Prophet Nehemiah: The Ministry Building Prophet

This week we look at another Prophet seldom mentioned in Christian circles yet fundamentally important to the Christian Ministry—Nehemiah. The life of Nehemiah is found disclosed to us in the Book of Nehemiah. I must begin by saying that I cannot do justice to the Book in this brief piece and everyone owes it to himself/herself to read the details themselves of Nehemiah’s own calling . I call Nehemiah a Prophet though that was not his formal vocation. We are told in the last words of the first chapter of his book he was the king’s cupbearer. There is a lesson to be learned from this: we don’t have to be formal Pastors to build a ministry—Nehemiah certainly wasn’t. But besides this, there are three things to learn from Nehemiah’s ministry in building, in his case, the wall of Jerusalem and I turn to those now:

#1: Be aware of Godly Intervention

The first thing to learn of Nehemiah for anyone being a part of building a ministry is to be cognizant of God’s intervention. Nehemiah received the news of the state of Jerusalem from his brother Hanani and his first response is given to us in 1: 4: “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven”. Nehemiah’s first response to adversity was a cognizance of the Sovereignty of God and his dependence on that. Isn’t it amazing that someone who worked in the palace of the king didn’t misplace his source of dependence? It is easy to say this and also trite to say it but it is fundamental to the success of any ministry in building to recognize its dependence on God. The first lesson for building a ministry from Nehemiah was to be aware of God’s intervention.

#2: Beware of External Opposition

Many recognize the need for dependence on God for ministry building but some forget the second factor in Nehemiah’s life—external opposition. Someone has rightly said “Wherever you find a man who would stand up for God to build, you can be sure that there will be another who would stand up against God to destroy” and Nehemiah’s experience was no different. Nehemiah 2: 10 tells us “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel”. So there was external opposition to the work of God

But that is not all. We read on further that two things will be consistent with the opposition [1]it will increase in number and [2] it will increase in fervor. In v. 10 we only read of the displeasure of the opposition of two groups—the Horonite and the Ammonite. In Nehemiah 2: 19, a short while later, we read of the inclusion of a third group—the Arab—and a more offensive opposition in mocking and despising: “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us”. 4: 1 reads “Sanballat …became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews”. In 4: 7 we read of the inclusion of “the Ashdodites” and this continues through the book.

You can be sure that there will be opposition increasing towards the growth of Christianity in our land. Before it was solely a displeasure with it and we removed it from our classrooms. Now, we are being forced to remove it from our churches when Evangelical ministers are being sued and forced to marry homosexuals. The opposition is not only going to increase in number but in fervor and the same is true for you if you are building a ministry.

But Nehemiah had a two-fold response to this opposition that we can learn from as Nehemiah 4: 9 tells us: “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night”. He had both a vertical and a horizontal response. First, he fell back to his previous recognition and prayed to God—this was a vertical response. But he didn’t leave it at that. He responded horizontally by addressing the threat. It is important not only to call on God but to also take a stand against the threat—Beware of External Opposition.

#3: Beware of Internal Opposition

Yet if external opposition doesn’t destroy a ministry, you can be sure that internal opposition will surface. In Nehemiah 6: 5-13, we read of the story concocted by the opposition by hiring someone on the inside to make a false warning about the building project to discourage the builders and Nehemiah himself. Yet, Nehemiah was not swayed from the course. We read a similar thing in the ministry of Paul. Paul launches into a tirade of the dangers of ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:26 as follows : “I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea” and then he ends “dangers among false brethren” as if that was the most heart breaking of all. The most devastating opposition to any ministry comes, not from without, but from within—internal opposition—and we need to beware of it.

In the end, Nehemiah responds to this opposition as he always had, by seeking God. The best idea I can leave concerning internal opposition is to be aware of God and His Word and any ministry that ignores this is bound to be victimized by the internal scheming that will surface sometime sooner or later. Churches have split over the type of music to play—contemporary or traditional; over times of worship—9am or 11am; over the dress code of the Pastor—casual or formal and over the color of the pew seats none of which is prescribed in the Word of God and forgetting that the early Church, by our standards, played neither contemporary nor traditional music, worshiped at all times, dressed neither casually nor formally and had no pews in their home churches. Yet the Word of God is being ignored on godly sexuality and conduct, biblical doctrine and practice and biblical disciplines. We ought to be aware of internal opposition ignoring the former type by addressing the latter type.

In concluding, Nehemiah tells us to [1] be always aware of God’s role in building our ministry, [2] beware of external opposition in destroying the ministry and [3] beware of internal opposition in dividing the ministry. In dealing with these oppositions, we must have both a vertical response in dependence on God and an horizontal response in dealing squarely with the threat. Be blessed as you build your ministry in the wisdom of Nehemiah.