God often uses a single voice to stir the hearts of his people. These prophetic voices often come at crucial points in history. Here are some examples.
• The Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s inspiring oratory is believed to have helped save Britain in WWII.
• On November 2, 1863, several months after the battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3), David Wills invited President Lincoln to make a "few appropriate remarks" at the consecration of a cemetery for the Union war dead. In early July, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin had charged Wills, a successful local citizen and judge, with cleaning up the horrible aftermath of the battle. President Lincoln was not the key speaker. Yet, his speech turned the tide and allowed the battle for freedom and equality to prevail.
President Lincoln began his speech by saying, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
A speech writer for George Bush, Sr., says Lincoln wrote the speech himself. Today, presidents and politicians will have as many as 150 people shaping their speech in their appeal to a cause or desire in opinion polls.
God used Haggai at a very crucial time. His prophetic messages were preached during a four-month period in 520 B.C.
• 538 B.C. Cyrus, king of Persia allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem.
• Zerubbabel led 50,000 Jews to Jerusalem, and they began work on the Temple.
• Work was halted because of opposition from the Samaritans and neighboring countries who feared the political and religious implications of the rebuilt temple.
• Zechariah and Haggai began preaching in the Second year of Darius, who was in the religions of his empire.
Other than Obadiah, Haggai is the shortest book of the OT. Yet, the sermons of Haggai led to the restoration of the Temple. There are three themes in his messages:
1. Encouragement,
2. Warning and
3. Hope.
May I suggest the secret to understanding the response of the people and their willingness to resume work on the Temple is not so much in the messenger as it is in the understanding that God spoke, and the people responded to Him? Haggai encouraged the people to “give careful thought” to their situation. He did not descend from a holy mountain with his face aglow and a written tablet in his hand. He did not rage like Jeremiah. He did not build eloquent poems like Isaiah. Haggai’s messages were simple and logical.
1. WHAT WOULD KEEP US FROM HEARING THE “WORD OF THE LORD” AND FAIL TO FINISH THE TASK GOD HAS ASSIGNED TO US?
We too often fail to hear the voice of God because we are overly charmed by the flood of consonants and vowels that we string together in our attempt to amaze people with our verbosity. In our text the words of the people and the “word of the Lord” are brought into tension. We are great at rhetoric. Yet, our greatest weakness may be that we have lost the ability to discern the “word of the Lord.”
Haggai 1:2This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, `The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.' "
It is a sad day when the collective voice of the people exceeds the authority of God to direct his affairs.
Most of us are familiar with “Quality Control.” I did construction work on two major government housing projects at Fort Polk. I worked with several people who had no formal training and little experience in construction who were assigned to quality control. They loved to flaunt their authority, while wearing their crowns that were nothing more than glorified white safety hats. Sadly, they failed to ensure the quality that the military expected. Buildings that were totally out of square; buildings that would roll and waffle at the mere shaking of posts on the porch.
God wants his church to learn something from the messages of Haggai. He would have us understand that there are too many “Quality Control Christians” and not enough Christians who will faithfully hear and respond to the Word of the Lord. Consequently, we have many churches in America, and in the world, who started strong but are now struggling.
What happened? Why did the revival atmosphere dissipate? The people began work on the foundation of the Temple. Ezra 3 records the joy and expression of thanksgiving that characterized the Temple reconstruction.
The Book of Ezra begins with a decree from King Cyrus of Persia, allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC (Ezra 1:2-4). The introduction to this decree specifies when it was proclaimed: “In the first year of King Cyrus” (539-538 BC, shortly after the Persian defeat of Babylon). It also introduces us to one of the principal themes of Ezra-Nehemiah: the relationship between God’s work and human work. Cyrus made his proclamation “that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished,” and because “the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus” (Ezra 1:1). Cyrus was doing his work as king, seeking his personal and institutional ends. Yet this was a result of God’s work within him, advancing God’s own purposes. We sense in the first verse of Ezra that God is in control, yet choosing to work through human beings, even Gentile kings, to accomplish his will.
RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE (EZRA 1:1-6:22) Theology of Work Theology Project. http://www.theologyofwork.org/old-testament/ezra-nehemiah-esther/restoration-of-the-temple-ezra-11-622/
What happened? Look at Haggai 1:2 and you will see, “These people say, ‘the time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.” Is that the word that came from God? The moaning and groaning we can do when faced with seemingly overwhelming obstacles surely cause God to shake his head in dismay.
The construction of the Temple was stuck because people had failed to move beyond human ingenuity and embrace spiritual realities. Yet, we too will fail at hearing and responding to the “word of the Lord” if we allow despondency, despair, and pessimism to rule the day. I am glad we do not have to depend upon the political and religious rhetoric of our society to discern the will of God. I am glad that my ability to hear and respond to God is not based upon other people’s interpretation of what God wants in our nation. When human cognition takes priority over God’s cognition, we will struggle in knowing his will for our lives and our churches.
We must never, never, never permit our voices to usurp the voice of God! Right and wrong in our society is almost solely dependent upon the quagmire of politicians, lawyers, judges, and courts. And, if we are not careful the same kind of arrogant attitude will lead the Church astray.
The church has an advantage; we can hear the “word of the Lord” as God speaks. When the Spirit of God moves among his people, often through his prophetic messengers, we must recognize, and we should respond.
27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10 (NIV)
Haggai 2:1-12The Message (MSG)
This Temple Will End Up Better Than It Started Out
2 1-3 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of GOD came through the prophet Haggai: “Tell Governor Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak and all the people: ‘Is there anyone here who saw the Temple the way it used to be, all glorious? And what do you see now? Not much, right?
4-5 “‘So get to work, Zerubbabel!’—GOD is speaking.
“‘Get to work, Joshua son of Jehozadak—high priest!’
“‘Get to work, all you people!’—GOD is speaking.
“‘Yes, get to work! For I am with you.’ The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! ‘Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I’m living and breathing among you right now. Don’t be timid. Don’t hold back.’
6-7 “This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said: ‘Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields. And I’ll shake down all the godless nations. They’ll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.’ GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.
8 ‘I own the silver,
I own the gold.’
Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.
9 “‘This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.’ Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.”
WHAT WOULD KEEP US FROM HEARING THE “WORD OF THE LORD” AND FAIL TO FINISH THE TASK GOD HAS ASSIGNED TO US?
2. WHAT WILL BRING REVIVAL THE CHURCH AND ALLOW THE CHURCH TO ACCOMPLISH THAT WHICH GOD HAS ASSIGNED TO THE CHURCH?
God is noticeably clear about his mission. God wants every person to know Him and to worship him. Reconstructing the Temple was import to God because the Temple represented God’s desire to have his people worship him. There they could meet him and worship him.
The problem? We must understand this because their problem can quickly become our dilemma. In Haggai encouragement, warning and hope are intermingled. Let me take the same approach in pointing out what will bring revival and inspiration for accomplishing the mission of the church.
1. We must hear and respect the prophetic word of God.
3Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai
2. We must evaluate our priorities– holes with bags.
The book of Haggai raises this question for the contemporary church: WHY IS THE WORK OF GOD SO OFTEN QUENCHED, STIFLED, OR RUN AMUCK AFTER ENTHUSIASTICALLY LAYING THE FOUNDATION? Let us look at the text for an answer to the question: Why did the building of the Temple stop and how did the people develop an apathetic attitude?
5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
What was their problem? Misplaced priorities! Paneled houses were a sign of wealth because the cedar was imported from Lebanon. While there was nothing wrong with paneled houses, there was a problem with the people’s priorities. It was not right for the people to put their building projects ahead of God’s will.
What happens when we have misplaced priorities? We will have an insatiable desire for more while feeling like we have less. God points out to the people how their self-focused spirit had resulted in him withholding his blessings. This analogy should make sense in our consumer driven society.
As they unashamedly spent money, time, and energy on their interests they had found themselves in a losing proposition. Their affluent lifestyles were not fulfilling–regardless of how much they accumulated there was never enough.
Their herds had become unproductive and their harvests were puny. The image Haggai is using was that of a person putting their investments in a bag with holes.
3. We must obey the word of the Lord, faithfully serving him where he has planted us.
God calls for a change of heart. This is a call to reevaluate our spirituality. The status of Temple reflected their hearts. Do you think perhaps their prayer life had lost its vitality? What about their desire to worship? How about bringing their tithes and offerings?
Before we get too critical, we must ask ourselves some questions.
1. Have we developed an apathetic attitude about the mission of the church?
2. Do we really care that most people who live in this area do not worship God and join in worship and fellowship of a local church, perhaps reflective of not really knowing God?
3. Are we too comfortable; have we settled for less than the best?
4. Have the blessings of God spilled haphazardly on the ground?
God suggests we should seek to win his heart. I once preached a message entitled, “Wasting the Best Upon Jesus.” Going to the mountains and bringing down the best for the construction of the temple is what would bring great pleasure to the heart of God. This act of worship would be a sign that their hearts had changed.
God is more concerned with what you do than he is with how much you know. Why? Because data collected and filed in the brain is valuable only to the degree it is used to further the mission of God.
Hear again what the Lord Almighty says,
7"Give careful thought to your ways. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,"
3. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT OF US DEVELOPING THE PRACTICE OF HEARING THE PROPHETIC WORD OF THE LORD AND RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF GOD?
Since 1980 I have served probably 20 churches, 6 as pastor and the rest in an interim role. They have all had one thing in common: Most suffered from the same disease, the “I remember when. . .” disease. That is a terrible disease. It is like administering birth control. It attacks the reproductive organs of the church and kills ideas and vision before they are birthed.
Ezra tells us about the “older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former Temple. They wept aloud because the new foundation was smaller than the old. They could not understand the joy and excitement of those who shouted for joy. What went wrong? Why did the construction stop? What do we learn from Haggai about redreaming the dream?
Be encouraged, God has not forsaken you. The word courage comes from the French word heart. To discourage means to destroy the heart. Robert Dale, To Dream Again, says that the visionaries are missing in most churches. To encourage means to have heart–to have the confidence to take a known risk for a known purpose.
God tells the Israelites, “Be strong. . . for I am with you.” (2:4)
Be diligent in the work to which God has called you. I believe there is a correlation between the size of the projects we undertake and the capacity of our heart for the things of God. People with little hearts are given little responsibilities; those with big hearts are involved in things that make a big difference.
Do you know why many professing Christians have a hard time being faithful in a local church? For the same reason, the Israelites failed to complete the Temple. Some get discouraged when they attend a few Sundays and make a few token offerings but fail to get a great sense of being filled.
I am not a particularly good pastor for people that want their emotions tickled and their minds dazzled with Bible trivia and mind-boggling prophecy that sounds like a warped science fiction novel. The sit, soak and sour mentality of many Christians stifles the work of God.
Hear the words of the Lord, “Give careful thought to your ways. Are you more concerned with what you get out of life or are you on mission for Christ? Prophecies that are designed to give you frills and thrills and muddling in theological pandering that fascinates the mind will lead to the same disastrous loss of blessings as Israelites experienced. They attempted to hoard the blessings of God; yet the blessings did not stick. All their investments fell precariously to the ground and decayed before they germinated!
There is a prophetic word in the book of Haggai: Listen carefully for the call of God and enjoin your hearts with fellow Christians, for God is about to launch you on the most incredible mission possible. Do not go off chasing dreams of pews that are better suited for posterior analysis pertaining to comfort.
Determine in your heart that you will hear the word of the Lord and you will “work.” Adjoin yourself to a local body of believers and fulfill you call. Just as you expect your pastor to have a sense of call upon his life, prior to serving your church, so, too, must you be sensitive to God’s call upon your life.
“We are called, we are constantly called. . . There are moments in the journey of response, when we are called upon to make a decisive response that will have a major effect upon our journey and largely determine the context within which we will make our daily response.” M. Basil Pennington, Called
Construction on the Temple fizzled out–it was not a giant blow out. One-by-one people dropped out. Not one of them could say that God had called them to stay home, find another church or demand something of others they could not deliver.
Does our church need more willing workers to accomplish the mission of the church? What would God do through our church if believers respected the call of God in their lives, discovered their spiritual gifts and served with the same kind of enthusiasm by which they “do” much of their lives?
Believers, can you honestly say you are serving based upon call and giftedness instead of being consumed with getting personal needs met? Do you understand that if your sole interest lies in accumulating the blessings of God (e.g., cars, homes, belongings, investments for personal gain, etc.)? you have been sold a bag with a hole in it?
Hear the prophetic word of God; Have courage, work hard for the Glory will return. Do not let the flame of faith fizzle out just because people criticize you; do not stop serving just because it does not measure up to some historical image of the past; don’t jump ship because another ship looks bigger and better.
God has called me to be a part of his restoration ministry by serving turnaround churches. Many falsely believe God is only in new churches; they have turned their back on churches struggling to redream the dream. They fail to understand the joy of participating with God as he restores the glory of his Temple.
Elizabeth O’Connor says, “Redemption and salvation are more than high-sounding ecclesiastical words when we live them out on the streets and alleys where we dwell.”
Tragically many will never experience the glory of God as he restores his church because they fall victim to the temptation to turn back. We must understand we cannot belong to Christ without belonging to His community. For it is in the context of community that we experience His glory most majestically.
What will happen if we elect to remain true to the will of God? What is the benefit of refusing to leave our place of service apart from the strong call of God upon our lives? What will it mean if we relinquish our aspirations and values to the refining fires of Christ’s transforming work in our lives? We will discover His call and we will experience His workmanship as He restores glory to His Temple.
• Regardless of how difficult the task may be,
• Even though you feel the demands have become too great, and
• Despite the fact things have not turned out as expected.
Remember Jesus said,
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15 (NIV)
Through the abiding presence of the Lord Almighty, “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.”
CONCLUSION
Hear again the word of the Lord: “Give careful thought to your ways.” Church of the Savior and recommitment Sunday---The Church of the Savior was founded in 1947 by an ex-paratroop chaplain, Gordon Cosby, his wife Mary, and five others. It settled in a large house in Washington, D.C., and its members' first priority was total commitment to Christian life. Although it has never had more than 130 members, many church historians say it has become one of the most admired places of worship in the country.
“Redemption and salvation are more than high-sounding ecclesiastical words when we live them out on the street and alleys where we dwell. . . . Along the way come many temptations to turn back. If we do not want to walk out on our commitment to Christ, we would like to walk out on our commitment to the people of Christ. We rationalize that we can keep the vertical relationship while giving up the horizontal. The two are inseparable. One cannot belong to Christ without belonging to His community, or to the community without belonging to him in whom it coheres. . . . This means that we do not leave because we have wanderlust or need a change, or because the job opportunities are better in another city, or because the demands become too great, or because things have not turned out as we had hoped. . . . We have come to know that building up the church of Jesus Christ is the only task which has significance. In it we can find ultimate meaning. . . . There will be no peace or healing in our day unless little islands of koinonia can spring up everywhere—islands where Christ is, and because He is, we can learn to live in a new way.” ~ Elizabeth O’Conner, Call To Commitment, p. 40 (1963)
God’s desire for the church does not fit into the economy that so often drives us in our lives. Many know what is like to see the annuities crash. If we store up treasures for selfish reasons, Satan has sold us money bags with holes in the bottom. Jesus said,
“If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21
Bring your best to God. Your tithes and offerings. Your time and energy. Invest in that which will give you heavenly treasures. God’s desire is the see the Body of Christ built up as the people of God invest in the things that makes real difference, that which allow us to experience the fullness of Christ. Make wise investments!
