Leadership That Doesn’t Take Advantage
Nehemiah: Building What Matters
Leadership That Doesn't Take Advantage
Dr. Richard Price | Schrader Lane Church of Christ | September 13, 2026
Nehemiah 5:14-19"Godly leadership is not measured merely by what a leader has the authority to take, but by what a leader is willing to give up for the good of the people."
THE BIG IDEAPosition Gives Power, Character Governs It
Nehemiah had the legal right to the governor's allowance. He refused it, "because I feared God," not because he feared losing his job.
Never Ask What You Won't Carry
Nehemiah worked on the wall himself. He led from the wall, not the balcony, and asked nothing he was not willing to give himself.
Someone's Crisis Is Not Your Opportunity
While the people were desperate and land was cheap, Nehemiah acquired none. He would not turn their vulnerability into his advancement.
Feed People, Don't Feed Off Them
Nehemiah fed 150 officials daily at his own table and still refused the allowance, "because the people already carried a heavy burden."
"Remember, oh my God, all that I have done for these people." - Nehemiah 5:19
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
For twelve years, Nehemiah had the legal right to take more from the people he governed, and for twelve years he refused. This week's Priceless Lesson from Dr. Richard Price asks a harder question than "will you steal?": will you give up what you are entitled to for the good of the people God has placed in your care?
The Authority to Take, and the Character to Refuse
Have you ever watched someone with real power choose not to use it? In a culture that tells us to take what we can get while we can get it, that kind of restraint feels almost foreign. Every day we watch leaders, at work, at home, and yes, even in the pulpit, decide whether the people under their care exist to serve them, or whether they exist to serve the people. Nehemiah stood at exactly that fork in the road. He had the authority, the resources, and every legal right to take more. Instead, he chose to give up more. That choice still has something to teach us.
What Nehemiah Gave Up: The Core Scripture
The passage is Nehemiah 5:14-19, and it may be one of the most quietly powerful leadership texts in all of Scripture. For twelve years, Nehemiah served as governor of Judah, and in that time, neither he nor his officials drew on the food allowance that was legally his (Nehemiah 5:14). The governors before him had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding food, wine, and silver, while their assistants took advantage of the very people they were appointed to serve (Nehemiah 5:15). Nehemiah refused to follow that pattern. His explanation is short, and it is everything: "because I feared God." That single phrase is the hinge this whole sermon turns on, and it is the hinge our leadership turns on too.
Position Gives You Power, But Character Governs How You Use It
As Dr. Price preached it, Nehemiah was not a volunteer rebuilding a wall on the weekends. He held real authority under the Persian administration. He had status, resources, and administrative power. Dr. Price made the point plainly: Nehemiah is not saying "I refuse to steal." That is too easy for us. The real test was not whether Nehemiah would take something wrong. It was whether he would take something he was fully entitled to, and choose not to, because of what it would cost the people he served.
That is a much harder test, and most of us will face it more often than we think. It shows up when you have the authority to cut a corner nobody would ever question, claim credit nobody would ever challenge, or let someone else absorb a cost that is technically theirs to bear. Dr. Price summarized it in one line worth writing down: "Position gives you power, but character governs how you use it." Nehemiah's own answer for where that character came from was reverence for God, not fear of losing his job, not fear of public opinion. "I have authority," he essentially said, "but I'm also under authority." That is what keeps leadership, in a home, a business, or a church, from becoming dangerous.
Never Ask People to Carry What You Won't Carry
Nehemiah's second move is just as convicting. Verse 16 tells us he devoted himself to working on the wall himself. He did not merely organize the project, inspect the progress, or give speeches about sacrifice from a safe distance. Dr. Price put it memorably: "Nehemiah is not leading from the balcony. He's leading from the wall." If he asked the people to sacrifice, he sacrificed too. If he asked them to build, he showed up with dust on his clothes and dirt under his nails.
Then Nehemiah goes further, and this is where the sermon lands its heaviest punch. In the middle of an economic crisis, families were mortgaging their fields and losing their homes, and land was suddenly available cheap because people were desperate. As governor, Nehemiah could have quietly expanded his own holdings and called it good stewardship. Instead, Scripture says plainly that he acquired no land at all. Why? Because, as Dr. Price explained, "he would not use somebody else's vulnerability as an opportunity for his own advancement." Somebody else's crisis should never automatically become our opportunity. Somebody else's weakness should never become our leverage. Somebody else's desperation should never become our advantage.
Leadership That Feeds People, Not Off of People
By verses 17 and 18, we learn Nehemiah was feeding 150 officials and visitors at his own table every single day, an enormous daily cost in meat and wine. He had every right to bill that expense back to the people through the governor's allowance. He chose not to, "because the people already carried a heavy burden." Dr. Price summed up the whole passage in one sentence worth underlining in every leader's Bible: leadership should feed people, not feed off of people. That kind of leadership starts with noticing what people are already carrying before you ask them to carry more.
"Yesterday's sacrifice can become tomorrow's manipulation." Dr. Richard Price, Leadership That Doesn't Take Advantage
3 Ways to Lead Like Nehemiah This Week
- Name what you're entitled to, then ask what it would cost others. Before you exercise every right or privilege available to you, ask who bears the weight if you do.
- Get back on the wall. Find the place in your home, workplace, or ministry where you have been directing from a distance, and go do the work alongside the people you lead.
- Let God keep the record. Resist the urge to remind people of what you have sacrificed for them. Nehemiah prayed, "Remember me," to God, not to the people he served.
Listen, Watch, Learn More
Watch the full message, "Leadership That Doesn't Take Advantage," preached by Dr. Richard Price at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on September 13, 2026, part of the series Nehemiah: Building What Matters. Then test what you learned with this week's interactive quiz and study game, both available on Barry's Bureau.
Where Is God Calling You to Give Something Up?
Where has God placed real power in your hands, at home, at work, or in your church, and how are you using it? Nehemiah shows us that godly leadership is proven not in the big public moments, but in the quiet choices nobody but God is watching. This week, ask yourself what you might be entitled to take, and what it would look like to give it up for the good of someone else instead. We would love to hear what stood out to you. Leave a comment below or share this post with someone who leads.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
Test Your Knowledge: Leadership That Doesn't Take Advantage
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Scripture Matching: Leadership That Doesn't Take Advantage
Match each statement from Nehemiah 5 to its correct verse reference. Tap a statement on the left, then tap the verse reference on the right that matches it. Match all 5 pairs to win.
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