Do Hard Things
October 22, 2017

Scripture: Nehemiah 5:14-19

Luke 9:23: “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

I. Fearing God means doing the hard thing of letting go of my rights.

A. In Nehemiah 5:14 Nehemiah writes about “the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king.” The Persians had appointed Nehemiah to this significant post as governor of the land of Judah. He held this job for 12 years. And in those 12 years Nehemiah never did something which he had the right to do according to vs. 14. He never ate the food allowance of the governor.

B. In this way Nehemiah was acting like Jesus acted when He came to earth. Philippians 2:6-7: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Jesus had the right to be honored and worshiped as God. But He came not as God, but as a servant. Christians let go of their rights like Jesus did and like Nehemiah did.

II. Fearing God means doing the hard thing of acting with compassion.

A. We have already seen from vs. 15 that Nehemiah did not tax the people for his governor’s food allowance because of the fear of God. But now we see another reason why Nehemiah refused to tax the people in this way: compassion. Notice how he referred to these taxes in vs. 16: heavy burdens. And at the end of vs. 18 Nehemiah said, “I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.” The sight of need and poverty moved Nehemiah with compassion.

B. Compassion is more than just a feeling. Compassion begins with a feeling, but compassion necessarily leads to action. Compassion does not just mean, “I feel your pain. I am sorry for how badly you hurt.” Compassion begins there, but it does not end there. Compassion must lead to action to help the hurting person or else it is not really compassion. By acting to help the burdened Jews of Jerusalem by reducing their taxes, Nehemiah was acting with the same compassion that the Good Samaritan had.

III. Fearing God means doing the hard thing of trusting God for a reward.

A. Nehemiah, as a man of prayer, ends chapter five with a prayer in vs. 19, “Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.” What Nehemiah is praying is like a conversation between a father and a son. Nehemiah is saying to his heavenly Father, “I tried to please you in all I did. So Father, are you pleased with me? Are you smiling at what I have done? Can you reward me to show that you are pleased with me?” We need to trust that our reward will come, if not on this earth, then in heaven. Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Application:
Let us offer ourselves completely to God in any way, any place, any time.

Sources:
Commentaries on Nehemiah by Derek Thomas, James Hamilton Jr. and Paige Brown.