We've been in this series for five weeks. As we look at today's passage it looks just like a list of Hebrew names. A lot of times we want to just skip this passage altogether. I probably could have done that myself. The Bible says in 1 Cor. 14:40 "Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." We're looking at principles of leadership - LEADING in LIFE - We said first a leader prays, then he plans, then he present the plan and motivates people. But motivation without organization leads to frustration. Today I want to give you a few principles of successful organizing.
1. PRINCIPLE OF SIMPLIFICATION(simplify)
Keep it simple. (KISS) For such an enormous project
Nehemiah had a simple plan of organizing it. He didn't assign any jobs by lottery and didn't create a whole new organization and didn't force any complex charts. His plan was very simple. He organized around natural groupings. The priests in verse 1, the men of Jericho in verse 2, sons of Hassenaah in verse 3, the men of Tekoa in verse 5. These are natural groups that are already associating together. He doesn’t complicate - He doesn't need to do that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
What is the most natural grouping of organization? The
family - Nehemiah 4:13 -- He posted them by families -- for support. The strongest organizations are the simplest. It's like toys. Blocks are unbreakable. More complex toys break. (metro) The more complex something is the more it breaks. The simpler it is, the stronger it is. The simplest organizations are strong organizations.
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF PARTICIPATION(participate)
Work with those who want to work. A lot of leaders never learn this. They spend all their time trying to corral the lazy and the apathetic instead of working with those who want to work. in ch.3
Almost everybody got involved. All available help was put to work. the religious leaders led the way. Men and women, city and country people, white collar, blue collar. There were perfume makers, goldsmiths -- everybody got involved.
Government leaders, business leaders. Everybody was moving bricks. Everybody was making mortar.
Except one little group. V. 5. "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors." These guys think they're too hot, too good. They thought the work was beneath them -- moving bricks. It doesn't say what excuse they gave, but in every church you have these kinds of people. In every community, every business you have these kinds of people. Hot shots that don't want to work.
Nehemiah's response to those not working was to ignore them. He did not focus on those who were not willing to work. He focused on those who were willing to work. He didn't lose sleep, get bitter, waste time trying to corral them. If you're a leader, you must not worry about people who don't want to get involved. Connect with those who do want to get involved.
There is a school of thought in the church leadership community that says you should always be asking those in your church family to be helping out in various things going on in the church. One reason for this is because having people involved increases their level of commitment which leads to a higher level of community. There is the feeling that ‘we are all in this together – we are a team!’ and if people are involved, they feel a part of the team. The beauty that flows out of this type of thinking is that the church becomes OUR church and not just an entity. Another reason for asking is that people don’t always see the great potential in themselves that others are able to see so clearly. Therefore, if you ask them for their help, it builds confidence and helps them to grow in their area of giftedness. I very much agree with this school of thought. Furthermore, I think it applies not just to the church community, but also the community in your office, home, etc. However, I’ve learned over the years that there is a difficult balance to walk when attempting to identify if some just needs a little encouragement to take their job or ministry (or whatever) to a higher level or if they aren’t stepping up because they really don’t want to. Cathleen used to be a front end manager at Randall’s, simply put, that means she managed the ‘front end’. Everything the checkers and sackers were doing was based in her decision of what she felt like needed to be done. Her experience there had examples of the principle of participation, literally, on a daily basis. During a regular shift there were times that were busy and everyone was challenged to ‘keep up’ during the rush. But between the rushes was when you really saw the principle most displayed. Those who wanted to participate in running a quality business spent down times asking what needed to be done or identifying things on their own. One of the first things Cathleen learned is that if you wanted to be ready when the rush hit- you had to use your down time wisely. There was a huge difference in her employees that responded to her with a ‘what do you need’ attitude and those that responded with a ‘I am here because I have to be and I don’t want to do anything more than absolutely necessary’ attitude. Those that wanted to participate – and I think this is true in the business world period – received reward. They got the most and best hours, they got the needed time off, they got the raises and the promotions. Those that did not want to participate, and this is why it is so important to work with those that want to work, brought the whole shift down. Their attitude was destructive to the ‘team’, everyone else had to pitch in a little more to make up for their lack of effort, they caused frustration, anger, and resentment to set in. One person could alter the tone for the entire shift. In the principle of participation, you have to look at the good of the whole, and choose to work with those that want to work, in order to see positive, God honoring results.
Leaders love everybody, but they move with the movers. In every organization, family, church there are some people who say, "I want to go. I want to be involved." Focus on these. Don't focus on those people who make excuses.
3. PRINCIPLE OF DELEGATION(delegate)
When you're organizing you make specific assignments, divide up the project in specific tasks, assign specific people to those specific tasks. What if, after Nehemiah's pep rally when he got everybody excited and they jumped up ready to go build, what if he said, "Just go start working wherever you want to work." That wouldn't have worked. What if he said, "Let's go to one part of the wall and work on the same part at once." There would have been confusion, chaos, everybody bumping into each other.
The key word in this passage is the word "section". It's used 13 times. He walks around the entire wall and divides it all up almost counter clockwise
Obviously Nehemiah thought this out. He probably divided up the wall into sections when he was doing that midnight ride. In organization, keep it simple, work with those who want to work and then make specific assignments.
Delegate.
Tasks to do in delegation:
1. Break down major goals into smaller tasks. This is the capacity to cut problems down to size. Nehemiah attacks this huge problem of building the wall by breaking it down into bite size pieces.
2. Develop clear job descriptions. Every one deserves to know what's expected.
3. Match the right person with the right task. The wrong person in the wrong task causes chaos. It causes all kinds of motivational problems. In good delegating you've got to understand what the task is all about and you've got to understand what the person is good at and get them together.
4. PRINCIPLE OF MOTIVATION.(motivate)
In organizing any project allow for ownership. Help people feel it's their project. v. 10 says a guy made repairs opposite his house. v. 23 another fellow repaired in front of his house, v. 28 another beside his house. The priest repaired each in front of his own house. v. 29, repaired in front of his house. v. 30 a guy built his in front of his living quarters.
When you build a project you let people do the things they're interested in. Where would you most likely want to be building the wall? By your house.
What is the result when you allow ownership in a project? High motivation. If I'm building the part of the wall that's going to protect my house, I'll do a good job. It also saves time; there's no commuting. Walk out in the morning and start to work! Go back home for lunch!
Nehemiah is simply saying that in the project make it as convenient as possible. It's easier to protect their family at the same time.
When you assign a project – get out of the way! It is human nature to want to look over the other guys shoulder and make sure he is doing things exactly as you would or as you would want them done, but resist that urge. (supervise) Remember that people learn by experience. They learn from their mistakes and their successes. These mistakes and successes motivate us. (‘I have to remember not to do ___ next time’ or ‘That was the exact result I wanted, I need to right down what I did so I don’t forget and I do the same thing next time’) One of the number one places we can use this principle is with our kids. Assign a task, teach your expectations, and then take a deep breath and get out of the way. Remember……….your kids will not get it right the first time, or maybe even the 2nd or 3rd. But they will get it. The child who is just learning to wipe down the table after dinner may need you to explain (patiently) how you want that table wipe, preferably not smearing the mashed potatoes is always good. But explaining something does not mean you take over. You may take the rag out of his/her hand to do a tiny section so that they can see what your talking about but if you do the whole thing because they weren’t doing it RIGHT, you didn’t teach them anything and, even worse, you made them feel incapable of doing what you asked – therefore taking away motivation. They won’t want to try it again next time. What’s the point of trying when every time you try you get in trouble? Working with adults is the same.
How many times do we say to ourselves, ‘well when it comes to ________, I just do it myself because the other person in my office or my husband/wife just cannot seem to do it right.’ We will never motivate others if we don’t allow them some ownership - realizing with ownership will come failure and success and that BOTH our failures and successes will ultimately result in higher levels of motivation and long as we have a positive attitude and are encouraging those we’ve assigned a task to.
Nehemiah allowed people to work in their area of interest. That's a principle of organization.
5. PRINCIPLE OF COOPERATION(cooperate)
Encouraged teamwork. Whenever you've got a project of any size and you need to organize it, realize that we accomplish so much more together than we do as individuals.
The key phrase is "next to him" or "next to them". This is used twenty times in this passage. Nehemiah works clockwise around the entire wall. They helped each other. They encouraged each other.
Next week we're going to see that the whole time they were building the wall they were under attack. They needed help, support. They needed people to encourage them. B.C. Forbes, the guy who founded Forbes magazine said, "You spell success, T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K." Cooperation is a key principle that's built into good organization.
"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, thinking together is unity, working together is success." Together we can do things we can't do as individuals. Geese can fly 71% farther when they're in formation than when they fly off by themselves. who taught them that? God did. When we cooperate together, when there is teamwork there is great growth. Eccl. 4:9-10 "Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one. The results can be much better. If one falls the other pulls him up. If a man falls when he's alone, he's in trouble." Who's going to pull him up.
When you're building an organization, a business, your home, you follow these principles: keep it simple, work with those who want to work, make specific assignments, allow for ownership, encourage teamwork.
In the Bible, when referring to Christians in the church, the phrase "one another" is used 58 times. It's as if God's saying, "Get the message! Help each other!" "Snow is a beautiful demonstration of what God can do with a bunch of flakes." Individually, I can't do much and you can't do much, snowflakes are pretty frail. But if enough of them stick together they can stop traffic. I can't do much. I can't make an impact on this city. You can't make an impact on the city. But together, we're making an impact. That's teamwork.
6. ADMINISTRATION(administrate)
This principle is implied all the way through the passage. You must supervise the work when you have any kind of a project. It's interesting in Nehemiah 3 that his name is never mentioned. Not once in the chapter. Where was he? He was out on the line administering. Supervising. He was doing -- Management By Walking Around. He was walking around checking up on people, finding out what's going on. How did he know which part each guy built? He was continually inspecting, supervising.
I wrote down three examples of supervision: He uses the phrase "under their supervisors." v. 17 says certain repairs were made "under Rehum", v. 18 certain repairs were made "under Bavvai". There were appointed supervisors who were helping control the work, manage it, administer it and make sure it was going. Something to note here:
People do what you inspect not what you expect. Those of you who are bosses, have you figured that out yet?
But supervise with RESPECT - “do all things in love”
7. PRINCIPLE OF APPRECIATION(appreciate)
In good organizations they give recognition. I believe that is the primary purpose of this chapter. We have a great honor role of faith. Nehemiah is giving credit where it is due. Two thousand years later on the opposite side of the world, you have a pastor here mispronouncing their names but we still remember them. If they hadn't done their part and Nehemiah hadn't appreciated what they'd done, we wouldn't have known who they were.
Notice several things about this principle of appreciation:
Obviously, Nehemiah knew their names. That's a mark of a good leader. In this passage, there are 38 individual names of guys he said did a good job on the wall.
Do you know who's doing a good job in your home or office? If you do, are you telling them they're doing a good job? That's a principle of good organization.
I think it's important that you develop ways to let people know they're doing a good job.
V. 20 has the name of one man in this list of entire names that gets honorable mention. It says everybody did a good job, "Next to him, Baruch, son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section from the Angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib, the high priest." Circle "zealously". That's the only descriptive term in the entire chapter. Everybody else did their work. Some people didn't do any work. But one guy enthusiastically did his work. Three thousand years later we know it, we know the name of that guy. We don't know what he did. Maybe he worked extra fast. Maybe he worked extra long hours, had an especially positive attitude. The point is if you want to be recognized in your work, just do what everybody else does but do it with enthusiasm. God notices enthusiasm. It's in the Bible. God notices whether I'm working and serving enthusiastically or not. Enthusiasm is the Greek word, that means "God possessed". That's what enthusiasm means. When you're possessed by God you're going to be enthusiastic.
Another interesting thing. Verse 12 "Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of the half district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters." I think that's special. In those days, women did not do men's work. They didn't carry bricks and mortar around. Women did certain things and men did certain things. Even if they did, women were never recognized in that culture. But Nehemiah recognized them. Credit to whom credit is due. He wasn't any chauvinist. He said, these girls were doing a good job. So he points them out for special recognition. Probably Shallum was a pretty smart man. He probably got all the help he wanted since his daughters were working on the wall... likely the young men on either side were more than happy to come help Shallum with his section of the wall.
Nehemiah is giving appreciation and recognition. I think this is the purpose of this chapter.
v. 5 "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa. [Tekoa was a hick town, a wide spot in the road. Nothing there.] but their nobles would not put their shoulder to the work under their supervision." It's interesting to me that three thousand years later everybody else is honored for what they did, but these guys are remembered for what they didn't do. What an epitaph! When these executives started making their excuses why they couldn't move brick and mortar do you think they had any idea how many people were going to know about it? Billions of Christians and believers over 3000 years knew that these guys coped out and did not do their job. Those guys blew it.
Nehemiah did not get up tight about these people. He did not worry about them. He said I'm going to focus on those that are working not on those that aren't working. The Bible shows Nehemiah had a list, but the most important thing is are you on God's list? One day when you get to heaven God's going to look at your list and see whether you were involved in His work or not.
Romans 14:12 "So that each one of us will give an account of himself to God." This verse scares me to death! The Bible says one day I'm going to give an account of my life to God for the direction of this church, how I served Him. All of us are. In Luke 16:2 it says God's going to call you into account for what you did with what you had. He is making a list -- just like Nehemiah had his appreciation list. God is keeping a record of my service and my stewardship. It really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. Or who knows or who doesn't know. What matters is God knows. What will God say about me and my service for Him? Will he say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Or "Why didn't you do more? What is your excuse?" What is God going to say about me or you?
1 Cor. 15:58 "Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." God has not asked any of us to go build a wall. But He has asked every one of us to be involved in ministry for
Him. To be a Christian means to be called into the mission field. That doesn't mean everybody goes into a foreign land, or is a pastor, quits their job and works full time. But every Christian is called to serve, to minister. Your mission field is those in your realm of influence. A non serving Christian is a contradiction. He expects us to be involved in service.
Rom 12:4-8 "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We all have different gifts ... use them!"
What is my function in the body of Christ? Ask yourself that.
We all have different gifts that God has given us to function differently. Sometimes people use spiritual gifts as a cop out. "That's not my gift." So they won't do this or that. You ought to work in your area of interest. You ought to work where your spiritual gifts lie that is a fact. That ought to be your primary area of service. But God calls you to also work beyond your area of spiritual gifts. If you were to go back and read this list of guys -- men and women -- who built the wall, there is not one professional builder listed. None of these people were "gifted" to do it. There are pharmacists, jewelers, goldsmiths. These are people who work with their hands but they weren't afraid to go out there and get their hands calloused moving bricks and mortar. There were business men, merchants, white collar people who were not afraid to get out and help on the wall.
Every weekend here we have to set up and take down. Somebody has to do that. Chairs, tables, media, sound...
I commend you, I appreciate you
Notice there are three kinds of work in Nehemiah 3. There were those who did no work, there were those who did some work, and we know that there was one guy who did enthusiastic work. God notices all three kinds. He noticed those who weren't doing zip! He noticed those who were doing their share. He noticed those who were going above and beyond their call of duty and doing it enthusiastically.
Which three describes your involvement in God's work? Where is my part "on the wall" of God’s Kingdom?
Everybody needs encouragement. Everybody needs to feel appreciated and needed.
This is the primary purpose of this chapter - encourage and appreciate
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