Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / How to Handle a Promotion

Transcript

How to Handle a Promotion · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: I have found the book of Nehemiah chapter 5 in
0:04
Speaker 1: my Bible and I'd invite you to do the same.
0:07
Speaker 1: Before I begin our reading at verse 14 of Nehemiah 5,
0:12
Speaker 1: let me let you know that this is sort of
0:13
Speaker 1: a new chapter in Nehemiah's life. Even though the man
0:17
Speaker 1: was born and reared in a time when the Jewish
0:20
Speaker 1: people were living in captivity to another nation, God had
0:25
Speaker 1: exalted him to the prominent place of a very responsible
0:29
Speaker 1: position with the king. King Artaxerxes. That position was called
0:34
Speaker 1: the cupbearer to the king. And then after a number
0:38
Speaker 1: of years in this prominent position, Nehemiah voluntarily took a
0:42
Speaker 1: demotion to return to Jerusalem and to get involved, to
0:46
Speaker 1: get his hands dirty, if you will, as they rebuilt
0:49
Speaker 1: the wall around the once great city. However, unbeknownst to
0:54
Speaker 1: Nehemiah or anybody else at that time, God had another
0:58
Speaker 1: promotion in store for him. God's full of surprises, and
1:03
Speaker 1: ancient days are no exception. In the midst of the
1:06
Speaker 1: gates being rehung and the stones being replaced and the
1:10
Speaker 1: mixing of mortar and the enemies being rebuffed, it became
1:14
Speaker 1: apparent to the Jewish people that Nehemiah was an outstanding leader. So,
1:21
Speaker 1: to his surprise, they promoted him to the highest office
1:25
Speaker 1: in the land of Judah, the position of governor, Isn't
1:30
Speaker 1: that amazing? First a cupbearer, and then the construction engineer
1:34
Speaker 1: for the building of the wall, and now, out of
1:36
Speaker 1: the blue, governor. Nehemiah proved himself faithful. He had been
1:42
Speaker 1: a wise, godly leader who said yes when God cast
1:46
Speaker 1: his decisive vote in his favor. However, as soon as
1:50
Speaker 1: he had accepted that appointment as governor, he was hit
1:54
Speaker 1: with the same four major areas of testing that come
1:58
Speaker 1: with every promotion Here they are, privileges, policies, projects, and
2:06
Speaker 1: as always, people. Today we're going to get a glimpse
2:11
Speaker 1: of the key to Nehemiah's success in surviving this onslaught.
2:17
Speaker 1: In one word, his integrity. Nehemiah's actions in the face
2:23
Speaker 1: of these tests will demonstrate to all of us the
2:27
Speaker 1: man's integrity. He was absolutely undivided in his firm adherence
2:35
Speaker 1: to a code of values. I don't want you to
2:37
Speaker 1: ever forget that. Persons of integrity adhere to a code
2:42
Speaker 1: of values. Now, let's read together our passage for today's message,
2:47
Speaker 1: Nehemiah chapter 5, beginning with verse 14. Moreover, from the
2:54
Speaker 1: day that I was appointed to be their governor in
2:57
Speaker 1: the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the
3:00
Speaker 1: thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years neither I
3:07
Speaker 1: nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor's food allowance. But
3:12
Speaker 1: the former governors who were before me laid burdens on
3:15
Speaker 1: the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides
3:19
Speaker 1: forty shekels of silver. Even their servants domineered the people.
3:25
Speaker 1: But I did not do so because of the fear
3:28
Speaker 1: of God. I also applied myself to the work on
3:32
Speaker 1: this wall. We did not buy any land, and all
3:37
Speaker 1: my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there
3:41
Speaker 1: were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials,
3:47
Speaker 1: besides those who came to us from the nations that
3:49
Speaker 1: were around us. Now that which was prepared for each
3:54
Speaker 1: day was one ox and six choice sheep, also Birds
4:00
Speaker 1: were prepared for me, and once in ten days all
4:03
Speaker 1: sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this,
4:09
Speaker 1: I did not demand the governor's food allowance, because the
4:13
Speaker 1: servitude was heavy on this people. Remember me, O my God,
4:20
Speaker 1: for good, according to all that I have done for
4:24
Speaker 1: this people. I want to introduce you to a proverb
4:28
Speaker 1: that Solomon wrote It says, if you faint in the
4:33
Speaker 1: day of adversity, your strength is small. What Solomon means
4:41
Speaker 1: is this, adversity is a test on our inner strength.
4:49
Speaker 1: Anybody can hold up when things are going well. But
4:53
Speaker 1: when things are adverse, our strength is tested. And if
4:59
Speaker 1: we fail, under the adversity, we really didn't have much
5:05
Speaker 1: strength at all. But this morning I want to talk
5:09
Speaker 1: about another kind of test that is at the opposite
5:14
Speaker 1: end of adversity. Carlyle wrote it this way, adversity is
5:24
Speaker 1: hard on a man But for one man who can
5:30
Speaker 1: stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.
5:37
Speaker 1: What he meant is this, adversity is hard, but there
5:43
Speaker 1: is a test that is greater, more searching, more intense
5:50
Speaker 1: than adversity. Strange as it seems, it is prosperity. Precious
5:59
Speaker 1: few people can live in the lap of luxury, promotion, prosperity,
6:08
Speaker 1: and maintain their spiritual and moral equilibrium. One great leader
6:15
Speaker 1: put it this way, not every man can carry a
6:19
Speaker 1: full cup, only a few. Sudden elevation often leads to
6:26
Speaker 1: pride and and then a fall. Only a very few
6:33
Speaker 1: can be elevated to a position of great responsibility without
6:39
Speaker 1: disturbing their moral and spiritual equilibrium. We don't know a
6:46
Speaker 1: lot about Asaph, but we do know that Asaph is
6:50
Speaker 1: responsible for 12 of the Psalms that appear in our Bible.
6:57
Speaker 1: Of the 12, there is one that tells me that
7:00
Speaker 1: Asaph was one man in a hundred who could probably
7:04
Speaker 1: handle prosperity. I'm referring to the 75th Psalm and three
7:11
Speaker 1: verses sandwiched between the first and last part of the
7:16
Speaker 1: Psalm which assure me that Asaph was that kind of
7:20
Speaker 1: a man. He was Carlisle's man. He was God's man.
7:27
Speaker 1: It tells us in chapter 75 of the Psalms, verse 5,
7:32
Speaker 1: that we're not to toot our own horn. He says,
7:37
Speaker 1: do not lift up your horn on high. Do not
7:42
Speaker 1: speak with insolent pride. Why not, Asaph? For not from
7:49
Speaker 1: the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert
7:53
Speaker 1: comes exaltation. The Hebrew word means promotion, being made great.
8:02
Speaker 1: Where does it come from? God is the judge. He
8:07
Speaker 1: puts down one and he promotes another. He leaves us
8:15
Speaker 1: with a timeless axiom. It has been true since man
8:20
Speaker 1: first began to work and it will always be true
8:24
Speaker 1: on this earth. The axiom is this. The promotion of
8:32
Speaker 1: every child of God is because of the Lord's goodness.
8:42
Speaker 1: Promotion doesn't come because a person is in the right
8:47
Speaker 1: place at the right time. Promotion doesn't come just because
8:53
Speaker 1: an individual is gifted. are educated, are experienced, are well
9:00
Speaker 1: traveled and well trained. Promotion comes primarily because God in
9:08
Speaker 1: his goodness says to you, I wish to exalt you
9:13
Speaker 1: at this time. And I want to say at this
9:16
Speaker 1: point that there are precious few people that can maintain
9:22
Speaker 1: their balance when they are so exalted. There have been
9:29
Speaker 1: a few. Joseph was one. Joseph went from a prison,
9:36
Speaker 1: a dungeon, a pit in Egypt, to the role of
9:40
Speaker 1: prime minister in less than 20 years. In fact, less
9:45
Speaker 1: than 15. Because Joseph could handle that promotion. Daniel is another.
9:55
Speaker 1: He was a child of the captivity, born in unknown obscurity.
10:00
Speaker 1: who was taken to a schooling in Babylon and put
10:05
Speaker 1: through the brainwashing requirements of boot camp in Babylon, and
10:12
Speaker 1: he graduated as valedictorian. and was soon thereafter appointed the
10:18
Speaker 1: king's right-hand man. Nebuchadnezzar looked upon Daniel as his private
10:24
Speaker 1: personal counsel. Amos is perhaps the most surprising of all.
10:30
Speaker 1: He was a cut above a sharecropper. He picked figs
10:34
Speaker 1: for a living. Now to be a fig picker, you've
10:38
Speaker 1: got to have problems. This poor fellow was nothing more
10:44
Speaker 1: than that. But God said to Amos, I want you
10:48
Speaker 1: to be my prophet in the polished halls of Bethel.
10:53
Speaker 1: And so he did. He came to the chapel at
10:57
Speaker 1: Bethel and he preached the doom from God's own word.
11:01
Speaker 1: And they hated him. He said, don't blame me. I'm
11:06
Speaker 1: just a picker of sycamore figs. And God pulled me
11:10
Speaker 1: and said, be my prophet. Why? Because Amos could handle death.
11:14
Speaker 1: the promotion. As much as these, I would say also Nehemiah.
11:21
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I am really beginning to love Nehemiah
11:24
Speaker 1: more than ever. This man is such a perfect balance
11:29
Speaker 1: of humanity. He can handle it when things are bad.
11:33
Speaker 1: He can handle it when things are good. He can
11:35
Speaker 1: roll on when the project is moving ahead and he
11:38
Speaker 1: can pause, step aside and relax when the project briefly
11:43
Speaker 1: screeches to a halt. Nehemiah is our kind of a fellow.
11:48
Speaker 1: And today we're going to see him not demoted, but promoted.
11:52
Speaker 1: And that was the test of his integrity, as we
11:57
Speaker 1: shall see. Look at verse 14 of chapter 5 in Nehemiah.
12:04
Speaker 1: It says that from the day that I was appointed
12:07
Speaker 1: to be their governor. Now that was the highest position
12:12
Speaker 1: in the land of Judah. from that day that I
12:16
Speaker 1: was appointed to be their governor in the land of
12:20
Speaker 1: Judah from the 20th to the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes.
12:27
Speaker 1: Let's just pause there and consider the latter part in
12:31
Speaker 1: just a moment. What was his reaction to the appointment? Well,
12:37
Speaker 1: quite frankly, it is very simple to see. His reaction
12:40
Speaker 1: was acceptance. You might wonder why do I pause and
12:47
Speaker 1: make a point of that when it's obvious that he
12:49
Speaker 1: accepted the position. Let's go on to important things. I'm
12:53
Speaker 1: saying to you that is important. I'm saying it because
12:57
Speaker 1: there are so few Christians who will accept responsibilities that
13:03
Speaker 1: are beyond themselves. For example, how many Christians can you
13:10
Speaker 1: name today Who are declared uncompromising Christians. In place of
13:17
Speaker 1: political power. Begin with our state. And then go to
13:24
Speaker 1: our nation. How many house in dwellings in Washington D.C.
13:30
Speaker 1: Who are born again people of God. In places of
13:34
Speaker 1: tremendous significance. How many around Sacramento. Sacramento. How many in
13:41
Speaker 1: your city? You see what I mean? It is not
13:43
Speaker 1: because we are outnumbered. That's not the reason. It's not
13:47
Speaker 1: because Christians aren't qualified. I'll fight that to the end
13:50
Speaker 1: of my days. Some of the most qualified people I
13:54
Speaker 1: know are born-again people. I'm afraid it is because frequently
14:00
Speaker 1: the Christian has the idea that to be spiritual, you
14:04
Speaker 1: hide in the shadows. To be carnal, you get out
14:07
Speaker 1: in the limelight. If you want to be in a
14:10
Speaker 1: place of great significance, be careful because that's selfish. So
14:16
Speaker 1: stay away from it. I honestly am concerned that we
14:23
Speaker 1: be more like Jabez, who is an unknown fellow over
14:27
Speaker 1: in the book of 1 Chronicles chapter 4. And he
14:31
Speaker 1: had the courage enough to pray, Lord, increase my boundaries.
14:37
Speaker 1: Make your name greater through my life. In other words,
14:43
Speaker 1: Jabez did not say, Lord, give me some little tiny
14:47
Speaker 1: spot where I can spend the rest of my days unknown.
14:53
Speaker 1: There is many a fellow in the seminary across our
14:56
Speaker 1: land who has that concept of the ministry. And I'm
15:01
Speaker 1: saying to you, who will take the spots of larger churches?
15:09
Speaker 1: Meet with any pulpit committee of any large church and
15:12
Speaker 1: you will find out how terribly difficult it is to
15:16
Speaker 1: find an individual who has enough confidence in God that
15:20
Speaker 1: he can use him in a stretching experience such as
15:24
Speaker 1: that size of a work. You might need the encouragement
15:30
Speaker 1: of Proverbs 29, 2, and let's take the time to
15:35
Speaker 1: notice it. In case that is your mindset today, I
15:39
Speaker 1: want you to make one of your memory verses. Proverbs 29, 2.
15:50
Speaker 1: When the righteous increase, the Hebrew word means to be
15:56
Speaker 1: made great. A synonym would be promoted. When the righteous
16:02
Speaker 1: are promoted, the people rejoice. Yes. But when a wicked
16:07
Speaker 1: man rules, the people groan. Isn't that true? Regardless of
16:14
Speaker 1: the perils of leadership and promotion, I never want you
16:18
Speaker 1: to forget Proverbs 29, 2. Never. Solomon is laying on
16:25
Speaker 1: us a tremendous truth. When people who are born again
16:31
Speaker 1: are promoted in their company to places of increased leadership,
16:37
Speaker 1: Underneath them will be those individuals that rejoice because of
16:41
Speaker 1: that rule. How much better than to have the wicked
16:46
Speaker 1: promoted and then to bring with them all the tentacles
16:50
Speaker 1: of corruption and wickedness. Now back to Nehemiah 5 verse 14.
16:56
Speaker 1: He accepted this. How I long to have God raise
17:02
Speaker 1: up not so much more ministers, though that's wonderful. But
17:06
Speaker 1: more professors, full professors in universities, more university presidents, more
17:12
Speaker 1: filmmakers who fashion and frame the minds of the public.
17:19
Speaker 1: Born-again people in places of great leadership. Statesmen, governors, senators,
17:27
Speaker 1: members of the board of various places of importance. How wonderful.
17:32
Speaker 1: That God would raise up those that could handle that
17:35
Speaker 1: kind of a promotion. But they are rare. They are few. Now,
17:42
Speaker 1: Nehemiah accepted the appointment and immediately was faced with the
17:47
Speaker 1: four major areas of anyone that will face a promotion.
17:52
Speaker 1: I want to share them with you one by one.
17:55
Speaker 1: All four are right here between verses 14 and 17
17:58
Speaker 1: and 18. First of all, in every promotion, there are privileges.
18:08
Speaker 1: There are rights. There are benefits. There are special favors
18:14
Speaker 1: that are provided. And precious few are the believers that
18:20
Speaker 1: are able to take those privileges and use them without
18:24
Speaker 1: abusing them. Nehemiah says for those 12 years, Neither I
18:31
Speaker 1: nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor's food allowance. Not
18:38
Speaker 1: once did Nehemiah take advantage of the food allowance that
18:42
Speaker 1: was his to enjoy. You see, in the position of governor,
18:50
Speaker 1: I am sure he had a constant table, at least
18:54
Speaker 1: the allowance of a constant table of food. Nehemiah says
19:00
Speaker 1: we didn't take advantage. We didn't presume upon that privilege.
19:06
Speaker 1: Now let me make that even more practical for today.
19:10
Speaker 1: You have been promoted in your company. With your promotion
19:14
Speaker 1: may come the privilege of an expense account. A child
19:19
Speaker 1: of God who is a person of integrity will never
19:23
Speaker 1: take advantage of that expense account. With the privilege of
19:30
Speaker 1: promotion comes the privilege of private life that becomes greater.
19:37
Speaker 1: The private life of the promoted leader constantly is under
19:43
Speaker 1: the attack of the devil, if you're a child of God.
19:47
Speaker 1: How many Christians we could name that move from one
19:50
Speaker 1: stratum to the next in the level of economy. And
19:54
Speaker 1: in that next promoted level, he was given the privilege
19:57
Speaker 1: of a great deal of privacy accounting for his own time.
20:01
Speaker 1: And he went down the moral tube. I just had
20:04
Speaker 1: a businessman leave the first service and he said, Chuck,
20:07
Speaker 1: I want to tell you something. I wouldn't have believed it,
20:10
Speaker 1: but now that I have been promoted, he said, you
20:12
Speaker 1: really spoke to my need. He said, I'm living with
20:14
Speaker 1: this constantly, the attack upon my moral integrity, constant. And
20:20
Speaker 1: he gave me an illustration of when he flew from
20:22
Speaker 1: San Francisco back to Los Angeles in that brief flight,
20:26
Speaker 1: how there was the most alluring temptation with a perfect
20:30
Speaker 1: built-in excuse for getting involved in it. He said, I
20:33
Speaker 1: live with that. In every promotion, there are privileges and
20:38
Speaker 1: they are not to be taken advantage of. Nehemiah did not.
20:43
Speaker 1: Let me name one more. The temptation in this privilege
20:48
Speaker 1: of building one's own empire. It's interesting that Nehemiah never
20:53
Speaker 1: did begin the Nehemiah Enterprises Incorporated, isn't it? He didn't
20:59
Speaker 1: establish stock and make it public and become the greatest
21:02
Speaker 1: of all the shareholders in it. Nehemiah turned this appointment
21:08
Speaker 1: to this position as governor simply as a position of
21:13
Speaker 1: maintaining his integrity. Now I want to say to you
21:18
Speaker 1: that there are many men, even ministers today, who take
21:21
Speaker 1: advantage of a large opportunity and being opportunists, capitalize on
21:28
Speaker 1: it and make their name great because of the position
21:33
Speaker 1: God has granted them I want to clarify a point
21:39
Speaker 1: in case it may be a question in anyone's mind.
21:41
Speaker 1: I have no private ambitions, no personal desires or goals
21:46
Speaker 1: as pastor of this church. As a pastor of a
21:49
Speaker 1: church this size, I am here more than any other
21:51
Speaker 1: pastor I know for a church this size, and I'll
21:54
Speaker 1: continue to be. Be gone just the bare minimum because
21:58
Speaker 1: I hate to travel, for one thing. Another thing is
22:01
Speaker 1: because I feel this is my commitment. This is my obligation.
22:05
Speaker 1: I am not here to skate into my own enterprises
22:09
Speaker 1: to enjoy personal benefits for myself. I feel before God
22:14
Speaker 1: that's what I must maintain. I learned the lesson from Nehemiah.
22:19
Speaker 1: He said we didn't take advantage of the privileges. We
22:22
Speaker 1: had them, we enjoyed them, but we didn't take advantage.
22:24
Speaker 1: Just one more word and we'll go on to the
22:26
Speaker 1: next one. You may not remember the name or the passage,
22:30
Speaker 1: but let me just stir up your memory. Absalom, 2
22:32
Speaker 1: Samuel 15, verses 1 to 6 says, We read the
22:37
Speaker 1: account of David's beautiful son. He had long flowing black hair.
22:42
Speaker 1: That makes him very relevant for our day as an illustration.
22:45
Speaker 1: He also was a fellow that never had a blemish
22:48
Speaker 1: from the crown of his head, the sole of his feet,
22:51
Speaker 1: never suffered from pimples, all those problems that attack your self-image.
22:55
Speaker 1: He was just a super guy. Everybody just loved him.
22:58
Speaker 1: He was winsome. He was a delightful guy, but he
23:01
Speaker 1: was a rebel at heart. I believe from the study
23:04
Speaker 1: of his life that David didn't train him properly. But
23:08
Speaker 1: that's not the only reason. He was away from David
23:11
Speaker 1: too much. This great leader separated himself and because of
23:15
Speaker 1: guilt toward his boy, he promoted his son out of
23:19
Speaker 1: rebellion into the court. That was mistake number one. And
23:23
Speaker 1: once promoted, Absalom couldn't handle it. And if you remember,
23:26
Speaker 1: it says that he stole the heart of the people
23:30
Speaker 1: as he sat at the gate of the court wanting
23:33
Speaker 1: to be the judge. That's a biblical illustration of a
23:37
Speaker 1: man who couldn't handle the promotion. And finally he overthrew
23:41
Speaker 1: the government. And he chased his own father off the
23:44
Speaker 1: throne and out of the city. Handling the temptations of
23:50
Speaker 1: privilege is one of the problems of promotion. You've got
23:53
Speaker 1: to reckon with that. That's one of the reasons that
23:56
Speaker 1: Carlisle says one in a hundred can take it. As
23:59
Speaker 1: opposed to adversity. Now look at verse 15. But... The
24:04
Speaker 1: former governors who were before me did three things. First
24:10
Speaker 1: of all, they laid burdens on the people. That means
24:15
Speaker 1: they overtaxed them. Second, they took payola. They took from
24:22
Speaker 1: them bread and wine besides, illegally it seems, 40 shekels
24:27
Speaker 1: of silver. They promoted their servants to a place of
24:33
Speaker 1: domineering leadership. That's always a temptation in the politics of promotion.
24:41
Speaker 1: So the second P I want you to remember this
24:43
Speaker 1: morning is policies. When you are promoted from one level
24:48
Speaker 1: to the next, you will invariably face the pressure of policies.
24:54
Speaker 1: First of all, the former policies. Bill has a saying
24:59
Speaker 1: that is so funny, but he says it's not original
25:01
Speaker 1: with him. I asked if I could share it with you.
25:04
Speaker 1: He said he has heard all of his life that
25:06
Speaker 1: to many people, there's nobody quite like their former pastor
25:09
Speaker 1: or first husband. There's something about former policies that just
25:15
Speaker 1: win people over. You never realize how great a pastor
25:19
Speaker 1: is until he's gone. Then all of a sudden he's quoted,
25:22
Speaker 1: you know, as though coming out of the woodwork or, uh,
25:26
Speaker 1: a former employer, a former boss. It's remarkable how former
25:32
Speaker 1: policies bring pressure on the next man. And that was
25:38
Speaker 1: the case in Nehemiah's time. The problem is it was corrupt.
25:43
Speaker 1: It was dirty politics. Nehemiah came in. They said, you know, Nehemiah,
25:48
Speaker 1: how they've been doing it all this time. No, how
25:50
Speaker 1: they've been doing it? Well, they get a little money
25:51
Speaker 1: from the side over here and you got your buddy,
25:53
Speaker 1: you can bring them on in. Oh, he can have
25:55
Speaker 1: them all around you. You got any friends you want
25:58
Speaker 1: to promote it? We got a perfect setup for it.
26:01
Speaker 1: What did Nehemiah do? Five words. I did not do so. Integrity.
26:13
Speaker 1: That's what that spells. I have a job to do.
26:20
Speaker 1: I answer to the God of heaven that promoted me.
26:23
Speaker 1: I will not carry on corruption. When I was living
26:29
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, I recall in the mid-60s, there was a
26:33
Speaker 1: government that was unbelievably corrupt. The city of Boston was
26:38
Speaker 1: incredibly dirty politics. The man who was the former governor
26:47
Speaker 1: or senator, I forget, I should have had that nailed down,
26:49
Speaker 1: but one of the public figures had finished his previous
26:54
Speaker 1: tour of office in jail. They moved a desk in
26:58
Speaker 1: and he did his homework inside the jail. And when
27:01
Speaker 1: he finished his tour of duty, they voted him back in.
27:06
Speaker 1: Loved having a guy like that. That's terrific. And part
27:10
Speaker 1: of the benefits would be the corruption. Such is, in
27:14
Speaker 1: front of our struggling little church, there was allowed one
27:17
Speaker 1: stream of cars to be parked on the curb. But
27:21
Speaker 1: if you went to a Roman Catholic church, you could
27:23
Speaker 1: park three deep and have police escort. That's dirty politics.
27:30
Speaker 1: That's because the man at the top says, give special
27:34
Speaker 1: favor to them, but not to them. And I'll tell you,
27:37
Speaker 1: it rides heard on every public figure, including a pastor.
27:44
Speaker 1: He has to wrestle with policies. It has always been
27:49
Speaker 1: done or we have never done and he has to
27:53
Speaker 1: wrestle with that and his integrity has to flow. That's
27:59
Speaker 1: why many cannot handle the pressures of a public office
28:04
Speaker 1: because they succumb. Nehemiah said, I won't do it. Nehemiah
28:12
Speaker 1: was like a roast Inside a pressure cooker. And his
28:18
Speaker 1: enemy just kept putting the fire on high. They just
28:21
Speaker 1: kept it going. I gave that this morning and then
28:24
Speaker 1: I had a slip of the tongue and I said,
28:26
Speaker 1: Nehemiah was a rare man. And I didn't even realize
28:35
Speaker 1: what a sense of humor the Lord had to give
28:37
Speaker 1: words like that. He was rare. He lived in the pressure.
28:42
Speaker 1: Hudson Taylor says, it doesn't matter how great the pressure is.
28:46
Speaker 1: To the man of God, what really matters is where
28:48
Speaker 1: the pressure lies. Whether it comes between him and God
28:54
Speaker 1: or whether it presses him nearer God's heart. I love
28:58
Speaker 1: that quote. Nehemiah was in the latter category. The pressure
29:02
Speaker 1: just pushed him nearer to God. The privileges, he never succumbed.
29:08
Speaker 1: The policies, he moved right on through. In fact, you
29:12
Speaker 1: will observe it says in verse 16 that he applied
29:16
Speaker 1: himself to the work on the wall. He did not
29:20
Speaker 1: buy any land and all of his servants were gathered
29:23
Speaker 1: for what reason? For work. How different. The former governor's
29:29
Speaker 1: servants were gathered to be given a position with a
29:33
Speaker 1: good salary. But with Nehemiah, he came and individually answering
29:39
Speaker 1: before God. he maintained that pure, clean relationship before God.
29:45
Speaker 1: Rare man. There's not a businessman here today that couldn't
29:50
Speaker 1: shake an agreement. He is a rare man. This is
29:54
Speaker 1: the third area, and I'm calling it, for the sake
29:56
Speaker 1: of our alliteration, the project's In every promotion, there is
30:02
Speaker 1: a project to be done. There is a job to
30:05
Speaker 1: be carried out. Nehemiah did not move into the job
30:10
Speaker 1: so he could zing along from one of his own
30:13
Speaker 1: enterprises to another. He stayed at the task of building
30:17
Speaker 1: the wall. He did not abuse the promotion. He didn't
30:22
Speaker 1: turn it into a lucrative opportunity for himself. Are you...
30:30
Speaker 1: Has God lifted you to a level of tremendous respect
30:34
Speaker 1: and freedom? And are you using that or are you
30:39
Speaker 1: abusing it? The project, you see, after all, was building
30:46
Speaker 1: the wall and he never lost sight of the goal.
30:50
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk more about setting goals and objectives
30:53
Speaker 1: for our lives. So important. He never lost sight of
30:56
Speaker 1: the goal. Some of you might think, well, he didn't
31:00
Speaker 1: have any problem because he wasn't really that well-known. Governor
31:04
Speaker 1: of Judah, that's not that great a job. I mean,
31:08
Speaker 1: after all, he's got people like Artaxerxes that he's doing
31:13
Speaker 1: battle with politically. You don't think he was very well-known?
31:19
Speaker 1: Look at verse 17. There were at my table 150 Jews.
31:26
Speaker 1: That's a lot of hamburgers. 150 Jews and officials, besides
31:33
Speaker 1: those who came to us from the nations that were
31:35
Speaker 1: around us. You say, oh, that only happened once every
31:38
Speaker 1: three years. Next verse says every day. That which was
31:43
Speaker 1: prepared for each day. You ready, ladies? One ox, six
31:51
Speaker 1: choice sheep, and birds were prepared for me. I guess
31:57
Speaker 1: he liked chicken, so he got the birds and he said,
32:00
Speaker 1: along with it, we'll have six sheep and an ox
32:04
Speaker 1: every day. That's a lot of chow. As I count it,
32:09
Speaker 1: that's easy, 200 people. Every day. Oh, he was well-known.
32:20
Speaker 1: He was a political figure. He was a public man.
32:25
Speaker 1: They visited him from all around, but he never lost
32:29
Speaker 1: sight of the project. Some people do. Solomon did. He became,
32:37
Speaker 1: according to the scriptures, the richest man that ever lived.
32:42
Speaker 1: From one import enterprise alone, according to 1 Kings 10,
32:46
Speaker 1: he made $ 20 million annually. Along with it, he made
32:55
Speaker 1: beaten shields of solid gold that cost $ 1, 800 each. In fact,
33:02
Speaker 1: according to the scriptures, the silver in Jerusalem under Solomon's
33:07
Speaker 1: leadership became as common as stones. But he couldn't handle it. G.
33:14
Speaker 1: Frederick Owen writes this about Solomon. Listen. Maddened with the
33:19
Speaker 1: love of show, Solomon swung in his later life into
33:24
Speaker 1: a feverish career of wastefulness, impropriety, and oppression. Not satisfied
33:31
Speaker 1: with the necessary buildings and budget and legitimate progress of
33:35
Speaker 1: his past, he overburdened his people with taxation. He enslaved
33:40
Speaker 1: some and ruthlessly instigated the murder of others. Solomon's drinking
33:46
Speaker 1: vessels were all of gold and those of his house
33:49
Speaker 1: were of pure gold. The shields of his mighty men
33:53
Speaker 1: were made of beaten gold and his great throne was
33:56
Speaker 1: made of solid ivory overlaid with the finest of gold.
34:01
Speaker 1: Then he says, Solomon, like many another absolute monarch, drove
34:05
Speaker 1: too fast and traveled too far. The monarch became debauched
34:12
Speaker 1: and effeminate and egotist and cynic. So satiated with the
34:20
Speaker 1: sensual and material affairs of his private life, he became
34:25
Speaker 1: skeptical of everything that was good to him. All became
34:29
Speaker 1: vanity and emptiness of spirit. Why? He couldn't handle the promotion.
34:37
Speaker 1: Over the long haul, the fiber of his life began
34:40
Speaker 1: to break down. And then, basking in the sunlight of
34:45
Speaker 1: God's limitless blessings, He vomited in the face of his
34:52
Speaker 1: marvelous Lord. Nehemiah said to his father, I won't take
34:59
Speaker 1: advantage of the promotion. He was a beautiful blend of
35:03
Speaker 1: gentleness and humility and patience in this promotion. He never
35:09
Speaker 1: lost sight of the common man. He never became too
35:14
Speaker 1: good for the average run-of-the-mill fellow. under his leadership. I
35:20
Speaker 1: know that because of the last part of verse 18,
35:24
Speaker 1: which brings us to the fourth P, and that is people.
35:28
Speaker 1: You have no leader if you have no people. You
35:31
Speaker 1: have no need for leadership. So basically, leading is a
35:35
Speaker 1: people-oriented job. Yet for all of this, for all of what?
35:40
Speaker 1: All of the abundance of food, I did not demand
35:44
Speaker 1: the governor's food allowance. Why, Nehemiah? because the servitude was
35:52
Speaker 1: heavy on this people. Frequently a strong leader runs roughshod
35:59
Speaker 1: over everybody else to get to the final point of
36:03
Speaker 1: his objective. Nehemiah backed off and he stayed sensitive to
36:10
Speaker 1: the needs of his people. It doesn't mean he lost
36:13
Speaker 1: control of the leadership. It means that Nehemiah, seeing the
36:18
Speaker 1: people overburdened and overtaxed, backed off and said, let's go
36:24
Speaker 1: in that pace. Let me lead you in that pace.
36:28
Speaker 1: One leader put it like this. One who is impatient
36:31
Speaker 1: with weakness will be defective in his leadership. The evidence
36:36
Speaker 1: of our strength lies not in our streaking ahead, but
36:40
Speaker 1: in willingness to adapt our stride to a slower pace.
36:45
Speaker 1: the pace of even the weaker brother, while not losing
36:50
Speaker 1: or forfeiting our lead. If we run too far ahead
36:54
Speaker 1: too quickly, we lose our power to influence. That's good
37:00
Speaker 1: advice for a strong leader. Nehemiah never lost his sensitive spirit.
37:07
Speaker 1: Now nowhere does Nehemiah's heart reveal itself more beautifully than
37:13
Speaker 1: in the midst of this passage on promotions I have
37:15
Speaker 1: overlooked on purpose two phrases. Perhaps you caught me in
37:20
Speaker 1: the process of missing something very important. First of all,
37:24
Speaker 1: verse 15. Why did he not do so? Because of
37:30
Speaker 1: the fear of God. His relationship to the Lord was
37:36
Speaker 1: so unshaken that when it came time for the temptation
37:42
Speaker 1: to be met, And to be accepted, Nehemiah said, how
37:46
Speaker 1: could I do that? My walk with God will be affected.
37:52
Speaker 1: I dare not yield. I don't care what my salary is.
37:57
Speaker 1: What my privileges are. How high the policies are. Or
38:01
Speaker 1: how great the position may be. I can't do it.
38:07
Speaker 1: My relationship to my Lord is first. Foremost. the guiding
38:13
Speaker 1: point of my life. Does that mean that people rightly
38:17
Speaker 1: related to God can't have nice things? You will never
38:20
Speaker 1: hear me say that. But it means that people whose
38:25
Speaker 1: nice things have them are the ones having the problem
38:30
Speaker 1: with covetousness. The last part that I've missed is verse 19.
38:38
Speaker 1: Remember me, O my God, for good according to all
38:47
Speaker 1: that I have done for this people. Lord I come
38:55
Speaker 1: before you says Nehemiah and I say to you I
38:59
Speaker 1: have been promoted by your grace. I have accepted a
39:03
Speaker 1: position of great leadership and I say with that promotion
39:11
Speaker 1: Look upon my life, much like the psalmist said, search me,
39:15
Speaker 1: O God, and know my heart. Try me and know
39:19
Speaker 1: my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me,
39:26
Speaker 1: and then, as it were, lead me out. I have
39:32
Speaker 1: a close personal friend who lives in another city I
39:34
Speaker 1: would rather not identify. This friend of mine is a
39:38
Speaker 1: multimillionaire because by hard work and faithful integrity of his
39:43
Speaker 1: business has committed himself to the development of a company
39:47
Speaker 1: that is honoring to God. He has surrounded himself with
39:52
Speaker 1: born-again people at the upper level of the company. A
39:56
Speaker 1: number of years ago, he chose a man that had
39:59
Speaker 1: all the gifts it seemed for promotion. And step after step,
40:03
Speaker 1: he gave him increased liberties, He released the boundaries, unlimited
40:10
Speaker 1: expense account, unlimited here, his own office, his private secretary,
40:15
Speaker 1: his own staff, his own car, all provided one after another.
40:20
Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with the provisions. The man would need them
40:22
Speaker 1: to carry out the job as he should have. But
40:27
Speaker 1: after that individual finally got to an end of his embezzlement,
40:32
Speaker 1: he got behind the wheel of his car and put
40:34
Speaker 1: it in gear. And searched for the first large bridge.
40:42
Speaker 1: Which he would hopefully drive off of. And he said
40:47
Speaker 1: later to me. As I was driving I thought this
40:49
Speaker 1: is the end. I can't stand it. He had taken
40:53
Speaker 1: from the owner a million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars.
41:00
Speaker 1: He had faked him out. He had covered the documents,
41:03
Speaker 1: and the gentleman, in signing his name, thinking it would
41:06
Speaker 1: be part of the enterprise, was another check into his pocket.
41:10
Speaker 1: Thousands upon thousands upon thousands. Born-again man, yes. Finally, he
41:18
Speaker 1: drove up to this man's beautiful home, and he said
41:21
Speaker 1: to him, I am a phony. And he brought the books,
41:27
Speaker 1: and he laid them out. One after another, the sheaves,
41:31
Speaker 1: The whole thing. He said to him calling his name.
41:35
Speaker 1: I have ruined you. The man had every reason in
41:40
Speaker 1: the world. To put him behind bars. He looked at
41:45
Speaker 1: him in tears. Just coursed down his face. This owner.
41:50
Speaker 1: Said how could you have done that? Said you practically
41:55
Speaker 1: ruined me. Put his arm around him. They prayed together.
42:04
Speaker 1: And this man today has been forgiven and the owner
42:10
Speaker 1: has amazingly recovered. But wait a minute, before you move,
42:20
Speaker 1: what would you have to open up before your employer,
42:26
Speaker 1: your teacher at school, your wife, your husband? What would
42:35
Speaker 1: you have to open before this government as it asks
42:41
Speaker 1: of us a tax factor? What? Sure, you've been promoted.
42:50
Speaker 1: You've reached one level and another until finally it seems
42:53
Speaker 1: as though it's out of sight. But has your integrity
42:57
Speaker 1: traveled that same road? Or are you looking for a bridge?
43:06
Speaker 1: I say to you, when God investigates and when men
43:09
Speaker 1: on this earth investigate their employees, they ought not find
43:13
Speaker 1: a paper clip in their pocket that came from that company.
43:18
Speaker 1: That teacher ought not find one moment where there was
43:21
Speaker 1: cheating in the life of the child of God. But
43:23
Speaker 1: our universities are shot through as a lifestyle with cheating.
43:31
Speaker 1: I say to you, if you are a person worth
43:33
Speaker 1: your salt, you will make it right. May we bow
43:40
Speaker 1: our heads together, please. Don't hide behind the fact that
43:47
Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on forgiving for all sin,
43:50
Speaker 1: because that is true. But in the same bold strokes
43:55
Speaker 1: that wrote that, God's Holy Spirit wrote that when there
43:58
Speaker 1: has been an offense of a brother, we need to
44:00
Speaker 1: go and make it right. Some of you have never
44:04
Speaker 1: broken the bent toward cheating. From high school days, though
44:08
Speaker 1: you are years removed, And you're still cheating. Some of
44:15
Speaker 1: you have been promoted because of God's beautiful grace. But
44:21
Speaker 1: you are right now living in moral sin. I want
44:30
Speaker 1: to say to you this morning that God's marvelous truth
44:34
Speaker 1: is not to be heard just for the sake of
44:38
Speaker 1: learning truth. academic truths. It's given to change our lives.
44:47
Speaker 1: What you have taken, you should return. Whom you have offended,
44:52
Speaker 1: you should go and make it right. Where you have cheated,
44:57
Speaker 1: you should declare yourself a cheat. And you should do
45:03
Speaker 1: it this week. You're dragging that anchor. If you've never
45:11
Speaker 1: trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my friend. Jesus died
45:16
Speaker 1: for cheating. And lying. And deceiving. And embezzling people. Just
45:23
Speaker 1: as he died for the moral realm. He will forgive
45:30
Speaker 1: you in his eyes. Give you eternal life. And secure
45:34
Speaker 1: that promise. You'll submit your heart to him right now. Father,
45:40
Speaker 1: thank you for the value of integrity, for being committed
45:43
Speaker 1: to a code of values and conduct that do not
45:49
Speaker 1: take their cues from the world around us. Our world
45:52
Speaker 1: has long since lost its way, and if there will
45:56
Speaker 1: ever be a people who will be marked by integrity,
45:59
Speaker 1: it will have to be your people. So, Father, I
46:02
Speaker 1: pray that you'd begin with us, we who have heard
46:04
Speaker 1: this message. I pray that you'll deal with us in
46:08
Speaker 1: areas of personal cheating and the habits we've formed to
46:13
Speaker 1: get away with those things behind the scenes that are
46:16
Speaker 1: not right. There are those who have been guilty of plagiarism,
46:22
Speaker 1: those who have taken answers from other papers, those who
46:26
Speaker 1: have drifted in their world of privilege, and they've taken
46:32
Speaker 1: advantage of other people. And I pray that the searching
46:35
Speaker 1: and a white searchlight of the Lord Jesus as you
46:41
Speaker 1: examine our lives, that you will expose the truth and
46:45
Speaker 1: bring us to repentance. I pray that as a result,
46:48
Speaker 1: we will turn a corner and become your kind of
46:52
Speaker 1: men and women. For those who've never trusted Christ, I
46:56
Speaker 1: pray that that decision will be taken care of immediately
47:00
Speaker 1: so that there might be a whole new beginning based
47:02
Speaker 1: on the solid rock of integrity and even the life
47:06
Speaker 1: of Christ. We ask this in his name and for
47:10
Speaker 1: his glory.
47:12
Speaker 2: Amen. The preceding message, How to Handle a Promotion, was
47:17
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990, 2006, and 2015. And the
47:19
Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in 2016 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
47:22
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
47:36
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.