Sermon Cloud

The Rev W. Terry Sweeney

Haggai

 

“The spread of the Christianity as enshrined in the faith of the historic Church of England, Reformed and Protestant according to the principles of the Ancient Catholic Church as taken from the One canon of Holy Scripture reduced to writing by God Himself, in the Two Testaments, as taught in the Three Creeds of Western Christendom, as clarified by the Four Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church, as practiced during the first Five centuries of the ancient Church”.

                       —Bishop Lancelot Andrewes of Chichester, early 17th c. A.D.

 

 

One of the things every dad tells his son or daughter the first time they try to hit a ball with a bat is “Keep your eye on the ball”.

 

They may go on to say, “Watch the ball all the way into the bat” or something to that effect.  “keep your head down – into the ball” – the advice continues and when the child actually makes contact there is a great roar of approval!

 

Last June I was skeet shooting and again – keep your eye on the target, put the muzzle on it and shoot.  Flinch or take your eye off or blink and you’ll probably miss.

 

Keep focused – keep first things first – keep your eye on the prize:

 

1 Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

 

Keeping our focus where it belongs – keeping our eye on the ball, keeping first things first – running the race to win – it all connects to what Haggai is saying and what recently happened in Jerusalem at the Global Anglican Futures Conference.

 

I would submit Haggai is more on topic to what is happening globally in Anglicanism then one might think AND Haggai gives us a clearer picture of what we’re to be doing then we might imagine.

 

Let’s take this step by step. . . . . first the jest of Haggai.

 

The year is 538 BC – The Persians have conquered Babylon – Cyrus, the King, issued a decree that allowed a remnant of Judah to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel to begin restorative work on the Temple.  Ezra 1.1-4

 

About 50,000 Jews made the journey and by 536 BC they completed the restoration of the foundation. . . . . Ezra 3.8-11 records the celebration which ensued.

 

Success sometimes bring adversaries who fear your success and that’s what happened in this case – enter the Samaritans and various others who did not want “Israel” to once again become powerful.

 

A thriving Jewish state complete with Religious festivals and commerce would be hard to compete with – so the best thing to do was to try to stop them – and try they did.

 

They found ways to delay the construction for 16 years – by then a new Persian King was seated – Darius.

 

Well as it turned out the work stoppage was also aided by a laziness or complacency among the Jews.  They began to take a greater interest in their own homes and life styles then they did the work of restoring the Temple and offering God the worship He both deserved and called them to perform.

 

As a result of a two series of sermons delivered by Haggai to the Jews got them moving again – put their eye back on the ball – and the completed the work on the Temple by 516 BC (Ezra 6.15-18)

 

In his sermons Haggai challenged the people to see the result of their disobedience of God as negative consequences:

 

(Like Micah 6.15, Hos. 4.10 and Zech. 8.10)

 

Haggai 1.6 says, “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

 

Your lives are fruitless – endless cycles of want that has resulted in a life that’s like loosing your money through a hole in your purse.  Water poured down a drain.

 

Striving for everything that’s material and ending up empty handed and in want.

 

Haggai 1.9-11, “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors."

 

Listen – there is a consequence when we strive for our own stuff and neglect the Lord’s.

 

Matthew 16.26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

 

Without saying it Haggai asks – Is your life really working well for you?  Are you really making it on your own?

 

Haggai 2.16-17, “How did you fare? (How’s life going?) When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD.”

 

God as much as takes credit for the walls of misfortune the people kept running in to.

 

God says to Haggai that “Whatever they do and what ever they offer there is defiled.” 2.14

 

But why?  What have they done?

 

God says several times – Give careful thought to your ways.

 

In other words, consider what your lives are like.  How are you living?  What are your priorities?  Where do you place your energies?

 

Haggai 1.4 – Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in paneled houses, while this house (the Temple) remains in ruins?

 

Haggai 1.2, The Lord goes on the say “. . . . These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built’”

 

Haggai 2.3 God goes on to issue His complaint: Who 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?

 

Obviously God vehemently disagrees with their lack of concern for HIS HOUSE and their over concern for their houses.

 

It’s evident that complacency has come over the people. 

 

They’ve for what ever reason grown more interested in their own lives – cold, and apart from God – and if not cold and apart from God,  certainly lukewarm when its convenient.

 

Years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury was asked what the greatest threat to Christianity was and he said “Complacency”.

 

The reason he said complacency instead of apostasy or heresy or poor liturgy or new church music or revised prayer books is that complacency is the breeding grown that all of this actually comes from.

 

Haggai also teaches about the positive consequences of Obedience –

 

“Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. 'From this day on I will bless you.'"

Haggai 2.19

 

God who has frustrated all of their efforts now says He will be the source of their blessings – that which should bear fruit but has not will now bear the fruit it should.

 

God will change their circumstances as a result of them changing their attitudes.

 

He has captured the attention of their hearts – their hearts have turned back to Him – and as a result His House will be filled with His Glory and the nation shall be at peace.

 

“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. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."  Haggai 2.7-9

 

If you draw a mental image of a two sided scale we can see how complacency weights us down with concerns for “our House” and the effect it has.

 

Likewise we can see that when our efforts are directed toward the “Lord’s House” the scale goes another direction and we see the effect that has.

 

God is ever so clear that His greatest desire is that we glorify Him and enjoy Him for ever.

To properly glorify Him we must give Him His rightful place in our lives.

 

God cannot take a backseat to other philosophies or constructs or ideologies.

 

God cannot be second to any part of the life (He gives) we live each day.

 

Ever so slowly our culture is removing God from the everyday life we live:

 

Catonsville Commons and some of our neighbors are in a dispute regarding the use of a lot that sits between two houses.

 

I was asked by the neighbors to speak on their behalf.  I gave testimony the other day at a zoning commission hearing – Before I gave my testimony I was placed under oath – the oath did not include the phrase “So help me God” – noticing that when I said “I will” I volunteered “So help me God.”  To which one of the County zoning officials said – for some of us that doesn’t apply. . . . I let it go believing that I’d poison my testimony if I pushed him – at that moment.

 

As you know and have read – the church Protestant and Catholic is facing several challenges internally and externally to revise the faith catholic (Vincent’s definition).

 

What has happened is that as far back as the 1950’s (and even further) there has been a growing complacency among ordinary Christians who have trusted their pastors and leaders to teach the catholic faith.

 

Many have let their congregations down – the result has been the steady decline of churches.

 

Would the Lord bless that which declares His Son to be less than He is?  Would He bless that which His Word expressly says is an abomination?

 

As liberal theology and morality and ethics have come from the academy to the public square the some churches have adopted the false teaching and has allowed itself to be compromised by the whims and appetites of a society that is progressively becoming more corrupt.

 

Issues of divorce – abortion – a host of RIGHTS proclaimed – pluralism in religion that claims all religions to be of equal value and worth.

 

In our own church we have a war going on that began in the 70’s with the revision of the 1928 prayer book and most importantly the ordinal – the rite used to ordain deacons, priests and bishops.

 

Complacency has resulted in camps to form that say “there’s no reason to evangelize people of other faith’s – we’re all the same”

 

Complacency has resulted in camps that say, “The Bible was written by man and can be changed by man – it’s a collection of stories – the resurrection was a story of a fond memory of Jesus – the story of creation doesn’t mean God made the world – The Virgin birth is a story that was added some years later – Jesus is good for us but not necessary for everyone.”

 

All are saved and enter Heaven – God would never “send anyone” to Hell – Once we die He tells us the truth as we wait in a holding area.  All GO TO heaven.

 

The liberal spin rejects God’s holiness and demand for justice – it rejects that we are in fact guilty but by faith in Jesus are found innocent through His shed blood.

 

Much of the “world” looks for a savior in sports and business and entertainment – BUT somehow rejects the real Savior Jesus Christ.  Europe is becoming more and more secular, while radical Islam is growing stronger by the day.  In the middle sits Christianity – assaulted from both ends.

 

We live in an age where the Church must be concerned about the Lord’s House first and foremost – to worship Him and give testimony to Him to a world that is confused.

 

Complacency has stolen the glory of the Lord from His House and mixed Him into a spiritual soup with every other “religion”.

 

In other words – the world has a growing desire to believe in everything and nothing at the same time.

 

We’re do we stand as a church?  We do I stand as a priest?  Where must our vestry stand?

 

One canon of Holy Scripture reduced to writing by God Himself, in the Two Testaments, as taught in the Three Creeds of Western Christendom, as clarified by the Four Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church, as practiced during the first Five centuries of the ancient Church”.

 

 Orthodox Christian Faith is “that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.

 

In June of this year about 1,200 Anglican Primates, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Laity gathered in Jerusalem to reaffirm the Historic Faith – This was not well received by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

 

The purpose was to pray, worship and discuss the global future of Anglicanism.  

 

From this gathering they developed a statement which encapsulates the heritage the Apostles’ received from the Lord which has been handed down from generation to generation.

 

This gathering also reaffirmed their desire to express their faith as Anglicans who are part of a global community – from many nations, cultures, and languages.

 

The common ground they stand on is Jesus Christ.

 

The statement developed is called the Jerusalem Declaration – I want to read some of it as I close this message today.  In it you will not find complacency – you will not find a cold faith or a lukewarm faith but a hot faith. . . . .

 

A faith that “Fills this House with Glory!!”  Listen to portions of the Jerusalem Declaration:

 

We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.

 

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

 

We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Savior from sin, judgment and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

 

We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

 

We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptize, teach and bring new believers to maturity.

 

We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.

 

We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

 

We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

 

HERE I STAND dear friends – not on sand but the SOLID ROCK OF JESUS CHRIST.

 

As a church we will not follow any other LORD but Jesus, we will not proclaim any other faith then that revealed to us in the scripture, we will not grow complacent or cold or lukewarm for the faith, we will not sit idly by and let the culture grab and consume all it wants and therefore commit spiritual suicide.

 

Paul says it like this in Colossians 2:18, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.”

 

No instead we must fix our eyes upon Jesus – the perfector of our faith.

 

We must turn our passions toward Him – call out to Him – love Him – serve Him – and beckon Him to fill His House with His glory.

 

The LORD says through Haggai - “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.

 

Let the Church say, AMEN!