· Each of us knows how the World Trade Center fell to the ground September 11, 2001; some of us actually watched the towers fall. Few of us think about what it took to make the towers stand. The construction of this massive complex made up of seven buildings and a shopping concourse began in 1966. Prior to its destruction, the World Trade Center had been the world’s largest commercial complex, home to many businesses, government agencies, and international trade organizations. Most prominent among its structures were the 110-story rectangular twin towers. As you might imagine the construction of the twin towers moved from the center out and the bottom up, so as crew worked to add floor upon floor, others were busy working to complete the lower floors. Some of the lower floors were actually completed with tenants renting office space prior to the final completion of the towers. Finally after seven years of construction the towers were officially opened in September of 1973; The cost for the entire WTC exceeded one billion dollars. (HowStuffWorks.com and TheHistoryChannel.com)
God is building us into a great church. The building of the church does not happen overnight; God doesn’t just miraculously make it happen. God uses each of us in the process of building His church, because the construction of the church has little to do with the building that we worship in each Sunday. The making of a great church is about you and me reflecting Jesus to our world; it’s Jesus in you and me.
For you and me to be the great church that the Lord has designed us to be, we must choose to cooperate with God in the process. YOU AND I ARE A PART OF THE MIRACLE THAT IS PRAISE A/G! But it will cost us all something; it requires time and effort–it takes laying down our lives.
Satan would like to destroy the church; he would like to see it all come crashing down around us like the falling of the WTC twin towers. Thankfully, that’s impossible for the devil to do. Jesus said, “the gates of Hell itself cannot defeat His church” (see Matthew 16:18).
This morning we are going to begin a series of messages which focus on what God is wanting to do IN US and THROUGH US as He builds us into the church that is Praise A/G. In order to accomplish that, we are going to look at a book of the Bible that many of us may have a hard time pronouncing let alone finding in our Bibles. Over the next few weeks I want us to look at the building of the church through the eyes of the prophet Haggai. (Now if you are not sure where to find Haggai in your bibles, just open them to the book of Matthew and turn left 3 books–Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah, and Haggai.)
This morning’s message is “God’s Work Delayed.” Satan cannot destroy the church, nor can the devil stop the building of the church, BUT HE CAN SLOW IT DOWN. Satan can coerce or entice any of us to forget our role in the building of the church; the devil seeks to blur our perception and distort our priorities leading us away from Christ and His church.
It’s my prayer that through this series taken from the prophet Haggai that each of us will come to see not only God’s plan to build the church, but also our role in its construction.
As you turn to Haggai, we need A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON to understand his message. Haggai is the first of the three prophets at the end of the Old Testament who spoke to the remnant who had returned to Jerusalem after Israel’s seventy years of exile. It’s possible that Haggai is an old man in his 70’s or 80’s; if so he would be one of the few in all of Israel who could remember the majesty and splendor of Solomon’s temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians (Note Haggai 2:3).
In 538BC, King Cyrus of Persia issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland; King Cyrus further decreed that the Jews could rebuild the city of Jerusalem including their place of worship, the Temple. The first Jews to return to Jerusalem laid the foundation for a new temple beginning in 536BC; the book of Ezra describes how this work was being done with great excitement and rejoicing. Unfortunately, when the Samaritans and other neighboring nations heard that Jerusalem and the temple were being rebuilt they opposed the Jews. As a result, work on the temple stopped in 534BC leading to spiritual lethargy.
The people returned to rebuilding their own houses. Finally in 520BC Haggai and a younger prophet by the name of Zechariah began urging Zerubbabel and the people to resume the construction of the temple. The book of Haggai contains four messages from the Lord, three of which specifically deal with the construction of the temple. Four years after the prophet announced the word of the Lord to the people the temple was completed and dedicated with a great celebration (Ezra 4-6).
+ Haggai 1:1-4 1In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, ’The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’" 3Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (NIV)
GOD’S WORK WAS DELAYED!
In the same way that Jesus told His disciples that He would build His church, God’s purpose was to have the temple rebuilt, but opposition from their enemies slowed the work until it finally stopped.
DOES IT SURPRISE YOU THAT THE WORK OF GOD CAN BE DELAYED? God will not force His people to do what they do not want to do!
· Moses led the nation of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and led them to the promised land. How many of you know that God’s plan and purpose were for them to receive what he had promised then? Unfortunately the people believed the bad report of 10 spies and what God promised was delayed forty years! The people would not listen to listen to Caleb and Joshua when they said that God would surely give them what He had promised. Instead receiving the promised land, God’s work was delayed. God told the people, “Turn back toward the desert.”
Folks, can I tell it to you like it is? I don’t want to wait 40 years to see God’s promise fulfilled for our church. I want to move ahead and follow God’s direction to receive what He wants to give us now and without delay! How many of you are with me?
I wonder how many of our Golden Praisers have a spirit like Caleb who even at the age of 85 said, “I’m as strong today as I was when I was young; now give me that mountain!” (see Joshua 14) How many of you are willing to say, “I’m not going to wait any longer!” Let’s not delay the work of God; let’s not dwell in the past. Today is the day; let’s move forward and be the great church God has planned for us to be!
I am thankful for our heritage; I’m thankful for those who prayed, gave and worked to bring us to the place we are today. I’m not saying those in the past have failed us, that they have kept us out of “the promised land.”
THIS MORNING WE ARE CONFRONTED WTIH A CHOICE!
Today, each of us has to make a choice. Will we believe that God is leading us as a church and follow His direction? Will we do what God wants us to do, or will we believe the bad report?
“We need more people; we’re too small.”
“We don’t have enough money.”
“We can’t be a great church; we don’t have a Sunday School or evening service.”
The list could go on and on. Will we just do what we have always done, or will we just do what we want to do and miss God’s blessing?
Let’s not allow God’s work to be delayed because of us! Let’s receive a Holy Spirit-inspired dream–a God size vision–and follow His plan. Let’s do what God asks us to do!
DID YOU NOTICE WHAT BROUGHT THE WORK ON THE TEMPLE TO A STOP?
The people started to focus on their own needs instead of what God wanted them to do. The people were busy building themselves “paneled houses.” In other words, OPPOSITION FROM THEIR ENEMIES CHANGED THEIR PRIORITIES.
Rebuilding their homes was not the real issue. Jerusalem had been destroyed, so EVERYTHING HAD TO BE REBUILT. The problem came as the people lost sight of what God wanted them to do. God had brought them out of exile, and gave them the permission of the king to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
Instead of having faith that God would protect them as they continued to rebuild both the temple and the city, they began to focus their attention on what they thought they needed. The nation put off doing the work God wanted them to do saying, “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.”
The people did not look to God and see an infinite supply of resources available to meet their crisis. Instead they looked at their own abilities and resources and began to look for ways to do what needed to be done.
The people saw the destruction all around them. They were hard at work trying to clean things up and put it all back together. When their enemies threatened them they were afraid that all their work would be for nothing, so everyone just looked out for themselves.
WHEN THE PEOPLE STOPPED PURSUING GOD’S PURPOSE, THE THREATS OF THEIR ENEMIES WENT AWAY AND EVERYONE JUST GOT COMFORTABLE.
Their homes were paneled with cedar, but the Lord’s temple was still in ruins. SIXTEEN YEARS PASSED IN COMFORT while the people said, “It’s not time to rebuild God’s house yet.”
Now when you think about the nation of Israel doing God’s work, I want you to remember something important. They stopped pursuing God’s purpose only because their enemies threatened them, AND THE ATTACK THAT EVERYONE WAS AFRAID OF NEVER HAPPENED.
The people stopped doing the work of God simply because they were afraid!
Satan wants to do the same thing today; the devil wants us to be afraid of what might happen if we try to do something great for God. Our fear can paralyze us. Then Satan will make us comfortable, and we’ll even forget that we were afraid!
Nothing can destroy Christ’s Church; “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The devil can’t destroy it, but he knows he can delay it. Satan can slow it down if he just makes us comfortable.
WHY IS BEING COMFORTABLE SO DANGEROUS?
It’s when we’re comfortable that the devil can most effectively blur and confuse our priorities. It’s when we are comfortable that it’s easy to run after good things. . . instead of the best.
I’m not going to take the time to list what could be misguided prioreties; I’m going to let the Holy Spirit teach us individually about those. Instead I want to focus on exactly what our #1 priorety should be. We have to remember to “keep the main thing, the main thing!”
+ Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his right— eousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)
Our first priority is to put God first in everything. It’s easy to say God is #1, but it’s hard to actually live out.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS?”
Notice that if we are going to rightly order our priorities, then we are putting God’s kingdom AND His righteousness first in our lives. It’s not good enough to put one or the other first; BOTH–kingdom and righteousness–MUST BE FIRST.
Putting God’s kingdom first means that His reign, His authority or leadership is what directs and controls our lives. If we live with God’s kingdom first in our lives then we are NOT SELF-GOVERNED, but GOD GOVERNED.
Seeking first His righteousness means that His holiness and purity are demonstrated or evident in our lives. If we put His righteousness first then our lives are NOT GIVEN TO THE PLEASURES OF SIN, but TO HIS SPIRIT.
Seeing first His Kingdom and His righteousness then is to not govern or control our lives in order to gain pleasure. Another way of putting that is we don’t live just to be comfortable.
With God taking the#1 place in our lives GOD GOVERNS OUR LIVES BY HIS SPIRIT. We yield control to the direction of His Spirit in order that He might keep us free from sin. That means we may have to do some things that may be uncomfortable to us, but will bring Him glory through our lives.
Let me put it to you like this. If God is really # 1 in your life, then Jesus must be Jesus IN YOU, and Jesus must be seen THROUGH YOU.
God has taken the first place in your life when you allow Him to do a work IN YOU and THROUGH YOU.
· Now remember we can’t just have one or the other; it’s both! Some folks want to experience the blessings of God IN THEM, but don’t every let God do anything through them. These folks experience God at church, but don’t do anything to make God know in their world.
· Others want God to do great things THROUGH THEM, but they don’t allow God to do His cleansing work in them. These folks are quick to volunteer to serve at church or with some other ministry; they will do it all as if they could earn their salvation. Unfortunately, they give little thought to their personal life. When the world isn’t watching they live as they want just to please themselves.
· Can I be real with you? Perhaps I’m the only one who is a little of both. I want God to do His work IN ME. . . to a point. And I want Him to do great things THROUGH ME. . . to a point. I just don’t always want them both AT THE SAME TIME!
What do I mean? If God is to be first in our lives so that He is able to both do His work IN US and THROUGH US, then our lives must be FULLY SURRENDERED TO HIM. Sometimes it’s hard to let go; sometimes we still think we know what is best. I don’t know; maybe I’m the only one.
Conclusion:
Look with me at Galatians 2:20.
As we conclude this morning, I want you to know something; there is hope for you and me. Regardless of where you may be in today–
if you’re just living for yourself and give no thought to God, there is hope for you;
if you want God to work IN YOU, you’re seeking His kingdom, but you find it hard to let your light shine so that God can reveal Himself THROUGH YOU, there is hope for you;
if you want God to work THROUGH YOU, you’re busy working for God at church, but you give little thought to what you do when you’re all alone, there is hope for you;
if you’re a little like me, you want both except only not at the same time, there is hope for us too.
As we continue with this series from Haggai, we’re going to see that God uses ordinary people–folks just like you and me. There really is hope! They just finally came to the place where they weren’t worried about being comfortable, but were willing to obey God.
+ Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (NIV)
Let me put it to you like this: DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION IS PAINFUL. If we are going to fully surrender to God so that He can do His work IN US and THROUGH US, then we must die to our own desires. As the Apostle Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.”
Death by crucifixion is painful. That’s why sometimes we struggle to live each day fully surrendered to Christ. That’s why sometimes we still try to live our lives to please ourselves.
You say, “Wait a minute pastor I thought you said there was some hope here.” WE HAVE HOPE TODAY!
Paul didn’t stop with his crucifixion. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME.”
We need to move on from death to the resurrection! Christ lives IN US. We live our lives by faith in the One who died and rose again.
His life is IN US, and He will live THROUGH US as we continue to yield to Him.
Prayer: Lord your cross is not comfortable. Help us not to give into the fear of our enemy’s attack; we don’t want to just continue in our comfort zones. Jesus may we be crucified with you and live our lives in the power of your resurrection. Lord, be our #1 priority; may we truly seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Jesus let your work be done in us and through us, for Your glory, Amen.
