Be Strong

Haggai 2:1-5

When I was in college, Northwestern University had a big observatory on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was really cool – it kind of looked like a giant alien bug. It was right by the intramural soccer fields, where I spent a lot of my time on the weekends, and it was even part of the logo for the college of arts and sciences.

There was just one problem. Our proximity to Chicago rendered the observatory ineffective. You couldn’t see much of anything because of the light pollution. So they took out the telescope and sent it to Arizona or somewhere, and they tore down the observatory. Actually, that was a story in itself – the strange design of the observatory ended up causing the demolition team fits trying to destroy it. They tried to implode it with explosive charges, but instead of imploding, it just leaned. Then they tried to pull it over with big tow trucks, but that didn’t work either. They finally got it down and out of there, and a campus landmark was gone.

Have you ever watched a landmark demolished?

Or, have you ever been gone from somewhere for a long time, and when you came back, you hardly recognized it? Somehow, things don’t look the same. They look years older. Everything looks dated, poorly kept and, well, old. You tell your kids or grandkids, “This place used to be the place to be. We came here for dances, and it was beautiful. And the kids are rolling their eyes, because they don’t see the former glory; all they see is a dump. Or a parking lot – the one they put in after they paved paradise. Recently I ran across a series of pictures from Pripyat, the city near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster… the once busy city left as a ghost town 25 years after the nuclear disaster. In the town where I grew up, the big industry was the steel mill, which closed its doors in the late 70s. We would drive past the hulking buildings, rusting and falling apart, a reminder of bygone prosperity.

For those who remained in Jerusalem, the remains of the Temple served as a constant reminder that they were a defeated people. It was a reminder that as a people, they had sinned against God, and God had used their enemies as part of His discipline.

This is why it was such a serious accusation when God accused the people of living in paneled houses while the house of the Lord lay in ruins (Haggai 1:4). Not only had they not done anything about the Lord’s house, but they were going on with normal lives, thinking about themselves, looking out for number one.

I kind of get the feeling that everyone knew it was an issue, but nobody was talking about it. Certainly nobody was doing anything about it. So Haggai asks the question: Who of you 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?

Who remembers what the Temple of the Lord looked like back in the glory days. How does it look now? There is defeat, and there is crushing defeat, and to look upon the once glorious Temple, which had not only been demolished but demolished, desecrated, and burned, is demoralizing and disappointing.

Especially to those who saw it in its former glory.

There has been some disappointment here at the Millersport United Methodist Church – some of which I have heard of and some of which I have seen. I hear stories about the booming Sunday School department that our church once boasted. Some of you saw that department in its former glory. Many of you also remember a church that was discussing a building program because of the size of the congregation, and you fondly remember the crowds, or you remember people who have left the church. You took great pride in the size of the church and in the health of our finances that came with the numbers.

In today’s passage we can find a key to moving forward in a disappointment and frustrating time. How do you respond to something that used to be strong and vital and now it looks defeated?

Did you notice that once Haggai has gotten to this point, he isn’t pointing fingers or blaming? Two weeks ago, many of us raised our hands to confess that we haven’t given our best to God. So, in a sense, maybe all of us can shoulder a little bit of the blame. But anyway, God’s command is clear: In Haggai 2:4-5, we read God’s word: “But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,” declares the Lord. “Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, “and work. For I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.”

God’s command is three-fold. If you are using your inductive Bible study skills, you’ll see a repetition here: three times, he tells the people to be strong. He says it to Zerubbabel, he says it to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and he says it again to all of the people of the land.

Be strong.

This is the same advice that Paul gives when he talks about spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. Whenever we talk about the armor of God, we have to start with Paul’s command to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10). The strength we stand in is not our own; it is strength provided by the Lord. Here’s an issue I see in churches all the time; we get all of the “right” people in place, serving where they have natural abilities, and then we’re frustrated when things don’t happen like we want them to. The problem is often that we are standing in our own strength, not the Lord’s.

When I came to this church, it looked like a strong church from an outsider’s perspective, but we have been standing in our own strength. Why would we ask the Lord for His strength when ours is enough for us?

The old song Jesus Loves Me has it right when it says, “They are weak, but He is strong.”

Standing firm in the Lord’s strength doesn’t always look the same as standing in our own strength. God often calls unqualified people to do amazing things for him. Can you imagine God saying, “No, I can’t use him; he’s just not enough” – the truth is, God can use whomever God chooses. As our children will learn in VBS, all things are possible with God. (Quick, what’s the scripture reference?!)

So God says, when things look their worst: be strong. But that’s not all. God says, Be strong and work. It’s not enough to just stand there being strong. When you stand in God’s strength, you obey God’s commands, knowing that it’s God who works through you. Unfortunately we give all kinds of excuses why we don’t work. It’s not my job. I already served there. I’m tired. I could never do that. I’m not called to make disciples or share my faith… The largest church in our conference is Ginghamsburg UMC – they’re the ones I stole the “Christmas is not your birthday” shtick – but when Michael Slaughter arrived there, they were a church of 90 people. Under his ministry, God grew the church to 60. But Mike Slaughter attributes the initial uptick in attendance to some of the women in the church. Their big activity was their chicken dinner, but the women realized that the chicken dinner was not making disciples of Jesus Christ, and they shifted their focus to youth ministry.

Who would think a group of 60+ year old women would be the ones leading the charge for youth ministry, but there they were. Ginghamsburg now has them to thank, not only for transforming that dying congregation into a megachurch, but for transforming Darfur as well.

The truth was, they opened themselves up to the chance that maybe they might have to change the way they’d always done things. Change is hard, and nobody likes it, but when it comes down to it, are we going to protect the status quo while a generation goes to Hell? The women of Ginghamsburg stood up and made themselves known, and the effects are still being felt.

It takes work to rebuild. Don’t get the wrong idea – your work is not ever going to get you into heaven. Your work is never going to atone for the bad things you’ve done. Your work is not your salvation. Your work is a response to your salvation, an eager obedience to Christ. Your work can be instrumental in bringing other people to Christ, so let’s look at work for a moment.

There are lots of people who are good workers. There are others who are willing workers. Sometimes you meet someone who is both. Know that your work is worship. You may think of the Garden of Eden as an idyllic paradise – yes that’s true, but Genesis 2:15 tells us that The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. God created us to work! Unfortunately, due to sin, our work has been cursed, and we’re all living on this side of the Garden of Eden, but we were made for work. God has a purpose for each of us. Listen to how Paul puts it in his letter to the church in Ephesus: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) Yes, I fully appreciate the irony of preaching that God created us to work on a weekend that many people in our nation celebrate simply because they get out of work tomorrow. The humor in this situation is not lost on me.

God expects us to do good works, and to work hard at it. But here’s the thing: if God created us to work, and if God expects us to do good works, and if God prepared the good works in advance for us to do, then God will make sure it happens! When God says, “Be strong, all you people of the land, and work” he doesn’t stop there. He continues by saying: “For I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty.

Two weeks ago I preached on this topic, because it was a main focus in the second part of Haggai chapter 1, but God says it again, so it bears repeating. God is with you. God renews the covenant he made with his people. He reminds them: When you came out of Egypt… that was me. I made a promise, and have I ever fallen short? Have I ever made a promise and not followed through?

God promised, and God’s promises never fail. So our response: No fear. Work fearlessly for God, because God is with us. He has given us His Spirit, which is not a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (says 2 Timothy 1:7).

So Do not fear. As Paul says in Romans 8:31, If God is for us, who can be against us?

So as we go from this place, as we start the work God has prepared for us to do, remember to be Strong in Him and work. Do not fear, because God is with you!