Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110424.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nehemiah: Excelling In Leadership In Hard Times
Part IV: The Leader's Role When God's People Are Mobilized By Him, Nehemiah 8:1-13:31
F. Leading By Routinely Influencing Others To Obey God In Their Employment
(Nehemiah 13:15-22)
  1. Introduction
    1. One's employment income is very important to him since it is the medium of exchange he needs to sustain his life, so, how he handles issues of his employment is a solid indicator of his relationship with the Lord.
    2. That being so, it is essential that leaders always influence subordinates to obey God in this realm, for the lure to disobey God in this area out of fear for one's livelihood are great and are often repetitive!
    3. Nehemiah exemplified such leadership in Nehemiah 13:15-22, and we view this passage for our insight:
  2. Leading By Routinely Influencing Others To Obey God In Their Employment, Nehemiah 13:15-22.
    1. God had commanded the people of Israel not to do work to earn a livelihood on the Sabbath Day in Exodus 20:8-11, a practice that became Israel's key testimony before the pagan world (as follows):
      1. Paganism held the universe was inhabited by fickle, amoral gods who enslaved men even in business efforts so that on the seventh day, man was to afflict himself and shun pleasures to avoid economic troubles and failure, Bruce K. Waltke, Creation and Chaos, 1974, p. 47, 57, 65.
      2. In contrast, God called Israel to testify how her transcendent God Who was morally consistent and gracious had given her the Sabbath as a day of rest and refreshment, Exodus 20:11; 31:16-17.
    2. Observing the Sabbath thus became the mark of Israel's dedication to a God of grace before the pagan world, a testimony so important that violating it became a capital offense, Exodus 31:13-14.
    3. However, though all Israel had agreed to obey the Law after returning to the land after the Babylonian Captivity (Neh. 9:1-3, 33, 38), Nehemiah found them violating the Sabbath law, Nehemiah 13:15-16:
      1. He found some Hebrews treading winepresses and bringing grain, wine, grapes, figs and other produce to load on donkeys to bring to Jerusalem on the Sabbath for sale the next day, Nehemiah 13:15a NIV. This was an effort to obey the Sabbath in a technical sense while "fudging" on it in the spirit of the law.
      2. Gentiles from Tyre, pagans before whom Israel was to testify of God's grace by keeping the Sabbath, had learned so to ignore the Sabbath rest due to Israel's misrepresentation of it that they were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise to the city and selling it to the Hebrews on the Sabbath, Neh. 13:16.
    4. Nehemiah thus routinely influenced others to obey God regarding this Sabbath necessarily to offset the constant lure to be faithlessly involved in violating the Sabbath for one's livelihood, Neh. 13:15b, 17-22a:
      1. First, Nehemiah warned the Jews on the day after the Sabbath when they sold their goods against getting the goods ready for sale on the Sabbath, Nehemiah 13:15b ESV, NIV.
      2. Then, he rebuked Judah's nobles for letting the people violate the Sabbath, noting God had punished the forefathers for this so that their current Sabbath sin only incited God's wrath, Neh. 13:17-18 NIV.
      3. Third, Nehemiah then ordered the gates of the city closed when the evening shadows began to fall near the start of the Sabbath, ordering them to stay closed until after the Sabbath day ended, Neh. 13:19a.
      4. Fourth, he stationed some of his own civil servants at the city gates so that no load of any kind (to avoid the secret hauling of goods for sale) could be brought into the city on the Sabbath, Neh. 13:19b.
      5. Fifth, when Nehemiah saw sellers spending the night with their wares before the Sabbath ended outside the city so the Hebrews could look at their goods and desire to buy them the next day, a violation in spirit of the Sabbath rest, Nehemiah effectively warned them to leave, Nehemiah 13:20-21.
      6. Sixth, Nehemiah told the Levites to purify themselves and replace his own guards at the gates as those who should rightly take the spiritual lead in influencing Israel to observe the Sabbath, Neh. 13:22a.
    5. Nehemiah thus asked God to remember and show him mercy in His great love for these acts, Neh. 13:22b.
Lesson: When the people of Israel failed even in spirit to heed a key command involving earning a living, Nehemiah consistently led them to observe God's will in accord with their original promise to obey it to offset the repeat temptations to violate the Sabbath due to their strong drive to earn a living.

Application: May we who lead those facing strong temptations to sin in earning a living consistently influence them to heed the Lord from the heart and so learn to live by faith in His livelihood provisions.