“Unstoppable” (Nehemiah 6:1-9) - Revive Us Again III -

“Unstoppable” (Nehemiah 6:1-9)

- Revive Us Again III -

The Art of War

There was a man from China named Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), who was a war strategist and author of the Art of War. In his book the following statement is particularly famous and often quoted: “知彼知己 百戰不殆,” which means, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.” This art of war applies equally when we fight a spiritual battle. When we are in a spiritual battle, we must know the enemy and know ourselves. But there is more! We must know who God is. If we know these three – the enemy, ourselves and God, we will never be in peril but win every battle.

Know the Enemy

Then, first of all, who is our enemy? In the Bible the enemy is known as the “dragon,” the “ancient serpent,” the “devil” and “Satan” (Rev 20:2). The enemy’s purpose is clear. He comes only to steal and kill and destroy us (John 10:10a). The Apostle Peter says to followers of Christ, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1Pt 5:8). In the book of Nehemiah we learn how the enemy works, particularly throughout chapter four, five and six. First there were words of discouragements (Neh 2:19; 4:1-3). When Nehemiah and his people started rebuilding the wall in earnest, Sanballat and Tobiah mocked and ridiculed. They said, “What are those feeble Jews doing?” “What they are building – if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” The enemy discouraged God’s people with words. Second there were internal problems. The enemy intimidated Judah, the leading tribe, and the people of Judah began to complain out of their fear (4:10-12). Judah had three major points of complaint: The workers are getting tired. There are too many hindrances. The task is impossible. Those complaints are very persuasive and realistic. To make things worse, Nehemiah had to deal with internal dissension between the nobles and the poor among his people (5:1-13). But the enemy was persistent. He never stopped his counter attacks. It’s one thing after another. There was further opposition to the rebuilding – it was slander against Nehemiah (6:1-9). The enemy was not able to compromise Nehemiah’s stand; so now they seek to misrepresent him. He is charged with pride and self-seeking. They spread rumors and gossip. They said to Nehemiah, “Your real purpose is to satisfy yourself. You are rebuilding the wall to revolt and become a king!” Lastly, there was false prophecy. Prophet Shemaiah prophesied that Nehemiah should run into the temple to save his life. We have learned there were four or five different kinds of attacks, but all of them prompted by the enemy’s same motive. The enemy’s purpose is to stop God’s work by deterring Nehemiah and his people through discouragement. We must remember this. Nehemiah was well aware of this. So, in 6:9 Nehemiah prayed, “But now, O God, strengthen my hands!” May that be our prayer today!

Know God

In order to win the battle, we must know the enemy. But that is just a first step. We also must know who our God is. For Nehemiah, God is real and alive. Every time Nehemiah faced opposition, he didn’t directly fight back against the enemy. Instead, he took that challenge up and prayed to the Lord. When he heard the challenging news that the wall was broken down and its gates were burned by fire, he took that challenge up to God. He started praying in this way, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God!” (1:5a). When the enemy intimidated Nehemiah and his people, he said to God’s people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome!” (4:14a). When Daniel faced a life-threatening crisis, he went to his room and got down on his knees and prayed with thanksgiving. When the early church Christians faced severe persecution, they were gathered together. They got together not to launch a counter attack or retaliate, but to pray together. They did not pray that God would stop the persecution. Instead, they did pray that the word of God would continue to grow and spread. In Acts 4:29-30 they prayed in one spirit, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus!” Their prayers were answered. The word continued to spread, and there were many new believers day by day (cf. Acts 12:24).

In the middle of the challenge Nehemiah did not pray that God would stop the enemy’s attacks. Instead, he prayed that God would strengthen his and the people’s hands, so that they may continue to work and complete God’s project. His prayers were answered. The more the enemy intensified attacks, the more prosperous Nehemiah’s work became. The enemy mocked and ridiculed; Nehemiah prayed; God unified his people to work in harmony (ch. 3). The enemy was angry and made more effort to discourage Nehemiah and his people; Nehemiah prayed; God intervened and helped. So the whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height (4:6). The enemy became even more angry and intimated Nehemiah; Nehemiah prayed; God strengthened Nehemiah’s hands, and he completed the wall and not a gap was left in it (6:1). Max Lucado rightly comments, “When we work, we work. When we pray, God works.” Our God is great and awesome. He is Mighty God. He is mighty to strengthen us, help us, uphold us, and he is mighty to complete His great work in our lives and in our church. Do you believe this?

Know Yourself

Now we know the enemy. And we know our God. Along with this, we must know ourselves. Who are we? We are the Church. We are God’s people. We are members of God’s family. Nehemiah had such a strong God’s family identity. In the middle of the project the enemy stirred up dissension and sowed strife among God’s people. Some of Nehemiah’s co-workers were discouraged. The nobles didn’t get involved. The poor complained. Many in Judah were bound by oath to Tobiah, the enemy (6:18). But Nehemiah had never been shaken. He truly believed he and his people (community) were mutually bound together by a common destiny. He was tired of working, and the job seemed to be impossible to complete, but he never dreamed of going home to Babylon by himself. For Nehemiah, if the people perish, he perishes. If the people prosper, he prospers. When he saw that the nobles and officials were exploiting the people, he confronted them and spoke the truth in love. Not only this, but also Nehemiah sacrificed himself. For twelve years he refused to claim the governor’s food allowance, because the people already carried a heavy burden (5:18). After the completion of the wall, Nehemiah and the leaders volunteered to remain in the city of Jerusalem. At that time, the city of Jerusalem was a militarily vulnerable and a dying urban area. So they had to defend the city and carry out the redevelopment at great inconvenience (11:1-24). But again, Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice himself for his people, God’s people.

We, as a church, need this sense of community solidarity that binds all of us in a common destiny. We are members of God’s family. When we get into a family, in other words, when we are born or adopted into it, we don’t have the right to choose our family members. We don’t choose who will be my father or my sister. Among the family members, there might be a difficult uncle, emotionally unhealthy aunt, or immature older brother. But no matter who they are, we are still family. We are still bound together. In the same way, the church is God’s family. We don’t choose who will be my church family members. Once we become a child in the family of God, we’re in! We belong to each other. We are bound together by a common destiny. We are united and will be eternally united by the blood of Christ. The church is “eternal fellowship community.” One of the privileges of being an UMC pastor is to move from appointment to appointment. Every time Joyce and I are appointed to new church, we pray, “Lord, make us become genuine members of the church family.” If the church, the body of Christ, perishes, we perish. If the church prospers, we prosper. We need this Christian identity. When we have the strong Christian identity, the enemy cannot break church unity.

Unstoppable Church

Winston Churchill once delivered the following speech during World War II:

“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end… We shall defend our island, whatever the cost. We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”

I would like to paraphrase his speech to apply today’s message to our hearts:

“We shall not stop or give up. We shall go on to the end. We shall defend our church, whatever the cost. We shall pray in the morning. We shall pray in the night. We shall pray in our prayer closet. We shall pray together in the church. We shall accept each other. We shall build each other up. We shall never stop building up the church.”

Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18, ESV). Christ’s church is unstoppable. Would you join me in building up the unstoppable church together here in Houlton?