Brick by Brick - Part 5 - INJUSTICE

Well, hey, good morning, Refuge Church. Hey, today is T-shirt Sunday.

You guys, some of you guys are already rocking the shirts.

You guys look great. Always a great day when you get a new T-shirt.

Hey, everybody here, grab one of the shirts. We got these shirts and the blue

and the cream back there.

There's some of the kid sizes around the corner. There's Club 57 shirts for

those kids around the corner there. Hey, just please stick with one.

All right, but the shirts are free.

There's no catch, but I do have and ask for everybody who takes a shirt.

I got really two asks about the shirt. The first one is wear that shirt as much

as possible between now and April 5th.

If you don't know what April 5th is, that is Easter Sunday.

Wear that shirt as many times as possible. That's the first ask.

And whenever anyone mentions anything about your shirt, you're gonna stay locked

and loaded and you're gonna have an invite card to Easter and you're gonna hand

them one and you're gonna give it to them, all right? And now some of you guys are a little awkward.

I don't know how to tell you this anyway.

All right, when I said, if somebody at Walmart or somebody at the store says

something that you got to talk to them, you're like, I don't know what to do.

All right, stay locked and loaded with one of these.

And you can, I'll take, pin it on me. I can take the blame, right?

You can say, my pastor said.

If anybody mentions my shirt, I got to invite them to Easter at Refuge.

So I just hand it to them. Hey, but here's the deal. You never know what could happen.

You never know if somebody says something. If you never know what happens in

the conversation, maybe that's exactly what somebody needed.

To get an invite, to come to church, to come learn more about Jesus, to hear about God.

Wear that shirt. And let's see God move in our lives just by being faithful

to invite others. So, hey, I got to ask.

Wear that shirt as much as possible between now and Easter. You can wear it

after that too, all right?

Uh, but between now and then stay locked and loaded with a invite card to Easter.

There is a table in between those that is filled with these.

There's a bunch out in the lobby as well by the coffee and whatnot.

Uh, keep those in your pockets. Stay ready. If you're going to do that, can I get a hearty amen?

Ah, there we go. All right. Not bad. I just realized this looks like dirt water

that used to be like emergency.

It's not dirt water. It's vitamins. Okay. Promise. Bring good stuff. Okay.

I didn't realize how brown that looked. That looks like it came from a lake.

Anyways, today we are in part five of Nehemiah.

And if I'm being honest, this is the one that I would not want to preach.

Like if I was going to omit one part of the story of Nehemiah,

like we just weren't going to talk about on a Sunday, it would be this one. It would be this one.

Because this is the part that has honestly a little bit of bite to it.

That's where the story starts to feel just a little bit more realistic.

So far, you've seen people rally, work at the goal.

There's been opposition on the outside, but today we're going to see things flip a little bit.

The focus is really going to be more on the home team.

They're going to have to look inward and address some issues on the home front.

I think we all have a tendency to want to look at what's wrong out there,

but it's a challenge to look at what's wrong in our own house.

Kind of a natural thing for our eyes to go there, but it's a little harder to

do internal reflection. What's happening in my house?

So as we get into the Word today, if you're feeling the weight of what the Word

of God has to say, just hear this.

If you feel any shame, that is not from the Lord. Shame is not from the.

But the Spirit of God convicts. It doesn't shame, it convicts.

And conviction is a good thing.

It is. It leads to repentance. It leads us to turn to Him.

That is a good thing. So as we get to the Word today, conviction is a good thing.

We're going to turn to the Lord. It's got a little bit of a bite,

the message today, the Word that we're going to read from God.

So let's get our hearts ready for what God has for us this morning.

Would you put your arms out with your palms up?

Just a posture of surrender. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.

And remember, God is just as near as the air you're breathing.

God, today, would you guide us closer to you?

Help our minds put away the frustrations of the past week. Let's put away the

distractions of the coming week.

We want to fully focus on you.

We come empty with nothing to offer but surrender.

Fill us up as only you can. Holy Spirit, move in here today with power.

We believe that in advance.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen, amen.

If you've missed any of the past few weeks, here's where we're at in the story

previously on Brick by Brick, all right?

So, hey, Nehemiah, he is the king's cupbearer.

He hears people talking in his native tongue in and around the palace.

He goes and asks these people that are speaking in his native tongue.

He's like, hey, how's Jerusalem? How's my homeland? And they tell him,

hey, things are not good. The walls are destroyed. The gates are all burned up.

Nehemiah hears this. He weeps. He fasts. He mourns.

And he prays for the city, Jerusalem, day and night. He is praying to God.

And then when the time is right, he asks the king for permission to go back

and to build the walls of Jerusalem.

And the king that he is asking is the same king who told the last group of people, hey.

Do not do this anymore. He explicitly told them, do not do it.

Not only did he send a letter to tell them to do that, he sent troops to say,

if you don't, I'm going to stop you.

So for him to ask this king, can I go back? Can I rebuild the wall?

Oh, by the way, can you give me some resources to do this? It is an incredibly bold ask.

But here's the deal. God is in that ask. He's in that request.

And the king grants Nehemiah everything that he asked for.

Nehemiah goes, he examines the walls.

He sees that they're in rubble. He rallies the people and they all get to work

building the walls of Jerusalem.

Everybody's working side by side, shoulder by shoulder. They're working on the

section that is right in front of their house.

The walls are about 40 feet high, let's say eight feet wide,

somewhere around there. And the loop that they're going to complete is about

two and a half miles long.

Last week, we looked at some of the opposition they faced, that there were men

who were completely against them rebuilding the wall.

But it says that the people had a mind to work.

And instead of arguing with these men who opposed them, they just kept at the

work God had called them to do.

That's very quick, what we've been covering the last few weeks,

last four weeks. Today, Nehemiah 5, we're going to be talking about injustice.

In-justice. When I say that word injustice, I think many of us have associated the word injustice.

I just think it comes up most often in like our language with politics.

I think we hear the word injustice, we think politics. It feels like when we

hear some kind of injustice, we want the government to step up to solve this,

address this injustice that's happening.

And I'm sure there's situations where that is more than appropriate,

but injustice isn't just a government thing or a political thing.

Injustice is what happens when we don't do things God's way and people pay the price.

It's really simple. When we don't do things God's way and people are paying

the price. I heard a pastor say this, and I think there's just so much truth in this.

When you don't believe in God, the highest power in your life becomes the government.

That's the highest authority.

It makes sense. If you're not a believer, the highest form of power that you

do believe in is the government.

And that's why maybe you'll see some people who all they do is complain about the government.

Like they are looking, it's because that's what they're looking at as the ultimate authority.

Like they've got a term for that. Like the social justice warriors,

they're always complaining how things get better. Things can be different.

It's never enough. They're not happy. They're just always complaining.

Have you ever witnessed this person online or in the news? I'm sure you have, right?

I just want to unpack a little bit because if we're not careful when we hear

the word injustice, we just associate it maybe sometimes with people who are

like chronic complainers.

And that's a group, that is a group of people. That's for real.

And we're not always, we're not sitting here just expecting the government to

step in and to fix these issues.

That's not what we're about. So just two quick thoughts on this.

First of all, we are believers.

The highest authority, the highest power that we believe in is Jesus Christ.

He is the one who conquered death and the grave.

Hey, we should be involved and politically aware and vote, fulfill your duty

as a citizen, but we have to acknowledge this world is not our home.

We are citizens of heaven.

We're believers. The authority is Christ.

The other thing, we cannot confuse religious power with political power.

The government we're looking for as Christians, it's a king.

It ain't a president. It is King Jesus, right? Like that's who we're for.

That's what we're after. And we have a duty to promote biblical values as much as possible.

And hey, sometimes that manifests itself through politics, okay?

And sometimes it doesn't. And that's okay, dude. Here's what I want to make

sure we get. The kingdom of God will not be stopped.

It won't. It doesn't matter if the president you think most closely aligns with

biblical values is in office or not.

The kingdom of God is above any power or position of man.

Our hope as believers is that Jesus will return and will restore everything to its rightful order.

It is his reign. He is King Jesus. Our hope is not of this world.

Our hope is from the creator and the savior of this world.

So today, as we're talking about injustice, we aren't thinking politically.

We are thinking biblically.

We're thinking about the kingdom of God, not by what is acceptable by the laws

of our country. We're talking about what is right in the eyes of God.

So in Nehemiah 5, we see some injustice happening. And here's the deal. It.

By the people of God. So let's hop into our text this morning.

Nehemiah 5, we're going to start in verse 1. It should be on the screen there for you.

It says, about this time, some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest

against their fellow Jews.

They are saying, we have such large families, we need more food to survive.

Others said, we have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.

And others said, we've had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes.

We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy and our children are just like theirs.

Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live.

We have already sold some of our daughters and we are helpless to do anything

about it for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.

So what's happening here is that during the building of the wall,

there is a famine that is going on.

It's actually been going on before they even started to work on the wall.

And some people are struggling to even feed their families.

It says some have like basically refinanced their homes and their livelihood

simply to feed their families. That's a tough spot. They're in a tough spot.

They're going broke just, I mean, but they're going broke trying to feed their

families and pay their taxes.

Like that's a legitimate complaint, right?

It's not something that's superfluous. It's not something that's just an extra.

They're trying to eat and pay their taxes. These are real concerns.

All right. So look at how Nehemiah responds to their concerns.

Verse six says, when I heard their complaints, I was very angry.

He's mad, big mad. He is angry. Church, when there is an injustice,

when there is oppression, it should not sit right with us as Jesus followers.

It shouldn't. It especially shouldn't sit right with us when it's happening among the people of God.

It is oppression on the people of God from other people of God.

He has every right to be angry. However, he doesn't respond in anger.

Ephesians 4.26 says, don't sin by letting anger control you.

Nehemiah doesn't let anger grab the steering wheel.

Verse 7, I think this is just funny how he says it here.

It says, after thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials.

I told them, you are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they

borrow money. Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.

He thought about it. He planned his response. Another translation,

I like how it says right there at the beginning of verse seven,

it says, I took counsel with myself.

Like, remember, he was angry.

I took counsel with myself. He doesn't just react to the complaints that are

legitimate. He responds to them.

I know he's saying, I mean, literally it says, I took counsel with myself.

I think the pause in his reaction, like that's what he's getting at.

He doesn't just react to it because he knows if he'd have done that,

he'd have done it the wrong way.

He just immediately responded. He was angry. He took a moment and I fully believe

that God was in that moment.

When there are things that upset you, that bother you. Don't let your emotions

force you to simply react.

That's so easy to do.

Pause and then respond. If you need to take counsel with yourself, that's okay.

I think you should probably take counsel with God. That's probably even better, right?

Give yourself some margin. Let the Holy Spirit direct you because here's the deal. We all need.

He's angry. He takes his moment. He tells them this is wrong.

What you're doing is wrong. You're doing it to your own family.

And then he calls a meeting. He has like a public meeting to solve this.

This is a public issue. So he calls for a public meeting. This is not something

he's just wanting to solve in the background. He wants this out in front of

everybody. Ain't no hiding from this.

He wants everybody to know what's going on. So he takes his moment,

responds to the nobles and officials.

Verse eight, he says, at the meeting, I said to them, we are doing all we can

to redeem our Jewish relatives. We've had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners,

but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?

And they had nothing to say in their defense.

If we were to go back, we actually read this a few weeks ago.

In chapter three, there was a group of people who it says refused to work like everybody else.

Do you know who that was? It was the nobles and officials, the same guys here

who were causing all the trouble.

There's something you said. These are the people that were not doing the work,

making a profit off the people who are doing the work.

I mean that in like a literal sense, they're lending them money,

and then they're also not working on the wall.

So they're getting interest from them, and then they're also not working on

the wall, and the wall is being built, and they're getting paid while these people are going broke.

Nehemiah, he's rather direct, all right? He tells them, hey,

you are charging your own relatives into like literal slavery, right?

I mean, if that's not from the top ropes, I don't know what is. He's just bringing it.

And I think at this point, Nehemiah, he takes counsel with himself.

It's like he takes a breath.

He's expecting a response from the nobles. And I mean, you can put verse eight back up there.

And the officials said, quote, they had nothing to say in their defense.

Have you ever been in an argument where you lay it on somebody and then they

don't have anything to say?

Verse nine, then I pressed further. What you are doing is not right.

You should not walk, should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to

avoid being mocked by enemy nations, not fear of the government, not fear from your boss.

He says, you should walk in the fear of God.

He is the supreme authority.

He took a breath to let them respond. They didn't do it. He said,

I'm going to keep going, right?

Verse 10, he says, I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers have been

lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest,

you must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this

very day and repay the interest you charge them when you lent them the money,

grain, new wine, and olive oil.

Remember, they had nothing to say the first time.

Are they going to react well or are they going to throw a fit?

And so verse 12, they replied, we will give back everything and demand nothing

more from the people. We will do as you say.

Then I called the priest and made the nobles and officials swear to do what

they had promised. He's like, I'm going to hold you to it.

I shook, I love this word. I shook the folds out of my robe and said,

if you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you from your homes and your property.

The whole assembly responded, amen. and they praise the Lord and the people

did just as they promised. There's a lot to impact there.

Nehemiah has the nobles and officials that they're paying their relatives back

all the interest that they charge and they forgive the debt.

It never is explicitly stated here, but the assumption is that the actual debt

had already been paid, that the loan was so severe in interest,

there was actually like no way for them to get out from it. We would call that

predatory lending today, right?

And they're doing this against their own family. They agree to stop And then

not only to stop, they're going to repay them the interest that they've done

because they're family. Why are we paying interest to family?

And he says, I love how Nehemiah says he shakes his robe.

He's like, if you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this from

your homes and your property. I mean, he's coming from the top ropes for these people.

And then he does this in, this is in a public setting. This isn't like,

hey, back room, you need to get your crap together.

This is, he's in front of everybody. May God shake you from your homes if you

don't do this in a public setting. And did you catch what everybody did?

He says that. And what does the whole crowd say? Amen.

I mean, they're like, get it, boy. They're loving this.

And so Nehemiah heard their complaints. Remember, that's where it started at.

He meets them head on. And by the time this whole meeting is coming to it,

he's got everybody amening with him.

When there is injustice, you have to address it head on.

Skirt your way around it. You got to just attack it. You got to call it what it is.

You just got to be real. Nehemiah 5 verse 14. This is really kind of Nehemiah's

Nehemiah 5:14

part of how he's saying how he lived.

It says, for the entire 12 years that I was governor of Judah,

from the 20th year to the 32nd year of the reign of King Artaxerxes,

neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.

The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people demanding

a daily ration of food and wine.

Besides 40 pieces of silver, even their assistants took advantage of the people.

But because I feared God, because I feared God, I did not act this way.

I also devoted myself to working on the wall. He wouldn't find himself above

that, and refused to acquire any land.

I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.

I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my

table, besides all the visitors from other lands.

The provisions I've paid for each day include one ox, six choice sheep or goats,

a large number of poultry, and every 10 days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine.

Yet I refuse to claim the governor's food allowance because all the people carried a heavy burden.

Verse 19, last one, chapter 5.

Remember, oh my God, all that I have done for these people and bless me for them.

Nehemiah finishes the chapter basically by showing us that he's not just saying

the right thing to these other people, that'll get you in trouble.

You guys can't do that, but then you go do your own thing.

He's showing us that he is actually doing the right thing. He said,

hey, I never took my daily ration of food the entire time.

I actually took care of others. Hey, I worked on the wall. I had my men work on the wall as well.

He refused to claim what was rightfully his, not because he didn't deserve it.

I mean, it was rightfully his.

He knew that The people are already overburdened.

He did. If we zoom out here in chapter five on the story, there's this overarching

theme that I just feel like we,

honestly, sometimes it's one that we can forget in our lives every day.

How we get there matters.

Whatever goals you have, but whatever it might be, how you get there matters.

It does. In the middle of rebuilding the wall, and it's pretty clear that they

never stopped working on the task at hand. It's a big deal.

In the middle of rebuilding the wall, it would have been easy to hear those

complaints and to say, hey, I hear you.

Let's put a pin in it. We'll circle back to that after the wall is done. One issue at a time.

We've got our hands full. Let's finish the wall and then we'll address this.

Honestly, that sounds reasonable, doesn't You've got bigger fish to fry as a community.

But what if you are the one about to sell yourself to somebody as an indentured servant?

What if you are the one who is selling off your children so that they can eat?

Doesn't seem like you can wait then.

If it's you, the issue becomes a lot more personal. It's a top-of-the-line issue.

How we get there matters.

Imagine if they didn't confront the injustices at hand.

You finished the wall, but your literal family is gone because you couldn't

afford to eat and pay your taxes.

How you get there matters because you have to live with yourself after you finish.

You have to live with the decisions you've made to get there.

And the nobles and officials that they were looking out for the good of their wallet,

they didn't care it was family they just wanted to get paid they saw an opportunity to make money,

and they took it they're literally taking advantage of their own people i feel

like i say this often but it's just true you'll find what you look for you'll find what you look for

if you're looking for opportunities to make money you'll find some opportunities

to make money If you're looking for opportunities to get better, you'll get better.

If you're looking for something to be upset about, guess what?

You're going to find something to be upset about.

You will get what you look for. You will.

And look at what the Apostle Paul calls us to look for in Galatians 6, verse 10.

Galatians 6:10

It says, therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone,

especially those in the family of faith.

Look for opportunities to do good to everyone.

You should be a light to everyone, especially those in the faith.

It'd be easy to just read this part of Nehemiah and think, like,

the application point for us is, like, don't cause injustice.

Like, don't take advantage of people.

That's really not the goal here. The goal isn't to avoid injustice.

The goal is to pursue God.

They forgot the goal. They added their own goal, and they were pursuing that.

They wanted fat pockets.

The reason they are taking advantage of their own people is because they've

lost the plot. They forgot the mission that they were on.

I mean, literally as soon as they're reminded of it, they don't even defend

themselves. They agree and then they make it right.

Church, your goal as a believer isn't to avoid evil. It's not about avoidance.

It's about pursuing God. You need to do good.

It's all about what your mind is focused on.

What you're focused on is where you're going to go i got

a great example of this um from this past friday

night friday night i'm coaching my son's basketball team group of

third graders we're playing at central middle school the school just right behind

us uh the weather was warmer outside and they couldn't get the ac going for

some reason so inside it was like legitimately 80 degrees and very humid it

was rough and as the game is going on all the kids are getting red in the face.

We've got this one kid on the team and he's just got a motor.

He just never stops. He's like Russell Westbrook. It's amazing, right?

And I see him just stop at half court and just kind of grab his stomach.

Other team has the ball, so I can't call a timeout. I tell the ref,

as soon as we get the ball, I want to call timeout. Well, it was too late.

Because of the heat and chugging a Gatorade at the last time out,

he ralphed all over the court.

Good, good, good, good, good. Great, great, great. He goes over to the trash

can, continues to finish his business. His mom is attending to him, taking care of it.

We get the court clean, got stuff going. A couple minutes later,

he comes back and he sits down.

He's got a wet paper towel sitting on his neck.

He's got a water on his hand. And he's sitting there and he's just sitting.

And I walk up to him just like, but how you doing? Are you okay?

Like, what's going on? Just really want to get a check on him. How's he doing?

And he just informs me, hey, my mom told me to just take this off my neck when I go back in.

And as coach, I'm thinking, what? Did you see what happened last time you were in there?

There's blue Gatorade all over the floor, dude. This is nine-year basketball, chill.

And apparently he can see that on my face because I don't even say anything

I'm like and he looks at me goes I'm going back in,

I love it if I just be straight I love it here's the deal he was determined

to finish the job he was on mission he was not gonna let anything stop him from

that mission nothing was getting in the way he literally threw up he's like

I'm not done I'm gonna go do what I came here to do,

He's on mission. What mission are you on?

Is it God's mission or is it yours?

What mission are you on? The goal isn't to avoid injustice. The goal isn't to

avoid the wrong things in life, but rather the goal is to do good to all people,

especially those in the faith.

Church, God has a mission for each and every one of us. Don't shy away from

it. Don't be afraid of it and don't get distracted.

He has called you to be a light in a dark world.

There's so many ways you can do that. Our world is so dark. It needs so much

light. There's so many opportunities to do good.

Don't shy away from those. Stay on mission.

The best way that you can do that is by sharing your faith with others,

not hiding the fact that you are a Jesus follower.

Don't forget the mission you're on, to go and make disciples,

to share Jesus with those around you.

Nehemiah, he is a picture of Jesus just think about this there

is an issue that is plaguing the people and

Nehemiah is the only one who steps up and makes it right

and here's the he turns down what is rightfully his he could have had all this

this food he could have had all this allowance could have all these things given

to him he turns it down so that others will be taken care of man what a picture

of Jesus our world has an issue it's sin none of us are perfect sin is a plague

on this world Jesus steps up and he makes it right.

He doesn't take being God as too important. He doesn't take the fact that he

created us to keep him from serving us.

He gave his life on the cross to save anyone who will put their faith in him.

That is good news.

Are you living on that mission, church? There are people in your life who need to hear that good news.

How will they hear if you don't tell them?

That's the mission that God has you on.

Don't get distracted. Remember why you're here.

To be a light in a dark world. To share Jesus with those around you.

A lot of different ways that could look. Remember the mission.

Don't sidestep it. Don't skirt it. Don't avoid it. Go ahead on.

It can be awkward sometimes. That's okay.

You're not going to have to ask a king for permission to go rebuild the wall, right?

It's a lower level than you're going to do it. You can do it. Be the light.

Remember the mission that God has called you to. Let's pray.

God, I'm so thankful for Jesus. I'm so thankful that you sent your son to save us.

God that he didn't cling to his position he didn't cling to his power he didn't

cling to the authority that he had God he is the creator,

but he humbled himself he gave his life for us so that we can be forgiven for

our sins we can be made right with you God we can spend forever with you in heaven God.

God, help us to remember that's our hope, King Jesus, that one day he will return

and restore everything to its rightful place without sin and its stain.

God, we're so grateful for that. God, help us to live on mission,

to not forget that we are to be a bright light in a dark world,

to share our faith with those around us, God, to do good to everyone,

especially those in the household of faith.

Help us to live that out today and every day.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.