When Nehemiah made the journey from Babylonia to Jerusalem in 444 BC, he had the approval of the King of Persia. He had permission to rebuild the walls of the city, and he had access to much-needed building materials from the royal supplies. But despite that royal approval, the work was not without its opposition. There were men who sought to discourage the workers with their taunts. They sought to distract them with their threats. They sought even to destroy them with their army. But Nehemiah trusted in the good hand of his God, who was with him, and he defied all of the varied strategies of the enemies. And so progress was made on the wall. It was joined together to half its height all around the city. For the people had a mind to work as they trusted in their God. But their enemies were not the only problem that Nehemiah had to face. There were internal issues among the people who lived in the city or who had congregated there to help with the work of rebuilding the walls. Those issues were having a negative effect upon the people and therefore upon the work. The workers were discouraged. They were distracted. and they were almost destroyed by their fellow Jews. Some were exploiting power and wealth to the detriment of those who were less privileged. As soon as Nehemiah heard what was happening, he didn't hesitate to address these issues. And that is what is described for us in this fifth chapter of the book that bears his name. I want you to consider firstly the wrong that was righted by Nehemiah. There were poor, as there always are poor people in the world, poor in every nation, even in the nation of Israel, even among the Jews. There were people of different strata of society and there were those who were poor and becoming poorer as the wealthy became wealthier. Isn't that a refrain that we hear repeated today? Those who were wealthy, the nobles and the officials, were ignoring the needs of the people. Not only were they ignoring the needs of the people in order to line their own pockets and advance their own status, but they were ignoring the law of God in order to have personal gain at the expense of others. We could turn to many different passages in the Old Testament law to illustrate this, but here's one in Leviticus chapter 25. where it says in verse 35, if your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. So it's quite clear in the law that the people were not to exact interest from their brothers who fell on hard times and had to borrow money or property in order to get by. Here were a people then who were breaking the law of God. And so Nehemiah addresses them as far as we are able, we have brought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us. the thing you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? He drew them back to the law. He drew them back to the God who had done so much good for them. Echoing Moses' encouragement to the people to think about their background, to think about their history, to think about where they had come from and that it was solely because the good hand of God had been kind towards them, that they had been brought out of slavery, that they had been brought into a land flowing with milk and honey, that they'd been enabled to prosper. And so as God blessed them and prospered them, they were not to take advantage of those who were not blessed and prospered in the same way. The unity and the peace of the nation was being undermined as individuals pursued their own ends. and here they were that they had returned from captivity in Babylonia they had returned to Jerusalem in order to build this wall and as people from the regions round about those who had remained in the land through the captivity or those who had come back earlier with the previous groups who had returned they came into the city to help with rebuilding these walls and as all of the effort was focused on rebuilding these walls then a famine developed in the land. The farmers were building walls not tending their crops. The much needed sustenance for the large number of people who are now gathered together in Jerusalem was not stretching far enough. People were having to borrow money and sell property in order to make ends meet and they were doing this before those who had wealth, property and ability to help and rather than help these people were selling their brothers into slavery. They were purchasing their property at interest. Nehemiah says, this thing you are doing is not good. In the book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel were encouraged by the law that God had given, that it would direct them in ways of peace and prosperity. so that Moses was able to say to them in chapter 4 and verses 6 through 8, keep them these laws and do them for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say, surely This great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? The law was for their good. The law was for their prosperity. The law was given to help them and bless them. But there will always be those who will twist things for their own advantage and look for their own selfish ends rather than the good of the community. Ultimately, that destroys all. And so here the unity and the peace is being undermined and they're coming under the taunts of the nations. The nations who should be saying what great nation is this to have such a good God and such wise laws to govern them. Instead is looking at this nation and saying look at those people. Brother is devouring brother until at last they will all be destroyed. Nehemiah sought to right this wrong. He drew them back to the law of God, this good law that was intended to bless them. And he commanded them to restore the things that they had taken from the poor, to give back the interests that they had charged, to return to them their fields and their vineyards and their properties, so that once again the people were able to prosper as a whole and not just individuals here and there. We may learn from this that the unity and the peace of the church is more important than personal gain. To get ahead individually may be the way of the world, but it is not the way of God. And he calls us rather to serve one another, to love one another, to do good to one another. And so we see in this chapter that there's an example presented to them of kindness rendered. Nehemiah speaks of himself and his own role in this. Now it's obvious when we reach verse 14 of this chapter and Nehemiah is commenting on what he did for the people and called on the Lord to remember for good all that he had done for this people. It's obvious that Nehemiah isn't just thinking of those few weeks in which the wall was rebuilt, that short period of time in which so much effort was put into that one project. for he speaks about the 12 years that he was governor of the land of Judah and what he had done during that time and so it becomes a little bit difficult for us to understand how much of this was taking place while the walls were being built and how much of this is taking place throughout that 12 year period that he refers to. But either way it is obvious that Nehemiah himself had to change. Nehemiah himself had to recognize what was going on and perhaps he hadn't realized the degree of poverty and suffering that the people had been under for he says in verse 10 I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain let us abandon this exacting of interest and so he counts himself in with these nobles and officials. Though it would seem that Nehemiah's error wasn't so much in the exacting of interest personally as lending with an expectation of receiving back. This too, while allowed by the law, was disallowed when it meant taking advantage of those who were in particular need. And so Nehemiah describes the change that has taken place and the way that he continued to govern these people through the 12 years that followed. He says that he didn't lay heavy burdens on the people like the former governors had done. and they didn't take their rights of food, a food allowance for the governor, which was him. This was allowed under the law of Persia. The expectation was that the people of the region would supply the needs of the governor over that region. But Nehemiah doesn't demand his rights to the disadvantage of others. He doesn't seek to demand what was lawfully his when he knew that that would require people to suffer, to suffer loss and hardship as a result. And so for all of this period of time, he didn't demand his rights. Rather, his focus was on the people. It began, of course, with the wall. So in verse 16 he says, I also persevered in the work on this wall and we acquired no land and all my servants were gathered there for the work. So he's saying in this that he wasn't there for himself. He was there for the people. He wasn't there to advantage himself. he was there to see the progress of the people. It began with the work on the wall. The work on the wall only took a few weeks. He was there as governor for 12 years and then a little later on he came back for another stint as governor. And his focus all the time was making the people great again. He was there as a governor under the king of Persia. But more than that, he was there as a leader under the kingship of God. He says that he didn't take advantage of the people because of the fear of God. That was his motivation. And so instead, he was generous with his hospitality. Again, whether this began during the period of building the walls or certainly after the walls were constructed and during the 12 years that followed, his was a house that showed hospitality to the people and to the nation's roundabout. Perhaps even in the midst of the building labors, Nehemiah was actively engaged in meeting the needs of the people as he invited different groups to his table, as it were, perhaps not literally. I don't know whether he had a table big enough for 150 people. but to supply their needs, to send out food into the community, to help these people who are devoting themselves to the work of rebuilding the walls that had seen such progress even up to this point in time. Nehemiah's life is marked with kindness towards the people. he was generous and he set as a priority the good of the people that they may make progress in the building and then being re-established as the nation of God, not demanding his own rights but seeking the good of the people. And this, this is to mark the church. This is to be the hallmark of the church. Jesus said to his disciples on the very night in which he was to be betrayed and handed over to the leaders of the Jews and then to the Gentiles, ultimately to be crucified, Jesus stooped to wash his disciples' feet. even as he would stoop to take their sins upon him, upon the cross. And Jesus, teaching his disciples of what this meant, said in John chapter 13 and verses 34 and 35, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. This was to be the mark of the people of God. In a sense you might say well this wasn't a new commandment. God said in the Old Testament, love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. We are to love one another. But here's the newness in this commandment. You are to love one another just as I have loved you. That is the way in which we are to love one another. What was the love of Jesus Christ? It was the love that brought him from the worship and adoration of the angels in heaven into this world, to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, to live as a child in Nazareth, to be despised by the people that he had come to, and ultimately to be rejected by them. and crucified on the cross. What was the love of Jesus Christ? It was the love of a self-sacrificial servant who was willing to give all of himself for the good of others. And these weren't people who deserved it. They weren't his equals. They were so far inferior to him. and so far removed from him that they had lived their lives in rebellion against him and his father. And yet he showed this love and laid down his life for them, that they might be restored to fellowship with God, that they might have their sins forgiven and be reconciled to God. This is the kind of love that is to mark the people of God. Nehemiah demonstrated something in small measure of that kind of love when he gave up on his lawful allowance so that he wouldn't disadvantage his brothers. when he was generous with his possessions in order to feed the people around him and as though he was the governor he rolled up his own sleeves and took a trowel in his hand or carried materials to the wall to be an active participant in rebuilding that wall. He was ready to humble himself and become one of them. that there might be progress, that God might be glorified in them, through them, and among them. And this is how we are to live our lives. We're to live lives that reflect the love of Christ for his church. As we love one another, it will be a display to the world around us of the kind of people that God transforms selfish sinners into. The nation of Israel had been given laws by God that were to set them apart from all the nations of the world. Good laws, wise laws, what a great nation is this who has such a great God. and such wise laws. That was what the people were supposed to say when they looked at Israel. Of course Israel failed because Israel didn't obey those laws. It was what led them ultimately into captivity in Babylon and even after they've returned when they've been through so much and hard lessons ought to have been learned they continue to demonstrate the true nature of the human heart in its selfishness and self-indulgence. This Israel who was God's son was a failure but God would send another son to be the true Israel who would fulfill his law and show his wisdom and glorify him so that those who looked on him would say, what a great God. that loves the world so much that he sent his son that whoever believes in him should not perish in their sins but have everlasting life. And what great and good commandments he has given through his son to guide his people in paths of righteousness. And so we are to reflect that. We who have been born again by the Spirit of God have the nature of God within us, a nature that honours him and glorifies him in obedience to his word. But we battle a world that is at war with us and we're faced on every side by temptation that draws us. We must fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith and follow him, having the mind of Christ in which we show humility and a willingness to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others, that his church may be built up in love and peace and unity. Well, as Nehemiah went about this work of reforming the people and re-establishing the law of God. God was glorified there in their midst as God always is glorified when he once again is put in the center of our lives. He was glorified in Nehemiah's own life for Nehemiah tells us that he wouldn't live the way that others lived. but he would live in the fear of God. His actions were motivated by the fear of God. Now it's possible that someone could be motivated out of a fear of the judgment of God, the fear of the consequences of disobeying God. It is a It's an imprisoning fear. It's a fear that causes one to withdraw rather than to flourish, to wilt rather than to grow, to always be contemplating. the wrath of God. I don't think that that's what Nehemiah thinks when he's saying that it was because of the fear of God. For Nehemiah has repeatedly spoken about the good hand of his God being upon him. He's repeatedly witnessed the kindness of God towards him. There he had been, cup bearer to the king of Persia. There he had approached that great king as his life was in his hands as it were, but with confidence in God, he asked the question, can I go back to Jerusalem? Can I rebuild the walls of the city of my fathers? Can I resettle the people there? And the good hand of his God had been upon him. And so he had made the journey and all through that treacherous journey the good hand of his God had been upon him. And when he got to Jerusalem and he reconnoitered the city and looked at the work that needed to be done and then approached the leaders of the people there and sought to stir them up to this great task that was before them, the good hand of God was upon him. And as they put their hands to the work And they sought to rebuild the walls. The good hand of God was upon him. What does Nehemiah know of God? Does he know of God's judgment? Yes, he knows of God's judgment. He is a descendant of those who had been taken into captivity in Babylonia. Yes, he knows that God is judge. But he's experienced the mercy of God. He's experienced the kindness of God. He's experienced the generosity of God. And it is a fear of offending this God, of showing thanklessness to this God that drives him and motivates him. He says, I want all of my life to be lived for this God who has given so much to me. and that is glorifying to God for it exalts God for his own goodness and his own grace and it demonstrates the heart of the servant of God who willingly and voluntarily and with gratitude desires to serve the God who is so good and so glorious. And so it is that Nehemiah encourages the people. Ought you not to walk in the fear of God? Look at what God has done for you. Think about these laws that God has given to you, these good laws that are intended to prosper you, not individually here and there, but all together as a nation, as you live together, and as you work together, and as you honour one another, as those who are representatives of God in this world, and seek to honour and glorify him. What good things God has done for you through the ages of history in bringing you to this point. And so Nehemiah stirs them up to fear God, to honour and glorify God in the works of their hands and in the attitudes of their hearts towards him. And so having this revelation brought before these nobles and these officials, we see the grace of God at work in their lives. Nehemiah has been bold. He has brought accusations, charges against these nobles and these officials. He has declared to them, you shouldn't be doing this. And he has called them to give up the riches that they have accumulated and to restore them to the poor around them. And what do the people do, these nobles and these officials? Not on your life, Nehemiah. We're not giving it back. No, they say, we will do as you say. For God was working. Only God can change a selfish heart into a sacrificial heart. Only he can alter the outlook of a person so that he is willing to give up all that he has gained in order to serve God for his glory. And so the people praise the Lord. As they call others to them, and they sign documents that release loans. They praise the Lord, they give glory to their God for opening their eyes and directing them in a path of righteousness. God is glorified in his people as they walk in his ways and give him praise. And so God is glorified as the people's needs are met. The service, Nehemiah says, was too heavy on this people. So I did not push my rights. Compassion moved Nehemiah for the good of the people. It is an attitude of heart that moved and guided our Saviour Jesus throughout his earthly ministry. Time and time and time again as he saw the needs of the people around him we're told that he was moved with compassion. He ministered to them in their needs. And this is the attitude of heart that should mark the people of God, that we are moved with compassion. for those around us and as we as we are moved and as we seek to meet the needs of those around us God is glorified and Christ is honored in the church that bears his name as the priority is not on ourselves as individuals but on the congregation of God's people who have been bought, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and who are worthy of every service that we can render to them. You see, in God's sovereign wisdom, in this world, there's variation and there's diversity in the situations and the conditions of God's people We're not all in the same place. We don't all enjoy the same wealth. We don't all have the same success. We're not all prospered in the same way. But this gives us an opportunity. It gives us the opportunity to display the love of God in our love. towards others. It gives us an opportunity to display the generosity of God in our generosity towards others, providing for their needs as God has provided for ours so much more abundantly than our needs require. So that we may minister to others, serve others, make sacrifices for others, show compassion and kindness to others that reflects God's character. So that all the people of God may fear and praise Him for His provision in this way. This is what we call to brothers and sisters, We're called to love one another with the love of God, to serve one another with the gifts and graces of God, so that our God may be glorified in us as his character is evident in our lives and in our community together as a church. When the people in Nehemiah's day heard his rebuke, and his exhortation and said, we will do as you say. Nehemiah called for the priests and he made them swear to do as they had promised. And he followed that up with a prophetic picture of what would happen to them if they went back on their promise. May God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied, Nehemiah said as he shook out the fold of his garment. Failure to reflect the character of God incurs the judgment of God. You see, that's what's happened with this world. That's why this world is in the turmoil in which it is in. Because humanity has failed to reflect the character of God and has incurred the judgment of God. We were created to reflect God's character. We were created to be image bearers of our God. Let us make man, God said, in our own image, in our own likeness, male and female. Let us give them dominion over all of creation. And what did man do with that dominion? He used it selfishly. for his own ends rather than for the glory of God in reflecting the character of God. It isn't optional. I want you all to realize that. It isn't just for Christians. It's for all people. And if you continue to not acknowledge God and not to live your life with a desire to reflect the character of God, then you will incur the judgment of God. You're tasting it already in all the suffering that is around you in this world and in your own life. It is a foretaste of the greater judgment that will come at the end of the world, when you will stand before God to give an account of the way that you have lived your life, and you will incur at last the final judgment, where you will be cast from his presence forever, and never taste his love, and never have any of his grace, but will come under his condemnation. So I appeal to you, come to him this day, come to God and ask for mercy this day. Come to him and ask him to change your heart this day, like he changed the heart of these people, who once were so selfish that they disregarded the needs of their brothers who lived next door. turn them into a people who are generous and self-giving. He can change your heart as well, he can turn you around and as he does so then live for him, independence on his spirit, live to glorify the God who gives good gifts to his people. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, do help us, we pray, in our weakness. Help us. In the midst of temptation, help us. In a world that sets an evil example, help us. Help us to follow Christ. Help us to observe his life and imitate him. Help us to learn from the light of your word how we ought to live righteously, and glorify you in our lives and in our interactions and have mercy upon those who have never come and never sought your peace and never found your forgiveness and work at work in their hearts to transform and to change them, to renew them and to begin to produce in them the image of your son. that we together may live and love to the glory of our God, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.