Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110227.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nehemiah: Excelling In Leadership In Hard Times
Part XII: Handling Group Immature Ungodliness With Personal Vigilance
(Nehemiah 6:15-7:4)
  1. Introduction
    1. A tough challenge a leader can face is immature ungodliness in his subordinates: if they fail to discern an evil the leader knows threatens them, the subordinates may not heed the leader if he strongly warns of the danger, so he must "go the extra mile" in protective oversight by taking excessive personal action himself.
    2. Nehemiah skillfully exemplified how to handle this kind of situation in Nehemiah 6:15-7:4 as follows:
  2. Handling Group Immature Ungodliness With Personal Vigilance, Nehemiah 6:15-7:4.
    1. Nehemiah 6:15 reports the city wall was rebuilt in just fifty-two days, a huge achievement given the great opposition faced, the limited, untrained laborers who performed the work, and the destroyed wall's materials used to accomplish this work, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Nehemiah 6:15.
    2. Indeed, so great was this accomplishment, Israel's foes who had tried to combat their effort at every turn suffered a great loss of self-confidence, realizing they were fighting a losing battle in opposing God Who had obviously been with the wall builders, Neh. 6:16 NIV; Bible Knowledge Commentary, O. T., p. 686.
    3. What made this accomplishment even greater was the huge personal battle Nehemiah had faced in regard to the immature ungodliness of some of the Hebrews who worked with him, and how this challenge had put him and the workers on the wall in constant, grave danger, Nehemiah 6:17-19:
      1. Tobiah, one of Nehemiah's foes, a man who had scorned the wall building effort (Neh. 2:10, 19), who had ridiculed the work (Neh, 4:3), who had conspired to attack the wall builders (Neh. 4:7-8), who hand tried to lure Nehemiah away from the wall to kill him or to attack his coworkers (Neh. 6:1-4) and who had treacherously tried to manipulate Nehemiah to enter the temple to dishonor himself (Neh. 6:10-14), had corresponded extensively with Judah's nobles during the wall building effort, Neh . 6:17.
      2. This correspondence arose from the ties Tobiah had with those who helped Nehemiah, Neh. 6:18a,b,c:
        1. Many workers helping Nehemiah were loyal to Tobiah since he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, who is named in the Hebrew genealogy of Ezra 2:5, Nehemiah 6:18b.
        2. Many workers were loyal to Tobiah as his daughter-in-law was the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berekiah, who worked on two different parts of the wall, Neh. 6:18c with 3:4, 30; Ibid., p. 687.
      3. These ties led many of Tobiah's Hebrew supporters to ignore his efforts to hurt the wall building effort by ridicule, by threat of military force, by luring to kill or by treacherously trying to get Nehemiah to discredit himself. Thus, they told Nehemiah of Tobiah's "good deeds" while reporting Nehemiah's responses to these to Tobiah, and Tobiah would send letters to Nehemiah to intimidate him based on this "inside" information gleaned from these reports of Nehemiah's responses to him, Nehemiah 6:19!
    4. Thus, Nehemiah dealt gently with the immature ungodliness while staying personally vigilant, Neh. 7:1-4:
      1. In the wall-building work, Nehemiah never took a public stand against Tobiah lest he lose any workers.
      2. However, even after the wall had been completed, he set up its gates and appointed gatekeepers, singers and Levites to their places (Neh. 7:1), and assigned his brother Hanani who had first told him of Jerusalem's needy state (Neh. 1:2-3) and Hananiah, the ruler in charge of the fortress that protected the temple (Neh. 1:2a; Ibid., Ryie, ftn. to Neh. 2:7-9) the charge of the city of Jerusalem, for Hananiah was a faithful man and feared the Lord more than many others, Nehemiah 7:1-2.
      3. Then, Nehemiah charged these two men to open the gates only when the sun was well risen to defend against a surprise attack from Tobiah and associates, and to shut and lock the gates at night, appointing a guard from those who worked on the wall to guard at posts and near their families, Neh. 7:3 NIV.
      4. This plan was necessary not only because of the continued threat of the enemies and their ties to loyal friends in Jerusalem, but since the large area of the city was sparsely populated, and the homes of Jerusalem had not yet been built to provide sufficient shelter in case of an invasion, Nehemiah 7:4.
Lesson: In facing immature ungodliness in his subordinates that left them open to grave danger, Nehemiah dealt gently with their immaturity while personally taking extra steps to address the danger.

Application: May we heed Nehemiah's lead to handle immature ungodliness in the needy around us.