Dear Friends:
This is the third message in a series on the Book of Haggai. See our blog for the last two messages in the series.
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. And 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 all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month (Hag 1:12-15).
Several years ago, I was invited to speak for chapel service at a Christian university. The topic was left up to me and I chose to speak on the Apostle Paul’s declaration to the Galatians: “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 5:14). I delivered a 25 minute exposition of the Gospel as viewed through the lens of this verse.
From the response, my talk was well received, but one student’s comments have haunted me ever since. He was a senior. “Thank you for talking to us about Jesus,” he said. “I thought I would hear about him a lot when I chose to enroll here. We long to hear the Gospel, but they keep sending us sociologists.”
A young Christian attorney recently told me about her displeasure with the sermons of a popular pastor at a large congregation in our community. “There’s no substance,” she said. He tells us what he thinks we want to hear, but there’s nothing to challenge us to go deeper with God and meet the secular mind-set head on. It’s like being in the audience of an “Oprah” show.
No one could make these criticisms of Haggai. He didn’t mince words or deliver a carefully nuanced sermon on the stresses of meeting the demands of home and business. He apparently gave them an “elevator conversation,” not a sermon.
An “elevator conversation” is a 15-30 second pitch to a prospective customer, employer, or donor that seeks to impress them with the critical elements of your story and engage them with it. Haggai told Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest that it was time for the people to return to mission and build the Lord’s house instead of tending to their own interests. Having the wrong priorities was causing them to work harder but receive less for their efforts and it would only get worse with drought and famine.
It was a terse, tough message that caught the attention of the leaders and the people. For twenty years, the remnant of Judah living in Jerusalem had lived complacent lives of religious compliance. They showed up at the temple on Sabbaths and festival days, but seemed indifferent that the place was in ruins. They had long delayed fulfilling their calling to restore it and proposed to delay some more.
Their philosophy apparently was “the Lord helps them who help themselves. Let us get our house in order, and then we will be able to support the Lord’s work.” This idea seems logical and practical, but it puts us ahead of the Lord in planning and execution, and that is always wrong. The Lord does not require us to save up to serve him. He is Adoni-Jireh, “The Lord will provide” (Gen 22:13-14). He is our shepherd, “and we shall not want.”
“Take care of your business and the Lord will take care of you” is not an idea found in Scripture. “Wait on the Lord,” is a common instruction of God. God leads and we follow. Until we hear from God, we stay put. That’s the deal.
What do we do while we wait? First, let’s talk about what we don’t do. We don’t get busier. That’s distraction, not waiting.
We don’t try to earn his favor by better religious performance and bigger offerings. That’s attempted bribery and an insult to grace. The Lord explicitly hates our religious performance and big offerings without a heart committed to God and the justice and righteousness that honors him (Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:8).
The Jews in Jerusalem had tried those things but were left empty of purse and soul with a drought and famine coming on. Even if performed with the best of intentions, good done in human strength and resources is not God-honoring as we know from the stories of men and women like Cain and Abel, Abraham and Hagar, King Saul and Samuel, King Uzziah, Mary and Martha, and Peter with his blustering declarations and slashing sword.
What we do while we wait is to listen for God’s voice and when we hear it, we respond with our “Yes.”
What God wants from his people is not mere religious compliance, but obedience–the whole-hearted action that comes from carefully listening to God and yielding to his will. This is what Samuel observed to a disobedient King Saul —
Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed better than the fat of rams (1 Sam 15:22).
The people heard Haggai. The Lord’s voice echoed in the tired hollows of their souls with the ring of truth. They paid reverent attention to the Lord, not an easy thing to do at the end of summer with what harvest there was to be coming on.
Then Haggai spoke again. Just as the key to hearing from the Lord is listening, we will not continue to hear from him without obedience. “As it is written, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion'” (Heb 3:15). We cannot expect to maintain a relationship with the Lord when we ignore his voice and spurn his direction. Life from the Lord is a sustained flow, not an intermittent stream.
The message that Haggai carried was simple and affirming to convicted and repentant hearts. “‘I am with you,’says the Lord.” (Hag 1:13). It doesn’t seem like much, but the assurance of God’s presence is everything for a people who have exhausted themselves and reached their limits, who realize that they got it wrong and are sorry. It is the evergreen truth of an eternal God whose saving presence is always with us in the forgiveness and mercy of Emmanuel–God with us (Isa 7:14).
New life followed for the people. The Lord stirred up the spirit of the leaders and the people. Within 23 days of the time that Haggai called them to revival, “they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts” (Hag 1:14).
This is a timeless story of grace. I have lived a chapter of it myself. I know that I never tire of it. Proud men and women do their best, but find out it isn’t enough. Worn and broken, the Lord knows they are ready to listen. He calls them back. If they say, “Yes,” he gives them new life and spirit and the assurance of his continuing presence.
It is a testament to the strength of pride and the deception of sin, that so few of us say that “Yes.” The Lord is stronger than anything that would take us from him. If we trust him and say “Yes,” we will receive the light and the strength to make it all the way home.
Next time in this series we will explore the spiritual problem with nostalgia.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.