ALL WE NEED TO KNOW

Nehemiah 5:14-7:60; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Psalm 33:1-11; Proverbs 21:8-10

“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…. They kept telling me about Tobiah’s good deeds, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah kept sending threatening letters to intimidate me.”

“…We know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.”

“For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.”

What do we know about what just happened, really? Easter can be overwhelming. Separate and apart from family gatherings and other diversions of the “holiday weekend,” in thinking honestly about the causes and effects of Easter, one can get lost in the theology pretty quickly. Add to that, for this Monday, the inevitable post-Easter emotional letdown, and many may well be wondering in retrospect what all the fuss was about. Sadly, everything still feels and looks pretty much the same as it did on last Monday. The Lord has not come down from the sky riding on a cloud to clean up all the mess. Evil has not been smitten. So it is today, in the cold rationality of another Monday, that we face the ultimate question. It is today, not Easter Sunday, that we will truly decide what we believe, who we are, and who we will follow in the trenches of our day-to-day lives and work. Oh, and just to make things interesting, we should perpare ourselves for some opposition along the way. Nothing like a little religion mixed in with the world to get folks stirred up.

Nehemiah may be God’s ultimate example of taking religion to work. As the king’s cupbearer, it is difficult to see what Nehemiah knew about rebuilding cities or, specifically, reconstructing Jerusalem’s border walls and defenses. However, God chose him and Artaxerxes sent him, so there you go: yet another example of God equipping those He calls. But let us not rush by the obvious question quite so glibly. What did Nehemiah know about rebuilding or fortifying cities? What schooling did he have in architecture or, more importantly, military strategy that would insure he would be able to preserve and protect the work of his hands as and after it was constructed? For that matter, what did he know of theology, with which to defend his God against all the pagan influences to be faced in his homeland? I’ve read no biographies on Nehemiah but am intrigued by the answer Scripture provides: “nothing.” Apparently, he did know enough to get the job done. He knew two things: 1) love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and 2) love your neighbor as yourself. Humankind did not need a book in the Bible about the construction of fortified walls. It never hurts, tough, to have another lesson on what it looks like to live out the Great Commandment.

Specifically, Nehemiah rejected any temptation to treat himself any better than one of his workers. Consider Nehemiah 5:18: “The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden.”  (It is impossible not to comment on modern application of this verse. What if the leaders and CEOs of today had a similar perspective? Alas….) Not once in the twelve years of governance did Nehemiah claim the extraordinary benefits of leadership to which he was entitled. Instead, as governor of Judah, Nehemiah fed his people out of his own pocket. Impressive.

Amazing happens when one looks at Nehemiah’s response to political challenges. Mainly, he ignored them. When things got too intense, he prayed. That’s pretty much it. Yet the wall got built. However idyllic and unrealistic the story sounds, there’s no arguing with the facts. Jerusalem was rebuilt by a man with no obvious talents or qualifications for the job, and in spite of significant opposition. I guess, in a phrase, the message is that Nehemiah knew all he needed to know, and he lived a fulfilled life just based on those two principles. Distilling things even further, one could also say Nehemiah simply acted out of love, and it was enough to get the job done.

I will freely admit that I do not trust love that much. I don’t trust love to take me where I want or need to go professionally. I do not trust love to put food on the table or a roof over my head. Nor do I trust love to overcome all the obstacles in my life. I’m just not there yet. Worse, I have a hard time even really wanting to get there. “Love Is All You Need” sounds as impractically utopian today as it did decades ago when the Beatles coined the phrase. And yet….

Paul is pretty specific. Love, not knowledge, should be our first goal. Love gives knowledge flesh and blood. More to the point, love gives knowledge a heart and a greater power than mere intelligence. Love opens the door to everything that is the Holy Spirit. Anyone can learn, but not everyone can love. Yet it is Love – and only Love - that raised Christ, and it is Love that overcomes the world. What do any of us really know about the world or how to make it work? Precious little, obviously, or it would work better than it does. But Scripture says we know what we need to know. Put the theology and religion away. Philosophical musings and economic theories won’t get us any closer to where we need to be than we are now. We know what we need to know. We just need to accept it and put it into practice.