January 25, 2004 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Haggai 1:1-4 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

Jerusalem was a mess, and needed rebuilt. The dwelling place of the Lord still laid in rubble. As the people returned from captivity, they rebuilt their homes first, but this doesn't seem to be what frustrated God. The word "cieled" tells us that in their houses, the finish carpenters had already come and gone before even a single stone was lifted to rebuild the temple.

Haggai 1:5-8 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

When I go to hear someone speak, I automatically bring my own feelings and opinions with me. My personal situation at that moment, and even my emotional reactions to the speaker's words, it all acts like a filter which can add to and take away from the original intent of the message. Someone sitting right beside me might have an entirely different interpretation of the speaker's message. I know that some of us have been building new homes and remodeling old ones lately, so if any of you felt a twinge of emotion as you listened to this passage of scripture, that's the Holy Spirit poking you, not me. I want us to overlook the literal meaning of this passage for just a moment, and see if we can find the figurative message inside it.

Until Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, nobody really understood what He meant when He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:18-22)

When I hear the words of God through the prophet Haggai, I think about the literal years of bondage His chosen people endured, and I think about how they acted after they were set free; taking God for granted. When I hear today's passage in Haggai, the filter inbetween my ears causes me to think figuratively about my own years of bondage, literal bondage to the ways of the world, and I think about how I've been acting since He set me free.

Ephesians 2:19-22 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (get the symbolism here) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone]; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

If we're living stones (1 Peter 2:5), building blocks in the house of God, why do we try to chisel out our own shape? Why do I insist on finishing out my own habitation before I even start working on the Lord's?

1 Corinthians 3:9-11 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Why am I always trying to lay my own foundation instead of building God's house?

1 Corinthians 3:12-16 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Only minutes before He was kissed by Judas, Jesus prayed for His disciples and for us:

John 17:20-24 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

We are living stones of His house. Are there any cracks between us? Are we concerned with being "fitly framed together" and growing? Jesus prayed that we may be one. No cracks between us. One Foundation.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.