Nehemiah 5 is one of the most troubling parts of the whole book. Having considered external opposition and hostility last week, we are confronted with the internal corruption and sinfulness of the Church this week. For some reason we don’t expect that! Maybe it’s because we don’t really grasp the reality of God’s grace? When we see the Lord use someone to do something ‘holy’ we tend to assume that person must be super-spiritual and righteous. In fact, they are only ever a redeemed sinner, and still plagued by their sin – like all of us. So when we ponder the amazing work achieved by this generation of the ancient Church, and the extent to which the Lord has worked through them, we may assume they were amazing Christians, zealous for righteousness and the pursuit of Christ!
But in Nehemiah 5, the reality of exploitation and greed, and Christians taking ruthless advantage of their brothers and sisters can leave us feeling shocked and uncertain. How could God use such people as these? These are not the kind of low-grade ‘respectable’ sins that we can see God overlooking. Financially exploiting those who have given up everything to (re-) build the Church is pretty heinous – even if it might make good business sense to buy when the market is low! And making profit out of selling other Christians’ children into slavery, knowing that the Church has committed itself to buying them back (Neh.5:5-8) is likely to turn the stomach of even the most cynical!
And these are the people God is working through to build the walls? How can we justify that? How can God justify that? This is the destabilising reality of grace, and it is something that every one of us has experienced in our own lives. Apart from Christ, there are only sinful creatures. That includes you and me. And our sin runs far deeper and has far greater potential for violating God’s Law than we likely realise. The fact that – for whatever reason – it hasn’t fully realised that potential doesn’t negate the fact that it is there (Gen.6:5; Rom.3:10-20 etc.).
If there is a distinguishing characteristic, it is what they were prepared to do when they were confronted with the reality of their sin. Neh.5:12 is their confession of sin, and their repentance. If anything, this is what renders them (and us?) useful to God and usable by Him. It isn’t so much whether we are sinful (we are), but whether we repent of our sin when it is exposed. Even by the end of the book, the people of Jerusalem are hopelessly compromised (see Neh.13). But God is not the kind of workman who blames His tools. It is His wisdom and genius that takes people like us and weaves them into His purposes. As Paul would tell us, generations later: ‘we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ (Eph.2:10).
Questions:
Do you think there is any correlation between someone’s ‘holiness’ and their being used by the Lord? What is it?
Why do you think the people were so blind to the reality of their sin, given how blatant it was? How would they have justified their behaviour to themselves?
What would you say to someone who argued that it didn’t matter then if you grew in Christlikeness or not?
Is repentance real if we keep committing the same sin? Are we able to be free from any given pattern of sin? How would you counsel a Christian who was distressed because they kept doing the same thing over and over again?
Do you get angry when you see sin in other people (Neh.5:6)? Should we?
How does the Bible command those who are rich to relate to the rest of the Church (e.g. I Tim.6:6-10 & 17-18)? How can we make sure that this isn’t, in turn, exploited? How do we reconcile this with e.g. II Thess.3:10? How should the internal finances of the Church family work?
It is often alleged that the Bible condones slavery. Do you think it does? What passages would you reference to make the case that in fact, it doesn’t?
Should there be this sort of direct confrontation of sin when we see it in the life of the Church (see 5:7-11)?
Why does Nehemiah put them under oath (5:12), and threaten them with excommunication (5:13) if they fail to follow through on their commitment? Should we treat people like this today in the Church?
Why does Nehemiah go to such lengths to show his own handling of finance (5:14-18)?
