LEADING IN LIFE - Leader's Handle Opposition

A couple of weeks ago I said there is no such thing as opportunity without opposition. One of the great tests of leadership is how do you handle opposition? Do you panic under pressure? Do you get uptight, loose your temper, blow up, become discouraged, give up? What do you do? In order to ‘Lead in Life’ part of the job description includes putting up with attacks and when things aren’t going as you plan. We're going to look at how a leader handles opposition in Nehemiah 4.
Three things: the tactics of opposition, the effects of opposition, how a leader handles it or the right response.
I. THE TACTICS OF OPPOSITION
I'm going to mention three of them. There are many more but these three are mentioned in the text and people will use these to stop or stall a project. They're still used today.

1. 4:1-3 "When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was greatly incensed and he ridiculed the Jews in the presence of the associates and the army of Samaria and he said `What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are?' Tobia the Ammonite who was by his side said, `What are they building? Even if a fox climbed upon it, he would break down their wall of stones.'"

The first tactic the opposition usually uses is ridicule.
We have a clear example of this here. Circle that. That's a powerful, effective tool. It's still used today. How many of you have ever been mocked or mad fun of w/ cruel intent?
It happens to us personally, in the work place. Why is it so effective? It's because it attacks our sense of self worth. A lot of times we can handle just about anything except ridcule.

The motive. "He became very angry and greatly incensed..” Ridicule is always the substitute for reason. Laughter is always the substitute for logic. If people can't reason you out of a position they'll just try to ridicule you.
People who ridicule you are usually just afraid. Afraid that you're going to succeed. He uses name calling, "...those feeble Jews". He implies that they have a selfish motive. He makes fun of their beliefs. He overstates the case. All of these are typical tools of ridicule. He says "Are they going to rebuild it in one day?" No where is there any place they say they're going to rebuild it in one day. That's typical ridicule. They overstate their case, (like charactiers)
v. 3. Ridicule is contagious. When Sanballat makes the initial ridicule Tobia, his side kick, chimes in and starts. There's always people who will ridicule you if somebody else will take the lead. They are cowards and won't do it on their own.

2. Resistance. Organized resistance.
v. 6-8"We rebuilt the wall until it reached half of its height and the people worked with all their heart. But Sanballat, Tobia, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to the wall of Jerusalem had gone ahead and the gaps were being closed they were very angry. They all plotted together [circle this] to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it." The opposition is getting organized. Instead of just a couple of critics we have a conspiracy. Sanballat has gathered all the disgruntled parties to resist the rebuilding of the wall. Sanballat and the Samaritans were in the North, the Arabs were in the south, Tobiah and the Ammonites were in the east, the men of Ashdod were in the west. The Jews were surrounded by these people who were conspiring against them. Have you noticed that negative people tend to gravitate together?

The purpose was to fight and stir up trouble. These folks are all around. Some people, their whole purpose in life, seems to be against stuff.

3. Rumor.
v. 11-12. "Also our enemies said, `Before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and we will work to kill them and put an end to their work.'" The quickest way to spread a rumor is to feed on people's fears. The gist of the rumor is, We're going to get you from allsides. We're going to attack you and you're not even going to know what hit you. The fact is, they didn't have enough power to do this. But the rumor of an attack was enough to incite panic. Rumor is often used by opposition.

Two characteristics of rumors:
1)They are always spread by those closest to the enemy. v. 12 "Those Jews who lived near them." The Jews outside the city of Jerusalem, who lived near the enemy, they were the ones most negative. What happens when you're around negative people all the time? You get negative. You become infected. (eagles-turkeys)
2) They are exaggerated when they are repeated.
v. 12"Then they told us ten times over." Circle that. What happens when a rumor is exaggerated ten times over? People start to believe it. (thank you tabloids) I think it was Hitler that discovered if you tell a lie long enough people are going to start believing it. The point is: the negative always gets exaggerated in a project. Law of Leadership: Leaders don't swallow rumors. They may listen to them, chew on them, but they never swallow them. Because they are always exaggerations.

II. THE EFFECT OF OPPOSITION
v. 10-11 "Meanwhile the people in Judah said, `The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall. Also our enemies will attack." When you're working hard and you're bombarded by ridicule, rumor and resistance you're going to get discouraged. That's the effect of opposition: discouragement. (texans
When is discouragement most likely to occur? v. 6 "So we rebuilt the wall until all of it reached half of its height."
Discouragement comes at the half way point. How many of you have half finished projects around your house? work?

Four causes of discouragement: v.10-11
1. Fatigue -- "the strength of the laborers is giving out"
2. Frustration -- "there was so much rubble" Frustration is usually a matter of perception. Actually the piles are getting smaller.
3. Failure -- "we cannot rebuild the wall" When you're tired, everything looks impossible. Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of all of us."
4. Fear -- "the enemies will attack us"
The opposition always has two goals. One of them is to
hinder God's word and one is to stop God's work.

III. WHAT IS THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO OPPOSITION?
What do you do when you're under attack?

1. RELY ON GOD
v. 4-5 Nehemiah's prayer. "Here O God for we're despised. Turn their insults back over their heads and give them over as plunder in the land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight? They have thrown insults in the face of the builders."
Nehemiah is hot here. He's letting off steam! When you're being ridiculed you don't suppress it, you confess it. Rely on God. Admit it all to God. He says, "God, we're trusting in You to defend us." He doesn't get caught up in a name calling game. Instead of calling names, he relies on God.
Proverbs 26:4 "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself." If you're getting ridiculed for your faith, or whatever, don't answer back. That's dumb! Then you're no better than the person who's ridiculing you. (Pres. at UN-Ven. comm.-pic) If you've got a project and people are taking pot shots at you, just rely on God. Pray.

The greater the opposition the more you need to pray, to depend on God. Leadership Law: When you're ridiculed don't take it out on people, talk it out with God. We want to crack back! That's not what Nehemiah does. He hears this initial ridicule but basically he ignores it and goes to God. The best response to ridicule is don't respond. Instead, you go and you pray and you keep on doing what you should be doing in the first place. The first verses says -- they ridiculed, they prayed, they rebuilt the wall. Ridicule can never stop you from doing what you're doing. Not unless you let it.

If you're a leader and you're under attack, the first thing you do is pray. You take it to God. Sometimes if you ignore the opposition the criticism dissipates, vanishes. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it intensifies. When they realized that ridicule wasn't working then in v. 8 it says they plotted together to fight against Jerusalem.

2. RESPECT THE OPPOSITION
How do we know that Nehemiah respected the opposition? v. 9 "But we prayed to our God and we posted a guard day and night to meet this threat." They did the prayerful thing and then the practical thing. Both. It's fine to lay in bed at night and pray, "Protect me from the burglars." But you also need to get up and lock your door! (God’s part - our part)
‘Petition without Precaution is Presumption.’ Rely on God when you're being opposed. But also respect the opposition. And the stronger the opposition, the stronger the response.

v. 9 "We prayed." Up to this time, Nehemiah has been doing the praying. Now all of the people are praying. Where did they get that idea? They've been watching their leader. Leaders lead by showing, not just telling. Nehemiah has been praying constantly for four chapters. The people are getting the idea that it must work. They start praying too. If you're a leader in your business and if you want other Christians to follow your lead, start praying. Nehemiah's constant prayer life had affected these people. Now the whole people of God are praying. They prayed and they posted a guard. Nehemiah sets up an alarm system. He sets up 24-hour guards. He posts a watch. He knows his opposition. Some leaders have lost because they've underestimated the opposition. Don't just pray. Be aware. Know your opposition and don't be ignorant about what's happening.
In the Bible the phrase that is used over and over again is "Watch and pray". Jesus said it. Paul said it. John said it. Peter said it. Watch is the human part -- post a guard. Pray is the divine part -- trust God. Watch is lock the door; pray is "God, I'm trusting You." You do both of these things.
Rely on God and respect the opposition.

3. REINFORCE YOUR WEAK POINTS
v. 13 Nehemiah had prayed and he had relied and respected the opposition. He had posted the guard. Then "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families with their swords, spears and bows." He is reinforcing his weak points, the lower points. This is where the wall was maybe only a couple of feet high. Where it's ten feet high you don't have to worry so much. The weak points, the exposed places, he's making a strategic placement. He's reinforcing his weak points.

Do you know the weak points in your business? Do you know the weak points in your family? Do you know where you're most open to attack? That's the principle he's teaching us. Leadership Law: Good leaders know where they are vulnerable and they reinforce that area.
If you have to make a sales presentation. Know your weaknesses and anticipate the objections and be ready to counter those objections when you make the proposal.
(have to know in our lives)
v. 16-18 "From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did the work with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us."
They are working all around the whole city. They couldn't fortify the whole city. They had no army. This is just a bunch of amateurs here building the wall. So Nehemiah said, Whenever you hear the trumpet blowing, everybody run to that side and we'll know the enemy is there and we'll fight them all together. I think the principle here is,
Keep your lines of communication open during times of attack, times of opposition. Nehemiah turned the entire city into an armed camp. Everybody did two things.
They worked and they carried a weapon.
Principle: Every time you start building for God, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build your marriage, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build up your own personal spiritual life you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build a church, that's a battle. Everytime a church starts building there is a battle. Why? Because Satan doesn't want churches built. He gets people to oppose you.
Law: Leaders must build and battle at the same time. If you start doing anything of significance in this world, somebody is going to oppose you. What do you do?

Nehemiah had three alternatives. When every body started opposing him with rumors, resistance and ridicule he could
a. Give up
b. Leave the wall and go fight -- do a preemptive strike
c. Build the wall and arm himself defensively.

Leaders must build and battle at the same time. You never leave the wall to fight the enemy. You could spend all your time putting out fires and never get your job done. You could spend all your time greasing the squeaking wheel (the critic, the complainer, the kook) and never get your dream or whatever God's called you to do, done. You've got to learn to build and battle at the same time.

Notice Nehemiah's building plan and battle plan in v. 13 "I stationed some of the people at the lowest points of the wall posting them by families." Why by families? When you are under attack, more than any other time, you need support. That's one of the benefits of a small group. When you're in a small group, you're less vulnerable to an attack of Satan. God never meant us to be Rambo Christians.
There is support and encouragement in small groups.

Nehemiah posted by families.
Principle: Never fight a fight alone. When you're facing opposition, get some support. That is one of the purposes of the church. Every Sunday I preach to our folks and I know that on Monday morning they're going back to work and get beat up! To get beat up by the world. They come in bandaged and bloody at the end of the week to get patched up again. We need support. It's tough in the business world. It's tough being a Christian at school. It's tough having Christian attitudes in a society where everything says
"No, don't live for Christ; live for yourself!"
Which is why we must reinforce our weak points.

4. REASSURE THE PEOPLE
v. 14 "After I looked things over I stood up and I said to the nobles and the officials the rest of the people, `Don't be afraid! Remember the Lord is great and awesome. Fight for your brothers and your daughters and your homes." He's rallying the troops. He's relieving their fears. He's reinforcing their confidence. He's raising their morale. That's the task of leadership. When your business/family/church is under attack, the task of leadership is to reinforce the people, raise their morale. Don't be afraid! We can do this!
(kids scared at night)
What did he say that renewed their confidence? "Remember the Lord." That's where our confidence comes from.
Remember the Lord!
It's interesting that a lot of wars have been fought with slogans that started "Remember..." The Spanish-American War was "Remember the Maine." World War I was "Remember the Lusitania". In Texas it was "Remember the Alamo". World War II was "Remember Pearl Harbor".
All of those battle cries were based on defeats -- Remember that defeat back there, now let's go get them!

Nehemiah does the exact opposite. He doesn't say, Remember our defeat! Remember when we got exiled to Babylon! He says, "Remember the Lord!" He's saying, "Let's look at the future. Get our eyes off the opposition and get our eyes on the Lord." When you're under attack, if the devil can get you to focus on the opposition he's won a major victory. You either focus on the opposition or you focus on the Lord. You can focus on the financial statement or you can focus on the Lord. You can either focus on the rising
interest rates or you focus on the Lord. You either focus on the economy and it's jitters or you focus on the Lord. What are you going to focus on? "Remember the Lord!"

Remember what the Lord is like. "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome."
Circle "awesome".
Then Nehemiah challenges them. "Fight for your brothers and your sons and your daughters and your wives and your homes." He challenges them to fight for their lives.
Everything is on the line here.
V. 19 "I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us." He's got a trumpet as a rallying point. That's a point of reassuring the people

5. REFUSE TO QUIT
v. 15 "When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work." We know there is opposition out there. There are critics. They are ridiculing, rumoring. But that doesn't matter. We're going to keep on keeping on. We refuse to be distracted. They all returned to the wall. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

v. 8 "They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it." That's the first goal of opposition: to stir up trouble.
The second goal is in v. 11 "We will kill them and put an end to the work."
When you're being opposed there are always two oppositions. They want to hinder your work and they want to stop your work. When you know that the opposition's goal is to get you to quit what do you do? Don't quit! You keep on working no matter what!

Calvin Coolidge said, "Press on. Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the overwhelming power."

In spite of the opposition we've looked at, v. 21,22 "So we continued to work..." Underline that. They refused to quit. "...with half of the men holding spears from the first light of dawn till the stars came out at night. At that time I also said to the people, `Have every man and his helper stay in Jerusalem at night so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.' Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes. Each had his weapon even when he went for water."

They worked through the night. He told all the people who lived outside of Jerusalem who were commuting in to work on the wall, "You stay here". When you're under opposition, when you're under attack, it's time to stick together. They even slept in their clothes, that's how committed they were. Nehemiah led the way. He sets the work pace. He's showing endurance, being the prototype. He's enduring the same hardships the people are enduring, facing the same dangers.

Leadership Law: Leaders model persistence.
They are the last to give up. They are the last to jump ship.
They refuse to quit.
(let me ask you)
What does the devil want you to give up? What has he been tempting you to give up on? Reading through the Bible in a year? A career? A dream? A marriage? An idea? A ministry at church? What does he want you to give up? Your small group? If you know that that is what he wants you to give up what should you do? Keep going!

There is an old legend that one day Satan had a garage sale. He was selling all of his tools that he had used over the centuries. Lying, hatred, malice, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, pride, all of these different things. Over in the corner there was one tool that was priced more than all the other tools put together. It was so priceless that nobody bought it. Why? Because it was "Discouragement" That's Satan's most important tool.

Satan may not get you to commit an immoral sin, but he can get you discouraged! A discouraged believer is an ineffective believer. That means that we've taken our eyes off the Lord and put them on the circumstance. Since Satan never sold it, he's still using it today.

Whenever we give up, the devil wins. One of the fundamental principles of the Christian life is Don't give up!

Persistence is the ultimate test of leadership. This is the acid test. How do you handle it when the going gets tough? When somebody laughs at you or criticizes you for being a Christian that may hurt but it cannot stop you. The secret of success is you simply outlast your critics. How do you get to be an oak tree? An oak tree is just a little nut that refused to give his ground. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence but if you just hang on you'll outlast the critics. There is nothing the devil would rather do than stall us and stop us and move us into neutral so resist discouragement and keep on.