Hey everyone.
If you remember back when I started writing about Nehemiah, I started with the idea that Nehemiah accomplished something in 52 days that had not been done in over 100 years. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that had lain in ruins for over a century. The idea we were thinking about was this, "What did Nehemiah do, that I can do as I build my own ministry?"
This next post comes out of Nehemiah 3 and at first glance can seem rather dull. It is a long list of men and the section of the wall that they repaired. But if we dig a little deeper we realize a few things here. First, we see that Nehemiah did not have to rebuild the walls all by himself. It would be too much work for any one man. He inspired the city with his own faith and hard work to rebuild the walls, and they did it together.
We can see that people from all walks of life came and did their part. The priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate. (3:1) Men came from Jericho, Tekoa and the surrounding region to help. Levites helped, as did goldsmiths and perfume-makers. (3:8) Men who were not carpenters, never-the-less came and build a section of the wall. Many other men are mentioned by name here without their profession being given, maybe they were just ordinary farmers. Who knows? (Whatever their profession, they got their name in the Bible as a reward for their efforts.) The lesson here: one does not have to be an evangelist to do his part in building a ministry, one only needs faith and a willingness to work hard.
It would be wonderful to stop right there, but unfortunately there is a sad lesson in this chapter as well. Neh. 3:5 says "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors." The Bible doesn't really say the motivation behind their refusal. It just says that they would not work under their supervisors. Perhaps they thought their nobility entitled them to be supervisors. Many they were just lazy. We can only speculate. The sad lesson is that there were people who refused to be a part of this great work of God. Sadder still, there always will be. Let's hope, though, that like the rebuilding of the walls, that number will be small.
To end on a more positive note, the nobles of Tekoa may have refused to work, but the ordinary men of Tekoa were actually more "noble." They rebuilt two sections of the wall, the only group mentioned to do so. (3:5 and 3:27)
Tom
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Nehemiah's Mesage to Dads Part II
Hello everyone.
With Father's Day rapidly approaching, I thought that i would go ahead and tell you about the rest of Nehemiah's message to fathers. Here is what happens:
At some point after Nehemiah has successfully rebuilt the wall, he returns to King Artaxerxes in Susa. The Bible does not say how long he is away from Jerusalem, but when he returns he finds that in his absence, Jerusalem has a whole new batch of problems that he needs to deal with. One of the enemies of the people of God, Tobiah, who had created much of the opposition to their work, was now living in a room in the temple. The people had stopped paying the Levites and musicians of the temple, so they had left the their work in the temple to work in the fields in order to survive. People were not keeping the Sabbath.
Nehemiah returns and he starts fixing these problems. But there is one more issue that finds, one related to fathers, and this one makes him really angry. This is the issue: Back in chapter 10, the men of Israel vow that they will not give their sons or daughters in marriage to the people around them. By chapter 13, in Nehemiah's absence this vow has been broken many times over. Many men of Jerusalem had wives from among the Ammonites, Moabites or from the people of Ashdod. Naturally, they have children. What Nehemiah finds is a number of these children in Jerusalem who don't even speak Hebrew. They speak only the language of their mothers. This makes Nehemiah so angry that he starts calling curses down on them, beating them and pulling out their hair.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah, explains it like this: The men most likely worked in the fields, while their wives stayed at home with the children speaking in their native language. The children were growing up not knowing Hebrew. this meant that they could not read the law or participate in the temple worship. These men were making decisions that were detrimental to their children's spiritual well-being, and it made made Nehemiah hair-pulling mad. Now, I don't endorse in any way pulling out hair as a means of correcting someone. (Especially if you've seen my hairline.) We should recognize, however, that with all of the bad things going on in Jerusalem, the one that made Nehemiah the most angry was the fathers who were looking after their children.
We have ask ourselves then, "if Nehemiah were around today, would he be reaching for my hair?" This is serious stuff. Nehemiah's message to dads is that we have to take the long-term spiritual well-being of our children very seriously. We are fortunate today, in that it doesn't matter what language we speak, God's word has most likely been translated into it. Our challenges are different. Dads, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing all that we can for the spiritual well-being of our children. These guys in Nehemiah's time were just living their lives, working hard to provide for their family and not really giving thought to those little decisions that they made every day that were keeping their children from knowing God, and before they knew they had children who spoke a different language, couldn't read God's word or participate in the worship. We can't make the same mistake, where we are busy to get our children into good spiritual situations. Nobody is going to come pull your hair out, but your children will still suffer. Better that we make every effort for our children's long term spiritual well-being. God will bless that.
Tom
With Father's Day rapidly approaching, I thought that i would go ahead and tell you about the rest of Nehemiah's message to fathers. Here is what happens:
At some point after Nehemiah has successfully rebuilt the wall, he returns to King Artaxerxes in Susa. The Bible does not say how long he is away from Jerusalem, but when he returns he finds that in his absence, Jerusalem has a whole new batch of problems that he needs to deal with. One of the enemies of the people of God, Tobiah, who had created much of the opposition to their work, was now living in a room in the temple. The people had stopped paying the Levites and musicians of the temple, so they had left the their work in the temple to work in the fields in order to survive. People were not keeping the Sabbath.
Nehemiah returns and he starts fixing these problems. But there is one more issue that finds, one related to fathers, and this one makes him really angry. This is the issue: Back in chapter 10, the men of Israel vow that they will not give their sons or daughters in marriage to the people around them. By chapter 13, in Nehemiah's absence this vow has been broken many times over. Many men of Jerusalem had wives from among the Ammonites, Moabites or from the people of Ashdod. Naturally, they have children. What Nehemiah finds is a number of these children in Jerusalem who don't even speak Hebrew. They speak only the language of their mothers. This makes Nehemiah so angry that he starts calling curses down on them, beating them and pulling out their hair.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah, explains it like this: The men most likely worked in the fields, while their wives stayed at home with the children speaking in their native language. The children were growing up not knowing Hebrew. this meant that they could not read the law or participate in the temple worship. These men were making decisions that were detrimental to their children's spiritual well-being, and it made made Nehemiah hair-pulling mad. Now, I don't endorse in any way pulling out hair as a means of correcting someone. (Especially if you've seen my hairline.) We should recognize, however, that with all of the bad things going on in Jerusalem, the one that made Nehemiah the most angry was the fathers who were looking after their children.
We have ask ourselves then, "if Nehemiah were around today, would he be reaching for my hair?" This is serious stuff. Nehemiah's message to dads is that we have to take the long-term spiritual well-being of our children very seriously. We are fortunate today, in that it doesn't matter what language we speak, God's word has most likely been translated into it. Our challenges are different. Dads, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing all that we can for the spiritual well-being of our children. These guys in Nehemiah's time were just living their lives, working hard to provide for their family and not really giving thought to those little decisions that they made every day that were keeping their children from knowing God, and before they knew they had children who spoke a different language, couldn't read God's word or participate in the worship. We can't make the same mistake, where we are busy to get our children into good spiritual situations. Nobody is going to come pull your hair out, but your children will still suffer. Better that we make every effort for our children's long term spiritual well-being. God will bless that.
Tom
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Nehemiah's Message to Dads
Hey everyone.
Here in the New Jersey ministry, we have been going through Good Enough parenting by John and Karen Louis. It has been tremendous and I have learned a great deal. I am working really hard to be a better father to my two sons. Perhaps it is because of this focus that I am seeing a very clear message from Nehemiah for fathers. Let's have a look:
In Nehemiah 4 the Israelites are facing much opposition for those who do not want the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. Nehemiah posted guards with swords, spears and bows to insure that the important work continued. He called out to the men of the city in 4:14 and said, "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." He said this because he understood that they were in a battle to accomplish something great. This great work would benefit these men and their families (and future generations) and the men of Jerusalem needed to take up this cause and be willing to fight for the benefit of their families. We, likewise, are trying to build something great, whether it is a great ministry or a great family. We must be involved and in the fight if it is to be great. Obviously, my battle is different. As I fight for my children, I will not be taking up a sword or a spear. My fight will more likely be with myself.
I fight for time. It is easy to just drift along from day to day, caught up in the busyness of life, and not make the needed time for my sons. I fight for humility. (If I don't win this fight, I end up fighting with them and not for them.)
I have to fight for self-control. Without good organizational skills I don't make the time my boys need. Perhaps we are not getting the one-on-one time they need, or we are not getting into the word as a family. When this happens, I am losing the battle. If I have no self-control over my emotions, the fights get louder and louder, and my boys get hurt. I am losing the fight again. I may not be facing Sanballat and Tobiah, but the fight I face for my family is just as real, and these are battles I can't lose.
The good news here is that Nehemiah gives good advice. We fight for our families within the context of remembering the greatness and awesomeness of God. As a father, I need to remember Nehemiah's clear focus on God and on prayer.
Tom
Here in the New Jersey ministry, we have been going through Good Enough parenting by John and Karen Louis. It has been tremendous and I have learned a great deal. I am working really hard to be a better father to my two sons. Perhaps it is because of this focus that I am seeing a very clear message from Nehemiah for fathers. Let's have a look:
In Nehemiah 4 the Israelites are facing much opposition for those who do not want the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. Nehemiah posted guards with swords, spears and bows to insure that the important work continued. He called out to the men of the city in 4:14 and said, "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." He said this because he understood that they were in a battle to accomplish something great. This great work would benefit these men and their families (and future generations) and the men of Jerusalem needed to take up this cause and be willing to fight for the benefit of their families. We, likewise, are trying to build something great, whether it is a great ministry or a great family. We must be involved and in the fight if it is to be great. Obviously, my battle is different. As I fight for my children, I will not be taking up a sword or a spear. My fight will more likely be with myself.
I fight for time. It is easy to just drift along from day to day, caught up in the busyness of life, and not make the needed time for my sons. I fight for humility. (If I don't win this fight, I end up fighting with them and not for them.)
I have to fight for self-control. Without good organizational skills I don't make the time my boys need. Perhaps we are not getting the one-on-one time they need, or we are not getting into the word as a family. When this happens, I am losing the battle. If I have no self-control over my emotions, the fights get louder and louder, and my boys get hurt. I am losing the fight again. I may not be facing Sanballat and Tobiah, but the fight I face for my family is just as real, and these are battles I can't lose.
The good news here is that Nehemiah gives good advice. We fight for our families within the context of remembering the greatness and awesomeness of God. As a father, I need to remember Nehemiah's clear focus on God and on prayer.
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)