“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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