Rejoicing
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
I’ve lived just long enough to see some great things of my childhood…change.
Have you? Some of it is for the better. Some of it…not so much.
here is a picture of one of the greatest places I always wanted to visit as a child....and what it looks like today.
If you’ve been apart of this church for the last 2.5 years you know, things can change.
This photo is from my first Sunday here. Taken from Mrs. Cathy Cawood’s FB live feed which was our only live stream capabilities and it was only on our LBC Family page.
There have been a few changes in 2.5 years. The one thing that hasn’t change and never will is our message of the hope found by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we go through this book of Haggai it’s my prayer that we will be able to relate to the Israelites in their worship and service to God. Seeing that not only as a church family we can endure changes of any sort because of Jesus but I want you to be encouraged knowing that no matter how different things look, He remains the same.
Follow along with me as we jump into Haggai 2
1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,
2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,
2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
Let’s Pray
Worship, which is what our service to the Lord is, that can stand the test of time and experience will be fueled by God’s faithfulness. God speaks to Zerubbabel and challenges him to research how the temple looked before. Even though the temple is the primary point of interest, God seems to be using its status to challenge the Hebrew people to look into their past and see his provision. The questions being asked point to times when the glory of God could be seen more readily—Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem in its heyday, the worth of the temple (vv. 2–4) According to Richard Taylor, most of the people living at this time would not remember Solomon’s temple in its glory, which renders the question “Who of you is left who saw this house in it’s former glory” rhetorical—the people being sought would have been anywhere from sixty to seventy years old.
It is this generation that is looking back and remembering their good ol days thinking the best days are behind them.
And no matter our age, we all can fall victim to my first point.
I. We often forget details when we look back
I. We often forget details when we look back
Through reading here and in Ezra we can easily see by implication that the people who were rebuilding were disappointed with the temple they were building. Why though? What has lead to their disappointment?
I believe they were looking back on Solomon’s temple and seeing it’s physical glory. They got caught up in what it looked like. They remember walking the streets and seeing it. They took great pride in how it looked. What they forgot though was the neglect for God that their culture had when the temple was big and beautiful.
Prior to the exile the people had turned from the Lord. Throughout the lifespan of Solomon’s temple there were states of revival and apostacy. At the point of exile the nation was in the latter. The state of the temple had nothing to do with the people’s commitment to God.
The principle behind that statement can be applied to any of us in the 21st century. We have gotten this idea that for God to be pleased or for God to bless we have to dress a certain way, we have to sing certain songs, we have to have a building that looks a certain way. When in reality the power of God is revealed in a cave in China as much if not more than every church building in America.
I truly believe, and hear me out on this one, I do not believe God cares as much about the details of our buildings, song selection, and appareal as we think he does.
Does that mean we decorate any way we ant, listen to whatever, and dress however we want? Nope.
It means when our hearts are tuned toward God, the first thought that comes to mind when we look at a building, listen to a song, or put something on will be “Does this honor my Savior?” Not “Is this my preference?”
The people wanted the temple to look like Solomons not realizing that the presence of God wasn’t determined by the details of their temple.
Yes, God designed the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple with entricate detail. Yes, I believe that was so that it would show His greatness to those around Him. Now in the post exilic period God seems to be setting them up for the coming Messiah.
They were in a period of change…exactly like we are. We can’t control the changes in culture…what we can control is our response to them.
When we enter times of change, we look back on the past and remember the great times we had when things looked a certain way and sounded a certain way. We look back on the old black and white shows on TV remembering their purity. We look back on the songs of the 50’s and 60’s remembering the great times had listening to them.
However, we forget that there was still evil in the world. There was still argumetns with famlies. There were still children disobeying their parents, there were still corrupt politicians, and there were still people leaving the church.
What do we take from this short passage? Honor the past but don’t glorify it. Glorify God’s work in the past not the methods used to accomplish it.
As Haggai prophecies and calls them to understand this he goes on to encourage the leaders by making it clear to them what they are to be focused on
II. We are called to serve not produce
II. We are called to serve not produce
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
Haggai tells them You work, I’m with you. Don’t worry about the result. i’m with you. Don’t worry about whats happening around you, I’m with you.
There is an old song that says “We’ll work till Jesus comes and we’ll be gathered home.”
We are on this earth to worshipping through service to our King.
No matter the circumstances we face we are called to work as an act of worship. God is with us, work.
Be strong even when those around you aren’t working, you work. God is with you. When we are seeking first His kingdom and our motivation is about glorifying Him, you work and He is with you.
He doesn’t cal us to produce.
Notice the great commission
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
He just says go...
Paul told the Corinthians
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
We did the work, God produced the result.
Ever worked a garden? This is the same as you going and watering it, clearing out the weeds, fertilizing, and then God coming behind you and pulling the vegetables. You’ve worked it but he is harvesting.
He isn’t depending on you to harvest. We just work!
How are you serving the master?
What are you or could you be doing? Don’t wait for us to make an announcement of need to say “Ok, I’ll do it” or for someone to have a need. Seek to be proactive in serving the Lord.
Whatever the result will be is up to Him. The serving is up to us.
haggai refers to the promise made when they came out of Egypt.
14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
His presence is with them, He will give them rest. Moses responded If your presence isn’t with us, don’t take us there.
He told God, I don’t want to go anywhere you are not.
What an amazing truth for us to understand from the Old testament. We are blessed to have access to the presence of God all the time.
The problem is that Moses said that he doesn’t want to go without it and us as 21st century Christians seem to find ourselves unable to stop and enjoy it.
Moses didn’t want to go one step without the Lord. How many days do we go without acknowledging Him in our lives? How many weeks do we live our lives and not even think “God, is this what you want me doing to serve you?” “Lord, does this bring you glory?”
As the Israelites were distracted with their own homes over the state of the temple, we find ourselves distracted with our own lives, our own worldly kingdoms we have allegiance to and not giving the kingdom of God any attention.
This leads us to the final passage here where God shows
III. Our lives are not for this world
III. Our lives are not for this world
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
He takes the Israelites concern for the physical and redirects their attention to Him and what He will do. Which is much more than build a building.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. He came to build the Kingdom of God. He didn’t come to build up a man, He didn’t come to build up a ministry, He didn’t come to establish his brand, He came so that we may know God through His death burial and resurrection.
I believe with the vaguness that has been used to descriibe our job as NT Christians, He is ok with us doing anything except sin to get the gospel to people.
the best way to do that? Is to discover how to best reach those in your culture. Maybe it’s street preaching like Paul did on Mars Hill. Maybe it’s door to door soulwinning as many churches did in the middle of the 20th century. Maybe it’s leveraging social media advertising or putting out yard signs.
Don Sisk, 90 some year old man who served many years as a missionary to Japan, on the board of BIMI, and now serves on staff at Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist Colllege, said it best when he said “Methods always change but the message never does.”
He always said God buries His workmen but His work goes on.
The focus of our lives is not the methods or the vehicles God uses to accomplish His work, it’s His work.
throughout the work God is with us until the end of life and beyond.
Look at Joseph. Everywhere He was, the bible says God was with Him. In the pit, In potiphers house, in jail, as the prime ministry of Egypt, God was with Him.
Joseph just kept His eyes on the Lord and pursuied Him and His glory.
You may not think we are where you should be, you may not think everything looks the way in should in your life and community, but God didn’t call you to focus on that, He has called us to work.
What do we take from these passages for us as 21st century Christians?
Personally
Whatever God has called you to do, do it. Even if it doesn’t look exactly like you believe it should. Serving, praying, witnessing, moving to another location. Ensure it is what you believe by faith God would have you to do…and pursue it with all you have
Rejoice in the opportunity to serve not only in the result of serving. Rejoice over the privilege to hold the door for someone. Rejoice in the privilege of serving as an usher. Rejoice in the privilege of teaching. And yes, rejoice in the result of it hwoever if the result isn’t what you thought it should be. Again I say rejoice.
4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Church
Methods will change but the message never does
Rejoice over the message preached not the method used to preach it