Going Through The Motions Series

Haggai: The Best is Yet to Come

Haggai 2:10-19

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

10-22-23

Intro

[ I dressed as a “rock star” and pretended to play “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen.]

Angel is right. I’m not a rock star. I was just “going through the motions.”

Through TeenServe, I got to know Phil Joel and his wife Heather. Phil was the bass player for the Christian supergroup The Newsboys.

Phil was a member of one of the most popular Christian groups in the world. He got to play in front of thousands of fans.

At one of those concerts, Phil said he looked out over the crowd, singing along to every word. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit whispered a question to his heart, “When’s the last time you and I spent any time together? You seem to be very good at performing for me but your heart is far, far away.”

Phil was deeply convicted and walked off the stage that night and informed the rest of the band that he was leaving. He couldn't take being a spiritual fraud. He was done with just going through the motions.

Review

Three weeks ago, we started our study of Haggai. The book of Haggai consists of four sermons preached over a four-month period in 520 BC.

In the first sermon, Haggai challenged the people to finish what they started. The Temple foundation had been laid but work had stopped for sixteen years while the people worked on their own houses.

In the second sermon, Haggai challenged the people to stop looking back to the “good old days” and look forward to what God will do in this Temple in the future.

This morning, we come to the third sermon, which was preached on December 18, 520 BC, three months after the last one.

If you read ahead to prepare, you might have been confused with what God was saying through Haggai. But as we go through these verses, you will see that Haggai has good news for them and for us!

Turn with me to Haggai 2.

Prayer

Two Word Pictures

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai: 

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’”

The priests answered, “No.” (v. 10-11)

To our twenty-first-century ears, these verses seem to make no sense.

God, through the prophet Haggai calls on the priests, the experts in the Levitical law, to render a judgment.

The word picture is of a man who has made a fellowship offering and has leftover meat that he is bringing home with him.

The fold of his garment would be the modern-day equivalent of having the meat in your pocket.

Because the meat had been offered as a sacrifice, it would be considered consecrated or holy.

The question for the priests is, “If that holy meat in your pocket touched something else in your pocket, like a stick of gum, would that stick of gum become holy?”

The priests rightly answered no it would not become holy.

The principle that Haggai is communicating is -

Holiness doesn’t transfer. You can’t catch holiness. You can’t absorb it from simply being near someone.

I could stand next to Beth or Lisa for the next five years straight but it doesn’t mean I could play the piano any better.

I could follow Monette around for the next week, and while I would be encouraged and inspired by her Godliness, it wouldn’t make me any more holy.

Holiness doesn’t get passed on. You don’t inherit holiness from your parents and you don’t absorb it from simply sitting in church on a Sunday morning.

In fact, if you do nothing personally to grow spiritually over the next five years, you won’t grow spiritually. It’s not automatic.

Spiritual growth is between you and God and there is no one who can spiritually commit themselves to holiness for you.

This week, I asked for sermon help on Facebook. I asked, “What has helped you grow spiritually over the course of your journey with Jesus?”

Here are some of their answers:

Serving. I can't think of a better way to grow to look like Jesus than to go out and do what He did among the lost.

The realization that I don’t have to pretend to be something that I’m not.

Understanding who I am in Christ and what we have in Christ is key to following Him wholeheartedly.

Doing deep study of the Word of God. Listening to the Bible each day.

Allowing God to care for me and teach me through the trials of life.