Pastor Patrick’s Notes

The Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, NASB 2020

Haggai 2:1-9

1 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 4 But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the Lord of armies. 5 ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit remains in your midst; do not fear!’ 6 For this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of armies. 8 ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of armies. 9 ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of armies.”

Haggai begins with “the word of the LORD” coming to Zerubbabel and Joshua—the political and religious leaders of Jerusalem, respectively. The construction of the temple had been suspended for fourteen years, and God makes clear in this chapter His expectation that the building must resume; He even provides these leaders with the reason why the project must resume:

5 Now then, the Lord of armies says this: “Consider your ways! 6 You have sown much, only to harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but there is not enough for anyone to get warm; and the one who earns, earns wages to put into a money bag full of holes.”

7 The Lord of armies says this: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You start an ambitious project, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of armies. “It is because of My house which remains desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on mankind, on cattle, and on all the products of the labor of your hands.” (1:5-11)

God’s people must restart construction because until they do their lives will be incomplete, unsatisfying, and mere shadows of what they could or should be.[1] Here, the LORD’s command to Judah stands out: “Consider your ways!” Life will only be experienced fully when God takes priority in it. Interestingly, this is something that God—the Almighty—can declare into existence, but He chooses not to. Rather, He sets before His people a choice. In the passage above, note how God works to bring His people into a proper relationship with Him. (7-11) They are so focused upon themselves that they neglect the very source of life’s blessing. This characteristic is linked to their state of uncleanliness. (2:10-14)

Perhaps there is a bit of “chicken-or-egg” at play here. Is Judah unclean because they are choosing themselves over God, or are they choosing themselves over God because they are unclean? Regardless, beginning in verse 15 the LORD explains that something is about to change—and this change is the result of their desire to begin work again on the temple.

15 But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, 16 from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 17 I struck you and every work of your hands with scorching wind, mildew, and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord. 

Judah is to consider what life was like before they resumed the construction of the temple—to note the inescapable paucity their choices have wrought. Yet when they choose to restart the work:

18 ‘Do consider from this day onward… 19 Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not produced fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”  

When God takes preeminence in their lives, they shall receive blessing miraculously—even though there is no “seed…in the barn”. God promises to bring abundance out of scarcity. And to assist Zerubbabel and Joshua in their task, God promises to remove any external hinderances that might prevent their completion of the rebuilding. “‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. And I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, every one by the sword of another.’” (2:21,22) The LORD could have declared the temple into being, but He doesn’t.

The temple is a sign of the power and the blessing of covenant; it is a lit candle placed in the window of a darkened room. And it is a sign that the political and the religious leadership of God’s people come to misunderstand entirely. Note what God says to Zerubbabel and Joshua in this week’s reading: “‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD.” (7) The two leaders are to restart work on the temple because God intends for it to be filled with the nations and all that they have to offer. This is not, however, about the stuff that the nations possess but about the nations themselves. After all, the silver is God’s, and the gold is God’s already. (8) This is something that the prophet has already clarified in Isaiah 66:18-21:

18 “For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all the nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. 19 And I will put a sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. 20 Then they shall bring all your countrymen[2] from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

To be in covenant with God is to have a productive and meaningful life. Obviously, this is something that God wants for all His children from every nation and tongue according to Isaiah 66:18. Yet Israel fails to understand this, and they make the temple a means to separate themselves from all other peoples and nations. If only they were to have read Isaiah’s and Haggai’s words in the spirit of blessing, but alas, it is not until Paul writes his first letter to the Corinthians that the temple’s true nature and purpose become clearer. The apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16,17, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”[3]

1 Corinthians 3:18-23

18 Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless.” 21 So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Paul encourages the Corinthians to build their faith upon the foundation of Christ Jesus that he had laid in their hearts. In fact, this is an expectation and not a suggestion. The Corinthians are to add to their faith to strengthen it and to keep it effective and productive. (2 Peter 1) Just as the temple was a sign of the power and the blessing of having a covenantal relationship with the LORD, so the Corinthians are to be, since they have been declared to be God’s temple. In this way, what Paul commands the church to do here in chapter three differs not in the slightest from the one given to Zerubbabel and Joshua by the LORD through Haggai. Corinth’s faith is to be a declaration of the goodness and glory of God! So, what they build or don’t build—like the governor and the priest—matters. This dovetails with something that Jude tells his fellow Christians. (20-23)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

What kind of faith and temple are we building? This is the question that Paul asks the Corinthians.

The Christian Corinthians’ attitudes mirror those held by people outside the church. In Paul’s eyes, there is no distinguishing the believer from the non-believer; 1 Corinthians 3 begins with the apostle addressing this problem. He describes the Corinthian Christians “as fleshly, as to infants in Christ.” (1) Although he has spent much time with them sharing and exampling Jesus’ life, they continue to walk “like ordinary people”. (3) They are more concerned with social standing than with being holy. Who baptized them into the faith is more important than growing that faith and making it effective in demonstrating God’s glory to the world. They position themselves through who brought them to the faith: Paul, Apollos, or Peter. Sadly, what they value makes no difference.

Paul writes, “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters in anything, but God who causes growth.” (7) Thus, the temple that they are building—rather the faith that they are constructing—has been found wanting. But it is not too late for them to start building themselves up “in [their] most holy faith.” It is not too late to build a faith through which God will draw all people and nations to Himself. Isaiah 5:21states, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and cleaver in their own sight.” Undoubtedly Paul has these words in mind when he recommends that the Corinthians avoid thinking too highly of themselves. Afterall, the world’s wisdom is “foolishness in the sight of God.” This is on display in this week’s gospel lesson.

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Martha is wrapped so tightly bound by the world’s expectation that she cannot see God’s. She is so “distracted with all her preparations” that she fails to see something that her lazy sister understands completely: Christ is the better part—the best part—of life. His expectation is the only one that matters. How often do we allow ourselves to be let down because of our expectations? We enter into situations and relationships with such high hopes that there is no way they can be met. Note, this is not saying that we should go through life with no expectations—not at all.

At the board meeting this past Tuesday night I made a request that at least three men and three women join me in learning about the Methodist band—a spiritual accountability group of five or six. These bands form the backbone of our tradition and existed, ultimately, to help fellow Methodists turn their eyes to Jesus and to acknowledge the supremacy of His expectations. Contrary to Wesley’s Church of England, which held no expectation that anyone could change, the Methodist movement believed that anyone could change, and, in fact, the LORD expected us to become part of the new creation made in Christ. The effectiveness—or ineffectiveness—of the Church is determined by how it measures up God’s expectation. Members of a band helped each other meet this divine expectation; they didn’t lower the bar for one another; they raised it. So, Martha’s failing is not having an expectation (i.e., with no expectations you can’t be let down) but having the wrong expectation.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul warns the Church that Christ expects His people to build upon their faith a temple that is to draw all nations and peoples to God and to show forth His glory to the world. Their induvial lives and their life together should be a gleaming city upon the hill, presumably one made from “gold, silver, [or] precious stones”—think about that sight—which can withstand any test. Yet, I reckon that Paul considers the temple(s) there in Corinth to be made of “wood, hay, or straw.”[4] Now let us return to “the word of the Lord [that] came by Haggai the prophet.”

Note the LORD’s question to Zerubbabel and Joshua in Haggai: “‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison?’” (3) Recall the reaction over a decade earlier of the people in Ezra 3 when the foundation of the temple was first laid by this same governor and high priest:

12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully. 13 The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.

Who said God doesn’t do sarcasm? They wept and moaned and might not would have even completed the work that first time, since their expectations were neither aligned to one another’s nor, it appears, even to God’s.

“ 4 But now take courage, Zerubbabel…take courage also, Joshua…and all you people of the land take courage…and work; for I am with you,’ declares the Lord of armies. 5 ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit remains in your midst; do not fear!’” He then makes a promise, “9 ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of armies.” Its glory exceeds the former’s because it is built by the LORD, Himself, in the Body of Christ—who is the sure and firm foundation that when He was “lifted up from the earth, [He drew] all people to [Himself].” (John 12:32) And it is this same Jesus that Paul has established in the hearts of the Corinthians and has placed upon them His divine expectation for their lives.

When we order our faith and build our temple the way that we want to, when we say to God, “This is what I am going to do for You and this is how You are going to respond,” the thing that we build—no matter how grand—will not survive the test. Think about Martha who is distracted from hearing the truth that is in her very house because her expectations are of paramount importance and not the Lord’s. Think about the temple lying incomplete because it just wasn’t going to match the beauty of the first one. Think about how difficult it was for the Corinthians to embrace new life in Christ because they valued the old one so much. This is why holding ourselves accountable to Christ’s Spirit is so crucial, for if we don’t search the Spirit, how can we ever know what Christ expects of us? An example from scripture comes to mind. In Luke 21:1-4 we read:

Now He looked up and saw the wealthy putting their gifts into the temple treasury. And He say a poor widow putting in two lepta coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all contributed to the offering from their surplus; but she, from her poverty, put is all that she had to live on.”

There was no set value for the lepton/mite—other than it was the smallest unit of value. It was made of copper or bronze—common enough materials—rather than silver or gold. How could such an offering possibly be one worthy enough for God?  

[1] This is the very reason our churches struggle: because we lack perspective and have forgotten why God called us into a relationship with Himself and with each other. In NMC’s case, like the exiles’ return from Babylon—who were sent home to Zion for the purpose of rebuilding the temple—perhaps this is why the LORD has breathed new life into the congregation, into His people’s lives. New life has been given because God has expectations.

[2] Who are these “countrymen”? Is the LORD speaking only of the descendants of Abraham by blood or is He broadening His family? The answers are found in Isaiah 19:19ff:

 19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord beside its border. 20 And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will save them. 21 So the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.

 23 On that day there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

 24 On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

 [3] This is from last week’s reading and bears repeating.

[4] Paul is not being literal here, since we are told in Psalm 19:10 that the things of God (His law, testimony, precepts, commandments, and the fear of Him) are “more desirable than gold, yes, than much poor gold…” He states here to the Corinthians that to build their faith, their temple, or their house on anything other than what is “more desirable than gold” will not stand the test.