All Things Considered - Haggai 1

Introduction

VR goggles are the latest ‘thing.’ Some of your children probably ‘had to have’ some for Christmas. What’s neat about them is that they can make it seem like you’re somewhere that you’re not or that you’re experiencing something that you’re not. They take you to what seems like an alternate universe that’s just as real as this one. So, you can tour Rome or play the Master’s or tightrope over Niagara Falls.

So, what these goggles do is they focus your eyes on a three dimensional screen and block out all other lines of sight. By preventing you from seeing the full picture, they can alter your sense of reality — making what’s virtual seem real and what’s real seem non-existent. This is a picture of the effect suffering often has on us. Pain, disappointment, and grief have a way of becoming goggles through which we see the world, goggles that prevent us from seeing the full picture, goggles that alter our sense of reality so that we come to believe we’ll only know pain, sadness, and disappointment. But, if we can see through the intensity of our pain to the bigger picture, and this is where counseling is often so helpful, when all things are considered, there’s more hope than it may seem.

God’s Word

And, this helps us get to the message of Haggai. When Cyrus was the King of Persia, the Persians conquered and overthrew the Babylonians. And, he issued an edict that allowed all of the conquered and exiled peoples to return home to their lands — which included Israel. But, when the exiles returned to Jerusalem after 70 years away, what they found was nothing but ruins, ruins that included the once transcendent temple that King Solomon had erected and that the glory of God had filled. So, they were left to pick up the pieces and to try to establish a new life. And, maybe you’re here this morning, and you’re here trying to pick up the pieces. What I want you to do is to see the whole picture and to see Three Considerations Amidst the Ruins (Headline):

Consider your “ways.”

That is, consider your response to the ruins that were once your life. One surprising effect of suffering is that it often makes us selfish. It eliminates sympathy because “I’ve got my own problems.” It eliminates charity because “I have to take care of myself.” It eliminates sensitivity because “I have been dealt with harshly myself.” Self-pity is profoundly self-centered, and self-centeredness is the starting place for all types of sins and misery. That’s where we meet Israel in Haggai 1. When they had first returned to the ruins of Jerusalem (you can find more about this in Ezra), they had high hopes. They began to rebuild the city, and they began to rebuild the Temple. But, they were soon oppressed by the Persians and gave up. Like life often does, it seemed that just as they were getting back on their feet that they were knocked down again. So, they turned inward. They focused on building the best lives for themselves that they could. And, a pattern common to suffering emerges.

“Self-pity” turns to “self-indulgence.”

Haggai 1:2-5 ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”

Through Haggai, God makes a comparison that is intended to get his people’s attention. In order to show them where their real devotion lies, He compares his house to their houses. They’re living in opulent, paneled homes, and God’s house is lying in ruins. It wasn’t standard for a Jewish home to be paneled at the time. Cedar wasn’t easily accessible. But, the Temple was, and cedar had been purchased for its repairs. And, the people had used it to build homes for themselves instead. After sixteen years of rebuilding, they had opulent homes, and their temple was still a trash heap.

Notice the emphasis on “time.” Their self-pity had convinced them they didn’t have time to “rebuild” the temple. But, they had plenty of “time” to build for themselves. Their priorities were clear. Their source of pleasure and joy was clear. Their self-pity had led them to self-medicate with self-indulgence.

Do you see that start of this pattern in your life? Are you hurting so bad, so fed up with being disappointed that you’ve just decided that all bets are off? You’re just going to worry about yourself and making yourself happy and giving to yourself every pleasure and purchase and sensuality you can? That’s a common reflex to suffering. But, be sure to see the next part of the pattern. Self-pity self-medicates with self-indulgence, but then...

“Self-indulgence” leads to “hopelessness.”

Haggai 1:6-9 “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”

It’s really hard to blame them for wanting a nice home, isn’t it? They had been marched off to live in a hostile city as children. Jerusalem was just a faint memory until they returned. And so, as they stood over the ruins that once was their great city, the natural impulse was to build for themselves the nicest house they could, to build for themselves something that would make them feel in control again, something that would feel like a reward after they’d been through so much. But, then what? That’s the existential question Israel had to answer, and that’s the question we all have to answer. The had built themselves the nicest houses, drank the sweetest wine, eaten the best foods, and worn the most designer clothes, but “you never have enough... never have your fill... and no one is warm.” It’s a haunting description of them: “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little.”

They had self-medicated with self-indulgence, and it amounted to nothing. They sought to make themselves feel better, but were just as miserable. They sought to make themselves satisfied, but were just as discontent. Self-medicating with indulgence amounts to self-destruction. It doesn’t work. You focusing on you will destroy you. Why? There’s no hope there! There’s no end to your need! There’s no bottom to your stomach! You’ll always want more. You’ll always think the next purchase or relationship or promotion will satisfy you, but it’s trying to fill “a bag with holes.”

“Consider your ways.” Are they working? Are you really satisfied? Aren’t you tired of trying to self-medicate? Oh, consider the futility and vanity of your ways, and then...

Consider your “Lord.”

There were really two main purposes of the Temple in Jewish life. The first was that the Temple was the place where God’s presence dwelled. His glory, his power, his provision were right there in the midst of his people. And, every day, the people would leave their homes and see the Temple towering above them as a reminder that their Lord was with them, and if their Lord was with them, who could stand against them? But now, that seemed like a long time ago. Only the oldest among them had ever seen Solomon’s Temple, and the new Temple wasn’t nearly as imposing.

The ruins of the Temple left them feeling as insecure as ever. And, the ruins of your life have probably had the same effect. They’ve left you feeling vulnerable and weak, uncared for and overlooked. You wonder how you will be defended and protected and provided for. That’s what He’s speaking to in chapter 2. God is telling us what to do when our seemingly ruined lives have us scared and insecure.

When you “behold ruins”....

Haggai 2:1-5 “In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet 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. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

Consider the Lord! God tells them to do three things that are fascinating at the beginning of chapter two. First, God tells them to look at how pathetic the temple is. That seems strange, doesn’t it? He makes them look at the ruins, and accept them. God is drawing out the object of their faith, and it isn’t faith to close your eyes to reality. Secondly, God tells them to not be afraid. This is stranger than the first. “Look at how bad it is. Look at how pathetic it is. And, then four times in just two verses God either says “Be strong” or “Fear not.” The source of your fear reveals the object of your faith. Who or what you fear shows what you believe. That brings us to the third instruction that He gives them:“Work.” Build it. But, the third instruction is attached to a promise that makes sense of them all. “Work, for I am with you.” Why are the to look at the Temple’s ruins? Because the Temple is not the object of their faith; God is. Why should they “be strong” and “fear not”? Because they are not the source of their strength; God is. How can they “work” when the task is beyond them? Because they aren’t working alone. God is with them. There may be no Temple, but his “Spirit remains in (their) midst.”

You see, so long as your joy is not tethered to how you feel, who likes you or what you have, your ruins are not the end of your hope. Your weakness is not the end of your hope. Your disappointments are not the end of your hope. Your ruins and your weakness are the starting places of God’s glory. They are the very means by which He will show you that He is the “Lord of hosts.” They are the means by which He will prove to you that every promise you’ve read are more real than every tear you’ve shed. Consider your Lord. The promise of the resurrection is that ruins will become crowns.

When you “need peace”....

Haggai 2:5b-9 “My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ””

Matthew 12:6 “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”

John 2:19 “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.””

Matthew 28:20b “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Consider the Lord! After telling them what they should do, God tells them what He will do. He will come and stay. That’s how I understand “I will shake.” When God appears to his people, the mountains quake, and when God returns, the nations will tremble before him. And, He’s coming to “remain.” There’s no uncertainty or insecurity. He will fill with “greater” glory. Finally, He will give “peace.” Oh, that’s what we want, isn’t it? That’s what we’re looking for, isn’t it? That’s why we build panelled houses and run to sex and self-medication and every triviality you can imagine, isn’t it? We’re looking for “greater glory” and “peace.”

And, here’s the Good News of Easter. You’re looking for peace, but peace came seeking you. The Temple they’re building wouldn’t compare to Solomon’s Temple and wouldn’t last long. This “latter glory” would come much later than they expected. It would be destroyed, too. There would be even more ruins ahead. But, this Temple was always a placeholder of the promise, and it was always meant to be rendered obsolete. In Matthew 12:6 Jesus said, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.” You see, God did come. Jesus came as the greater temple, the very presence and meeting place of man and God was consolidated into the Son of God himself. And, the enemy attacked this Temple just as they had the Temples prior. But, remember what He said? Remember the promise? He came to “remain.” He came to “shake the heavens and earth.” He came so that peace would never be under threat again. So, yea, they destroyed that Temple, but it three days who raised it up again! And, when the true Temple was raised again, He said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Don’t you need peace? Aren’t you searching for peace? Don’t keep looking to your computer screen or social network or career prospects. Don’t keep looking for another purchase or another relationship. Consider your Lord! He has been raised. Death has been defeated. The grave has been overcome. The future is certain. Christ is with us! God’s presence will never leave us. If Christ is with us, then God is for us. If God is for us, who can stand against us?

Consider your “foundation.”

The second purpose of the Temple was that it was the place where there was atonement for their sins. On one hand, the Temple was a beautiful, towering presence encouraging the people to take comfort in the presence of their God. On the other hand, the Temple was an imposing, solemn, bloody place that reminded them of the seriousness of their sins against God. Because the wages of sin is death, death had to take place. And so, the blood of bulls was spilled in their stead as a reminder of sin’s price and as an offering of God’s grace.

What’s becoming clear is that God wants to renew rather than rescind his covenant with his people. And so, He brings them back to the foundation of their relationship with one another. It’s important that you understand that...

You “contaminate.”

Haggai 2:14 “Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.”

God’s concern is that He have a holy temple built by a holy people. But, there’s a problem, and it’s been the problem of his people from the start. They are not holy people, and everything they touch, they defile. In the ceremonial laws, if a priest had been made clean through the offering of a sacrifice and then touched a corpse, his cleanliness or holiness was not transferred to the corpse. Instead, the uncleanliness of the corpse was transferred to him, and everything that he touched was unclean thereafter. God says that’s the issue with “every work of their hands.” Whatever they touch, they defile. They make it unholy. They’re contaminates.

So, what hope could a contaminating people have of building a holy Temple? That’s where He’s heading. They contaminate...

But, God “propitiates.”

Haggai 2:15-19 “Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.””

So, what hope could a contaminating people have of building a holy Temple? Grace! The answer is not found in who they are but in who God is. And, He is a God of grace, a God who makes a way for us to be with him. For 16 years, they had built themselves houses and hoped they’d make them happy. But, for 16 years all they had found was frustration. But now, they’d laid the foundation. It didn’t look like much, but it was a foundation that was both literal and figurative. They really had a foundation, and they were really obeying God in faith by building it, which was the foundation of their relationship with him. You see, the foundation of that Temple represented both their trust in God and their admission that they needed a place where their sins could be covered. And, here is God promising that He will “bless” and cover them.

You see, God propitiates. That’s different than just forgiving someone. Propitiation is both taking away and crediting. Propitiation takes away your sins, and gives you righteousness. How can a contaminated people build a holy Temple? God has to make them holy. You see, holiness was never transferred from one person to another, only uncleanliness until the time of Jesus. But, when the leper touched Jesus, Jesus wasn’t made unclean; the leper was made well. When the bleeding woman touched Jesus, Jesus wasn’t made unclean. She was made clean. He took away their uncleanliness, and He gave them his.

This is the foundation of Christianity. On the cross, the innocent was declared guilty and died. And, at the cross, the guilty are given innocence and life. The question facing you is whether you can look at the ruins of the cross and see the glory of your king, whether you will abandon your self-medicating through self-indulgence to find peace through self-denial.

Oh, I want to land where Haggai does. Will you consider your foundation? What are you building your life upon? Will it last?