Rev. David Holwick ZM Nehemiah series
First Baptist Church (Communion)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 3, 2006
Nehemiah 5:1-9
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I. How heavy are your credit cards?
A. Christmas is a big time for personal debt.
1) One website gives advice for reducing your debt NEXT year
-- they assume it is already too late for this year.
2) Financial facts:
a) About 43% of American families spend more than they
earn each year.
b) Average households carry some $9,000 in credit card
debt.
c) About 51 million households carry credit-card debt at
an average balance of nearly $12,000.
d) Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade. [1]
B. Sometimes debt is not just a personal issue.
1) Nehemiah found that it reflected on his community's values.
2) In times of crisis, we have to take care of each other.
II. A community in crisis.
A. The economy is a shambles.
1) Israel never really recovered from the Exile.
2) A famine had arisen, perhaps caused by a drought.
3) Rebuilding the wall had diverted the work force.
B. Hunger led to servitude.
1) First, the farmers mortgaged their land for food.
2) Then, they had to sell their children for food.
a) Probably a system: they worked to buy them back.
3) The final insult was a heavy tax load. (sound familiar?)
C. Who is to blame?
1) Beyond the circumstances above, there were personalities.
2) Rich Jews were exploiting the weaker ones.
III. Rage and resolution.
A. Nehemiah gets ticked off.
1) Officially, he is the governor of the region and he
doesn't like to see discontent.
2) Personally, he is outraged Jews are treating each other
this way.
a) Irony - Jews already had a long tradition of redeeming
fellow Jews from bondage.
The Old Testament commanded them to buy back any Jew
who had become a slave. [Lev 25:47-55]
The modern state of Israel followed this principle in
1991 when they airlifted 15,000 black Falasha Jews
from the nation of Ethiopia.
b) It was a family obligation, and a national one.
c) Here, Jewish are doing the opposite.
3) Nehemiah's rage is an indication of his concern.
a) He is not in a rage for anger's sake.
b) He ponders the situation before responding.
B. Nehemiah brings resolution.
1) He heard of the problem. 5:1
a) You cannot solve a problem unless you know it exists.
b) Too many people (especially men) are oblivious to
conflict among their friends and relatives.
2) He gave careful thought to the problem before acting. 5:7
a) Rash action is usually counterproductive.
3) He addressed it directly.
a) He confronted the nobles.
b) He pinpointed the real issue.
1> There are differences of opinion on what that is.
A> Usury, charging really high interest.
1: NIV takes this approach.
2: Interest rate in verse 11 is one percent -
probably per month, or 12% a year.
Not all that high.
B> Charging any interest at all. **
1: They are acting like pawnbrokers instead
of brothers.
2: Outsiders could be charged interest, but
not fellow Jews.
c) He appealed to their higher motives. 5:9
1> They need to consider their walk with God.
4) He admitted his own mistakes. 5:10
a) Verse 10 suggests that Nehemiah himself was a culprit.
1> He is lending - not giving - money and food.
b) He recognizes the error and gives a clear command.
1> Give back the land and assets.
2> Stop charging any interest at all.
3> They all make an oath before God to do so. 5:12
IV. Would this work on Wall Street?
A. The economics of the Bible would cause a disaster for us.
1) Banks would fold, economy would tank.
2) Soak-the-rich schemes usually backfire.
B. It is not about the Federal Reserve, but brothers and sisters.
1) Nehemiah calls for generosity so God's will can be done.
2) It would be dumb to have a rebuilt city with no one left
to live in it.
3) Economics in a family is different than in a nation.
a) We are more than dollars-and-cents to each other.
b) We need to value each other and help each other.
C. Crisis can bring out the worst, or the best, in us.
1) One woman's personal tale:
Hilde Soulier, a beloved member of our church, was born
in Germany in the 1930s.
At the end of World War II, her family had to flee their
home as the Russian army advanced.
(Her home province was later swallowed up by Poland. She
returned to see it in the 1990s and found it unchanged.)
They fled by boat, train and foot.
One of the ships in their convoy was sunk, killing three
times as many people as the Titanic.
For many days her family went without any food.
When some food was made available, Hilde watched grown men
push women and children out of the way to get it all.
Even as a young girl she knew this wasn't right.
But crisis can bring out the worst in people.
Doing the right thing requires a conscious commitment. [2]
2) We need to look out for the weak and needy.
V. Setting an example.
A. Nehemiah modeled integrity.
1) He did not burden the people for supplies. 5:15
a) As governor, he was authorized to raise taxes to do it.
b) Instead, he paid out of his own pocket.
2) He did not lord it over the people.
3) He did not profit from the people's misery. 5:16
B. What kind of example are YOU setting?
1) When times get tough, your actions are noticed.
2) Your true values will be reflected in how you live.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Commentaries by Derek Kidner and Mark Roberts were especially helpful in
preparing this sermon.
1. These statistics were found on the internet.
2. From an interview conducted by Rev. Holwick on December 1, 2006.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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