Leadership Lessons from Ezra & Nehemiah

 

Psalm 127:1 (ESV) 

Unless the Lord Builds the House A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

The biblical figures of Ezra and Nehemiah are not the most popular or well-known. No signs or wonders occur during their days, and neither of them accomplishes mighty feats or brings about miraculous acts of deliverance. Ezra is a Bible nerd who gets other people to take the Bible seriously, and Nehemiah is essentially a project manager for the rebuilding of the ancient walls of Jerusalem. It’s totally understandable why no one thinks of Ezra or Nehemiah when they think of significant characters of the Bible.
 
Much of the modern Christian tradition hasn’t really known what to do with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Because of the deeply held assumption that the Bible is primarily moral instruction literature (a divine rule book), the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah are usually turned into examples for how to lead a revival (Ezra), or how to create momentum for your next church building project (Nehemiah).
 
Biblical literature, however, doesn’t always communicate by offering simple answers and moral examples. Rather, the characters that populate the biblical stories are deeply flawed, often ambiguous, and a mixed-bag of success and failure - Kind of like any one of us….

The stories of Ezra and Nehemiah tell a realistic story of religious people who are zealous to help others see the world and God in a new way. They are full of passion and love for God, and do everything in their power to lead the Israelites into a new era of devotion to their God … and it DOESN’T work. The story ends with Nehemiah in angry tears, beating the Israelites for violating the covenant commands of the Torah (see Nehemiah13). Does that sound like a pattern of inspirational leadership that you should follow? It doesn’t, and that’s because these books aren’t offering us a list of tips to successful leadership. That’s actually the opposite of their message. In reality, they offer a sobering story of leaders who cannot bring about the full realization of their hopes and dreams, even when they tried and prayed their hardest.
 
For the moment, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that the book of Ezra-Nehemiah is a profound statement about leadership, but not the kind that’s popular. It’s a realistic story about religious leaders who are unable to realize their dreams due to the impossible paradox of the human condition. Leaders cannot generate a true revival, but they certainly can prevent it from happening. Despite their best intentions, Ezra and Nehemiah are not able to accomplish the transformation of the human heart.
 
We as faithful believers need to realize and acknowledge that like Ezra and Nehemiah, despite any doctrinal differences we may have, we as Christians are each leaders in God’s kingdom commissioned with a building project of our own “church” community right where we are at here and now (Exodus 19:3-6, 1 Corinthians 3:9,16-17) and we are just as unable as our biblical forefathers were in transforming even our own, let alone anyone else’s heart. We must remember that we like Paul and Apollos are simply servants (migrant workers who have been called, befriended and adopted into our King’s family) farming His wild fields by sowing, scattering and watering seed as well reaping any harvest we should come across as we make our way throughout our lives, as we entrust God to actually make things grow (1 Corinthians 3:5-7).
 
And so these books are a literary memorial to the mixed-bag of leadership. Just because we have high ideals and divinely inspired passion doesn’t mean God has to fulfill our dreams. Even the most capable leaders will tell you that the law of unintended consequences and inevitable human failure will compromise the best of our plans. But that doesn’t mean Ezra and Nehemiah shouldn’t have tried. Their stories give us hope and inspiration to keep pointing other people to God’s grace and to keep calling them (and ourselves!) to faithfulness and devotion. But after pondering Ezra-Nehemiah, our pointing and calling should be done with a sober awareness that our efforts will likely be compromised. This doesn’t mean God isn’t faithful or good. It means that we’re flawed humans whose fundamentally selfish nature can be transformed only by a generous gift of God’s grace. Leaders who know this will lead with a humility and self-awareness that is hard to come by these days. And it’s this kind of wisdom and “leadership lessons” that Ezra-Nehemiah offers to us.
 
And we’re better off for hearing this message, if we have ears to hear. So let’s honestly ask ourselves:
Am I caught in Satan’s net, fretting over my own hope, dreams, goals and concerns or am I truly living in community with God, in step with His Word along with my fellow adopted brothers and sisters in the faith, as slaves to righteousness, humbly submitting ourselves to worldly authorities, considering others more than myself, as I lovingly share God’s gospel message in hopes of their ultimate salvation?
Just keep swimming….                     
 
CORAM DEO
Hebrews 13:20-21