Sun 29 Oct 2006
October 29 - Sticks and Stones
Posted by Chuck Holton under Sermons
Sticks and Stones
Neh 4:1-10 (#7) October 29
“Sticks and Stones” is today’s title in the series “You Can Make A
Difference.”
Nehemiah chapter 4.
Read verses 1-10
A young pastor went to a church that had been torn apart by a loose tongue. The fellowship had been reduced to bear survival. The new pastor had rock-solid confidence in the power of the Word, and determined to just open the bible week by week, and preach it.
Slowly but surely the church began to heal and show signs of spiritual vitality. In time, it began to flourish, becoming necessary to go to multiple services. It became obvious that larger facilities were needed.
A new building would cost $1 million. They didn’t have a lot of money, but the people—together in community—began to pray.
It so happened that in the church were two brothers. They were rich; and they were rascals. One of them died. The surviving brother came to the pastor and said:
“Here, I have something for you. It’s a check for $1 million to pay for the
new building. When you preach my brother’s funeral all that I ask you
to do is tell the people he was a saint.
The pastor thought for a moment and said, “Okay.” He took the check, and deposited it (quickly).
At the funeral, he stood before an open casket and the man’s family. The pastor said:
“This man lying before you was a reprobate; he was unfaithful to his
family, he was dishonest in his business; he was not a man you could
trust; he was part of the reason this church has struggled for so many
years. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.”
In this passage, two men show up again—They aren’t saints. Sanballat and Tobiah were the first locals Nehemiah met when he arrived in Jerusalem to rebuild the wall.
G.K. Chesterton noted, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”
Thankfully, that is not always the case. But it is Nehemiah’s lot! ”Like A Bad Neighbor, Sanballat is there!”
When you first meet the three Chapter 2:10, it says simply, “they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.”Their first tactic is distraction.
Living for Jesus today means dealing with distractions. The bad is the enemy of the good; The good is in constant tension with the best— The eternal.Living for Jesus today means dealing with distractions. The is the enemy of the ; The is in constant tension with the — The eternal.*Look at verse 19. When the people announced their ownership of the task,
The Vision Vandals show up again, joined by another neighbor, Geshem, an Arabian who had political and economic clout.
Living for Jesus today means dealing with distractions. The is the enemy of the ; The is in constant tension with the — The eternal.*Look at . When the people announced their ownership of the task, The Vision Vandals show up , joined by another neighbor, Geshem, an Arabian who had political and economic clout.*Now about four weeks into the project they show up a third time with the Unwelcome Wagon.
Chapters 4-6 describe at least nine different tactics the enemy used in an attempt to stop the work. They are as old as the devil himself.
In their second and third appearances, the enemy initiates a War of Words.
Sanballat is mentioned 10 times in the book—And not once, in all of his snorting and kicking up dust, does he ever pick up a bow or a spear. His weapons are words.
When you determine to be a difference maker—be alert—you will often fight this battle.
The word-weapons begin with with ridicule (4:1-6) “they laughed at us and despised us…” The Hebrew word translated “laugh” means “to stammer, to stutter,” it has the idea of a gatlin gun of derision and demeaning criticism.
The Hebrew word translated means it has the idea of a gatlin gun of derision and demeaning criticism.Webster defines “ridicule” like this,
“to make an object of laughter of. [It] implies a deliberate often
malicious belittling.”
Synonyms include: DERIDE, MOCK, TAUNT.
It’s a demoralizing devise that someone has called, “the weapon of those who have no other…” The British writer, Thomas Carlyle, called it, “the language of the devil.”
It’s the spirit of Lucy, who says to Charlie Brown:
“I’ve decided to go into political cartooning. I’m going to ridicule
everything!
”I understand, Lucy,” Charlie Brown replies, “By the use of ridicule you hope to point up our faults in government, and thus improve our way of life.”
”No,” Lucy says, “I just want to ridicule everything!”
The enemies laugh at the Jews and belittle their resources and their plans.
The devil’s trio laugh, but not for long. In 4:1— They turn the heat up; they are described as “furious and very indignant.”
”The Message reads,”— “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he exploded in anger, vilifying the Jews.”
How did Neh response? Not explanations or retaliation—But Prayer. Don’t lose your ball in the weeds with Nehemiah’s, “sic-em God!” prayer. He is an OT saint who is obsessed with God’s name and honor (that’s what brought him to Jerusalem); it’s a prayer for justice.
Do you pray for divine justice when truth and righteousness are violated? It’s always right to pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s always right to pray that God will deal decisively and quickly with sin and evil.
Ridicule is followed by Intimidating Plots 4:7-9
The workers are surrounded on all sides—North, south, east, west. That’s the point in mentioning the Arabs, the Ammonites, the Ashdodites, the Termites.
These enemies aren’t armed with pea shooters; they have the power to reek damage! Power and intimidation go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The third tactic (Verses 11-23)—Fear
My interest is the pulverizing plot in verse 10— The Laser beam of discouragement.
Between verses 8 and 10, there is a shift of tactics that is as old as human history. You see it repeatedly in Scripture; in church history, and the history of nations.
Up through verse 8, Satan works on the outside (as a roaring lion). In verse 9, he moves to the inside. (as a subtle serpent.)
*In Acts 4, the officials attempted to hinder the church by pressure from the
outside. They are unsuccessful. Peter stands up in the power of the Holy
Spirit and says, “We will obey God, not men.” What do you do with a guy
like that?
*In chapter 5- There is a couple in the church, shot through the heart with
pride. Their favorite hymn, “Blessed be our name, blessed be our name…”
Satan moved on the inside!
It was advertised that the Devil was going to put his tools up at auction. On the day of sale, they were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its price. There were labeled: hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lying, pride, and so on.
Laid apart from the rest was a harmless looking tool, well-worn and priced very high.
”What’s is this tool?” one looker asked. .
”Oh,” the devil replied, “That’s discouragement.”
Who is it that’s discouraged? The people of Judah!
…Judah…THE most prominent tribes at the wall;
…Judah…from whom Jesus the Messiah would come!
Judah means, “praise.” They had lost their song. And like the old E.F. Hutton commercial, when Judah spoke, people listened!
The old song “Home on the Range” describes the prairie as a very positive place where the deer and the antelope play, and seldom is heard (what?) …a discouraging word. A cartoon showed the antelope galloping across the western range, when suddenly the lead antelope stops in his tracks and says, “Listen. I think I hear a discouraging word!”
The builders hear a discouraging word and it’s coming from Judah!
“The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
This will always happen. You determine to be a difference maker. There will always be a voice to say,
“What’s you’re doing is silly—or impossible—or irrelevant—or impractical.
Let it go! Be Realistic!”
*Stephanie wants to marry a Christian who will provide spiritual leadership n their home. So she passes up opportunities to go out with non-Christian guys. But her “friends” douse her flame with statements like,
“There aren’t any guys out there like that; get real. You’re missing out.”
After a while, Stephanie decides her friends are probably right. Maybe her standards are too high. So she gives up on her vision.
*Ben wants to see his daughter come to faith in Christ and return to a lifestyle that reflects biblical principles. But his “friends” are constantly saying,
“Leave her alone, Ben. Kids are different today. That worked for you.
She’s got to make her own way in this world.”
That makes sense to Ben, and the vision dies.
*Jim and Linda are buried under a pile of debt because of a series of poor decisions early in their marriage. As a result of something they read, they catch a vision for debt-free living. Then they make the mistake of sharing their vision with Linda’s parents:
“That’s unrealistic,” they say. “Everybody has debt. Besides, by the
time you get out of debt, you will be too old to enjoy it.”
Jim and Linda leave their visit discouraged, and a week or two later, abandon the vision.
It is never hard to find a rationale for following the path of least resistance.
Judah’s discouragement spread like wildfire. In the Hebrew text, the complaint is in poetic form, two lines of five words each. It may have been a song sung by the workers: It went something like this:
“The strength of the burden bearer is drooping;
The rubbish heap so vast;
And we are unable by ourselves
To rebuild the wall.”
There’s absolutely nothing new in that devilish ditty—Everybody knew that! The truth is, there was less rubbish now than there had ever been!
What is happening? Discouragement has skewed their perspective.
Why discouragement? Why now?
I. The people got discouraged because of Tiredness (Physical
Fatigue)—Verse 10a
“The strength of the laborers is failing…”
The word translated “failing” means, “to stumble,” “to totter” picturing a worker under the weight of a load and ready to fall at any step!
They were exhausted …laboring day and night, for four weeks. In verse 23, Nehemiah says he and the leaders were never out of their cloths except to wash them.
Vince Lombardi observed that “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” The Lord Jesus, who had three years to accomplish his mission, was careful to maintain the balance between work and rest.
As a young man, Winston Churchill visited Cuba. He came away with two things that impacted the rest of his life:
…(He discovered) Premium Cuban cigars. (This summer, one of Sir
Winston’s half smoked cigars sold for $670.00 at auction. I don’t
recommend it; just reporting!
… (and from the Cubans) he learned the art of Siesta.
For more than 70 years, every afternoon, come what may—even as bombs rained down on London— Mr. Churchill undressed, put on his pajamas, and went to bed for an hour and a half. He said his snooze enabled him to add three to four hours of productivity to each day.
Stephen Mansfield, one of the Prime Minister’s biographers, observed:
“Churchill was a man of exceptional intensity and determination. His
aggressive style of leadership and his energetic passion for life could
have depleted him long before he reached his most productive years.
But he learned early a lesson some leaders never master: the greater
the capacity for concentration and hard work, the greater the tendency
toward exhaustion and burnout. Left unchecked, the very qualities that
make a man successful are the ones that can lead him blindly into a
fruitless, lethargic abyss of self-destruction.” (pp 166-167).
I hope you have learned the art of 15-minute vacations. It’s amazing how a thirty-minute nap can renew your body and your spirits.
I have found a 12th Commandment in Scripture: Thou shalt take a Sunday afternoon nap.” (And all God’s men said, “Amen.”)
The venerable old preacher Vance Havner said, “If you don’t come apart, you will come apart.”
Second, Discouragement Came Because of Timing—Verse 6When did fatigue and discouragement set in? Verse 6…When did fatigue and discouragement set in? Verse 6… “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its
height.”
The workers are at the half way point. Halfway of anything is always a precipitous place to find yourself. Because…
When did fatigue and discouragement set in? Verse 6…The workers are at the half way point. Halfway of is always a precipitous place to find yourself. Because……you are longer running off the adrenalin and inspiration of the start,
…but you aren’t far enough along to be inspired by the finish line.
…I ran track in high school. I found that it was at the half way point where my
mind asked me, “Now why are you doing this? This is insanity.”
…Have you ever painted a room? You get halfway through it and you look
around and say, “Man, I’m tired, and I’m just half-finished. Not only that, but
after I’m finished, I’ve got to clean all this mess up.”
It may be…
…mid career
…mid job
…mid semester
…mid life
Passing successfully through mid anything requires discernment and determination.
Tiredness
Timing
Third, Discouragement comes with Temper. I mean by that, the frustration that comes when progress is slow.
“There is much rubbish”
The result was tanking confidence— “We are not able to rebuild the wall.”
How Did Nehemiah Combat Discouragement? There is a dynamic 6-point strategy: When you are under a siege of discouragement…
1. Cry out to God—Vv 4-5, 9
“Hear, O our God…” (Verse 4)- Prayer taps the resources of heaven! It’s
therapeutic!
2. Unify You Efforts Toward A Goal—Verse 13.
Nehemiah placed families together. When you are discouraged, talk to
people who reinforce your vision and help you to remember the “why.”
3. Continue To Do What You Know God Has Given You To Do—Verse 6.
He says matter-of-factly, “So we built the wall…”
Do you find a tendency under prolonged stress, maybe opposition, to want
to escape. To take Psa 55:6 as your life verse:
“Oh that I had the wings of an eagle that I might fly away and be at rest.”
Are you ever bitten by a bug called the “quits.?
A little girl came home from the first day of kindergarten. Her mother met
her at the bus stop and asked excitedly, “Darling, how did it go? “It went
okay,” she said, “but I have to go back tomorrow.”
In the NFL they call it “YAC”— Yards After Contact.
When you’re discouraged, and grappling with issues you don’t understand
and won’t go away…and you have lost perspective on, it’s important to
remember that the development of Christ-like character means putting two
feet on the floor, and going back (in faith) tomorrow!
4. Direct Your Attention To The Lord—Verse 14
“Do not be afraid of them, remember the Lord…”
Remember his character!
Remember his faithfulness!
Remember why you are doing this!
…Turn off the television, the cell-phone,
…go on a one-day fast from email
…put the iPod away
Meditate on Scripture.
Go on a prayer walk.
Listen to a CD that feeds you soul
Read a good book. (or a hunting magazine!)
5. Be Careful To Maintain Balance In Your Schedule and Your Life—
V14.
Underline two verbs… “Remember the Lord…and fight…”
In verses 17 and 18, he arms the people a sword (to fight with) and a
trowel (to build with). When Charles Spurgeon started a Christian
magazine, he called it, “The Sword and the Trowel.”
6. Determine A Rallying Point—VV 19-20
In verses 19-20, Nehemiah installs an alarm system. It involved a place
and people. “When you hear the trumpet come running.”
In verse 19— You find an OT “One Another.”
This is important because when you get discouraged, you may have a
tendency toward the Ernest T. Bass Syndrome— To hermitize
yourself—
…To isolate yourself.
…To stay to yourself;
…stay home from church;
…duck out on your small group, your class.
Sometimes you have to fake it till you shake it! (Say that with me!) That’s
okay! Do you recognize this grand lady? The late Erma Bombeck…
She was a homemaker, who for 30 years…
…wrote a popular syndicated newspaper column
…wrote 15 books
…received numerous awards
…and appeared on talk shows.
Few people knew through the wit and laughter, she had…
…breast cancer
…a mastectomy
…kidney failure.
She had a gift to grasping the Big Picture— Erma once wrote:
“I speak at college commencements, and I tell everyone I’m up there and
they’re down there—not because of my successes but my failures. Then
I proceed to spin all of them off—
…a comedy record album that sold two copies in Beirut
…A sitcom that lasted about as long as a doughnut in our house
…A Broadway play that never saw Broadway
…book signings where I attracted two people: One wanted directions to
the restroom and the other who wanted to buy the desk.
What you have to tell yourself is this: ‘I’m not a failure. I failed at doing
something.’ There’s a big difference…Personally and career-wise, it’s
been a corduroy road. I’ve buried babies, lost parents, had cancer and
worried over kids. The trick is to put it all in perspective…and that’s
what I do for a living.”
Nehemiah was well-aware of the importance of perspective. Don’t you love the last line of verse 20— “Our God will fight for us.”
Here’s how to get up when you’re down:
…Have a mind to work
…A heart to pray
…An eye to watch
…and an ear to listen
Hear what? To hear what God says about you…You are the apple of His eye. As Max Lucado says, “God has your picture on His refrigerator.”
Hear what Jesus did for you on the cross that you might be forgiven, and welcomed into the Father’s family.
”For whosoever shall call on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.”
You don’t have to fear sticks and stones!