Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Haggai 1:1-11
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  October 6, 2019

“It just doesn’t make sense…” We know 1+1=2. But there are plenty of times when the numbers just don’t seem to add up. “He was a good kid from a good family. How did he get hooked on heroin?” It just doesn’t make sense. “He was a hardworking family man. They just celebrated their 20th anniversary. How could he just walk out of their lives like that?” It just doesn’t make sense. She took such good care of herself–no family history. Heart attack? What a mess…” It just doesn’t make sense.

We like to think, especially when we’re young, that life makes a lot of sense. We like to think that there is a law of nature, a scientific breakthrough, or a Google search that will make everything make sense. The older and experienced among us know that there are plenty of times when life refuses to make sense! What sense is there to the hatred of a Hitler and his concentration camps? The abuse of a child? Sudden sickness after a lifetime of health? It just doesn’t make sense. 

It just doesn’t make sense…At least some of the Old Testament Israelites must have been thinking along those lines as they were dragged away into captivity in Babylon–Jerusalem surrounded and assaulted, their homes torched, their lives going up in smoke, the Lord’s temple a smoldering heap of rubble. Weren’t they supposed to be God’s chosen people? Why the war? Destruction? Death? Deportation? It didn’t make a bit of sense…70 years later when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from captivity, they must have been thinking the same thing. The Holy City of Jerusalem looked like a ghost town, walls and gates broken and crumbling, the temple courts once thronging with people and shaking with the sounds of singing were a mute heap of rubble overgrown with weeds. It just doesn’t make sense…

The Israelites of the prophet Haggai’s day decided to roll up their sleeves and put some sense back into life. Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt. A new altar was installed on the Temple Mount. Soon, they would dig a little deeper and lay the foundations for a brand-new temple. But you know how people are… They soon lost interest in rebuilding the temple and began to pay attention to building projects that made a lot more sense: their own houses. Why should they prioritize precious time and shekels building God a house when their own houses need work too? Because this makes sense: If momma is happy, then everyone is happy! This makes sense too: We’ll take care of ourselves right now, so that we’ll be in a better position to take care of God’s house later. But you know how people are…The “later” never came. After laying the foundation, almost 15 years when by without any real progress on the temple itself. 

That’s where the prophet Haggai–with only two chapters–proclaims a message that, humanly speaking, doesn’t seem to make a bit of sense. “Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never    satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it. This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on the labor of your hands.”

The Israelites, it turns out, were preaching a sermon about personal priorities with their paneled houses and their procrastination with God’s house. Self-first. God-second. In other words, giving to God first doesn’t make a bit of sense. Do we ever think like those Israelites of old? Charles Schwab tells me that if I “pay myself first” and invest it carefully, I get more money. But if I give money away, I have less money. That’s the way money works, right? Or if I prioritize the work of the Lord with firstfruits giving, then that means that every other area of my life will suffer, doesn’t it? Or if I give my time, talents, and treasures away–then that means I have less for myself and what I love? And we all know that the American dream is that I have more than mom and dad did. It’s true. Humanly speaking, giving doesn’t make a bit of sense. It’s also true, that the default mode of our sinful nature is to keep stuff, store stuff, stockpile stuff, even hoard stuff–as we look out for #1. We call it the good life. God calls it greed. We call it being sensible. God calls it sin.

Did you notice in Haggai’s sermon how the Lord turned our eloquent excuses not to give upside down? “You sow much seed but you harvest little…Eat and drink, but aren’t satisfied…Clothed, but not warm…Money is placed in a purse with holes…Much turns out to be little…Translation: the people had less because they gave little. And God himself was seeing to that one drought, one holey purse at a time. Think about it: The God that once fed 5000 hungry stomachs using only a boy’s picnic lunch, is the very same God who can insure that a stockpile of stuff won’t be able to make ends meet.

Does Haggai’s message sober us up this morning? Let’s play a game. Try running some of Haggai’s ideas through some imaginary prayers: “Dear Lord, I thank you for the lowest unemployment rate in America since 1969, while we were forced to cut our support of missions and Lakeside. Amen.” “Dear Lord, thank you for finally allowing me to be debt free while church and school are struggling–sometimes just to make payroll. Amen.” “Dear Lord, I thank you for the 4% growth in America’s economy. Now if Pastor would just land the plane on this money sermon, that would be great, because I already know in my head that I’m not going to give a nickel more–no matter what the Bible says about firstfruit giving. Amen.” Somehow those imaginary prayers don’t sound quite right when you actually say them out loud. In a not-so-subtle way, we too are preaching a sermon with our paneled houses and our procrastination with God’s house and work: Giving to God first doesn’t make a bit of sense.

Haggai’s words make me think about two recent news stories: American employment has not been this high since the summer of ‘69. God bless America! The other story…money spent on video games was up 40% in the first half of the year–$19.5 billion dollars! Record employment. Video games are up 40%. And synod wide, offerings are absolutely flat. Which makes perfect sense–but only if God isn’t in first place in our hearts! We have come to expect a full-service ministry with church, school, pre-school, and child care. But can we really expect them to fully function if the paneling of our houses remains our first priority? We have received a vibrant Christian ministry built by the sacrifice of our parents and grandparents. Are we willing to prioritize the Lord’s work in order to pass them on to our children and grandchildren? Listen: I practice no scare tactics today. And I’m certainly not going to engage in a shallow, sentimental ra-ra session of “do it for Eastside’s kids!” I simply tell you the truth: We can only minister with what God’s people are willing to give to their ministry. Next year’s ministry plan–staffing level, program, support, etc.–will be based upon how well we give as a family of believers between now and the end of the fiscal year. Again, we can only minister with what God’s people are willing to give to their ministry.

Now think of this: Do you think that the people who generously gave to the temple in Haggai’s day went home and God let them freeze to death? After Haggai’s rebuke, why could the Israelites give so confidently to the Lord and his work? Because they believed in a God who gave himself completely for us!

Get this: It isn’t our giving that makes no sense. It’s God’s giving that makes no sense! That the Holy One of Israel would give himself completely for the sinful ones of America makes no sense whatsoever. That’s why it’s called grace. And God’s grace is simply amazing. Jesus didn’t give 10% of himself for you. He was in it 100% for you and your salvation. What dedication to your salvation did it take Jesus to leave the streets of heavenly gold for the cow manure of Bethlehem’s barn? How much was Jesus willing to give up for us, not even having a house to call home or a pillow to plop his head upon! How full is Jesus’ sacrifice for your forgiveness as he goes all the way to the cross for you! He didn’t swipe a Visa card for you. He shed his precious blood to redeem you and made slaves into sons and daughters! The One who willingly made himself nothing for us upon the cross is our everything. In Christ, God graciously gives us all things. The one who said: “I thirst” is the one who washed you clean in baptism! The one who cries out “Why have you forsaken me” is precisely the one who will never leave you or forsake you! The one who prays “Give us this day our daily bread” Is the same one who opens his hands and satisfies your desires. Should we trust a God like that? No, thank God that we trust a God like that!

The big issue before our Eastside family is this: Is our relationship with the Savior our life’s priority? Or is it just another one of life’s hobbies? How can you tell? Go home this week and spend a prayerful half hour with your last bank statement. Look at the numbers and see if you can spot any priorities they might point out to you. The numbers don’t lie. Take the time to pray about what you find–and what you don’t find. Let’s open our eyes and see the harvest! The blessings are there right before our faces. Open your eyes and look around you in America. There is absolutely no question that the blessings are there, the resources are there for aggressive Gospel ministry. The question is not one of resources, but of our resolve. Where is the Lord and his work on our list of personal priorities? Is he a firstfruits priority? Or is he a leftovers hobby? Will we settle for nice paneled houses? Or do we desire to make a real, eternal difference. 

My prayer this morning is that Haggai’s message opens your heart in a major way this week. You worship a God who knows how to make much into next to nothing because of our greed; and very little into abundance due to his grace. You worship the ultimate Giver. God gave you his first–Jesus, the Firstborn over all creation. God gave you his best–his Son, in whom he is well-pleased. In Christ, God graciously gives you all things. Your God is faithful. Trust him. Bank on his promises. And then get busy–not building a new house–but filling this current one up! Amen.