Page 67 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

violations of the Sabbath. The nobles were more interested in advancing their commercial interests than in
advancing their covenant relationship with the Lord.

In today’s culture, pluralist voices cry out for the voices of religious teachers and preachers to accept them with
a spirit of toleration and acceptance. This mindset has even crept into the church today, and there is little
acceptance for religious gatekeepers who cry out for moral purity in the church. The moral gatekeepers are
lambasted as intolerant and judgmental by the intolerance of those who cry out for tolerance. Today, as never
before, there is a desperate need for religious gatekeepers to cry out for purity to return to the church. Sexual
promiscuity and misuse of God’s money are idols of the heart, just as they were in the days of Nehemiah. Or, as
the writer of Ecclesiastes says, 1:9 what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is
nothing new under the sun. (NIV) We must remind ourselves that we were made for communion with God, and
our souls will remain restless until they find rest in Him. Therefore, the spiritual gatekeepers must remind their
people that their faith must be grounded in the certainties of the word of God and constantly cry out for
spiritual repentance so that congregations can experience revival. So Nehemiah begins this chapter by keeping
the main thing the main thing.

2. Value reliable partners (7:2)
Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah, commander of the fortress,
because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

Nehemiah now begins his search for reliable partners. Remember that he is serving as the governor of the
region. He has chosen his brother Hanani to be in charge of Jerusalem as the mayor. Notice the criteria that
Nehemiah points out in determining who would serve as the city's mayor. He was a faithful man who feared
God more than most. The first thing that he mentions is that Hanani was a faithful man. If Hanani was asked to
do something, you could count on it being done. If he were expected to be somewhere, it was certain that he
would be there on time. The majority of translations translate Hebrew as a faithful man, but a few translations
use these adjectives: reliable, trustworthy, honest, and a man of integrity. Again, because of the betrayal he
experienced in the last chapter, he needed someone with these qualities and also needed the following. The
second criterion that Nehemiah said went into his choice of Hanani was the following. He was a faithful man
who feared God more than most. Again, culture cries out for sermons that deal with the love of God, but how
many outcries have you heard for messages to be preached on the fear of God?

What exactly does the term the fear of God mean? Proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of the LORD is the beginning
of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (HCSB) In this verse, “The Bible makes a radical claim
about the nature of reality. It asserts that the universe remains an unsolvable puzzle apart from acknowledging
its divine origin. Solomon – an impressive philosopher in his own right – understood this fact. God must be
feared if knowledge is to be obtained. (Proverbs 1:7) Attentive readers will note that the “fear of the Lord” is
not just the starting point for spiritual axioms. The proverb states that it is the beginning of all knowledge. The
Hebrew word used for knowledge here covers the entire scope of human inquiry. Presupposing the God of the
biblical type offers the only sensible way to uncover the true and unified meaning of things.” 179 Keller calls this
discovery astonished awe.

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