Haggai 2:7–9

7 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. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘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.”

This morning we meet to dedicate the new offices to the Lord.  This process started years ago when Bob Faxon came up with some drawings that somewhat resemble what we ended up with today.  The church saw the need for doing something with either the sanctuary or the hallway leading into the sanctuary as well as the help that new offices could bring to the staff and the people of the church.  The trustees have spent hours overseeing the project. The offices are now completed, though there is still work to be done to finish up the ramp area and to put a door in and steps for an exit from the sanctuary.

Many people have worked on this project.  Some have donated time, materials or their expertise to make this a possibility. 

My text this morning from the book of Haggai comes from a building project conducted by the nation of Israel.

This building project was slow. Israel had been in captivity in Babylon.  They had built homes and set down roots.  When the chance came to go back to Jerusalem, most of the older generation had died and many of the newer generation decided to stay.  However some did return.

When they arrived they found other Jewish people had moved into their homes, the fields had not been plowed for years and what homes they had were in need of serious work.  They also found that the temple had been destroyed.

So they rebuilt the temple.  At least they started.  They restored the altar and then went back to building their homes.  So nineteen years later, Haggai is told by God to talk to them about working on the temple.

Three issues came up here.

The first issue dealt with priorities.  The people had decided to rebuild their own homes before they built the temple.  In other words, they put their own needs ahead of God’s needs.  

Listen to how this is portrayed in Haggai 1:5-11

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Three problems.  Low crops.  Hunger. Insufficient clothing.  Inflation takes away your money.  Why?

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”

God tells Israel that their financial problems were caused by a spiritual problem.  They didn’t put God first in their lives.

I believe that many of the financial problems that people face have a spiritual root.  We have bought into the materialism of our society.  We are in debt to buy things we cannot afford.  But we have to have our snowmobile, our TV, our boat, a bigger home than we can afford. 

We see our issue as not having enough money.  The economy is bad.  Life has taken a bad turn.  In some cases this is true. 

But for others, the issue is that they have not put first the kingdom of God.  They have not bought into what Hebrews tell us, “Owe no man anything…”  They believe that happiness in this life comes by having.  In fact, true happiness in this world is not found in having, but in giving.  Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive…” but many cannot afford to give because they are in a receive mentality.  So when they receive what they want, they find that these things are empty and do not bring the happiness they hoped.  They find as well that the debt they have robs life of joy.  Proverbs tells us that the borrower is slave to the lender. 

Israel thought they had gotten a bad deal.  God said, “You have a bad deal because you have not put the spiritual first in your life.”

The second issue is the issue of paying for the project.  The temple was in need of stone, wood, silver and gold.  The stone and wood were in abundance.  The stones of the previous temple were laying all around.  It would take hard work and some masonry skill to put the temple back together.  The silver and gold were stripped from the temple and taken back to Babylon.

We have some underlying principles on which we have financed God’s work here in Palermo.

First, we believe that Christians should support God’s work.  We don’t go out into the community to ask for help.  It’s not an issue of pride.  It’s just that God’s work should be financed by God’s people. 

Many of us tithe.  My wife and I give ten percent off the top of our income as a matter of habit.  People complain that all the church wants is their money.  We don’t complain.  We want to give.

Second, we believe that the money we give to the church is given to God.  We know that human beings may not spend every penny perfectly, but we have confidence that the church is careful in spending on things that benefit the kingdom of God.  The church supports the pastoral staff.  God tells us to do that.  The church supports missions.  God tells us to do that.  The church supports worship, edification and evangelism.  God tells us to do that. 

This church has always met its bills.  At the very end of last month was only the second time we are aware of that the general fund was in the red.  We spoke of this at our ministry forum.  You people have been very generous.  Over $7000 has been given in special offerings for the building, for special speakers, for scholarships for camp since the beginning of this year.  We have a need for people to support our weekly offerings so we can stay in the black.

Third, we believe that everything we have belongs to God.  Haggai 2: 8, 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.

Notice that the Lord says that the silver is his and the gold is his.  Why does he say that?

First, gold and silver were precious.  God owns the things precious to us.  You want silver and gold?  God owns them.  The Christian believes that everything belongs to God.  Our giving of the first fruits of our income is just a way to remind ourselves that God doesn’t own ten percent, he owns it all.

Second, the silver and gold were commodities that they didn’t have.  These people who returned did not return with great wealth.  Where were they going to get what was needed?  God said, “I own the silver and gold.  I will get it for you.”

How was God going to do that? Haggai 2:7 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come.

God would bring in the gold and silver by shaking all the nations around Israel.  What was desired, the treasure of the nations would come to Israel to help them build the temple.  The silver and God that God owned would be shaken out of the nations that were around.

Now that God has dealt with their priorities and has told them that the work will be financed, he now addresses the third issue, the glory of the temple.

It didn’t take long for the old-timers to recognize that this new temple was not as big, as nice and as grand as the old temple.  Some of you have experience this when you have had to move from a nice home into an apartment.  Or maybe you went from a home you built to an older home. 

But this is what God says: . 9 ‘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.”

The word “glory” describes things that are heavy or weighty.    Some positions have greater glory because of the weight of the impact of the decisions on people.  An owner’s glory would be higher than a supervisor’s glory because of the relative difference in importance between the kind of decisions and the effect on people.  A supervisor would make decisions on who will work where.  An owner would make decisions on whether to keep the business open or close it.

The Lord is saying that the weight, the importance, the glory of the second temple will be greater than the first.

This was hard to believe because outwardly it didn’t look as good.

But God goes on to speak of the major difference.  In this place I will grant peace.

This is the same place where Jesus was circumcised, debated the teachers and cleansed the temple.  Herod modified this temple during his reign.

The point is that what brings glory to a building is not how it looks, but what takes place inside it.

In our sanctuary some of you can point to the pew in which you were sitting when you understood the gospel message for the first time.  You can point to the Sunday school room in which you learned about Jesus.  You can point to the place that God spoke to you and saved your marriage.  You can go to the place where you repented of your sin and felt the cleansing work of God in your life.

What brings glory to this building is not the walls, the carpet or the lighting.  What brings glory is not the size of the building, but the size of the work that God does within these walls.

The church has been working on new offices.  The staff appreciates the clean look, the extra room, the good lighting and the increased functionality of these offices.  People are thankful for the ramp into the gym, the second entryway into that area and the fact that all the offices are at ground level with no stairs to climb.

But what is most important is what happens in the offices.  The glory will be in the prayers made, the studying of the word of God and the spiritual counsel that will be given.  It is my prayer and hope that people will point to Phil’s, Sandy’s or my office as a place where God spoke to them in a great way.

If this building ever becomes a place where Jesus is not exalted, the cross is not preached, the word of God is not central, then whatever the outward buildings look like, the glory will depart.