Haggai Week Number One: December 10th 2006

Pressures, demands, expectations and tasks push in from all sides and assault our schedules. Do this! Be there! Finish that! Call them! It seems as though everyone wants something from us- family, friends, employer, school, church, clubs, etc etc. Soon there is little left to give, as we run out of energy and time We find ourselves rushing through life, attending to the necessary, the immediate, and the urgent, because that’s all the energy we can muster. The important, the deeper reality, the struggle of things that keep repeating in our lives, of inadequacies, of discomfort, or of feeling meaningless, useless, or purposeless are often left in the dust.

Our problem is not the sheer number of demands or lack of scheduling skills, but values- what is TRULY important to us. Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources- time, money, strength, and talent; and often, our actions show that our words are empty. We often say God is number one, but then we push him and what he asks of us down to second, third, eighth, or tenth priority.

Today we begin three weeks in the Old Testament book of Haggai.
While you turn there, let me set the stage a bit…
Haggai was a prophet- one who spoke to the people for God… He lived in Israel during the time when the Jewish people were returning from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. As a judgment against them, God had allowed a Babylonian king named Nebuchadnezzar to invade Israel, destroy the temple and relocate almost all the people to what is now modern-day Iraq. After Nebuchadnezzar, a new king named Cyrus came on the scene, and his policy was one where he wanted to rebuild the temples and serve the gods of all the people that Babylon had conquered over the years, just to make sure that if any of those gods were the real God, then he would be okay… So Cyrus allowed about 50,000 Jews to return to Israel and he gave them the order to rebuild God’s temple in Jerusalem.

So the people hop to, with Ezra and Nehemiah and Jeshua and Zerubbabel at the helm, and start building the temple. People are fired up, ready to go, making it happen, and they LAY the foundation of the temple, and when they do, the priests with their trumpets and the Levites with their cymbals take their places, and with blaring music and clashing sing, “The Lord is good, his love to Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation was laid.

But it wasn’t long before some folks start grumbling. “Man, this temple isn’t half the building the one before it was. This is PATHETIC.” And some of the older priests are weeping at how small it is, and then folks from outside of Jerusalem set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hire counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans. They even sent a false letter to a neighboring king, who compelled the people by threat of force to quit building. So, that brings us up to today, where 16 years later, Cyrus is gone, another king named Darius is in place and the Temple still hasn’t been built. All those big emotions and big plans ending up falling flat on their face because the people were afraid and inconsistent.

We’re going to read most of the chapter together, talk a bit about the big details and then we’ll go through it bit by fit for some finer points-

And as we launch into reading the first section of this Scripture here, I’d like you to keep two questions in your mind:

1) What does this passage tell us about God?

2) What does this passage tell us about people?

The Bible is filled with words of comfort and peace… as well as parts which challenge and disturb. And it does this by telling us things about ourselves that we might rather not hear, and even tells us things about God that we might rather not hear… I know that not everyone here is on the same page spiritually- that we all come from different places and are AT different places spiritually- but I assume your presence here this morning means you want to hear the truth about God from God- from His Word- and I’m accountable to say the truth; that God’s word may challenge and disturb us, or it may bring comfort and peace, and in a lifetime of following Him, I guarantee you’ll see both. This passage contains a bit of both the challenge and the comfort, especially in how we think about God Himself… let’s go through it.

(v 1) So God was speaking to the people by speaking to their political leaders and their religious leaders…
(v 2)16 years later, the people are procrastinating. Now, it’s not like they might not have had some legitimate excuses- this was an agrarian society- there were crops to be planted and harvested, not to mention the fact that everything had been destroyed and in disrepair for more than 70 years… But nonetheless, God is calling them to consider something…
(v 3-4) He repeats the word (in the Hebrew) “you” for emphasis- is it time for you, for YOU, to be living in luxurious houses while…”

Does this mean we should all abandon work, family, fun and all the rest and go live in a monastery? Of course not- but too often we give ourselves to the less important things and ignore the really weighty matters of life. Did God tell them to tear down their houses and give the money towards the building of the temple? No, not in THIS CASE. He simply questioned their priorities. The place of their houses, in their minds, their hearts… especially over and against HIS place… and God’s next words in verse 5 are striking-

(v 5) Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Look at what’s happening”- lit ‘Give careful thought to your ways.’” At some point each of us must ask ourselves, “Is what I am giving myself to, what I am spending day after day doing and pursuing, really that important?” And it’s not about our job so much, as our calling, the missions in your life you are called to pursue in your life. Mission is what happens when you respond to the word of God and the expectations placed on your life; if I think to myself in reading this today, “Man, this Scripture is reminding me that my priorities are out of whack,” that’s mission, because I’m allowing myself to be changed by God’s Word on my life, when if (name) turns to (name) during the sermon and says, “This isn’t easy to live out,” that mission, when (name) goes to work and deals with all manner of things, whether it’s boredom or stress or folks gossiping or being treated like crap by management, or if you’re in management of some sorts and your workers are unmotivated and lazy, they way you respond is mission; and all of this is mission because what you think about, they way you act, and the way you handle yourself affects more people than yourself, and the picture of your life has an eternal impact on others’ around you.

You see, here, God was not content to allow the people of Israel to live lives of comfortable unimportance, or putting him second fiddle. He took action and He pointed out the results and consequences of how they were living.

(v 6)And then He pointed them towards something different, something transcendent…
(v 7-8) Rebuild the Temple? Why?

Now I want to suggest that this has two meanings…One, the physical rebuilding of the temple was an expectation by God because it would be a sign to all people groups of the center of meaning for the people of Israel He was deeply concerned that the people cared more about their houses and their families and more cash money and more prosperity than building the center of worship for his glory. But the deeper issue went beyond the physical building to a basic indifference expressed about the desires of God. The temple of the Old Testament existed for the glory of God. And the Church today exists for the glory of God (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). Indifference to the growth and spiritual prosperity of the Church and its mission is always a sign of failure to love the glory of God. And the sour fruit of this failure is a life of chronic frustration. He who seeks to save his life will lose it to continual frustrations; but he who loses his life for the glory of God and the good of his cause will find life, deep and fulfilling. Verse 9 sums up the situation in Jerusalem: "You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourself each with his own house."
And here’s where God reveals a terrible grace.

VS9:
I love the way the NIV says it… "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.”

VS 10-11
Israel had been suffering a drought- why? Because God was thwarting them- He was standing in their way. In the areas of their hopes and dreams He was blocking them- keeping them from achieving what they really wanted. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away.” Why would God do this? I thought the Bible promised us “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” Was that a lie?

Sometimes the best thing that could happen to us is that we fail. It is the hardest times in our lives that cause us to stop and think, to look and consider. God wants for us that we live lives worth living, and He knows that the only way that will ever happen is if we give Him His proper place- if we focus ourselves not on the transitory, on things which rust and break and get stolen, but on things which have eternal value- our relationship with Him, our relationships with others, helping others to know Him… Doing things that really matter. And the terrible grace is that God is willing to shake us up to get our attention. And so sometimes He brings or allows to come into our lives things which we don’t necessarily want, but which we desperately need.
The real tragedy would be if God just left us alone. And so it is a terrible grace when He puts Himself in our way and says, “Stop- think about the way you are going…”
What has God been saying to you lately? How would you put it if you had to tell it to someone else. Take a minute and think…
VS 12-
Have you ever wondered what it is God wants from you? Here it is: That when He speaks we would actually listen. That’s pretty much it. Not very complicated… He wants obedience from us because He wants what’s best for us- and whether we want to hear it or not- the two go hand in hand.
Now- if you are feeling the weight of that, notice what He says next:
VS 13
One of the most comforting statements in this whole story is this: “I am with you.” Though He stood momentarily in their way, God’s ultimate position with these people was this: I am with you. Not against you, not ignoring you… with you. For you. God promises us that if we will carve out a place in our lives for Him- He will come and occupy it. He says elsewhere in Scripture “Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.” The God of the Universe wants a place not only as your Lord, but as your Comfort… as your friend. And I have to wonder: Who wouldn’t want that?
VS 14-15
The people woke up- they heard what God was saying to them, considered their ways… and they obeyed.
The real risk in this life is not that we will one day wake up and find that God is thwarting our hopes and dreams… it’s that we won’t wake up and see that. The real risk is that we will become enthralled with things that really don’t matter, that we’ll mouth the words “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” and go about happily constructing our own little kingdoms.
God is with us, but He is jealous for us. For our hearts, our attention, our worship and our lives. The fact is, we all worship something- God wants it to be something worthwhile, something that won’t kill us, hurt others, something that will last- He wants it to be Him. The one who made us, the one who loves us, the one who redeems our lives and saves us.

Piper: in verses 12–15 Haggai reports that Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people obey and begin to work on the temple, on the 24th day of the sixth month. So, after 18 years of neglect and frustration, the people begin to learn their lesson: "seek the kingdom first, and all these other things will be added" (Matthew 6:33).

Attention to historical detail and to historical context is neither accidental or meaningless. By remembering the declaration of God in this way in this specific time, a claim is made about God’s action. God was and is deeply concerned about the very real world of blessings and curses, religion, of selfish or self-giving human beings. God acted through a human named Haggai, whose strengths and weaknesses all were aware of. Most of God’s challenges to human priorities, faithfulness, and allegiance, come in very historically significant moments through people and for people. The Protestant Reformation began when one particular man, Martin Luther, in one historical situation, was compelled to respond to the twisting of religion and what God had to say in that moment. Those members of our spiritual heritage as the Church of the Brethren, the Anabaptists, because they were committed to take Jesus’ words to pursue righteousness, to love radically, to give their lives for their friends and enemies, to refuse to take up arms for a state, were killed by the droves by their Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic fellow Christians. They knew the cost of faithfulness, and chose wisely. The civil rights movement in the United States began when Rosa Parks, in a very specific situation, refused to participate any longer in the degrading and disgusting practice of moving black people to the back of the bus. Shortly thereafter, Martin Luther King (and I don’t think the meaning of his name is an accident) fought non-violently for civil rights for blacks and in the meantime called those who claimed the name Christian to repentance and a renewed commitment to Christ. And today, at Middle River, God is extending the same opportunity for repentance and renewal to us today. Does God reserve the right to judge us, discipline us, bend us over his knee and tell us to wake up through any means? Yes. He can, and he will. And he does it because he cares deeply about our lives and about faithfulness, and what people who don’t know him think when they hear the word Christian. And I’m sorry to say that many times in our society, when the name Christian comes up, people don’t have a smile wash across their face, and in the past, when folks in our community have heard the name Middle River, they’ve thought immediately of conflict and selfishness.

And the ONLY way, the ONLY way, that stigmas like this, and weaknesses in your life and mine, and weaknesses in our common church life can be overcome so that we can grow and be blessed by God and see change, REAL CHANGE taking place, is when we stop treating this business of our being Christian as a secondary pursuit…not that important. A name we slap on ourselves. Something we do for several minutes a day.

Haggai didn’t just speak to people who lived thousands of years ago… he speaks to us and to our community. What do we chase after, give ourselves to, live and die for? Anything worthwhile? What about our community- this church community at Middle River- Is God at the center, on the edges, truly worshipped or do we just go through the motions?

Will we give ourselves to the things that matter, to God himself, to His mission of redemption in this world, or to building our own house? To His kingdom, or to our own?