The God who has chosen us

Intro

Going to your favorite college

If you get selected to go to a college they have “chosen” you, they have decided you are a good fit for them and they want you to learn from them and become an “alumni”, a graduate of the program.

What we see in Haggai today is that God has chosen His people and...

God calls out those He has chosen to consider if they worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

This phrase, “Spirit and Truth” I have taken from a passage many of you know in John 4 with the Woman at the Well.

Haggai challenges the people here to worship God in Spirit and truth because they know that God has chosen them and His presence is with them.

Now this book all takes place within a 4 month period, there are 4 messages, or even sermons, that are given. In fact the book tells us when they were give. The first on August 29th, 520 BC. The 2nd on October 17, 520 BC, and the last 2 are given on the same date. December 18th, 520 BC. So this all happens in a short amount of time.

And this messages are given to the Israelites that have returned to Jerusalem, about 40,000 at the time. But Jerusalem was a city that could hold hundreds of thousands of people. It was a city that had seen the walls destroyed, the temple destroyed, it was nowhere near its former glory.

The book is a call for God’s people to build His house again, and spoken through the prophet Haggai. We don’t know much about Haggai. We don’t know much about him, other than during this time he was probably older, possibly having seen the Temple before it was destroyed 60 years earlier. And we know that he was one of 3 prophets, including Zechariah and Malachi, that helped to pass down the Holy Scriptures and to make sure they weren’t forgotten.

Unlike many of the other prophetic books, Haggai is very straight to the point. Often we have seen poetic language, dramatic imagery, and repetition of themes that help to draw out the reader to understand the message. And although Haggai is a poetic book, it is much more direct. He doesn’t beat around the bush, he tells the people what they need to hear. And they are seen in the 4 sermons that he will deliver on behalf of the Lord.

His first 3 sermons give these points. God calls His people to prepare for His presence, to enjoy the power of His presence, and to remember the purity in His presence.

God calls His people to prepare for His presence

Haggai gets into the problem of the people believing it isn't time to rebuild the Temple.

-Their excuse was that they had little resources as is, so why would they go and BUILD something?

-But God isn’t very impressed with that excuse, especially when they looked at what they had done in their own self-interest.

-They have built many of their own personal comforts while disregarding their spiritual responsibilities.

Haggai says "give careful thought to your ways"

-They need to consider the choices they have made up to this point. Are they acting as God’s chosen people? Have they lived in a way that believes He is in control of all things, including their lives?

-God will show them His sovereignty over their lives. That the challenges they have faced up to this point are because of their disobedience, it was an attempted wake up call to them.

-God says that He “ruined” their harvest, which is literally “blew away”

-God shows how Creation is obedient to Him but His people have not been.

You may ask “why would God put them through a period of poverty if He wants them to build His temple. The answer is that if you don’t learn to trust God in times of challenge, you certainly won’t in times of abundance. An important rule I was taught when I was younger was “tithe even when you don’t feel like you have anything to give”. Because often the same excuses we use when we have very little will be the same excuses for when we have an abundance.

So God gives an opportunity to respond, to repent. He says “bring down the lumber”. As if saying “take the first step of obedience in giving glory to my name.

-If they truly believe that He is the Lord and they love Him, they must take the action to prove it.

Why was God so intent on them building this temple?

Zechariah 7:4–7 “Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves? Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?””

Because their ancestors have “fasted” and “drank” for themselves rather than for the Lord. And God didn’t want them to repeat these same mistakes.

Application

We have a focus here on "busy people" who are concerned "With their own self-interest". Certainly, the people have undergone strife, dealing with exile, under the oppression of another people group. In fact, there would be reasons for many to feel this is a legitimate concern. But it will never fare better for us to seek our own kingdom first.

We could look at the whole book in light of Jesus words "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you"

-Often concerned with "the basic necessities of life" while not understanding the urgency of the kingdom of God. We can end up giving God the leftovers of our time rather than the firstfruits.

-We must be confident that God does care for our earthly needs.

We see that Haggai deals with a "spiritual lethargy and unresponsiveness" that we see today.

-We can even see what Jesus says to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4, that they have "abandoned the love you had at first"

-How often do we get so focused on our own lives, our own "houses", our own goals in life, that we forget about God's purposes? We can say something about our lives or our church, "I'm just not ready to grow, I need to get these things in order first", "I just don't know if my church is ready for that kind of growth".

God tells us we should work on building His kingdom first and THEN worry about those other things.

-God is the one who gives all good things

-God desires to return if they are willing to respond to Him.

God calls His people to remember the purity of His presence

This message was on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Of ironic idea, God's call to stop their own work and do God's work is done at a time they build temporary shelters that were a reflection of their journey through Exodus in tents.

The Lord asks a few questions. 1. Can an object "transfer holiness? The answer in no. 2. Can an object become impure by being in contact of an impure thing? The answer is yes. Thus something unclean could be passed on "to the third degree" while holiness couldn't.

-Haggai concludes because of their own impure spiritual condition that their work wouldn't be found acceptable by God. First, they need to deal with their sin through repentance.

-They, therefore, needed to be pure before God's blessing would come on them. But God desired to be with them.

The people are discouraged since this new temple didn't look like the 1st one. It wasn't covered in gold, it didn't have the same splendor. But Haggai encourages them to continue the work because God "will be with you".

-The temple was destroyed 66 years earlier. Because of their previous thoughts, nothing was ever going to measure up for them. They were going to feel disappointment no matter how it ended up. You can't live up to the "good ole days"

-It is a reminder that it isn't the quality of the work as much as who we seek to glorify.

Nostalgia of your old house

We can get so caught up in how things “used to be” that we don’t do what God asks us to do right now. God says that He will be with them not because they have made themselves pure but because only He can make them pure.

The questions God asks of Israel reminds them that they have been defiled, and as they wonder "how can they be holy again" they have no answer to that question. But God provided a way where they don't see any, He says that He will bring His presence with them so they could be purified again.

-God provides for us a way where we don't see one. Where we may look at our life and ask "how can my life be found acceptable by God" the answer is that on your own you are unable to. It is only through the blood of Christ.

-Colossians 1:21–23 “Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.”

We can ask this question of the church. "Do any of you remember the church in its former glory? When we had churches filled with people 3 days a week? When people didn't fill their lives with everything but the church but were in Christian community? When the church cared for people and met to serve the community? How does it look to you now? Do you want to continue to reminisce or believe it can never get that way again or to see the church in America grow strong again?

This brings us to the last point

God calls His people to enjoy the power of His presence

The encouragement "be strong" reminds us of Joshua as they entered the promised land.

God says that He is "With them"

-There are many similarities with Exodus in a return from exile and the Word of God leading the people into the unknown. It reminds us God's Word is always useful.

-Also the words that David says to Solomon in preparing for the temple. 1 Chronicles 28:20

-Why did David say this to Solomon? He wasn't in battle? Why would be get discouraged? Two things: 1. Spiritual warfare when doing the Lord's Work 2. Discouragement that we can't complete the difficult things that God gives us to do. Our reminder is that God HAS prepared us and He IS with us. God prepares His people, they are never alone in the work of the Kingdom.

-God points them back to these times in their history to remind them of His faithfulness and power, this would help them to not allow paralyzing fear or worry to overcome them.

Zerubbabel and Joshua, along with all the remnant, obeyed the Lord, they "feared" the Lord. They also believed that God was the one that sent Haggai, rather than ignore the message. Many of us can ignore God's Word, even when spoken by godly men and women.

We see in their reaction a stark difference to the response the prophets BEFORE the exile received. Those like Jeremiah, who were ignored and some that were even beaten, because they spoke the message of God. There was such an apathy that they couldn't even find the desire to worship God. But now the people have awoken themselves to God's voice.

Notice the short, but beautiful, answer by God. "I am with you" what a reassuring statement. Something each of us want to hear from God.

-After all Israel had gone through they now listen to the Lord and they see what occurs, God is with them.

As a result of God's presence what happens, "the Lord roused the Spirit" of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant. Here we have faint glimmers of Pentecost.

The word "remnant" is not used until this verse, showing that they had not become the "remnant" until they had obeyed the word of God.

God states that He will provide "peace" there in that place. This word, Shalom, is part of the name "Jerusalem." A reminder that where God's presence is, there is peace.

For those Haggai is speaking two, He deals with these two issues.

1. They had become apathetic to the Spirit of God, to the enjoyment of worshipping God and the blessings that came with it. They had forgotten the life that came through God. Instead they were seeking life outside of God. The "water" from their own cisterns" rather than the cistern of eternal life. It had made them dry, unsatisfied, discouraged, and believing there was no hope.

2. They had forgotten the power that came with God's presence with His people ,the power of Yahweh, the God of armies who could topple any nation. They worried they wouldn't be able to complete the task in their own power. And in that they saw their spiritual "uncleanness" as something that couldn't be overcome. But when God said "I am with you" it reminded them of the God who spoke to Moses that "I am who I am" was coming to their rescue.

Thus, to worship God in Spirit and in truth, means that we we worship God who we believe is there and in the God we BELIEVE has defeated sin and death.

-When Jesus speaks his presence takes an even greater significance.

The "fear of the Lord", the Word of God through Haggai, and their reflection on the struggle that was all around them, were the encouragement they needed to build God's house.

-Do we allow the fear of the Lord to spur us to action?

-When we see the state of our lives, when we have those moment where we think to ourselves "I don't want to live like this anymore" what do we do about it?

If you love your spouse you can’t keep making excuses

Do we trust in the "Lord of Armies?"

Those chosen by God believe His kingdom will not be shaken.

At this time all the treasures of the nations will come back to the Lord.

-A reminder that the nations will come to glorify God

-v. 9 shows how all these treasures will come back for the "final glory of this house". In the 1st temple the Israelites brought many of their precious jewels and gold to adorn it. A remind that it was His, and also reflecting God's glory.

It is God's glory that will be the true "treasure" of this new temple and God's presence their peace.

Hebrews 12:26–29 “His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

The church belongs to a time that can't be shaken. The nations now, the world, will be shaken, in fact we see in our world right now things that cause us to fear, we see instability throughout the world, we see economic turmoil, we see war, we see political division. This is "the earth" being shaken, the nations being overturned. But the confidence we have is our God who can't be shaken and in whom we should be thankful for.

-This is what Israel needed to be reminded of. The nations would fall, Persia would fall, their enemies past and future would fall, so they had no reason to fear their present circumstances.

-Our call, then is to have confidence in the Lord. This isn't us having a lackadaisical approach, this isn't us just sitting back and waiting for everything to collapse. But rather in our thankfulness to God we should be spurned to greater faithfulness, knowing what reward we desire. Knowing that one day we will stand in front of our God who is a consuming fire, and we should desire to have "served God acceptably, with reverence and awe."

Here the writer of Hebrews tells the church why they should obey God. So that they can receive a heavenly kingdom. We show our thankfulness by "serving God acceptably...with reverence and awe" or "reverence and fear".

-Our worship must inhabit a sense of God's greatness, otherwise it isn't worship of god.

We look at the phrase that Haggai uses "yet once more" and see that the day of the Lord's return will be that day of "once more", the final day of judgment.

-That which is "unshakeable must be eternal" - Guthrie

All of this is seen in Hebrews 1:8-12. That God's kingdom knows no end, that His work will never end. He has a throne "forever and ever"