Nehemiah 1:1-3
1 Kings 11:9-13
2 Chronicles 36:15-20
Psalm 137
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
“Ethical Breakdowns” (April 2011)
“The vast majority of managers mean to run ethical organizations, yet corporate corruption is widespread. Part of the problem, of course, is that some leaders are out-and-out crooks, and they direct the malfeasance from the top. But that is rare.
Much more often, we believe, employees bend or break ethics rules because those in charge are blind to unethical behavior and may even unknowingly encourage it.
In our teaching we often deal with sales executives. By far the most common problem they report is that their sales force maximizes sales rather than profits. We ask them what incentives they give their salespeople, and they confess to actually rewarding sales rather than profits.
The lesson is clear; When employees behave in undesirable ways, it’s a good idea to look at what you’re encouraging them to do.
Consider what happened to Sears Roebuck in the 1990s when management gave automotive mechanics a sales goal of $147 an hour – presumably to increase the speed of repairs. Rather than work faster, however, employees met the goal by overcharging for their services and ‘repairing’ things that weren’t broken.”
Harvard Business Review Magazine (April 2011)
Chuck Swindoll wrote about Nehemiah:
“Trying to study and appreciate Nehemiah without a knowledge of this transitional period of history would be like visiting the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia with no knowledge of the Revolutionary War.”
What Can We Learn and Apply from Nehemiah’s story?
Chuck Swindoll (commenting on Isaiah 49:15-16)
‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; YOUR WALLS ARE CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME.”
“Some of you are living with the walls of your life surrounded by ruin, and it all began very slowly. First there was a loose piece of stone or mortar. Then there was a crack that appeared in the wall. And then it broke into pieces, and there was a hole. Because of further neglect, the weeds of carnality began to grow through the wall. By and by, the enemy gained free access to your life.
You may be known as a good Christian. But you know in your heart that although you are a Christian in the same sense that Jerusalem belonged to the Jews, the wall around your spiritual life that protects and defends you is in shambles. Such things as selfishness, lack of discipline, procrastination, immorality, no time for God, compromise, and rebellion have come and sowed their ugly seeds. And they have begun to bear fruit for death.
I sense in our day, among a number of people in the ranks of our evangelical family, a shallow frivolity concerning God. We tend to take Him lightly. It is as though he is our great big buddy. Then we hide behind the rationalization that ‘nobody is perfect.’ After all, we tell ourselves ‘I’m better than so-and-so and certainly better than I used to be.’ There’s sort of a shrug of the shoulders and a passing comment, ‘Well, He’ll understand.’ If this is your attitude, the enemy is living in your camp. YOUR WALLS ARE DOWN.”