Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning’s message is from Haggai, one of the minor prophets.

Before we get into this book, I’d like to quickly put up a couple of pictures of two places on our church grounds that motivate me.

The first picture is a familiar plaque at the front entrance that says, “The Fishers of Men Windows, Dedicated on April 4, 1999 in Memory of Harlow Willard, Pastor from 1958 to 1983.”

The second picture you may not have seen, is another plaque located outside on a shed, just beyond the northeastern corner of the sanctuary.

It says, “On This Site in 1897 Nothing Happened.”

I’m sure whoever mounted this did so out of humor.

I want to keep those two pictures in mind during the message, and I will come back at the end to tie in why these two sites motivate me and why they should motivate you too!

Haggai: Background and Structure.

Now turning to Haggai, here is the backdrop to this short, powerful prophecy.

In 586 BC, Jerusalem was ransacked by the Babylonians and Solomon’s glorious temple was completely destroyed.

The Jews were taken into exile until the Persians, led by King Cyrus, ended the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC.

Shortly afterward, King Cyrus issued a decree, allowing the Jews to return to their homeland to rebuild the temple.

Around 50,000 Jews, called “the remnant,” returned to Jerusalem and started the rebuilding project but only got as far as laying the foundation for the temple.

As it were, opposition from the enemies of Judah discouraged the builders until they stopped the work.

15 years later, with the temple project in a perpetual standstill, Haggai steps into the scene and begins to prophesy against the apathetic and self-serving attitudes of God’s people by giving messages to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah (for they were still under foreign rule), and Joshua the high priest.

The book of Haggai contains four distinct messages, we’ll go through them quickly in this order: first message, third message, second, and fourth message.

The underlying theme in all four messages is the exhortation to repent and rebuild the temple, for a far greater glory beyond your imagination awaits!

Repent and Rebuild! (1:1-15)

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Haggai 1, verses 2-4 and skip down to verse 9.

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’” 3 Then 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?” …. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.

What you brought home, I blew away.

Why?” declares the Lord Almighty.

“Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.

(New International Version, Haggai 1:2-4, 9)

Now let’s take apart some key elements of Haggai’s first message.

Haggai challenged the apathetic, selfish attitude of the people with his pointed rhetorical question.

He effectively strips away the justification of the people that the timing wasn’t right, and he exposes the real problem, which was their pursuit of personal wealth and comfort.

The word “paneled” in verse 4 is a reference to paneled interior walls, or walls lavishly decorated with expensive woodwork.

The root word spn is found six times in the Old Testament, referring to the decorative beams enclosing the roof in Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 6:9), or the expensive cedar paneling of Solomon’s palace (1 Kgs 7:3, 7; Jer.

22:14).

The emphasis is clearly on the presentation of extravagant wealth (Taylor & E. Ray.

Clendenen Section 1).

Staying in verse 4, I want us to notice Haggai’s use of the word “house.”

There is no mistake that Haggai chooses the word “house” instead of temple to describe the Lord’s house which is in ruins, alongside the words “paneled houses” of the people, a veiled allusion to Solomon’s temple- do you see the parallel (Taylor & E. Ray.

Clendenen Section 1)?

In essence, Haggai is telling the people that their priorities are completely backwards.

They are spending their time and resources building the wrong house!

What was intended for God’s house has been redirected to their own personal homes for their own personal comforts.

Further, in the people’s attempts to live comfortably in their own homes, they were found miserable and wanting, we can see that in vs. 5-6.

They planted but harvested little, they drank and were never filled, they put on clothes but were never warm, and they “earned wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

(Hag.

1:6).

Why?

Because the Lord’s house was in ruins while everyone was busy with their own house.

When we run after our own desires and delay putting God first, we’ll never really find exactly what we’re looking for— in fact, we’ll be left wanting.

So, Haggai’s first message is to repent, make the Lord your first priority, and get up and rebuild His temple.

His challenge is a complete restructuring of priorities, a change from being me-centered to becoming God-centered.

When the people heard this word from Haggai, they listened, the work resumed, and God said, “I am with you.”

Here is something we can take from this last part: when we respond to God’s call for repentance with a faith action, God’s presence with us is immediate—for God desires a dwelling place with us, but He does not stop there.

Sinful Hearts Corrupt the Work, God Blesses the Obedient.

(2:10-19)

Skipping past the second message in Haggai for a few minutes, let’s move to the third message, found in chapter 2:10-19.

Almost 3 months after the people resumed the work on the temple, disturbing things are happening.

The people believed that they were made holy simply by their work on the temple.

So Haggai went to the priests with a few questions in the form of a parable regarding clean and unclean things.

We don’t have enough time to walk through the OT theology of holiness, so just accept this for what it is.

To paraphrase, Haggai’s first question was, can a holy item such as consecrated meat folded into a garment make something else holy when touched by the garment?

The priests answered no.

The second question was can anything holy become unclean when touched by an unclean person?

They answered yes.

Haggai then states that in the same way, these people have sin in their lives yet they think that simply their obedience in building the temple will make them holy, but in fact, their sin corrupts the work of the Lord.

Well how many of us here have ever felt extra holy whenever we’ve led a Bible study, led worship, served communion, or served the church in some way?

Listen, the issue that Haggai is pointing out has to do with the poor spiritual condition of the people and its affect on their work and their offerings for the Lord.

Read verse 2:14 “So it is with this people and this nation in my sight… whatever they do and whatever they offer their is defiled.”

Now, notice that God says “this people” and “this nation,” rather than “my people” and “my nation.”

This is intentional.

The implication is that even though they are indeed God’s people obediently engaged in the holy task of rebuilding the temple, their hearts are so far removed from God that He can’t even recognize them as His people! (Taylor & E. Ray.

Clendenen Section 3).

Sinful hearts corrupt the work done for God and, worse yet, a sinful heart separates itself from God.

The underlying theme behind Haggai’s message here is God’s desire for genuine repentance on a spiritual level.

Until now they have only worked in obedience to rebuild a physical temple, now God is calling them to rebuild their spiritual temple— remember this point I’ll come back to it later.

The beauty in the rest of this section, verses 15-19, is that God is indeed going to bless them and fill their empty storehouses with everything they need physically.

Until now, almost 3 months into the building project, they’ve been miserable and lacking, but all of that is about to change because God is lovingly drawing them back to Him.

In the context of the story, this is a very deep message: sinful hearts corrupt the work done for God, yet God still pursues and blesses the obedient.

Our God is gracious, He is the God of hope and a brighter future, and He is always pointing us to the greater things He has prepared for us, if we would only turn to Him and walk closely with Him!

A Far Greater Glory Awaits! (2:1-9)

Now we are ready to go back and survey Haggai’s second message found in chapter 2:1-9.

The time of this message is nearly two months after the people restarted the rebuilding project.

In the first month or two of reconstruction the people became discouraged and the work on the temple stalls.

Haggai doesn’t waste any time exposing the reason for their discouragement, as we can see in vs. 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?”

The problem is the people knew that their little temple project absolutely paled in comparison to Solomon’s magnificent temple (Taylor & E. Ray.

Clendenen Section 4).

In fact, it was nothing compared to the previous temple.

The feeling was, why bother with such a puny, unimpressive undertaking when the magnificent wonder of the previous temple once stood here as the landmark of Jerusalem?

Judah would surely become the laughingstock of their neighbors!

Let me ask you- have you ever compared your work to someone else and decided to quit because you knew you couldn’t measure up to them?

Making comparisons at times can be a helpful learning experience but more often than not, it causes discouragement and feelings of inferiority.

When we have been called to a certain task, we should never be afraid of someone else’s work.

In whatever God has called you to do, don’t try to make comparisons.

Remain faithful in your work and trust that God will use your unique contribution in amazing ways!

Too often we expect that our work will start off with a bang, have the air of instant success, will provoke instant excitement and anticipation, and will be the next best thing, the envy of the town.

It hardly ever works that way, a lot of the time we start off with a whimper, in fits and starts… things often seem wonky, awkward, and a bit off-kilter at first.

Listen to what Zechariah 4:10 says, “do not despise small beginnings.”

Don’t forget, God can take a measly five loaves of bread and some fish and turn it into a feast for thousands!!

That is basically what He promised the builders in Haggai- first he told them to be strong and do not fear, for I am with you— this was a familiar encouragement that was echoed to the Israelites throughout their history— it would have invoked memories of the patriarchs.

Then He said in verse 6, “I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, I will shake all the nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory.”

That scene is echoed in Haggai’s fourth message that we’ll look in a minute.

Now here comes the capstone of Haggai’s entire prophecy, verse 9 the Lord says: “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, and in this place I will grant peace.”

God is telling the builders to keep up the work, be strong, do not be afraid, because even though they don’t see it in their work now, what’s coming is a far greater glory than ever before!

What’s coming is a move of God so strong that the whole earth will be shaken, and the Lord will cause His people to thrive.

Finally, the calming peace of God’s presence will dwell with His people.