GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT TO WHAT YOU SEE

Haggai 1:12 - 2:9

 INTRODUCTION:   

How long has it been since you have had your vision checked?  Well, it must be about time because we are going to do a vision check today.  Listen to the word of Haggai 1:12 – 2:9 and see what it says about vision.

^12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

^13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. ^14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, ^15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

2     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 Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ^3 ‘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? ^4 But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, 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. ^5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

^6 “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. ^7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ^8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ^9 ‘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.”

One of the benefits of Sandy’s recent surgery is that she has feeling in her left foot again: for the first time in 2 ½ years!  With that, she no longer has to look at her foot when she walks to make sure it is on the ground.  But she still suffers from the bad habit of forgetting to look up.  I nag her but she still forgets to look up.  Perhaps she is not alone.

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem following their exile in Babylon, they were not careful to look where they ought to be looking.  So God sent them His message through His servant, Haggai, to tell them to look up and give careful thought to what they see.

Haggai’s message still rings true today.  Look up and give careful thought to what you see.

I.    LOOK TO THE WORD (1:12)

^12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

The priest and the people obeyed the word of the Lord.  Do we, who have easy access to God’s Word, pay as much attention to it?

 

Think of it, the very words of the Creator and Sovereign of the universe have been recorded and made available to us!  That He would wish to communicate with us is a marvel.  That we would fail to read His Word is a mystery.  Particularly when it cost some so dearly to bring God’s Word into our language.

 

The first English language Bible manuscripts were hand-written in the 1380's by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian.  With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures.  They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe.  Wycliffe was persecuted and harassed throughout his life.  The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

 

One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible with execution.  For his convictions, Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire.

 

William Tyndale was the captain of the army of Reformers, and was their spiritual leader.  Tyndale holds the distinction of being the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language (using Guttenberg’s moveable type printing press).  Tyndale was a true scholar and a genius, so fluent in eight languages that it was said one would think any one of them to be his native tongue.  Because he dared to print the Bible in English, Tyndale was arrested and was imprisoned in the castle of Vilvoorden for over 500 days in truly horrible conditions.  He was tried for heresy and treason in a ridiculously unfair trial, and convicted.  Tyndale was then strangled and burnt at the stake in the prison yard, October 6, 1536.  His last words were, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes."

 

Lord, open America’s eyes!  Cause us to give careful thought to what we see and in particular to look to the Word.

 

These Jews, in the time of Haggai, obeyed the voice of the Lord and the message of the prophet.  The text informs us that they did this because they recognized that the Lord had sent the prophet and because they feared the Lord (that is, they respected the Lord).

 

If you respect the Lord and recognize this to be His Word, you will be careful to look to the Word. 

II.    LOOK TO THE LORD (1:13-15)

The people of Haggai’s day were to be careful to look to the Word.  And they were to be careful to look to the Lord.  Listen to verses 13 – 15 of chapter 1.

^13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. ^14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, ^15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

What a promise: “’I am with you,’ declares the Lord” (1:13b). 

 

An awareness of the presence of God with them stirred their civil leader, their religious leader and all the people to do what God had called them to do.  They undertook a monumental building project that was beyond their means because they knew it was not beyond God’s.

 

Let me ask you, what could we, as a church, undertake if we KNEW God was with us and that He was in that work?  What opportunities are there that we would undertake if we knew for sure that God was with us and that He was in that work?  Might we initiate some outreach ministries so we can tell unbelievers about Jesus Christ?  Are there some benevolent ministries we might undertake, giving cups of cold water in Jesus’ name and doing unto the least of these, if we knew God was with us in that work?  Are there other initiatives we wish we could undertake but we are paralyzed by fear of failure or because we don’t think we have the resources to accomplish them? 

What about our upcoming revival from October 14 - 17?  Would we approach it any differently if we knew God was with us?  Would we plan our schedule around the revival if we knew God was going to be in those meetings?  Would we be praying now for Robby King, the preacher, and the Evangelaires, the musicians?  Would the revival just be an annual tradition or would it be a real evangelistic outreach and a genuine revival of the church if we knew, for certain, that God was with us and that He was in this work?

 

If we believe we are doing God’s will, we can count on His presence as we do the work He has called us to do.  Look to the Lord.

 

What would you want me, as your minister, to undertake if you KNEW God was with me and that He was in that work? 

 

What could you, as a Christian, undertake if you KNEW God was with you and that He was in that work? 

 

Any time God’s people undertake a significant work, they ought to be reminded to look to the Lord, Who is with them.

III.    LOOK TO THE REWARD (2:1-9)

^3 ‘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?

 

^6 “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. ^7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ^8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ^9 ‘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.”

With reference to the temple in Jerusalem, God asked the people who remember its former glory, “How does it look to you now?”  And then He gave them a vision of the glory that will be: greater than ever before. 

Seventy years before, the Jewish nation had been dragged into exile because of their sin and disobedience. God had caused a mighty nation to come down and carry Judah into captivity, destroying Jerusalem and their beloved Temple.

 

Now, 70 years later (in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel) they’ve returned home. But their homecoming is a bittersweet experience. They return to a city that still lies in ruins and temple that’s barely stone upon stone. Now it’s their job is to rebuild and restore what has been destroyed.

 

So they set to work. And they rebuilt the city walls. And they began to rebuild the temple.

 

But there was a problem. They weren’t wealthy enough to build a temple equal to the old one, and they knew it.

 

The original temple was built at the height of Solomon’s glory. It had taken 183,000 laborers 7 years to build this temple. It was built using the resources King David had set aside for its construction… but it was also financed by taxes imposed by King Solomon during his reign. Solomon also taxed the people of Israel so heavily that this burden served as one of the causes of the split of Israel into two nations after he died.

 

If I’ve done my math right, it seems that Solomon’s temple was constructed using over 663,000 lbs of silver and somewhere around 567,000 lbs of gold. That’s not to mention all the other precious stones, and expensive wood, and other materials used in its construction.

 

Now I don’t care who you are… that’s a lot of money to be wrapped up in a single building.

 

The Jews who returned from exile weren’t nearly wealthy enough to invest that kind of money and resources into the rebuilding effort. And so the Temple they have managed to build is fairly inferior compared the one of Solomon’s day. It was functional… but it was no where near as extravagant as the 1st temple.

 

Ezra tells us that when some of the Jews stood before what they’d built, they were discouraged:

“…many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid…” Ezra 3:12a

 

They were frustrated and they were despondent but God energized and mobilized them with the assurance that all the silver and gold in all the earth belongs to Him.  And when the time is right, God will send the one He calls “the desired of all nations” and at that time, the earth will be shaken, the wealth of the earth will be released and God, Himself, will fill this current temple with glory that exceeds the grandeur of the former temple.  Don’t you believe that inspired the people in their work?

 

I believe that God’s people are still inspired by the vision of the glory that awaits.  That is why we sing songs about heaven.  Look to the Word; look to the Lord and look to the reward that awaits the faithful child of God.

CONCLUSION:

I’m no golfer but they tell me that I am apt to hit the ball wherever my focus is.  If I am worried about a sand trap and look at that when I swing, that is probably where my ball will go.  If I concentrate on the pond I want to avoid, in all likelihood, my ball will get baptized.  In life, be very careful about what you see because that will affect (perhaps even effect), your destiny.

INVITATION:                        #344 – “The Heavenly Vision”

 Back to Sermons