Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110320.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nehemiah: Excelling In Leadership In Hard Times
Part IV: The Leader's Role When God's People Are Mobilized By Him, Nehemiah 8:1-13:31
A. Gently Guiding God's People When They Deeply Heed His Word
(Nehemiah 8:1-18)
  1. Introduction
    1. The path to blessing in effectively leading subordinates includes being aware of the bent in subordinates to take good responsibility for their actions so as to know when and how to lessen our leading dominance.
    2. Nehemiah excelled as a leader not only when the people of God needed him to lead with the spotlight of human attention on himself, but when they took the initiative to do what was right and Nehemiah was supposed to give them room to express responsible actions. This style shift is seen in Nehemiah 8:1-18:
  2. Gently Guiding God's People When They Deeply Heed His Word, Nehemiah 8:1-18.
    1. As we noted in this lesson series out of Nehemiah 1:1-7:47 so far, Nehemiah as Israel's "Tirshatha" (Neh. 8:9 KJV) or "Governor" (Neh. 8:9 NIV) had to exert leadership acts in the spotlight before all, applying fully the skills used in his role as the king's cupbearer (Neh. 1:11) to get the Jerusalem's city wall rebuilt.
    2. However, Nehemiah 8:1-8 reveals the people of God then took a wonderfully great Biblical initiative:
      1. In Nehemiah 8:1, Israel's people unitedly gathered to ask Ezra the scribe to read God's Law unto them.
      2. Ezra complied, reading the Law to the crowd of both men and women, Neh. 8:2. It was unusual for women in the Ancient Near Eastern patristic culture to join such a public gathering with the men, meaning this mixed group meant the people had a a high level of interest in Scripture truths!
      3. Ezra read the Law from morning to midday (Neh. 8:3), standing on a platform with 13 other leaders of the people (Neh. 8:4-5a), and when he began to do so, all of the people stood up, and Ezra blessed the Great God of Israel with all the people responding by raising their hands in worship and saying, "Amen, Amen" before bowing their heads and worshiping with their faces to the ground, Neh. 8:5b-6!
      4. The Law was in Hebrew, and since many of the Jews from Persia spoke Aramaic, Ezra's reading was interpreted and explained to them, Neh. 8:7-8 NIV. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Neh. 8:7-8)
    3. The people under Ezra were then initiating totally, wonderfully upright actions, so Nehemiah ceased working as leader in the spotlight to allow the godly initiative of the people free reign, and so Nehemiah's name does not even appear in Nehemiah 8:1-8! He is not even listed as an official who was on the platform with Ezra with the other men who directed the people in the reading of the Law, Nehemiah 8:4!
    4. However, when the people began to respond to the reading of the Mosaic Law with all good intentions, but expressed Biblically incorrect action in doing so, only then did Nehemiah as governor gently direct them in unity with Ezra and the Levites, the teachers of Scripture, unto the right response, Neh. 8:9-10:
      1. This reading of the Law occurred on the first day of the 7th month, the Feast of Trumpets, a day of rejoicing, not of sorrow as was the Day of Atonement, Nehemiah 8:2b; Ibid., ftn. to Nehemiah 8:9.
      2. Thus, Nehemiah in union with Ezra [so as not to upstage Ezra's spiritual role] used his position as secular governor gently to direct the people not to grieve, but to rejoice in the Lord, Nehemiah 8:9-10.
    5. Thus, gently corrected, the people under the leadership of the Levites continued their wonderful initiative of seeking God's will, and rich blessing occurred with national spiritual renewal, Neh emiah 8:11-18:
      1. The Levites echoed to the people the joint admonition of Nehemiah and Ezra, so the people heeded them, celebrating and giving gifts to the needy in joy over understanding God's Word, Neh. 8:11-12.
      2. On the next day when the people met to hear more of the Law, they learned they were to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in booths, so they joyfully, abundantly applied it during all the seven festal days of this celebration along with the daily readings from the Mosaic Law, Nehemiah 8:13-18.
Lesson: When the people of Israel took the godly initiative, Nehemiah stepped out of the leadership spotlight to the degree he needed for the people to have the room to take righteously responsible action.

Application: May we who lead in God-given assignments see that our end goal is not to function in the spotlight, but to develop subordinates to take godly action independent of us. May we then lead in the spotlight only as needed, but lessen our presence there to the degree the subordinates act in God's will!