Effective Christian Living - Nehemiah
13 - Chapter 13
Everyone likes a happy ending to a story. Fairy tales end with, "And they lived happily ever after”. If the book of Nehemiah had finished at chapter 12 the story would have had such an ending. The Bible is not a book of fairy tales. It is a realistic and honest book of hard facts about people and sin. You would have thought that after the great celebrations found in chapter 12 that the people of God would continue in their commitment to the Lord.
We look now at the last chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 13, and we find a different story. Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem at the time. After 12 years in the city he had returned to serve King Artazerxes in Persia. Nehemiah tells us this in verse 6, "I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty second year of Artaxerxes King of Babylon I had returned to the King". However, news travels fast! Nehemiah heard that spiritual decline had set in again. Beware of decline in your love for the Lord. Any decline will make you ineffective in God's service. Nehemiah knew he had to return to sort things out. We read in verse 7, "Sometime later I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem".
What were the spiritual problems that Nehemiah had to deal with? The first area of decline had already been dealt with before Nehemiah returned. The Ammonites and Moabites had been allowed into the assembly of God. We read in verse 1, "On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be allowed into the assembly of God, because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them". God's word reveals His standards and exposes our waywardness. Verse 3 says, "When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent".
Two things stand out here. First we see how quickly and easily we are inclined to go astray. In chapter 9 verse 2 we read, "Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners". Yet after such a short time they're mixing with them again. We are prone to wander. The Bible tells us how to avoid this. We read in Romans 13 verse 14, "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desire of the flesh". Allow Jesus Christ to control your thoughts and actions always. Fill your mind with Scripture and live it out in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 4 verse 27 we're told, "Do not give the devil a foothold". The devil is just waiting for a slip. It only has to be slight but he will use it to his advantage. Give him an inch and he'll take a mile!
Second, we see how the people were sensitive to God's word. They obeyed what they had heard. Nehemiah and Ezra had previously brought the people back to the Bible. Their influence was still felt. They had taught God's people the importance of the centrality and authority of Scripture. When God speaks to your heart through His word submit to it immediately. Don't resist it or struggle against it. That word from God is for your benefit and spiritual growth.
Then Nehemiah had to deal with Eliashib the priest. Verses 4 and 5 tell us, "He was closely associated with Tobiah, and he had provided him with a large room". This large room was in the temple in Jerusalem. Nehemiah was furious. Verse 8 tells us what he did, "I was greatly displeased and threw Tobiah's household goods out of the room". He then purified the rooms and restored them, to their proper use of storing the tithes of grain, new wine and oil. Tobiah was an enemy in the camp.
Be sure to keep out of the church anything that is an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. False doctrine should not be tolerated. Jude says in his letter in the third verse, "I urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints". Sinful behaviour should be dealt with. Paul said to the Galatians, "If someone is caught in a sin you who are spiritual should restore him gently". False teachers mustn't be tolerated in the church. Again in Galatians Paul tells us in chapter 1 verse 9, "If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned". Christian leaders must be watchful over their ministries so that false teaching is not given "a room in the temple". Care must be taken about who we allow into our pulpits. No Tobiah should be given the time of day.
A further problem that Nehemiah had to attend to is mentioned in verse 10 where we read, "I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields". In chapter 10 verse 37 the Jews said, "We will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites". You will recall that the Levites were employed full time in the work of the Temple. Now they were having to work in the fields themselves to make provision for their needs.
The Bible approves of God's servants having either part time or full time secular employment if a church can't support them financially. We know that from time to time Paul did some tent making to pay his bills. God understands and undertakes in a genuine case like that. Nehemiah knew that the people of God were not fulfilling their responsibility toward God's servants. It was not that they did not have the crops to give. They just did not give them and held on to them for themselves. God's workers struggled on trying to give all their attention to the work while simultaneously trying to support themselves to meet their basic needs.
It is a tragedy when Christian works are struggling for funds while believers are more concerned about beautifying their own houses, and improving their standard of living. Could it be that there are evangelists and pastors in your church who are in secular employment when the church could support them full time if every member tithed their income? The prophet Malachi preached at the same time in history as Nehemiah. He said in Malachi 3 verse 8, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me". How is it possible for you to rob God? Malachi gives the answer, "In tithes and offerings". God commands in verse 10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse". When you fail to give to God's work and His workers; when it is in your hand to do so, God says, "You are robbing Me".
The last problem for Nehemiah was dealing with mixed marriages. Verse 23 says, "I saw men of Judah who had married woman from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab". This was forbidden by God. He reminds them that this practice was the ruination of Solomon. He said in verse 26, "He was led into sin by foreign women". Christian young men or women look for your life's partner among God's people. If you marry into the devil's family expect problems from your father in law! We read in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers". Nehemiah observed with regret in verse 24, "Half of the children spoke the language of Ashdod and did not know how to speak the language of Judah". It is much more difficult to bring your children up in the knowledge of the Lord in a marriage where one parent is an unbeliever. It is more likely that the child will speak the language of the world than the language of God's people.
Nehemiah's ministry was effective. The secret of his strength was in his prayer life. He prays to God in verses 14, 22, 29, and 30. His work moved along on prayer. The ministry of Nehemiah, Ezra and others, brought the people of God back in line with the Bible. He laid a solid biblical foundation for the faithful remnant. They and their successors would face 400 years of silence before the birth of the Messiah.
As you discover the way Nehemiah lived his life for the Lord, and as you put the principles we have learned into practice, so you will discover the way to "Effective Christian Living".