Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for His service. ~ Nehemiah 13:14
- Why does Nehemiah ask God not to wipe out what he did?
- Because it was for ‘God’s Place’ & ‘God’s Glory’ in the lives of God’s people
- Not self promotion! Nehemiah has God’s heart for God’s people [CH. 1]
- Nehemiah understood what is best for God’s people, for Christ’s people
- To live by God’s commands, ordinances and principals [HIS will & ways]
We have seen God re-constitute His people, in His place [Jerusalem] and they proclaimed HIS glory in dedicating the wall! The nation is one in repentance and committing to live based on God’s will and ways…
In last week’s passage we heard what happened when Nehemiah went back to Persia to visit King Artaxerxes. The High Priest had given place to God’s enemies in God’s Holy Temple BIG DEAL. The communal system that enabled everyone to share in worship had been corrupted and hijacked to benefit a local official [Tobiah] Nehemiah throws all of Tobiah’s stuff out and re-consecrates the Temple, restoring the regular support of the levites to serve.
Nehemiah 13:15-31 [CJB]
15 During this time, I saw in Judah some people who were treading winepresses on the Sabbath, also bringing in heaps of grain and loading donkeys with it, likewise wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads; and they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. On the day when they were planning to sell the food, I warned them not to. 16 There were also living there people from Tyre who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the people in Judah and even in Jerusalem.
- Nehemiah had gone back to Susa after The Wall was dedicated, then returned
- These activities directly violate the letter and the spirit of sabbath practice
- God’s people were letting ungodly people dictate culture to them
- Dishonoring of The Sabbath is a attack at the cornerstone of Jewish Culture
- The Sabbath serves as a weekly reminder of God’s Sovereignty & Care
17 I disputed with the nobles of Judah, demanding of them, “What is this terrible thing you are doing, profaning the day of the Sabbath? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do this, and didn’t our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are bringing still more fury against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
- Nehemiah called to account those who were allowing the sabbath breaking
- Nehemiah basically says: ‘Haven’t you learned??’
- It was a foundational part of a walk with God: the honoring of the Sabbath
- What is the theology behind the Sabbath for a Christ follower? [RE-CREATION]
- It is about taking time out from your normal work life to focus on God
- We don’t take a break from ministry on the Sabbath…
19 So when the gates of Jerusalem began to grow dark before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut; and I ordered that they not be reopened until after the Sabbath. I put some of my servants in charge of the gates, to see to it that no loads be brought in on the Sabbath. 20 The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice, 21 until I warned them, “Why are you spending the night by the wall? Do it again, and I’ll use force against you!” From then on they stopped coming on the Sabbath.
- Nehemiah is moved to action
- He is going to regulate the behavior of the people to build a habit
- The threat of force… is it Christ-like?
- You have to confront outside influences that dishonor the God of the Bible
- You Gotta Fight…For Your God: YAHWEH!
- Satan influences bullies…when you stand up to them they retreat
22 Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates, in order to keep the day of the Sabbath holy. My God, remember this too for me, and have mercy on me in keeping with the greatness of your grace!
- To make sure this practice didn’t start back up, ‘Spiritual Oversight’ put in place
- Nehemiah asks God to validate his action to keep the sabbath holy
- He knows he is not worthy but pleads for God’s undeserved favor [Grace]
23 Also during this time I saw the men Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab; 24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people. 25 I disputed with them and cursed them, and I beat some of them up and pulled out their hair. Then I made them swear by God, “You will not give your daughters as wives for their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves.”
- Ashdod = Philistines [God ordered the Israelites to eliminate them]
- Ammon & Moab: Last week we heard they were to be excluded…
- The intermarriage was altering their culture [language is one example]
- God’s people cannot stand for the degradation of their Scripture based culture
- These are examples of what we call ‘Slippery Slopes’
- Nehemiah argues, curses & physically reprimands them [corporal punishment]
- Then he makes them swear an oath by God: They must have been persuaded!
26 Wasn’t it by doing these things that Solomon king of Israel sinned? There was no king like him among many nations, and his God loved him, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 Are we to give in to you and let you continue in this very great evil, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?
- The example from God’s Word is definitive
- Even the Greatest King of Israel compromised his obedience for foreign wives
- So why would you even think about doing it???
28 One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, had become son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; so I drove him out of my presence. 29 ‘My God, remember them; because they have defiled the office of the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites’. 30 Thus I cleansed them of everything foreign, and I had the priests and the Levites resume their duties, each one in his appointed task. 31 I also made provision for the delivery of wood at stated times, and for the first-fruits.
- Grandson of the High Priest married a Horonite [from Horoniam, a city in Moab]
- Nehemiah exiled him from Jerusalem / removal of the corrupt influence
- He asks God to enact judgement on Eliashib, Joiada and his son [spiritual]
- Nehemiah stepped in to personally get things right
- Cleansed of foreign influences, the Levites and Priests resumed their duties…
My God, remember me favorably.
- God, I have lived based on your will and ways
- God, I have stood up for YOU and your Word
SUMMARY:
If you belong to God, YOU form your life around HIS Word. [Streams of Culture]
God has blessed HIS people with the principal of Sabbath. [Work 6 days, Rest 1]
For God’s people, marriage joins man & woman based on a shared worldview.
Values and culture that dishonors God are to be confronted and fought against.
Having Studied The Book of Nehemiah…
SO HOW ARE WE GOING TO LIVE?
Ways Christ’s Church is to live from Nehemiah
- LIVING BY PRAYER = Praying as God’s Word Directs [His Heart]
- LIVING BY GOING = Kingdom Focus & Purpose Directing Life Choices
- LIVING BY WORKING = Kingdom Building Where God Places YOU
- LIVING BY CARING = Treating People Based on God’s Standards
- LIVING BY WARRING = Prepared to Fight for God’s Principals and Purposes
- LIVING BY GOD’S WORD = Commitment to Reading & Applying Scripture
- LIVING BY REPENTING = Humility & Contrition Before Your God
- LIVING BY WORSHIPING = Lifestyle of Giving Thanks, Praise & Glory to God
- LIVING FOR COMMUNITY = Financial, Emotional & Spiritual Faith Family
- LIVING BY GOD’S WORD = Realigning YOUR life in serious, meaningful ways
- LIVING FOR GOD’S HONOR = Culture & Lifestyle that Fully Honors Christ
- LIVING BY RENEWAL = Building & Rebuilding A Walk with Christ