Neglecting Holiness

Title: Neglecting Holiness

Text: Nehemiah 13

Introduction

                The story of Nehemiah did not end in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. There are still some few things that need purifications. These are the things that have to be given a priority in order to be right in the eyes of the Lord.

                Today, we will be talking about the things that Israelites neglected as a part of their obedience to the Lord. In the story, we will be seeing a massive reformation that Nehemiah brought to the people of Israel so that once again, they will be right in the eyes of the Lord.

Further Reformation

Neglecting the Sanctity of the House of the Lord (v.1-9)

After the rebuilding of the walls, Israel assigned Elianshib the priest to be charge of the storerooms of the house of God (v.3). But there is a problem because he is closely associated with Tobiah (one of those people who hindered in the rebuilding of the wall). He gave Tobiah a favor of using a large room for his use. The large room is formerly a store room for the supplies of the house of the Lord. Take note that this happened when Nehemiah was in Babylon.

When Nehemiah came back from Babylon asking another permit from King Artexerxes, he became very angry for the evil things that Elianshib has been doing. He provided a part of the house of the Lord to their enemy. Now remember that Tobiah has been a problem in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.  And this thing is not right in the eyes of the Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 6:16 it says that “we are the temple of the living God.” It is imperative therefore, that we need to give reverence to it. Not giving a portion of it to the enemies of the Lord. This is why God hates immorality and other sins that defile the body.

How about the singing of songs that have sexual, violent and rebellious themes? There is another trend that is coming up now that engulfs our young people. The music called “Emo” or in other words, “Emotional Music”. Have you ever wonder why many of the teenagers these days are very fond of using eye liner. The theme of that get up is the “Emo Get Up”.  So if you see your teenagers having that kind of get up, be aware that they might be listening to this CRAP music. The theme of this music is emotional, but a kind of emotion that will lead to suicide. There are already some incidents where teenagers commit suicide after becoming addicted with this music.

This relates to our church in a way of giving the enemies of the Lord to have territories in our minds and in our physical church. This is why we do not allow these young people to play secular songs inside our center but rather teaching to play music for our Lord instead of rock and secular music.

Brothers and sisters, this passage says that we have to maintain the sanctity of the house of the Lord even if it is only a part of it. That is why today, I will say that our center cannot be used for secular purposes like having a meeting for business even if someone will rent the place. This center will only be used for the ministerial purposes of the church. 

Neglecting the Sanctity of the calling of the Levites (v.10-14)

The passage is not only concerned of the house of God but also for the Levites and other workers inside the temple. Once again, in such a short period of time the Israelites neglected to support the needs of the temple, especially the needs of the Levites and other workers inside the temple. This is why these people were again forced to work in their fields in order to leave. The people of Israel again forgot the importance of these people. These people were suppose to be supplied with needs and foods for they are working inside the house of the Lord and now because of such a need to work, they are now working in their fields in order to support their needs. Now we see here a picture of people neglecting the needs of their workers.

Going back to the Old Testament in Numbers 1:47-54, we can see there that the Lord commanded the Levites to be in charge in the care of the house of the Lord, in this case it is called the “the tabernacle of the Testimony.” In further chapters of the same book we will be seeing there more things about the Levites. One of the best chapters that is related to the Levites in found in chapter 8 of the book of Numbers. There the Lord said in verse 14 that the Levites will be of the Lord.

Viewing it in the context of Nehemiah, we can see there that neglecting the Levites, priests and other workers in the house of the Lord is as good as neglecting the Lord. This is why Nehemiah rebuked the officials. And take note of his statement in verse 11, “Why is the house of God neglected?” He did not say, “Why did the Levites neglected to be in the house?” Instead, he points out the neglecting of the house of the Lord.

This is why we say that the Bible is very clear that God had called people inside the church and we have to supply their needs. Even Paul teaches these things. This passage is one of the best passages in the Old Testament that tells us that we need to be concern of these workers.

And this is why the Lighthouse Christian Ministry is doing its best to support these workers of the Lord. I hope that we will continue this good work, for this I assure you that this is pleasing and a fragrant offering to our Lord.

Neglecting the Sanctity of the Sabbath Day (v.15-22)

We know that Sabbath day is very important for the Israelites. In contrast to this, the passage that we are reading shows that Israelites already neglected the sanctity of the day of rest. The people here started to work and engage in trade and industry during the Sabbath day. This is against the Law of Moses and certainly against to what the Lord has commanded.

This is why Nehemiah commanded to shut the doors of the gates so that no trader will be able to enter the city until the Sabbath is over. The traders will have to spend the night outside the gates of Jerusalem. But still Nehemiah was not pleased with that and warned those sellers that if they do that again, he will lay his hands of them (v.21).

Here we can see a good effect of the stand of Nehemiah. He did not give in to what he know is detestable in the eyes of the Lord. He is a man of honor and that he knows how to say “NO” to these wrong things. Take note that this is a Sabbath day.

In our context, Sabbath day will stand for a day in a week that all we have to do is to rest and listen to the word of the Lord. It is our day of worship. And I can clearly picture out that if we are living to their time, we are sometimes guilty of this. Why do we have to work during Sundays? Why do we need to be absent to church because of a party, because of a movie, because of infinite unreasonable things? And what about arriving late during the service? Brothers and sisters, the only valid thing that can hinder in going to church is that you are bed ridden and cannot walk. But even then, the Bible has lots of examples that even bed ridden people came to see Jesus Christ. And that it was not a hindrance for them to come to the Lord.

This I will tell you, for your spirit sake and your relationship to God sake, if you are doing something during Sundays, God is definitely not pleased with it. Let us say we are happy because we have done something for ourselves that day, but what is the use of that enjoyment if our Lord is not pleased? I hope that we will start realizing these things before the Lord’s wrath will be poured out against us.

Note that even in the beginning of time, the Lord is very concern of the day of rest. Genesis 2:2 showed that the Lord gave importance and example of the day of rest. In Exodus 16:23-29, speaks of additional instructions of the Lord concerning the Sabbath day. Well in fact, there were about 116 passages from the Old Testament to the New Testament that mentioned about the Sabbath day, and about 48 verses that mentioned about the first day.

In summary, it doesn’t matter on what particular day we celebrate the Lord’s day, but we really have to celebrate his day. There should be a day in a week that we have to give to the Lord what is due for his.  

Neglecting the Sanctity of Marriage being a chosen people(v.23-27)

At this point of time, some of the Israelites have married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab which is a violation of their agreement to maintain purity among them. Note that Nehemiah in v. 26, quoted Solomon as one of the examples of a good king who ended up worshipping idols because of marrying pagan women.

Here we can see that the Israelites know this law. But because the world has changed that’s why they started to have intermarriage with foreigners. They are supposed to maintain purity among them by not marrying pagan people. But again, they compromised in this part that’s why Nehemiah was very angry in putting the people of God at risk again.

This part is very much the same in our time. We always teach our people not to marry non-Christians for the same reason. These people may lead us to idolatry or put our faith on Jesus at risk. What happened then? Now a days, there lots of Christians are intermarrying non-Christians for because they say that they will make him or her Christian. I mentioned this lot of times in my sermons. But I do hope that we know this and we will take this as a warning for our spiritual lives.

Note in verse 27 it says; “27Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?” For so long I have been looking for a passage that marrying non believer is a sin, and finally I have one. Yes it is true that there is no Christianity at the time of Nehemiah, but the God of Israel at this time is the same God of Israel at the time of Jesus. And it is still the same God that people have to put their faith through Jesus Christ. So meaning, this passage has a direct relationship to the passages in the New Testament concerning the intermarriage with the non believers.

Again, the Bible is very clear that such an act is a TERRIBLE WICKEDNESS AND ARE BEING UNFAITHFUL TO OUR GOD. And I do hope that we will take heed of this passage as a warning for us who were hard headed and stop looking for reasons why it is ok to marry a non believer.

Neglecting the Sanctity of God’s Calling (28-31)

This is another example of intermarriage.  One of the grand sons of Elianshib married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. Now there are two reasons that I see here that are justifiable why Nehemiah drove that man away. Elianshib is the high priest at this time and again, being a priest is supposed to be through the blood line. Knowing that the grand son of Elianshib married a pagan woman, therefore if he will remain to be an heir of priesthood, the priests will remain unclean and corrupted.

The second reason that I see here is that, the daughter of Sanballat may become a snare to the Israelites and even to Nehemiah. Therefore, Nehemiah’s action of driving the grandson of Elianshib is justifiable and a form of protection for any corruption that it may result to.

In verse 30, we can see here that Nehemiah purified the priests and the Levites of all foreign things. He knows that the calling of the Lord for these people as leader of the temple should not be corrupted and should be pure, that is to serve the one true God. And for this, I hope that these things are clear to us as reminder that have to maintain purity at all cost especially for those who were called to serve the Lord through the ministry.

Conclusion

The Book of Nehemiah is rich with wonderful insights. For the past two weeks we have learned about the principles in dealing with great projects, in building the walls. And today we have discussed about the things that we need to be concerned of in our spiritual walk. I believe that these things that we have discussed today are the most common things that we are doing now in our days.

I suggest that we will start turning to God now that we may have a redirection of our lives. Let us start asking for the forgiveness our sins to God by doing such things. 

 Another sermon manuscript of Ptr. Vince Olaer. He is the Pastor of the Lighthouse Christian Ministry of Ormoc, Leyte, Philippines.

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