First Things First! (Haggai)
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the June 8, 2013
Sabbath School Lesson
“Is it a time for you yourselves to
be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” Haggai 1:4,
NIV
Very old
ruins have held a romantic fascination for me. When I walk beside the ruined
walls, I wonder what stories could they tell of lives lived long ago. What
hopes and dreams did the people who built them have? What tragedies might they
have witnessed? Were the lives of those ancient folk mundane with routine and
boredom? Or was life a daily struggle simply to survive? Does the beauty of the
ruin tell us anything of the beauty of their lives?
Today we
pass on such things in books, pictures and media recordings. Very little of
that existed in ancient times. Even today, in some parts of the world, these
things are not common. However, we still try to piece together a story from what
little there is to guide us, so we look at the ruins and try to imagine the lives
that were lived in these places. In those places where we do have some written
guide for our contemplation, we are grateful for the color it brings to our
understanding. In the case of the temple of Jerusalem and the surrounding city,
we have much written of its fall and destruction as well as its rebuilding.
From those writings, we have not just a log of what took place, but also perspectives
on the reasons why the temple became a ruin.
Several of
the biblical prophets have addressed reasons such as injustice, oppression,
idolatry, greed, and intolerance. However, Haggai cuts straight to the chase.
From his perspective, the primary problem is selfishness. Each is taking care
of his or her needs without regards to anything else.
Perhaps this
is understandable even if it is not excusable. Those who passed through the
Great Depression of the 1930s became a generation of scrimpers and savers. They
learned to place a higher value on even simple things like bits of string or used
rubber bands. In today’s throw-away society where we find it more economical to
throw away even items costing hundreds of dollars rather than repair them, we
may find it strange that someone would save rubber bands from the grocery store
produce or paper and string from packages, but these things were hard to come
buy at times during the depression because there was little cash to buy them. What
cash there was would better be spent for food and shelter.
During the
depression those who had it slightly better would sometimes ill-treat those who
had nothing for fear that they might take what little they had from them. This
was illustrated by John Steinbeck in his novel “The Grapes of Wrath” when he
described how the “Okies” were treated when they attempted to relocate to
California. Even though times may be better now, we still struggle with this
fear when confronted by another’s need. Too often, just as the Californians in
Steinbeck’s book, we defray our responsibility to our fellow man by questioning
their worthiness to receive help. They may be commies, socialists, alcoholics, pedophiles,
homosexuals, or any number of literally dozens of categories we place people in
to justify not helping with their need.
In the
parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus puts forth the
claim that what we do to these we do to Him.[i]
Of course, no one sees himself or herself as being among the goats. We all tell
ourselves that we are the “remnant church” of Revelation.[ii]
As such a church, we certainly would recognize Jesus and minister to Him. But
would we?
The remnant
church is often understood to be the remaining church when the Parousia takes
place. Are the members of that church typified with generosity and self-sacrifice,
or does the Bible give us a different picture. Some have held that the seven
churches of Revelation represent different periods in the history of the
Christian church.[iii]
If this is so, then the seventh and final church, Laodicea, would probably be
synonymous with the remnant church. So if one would expect to see generosity
and self-sacrifice, Laodicea should exemplify it. Instead
we find a different picture.
We find a
wealthy church which is indifferent to its own spiritual condition.[iv]
Their wealth has blinded them to their needs. Perhaps, it has also blinded them
to the needs of those around them and even to Jesus’ desire to enter into their
lives.[v]
The paradox is that the same Jesus, who would vomit at the indifference of
these individuals,[vi] nonetheless
continues to reach out to them in love and compassion as He goes on requesting
they invite Him into their lives.
In Haggai’s
day, he also contrasted the desire to accumulate wealth and prosperity with neglect of God. As our verse above refers to, people were
living in beautiful houses but neglecting to provide the same for the house of
God. As a result, even the security they were stockpiling for themselves and
their families was threatened. The returns on their work and investments fell
short. Perhaps as they realized diminishing returns they were finding
themselves on a treadmill. They would work hard to accumulate a secure future,
but the returns were not as much as they expected, so they worked harder to
make up the difference. They were always running but never arriving. As a
consequence, God’s people can become so frantically busy that they no longer
even find the time to consider the needs of others, the needs of the church
included.
We are very
familiar with that treadmill, today. We see churches in various states of
disrepair or unable to easily move forward with appropriate improvements to the
church plant due to lack of sufficient funds. Paradoxically, the offering
basket may be filled with one dollar bills and small change, while outside the
parking lot is filled with vehicles costing tens of thousands of dollars that
have come from homes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why is this so?
Perhaps we
have come to believe that ultimate security lies in what we can accumulate as
opposed to what God provides. This is reinforced by the advertising media in
countless ways. If you do not have this expensive item, you are neglecting your
children, your spouse, or even worse, yourself. Madison Avenue has a gift for turning
indulgences into necessities. In order to have those “necessities,” easy credit
expands our purchasing power to reach out and fill the “needs.” Sadly, once we
have filled the needs with that easy credit, we are introduced to a whole new
level of needs. Like sheep, we are driven by advertisers to seek more credit so
we can arrive at these new, greener elysian fields of perfect living.
The longer
we remain on this treadmill, the greater the chance that our ever-expanding
borrowing will jeopardize even the fundamental needs for security that we first
attempted to cover. Unfortunately, it also restricts our ability to provide for
the necessity of advancing the work of the Lord as well. Perhaps the few
dollars collected at church are so few because so many are going to service the
debt we accumulate as we trust in what we can accumulate instead of what God
provides for our security. Once ensnared in these spidery webs of debt and
interest, it can be very hard to break free.
Some might
say that the more they have, the more they can do for the Lord. This can be
true if what they have is given them as a blessing from God. It is even an
expectation in that case. However, if it is the result of ever increasing debt
and entrapment, God has never endorsed such a plan for furthering His work.
Search as we might, we will never find one word of scripture where we are told it
is necessary to go into debt to carry forward God’s work. Instead, we are told
that God will take care of our needs.[vii]
This extends even to our work for Him. As one author has put it, “All His
biddings are enablings.”[viii]
Perhaps we
should understand the importance of our example in this area. When we place our
trust in easy credit to provide for our needs, others may think that we have
what we do because we are blessed by God. When they try to accumulate a similar
standard of living, not knowing the trap we have fallen into, they may also be led
into the same snare and become lost to the needs of the gospel as well. Our
example is the greatest witness we have. Whom does our lifestyle say we are
depending on? Who will others end up depending on if they emulate us?
