1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,760 Good morning Port city. Today we will be reading out of 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,280 Haggai. So if you have your Bibles, 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:11,600 we'll be reading Haggai one and two. 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:17,680 If not, you have there's a Bible on your chair and it's page 743. 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:27,710 I believe this is the word of the Lord in the second year of 6 00:00:27,710 --> 00:00:29,590 Darius the King. In the sixth month. 7 00:00:29,590 --> 00:00:32,640 On the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the 8 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,960 hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Sheathel, 9 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:41,480 governor of Judah, and to Joshua, Joshua the son of 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:48,000 Jokhizadeh the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts. 11 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,680 These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the 12 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,160 House of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came 13 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:56,640 by the hand of Haggai the prophet. 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,320 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,080 houses, while the house lies in ruins? 16 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,120 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. 17 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:13,960 You have sown much and harvested little. 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,240 You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your 19 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,720 fill. You clothe yourself, but no one 20 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,920 is warm. And he who earns wages does so 21 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,080 to put them into a bag with holes. 22 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,240 Thus says the Lord your, the Lord of Hosts, consider your 23 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,200 ways, Go up to the hills and bring wood, and build the house 24 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,600 that I make, that I might take pleasure in it, and I might be 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,400 glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, 26 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,000 it came to little, and when you'd brought it home I blew it 27 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,720 away. Why, declares the Lord of Hosts, 28 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,200 because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies 29 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,760 himself with his own house? Therefore the heavens above have 30 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,400 withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produced. 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,760 And I've called for a drought on the land and the hills, and the 32 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:09,400 grain, the new wine on the oil, on what the ground brings forth 33 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:11,920 on man and beast and all their laborers. 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,440 Then Zurubbabel son of Sheathel, and Joshua the son of Jokhizadek 35 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,960 the high priest, and all the remnant of the people obeyed the 36 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,880 voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, 37 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,840 as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the 38 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,080 Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,080 the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. 40 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,520 I am with you, declares the Lord. 41 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,960 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zurubbabbel the son of 42 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,480 Sheathel, governor of Judah, and Joshua the son of Jochizadek the 43 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,760 high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. 44 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,720 They came and worked on the House of the Lord of Hosts, 45 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,800 their God, on the 24th day of the month, in the sixth month of 46 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,080 the second year of Darius the king, in the seventh month, on 47 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,160 the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the 48 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:07,160 hand of Haggai the prophet. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son 49 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,040 of Sheetal, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of 50 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,200 Jochizadek the high priest, and to all the remnant of the 51 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,320 people. And say, who is left among you 52 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,560 who saw this house in its former glory? 53 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,960 How do you see it now? It is, is it, as nothing in your 54 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,200 eyes yet. Be strong, O Zerubbabel, 55 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,920 declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua the son of 56 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:33,480 Trkisodek the high priest, be strong. 57 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,240 All you people in the land, declares the Lord work. 58 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,080 For I am with you, declares the Lord of Hosts. 59 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,000 According to the covenant that I have made with you when you came 60 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,280 out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst. 61 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,720 Fear not for thus, says the Lord of Hosts. 62 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,080 Yet once more, in a little while I will shake the heavens and the 63 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,080 earth and the sea and the dry land. 64 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,640 I will shake all nations, so that the treasure of all nations 65 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,640 shall come in. And I will fill this house with 66 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,280 glory, says the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, the gold is 67 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,440 mine, declares the Lord of Hosts. 68 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:12,880 The latter glory of this health shall be greater than the 69 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,279 former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give 70 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,480 peace, declares the Lord of Hosts. 71 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,200 On the 24th day in the ninth month, in the second year of 72 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,080 Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai. 73 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,920 The prophet. Thus says, the Lord of Hosts 74 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:34,160 asks, ask the priests about the law, If someone carries holy 75 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,760 meat in the fold of his garment, and touches with his fold bread 76 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:42,120 or Stew or wine or oil, or any kind of food, does it become 77 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,000 holy? The priest answered and said no. 78 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,160 Then Haggai said, If someone who is unclean by contact with a 79 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,760 dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? 80 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,600 And the priest answered and said, it does become unclean. 81 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:01,280 Then Haggai answered and said, So is it with the people and 82 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:03,640 with the nation before me, declares the Lord. 83 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,800 And so with every work of their hands, and what they offer here 84 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:11,240 is unclean. Now then, consider from this day 85 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:16,640 onward, before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the 86 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:21,360 Lord, how did you fare when one came to a heap of 20 measures, 87 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:26,320 but there was stem that when one came to a wine VAT to draw 50 88 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,920 measures, there was but twenty. I struck you and all the produce 89 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,280 of your toil with blight, and with mildew, and with hail, Yet 90 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:37,400 you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. 91 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,040 Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth 92 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:45,440 month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple 93 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,560 was laid. Consider, Is it the seed yet in 94 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,400 the barn? Barn indeed the vine, the fig 95 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,640 tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. 96 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,120 But from this day I will bless you. 97 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,480 The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 98 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,360 24th day of the month. Speak to desirable governor of 99 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,080 Judah, saying, I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth 100 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,480 and to overthrown the throne of kingdoms. 101 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,240 I'm about to destroy the strength of kingdoms of the 102 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,120 nations, and overthrow the Chariots and their riders, and 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,160 the horses and their riders shall go down. 104 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,360 Everyone by the sword of his brother on that day, declares 105 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,320 the Lord of Hosts. I will take you, O Zurbable, my 106 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,200 servant, the son of Sheathel, declares the Lord, and make you 107 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:35,200 a signal ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of Hosts. 108 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:46,760 This is the word of God. Here's here. 109 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:48,480 So glad to be with you this morning. 110 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:53,200 Take a swig of water here. It's that time of year. 111 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:58,680 Allergies are among us. You know, I want us to start our 112 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,040 time this morning thinking about something that we've all seen, 113 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,400 or at least we could picture in our minds. 114 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,920 It's there's a monument that most Americans in Washington see 115 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,360 that we've seen it, but we haven't really seen it. 116 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:11,920 You know what I mean? Like, we've, we know what it 117 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:13,240 looks like. We've walked past it. 118 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:14,560 Maybe we even seen pictures of it. 119 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,440 But we have you really taking a look at it. 120 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:18,760 You would notice something about it, but maybe you do. 121 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,280 But think about this. The construction on the 122 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,960 Washington Monument began on July 4th, 1848. 123 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,120 How fitting, right? A celebration attended by 124 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,320 thousands, including a little known congressman named Abraham 125 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,800 Lincoln. And the walls began to rise. 126 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,400 And then in 1854, it stopped. See, funding collapsed. 127 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,200 A political group stole a donated stone for Pope Pius the 128 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,320 9th and threw it into Potomac and seized control of the 129 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,800 project. And so the unfinished shaft 130 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:50,280 stood there, 152 feet tall, capped with a wooden roof, and 131 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,600 sat exposed to the sky for about 25 years. 132 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,680 So much so Mark Twain and his wit said he called it a hollow, 133 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:58,920 oversized chimney. That's what he said. 134 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,520 People walked past it and eventually they just stopped 135 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,000 noticing it. Right. 136 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:09,000 Construction resumed, though, in 1879 and was completed in 1884. 137 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,360 But the original marble quarry, it could no longer supply the 138 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,560 matching stone. Oh, so new marble had to be 139 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:19,880 sourced from a different quarry, so and it so it was slightly 140 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,200 different shade and a slightly different texture to it. 141 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,400 So there's a line written in stone about the third way up 142 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,280 that is still visible to this day. 143 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,280 If you've ever looked at the Washington mommy and said it 144 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,679 looks like there's just a line there that's not your camera. 145 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,280 There is there is a line, all right. 146 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,640 It's a permanent visible record of 25 years of abandonment, 147 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,640 right? It's built into this monument 148 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,720 itself. That's the image I want us to 149 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,440 hold on to this morning, kind of put in front of us to think 150 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:49,000 through. There's something you know 151 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,760 you're supposed to do. And at first not doing it kind 152 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:55,800 of felt wrong. Like we should finish that, 153 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,560 right? There was a friction, a low 154 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:00,720 grade guilt, a sense that something important was still 155 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,560 unfinished. But then life move forward, 156 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:06,600 right? The urgency faded, and at some 157 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,280 point, you can't say exactly when, the thing you were 158 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,800 avoiding stopped feeling like an avoidance, right? 159 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,000 It just became a part of the background of your life. 160 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,080 Like the pile of mail on the counter you stop seeing, right? 161 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,680 Like the phone call you always meant to make but you never did. 162 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:23,760 You got used to it not being done. 163 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,680 This morning we are in a in the Book of Haggai, a tiny, ancient, 164 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:31,920 seemingly obscure book that speaks with extraordinary 165 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,440 position to the exact condition I just described. 166 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,480 Haggai's message moves in really two directions. 167 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,320 The first direction is a diagnosis. 168 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,840 What is actually wrong? Why does the bag keep emptying 169 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:45,640 is what he's going to say and set. 170 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:47,520 And the second one is the response. 171 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,120 What happens when God's people finally hear fear and they obey, 172 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:52,640 Right? So 2 movements. 173 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,680 And at the center of both there's this question that is 174 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:59,440 older than Haggai or Jerusalem itself or the exile. 175 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,160 It's what are you building and for whom? 176 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:07,840 For whom? So the year is 520 BC. 177 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,720 All right. So the Persian king Cyrus issued 178 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,160 A remarkable decree. He kind of, he took over 179 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,200 Babylon. And then he said this. 180 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,640 The Jewish exiles can go home. He sent a lot of people home, 181 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,040 but he sent the Jewish exiles, and 70 years of Babylonian 182 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:26,080 captivity are suddenly over. The people streamed back into 183 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:27,920 Jerusalem. The foundations of the temple 184 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,160 are laid with great fanfare. At the time, some were really 185 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:35,040 elated, others more than they. It lacked the grandeur of the 186 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,640 previous temple, so they wept. So you could hear shouts of 187 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,280 praise and weeping all at the same time. 188 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,800 Then after they laid the foundation of the temple, there 189 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,840 was nothing, nothing years past the foundation sit exposed to 190 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,360 the elements. The people have come home, but 191 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,480 they've stopped building the House of God. 192 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,720 They just stop. Not because they're atheists. 193 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:57,680 They're not. Not because they've abandoned 194 00:10:57,680 --> 00:10:58,720 their religion. They haven't. 195 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,560 But because life got complicated. 196 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,840 There was drought. There was opposition. 197 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,040 There were bills to pay, houses to finish, fields to plant 198 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:08,920 right. They didn't stop loving God. 199 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:13,000 They stopped prioritizing Him. This is the most dangerous form 200 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,240 of spiritual drift. Not dramatic rebellion, but 201 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:19,320 quiet, reasonable, incremental re prioritization. 202 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,200 It's into this moment God sends Haggai. 203 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,360 All right, Haggai looks at what the people are doing and he 204 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,800 names it. And there's three aspects to 205 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,880 what's kind of going on here as we look. 206 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:35,480 There's a delay, a competing comfort and for security and a 207 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:37,560 bag with holes. A bag with holes. 208 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:40,440 So let's look at the delay. Let's look back at verse 2. 209 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,360 It says thus is the Lord of hosts. 210 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,040 These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the 211 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,440 House of the Lord. Now notice the word these 212 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,480 people. God doesn't say my people. 213 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,480 There is a tender but unmistakable distance here on 214 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,520 purpose. He's looking at them the way a 215 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,520 father looks at a child who has drifted away, right? 216 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,560 And notice how they excuse themselves. 217 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:03,920 They say the time has not yet come. 218 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,080 They're not saying we will never build it. 219 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:11,160 They're saying not yet, right? Not now, soon, Just not today, 220 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,520 not today, right? This is not defiant rebellion, 221 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,080 OK? It is the far more common and 222 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,720 far more dangerous sin of indefinite postponement. 223 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,960 There is an astonishing human human capacity to intend 224 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,640 something good forever while actually never doing it right. 225 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,800 Ask yourself honestly, is there a not yet in your life right 226 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,880 now? A discipline you've been meaning 227 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,560 to start? A relationship that needs 228 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,640 reconciliation, A Kingdom committed commitment that you've 229 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,800 been deferring right? Not yet is one of the enemies 230 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,200 most effective tools precisely because it sounds so 231 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:48,280 responsible. It's not. 232 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,440 Am I going to do it? I just haven't got to it yet, 233 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:52,960 right? I could totally relate to this. 234 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:54,320 Honestly, I could totally relate. 235 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,240 By default, I'm more of a procrastinator. 236 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,960 Confession, right? This is one of those areas where 237 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,440 being married to my wife, Caitlin, it just helps me so 238 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:02,480 much. You have no idea. 239 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,200 She is truly God's grace in my life. 240 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,800 And when I see the remnant of Israel, I see myself. 241 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,560 Maybe you do too. See, I was listening to a 242 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,800 podcast this week and it was with a a company founder. 243 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,000 And when asked whether his success was due to hard work or 244 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,280 luck, he actually said this. He said, I think it's a third 245 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,080 thing, just doing it. He says many things go undone 246 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,080 because people simply don't do them. 247 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,720 They just don't do them. And that's what we see here. 248 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,840 There are factors at play for sure, but they just never got 249 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,120 around to it. They just moved on. 250 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,200 So the first aspect is that they are avoiding it. 251 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:40,480 But there is another layer here too. 252 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,080 So that's the delay. This, the next one is the 253 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,280 paneled houses. The paneled houses. 254 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,280 Look back at verse 4. It says it is a time. 255 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,040 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses 256 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,480 while this house lies in ruins? See, the people's homes were 257 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,520 paneled. Now, in the ancient world, cedar 258 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,960 paneling is probably what they used was a luxury, a symbol of 259 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:07,160 success, status and arrival. You paneled your house when you 260 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,120 made it, right? That means you've made it. 261 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,040 The contrast Haggai draws out is devastating. 262 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,120 OK, he's saying, God's house, rubble. 263 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:19,120 Their houses cedar paneled. OK, Now let me be clear though, 264 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,480 there is nothing wrong with having a nice house in in 265 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,280 Norfolk, OK? Whether you're in a renovated 266 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,520 house again, you're in an apartment off of Colley Ave. or 267 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,800 you're just in a new build somewhere in the city, right? 268 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,320 The issue is not the house, OK? The issue is what the house 269 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,800 represents. The issue is the comfort and 270 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,160 security it can become. And the more specifically, the 271 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,760 way that comfort and security quietly and slowly but surely 272 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,000 becomes the organizing principle of an entire life, entire life. 273 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,120 See, comfort and security can become an idol, and it is 274 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,480 perhaps the most socially acceptable idol in the West. 275 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:58,000 OK, see, precisely because it requires no dramatic act of 276 00:14:58,000 --> 00:14:59,720 rebellion. You don't wake up 1 morning and 277 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,480 just say, you know, hey, so now, today, personal comfort and 278 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,320 security is now important, more important than God, you know, 279 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,480 you just don't say that. You simply begin gradually, 280 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,760 reasonably and almost imperceptible, right? 281 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:12,560 You're ranging your life around it. 282 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,960 Your discretionary income flows towards it. 283 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,160 Your Saturday mornings go to it, right? 284 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,840 Your creative energy, your best hours, your sharpest attention, 285 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,600 all of it quietly redirected toward making your personal life 286 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,480 more beautiful, more settled, more secure. 287 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:29,800 Okay. And the Kingdom work. 288 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,680 It gets what's left, right? Which is not much usually. 289 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,840 See, Tim Keller used to say, an idol is anything more important 290 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:40,520 to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and 291 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,960 imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give, to 292 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,960 give you what only God can give, That's an idol. 293 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,520 See, the paneled house is not an idol because it's beautiful, OK? 294 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,760 It's an idol because it's been asked to provide something only 295 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,200 God can actually deliver, OK. The deep, unshakable sense that 296 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,200 you have arrived, that you are secure, that you are home. 297 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,560 See, the people in Haggai's day were not building paneled houses 298 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,160 because they were godless. They weren't. 299 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,000 They were building them because they were exhausted, 300 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,320 discouraged, and looking for something solid to hold on to. 301 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,960 After 70 years of exile, they wanted, and understandably so, 302 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,800 to feel safe, to feel established, to feel like the 303 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,600 chaos was finally behind them. That might be you today. 304 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,920 And so they built their houses. And God's house sat in ruins. 305 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,480 See, the question Haggai puts to us is not whether comfort and 306 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:37,720 security is wrong. The question is whether comfort 307 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,200 and security has become a Kingdom, a thing you were 308 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,440 building your whole life around. So whether you've been in 309 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,040 Norfolk for 20 years or 20 months, the question is the 310 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,520 same. What are you building and for 311 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:51,680 whom? This doesn't mean we necessarily 312 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,360 need to change our Saturday plans. 313 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,240 It doesn't. It just means we need to check 314 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,440 our Saturday heart. What are these things for? 315 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,920 What do I hope to get from them? So there's delay, there's a 316 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,880 comfort and security, but looks like the third aspect. 317 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,680 The third aspect, there's a bag with holes. 318 00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:12,560 A bag with holes. Look back at verse 6. 319 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,800 It says you have planted much but harvested little. 320 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,400 You eat but you you but never have enough. 321 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,960 You drink but never have your fill your wages. 322 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,680 You earn your wages, but you put them in bags with holes. 323 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,760 Now see, God is not describing lazy people. 324 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,160 I need you to see that He's not describing lazy people. 325 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,520 He's describing hard working people getting diminishing 326 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,600 returns. OK, they're putting in the work 327 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,760 and it's not in the the returns are not there. 328 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,400 They're farming, they are harvesting, they are earning, 329 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,000 but nothing is satisfying. The bag keeps emptying. 330 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:50,440 And before we diagnose this as merely misplaced priorities, we 331 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,200 need to ask the deeper question Haggai actually raises. 332 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:57,800 Why is this happening? And this answer stops us cold. 333 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,920 Look at verses 9 through 11. It says when you when you 334 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,640 brought it home, I blew it away. Why? 335 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,840 Because my house lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself 336 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,320 with his own house. Therefore the heavens have 337 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,440 withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce, and I 338 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:21,480 have called for a drought. It was the Lord God was the one 339 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,320 blowing the harvest away. This is not a natural 340 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,680 consequence. This is active, intentional, 341 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:32,960 personal, divine discipline that's difficult to sit with if 342 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,600 you have been taught that God only blesses and never 343 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,720 withholds. But the God of Scripture is a 344 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,280 father, and he's a good father. Who disciplines? 345 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,360 The question is got to always be, what is the discipline for? 346 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,760 What is the discipline for? And to answer that, we need to 347 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,240 understand what actually happened. 348 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,440 OK. When the Exiles returned to 349 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,200 Jerusalem, they were not passive. 350 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,680 Caesar, Rubble and Joshua rebuilt the altar first. 351 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,760 They built an altar. OK, They didn't wait because 352 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,920 without sacrifice, without atonement, they could not stand 353 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,840 before God. And and they secured materials 354 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,960 and they got it done. And in the second year they 355 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,600 broke ground on the temple with singing celebration. 356 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,640 They started the lay, the foundations of the temple 357 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,440 itself. They started and that matters. 358 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,080 They started. This was not a community, a 359 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,960 community that never intended to to not obey, right? 360 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,560 And then the opposition came. See, neighboring peoples first 361 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,360 offered to help and then that turned into hostility when the 362 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,040 offer was refused by Zerubbabel and Joshua. 363 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,880 See they the the their neighbors began to discourage the 364 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:39,960 builders. They hired officials to obstruct 365 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,400 their building and and they wrote letters to the Persian 366 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,440 court, eventually to have the whole project halted legally. 367 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,840 And it worked. The work stopped and they 368 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,880 stopped for 16 years. This isn't I stopped doing this 369 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:57,200 in return to it a year later, 16 years later. 370 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,040 A generation and a half. Long enough for children to grow 371 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,080 up and not knowing the projects had ever begun, right? 372 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,520 Long enough for the unfinished foundation to become just 373 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:07,720 another feature of the landscape, right? 374 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,240 Something you step around when thinking about it anymore. 375 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,720 Covered by kudzu, right? The altar was there, the 376 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:16,520 footings were there, but no temple. 377 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,680 A beginning without a completion, obedience initiated, 378 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,520 then abandoned. Right here's the principle 379 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,720 Haggai is driving at and it's one of the most counterintuitive 380 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,960 truths in the Bible really is opposition is not necessarily 381 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,120 evidence that God doesn't want something built or done. 382 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,160 It may be the very sign that he does right. 383 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,320 See the enemy does not organize resistance against projects that 384 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,840 pose no threat. OK, the ferocity of the 385 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:47,280 opposition was was, if they had eyes to see it, backhanded 386 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,240 confirmation this work was exactly what God had come called 387 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,440 them to. But they read it the wrong way. 388 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,440 They read opposition is closure. And so they stopped and built 389 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,680 their own houses instead. This is too hard. 390 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:00,760 Maybe the Lord doesn't have this for us. 391 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,200 Maybe we're not supposed to do this. 392 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,000 But delayed obedience is still disobedience. 393 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,680 Delayed obedience is still disobedience. 394 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,720 And 16 years of it, of it becomes something 395 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,920 indistinguishable from outright refusal, right? 396 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,440 See, there are those of us in this room who started something 397 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,480 in obedience to God. Maybe it's a ministry. 398 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,920 Maybe it's a hard conversation, a reconciliation, a Kingdom 399 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,680 commitment that that felt clear and right. 400 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,320 And then the resistance came. Not dramatic, just a slow 401 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,320 accumulation of discouragement. It got complicated. 402 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,640 Someone pushed back. The cost was higher than 403 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,000 anticipated. And so you stopped. 404 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,280 Not permanently, You just told yourself. 405 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,640 Just just for now, right? But for now, has lost, has 406 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:47,280 lasted longer than you want to admit. 407 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,160 Then I would want to admit you have an altar, A residual 408 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,440 religious practice, a nominal faith. 409 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:58,240 But the temple is unbuilt. It's like when Northwick 410 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,480 launched the Tide light rail in 2011 with they had genuine civic 411 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,840 assignment, a vision of connect a connected, walkable city that 412 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,760 should could reshape how people lived and moved throughout the 413 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,280 entire Hampton Roads area. And then the resistance came. 414 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,600 Costs were higher than projected, ridership lower than 415 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,960 hoped. Extension stalled, political 416 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,200 will evaporated, and what has was announced as a 417 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,960 transformative vision became a single line running a few miles, 418 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:26,680 a beginning without a completion. 419 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,200 I'm not here to dispute, you know, Norfolk's transit policy. 420 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,560 But I want you to feel the shape of that story. 421 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,520 Because it's the shape. The same shape as Haggai. 422 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,040 A vision, a start. Opposition stalling, an 423 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,640 unfinished thing everyone has learned to step around, if you 424 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,200 will. Is there a vision? 425 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,120 God gave you that with that same shape. 426 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,200 See CS Lewis in The Problem of Pain. 427 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,320 He wrote this. He said we have a strange 428 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,880 illusion that mere time cancels sin, but mere time does nothing 429 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,320 either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. 430 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:03,000 See, 16 years past the foundation sat overgrown, but 431 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,160 the passage of time had not settled the account. 432 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,440 God had not moved on. Time does not close what 433 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,400 disobedience opens. It just doesn't see. 434 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,880 The hole in the bag is not an economic problem. 435 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,880 It wasn't. It's not even primarily A 436 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:17,440 priorities problem. It wasn't. 437 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,600 It is a courage problem, the courage to look at the 438 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,360 opposition, acknowledge it is real and it's hard, and pick up 439 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,000 the stone anyway, right? The the hole was there was put 440 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,920 there by God so that they might remember and that they might 441 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,840 obey, they might turn to Him. See, that's the diagnosis. 442 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:40,680 A polite delay in obedience, comfort and security is a 443 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,880 competing Kingdom in a bag with holes, the fruitless result of 444 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:46,920 misplaced priorities and disobedience. 445 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,640 The Haggai has named it, but the diagnosis is not the 446 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,720 destination. That's not where we're going. 447 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:55,360 How did they respond? What do they do? 448 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,200 Well, let's look. Look at verse 12, chapter 1. 449 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,920 This is the people's response. Zerubbabel and Joshua, with all 450 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,600 the remnant of the people, obeyed the voices of the Lord 451 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,440 their God. And what does it say? 452 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:13,000 And the people feared the Lord, so the text says they feared. 453 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:16,840 Now, in our therapeutic age, fear sounds like a bad emotion, 454 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:18,360 right? Something to overcome in 455 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:20,680 therapy, right? Not, you know, it's not 456 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,080 something you would cultivate and worship. 457 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,120 But the fear of the Lord is not the cringing terror of a slave 458 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,960 before a tyrant, OK. It is the awe of a creature who 459 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,680 has suddenly clearly seen the magnitude of the God before whom 460 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,960 they stand. See, when you truly fear the 461 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,440 Lord, your other fears become manageable. 462 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,680 Dangerous jobs, difficult conversations, uncontrollable 463 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,640 changes. The fear of the Lord doesn't add 464 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,000 to that weight. It doesn't. 465 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,760 It reorders it. It reorders it doesn't take it 466 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,280 away, it reorders it. What can man do to me? 467 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,000 Psalm 118 says when I have seen who God is. 468 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,600 See, Haggai's message gave the people perspective. 469 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,520 They suddenly realized it was the Lord who had been curtailing 470 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,120 their hard work. That's when the shoe dropped. 471 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:10,520 Oh, it was you. It was you who can stay your 472 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,600 hand, who can stop you. See, we were worried about the 473 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,480 political pressure, but the Lord controls all things. 474 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,320 Oh, and by the way, yeah, the reason Cyrus sent them back, 475 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,600 that was Lord, too. It's so easy to get caught up in 476 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,480 circumstances and forget that the Lord is sovereign. 477 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,800 He is. Seeing the Lord and remembering 478 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,000 his character is the key to obedience. 479 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,280 It's the key. See, there needed to be a 480 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,760 reorientation of their situation around the Lord and not apart 481 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,200 from him. OK? 482 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,960 And when that reorientation happened, when they truly saw 483 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,040 who who was speaking, God responded. 484 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,880 Now what? What's said next is short but 485 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,960 profound. So look at look at verse 13. 486 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,000 It says Vin Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to 487 00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,920 the people with the Lord's message. 488 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:06,120 I am with you, declares the Lord. 4 words in English, 3IN 489 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,080 Hebrew. This is God's entire response to 490 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,920 the people's obedience. Not a detailed reward package, 491 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:16,280 not a prosperity guarantee, not a theological trustees, just I 492 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,560 am with you. This is the thing we actually 493 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:24,200 need most and pursue the least. See, we spend our lives chasing 494 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,240 security, significance, and belonging through our careers, 495 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,560 our relationships, and our reputations when the only source 496 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,640 that will not eventually fail us is the presence of God. 497 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,200 I am with you. See, one pastor once said that 498 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,040 the gospel is not that God gives us gifts, it is that God gives 499 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:46,000 us himself. The reward for returning to God 500 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,920 is not health and wealth, the reward is God. 501 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,280 We get God. This was the whole point of the 502 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,640 temple. See, the altar pushed the people 503 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,760 to remember they were sinners in need of a substitute. 504 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,920 But the temple was a physical representation of God's presence 505 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,560 with his people. Before the temple there was a 506 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,600 Tabernacle which was just a God designed tent that the 507 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,960 Israelites took with them when wandering the the wilderness. 508 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,720 The whole conversation isn't about construction, it's about 509 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,560 presence. OK, there is a very real 510 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,560 symbolism going on here. The people are offering 511 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,320 sacrifice without any desire for presence. 512 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,400 The sacrifice is keeps God off their back, so to speak, but 513 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,560 they are not concerned with his presence. 514 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,360 You see, friends and faith, family, the whole point of the 515 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:37,680 sacrifice was God's presence. If there's no temple, there is 516 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,760 no point to the altar, OK? The point isn't sacrifice. 517 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,280 It's not. The point is God's presence with 518 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,600 his people. That's what sacrifice would 519 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,160 bring. If we come to the things of God 520 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,520 just to transact, just to perform some duty, sort of duty 521 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,320 or right to keep God off our backs, we've missed it. 522 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,720 We've missed it. See, the greatest thing the Lord 523 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,400 could have said was, I will be with you. 524 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,080 The greatest words you can hear even now are I am with you. 525 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,040 See this is the gospel. See we need an altar and a 526 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,080 temple. We need someone to die in our 527 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,360 place for our sins, the altar, but we need the very presence of 528 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:17,440 God, we need God see we are image bearers. 529 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,080 We were made for God, we image him. 530 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,280 Life apart from him leaves us incomplete just by design. 531 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,560 Prince, it is through Jesus finished work that you can have 532 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,800 both someone to replace you in a God who will embrace you family 533 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,720 on the other side of the resurrection Jesus he he gives 534 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,360 us our greatest work assignment. He gives us something not to 535 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,640 build a temple. It's not our building project 536 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,400 per SE, but it's go therefore and make disciples of all 537 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:50,240 nations, but he closes with the same four word structure that 538 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,920 Haggai gives us. He says I am with you always to 539 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,360 the ends of the age. If you remember in Matthew 28, 540 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,560 see the altar in the temple, the sacrifice in the presence. 541 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,040 He does not send us out with a task and leave us to figure it 542 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,240 out alone. He sends us out with Himself, 543 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,560 with Himself. This is our hope and this is our 544 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,680 confidence that He is with us. Now notice what happens next. 545 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,280 Look at verses 14 through 15, He says. 546 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,960 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the 547 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,880 spirit of Joshua, and further down, and the spirit of all the 548 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,240 remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the House of 549 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,000 the Lord of hosts. Notice the sequence there. 550 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:38,120 God stirred they then they worked, not the reverse. 551 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,120 This is the grammar of the gospel. 552 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,160 We do not work our way into God's favor and then receive his 553 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:44,880 presence. You don't do that. 554 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,160 We receive his presence. I am with you and that presence 555 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,160 stirs us to work. OK, this is the crucial 556 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,760 distinction between moralistic self improvement versions of 557 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,520 religion and the and the gospel transformed life. 558 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,080 See the moralist says I will rebuild and God will be pleased 559 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,920 with me. The gospel says God has declared 560 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,520 himself for you. Now arise and built. 561 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,160 That's different. See, one is driven by 562 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,000 uncertainty, the other is driven by acceptance. 563 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,080 And only acceptance in the long run has the motivational power 564 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,160 to sustain the work of restoration. 565 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:25,040 You can do it because I am here. But do not let this theological 566 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,000 elegance of that sequence cause you to miss what actually 567 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,680 happened next in the story. OK, they picked up stones. 568 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,880 They carried timber. They measured and cut and fitted 569 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:39,040 and plastered. They showed up in the heat of 570 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,080 the day with tools in their hands and sweat on their backs. 571 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:46,200 The Spirit stirred them, and the Spirit produced calloused hands, 572 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,040 not just warm hearts. Do you see that? 573 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,640 This is not an accident of the text, It's a theology. 574 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:57,440 See, Genesis 215 tells us God placed man in the garden to work 575 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,400 it and keep it. See, work is not a consequence 576 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,400 of the fall. Work is not a punishment. 577 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,360 Work is part of what it means to be made in the image of God. 578 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,240 OK, the first thing we are told about God is that he works. 579 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,600 In the beginning God created that's work. 580 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,160 See, we are sub creators by design, made in his image, 581 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,760 right? We are made to be makers. 582 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,440 We are made to be makers. That's good. 583 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,840 The fall cursed work. But the redemption God is 584 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,120 working out through history is not the elimination of work. 585 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,400 It is the restoration of work. See. 586 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,560 Freed from futility and reconnected to its original 587 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,120 dignity and purpose. It is no coincidence that the 588 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,200 first people in Scripture described as filled with the 589 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,040 Spirit of God. You can check me on that. 590 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,760 We're not prophets or priests. They were Craftsman. 591 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:53,560 It's bezel and oh holyab, I'll try to put the pronunciations in 592 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,240 there, but that's where we got look it up. 593 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,080 Exes 35 And they were filled with the Spirit of God. 594 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,360 And what did that result in? The ability, intelligence and 595 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,600 knowledge and all craftsmanship, Right. 596 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,560 To build the Tabernacle. Interesting. 597 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:10,640 Yeah. The Spirit of God has always 598 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,320 been given for skilled, embodied physical work for the task at 599 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:16,080 hand. Right? 600 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,480 See, the temple was not built by divine actions, not directly, 601 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,960 anyway. It was built stone by stone, by 602 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,160 people whose names we don't even know. 603 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:27,760 Right. See Dorothy Sayers, the British 604 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:29,720 short writer and theologian. She put it plainly. 605 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,280 She said this. The only Christian work is good 606 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,400 work well done. Not work done with the Bible 607 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,640 verse on the wall, although you can do that. 608 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,640 Not work done with a religious motive that excuses poor effort. 609 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:49,240 Good work done well, because the one and whose image we work and 610 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,480 for whose glory we build deserves nothing less. 611 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,640 See, that is the response. They feared the Lord and were 612 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,240 reoriented around who He actually is. 613 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,200 They received his presence, the four words that are both the 614 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,800 Gospels, heartbeat and the Christian life's foundation. 615 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,720 And they arose and worked, not to earn what God had already 616 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,680 declared, but because they had already had it. 617 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,440 See, the Lord stirred, they arose, they worked, and so can 618 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,640 we. But let's bring this all 619 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,760 together. We began this morning with a 620 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,040 question. What are you building it? 621 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,160 For whom, right? Haggai has given us a diagnosis 622 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:26,880 and a response. OK. 623 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,800 The diagnosis is a polite delay, a comfortable idle, and an 624 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,760 abandonment of obedience. All of it adding up to a bag 625 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,640 that had holes, Right. And at the bottom of it all, not 626 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,120 a priorities problem, but a courage problem. 627 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,240 And the response? They heard, they feared, and 628 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,520 they received the four words they actually needed. 629 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,360 I am with you. And then not before, Before, but 630 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,120 after they arose and worked. OK. 631 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,520 This is the shape of the Christian life, not striving 632 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,720 towards presence, but building from it. 633 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,040 Building from it. Remember that line on the that 634 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,480 line on the Washington Monument we talked about, right? 635 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,920 The place where the stone changes shade. 636 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,520 You can go see it even today. The visible mark of 25 years of 637 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,120 abandonment written to the structure itself. 638 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,199 We open this morning with that image. 639 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,960 But I want to close with something we didn't say about it 640 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,080 then. All right, That line is not just 641 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,360 where they stopped. It's actually where they started 642 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,960 again. See, the monument was completed 643 00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:28,280 555 feet tall. You can go see it today, The 644 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,159 tallest structure in the world at the time when it was 645 00:34:30,159 --> 00:34:33,159 finished. The scar is real, but so is the 646 00:34:33,159 --> 00:34:35,520 height. The abandonment was real, but so 647 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,800 was the resumption. In the line that marks the 648 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:41,040 interruption also marks this. The moment someone finally said 649 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,600 enough, we're going to do this. We're going to finish it. 650 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,400 See, there's a line like that somewhere in your life, a place 651 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,320 where the stone changes, where obedience stalled, the work 652 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,040 stopped, and you slowly got used to it not being done. 653 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,960 And CS Lewis was right. Time does not erase it. 654 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,040 It's still there. But here is what Haggai came to 655 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:01,800 say and what Jesus came to complete. 656 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,800 The line does not have to be the last word on the structure. 657 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:08,760 It doesn't now before, because I, I want, I want to say 658 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,640 something important because I'm aware that if you hear a sermon 659 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,360 like this and it's easy to walk away thinking that God is 660 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,480 calling you to do something more spiritual, okay? 661 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,280 To quit your job and go into ministry or to add more 662 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,960 religious activities to your week to separate your, your 663 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,920 faith life from your regular life and your more energy into 664 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:27,680 the religious category of your life, right? 665 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:32,040 But that is not what Haggai say, and it's not what this sermon is 666 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,440 saying either. Remember the two guys from 667 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,160 Exodus? The guys that was filled with 668 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:37,480 the Spirit. The first people in all 669 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,160 scripture described as filled with the Spirit of God. 670 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,000 They were not priests, they were not prophets. 671 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:46,240 They were Craftsman, and the Spirit of God was poured out 672 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:49,240 specifically for carpentry, metal work, and stone cutting. 673 00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:52,560 God has never been interested in a faith that stays inside some 674 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,200 building. OK, All of life is worship. 675 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,440 Paul said it plainly. Whatever you do, work hardly. 676 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,480 As for the Lord and not for men, Colossians 323. 677 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,360 See Romans 12. He calls us to offer our bodies, 678 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,800 our whole selves, our daily work, our Monday mornings, as a 679 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,600 living sacrifice. That, he says, is our spiritual 680 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:16,640 worship, not a supplement to it, not a lesser version of it. 681 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,880 The thing itself. OK, this means that the building 682 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,600 project God is calling you to may not look like the way you 683 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,320 expect, right? It may not require a career 684 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,400 change or a ministry title. It may simply require you to 685 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,440 show up to your job, your family, your neighborhood, with 686 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:37,760 integrity, with the excellence, with love as unto the Lord. 687 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,480 The shipbuilder who welds with precision because he knows God 688 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,480 sees his work. The nurse who stays an extra few 689 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,160 minutes because she knows this patient bears the image of God, 690 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,120 right? The teacher who prepares 691 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,800 thoroughly because she understands that formation 692 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,120 matters to the Kingdom. That is the work, that is the 693 00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:00,040 building, right? But there there is the deeper 694 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,680 thing that Haggai is pressing on even still. 695 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:04,960 And I don't want us to miss it. I don't want us to miss it. 696 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,840 The people of Israel were not simply neglecting a building 697 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,520 project. They were constructing an entire 698 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,240 life without God present in it. See, they had it. 699 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,160 They had the altar, the religious transaction, the 700 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,760 sacrifice, the duty performed. But they did not have the 701 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,160 temple. And without the temple there was 702 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,840 no dwelling place, no presence. They had religion without 703 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:29,680 relationship. They had activity without 704 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,320 communion. They were doing life alongside 705 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,000 God while keeping him at a careful distance. 706 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,560 That is what the ruined temple actually represented, not just 707 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,200 an incomplete construction project, a community that had 708 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,000 learned to function without God in the middle of it. 709 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,160 You see that. And that is the question Haggai 710 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,800 is really asking. Not just why isn't the building 711 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,560 finished yet, but why have you become so comfortable doing a 712 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,480 life without me? Friends, the difference in the 713 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,480 Christian life is not ultimately what it not only what you do, 714 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:04,240 it's about who you do it with. See, there is a version of the 715 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:06,280 Christian life that looks religious on the outside, that 716 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,800 maintains the altar, performs the duties, attends the 717 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:12,440 services, but has quietly learned to operate without the 718 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,760 living presence of God at the center of it. 719 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,400 And there's another version that brings God into the shipyard, 720 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,520 brings God into the classroom, into the difficult conversation, 721 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:26,400 into the ordinary Tuesday that does it's work with him, that 722 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,360 raises the children with him, that makes its decisions with 723 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:36,040 him, that faces its opposition with him. 1 is a life built 724 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,400 around religion and the other is a life built in relationship. 725 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,760 The temple was never about the building it was about. 726 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:48,400 It was about the width right. God dwelling among his people, 727 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,120 God present in the middle of ordinary life. 728 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,240 And that is what Haggai was calling them back to. 729 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,120 Not a construction project, but a communion. 730 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,800 Not just the resumption of religious duty, but the 731 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:04,440 restoration of a life genuinely lived with God in it. 732 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,720 In a few minutes you're going to walk out of this building and 733 00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:11,480 back into Norfolk, back into your work, back into your 734 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,600 neighborhood, your family, your Monday morning. 735 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,760 Every one of you has a building project of some sort. 736 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:20,160 Not necessarily a physical one, but something God has called you 737 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,040 uniquely to. To construct, to fabricate in 738 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,240 this city and in in your life. A relationship, a ministry, a 739 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:30,000 vocation, A reconciliation, a Kingdom commitment that may have 740 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,720 been sitting in the rubble for longer than you care to admit. 741 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,080 Then I would admit unfinished, overgrown, something you have 742 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,080 quietly learned to step around. Haggai's question to you is not 743 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,000 are you busy? You are busy. 744 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,360 The question is not are you working hard? 745 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,800 You are working hard. The question is simply, this is 746 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,920 the house that matters most, still in ruins, while yours is 747 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,240 panelled and settled. That's the question. 748 00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:56,360 And if it is, if there is a foundation somewhere in your 749 00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,000 life that you laid in in obedience and then abandoned 750 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,840 when the opposition came, Haggai's word to you is not 751 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,640 condemnation. It is the same word the Lord 752 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,600 spoke to the remnant on an ordinary day in the sixth month 753 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,360 of the second year. He said, I am with you. 754 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,640 Not when you have finished, not once you have figured it out, 755 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,040 not after the opposition is cleared. 756 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:24,680 Now, today in the city with these people and through Jesus 757 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,160 finished work, you can have both someone to replace you at the 758 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,800 altar and a God who will embrace you at the throne. 759 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:36,760 So good, the sacrifice and the presence, the covering and the 760 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,920 communion, the cross and the empty tomb. 761 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,680 The Great Commission is our temple building project. 762 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,480 Go and make disciples of all nations in Norfolk, in the 763 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,200 shipyards and schools and neighborhoods, in living rooms 764 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:53,760 of the city, and it closes the same four word promise Haggai 765 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,040 gave us. I am with you always to the very 766 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,760 end of the age. God has not changed the terms, 767 00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:04,320 He was simply in Christ making them infinitely better. 768 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,400 Infinitely better. So hear the word of the Lord 769 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,280 this morning as the remnant heard it on a forgotten day in 770 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,640 520 BC, and let it do what it did then be stirred. 771 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,880 Arise, work, the Lord is with you. 772 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:28,400 Let's pray, Father, thank you that you, you have continued in 773 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,360 your patience and your constant pursuit of us as your people, 774 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,480 that even when we abandoned the things that you have given us to 775 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,720 do, that you still call us back. You called your people back way 776 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:39,480 long ago and you call us back today. 777 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,640 Father, stir in us to walk in obedience by the power of your 778 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:45,600 spirit. Father, help us to to remember 779 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:48,880 that you are with us and that you have called us to these 780 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,200 things, but you will not do. You don't want us to do them 781 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:55,320 without you, but we love you. It's a review flame. 782 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:56,280 Amen.