He was a little confused. There were some people who loved him and others who hated him. He thought he was doing a good thing, a necessary thing, even a God thing, but obviously, there were those who disagreed.

Nehemiah was one of the Jews living in exile and was in the service of the King of Babylon a king by the name of Artaxerxes.

His life had been very comfortable. He had a great job, a nice place to live, and job security for as long as he lived. His name was Nehemiah, and he was the King’s cupbearer, which doesn’t seem to be much of a job today, but then it was very important.

In a time and place when leaders were deposed with more permanence than what the Liberal Caucus is trying to do to Justin, a king couldn’t be too careful about who had access to his cup.

Thus, if you were a smart king, you had a cupbearer whose job it was to ensure that your cup was not hazardous to your health. If I was Justin, I’d be hiring a cupbearer.

The cupbearer carried that cup with him everywhere he went. It never left his sight, and he could always reassure the king that when his drinks were poured there would be nothing wrong with the cup.

Now the only drawback with the job was that Nehemiah always got to have the first drink out of the cup, just in case. But being an optimist, Nehemiah’s outlook was “so far, so good.” Nehemiah had it made, and he knew it.

And then one day his comfortable little world was disrupted when his brother showed up after having been away for a while. They were sitting down having a Tim’s and Nehemiah asked Hanani how things were going in the old hometown, not really expecting an answer or at least not an honest answer. But Hanani obviously chose to be honest over being polite because he said, “You know brother, it stinks, Jerusalem is in ruins, the walls around the city have collapsed and everyone is just kind of moping around. It’s really kind of sad.”

And for some reason something clicked with Nehemiah, he had no real connection to Jerusalem, his grandparents had been brought to Babylon as slaves sixty years before and Jerusalem was no more tangible than was the far side of the moon.

He had heard about it before, he even knew that it had been destroyed and left in ruins, but it had never been real before. And now, for whatever reason, it broke his heart. And the more he thought about it the more it bothered him.

It began to gnaw away at his very being and eventually he began to mope around, and it wasn’t long before the king noticed that something was bothering Nehemiah. After all, Nehemiah was a constant fixture at the king’s table. He was always there with the king’s cup.

Well, it didn’t take much prompting from the king before Nehemiah poured out his heart, telling his boss the entire story, how Jerusalem had been left in ruins and that it was breaking his heart. The king asked what he wanted to do about it and the words he spoke almost came from their own volition. He wanted to return to this city he had only heard of and do the impossible, he wanted to rebuild the walls and rehang the gates. And amazingly enough, the king agreed and that is where we began our story.

He was a little confused. There were some people who loved him and others who hated him. He thought he was doing a good thing, a necessary thing, even a God thing, but obviously, there were those who disagreed.

The story is found in the book of Nehemiah.

We are told that the book was probably penned by the prophet Ezra, drawing from Nehemiah’s memoirs. You’ll remember that the Babylonians had conquered Israel in 586 BC and had taken the residents of Jerusalem into captivity. Persia, in turn, conquered Babylon in 539 BC and later allowed the Jews who wanted to return home. Some chose to remain because Babylon had become home.

Under Ezra, the remnant who returned had rebuilt the temple, but the city walls were still in ruin. The events that the book chronicles happened between 444 and 432 B.C. and the book was probably compiled around 430 BC. Why was the book written? To remind God’s people of their heritage.

So, what’s up with Nehemiah? Well throughout the story we run into a multitude of different characters, each who has his own agenda and who affects Nehemiah and his quest in different ways.

As I read through the book, I realized that the same is true with us as well, that none of us function in a vacuum, in isolation. We all are surrounded by people, for good and for bad. It was John Donne who wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

As we step across the threshold of a brand-new year, I thought it would be a good time to identify some of the folks who will impact our year.

So, who are some of the people that Nehemiah comes in contact with and what effect do they have on our hero?

Nehemiah 2:1–2 Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence.  So the king asked me, “Why are you looking so sad? You don’t look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.”

First let’s start with His Sponsor At some point or another, we are all going to need a sponsor in our life. Someone who believes in us and is willing to go to bat for us. This is the person in your life that you could call at 3 o’clock in the morning and tell them you need a thousand dollars and they would write you a cheque or go to the bank machine and get the money. This is the person in your life that you could tell your deepest, darkest secret and they wouldn’t walk away. You can call them your sponsor, your mentor or your best friend.

In Nehemiah’s case, this was the King. He not only believed in Nehemiah and Nehemiah’s dreams, but he wanted to be a part of them, and he didn’t just pay lip service. When he asked Nehemiah what was bothering him, and Nehemiah told him. Listen to the King’s response, Nehemiah 2:4 The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” Now it’s easy to ask that question but where the rubber meets the road is when a person tells you how they can help. “How can I help you?” “Well, I’m glad you asked. You could do this and this and this.” What now? I guess there’s one of two things that will happen, either it will get done or it won’t get done. Listen to what happened in this case, Nehemiah 2:8 And the king granted these requests . . .

I’ve told you the story about our building, how there were about 50 of us worshipping together at the Lebrun centre in Bedford, and we knew that if we were going to be the church that we dreamed of being, then we would need to have a church home. And how we had a capital campaign and raised over $380,000.00 in cash and pledges. But that wasn’t enough.

We talked to commercial lenders and discovered that was a no-go, and so I called H.C. Wilson who was our district superintendent, and he asked, “What do you want me to do?”

It was relativity simple. We just needed another million dollars. Which doesn’t sound like much now, but back then it was real money. 

And we filled out all the forms and jumped through all the hoops to get a mortgage from the denomination. But realistically we weren’t that good of a risk. Our monthly income at the time was less than what our mortgage payment would be. We couldn’t even afford a full-time pastor, trust me, I know.

The only way that the denomination agreed to loan us the money was if the Atlantic District agreed to co-sign our mortgage. I’m on the district board now, and I know that not every request gets approved. I’m not sure that I would vote in favour of approving ours. But H.C. Wilson went to bat for Cornerstone, and by Cornerstone, I mean he went to bat for me. Without his support and belief in what we were, trying to do, it is doubtful if there would even be a Cornerstone Wesleyan Church today. He was our sponsor.

Sometimes you don’t even have to ask, when Angela’s father and then my father passed away, my best friend drove four hours each way to be with us. Not because I asked him to do, or even expected him to, but he did. He’s not my BFF, he’s my best friend, and has been for more than fifty years.

You probably don’t have too many of these people in your life because it requires such a commitment, and you probably can’t be this type of person to many different people for the same reason.

This is probably what Thomas Fuller meant when he said, “If you have one true friend, you have more than your share.”

Nehemiah 2:16–17 The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders—the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.  But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!”

But Nehemiah wasn’t able to fulfil his dream with just the King. He also had His Supporters When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he spent the first three days scoping out the situation and then he approached the local leaders and told them what God had laid on his heart for them to do. You might say that he cast the vision for them. And listen to their response back to him, Nehemiah 2:18 . . . They replied at once, “Good! Let’s rebuild the wall!” but that wasn’t all the scripture also says, So they began the good work.

Throughout the book of Nehemiah, you read about people who helped to rebuild the gates and the walls surrounding Jerusalem. Eliashib helped rebuild the Sheep Gate, the sons of Hassenaah repaired the Fish Gate, Meremoth repaired one section of the wall and Jedaiah fixed the next section. It was Hasshub who rebuilt the Tower of the Ovens.

And how would you like to have been Malkijah who got to repair the Dung Gate. And then there was Shallum, listen to what he did, Nehemiah 3:15 Shallum son of Col-hozeh, the leader of the Mizpah district, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, roofed it, hung its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. Then he repaired the wall of the pool of Siloam near the king’s garden, and he rebuilt the wall as far as the stairs that descend from the City of David. Wow! Talk about overachievers.

If we are going to accomplish everything we need to do in this life, we are going to need supporters.

They may not be there at 3 o’clock in the morning with a thousand dollars, but they will be there to help. And if you are going to make an impact on the lives of those around you, then you need to be willing to help when they need it.

And these are all the folks who make Cornerstone what it is.

And they are those in your life who bring a meal when you need it, shovel your driveway when you’re not home, or will give you a drive to a doctor’s appointment when your car won’t start.

Nehemiah 2:9–10 When I came to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, I delivered the king’s letters to them. The king, I should add, had sent along army officers and horsemen to protect me.  But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel.

And we can’t forget His Critics Here’s the reality folks: if you ever say anything or attempt anything worthwhile, you will be criticized for it. And we can’t understand that. I mean, why would people criticize you for doing something good?

Nehemiah must have wondered that himself. All he was trying to do was to rebuild the walls of the city. What could people possibly find wrong with that? And yet they did. Listen to the word of God in Nehemiah 4:1–2 Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews,  saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

Nehemiah should have paid attention to Robert Kennedy, who said, “One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”

We don’t know for certain exactly why Sanballat was so upset with the rebuilding of the temple, but some scholars have said that he was the Governor of Samaria, which is the area to the North of Jerusalem and he felt that Nehemiah was encroaching on his territory. Whatever the reason, we find Sanballat surfacing time and time again throughout our story, trying to turn the people against Nehemiah.

How do you answer critics? Good question, I have been pastoring for over 40 years now and believe it or not there have been a few times that people have criticized things that I’ve said and things that I’ve done.

Actually, there have been more than a few times. And there are a couple of things that I remember. When Calvin Coolidge was president, he said, “I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to accomplish something of consequence. Invariably, they proclaim it can’t be done. I deem that the very best time to make the effort.” And the Greek Poet Epictetus wrote “If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.”

There will always be critics, realize that and get on with doing what God wants you to do. Even Jesus who was born perfect and lived perfect had critics.

The next group that Nehemiah had contact with were his critics squared. Nehemiah 4:11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”

These were His Enemies The critics said nasty things about him and spread rumours about him, but it was his enemies that wanted to do nasty things to him. Remember, they said they were going to kill Nehemiah and his workers.

That’s pretty serious stuff, and as Henry Kissinger said, “Even a paranoid can have enemies.” But Nehemiah wasn’t going to be put off by threats. He stationed guards whenever he had people working on the wall and he told them to keep a watch out and to be careful.

In our spiritual life, we have enemies. Those who not only want to see us fail but actually try to make us fail.

You know what I’m talking about. They try to persuade you to abandon your faith, compromise your morals and, deny your God.

And our greatest enemy is Satan. He wants to leave your spiritual life in ruins, and he will use any means possible to do it. 1 Peter 5:8–9 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

And like Nehemiah, the only solution is to be on guard.

Nehemiah could never have accomplished what he did, even with the King’s help and his supporter’s help in the face of his critics and his enemies if he was functioning in his own strength, but he wasn’t Nehemiah 6:15–16 So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun.  When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

Last but not least, Nehemiah had His God

From the very beginning, the dreams and desires of Nehemiah came from God. And God helped hin do what people said he would never be able to accomplish on his own.

When you set out to do something great for God, understand that will not exempt you from criticism or from the attacks of the enemy. When I first went into the ministry when people criticized me or attacked me personally, I would wonder whether or not I was doing the right thing. But then I realized people were being saved and lives were being changed and I couldn’t make everyone happy, but I had a moral obligation to make God happy.

That is the secret for your Christian life for the life of our church to make sure you are doing what God wants you to do. Because if God is on your side then you are on the winning side. Listen to Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? So where are you at today? As we step into a brand-new year, you will need to decide who you are hanging with, and who you will let speak into your life.