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This morning. If you turn into your notes, you’ll notice that we are on chapter six of the book of Nehemiah together. And this morning I want to talk about a, I think, a serious issue in the life of Nehemiah, something that he faced in his ministry and something that we face in all of our ministries as we follow what God desires for our lives, and that dealing with the area of loneliness. Nehemiah was a an individual who stood up for what he felt. God had called him to do, so much so that he went before the presence of a king that held his very life in his hands. And he said to this king that he didn’t approve with the way that he had handled the area of Jerusalem. And it literally said that Nehemiah was afraid to stand before the king. How lonely he must have felt in those moments to stand before the presence of a king all by himself. And there’s such a world power who has just conquered most of the known world and make that request goes on to tell us that when Nehemiah went to the area of Jerusalem, he was interfered with by enemies on the outside. And Nehemiah, in those moments, probably felt loneliness as a leader. Leadership is a hard place to find people to relate to you. When I went back east to Atlanta, I went to the fastest growing church in America.
This past spring in American history, period. Something that struck me as very odd is with this church of over 20 some thousand people. The fastest growing church to ever exist in America. The the pastor of the church stood up and said that this is a very lonely place for him to be. The reason being is because when a church gets so big and you’re trying to reach out to a community, you really have no other churches to look at, to compare yourself to, to figure out where to go from here. And so as a leader, he felt very isolated and very alone. Kind of interesting in a, in such a large group that he could feel that way. I don’t think it’s much different from just the typical day to day life of what it means to be a Christian. As a Christian, we go through seasons of of loneliness. Seasons of maybe feeling abandoned and we could be surrounded by a great body of Christ, but in our own hearts and minds feel all alone. Bible tells us that not only did Nehemiah feel loneliness from those leaders on the outside who oppose Nehemiah, who tried to create trouble within the city of Jerusalem for him, he also felt somewhat isolated from the people that he was ministering to, because opposition even arose within that that body in Jerusalem. And loneliness is a very dangerous place to be in the life of a Christian.
It’s a very vulnerable place to be, because I believe and I think it’s the motto and theme of our church that life is about relationships. And Jesus said in Mark chapter 12, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and love others. When God created man, he said, it’s not good for man to be alone. God created us for the purpose of community. That’s why he created the church. And so when we become lonely, it becomes very dangerous because we become vulnerable as people. And in that vulnerability, we choose to make decisions sometimes that are contrary to the nature of God. And we make decisions seeking a closeness with someone that may cost us in the future. And Nehemiah and desiring to build this Jerusalem, though God was on his side, I can’t help but think that as a leader he probably felt very lonely. In particular, moments of his ministry loneliness that might point him to sin, loneliness that might cause him to choose something contrary to what God’s call was on his life. This morning, I just want to remind you of how important it is to stay focused on what God’s call is for your life. To get a clear vision of what Jesus wants you to do and to live that, regardless of the circumstances around you. This morning, I want to look at three areas of Nehemiah’s life of loneliness that in opposition, he could have chosen something contrary to the nature of God and God’s desire and plan for his life.
But Nehemiah proved faithful and saw the completion of the Jerusalem Wall. Chapter six of of Nehemiah in verse 15 it tells us after 52 days Nehemiah saw this completion of this wall being made. The first problem that Nehemiah faced as a man leading for for the Lord, looking for the coming of the Messiah was diversion. And I think this is one of the most detrimental things to the Christian life here in America. Diversion is very easy for American Christians to get involved in. You know Satan, if if he can’t get you to sin directly, he’ll just make you busy. And I think in the area of Nehemiah and the chapter six. Beginning in this passage of Scripture, his enemies understood if they could just divert Nehemiah from what God wanted to accomplish in his life, that they could successfully stop him from completing the task that God had called him to do. It tells us in the very first verse of Nehemiah chapter six, excuse me, let me skip that for just a second. Chapter six and verse one it says, Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained, though we had not yet set up the doors and the gates, so that Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono, but I realized they were plotting to harm me.
Nehemiah, in this passage of Scripture, understands that what these men want to accomplish in his life is to harm them. So the Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter four and verse 23, above all else, guard your hearts, for it is the wellspring of life. See, God understands in our world that things of opposition will present itself before us. That will look appetizing, especially in an area of loneliness and how important it is for you as a believer to begin to guard your heart towards the purity that God has called you for. It tells us the wellsprings of life come. I think Jesus even understood the adversity we face when we feel alone as a body of believers, that we may be a part of a church. When he said in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, I have overcome the world. And then in verse 20 he said, I am with you always wherever you go. My presence is there, because the effects of loneliness and the life of a believer may cause us to flee from following him, but preserve the purity of your heart when God calls you. Because in this the wellsprings of life. Come. We’re presented again in verse one with Nehemiah’s enemies. I like to refer to him as the Three Amigos.
Nehemiah is almost to the completion of the wall and and this wall should be a pinnacle moment in his life. You think about our lives, and we look back into our past, and we think about important days when we were married, when we graduated, when you had your first child or second child and every child thereafter. Pinnacle moments of accomplishment in your life when you got your promotion or your first raise? Day 52 of the completion of this wall should have been a pinnacle moment for Nehemiah, but I can’t help but think that as a leader, he must have felt somewhat lonely in his position. He had no one that he could really relate to. And that loneliness he faced an opportunity of diversion from these three amigos. Sanballat and Geshem. It tells us in verse two sent a message to Nehemiah, not everyone who extends a hand of fellowship is looking for your well-being. These guys give the appearance that let’s let’s live like Christians. We’ve we’ve seen in previous messages that Tobiah may have actually been a former Jew, or at least practiced Judaism to some degree. And these men are now coming into Nehemiah as enemies, and they’re saying, let’s hold hands like Christians. Let’s forgive each other. Let’s kiss and make up. Nehemiah understands that though they seem to present an area of goodwill towards them, that they seek harm for him.
Jesus even faced that in his own ministry with the 12 Judas, even giving him the kiss of betrayal. Not everyone who comes before you extending an open hand is seeking after your well-being. We as Christians need to walk in the world to understand that we need to guard the wellsprings of our life to accomplish what God has called us to do. Satan may not get us to sin directly, but he sure can eat our time away and cause us to be busy. And they’re asking Nehemiah to come and spend some time with him. This diversion in Nehemiah’s life could cause him to spend upwards of more than two days to leave, to go meet these guys, to spend time with them according to the customs, during the day with these people, before the completion of the wall tells us in verse three, it says, so Nehemiah. So I replied by sending this message to them, I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Four times they sent the same message and each time I gave the same reply. Nehemiah stands against this diversion. He states his goal of the people I love, the way he says that. What in the world is so important for me to leave the plan that God has called me to do to meet you? What makes you so important in this situation? And he uses his discernment to stay focused, even at the point it tells us in verse four when they become pushy people four times they asked Nehemiah the same request and and try to guilt him into following after what they wanted and what their plan was.
And Nehemiah remains free from their diversion. I’ll just give you three practices from the life of Nehemiah. When diversion comes our way to abstain from falling away from what God has called us to do, knowing that God has priorities in our lives and desire. The first thing that Nehemiah did was he reminded himself of what God’s goal was for his life. Nehemiah uses godly discernment to remember God’s priorities. And so he chooses to be busy with God’s goal in his life. The Bible tells us in Romans eight and Corinthians that God’s desire for you is to conform you into the image of His Son. Discerningly we should give God the opportunity to work in our hearts and minds to conform us into that image. Nehemiah knew by hanging out with the wrong crowd, guys that sought his harm, guys that continued to oppose him, that the only thing that could come of this was that the image of God that God desired to create within Nehemiah would take a sideline. Not only did Nehemiah stick to God’s goal for his life, but he stuck to the priorities of achieving it.
I said in the beginning that as Christians, oftentimes we can feel lonely. And this is the problem with with the version that Nehemiah is facing, if he feels lonely is that Nehemiah isn’t strong in his relationships. But what we see is, as a Christian, is that what God calls us to do, to conform us into his image, is to work in the area of relationships. God measures the success of the Christian life and the growth in the Christian life based on relationships first being your relationship to God. Nehemiah understood that he needed to grow in his relationship with God. But God has also called Christians to the relationship of your family, parents, fathers. God has put you in charge of a mini church in your own home life. So important. So in the New Testament church that it said, when you appoint elders or leaders for your church. That the way that you do that is to find a man who manages his own family well. The priorities of the relationship within your family need to be your focus. And if anything is diverting you from the attention of focusing on your relationship with God and focusing on your relationship of growing your family, then we can say it’s not according to God’s will. Not only that, but the relationship to the church. God created the community, and he gave the community giftedness within the body of Christ to be able to accomplish particular tasks within that body, to minister to one another.
Because God understands that he built us for the purpose of community. That way we don’t experience the loneliness and make decisions contrary to the will of God. Nehemiah stayed focused to the goal, but he stayed focused to the priorities and not only to these priorities, but he also ministers to the world. Nehemiah never responded to these guys harshly. He always replied to them to some degree, and it’s our attention as the body of Christ. Just like we had this past week, I want to thank everybody that went out and helped out at the booth for Halloween. But we reach out to the world because we understand the message that God gives to us. And this world experiences a loneliness apart from God, seeking to fill that void with something else. But all that ever ends up is a further path of loneliness. Trying to find something else to reconcile or meet the need within their lives. The Bible tells us sin is only fun for a season, and when that season is over, the emptiness comes back. So it’s important for us, as a body of Christ, to demonstrate to this world that filling that fullness you get in a relationship with Christ. Nehemiah understood his goals. Nehemiah stuck to his priorities. But this last thing that I love that Nehemiah did is he learned to say the word no.
People make things sound good sometimes when they’re not. I’ll tell you the best advice I ever got as a young Christian. You know, when you start serving the Lord and following after Jesus with your life, The church will want you to do everything. Sign up for every ministry position you can, and eventually you’re worn out. And eventually you begin to neglect your family and neglecting your family. You begin to feel guilty. And then feeling guilty, you begin to to walk away from your relationship with God. But the power of learning to say the word no. What a blessing it is, not just to you and having burdens lifted up off your shoulder, but also to the people that are overexerting you. Because when they ask you to do something, they’re expecting your full effort into it. And if you can’t say no and you give a half effort in that, you not only disappoint yourself, you disappoint them as well. And Nehemiah in this situation tells them no. Rather than living out of guilt, of trying to serve man, he lives out of conviction in trying to serve God because he understood the power of that word. When Nehemiah was able to divert the attention of these gentlemen in his life, this gentleman may not be a correct term, but we’ll be nice to him this morning. Not only did he face an opposition and diversion. But Nehemiah also began to experience disgrace.
It tells us in verse five, the fifth time, now he’s responding again to Nehemiah, and it says, Sanballat servant came with an open letter in his hand. And this is what it said. There is a rumor among the surrounding nations. And Geshem tells me, it is true that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and that this is why you’re building the wall. According to his reports, you plan to be their king. I like what he says in verse six. There is this rumor. It’s like you ever hear a journalist say, source. My sources tell me you need to ask him who in the world their sources are. A six year old kid who may be speaking about this doesn’t really count as a source in this situation, but he begins to spread the rumor. My sources tell me. Notice in verse five what what it says about Sanballat in this passage. He he sends this as an open letter, typically in common, even in our own society. Today, when someone mails something to you, it’s in a closed envelope for your own personal reading. That way you can see what this person wants you to receive in a message. Sam block writes this letter to Nehemiah in order to shame him in front of the people in which he is ministering to. He wants to degrade his leadership. I think American culture isn’t far from this.
We take a lot of joy in breeding, bringing shame to national leaders. I remind you this morning that leadership can be a lonely place. However, you want to view your opinion on the president of the United States, the Bible tells you that you need to pray for that leader. There’s only one president in the United States. He doesn’t have anyone above him. And when he makes a decision, the weight of that decision rests upon him. I think he has he has young children. One day his kids could Google on the internet what what the world’s opinion is of him and get all sorts of negative and positive answers on the president of the United States. But what a lonely position that might be at some particular point in his reign as our president. But we take pride in bringing shame to our leaders. This this week, I was just turning on the television, watching the news. I have no idea why the news was reporting on this, but in talking about disgrace of leaders, I listen to the news in just an hour span. Shame particular leaders, whether culturally or socially or in our own government. Mel Gibson was shamed. Brett Favre was shamed. Clarence Thomas was shamed. Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen, whatever your opinions are on all those people, uh, there’s something about American culture that likes to see shame come upon its leaders. And Nehemiah faces this disgrace in an open letter.
It tells us in verse six that what he’s planning to do is that he’s planning to make himself the King of the Jews. Literally, the accusation against Nehemiah is treason. Think about the seriousness of this for just a minute. Nehemiah has just left the presence of the king, not just under a year ago, and he’s now being accused of treason before the leaders of the nation, of the areas around Jerusalem. This could cost Nehemiah his life. In verse seven, he reminds that Nehemiah tells us that he also reports that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you. Look, there is a king in Judah. You can be very sure that this report will get back to the king. So I suggest that you come and talk it over with me. And so he’s telling Nehemiah, these reports are going to come back to the king, and it’s going to end up costing him his life. And it says in verse eight, I replied, there is no truth in any part of your story. You’re making up the whole thing. They were just trying to intimidate us. Imagine they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination. These passages that we’re reading this morning are literally coming from the diary of Nehemiah. I want to see his personal countenance as we read in verse nine of how he responded to these people.
I can’t help but wonder, as a leader, in facing this loneliness and facing this in you, in your walk with God, perhaps you’re not really standing for him if no one is standing contrary to the beliefs that you carry in Jesus. Maybe you’re not really following Jesus. So when I look at the life of Jesus, and I look at the life of all the apostles who followed after him, every one of them were persecuted for their faith in Christ. Meaning this when I choose to stand for Jesus, it makes me different from the world. And when I’m different from the world, the world has something to say about that. And Nehemiah looked at it as an opportunity to triumph for what he is celebrating and doing in Jerusalem for the life of the future coming of the Messiah. This is my God, and it is being recognized that I am following him and in the midst of persecution. It’s saying that they see the testimony and the brightness of which I am standing for the glory of God in my life. Second, Nehemiah kept his integrity. You think if we just broke down society into two types of people for just a moment, there are people pleasers, whether you personally please yourself or others, and there are God pleasers. I think people pleasers in the beginning began to feel happy with the way that they’re living their lives.
They wake up every day and they realize the people around them are happy, so they’re happy with that. But after a while, that begins to wear off and they realize that they’re still empty inside, though they’re making other people happy with the way that they’re leaving. Those are those are people pleasers, but God pleasers. God pleasers not only seek for the moment of the day, but also for eternity. And they can wake up every morning and look at themselves in the mirror and understand that they’re living for a greater purpose than just this world, and a greater purpose than pleasing people around them. And Nehemiah was able to face this opposition and understand that he walks with integrity before his God. The Apostle Paul, in a similar situation, also remarked towards the type of thing that Nehemiah was experiencing. And it tells us in Romans chapter one and verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it the power of God comes through salvation. Meaning this people in this world, as you stand for Christ, will attempt to shame you. Shame will come because of your stand for Jesus. But just because you’re experiencing shame, there is no reason to feel ashamed. And Paul tells us why. Because it is the power of God at work. It’s the power of God will never disappoint. The power of God is what accomplishes things in our lives.
And if we’re diverted or we we fall to the pressure of disgrace, we never get to experience that power of God working within us in the midst of that loneliness. And so Paul and Nehemiah understood, as they’ve ministered for the Lord, both of these men, they saw the power of God working in their lives. And Paul is able to make the statement not just for himself, for all believers to understand that the power of God can work within us, and it’s no reason to feel ashamed, though other people may attempt to shame us. The third opposition Nehemiah faced was that of deception. And I think this may be if we ranked the type of diversions we receive from God, or the type of pull or lure we’ll get from Satan in our own lives, this by far has to be the worst. I think most Christians fall under deception in the beginning, but. But when we look at the deception that Nehemiah faced here, it came in the form of spiritual leadership. This world is full of plenty of people who claim to be spokesmen for God. You know, I can’t help but think in this world right now, there are people walking around in loneliness, and they’re looking for a source of satisfaction and personal connectedness to that God, to find a completeness in who they are, to be able to understand why God created them. And they’re walking into religious institutions all over this world that claim to have truth, but are far from it.
The Bible tells us that when you worship God in John 424, that you worship him in spirit and in truth. Spiritually connecting with him, because you have the Spirit of God dwelling within you, but you need the truth to connect with him in the word. Worship in that passage literally means to kiss toward. Meaning that when you connect with God in spirit and in truth. The intimacy that is so created in your relationship with God is so close that you could literally kiss God. Nehemiah and his loneliness having should have the opportunity to turn to a spiritual leader for direction. This is what it tells us in verse ten. Later I went to visit Shemaiah, son of Delaiah and grandson of Metatable. You just say it fast and confident. I don’t know what how those names are really pronounced, but who was confined to his home? He said, let us meet together inside the temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight. But, I replied, should someone in my position run from danger to someone in my position enter the temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it. I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
In verse ten it tells us this prophet comes. Verse 11, the prophet tells Nehemiah to go into the temple and hide. Nehemiah wasn’t a priest, and so this was contrary to God’s will. And Nehemiah, recognizing what the priest was telling him to do, began to understand in verse 12 that he wasn’t coming as a prophet of God, because what Nehemiah knew was the word of God, and any prophet of God wouldn’t tell him to do something contrary to what the Word of God says. All over this world, people are being deceived with truth or what people are claiming to be truth, contrary to the will of God. Because the people of God aren’t taking time to read the Word of God. If you don’t want to be fooled into believing something that you shouldn’t, you need to read the Word of God. It tells us in this passage that Nehemiah was able to contradict a prophet in the moments of weakness and the moments of loneliness, because he stood opposed to God’s will. Tells us in verse 13 that they were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse me and discredit me. All that they were desiring to do in the life of Nehemiah is to bring shame in the midst of aloneness and being a leader and and bringing all this opposition on Nehemiah. All they wanted to do was make Nehemiah feel isolated, to feel all alone.
To make Nehemiah choose to make a decision that was contrary to God’s will, so that they could bring shame on his leadership and bring shame on his leadership. Stop the cause that God had called Nehemiah to do. It tells us in verse 14, Nehemiah did says, remember me, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her who have tried to intimidate me. Can I tell you this morning, if you’re being deceived to believe something that isn’t true. Let me first apologize. As a teacher of spiritual truth for those who stand up and proclaim to teach truth when it’s completely contrary to what God would desire for your life. But don’t hold God accountable for the fallacy of man. The response to that is the same response that Nehemiah took when he was being deceived. First read God’s word. And second, pray and talk to God about it. And in so doing, you, rather than follow some man who stands up behind some pulpit and tells you what you need to think about God, you begin to follow in a relationship with God himself. So everything that I tell you, everything that any leader spiritual truth tells you, regardless of where they are, needs to measure up to the Bible. The Bible tells us in acts 17 that the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica, because they received the word with readiness of mind, and they went to the scriptures and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not it was true.
God called those people noble for doing such a task. This morning, here’s what I desire for us to take away as a church family. If you’re feeling lonely in your relationship with God, can I just warn you that you are in a dangerous place and the decisions that you can make in a situation like that could be completely contrary to what God has called you to do. So let me ask you to do something this morning. If you feel lonely in your relationship with God, the best thing you could do with the body of Christ is to find someone within the body of Christ, to begin to hold you accountable, just to meet with you once a week and just talk about your relationship with God together to be an encourager for you. Because without that, the choices that we can make could lead us down a path that’s completely against the will of God. Find someone to communicate with. And I would share with all of you this morning. If you don’t have someone that you can share the intimacy with, of your relationship with God, to find some encouragement in your walk with God that you need that. Because if you’re not feeling lonely now, one day you will.
Because the Christian life is much like seasons and it’s full of highs and lows. In conclusion, with the passage this morning, if you’re not experiencing any problems in your life, maybe you’re not leading for Jesus. If you’re not experiencing loneliness in your life, maybe you’re not leading for Jesus. If you’re going to lead for Christ, let me just tell you the cost is high. So the cross of Christ must be of infinite value to you. If you want to take a stand for Christ in your own personal life, Jesus has to mean more to you than anything in this world. Because when the temptation of whatever has more value to you comes into your life, You’re going to choose something contrary to what, who, what, and who God is. The longer you lead the life of Nehemiah and the church that I visited in Atlanta, the lonelier you get. Because the more you lead for Jesus, the more God pushes you to the forefront of leading for his church and the more independent you become apart from the church because you’re expected to lead the body of Christ. It becomes a very lonely place again. Your relationship with Jesus is highly significant, and accountability to one another is very important. And last, the more you lead, the more you realize you need Jesus. I think it’s the beautiful thing about standing up here on Sunday morning. For me it is.
This is the a hard place to do because it’s a leadership position in church. But it is a wonderful place to be because you need Jesus. You realize, I got to stand up here every morning or every Sunday for 45 minutes, and talk. And if I mess up, everyone just stares at you, right? How important it is to pray each and every day that God gives you the words to share with his church. But it’s the same for whatever God’s called you to do. We step out in faith into areas of our life to serve the Lord that we’ve never done before. And it gets fearful, but it teaches us to rely on Christ. Philippians chapter four. I’ll close with this verse for us this morning. Paul talking about the joy of the Lord in our lives. He says in verse six, you can maybe meditate on this this week as you think about your relationship with God. If you’re feeling empty or lonely in that walk, it tells us in verse six to verse nine. Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.
What whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. Isn’t that what we’re all seeking in the midst of experiencing loneliness, just to have that peace and a growing relationship with God? Church, the warning to you this morning is to guard your hearts, because in it and the purity of your heart, as God communicates to you in your walk with him, it is the wellspring of life. Let’s pray. God, we just want to thank you for this morning. God, how important it is to walk in truth and our own lives. Lord, we just allow sin to creep in and God, we just give a blind eye to it, and it really messes our relationship with you up. It messes our walk not only with you up, but how we effectively minister for this world and we the way we reach our families and the way we reach our church and community. And so this morning, I just beg God that you forgive us, God, in our lives where we experience loneliness, I pray that you be our source of encouragement, that you can use your body, your church to encourage us in our walks with you. Lord, we just thank you for this morning. Heal us both spiritually and physically. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.