Message #6, I am here so that I can lead at time of crisis.
Message #6, I am here so that I can lead at time of crisis.
Nehemiah was leading in a difficult time.
If there is no change, no new needs, no difficulties among
staff, workers, or volunteers, no new needs we need to meet, or no new workers
to train, we don’t really need leaders.
Who Moved my Cheese? Interesting little book. It is
not Biblical, but it is worth thinking about. There are several summaries of
the tale, online, including some in video form. I’ll let you do your own
searching. If you find a good option, let us know about it in the comments.
Here is one website that lists some take-aways from the
little book. https://www.ricklindquist.com/notes/who-moved-my-cheese
Change will happen. Leaders are truly needed in times of
stress and change—crisis.
Here are some examples of crisis leaders:
·
Winston Churchill,
·
Abraham Lincoln,
·
Nelson Mandela.
It is really hard to prepare to deal with a crisis in the
midst of one. Try to prepare up front.
Different cultures and personalities respond to crisis
differently.
Be aware of where you are in this regard.
A belief in God’s sovereignty is a great asset. Why was
Nehemiah in the position he was in?
I would say that he was in that position to lead his people
in a time of crisis.
At different times in my life, I’ve been called on to lead
in crisis.
Some of the “crises” I have dealt
with have been self-generated. Perhaps “crisis” is not the right word to
describe what I’m talking about. They certainly had a crisis feel about them.
Basically, I came to a conclusion that change needed to happen in the ministry
I was involved in. I took steps that made the organization appear worse for a
time, in order to make it better in the long run.
It's a bit like when a support on a building begins to deteriorate. The support,
and therefore the building will remain usable for a time. However, further
deterioration is sure, and eventual collapse is likely. To repair the building
is going to require interruption of the normal flow of activity, and extra
labor and expense. It is easier to do nothing. But doing nothing will not allow
for a greater future.
Here are some of the crises I have
led through, or in on case failed to lead through.
·
The crisis of who we are as a church.
I came to the Covington Bible Church, straight out of college, newly married,
in 1973.
CBC, like the church I grew up in was part of the Fundamentalist
movement. It was very conservative. It had rules against things like tobacco
use, drinking alcohol, playing with cards, and going to movies. The only
translation of the Bible that was used was the King James Version. The church
operated on a model from the 1930s.
At first I was comfortable with that way of doing things. It was my heritage.
It was in agreement with the teaching of the two Bible Colleges I attended.
However, as time went on I realized that some of what we were standing for as a
church, was not Biblical, but cultural. Some of what we were doing in ministry
was not helpful in reaching others. Some, like using a translation of the Bible
into a version of English that no one spoke anymore, hindered outreach.
Leading the church to make changes was frightening. It took patience. It
involved a careful comparison of what we were doing with what the Word of God
actually says.
Over a period of several years, we became a different church. I think it was
for the better
·
The crisis of how we do missions.
I led the church through an evaluation of how we support missions. Not only
did we make changes at CBC, we became a model for some other churches. This
involved asking new questions. Consulting with others, and thinking outside the
box.
· The
crisis of the plant shut-down in the midst of a building program.
We were ½ way through building a new Worship Center at CBC. We were mostly
paying for the project as we went along. We wanted to keep indebtedness to a
minimum. The factory where a number of our church members worked burned down.
This involved both short-term—suspending the project for a time—and long-term
leadership. We had to get a handle on exactly where we stood and then look at
how to go forward.
·
The PIU crisis.
When I totally unexpectedly came to the leadership position at Pacific Islands
University, I jokingly—but only partly a joke—called our campus, “The village
of Job.” We were short on money. Deferred maintenance had left our campus in
poor shape and unattractive. Several key staff members had either left, were
leaving, or sick. Two died. I had no experience in leading an institution of
higher education. And, the ten-year review of our accreditation was coming up.
o
The first step was to seek to improve morale.
o
We needed to shift the focus from what we don’t
have to what we do have.
o
We had to adopt a “go to war” mentality.
o
Whenever possible we needed to focus on some “little”
achievable things, creating small victories, reversing the downward momentum,
and contributing to positive morale.
o
We had to do what we absolutely had to do,
which in our case get through the accrediting process.
·
My attempt to create a partnership at PIU,
enabling the offering of more online courses, and offering a route to teacher
certification for PIU students and others.
I
still think this was a good idea. The organization we were attempting to
partner with has gone on to offer a credible effective program. The partnership
with PIU dissolved almost immediately after my departure as president.
Why?
Lot’s of reasons.
Here are a few
·
I didn’t adequately build a level of trust among
the key persons in this new venture. Over the course of months trust actually
deteriorated.
·
I thought I had “buy in” on the part of key
persons. It was clear after a time that this was not the case.
·
It was known that I was going to be leaving the
president position. That diminished to level of influence I had to lead through
change.
·
I think some sinful actions entered into the
equation. Sin does not bring good result. It may be that I was not forceful
enough in dealing with bad attitudes.
I’d say, if you haven’t been, if you aren’t now, you will be
in a time of crisis.
While we won’t take time to look at this, you may want to think
through the way the Apostles led through the crisis in Acts 6. High on the list
of ways they dealt with this, were:
·
Maintaining a focus on what was most important,
while
·
Not ignoring something that could cause serious
issures.
·
Framing a plan which was inline with Biblical
ethics—in this case the reality that because all people are created in the
image of God they are entitled to fair treatment regardless of their ethnicity.
·
A realization of the importance of perception.
·
Effective delegation.
It is just about impossible to read about Biblical/Christian
leadership without seeing Nehemiah’s name come up. Rightly so.
I want to focus on one aspect of Nehemiah’s crisis
leadership.
Prayer, The Essential Ingredient, some
lessons from Nehemiah.
I preached
this message at some point in my time as pastor. I’m merging in one more
message for this session.
In the first two chapters of the book of Nehemiah you see a
man who had come to passionately believe in a cause.
Nehemiah had to decide whether or not he was going to take
on this issue as his own. Note 2:3, 2:12, note the confirmation in v. 18.
Nehemiah identified a “mission”—The need to rebuild the wall
& restore Jerusalem’s broken image . . . glory to God. 1:3 & 2:17
As you look through the later part of the first chapter and
on into chapter 2 it becomes clear that as Nehemiah wrestled with the task
before him, with his part in it, with the implications to him, others, and God,
that a plan began to emerge.
I hope that you will take time to follow along with
Nehemiah.
Know you cannot do this on your own. There is an
indispensable concept, ingredient, practice, call it what you will.
- No matter how passionate you are about the matter,
- No matter how carefully constructed your plan,
- No matter how diligently you follow-through,
If your plan is really worth
pursuing, then sooner or later—in my experience it is usually sooner—you will
run into something that you just can’t handle.
- There will be opposition that will blow you away.
- There will be an obstacle so huge that you can’t
overcome it.
- There will be a load so heavy that you can’t bear it.
In other words, without this third element that explains
Nehemiah’s success, you will FAIL.
This essential ingredient of which I speak is prayer.
I have always been incredibly impressed with Nehemiah’s
prayer life and that of some of his associates we meet in his book.
Reading through the book, I noticed 13 prayers or
indications that Nehemiah or another leader was praying, and 7 references to
God working on behalf of the Jews as a result of their praying.
In Nehemiah’s Praying There Is
A Marvelous Agreement With God.
Nehemiah lived 450 years before
Jesus, but his praying exhibited a quality from the Lord’s prayer. “Thy will be done.” He agreed with God.
There are two extended prayers in
the book of Nehemiah.
The second one was given on behalf of all the people
on a day of repentence. All of chapter
9. We will look at it later, but what I
am going to say about the earlier one is also true about that one.
The first is found in chapter one. It was prayed by Nehemiah during that four-month
period between when he heard about the condition of things in Judea, and when
he had opportunity to speak to the king about the need there.
(Neh 1:4-11 NASB)
Now it came about 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. {5}
And I said, "I beseech Thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome
God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and
keep His commandments, {6} let Thine ear now be attentive and Thine eyes open
to hear the prayer of Thy servant which I am praying before Thee now, day and
night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Thy servants, confessing the sins of the
sons of Israel which we have sinned against Thee; I and my father's house have
sinned. {7} "We have acted very corruptly against Thee and have not kept
the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which Thou didst command
Thy servant Moses. {8} "Remember the word which Thou didst command Thy
servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the
peoples; {9} but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them,
though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the
heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I
have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' {10} "And they are Thy servants
and Thy people whom Thou didst redeem by Thy great power and by Thy strong
hand. {11} "O Lord, I beseech Thee, may Thine ear be attentive to the
prayer of Thy servant and the prayer of Thy servants who delight to revere Thy
name, and make Thy servant successful today, and grant him compassion before
this man."
Nehemiah’s prayer could be summarized like this:
“Lord we are in a mess. We’re in the mess because we disobeyed
You. Lord, you were right to do what you
did to us.
Now, Lord, I’m asking you to help us. I ask on the basis of promises you have
already made.”
He was agreeing with God.
That kind of praying keeps us honest. We are seeking God’s will not our own
way!
That’s how Jesus instructed us to pray,
and the promises of God’s word concerning prayer are
all related to that kind of praying.
If you are going to pray like that, you first have
to submit yourself to God.
You need to be full of God’s word, so that what
comes out is in keeping with God’s will.
In
Nehemiah’s Praying There Is The Rhythm of Life.
Paul told the Thesalonians
to “pray withour ceasing.”
Jesus said in Luke 18:1 “ .
. . men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
The NASB, puts it this way,
“at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,”
As I mentioned I found 13
prayers in Nehemiah. With the exception
of those two long ones that I already mentioned, all of them are one verse or
less.
Here is one of them in its
entirety: “Remember me, O my God, for
good.” (13:31)
I don’t know what Nehemiah
said, but the prayer mentioned in 2:4 must have been even shorter, “Then the
king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of
heaven.”
A friend of mine suggested
it was one word—“Help!”
I wonder if it was even
that. Perhaps it was merely the attitude
of need that was put before God, Rom. 8:26
I can only explain that
kind of praying in one way. Nehemiah and
God had a thing going.
Sometime when folk talk
about praying, they will speak of “entering God’s presence.” Nehemiah didn’t have to go anywhere. He was already there. God was in his contact list on his phone.
Too many of us live by the
motto, “When all else fails, pray.”
Nehemiah had the good sense to say, “Pray before anything else.”
The rhythm of Nehemiah’s
life was accompanied by prayer.
What about you? Does your prayer life consist of little if
anything more than a “God is good, God is Great,” grace at table, and a “Now I
lay me down to sleep at night.”?
In
Nehemiah’s Praying There is a Willingness to Repent.
“Not my fault, but my
responsibility.” (Chad, my son)
This is expressed in Neh’s
prayer in ch. 1. It is developed more fully in 9.
One of the most desirable positions in which to be in our
day in the USA is to be a victim.
- Victims are able to avoid responsibility
- Victims can look to others to fix their
problems—after all, what can they do?
They are only victims.
- Victims enjoy a perverse luxury. Wallowing in self-pity can for a time be
as pleasurable as leaning back in a hot whirlpool.
The big problem is victims are—well—“victims.”
The repatriated Jews of Nehemiah’s day could have easily
pled victimhood.
- Their problems were largely the result of failures
that had gone on generations before them.
- They were economically deprived.
- As we have already seen, when they tried to do
something to improve their lot they faced intense opposition and threat
from without.
- Not only that, but some of their own countrymen
sought to take advantage of their less fortunate brothers for personal
gain.
All they needed was a slogan and they would have been in
business—or I guess I should say, “out of business.” They were after all, victims.
In the section of scripture before us, however, under Neh’s
leadership, these folks refuse to join the victim chorus. Instead, they own their responsibility for
their present condition and chose to act responsibly as they move into the
future. They provide a model for us.
“On the twenty-fourth day of the
same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and
having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves
from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and
the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the
Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent
another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. Standing on
the stairs were the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah,
Bani and Kenani—who called with loud voices to the Lord their God. And the
Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and
Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting
to everlasting.” “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above
all blessing and praise.” (Nehemiah 9:1–5, NIV84)
Look back at 8:9
As the word was read and explained, it became clear that
something was wrong . . .
As a natural response to their encounter with the Word of
God three weeks before, the people had responded with a heart of
repentence, “Then Nehemiah the
governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the
people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had
been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:9,
NIV84)
Before I go further, I feel that I must tell you that
I do not know of any corresponding New Testament reason for us to delay the
dealing with sin.
God was dealing with the people in Nehemiah’s time as
a nation. The issue was a national time
of worshiping the Lord. God deserves to
be worshiped.
Now, in the light of all that we know based on the OT
and the NT, and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf, I know of
no reason why we ought not to deal with our sin. In fact we are cautioned with the danger of
delay. 1 Tim. 4:2 speaks of consciences
that are seared.
I’m reminded of Esau in Hebrews 12:17. Esau had opportunity to make a right
choice. Later when he desired to turn
around the verse says he “found no place for repentance,”
Let’s look at key statements:
v. 3 “spent another quarter [of a day] in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.”
Jay Adams principle of
clearing the ground first.
(Josh 7:19 NASB)
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to
the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you
have done. Do not hide it from me."
Here is a point where our worship
and our leadership come together. We worship God because of who He is. We serve
in the flow of leadership, acknowledging our Servant status before God, our
position as stewards of what God is doing, and the mandate He has given us to
shepherd His people. In other words, the root of our worship and our leadership
are the same.
When we define worship, we usually
don’t include elements like weeping and change that reaches to the core of our
being, yet these are perhaps the truest elements of worship.
At the beginning of the month, the
people worshiped God in celebration. Now
they worship the Lord in heartfelt grief. Leading these people through this was
important.
Look at the end of v. 5 &
beginning of v. 6, “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above
all blessing and praise. You
alone are the Lord."
The prayer that begins with v. 6
and continues through the chapter, the bulk of it is a review of God’s dealing
with Israel through history. It begins
at the very beginning. Creation.
Expositor’s Commentary gives this
summary:
“The prayer reviews God's
grace and power (1) in creation (v. 6), (2) in Egypt and at the Red Sea (vv. 9-11), (3) in the desert
and at Sinai (vv. 12-21), (4) at the conquest of Canaan (vv. 22-25), (5) through the
judges (vv. 26-28), (6) through the prophets (vv. 29-31), and (7) in the present situation (vv. 32-37). Ezra's prayer is a
marvelous mosaic of Scriptures”
It is an account of how again and again God made
provision for His people and they turned their back on Him.
·
Signs and wonders in Egypt
·
Manna
·
God spoke from Sinai
·
“Thou in Thy great compassion did not forsake
them.
·
God gave them a land.
·
Sent judges to deliver them
·
Sent them prophets to share God’s word.
Yet:
·
They acted arrogantly.
·
Refused to listen.
·
Made and worshipped the golden calf.
·
But they became disobedient.
·
As soon as they had rest, they did evil again.
·
Turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their
neck.
“In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you
have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.” (Nehemiah 9:33, NIV84)
True Worship Can Only Take
Place When We Agree with God.
I’d say we could say the same
thing about Biblical leadership.
This was a truth that David
realized when he finally confronted the great sin of his life.
(Psa 51:4 NASB)
Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy
sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou
dost judge.
1 John 1:9 speaks of the
confession of sin. The word basically
means to agree . . .
“In view of all this, we are making a binding
agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests
are affixing their seals to it.” (9:38)
An Act of the Will, Not
Merely an Emotional Response is required if anything is to be done.
“And now, O Israel, what does
the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his
ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul,” (Deuteronomy 10:12, NIV84)
“He has showed you, O man, what
is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV84)
Romans 12:1 says that the true act
of worship is to present one’s self completely to the Lord.
The contents of the agreement are
given to us in 10:29 >>
v.
29, a commitment to walk according to God’s law.
v.
30, to maintain appropriate family standards.
v. 31, to honor the Lord
by giving what He is due. In this case
in the OT economy it is honoring the Sabbath in all its fullness.
There is a truth in Nehemiah’s praying that we very much
need to remember.
“When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is
to stop digging.”
In
Nehemiah’s Praying There Is A Failure To
Fully Comprehend Grace.
I don’t share this to be
critical. It wasn’t Nehemiah’s
fault. It had to do with the time in
which he lived.
“For the law was
given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17,
NIV84)
Let me give you two
examples of Nehemiah’s praying that illustrate what I’m talking about.
“Hear us, O our God,
for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over
as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out
their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”
(Nehemiah 4:4–5, NIV84)
“Remember me for
this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the
house of my God and its services.” (Nehemiah 13:14, NIV84)
It is clear that Nehemiah
did not fully understand the life-changing concept of Grace. He was very much in the mode of works, reward
and punishment.
On the basis of NT truth we
know beyond any doubt that God not forget those good deeds done in His
name. Jesus spoke of it as “laying
up treasures in heaven.”
Likewise while we can be
sure that all sin not repented of will be dealt with completely and thoroughly,
it seems Nehemiah didn’t know that God changes people. There is Paul, the chief of sinners.
Supper . . . Uncle Bud. . .
A passion and a plan,
without prayer is like a automobile and a map without any gas in the tank.
Prayer is the mean by which
God’s power is turned loose on our present situation.
Listen to these one-liners
that express God’s blessing on Nehemiah and his endeavor.
Wouldn’t you like to say
that about what you are doing?
·
the good hand of my God was on me. (Neh 2:8)
·
the hand of my God had been favorable to me.
(Neh 1:18)
·
The God of heaven will give us success; (Neh 2:20)
·
Our God will fight for us. (Neh. 4:20)
Prayer is the absolute essential, but is there more.
10 principles article. https://www.churchleadership.
Obviously, Nehemiah prayed.
Nehemiah owned this.
“Not my
fault, but my responsibility”
We already saw that in his first
season of prayer.
He
surveyed the scene by himself & then said the truth about it.
He was willing to go to war.
Nehemiah took inventory of his resources.
In any given crisis there are
obstacles & problems. Almost certainly there are resources. Note last vs.
in chap 1. “I was cupbearer to the king.”
What was Esther’s resource?
Moses, before Pharoah?
The disciples when the 5000
needed feeding.
Do you have Western TV here,
McGyver? Movie Apollo 13, “Houston, we have a problem.”
Nehemiah led a culture change.
The people had a will to
work “the people worked with all their heart.” (4:6)
You
already saw how they responded to Neh’s call for repentance.
Nehemiah refused to be diverted.
Nehemiah served sacrificially. (5:14)
Nehemiah had a plan and he got others to buy into, take
ownership of, his plan.
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