Stand Firm

Pastor Daniel Loh

This is where we desire to worship him with all our heart and I believe as we leave this place we will be inspired and be glad we attended this service.

This is not a farewell sermon even though Ps Ronald has done much in Malaysia and going down under. But I believe he is not finished in terms of ministry.

You heard I mentioned two words, complete and finish. It's different. Let me give you an example. When you married the right woman, you are complete. And all the women say? Amen.  When you marry the wrong woman, you are finished. See the difference now? When your wife catches you with another woman, you are completely finished. Now all the young guys better listen. But when your wife loves going shopping all the time, you are finished completely. I thank God that my wife and I have been in ministry together and often we conduct workshops. I work she shops.

I want to look at the last chapter of Nehemiah and the key word is stand firm.

Nehemiah 13:4-12 (NIV)

4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.

10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.

Nehemiah 13:15 (NIV)

In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day.

Nehemiah 13:17-18 (NIV)

17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”

Nehemiah 13:23-25 (NIV)

23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.

Nehemiah 13:29-31 (NIV)

29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me with favor, my God.

Nehemiah himself is a first rank character study. A man of prayer. A man of faith. A man of courage and action. You realise that his heart is always for God and the nation of Israel. He wanted to rebuild the temple of God. The Book of Nehemiah falls into two sections, Reconstruction and Reinstruction. The theme of this Book talks about God's security, protection and strength. When you study this book of 13 chapters, first chapter talks about concern, second to third chapter talks about construction, fourth to six talks about conflict, seventh to twelve talks about consecration and now coming to the end of chapter thirteen, it's about cleansing.

After Nehemiah completed the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he kept his promise to the king and returned to Babylon where he resumed his duty as the king's cup bearer.

Twelve years have passed. He found that in his absence many things have changed. Not for the better but for the worst. Like this country many who may have left the country and came back expecting the country to be better but it was worst.

He came back and saw the people were sinning once again. Once again. It is not just to the people of Israel, but it can also happen to us. If we are not moving forward we are sliding backwards. I call it spiritual decay. Temptations are increasing and everything is more difficult. It's tougher following Jesus Christ everyday.

I tell my children at home that as a disciple of Jesus Christ we must fly high and aim high. Fly high last long. We may start off very well and fly high but how long can you last? All of us are on the same team. We fly high and last long. Then we meet Jesus at the end of the day, he will say well done my faithful servant.

In the midst of internal and external circumstances Nehemiah was a man who stood firm. He dealt with the difficulties. We may be like Nehemiah. Where we want to turn the community and believers back to God.

1. Stand firm when you are in the danger of compromise. V1-9

Compromises was happening within Israel. They have defiled and forsaken the temple of God. They allowed an Ammonite into the temple of God. Tobiah who was an evil man against Nehemiah is now given a room in the temple of God. Imagine how Nehemiah felt when he returned after twelve years. To find his enemy staying in the temple. He acted immediately and threw Tobiah out of the temple and cleansed the temple. Compromise.

Christianity Today magazine has pastors and elders of the church as subscribers. And the statistics were bad and discipline of church members are low. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to keep our purity.

Compromise is a very dangerous evil. If we allow the Tobiahs to stay in our heart.

2. Stand firm when you face the anger of selfishness v10-14

He rebuked the leaders for the lack of faithfulness in giving. They stopped maintaining the temple and teaching the people. They stopped giving to God. A misuse of finance and selfishness and found its way into the people. He acted immediately.

He made sure that the rulers were paid. Imagine the lead pastors and leaders are not paid. Because the people of God are not giving they have no choice but to stop and go out to find work to support their families. This was what happened during those times.

Giving tithes to the church was no longer their responsibility. God has his way to run his organisation. And we have to look into Scripture and stay responsible in terms of the duty that we have. I have been thought during early days of my life about tithing. If you go online there are many articles that do not believe in tithing. I believe tithing is a matter of the heart. It is not about blessing. That is not the idea. If we think God bless us back by monetary wise then we will put all our money into church.

Many wants to be a millionaire by 30 but what is wealth without health? Work so hard that they neglected their health and they put all their money back to the hospital. We have to be responsible and pay our tithes. If we stay to the principles of tithing we do not need to raise funds for building.

Here the people of God has been so called poisoned in their minds that they neglected the house of God. Our finances speak volumes about our relationship with God. When our heart is not there we find it difficult to support the work of God. This morning we have to ask ourselves this question. Are we a giver or are we a receiver? Are we generous or selfish? Just a poem to remind us to not let money be our God.

Money will buy you a bed but not sleep.

Food but not appetite.

A house but not a home.

Medicine but not good health.

Luxury but not culture.

Entertainment but not happiness.

Religion but not salvation.

A Visa to anywhere on planet earth, but not heaven.

Friends, always remember that the only way to be free of the tyranny of money is to give back to God. Obey God's principles of tithing and be generous in offerings. I pray your whole Christmas tree will be overflowing with ribbons. Stay free from the danger of selfishness.

3. Stand firm when you face the danger of conveniences v 15-22

They did not observe the Sabbath. A time of rest and the Israelites focused on God instead of other things. That was the day of the Lord. Many no longer practice the Sabbath but instead compromised by doing all kinds of business wanting to make more money.

They had plenty of excuses like all of us. They were making knowingly and unknowingly wealth their idols. Nehemiah handled this promptly. He stopped working on Sabbath and banned the merchants from bringing their products on Sabbath.

Convenient Christianity. Well if it's convenient I'll come to church. If it's convenient I'll let my children come for special services. If it's convenient I'll come to prayer meeting. If it's not convenient I'll not come to church. It's not convenient for me to come because God has blessed us with a big house by the sea but it's not so convenient because it's now far away.

A parent ask a young girl do you want to go to church? So young girl of 12 say she's tired so don't go to church. We cannot ask a young girl whether to come to church. We cannot give them that choice. Young teenagers are at a time where they want to rebel and when you tell them to come to church they ask why? Church is boring. Convenient Christianity have creeped into the church. I'm glad all my church families and their children come and serve in church.

A lot of Christians today come to church to want to be blessed. When they see they are not blessed they hop to another church because they were not blessed. We should instead ask what can we do to bless the church. This is the church God has placed you here.

I pastor a church where there is so much pressure. I started to pastor a church with only 30 people. I'm not competing with another church because it's his church. I was associate pastor in a big church doing everything. Worship pastor, youth pastor and I grew there. I did everything in that church. I love going and serving in church.

Sad that today there is this convenient Christianity. Spiritual decay of if I feel like coming I'll come. How is your daily and weekly commitment to church? Are you busy making money God is blessing you but you neglect your commitment to church.

4. Stand firm when you face the danger of wrong relationships v 23-31

There were mixed marriages then. I'm not talking of inter-racial marriages. The Israelites compromised by marrying pagan women. It was so bad that many of the children of Israel couldn't even speak Hebrew. If they cannot speak Hebrew the next generation and generation to come will not be able to read Scripture and learn from the teachers and  Levites.

He called for curses to come upon them and beat some of them up and pulled out their hair. Can you imagine the lead pastor do that to us today?

Because of inter-marriages, many gods entered into the lives of the Israelites. That was the reason he was so angry. Paul talked about being unequally yolk with an unbeliever. How many think that when they fall in love with an unbeliever thinking that later they can become a believer. I can say that many of those end up no longer going to church. Or no longer a Christian.

They were so committed in church but the parents ask them whether there are any in church. If not they'll ask why not look for someone outside of church. And they even recommend someone from outside. He look like a Christian, sound like a Christian but is not a Christian. After a while, they stopped coming to church.

This is where many out of desperation decided to venture in that direction. Sad. But that's the reality of the situation nowadays. Getting married is not the best thing in the world. Being single can also be God's will.

There are three things for a good marriage. First is physical attraction. That's true. Even though you see some marriages and you see their physical appearance so far apart yet they love one another. You ask what do you see in the person, but it's only the person knows. Second is emotional compatibility. The third to me is most important and that's spiritual unity. It's so important to have the same faith. Husband and wife cannot pray together. Nehemiah saw this and immediately handled this situation. It affects us and the people around us.

We are most affected by the books we read and the friends we have. Wrong relationships can spiritually damage us. Do they draw you closer to God or do they draw you away from God? This is where Nehemiah say stand firm when you stand in danger of being lured away.

We can learn from this man Nehemiah. He had nothing in his heart but his love for God and his desire to please God.

That's why he ended with this prayer. Remember me with favour, my God. Have you ever prayed that kind of prayer? God will remember us. Why? Because he loves you. But to pray for God's favour, be willing to come back. To remember us with favour. He desires us to draw near to him and to stand firm. He is ever ready to guide and lead you. And you can stand and declare yourself a child of God to fly high and last long.