FOUNDATIONS FOR PEACE

Haggai 2:15-19
January 28-30, 2006
St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – New Ulm, MN
Pastor Don Sutton

“Your attention, please….!” We may hear it when a store’s service department is paging a customer who left a purse or a credit card at a check-out counter. We used to hear this at stadiums when someone was trying to get a hold of a doctor. “Your attention please, would doctor 395 please report to the information office.” We hear it in airports – “Your attention please. Alice Jones, please report to the Gate B-7.”

As Haggai in the late 500’s B.C. ministered to the remnant of Jews who had returned to Judah after the Babylon Captivity, God spoke through him to the Jews saying “YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!” This command is contained in the opening words of our text, “Now give careful thought to this from this day on…” God was saying. “Your attention, please.”

1. “You’re Not Paying Attention”God said this to his people because they were not paying attention to God. Let me explain what I mean. After the Jews returned from exile in about 536, they began rebuilding their homes and the temple of God in Jerusalem. But some neighboring Samaritans wanted to share in the temple work. However, the Jews refused. So the Samaritans stirred up trouble. As a result of this trouble and the trouble the Jews had with putting themselves, not God, first in their lives, the temple rebuilding stopped for 10 years.

In the year 520 B.C., the second year of the reign of King Darius, God sent Haggai to his people with this word of the Lord, “ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands (1:6-11).’” But then God went told his people that he was with them. He promised he would send a Savior. As a result of God’s grace and presence the Jews resolved to get to work. They did, but only for a short while.

I suppose it would be like some of our New Year’s resolutions. After the Christmas holidays maybe we realized that our trousers were a bit tight or our comfy clothes weren’t as comfy as we like. We had taken in too many cookies, candies, nuts, and Christmas drinks. So we resolved to eat less and exercise more. But after a month, the resolution to eat less and exercise more has changed to eat more and exercise less. We meant well, but we lost our momentum.

This is what happened to the Jews. God wanted them to put him first and reflect this in the use of the time he gave them, the talents with which he blessed them, and the material things he lent them. One of the ways the Jews were to show their love for God was in the re-building of the temple. For a while, the Jews did this. But it didn’t last. They let other things attract their attention. So again God did a “Your attention, please!” This is referred to in our text. God said that when the Jews look for blocks for the temple, they found the pile to be small; when they checked the measures of wine, rather than they 50 they thought they had, there were 20; when they checked the barn, there was less grain than what they planned; when they looked for the crop on their trees, there was none. God caused the work of their hands to dwindle or become nothing to get their attention. But the Jews still didn’t give it.

Sometimes God may do drastic things to get our attention. We may get our priorities goofed up and not put God first in respect to the use of our time, talents and material possessions, and end up sinning against God. So God through trials may say, “Your attention, please!” The time thought we gained by short-changing God in worship, Bible study, prayer, or serving God through the use of our gifts in ministry, God may take away in other ways. The spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave us to use in ministry, but which we fail to use for that purpose but try to use for other purposes, may end up being of no benefit. Or material things that God lends us to manage well, use wisely, and from which we are to take the first part and give back to the in thank offerings, when we fail to do God’s will, the Lord may take away from the resources in one way or another so in the end we’re not ahead, but rather behind. All along God is saying, “Your attention, please.” He’s disciplining us. He’s doing it not to get even for our sins. If he did that right now our fannies would be frying in the fires of hell. God disciplines us when we err to get our attention and to get us to change so that we put him first, love him most, live for him every day, use our time and talents well, manage our material things well and use a portion of them to support the ministry of his church and help those in need.

One day a couple of years ago I was flying out of Minneapolis to someplace. I was sitting at gate C-something-or-another and wondering where all the people were who were flying to the same place I was going. Suddenly I heard, “You attention, please. Would Mr. Donald Sutton please report to gate G-something-or-another. Your plane is leaving in 10 minutes.” “Gate G?” I thought to myself. My boarding pass says C!” But as I looked closer I realized that the printer in the E-ticket check-in kiosk didn’t print my boarding pass clearly. So the G came out a C. Now the G-gates are all the way on the other side of the Minneapolis airport from the C-gates. I didn’t know that this middle-aged body could run so fast. If Hertz had been there, they may have signed me up for O.J.’s old job. I made it. That airport announcement got my attention and moved me to action.

What finally God the attention of the Jews? What moved them to action?

2. God’s Amazing Love Gets Attention & Moves to Action
It was God’s undeserved love. It was as if God decided, “If you won’t pay attention to my loving discipline, maybe you will pay attention to my undeserved love.” In v. 19 God said, “From this day on I will bless you.” Isn’t that absolutely amazing? The returning remnant had not put God first in their lives. They had not been good managers of their time, talents and treasures. They had not paid attention to God’s “Your attention, pleases.” Wouldn’t it stand to reason that God would say, “I sick and tire of you…To hell with you?” Instead he said to his people, “I’ll bless you.” That got their attention.

What gets your attention and moves you to godly action? Think about your life. Is there time wasted, talents unused for God’s glory, money misspent, resources used poorly, meager and miserly offerings flowing from the leftovers of the bounty the Lord bestows on us. What does the Lord do? “He does not treat us as our sins deserve.” What does the Lord say? “I forgive you. I declare you innocent.” How can a holy God do this? He satisfied the justice that flows from his holiness by putting his Son in our place. God’s Son, was like us in every way, but was without sin. Yet God’s Son, Jesus, took our sin upon himself and suffered for it when he died upon the cross. So God took the death of Jesus and with it erased the sin and curse that was behind our names in the Book of Life. Then God took the sinlessness of Christ and credited it to you, to me, and to everyone. He promises us eternal life. Every day God is with us making sure we lack nothing. Every day, even though we don’t deserve God’s gifts, God blesses us with them – time, talents, treasures, family, friends, opportunities, faith fellowship, etc. Through these blessings, God is saying, “Your attention, please!”

Give it to him. The Jews did. In the year 516 they finished building the temple? How can we not do the same considering the love and attention God gives us? In view of this I urge you to think about your values in life. If God and the guidance of his word are not at the top of your list of life, I urge you to put him there. The result might be, “ I value God and his word –1; My Faith and well-being – 2; My family – 3; My church family – 4; My Friends and others around me – 5; My Job – 6. In view of God’s love and attention, I urge you to think about your objectives in life. Looking at things from God’s perspective your objectives might end up something like the following: “In all things I want to worship and glorify God. I want trust in God above all else. I want to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Savior Jesus. I want to do things according to his will. I want to show love to people. I want to mange and use well the resources God gives me. I want to rejoice and be glad in the goodness of God. I want to share his love with others. In view of God’s love and attention set godly goals: My goal is to spend time every day privately and/or with my family in God’s word and prayer. My goal is weekly to gather with Christians to worship God. My goal is to plan my day out so that I have a balance of time for work or education, spiritual growth and meditation, family time, time for nutrition and relaxation, time to always use at least one my spiritual gifts to serve God. My goal is to use the money God has given me to first set aside an offering with which I can say, “Thank you Lord for your love,” then to take care of the needs of my family and then the needs of others around me. My goal with God’s help is to daily find contentment in what God has given me and to not spend more than I make, to not run up debt I can’t pay and to ay the debts I have. My goal every day is with my life to say, “God, with your love and attention, you’ve got my love and attention.” Amen.

John 1:43-51
January 14-16, 2006
Pastor Don Sutton
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church – New Ulm, MN

One thing can lead to another. This is true of finding things. One Find Can Lead to Another.” We see an example of this as we join Jesus as he interacts with Philip and Nathaniel.

A Story – Philip and Nathaniel
As Jesus was in the area of the Jordan River and preparing to go to Galilee, he found Philip. Philip was from Bethsaida as were Andrew and Simon who had already met Jesus. When Jesus found Philip he said, “Follow me.” Philip went and found Nathaniel and told him, “We have found the one of whom the Old Testament speaks.” Philip was saying, “We have found the Messiah – the one anointed to be the Savior…. He is the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” While Jesus was conceived in his mother by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s husband, Joseph was Jesus’ legal father. Philip was speaking of the legal relationship between Jesus and Joseph. Nathaniel’s response was, “Can anything good come from there?” While Nathaniel may have shown a bit of bigotry toward the people of Nazareth, he probably also knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. So how could the one of whom Philip spoke really be the Messiah? Philip didn’t argue with Nathaniel. He simply said, “Come and see.”

When Nathaniel found Jesus, the Lord said to him, “Here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false.” Nathaniel was a true Old Testament believer awaiting the Messiah. Nathaniel wondered how Jesus, who had never met him, could know him. Jesus indicated that he had seen Nathaniel under the fig tree, a place Nathaniel evidently had been not long before. Amazed, Nathaniel responded, “Rabbi, (teacher) you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!” Jesus went on to tell Nathaniel that he believed because he had experienced the miracle of Jesus seeing him under the fig tree. Then Jesus went on to say that Nathaniel would see even greater things – things something like Jacob saw back in Genesis 28 when he saw a ladder stretching up to heaven with angels ascending and descending in service of God and his people. Nathaniel would see the Son of Man, a reference to Jesus and an emphasis that he is not only true God but true man, with angels ascending and descending on him, a reminder that Jesus is the Way from earth to heaven and the source of peace between God and man.

So Jesus found Philip. Jesus brought Philip to faith. Philip found Nathaniel and helped him find Jesus. Jesus brought Nathaniel to faith. And who knows how many others Philip and Nathaniel helped to find Jesus as a result of which Jesus worked saving faith in their hearts. One Find May Lead to Another.

Another Story – Pat and Family
There’s another story of this I would like to share with you. It began when Les and Pat found each other, dated, and then married. Through Les’s witness to Pat about Jesus, Pat found Jesus and Jesus brought Pat to faith. Les and Pat had children whom they baptized and taught about Jesus. Their children had children, and Les and Pat’s children saw to it that they found Jesus through baptism and the word. At the same time Pat had several sisters who had not really been introduced to Jesus. Pat witnessed to them and encouraged them to find a church. They did. As a result they found Jesus and Jesus brought them to faith. One sister, Zetta, who lived in the same area as Pat, went to Pat’s church. There Zetta found Jesus and Jesus brought her to faith. When God blessed Zetta with two daughters, she had them baptized and taught them God’s Word.

Some years later, Zetta talked to her pastor about her husband, Bill, a non-Christian former heavy-weight boxer who had even fought Jerry Quarry. One summer evening the pastor stopped at Bill and Zetta’s. Over some German refreshments, the pastor talked to Bill about how important a relationship with Jesus is. Bill took adult classes and found Jesus. Jesus worked faith in his heart. A few years later that heart stopped as Bill died at a young age. But his life really didn’t stop there. His soul lives in heaven.

As time passed Pat’s mom became ill and was hospitalized. Mom had dabbled in a lot of religions, the
most recent being Seventh Day Adventism. Pat asked her pastor to visit Mom. Mom accepted the hospital
visits which eventually became home visits. While mom knew a lot of things about Jesus, she didn’t really know the grace of God in Jesus. But through the word, she found Jesus for who he really is – her Savior. Jesus worked faith in her heart. This left Pat’s dad – named Al. When Pat’s pastor did the funeral for Al at the local funeral home, the funeral director took the pastor aside as he walked into the funeral home and asked him, “Pastor, do you understand whose funeral you’re doing tonight?” The pastor answered, “The biggest hell-raiser in three counties.” The director replied, “The chapel is full tonight and I didn’t want you to go out there and make a foul out of yourself by painting Al to be something he wasn’t.” The pastor responded, “There probably are going to be a lot of people surprised to find out that Al died a Christian.”

You see, for most of his life Al didn’t have time for God in his life. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Pat, the pastor and others had tried. But when Al became seriously ill, the pastor started visiting Al. Al welcomed the pastor but not the messages from God’s word. Al told the pastor he could come back and visit but not if he shared God’s word. A couple of days later the pastor got a call from Pat that her dad was in ICU and on a respirator and probably wouldn’t live very long. She asked the pastor to visit one more time. He did. Al couldn’t talk. So the pastor told Al about his concern for him – that if Al left this life without faith in Jesus he only had hell to look forward to. But he also told Al that Jesus had lived and died to save all people and that God had forgiven Al in Jesus. He went on to tell Al that through faith in Jesus this forgiveness and eternal life was Al’s. He then asked Al, “Do you believe in Jesus?” The pastor waited, and waited, and waited, but there was no answer. The pastor said a prayer for Al, said good-bye, and turned to leave. Suddenly he heard and banging on the side of the bed. Turning around he saw Al nodding, “Yes.” “You believe?” the pastor asked. Al nodded, “Yes.” He died a short time later.

This all began with Les helping Pat find Jesus. One find can lead to another.

Still Another Story – Jesus and You / You and Others
There’s still another story of one find leading to another I would like to consider with you. It’s your story. God found you in world’s mass of humanity before there was ever a world or there was a you to find. This is what the Bible says in Ephesians 1:3ff. God chose you in Christ to have faith and be his. As a result he saw to it that when you came into this world spiritually dead and doomed to damnation, there was someone in your life – a parent, a friend or maybe even a stranger – who exposed you to the gospel in baptism or the Bible so you could find Jesus and he in turn would work faith in your heart. When that faith was worked you passed from death to life, from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from being an unwanted spiritual orphan to being an adopted child of God. You received the forgiveness of sins you could not get on your own but that Jesus won for you and God declared to be yours at Jesus’ resurrection. You became an heir of eternal life. The Lord first found you. Then you found the Lord and received faith.

How does the rest of the story go? Do you realize that you are writing the rest of the story with your life? Are you being a Philip, a Les, or a Pat who helps others find Jesus by the way you live and by the witness about Jesus you give to others? If you’re not, you are not fulfilling the plan God have for you to be his witness to others about Jesus and what a difference he can make in the lives of others. If this is the case, I urge you to see your failings, to turn to Jesus and acknowledge them, and then to trust in him for the forgiveness that is yours through him. He took away the curse of your sin through his death on the cross.

Then look for others who have not found the one of whom Moses and the Prophets spoke. Tell them with sincerity and confidence about your great find in life and the difference he makes. When they question or object, don’t argue. Simply but lovingly respond, “Come and see.” Then tell them about Jesus. Or, get together with them and use a bible or bibles to show them Jesus. Direct them to our synod’s website especially where there are some nice evangelism tools. Or, invite and go with them to a small group bible study or a Bible class or even to church. In one way or another say, “Come and see.” Then show them.
One find may lead to another – that’s the way God planned it. Amen.