God is With You

Haggai 1:12-15

Last week we looked at the first chapter of Haggai, where God spoke through the prophet to a poor and defeated people who had limped back to Jerusalem, still under foreign rule. The accusation was that they were focused on their own houses while the house of the Lord lay in ruins. God called them to obedience, and in the last few verses in chapter 1, we see the response: Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.

The response of the people is immediate and unanimous. The people feared the Lord. Don’t let that phrase slip past you just because you’ve heard it a million times. Do you really know the fear of the Lord? Jesus isn’t just your “homeboy” – he is God Almighty, and putting ourselves before him is a terrifying thing. God isn’t just a kindly old bearded grandfather – he is a God of wrath. God does not allow sin in his presence, and because we are by nature sinful beings, the response of fear, especially to those pre-Jesus, is a fitting response.

We would all do to have a healthy fear of God. There is a such thing as a healthy fear. As a runner, I have a healthy fear of cars and dogs. I am always watching out for traffic and always give myself an “out” (figuring out where I will jump if a driver doesn’t notice me). I keep my eye on dogs, especially those that are not on leashes. Now, both of these are in the category of healthy fear; I know both can be dangerous (I have been bitten, but I thankfully haven’t been hit by a car), but I don’t live my life in fear of them.

Healthy fear of God is not living a life cowering, wondering when God will choose to smite you. I know of people whose earthly fathers were abusive and they fear God in the same way they feared their fathers. That’s an unhealthy fear. But honestly, our culture has lost its fear of God. We walk around like we rule our own little worlds, basically thumbing our noses at God, with no fear or reverence for him. Fear and reverence of God is constantly reminding yourself who God is… and who we are.

In the midst of a fear of God, God speaks: (Haggai 1:13) Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.

When fear of God was turning into an unhealthy fear, God speaks, but not with thunder and lightning, not in an earthquake, not with fire, but in a still, small voice. In a clear, calm, loving voice that says, “I am with you.”

For some people, it might be a new thought to hear God say “I am with you.” Some people believe in a god, but they don’t believe that the god they believe in would ever be involved in human affairs. That god is aloof, apart, transcendent, but not personal.

For Haggai’s Jewish audience, this statement had a fantastic historical connection. They would think back to their story, which is a story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After Abraham’s death, his son Isaac was facing famine and was tempted to go to historical enemies to beg for help, but God renewed His covenant with His people. In Genesis 26:24, God appeared to Isaac, saying, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

God is saying, “I gave a promise and I will fulfill it. You can trust me. What I said is always true.” Maybe some of you need to hear that for yourselves today, that you can trust God, that what God says, God means, and He will always uphold His end of the bargain.

A few chapters later in Genesis, God appears to Isaac’s son, Jacob, in a dream (this is when Jacob saw a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending). Genesis 28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Again, God confirms and reaffirms the covenant He made with Abraham, this time to Abraham’s grandson, Jacob. Every Jew would know these stories, because these stories weren’t just Israel’s history, they defined who Jews were. As a nation, we have largely lost our story, which can be a dangerous thing.

But what is worse is when Christians lose sight of our story. This is why Biblical literacy is so important. I remember one Sunday in the first church I served, I had just preached a sermon in which I mentioned how so many of the heroes of the Bible had issues, and I mentioned some of them, like Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah… After church, one church member approached me and admitted that he didn’t know who most of these people were. And he was in church regularly and had been for years. There is no reason for us to be Biblical illiterate. No reason whatsoever. We have an abundance of Bibles and we are an extremely literate society. The only reason you don’t know the Bible is either because you don’t care or because you are relying on someone else to know the Bible for you.

Anyway, that’s just an aside, something that I’m passionate about. But again and again throughout scripture, God tells His people, “I am with you.”

While God’s people were in exile, God said “I am with you.” This had to come as a surprise, because in that culture, nations were linked to their deities, and if you were defeated, it was thought to mean that their god was superior to yours. So exile was not merely a national disgrace and difficulty; it was a spiritual crisis. But Isaiah tells a nation in exile: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Listen to the word of God given through Jeremiah:

·         “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:8)

·         “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:19)

·         “I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord.  (Jeremiah 15:20b)

·         “I am with you and will save you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 30:11a)

·         “Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.” (Jeremiah 42:11)

Are you getting the picture? God is telling a disappointed and disillusioned people that, despite what it looks like, He is in control. No matter how strong the enemy looks, no matter how bad things get, no matter how dire the circumstances, you have no reason to fear, because the God of the universe is in your corner.

What are you afraid of? And what might your life look like if you knew that the God of the universe is there to rescue you and to fight for you? Is there something you might attempt for God if you knew that God would be there with you?

The Bible is full of people who thrived despite great odds. God picked Abraham and Sarah, old beyond normal childbearing years, to bless as the father and mother of God’s people. God picked Moses, stutter and all, as the one who would lead Israel out of Egyptian captivity. God chose Gideon, the least of the weakest clan, to become a leader. God chose David, a mere shepherd boy, to defeat Goliath. Jesus chose fishermen, tax collectors, religious zealots, and other nobodies to transform the world. 

They probably all had moments where they thought, “There’s no way this could work. I can’t do this!” When God told Moses that he was going to be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10). Do you see how silly this is – Moses, trying to use words to demonstrate to God how unfit he was to use words…

We do the same thing every time we give God excuses. God comes back to Moses with the question: “Who made your mouth?” So, what would you do if you knew that God was there? I know people who are afraid to share their faith because they don’t know how they would answer questions. All that fear really is just a lack of faith in God, because God promises to be with you. Do you think God will fail?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s a preacher secret that we don’t usually tell the churches we serve. First of all, it’s scary being a preacher. Preparing a new sermon every week is much harder than most of you imagine. The public speaking aspect isn’t the hard part, unless you’re Moses and have difficulties speaking; I realize that I am generally speaking to a receptive group. Yes, there are people who don’t like the preacher, and there are people who complain that the sermons hit a little too close to home, but as long as the preacher is getting his sermons from the Bible and not the internet, those critiques are generally based on someone’s guilty conscience. And as another aside, I don’t really know any preachers who get their messages from the internet. That’s a generic blanket straw-man criticism; it’s easy to knock a straw man over, because he’s not real.

But anyway, the scary thing about being a preacher is the amount of self-disclosure that naturally comes out during a sermon. No, not the funny or self-deprecating anecdotes that all of us store up, like the one about me falling off the treadmill in front of Jon Mark Kennedy. Every sermon I preach is first preached at me. I’m not an advocate of a fake-it-‘til-you­-make-it practice; but I am the first and usually the greatest audience for my sermons.

All of that is to tell you that I am preaching to myself today. You all know that our family is in a time of transition. There are all kinds of thoughts swimming around in my head, and this sermon series came at a perfect time for me to be reminded of God’s words: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. (Haggai 1:13b)

There is a lot up in the air right now, but through all of it, God’s promises never fail. He will be with us. I preach that to myself, but also to the rest of us. Whenever God’s people face uncertain times or daunting challenges, God reminds us he is with us. In Matthew 28, when Jesus pronounces the Great Commission, (you know, the mandate for the church to live up to: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.) he completes it by reminding us of his presence going with us. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus doesn’t just say “I will be with you” – he says “I am with you.” It’s not a future hope; it’s a present reality. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, makes this promise, and we get to live our lives, knowing he is with us.

·         When people let you down… God is with you.

·         When you get the diagnosis you feared… God is with you.

·         When you step way out of your comfort zone… God is with you.

·         When you boldly share Christ with your unsaved family members, co-workers, or neighbors… God is with you.

·         When life gets hard… God is with you.

When and where do you need to hear an “I am with you” from God?  God is with you.

Back to the situation in Haggai: Haggai made the proclamation, and listen to the response from the people. So 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 the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. (Haggai 1:14-15)

They heard the Word of the Lord, and God stirred up their spirits, and immediately they got to work. They knew what they needed to do, and they set out to do it. They began work on the house of the Lord. They gave their best to God. And I wonder about us. It’s time for us to begin our work on the house of the Lord. Are you giving your best to God? Maybe there needs to be a time of decision now – will you give Him your best? Is God stirring up your spirit within you? Let’s close this service with a time of confession and commitment. And as I ask these two questions, remember that God is right with you.

If you’re honest enough to admit that you’ve not given God your best, would you be courageous enough to raise your hand. And if you were bold enough to take that first step, maybe would you have the courage to accept a prayer that God would stir your spirit and empower you to give your best to Him – that He would empower you to work on His house…