LEAD BY LOVE
Nehemiah 13
Key verse:6-7a
“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 and came back to Jerusalem.”
We’ve finally reached the end of Nehemiah. In this book we have learned so many great and inspiring things. Now we’re going to learn one more important thing from Nehemiah. In chapter 1, Pastor Rhoel Lomahan told us that “Nehemiah is considered the greatest leadership book ever written.” But what made Nehemiah such a great leader?
One of my favorite men in history is General George Washington. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was planning to revolt and overthrow the government because they had not been paid for their services. Upon hearing this, Gen. Washington called a meeting with his troops in the hopes of changing their minds. His speech to them contained the most moving phrases he had ever written. At the end of his speech, he removed his spectacles from his pocket and put them on and said, “Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown grey in your service. And now I find myself growing blind.” After the speech was over, the army decided not to revolt. What made them change their minds? Was it Washington’s compelling speech? No. It was their realization that Washington had been with them the whole time. Gen. Washington had fought along with them, encouraged them, froze with them, and even bled with them. In brief, it was his love that made them change their minds about revolting.
In this final chapter, Nehemiah had already returned to Persia. While he was away, his people fell into sin and forgot the promises they had made before God. At this moment, Nehemiah could have said, “I give up. I can’t do this anymore. These people will never change.” But out of his great love, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in order to help them. This is what made Nehemiah such a great leader. A true leader is one who sincerely loves and helps others to come back to God, no matter what.
This chapter can be viewed in many ways. We can despair because the Israelites went back to their old ways or we can look at the Israelites’ sins in great detail and see what Nehemiah did. But I would like to focus on Nehemiah’s continual love for his people. We will look only at 2 things – One, Nehemiah’s love for others and two, his desire to help others come back to God. I pray that we may learn from Nehemiah how to become a leader who leads by love.
First, Love others.
Verse 1 says, “On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God.” During the time of Moses, the Israelites had no land. For more than 400 years they had been slaves in Egypt. After freeing them, God led them into the dessert and then led them to the land he had promised to give to them. While on their way, they came to the Ammonites and Moabites and asked them for some bread and water. But they refused and hired a man named Balaam to call curses down upon them. Because of this, God punished the Ammonites and Moabites by never allowing them to enter into the assembly of God and by never allowing them to make a treaty of friendship with the Israelites (1-3, Dt. 23:3-6). But in verses 4 and 5, we see Eliashib the high priest breaking God’s punishment to the Ammonites and Moabites. Eliashib had allowed his grandson to marry the daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. This led to the friendship of Eliashib and Tobiah the Ammonite. Both Sanballat and Tobiah were friends and Israel’s enemy. From the beginning of Nehemiah, they had tried to stop the Israelites from rebuilding the wall, but had failed. Due to this friendship, Eliashib provided Tobiah with a large room that was located in the courts of the house of God. This room was suppose to be used to store offerings that were to go to the Levites, singers, gatekeepers and priests. But Eliashib turned it into a house for Tobiah.
Look at verse 10. Here we see more bad things happening. According to this verse, the Levites were no longer getting their allocated offerings and the Levites and singers who were responsible for their service were no longer performing their duties. In verses 15 and 16, we see that the men were working and selling food on the Sabbath. And in verse 23, the men were marrying foreigners. If you remember in Nehemiah 10, the Israelites had made a promise never to do any of these things. But only three chapters later, they had broken all of their promises. In a moment’s time, Israel was falling apart.
A few weeks ago I attended a wedding. During the ceremony, the bride and groom made their wedding vows towards one another. The groom said with loving eyes, “I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. ” They made a promise to one another to always stay together, no matter what. But today, divorce is so high in our nation. When spouses anger each other or do something wrong, instead of forgiving and loving “for better or for worse”, they hire a divorce lawyer and leave each other.
Nehemiah worked so hard to rebuild Jerusalem and its people. He dedicated his life to this great project. Because of his hard work and love, Israel was experiencing a great revival. But after returning to Persia, they slipped and fell into sin. At this moment, most people would have completely given up and said, “I’m through!” When I was just a little boy, my sisters and I would hide in fear as we listened to my parents fighting, yelling, and throwing dishes at one another. Instead of loving and forgiving each another, they hired a divorce lawyer. The moment they signed the divorce papers, my whole life had changed for the worse. But what did Nehemiah do when he found out the wrong his people had done? Look at verses 6-7a. It says, “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 and came back to Jerusalem.” When Nehemiah heard the wrong that his people had been doing, he didn’t seek a divorce lawyer or ask God to annihilate his people. Instead he asked the king if he could go back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s love for his people is astounding. Even though they broke their promise and trust with him, Nehemiah didn’t give up on them. Rather, he was willing to return in order to help them.
In Nehemiah we see the heart of God. Alexander Pope, of the Catholic church once said, “To ERR is human.” We all sin and have wronged God and others. So we shouldn’t get mad at those who have wronged us or done us wrong, rather we should forgive them and love them unconditionally. After saying, “To ERR is human”, Alexander Pope went on to say, “Forgiveness is Divine.” This means, God wants us to love and forgive others as God has loved and forgiven us. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus said, “Forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” Once, while teaching in the temple courts, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They asked Jesus what they should do with her. According to the law of God, Jesus should have said, “Stone her! She broke the commandment of God! That sinner deserves to die!” But Jesus said to her accusers, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” At this, everyone left. Then Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Woman has no one condemned you?” “No one sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” At the end of his life, Jesus was hanging on a cross, bleeding and dying. The very people he had loved and had given his life to were the ones who had put him there. Jesus the Son of God could have come down from the cross and killed everyone. But instead Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” This is the heart of God. Jesus loves and accepts us no matter what we have done.
In chapter 4, Dr. Ben made a profound statement. He said, “Unless one changes nothing changes.” But how can one change? I believe one can change when they feel that they are truly loved and accepted by others. Many young people today don’t feel that they are truly loved by others. As a result, many problems have arisen such as suicides, depressions, and teenage pregnancies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, surpassed only by accidents and homicide. And according to depression statistics, about 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. In 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed one of the most heinous crimes ever by killing 12 students, a teacher, and then themselves. In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 students at Virginia Tech. Both of these incidents could have been avoided if only these kids felt loved and accepted by someone who cared for them. What people need most is someone who can love them and accept them, no matter what they have done. Throughout my life, I looked for someone to love and accept me but I couldn’t find anyone. In college, I fell into major depression, started drinking, and started having suicidal thoughts. But one day I was invited to Bible study. In Bible study, my Bible teacher never condemned me for my sins but only loved and accepted me. Through her love, I met Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. What people need most is love. Proverbs 10:12 says, “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.”
In this final chapter, Nehemiah shows us what makes a leader a true leader is not one who knows how to lead, but it’s one who knows how to love. In other words, leadership equals love. We too need to love and accept others from our hearts. When we do, then they will see the love of Christ in us and will be moved to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. May God help us to love others, no matter what they have done.
Second, Help others to come back to God.
Loving others is the number one thing. But we must also practically find a way to help others to come back to God. When Nehemiah came back from Persia, the first thing he did was to throw all of Tobiah’s belongings into the streets. He threw his bed, his 127” HDTV, and even his pet Chi Wawa out of the house of God. After this, Nehemiah fumigated the room and returned everything that belonged to the house of God. Then he rebuked the officials for not giving the Levites their offerings and for allowing the Levites and singers not to do their job (8-9). Sin is a serious problem that must be dealt with immediately. Today, people deal with sin very lightly. Many come up with excuses for their sins saying they have a genetic disorder or they’re that way because of someone else. By doing so, they think their sin is no longer there. But sin is there and it must be dealt with. I was appalled to hear that the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriages. I was even more appalled to hear that the first gay couple to get married were two women in the their 80’s. When Nehemiah found out about the Israelite’s sins, he dealt with it immediately by throwing it out of the city. Here, Nehemiah practically found a way to deal with the sin problem. We too need to find a way to deal with our sin problem. There are many ways to do this, such as fighting the California Supreme Court. But the best way is to come to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ shed his precious holy blood on the cross in order to save us from our sins. He is the only one who can throw away all of our sins. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” I pray if anyone here today has a sin that has been hurting you or bothering you to please come to Jesus Christ for healing.
If you remember from verse 10, the Levites weren’t getting their allocated offerings. So in verse 13, Nehemiah found a way to fix this problem by appointing trustworthy men who would be responsible for distributing the offerings to the Levites. Nehemiah was always trying to find a way to help others come back to God. One of the best ways he did this was appointing leaders who would fulfill their duties. Here at West Loop Church we believe that God has given each person a special gift, an ability that can be used for the glory of God and we encourage everyone to find what it is. Last week, I asked my son Timmy to make the Power Point for this sermon and asked Noah to work the Power Point with him. Timmy used his creativity so well and Noah worked closely with him. On Tuesday, Timmy said to me, “I think I found my gift. It’s helping people to make Power Point Presentations.” May God help you to find the gift that God has given to you and may God help you to put this gift into action for the glory of God.
What else did Nehemiah do to help his people? According to verses 15-22, some men were working on the Sabbath. This was in direct violation of the 4th Commandment. In the 4th Commandment, God commands his people to work for 6 days then to rest on the 7th. To make sure the people rested on the Sabbath, Nehemiah ordered the gates to be closed at sunset, the day before Sabbath, and he required the Levites to cleanse themselves and to guard the gates so that no one could get in. Why is it that God doesn’t want us to work on the Sabbath? Sabbath means “A day of rest and worship”. The Sabbath is God's stress management program. By resting on the Sabbath, we can prevent ourselves from getting burnt out. So the Sabbath is a blessing from God. On it, we can come to church and worship and thank God together. We can sing songs, pray, listen to the sermon, get together in our small groups, and then eat some delicious snacks. I encourage you to always worship God on the Sabbath so that you can have true rest in your hearts and souls.
Finally in verses 23-30 we see that the men were marrying foreigners from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Intermarriage wasn’t the problem. The problem was, they were marrying outside of God. To help his people, Nehemiah rebuked them and called curses down upon them. He even beat some of them and pulled out their hair and made them make an oath to never do this again. The point Nehemiah was trying to make was not to beat people up when they sin, but to show his people how serious of a sin they were committing. Many people today marry based upon looks or on that first puppy love feeling, not based upon God’s Word. As a result, once the words, “I do” are exchanged, the looks and puppy love feeling go away and couples soon separate. But those who marry based upon God’s Word, will be happy together forever. For the longest time, I was afraid to marry, thinking that my wife would leave me for another man. However, after I began Bible study, God helped me to believe that he would provide me with the best wife ever. When he did, I became the happiest man alive. I was so happy that I made a confession of faith to my friend Paul Teodori, “Now I know God exists!” I pray that God may help all young unmarried people here to make a decision to marry in God so that you too may be happy forever with your future spouse.
In verses 14, 22, and 31, Nehemiah repeats the words, “Remember me for this.” These words are Nehemiah’s final cry that God would show mercy and forgiveness upon his people. Nehemiah loved his people from his heart. He gave everything up in order to help them. He did not want to see them perish but wanted them to receive forgiveness and eternal life. This is what makes a leader a true leader. A true leader is one who sacrifices himself for the sake of others, no matter the cost. After receiving the 10 Commandments from God, Moses came down from the mountain and found his people indulging in a great sin. They were worshipping a golden calf. So God commanded Moses to have the Levites kill 3000 of their own people for their wickedness. After this, Moses went back to the top of the mountain and cried out to God, “Please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (Ex 32:32). Moses was willing to give up his eternal life in order help his people come back to God.
May God help you to be a leader who sincerely loves others and helps them to come back to God. Let’s learn from Nehemiah how to lead by love.