Work with all their heart!

[Nehemiah 4:1-6]

I saw Michael Moore's movie “Fahrenheit 9/11” and saw an article written by a moviegoer on the Korean Internet JoongAng Ilbo. Here is a partial introduction to the content of the article: ‘First of all, the main plot of the movie is, as we all know, to mock Bush and his cabinet. The film begins with Bush's stupid expression, his words, the comical expressions of Bush and his aides preparing for a press conference, and the embarrassed expression of Bush upon hearing the news of the shooting while visiting an elementary school. Even the fact that he slept with a French blanket on the eve of the 9/11 incident, putting aside the essence of the problem, he only tried to make Bush a laughingstock, but it was enough to laugh at that level of comedy. I felt sorry for the director, who was not free of emotions and was talking about cheap jokes about a gruesome incident that took thousands of lives’ (Internet). The conclusion is, in one word, is that the movie was ‘a third-rate comedy meant to ridicule Bush ….’

In the first week of July 2004, a website called ‘Media Today’ surveyed netizens on the internet about the targets of ridicule, and as a result, the ranking of the targets of ridicule was as follows: ‘First priority: Seoul Mayor Myung-bak Lee. Under the pretext of ambitiously changing the transportation system in Seoul, the complete bus route reorganization that took effect on July 1 met with strong opposition from citizens, and Mayor Lee suddenly became the focus of anger. Second place: CEO Cheonho Kim of Gana Trading Co., Ltd., who put the truth behind Mr. Kim’s murder into a maze through suspicion of changing his words and his incoherent behavior, rose to second place in the weekly rankings. Third place: Britney Spears, who is engaged to a dancer, said ‘I really want to get married this time’ and ‘I want to be a good mother’ (Internet).

What about ridicule in the church? Who are people mocking? They mock those who believe well and are loyal. So, to a person who believes well and is loyal. That is why they ridicule those who believe well and are loyal, saying, ‘Should you believe in Jesus and believe that way? Do you have to go out like that on Sunday? Who are you trying to impress by being so loyal?’ Therefore, in the last days, church members are hurt by church members (Internet). What should we do when we are ridiculed like this? If we look at Nehemiah 4:6, the Bible says that Nehemiah and the people of Judah worked with all their heart even in the midst of ridicule. So, I would like to think about two things centering on today's text under the heading “Work with all their heart!”. I hope and pray that God's grace be upon you and me so that we may be able to work with all our heart.

First, under what circumstances did Nehemiah and the people of Judah work with all their hearts?

Despite ridicule, they heartily rebuilt the city of Jerusalem. In today's text, Nehemiah 4:1-3, when Sanballat, one of the three opponents of Nehemiah and the people of Judah, heard that Nehemiah and the people of Judah had built the city of Jerusalem, he was very angry and laughed at the Jews (v. 1). Sanballat, along with other enemies, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian, had already despised and ridiculed Nehemiah and the people of Judah (2:19). This hints to us that Sanballat was waging despicable psychological warfare as an attempt to sabotage the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. What was its purpose? It was to instill disappointment and fear into Nehemiah and the people of Judah (White). That is, it was intended to destroy the morale of the builders so that the city of Jerusalem could not be rebuilt (Packer). These adversaries took advantage of the "psychological weakness" of the rebuilders of Jerusalem to stop the work.

There is an interesting article about psychological warfare in Iraq. During the Gulf War in 1990-1991, psychological warfare units flew a small plane under the name “Voice of the Gulf” and distributed leaflets to the people of Iraq, eventually leading to the surrender of 87,000 Iraqi soldiers. do. In this war in Iraq, a huge number of leaflets were aired to the people of Iraq under the name “Information Radio”, saying that the Allies wanted to help the people of Iraq and to eliminate Saddam and his regime who are killing innocent Iraqis and didn't want to hurt them (Internet). In Nehemiah 4:1-6, we can see Sanballat's psychological warfare. We can think of his psychological warfare in five questions:

The first question is “… What are those feeble Jews doing?” (v. 2)

The key point of Sanballat's ridicule here was the people of Judah, the workers. He called them “feeble Jews.” In psychological warfare, you can either poke the other person's weakness or tell them one fact that the other person is sensitive to. For example, a sister who belonged to a Christian group I was volunteering with when I was in college, my roommate, and the adviser in charge were sitting in a restaurant and were drinking water s we were waiting for food. And I said to the sister sitting across from me, ‘You’re very healthy’ (I meant that she was little bit fat). And she picked up her cup and threw water at me (The sister seems to have been mostly concerned with her figure). Now Sanballat was doing just that. In front of his brothers Samaritans and his army, he called the people of Judah ‘feeble (weak) people of Judah’ because they knew how to react sensitively to the disgraceful and humiliating situation they were in. The term “feeble Jews” here means miserable or unhappy Jews. The word has two roots in the Old Testament: (a) Used to refer to a dying or withering tree (Isa. 16:8; 24:7; etc.). (b) Also used for those without hope (Isa. 19:8; Hos. 4:3). In today's main text, what we call “feeble Jews” is to ridicule the people of Judah as withering people who are worthless or what to do with great things. However, what we need to keep in mind is that if we look at 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, the Bible says that God is pleased to use us, weak beings, as instruments, and He also uses us to accomplish His work. People of the world may take wealth and power as their glory, but we, the people of God, can be proud of our poverty and weakness because we believe in the Word that when we are weak, we are strong (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). People of the world may take wealth and power as their glory. But we, the people of God, can be proud of our poverty and weakness because we believe in the Word that when we are weak, we are strong (2 Cor. 12:1-10).

The second question is “Will they restore their wall?” (Neh. 4:2).

Here in the second question, the point of Sanballat's ridicule was the work itself, the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. In other words, this ridicule is, ‘Do they really know what they started doing?’ (White) or ‘The rebuilding of Jerusalem is clearly beyond their power’ (Packer). For example, people who mock our church point at us and say, 'How can a weak church like you rebuild the Victory Presbyterian Church again?', 'How are you going to handle the Hispanic ministry?' and so on and continue to criticize our weakness and inability to handle it with ridiculing questions. When we are tired and weak in ministry, this kind of ridicule can't be fatal. Pastor White said, ‘When doubts are about to arise about something you have started, it is most undesirable for someone to tell you what fears you already feel.’ And he said Nehemiah 4:10 points out the weak condition and words of the people of Judah: The men of Judah said, “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” Sanballat's second mockery must have been fatal when the people of Judah were already questioning whether they would be able to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

The third question is “Will they offer sacrifices?” (v. 2)

This third mockery may not come across clearly. Sanballat is mocking their (the people of Judah) faith in God (White). It's like saying, 'Are they really mistaken that prayer can raise their wall?' What a terrible mockery of Sanballat! After mocking the people of Judah and mocking their work, the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, now they are mocking their faith, prayer. Simply put, 'What's the use of praying? Will prayer and worship work to rebuild the city of Jerusalem?’ is a mockery. This tells us that Sanballat is denying that God helps his people. This is an insult to Jehovah God. For example, what is the use of interceding for evangelism meetings and for new believers? How would you react if you heard ridicule? Will God really answer my prayers? Will my newborn believer accept the gospel? The point of this third mockery is to make us abandon our faith and walk the path of doubt.

The fourth question is “Wil they finish in a day?” (v. 2)

The crux of this fourth mockery is the ability to get the job done—to rebuild the city of Jerusalem in a short amount of time. Sanballat ridiculed the people of Judah, who were already exhausted from weakness (v. 10) and were saying, ‘We will not be able to build the city,’ with the intention of making them even more discouraged by how long it would take to complete such a great and difficult task. This is Satan's mockery and temptation. In fulfilling the Lord's will, the work that we, the Victory Presbyterian Church, have to do seems too big, and it makes us look small to handle the big task, so we can't persevere.

The fifth and last question is “Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?” (v. 2)

The key to Sanballat's mockery here was the building material. He is saying that the stones necessary for rebuilding the city of Jerusalem are already burned and are useless. However, the burned stones around the city of Jerusalem at that time were still good for building materials (white). At that time, it was the gates that were extinguished, and since the walls were demolished, almost all the stones were usable again (Packer). However, Sanballat secretly spit out the wrong words (burned stones) along with the right words to discourage the people of Judah.

After these five mockeries of Sanballat, comes the mockery of Tobiah the Ammonite: “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, ‘What they are building--if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!’” (v. 3). The focal point of Tobiah's mockery here was the finished product, the city of Jerusalem. He is mocking that even if the city of Jerusalem, which Nehemiah and the people of Judah are building, is completed, it will soon collapse even if a fox climbs on the wall because it is too weak. Here, the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘to break down’ is ‘a crack in (the wall)’. In other words, even if the fox climbs up, there will be a crack in the walls of Jerusalem.

In building the church, we hold on to the word of Matthew 16:18, which is the Lord's word of promise, 'I will build my own church', and do not be shaken by the ridicule of any enemies and work to rebuild the church, which is the body of the Lord. We must serve faithfully. Even if our adversaries ridicule us as incompetent and weak, mock our work, ridicule our capabilities and resources, and even mock our faith and perseverance and challenge us, we must be faithful in fulfilling the will of the Lord in building His church.

Second, how did Nehemiah and the people of Judah work with their hearts?

They prayed and built the city of Jerusalem with their hearts. Look at Nehemiah 4:4-5: “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.” Here we see Nehemiah's third prayer (1:4-11 & 2:4). We can substantiate (clarify) his prayer as a double plea (Packer):

It is a plea for God to support his servants.

Look at Nehemiah 4:4-5: “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. … for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.” Here, Nehemiah is asking God to weaken Sanballat's ridicule by giving new strength and confidence to the people of Judah who are building the city of Jerusalem.

It is a plea for God to judge his enemies.

Look at Nehemiah 4:4-5: “… 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 ….” This prayer is a prayer asking for a curse to be placed on Sanballat and his followers who were against Nehemiah and the people of Judah. On the surface, it seems that Nehemiah was ridiculed and prayed a curse out of vengeance, but it was not so. Sanballat and Tobiah ultimately resisted God and mocked God, so it is a prayer asking God to judge them righteously. This prayer can also be seen in the Psalms (Ps. 69, 79, 139:19-22). These psalms are called “Imprecatory Psalms.” One example is Psalms 79:4, 6: “We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. … Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.” Nehemiah praying like this, the amazing fact is in Nehemiah 4:6 – “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” The amazing fact is that Nehemiah resisted the ridicule of his enemies through prayer and heartfelt work. In other words, he prayed to God while hearing mockery. And while he was praying, he did not stop building the city of Jerusalem. Instead, he continued to build the city of Jerusalem with all his heart, together with all the people of Judah, without being shaken by the ridicule of his enemies who were trying to discourage him. Half of it was rebuilt within the period. What does this fact teach us? It is true that we can win through prayer. By praying to God, we can keep our hearts. In rebuilding the church, which is the body of the Lord, we must be faithful to rebuilding the church in prayer in the midst of any mockery.

Even our Jesus was mocked. Look at Mark 14:65 and 15:16-20: “Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him. … The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.” Despite being ridiculed, Jesus suffered on the cross and then was nailed to death. He was crucified and died. He ‘destroyed this man-made temple and in three days He built another, not made by man’ (Mk. 14:58). How contrasting is this? Nehemiah and the people of Judah put their hearts into rebuilding the city of Jerusalem even in the midst of ridicule, but Jesus destroyed himself, the city of New Jerusalem, on the cross.