REBUILDING WHILE FIGHTING TEMPTATION AND TRIAL (5 OF 8)
by Ross Lester
Scripture: Nehemiah 6:1-19, Nehemiah 7:1-4
Rebuilding While Fighting Temptation and Trial (5 of 8)
Ross Lester
Series: Nehemiah
Nehemiah 6:1-7:4
Intro:
Morning church. Nehemiah 6 is where we will be.
I have been following Jesus (with varying degrees of commitment and faithfulness) for 36 years. One of the things that has surprised me in the most recent few years of that adventure is that it doesn’t get easier. There is a resistance against our life of faith that doesn’t relent. It changes, for sure, but it doesn’t stop and won’t stop until we are face to face with King Jesus.
There is a constant temptation to dilute our faith, to compromise our belief, to put down the life of the Kingdom and the ethic of the king and to just walk in the way of serving self for a while.
Some of that temptation comes from my own flesh. Some of it comes from the allure of the world and what it looks like to live the good life according to culture. And … some of that comes from Satan and his minions who seek to distract, dissuade and discourage the people of God through incessant temptation and trial.
We get a picture of this in human form in Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah has committed his life to God’s purposes and he has sacrificed much to get the work of God done in his generation and he has faced constant opposition in that endeavor. We spoke about it at length from chapter 4 just two weeks ago. Here we find him facing it again in chapter 6. The temptation is to skip it. It’s a repeat theme and we have covered it.
But, we dare not do that because the Scripture repeats things that it wants to make sure we don’t miss. And so this wonderfully honest record of Nehemiahs’ life refuses to just make it look easy. Even the phenomenal task of finishing the wall in under two months will be contextualized by the constant trial and temptation that Nehemiah’s enemies put in front of him. The bible refuses to act like social media. It refuses the highlight reel, and rather presses into the very real reality of human life ...
Ross Lester
Series: Nehemiah
Nehemiah 6:1-7:4
Intro:
Morning church. Nehemiah 6 is where we will be.
I have been following Jesus (with varying degrees of commitment and faithfulness) for 36 years. One of the things that has surprised me in the most recent few years of that adventure is that it doesn’t get easier. There is a resistance against our life of faith that doesn’t relent. It changes, for sure, but it doesn’t stop and won’t stop until we are face to face with King Jesus.
There is a constant temptation to dilute our faith, to compromise our belief, to put down the life of the Kingdom and the ethic of the king and to just walk in the way of serving self for a while.
Some of that temptation comes from my own flesh. Some of it comes from the allure of the world and what it looks like to live the good life according to culture. And … some of that comes from Satan and his minions who seek to distract, dissuade and discourage the people of God through incessant temptation and trial.
We get a picture of this in human form in Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah has committed his life to God’s purposes and he has sacrificed much to get the work of God done in his generation and he has faced constant opposition in that endeavor. We spoke about it at length from chapter 4 just two weeks ago. Here we find him facing it again in chapter 6. The temptation is to skip it. It’s a repeat theme and we have covered it.
But, we dare not do that because the Scripture repeats things that it wants to make sure we don’t miss. And so this wonderfully honest record of Nehemiahs’ life refuses to just make it look easy. Even the phenomenal task of finishing the wall in under two months will be contextualized by the constant trial and temptation that Nehemiah’s enemies put in front of him. The bible refuses to act like social media. It refuses the highlight reel, and rather presses into the very real reality of human life ...
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