GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT TO WHAT YOU WILL BE

Haggai 2:20 - 23

 INTRODUCTION:   

iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple computers and launched in October 2001. Devices in the iPod range are primarily digital audio players, although as of September 2006, iPod video players were also available.  By April of this year, Apple had sold over 100 million iPods worldwide making it the largest-selling digital audio player in history.

 

In the name “iPod”, the “i” stands for the Internet and the “pod” represents a small shell containing multiple seeds, like a peapod.  The reasoning is that people will download several songs, audio books (or even sermons) from the Internet and will store them in the electronic pod that the Apple Corporation invented: the iPod or the “internet pod.” 

Who would have thought, back in the ‘90s, that one day we would be able to put our own private audio collections on electronic devices about the size of a credit card and then listen to our favorite music, books or speakers whenever and wherever we want?  Who would have guessed that we would come to this?

And who would have guessed what Zerubbabel would come to be?  I know; some of you are sitting there saying, “Who in the world is Zerubbabel anyway?” 

Zerubbabel was a man whose circumstance would seem to have disqualified him from doing anything significant for God or for his people.  But God selected Zerubbabel to do something very important for him.

Here’s the message God would have us to hear today: No one is too small to do  something big for God.  Let’s listen for this message in the text of Haggai 2:20-23.

^20 The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ^21 “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth. ^22 I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.   ^23 “‘On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

The first truth I want to point out from Haggai 2:20-23 is the principle of little “i”, big “God”.

I.                    iGod (2:20a) (little “i” big “God”)

One of President Theodore Roosevelt’s friends recalls how he kept his perspective.  “After an evening of high-level meetings with world leaders, we would go out on the lawn and search the skies until we found the faint spot of light-mist beyond the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus.  Then, one or the other of us would recite, ‘That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda.  It is as large as our Milky Way.  It is one of a hundred million galaxies.  It consists of one billion suns, each larger than our sun.’  Then Roosevelt would grin and say, ‘Now I think we are small enough!  Let’s go to bed.’”

 

It is a good thing for us to keep a sense of our smallness.  It is true that no matter how small we are we are not insignificant to God but we must remember that we are small and God is great.  Little “i” big “God”. 

 

Sometimes we get that wrong.  We think we are pretty important and that God is really fortunate to have us.  Many years ago, in my very first ministry, I called on an elderly woman who had attended church for years but who had never been immersed.  I asked for permission to talk with her about the necessity for baptism by immersion.  She smiled sweetly and said, “Every minister and evangelist we’ve ever had has talked with me about being baptized.  But you go ahead; maybe you’ll be lucky.”  I just about choked.  God gave His only begotten son to die for her; Jesus, an innocent man, was executed in her place; messengers of the good news had come to her repeatedly to tell her what had been done for her and she has the audacity to respond, “Maybe YOU’LL be lucky”?!?!?  God has granted her unmerited favor; she is the one who is lucky or blessed or privileged.  But she acted like she thought she would be doing me a favor if she were baptized.  She acted like she thought she might be doing God a favor if she accepted Jesus as her Savior.  Now that is a person with an “I” problem.

But she is not alone.  Too many people think like she does.  Before God can use us, we need to be humble enough for Him to use us. 

 

Little “i” but big “God”.  Just look at all the things God tells Haggai that He is going to do:  He is going to shake the heavens and the earth.  He is going to overturn royal thrones and shatter foreign kingdoms.  He is going to defeat armies.  God can do that.  God said he was literally going to turn the world upside down to achieve His will.  And you had better believe this: God can do it because He is a big and mighty God.

 

The second truth I want to point out from our text is the principle of the little “i”, big “Plan”.

II.                  iPlan (2:20b-22) (little “i” big “Plan”)

Although we are all little in the vast panoply of space, we are not insignificant in the grand scheme of God.

 

In essence, God had Haggai tell Zerubbabel, “I have plans for this world: I am going to shake it up; I am going to turn it over and I’m going to add a twist.  Zerubbabel, you see yourself as a little “i” but I have a big plan that includes you.  And no one is too small to do something big for me.”

 

Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin, who was the king of Judah when the Babylonians invaded and took control of the nation in 597 BC.  Jehoiachin, along with his household, many of the rulers of Judah, and many craftsmen, were exiled to Babylon and imprisoned by Nebuchadnezzar II.

 

One might have thought that the defeated king and his kin would have been put to death by the Babylonians.  This would not have been unusual in that day.  But Jehoiachin was treated with a certain amount of respect and dignity by the Babylonians.

 

Jehoiachin’s son, Shealtiel, was taken from Judah and held captive in Babylon, too.  While in Babylon, Shealtiel married and had a son.  He named the boy Zerubbabel, meaning “son of Babylon” or “the one sown in Babylon”.

 

Eventually, the Babylonian King appointed Zerubbabel to be governor of the province of Judah and then, in 537 BC, he led 42,360 captives back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city.

 

Now if God could use the foreign-born grandson of a deposed Jewish king to do something great for Him, who knows what God may have in mind for you?

 

God has a big plan and He has a part for you to play in it.  I do not know sure what His plan for you is but I know mine.  As someone else has said, “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who will save anybody.”

 

This world is not what it ought to be.  Wrong is often rewarded while right is ridiculed.  Good people are ignored and evil people become celebrities.  Christianity is discriminated against while every other religion is given favorable treatment.  You could say the world is upside down but I can say that God is going to shake it up, turn it over and make it right side up again.  Are you willing to partner with Him in His plan?

 

Zerubbabel was a little “i” in the big plan of God.  I want to ask you to be the same.

 

The third truth I want to point out from our text is the principle of the little “I’ and the big “Part”.

III.                iPart (2:23) (little “i” big “Part”)

God has a big plan and you can have a big part in it.

 

How many of you have a class ring?  A class ring represents the school that you attended and the graduating class of which you were a part.

 

The tradition of class rings, now nearly universal among high schools and colleges, dates back to 1835 and the graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

 

Some class rings are quite unusual.  St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia uses what has become known as the “X-ring”.  The dominating feature of the ring is the bold “X”, which is the first letter in the name Xavier.

 

When colleges and universities first began to give class rings, it was an acknowledgement that the graduate who wore the ring represented the school where he was educated.  The class ring was an extension of the ancient signet ring.

 

Historically, only a nobleman owned a signet ring and typically, it was used to impress clay or a wax seal to denote the authority and identity of its owner. 

 

To symbolize that heritage, the class ring at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA is still designed with the crest or emblem reversed so that if it were pressed into clay or wax, it would leave a readable imprint. 

 

Haggai 2:23 says that God chose Judah’s governor, Zerubbabel to be His signet ring.  That is, Zerubbabel was to be the symbol of God’s authority in Israel.  Zerubbabel was to be God’s representative among the people.

 

That, in and of itself, is pretty interesting.  But listen to this.  This is what the prophet Jeremiah wrote over seventy years earlier.  He wrote it about Zerubbabel’s grandfather, King Jehoiachin.

¹ This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: ^2 ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. ^3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. ^4 For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. ^5 But if you do not obey these commands, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”  

 

^24 “As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. ^25 I will hand you over to those who seek your life, those you fear—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Babylonians.

(Jeremiah 22:1-5 and verses 24-25)

 

Do you see what happened?  God told the wicked king, Jehoiachin, that he was going to be removed from his position as God’s representative just as someone might remove a signet ring.  Now, seventy years later, God was putting on a signet ring again…and this time Zerubbabel is God’s signet ring.

 

If you are a Christian, you wear Christ’s name and that makes you God’s signet.  God’s identity rests on you and His power rests in you.  He uses people just like you to accomplish His work in His world.

CONCLUSION:           

Ephesians 1:13 says

^13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ^14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

God has given us His Holy Spirit as a seal or signet as a deposit guaranteeing the reward that we will receive in full one day.  We do not have God’s seal just to make us feel reassured, though.  We have His seal (or signet) so that we can represent Him.  I love the way the apostle Paul put it in II Corinthians 5:17-20.

^{ 18} All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ^19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ^20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Think of it: just as you are, you have an important part to play in God’s big plan to restore His relationship with all people.  So, Mister Ambassador or Madam Ambassador, do your duty and represent your Lord.  Let Him make His appeal through you, urging people to be reconciled to God. 

INVITATION:                        # 159 – “Where He Leads Me I Will Follow”

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