Haggai 1:15-2:9
November 9, 2025
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
If any of us have had some construction or renovation work done in our homes, we would know how challenging such simple projects can be. The materials got more expensive. The date of completion gets extended. Every change order depletes our bank account and we pray that we could move back home before the holidays.
Unfinished Temple
Today’s Scriptures come from the prophet Haggai who some scholars believe only was prophesying for about one season—about 3 months. Having been exiled in Babylon, Cyrus, the emperor of Persia, has permitted the Jews to come home and rebuild the temple.
Haggai speaking to Judah on God’s behalf was talking to the remnant living before the temple’s destruction and those too young to have experienced such horror. But the temple restoration has languished and the people’s commitment has waned. There was no project completion date.
Instead, the people have focused more on their own homes and personal security than rebuilding the temple. The people’s personal priorities were ahead of establishing the center of their faith community. Do we blame them?
To explain the characters in this Scripture, we have King Darius in 522 BCE who is believed to be related to Cyrus, the emperor of Persia. Darius sent Zerubbabel, a grandson of exiled King
Jehoiachin to Judah as governor of the territory. God told Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, and all the people, asking them who among them have seen the glory of the First Temple. Some believe that Haggai was an old man who himself may have seen the First Temple.
The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and now in 520, it was only 66 years later. Haggai asks the people who still remember what Solomon’s temple looked like. What everybody did know, however, was how the temple looked now, with only the foundations and maybe one or two rows of stones in place. The project’s completion date was far from sight!
Building Community
For the exiled Jews, the center of the community, the gathering place of the people to worship God, and thereby the locus by which the Jews rightly orient their lives, the temple was essential. Haggai was reminding the people that right now, the state of construction, the quality of the work, and the commitment of the people to rebuild the temple were a bit shoddy.
Haggai asks, “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?”
The temple rebuilding is an example of a community of faith in response to God. Maybe after being exiled in Babylon for so many years, we couldn’t blame the people who would want to return to their past lives and rebuild their homes and farms. I think we would have done that too.
Lakeshore Avenue is not in a time of construction with rebars and concrete. But it is at a time of rebuilding community. During this interim, we’ll be reassessing our expectations and plans for the future.
We know that if there’s anything that is constant or always happening around us is change. We are not like we were in the past. Today, you and I are different from who we were last Sunday. Older members look back to the time when the church was at its heydays. Younger members want to see more new members like them to come. But we know that they are often overwhelmed by daily tasks, juggling work, family, and various responsibilities. Some of you may be hopeful while others may feel dismay.
If we took today’s Scriptures literally, it would be easy to make the actual buildings of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church the focus of the congregation’s expectations. We can launch a renovation project? But that would distract us from what is most pressing today.
The focus is for us to hear the call of God to be the church—the Realm of God—here and now in this place. Like a field that needs to be tilled or a better metaphor, like the neighborhood of Lakeshore Avenue that needs to be reached, our church calls all of us with full intentionality of its members and friends to build a community of faith that worships, prays, and plays together.
“How Does It Look to You Now?”
Haggai asks the people looking at the unfinished temple, “How does it look to you now?” Today, we also ask ourselves the question, “How do we look today?”
This is a prophetic question because it calls us to have a clear-eyed, unsentimental communal seeing of the present reality. We ask ourselves to live in the present and to see the present beyond the misty allure of nostalgia, wishful thinking, and all manner of other illusions. “How do we look today?”
As your interim pastor, it would be tempting for me to tell you what you ought to be seeing. In humility, my wisdom may come helpful. I will offer insights and perspectives to guide us through this time.
But the real work will happen by you, the congregation of Lakeshore Avenue. “How does it look to you now? How do we look today?” We will have a shared comprehension of what the reality is today and this becomes the beginning of a new vision for tomorrow.
During this interim, we’ll journey through 5 basic phases in order to appreciate who we are today and to prepare for the future to come.
1. Coming to Terms with History
During the period between pastors, one essential task is to retell and celebrate the congregation’s history. How well we deal with our history will determine how well we will move into and deal with our future.
2. Discovering a New Identity
From time to time the self-image or identity of our congregation become outdated. The interim time is when we may need to discover a new identity. Doing a self-study would reveal our strengths and weaknesses and possibly reshape our self-image.
3. Leadership Changes during an Interim
During the interim period, some leaders may choose to move into less conspicuous or less time-consuming roles while others may choose to increase their involvement and influence the future of the church.
4. Renewing Denominational Linkages
Reviewing our beliefs with the American Baptist denomination and becoming reacquainted with its heritage, mission, and services lead to working with the Evergreen Baptist Association to seek for a new pastor.
5. Commitment to New Directions in Ministry
During the interim period, the congregation needs to be ready and prepare to make a commitment to the new pastoral leader it will soon call. The calling of a new pastor should be seen as the extension of the congregation’s developing new hope and new vision of the future.
Going through these 5 basic tasks will prepare us to become a stronger church, a more focused church, and a more faithful church filled with hope and grace to welcome a new shepherd to lead and guide us at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church.
God with Us
Haggai reassures the people who have been downtrodden for a long time and whose hopes have all been disappeared, that God is present with them. Here we have a small remnant of a nation, a people with almost no resources except for themselves and their faith. In such despair, they hear a gracious word of affirmation as a people from one who matters the most; their God, the Lord of hosts. They not only have God’s spirit; they also have God to go with them.
The great assurance Haggai offers the people is that God is truly present with them as they struggle with their past and with their future. “Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear” (vv. 4b-5).
God’s promise is given again in all four Gospels. In John, Jesus on the night before he dies says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides in you and he will be with you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you” (John 14:16-18).
Doing this interim work that we have together, Haggai says this work is “Glory!” Now he may have referred to the splendor of the temple inside and outside. But the prophecy goes on to say that silver and gold treasures would be returned from Babylon; this temple, filled with glory, would surpass the former temple in its glory.
Imagine all the bronze broken in pieces or taken away intact, small bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, incense dishes, libation chalices in silver and gold. The prophets said that all of these will be returned at some point.
For us, the silver and gold represent the great diversity among us as Lakeshore Avenue. We may be broken and shattered but we too will come home. We may come from many different parts of the world like, “the treasures of all nations shall come,” to fill this house, Lakeshore Avenue with splendor.
But to see this happen to us, as Haggai says, we are to “work” together.
Parable of the 3 Bricklayers
The very familiar parable is worthwhile to be told here. A man comes to a construction site and asks a bricklayer, “What are you doing?” he said, “I am laying bricks to earn a living.” The man asks another bricklayer, “What are you doing?” His response is “I am building a wall to have protection.” The man comes to the third bricklayer and asks the same question, “What are you doing?” This man said, “I am building a cathedral for many generations to come, worship, and have meaning in their lives.”
During this transitional time, God is calling us to build among ourselves a renewed cathedral of committed disciples to praise God, to know the Lord, to invite the Holy Spirit to be with us so that we continue to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God in Oakland and in the world
Greater with Abundance
Haggai asks, “Is it not in your sight as nothing?” Haggai is not simply condemning the people for failing to rebuild the worship temple place. He is calling them to account for not rebuilding the community of God.
When we see ourselves, do we see nothing? God is calling each of us to reprioritize our personal building plans and to work toward the building up the Body of Christ. As Christians, we are building a temple not by hands but building a gathered community of prayer, healing, giving, and sacrificial love.
We don’t see nothing. We see God’s plan for us today and in the future. And our future in God is a God of abundance who “will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and …all the nations.” Our God will fill this house with splendor. The promises of God are promises of abundance in the past, in the present, and in the future.
Finally, Haggai reminds us that “the splendor of this house shall be greater than the former” (v.9). In our future, God is moving us toward a re-creating of wonder, grace, beauty, power, and love.
How do we look today? In God’s plan for us in the name of Christ, I think we look with splendor!
Let us pray.
Grant us Lord the faith to trust in your leading us to proclaim Good News of Jesus Christ in the world. We may not look like we remembered in the past but who we are today, we remain committed to worship, bear witness, and work to advance your purpose in all of life. Bless and empower us in the days to come. Amen.
Children’s Story
“How Do We Look Today?”
Who do you see sitting in the church today?
Differences, variety, diversity
How do you think people came to church today?
By walking, car, bus, etc.
Before we all came through that front door, we came from different places.
But now we are in the same place: Sanctuary, God’s house.
But next Sunday, some of the same people who are here will be here again.
But there will be other people too.
So, what we look like today will look somewhat different next Sunday.
Today, we are asking the question, “How Do We Look Today?”
In Paul’s letter to the Romans (12:4-8), he said that in this one body, we have many members but we don’t have the same function, same job to do. We have different gifts and talents. Some of these gifts are sharing about God, teaching about Jesus, challenging people to be good, sharing our money with those in need, being a church leader, and being faithful, compassionate, and cheerful.
There was a time when Jesus healed a blind man in Bethsaida. Jesus put some of his saliva (spit!) on the man’s eyes and asked, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” So, the first time, it didn’t work. Jesus did it again with the spit and the blind man saw everything clearly. His sight was restored! (Mk.8:22-26)
Do we see anyone out there who is not cheerful? We hope that when we ask ourselves, “How Do We Look Today?” We can say that they are all happy and cheerful because we are here with Christ in God’s house.
Let us pray.
Dear God, we pray that when you look at us, we are cheerful and happy to be in your house. And when we see our friends, they will see how we look is because you love us. Amen.