FIRST THINGS FIRST
During a time of crisis in my ministry, a veteran minister - who had served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta - took me by the hand and said, “Cheer up, Charles, things are going to get worse before they get better!”
How reassuring! As it turned out, he was right.
No doubt there have been times during your life’s journey when, just as you thought things could get no worse, they did.
Our lives have been filled with ups and downs; and, for some of us, what a roller coaster ride it has been! Yet, despite it all, and with God’s help, together we managed to make the most of whatever our situation might have been - although doing so was not always easy.
Perhaps you’ve heard it said, “No pain, no gain”. No matter how accurate that axiom might be, it has been difficult for me to accept it as gospel truth.
It seems to me that it would be better for me as a Christian to believe that gain depends not on my pain, or else Christ’s suffering was in vain; but, when into my life falls some rain, my gain depends on my reassurance that my Savior is always there to “take me by the hand”, to see me through, and to turn the grief caused by pain into the joy associated with His reign in my heart.
God is now, as He ever has been, in the business of turning negatives into positives. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, His Story of doing so, in and through the lives of His people, is told repeatedly.
In every such case, things got worse before they got better; but nothing got better until His people, called by His Name, in humility, put God first – individually and nationally. Here’s how, for example, this principle played out in the days of the prophet Haggai – Haggai 1:2-13 . . .
As was true throughout biblical history and the history of God’s people ever since then, people “called by His Name” have found themselves scattered in every way imaginable . . .
Our text tells of the time when Haggai came onto the scene to deliver brief sermons to returnees from captivity – their return having occurred after Cyrus the King permitted certain Jews - those who volunteered – to go back to Jerusalem from whence they had been taken into exile by the Assyrian army that had conquered Judah and destroyed the Temple.
Haggai’s message to these privileged returnees - “the remnant” - was plain and simple: “You’ve been back in the homeland now for sixteen years . . . enjoyed the blessings of freedom . . . gotten a little too comfortable – thinking that you can make it on your own without help from God. It’s time to finish the task - on a high note - by giving top priority to the LORD.
Haggai addressed the issue of rebuilding God’s House as being the primary reason they were privileged to return to the Holy City.
In like manner, we would do well to focus on our goal as stated by the Psalmist to “dwell in the House of the Lord forever” - and finish on a high note by spending the rest of our days putting God first in preparation for going home.
No excuse, like, “maybe tomorrow, but right now is just not the time”! If not now, when? Time is fleeting. As I said to my wife at the end of my 83rd birthday, “Well, now I’m starting my 84th year”. Suddenly the reality - of just how old her husband is - dawned on her as she exclaimed, “84! That’s old!”
No more time for procrastinating! It’s time for making God top priority! As my doctor advised me when I objected to taking all those medications, “Either take them, or prepare to meet thy God!” Then he said, “On second thought, prepare to meet thy God anyway!”
Folks, it was not that God’s people were unable to give attention to things that matter most; they were unwilling; they had to be prodded a little bit because none of us is exempt from getting so caught up in the routines of daily living, and the comforts thereof, that we get the feeling we no longer need God in our lives.
A minister friend of mine, headed to Florida to preach a series of sermons, sat beside me the other morning at breakfast; he talked about the senior adults who would make up his congregation, and he wondered if he should make it a “renewal” rather than “revival” event.
My suggestion to Bob was: “Both. If they all get renewed, watch out, revival might break out and you could wind up staying there awhile longer.”
We never grow too old to need God in our lives! In fact, the older we grow, the greater becomes our need for God – to be near Him, to be aware of His presence, to gain new insights into the One to whom we pray “Our Father Who art in Heaven” and about whom we sing “How great Thou art!”
At the beginning of each new birth year, each new day of our lives, ask: “Why has God allowed me to see yet another year . . . day?” Shorter Catechism says it best: “To glorify God and enjoy Him - today, tomorrow, and forever”.
Q: How can I “enjoy God” when He allows me to grow old with pain?
A: How can I not “enjoy God” when, in times of trouble, I turn my attention to Him and discover His comforting presence? Times of hardship give me a chance for spiritual reflection: “God, what are you trying to teach me?”
A theologian whose writings had a profound effect on me was C. S. Lewis. He triumphed over tragedy in his own life and then, upon reflection, concluded: “God whispers in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, shouts in our pain - His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
In a world filled with pain - caused by the pride of selfishness, the pleasures of sin for a season, the propagation of amorality as a way of life, the decline and disappearance of godly values in the home and in society in general – the Lord our God intervened and said, in effect, “Enough is enough”.
Whereas God’s people had said “the time is not right”, God said, “It’s time.” And who better than Paul to put it all in perspective? “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrated His love for us in this way: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Good News of Haggai was that the people responded to the prophet: considered their ways, got right with God, put God first in their lives, enjoyed the presence of God as never: “Then spoke Haggai the LORD’s message unto the people, ‘I am with you, saithe the LORD’.”
The Good News of the New Testament is that all people who respond to the Gospel of Christ - consider their ways, get right with God, put God first – do in fact enjoy the presence of God as never - and forever. So, this morning:
In commemoration of the Gospel – the power of God unto salvation to all who believe – we have been inspired by Jesus and implored by Paul to “eat of the bread and drink of the cup” to symbolize the essence of the Gospel - God’s Love – represented by our Lord’s broken body and His shed blood for the remission of our sins.
As we partake of these two elements: Remember that God turned the greatest negative the world has ever known (the crucifixion) into the greatest positive the world has ever known (the resurrection) . . . Renew our personal relationship to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior . . . Receive anew the promise of God, “I am with you”, and the promise of God’s Son, “I will be with you”. Amen.
