Don’t Look Back
Haggai 2:1-5
Rev. Brian Bill
1/29/12
How many of you can remember the “good old days”? Do you find yourself longing for what used to be and lamenting how things are today?
50 years ago, the top discipline problems in high school were talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the hallways, getting out of turn in line, wearing improper clothes and littering. Today we have drugs, alcohol, robbery, assault and guns in school.
Recently I listened to someone in his 70s (he doesn’t attend here) reminisce about the glory days in Pontiac forty years ago. The life he described back then was a lot different than life today. But he didn’t just compare, he also went on a tirade about how terrible things are today, taking potshots at both people and places. He was so sour that he couldn’t see anything to celebrate in the here and now.
In our passage for today we’re going to see that we must put the past behind if we want to move ahead.
Last week we learned from the closing verses of Haggai 1 how God’s Spirit had stirred up the people to do God’s work. Like them, we must hear and obey and fear and not delay. When we make ourselves available to God, His presence is with us and His power awakens us. In chapter 1 Haggai addressed the people’s indifference to God’s work; here in chapter two he is addressing their anxiety about doing God’s work.
Let’s briefly recall the circumstances behind this brief book. After returning from exile in Babylon, God’s people have been tasked with rebuilding God’s Temple. They eagerly laid the foundation but because of opposition and their own selfish priorities, they stopped working for 16 years. Haggai was called on the scene to mobilize the people to get back to work. After putting God back at the center of their lives, they went to work doing what they were called to do. That’s how chapter one ends.
Haggai 2:1 gives us the setting for Haggai’s next sermon: “On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai.” This book has a number of time markers in it so we can figure exactly when something occurred and how much time has elapsed from the previous message. In Haggai 1:15, we read that they began to work on God’s house on the “twenty-fourth day of the sixth month,” so we know that about a month has gone by and they are already discouraged.
It’s important to note that the seventh month was a pretty busy time on the Jewish calendar. We know from Ezra 3 that the sacrificial system and celebration feasts had been reinstituted when the altar was reconstructed. There were three big feasts in this month called Tishri, which correspond with our months of September and October:
• The Feast of Trumpets took place on the first day of the month.
• The Day of Atonement was on the 10th.
• The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated on the 15th through the 22nd.
Maybe they had a hard time staying focused on the work because of all the feasts going on. It’s a little bit like how we feel in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or perhaps these celebrations reminded them of how lame their labor was.
We know from verse 1 that Haggai is going to speak to them on the next to the last day of this feast, which celebrated the harvest. As they looked around their harvest was nothing. This particular celebration reminded the people of the time their ancestors lived in tents during the wilderness wanderings. It was a yearly reminder that the people longed to be in the Promised Land. It was supposed to be a day of joy and praise. The people in Haggai’s day were no doubt reliving this as they had just been allowed to return to the land. Back then, their people were many; now they were just a remnant. The people of old were on their way to the land flowing with milk and honey; now they were struggling to even subsist on the land.
This day also corresponds to another key date in Israel’s history. 430 years earlier during this same festival on this exact day, King Solomon had dedicated the first Temple (1 Kings 8:2). As the people recounted the splendor of that building, they became discouraged by the puny plans in front of them.
Friends, it is very common to experience discouragement and even despondency after starting out strong with something. Many of us could give testimony to this as we try to remember what our New Year’s resolutions even were. It’s easy to get married but tough to work at it. A good example of this is Elijah, who after experiencing an incredible power encounter on Mount Carmel, ended up running for his life and later wanted God to take his life. I’m sure the 75 students who went to Cedar Lake the last two weekends went from a mountain top experience to the valley pretty quickly.
In Haggai 2:2, God tells the prophet to preach to the leaders and to the remnant and he does so by asking three questions in verse 3: “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?” Would you notice that the word “you” is used three times? These questions are very personal and very direct.
Identify the Causes
Likewise, the loss of initial excitement and dealing with delays can discourage us as well. The first step in dealing with discouragement is to identify the causes. It’s good to just get it out and face it head on. God knew what they were thinking and feeling and so He wanted them to know that He understood. God knows what you are thinking right now. In Luke 11:17, we read that “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them…” Here are three common causes that lead to discouragement.
1. Comparison with the past – “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?” There were probably some older people in their 80s who remembered what Solomon’s temple looked like. There was no comparison to the good old days, the glory days of Israel when people came from far and wide to see the Temple and to hear Solomon’s wisdom. The past was trumping the present. And because they thought the past was better they began to blast the task in front of them.
Let’s just say that the new Temple was not going to be anything like the old one. The new Temple would not have the Ark of the Covenant, there would be no gold furnishings, no carved cherubim, and no shekinah glory. There was a lack of good materials (they had used some of the prime products on their homes), there wasn’t much money and there was much opposition. That’s just the honest assessment.
Ezra is a contemporary of Haggai and the book that bears his name fills in what happened in the hearts of the people when the foundation was first laid. Please turn to Ezra 3:11-13: “And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.”
Here’s what’s happening. Those who had seen Solomon’s temple wept out loud while those who didn’t have that memory rejoiced out loud. The older people were weeping while the younger were worshipping. One generation groaned and another gave glory to God. Those who remembered Solomon’s temple filtered everything through the lens of past glory and whatever was going on in the presently simply didn’t measure up.
Guess what? That same tension exists today. Unfortunately the older tend to upbraid the younger, discounting what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. At the same time the younger look with disdain on the older, thinking that they are just relics who are not fired up to do God’s work like they are.
As an official older person now, I’d like to think that I’m still forward thinking and able to celebrate and support new things and new ideas. But I’m sure I don’t always get this right. I want to own the attitudes in my own heart that are sometimes skeptical of what the younger are doing. That’s just wrong. And I ask your forgiveness for that. To those of us who are fifty or older, these words from the NIV Application Commentary serve as a helpful corrective: “It is easy to become trapped into evaluating the present experience of the church with past paradigms of spirituality rather than remaining open to the ways in which God is impacting the present in culturally relevant ways.”
There may have been something else that was going on. While some were focused on the good things of the past, others may have been feeling badly about how much they had messed up. All they had to do was look around and see the consequences of their behavior. Some of you are so filled with guilt and shame about your past that you choose to not live in forgiveness and freedom in the present. Because you feel like you don’t measure up, you’ve taken yourself out of the game.
Friends, whether you’re locked into the glory of the good old days or you’re replaying the pain of your past, it’s time to put it all behind you. We must put the past behind if we want to move ahead. We need to do what the Apostle Paul did when he remembered his past accomplishments and his past failures as found in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
2. Focusing on flaws – “How does it look to you now?” Have you ever noticed how easy it is to find fault in others? These older people were recalling the good old days and to see such a shabby structure being constructed made them want to stop working. Instead of looking at what was, they looked at what wasn’t. They noticed the negative without applauding the positive. Some of us are like that. We find the flaws and are quick to criticize because in our minds something or someone just doesn’t measure up to our standards.
3. Overstating issues – “Does it not seem to you like nothing?” The word “nothing” means “to be nonexistent” or to treat like a zero. Many of us are experts in overstating how terrible something is. Do you ever hear yourself using phrases like these: “You always” or “You never”? Or how about, “So and so is worthless…he doesn’t know anything.” Or, “They’re out in left field. They’re so out of touch.” Do you write people or projects off just because you don’t like something or in your mind it’s not being done like you think it should be done or its not moving as quickly as you’d like?
Let me give an illustration. I’ve heard older people say some pretty negative things about kids being on Facebook all the time. Some have said that it’s completely worthless. Granted, there are some problems with it but I don’t think it’s fair to say that there’s nothing good about it. I like it because of the ministry opportunities. Check out what a teenager posted after being challenged by Pastor Jeff at Crossroads Wednesday night. The main point of the lesson was this: “Your friends determine your destiny.”
Later that night, this is what one student posted on her wall: “I’m going to be deleting a lot of people from my friends list. For those of you who I delete, it’s not because I don't like you, you just aren't helping me become the person I want to be. So if you’re still on here by tomorrow night, thank you :) If you’re not, thank you for helping me become who I am today.” The next day she said she deleted over 200 friends!
Let’s stop demonizing those we disagree with. It’s easy to write off those who tick us off. Don’t treat people as if they were nothing and let’s make sure we don’t treat God’s work as if it’s nonexistent.
Listen. It’s really easy to remember the past as better than it really was so that the present seems worse than it really is. It would help us to be reminded of Zechariah 4:10 which tells us “to not despise the day of small things.” God is always doing more than we see and what we might think as small and insignificant isn’t that way to God.
And so to us older people, let’s not quench the enthusiasm of the young. Here’s a news flash. The old days aren’t coming back! Ecclesiastes 7:10 offers us some wisdom, “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.’” Let’s celebrate what God is doing now. To those who are younger, respect the older and listen to their wisdom – they may just have something to say. Let’s all watch our words because our complaining can discourage, our comparing can deflate and our criticizing can dampen others.
Apply the Cure
After identifying the causes of discouragement it’s really important to apply the cure. In verses 4-5, I see three things that we must do and three things that God will do. Let’s read these verses together: “‘But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’” Do you see the two words “but now”? This is a powerful transition phrase that moves us from the past to the present. I’m reminded of Psalm 119:67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.” And I love what the man who was healed of his blindness said in John 9:25: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.”
1. What we must do. We have a responsibility to respond, even when, or especially when, we are discouraged.
• Be strong. In verse 4, God tells them to “be strong” three times: “But now be strong, O Zerubbabel…be strong O Joshua…be strong all you people of the land.” The word “strong” can also be translated as courageous. He starts with the leaders and then he moves to the people. These are the same groups who obey in 1:12. By the way, notice that God calls them, “people of the land.” They were now living in the land that God promised them. They were in the right place at the right time and they were experiencing the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham given centuries earlier. And now God speaks directly to them.
The directive to “be strong” is often used when individuals are called to enter a battle of some sort. We see this in Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
• Get to work. We see this in 1:4 as well. After telling them to be strong he tells them, “…and work.” This is really the controlling command that is flanked by the challenge to be strong and to not fear. God wants us to work because He’s put each of us here with a job to do.
• Don’t fear. The first two things we must do are positive – our attitude must be strong and our action must lead to work. The final one is a negative command and refers to what we must not do. Look at the very last phrase in verse 5: “Do not fear.”
I wonder if these commands caused some of them to remember David’s words to his son Solomon when he was preparing to build the first temple in 1 Chronicles 28:20: “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.”
2. What God will do. In a similar way, God promises that He will do three things for the people in Haggai’s day. Notice how these three commands are linked by the word “for” in verse 4. We can be strong, get to work and not fear because of what God will do.
• His presence is with us – “For I am with you, declares the Lord Almighty.” The main reason we do not have to fear is because God is with us. We saw this in 1:13 as well. God Himself is with us, not an angel or a special agent. This is the silver thread that weaves throughout the Old Testament and then to Mary in Luke 1:28: “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’” Jesus is given the name Immanuel in Matthew 1:23, which means “God with us.” And Jesus Himself promised that He would be with us as we live out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:30: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
• His promise is for us – “This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.” God has promised to be their protector and provider. This covenant of old is as fresh as ever. And for us, it’s been upgraded to the New Covenant which is even better as stated in Hebrews 8:6: “But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.”
Here’s the issue in a nutshell. They had a good memory of the wrong things and a bad memory of the right things. They needed to remember God’s presence and God’s promise.
• His power is within us – “And my Spirit remains among you.” This is one of the few references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and is a reminder that whatever we do is done by God’s power, not by ours as stated in Zechariah 4:6: “‘…Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” We also have a huge advantage over the Old Testament believers because Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would not just be among us but in us. John 14:16-17: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
Courage comes from knowing God is with us, for us and within us! This truth should help us see possibilities not problems. Let’s put the past behind so we can move ahead.
Putting into Practice
I wrote down some ways we can put all this into practice.
1. Let go. If you stay in the past, whether locked into the good or the bad, you will look down on the present and you’ll forget God’s promises for the future. It’s been said that if you’re still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven’t done much today.
2. Look up. Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.
3. Get moving. You can’t bring history back but you can bring God back. These days are the glory days! With Christ at the center of your life, these can be the good “now” days. Someone has said that these are the “good old days” we’re going to miss in the days ahead. Take the next step. And then the next step. God will take care of the rest.
