. Then the fun began again. Read verses 7,8. “But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.” As the walls were rebuilt, the opposition did not stop. Instead, it intensified and gathered momentum as Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite now recruited the Arabs and the men of Ashdod to join them in stopping the Jews.
What could Nehemiah do, since the opposition was increasing in number and their ridicule was progressing toward violence? Read verse 9. “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” The problem became much more serious and acute, but the solution was exactly the same: Prayer. What do we learn here about prayer? In Matthew 7:7 Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” In this verse, Jesus teaches us that prayer is not just asking God, but it is asking, seeking and knocking. Prayer is not just talking to God, but also living it out by seeking and knocking to find answers. In short, prayer and action go together. After Nehemiah prayed, he took action by posting a guard day and night to meet their threat (9). Our prayer at West Loop is our Big Hairy Audacious Goal of having 1,000 members. According to Jesus, we must keep asking, seeking and knocking until God fulfills our audacious goal.
3rd, overcome discouragement (10-12). Opposition is the enemy without that says, “You can’t do it.”. Discouragement is the enemy within that says, “I can’t do it.” The Jews did quite well by rebuilding the wall half way (6). Soon they became exhausted. There was much more work to do, the ridicule and threats continued, and they heard discouraging words from their own people, the Jews. Read verses 10-12. “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, ‘The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.’ Also our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.’ Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us 10 times over, ‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.’” Discouragement is very demoralizing. If one feels discouraged, he looses all his strength. So, overcoming discouragement is a must for success in life. Last year was a tough year for me. When I presented an unpopular proposal to our church council to have a Sun service at UIC, I was more or less told 3 things: (1) go away, (2) go as far away as possible, and (3) don’t take anyone with you. I also received 2 cute emails. One said, “Do you think you can make your own chapter by your own smartness and manipulation? No way, Jose!” Another said, “You’re nothing but an ugly Chinese doctor.” Then I wondered to myself, “Is this my reward after spending 26 years—½ my life in Chicago?” For a while I couldn’t overcome my inner discouragement. But after agonizing before God for many days, I resolved in my soul that (1) God is good; (2) God never makes any mistakes, and (3) God will fulfill his own good will and purpose. Then I decided in my heart to move forward without bitterness, without regret, and without fear, but with bold confidence in the absolute goodness of God. Soon after overcoming discouragement, we began West Loop on 1/6/2008 in God’s perfect time. I believe God vindicated me, in spite of all my sins. I learned I must always overcome discouragement.
4th, confront fear with faith and fight (13,14). So far, we learned from Nehemiah that to succeed we must (1) expect ridicule, (2) cry out to God for vindication and (3) overcome discouragement. After that, we must confront fear with faith and fight. When Nehemiah reassessed the situation, he “stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows” (13). Then he “stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes’” (14). Nehemiah’s words to his people teaches us the attitude we must have in order to succeed. 1stly, “don’t be afraid.” There is nothing more crippling than fear. One who gives in to fear is already defeated even before the battle begins. In a romantic scene in the movie “Ghost,” Patrick Swayze said to his lover Demi Moore, “I’m afraid that my happiness with you will not last.” In the next scene, a mugger killed him and he became a ghost. In a later romantic scene, Patrick Swayze the ghost hugged and danced with Demi Moore by borrowing the body of Whoopi Goldberg. Spiritually speaking, Patrick Swayze gave in to his fear that he would not be happy forever with the one he loved, and he became a very sad ghost. What’s my point? It is that fear will never lead to a victorious life. It is because fear assumes that God is not in control, and that we are responsible for our own life and our own happiness. Therefore, the way to overcome fear is with faith in God. 2ndly, “Remember the Lord.” God knows that we are weak. God knows that on our own we will fail. But even if we are weak and prone to failure because of our fallen nature, God gives us a guarantee of success and happiness. All we need to do is to trust God. When the disciples were full of fear about their uncertain future, Jesus said to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (Jn 14:1). The universal solution to every single problem under heaven is exactly the same: trust God and remember the Lord. We say that one size doesn’t fit all. But in this instance, one size does fit all. When we truly trust God we have no problem, even if we have tons of problems. But if we do not trust God, we’re in big trouble, even if everything seems to be going well. Nehemiah knew that his people needed to confront their fear with faith. So he said, ‘Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome…” (14a). 3rdly, “fight.” Nehemiah said, “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes” (14b). When we read the rest of this chapter and the rest of Nehemiah, the people never had to use their weapons to fight even once. It’s because their enemies were too afraid to attack, even though they repeatedly threatened to do so. Because of their fear, they were all bark and no bite. But even though the Jews did not fight with their swords even once, Nehemiah taught them the attitude of having a fighting spirit. So it should be with us. What is your attitude toward life? Is it to take it easy, or is it to be always ready to fight a worthy battle? The greatest victor of life who ever lived, after Jesus, is Paul. Just before his martyrdom and execution by beheading, Paul said these words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Ti 4:7). A man’s last words tell us a lot about the person. Paul’s last words were victorious. It is because Paul was a fighter, not with WMDs, but with weapons of spiritual warfare. A great football coach, Vince Lombardi, said, “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” The only way to win the victory is to never quit and to keep on fighting to the end. To the end, Paul was a winner and a victor because his attitude of life is, “I have fought the good fight.” At West Loop, let’s remember the Lord and fight for 1,000 members, and for 100 godly couples (92 more to go), and for 10 weddings a year. Let’s remember the Lord and fight for our singles to trust God and be abundantly blessed with a marriage that is made in heaven.
5th, always have a weapon (15-23). Read verse 15. “When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.” When Nehemiah confronted fear with faith and with a fighting spirit, God completely frustrated their enemies. Then the Jews returned to rebuilding the wall with new vigor and strength. But though they were confident, they were not complacent. They were always ready and prepared for anything, day or night. Verse 16a says, “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor.” Verse 17b, 18a says, “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.” Verse 21 says, “So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the starts came out.” Verse 23 says, “Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.” Here, we learn another principle for success and victory. We must always have a weapon. What is our weapon? Ephesians 6:16, 17 say, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Wherever we go, we often make sure we have some money with us, and we make sure we have our cell phones, iPods, blackberries, etc. But the most important item that we need to take with us is the Word of God. It is because our adversary, the devil, is always on the prowl and ready to attack us when we least expect it (1 Pet 5:8). Our only weapon against the devil’s schemes is the Word of God (Mt 4:4).
In this passage, Nehemiah showed us how to succeed in any situation. In review, we should always:
(1) expect ridicule,
(2) cry out to God for vindication,
(3) overcome discouragement,
(4) confront our fears with faith and fight, and
(5) always carry our most important weapon, the word of God.
Finally, let’s remember our catchphrase from today: “Confront fear with faith and fight!” The greatest general in the Civil War, Stonewall Jackson, said, “It is every man’s duty to pray and to fight.” He had exactly the same attitude as Nehemiah who said, “Remember the Lord … and fight.” When you do so, God will give you success.