Introduction

A couple years ago I purchased a HDTV. They were kind of new then and I thought it would be a cool to have one. I was so excited, I took it home and wired it up. For a week I watched my HDTV. I was talking to my brother toward the end of that week and he was asking me about it, I was explaining to him how cool it was and how much fun we were having watching the sporting events and all of that kind of stuff in high definition. Then he asked me a question, "Well, did you purchase the converter box or did you rent it?" There was this long pause on the phone from my end because I knew nothing about a converter box. He explained to me that you had to have this box that would take the signals that high definition was broadcast in and make it possible to watch them on your TV. You know how it is when you kind of let the air out of a balloon and there's funny sounds? That's kind of the way it was in my life. I thought I had been watching high definition for a week when I'd been watching the same analog broadcasts that I had all my life. No high definition because the conversion wasn't made.

It's one thing for that to happen with something as trivial and earthly as broadcast quality. It's an entirely different thing for that to happen when it comes to the presence of God in our lives, and in our churches. We are the dwelling place of God in the Spirit. That's what Ephesians says, "You as individual believers in Jesus Christ to me are the temple of God in these bodies that we have." That is a theological reality, it is an eternal certainty. God dwells in us and he dwells in his people. But, it is not a given that we will experience the presence of God functionally, practically, in our daily lives, in doing life together as believers in the context of his church.

I wonder sometimes if there are not a lot of us that are playing with the presence of God much like I did with HDTV, assuming that because you've got a HDTV you're watching in high definition. How tragic is it to assume that because you are the dwelling place of God in the Spirit and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that you are experiencing the presence of God to the greatest degree and with the greatest frequency.

Not ready to build

The children of Israel had come back into the land after being exiled for about 48 years by the Babylonians and then the Persians. Their temple had been leveled, but now they had been freed up to come back and be the people of God in their homeland. They were still under Persian rule, but they were allowed to come back and they were allowed to begin to rebuild the temple. God had said before when he had instructed Solomon to build the temple that this is the place where his glory would dwell, this is the place of his presence. So in the Old Testament economy, that temple, the physical structure, was the icon of God's presence. No temple, no presence. The temple was there, God would meet his people there.

This was a big deal. So they started to work and they came out of the gates fast, like many of us come out of the gates fast in our Christian lives, excited about the presence of God. That's the way the children of Israel were. They began to work on rebuilding the temple and reestablishing, restoring God's presence among his people. That went on for about nine months and then they quit. We don't know all of the reasons why they quit, we know some of them according to the book of Haggai. But they quit, they threw down their tools, they stopped work, they went about other things. Now God speaks into their lives and into their situation and says, "This is not acceptable, what could be more important than you to not just be my people but to neglect ensuring that you were experiencing my presence to the greatest degree with the greatest frequency."

So Haggai the prophet is raised up by God and God sends him to the people of Israel. When we're not seeking him and we're not pursuing him, he's looking for us. In his grace and his mercy he comes tracking us down and says, "I don't want you to live not experiencing my presence to the greatest degree with the greatest frequency. I don't want you to ever let up ensuring that that's a reality in your life, in your family, and in your church, because it's not automatic just because I dwell in you."

The Word of God says in Haggai 1:1, "In the second year of Darius the king in the sixth month on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel." He was kind of like the governor—Jewish citizen, Persian king, —appointed to be the political ruler. "And to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest." You got all the bases covered. Got the government, got the worship life, the high priest is in place, and the Word of the Lord comes, "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord."

Have you ever been at one of those places where it seems like God is a little bit distant? Theologically you know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You know that you are eternally secure. You are one of his chosen ones and as a church that he has chosen to make you his dwelling place. But in your life experientially and functionally God seems to be close to others and distant from you. You see, there was something about the people's failure to rebuild the physical temple that caused there to be an experiential and functional distance between them and God who dwelt in their midst, the God that they belonged to. They were saying the thing that had caused that distance to seemingly be there, and God's presence to be somewhere else, was not a top priority. Have you ever thought: I want to do the God thing and I know God dwells in me and I want to live for him and I want to be radical like his church is talking about, and I want to risk it all and I want to abandon this world. I want to do this, but this is just not the time. There are some other things I've got to take care of, some other things that are more of a priority. Well, welcome to the club, and welcome to the nation of Israel during this time.

It's at this point right here that so many people are walking away from the Word of God. I believe so many Christians turn up their noses at the Old Testament and walk away from the Word of the Lord because they say, "What in the world does this have to do with my life?" I want to give you two connections to make sure that we understand that this is the Word of the Lord for us today. Let me give you these two connections so that we make sure that we don't miss it.

The presence of God expressed through the temple

Connection number one: The presence of God is the ultimate expression of the Old Testament temple. You can apply that individually to your family, but I want you to apply it most importantly to the local body of believers that does life together.

The church is not plan B. We're not living in an afterthought of God. God didn't say, "You know, I think I'll do the temple thing and that's where I'll dwell" and then he says later, "You know what, my people aren't thinking too seriously about that so I need to come up with something different. I think I'll just dwell with my people in the Spirit." That's not what God did. God said, "I'm going to establish something visual, I'm going to establish something physical, but that ultimately is pointing to something eternal." That's what he did not only with the temple but all of those Old Testament sacrifices and all of that stuff that we think is irrelevant and is not for today.

What God was doing was much the same thing that happens when you open up your computer in the morning and there's a bunch of icons on the desktop. Those icons are not the real deal, they simply represent the program that you're trying to get to that helps you accomplish something. But you click on an icon that is a representation and somehow it represents that program and it indicates and points you in the right direction to get there. That's what God did with all of that Old Testament stuff, and that's what he did with the temple. He created an icon and he said, "I want people to click on this and where it's going to take them ultimately is to the realization of my presence in the Spirit among my people."

Isn't that what he said in 1 Corinthians chapter three? "Do you not know that you are God's temple?" Paul is writing to the church. It's almost like Paul was saying, "What part of, 'you are that temple,' do you not get?" God takes it seriously. He took seriously rebuilding his temple, and the people were taking it passively. I know theologically I'm the temple of God and he dwells in my life and he dwells in the church, but the time will come for me to take that seriously. God takes it seriously. For God to use language like that, "if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him," that's serious business. God takes this seriously. He wants his people to experience him functionally and practically, not just theologically, not just in theory.

God says through Haggai, "You better get busy rebuilding the temple." What this means is that with the same passion, the same aggressiveness, and the same seriousness with which God was calling them to rebuild the physical temple, his people today should pursue experiencing his presence to the greatest degree and with the greatest frequency, because it is not automatic.

God's presence in his people

Connection number two: God's presence among his people is the ultimate expression of that Old Testament temple. Christ is the One who builds his church, we know that. Jesus said that in Matthew 16, "On this rock I will build my church." Christ is the One who builds his church, but don't forget this—his followers are the crew that he uses.

We live in the day where grace is so abused and there are some in the church today, that's all they're singing about, that's all they're preaching; as if it were disconnected from busting your tail for the glory of God and for the advancement of the gospel. We know that our salvation is by the grace of God and there is nothing that we bring to the table. When God saves you and he fills you with his Spirit, he sends you into the fields to work. It's hard work; it takes sacrifice and it's tough and it wears you out.

Many Christians today forget that Jesus, has chosen to use us to be the instruments in his hand and fellow workers. Here's what Paul said in the same context that I read to you from a moment ago. 1 Corinthians three, "For we are God's fellow workers." According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, "I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it for no one can lay a foundation other than which is laid which is Jesus Christ." Isn't that interesting? Haggai, 520 BC, people came back into the town, came back into the land. They laid the foundation and quit. And over on this side of the Cross, the Apostle Paul looks at the Corinthian church and he says, "I laid a foundation, there is only one foundation, Jesus Christ." He refers to Christians as his fellow workers, as builders, and the ones who build upon that foundation. Let me appeal to the church, that you would never be a Christian and never be a church that sees the one and only foundation laid, Jesus Christ, and then quits, throws in the towel, with regard to building on that foundation. There is some responsibility here. There is something we must do.

Problem one: people living in excess

Now, let me show you the problems in Haggai chapter one. First of all, the problem was this: People were living in excess while neglecting God's presence. Look at verse three in Haggai one, "Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?'" I want to speak to you about difficult economic times because that was a reality in this day and time, and from all indications here in the book of Haggai that was probably the biggest reason they had put the work on hold.

When God speaks to them about what they were doing at the neglect of reestablishing the presence of God by rebuilding the temple, he was not speaking to them about simply sustaining their lives and providing for their families. If you look there in verse four he asks the question, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses?" Bible scholars would tell us that this was a description of what we might call adornment. It was not the necessities of life. When he described what they were pursuing as paneled houses he was speaking of their excess, more than that which was enough. God asked the question, "Is it time for that? That's the priority? That's what you're pursuing at the neglect of the pursuit of the presence of God in your life?" God didn't rebuke them for providing for their families. He rebuked them for excess. You know what squelches the presence of God? You know what keeps us from experiencing him practically and functionally? It is the pursuit of excess, more than enough, more than we need at the neglect of the pursuit of his presence in our lives.

Problem two: interpreting stress and effort incorrectly

Let me tell you another part of the problem: Interpreting economic stress and vain effort incorrectly. Look at verse five, "Now, therefore, says the Lord, consider your ways." This instruction is going to show up a couple of different times in this chapter, three or four different times in the book of Haggai. It was not rhetoric. God wasn't just looking for something to take time in the message. It's a phrase in the language of the New Testament that says, "Stop what you're doing and look closely and think about this." Here's what he says, "Consider your ways. You've sown much and harvested little. You eat but you never have enough, you drink but you never have your fill. You clothe yourself but no one is warm, and he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."

Haggai knows where my life is because there is still more of the month left when my paycheck runs out. That's a pretty good description of how a lot of our lives are. Have you have ever had that thought, It's like there's a back door on my bank account and I deposit my check and it just disappears. I can't catch up and I can't slow down.

I'm going to tell you where most of us come to because we never get below a surface interpretation. Let me start nationally or globally for a moment with the current economic crisis. Let me tell you where most of us land. We land somewhere saying, "Well, it was Bush's fault. No, it's Obama's fault. It's Congress' fault. If we just had a better government. Or if we had this plan over here then that would address this economic quagmire that we found ourselves in." Individually we think, I need to work harder, I need a better job. If I made more money, if I had a better career then I wouldn't be in this mess and I wouldn't be in the rat race and everything would be okay. We move from one thing to another pursuing more excess and never interpreting our rat race and our economic quagmire any deeper than the surface. That's why God says, "Time out, stop, check out just for a moment and look and think, and look at your life and look at your church, consider your ways."

Then he gives this description right here, the description of a rat race, the description of economic crisis. Could it be that the economic crisis might have a little bit to do with what God is saying in verse nine. If we don't ever go below the surface to ask the deeper questions and consider our ways, we will never interpret the crisis like that. So I would ask you, is it possible that the presence of God functionally and experientially has been squelched or grieved in your life today because you're not getting below the surface and asking the question, is God possibly drying it up, is he possibly spinning the wheels a little bit? Because he is so serious about his presence in my life and I'm not.

Problem three: seeking personal comfort

Problem number three: Seeking personal comfort over God's pleasure and glory. Verse seven says, "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, 'Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring the wood and build the house. That I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified,' says the Lord." What if God showed up at your door this afternoon, knocked on the door and you opened it up and he said, "Do you really want to bring me pleasure? Do you really want to glorify me?" God sent the prophet Haggai to answer those questions, and he said, "Let me tell you what brings pleasure to me, and let me tell you how you can glorify me—build the temple. Go get the lumber. Quit sitting around with your theological mystical excuses and get busy building the temple that I said would be the place my presence resides."

Sometimes obvious answers are staring us right in the face. Sometimes God's not speaking anymore about subjects that we think we need the will of God on. God's already said, "After the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses." God's not talking on that deal anymore. You don't have to sit around waiting for some impression, some mystical experience. He says, "I'm calling you. I called you to myself, now I'm calling you to take the gospel."

Same thing with his presence. God says, "I've already answered that question. Rebuild my house." Build the structure on the foundation. Go to work. You see, we can't just sing about this glory of God and pleasure of God thing, we can't just preach about it. We need to make it happen. I'm not talking about a works salvation, I'm talking about something that's motivated by the grace of God in our lives. When you get Jesus and you get his Spirit inside of you, you want to please God. You know what brings pleasure to God? He wants you to know him and experience him to the greatest degree with the greatest frequency. Not with a theological concept, not just with the reality that he indwells us. He wants us to experience him, and to experience him to the greatest degree with the greatest frequency every moment of every day, and that is not automatic.

Israel obeys, fears, and works for God

So what do we do? Well, this is one of those good news stories. The people of God got it! The Word of God came to them through Haggai and verse 12 says, "Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet." Here's the first thing that we need to do, and that is obey God regarding the urgency of rebuilding his temple, of pursuing his presence. The Lord says, "I'm not satisfied with you not experiencing my presence to the greatest degree with the greatest frequency. Do you agree and will you obey?" The Bible says the people obeyed.

Do you see the contrast between now and at the beginning of this chapter? At the beginning of the chapter the people were saying it's not yet time. The interesting thing about this is there is no indication that the people were not saying that the presence of God was unimportant. They weren't even saying that rebuilding the temple wasn't a good thing and a needed thing. They were simply saying they had other things that are more important. What they didn't realize is it was about their excess and it was about them missing that God took this seriously and it was an urgent deal. The issue of obedience suggests immediacy, urgency. I'm not sure there's any such thing in the Bible called delayed obedience or conditional obedience. Those are contradictory terms. Obedience means now. So, obey God with regard to the urgency of restoring his presence.

Secondly, fear God and the consequences of failing to pursue his presence. Look at the end of verse 12, "And the people feared the Lord." This is a pretty good grasp of this issue of the seriousness of holiness and righteousness and not presuming upon the presence of God in our lives. It's this idea of fear.

I understand that we don't like the concept of fear that indicates trembling in one's boots. We like the lovey-dovey, touchy-feely, in reverence to God kind of fear. The other side of fear is really believing that sin is serious and neglecting God's presence is serious, and there are consequences that follow from that. It is this idea of fear that maintains the healthy biblical tension of us understanding who God is and who we are, and the difference between the two. So what do we do? We need to make sure that we take seriously the pursuit of the presence of God and the fact that there are consequences to not doing that.

Number three, we work for God. We work for God to restore his presence, to pursue his presence. Verse 13, "Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke to the people with the Lord's message. 'I am with you,' declares the Lord." We don't just work, we work in the power of his Spirit, by his grace. "'I am with you,' declares the Lord." The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. Everybody got stirred up. Everybody got serious. God honored their repentance.

Isn't it interesting that the words obey and fear are used before the description of their spirits being stirred up? Here's what I believe. If we do what Jesus said—"if you love me you will keep my commandments"—and we obey him and maintain that healthy tension—because we believe there's consequences to our neglect and our passivity and our sin—then we'll walk in the fear of the Lord. God in his grace stirs up the Spirit in the individual heart and in the life of the church that they might go to work. Here's the grace part. They didn't start by saying, "Well, let's just work." They obeyed and they feared, and God stirred up their spirit. He stirred up their spirit that they were willing to do whatever it took, change whatever needed to be changed in their lives, in order to pursue the presence of God in their lives.

Look at what it says at the end of verse 14, "And they came and they worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God." Back in verse two these people grieved the Holy Spirit. There is an experiential, functional distance between them and God that makes it seem like there is a gap. All of a sudden they get to the end and God stirs up their spirit and it's not "this people" anymore. It's their God. And you know what? He's your God and he's mine. Your Savior and mine. And he's personal and he's real. He indwells your body, if you've confessed him as your Savior and Lord. He makes your church the dwelling place for him in the Spirit. That is a reality, he never moved. When we come to the place where we understand that it's not automatic and we obey and we fear and he stirs our spirit and we go to work in hot pursuit, the gap is closed and we are his people, and he is our God experientially.

When we do this theological connection between 520 BC and Haggai and rebuilding a physical temple, all the way over here to today on this side of the Cross we understand that we as the people now are his dwelling place in the Spirit. We understand that he builds his church and the foundation of Jesus is laid, but we are to build upon that.

Conclusion

So how is this done? We need to make disciples of all people. How does Jesus end his statement to his disciples? He says, "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." That was not just a theological conclusion to a sermon, it was a statement that you will experience my presence and know my presence to the greatest degree and the greatest frequency when you're taking the gospel to the nations and not looking out for number one. We need to pursue: Christ's greater works, loving and obeying Christ, abiding in Christ, and sharing Christ with others.

Let me tell you about the beginning place of experiencing God's presence in your life. Acts 2:38 says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." If you are without Christ and you've been on a journey asking questions or whatever landed you in this situation, I want you to know this is the starting point for you. Repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation. The New Testament says you'll get God's presence.

Jim Shaddix serves as W. A. Criswell Professor of Expository Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, and is the author of The Passion Driven Sermon and co-author of Power in the Pulpit.