"From Greed to Gospel Grace" | Nehemiah 5 | Pastor Israel

So Nehemiah chapter 5 I'll be reading out of the new King

Nehemiah 5 · chapter mention

James Version. The title of tonight's message

is From Greed to Gospel grace, from Greed to Gospel grace.

As you're turning to Nehemiah Chapter 5, apparently it's the

Nehemiah 5 · chapter mention

case that if a team of of horses is under attack, that their

instinct is to circle inward and to face one another and then

having their hind legs on the outside kick outward against the

enemy that they're attacked. And apparently donkeys do the

opposite. Donkeys, rather than being like

the horses, united and disciplined and effective in

that way, donkeys will turn outward, losing awareness of one

another, facing the enemy, and end up kicking each other until

they are broken. I think that image I'll start

with, that captures somewhat what is happening for us in

Nehemiah chapter 5, where we left off in chapter 4.

Nehemiah 5 · chapter mention

There's external enemies of God's people that are

threatening the work that is taking place as Nehemiah has

returned, he's been cut bearer to the king in Persia.

He's been given permission to head into Jerusalem to commence

rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem.

And there's been some some loud and aggressive and relentless

opposition. A fellow called Sambaya

Sambella, a fellow called Tobaya and and others surrounding the

people of Israel in this work. But in chapter 5, I think what

we we see tonight is the most serious threat to God's work not

coming from outside but from within comes from inside the

community of the people of God. Greed, injustice will read

exploitation of one another and it begins to fracture the very

people who are meant to be united together by grace and

putting their hand together to the work that God had called

them to under Nehemiah here. So for us tonight, it raises

this question that I wish to pose to you, and if you're the

note taking type, and I think it applies to every generation of

God's people and that is this, how can you tell when the gospel

is truly at work in a community of people?

How can you tell when the gospel is truly at work in a community

of people? I would submit to you that it's

not by how busy we are, but it's not by how impressive a project

might look, not even by how strong the leadership appears.

I think what we'll see tonight and and what Scripture again and

again confirms is this truth that one of the surest

indicators of the gospel at work in a body of believers in a

community of people is is found in this.

And we'll see it in our text, how we treat one another, how we

respond when sin is confronted. And then thirdly and lastly for

us, whether our lives increasingly reflect godly

integrity and generosity that God in his grace has bestowed on

us. So Nehemiah 5 for us tonight

will not be just a, a mere sort of moral lesson on social

justice or on on leadership ethics, though there's that

element to it. It's I want us to see a

diagnostic passage, something that we can put the, the finger

on the pulse of us individually and and us collectively as a

community and a body of believers.

How are we going with with gospel grace at work in our

lives, in our midst, in the way that we function in these areas?

Nehemiah 5 exposes what happens when God's redeemed people begin

living as though grace has not truly taken hold of their

hearts. There's a crisis at the

beginning of the chapter. And what we'll see here in our

text is this, that some of the the unrighteous wealthy in the

community are exploiting. We would call it the righteous

poor families are being crushed, children are being sold into

slavery. And all of this is in the the

people of God happening, people who know God's word, people who

have experienced God's grace at work in their lives and in their

community and, and God's deliverance and are actively

engaged in God's work in rebuilding the wall and

ultimately heading on towards the the House of God.

And Nehemiah will hear this outcry that we're introduced in

verse one. And what will follow for us is,

is a movement from greed at the beginning to grace at work at

the end. It's a wonderful, wonderful

story because we'll see that sin is exposed for what it really

is. A righteous confrontation takes

place as Nehemiah righteously becomes angry over what is

taking place. Repentance is expressed by the

people when when Nehemiah confronts them, there's no

excuses made by them that they hear and receive Nehemiah's

rebuke of them and they respond with repentance and restitution

is made. And then at the end, a leader

models for us what it looks like to have a life shaped by the

fear of God and his radical generosity.

But it's displayed Nehemiah's life.

So the main idea for this chapter, if you forget

everything else about tonight, I want you to remember this.

It's simple, but it's confronting.

And that is this. When the gospel is truly at work

among God's people, it reshapes how we treat others, how we

respond to correction, and how we live before God.

It's not abstract theology. It's a mirror for us as we read

these verses. Held up to ourselves, held up to

our church, held up to our families, and May God help us as

we study tonight. There's three things that we're

going to explore through these movements in this chapter #1 the

crisis exposed. We'll see that in verses 1 to 5

and #2 the confrontation pursued from verse 6 on through to 13

and then from 14 through to the end, the restoration displayed.

And as we do, the question before us here is not like, do I

agree with Nehemiah and how he reacts in this?

But I want us to to ask this question as we study.

What does my life reveal about the work of grace in me?

So let's do that. This is 1 to 5, Nehemiah.

And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives

against their Jewish brethren. There were those who said, we

our sons and our daughters, and many therefore let us get grain

that we may eat and live. There are also some who said we

have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses that we

might buy grain because of the famine.

There are also those verse four who said we have borrowed money

for the King's tax on our lands and vineyards.

Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our

children as their children, and indeed we are forcing our sons

and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have

been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem

them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.

So there's this crisis exposed in the verses that we've just

read before us. Verse 1 indicates and tells us

there is this great outcry that comes to Nehemiah's attention

from the men and their wives against others in the community

of what's happening in their midst.

And this word outcry, it's actually the same word that's

used of the Hebrews for when they were in slavery in the book

of Exodus and when they were under the, the slavery of of the

kings, the Pharaohs in Egypt. It says that this outcry comes

up before God. That's the same word that's used

here. So you can imagine this, this

intent. It's not like a a minor

complaint, but this is something that is desperate, something

that is a righteous anguish rising before God and and to

Nehemiah's ears, as it's brought to him now understand verse one,

it says that the outcry of the people was there and their wives

mention they pipe up. Now, culturally, the wives did

not speak up here, but in this chapter they do.

This is this is a pretty big deal for them to be to be

speaking and crying out. It's like, Harry, you better get

up off the couch because this is this is intense.

What is going on here? And we need some change.

This is desperate and this is wrong.

And and so these were godly women who saw something going

wrong and spoke out demanding justice as a consequence.

There's an interesting message in that, and that is that

sometimes we can freak out all the time and complain about

stuff. And it's a bit of that boy

crying wolf type scenario. But in this case, these women

didn't always arc up and complain about stuff.

But the fact that they're doing it here indicates no, this is

serious. And because they, they were

demonstrating that capacity. Now, when they do cry out, boy,

there's impact in those words. I think there's a message in

that for us here. And sometimes we can freak out

over things and but you know, sometimes you've got to freak

out. But it's how how well placed

that freaking out is something critical, something important,

something that's in need of attention.

In verse 2, it's that some had no land and they've got these

large families. And think of the, the, the mass

immigration that's come in from those that have come with

Nehemiah and his journey from Persia back to Israel.

And because of this large mass of bodies, now the

infrastructure's not there and this rebuilding of Jerusalem.

So they're starving. And on top of that, there's a

famine in the land and the war project.

They've dedicated their hands and their energy and their

effort to has left little time probably for them to farm and to

to build up what they need to, to supply and, and meet that

demand. Verse 3, As a consequence, some

had mortgaged their fields, their vineyards and their houses

just to buy grain during this crisis.

There's heavy taxation in verse 4.

You know, even though Nehemiah has come and the king of Persia

has provided all of this stuff free, there's nothing really

free when governments are involved, is there?

There will be heavy taxes afterwards as a consequence.

And there's heavy taxation now that's upon all throughout the

Persian Empire. And the people in Jerusalem are

not exempt from that. And so they're having to to foot

and pay for that bill and try and put food on the table.

And there's all this heightened intensity of that, the famine,

the taxation, the increased mouths to feed in the community.

And now it's like some are losing potentially everything to

the to the point in verse 5, the deepest wound we are forced that

says to sell our sons and daughters into slavery.

And some of our daughters have already been enslaved.

Can you imagine this, these people, I mean, picture yourself

standing in Jerusalem and, and you're working on on the wall of

Jerusalem and with all of your heart, with all of your mind.

And, and you hear your own sister, your own brother cry out

that a child has been sold into slavery because a fellow

believer, we use that terminology, has foreclosed on a

loan that had impossible interest for them, that they had

had no capacity and means to to try and repay.

The text doesn't say here that the rich were evil for being

rich, but it does condemn them for exploiting their brethren in

violation of God's clear commands.

You see, hardwired into the community of God were these laws

in place under the Mosaic law that that we know from the book

of Exodus, from the book of Deuteronomy and and so on that

it was never to be that when loaning to a fellow Israelite

that an Israelite was to charge interest and yet they were doing

so. It was never to be that a fellow

Israelite was to take another into slavery and yet they were

doing so. And then there was also a, a

thing called the year of Jubilee that after every 50 years, if

you'd mortgage land and property to ensure that it stayed in the,

in the, I guess the inheritance in the lineage of the lion, then

that land would be returned. That's in Leviticus 25.

And they weren't obeying them. They're aware of God's commands,

but they weren't honouring God's commands.

And their sin was not necessarily ignorance of God's

word, disregard for God's heart in this matter.

Here, the wealthy, it seems, ignored God's heart for the

poor, turning brotherhood into bondage.

And the people as a consequence weren't just financially ruined.

This flowed on in other aspects. There was a spiritual breakdown

in the community, a relational breakdown.

The crisis threatened the entire project that they were

committing their hands to. Because here's here's the deal.

You cannot build a wall of unity when your own people are tearing

each other apart. Not only would it impact the

work and the labour, but it points to the worship of God and

poses significant problems. You see, relational conflict in

this way doesn't just impact in one sphere, does it?

It flows on into others. Could you imagine these people

in this scenario? And we know it to be true in our

experience coming to gather on the Sabbath to worship God.

And just over there is the family who is in charge is is

charging exorbitant rates and has your daughter working in

their home as a slave. It's difficult to sing about

redemption in such circumstances while practising oppression,

isn't it? It's like today, put it into our

understanding. It's like coming to church and

there's a family that you owe money to driving your car,

wearing your clothes and your daughter is there living nanny

and you're to be in the row next to them or in front of them and

worship God in in the same community together.

This is what's going on here. This is a social crisis.

It's a gospel contradiction in their midst.

The people, ironically, who were redeemed from slavery were now

enslaving others. And the issue is not simple

poverty, though that's that's there, but it's whether grace

has actually taken root in their hearts as God's redeemed people

in how they treat others. And the crisis then reveals not

necessarily a lack of resources, but a lack of grace shaping

their relationships one to another.

So again, can you feel the pain of the people?

Are you sensing the crisis? You know, again, imagine a a

family working in our church, working hard on a ministry

project and they lose their home because a fellow believer

charges crushing interest on a loan or picture worse, parents

selling a child to survive. It's heartbreaking, you know, to

put it in those sort of modern terms for us to understand.

And, and in Nehemiah here, as we've read in these verses, the

the gospel message, if we want to put it into that language of

today, is being contradicted by how God's people are treating

one another. Here's what I want to say on

that. May it never be so in our midst

that we declare and espouse the gospel with our lips, but our

actions one to another contradict that.

So what might we do in light of this tonight?

I think Nehemiah here in these verses forces us to ask him to

consider where might the gospel being contradicted in my

behaviour? Do I?

If I'm to do a self diagnosis, do I?

Do I recognise where greed is evident in my life today?

What's my attitude towards finances to me?

Do I love money and use people, or do I love people and use

money to bless? How am I generally treating

others in Nehemiah? There's a crisis here.

It's to do with stewardship, it's to do with money, it's to

do with the treatment of others. So now that the crisis, the

outcry has come to Nehemiah's ears, the question is, all

right, Nehemiah, what are you going to do?

How are you going to handle this?

What we're going to do in this next section is read verse by

verse through it as there's this confrontation now that Nehemiah

has with the perpetrators, and there's righteous anger evident

in his response. So verse 6, and I became very

angry. It says Nehemiah, when I heard

their outcry and these words, tells us he gets angry.

He gets very angry. What does this mean in Hebrew?

He's ticked, he's upset. Does Nehemiah just have a short

fuse here or just a bad temper? Is that, is that the kind of

individual that Nehemiah is? I don't, I don't think so.

As we've read through the text, his anger here is very

justified, isn't it? Is that a Christian thing to do,

to get angry? Yes.

You know, there's something called justified anger, and some

other religions condone anger altogether.

Don't encourage it. You know, Buddhism, don't get

angry, grasshopper. But I think many times we as

Christians could benefit from getting in touch with our anger

in many respects. You know, one of the attributes

of God mentioned in the Bible is anger over 800 times mentioned

in connection with God. But here's what Exodus 34 tells

us about God and his anger, that he is slow to anger.

Now God gets angry, but he gets there slowly.

And you know this, that if God gets mad, then you've had to

really work hard on him to get him to that point, right?

Oh, yeah. But people say, but that's the

that's the God of the Old Testament.

But, you know, the New Testament's different.

Well, let me ask this. Does Jesus ever get angry?

Yeah, we do. Interestingly, when we read of

Jesus getting angry, one of the the big times that Jesus gets

angry is over a financial scam that's happening in the temple.

He got angry often at the Pharisees.

He got angry at the disciples. So what should our attitude to

anger be as we read of Nehemiah getting angry here in verse 6

and we see it in the Scriptures. Well, in the New Testament book

of Ephesians, here's what it tells us.

It says in your anger, do not sin.

And there's the connection. Many times we get angry and we

sin. What we'll read of Nehemiah is

that there's there's a little. Little valve that he puts in

place, a little preventer of that anger turning into sin.

And I think we would benefit from applying that in our lives

too. But it begs the question, what

are we to get angry at? And we can get angry at our our

sport teams losing. We can get angry over all sorts

of trivial things. And I'm guilty of that.

But we are to, when we read the scripture, we are to get angry

at what God gets angry at. And that is sin, that is

injustice and is unrighteousness.

And in fact, anger can be a very powerful motivator for change in

our lives and in communities. So the question then in that is

how do I direct my anger towards redemption?

Here in this text the women and others raise the issue and and

Nehemiah hears it the outcry and Nehemiah gets angry.

Does Nehemiah act straight away? No.

Verse 7 And here is the key. It says after serious thought.

After serious thought I rebuked the nobles and rulers and said

to them, each of you is exacting nursery from his brother.

So I called a great assembly against them.

So again, this is the key in our anger and it's in Nehemiah's

response. It says I pondered them in my

mind, literally. Some translations have it in

this way. My heart consulted within me.

I like the way that's worded. Serious thought.

The New English Bible says this. I mastered my feelings.

That's a good way to understand it.

In other words, what Nehemiah did not do is respond straight

away and that's what many times we do.

He took a breather. He took time to ask, is this

anger that I'm having that I'm feeling, is this righteous?

Yes, it is. This is what God gets angry

about. And so Nehemiah masters he's

emotions. He doesn't fire off an angry

email. He doesn't lash out in the

moment. It takes time to ensure.

It indicates to us in verse 7 that his anger is directed

towards sin, not a personal offence against him.

And so the gospel then does not make us passive towards sin, but

it does make us patient, prayerful and purposeful in how

we confront it. And this is how he acts.

He confronts and notice what he does.

He first privately goes to the nobles and officials and then

publicly calls the assembly. Notice his his actions at work

in this response. I think many of us would do well

to learn from Nehemiah's example here in Handling anger, verse 7.

You're charging interest on your own brethren.

Verse 8, we've done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who

were sold to the Gentiles and, and now you're selling them back

into slavery. And the irony cuts deep.

But you, you were once slaves and we were once slaves as a

community and, and now there's slavery in our midst.

And verse 9, what you're doing is not right.

Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach

of the Gentiles? In other words, what he says,

verse 9 is look at the message that we're sending to

unbelievers. He appeals to God's word in

their midst. You know what the Scriptures

say. He appeals to their witness that

they're giving out. And then the fear of the Lord.

Verse 10 I also with my brethren and my servants, and lending

them money and grain. Please let us stop this ursery.

Now Nehemiah here says I and my brothers, my servants, are also

lending the people money and grain.

Some people see this as a confession on Nehemiah's part

that he was guilty of the same. Other commentators see this as

Nehemiah saying we lend but without interest.

So follow my example, but I think either way that that verse

is interpreted. What Nehemiah does model for us

is integrity. In his response we see his

generosity displayed later. And so verse 11, he says, now

restore to them even this day immediately their lands, their

vineyards, their olive Groves, their houses also 100th of the

money and the grain, the new wine and the oil that you have

charged them, and give back that which you've generated by

interest. Verse 12 So they said, we will

restore it and we'll require nothing from them, and we will

do as you say. And then I called the priest and

required an oath from them that they would do according to this

promise. Notice in verse 12 again that

the the nobles confess we're guilty.

Nehemiah will give it back. We'll do as as you've charged

and what you've commanded, what you've instructed will will not

demand anything more from them. And they swear an oath before

the priest. I think this to be one of the

the quiet miracles of the Old Testament.

Let me explain here in their response.

Notice there's no excuses of a Nehemiah.

But you know, we're all the other nations and all the other

people in the Persian Empire. There's none of that.

There's no delays. Yeah, you're right, Nehemiah and

we'll do it. And Nehemiah doesn't have to

have to check up on them a month later, two months later.

We don't read that immediately. They respond, no counter

arguments. Well, right, you I'm, I'm

sending my lawyer around and we'll we'll nut this out in

court. There's none of that.

And I think now what we're seeing is that when Grace is at

work as as it seems in this in this case now here repentance is

not negotiated. Nehemiah, yes, we're wrong will

do what you say. And they embrace the challenge

that's been issued by Nehemiah and the repentance now on their

part. And so verse 13, Nehemiah does

this. I shook out the fold of my

garment and said, so May God shake out each man from his

house, from his property who does not perform this promise.

Even thus, may he be shaken out and empty.

This is a prophetic act here of Nehemiah and the people respond

Amen. So let it be, let it be done is

the language and they praise the Lord.

Oh, we worship you God. Thank you for this opportunity

to repent. That's an amazing point.

And then the people did according to this promise.

Do you feel that the power here in these verses of the gospel at

work in repentance taking place in a community of God's people.

What started out in verse 1 is a great outcry in their midst ends

in a great Amen and praise and worship unto God.

What a turn around. You know, the the people at the

beginning of of this chapter so far who were expressing in

anguish this cry are now able to express worship under God over

what's happened in their midst. Righteous anger took place, yes,

but when channelled through prayerful reflection and

biblical confrontation that Nehemiah displays, it leads to

confession. It leads to repentance and to

restoration. And isn't this the gospel

pattern? Sin is exposed, heart is

convicted, and grace is received.

Here's what I want you to understand.

Repentance in our lives is one of the clearest evidences that

the gospel is at work in our hearts.

And here's the the turning point of this chapter because again,

I'll say it, the clearest evidence of the gospel at work

is not what we say we believe, but how we respond often when

our sin is exposed and everything that follows

thereafter will reveal if grace has truly taken root in our

hearts. And you know what happens when,

when the gospel and when God's grace is at work in our lives,

people stop defending themselves, stop throwing out

excuses. And here's what they do.

They start obeying God. So practically, let's consider

this example. How to deal with sin.

For we're all sinners. We're all fallen short.

The Holy Spirit convicts us. What are we to do with this

conviction? Deny it?

That wasn't me. Blame someone else.

No, no, no. The woman you gave me, do we

excuse ourselves? Oh, it's just my genetics.

You know, I'm, I'm Italian and we Italians, you know what our

tempers are like. And oh, it's just the Irish and

me and no, I just call a spade a spade.

And you know, do we, do we throw out those sorts of things or do

we confess? That's to be our response.

To confess means to agree with God. 1 John chapter one, verse 9

indicates that clearly. Now God, you said it's wrong.

I agree with you, it's wrong. Forgive me, wash me and cleanse

me. You know what God has promised

in that verse that he will cleanse and forgive of all

unrighteousness. Now is that it?

Is that all done, finished? No, some of us think so.

That's that's the case. But to repent is to go and sin

no more to stop doing it, you know, and these people here

could have gone, Yeah, you're right, Nehemiah.

And then we'll give back. And then a week later, same

thing pop up. No, they they stopped doing it

all together. And grace, it does not remove

accountability. It empowers obedience.

And what they displayed was restitution.

And that's where I think many times we in our application of

repentance fall short in in modern understanding of

repentance. We don't go into that

restitution mode. You know, you borrow a mate's

car and crash it. You know, I'm free in Christ.

He's forgiven me my sins. Good luck to you.

No, we, we're to work to pay for that damage, right?

To make some recompense. Or here's here's a pretty

relevant example. You lie about someone and you

confess and you repent. You know I was wrong.

I'm sorry I lied. You know, now the next step is

to make restitution. You go and see everyone that you

told that lie to and you say I'm a liar.

What I said is not true. Forgive me.

I've I've asked for forgiveness from who I said these lies

about. And we don't, we don't often go

that next step, do we? That's what these people

displayed of the gospel at work in their lives.

So Nehemiah 5 here shows us how the gospel actually works in

real life. They were challenged, they

confess, they agree. Nehemiah, you're right.

God, we're sorry. Forgive us.

They repented, Amen. And then they said about

restitution in the community, for it was the right and godly

thing to do. And then thirdly and lastly,

what we'll read off from verse 14 through to the end of the

chapter is this radical generosity that Nehemiah

displays as he sets the example as a leader in their midst of

what grace flowing out of someone truly looks like.

And again, we'll read as we go along, it shows his restoration

at work in the community. And Nehemiah shifts to his own

example as governor for some 12 years that he displayed this and

and once again, I want us to see that the clearest evidence of

the gospel at work is is not what Nehemiah claims to believe,

but how he lives before God and others as we're about to read

verse 14. Moreover, from the time that I

was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah,

from the 20th year until the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, 12

years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions.

I never demanded the allotted food that I was entitled to as a

governor. All the governors before him

had. All the governors in the

surrounding areas did, but not Nehemiah.

For those 12 years. It was different.

Verse 15. But the former governors who

were before me laid burdens on the people.

You know, he, he, he here, he knows, you know, this is an

entitlement. This is a right of mine.

But man, they've been taken advantage of in the past, and

I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to place that

burden on them here at this time.

And the others, verse 15, took from them bread and wine,

besides 40 shekhers of silver, yes, even their servants bore

rule over the people. But I did not do so.

Why? Because of the fear of God.

Nehemiah refused because of the fear of God.

Nehemiah's generosity here doesn't earn God's favour.

That's not what it's about. What Nehemiah's generosity here

is evidence of is this, that it flows from a life lived before

God's face. Nehemiah knew who God was, the

character, the attributes of God, and having experienced and

understood who God is, he's thinking, how can I do this to

the people of God? I'm going to be a blessing to

them, and I'll not take what is an entitlement of mine in this

time. And so verse 16, indeed, I also

continued the work on this wall and we did not buy any land.

What many of the governors at the time were doing was, you

know, they've got the the inside knowledge of when heavy taxation

is coming and of what's happening in the land.

And they would buy out property on the cheap knowing that it

would rise and they'd become very wealthy as a consequence.

That wasn't what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah, he has now.

I refuse to buy any of the prime real estate and the property and

all of the things that was typical behaviour of the

governors. That's not what I'm about.

I did not do so, and all my servants were gathered there for

the work. No, we were committed to the

task of what we were called there to do.

He worked alongside the people. He didn't stand off aloof, and

you guys need to be busy about the work.

He, he rolled the thieves up and got down and dirty in the work

that the others were contributing to.

Look at verse 17 and 18, And at my table were 150 Jews and

rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around

us. So he's fed upwards of 150

people at his table daily. And you talk about meal

preparation. Now there's eighteen.

That which was prepared daily was 1 ox, six choice sheep.

Also fowl were prepared for me once every 10 days, in abundance

of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this demand, you

know, the Partridge in a pear tree and all of that, In spite

of this, I did not demand the governor's provisions because

the bondage was heavy on this people.

Do you think Nehemiah is eating into his savings?

A bit? Probably.

Now it's interesting, in contrast, where the nobles of

the community measured how much they could take from others.

What did Nehemiah measure? He took note of how much he

could give and that would be a radical way to think about our

our budget. So I don't know if you're the

budgeting type. You know, often I'll look at our

budget and what, you know, as a household we're we're spending

in the month and so on. And it seems that Nehemiah in

his budgeting is going, I can afford to give this much this

month. And then verse 19, Remember Me

my God for good according to all that I've done for this people.

Again, Nehemiah, he could have profited from his position.

It was his right, it was his entitlement.

Instead we read of him pouring himself out and in this way

modelling the generosity that God provides.

The nobles, they they hoarded and they exploited.

Nehemiah wasn't about that. He gave and he served.

And don't you think this is what happened as a consequence, that

this generosity restored trust, healed division, and kept the

wall moving forward in the work at hand?

In our world of self interest where everybody's out to get

their own, don't you think that such gospel living will be very

powerful in lives? So what to do with this?

When the gospel takes root, generosity becomes normal.

Maybe this week, live it out. Certainly you can.

You can tithe faithfully. You can give to someone in need.

You can serve someone without expecting payback.

Maybe as families, you can discuss what what stewardship

looks like. You know, teaching your children

of what that means that God has given us and we use what he has

blessed us with to be a blessing on out to others.

If you're in a leadership capacity or position, Am I

burdening people or am I blessing them?

All of these are questions that we can ask to be very practical

about what we see with Nehemiah here because here's what happens

when we model what Nehemiah's generosity displays.

You and I, we reflect the ultimate giver, God, our

heavenly Father. And so exemplary lives then in

Nehemiah that we look at here are not heroic exceptions.

They are the fruit of hearts shaped by grace.

All right, so let's finish this. Nehemiah chapter 5 takes us on a

Nehemiah 5 · chapter mention

journey. It begins with this great

outcry, the anguished cries of God's people oppressed, crushed

by the sins of their brothers, and it moves through this

righteous confrontation. Is Nehemiah angry?

He, he speaks truth clearly to them and courageously and

without compromise. And it ends with this great

Amen, repentance, restitution, praise, and then and then grace

being displayed as we read of Nehemiah and what he does and in

this chapter is this sobering truth and reality.

There is again a direct connection between the

credibility of our witness and the way that we treat one

another, the way that we respond in repentance, and the way that

generosity and the way that grace flows out of our lives.

You know you and I, we cannot build the work of God while

living in ways that contradict the grace of God.

You and I, we cannot proclaim the freedom in Christ that we

have whilst enslaving one another through greed or power

or self interest. We must be the church before we

can build the church. And ultimately, again, Nehemiah

Nehemiah 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 points us beyond Nehemiah himself to Jesus

Christ. Nehemiah, yes, used his power to

serve. Jesus laid aside, or power to

save. Nehemiah refused profit at the

expense of others. Jesus, the Bible tells us,

became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich.

Nehemiah absorbed personal cost for the good of the people, and

Jesus bore the full cost for our sin on the cross to set us free.

And so may it be true that the gospel is at work in our lives,

that we're not merely forgiven people, but that we're

transformed people reflecting Jesus Christ not only in what we

say, but in what we do Amen. Let's pray.

Lord God, we thank you for this chapter tonight and help us as

we reflect on these verses to consider ways where we might be

taking advantage of others, whether financially, whether

emotionally, whether relationally, to consider how

our sin might be costing them to seek forgiveness.

If that's the case, repentance to work at restitution.

May we be people that reflect your heart.

Lord God, may we know your word. May your word flow in and out

through us to be a blessing unto others.

Help us to not just read a chapter like this and and see

ourselves in the victims, but in Nehemiah in Nehemiah 5 Here what

we see is a an indication that sometimes we can be the

perpetrators and God. Maybe in this we we need to

understand that you expose sin not to necessarily shame us, but

to heal us. So heal us.

Forgive us if that's the case. Convict to bring correction, to

bring grace to flow through our lives.

Help us to make things right where we can, to receive again

the grace that not only forgives sin, but breaks its power in our

lives. And the gospel truly take root

in our hearts. And here in our midst is your

people, that what you have called us to build and to be

about may truly happen in our midst for Your glory and for our

good. Restore hearts.

Heal relationships. May your name, Lord God, be

honoured in our midst and out to the people that we interact

with. May it be like the people in

Nehemiah's day where it says that the people did as they had

promised. If our hearts have been stirred

tonight, may we be obedient to your word.

These things we pray and ask in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.