Here are the extended message notes from today's message at a2. You can download a podcast of the message by visiting our website at www.a2church.org or going to iTunes. (Type a2 Church into the iTunes Search Engine. It should bring up our podcast.)
I really feel passionate about the content of this message... It's pretty crucial stuff...
The builders were only approximately 26 days into the rebuilding project on the walls, when they experienced a challenge that could have derailed the entire project. According to Andy Stanley in his excellent book Visioneering, the problem was in the area of alignment.
In Nehemiah 5 we discover that sometimes the greatest threat to what God wants to do in a CITY or in a CHURCH doesn’t come from OUT “THERE"… It doesn’t come from the world… From people who hate God and who hate the church… Sometimes the greatest threat, the biggest roadblock and most significant push back you’ll experience in your pursuit of the VISION and DREAM God has for your life, will not come from OUTSIDE THE WALLS, but from INSIDE THE WALLS…
Acts 20:29-30 (NIV), I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
Stanley lists several traits that surface in team members or people in a church or organization who are "out of alignment."
• They’ll want to control, rather than serve…
• They’ll manipulate people and circumstances in order to further their own agenda…
• They aren’t willing to resolve their differences face to face… Instead, they carry on a campaign of subtle sabotage behind the scenes…
• They’re unwilling to believe the best about other team members… They’re always suspicious… They’re insecure about everyone, because they judge everybody else by the impure motives in their own heart…
• They view someone else’s failure as their success…
Alignment problems surfaced around the issue of money. The problem wasn't money, but the "love of money."
1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT), “For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil…”
A Couple of Thoughts About Money:
• Money is a revelation of your heart’s priorities (Matt. 6:21).
• Money can end up being a person’s functional god (Matt. 6:24).
Stewardship is the biblical concept that describes our management of the resources and assets God brings into our lives.
The word steward means “manager.”
Nehemiah 5:1 (ESV), Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.
Nehemiah 5:2-5 (NLT), They were saying, "We have such large families. We need more money just so we can buy the food we need to survive." 3 Others said, "We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine." 4 And others said, "We have already borrowed to the limit on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. 5 We belong to the same family, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others."
Recipe for a Financial Catastrophe:
• People were running out of food…
• Consumer debt was out of control.
• Run-away inflation.
• Taxes were ridiculously high.
• Unscrupulous wealthy people were ripping off their Jewish brothers and sisters.
Leviticus 25:35-43 (NLT), If any of your Israelite relatives fall into poverty and cannot support themselves, support them as you would a resident foreigner and allow them to live with you. 36 Do not demand an advance or charge interest on the money you lend them. Instead, show your fear of God by letting them live with you as your relatives. 37 Remember, do not charge your relatives interest on anything you lend them, whether money or food. 38 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39 "If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to you, do not treat them as slaves. 40 Treat them instead as hired servants or as resident foreigners who live with you, and they will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. 41 At that time they and their children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clan and ancestral property. 42 The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves. 43 Show your fear of God by treating them well; never exercise your power over them in a ruthless way.
Nehemiah 5:6 (ESV), I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, "You are exacting interest, each from his brother." And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, "We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!" They were silent and could not find a word to say.
9 So I continued, "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them."
12 Then they said, "We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say." And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, "So 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.
"And all the assembly said "Amen" and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
How Do We Deal With The Sin Within?
(See Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8, 10)
1. Conviction: The Holy Spirit brings the awareness that things are not right.
1 John 1:9 (ESV), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. Confession: We get real with ourselves and God about who we are and what we’ve done (1 John 1:9).
3. Repentance: We turn away from sin and self-will and surrender our lives to the purpose and plan of God.
4. Restitution: When possible, we demonstrate our decision to follow Jesus by making amends and setting things right (Nehemiah 5:12).
5. Worship: We respond to God’s grace with humility and gratitude.
Nehemiah 5:13c (ESV), And all the assembly said "Amen" and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
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