Scripture: Haggai 1:7-2:9 1 Peter 2: 4-10
Sermon: Living Stones
Topics: church, temple, travel, living stones
Preached: January 13, 2019
Rev. Mike Abma
Haggai 1: 7 — 2:9
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 8Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. 9You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. 10Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces, on human beings and animals, and on all their labours.
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the Lord. 13Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. 14And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month.
2In the second year of King Darius,1in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, 5according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.6For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the Lord of hosts. 8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. 9The 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.
MARK 13: 1-2
As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ 2Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’
1 Peter 2: 4-9
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture:
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’,
8and
‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
INTRODUCTION — HAGGAI
Any church that has a building program loves the prophet Haggai.
That is because Haggai is a one-prophet building promotion committee.
He comes to this ragtag group of exiles
who have just returned to Jerusalem –
a city in ruins, a pile of rubble and stones –
and Haggai says, point blank,
that priority Number One
is to rebuild the Temple.
Your homes can wait
Your gardens can wait.
The Temple has to come first.
Get those building materials together
and let’s get started!
On God’s behalf, he even makes this promise:
Rebuild the Temple and gold, silver, wealth, prosperity, peace and the life of
blessing will come.
Fail to rebuild the Temple
and drought, poverty, hardship, and the life of curses will continue.
For Haggai, it was that simple:
build and be blessed
fail to build and be cursed.
CON’S and PRO’S of BUILDINGS
Here is what is difficult for me to appreciate.
As a typical modern, Protestant Christian,
it is hard for me to begin to fathom how important the Temple building
was in the life and faith of Israel.
Did God really need a building
of bricks and timbers,
of stone and mortar
to meet his people, and accept their offerings?
That is the difficult reality for me to accept.
But on the other hand,
I have this human attraction to beautiful buildings.
Think about it.
Think about all the places you have been
both in this country
and in the world.
Isn’t it true that buildings are often what attracts us?
We think of visiting France,
and we think of what ……the Eiffel Tower.
We think of visiting Egypt,
and we think of ……the pyramids.
We think of visiting Rome,
and we think of visiting places like
the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica and the Colleseum.
We think of visiting the Netherlands
and we think of ……windmills.
We have this innate human attraction to buildings.
Our family was in Detroit on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
What did we do?
We walked around downtown
on a self-guided tour
of the buildings…..
the 40 story, Art Deco 1929 Guardian Building;
the more recent GM Renaissance Center;
the building at 1 Woodward Ave —
a 26-story building which I learned was
designed by the architect Yamasaki
and the next buildings he designed
were the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Buildings – we are attracted to them.
JESUS and the TEMPLE
The people of Biblical times,
were also attracted to buildings.
And the people visiting Jerusalem
were especially amazed by the size and beauty of the Temple.
We are told in Mark 13: 1
that when the disciples were in Jerusalem
they could not help but uww and ahhh over it.
Look, they said, What massive stones!
Look, they said, What magnificent buildings!
And no doubt, they were.
The Second Temple that the people in the time of Haggai rebuilt was impressive.
But Herod the Great had made that Second Temple twice as impressive.
Herod doubled its size, doubled its grandeur, gave it a Wow-appeal.
In fact, Herod’s renovations were so extensive
that at the time the disciples were so wonder-struck by the Temple,
many of those additions and renovations started by Herod the Great
were still underway.
The disciples in Jerusalem:
they came;
they saw;
they were impressed.
But Jesus was clearly less impressed.
In a tone of rebuke, or at least correction,
Jesus told his disciples that not one stone would be left on the other.
He told them that every one of these impressive stones
would be thrown down.
And we know they were.
In 70 AD, during a huge battle between the Jews and the occupying Romans,
the Romans came in and burnt and destroyed the Temple.
It has never been rebuilt since.
NEW TEMPLE
Even as Jesus talked about the Temple being destroyed
he had in mind another Temple taking its place.
He had in mind all the people that would believe in him and follow him.
He had in mind how he,
through his death and resurrection,
would become the Living Cornerstone.
He had in mind
what Peter says in his letter –
that all those in Christ,
who founded and anchored their lives in Him,
would be Living Stones.
Living Stones – that is such an interesting phrase.
It is such an oxymoron – a phrase holding together two seemingly opposite things.
How can Stones be Living?
Of course, that is the point of the phrase.
On our own, we would be as dead as stones.
But when founded on Jesus Christ,
on his death and resurrection,
then even in death, we have his life.
Thus, we are Living Stones –
we live with Christ’s death in us.
we live with Christ’s life in us.
And together, all of us Living Stones make this New Temple,
the church,
the chosen people of God,
this royal priesthood,
this holy nation
all finding our identity in Jesus our Lord.
And why do we exist?
What is the purpose of all of us living stones
who are being built into this spiritual house?
What is our purpose?
It is to praise God.
It is to thank God.
It is to declare the praises of the One who called us out of darkness into the light;
out of the exile of death into the restoration of life;
out of a cursed dead-end life to the blessed bounty of Christ our Lord.
THE DIFFERENCE THIS MAKES
As I said earlier,
we have this innate human attraction to buildings.
But I think as Christians
we need to have another type of attraction –
an attraction to this Temple made of Living Stones
wherever in the world we can find it.
This truth struck me when I read something that Elias Chacour once said.
Elias Chacour is a Christian leader living in Israel.
Chacour noted that over 3 million tourists visit Israel every year.
Many of them are from North America.
Many of them are Christians.
They come to see all the historical sites, all the holy sites.
But Chacour laments that most of these tourists only visit the dead stones.
They only visit the buildings and holy sites and archaeological museums.
Few actually find a church of Christians,
often Palestinian Christians.
Few actually join in worship and find fellowship with the Living Stones of Israel and Palestine.
That comment really struck me.
It applies not only to Israel, but to any place in the world.
And it rings true.
When we travel, shouldn’t we always be on the lookout for Living Stones?
I remember being in the region of Galilee,
visiting all these holy sites.
But one of the most memorable,
and striking moments
was when our family went to a tiny Church of Scotland
English-speaking church.
There were only 7 people in attendance — the pastor, the liturgist, and the 5 people in the Abma family.
It was a communion service – and it was an unforgettable experience.
Or the time our family was in Rome.
Sure we visited the Vatican,
even walked around on the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica,
But one of the most moving times of that trip
was when we were in a Protestant Church in Rome
filled with West-African, mainly Ghanaian Christians
and we worshipped and fellowshipped with them.
Or the time we were in England.
We visited lots of majestic churches like the majestic York Minster.
But what was more moving was worshipping with a little Anglican congregation, and witnessing some adult baptisms.
Several adults knelt in a little kiddy inflatable pool
and were thoroughly doused with water.
CONCLUSION
I am going to challenge you with a totally practical thing to do.
When you travel,
when you get ready to visit
a different part of the state
or a different country
or any destination in the world
when you are making a list of all the things you want to do and see,
don’t forget to visit the Living Stones where ever you are.
Some people have this odd view that
when you are on a vacation
you also get a vacation from attending church.
I guess I would contend that if that is your view,
you are missing out.
You are missing out on the incredible Living Stones
that can be found all over the world:
the Living Stones that are brothers and sisters in Christ,
co-citizens of God’s holy nation,
co-workers in his holy service.
For the truth is, Haggai the prophet was right so long ago.
The latter splendor of God’s house will be greater than the former.
Why? Because the treasure of all the nations will fill God’s house with splendor.
Don’t miss out on that splendor.
Amen
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