Shaping Expectations
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Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever noticed when you recall stories or memories from the past we always tend to exaggerate it, and romanticize it? This is where the joke about the fish that was caught comes from, because it was always bigger in our memory. So when we recall the past or we desire to do something from our past and we relive or remake that moment that it never seems to meet our expectation that was shaped by our memory. Stories of the future are the same glamorized and aggrandized so when we walk into the future we are let down because reality doesnt match our expectation that was shaped by the picture painted for the future. Both how we view the past and what we see for the future tends to paint our picture for the present and shapes our expectations unrealistically. Like the middle child always compared to the older and the younger sibling and never allowed to stand on their own (at least not while growing up).
This morning as we turn to look at Haggai’s next message, we are reminded that His first message addressed the people’s wrong priorities and his second message addresses the people’s misshapen expectations. He gives them and us this morning the proper views with which to shape our expectations both for today and for the future.
1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people:
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? 4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ” 6 For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies. 8 “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
9 “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Discouraged Through Misshapen Expectations
Discouraged Through Misshapen Expectations
1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people:
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?
On the 21st day of the seventh month - is the 21st day of Tishri. Usually occurring September - October on the Gregorian Calendar. The month of Tishri is full of holy days and celebration for the people of God. 1-2 Tishri Rosh Hashannah (the celebration of creation - Talmud opinion says that Adam and Eve were created on 1 Tishri 3760 B.C.). 3rd of Tishri Tzom Gedaliah - Fast day. 9 Tishri Erev Yom Kippur and 10 Tishri Yom Kippur. Then 15 - 21 Tishri is Sukkot - Festival of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. So on the last day of what should have been the feast of tabernacles the word of the LORD came to Haggai for Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant people. Nearly a month after we read that the people’s zeal for building the LORD’s house had been restored the people were in an air of discouragement. Zeal evaporated into an air of depression. On what should have been a day of celebration (Festival of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles) was a celebration of weeks and was a reminder of God’s faithfulness. The Festival of Booths/ Feast of Tabernacles was to remind people of God’s faithfulness: to fulfill His promises to His people, to provide for His people, and to be present among His people. Instead the people from the political to the religious to the common were all discouraged in the work for the LORD, so God sent a message to the people on this day through Haggai.
Why were the people discouraged? God gave Haggai specific questions to ask them all in order to open their eyes to the problem. They were discouraged because they had unmet expectations. Unmet expectations come from misshapen expectations. How do expectations become misshapen? Look at the questioning from the LORD to the people. He asks three questions. Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? Through these three questions the LORD pricks the heart of their problem.
10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed.
11 They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: “For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully. 13 The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.
At least some had seen the glories or had heard of the glories of the temple Solomon had built prior to its destruction 66 years before. Misshapen expectations come from misguided comparisons between the work of God in various times and places. The comparisons are rarely ever beneficial and mostly become exhausting and detrimental. It was not helpful for the people in Haggai’s day to think or reminisce on the magnificent temple of Solomon’s day compared to their own rebuilding work. Often times the comparison leads us to believe that our meager gift is of no use to the LORD and therefore we may as well not offer it. If we cant build as Solomon then we may as well not build. All the works of us as men falls short of God’s glory.
The first mistake was giving an exaggerated importance to the external features in religion and worship. The people were stuck in the memory of the magnificent glory of Solomon’s temple that they perhaps wrongly believed that somehow it was more glorifying to God than what went on inside it. It is not the outward appearance of his house that pleases God but the reality of the inward worship for which it was built.
Consider Jesus words to the disciples as they were leaving the temple
1 As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What massive stones! What impressive buildings!” 2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another—all will be thrown down.”
Not only predicting the future of what would happen in 70 AD through Titus, but also that is destruction was the consequence of the defiled worship within it.
16 and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple. 17 He was teaching them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!”
Have you ever noticed that revisting places or things from our past never meets up with our remembrance of them? If we arent careful our past experiences will shape our present expectations. We do it with alot of things - sports teams - 90’s Cowboys, or the Bulls anybody? We do it with our childhood, our nation, our churches, our music, our school experiences, even our parenting — we compare everything to past experiences and it leads to frustration and discouragement of unrealistic and unmet expectations because they were misshapen from the start.
Israel was built on stones of remembrance but it was to remind them of God’s faithfulness then, never for them to stay there. Do not get so stuck in the remembrance and comparison of the past that you cannot see what God is doing in the present and preparing for the future.
18 “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. 19 Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
There is a great danger in looking back and getting stuck there.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Like Paul press on for the goal and the prize
The second mistake is idealizing or glorifying the past. The good old days syndrome. At a time when they should have been overcome with joy and praising God for their return from exile and the house of the LORD to be rebuilt. We can do the same - looking back the church of Acts, the reformation times, the Great Awakenings, the revivals of times past. We feel we arent doing anything because we arent doing anything like they did then
God’s work of the past is not God’s work in our day or of God’s work in the future Individually there are some who get stuck with what God has done in the past for them and relating yesterday’s experiences. The question is what is God doing today?
17 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
The LORD is always looking ahead to new wine and new work of the Holy Spirit. The important thing is to accept who and what we are and whatever gifts great or small God has given to us and then get on with the work in the situation in which He has set us in.
16 The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him: 17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil, 19 a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.
The seventh being the worst usually - one who stirs up trouble among brothers - one who sows discord among brethren. The one who says what we are doing will never compare to what has been done before — etc
Reshape Expectations For Today and Tomorrow
Reshape Expectations For Today and Tomorrow
4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ”
6 For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies.
8 “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 9 “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
God is calling on the people through Haggai to reshape their expectations and work again and stop being discouraged. God next in His message for Haggai to give to the people says “Even so...”. God doesnt deny that the work may not compare - it doesnt compare - but even so - BE STRONG. The work you are doing may not compare but even so BE STRONG. God repeats the phrase be strong to each - to Zerubbabel, Joshua and to the remnant people or all the people of the land — this is the LORD’s declaration - BE STRONG. The next command is WORK - be strong and work. It is easy to start anything, a building, a project, a calling, but to continue in it to the finish is the important thing. Run the race with endurance
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Be strong and work - For I AM with you. This is the difference maker in the work for today. In the work of today we dont compare it to the past to determine its worth and its use. Our expectation of the work of today is shaped by the presence of God. Is He with us - then the work continues! It is the presence of God that strengthens the people, it is the presence of God that is our strength. We cannot be strong in our own strength. Like many others we face tasks that are impossible by normal means. We may not be like Joshua, David, Solomon or Moses - we are not the heroes our forefathers were. We can be strong and equal to the tasks because God is with us, we are weak but He is strong.
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Neither God nor Haggai exhorts anyone to be strong in themselves and continue the work in their own strength. God says do it because I am present with you and my Spirit is among you so do not fear. When we are discouraged or tempted to give up, God is with us and His Spirit dwells in us. Three clear commands to accomplishing God’s work; be strong, WORK, and do not fear. Great things are only accomplished with these actions coupled with the presence of the LORD. It is God’s abiding presence not previous achievements or glory or any acts on our part that should shape our expectations. Zechariah - Haggai’s contemporary - emphasizes trusting the Holy Spirit for enablement to do God’s will.
6 So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of Armies.
God continues in His message through Haggai helping the people to reshape their expectations for tomorrow or the future as well. The LORD of Armies says “Once more in a little while” This is not a chronological immediacy but more of an imminent could occur at any time. This is future divine and sovereign promise. Reshape expectations for tomorrow through the promises of God. God says I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come and I will fill this house with glory. The expectation of the glory of the house they are building is not in the building - but in the promise of God to fill it with glory.
Indeed it is a shaking of the nations - the Medes and the Persians who shook Babylon would themselves be shook by the Greeks who would in turn be shaken by the Romans.
Indicative of supernatural intervention
Definitely also pointing to the end when Jesus Christ comes to earth and the sky and earth tremble.
26 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. 27 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. 28 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,
Hold on to that which cannot be shaken tightly
The silver and the gold belong to me the final glory of this house will be greater than the first. A declaration and reminder that the LORD who is sovereign over all also had hold over all including the gold and silver. Trust the LORD who owns every resource to provide what is needed for the work He has commanded - this should also lead us to give generously.
When we really trust God and our expectations for the future are shaped by His promises, we will give generously.
Hudson Taylor, the groundbreaking missionary to the interior regions of China in the second half of the nineteenth century experienced this principle early in his life. As a young man he preached in boarding houses in the poor slums of London. A poor man asked Taylor to come back to his room and pray for his wife who suffered complications from childbirth was near death. The man had no money at all, and couldn’t afford to pay a priest to come and perform last rites. Taylor went to the man’s room and found the heartbreaking situation—several children, the afflicted mother and a threeday-old baby living in absolute filth and squalor, with absolutely no food or money. Taylor knew he had a $20 coin in his pocket that would meet their needs, but it was all the money he had in the world himself. He began to speak to the family about God when the Lord spoke to his own heart: “You hypocrite! Telling these unconverted people about a kind and loving Father in heaven, and not prepared yourself to trust him without your $20.” Taylor wished that he had two $10 pieces, and he would gladly have given them one—but all he had was one $20 coin. He was taken aback, but decided to lead the family in the Lord’s Prayer. As soon as he said the words “Our Father,” the Lord convicted him of his hypocrisy again. He struggled through the prayer under tremendous conviction and then gave the father the $20 piece. That provision saved the life of the mother and rescued the family.
Knowing God provides should make us more generous, instead of less generous (“I don’t have to give to their need, because God will provide for them some other way”).
The final glory of the house will be greater than the first. God never asked them to make the former temple he asked them to build a temple that He would through Himself give glory to.
The glory of this temple was greater indeed - King Herod (Herod the Great) remodeled the temple into something greater than Solomon’s. Also the LORD of glory, the promised Messiah, Jesus personally visited and worshipped there.
In this place I will give peace - shalom — not just stopping conflict but the establishment of a lasting and righteous good.
42 The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look—something greater than Solomon is here.
11 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
The temple and the sacrificial system, therefore, have been replaced by the person Jesus Christ. We no longer offer sacrifices in a physical temple because Christ has become the final sacrifice. The former glory has, thus, been replaced by a greater glory.
And in Christ, peace has been given, as was promised in verse 9. Peace between God and man is found through Jesus our mediator and high priest, and peace with our neighbor is made possible through being made into one body of Christ by the indwelling Spirit.
But while Jesus has certainly fulfilled these verses in some ways, they are also in other ways still to be accomplished. Hebrews 12 cites verse 6 in the context of comparing the giving of the old covenant at Sinai to the new covenant in Jesus Christ. After displaying the superiority of the new over the old, the author gives this warning:
25 See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. 26 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.
27 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. 28 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, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
When God spoke to the Israelites from Sinai, the earth shook, but another shaking will soon come that will shake both the earth and the heavens. The author of Hebrews interprets the phrase yet once more from Haggai to be pointing toward the Day of the LORD, when Christ returns visibly as the King of kings and Lord of lords to consummate the coming of His kingdom for all eternity (Revelation 19:16). After Christ’s appearing, the heavens and earth will pass away, being replaced by a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1). Upon the new earth will be the New Jerusalem, and in that city, there is no temple “for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22). We are also told that the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the city and that it will contain the “glory and the honor of the nations” (Revelation 21:24-26).
This is the ultimate fulfillment of Haggai’s oracle. On that day, God will shake for eternity the nations and take their glory for Himself. On that day, the LORD will fill His house with His glory, and its glory will be greater than all former times because the dwelling place of God will be with men again (Revelation 21:3). On that day, God will give His peace, eternal peace, to His people as we live forever under His loving reign.
Conclusion
Conclusion
But until that day, we wait, and we work as we wait. We strive forward without fear, for we are those who have already read the ending of our story. We devote ourselves to God’s house, to seeking first His kingdom, knowing that in Christ our best days always lay before us, not behind us. Indeed, we are people of hope, a blessed hope in “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14).
Let us, therefore, be zealous to work for our God, and let us not be discouraged into thinking that our labor is in vain or of no use through misshapen expectations, seeing it as nothing in our eyes. Reshape our Expectations through His presence and His promises.
Our God is with us, His Spirit is within us, and in a little while, He will make all things new for we who belong to the kingdom that cannot be shaken. So be strong all you people, fear nothing but God, and work for the LORD of hosts is with you!