July 8, 2018

Nehemiah Part 5 | Remember the Lord, Fight For Your Brothers

Tribe Recap July 8, 2018 | Nehemiah Ch. 4

Taking ground for the Lord and effecting legitimate redemptive change is going to stir up trouble.  It’s going to stir up your enemies.  If the church slips into complacency it might enjoy some smooth sailing, but leave your comforts behind like Nehemiah did to rebuild God’s people and enemies will come out of the woodwork from every side.

In Nehemiah 4:2 his enemies mock the work, in v. 8 they conspire to bring war, in v. 10 they start nasty rumors, and in v. 12 they result to straight up fear, pounding the people over and over again that they are vulnerable to attack at any time.

If you venture to take ground for the Lord expect your opposition to come at you with doubt, confusion, exhaustion, and fear.  Expect profound psychological warfare.  Your enemy will go after your mind to try to ‘talk you out of’ doing great exploits for God.

But Nehemiah and the people have two secret weapons….first they have the “Lord who is great and awesome” (v. 14) and secondly they have each other (v. 13).  They stationed themselves in families, tight units of likeminded people.  Darkness does not want the living stones of light to stand next to each other because if they do he will not be able to break the habitation of God that they are making.

In v. 20 Nehemiah exhorts the people to rally to the sound of the trumpet.  In other words, he says, “When one of us is in trouble, assemble there and “Our God will fight for us.”  There is something so significant to rallying (assembling) to each other.  It’s as if God is waiting for us to step out in love before he will step out in power.

When we show up to help fight each other’s battles in prayer, hospitality, listening, service, presence, kindness, or any other act of love, an opportunity is created for God to show up in power.  Nehemiah is saying, “Fight for each other (v. 14 & v. 20) and God will fight for you.”

Then in an act of brilliant leadership, Nehemiah joins the posture of battle by sleeping in his clothes with weapons in hand on the front lines.  Great leaders lead from the trenches.  Jesus came to earth and became a man so he could fight with us in the trenches against sin, death, sickness, and hopelessness.  He came from a position of comfort like Nehemiah did to ‘sleep in his clothes’ right next to us.

Opposition will come when we build God’s kingdom, but when it does, we have a wonderful opportunity to rally to the fight.  When we rally for each other God rallies for us.  He sent his son to rally to our losing battle to sin; Jesus delivered a death-blow to sin and death on the cross.  So take courage and do not be afraid, remember the Lord who is great and awesome, fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses, and if you do, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, remember, “Our God will fight for us”.