No Rearview Gazing- 8-23-20

 

“No Rear View Gazing” Haggai 2:1-9;   8/3020 LMPC  bt Dr. J. Ben Sloan

I heard someone say the other day that it is important during this pandemic to have a windshield mentality.  That it is important to not have a rear view mirror mentality.  Rear view mirrors are so much smaller than windshields.  We don’t back up nearly as much as we move forward.  It is actually safer to move forward than to back up.  While 99% of the use of a car is moving forward, even with rear view cameras, 25% of the accidents today involve backing up.  In our day, it is tempting to think about how things used to be pre-pandemic and wish for those good old days.  It is important to remember lessons, it is important to not forget who you are and whose you are, but we do not go backward in life.  God calls us to sing a new song, to dare new adventures, to face new challenges with faith and grace. 
     In our passage today Haggai was trying to encourage the people who remembered the good old days before the exile and how big the Temple used to be and how great the nation was.  They were thinking about the former glory. -
    Now I am talking about oldie goldies- but there is a great song that Bruce Springstein wrote sang in the movie “Cars” called, “Glory Days.”  He talks about a friend who was a big baseball player in high school-  now that he is older that is all he keeps talking about;  and a girl who could turn all the boys heads when she was younger and all she keeps thinking about are glory days- they’ll pass you by in the wink of a young girl’s eye[BS1] .    
    So what about it?  How do you go forward when your past glory was so much better?  That is what Hosea is talking about here, and it is a lesson we need to learn in our day. 
I. NOW BE STRONG- He is encouraging not to reminisce in weakness, but to be strong.  Three times here he tells them to be strong.  Joshua was told by God to be strong right before he was to enter the promised land for the first time to start building.  David told his son Solomon three times to be strong three times right before he died.  Now Haggai tells these people three times- to be strong and do the work.  So I would tell you to “be strong in your faith- be strong in the Lord.”  How do you know if you are not being strong?  One sign is your temper.  If you are taking your meanness out on strangers, then something is wrong.  Last Friday a US Census taker came up to me wanting to ask a few questions.  It took about 4 minutes.  She told me, “Thank you.  The last four people were so rude.  They told me to expect rudeness these days during the pandemic.”  I really felt sorry for her.  But be strong and do the work God has called you to do, even when people are rude to you, or are stressed out.  If you are nice to people now, if you are kind and turn the other cheek it really stands out. 
I believe the world is looking to see who is strong right now, and what is strengthening them.  Be strong in the Lord and do what He calls you to do.  You are a missionary.  David Livingston was a very smart but intelligent man.  He came back to Scotland to speak at a college and some of the skeptical students came to harass him and brought noise makers.  But when he started speaking they saw he was small, thin.  His right shoulder and arm were limp from a lion attack.  He had numerous diseases malaria and yellow fever.  Livingston not only spread the gospel, he also sought to abolish the slave trade in Africa.  His wife died on a journey.  The crowd hushed when they saw this great man of God.  He was not rich, not tall and strong, but God used Him because he refused to give into his fears and he refused to not answer God’s call on his life. 
You have a call of God on your life too.  It may be teaching, it may be working in a grocery store, but your vocation is your call upon your life- to glorify God. 
II. REMEMBER WHOSE YOU ARE- We have a covenant with God.  He has His name and His eye on us.  Haggai was telling them that they are God’s people.  Do you know you are a child of God?  This means there is a relationship between Him and you- He is your Father- you are His child.  The New Testament speaks of the covenant as we are adopted by Him.  We are His and He is ours.  In our passage it says, “Be strong and work for I am with you declares the Lord.”  God is with us.  We are not alone in this universe.  We are not even just in the same boat with everyone else.  God is in the boat with us. 
Because God is in the boat with us- the storms are not as powerful as they look. 
Haggai asked 3 questions here: 1) Who remains who saw the old Temple; 2) How do you see it now?  3) Does it seem as nothing to you?  The Lord was naming their questions.  He knew they felt small and insignificant.  He knew that they were a remnant of what they were.  They felt they were insignificant so they retreated into giving up on God’s work and just fixing up their own homes.  God knew that they felt like the faith was about to die with them.  But God was reminding them of whose they were.  They had a covenant with God who made all the gold and silver in the world.  They had a covenant with God who would build up that remnant.  And indeed He has.  I saw on FB an advertisement for a blanket sent to a college student that looked like a postage letter.  It said, “Daughter, whenever you feel overwhelmed remember whose daughter you are and straighten your crown.  Always remember you are braver than you think, stronger than you seem, and more loved than you know.  Wrap yourself up in this and consider it a big hug.” Love your Mom.  Well mothers cannot be with their children in college, but God can.  And if you are in college listening to this- make it your first priority to seek God first on campus- and be a light for Him. All of us should remember whose you are. 
III. THE HOPE OF FUTURE GLORY AND PEACE- Haggai says the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.  How? Here it was the hope of the Messiah’s coming.  Jesus came to the Temple and so the glory of the smaller Temple is better  We have a hope that one day we will come to Christ or He will come to us- and His glory will be ours; His peace will be our peace.   He died on the Temple mount to bring us atonement/peace with God.  Our greatest days are not behind us- in Christ, our greatest days are ahead of us.  I have been tempted to think- we are a remnant and we will die.  Many false prophets have said the church will die out.  Our denomination is bleeding members.  But God does not care about denominations He cares about people who have faith in Him.  I miss the great leaders.  The great missionaries, great preachers like Billy Graham.  But our glory may fade, but God’s glory will always rise up again.  We do not exist to win politically, or get certain laws passed- faith is not about some minister glorifying himself or herself.  The church exists solely for the glory of God.  And it will rise again.  The first question of the catechism says, “What is the main purpose of human beings?  The answer is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  We do not exist for our insignificant glory, but for God’s glory. 
     The people of that day were small in number.  Maybe a tenth of what they used to be at their height.  They felt that the faith was going to die with them.  They felt what they did was insignificant.  They were tempted just to live comfortably in their own homes and forget the worship of God.  Their two dangers were apathy about God and fear of their enemies.  But Haggai was reminding them the Messiah would come through them and that all the nations would be changed- and even that the Gospel and faith and their story would go to the ends of the earth.  It has.  Christ came through that faithful remnant.  His Gospel has gone to every nation on the earth and over a billion people profess faith in Christ.  Zechariah told these same people “It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord…You will move this mountain of rubble and turn it into a Temple.”  Do not think, when you do something for the glory of God it is meaningless or insignificant.  If you are living you life for selfishness it is insignificant.  But if you are living out of love for God and neighbor- following Jesus there is a way forward.  There is a windshield mentality to be had.   

Haggai 2:1-9 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.  ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

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Freedom of Religion and the Burning of Bibles

More Christians have died in the last 70 years (one lifetime) than all the other centuries put together.  The beheading of Christians in Nigeria happened just last week.  
In Communist China millions of Christians have been arrested since the revolution.  Some have estimated that up to 50 million have been "purged" or killed in the name of preserving the ideals of the Chinese communist state.  The crackdown on the Hong Kong protesters is but another example of the communists taking away freedom of religion.   It was only a few months ago that the protesters in Hong Kong all held crosses up- even those who did not believe- as a symbol of their protests.  This year the Chinese have been famous for cutting off the crosses on top of historic churches.  
Now switch to what is happening in the United States.  The protests over police brutality and racism have degenerated into simple rebellion against all authority but their own ideology.  So Bibles were burned in Portland in front of the federal courthouse with scant attention by the media.  So St. John's Episcopal Church (near the White House) was burned.  Instead of focusing on the church's burning, the media focused on Trump's walking there and moving protesters out of the way.  But why did they burn the church?  Then a synagogue in Los Angeles was burned.  Then four Catholic Church owned buildings in a single weekend were attacked.  Now Bibles are burned in Portland.  One survey says that 67% of Americans think religious freedom is not very important.  We forget that the Pilgrims and Puritans in New England moved here for religious freedom.  The Huguenots in New York and South Carolina, the Baptists in the Carolinas left their homes behind to find religious freedom in the new land.  It is out of religious freedom that freedom of speech (including the freedom to protest) came.  Even the Methodist Wesleys, Whitfield, and Asburys had more freedom to preach in America.  

This degrading of religion is how communist totalitarianism works.  The Bible has always been attacked by the Stalins, Maos, Kims, Pol Pots and Castros who saw the Bible and belief in God as a threat to their control.  It is no accident that the downfall of the Eastern communist regimes started as a religious revival in Poland and Romania.  This is not just a republican-democrat issue.  It is not just a racial issue.  George Floyd was a member of a Christian church.  It seems Antifa's agenda has a louder voice than Black Lives Matter.  There is a great editorial in Newsweek on this pointing out German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine's quote 200 years ago, "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." 
The Christian response to such things is to pray for those who persecute them (Luke 6:28).  It is time to pray.  Pray for the fire of revival in this land to extinguish the flames of persecution.

Prayer: Lord, may your Spirit bring revival on our land that we might honor you. 

Portland Bible burning in front of US Courthouse. 

 

Sermon from 8-2-20 "A Purpose in Stopping"

8-2-20  Ezra 4:1-5,23  1 Peter 1:6,7  “Finding a Purpose in Stopping” 
Preached at Lake Murray Presbyterian Church by Dr. J. Ben Sloan

We have been noting that the exile of Israel has many similarities to our own time of isolation today. Last week we talked about one thing that God is doing I this pandemic is pausing or even stopping us.  Today we will read about the people of God being opposed,  being afraid, and the work on the Temple beginning to stop.  It wasn’t long after this that it did indeed stop because of the opposition against it by the enemies of God’s people.  So what do you do when your dreams stop?  What do you do when you reach a dead end?  What do you do when you want to move forward but feel that you cannot.   I think many people are in that situation now.  [READ SCRIPTURE]

When your computer freezes you can restart it, or you can shut it down and turn it back on (a “hard” restart).  On Apple devices you can restart or reset.  I believe we are in the midst of a reset or a “hard restart.”  This is not a blip. 
 In many ways we have stopped.  5 days a week school is stopped; making plans into future stopped; assuming health- stopped;  Carolina-Clemson football stopped.  Some of our hopes and dreams are stopped.  The people came back to do a good thing- build the Tempe and the city all that work was stopped because of opposition.  God has plans for us- and sometimes it may seem cruel to stop.  But let me challenge you that sometimes God wants us to stop.  Stopping in and of itself is not necessarily bad. 
   1) HE STOPS US SO WE MAY APPRECIATE- We say, “Stop and smell the roses.”  “Stop and count your blessings.” We are called to stop and appreciate/worship Him.  Before the pandemic many were telling me they didn’t have time to worship they had to go here, or there or do this or that.   Now God is allowing us the opportunity to worship and appreciate Him.  
God told Abraham to stop and look up at the stars that he would have more descendants than them.
Jesus said to those who were worried about life- to stop and look at the birds of the air and to stop and look at the lilies of the field.  Haggai, writing to these exiles who had stopped wrote several times to them, “Stop and consider your ways.” 
Today we will have communion.  Jesus told his disciples to stop and remember Him in communion. 
2) HE STOPS US SO WE CAN TRUST IN HIM- Part of having faith is not having immediate gratification of everything.  To learn to wait is a matter of trust, hope, and love that is caused by faith.  So when I say to the family- the steaks are cooking on the grill.  They may have to wait but they also know something is in the works.  When the doctor says you have to have heart surgery, or you have cancer, or you have covid-19, it is a hard stop. 
     Waiting for God to do something is an act fo faith.  The old language was “waiting for God to move.”  When you are waiting you can wait with hope or you can wait with doubt.  You can wait with faith or you can wait with worry.  How do you wait on things.  Frankly, waiting is not my strength, but faith helps me to wait.  One of the great books on doubt is the existentialist book “Huis Clos”- which means no exit.  His theory is that we are like stuck in the waiting room for a doctor who will never come.  I do not like waiting rooms- the name is not even appealing.  But every time I have an appointment the doctor comes though I may wait what seems like a long time.  In the end there is not only a being who meets with you, but He cares for you and can heal you if you will let Him.  The Bible says this about waiting- “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength- they shall mount up with wings like eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary- they shall walk and not faint.”  It tells me that when we wait we don’t just get worry and frustration- but we can get renewed strength- to mount over our problems. 
3) HE STOPS US SO OUR FAITH MAY GROW- When we are stopped it is often called a “test” in the Bible. So Jesus stopped for 40 days in the wilderness to face His temptation (tests) and pray.  The people of Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert.  They were stopped from entering the Promised Land because they were afraid (10 of the spies said there were giants, standing armies, and walled cities in the way).  But in that 40 year period of waiting they ate manna from heaven each single day to learn to trust God.  This week there was some work being done on Wessinger Road.  The first time I encountered it I was in a hurray, and there was a lot of starting and stopping. But in the end the work will get done and the road will be improved.  Abraham had to wait until he was 100 to have a child.  Paul, after his conversion studied for three years so he would know what to say.  Each stop was an opportunity to grow, to trust, to know that God would see us through.    There have been many times when the good has been opposed.  We should expect it.  I Peter 1:6,7- says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  IN other words- when you are opposed, it is an opportunity to grow.  C.S. Lewis said, “Disappointment is His appointment.”   
Now if you don’t have faith- you may think there is no one stopping anything.  You may think it is all an accident- a chaotic and tragic one, but nevertheless an accident.  I challenge you to see a purpose even in sad even tragic things that happen in life.  I read from one of our members this reminder- “Those who inspire others see an invisible bridge at a dead end street.”
The cross is not a dead end.  This life is not.  This pandemic is not.  In Christ, with the eyes of faith- you can get a glimpse of that invisible bridge at the end of the dead end street.”     The word “Sabbath” means to stop.  We actually need to put some stops- some rests in our schedule.  Music that doesn’t have rests becomes restless and even boring.  Taking a breath adds beauty and appreciation to life.  This can even happen when those who are opposing you, or when there is a pandemic or something that is stopping you from doing what you want to do. 
Communion is a way to stop and remember.  To remember and appreciate his body and his blood given for us. 

Sabbath and the Coronavirus

Leviticus 26:33‘You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34‘Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35‘All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.

(2 Chron. 36:21) To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.

Thoughts: We have gone so far from the idea of Sabbath that many young and middle-aged people have no idea what it is.  To God it was serious because it 1) marked God's people- it was part of the covenant with Moses to have one societal day of rest in seven; 2) It enabled the people to trust in God for their work.  So the people did not collect manna on the Sabbath and still survived.  3) Keeping a day of rest meant they were free- and it was a reminder that when they were slaves in Egypt they could not keep a day of rest.  4) It is a health blessing to rest.  Many studies have been made to affirm that if we rest on a regular basis it can give us more energy and production than if we just worked through.  5) It ensured a focus of worship of the Lord.   
    The people of God in the Bible did not keep the Sabbath.  Leviticus (26:33-35) had warned that they would be exiled if they did not keep it.  Then they were exiled- for 70 years.  2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah affirmed that breaking the Sabbath (along with idolatry, child-sacrifice, ritual prostitution) were the reasons God put them in exile and then remarkably brought them back.  
    In our day, we neglect the day of rest and the worship of God.  As God put a stop to Israel's headlong plunge away from Him so He can do it again.  One thing we should learn as we are isolated and our work has slowed from the best ever rates of production and unemployment to one of the worst drops ever, is the need to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.  Taking time for God and for neighbor are not things to be neglected.  It is obvious that some see worship as simply non-essential entertainment.  But God sees worship as the most important thing you can do.  Let us not only keep the Sabbath- but enjoy the day and find joy in the Lord who gives us true rest.  

Prayer: Lord, help me to put you first and to give you my time- for all of my time is a gift from you.