Sermon post...Haggai 2:10-19...What do we need to hear from our spiritual leaders?

 

We are getting closer to the close of this book, all 2 chapters consisting of 53 verses.  The minor prophet Haggai has spoken first to the leaders Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest.  He then speaks to all of them but zeroes in on those who were looking to the past and getting stuck there (the weepers).  This section has Haggai speaking to the priests, the spiritual leaders of the day, and next week we will look at Haggai speaking again to Zerubbabel, the governor, with a final message.  

S1 asked the question to the leaders, "Who are you listening to?"  Is it "them" or the LORD of hosts?  "Who's your daddy?"

S2 asked the question to the people of God, "What is our commanded assignment?"  The people of God of Haggai's day was to rebuilt the temple and the people of God today is to "make disciples," the temples where God resides as the Holy Spirit in His children.

S3 asked the question to the weepers, "What keeps us moving forward?"  We need to appreciate the past but not to the extent that we get stuck there.  We need eyes for what God is doing today (woohoo) and on the message of God that there is a "greater than" coming.

S4 (this sermon) asked the question, "What do we need to be reminded of from our spiritual leaders?"  It boils down to God is holy and we are not.  There is no 2nd hand holiness.  Our efforts in relationship to any type of merit obtaining holiness are deemed by God as unclean.  Looking back at our attempts and God's response to our straying from His instruction with planned consequences to get our attention should be seen not as punishment from Him but rather a calling back into obedience to this holy God that is bending down to bless the people of God.  No credit to us.  All glory be to God!

I love all the questions asked in this passage.  The last is, "Is the seed in the barn?"  The answer would be "no" because it was the 9th month of the Jewish year and it better be in the ground by this time.  The main rains were coming in a month and they would have been behind schedule and maybe miss their opportunity for a crop if they planting had not occurred.  Therefore the people of God where in the waiting stage for 4 months before they harvested the barley and wheat.  Likewise, they were 3 months into the restart of building the temple after a 16 year work stoppage and they would have to wait 4 years before they saw it completed.  The farmer actively waits during this time waiting for the time of the harvest.  The people of God were actively waiting as they worked on the temple until they saw the harvest of a completed temple again where God was worshiped.

We are the people of God and the Seed is not in the barn.  The Seed, as spoken of in Genesis 3:15, has come in a manger; lived and walked the Israelite countryside; died upon a cross; buried in a tomb; but rose again on the third day to ascend into heaven to be at the right hand of God.  The Seed is coming again so we, the people of God, actively wait for the completed harvest of temples (disciples).  We actively wait like the farmer and the people of God of Haggai's day working on the temple with obedience to the holy God who commanded us to make disciples until His return.

The book of Haggai is coming alive to me and I can't wait to run through it again in the future.  

Adam