Faith Baptist Church

The method and destructive power of carpenter ants is a parable about the spiritual life.  Negative, sinful forces bombard you from the outside, and on the inside is an old, fallen nature.  Together they conspire to infect you with  spiritual disorder, distraction and mediocrity.
 
There’s a old fable about an Arab, who on a cold winner night, sat in his tent, when a camel gently thrust his nose under the flap and peered in. “Master,” he said, “let me put my nose in your tent. It’s cold and stormy out here.”

”By all means,” said the Arab, “and welcome” as he turned over and went to sleep.

A little later the man awoke to find that the camel had not only put is nose in the tent but his head and neck also.  The camel, who had been turning his head from side to side, said, ‘I will take but little more room if I place my forelegs within the tent. It is difficult standing out here.” 

“Yes, you may put your forelegs within,” said the Arab, moving a little to make room in his small tent. .

“May I not stand wholly inside? I keep the tent open by standing as I do.”  the camel pled.  “Yes, yes,” said the Arab.  “Come wholly inside. Perhaps it will be better for both of us.” 

So the camel crowded in.  The man, with difficulty in the crowded quarters, again went to sleep. When he woke up the next time, he was outside the cold and the camel had the tent to himself.

Compromise is subtle…friendly. But how does it happen?  More importantly how do you keep it from happening?

If I were Nehemiah, I would have ended my journal with the magnificent celebration at the wall, in chapter 12.  In verse 27, he describes this land mark occasion with terms like “gladness,” “thanksgiving,” “singing,” choirs and musical instruments.

If you chart the events of the book, it would look like this: 

…Neh arrives at Jerusalem from Susa, the Persian capital.
…He meets with the city leaders and then challenges the people, “let us rise
         up and build.” 
…They embrace the vision and the wall in built—miraculously— in less than
         three months
…But the building of the wall was only the beginning.
…In chapter 8, Ezra the priest steps forward with the scrolls in his hand,
      and has he reads…a national revival breaks out!

     New commitments are made amid an avalange of confession, weeping
     and rejoicing!

…Chapter 10 opens with a covenant-signing, bearing the names of
      Nehemiah the governor, and 84 representatives of the people.

One day, after 12 years as governor, Nehemiah packs up his stuff and rides into the sunset, returning to the court of Artexerxes, as he had promised over a decade ago.

It would be a climatic moment, a dramatic pause and “The End” to appear on the screen.”  Or the last verse, “They lived happily ever after.”

The heartrending truth is, chapter 13 is anticlimactic.  (Draw downward line.) The story does not end on a spiritual high, with the people reveling in revival.
It is, in fact, a disappointing and discouraging conclusion.

When Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, sat for his official portrait, the artist suggested a slight side view to obscure a wart on his
Lordship’s face.  Cromwell protested saying, “Paint me warts and all.”

The bible paints men “warts and all,” so that in studying their victories and defeats, mistakes and foibles, we can be better people and better servants of God.

Nehemiah gives a brief timetable in verse 6.  He returned to Artexerxes’ court in the 32nd year of his reign.  Underscore the next sentence of the text:

       “Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king and I came to
       Jerusalem…”

There is a wide range of disagreement as to how long Nehemiah was away in Susa.  Some say he returned in as little as a year, since his authority is recognized upon his return. Others say he was absent a decade or more.

Whatever the case may be, between the lines lies an important principle:  
      
        Difference makers influence others through moral authority. 

That is, because of who they are…the principles they model.  If you don’t walk the walk, you waste your talk.  And If people know you belong to Christ, they are turned off; they smell hypocrisy a planet away! And in the church, if a leader slips into giving an impression of obedience; without the reality of obedience, his leadership is a mockery to God!

Nehemiah jots down in his journal, “Then after certain days, I obtained leave.”  Why did he return? It wasn’t a Holy Land Vacation!  His burden and vision for a ministry at the wall began with unsettling news of conditions there… and now he hears the gnawing of carpenter ants!

When he stands again ankle-deep in the dusty streets of the Holy City, Nehemiah and the people stand in sharp contrast to each other.  And at this moment in our spiritual walk, you and I identify with one of the two.

Nehemiah, is a man marked by …

*Faithfulness
*Spiritual Passion & Vision
*Determination
*Perseverance

The People are soaking in…

*Compromise
*Tolerance of evil
*Contentment with the status quo

During the days of blazing revival, the people had signed a vow of obedience.  They pledged faithfulness to God in six areas.

1. The Family
2. The Sabbath
3. The Temple Tax
4. Provisions for the daily temple services
5. (The) Dedication of the Firstborn
6. The Tithe

When Nehemiah arrives, he finds the people breaking their promises in five of the six areas of sworn obedience to God.   The only area not referenced is the dedication of the firstborn, which was probably viewed as a part of the larger problem of intermarriage with pagans in verses 23-28.  What good is it dedicating a child to God during infancy, if you stand by while them date (and marry) an unsaved person!

Nehemiah is not alone in this shoot’m-up-ministry! Malachi, that no-nonsense, prophet is also in Jerusalem at this time calling the people back to God.  He says,

       “The Lord says, ‘You are despising my name…you are presenting the
        leftovers to me and keeping the best for yourself…

        “You present haggard, blind sheep to me in sacrifice. Do you
         think I will look the other way forever.”

         “I hate divorce.”

         “Will a man rob God?”  Yet you have robbed me! But you say, In what
          way have we robbed you?  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed
          with a curse, For you have robbed me. Bring all the tithes into the
          storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”

Because of their neglect, the Lord’s ministry languished because the temple was under funded and understaffed. (You see that in verse 10.)

Did the nation listen to Nehemiah and Malachi? Did they get it? Yes for no. No It sank into 400 years of obscurity and spiritual poverty.

One glorious day, four centuries later, John the Baptist steps from the crowd and points to a stranger and cries out, “Look at Him! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

They still didn’t get it.  And 70 years later, the Romans marched on Jerusalem, just as the Babylonians had done in Nehemiah’s time, and the beloved temple was ransacked!

That why Jesus said repeated, “Let Him who has ears to hear let him hear.”  “The Message,” paraphrases it, “Are you listening to me? Really listening?

Let’s turn our attention to Nehemiah.

He arrives in Jerusalem to find that Israel’s mortal enemies—Moabites and Ammonites—had not only penetrated the wall, but where smack damb in the middle of the tent—They were in the Temple!

If that’s not bad enough, (this would defy imagination if you didn’t you’re your own heart so well), Nehemiah discovers that one of the priests, Eliashib, had rented a suite of empty storerooms in the Holy Temple to Tobiah, that devilish, defiant enemy of God and the people.

Why were these rooms available at all? Because of disobedience. I don’t want to spiritualize this scene, but, when you disobey the clear, revealed will of God, you leave room for the devil to move in.

The next series is an exposition of the book of Titus.  There are several reasons why I’m being led there at this time.  One is Eliashib.  The book opens with qualification for leaders, not just pastors.  A church or a ministry that has taken years and decades to build, which has enjoyed the blessing of God, may be utterly destroyed in the snap of a finger, because of weak, undiscerning, unqualified leaders.

How often have ministries languished when the main leader moves on or retires; or in the second generation, because of  a wrong measuring rod for the selection of leaders.

Here is a trusted man, probably appointed by Nehemiah himself, who betrays that trust through compromise.  How did it happen? Well, you discover in chapter 6:18 that Tobiah had married into a Jewish family.

Eliashib allowed the wrong people to influence him.  And I’m confident that rationalization played a part: 

          “Well, here are these rooms, they aren’t being used.  I’ll rent them
           them to Brother Tobiah and put the much-needed money into the
           offering plate on the Sabbath day.” 

In what ways are you rationalizing?  

A lot of American Christians have a real problem with Nehemiah’s direct approach to the situation.  They are turned off by his swift intolerance to the compromise he saw.

Listen to “The Message” rendering of verse 8, “I was angry, really angry, and threw everything in the room out into the street, all of Tobiah’s stuff.”

In verse 25, he physically attacked the pagans, “So I contended with them
   and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair.”

”How inappropriate.”
”How arrogant.”
”Neh must be a fundamentalist.”

In that culture, pulling or plucking hair was intended to humiliate the guilty person.

One of the most tragic inroads the culture has made into the church is our toleration of things God hates.  The politically correct, media-sickened,  entertainment-obsessed culture is right in the church!

Christian pollster, George Barna, did a basic life-view survey; listen to his conclusion:

    “Most Christians have plentiful exposure to God’s truth…but few have
    actually been pierced by the truth and meaning of their Christian
    faith…Even though most believers acknowledge that their blessings come
    from God, they further contend that the primary purpose of God’s blessing
    is to make them happy.”

    Only a relative handful of believers in the survey understood that concept
    that (quote), ‘God blesses me so I can bless others.’  When asked to
    describe the top reasons for which they live, born-again Christians on the
    whole reported that they were living for health, a successful career, a
    comfortable lifestyle, and a functional family.

    The average born-again Christian wrongly assumes that ‘when I am happy,
    God is happy.’  The average born-again Christian spends more time
    watching television in one evening than he or she spends reading their
    Bible in a whole week.”  (“I Really Want To Change…” James MacDonald,
    122).

In a discussion of moral relativism, (which of necessity denies any concept of “sin”), John MacArthur notes:

    “Tolerance of all other viewpoints becomes a paramount mandate within a
     postmodern mind-set. However, tolerance is no longer defined as an
     individual’s gracious response to a person holding erroneous viewpoints.
     Tolerance is now defined as the expectation that every person must
     abandon the belief that his/or understanding of truth has any more validity
     than any other person’s viewpoint.”  (“Thinking Biblically,” 244)

Friends, there’s a time to get angry! There is a time to pound your fist, to say “This is wrong” in the face of evil. There is a time to suffer loss and belittlement for truth and righteousness!

Let them raise their eyebrows; let them laugh! I’m sure there were those in Jerusalem who rolled their eyes and said, “Oh, Nehemiah obviously didn’t take his valium this morning…he’s just manic!  “He has a God complex.”

A vision of God’s holiness must result is a sensitivity to sin, wherever it exists!

Have you thought about this?  Why did Nehemiah return to Jerusalem at all?  He left the comforts of his plush government job to lead a rag-tag crew in reconstructing the wall.  He stays on, and serves for more than a decade as the governor of Jerusalem.  He returns to the palace.

When you read, “I returned to the king” in verse six, write over that:  “Comfort, recognition, security, ease, leisure.”  The best guess is that Nehemiah is somewhere between age 60 and 70 now. According to Numbers chapter 8, In Israel, people normally stepped back from their careers at age 50.

 Listen, Nehemiah could have said: 

”I’ve paid my dues
”I served.”
”Let somebody else do it.”
”It’s my time to play in the sun.’

No!  He understood that every day and every year is a stewardship; that a believer may retire vocationally, but he never retires from ministry and his calling. The only “x” factor for Nehemiah would have been health.

Twenty five years ago, my family and I lived in a retirement, beach town on South Florida’s Gold Coast.  The area dripped in incredible wealth.  It also dripped in misery.  You’d be pressed to find a greater concentration of crotchety, self-centered, bored people in one place on the planet!

So many Christians have bought into the culture’s view of retirement; they
 have hung out the culture’s shingle:

“Don’t ask me to serve, I served”  
“Retirement: My time to play.”

Retire does present a welcomed opportunity to step away from the stress and rigors of job and career.  It does allow for a change of pace. But where do you find spiritual gifts and calling being handed back to God at age 55, 62, or 65?
 
One woman defined retirement as “twice the husband on half the salary.”

Senior friends, (according to AARP, I are one), have you studied what the God says about retirement? Have you the retired people of the bible?

Oh, don’t let this cultural mindset swallow you up:

”Since I have retired from life’s competition,
Each day is filled with complete repetition.
I get up every morning and dust off my wits,
Go pick up the paper and read the obits,
If my name isn’t there, I know I’m not dead,
So I get a good breakfast and go back to bed.”

Former Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, writes: 

     “We must not rob the years after sixty-five of their value. You do not need
     to give up on living at sixty-five and snooze in a rocking chair.  Too many
      Americans withdraw into inactivity. Than they find themselves depressed
      and plagued with poor health.”

I remind you that…

…William Gladstone became Prime Minister of England at 83.
…Benjamin Franklin helped frame the Constitution at age 80.
…Oliver Wendell Holmes retired from the Supreme Court at 91.
…Henry Ford, when he was past 80, again became the President of Ford
         Motor Company.

Retirees—what are you modeling to the next two generations sitting here this morning?  Let me challenge you in love. There is so much that needs to be done around here.  There are areas in which opportunity is knocking, that you can answer. 

Let me exhort those of you who will retire in the next 10 years:  Don’t retire from your job without a clear understanding of what the bible says about retirement.

And when you are tired, beat, bruised, Nehemiah is a pristine example of perseverance.  He finished well.  Recent studies show that 1 in 3 pastors finish well…

Listen to one senior’s testimony as the end drew near:  (This is from “The Message”)

       “This is the only race worth running. I’ve run hard right to the finish;
       believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting—God’s applause!
       Depend on it, he’s an honest judge. He’ll do right not only by me, but by
       everyone eager for his coming.”

His name? Paul.

I glean three Life-Principles From This Scene:

1. Dealing With Problems Begins With Honest Observation.

You can’t solve a problem that you haven’t identified.

2. Correcting What Is Honestly Observed Demands Fearless
    Conviction.

Many fears keep us from confronting problems—the fear of…

…what others will think or say
…the fear of upsetting the status quo
…the fear of being misunderstood

Carpenter ants are obliterated only when you take a stand and do what’s right.

3. Honest Observation And Fearless Conviction Must Be Tempered And
    Maintained Through Consistent Devotion.

In the last six chapters, whenever the Word was read and taken seriously life-changing things happened!

Nehemiah finished, on a confident note of devotion:  

        “Remember me, O my God, for good!”

One Saturday in winter, a couple of boys went around their neighborhood looking for jobs shoveling snow.  They saw a man shoveling his driveway and asked if they could do the job.

”Can’t you see I’m already half finished?’ he asked.

”That’s why we asked,” the boys explained.  “You see, we get most of our work from people who get started but weren’t able to finish.”