2025 11 09 Year C Proper 27 (32)
Haggai 1:15b- 2:9
Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-40
Who here remembers
the days of the former glory? When I was
a young adult I remember a time of incredible life in the church. The different Christian churches got together
and had an event called IT – Interdenominational Thing! We had a parade through town of groups from
the churches who competed against each other in fun games, followed by a
concert where we, the local, inexperienced and very amateur talents, sang and
danced and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure.
In each of our
denominations, our own churches hosted regular camps, coffee nights, and events
like spirituality in the pub. Many
people got behind the events and many more came and enjoyed them. There were also many travelling evangelists
who came to speak either in church or at a tent ministry, where the call for
prayer at the end saw line ups of people a mile long – almost. I was a member of the local Catholic church
back then, and a girl from the Anglican Church came to me and asked me and the
band from our church to provide the music for a Youth Service at Holy
Trinity. She had a desire for the church
in the center of town to be a host for youth to come to know Christ and the
saving message of God. My music group
provided the music for the one event, and I don’t know if anything happened
after that. Wow! I do remember the days of the former glory of
the church. But what happened after
that? I left town, so did others and I
came back to a different scene.
We can very easily
parallel our church story with the Israelites to whom the prophet Haggai wrote. We have had good times of life and full
churches and times when all of society was blessed because most people either
were Christian or held to Christian values and Christian values produce a
healthy and wholesome community. The
times... they are a changing! All
churches have felt the pain of decline and experienced the consequences of the
sins of some in the church. I wonder, do
you remember the former glory days of the church?
Haggai ministered in
520 BC. He identifies the date by the 2nd
year of the reign of Darius. Darius was
the Persian King who ruled over the empire after Israel had been sent into
exile. Some exiled Jews had returned to
their homeland. During this time, the
Temple in Jerusalem was in ruins, but King Darius allowed for the rebuilding of
the Temple in Jerusalem, issuing a decree that supported the project after it
had been halted by opposition. Darius
discovered that his predecessor, Cyrus the Great, had issued a decree
authorizing the work. Darius not only
ordered the construction to continue but also mandated that the expenses be
paid from the royal treasury and that no one interfere with the process.
This is actually an amazing miracle. An
outsider, with immense authority and power, recognises the value in the Temple
being rebuilt and even pays for this to happen. I often think that Street Chaplaincy is like
this; we struggled for 3 ½ years and then the government saw the value in what
we were doing and now we have a contract to provide that service and they pay
us to do so.
Haggai was the
prophet whose word from God provided the catalyst for the rebuilding of the
Second Temple in Jerusalem by delivering God's message to the Jewish
community. This encouraged the Jewish
governor and priest to seek the permission to continue the work on the temple.
What is going on with
Haggai and the people, is deeper than simply rebuilding a building. We are often challenged to understand that
the church is actually the people, and the building is there as a sacred space
for our gathering, however, it is the people meeting with God that makes it church. The Jewish people had always known that God
was too big to be contained to any earthly dwelling, but these people had been
in exile, and they were now being ruled by a foreigner, and they were somewhat
lost, not sure where “home” was and who they were and where they belonged. A whole new generation or two had grown up in
exile and knew nothing of their homeland.
They were losing their identity and sense of uniqueness. They needed to know that they belonged to
God. They were God’s chosen nation,
regardless of where they were and what was happening, temple or not, however,
they needed to be reminded of this, and reminded, to give honour to God first
and foremost is what we are all called to do. The project of rebuilding the Temple, and
their working together made the house of God their priority. It confirmed to themselves, and showed the
world, that they were the people of God.
This was the point of the message from Haggai.
The house of the Lord
needs to be built. It needs to be first
priority. In our modern life, the house
of God needs to be OUR first priority, but it’s walls are not made of brick or
wood. The house of God is made from
precious gems. Those Gems are Anthony,
Sandra, Louise, Caleb, etc…. These are you and me, and the people who need to
be built into our church, but as yet, they aren’t here - They are “out there”.
Do you remember the
former Glory? This story from Haggai is
not just for the people back from exile in 520 BC, but it is also for us. take courage, all you people, says the LORD; work,
for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, and His Holy Spirit is with us. Notice that word, “WORK” ? God won’t just built the church without us
doing our part…. We need to work at
it. “Take courage”, he says – be
encouraged because God is calling us now to work with him to
build His house. I truly believe this,
and it will be an amazing move of God’s Spirit to accomplish it, and it will be
a wonder to all who witness it. God’s
Spirit will accomplish it, but we need to do our part – our WORK.
Most importantly we
are not building the church so that we have a bigger organization. We are building the church of God because
building the Temple of God is something we are called to make a priority. It is a call from God. The reason that God calls us to do this is
because he loves…. Anthony, Sandra, Louise and Caleb… etc… AND when these people are built into his
house, they (and we) learn about God’s love and goodness, and we learn that His
ways are the ways of true life and true blessing. Just as when we make rules for our own
children to prosper them and keep them safe, God’s ways are for our good also.
There are often many
conflicting ideas about God, spirituality and life. We even have spiritual expos where every idea
except the truth is presented to a group of people who have a sense that there
IS a spiritual realm, and they seem keen to know how the spiritual world works. In the times of Jesus there were also many
conflicting ideas about the spiritual realm, but he addresses some of these and
makes some things very clear; Firstly, there IS a resurrection. We do not die and become Angels. I just had to make that clear, as I have
heard people talking about deceased loved ones as being and Angel. We are CHILDREN of God and remain children of
God. But, as Jesus said, we are LIKE
Angels in that we cannot die anymore.
Jesus was confronted
by a group who wanted to know whose husband the woman would be, who had married
each brother. Jesus clarifies that
“Those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage”. He reminds them and us that when God spoke to
Moses, he revealed himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We understand from the text that these people
are alive, meaning that they are truly alive and in heaven with God. Heaven is God’s spiritual realm. We are living in this physical realm, and our
vision is limited to the physical…. We are all near sighted. There is more that is real, and we can’t yet
see it.
Saint Paul explains
some more of God’s plan when he talks about the coming of the Lord and us being
gathered together to him. Jesus himself
told us that he will come again, as did the Angels who spoke to those who were
there when Jesus ascended to Heaven. At
each service we declare that Christ has died, is risen and will come
again. The early Christians thought that
this would be in their lifetime.
Obviously, that is not God’s plan, but it is God’s plan and advice that
we live as though he will come in our lifetime, because for someone, it will be
in their lifetime and that may well be us.
Regardless of all the theories and ideas, we need to know God well
enough to not be shaken or alarmed.
Saint Paul tells us that the rebellion comes first and the lawless one
will be revealed, who decares himself to be God. This to me, indicates that we are in for a
bumpy ride and we are told to stand firm and hold fast to what has been taught
through the scriptures.
We are certainly
living in a time of unrest. Some might
even describe this time as one of rebellion. Whether it is or it isn’t should
change who we are or what we do. We are
to stand firm in our faith. Stand firm
on the word of God. Stand firm on our
priority to build the house of God. We
have a job to do, and we need to take courage and work. Now is the time for
restoration.
We have a word from
God today. A word of hope and
encouragement in the year of hope 25.
That word is this; “Once again, in a little while, I will shake the
heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all the
nations, so that the treasure of all nations will come, and I will fill this
house with splendour, says the LORD of hosts.
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. The latter splendour of this house shall be
greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts, and in this place I will give
prosperity, says the LORD of hosts."
You and I are the
silver and gold, refined by God and built into the church, but there are
others…. Anthony, Sandra, Louise and Caleb.
They are precious gems that God requires for his temple. Let us make an agreement with God, to work
with him in building this house of God.
Let us ask him for his guidance and then let us listen to hear his
direction…. Lord God, we want to bring
the good news of your love to all. Help
us to do this. Show us the way and give
us the courage to follow through, so that those who are precious may be built
into the house of God. In Jesus name we
pray. Amen.
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