Page 38 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

together as one community and rallied around a common vision, there would be little hope for the rebirth of
their Jerusalem city of peace." 120

The Lesson ...

Background Information

I want to remind you that in chapter one, I explained how God was going to choose a place to have his name
dwell and that Israel was to be a centripetal force where people would come and see the king's splendor.
(Deuteronomy 12:11, I Kings 21:36, II Kings 21:7) God revealed the place, which was Jerusalem, and a beautiful
temple was constructed, surrounded by protective walls. Notice how the Psalmist described Jerusalem in Psalm
48:1-3, 4-5, 12-13.
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…the city of the Great King. God is in her citadels; he had shown himself to be her fortress. When the kings
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joined forces when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.

Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, and tell
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them to the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
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Notice in the above verses the longing of God’s heart that His splendor would be passed on to the next
generation. However, after a few short years, this would not be done because of the disobedience of Judah.
Judah’s disobedience tarnished God’s name, and He allowed this city to be broken into pieces, and many of the
Israelites were carried off into a foreign land as captives. After several years of disgrace, God is restoring His
city, His people, and His glory once again shines in Jerusalem. Many believe that Isaiah 58:12 seems to
prophetically look at this event.

The Servant’s Partners

Robert Lupton is the president of Focused Community Strategies (FCS) Urban Ministries based in Atlanta,
Georgia. In his book Renewing the City, he retells the story of how “a layman organizes the largest volunteer
community service project in biblical history." 121 Robert Lupton asked the question, “What good was a house of
God when there was no city of God to implement its beliefs? Indeed, it was little more than a broken symbol of
some scattered tribal people who once believed themselves to be Yahweh's chosen race." 122 Nehemiah had
evidently presented the documents from King Artaxerxes showing that he had officially established Nehemiah
as the governor of Judah in our last chapter. Now, Nehemiah had the responsibility of uniting the various
factions of Jerusalem and beyond. Over the course of the next few chapters, we will discover how Nehemiah
brought unity to an extremely divided group of people. “This difficult task would be drawing a contentious
people of varied classes, cultures, and dialects into a unified kinship. Unless this fractured group of Abraham’s
children could be pulled together as one community and rallied around a common vision, there would be little
hope for the rebirth of their Jerusalem city of peace." 123

1. The builders’ priority
“Spiritual leaders have a God-given responsibility to do all they can to lead their people onto God’s Agenda.” 124
We saw from the last chapter that when Nehemiah first began talking to the Priest and other leaders.
Therefore, the first people mentioned in the third chapter were the priests. Nehemiah 3:1 Eliashib the high
priest and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. ⌊After
building the wall⌋ to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it. These priests
realized that the operation would be doomed if they did not step up and move God’s people back to God’s
agenda. Nehemiah also realized that he must “get the right people on the bus.” 125 These priests must have
realized that they would be the catalyst for momentum. Therefore, they held a dedication service. The word

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