LEADING IN LIFE - A Leader Motivates

We're going to look at another important leadership skill. We've said that at first a leader prays. Then he plans. Then the next thing you do is you have to make a presentation to get people to cooperate with you. Success is never a one-man show. Nehemiah knew that he could not rebuild the wall without the help of other people. When he goes to Jerusalem, the people are defeated, apathetic, living among ruins. Twice before in the last ninety years somebody has tried to rebuild the wall. They've failed twice. They have no confidence. They're negative. For ninety years they've been saying it can't be done. Nehemiah arrives on the scene and within a matter of days he has rallied the support of the entire city. He puts them together, mobilizes them, rebuilds the wall in 52 days. This was something that had not been done in 90 years. The question is how did Nehemiah pull it off when other people had failed? Was he a miracle worker? He was just a great leader. And he understood the principles of motivation.
I want this session to be very practical. There are many times these principles can be very helpful to you: When you are promoted to a new job; when you need to get the cooperation of other people; when you need to sell an idea; when you need to introduce change into an organization, a family, your school, your work; when you want to get a project off the ground. When you have any of these situations in your life what we're going to talk about will help out. Take these steps.

How does a leader motivate other people? Let's look at the things Nehemiah did.
1. EXPECT OPPOSITION
The fact is that the moment you say, "Let's do something," someone will jump up and say, "Let's don't." When God's people rise and say, "Let's build," Satan says, "Let's arise and oppose." People are naturally resistant to change. They don't like it. They want the status quo. People resist change for a variety of reasons. Leaders figure our what those reasons are and deal with them. Nehemiah 2:10 "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this they were very much disturbed that some would come to promote the welfare of Israel." He names two leaders of the opposition. You'll find these people all through the book of Nehemiah. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah was the leader of the Ammonites. Nehemiah has not even arrived in Jerusalem yet and there's already opposition.

I Cor. 16:8-9 "I will stay here at Ephesus. There is a real opportunity here for a great while and a worthwhile work, even though there are many opponents." Circle "opportunity" and "opponents". First leadership law today: There is no opportunity without opposition. If you're going to help change people or change the situation, expect opposition.

2. WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIMING
In motivating others and suggesting change, timing is everything! Have you ever had a good idea killed because of bad timing? Timing makes a huge difference. V. 11 says "I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days I set out..." He stops for three days. Nehemiah does not make some grand entrance, flash the flags, bands playing, arrives in on a white horse. He doesn't proclaim, “Here I am to save the day. Now get to work!" When he arrives in Jerusalem, the first thing he doesn't do is get brick and mortar together. He didn't even announce why he was there. He did nothing for three days.
What was he doing for those three days? We don't know. Four probabilities:

1. He was probably resting, recovering from a long journey. He had been on a camel, crossing the desert. Another Leadership Law -- You never make a major decision when you're tired; it will probably be wrong. Fatigue clouds your perspective.
2. He may have been praying. We know he was a man of prayer.
3. He most likely was planning. He probably was reviewing his strategy.
4. He was building curiosity. He arrives with a king's escort, into a town that is defeated and discouraged. He goes to his home and says nothing for three days. Don't you think that caused a little curiosity? Maybe using the delay to his advantage. He's using it for psychological build up so that when he presents the proposal, they'll be ready to listen.

Eccl. 3:7 says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." Eccl. 8:6 says, "There is a right time and a right way to do everything." Circle "right time". If you're going to share in changing a life or a situation, you've got to wait for the right timing. Jesus had a profound sense of timing in the ministry. Many times in His life He would say, "It's not time yet. My time has not yet come."

3. GET THE FACTS FIRST
In v. 12-16 we have Nehemiah's research party of actually going out and inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. You've heard of Paul Revere's midnight ride. This is Nehemiah's midnight ride. In v. 12 he says, "I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. By night I went out through the Valley Gate to the Jackel Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire." He goes on and explains how at midnight he's out traveling around the walls of the city, actually inspecting. He is personally inspecting the damage in the middle of the night. He only takes a small group with him. He obviously didn't want to attract attention.

Every good leader knows exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. He is doing his homework. His background checks. This is the lonely part of leadership, the un-glamorous part of leadership. It's the part nobody ever hears about. It's the guy doing his preparation, checking out the situation, getting the facts. v. 14 says there was so much rubble he even had to get off his horse and walk through it. At this point the size of the project probably starts to sink in and he thinks, "This is worse than I thought. Why did I volunteer for this?
V. 16 says "The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews, or the priests, or the nobles, or the officials or any other who would be doing the work." Why is he being so secretive about this survey? Because he didn't want the plan to be stalled before it got out of the starting gate. There had been 90 years of negativism and he didn't have all the facts yet. Is it easier to promote a good idea or kill a good idea? Have you noticed that negative people tend to be more vocal than positive people? Nehemiah doesn't have all the facts yet so he says before I even announce what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to get the facts.

Proverbs 23:23 "Get the facts at any price and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can get!" Proverbs 18:13 "What a shame -- yes, how stupid -- to decide before knowing the facts." Proverbs 14:15 (Living Bible) "Only a simpleton believes what he is told. A prudent man checks to see where he is going."
Leadership Law: Good leaders do their own research.
Before we started FOCUS* we had a demographic study done on this area started the church in. Before we began meeting here we were studying the area, the census statistics, talking to people, gathering information. We drove around the different neighborhoods.
We discovered through talking to other Church leaders that Bellaire/West. U/Medical Center/Montrose is the most unchurched part of Houston - made sense to Cathleen and I that this was the place God was sending us.

Nehemiah understood his opposition, he has created a curiosity, he has gathered all the facts, Now finally Nehemiah is ready to lay all the cards on the table. V. 17 "Then I said to them." Circle "then". Now he's ready for the fourth step in how to motivate people.

IV. IDENTIFY WITH those around you
All good leaders do this. They associate with their people. "I'm one of you." He says (v. 17) "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we are in. Come let us rebuild [Circle "us"] and we will no longer be in disgrace." He didn't walk in as an outsider, having never been to Jerusalem and say, "You guys are a bunch of failures. You can't get this thing rebuilt. It's been 90 years and nothing's been done on it." When you blame other people you decrease the motivation. When you accept the blame you increase the motivation. He doesn't play the role of an outside expert here. He doesn't say, "I'm going to rebuild the wall... I'm going to be your savior." He says, "I'm one of you and it's our problem."

Good leaders identify with those around them. That's good for motivation. It's good for parenting too. You get a little bit better response from your kids when they feel like you
understand them, that you identify with their problem.
Law: The best ideas are not mine or yours they're ours.
You identify with those around you

5. DRAMATIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PROBLEM
He comes to the people: "I've got some stuff to tell you but first the bad news." Rather than minimizing the problem, he dramatizes it, he emphasizes it. V. 17 "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we're in? Jerusalem lies in ruins and it's gates have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace." These are emotional word pictures he uses here. "The place lies in ruin ... burned with fire ... we're in disgrace." He's dramatizing the seriousness of this. Why? Because these guys had been living with this for years. Isn't it a fact of life that when you live with a bad situation long enough, you start ignoring it? Paint marks on the walls - This fifth step he refocuses their attention to the problem "We have got a mess." He's getting them to face the facts.
Step three is the leader faces the facts; step five is the leader gets the people to face the facts. Leadership Law:
Change never occurs until we become discontent.
If you want to create change in your school, work, home, office -- one of the marks of a leader is he creates discontent. If you're content you don't want to change anything. That means you're going to have to put up with some criticism, because anyone who stirs the pot, rocks the boat, is in trouble. They're shaking up the status quo. That's the mark of the leader.
How did he do it? He used two motivators. He appealed to their self esteem. He said, "We've got to go out and build this; we're in disgrace. We could do better than this. We're God's people and we're living in rubble. The city is torn down. The walls are torn down. The place is in shambles and a mess. We're in disgrace." I think that was a breath of fresh air to these people. This leader is different because he's concerned about us. He doesn't just have his own agenda. He's concerned about us...

But even deeper than that, he appealed to an even higher motive which was concern for God's glory. Not only were the Jews being disgraced but God was being disgraced. Who were the Jews? God's people. The whole world was laughing: "Those poor Jews! They say they worship the true God. They can't even rebuild their own city. They say their God's the greatest God of the whole world, but they can't even get their walls rebuilt; they're living in rubble." It was an embarrassment to God and a poor testimony. When Nehemiah said, We're in disgrace! he was not only appealing to personal self esteem but he was appealing to the fact that God's name was being defamed. It was a bad testimony.

6. ASK FOR A RESPONSE
You don't just pump them up, you give them something to do. You don't just have a big rally -- then say, isn't that great! Let's all go home. In v. 17 he says, "Everything is in a mess; let us rebuild the wall." He calls for action. He
appeals for help. He asks for a specific response.

Notice that Nehemiah was both realistic and optimistic. That's a balance that a good leader has. Nehemiah was
realistic because the third thing he did was get the facts on his midnight ride. He saw really how bad the place was. He tells them: the walls have been destroyed, the gates have been burned. But he's also optimistic. After honestly laying out the problem, he doesn't say, "Everything is destroyed. This is impossible! Let's go home." He doesn't give up. What he does say is the opposite. "Let's rebuild."
Leadership law: Leaders see both the real and the ideal. They see what is but they also see what can be. A leader who just sees what can be and doesn't see what is, is not a leader; he's a visionary. There's a big difference. You've got to look at both -- what's actual and what's possible. Those two brought in harmony together produce leadership.

When you see these kinds of things, you ask for a specific response. Leaders see what's real and they see what's ideal and they know that to get from the real to the ideal they have to have help. Leaders are not afraid to ask for assistance. Not too many of us like to ask for help. Most of the time we're real insecure and say, "I'll just do it myself!"
The wall around Jerusalem was not going to be built until someone stood up and said, "It's going to take sacrifice. We're going to have to put time, money, effort, energy to do this." Leaders ask people for a specific response.

7. YOU ENCOURAGE WITH YOUR LIFE STORY
In v. 18 we have Nehemiah's story and there are two parts to it. "I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me." He tells them about how God had called him to lead the project. The second part he tells them how circumstances confirmed his calling. "I also told them what the king had said to me." He was saying, "I didn't want this job, but I was praying over there in Susa. As I prayed for four months, I got a burden. The more I prayed about it God said, Why don't you be the answer to it. The burden turned into a vision. I said, `OK, God, I'll do it.' It was really God's idea. He called me to come do this project. Not only did God call me but He confirmed the call when I went to the king and the
king said Yes.
He gave me a calvary guard and he's going to pay for it."

That is a legitimate thing to ask for if somebody comes to you and says, "God told me to do this." A legitimate response is "Is anybody confirming this in your life? Or is this just something you thought up? Are there any confirmation signs?"
Nehemiah shares his testimony of how God had called him and the circumstances confirmed his calling. V. 18b is the people's response, "I told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said then they replied, `Let's start rebuilding.'" They were excited! For ninety years nothing is going on, then Nehemiah comes saying, "God's put me here to do this. And we've got the king's
permission -- the guy who wouldn't allow it to be done before is paying for it."
The vision has been transferred. First he said this is my
vision. He guarded it very carefully at first -- he didn't tell anybody. He went out, did the survey. He was waiting for the right timing. Once he had all the facts, he dramatized the problem, he asked for a response and then encouraged them with his own story about how God called him to do this and how the circumstances confirmed God's call. Now the vision has been transferred. It's not Nehemiah's vision any more; it's the people's vision. What was a secret for a long time is now shared.

Why did Nehemiah use his personal testimony in motivation? Because he knew one of the classic laws of leadership. People follow people not programs. And the people that people follow are called leaders.

I Cor. 11:1 "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." Why should anybody follow you as a leader? When are you ready to be a leader? The answer to that is "When people can see God's hand on my life." When people can sense God's Spirit in your life, can sense God's hand on your life, then you're ready to be a leader.
Can I see God's Spirit on that person's life? That's what really matters. Not education. Not talent. There are a lot of talented people you shouldn't follow. There are a lot of people with credentials that you shouldn't follow. But does God have His hand on their life?

8. ANSWER THE OPPOSITION QUICKLY AND CONFIDENTLY
v. 19 "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and ridiculed us." Another guy is now mentioned. In v. 10, before Nehemiah arrived there was just Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. Now we notice the opposition has expanded to include a third party. Opposition usually grows as the project continues. First there are only two opponents, then a third party.

As we get further into Nehemiah we find six different sources of opposition. He got it from every side! The opposition's first strategy: "They mocked and ridiculed us." They laughed! Those Jews are never going to get it built. We’ll look at the others later, But none of it worked. The reason it didn't work now is because Nehemiah is on the scene. And Nehemiah is no pushover.
V. 20 "And I answered them saying, `The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding. But as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem, any claim or historic right to it." Nehemiah refused to argue. If you're wise you will not argue with the opposition.(Eric webpage)
Instead he points out that it's God's project and God's idea. V. 12 he said "I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do." God put the burden on him. It wasn't his idea to rebuild the wall, it was God's idea. Since it was God's idea they would trust Him for it's success. That's confidence. He answers the opposition quickly and confidently.

The other thing he does is expose the selfish motives of the opposition. "Who are you anyway?" They had a stake in not seeing Jerusalem rebuilt because that would reduce the size of their kingdom. He exposes the motives of the opposition. Then the opposition comes and says, "You're trying to rebel against the king of Persia." Nehemiah pulls out his letters. "I'm not rebelling against the king. I'm obeying the king of kings. Be quiet!" He deals with them confidently and quickly.

This stunned the opposition. But only temporarily. They will see him several more times in the rest of the book. It boosted the morale of the Jews in Jerusalem. They had been defeated for years and finally here's a guy who is not afraid to stand up against these folks and say, "You don't have any historic right to this city."

People will oppose you. Answer your opposition quickly and confidently!
If you get moved at work or promoted... new direction in life
and there are people there already
There's a right way to move into responsibility and a wrong way, if you handle that right it will work out good. If you handle it wrong, all of a sudden you've got everybody fighting against you -- "Who does he think he is?"

But Nehemiah shows us what to do when you move into a new job and there's a bunch of people there before you. Nehemiah moves into a situation where everybody has been saying, "It can't be done!" for ninety years. Now he's going to come in and do it! The eight things he did turned an apathetic, hostile community into, within three days, saying "Let's go for it!"

Review:

Number one. Expect opposition because it's going to happen. There's never opportunity without opposition. If you have a good idea, great. But realize somebody is going to try to shoot it down. Realize it up front.

Number two. Wait for the right timing. Don't just, the first time you get the idea, go in and blab it to the boss, wife, husband. Wait for the right timing. Make sure you're rested, prayed, planned. There is a time to do everything.

Number three. Face the facts. Don't go in to make a proposal to somebody and have them say, "What about this?" and you have to say, "I hadn't thought about that." You must have the facts and figures to back up what you want to talk about. "Only a simpleton believes what he's told. A prudent man checks to see where he's going." Good leaders do their own research.

Number four. Identify with the people. It's not "I'm here to tell you what to do." Nehemiah didn't check in and say, "I'm here to rebuild the wall. If you want to consult me I'll be in my office." He said, "We've got a problem. We're here. It's our problem. Let us rebuild."

Number five. He dramatized the problem. He used word pictures: "It lies in ruins and its gates burned with fire." He's very realistic. It would be a tough job. Leaders don't lie and say it's going to be a breeze! He's honest. But he appeals to their self esteem and to the motive of glorifying God, the greatest motive of all.

Number six. He asks for a specific response. He was realistic and optimistic. He said, "I need your help. I can't do it by myself. We've got to work together."

Number seven. He encourages with a personal testimony. As he tells the story how God has blessed him and circumstances confirmed it, you can see the faith welling up in the people. They rally around. Nehemiah realized that people loved to be led. When there is a leader who puts our interest first and cares about us, as the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, as Jesus said, then we follow. The vision is transferred. It's no longer just Nehemiah's idea; it's the whole city's idea. he was ready to be a leader because people could see that God's hand, God's Spirit, was on Nehemiah's life.

Number eight. He answered the opposition quickly and confidently. He wouldn't argue.


Those of you who are already in leadership positions one of the lessons we learn from this study is that there are going to be things God wants to do in your life and through your life that other people are not going to get excited about. Realize that. They are not always going to agree with the direction that God is leading you, but sometimes you have to take a stand.
We need to decide that we're going to live for Jesus Christ no matter what anybody else thinks. That's the beginning of leadership.

So I answered them and said to them,
"The God of heaven will give us success;
therefore we His servants will arise and build”
Nehemiah 2:20