The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 20th February 2011 by Georges Kisombola
"In time of Distraction"
Nehemiah 6:1-14
We're in the book of Nehemiah, one of the greatest books on leadership in all of Scripture. The situation is this. There is a great city called Jerusalem that had been in disrepair for about 140 years. And the city was absolutely destroyed. People had scattered. God burdened or called a man named Nehemiah to move to the city, to rebuild its walls, and he obeyed God.??God made a way for him to relocate to that town with the resources he needed and the approval of the king, As soon as he arrived, he was met with discouragement. A bunch of opposition rose up. He worked through that. Then there was internal opposition with those who claimed to be God's people. It was just a very hard, long project that God called him to.
In an effort to deal with this personally and emotionally, Nehemiah wrote down his own private thoughts. Today he is, at this point in the story, coming up on a very strategic day, that day being the completion of the building of the walls and hanging of the gates for the city of Jerusalem.
So this is like having a front door on your home.??You get to monitor who comes and goes, guarantee safety. And as soon as that was done, then people could move back into the city. Homes could be built. Schools could be opened. Businesses could be opened. Churches could be planted. Life could begin. So this was very, very strategic. And true to form, as had been the case throughout the course of Nehemiah's work, opposition rose up.
You'll see today that Distracting, Discrediting and deceiving are all ways that are used to make the followers of Jesus deviate from the plan that God has for their lives.
Distraction Verse 1, Chapter 6 1-4
First thing they try to do is get Nehemiah distracted from his mission. Some of you are leaders in ministry, business, parents, you're leading your family, whatever. And the first thing you need to know is that when God gives you a call on your life " Immediately, there will be attempts to distract you, to get you off to do something else. These are actually pretty good things, but they're lesser priorities.?And the point is simply that if Satan can't make you sin; he will keep you busy with things that are of lesser importance.
Nehemiah has a call in his life, and that is to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Chapter 6, Vs 1" Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono."
This appears to be like "Hey Let's gets together for coffee, lunch. You take a few days off. You're a Christian. We're supposed to love one another, and you're supposed to love your enemies. And come on, let's hang out.
This seems pretty good - something that a Christian should do. But Nehemiah's mission is to finish the wall not to hang out. They're just trying to distract him from that. Not everyone who extends a hand of friendship is necessarily a friend.
To the request, Nehemiah with discernment says, they intend "To do me harm." This was a distractive tactic.
And I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?"
How many of you if you will say "That's very rude, too busy." But it's true. He's busy. He's building a city. And what I love about Nehemiah, He doesn't fire back at them. He doesn't say, "You're just plotting to destroy me." Instead, what he says is, very kindly, very gently, "I have important things to do. I can't take two or three days off" - which is what they were asking. "I need to stick to my priorities."
How many of you know what should be your priorities? You know that there are some things that God has laid on your heart. You say these are priorities for me right now. This is where my time, my energy, my money must go," but you're diverted? You're constantly taken off track. There's some great insight here as to why maybe you get off track so easily in Verse 4.
"And they sent to me"- how many times? Four times - "in this way, and I answered them in the same manner." Maybe you keep getting off of your mission because someone else is really pushy. Nehemiah practices the Christian discipline of saying no. Sometimes you just have to say no. So the next thing they do, they step up their attacks and they make them personal. They seek to disgrace and discredit him by destroying his reputation.
Discredit or Disgrace Verse 5 -9
In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
Now, let me explain this. An open letter is really dangerous. In those days, letters were sealed and closed. So I would write a letter to you, I'd seal it. It'd be delivered to you. Only you could break the seal and read it. An open letter meant that everyone and anyone could read it just like writing on your facebook's these days for everyone to read.
It's another form of diversion. You will log on to every blog, and answer the questions and critics, log in to every chat room, and have this conversation, respond to every e mail, every media request? Sometimes it's exhausting.
In it was written, "It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel." That's treason. Treason means if the king thinks you're against him, he cuts your head off. "And you have also set up prophets." Oh, yeah. "And according to these reports," - I love the reports. There are no reports. They're making it up. It's a lie. Reports! "Our sources told us," what source?
Then I sent to him, saying, "No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind." This is a lie.'" Sometimes, you just need to refute the lie.
For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done." But now, O God, strengthen my hands
Here is what he does when they try to attack him personally. First thing he does, he refutes the lies. It's just not true. Now not everyone is going to believe his reputation. To some degree, his credibility is damaged. That's just the way it is. Additionally, he exposes their motives. You just don't like Christians. You don't like us worshipping God. You don't want us to build this church in this city. Your motives are suspect and lastly he prayed for strength.
Nehemiah is a man who prays all the time. He's a desperate prayer. He says, "God, just strengthen me." There are days when I just don't feel like I have the juice in the tank to do the job. There are just days when you just feel you are not strong. In response to that feeling Nehemiah goes to God praying for strength. Is this what you do when the tank is empty, or do you give in.
You expect someone to come and stand by his side and encourage him but what he gets is in verse 10-14
Deception. Verse 10 -14
Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, So this guy's a prophet, but he's either disabled, sick, or elderly. We don't know, but he's confined to his home.
I don't think that this man had previously been a false prophet. I believe he had probably been someone who God had used in various ways. I would think Nehemiah would take a few hours off of work, and go to this guy's house for a private meeting unless this guy had some credibility. So he goes to meet with this guy because this guy tells him, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night."." Here's the prophecy. "They're going to kill you tonight. Run for your life, and go to the temple and hide."
You would think this is a way out for him. But Nehemiah says in verse 11 " But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in? In another word, You think I'm a chicken? I didn't come this far to drop everything on the floor. Do you not understand that God told me to do this? I'm not doing this 'cause I like it. I'm doing it 'cause I love him. I'm not doing it 'cause it's easy. I'm doing it 'cause it's right. I'm not doing it because this is in my best interest. I'm doing it because this is what the people need.
And I understood and saw that God had not sent him but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. The man was a false prophet because a real prophet says what Scripture says. Scripture is filled with prophets, and any real prophet, Deuteronomy 13, 18 chapters like that in the Bible say anyone who comes along and says, "I speak for God," they're going to agree with Scripture 'cause that's what God has already said. And what God had already said was, "No person who's not a designated priest is allowed to enter the temple."
Nehemiah is not a designated priest. He's a businessman and a politician, but he's not a priest. That man was a prophet for hire.
Poor Nehemiah; His reputation tragically was disgraced
One of the encouragements we are to receive from this is Nehemiah says, "A lot of those people who were saying horrible things and opposing me, as soon as we finished the job, they just became silent."
The principle here is that if we obediently and humbly walk with God, eventually some of our critics just become silenced because the fruit of our lives is such that that is the best defence for our beliefs.
For some of you, maybe it's family or friends. They don't understand your relationship with God. They don't understand your commitment to walking with God, so they become critics. Sadly, sometimes even Christians who aren't obeying Scripture are criticizing you for obeying Scripture or believing all of the Scripture is true. Well, one of the things that Nehemiah said is, "Just keep walking with God." Keep doing what you're supposed to do.
However, we also see that not all critics are silenced. You will meet this guy named Tobiah. The guy is a pain. Not all critics are silenced. Nothing you can do about that. You just need to keep praying.
They may just be hard hearted like Tobiah. Paul says in the New Testament, "Insofar as it's possible for us as God's people, we should seek to live at peace with everybody." I would tell you to make every effort to live at peace. I would also tell you that peace requires two people coming together, and sometimes people have just decided that they're not going to support you no matter what. Tobiah was that kind of man. It's horrible.
What I love about Nehemiah though, having completed the task of the wall, having surveyed the condition of his critics, he then continues on with the work that God has for him to do. And at this point, the book takes a transition from dealing with things like rocks and stones and walls and gates, to people.
I believe that I am speaking to you this morning. What is that mission God has put on your heart? Are you keeping on track? If not, what are the distractions and diversions you find on your way? How do you respond to those attempting to take you off track? Is your response gracious? Have you been deceived or have you deceived someone in order to lead them off track?
