Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Yesterday, Danae and I celebrated 28 years of marriage.
[00:00:10] And it just so happens that this week, as we celebrate these 28 years, we had to take her engagement ring in for repair. It's got a lot of mileage on it.
[00:00:26] But when we decided to get married, we had nothing. And I mean nothing. Then they reminded me this week or was talking to someone and reminded us that we didn't even have jobs at the time when we decided to get married. And I know that's not smart. Some of the parents in the room are freaking out. My kids want to get married. You got to get a job. You should get a job.
[00:00:50] Don't be like me.
[00:00:54] But I had no money to buy a special impressive ring.
[00:01:02] And so I went to a small town jeweler from where I'm from, someone I knew and had grown up with his kids.
[00:01:11] And I picked out the cheapest, most unimpressive ring. I just made sure it was the color that. That she said she wanted, white gold. And that was all that mattered. But give me the cheapest, smallest, most unimpressive thing, because that's all I can afford. And I forgot how small and unimpressive that ring was until this week when it needed to go in for repair. And I said, are you sure it's broken? And I took it. And with these 28 year later, bad eyes, really tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Held it up in light in front of a mirror, and I realized, wow, this is a very small ring.
[00:01:55] This is very unimpressive. I can't believe my wife walks around with this daily.
[00:02:01] I mean, people don't even know she's married. It's so small.
[00:02:07] And I know what you're thinking.
[00:02:09] I went and surprised her with an amazing ring for our anniversary.
[00:02:15] No, that's not what happened.
[00:02:18] Because anytime I've asked her, do you want a better ring?
[00:02:25] Do you want a bigger ring? And she'll say, well, I will wear a bigger ring, just not a bigger engagement ring. So you can give me a bigger ring, but not for this purpose.
[00:02:36] And I asked why we had this conversation again yesterday.
[00:02:41] Why?
[00:02:42] And she says, that's not our story.
[00:02:46] Oh, yeah, I heard that.
[00:02:49] She says, that's not our story.
[00:02:53] And when I look at this ring, small, unimpressive ring, I'm reminded of our story.
[00:03:01] I'm reminded of a time when we didn't have anything and all we had was each other.
[00:03:07] And I look around at our life now, and I see God's grace in all of this when I see this ring.
[00:03:16] Well, Israel has forgotten their story.
[00:03:20] A once small, insignificant, unimpressive people that God decided he would set his love upon, that he decided he would give Himself to, and he would be faithful to, and he would fulfill all of his promises to them. A small, insignificant people, but they had God, and he recently rescued them from captivity, from Babylon.
[00:03:53] And they still seem to be unfamiliar of their story, because as they returned to Jerusalem from exile, they began to rebuild. They began to rebuild the city, and they began to rebuild the temple.
[00:04:12] But when the foundation of the temple is laid, Ezra tells us, people began to weep.
[00:04:18] And it wasn't for joy.
[00:04:21] It was because they saw how pathetic the new temple was going to be.
[00:04:27] And it broke their hearts.
[00:04:29] As they looked on this new foundation, all they could think about was Solomon's glorious temple. And people began to. Well, the new temple plans were unimpressive and for many, unacceptable.
[00:04:45] And along with this and outside opposition, they stopped construction of the temple for 18 years.
[00:04:52] And as we talked about last week, it wasn't as though they did nothing. They still worked, they still acquired possessions for themselves. They put roofs on their houses, but not on the house of the Lord. They served themselves during this time.
[00:05:11] And the prophet Haggai is called on to confront such sin that would put themselves first and not the Lord.
[00:05:21] And he preaches four sermons in this book that both rebuke and call to action and encourage the people as they begin to rebuild the temple again after 10 years. And last week we saw that his first sermon issued a wonderful response as he called people to respond. People were ready to go. They were ready to build the temple.
[00:05:51] But as things got going just a few weeks later, there were naysayers.
[00:05:56] You see, at this point, people are in town for a festival, the festival of booths. And it reminded the people of the time Israel was in the wilderness and God met them in a tabernacle, which is ironic, right?
[00:06:14] To be reminded of your history of a time when all you had was the tent of meeting, you didn't have a temple, and God still met you. That's the festival that they are celebrating as we come to our passage today, and they are to be reminded that all we needed was God.
[00:06:32] But as they once again look upon the foundation of the newly constructed temple, what had begun but was halted because it was so unimpressive, many began to grumble.
[00:06:46] They couldn't imagine God being a part of anything such pathetic no, God can't be in this. There's no glory here.
[00:06:58] And we see as we begin our passage, when appearance determines our obedience, notice verse one.
[00:07:04] In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, this would be October 17th. And so they began construction of the temple, or Haggai preached its first sermon on August 29th. And then September 21st, they begin construction. But then seven weeks later, after the first sermon, we see there is murmuring, there's complaining the people again, they see this temple going up and they think, there's no way God can be in this, as they say, celebrate this festival of booths. They remember probably when Solomon's glorious temple was dedicated at this same feast.
[00:07:50] And we read, glory came down from heaven.
[00:07:54] And they look at this rubble and say, there's no glory here.
[00:07:57] There's no glory coming to this pile of rocks.
[00:08:01] And many began to grumble and complain. And so notice the text continues. The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. God is going to use as his instrument to speak to the people. He speaks to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtael, the governor of Judah. Remember, this isn't a king. He's under the authority of Persia and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And so we have political and religious leaders and then all the remnant of the people, because there is this murmuring, because there is this discouragement, because people are wondering, should we continue?
[00:08:39] I want you to speak with authority, Haggai, and say this verse.
[00:08:44] Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?
[00:08:50] God says, I know what's going on. All you can think about is Solomon's temple, the first temple. And it was glorious, it was full of glory, it was magnificent.
[00:09:02] And how do you see it now?
[00:09:04] How do you see this pile of rubble?
[00:09:08] How do you see the construction plans now? Is it nothing?
[00:09:13] Is it as nothing in your eyes? Now, this is a sarcastic rebuke in light of what many are saying about the new construction project.
[00:09:23] Now, remember when Haggai called the people to build the temple, he says, when you build it, I will take pleasure in it. And what does that mean? I will come to meet you in the temple. It will please me to meet you there in that place. And that's what may was to make the temple significant.
[00:09:44] And so that's why there's a rebuke here.
[00:09:49] It's about the promise that God's going to meet you there.
[00:09:52] And there's no glory in that for you. You're hung up on Solomon's temple, the physical glory of that place. And you don't understand what you're building. You don't understand what you're a part of. This whole thing is nothing to you.
[00:10:08] God can't meet you here. God's not going to meet you here, so it's not worth it. Give up.
[00:10:15] Many of you think that about meeting in a warehouse.
[00:10:20] This isn't like the good old days. It's funny when people first come here and they come from more traditional backgrounds and they pull up and it. We've talked about how cringy this whole place is and all of that.
[00:10:32] And they walk in and what is this about?
[00:10:36] I mean, there's no hymnals. There's no really uncomfortable wooden pews.
[00:10:42] There's no stained glass.
[00:10:44] How can this be church?
[00:10:47] But then some of you are that way when you go visit other churches.
[00:10:51] We've had folks, young adults leave this place and go move to other cities and they start looking for a church and they go into really nice buildings and they go, I can't worship there. Why? It's not like my warehouse.
[00:11:10] All I know is a warehouse to worship in.
[00:11:13] All this stuff is distracting.
[00:11:17] It's not about the facility, whether it's impressive or unimpressive.
[00:11:24] Well, the glory is not in the building.
[00:11:27] The glory is in God, who meets us there through his word, through his prayer, in worship. It's not about appearance or style. And some of you feel this way about Christianity in general.
[00:11:40] The appearance of it all determines your obedience.
[00:11:45] You're thinking about following Christ, but you say, my life will become all of a sudden really unimpressive to everybody I know I will become the dork at work.
[00:11:56] I will become the weirdo.
[00:11:59] I will become the one who's kind of outcast and believes in this fairy tale, this story.
[00:12:05] And I will lose friends, and I will lose street cred. And you're thinking, the appearance of it all, it's not worth it.
[00:12:15] When at the end of the day, you get Christ.
[00:12:18] At the end of the day, you have your sins forgiven.
[00:12:21] At the end of the day, you are secure as a son, a daughter of God. And you get to follow and walk with Jesus. And that's what matters. The appearance of this all cannot determine your obedience. It is a God who promises to meet you there, God who promises through Jesus Christ to be with you and walk with you and transform you. That's what transforms it all. That's what determines your obedience. And that's what should determine the building of the temple. Not some outward glory that they don't see at this point, but next we see God's promise and courageous obedience. Notice verse 4. He says be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord.
[00:13:08] Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
[00:13:13] Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Now, this term is addressing everyone, the leaders and the people. It is a military term. It is most often used around military expeditions, and it can even be translated be courageous. In Joshua, we see that it is be strong and courageous.
[00:13:40] But this isn't just prove the haters wrong.
[00:13:44] Press on.
[00:13:45] We know there are naysayers. We know there are folks who cannot see the end from the beginning of this work. All they see is a bunch of rocks.
[00:13:57] Keep building.
[00:13:58] It's more than that.
[00:14:00] Notice, he says work. It does require work.
[00:14:05] But notice what else it includes.
[00:14:08] For I am with you.
[00:14:12] Be strong.
[00:14:15] I'm with you.
[00:14:17] Not in your own strength.
[00:14:19] Not in your ingenuity.
[00:14:22] Not how are we going to make this unimpressive temple be worth it?
[00:14:28] No, just be strong because I'm with you.
[00:14:31] That is what you're working toward, my presence. And I am with you as you do it, as you obey. I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, the one who we said last week rules the forces of heaven.
[00:14:47] There's no authority or power greater than him. And he is with you as you work.
[00:14:54] Why is he with you? Notice it's according to a promise that he made in the covenant that he says I made with you when you came out of Egypt. I delivered you. I came to you when you were in slavery and I rescued you in this magnificent way. And then I promised, as I have rescued you, I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to take you all the way to the promised land. By the way, why wouldn't I? I just rescued you from Egypt. Why would I leave you in the wilderness?
[00:15:27] The same thing as you work on this building.
[00:15:30] I commanded you to do it. I rescued you from Babylon. Why would I leave you in the middle of this building project? Why would I leave you now? I'm with you. I commanded you to do this. Just like I've always been with my people. Notice my spirit remains in your midst. This is the presence of. Of God, with the people of God, the very holy Spirit that is with God's people. And that's why he ends here. Fear not.
[00:16:06] Why would you fear when I commanded you to do this?
[00:16:09] Why would you fear when I promised to be with you?
[00:16:13] Why would you fear when I have a track record of always being with my people, a small, insignificant people that I chose for myself? Why would you fear I'm with you.
[00:16:27] And so we see here that success is determined by the presence of God.
[00:16:36] And our obedience to the commands of God should be determined by his presence.
[00:16:42] When he promises to be with us, we can't fail.
[00:16:46] No matter the difficulty. Don't allow the circumstances to determine your obedience.
[00:16:52] Is it hard? Is it difficult? Yes. But I am with you.
[00:16:57] These same words were spoken to the people of God as they were about to enter the promised land through the prophet Moses, who declared in Deuteronomy, chapter 31 6. Be strong and courageous.
[00:17:10] Do not fear and be in dread your enemies, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. Again, be strong and courageous. Do what I've called you to do, for I go with you.
[00:17:23] And he will not leave you or forsake you. Obey. Charge into the land, believing God is with you. And then to Joshua, after Moses died, he's struggling. How will I lead the people of God?
[00:17:39] I'm so unimpressive. Not like Moses, this Great Leader in Joshua 1:9. Have I not commanded you? It doesn't matter who you are or what you think of yourself. Have I not commanded you? Yes, I have. So be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. It is his promise that should drive our obedience, not our circumstances. And then David to Solomon, when Solomon is building this first house of the Lord, these same words were spoken to his son.
[00:18:20] Be strong and courageous and do it.
[00:18:23] Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. For the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. And now they hear these same words from haggai. Be strong and courageous. The Lord is with you. Don't be discouraged. You can't lose. You have the promised presence of God.
[00:18:56] And this is where courageous obedience comes from.
[00:19:00] You want to know how to be courageous for the Lord?
[00:19:04] Well, it comes from strength that clings to the promise of God, the promise that God is present.
[00:19:12] It doesn't come from always evaluating your circumstances.
[00:19:17] It doesn't come from some grit within you, your wisdom.
[00:19:24] We stay paralyzed in fear, fearful disobedience when we trust in our own strength and wisdom.
[00:19:32] Why are you paralyzed in disobedience?
[00:19:35] Because you are looking to yourself.
[00:19:39] I've got to have the strength to fix this. Or your wisdom. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
[00:19:46] I got to figure this out.
[00:19:48] I got to take charge over this situation.
[00:19:51] That's why you're paralyzed. That's why you're scared.
[00:19:54] Because you're not looking to the power and strength of the Lord that comes in his presence. Courageous obedience comes from strength. Strength that is clinging to the promise of God, his presence, not working up some strength from yourself.
[00:20:12] Now you get stronger the less you look to yourself in your own wisdom.
[00:20:18] You see, life is about handling things that you can't or wouldn't if God wasn't with you. That's what life's about. By the way, God hasn't designed the world for you to be able to figure everything out.
[00:20:36] He hasn't designed his plans and purposes for you, for you to accomplish it by your own strength.
[00:20:43] And if you get to the end of certain circumstances in your life and you go, now, I know how strong I am. You failed.
[00:20:52] You failed because you didn't look to the Lord.
[00:20:57] And who knows where you are at this point.
[00:21:02] No. Life is about things you wouldn't or couldn't do apart from the Lord.
[00:21:07] That's what he's doing in your life right now. The worries and concerns you have for the next week. He's calling you, be strong in me.
[00:21:17] I will be with you.
[00:21:19] Those things that you're scared to do. Obedience, repentance. He's saying, no, be strong.
[00:21:25] Trust me, I will be with you.
[00:21:29] And how do you work up such strength?
[00:21:32] Well, it only happens in the gospel.
[00:21:35] How do you know the Lord is with you?
[00:21:38] The cross.
[00:21:39] You spend time thinking about the cross and his death for you.
[00:21:44] He paid for your sins. He's forgiven you. And in Christ, he has given you Jesus righteousness.
[00:21:53] And because you are a child of God, here is the promise. When you believe in him, his spirit lives within you. So through the gospel, you have the promise of God's presence with you right now.
[00:22:07] We don't believe that because we look at circumstances. We don't believe that because we look at how unimpressive we are. We don't believe that because we are scared to believe it.
[00:22:19] Because we know what it would require of us.
[00:22:22] God is with me. His promise and his presence is with me. And this is why our first work for strength as a Christian comes from being in the word of God. What does the word of God do? It tells us the truth, the reality. God is with you. No matter how you feel, we should be in prayer. That's where you experience the presence of God. As an adopted child of God in prayer, you speak to your Father. That's where you experience the reality of the gospel. And yes, God is with me. If you're not in the word of God and you're not in prayer, you're going to be scared and you're going to be intimidated, and you're going to be paralyzed and disobedient. So often.
[00:23:07] But the word of God says no. In Christ. God is with me. I am forgiven.
[00:23:12] This is why we gather to celebrate the Gospel, to be reminded and we become strong in Christ. And this promise, he is with you and he will never leave you or forsake you, becomes a reality of your life, and it sustains your obedience.
[00:23:28] When you are scared to obey, you go, no, God is with me.
[00:23:33] When you are fearful about the things you'll lose because you obey, you know, you go, no, God is with me. He's sufficient. I still have him no matter what I lose.
[00:23:43] So I want to challenge you this week. What is the one area where you are scared?
[00:23:50] You're fearful, what it's going to cost you.
[00:23:54] First, reflect on the gospel.
[00:23:58] Consider the presence of the Spirit through Christ as a gift of the Father in your life.
[00:24:06] Reflect on that. You can't lose. God is with you. Even if it's hard, even if it's difficult, even if it looks like failure to those around me. I can't lose.
[00:24:16] You might be saying, I don't have the skill or personality to go on a mission trip or lead an evangelism team on campus.
[00:24:24] You're right. You don't.
[00:24:28] You don't have the strength to do that in and of yourself. And if you do, it's not going to be about God anyway.
[00:24:35] What are the things you're saying I can't do. I don't have it.
[00:24:38] Maybe you're scared to share the gospel of that person you work with or that person in your neighborhood who is really sinful.
[00:24:45] Sometimes that just scares us.
[00:24:47] This person is really sinful. They're going to hate me. And I don't think God's going to do much in their life. And you're intimidated to talk to them about Jesus.
[00:24:58] Or maybe you're saying, I don't want to rearrange my time and energy to serve or lead this or that.
[00:25:06] You're scared to do it. You're scared about what you might lose. God is with you. He's enough. He's going to give you the resources.
[00:25:14] He's going to give you everything you need to obey him.
[00:25:17] This is what leads to courageous obedience.
[00:25:21] Some of you think this.
[00:25:23] We shouldn't be talking about planting churches while we're talking about building, while we're talking about finding a permanent place.
[00:25:32] Well, I want to ask you this.
[00:25:34] If you only want to accomplish things within the scope of your power or our power, what are you going to accomplish?
[00:25:43] Not much.
[00:25:45] Not much.
[00:25:46] Think about your life. Think about our life as a church.
[00:25:50] If we only accomplish what we can accomplish, what are we going to accomplish? Not much.
[00:25:58] We want all we accomplish to be by the power and strength of the Lord. So that we stand back one day and say, look what the Lord has done.
[00:26:06] Be strong and courageous in Christ. He is with you. And then we see God's glorious in our inglorious obedience. Notice, verse six. Why should we obey? For the Lord of hosts says, yet once more, in a little while I will shake the heavens and earth and the sea and the dry land, I will shake the cosmos. That's why you should obey me, because I'm in control of it all. And there's a day coming where I will shake it all. He's speaking of judgment here in the passage that Pastor Eric read earlier from Hebrews 12:26 quotes this verse, and it seems to be out of nowhere.
[00:26:45] Why would the writer of Hebrews be quoting haggai?
[00:26:49] Well, he reminds us that the people of God stood before this mountain as God delivered the word of God to them or delivered the law of God to them. And as they came before Mount Sinai, there was fire, there was lightning, and Mount Sinai began to shake.
[00:27:09] And the people looked at Moses and said, we're not going near that mountain, and we certainly aren't going up to meet that God.
[00:27:19] You go for us.
[00:27:21] They were terrified as God told them who they were to be and how they were to obey him in the law, the Ten Commandments.
[00:27:32] And the writer of Hebrews says he was proving to them that he is a consuming fire.
[00:27:37] Yes, he is for you.
[00:27:41] Yes, he is good.
[00:27:45] But this power and this authority that would cause you to tremble and shake, shake in fear, that is the power that's for you.
[00:27:55] A consuming fire that one day will shake the universe and everything that exists.
[00:28:03] And the only thing that will be left is his kingdom.
[00:28:07] He will shake it all away.
[00:28:10] So when he calls you to do something, when he calls you to obey, remember who he is.
[00:28:17] Yes, he is for you, but he must not be trifled with.
[00:28:23] He's good, but he's not safe.
[00:28:30] And in Christ, that power that causes you to tremble is for you and it's for your good.
[00:28:39] So remember who you're dealing with in this. Here's the point.
[00:28:43] Fear him more Than you fear your circumstances as you look at the people in the land.
[00:28:50] Don't fear them. Fear God as you look at the people before you. The naysayers of the day. Don't build that temple.
[00:28:58] Don't fear them. Fear the Lord and obey.
[00:29:02] Fear the Lord and do what he has called you to do. He is a consuming fire, but he is for your good. And notice verse 7. I will shake all the nations so that the treasures, this is the possessions or desires of all the nations shall come in on the day when God judges the world. He will shake all things, and that's where he will get his glory. That's when he will get his glory from the nations. Notice. I will fill this house with glory. By the way, you can't do that. You're thinking about building this impressive building.
[00:29:34] You can't do it. Anyway, I'm the one that makes it impressive. And there's a day coming where this house will be full of glory that you never expected, that you never knew of, says the lord.
[00:29:44] Why? Verse 8. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. I own it all. And if I want glory for my temple, I can shake the world and get it anytime I want.
[00:29:58] And they got to be thinking about Solomon.
[00:30:01] He brought in resources from all over the world.
[00:30:06] Cedar from Lebanon, Phoenician bronze myths who worked on the temple.
[00:30:13] 200,000 workers from all over the world that descended on the place to help construct the temple.
[00:30:20] There was gold overlay on everything.
[00:30:23] Precious stones, ivory, silver, marble, gold.
[00:30:29] I mean, this is a man who brought in apes and peacocks.
[00:30:33] I don't know why.
[00:30:34] Just to say, look at what I got.
[00:30:38] Peacocks are really weird. I don't know what that communicates, but God is saying here, if I want glory from the nations, I can get it whenever I want. And there is a day coming when I will get it. Notice verse 9.
[00:30:52] The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts.
[00:30:58] There's a day coming where you think about Solomon's temple. It will be nothing compared to what's coming, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord. Peace with God. Peace with one another.
[00:31:12] There's a day coming where this temple will symbolize rest with my people.
[00:31:18] And so the glory you're thinking about this physical appearance, it doesn't compare to the cosmic glory that I will bring into this temple.
[00:31:28] Now, the truth is, this temple functioned for a while, but it never possessed the glory of Solomon's temple. There were even components of worship that weren't there. The Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah glory had departed in Ezekiel and never returned.
[00:31:49] There were things that weren't a part of their worship, weren't a part of the glory that they wanted.
[00:31:56] And then Herod comes along and he remodels this very temple for a political alliance.
[00:32:04] But then the temple that they built here, it was destroyed in 70 A.D.
[00:32:09] so what is the glory that he's talking about?
[00:32:12] What is the glory that will fill this temple?
[00:32:16] Well, we know it came in a man who had no place to lay his head, who claimed himself to be the temple of God, who grew up in this temple, who taught in this temple, who cleansed this temple and chased out sin from this temple.
[00:32:37] When Jesus walks on the scene, there is an unimpressive, nothing appealing about him. Itinerant preacher walking around claiming that he is the glory of God in flesh. That's when God fills this temple with glory.
[00:32:56] And he wasn't a king who had wealth like Solomon.
[00:32:59] He wasn't able to buy off the nations to get what he wanted for that temple.
[00:33:05] No, but he purchased with his blood a kingdom of priests from every tribe, every tongue, every nation and every people.
[00:33:17] And on the cross, as he is suffocating by his own blood, God shakes heaven and earth. The sky goes dark and the earth quakes. And you know what happened in this temple?
[00:33:33] The veil was torn.
[00:33:35] And the nations are able to flock in through Jesus, through his cross, through his life, through his resurrection, they are able to enter into this place of God. And as heaven and earth one day will pass away, those who are in Christ will bring their glory into a new heavens and a new earth. When the whole earth becomes the temple of God. And we are ushered in as the nations and we bring our treasures to Jesus.
[00:34:06] This is when the treasures of the nations come to Christ. This is our hope. This is the glory of the temple that is described here.
[00:34:16] And so what do we do until then?
[00:34:20] Well, we work until then. We are called to join Jesus in this temple building work.
[00:34:27] Right now, Jesus is gathering these treasures from the nations, people who believe in him, from every tribe, tongue, nation and people. He is gathering them up. He is bringing in these treasures to the temple. You see, Israel was to work to declare God's glory in their generation through a faithful building of a physical temple. We are joining Jesus as he promises, I will build my church.
[00:34:55] And how do we do it?
[00:34:57] Matthew 28, 19 and 20. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.
[00:35:02] That's work baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. That is unimpressive work.
[00:35:12] It's unimpressive work.
[00:35:15] And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Why give yourself over to unimpressive work? Because the Lord is with you when we join him in this great commission.
[00:35:26] I am with you to the end. I am with you. You can't lose. Be strong and courageous in this promise. I go with you to fulfill this commission, to build this temple on the earth.
[00:35:43] You see, what God promises here is he will get the glory.
[00:35:48] God will get the glory he wants.
[00:35:51] It's not up to us to be sharp.
[00:35:54] It's not up to us to be cool. It's not up to us to be impressive to make Jesus look more impressive. We just do what he says and he gets the glory and he gets what he wants. The question is, will you be a part of the inglorious work to do it?
[00:36:12] It's unimpressive. It's so unimpressive. You can do the work in this warehouse now. We want something more than a warehouse, but you can do the work here now.
[00:36:29] Plotting, preaching week in and week out, in season, out of season.
[00:36:34] Working to preach the word, working to hear the word. And then what? You are sent.
[00:36:39] You're sent every week to do the work.
[00:36:42] Do you believe God goes with you?
[00:36:45] Are you sharing the gospel?
[00:36:47] Are you trying to figure out how you make disciples and send others around the world for the sake of the gospel? That's what we're doing here. We're doing the work. Do you see this as unimpressive?
[00:37:00] We embrace the power not in our own strength, but praying. Pray for the Peru team this week that God would use their efforts to see nations treasures of Jesus that he purchased with his blood come into this temple as they believe the gospel.
[00:37:19] Don't just click trash when that email comes in this week, stop.
[00:37:27] Pray.
[00:37:28] It's unimpressive work. Nobody's going to know you're doing it. There's no glory in that unless you instagram it.
[00:37:36] Just pray. Don't do that.
[00:37:39] You can do it. It's fine. Just pray.
[00:37:42] It's unimpressive work.
[00:37:44] All we do is unimpressive.
[00:37:48] But do we believe the promise? Are we going to be courageous? Are we going to work up obedience?
[00:37:55] For some of us, that means here today that you have to think about going.
[00:38:00] You've got to think about what it would mean for you to live among another people Group, for the sake of the gospel, we need to be considering that.
[00:38:14] And for our younger folks, parents, plug your ears. Grandparents, plug your ears.
[00:38:22] You got to think about that.
[00:38:24] When you think, what am I going to do with my life?
[00:38:28] This missionary come on the screen, it means reordering your life.
[00:38:37] I'm throwing this out there today because here's what happens.
[00:38:42] We have folks who, they're 25, they're 26, they want to go to the mission field and they have a lot of debt.
[00:38:53] They've racked up a lot of school debt, they got a lot of car loans.
[00:39:00] And we'd say, you can't go yet.
[00:39:03] You got to pay all that off.
[00:39:06] Some of you here today have got to think about your glory that you want in the debt, in the resources, in the money. And you got to strategize your next five years to say, I'm going to the mission field and not turning back, even if it means you don't get what you want right now to be sent.
[00:39:27] Maybe you want to get with Pastor Eric and Michael. And what would it mean to strategize, to harness my life for the sake of the gospel? What would it mean to go with the IMB or be trained through RADIUS one day to go serve among an unreached people group? That's what he's calling us to here in glorious, unimpressive work.
[00:39:51] There's so many things that you would say, man, I want more glory.
[00:39:57] I want more stuff for myself.
[00:40:00] I need more things in my life. My savings account, I can't give the ends of the earth. I got to be secure in that.
[00:40:10] But you understand the passage here. One day God will shake not just earth, he will shake the heavens.
[00:40:19] And the only thing that will be left is his kingdom made up of people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every people.
[00:40:26] One day he's going to do that, and all that will be left is his glorious people who become a temple with him forever. That's where all this is headed.
[00:40:36] And so as you think about this, what are you willing to sacrifice? What sort of glory for yourself are you willing to sacrifice for this eternal glory that is coming?
[00:40:46] Sure, we could spend our life doing more glorious things on a Sunday, having nicer stuff.
[00:40:54] But he gets the glory in our inglorious work.
[00:41:00] And here's the promise.
[00:41:02] When we join him in this, we get him.
[00:41:07] I said it last week.
[00:41:09] Now I really mean it.
[00:41:11] There's never a time where I've said, this is about Jesus and I'm going to sacrifice so that I want him to get the glory. That's the motive of my heart. And I did really hard and difficult things where I regretted it.
[00:41:25] Where I got to the end and said, oh, man, I wish I hadn't sacrificed so much for Jesus.
[00:41:33] I've never done that.
[00:41:35] Now, I've been selfish and regretted things I've done for self, but never for Jesus.
[00:41:43] And here's why.
[00:41:45] The whole promise of the book is in building the temple. You get me in doing the work, you get to be with me. You can't lose. And this isn't something that you would trade for something more impressive.
[00:42:01] No.
[00:42:02] The more you know Jesus, the more you experience Jesus in his work.
[00:42:07] You look at the things of this world that tempt your heart. At times, you stare them in the eye and you say, but that's not my story.
