Week #4 in the “When the Walls Fall Down” Series… Expect Opposition

Pikeville UMC 

August 5, 2018

Review series
Over the past three weeks, we have been looking at the story of Nehemiah.  A Jew, born in exile, more than 450 years before Jesus, Nehemiah made a 1,000-mile trip to Jerusalem to repair its broken walls and help restore hope to the Hebrew people. 

Nehemiah’s story can teach us what to do when we face challenges that are our equivalent of broken walls. 

The first step in Nehemiah’s journey was to pray.  As we have said throughout this series, it was his first option, not his last resort.  Nehemiah not only prayed; he prepared.  When God opened a door for him to share his vision with the Persian King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah was prepared with an answer for what he desired to do and what he needed to be able to do it. 

When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he toured the city’s walls, saw what needed to be done, and shared his vision with God’s people who began the work of rebuilding the walls and – with it – a renewed faith in God.

This six-week series has been about what we do when the walls fall down in our lives and life takes us in some unexpected directions.  Over the first three weeks we said:  we pray, we prepare, and then we get to work.

But it’s never that easy is it?  It certainly wasn’t for Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 4: 1-9, 14-15 (NIV)

¹When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ²and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?"  ³Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building--even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!"  ⁴Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.   ⁵Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.  ⁶So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.  ⁷But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.  ⁸They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.  ⁹But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.  
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¹⁴After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."  ¹⁵When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

Introduction

The third of Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion is commonly understood as being, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

For example, when we jump, our legs apply a force to the ground, and the ground applies an equal and opposite reaction force that propels us into the air.

I am not a physicist, but as a pastor of more than 25 years, I have seen more examples of Newton’s Third Law of Motion than I care to count in the life of the church.  In the life of the Church, it is definitely true that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Let me give you an example, “How many United Methodists does it take to change a lightbulb?”

“Change the lightbulb?  What do you mean change the lightbulb?  My granddaddy donated that lightbulb, we put a plaque up and everything, don’t you dare touch it.”

For every action….

Of course, such things aren’t limited to United Methodists or even people of faith.  The truth is most of us – not all of us, but most of us – tend to resist change.  In fact, there’s an expression which says, “The only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.” 

Transition

Why do we human beings struggle with change?  From a technical standpoint, change represents disequilibrium.  In other words, when things change, we’re thrown off balance.  Change represents a threat to our status quo.  As the old saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”  Change represents the unknown and we tend to fear the unknown.  And, when we become afraid, our instincts are either to fight or flight.  It appears that Sanballat, Tobiah and their friends are afraid of the change they see happening in Jerusalem and they’re quite ready to fight to prevent it from happening.

Text

Sanballat and Tobiah were Persian officials.  Sanballat was a Samaritan leader and Tobiah was an Ammonite.  Theoretically, they should have been okay with Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem – after all it was being done with King Artaxerxes blessings.  That clearly wasn’t the case though.  As early as the second chapter, we learn that these two were upset about the prospects of the walls of Jerusalem being rebuilt.    

There are multiple thoughts as to why Sanballat and Tobiah were so adamant in their opposition to the efforts of the Jews.  Perhaps the ethnic tensions of the past figured into the issue. 

I am inclined to think that perhaps Sanballat, Tobiah and their friends were more interested in personal gain than ethnic issues.  Near the end of chapter two, Nehemiah tells them that they have no share in Jerusalem.  It could be that these men used the lack of defenses and low morale in Jerusalem to their advantage and considered the city to be their personal piggybank and playground.  Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls and restoring hope to the Hebrew people would threaten their access to those items.  

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Sanballat, Tobiah and their colleagues were definitely opposed to Nehemiah’s efforts to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and sought to derail them. 

The first attempt to stop things was to discourage Nehemiah and the Hebrews through derision.  They ridiculed their efforts.  “Hey Nehemiah, that’ll never work.  You guys are just wasting your time.”  They figured that if they could convince the Hebrews that their efforts would never work, they would simply quit.  They didn’t.

When derision didn’t work, Nehemiah’s enemies tried to intimidate him.  They said, “Hey Nehemiah, you know that someone could interpret the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem as being the start of a rebellion against King Artaxerxes.  Now, you know, being good servants of the king as we are, we just couldn’t let that happen.”  Confident that he was following the call of God though – and knowing he had the support of the king – Nehemiah refused to be brow beaten.  The work would continue.

When derision and intimidation didn’t work, Sanballat and Tobiah got serious and began to orchestrate traps to ensnare Nehemiah.  What made the situation even more precarious for Nehemiah is that they had allies on the inside of the walls of Jerusalem.  These informants kept Sanballat and Tobiah informed as to the status of the work on the walls.  As the work progressed, Sanballat and Tobiah invited Nehemiah to attend a “conference” so that they could discuss things.  In fact, they issued five such invitations, but Nehemiah was wise enough to know that if he accepted their invitation he – more likely than not – wouldn’t be coming back, so he politely declined.  The work on the wall would not be stopped.

Application

What was true in Nehemiah’s time is true in ours as well.  When God calls us to engage in something great for Him, we will probably encounter opposition.   In fact we should expect it.  Attempting great things for God always leads to change… and change leads to resistance. 

People will ridicule us.

Back in the 1970's, a young man Steve Wozniak worked for Hewlett Packard designing one of its biggest selling products, engineering calculators.  At night and on the weekends, though, often in his cubicle, he tinkered on a little project.

“Woz,” as he is affectionately known in the computer world, designed the hardware, circuit boards and operating system for what would become known as the “Apple I” computer.  As a loyal HP employee, he took his pet project to HP and, in his words, "begged" them to manufacture the PC.  They turned him down.  Not once.  Not twice.  Five times.  They once asked, “Steve, what would anyone do with a computer at home?”

People who struggle with a lack of vision in their own lives cannot see what visionaries like Nehemiah see.  They will ridicule what they do not understand. 

People will attempt to intimidate us.

The second pastor with whom I ever worked was not a well man.  He had both physical and emotional issues.  Unfortunately, when life got dark for him, he took out his frustration upon his staff members – especially if he perceived them to be a threat in any way.  He was very difficult to work for.  I once spoke with someone who had worked with him at his former church who suggested that, perhaps, we could start a support group for those who worked with this pastor.

He seemed to enjoy playing what might be called “head games” with people.  Instead of supporting and affirming those with whom he served, he channeled his anger upon others.  He did damage to several people before – thankfully – he took early retirement. 

People will even attempt to pull us into conflict.

As learned Nehemiah learned, some of the strongest opposition may come from those most close to us.  This is true even in the Church.    

It is well documented that churches who experience growth often experience conflict.  That is because as new people, new leaders and new ideas begin to emerge, the church experiences change and, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Carl George once wrote of a pastor (not United Methodist) who was fired because – and this is an actual quote – “He grew the church, but he didn’t know when to stop.”

When we attempt great things for God, when we begin to dream big and are on the right track, when the walls begin to be rebuilt, we will see changes happening and, with them, will come opposition.  It should be expected.

What was Nehemiah’s secret for staying strong in the face of organized and serious opposition?  And what the lessons we can learn to stay strong in the face of the opposition we will surely face when we attempt to rebuild the broken walls in our lives?

Part of the answer lies in what we have discussed from the very beginning of this series, Nehemiah constantly communed with God in prayer.  He found comfort and strength in prayer.  God reassured Nehemiah that He was with him.

In addition to a healthy prayer life, there are three insights we can draw from Nehemiah that will assist us when we encounter opposition:

Nehemiah never lost sight of his vision

Matt Bell, the former youth minister at Shelbyville Centenary, once shared a tidbit of wisdom with our staff after he had a challenging encounter with a parishioner.  Remembering some of the wisdom he had learned from a previous mentor, he said, the key was to, “…offer a non-anxious response, restate the mission and keep going.”

When we encounter opposition, it is easy to focus on the opposition and forget our purpose.  Like the Apostle Peter, we may find ourselves walking on water, but as a wave approaches, we take our eyes off of Jesus and, consequently, find ourselves beginning to sink.  We must never lose sight of the vision.

Nehemiah engaged in discernment

Prayerfully, and carefully, Nehemiah contemplated how to respond to the challenges presented by his antagonists. He utilized the spiritual gift of discernment.

In describing the spiritual gift of “discernment,” an article on the United Methodist Church website writes:

Discernment is a gift of deep intuition and insight. Discerning people can     separate truth from fiction and know at a visceral level when people are being honest. Deeply sensitive and “tuned in,” those with the gift of discernment are open to feelings, new ideas, and intuition as valid and credible information. Discernment is not irrational, but trans-rational—beyond empirical—knowledge.

Nehemiah had a God-given ability to understand what his enemies were up to and how to respond to them.  Part of that came from his communion with God in prayer and part of it appears to have been from a life that was so shaped by his relationship with God that he had an intuitive understanding of how to respond when faced with challenges.

Finally, Nehemiah prepared for difficult times

On December 7, 1941 during the Pearl Harbor attack, Navy chaplain, Lt. Howell Forgy, stationed aboard the USS New Orleans was overheard to have said to the sailors defending their ship, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”

Nehemiah prayed, but he posted guards and the Jews were ready in the event the Sanballat and Tobiah decided to escalate matters.  Nehemiah’s preparation may well have warded off an attack before it took place.

Conclusion

What will the rebuilt walls in your life look like when they are done?  Keep that image in front of you when you encounter opposition.

Carefully consider the decisions you may need to make and ask God to help you make the right ones.  Prepare for the difficult times by knowing they will come and determining how you face them. 

Pray.  Make a plan.  Get to work.  Expect opposition.  You are well on your way to rebuilding the walls that have fallen down.  In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray…