Thursday, December 10, 2009

MIDWEEK ADVENT 3
December 9, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Haggai 2:15-19

“THE LORD BRINGS UNDESERVED BLESSINGS.
1. Give careful thought to your past.
2. Give careful thought to your future.

Haggai 2:15-19 (NIV) " 'Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD's temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,' declares the LORD. 18 'From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. " 'From this day on I will bless you.' "

This Advent season we have been following the theme of God’s Construction project on Forest Home. We have made comparisons between that road construction project and the works that God does in our hearts. We have followed the work God did in the hearts of His people at the time of the prophet Haggai to see parallels in our lives. Today those comparisons continue. Let’s go back to the road construction project on Forest Home Ave. Let’s think about what life was like before, during and after the project. Do you remember what it was like before the resurfacing project? Do you remember dodging the potholes, wondering why the county didn’t fix them sooner? Do you remember following the weave of traffic dodging those potholes and wincing when you hit one? Before the project life was not good travelling on Forest Home. How about during? That was uncomfortable, right? Which lane is open? Barrel dodging. Traffic back ups. Now how about after? Smooth sailing.
God’s construction projects on the hearts of His people are similar. The Word of God spoken by Haggai had the people of God looking at their life before during and after God’s construction project in their lives. We start with before. 'Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD's temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,' declares the LORD.” God’s people were urged to carefully think about life before God worked on their hearts. If you remember their spiritual apathy showed in their failure to follow through on God’s command to rebuild the Temple. They took care of themselves first or so they thought. They actually hurt themselves. Their crops dwindled. Their supplies didn’t last. They experienced what many must of thought was bad luck. They should have thought harder. There is no luck. There is God and He was not happy with their disobedience. Those consequences they were experiencing was God’s chastening hand calling them to repentance. They were like a road filled with potholes.
During God’s construction project on their hearts is sure sounds like life was uncomfortable. Doing all that work with nothing to show. Exasperation over events out of their control. Frustration that there was not enough money to go around.
But how about after? What would life be like after the people repented? 'From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. " 'From this day on I will bless you.' " See how God gave them hope and a future. Because of His great love He would not hold their past sins against them. They would not be labeled disobedient all their life. He would forgive them, wipe their sins away as far as the east is from the west. He would bless them again. Like a nice smooth road to drive on their lives were going to get smoother. God’s construction project on their hearts would work.
Now how about us? We can apply these words to our nation, our congregation, each one of us personally. When you hear how God chastened these people for their disobedience, their failure to treat God as God and put Him first you can’t help but wonder if the same God is acting the same way with the same kind of people. Purses with holes? No amount of money was enough. Events out of their control that made all their work for themselves really amount to nothing. We have retirement accounts that shriveled, jobs disappear, global markets affecting local markets. While only God Himself can say whether or not these are His chastening of us or our country you do have to stop and ask, “Lord, is it I?” Are you trying to wake me up? Have I been lethargic, apathetic toward you and don’t realize it? Am I being disobedient? There are many things God seems to put up with in the lives of His people but second place in our hearts is not one of them. Give careful thought to your ways, says the Lord. Give careful thought to your past. A life full of potholes may be a call to repentance.
And as was true during the construction project on Forest Home and during the work God did on the hearts of His people at the time of Haggai, so also for us. Undergoing God’s chastening is uncomfortable.
But the neat part is how God acts and His ultimate goal. It’s to bless us. He urges us to give careful thought to your future. The people at the time of Haggai did not deserve God’s blessing. They were defiled by their sin. Still God was willing to bless them, to treat them as if their shameful past had never happened. Same God. Same kind of people. No matter what your past, what skeletons are hiding in your closet with the Lord there is forgiveness. Give careful thought to your future and plan on it being a future with the Lord in it. Return to Him in repentance whenever you disobey and then strive to obey out of love and thankfulness to a God who is willing to bless people who are defiled by sin.
You know it is nice to have the construction project on Forest Home over or nearly so. It’s nice to have the smooth road to drive on. But we know that if the world lasts long enough, sooner or later, they’ll have to do it again. The man across the street from us has lived through 3 projects on Forest Home. You wish they could come up with a way to just be done for good. God’s construction project on our hearts is one that is ongoing. We need Him to keep us on the straight and narrow. But a time is coming when He will never have to do that again. It’s when Jesus comes for us personally at the time of our death or collectively at the end of the world. In the spirit of Advent then we say, “Come Lord Jesus. Amen.

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