The Trademark of God's Leaders - Nehemiah Willing to Confront

 

This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

Today we continue our series on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah. There is so much we can learn – and seek to follow – from this Old Testament leader. 

Today’s episode focuses on portions of chapters 5 and 13.  

In chapter 5, verses 1-6, Nehemiah writes about the complaints he received regarding taxes and the financial despair of some of the people.  Verse 7 says “I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials….” 

Godly leaders think things through and then take action; when it is necessary they are willing to confront others.    

The narrative continues in the same direction.  Verse 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?””  “But let the exacting of usury (or lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest) stop!” (5:10b)  

Nehemiah was willing to confront wrong behaviors. This has been a point of failure for many leaders over the past 3 millennia.  Think of King David who suffered from this character flaw in his own family.  Godly leaders must be willing and able to appropriately, directly confront improper behavior.  

Those who were wealthy responded in a desirable and appropriate manner.  “We will do as you say.” (5:12b)  “And the people did as they had promised.”  (5:13b).  Godly leaders are persuasive.  If one reads the full account in 5:1-12, we see that Nehemiah laid out the situation plainly and explained his rationale.  It is particularly important for leaders to do this when it is necessary to confront.  People need to not only the WHAT of correction but also the WHY.  

Finally, we jump ahead to chapter 13 where we see Nehemiah take strong action.  He warned, rebuked, and commanded.

• He warned vendors against selling food on the Sabbath. (16)

• He rebuked the nobles for not honoring the Sabbath. (17)

• He ordered the city gates be shut during the Sabbath (19)

• He warned merchants not to spend the Sabbath eve night sleeping by the city wall. (21) 

• He commanded the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. (22)

• He rebuked those who had married foreign women.  (25)

Good and godly leaders must be willing – and able – to confront others when the situation warrants such action.  However, I would advise against beating and pulling out the hair of others; don’t follow Nehemiah’s example on these things in 13:25.  

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.

Nehemiah – Wisdom to Balance Work and Security

       This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church

planters and leaders.

Today we continue our series on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah. There is so much we can learn –

and seek to follow – from this man.

Chapter 4 introduces the opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah and others. I appreciate Nehemiah’s

response in 4:9. “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” We,

like Nehemiah, must first trust God and then do our part as well. VCP leaders and church planters face

opposition from many sources … other religions, local or governmental leaders, sometimes even church

leaders. In the face of such challenges, we must pray, trust God, and then discern and obey what the

Holy Spirit instructs us to do.

I appreciate the instructions Nehemiah gave in 4:16-17. “From that day on, half were equipped with

spears, shields, bows and armor… Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a

weapon in the other.” What a great picture of a spiritual worker! We labor with one hand while holding

the weapons of spiritual warfare in the other. Ephesians 6:10-18 provides excellent instruction for us as

we prepare to engage in spiritual warfare.

I see in this passage that Nehemiah had the leadership wisdom to balance the urgency to complete the

work with the security of the workers. VCP faces this challenge in a number of places where we work.

In fact, some VCP planted churches have been attacked and destroyed, and a few church leaders have

lost their lives to physical attacks. Please join me in praying for Director Claude and others who must

find God’s wisdom to avoid unnecessarily exposing our workers to danger while also endeavoring to

complete the vision to plant a church in every African village by 2050.

I admire the courage of these ordinary men and women who worked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

May God grant similar courage to our VCP workers.

Lastly, I’d like to point out one additional characteristic of a leader that I see in this fourth chapter.

4:18b tells us that “The man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.” And 4:20a, “Wherever you

hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there.”

Leaders are responsible for warnings and communication. Ezekiel 33:6-7 and Hosea 8:1 are two of many

scriptures that describe the duty of leaders to sound an alarm or issue a warning to the people.

Sometimes these messages are difficult and not well received. Nonetheless, we are to “speak the truth

in love.” (Ephesians 4:15) We are held accountable if we fail to do so.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.

Nehemiah – Confident in the Lord

     This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church

planters and leaders.

Today we continue our series on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah. There is so much we can learn –

and seek to follow – from this man.

A few weeks ago, we learned in chapter 2 how Nehemiah was a planful leader and how, upon his arrival

in Jerusalem, he assessed the condition of the walls. Shortly after his nightly inspection of the walls he

began to encounter opposition. At this point in the story Sanballat and Tobiah begin their meddling and

their attempts to disrupt the work and to discourage the workers.

In verses 19 and 20, we read “But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and

Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. What is this you are doing?; they

asked. Are you rebelling against the king?  I answered them by saying, The God of heaven will give us success.

I see two very important leadership lessons in these verses.

 Firstly, nearly every time we undertake an assignment from the Lord there will be opposition.

Sometimes that opposition will be from people external to our team such as in this case. But

sometimes the opposition will come from those whom we think are on our side. Personally,

that is the most challenging situation for me. I call this “friendly fire.” I recall our first missions

assignment nearly 30 years ago. Most of my co-workers sought to help us (my wife and me) find

our place, but a few seemed to want to put us in our place. That hurt deeply yet we knew that

God had called us. The point is, leaders must be ready for opposition; if the Lord has called us,

we must be obedient and continue on.

 Secondly, Nehemiah was a confident leader. However, his confidence did not lie in himself or

those around him. Rather, he responded, “The God of heaven will give us success.” Notice that

Nehemiah did not react to defend himself when ridiculed by critics. He did not show them his

credentials. He did not engage in a war of words; he avoided an angry response to those who

opposed him. May we follow this example!

David, in Psalm 20:7-8, had this to say, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the

name of the LORD our God.   They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.”

May we stand firm, stand confidently, because of our trust in the Lord!

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.