“The Splendor of the Not Yet”
Haggai 1:15-2:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
A Communion Meditation Preached by Thomas J. Boone, PhD
Central Presbyterian Church, Mobile AL, November 14, 2007

Part of human nature is our anticipation for better things. When we’re children we can’t wait until the day when we’re old enough for people to take us seriously. Fourteen-year-olds count the days down to when they’ll get their driver’s licenses. College students look forward to finishing school and getting on with life as productive adults. And isn’t it one of life’s greatest ironies that by the time we’re content with the way things are time goes by so fast we wish we could slow it down?

I’ve had an example of this in my life recently. Carrie’s a senior this year so I’ve been going through pictures of her as a baby and toddler at awe over how quickly the time has gone. One picture stood out to me. She’s about two years old and tromping through a leaf pile with both hands clenching leaves while smiling the same smile she has today. As precious as that moment was I must admit that all the while I was looking forward to the day when she would be old enough to enjoy school, which led to hopes for sports, artistic endeavors, new schools, and more. Oh the plans we have for our children as parents, and oh how quickly those paths move!

It’s a pattern of life that includes even our eternity because ultimately as Christians we look forward to the day we stand in glory with Jesus. God has claimed us as His children in order that we can be with Him forever. That’s the end game. As Christian’s our life’s goal isn’t security through wealth, making sure all our dreams come true, or even that every person has enough food to eat. These are all good things, and every responsible Christian wouldn’t neglect them. Ultimately, though, we’re headed home to heaven and this life isn’t the main thing.

I think we all know this, but where we get stuck every now and then is in living out this truth. It’s not that we’re supposed to avoid going for the good things that God makes available here. We’re just not supposed to make them our sources of real joy. It’s like the child who thinks he’ll be happy if only he gets that one video game only to discover that he’d REALLY be happy if he gets another, and then another. People who gravitate toward technology find this happening all the time, that as soon as they buy the latest and greatest it only takes a couple of months before there’s a new latest and greatest. Or, dare I say, its like the person who gets one pair of shoes thinking that’s going to satisfy her only to discover ten pairs later of nearly the same shade of red that she’s still looking for the right pair. Keeping up with the Joneses is a rigorous and costly undertaking, but there are plenty of good church-going people who succumb to this temptation. If we want to be truly happy, we’d do well to consider Psalm 84:10: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

You know, the Old Testament has a lot of good things to say about God as the source of our happiness. Take Haggai, for example. Haggai. Now there’s a book we don’t hear from often. For one thing, it’s an old book talking about powers and people we’ve not seen for thousands of years. Haggai was a prophet during the 500’s BC. Jesus’ earthly parents weren’t even dots on the horizon of history yet. The main kingdoms in power were Persia in the East with Greece emerging on the West. Israel had suffered from years of exile under Babylon and was missing at least two generations of men and women. For another thing, sometimes we fall into the misconception that the Old Testament has little faith value for us who live in the New Testament era. And those books of the Old Testament we do read are usually the big ones so Haggai often gets overlooked in its tucked-away place far back in the minor prophets. And let’s not forget that some of the names are just downright hard to pronounce. How many of you were relieved that you didn’t have to read names like Jehozadak, Zerubbabel or Shealtiel this morning?

But, here’s one thing I think we can relate to with this distant minor prophet. Going forward, even if it’s to claim God’s promises, takes courage and faith. If we’re going to move from the way things are right now to a better life down the road we’re going to have to trust that God’s with us, and with Him at the helm we’d do best to let it go.

Here’s what Haggai was dealing with. Some of the Israelites decided to return to Palestine after their years in exile, and when they did they discovered a ruined country with no way to protect themselves from rivals. They were, like their ancestors from Egypt, building from nothing except this time there were a lot less of them and a bit of gold and silver. They only had God’s promise that He would bless them. And there were times when this was enough, but also times when it was tempting to give up. Haggai spoke words of great promise: “‘The latter splendor ... shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of Hosts.”

But, it wasn’t just tempting to give up on their dreams. This passage focuses on a different aspect of human nature. The Israelites wanted their new state so much they figured that they could control its making because they had in one hand precious few resources and people, and in the other hand more than enough to fear. It was a good thing to want to build a new temple and to form a renewed identity under God’s dominion. But, what wasn’t good or godly was their thinking they had to control the process.

If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s hard to judge them for that. Look at your endeavors that you want to make godly ones. For some of us it’s building a strong business. Maybe it’s being a teacher in a broken world and you’re trying to make a difference in kids’ lives. For others of us it’s making sure our children leave our homes strong and doing God’s will in their lives. For still others it’s about being loving spouses in difficult times, or being God’s representative to a friend in need. Maybe it’s all of the above. Whatever it is we’re trying to do as Christians we’ve got to hear God’s word to us: when things aren’t going at the pace we think it should, or when it’s not going to plan, we’ve got to remember that it all belongs to God so we need to let go of the wheel.

To the Israelites who were discouraged about the state of things when they returned to nothingness God said, “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine.” When we’re discouraged, here’s what God’s saying to us: “the job is mine, the friend is mine, the child is mine, the husband is mine, the wife is mine,” so let it go and trust that God will fulfill His promise to us. But, the nearer and dearer the thing or person is that we have to stop wanting to control and instead hand over to God’s hands the harder this will be. If we’re parents isn’t it the case that we’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve had to let go of our children and our pictures for their future? The truth is that they belong to God and God can take care of them and their future far better than we can. If we have dear friends who are lost in sinful morality or behaviors they can frustrate us to no end when they keep on not seeing clearly the way out of their mess. Ultimately we have to give them over to God because they belong to God and He can reach them in ways we can’t touch. If you’ve been working on a business for years and its not working out like you planned, it’s hard to let go of the wheel and yield to a God we can’t see. Maybe we ask, “What does God have to do with my business?” Everything.

Ultimately our lives are about sharing in God’s glory with Jesus in heaven, but we must put our faith in Jesus if that’s going to happen. So, life is filled with one test after another of letting God take the reigns in order that our faith will constantly grow. God doesn’t want us to be passive, or to stop working hard, but He does want us to press forward when things don’t go our way and to do so without fear.

In our Lord’s Supper, we remember that our salvation was paid for with a price that was far too expensive for us to pay. And because Jesus paid that price, we belong body, heart, soul, mind, and strength to him. Everything belongs to God, and the truth we live in every day is to surrender more and more to Him. Do your best, but surrender the stuff. Do your best, but surrender your pictures of success. Do your best, but surrender your criteria. Let us then cling to the promise that the latter splendor will be greater than the former, and press on knowing that in Jesus our prosperity and the prosperity of those we love and the glory of what we do for God is in capable hands. Hallelujah. Amen.