“Plenty of Reasons, But No Excuses”

Haggai 2:1-9

The time: More than 500 years before the birth of Christ. The place: Jerusalem. The context: The exiled Israelites, or in some cases their children who had been born and raised in captivity, have returned to find their city and nation in ruins, inhabited and surrounded by people who are foreign and hostile toward them. The situation: There is a hiatus in the Temple-rebuilding project. The reasons: Many. Such a small number of returnees. Hostile neighbors. A ruined economy. The need to take care of life’s necessities. Discouragement and a sense of failure. This new Temple would never be as splendid as that of Solomon. Some of those who remembered it are even making fun of those trying to rebuild it.

Into all of this comes the prophet Haggai. He is aware of and understands the various reasons why work on the Temple has halted. He is probably even sympathetic toward his fellow returnees from Babylon. All that aside, he spoke the Word of the Lord concerning God’s unhappiness with his people’s refusal to rebuild the Temple. Hear Haggai’s words from the third verse of chapter one, using Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase: “How is it that it’s the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God’s Temple, is in ruins?”

God’s people could give all the reasons listed above, but none of them had a decent excuse for not working on the Temple. Their situation was what it was, not necessarily a good one. There were a host of economic and political concerns. Livings had to be made. Homes had to be built. Children had to be fed. Protection from hostile neighbors had to be provided. They could give God reason after reason, but what they couldn’t give him was an excuse. This was especially true when they were confronted with their ability to build nice homes for themselves while neglecting the house of God. They had so immersed themselves in the pursuit of material things that their spiritual needs had been pushed to the far corners of their consciousness.

And God was having none of it. His Word to his people, spoken by Haggai in today’s text, was a Word of challenge. “Take courage,” said God. Get back to work on the Temple. I am with you. My Spirit abides with you. I am the God who delivered you from Egypt and brought you back from Babylon. Hang in there. Things will get better. Great things will take place. You will prosper. This new Temple will be greater than the old one.”

Some of this prophecy had to do with the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. There was hope of great future glory. But there was also hope for the here and now of their existence. The Temple they were building would never be as splendid as Solomon’s. That wasn’t the point. The point was being faithful to God. Committing themselves to building a place in which to worship him. Making the rebuilding of his house the first priority among many. So what if they were discouraged? God was with them. He was their hope and strength. His shalom – his peace, prosperity, and well being was promised to them. There was no real reason why they could not rebuild the Temple. Implicit in all that was the reality that the real glory of the Temple would be derived from the righteous lives of those who worshiped in it.

Thus Haggai anticipated the words of Jesus: “… seek first [the] kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” If first things were taken care of first, all other things would fall into place. Real needs would be met. A spiritual foundation that would enable them to live abundant lives in the midst of great uncertainty would be laid. Reality wouldn’t change. Difficulties would not magically disappear. Livings would still have to be made. Families would still need to be housed, clothed, and fed. All the external pressures of life would still exist. But if they would build God’s house, worship in it faithfully, and go forth from it to lead lives of righteousness – if they would but trust god and follow the leading of his Spirit – all those other things would be theirs as well.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be yours as well. Good advice then. Good advice now. Trust God. Obey God. Worship God. Follow God’s Word. Then will come the true shalom of God, that peace which passes all understanding that is found only in Jesus Christ.

We’re not Israelites living in post-exilic Jerusalem. God is not calling us to rebuild Solomon’s Temple. God isn’t even, to my knowledge, calling us to build a new church. This one needs some maintenance, buildings always do, but that’s not the point. The point, as it always is for God’s people, is commitment. What comes first? What takes priority? In his commentary on today’s text, Page Kelly, a Southern Baptist minister, wrote, “We usually find time and money for things that really interest us. To say that we are too busy to serve God or too hard-pressed to support his work really says that he is not one of our priorities. The crucial question for each of us is this: to what is my life really committed.”

Like those post-exilic Jews living in Jerusalem, we deal with our own difficulties and uncertainties. There are livings to be made. We have families to feed, clothe, and house. There are children to educate. More and more people of the Boomer generation are being called on to care for and sometimes support their parents. The economy’s shaky. There’s a war going on. Our children or children of our friends are fighting it. There is a constant threat from Islamic terrorists. And that’s just the secular stuff with which we have to deal.

Grace Church – our church - will most likely show a net loss of members for 2004. Our church finances could be better. This building needs some work. All of this stuff – secular and ecclesiastical – chips away at our confidence, drags us down emotionally, and tempts us to say, “Why bother? The good old days are gone. They’re not coming back. Things will never be like they used to be.”

True. True. And true. And God’s answer is, “So what? I created you. I have called you to be my own. I am always with you. In Jesus Christ I have done everything necessary to provide you with an abundant life both in the here and now as well as in eternity. You’ve answered my call. You’ve made commitments. You’ve made promises. One of those is that you will trust me. Another is that you will be faithful in carrying out the Great Commission. And another is that you will be as salt and light to the world, proclaiming the mighty acts of the One who has brought you out of the darkness into a marvelous light. You may have your reasons for breaking such promises, but you have no legitimate excuse whatsoever. None.”

And God is so right. And so too is Mr. Kelly’s commentary. We do find the time and energy to do what we really want to do. It is a rare middle class person living in America who cannot find the money to buy what he or she really, really wants. If we really do trust God - if we really do want to follow Jesus – if we really are committed to being the people and the church God has called us to be, then we’ll find, within ourselves and within our budgets, whatever it takes to do God’s work. Whatever it takes to be good stewards of this, God’s house. Whatever it takes to be Christ’s witnesses and evangelists in this part of the world we call home. Whatever it takes to teach our children about Jesus. Whatever it takes to seek first the kingdom of God, and then leave all that other stuff in God’s hands.

We have our reasons not to. Good reasons. Logical reasons. Rational reasons. Pragmatic reasons. But guess what, we have no valid excuse. Amen.