“Handling Opposition” – FBC Morning Light (10/8/2024)

Well, good Tuesday morning to you. I hope your day got off to a good start, your week, I'm sorry, your week got off to a good start yesterday, and you are appreciating the readings in the book of Nehemiah.

Today we're reading chapters four through six, which are really insightful because, you know, yesterday we saw how

God in His grace had raised Nehemiah from his position of a king's cupbearer to leading

God's people to begin this monumental task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

And we also saw how God's people rallied around that cause, and they also shared in Nehemiah's volunteer spirit, giving themselves to do this great work.

Well, as is usually the case, when God's people endeavor to do a work for God and to bring

Him glory, you know, opposition comes, and it comes in a variety of ways.

And what I want us to say, I'm not gonna take the time to read all the verses that show the kinds of opposition, you can read the passages, it's chapters four, five, and six, and you can see these things as they unfold in these different chapters.

But I want us to look at seven different forms of opposition, and then notice seven appropriate responses to that opposition, okay?

So in chapter four you've got the forms of opposition that look like this.

There's ridicule and mockery, made fun of for the work that you're trying to do, there are personal attacks, and this is what, this is the attacks that are coming on the part of Sanballat, and he's mocking the

Jews, and then he personally attacks them, and then there's physical attack in verses seven and eight.

They're told that Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, they said that all of them conspired together to come and attack

Jerusalem and create confusion. There's physical attack. And then probably one of the most challenging things to deal with is when those who are doing the work get discouraged, and discouragement and or fear can be a serious form of opposition, and it can be hard, difficult to overcome, and so it's a real thing.

When God's people as a whole get discouraged, you know, the leader can get up there and try to be a cheerleader and all that, but is it gonna work?

Is it gonna overcome that discouragement? And then there's the problem of internal strife.

Isn't it often the case when, you know, God's people are trying to do a work for God, they start something, they get it going, that there's these little petty internal bickerings that can end up bringing the work to a grinding halt.

Internal strife. You see that beginning of chapter 5. And then in chapter 6, you've got the opposition of deception, where, you know,

Nehemiah, there's an attempt to deceive Nehemiah. And then finally, lying slander.

Lying slander in chapter 6 verses 5 through 7. So note those things as you read these three chapters.

Ridicule, personal attacks, physical attacks, discouragement and fear, internal strife, deception, and lying slander.

But then I also want you to notice how to respond to these things. How do we respond to these things?

Well, one of the ways that Nehemiah consistently responded to these things was through prayer.

So chapter 4 verse 4, he responds to the mockery and the ridicule and the personal attacks when he says,

Here, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach upon them. Prayer. Again in chapter 4 verse 9, and in chapter 6 verse 14,

Nehemiah prays. And then a second response to the opposition is to build the wall.

Just get back at it. So verse 6 says, So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined up.

We did not allow the mockery, the personal attacks, the ridicule, we did not allow that to stop us.

We just built the wall. Again, verse 15 of chapter 4 says,

It happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.

How do you respond? Stay at the work. Stay at the work. Another response is reasonable defense.

When you are hearing of threats, well, it's reasonable to defend yourself.

So I mean, today in our modern church, our modern society, our churches have to be cognizant of the potential threat that comes from crazy people who want to come into a church building and open fire.

So a lot of churches do what our church does, we have security cameras set up, we lock the building during the service times so nobody can get in without shooting their way in,

I suppose. And you know, some churches actually have people in their congregation who are carrying, they're concealed carriers.

That's reasonable defense in this day and age. A fourth response is faith.

Chapter 4, verse 20, Nehemiah says, Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there, our

God will fight for us. So we take all the necessary precautions, but in the end we acknowledge that our

God will fight for us. Faith. In chapter 5, verses 6 through 13, when it comes to this internal strife,

Nehemiah responds with confrontation and conviction. Confrontation and conviction, not allowing that to fester and to continue.

And then a sixth response is as a leader, and as the leadership among the people, setting the example.

Setting the example. And then finally, how do you respond? With faithful persistence.

The lying slander comes, but what do you do? You just persist. Faithfully persist with what

God has called you to do. So yes, it is reasonable to think that, yeah, you try to do a work for God, you want to give

Him glory, the wicked one isn't going to, it doesn't want to let that happen without some attempt to stop it.

But we need to respond in appropriate ways. God help us to do that. Our Father and our

God, we thank you for this insight from the book of Nehemiah today, and I pray that we would be encouraged to just keep on keeping on with the good work that you've called us to do.

And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, have a good rest of your