Chasing Perfection

We want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  None of us would be here today without a mom, and all of us have had our lives shaped by moms as well as women who have stepped into our lives with a mother’s love.  We are grateful today for mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, foster mothers, mothers-in-law, aunts, sisters, friends, mentors, teachers, pastors, and any and all women who have made an impact on our lives.  We honor you, we remember you, and we celebrate you today.  

If you’re a mom raising young children today, my heart goes out to you because the expectations placed upon you are impossible.  The pressure is on for you to have a pinterest worthy home, instagram worthy looks for both you and your family, and you have to post all your activities to fb so relatives and friends can see just how well you are doing it all.  This past year you have also had to help home-school your children which means not only helping with math and science, but you had to prepare arts and crafts, teach music, and organize gym class.  

Every day you are expected to give baths, read books, sing songs, and pray with your children.  You have to take your turn being a homeroom mom at school, and set up elaborate birthday parties for your children at home.  A Betty Crocker cake from a box with those premade sugar letters spelling happy birthday don’t cut it anymore.  You are also expected to have a career, maintain hobbies, keep in shape, and feed your family healthy and nutritious meals, and for some of you that means organic vegetables or homemade GF bread.  Not only do you have to do it all, you have to maintain all kinds of social media accounts to show the world that you are doing it all.  

Moms, I’m tired just thinking about it.  My heart goes out to you.  If you are a working mom, there are times you might feel guilty about not being home with your kids, or maybe you feel guilty about not wanting to be home with your kids.  If you are a stay at home mom, you might feel guilty about not contributing financially to your family, or you feel bad about not using the college degree you spent so much time on and that you're still paying off.  

It seems like you can’t win.  Whether it’s the impossible expectations others place on you, or that you have placed on yourself, the pursuit of being the perfect mom in today’s world never ends and I’m not sure you can ever attain it, but you try.  

Many moms and dads are overwhelmed today by trying to be the perfect parent, but the pursuit of perfection is not just limited to parents, many of us wrestle with it.  Whether we are trying to live up to our own impossible expectations, or the expectations of others, many of us live our lives striving for perfection, and since we always fall short we either feel guilt, or shame, or unworthiness.  Our feelings of inadequacy push us to try harder in order to meet those expectations, and then we fall short again.  It really does become a never ending pursuit of perfection that leaves us empty and broken.  We are on the proverbial hamster wheel running hard and never making progress.

There are three basic types of perfectionists, the first is called the self oriented perfectionist.  This person sets unrealistically high expectations for themselves and when they fail, they battle feelings of guilt.  Their obsession over doing things perfectly can also cause them to be ineffective in everything.  They will often procrastinate because the need to do things perfectly paralyzes them and keeps them from doing anything.  These people often wrestle with constant feelings of inadequacy, which can push them to try harder or quit altogether.  

The second type of perfectionist is the externally oriented perfectionist.  This person believes that others expect them to be perfect and perform at an exceptionally high level of competence.  To cope with this pressure, these people often use self-deprecating humor as a defense.  They will make fun of themselves and put themselves down in order to try and lower the expectations others have for them.  Trying to live up to the impossible expectations of others can make these people feel alone, depressed, and desperate because they know that they will never measure up.  

The third type of perfectionist is the others oriented perfectionist.  This person expects everyone around them to live up to their standards.  In other words, they expect all those around them to be perfect.  These people often lack empathy and ridicule those who don’t measure up.  

I don’t know if you heard yourself described just now, but I’ll be honest, I have always been a bit of a perfectionist.  I try to live up to the expectations that people have for me as a pastor, and then I also try and live up to the expectations I have for myself as a pastor, as well as a son, a brother, a friend, and a follower of Jesus.  I fail at these every day and that failure leads to guilt, and shame, and feelings of inadequacy.  

When I first started as a pastor I was much more aware of the expectations others had for me and I tried to do it all and be all things to all people.  Every day I realized that I had failed because I could have done more, done things differently, or done things better.  Every day I told myself I needed to try harder.  It was a dangerous cycle that after a year left me empty and unable to do just about anything.  I was feeling alone, inadequate, depressed, and wanting to quit.  

While I have learned how to deal with some of these expectations, I still struggle with being a perfectionist, and I  have to say that being a follower of Jesus doesn’t make this any easier because Jesus said, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.  Matthew 5:48.  And 1 Peter 1:15 says, Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.  So not only do I wrestle with living up to my standards and the expectations of others, I now have to be perfect like Jesus and holy like God.   

No matter where the expectations come from, one of the reasons we chase perfection is that we feel we have to perform at this high standard, and do all things perfectly, in order to be loved and accepted.  We hide our basic insecurities and our need for approval by trying to work harder, and be all things to all people.  

We not only think we have to work harder and be perfect for people to love and accept us, but we also think we have to be perfect for God to love and accept us, and as long as that is what we think, we will be chasing perfection forever and always come up empty and broken, but God has given us a way out.  

To understand God’s solution to this problem we need to understand how it is that we are made right with God in the first place.  Romans 3:20 spells this out for us clearly.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

No one is made right with God by what we do.  In other words, we cannot be perfect enough for God to accept us on our own.  God’s word sets such a high bar of moral and ethical behavior that we cannot attain it, let alone get over it.  Whether we are talking about the 10 Commandments, or the 613 laws that the people in Jesus’ day were supposed to follow in order to be holy, we can’t do it.  Let’s just look at the 10 Commandments.  You shall have no other gods before Me - how are we doing on that?  You shall not lie, you shall not covet anything of your neighbors, you shall honor the Sabbath and keep it holy - how are we doing?  

I’m not doing so well.  We are all sinners, and if you are thinking that you aren’t that bad, then your heart has been deceived because Romans 3 also says, there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  

On our own we don’t measure up to the standards of God.  On our own we can’t be perfect, and we can’t gain acceptance by our performance, and we will never be good enough.  It’s important for us to come face to face with the reality of our sin because without seeing our sin we will never see our need for a savior.  

That is how we are made right with God, not by being perfect but by trusting the one who is, Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Romans 3:22, Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Notice that it does NOT say we are made right with God by amassing a lifetime of good works but by accepting a gift, and that gift is given when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.  We are not made right with God, we are not loved and accepted by God, because of our performance, we are made right with God and accepted by God because of God’s mercy and grace.  And let’s be clear, it’s not God’s grace AND some of our work.  It’s not God’s grace AND trying to be better, it is God’s grace ALONE that saves us, and when we begin to step into this reality, when we step in and walk in God’s grace and love, the pressure to perform and be perfect goes away and there is freedom to live in peace.

Chasing perfection puts all the pressure on us.  

Perfection

• All about me
• What I do
• If I obey - God will love me.
• I must win God’s approval

But living under God’s grace takes the pressure off because…

Grace

• All about Jesus
• What Jesus has done
• God loves me - I can obey
• I have God’s approval

If we can live under God’s grace, the pressure is off us to perform.  We no longer have to be perfect, but… what about what Jesus said?  He said we are to be perfect.  Yes, he did, but in many ways Jesus was talking about being perfect in love and not performance.  Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  

Jesus’ call here is for us to focus on loving others - all others.  Jesus was always more interested in loving people than following the rules, in fact, His love for others caused Jesus to break all kinds of rules.  He healed on the Sabbath, He touched those sick and unclean, He forgave sinners freely and sent them off to live a new life.  Jesus chose love and calls us to choose love as well.  

Let me give you one clear example of what this might look like in our day to day lives: choose people over perfection.  Too often we miss the moments with family and friends because we are too worried about having the perfect home, or setting the perfect table, or cooking the perfect meal.  If you get so stressed out when people come to visit that you can’t enjoy the visit - or the people - you are choosing perfection over people.  Jesus tells us the better choice is always to choose people.

The best story that illustrates this comes from Luke 10.  Jesus has gone to visit his friends Mary and Martha, and when he arrives, Martha is trying to do everything she can to make the visit perfect.  She has cleaned and cooked and is now in the kitchen serving Jesus and his followers.  She is striving to make sure everything is perfect and in her pursuit of perfection, she is upset that her sister Mary is not helping her make things perfect.  Martha is an internal perfectionist and an others oriented perfectionist and she is doing all she can to make the evening perfect, and into her whirlwind of activity, Jesus says, My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:41-42 (NLT)

Martha was chasing after the perfect evening for Jesus, Mary was loving Jesus.  Jesus didn’t care about how clean the house was, or how perfect the meal looked, He was there to spend time with His friends.  Don’t sacrifice the relationships with those you love for a false reality of perfection.  Things won’t be perfect, so live in God’s love and pursue loving others.  Choose people over perfection.  

The bottom line is that we often chase perfection in order to be loved and accepted and when it comes to God, we are already loved and accepted.  With faith in Jesus, we have already been made right with God by God’s grace and there is nothing more we can do or need to do.  Today, Jesus is calling us to choose the perfect love of God over the perfectionism we often strive for. There is not one thing you can do today to make God love you more.  There is no work you can do that will help God accept you more.  The pressure is off - we don’t need to perform - we need to step into God’s love and be set free.  We need to step into God’s love and learn how to really love others.  Stop chasing perfection and step into the full embrace of God’s perfect love. 

 

Next Steps

Chasing Perfection

What situations bring out your inner perfectionist?

There are three types of perfectionism: self-oriented, externally-oriented, and others-oriented. When was the last time you struggled with one of these kinds of perfectionism?  How did the struggle make you feel?

In what ways might perfectionism mask insecurity? How have you seen this play out in your own life?

Read Romans 3:20-22. 

Why might it be difficult to accept that we are perfected not through our own efforts, but through our faith in Christ?

How can we focus on Christ and the work He’s doing in our lives rather than on our desire to make ourselves better on our own?

How can accepting God’s grace set us free to live in peace?

Read Luke 10:38-42.  

How was Martha’s perfectionism keeping her from Jesus?  When has it kept you from Jesus?  

How can we prioritize loving others over chasing perfection this week?

Dig Deeper:

Read Matthew 5:43-48.  

Do you think Jesus is talking about perfect performance and actions or perfect love?  

What do you think perfect love looks like in our lives?  

How can God’s perfect love cast out our fear and insecurities so we can love more completely?  

The Time Is Now -

Today we are going to finish up our look at one of the Minor Prophets we find in the Old Testament, Haggai.  Once again, it’s important for us to understand the context and history of the book for us to understand what God is saying through the prophet, so in case you missed it, here it is.  The nation of Israel was defeated by the Babylonians in 587 BC and for 50 years the people lived scattered throughout the land.  During this time, the people were not able to worship God in any formal way, and many measures were taken to try and get the people to forget God entirely. 

In 538 BC, the people of God were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.  They started the work with great enthusiasm and laid the foundation and built the altar, but after 14 years, when things got difficult, the people quit.  God spoke through the prophet Haggai and told the people the time is now to return to me and rebuild the temple.  God stirred up the hearts of the leaders, and the people, and they did return to the work, only to get discouraged after a few weeks because the progress was so slow.  God told the people to be strong and keep working because He was with them and that He would keep His promise to restore the nation of Israel.  

The people kept on building the temple, but the work continued to go slow and from what the prophet said next, it appears that the people began to question whether or not obedience to God was worth all the work.  They are going through the motions and doing the work, but not getting anywhere.  They were trying to do the right thing, even though it was hard, and they were trying to be obedient, but they weren’t seeing God bless them and so they wondered if their hard work and obedience is worth it.  

Does this sound familiar?  We try to do the right thing, we work hard, but we don’t see any progress, or we don’t see God coming through for us the way we think God should, so we begin to ask ourselves, is it worth it?  Is following God worth it if God is not blessing us.  This kind of thinking is common, and it is what Craig Groeschel calls, Conditional Obedience to God.   

Not that any of us would think this way, but conditional obedience to God is when we obey God and follow God as long as we see results.  Conditional obedience to God is when we say we will follow God as long as it is comfortable for us, or as long as what God asks us to do is in line with what we want to do.  Conditional obedience to God is when we are willing to follow God as long as it doesn’t cost us too much and the rewards are worth it.  

When I was in college and first decided I wanted to serve God with my life and work in some kind of ministry, I said I would do anything and go anywhere, except the local church.  I told myself that it wasn’t God’s will for me to be a local pastor because I didn’t think that was what I wanted to do.  I had not prayed about it, I had not heard any kind of word from God, I just didn’t want to do it.  I was willing to follow God completely but under my conditions.  

Some people will turn to God when they are at the end of their rope and have nowhere else to turn and say God I will turn now and trust you, but when God doesn’t solve all their problems after one worship service, or when life is still difficult and challenging after a week of reading the Bible, they give up saying, God didn’t come through for me, or that this “walking with Jesus thing just isn’t working for me”  

In different ways we all struggle with conditional obedience.  We will serve God and love others as long as we get recognized, or as long as we get our way, or as long as I can stay comfortable and not have to change my thinking, my attitudes or my actions, or give too much of my time, my energy or my money.  The problem with conditional obedience is that we are serving God for all the wrong reasons.  We are serving God to get what we want, and our heart - the only thing God wants - our heart is still far from Him.

This is what Israel was struggling with as they worked to rebuild the Temple.  We are going to look at a section of Haggai 2 that at first might seem a little strange, but just bear with me.  

This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says:  If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’”

The priests answered, “No.”

Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?”

“Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”

Then Haggai said, “‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.  Haggai 2:11-14

Here is what God is asking the people to consider.  If the priest picks up a piece of meat that has been offered to God in a sacrifice and is now considered holy, if the robe that is carrying that meat touches some other food, is that food made holy?  As you might guess, the answer was no.  But, if a person who has been defiled in some way and is considered unclean, if that person touches something, does that become unclean?  The answer is, yes, it does.    

Let’s think about it this way.  For the past year, it has been our practice to wipe down all surfaces after someone has used a room.  When we do that, the room and everything in it is clean.  Now, if a person who might be sick were to enter that room, would those clean surfaces make the person well?  No.  Instead what happens?  The person who is sick makes the room unclean.  

So what does this have to do with the people of Israel working to rebuild the temple?  While it might sound harsh, what God is saying is that if the hearts of the people building the Temple aren’t right with Him as they do the work, the work is no good.  While the Temple itself, the building, might get finished, the hearts of the people are still far from God.  Ultimately God doesn’t want a magnificent building made of wood and stone, God wants a heart that is fully devoted to Him.  

After 50 years of living scattered throughout Babylon and not really able to develop any kind of relationship with God, the people were struggling to understand who God was, what God wanted, and how they were to live as children of God.  They were being obedient, and then expecting God to bless them for that obedience, but that is not what God wanted.  God wanted their heart.  

Nothing has changed.  God still just wants our heart.  God wants our love and adoration and worship.  God is not interested in our conditional obedience, following Him when it is easy, or comfortable, or when we get something in return, God wants all of our heart, mind, body, and soul fully fixed on Him.  God wants a heart that will trust Him for all we need.  

God wants the love and trust of His people so much that He goes back and reminds them what it was like when they were living only for themselves.  Haggai 2:15-16, Consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple.  When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty.  

If you remember from the first week of the series, God reminded the people that when they trusted in themselves only and always put themselves first, they never seemed to have enough.  Haggai 1:5-6

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

When all they did was try and provide for themselves, they never had enough and were never satisfied, and when we  live only for ourselves, when we are  focused only on this world and what we can get in it, we will never have enough and we will never be satisfied.  But if we can give God the fullness of heart without conditions, God will bless us.  But giving God the fullness of our heart doesn’t mean just going through the motions.  

Now let me be clear, serving God when our heart is not in it is not always a bad thing.  There will be days when we will not feel like serving God or others and on those days we can’t just walk away.  There will also be times when we will be obedient and then look for God to bless us for our work and it doesn’t mean that obedience has no value, but at some point we have to stop and make sure our heart is right with God.  

That is what God is doing here.  God is asking the people to consider the state of their heart.  Now is the time, God says, to get your heart right with me.  Don’t put your lives first, and don’t try to provide for yourself, and don’t put conditions on following me or obey in order to be blessed, instead, return to me.  

During the same time that God was speaking through Haggai, God was also speaking through the prophet Zechariah, and that is exactly what God said, Return to me.  Zechariah 1:3 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.  Notice that God doesn’t tell the people to return to the work this time, God says, return to me.  

Ultimately, this is what God wants from all of us, God wants us to return to Him.  God wants us to turn away from the world, and from ourselves, and from this idea that we can provide for ourselves, and love God with all our heart, and soul and mind and strength.  When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He said to love God with all our heart.  As important as obedience is, obedience means nothing if our heart is not in it.  It looks like a child being told to say they are sorry.  They might say the words, but you can tell their heart is not in it.  

The people of Israel had returned to Jerusalem after 50 years of being away and they were struggling to love God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength.  When things got difficult they thought God must not be for them.  When God didn't come through for them the way they thought God should, they got discouraged.  The beautiful part of this story is that God is patient and takes time to restore the relationship.  God takes time and teaches them that it’s not about the work, and it’s not about getting a blessing because of the work, it’s about being with God and that is the blessing.  

God’s message through the years has not changed.  More than anything, God wants our heart.  More than our obedience, God wants our love and devotion, and God loves us so much that He will patiently wait for us and work with us so that we will return to Him.  Now is the time, God says, will you return to me? 

Now is the time, and today is the day for us to consider if our heart truly belongs to God.  If it doesn’t, if you are still living for yourself or serving God in order to get something in return, return to God.  Give God your heart and He will return to you and bless you.  And if you are like me, realign your heart, let go of conditional obedience, and simply love God with ALL your heart.  That truly is ALL God wants.  

 

Next Steps

The Blessing of Obedience

Has there ever been a time when you asked yourself if faith in Jesus, or obedience to God, was worth it?  What blessings or rewards were you looking for?  

How do you continue to wrestle with Conditional Obedience to God?  

Why might the people of Israel have thought their obedience to God in building the Temple would have brought them the blessing they wanted?  (Remember, they had spent 50 years living far from God.)  

What did you think of the statement: If your heart's not in the work, the work is not good.  

● What’s the value of continuing to work through spiritually dry or difficult times?  

● How might that work shape our hearts?  

● How might a change of heart shape our work?  

Reflect on these passages that connect love and obedience:

● John 14:15  2 John 1:6

○ Can we love God and not obey?

○ Can we really obey God and not love Him?

Ultimately God is not interested in our work (obedience) but our heart.  In what ways have you not given God ALL of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?  Where do you still struggle to trust God?  

In a world where we are told to provide for ourselves, our family, and our future, what does it look like for you to trust God for your life, your family, and your future?  

The Time Is Now - Dealing with Discouragement

Today we are going to continue on in the story of Haggai and if you weren’t with us last week, let me quickly give you the backstory.  In 587 BC, the nation of Israel was defeated by the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made sure both the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were completely destroyed.  After 50 years of living scattered throughout the region, the Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  They worked quickly to lay a new foundation and build the altar, but then the work stopped.  For 14 years work stopped because the Jewish people faced opposition and persecution.  

Through the prophet Haggai, God told the people, the time is now for you to stop building your homes, and focusing on your lives, and return to the work of God.  The time is now to rebuild the Temple.  To make things as simple as He could, God told the people to go up the mountain, bring down the timber, build the house.  It’s not easy work, but it is God’s work.  The people had to take a Hard Right over the Easy Wrong and work to rebuild the house of God.  And that is what they did.  Haggai 1:13-14

Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.  So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God.

It’s important to see that God didn’t just tell the people what to do and then give them simple steps to follow, God actually moved in and among the people to start the work.  First God went to the leaders, Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua, the high priest, and stirred their hearts to do the work, and then God went to the people and stirred their hearts to do the work.  

Have you ever been stirred by God to do His work?  Have you ever felt such a drive and desire to do something that you just had to move forward?  Have you ever heard God clearly telling you this has to be done and the time is now to do it?  You might think this happens all the time to pastors, but it doesn’t.  I know the hard right and the faithful things we need to be doing in general, but to have my heart truly stirred by God for a specific work is not common (maybe that’s something I need to reflect on).  But I did have a moment like that a few years ago.

In 2017, I was at our Annual Conference and heard a report about our sister churches in Sierra Leone.  We had been part of supporting pastors in Sierra Leone for many years and we even hosted the Bishop of Sierra Leone, Bishop Yambasu, when he was in PA.  While he was here, I heard the bishop talk about how some of his pastors didn’t have 2 pairs of shoes and he marveled at our 2 and 3 car garages.  It was humbling.  In 2017, the report from the churches in Sierra Leone wasn’t good.  Due to the Ebola outbreak and some natural disasters, there was a $30,000 shortfall in covering the pastor's salaries.   

As I listened to the report, God stirred my heart.  I heard God say, Andy you can do something about this, and I decided I would make a donation to the cause.  But then I kept hearing God say, you can make a difference here and it wasn’t just going to be me, it was going to be us.  I came home and presented the situation to the church thinking that maybe we could raise a few thousand dollars: we raised $31,000.  It was enough money to cover all the expenses of the UM pastors in Sierra Leone.  God stirred my heart as the leader and then God stirred all of your hearts as the people and together we did more than we ever thought possible.  This is what happens when God is present AND stirs up people’s hearts.  It was a true work of God! We should pray for this to happen all the time!

This is what happened in Jerusalem when God was present AND stirred up the heart of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people.  They began to work on God’s house again.  They were motivated, focused, and diligent and that lasted for about a month.  We don’t know if the work slowed down or stopped all together, but the flame of enthusiasm went out.  

This happens to us all the time.  We get excited about something, start the work with all our focus and energy only to quit in a few weeks.  We do this with diets, exercise, hobbies, living within a budget, and even our relationships.  We are sold out for a month and then 1 or 2 things happen:

#1 we don't see progress so we get discouraged, 

#2 we compare our work to the work of others, our lives to others, and get discouraged because we just don’t measure up.  

We get discouraged and we quit.  We’ve all been there.  

I watched my dad do some amazing refinishing of furniture when I was young and so I decided I was going to refinish something and then sell it for a lot of money.  An antique mirror was given to our band auction and no one was bidding on it so I got it for like $20.  I was convinced that I could refinish it, make it look beautiful and then sell it for hundreds of dollars.  So I started.  I took the entire thing apart.  I put all kinds of paint thinner on it to remove the layers of paint and varnish, and I scrapped it all off.  But there was still a lot of gunk in all the little cracks and crevices of the scroll work.  That’s when my dad gave me dental tools to keep working.  

Dental tools, basically tooth picks, to clean out every little nook and cranny that still had paint and varnish.  Well, doing this work wasn’t fun anymore, and I was working hard and getting nowhere.  Then the work stopped.  When my parents moved out of that house many years later, that mirror was still in pieces and ended up in the trash.  I started out on fire but then flamed out.  I’ve done this with other hobbies, diets, and exercise.  I quit because I get discouraged.  I quit because I don’t see quick progress.  I quit because everyone else seems to be doing it better than I am.  

Israel quit because they weren’t making a lot of progress, and because they compared the glory of the previous temple to what they saw in front of them, and what they saw was kind of pathetic.  Haggai 2:3.   Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?

There were people working on the Temple who would have remembered what it looked like in its true glory days.  Haggai himself might have seen it.  We think Haggai may have been in his 70’s at this time, so he would have been a teenager when the Temple was in its full glory.  People knew what it looked like then, and what it looked like now, and not only was the progress slow but compared to what it looked like before - what they saw was pathetic, why keep going.  

Slow progress and comparison is often what discourages us from moving forward.  When we try and climb out of debt but don’t see the $10 we put each week toward our debt making a difference, we wonder why we are doing it in the first place.  When we diet for 2 weeks and don’t lose a single pound we start asking ourselves why we gave up potato chips and ice cream in the first place.  When we don’t seem any farther along in our faith, when we find ourselves struggling with the same sins and failures year after year, we wonder why we are even trying to be more like Jesus.  Slow progress is discouraging.

Comparing ourselves to others is discouraging, and today, social media makes this even worse.  When we see a picture of our friends' perfect marriage, perfect family, perfect house, successful business, or amazing vacation, we realize that in so many ways we don’t measure up.  When we see people celebrating getting in shape and we are struggling to get into our precovid clothes - it’s discouraging.  When we see other people getting more likes, having their videos and ideas go viral, and we limp along with barely any interest, it’s easy to think about giving up.  

If you are feeling discouraged right now because you aren’t seeing any progress in the areas of your life that you are trying to improve, or when you look around and see that everyone else has it better than you do, please know that you are not alone.  Personal discouragement is something we all face but from Haggai we also see that God is with us.  More than just being with us, however, God has something to say to us.    Haggai 2:4

“Be strong, Zerubbabel,” declares the Lord. 

“Be strong, Joshua, the high priest.”

“Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, 

“and work. For I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty.

God goes to each leader personally to encourage them, and then God goes to the people.  God’s love and care is truly personal and when any of us get discouraged, God is right there to say, be strong.  And the reason we can have courage and move forward is because God says, I am with you.  

When we compare ourselves to others it often leads us to feeling isolated and alone.  Everyone else has the perfect life and I am a mess.  Everyone else has a successful job and I’m going nowhere.  Everyone else has a strong faith and I still can’t get anything right with God.  That feeling of being alone is what God wants to address so God doesn’t say it once but twice.  Haggai 2:5

This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.

So first God says, I am with you, and then He says, my Spirit remains among you.  God had promised to be with His people when they left Egypt and God had not forgotten that promise.  God was with them, and His spirit was among them, so there was no need to fear or give up - they could keep going.

And that was the second thing God told them, keep going.  Work.  Keep doing the work, and that work was to: go up the mountain, bring down the timber, and build the house.  Maybe by now the work was to place one stone next to another, one stone on top of another, and keep going.  Do the work.  Don’t complain because there is no progress.  Don’t compare your work to what you see around you, or what you remember from the past, just do the work.   

The astor and author Craig Groeschel says, successful people do consistently what normal people do occasionally.  

The key to experiencing success, growth, or any kind of victory is to just keep going, and we can keep going because we aren’t working in our own strength but in the strength of God.  You see, the power of God is not just with us, it is now within us.  

Haggai encouraged the people to build a temple where God would dwell on earth, but for us now, the Spirit of God dwells in us. 

1 Corinthians 6:19, Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  Paul also said in his letter to the Romans that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is at work in you.  

1 John 4:4,  the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  So we aren’t trying to be strong in our own strength, we are learning how to tap into God’s strength and a spirit and power that raised Jesus from the dead.  It’s that power, it’s that Spirit, the Spirit of God that helps us keep going.  

It is easy to get discouraged in life and in faith. When the progress we want to make is slow, and when we look around and see everyone else doing so much better than we are, it’s easy to get discouraged and think about giving up.  In those difficult moments we need to remember that God is not just with us, the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us.  That is why we can be strong and do the work.  

Next Steps

The Time Is Now - Overcoming Discouragement

When have you felt stirred by God to do something?  

● What was the project?  What was the outcome?  

When have you seen a group of people stirred by God and then accomplish something great?  

What project have you started with great enthusiasm to only quit after a few days or weeks?  What caused you to quit?

What is something you are thinking about quitting now? 

Read Haggai 1:13-14.  

● Why might Israel have felt discouraged after only 1 month of rebuilding the Temple?  

● Why do you think God starts by telling His people that He’s with them?  Why is this important for us to remember?  

Which is more discouraging to you: comparing yourself to others or lack of progress?  How does each play out for you?

What do you feel keeps you from being strong and doing the work you need to do to get past discouragement?  What is the work God is asking you to keep doing today? 

Read Scripture about perseverance:  

1 Chronicles 16:11 Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 12:1-15, James 1:12

What difference does it make to know that God is within us and not just with us?  

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:10, Romans 8:11, 1 John 4:4

Successful people do consistently what normal people do occasionally.  

Craig Groeschel

The Time Is Now - A Hard Right

 

If you are feeling like there is some unfinished work in your life, something you have been wanting to do, needing to do, or even dreaming of doing, I have four words for you to consider.  The Time Is Now.  There was a moment in my life when I felt this way and God said something similar to me and it changed my life.  I was working as a manager of a movie theater in South Bend, IN, and life was good.  I was making good money, liked my job, had good friends, and I was close to my family.  I was honestly just enjoying my life.  I got to watch all the movies I wanted for free and eat as much free popcorn as I could.

I had been working there for a few years but all through college I had thought I would be involved in some kind of ministry.  I didn’t think this ministry involved a local church or going to seminary, but I thought I would be doing something more than showing the latest movies and popping up bags of popcorn.  Then in the summer of 1989 came the movie Dead Poets Society.  In the movie, Robin Williams plays Professor Keating who encourages the boys in his English class to follow their own path and make the most of their lives.  If you have seen the movie, you might remember these two words that Prof. Keating used over and over again.  Carpe Diem, which means, Seize the Day.

God used those two words to cause me to reflect on my life and consider if I was doing what God wanted me to do.  After several months of reflection and searching, I quit my job and started on a journey that led me to California, then Connecticut, then finally North Carolina and Duke Divinity School.  After graduating from Duke, I was appointed as a pastor in Altoona, PA.  I was now actively and intentionally involved in ministry.  

Whether it is two words, Carpe Diem, or three words, Seize the Day, or four words, The Time is Now, I pray that over the next few weeks you will reflect on your life and consider if God has something more for you.  It may not be quitting your job, uprooting your family, or starting a new career, but it may be something just as profound and transformational.  

If you have some unfinished business, an unfulfilled dream, or a goal you have set aside, or if you are just looking for deeper faith and greater purpose, I would invite you to consider if God is saying to you, The Time Is Now, to do something.  

We are going to be learning some lessons found in the Old Testament book of Haggai because God told the people of Israel that the time is now for them to return to the work of God.  Haggai is one of the Minor Prophets, which is a collection of shorter books found at the end of the Old Testament.  At a whopping 2 chapters, you might want to read it all this week, and if you go looking for it, you will find it between Zephaniah and Zechariah. 

Before we look at what God says through this prophet, we need to know the backstory.  King Solomon was the son of David and he was the one who built the temple in Jerusalem.  The temple was magnificent.  People from all over the world came to see it and Jews would come from all over the world to worship there.  After Solomon died, the nation of Israel divided and the people slowly turned away from God and started to worship idols.  In 587 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonians against Israel and destroyed not only the city of Jerusalem but the Temple as well.  

If you remember from our Daniel series earlier this year, the Jewish people were taken into captivity and scattered throughout the Babylonian empire for 50 years.  Then in 538, they were allowed to return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild the Temple.  The people returned and built the foundation of the Temple and the altar, but then they started to get harassed by the people around them.  They persecuted God’s people and made it difficult to work, so they stopped.  For 14 years no work was done on God’s house and the people spent all their time, energy, and money on their houses.  

It’s interesting that when the people of Israel found building the temple difficult, they took it as a sign that building the temple must not be God’s will.  Why is it that we think God’s will should always be easy?  Why do we take challenges as a sign that God is against us instead of thinking that it might be the world that is against us, and that God is still for us, He’s just asking us to work harder?  The truth is that doing the right thing, the faithful thing, and the Godly thing is often hard.  At times we need to choose the HARD RIGHT and not the EASY WRONG.  

The hard right is choosing to forgive someone when they have hurt us.  It’s trying to reconcile a relationship that has been broken and being the first one to reach out.  The hard right is getting healthy and caring for our bodies as if they truly are the temple of the Lord.  The hard right is to get out of debt and live within our means so that we can financially bless others.  The hard right is to put God first in all things.  These are all hard things that are right.

The easy wrong is to hold onto a grudge, lay on the couch all day eating chips and watching TV, and spending beyond our means knowing that we will pay it off in time… maybe.  The easy wrong is to put our own wants and needs first and then think about following God and helping others.  The hard right is often difficult and following God is often the hard right thing to do.  So if the time is now to do what God is asking us to do, we have to be prepared for it to be difficult.  We have to be ready to take a hard right.  

What is the hard right that God is asking you to consider?  Is it to get healthy or improve a relationship?  Is it to get your financial house in order, or grow closer to God?  Is it to step out in some new way to love God, or serve God, or serve others?  If God is saying to you, The Time Is Now, then God is going to give you some direction through the prophet Haggai.  Haggai 1:2-6

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”

Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”  

God was asking the people to consider how they had been living.  What had been their focus?  What had been their priority these past 14 years?  What they had been focused on was themselves.  They had been building their own homes, and meeting their own needs, while neglecting the house of God.  They had put themselves first and God asked them, how’s that working out for you?  God says, you are working hard but never have enough.  You are working hard but never seem to be satisfied, or fulfilled. 

Too often that’s what happens when we take the easy road and put ourselves first.  We are never satisfied or fulfilled.  That’s how I felt working at the theater.  I had a good job, good friends, and a good life, but I was not satisfied.  If you are thinking there should be more to life, and more to your faith, then hear what God said to Israel, the time is now to reorder your life.  The time is now to prioritize your faith.  The time is now to finish those things that God says need to be finished.  

If we are thinking that the time is now to get moving, God makes the process simple.  It’s not easy, doing what God asks us to do is not always easy, it’s often the hard right, but honestly, it can be simple.  For Israel, God made it simple.  Haggai 1:8  Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.

The unfinished work of the Temple wasn’t rocket science for the people, it involved:

1. going up the mountain 

2. bringing down timber

3. building the house

They had to start.  They had to leave their homes and go up the mountain.  Of course this did mean getting up off their couches and actually walking up into the mountains.  After having been in Israel, I can tell you, the mountains there are steep!  Going up into the mountains wasn’t easy, but it was right and this would get them started.  Then they had to cut down trees.  Again, not difficult to figure out how to do it, but it is hard work.  Then they had to build the house.  They had the plans for the Temple, they knew what to do, they just had to do the work.  Step 1, 2, 3.  Don’t worry about the rest, don’t worry about how to finish the project - just start.  

I had a roommate in seminary who had to write a paper for his graduation and he spent days figuring out how to write it.  He first decided to dictate his paper then transcribe it.  I told him to just start the paper.  Then he decided to write out all his quotes on index cards and place them all in order and then write it.  I told him, just start the paper.  He then came up with two other methods for organizing and writing the paper, and again I told him, just write the paper!  He spent more time figuring out how to write the paper then he did writing the paper.  The time is now to just start.  Go up into the mountains.  Bring down the timber.  Build the house.  

We don’t have to have every detail figured out before we start - we just have to start.  I have shared this many times but it’s easier to steer a moving car than a parked car.  Actually, you can’t steer a parked car.  God can’t guide us and lead us and bless us until we are willing to move and that’s step one.  Go up the mountain.  Start.

What is it that you need to start today?  Don’t worry about how it will get finished, just worry about how to start.  What unfinished work do you have in your life?  What relationship needs to be healed, what dream needs to be fulfilled, what God-given gift do you need to use, and how is God asking you to go deeper in life, and faith?  The time is now – to start.   Ask for some assistance, ask someone to go with you, but just start.  The time is now for all of us to take the next faithful step with God.  Go up the mountain, bring down the timber, and build the house - God’s house.  

 

Next Steps

The Time Is Now - Taking a Hard Right

To understand the backstory to Haggai, read Ezra 1-4.  

When have you taken a Hard Right over an Easy Wrong?

When have you taken an Easy Wrong over a Hard Right?

● What was the outcome of each?

For 14 years, Israel stopped building the Temple of God because it was difficult and they faced opposition.  

● What have you stopped doing in life and faith because it got difficult or you faced opposition?  

What are your greatest barriers to a deeper faith and following God’s will?  

● Where have you put your will over God’s will?  Your desires over God’s desires?

God gave Israel three steps

1. Go up the mountain

2. Bring down timber

3. Build the house

What might these steps look like in your life as you move forward with God?  

What new habit can you start this week to help you prioritize your faith?  

How can you serve God or others this week so that you are no longer placing yourself first in all things?  Can you make this service an ongoing part of your life?  

Who can help you keep going in this new direction?  Ask them for help, assistance, guidance, and prayer.