Haggai: Change Your Perspective
Haggai: Priorities Make a Difference • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Last week I told you about my favorite philosopher. Does anybody recall who that is?
Right. Winnie the Pooh.
Well, there was a great scene in the latest Winnie the Pooh movie that I want to tell you about today.
Pooh and his friends were riding on a train with an adult Christopher Robin, headed off on a great adventure. As the train sped through the countryside, Pooh got everyone to play a game that he called “Say What You See.”
With all manner of sights they’d never seen rushing past the window of their cabin, each of them saw something different.
Scared little Piglet saw “panic, worry and catastrophe.”
Excited and bouncy Tigger saw “speed, danger and recklessness.”
And gloomy, defeatist Eeyore saw “disgrace, shame and humiliation.”
You see, each of us brings our own perspective to life, and because of those different perspectives, we all tend to see the same things from different angles.
You see, each of us brings our own perspective to life, and because of those different perspectives, we all tend to see the same things differently.
And as we grow and mature, those perspectives tend to change, so that we might not even see things today the same way we did 20 years ago.
But God never changes. In fact, He tells us in the book of Malachi that His unchanging nature is part of what keeps us safe.
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
So, while we might not be able to trust the perspectives of others — and, indeed, we might not even be able to trust our own perspective on things — we can always trust God’s perspective.
Today, as we continue our study of the book of Haggai, we’ll see how having the wrong perspective on things can keep us from doing the works of God.
As you turn to Haggai, Chapter 2, let me remind you where we are in the story of God’s chosen people.
A remnant of the exiled Jews has returned to Jerusalem, and after a 16-year pause in the rebuilding of the temple, they have begun the work once again, finally responding in obedience to God’s calling.
They “obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet,” and they “showed fear before the Lord” (Haggai 1:12).
And then they got to work.
Today, we will look at the second message from God through the prophet Haggai. It was delivered on October 17, 520 BC, a little less than a month after the temple work had resumed.
1 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying,
Now this second message from God through the prophet Haggai comes on October 17, 520 BC, a little less than a month after the temple work had resumed.
2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying,
Notice that, once again, God is addressing the political and religious leadership of His people. But this time, He is also addressing the people.
That’s because the leadership had been successful in encouraging the people to get back to work. Now that they were once again walking in obedience to God, the people were in a place where they could benefit from the encouragement of God Himself.
We’ll see why they were already discouraged again in the next verse.
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison?
How could this people, who were already poor and struggling simply to feed themselves, ever hope to build a temple that matched the glory of the one that Solomon had built with all his vast resources?
themselves, ever hope to build a temple that matched the glory of the one that Solomon had built
Indeed, since this was a little less than 70 years after Nebuchadnezzar had taken the Jewish people into exile, it seems likely there would have been people still around in 520 BC who were among the children who had been taken to Babylon.
Those children now would have been old, but they would surely have remembered the glorious temple that Solomon had built for the Lord in Jerusalem, the one that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed.
with all his vast resources?
What they were seeing now as the foundations were completed and the walls had been started was that there was no way the new temple would ever match the grandeur of the old one.
But here was the mistake in their perceptions, and it’s one that we tend to make today, as well.
“They were giving an exaggerated importance to the external features in religion and worship.” [Peter Williams, Opening up Haggai , Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2008), 44.]
“They were giving an
Peter Williams, Opening up Haggai , Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications,
Man looks on outward appearances, but God looks on the heart. Where is your heart?
2008), 40.
If your heart is not set completely on Jesus Christ, it doesn’t count for a hill of beans if you’re here every week, if you sing in the choir or even if your Bible is riddled with notes.
exaggerated importance to the external features in religion and worship.
So what’s the best way to tell where your heart is aimed? Figure out where your priorities are. Where do you invest your resources?
34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So, God was reminding His people that what mattered was not how beautiful this temple would be, but that they had put their whole energy into it because they had turned their hearts entirely to Him.
He did not discourage them from honoring their past, but He did exhort them to turn their attention to the present.
We can honor the history of our church, for instance, but if we do so at the expense of the work that God is calling us to do now, then we are being disobedient.
4 ‘But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts.
“Take courage and work, for I am with you.”
God had derisively referred to the returned remnant of Jews as “this people” in His first prophetic word through Haggai, but now He reminds them that they are still His covenant people.
You see, these are nearly the same words He had spoken to them as they came out of Egypt almost 900 years earlier, and God reminds the remnant of this in the next verse.
5 ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’
These words of Verses 4 and 5 are also nearly the same words that God spoke to Joshua as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land 40 years after their escape from Egypt.
These were nearly the same words, in fact, that David had spoken to his son, Solomon, as Solomon prepared to build that first temple.
20 Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.
“Be courageous and work.” We might say, “Have faith and do the work, because God is with you.
If you are doing the work that God has called you to do, then you can be certain that God is with you. If you are not, then you are doing whatever it is that you are doing on your own, and however successful you might consider yourself, your results will not be what God intended.
God has a plan, and it’s a greater one than we can imagine. This is something I keep reminding myself as I face my own discouragements in ministry. It should be an encouragement to you, as well.
This is what He reminded this returned remnant that was struggling with discouragement as they used their meager resources to rebuild what had once been a glorious temple.
6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.
Do you know what should be most encouraging to us as followers of Christ? We know the end of the story.
Do you know what should be most encouraging to us as followers of Christ? We know the end of the story.
We know that the great story told in Scripture — this story of mankind’s repeated failure to represent the Kingdom of the God in whose image we were created — we know that this story ends with Him bringing that Kingdom into its full glory in Jesus Christ.
We know that He will make all things new, and that we followers of Christ — we who are being daily made into His image — will, likewise be made new in the resurrection of the saints.
In the end times, this takes place with a great shaking of the heavens and the earth, and the writer of the book of Hebrews talks about it, quoting from this prophecy of Haggai to make his point:
26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”
27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
“It is important to put God first now, for ultimately only what we do for Him will not be shaken and destroyed when Jesus returns. And it was important for the people of Haggai’s day to look ahead, to realize that only what they did for the Lord would remain.” (Richards, Larry, and Lawrence O. Richards. The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987.)
Richards, Larry, and Lawrence O. Richards. The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987.
It is important to put God first now, for ultimately only what we do for Him will not be shaken and destroyed when Jesus returns. And it was important for the people of Haggai’s day to look ahead, to realize that only what they did for the Lord would remain.
This building will not last. Your home will not last. Your investments will not last. What will last will be what we have done for the Lord.
And remember, we are not the Jews of the Old Testament, called to rebuild the temple. We are New Testament followers of Christ. That means we must be doing what He has called us to do. And what’s that?
What will last will be what we have done for the Lord. And remember, we are not the Jews of the Old Testament. We are New Testament followers of Christ. That means that we must be doing what He has called us to do. And what’s that?
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What will not be shaken apart during that final judgment is the church, the body of Christ — those whom we have led to the cross in humble repentance for their sins, those whom we have discipled toward greater Christlikeness. Everything else will be rubble.
That’s the eschatological or end-times prophetic perspective of this verse. But there was also a near-term perspective in play, as we see in the following verse.
7 ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.
7 ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts.
Remember that last week we noted Ezra’s historical account of this period of temple rebuilding? Do you remember who wound up paying for this work?
Remember that last week we noted Ezra’s historical account of this period of temple rebuilding? Do you remember who wound up paying for this work?
That’s right. It was the very adversaries of the Jews, who had attempted to get Persian King Darius to put a stop to it. Darius had responded in a letter to those adversaries that THEY were to pay for the restoration of the temple.
8 “Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay.
Was God surprised at this outcome? Of course not, and we say “of course not,” because He is God, and He knows all things, past, present, and future.
But there’s more going on here.
God knew how the work would be financed, because all of the silver and all of the gold are His to do with as He pleases.
Here’s an eye-opener for you: The harder you cling to your financial security at the expense of God’s work, the more insecure He will make you.
Whatever you think
I heard the story recently of a small church that sat on $150,000 worth of investments, holding onto that money in case of an emergency, instead of using it for God’s work, trusting in the stock market instead of trusting in God.
And then, the recession came and half of that money disappeared in an electronic vapor.
Since then, that church has watched much of the rest of its “emergency fund” disappear into unexpected maintenance costs.
God kept the very clothing of the people of Israel from wearing out during 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Do you think He could not have protected that church’s “emergency fund” if He had found such a fund to be to His glory?
God is very clear about His priorities.
DO HIS WORKS!
And what are the works of God? As I mentioned earlier, for us it’s not building a beautiful house of worship, as it was for the returned remnant of Jews.
For us, it is something different. Jesus talked quite a bit about it, and the Apostle John recorded in his Gospel much of what our Savior said about the works of God.
After He had fed the multitudes with five barley loaves and two fishes, Jesus went with His disciples to Capernaum.
But the people figured out where He had gone and followed Him there the next day.
25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
He had fed them well the previous day, and they were hoping that He would do so again.
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
You see, the problem was that Jesus wanted them to focus on eternal things. He wanted them to be invested in His Kingdom. But they wanted their bellies filled again.
They were willing to do the work it took to get in their boats and cross the Sea of Galilee to find a prophet who could give them bread that would temporarily satisfy their hunger.
But were they NOT willing to give up their lives — to die to themselves — for the One who offered Himself as the Bread of Life, the one whose sacrifice on the cross for their sins could give them true spiritual satisfaction.
That’s what Jesus was calling them to do, and it’s what He calls each of us here to do, as well.
27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
Maybe you’re asking now, just as they did:
28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus had a simple answer to this question, but it’s not as simple as it looks at first glance.
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
“Believe in Him whom He has sent.” In other words, believe in Jesus, God’s Son.
That sounds simple, and I’ll bet there are not more than five people here today who would say they do not believe in Jesus.
Most of you would even say you believe Jesus is the Son of God.
Good for you. As James wrote, that puts you right at the same level as the demons.
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
The belief that leads to salvation is something greater, something harder, something that calls upon us to have ACTUAL faith.
Biblically speaking, the word “believe” is never just about having knowledge. The demons have knowledge of God, and they have knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In a biblical sense, believing is knowing something exists and then ACTING on that belief without seeing its object. In other words, belief implies trust.
If you truly believe in Christ, then you will trust that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.
If you truly believe in God, then you will act in trust — faith — that He will be true to His promise to be with you when you do His work.
If you have a heart filled with biblical faith — as opposed to simply a head filled with knowledge gained through years of Sunday school and Vacation Bible School — you will recognize the hope in the promise God had for His returned remnant in Jerusalem:
9 ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”
Let me point
God has promised to give us peace, but like “belief,” this word, “peace” has a special significance in Scripture. This isn’t the sense of peace we have when making some decision.
This is peace with a former enemy, in this case God Himself. And the only way we can have that peace is through Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for our rebellion against God’s righteous Kingdom.
One day, Jesus Christ will sit in the temple again, filling that place with glory and bringing perfect peace to the world. His glory will fill the temple and will outshine all the glory of that structure during even the very best days of wealthy King Solomon.
From the perspective of the discouraged Jews working to rebuild a meager temple on the ruins of Solomon’s majestic one, everything they were doing was “nothing in comparison.”
Brothers and sisters, I would rather stand at the pulpit of a Christ-honoring church with no air conditioning system in the heat of a Suffolk summer than to preach comfortable sermons in a church whose witness to the community has grown as cool as its air-conditioned sanctuary.
But from the perspective of God, those who would turn their hearts to Him and do His works would be used to do something truly glorious.
So what are we building?
It all comes down to how we define “belief.”
If we define it as simple head knowledge that doesn’t require any act of ACTUAL faith on our part, then what we’re building will not only be “nothing in comparison” to what it was 100 or 150 years ago, it will all eventually crumble when Jesus Christ shakes the heavens and the earth.
But if we define belief as trusting God to be with us and therefore doing the work that He has called us to do — going out and making disciples with whatever resources He has given us to do it — if that’s how we define belief, then HE will use us to build something that will last, His church.
And HE will take care of the details, just as He took care of even the clothing of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
I think back to that church I talked about a few minutes ago, and I’m sad for them, because I don’t think they really get this point. Even as their “emergency fund” disappears, they continue to work for the food which perishes.
And when it comes to the works of God, they parsimoniously reply, “We keep growing smaller, and we just don’t have the money in our budget to do that.”
Just as the disobedient returned remnant of Jews had said at the beginning of the book of Haggai, they say, “Now is not the time” for us to do the works of God.
Brothers and sisters, I would rather stand at the pulpit of a Christ-honoring church with no air conditioning system in the heat of a Suffolk summer than to preach comfortable sermons in a church whose witness to the community has grown as cool as its air-conditioned sanctuary.
When Jesus Christ begins to shake the heavens and the earth, I want to be able to look around and see something standing that He has done through me, something that He has done through the church with which He has entrusted me.
So what now?
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, take courage and do the works of God. Don’t just believe in a head-knowledge manner.
Believe in a manner that shows your whole heart is devoted to Him. Believe in a manner that demonstrates you trust Him to be who He says He is and to do what He says He will do.
Rest in the One who brings peace, and turn from the one who causes you to worry, the one who causes you to see catastrophe in the adventure, just like Winnie the Pooh’s friend, Piglet.
If you are not a follower of Jesus — or if you have never believed in this biblical manner, then that’s where you should start today.
Admit that you are a sinner — we all are. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We have all rebelled against the rightful ruler of Heaven and Earth, and we all deserve the death sentence that awaits all those who rebel against their king.
Believe that Jesus died to take the penalty for your sins, just as He said He would. Believe that He was raised from death, just as He said He would be, to demonstrate that His sacrifice was acceptable to God.
And confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He has paid your penalty. You can accept His gracious gift and have eternal life. Or you can reject it and accept the penalty for yourself.
You have before you the choice between heaven and hell, between eternal peace and eternal misery.
Don’t let your false perspectives keep you from making the choice that brings life.