Under Attack Text: Nehemiah 4:1-23 Series: Book of Nehemiah [#4] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl June 29, 2014

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1 Under Attack Text: Nehemiah 4:1-23 Series: Book of Nehemiah [#4] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl June 29, 2014 Theme: Defeating opposition to God s work requires active faith. Introduction Under attack! September 11, 2001 the day Washington, D.C. came under attack. Just the words 9/11 still trigger painful pictures. Eleven years later, September 11, 2012, the U.S. diplomatic mission and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya came under attack. The U.S. ambassador and three others were killed. The capture of one of the suspected attack ringleaders two weeks ago brought the fiery nighttime pictures back into the news. We see Nehemiah and his people under attack when we come to chapter 4. Nehemiah went from a prestigious and powerful position in the palace of King Artaxerxes to serving as governor in Jerusalem to rebuild its defences. About 3 miles of walls and gates were built in 52 days. In addition to the time frame being an impossible task, they were under attack from those who did not want Jerusalem to be rebuilt and be secure. Nehemiah was surrounded by people who were determined to stop him, who kept on attacking him. Chapters 4-6 show us the attacks and Nehemiah s response. This morning we are looking at chapter 4. Under Attack! How do you feel when you are in the crosshairs? How do you respond? What do you do? We need to be prepared. When we live for God, do what is right and good, there will be some opposition. Last week in chapter 3 we learned that God accomplishes the impossible through people with active faith. Today we learn that defeating opposition to God s work also requires active faith. Facing opposition which can discourage you. There are a number of lines of attack that we see in chapters 4-6. One we see here in chapter 4 there is opposition which can discourage us. One strategy to discourage us is to ridicule us. Verse1, When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews (NIV). We don t know much about Sanballat. Historical records tell us he was the mortal enemy of Nehemiah and that at some point he was the governor of Samaria, 1 which included the former Northern Kingdom

2 of Israel and extended south to include the area of Jerusalem. Nehemiah, under the king s authority, carved the Jerusalem area out into a separate district under his authority, not Sanballat s. 2 Sanballat, mocked the Jews rebuilding the wall. This was not the first time he did this. Chapter 2 verse 19 tells us that he mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah and the people. He was angry. He knew if Jerusalem s defences were rebuilt, if the city was secure, then Jewish people would return. That would spell big trouble for him, and for his power base in the region. He gathered his friends and ridiculed the Jews, verse 2, What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones? His friend Tobiah chimed in, What they are building even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones! (3, NIV). Their goal was to discourage the Jewish people so they would give up on the work. Ridicule of God s people and work is all around today. The words Christian, evangelical and others are often used as negative, loaded terms to subtly or directly try to make Christians look like ignorant country bumpkins, and so discourage and silence us. More than 2,400 years have gone by since Sanballat, but the same strategy is alive and well. As we say and do what is right, as we do God s work, some will ridicule us. Nehemiah shows us some of God s strategy for defeating discouragement. First there is prayer. We have seen a strong and consistent emphasis on prayer in Nehemiah. When his enemies fired ridicule at him, what did he do? Verse 4. Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders. Again in verse 9 he writes, But we prayed to our God (NIV). He prayed. He did not sit in a corner, intimidated and discouraged. Nor did he rashly lash out at the opponents of God s work. Before he did anything, he went to God in prayer. It is often said, prayer changes things. It does beginning with me! With the person praying! It changes our attitudes, motives, and objectives even before we get to praying for those who oppose God s work. God also uses it as He changes other things and people that we could never effectively influence on our own. Prayer is critical to defeating discouragement. A second part of God s strategy to defeat discouragement is to keep working. Sanballat and Tobiah ridiculed the wall, Even if it is built, it won t stand! Nehemiah prayed and, verse 6 tells us, So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart (NIV). He prayed and kept working to get this done quickly. 2

3 Prayer should surround and saturate our action, but it is not a substitute for action. As we saw in Nehemiah back in chapter 1, we are to proceed in faith, keep proceeding in faith to accomplish the task. An old question is important here: What does it take to stop you? When you face criticism and opposition, what does it take to stop you? Opposition in and of itself is not a certain indicator that we should stop or take a break. Don t let opposition freeze you with fear or deaden you with discouragement. Keep moving, keep working for God, and He will accomplish the work through you. We will face opposition which can discourage and defeat us. God s strategy for defeating discouragement is faith in action pray and keep working. Facing opposition which can overpower you. Another line of attack is trying to overpower us. We see this here in chapter 4, and we will see much more of it in chapter 6. Nehemiah s enemies tried to overpower him by guerilla warfare. The assault of words did not work so it was time for them, they thought, to move to force. But his enemies had a problem: Nehemiah was the king s governor and had the king s authorization for the work. They did not dare to not launch an open attack. So, they planned and schemed. Verse 7. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion (7-8, NLT). Verse 11. Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, Before they know what s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work (NLT). Guerilla warfare. No open declaration of war. No flags or standards waving. The strategy was to get in and get out. Fortunately, we do not face armies marching against us. We do face social and even legal challenges trying to overpower and defeat us. Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. is affiliated with our fellowship of churches, the Evangelical Free Church of Canada. The B.C. College of Teachers rejected their bid to take full responsibility to grant teaching degrees stating that the school s Christian code of conduct was discriminatory. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled in TWU s favor in More recently, TWU announced plans to start a school of law. While the board of governors of the B.C. Law Society in April of this year approved the request to allow graduates to enter the Law Society of B.C., their membership at a special meeting on June 11 voted against TWU by a 3 to 1 margin. That vote is not binding, but once again this might wind end up in the courts. So what do we do? How do we respond? In general terms, we need to guard against 3

4 paranoia that they are all out to get us, that all non-christians and all the institutions of our society are out to get us. We also need to guard against this in our differences with other believers. Some people s prime focus is on the battles, on battling, rather than building. The late Francis Schaeffer described how at one time he had become focused on fighting battles against one Christian group and then another, on causes that he believed deeply so much that he lost his first love for Christ and His work. He worked through this and wrote in a letter, willing, I will push and politick no more the mountains are too high, history is too long and eternity is longer. God is too great, man is too small, there are many of God s dear children, and all around there are men and women going to hell. And if one man and a small group of men do not approve of where I am and what I do, does it prove I ve missed success? No; only one thing will determine that whether this day I m where the Lord of lords and King of kings wants me to be. To win as many as I can, to help strengthen the hands of those who fight unbelief in the historical setting in which they are placed, to know the reality of the Lord is my song and to be committed to the Holy Spirit that is what I wish I could know to be the reality of each day as it closes. 3 Yes. And at the same time we also need to be aware of and prepared for attacks of those who try to overpower God s truth, work and His people who carry it out. Nehemiah shows us some of God s strategy to prevent being overpowered. It includes adding watchful readiness to prayer. Nehemiah gives us an overall description of his doing this in verse 9. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night (ESV). There are a few details in the following verses. Verse 13. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows (ESV). And then starting at verse 16. From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us (16-20, ESV). 4

5 Prayer and preparation, watchful readiness. God s strategy for us to prevent being overpowered includes adding watchful readiness to prayer. There are additional parts of God s strategy for us in chapters 5 and 6, but keep this central whenever facing attacks aimed at overpowering, silencing, defeating you. I know it is difficult to keep the right balance at times. At one time we may plead with God, but not be watchful. At other times we may rush ahead on our own. So be aware, ask God to keep you aware to respond as He wants you to, in ways that He will use to give you victory and Himself the glory. Conclusion In following God, doing what is right, doing God s work, we will face opposition. Don t be surprised when you experience it. Jesus told us, If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 4 And so John wrote in his first letter, Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 5 When under attack, what do you do? Live out the truth that defeating opposition to God s work requires active faith. When Goliath the Philistine challenged King s Saul army to a one-on-one, winner-take-all battle, the king and all his soldiers were terrified. Goliath repeated the challenge day after day for forty days. When young David arrived on the scene and offered to fight Goliath no one gave him a chance. When he finally was allowed to take on Goliath on behalf of all Israel with his sling and five smooth stones, he responded to Goliath s taunts saying, the battle is the LORD S and He will give you into our hands. 6 Always remember, never forget, the battle is the Lord s. In these next moments with God come face to face with the truth that doing what is right, doing God s work will bring opposition. Thank God and praise Him that He can lead you to victory over that opposition through active faith. 1 The Elephantine Papyri In English. Trans. Bezalel Porter with J. J. Farber, C.J. Martin, G. Vittman et al. Leiben, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1996, pages 79, J. L. Kelso in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. Five. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975, 1976, page Francis A. Schaeffer; Dennis T. Lane, ed. Letters Of Francis A. Schaeffer: Spiritual Reality in the Personal Christian Life. Westchester, IL,: Crossway Books, 1985, pages John 15: John 3:13. 5

6 6 1 Samuel 17: Lyle L. Wahl Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved. 6