Small Beginnings
Like you to open your bibles to the book of Zechariah. Book of Zechariah in the old testament. I'll let you find it because we're gonna be preaching out of this particular text this morning, so we'll be reading from time to time. I want you to have your bibles open there. Zechariah chapter 4.
We're flipping around. That's alright. That's alright. I'm patient. I'm patient.
Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 4 beginning in verse 1, and I will read. Says, then an angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me as a man who was awakened from his sleep and he said to me, what do you see? And I said, I see and behold a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its 7 lamps on it with 7 spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on top of it. Also, 2 olive trees by it, 1 on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.
Then I answered and said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, what are these, my lord? And so the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Then in verse 6, it continues, Then he answered and said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. What are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of grace, grace to it. Also, the word of the Lord came to me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? But these 7 will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
These are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth. In 587 BC, the small southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians, and during this time the temple was utterly destroyed and the people were carried away into Babylonian captivity. 70 years later, these people who had been in captivity were freed and many of them returned to their homeland and they began to rebuild the city and the temple that had stood in ashes for many many years. Now the story of this great return and rebuilding is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Another person who writes about this period of time is the prophet Zechariah.
This is the prophet, whose book we are reading from this morning. He was a prophet who served during this time, during the time of the rebuilding of the temple after the Jews had come back from captivity. Now Zechariah, the prophet, mentions a man called Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was one of the early leaders of the rebuilding and restoration program of the city. Now aside from the logistical and mechanical problems that Zerubbabel faced in his rebuilding project, he also had personal and political obstacles as well.
And in the book of Ezra, chapter 5, Ezra describes the hostility of the neighboring countries who did not want the Jews to rebuild their temple nor did they want the city to be rebuilt. Now in addition to this, there was the repeated there were the repeated periods of apathy and discouragement, among Zerubbabel's men. The people who were actually doing the building became discouraged and became lazy. Now in the face of this mountain of problems, Zechariah the prophet encourages the people and especially the leader, Zerubbabel, with several prophecies from the Lord. And the book of Zechariah is a collection of these visions that he had concerning the rebuilding of the temple.
Now, the one that we were reading this morning was a vision or a word that contained 2 messages of encouragement for Zerubbabel, the leader. And I'll read again verse 6 and 7, the first word of encouragement. He says, Then the angel answered and said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. What are you, oh great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of grace.
Grace to it. It make a little more sense now, this passage, now that you know the background? You see the task and the obstacles, the angel is saying to to Zerubbabel, the tasks and the obstacles that you face will be completed not by man's power nor will your task or objective be defeated by man's power. The rebuilding of the temple was a work of the Lord. And regardless of the resources, regardless of the obstacles, it would be completed because of God's will and because of His power and His resources and His strength.
And the angel says to Zerubbabel, The mountain, the mountain are the problems, the hostile nations and the workers that are grumbling. You know, the mountain of problems will become flat, will become like a plain for Zerubbabel if he relies on God's grace to achieve the task and not on his own power. That was the first word of encouragement. The second word of encouragement is in verses 8 to 10, and let's reread those again in light of what we understand. It says also the word of the lord came to me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands will finish it.
Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? But these 7 will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth. In other words, don't look at Zerubbabel, look at who is behind Zerubbabel.
This was a warning to the naysayers and those who opposed the Jews or opposed Zerubbabel or opposed the task that had been given to him by the lord. They may look weak, the angel says, you know, they may look like small beginnings, small things, just a little group that has come, a bunch of slaves that have been released from captivity, who are trying to, in a very small way, rebuild the temple, rebuild the city, rebuild the walls around the city, they are having a very small beginning. But the angel says, don't look at the small beginning, don't despise them for their weakness, because if God has ordained the task, if God has appointed the person, then rejoice and cooperate, because God's we know from reading the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah, we know in 1997 that the task that Zechariah talks about here was completed. Indeed, the temple was rebuilt, and the city was rebuilt and the walls around the city were rebuilt. And the nation was restored in order to be prepared for the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Now, of course, it's easy for us because we can see the story from beginning to end. You know, we read about it. It's history. It doesn't require any faith on our part, but it required a lot of faith on their part because they didn't know the end. When Zechariah was speaking these words, they were still tapping on the stone.
They were still laying one stone on top of another in order to rebuild the temple. There were still armies surrounding them and threatening them. There were still people who were writing to the foreign king to give an order to to to to cease and desist, to build this temple. There were still those who were grumbling and complaining. All of that was going on when Zechariah said these words.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 10, Paul tells us that the stories that are contained in the Old Testament were written in order to give us an example today. In other words, these stories have been preserved in order to serve us today in our lives and during our time. Well, I believe that Zerubbabel's experience shows us how to deal with the obstacles that face those who are at the point of small beginnings. Now, small beginnings could be anything in our lives. It could be a new job, there's a small beginning, or it could be school that's starting over, or marriages, or it could be a new attitude about our lives, or the things that we do in our lives, small beginnings.
Now, in our case, collectively, as a church, the thing that all of us face together at this time is the construction work that we're trying to do. This building project, this is our small beginning that all of us are commonly experiencing at this time. And so this morning, I'd like to share some of the things that we have to overcome in order to succeed. Some of the things that we need to win and get over in order to finish the task that's at hand. Our small beginning is the renovation and construction that we're going to do to this facility, and in order to finish this task, we're going to have to overcome several obstacles.
First of all, we're going to have to overcome the construction obstacle. You know, the most obvious task is, obviously, to build and pay for the renovation work. That's pretty obvious, isn't it? And there are so many problems involved with this. I mean, we need to solve design problems.
We need to find contractors. We need to get the proper licenses and approvals. We need to raise money and borrow money. We need to to actually do the physical work of construction. There's gonna be sawdust and dirt and, you know, open windows and the roof is gonna open up and all kinds of trouble that's ahead.
And in the middle of all this, we're gonna have to maintain our church life and our activities. We're not going to just shut everything down, you know, like some companies do. A store, you know, we're shut down. Imagine no more services for 4 months until we finish rebuilding. That's not how we operate.
We have to keep things going while all of this is going on. You know, when faced with so many immediate physical problems, it's easy to continually reach for and depend on physical answers. You know, things are tough, so what do we do? We work harder, we stay up later, we get more advice, we exert pressure on each other, we find more money, and in the end, if nothing else works, you know what we do? We just hunker down and do it ourselves.
We just say, Get out of my way. I'll do it myself. When faced with such a hairy monster of a project, it is easy to rely on the flesh rather than relying on God. You know, we sing, and we just sang, Johnny Lettuce, To God Build the Glory. And we sing that song to express the idea that what we do has been begun by God, has been supplied by God, and will be finished by God.
That's why we keep singing that song every single week. Well brothers and sisters, we need to take this attitude out of the worship service and get it onto the job site, because we're going to be spending a lot more time in the job site than we are in worship services in the next, couple of months. Prayer and humble reliance on God will do more to complete our plans and to find contractors, and to build the building, than worry, stress, and pressure. Let's remember that if what we do is according to God's will, according to his purpose, he has promised that he will provide. Let's show that we believe this by spending more time in prayer, in asking for what we need, and less time in worrying about what we don't have.
We are fully convinced that renovating this place and making it more effective in the work of the kingdom is God's will. If we are convinced of this, let us follow through with prayer and humble dependence on our Lord, Jesus Christ, to get the job done, and less time worrying and blessing with ourselves, with the project, and with each other. Obstacle number 2. Obstacle number 2 is the obstacle of the differences of opinion. You think building the building is tough to overcome?
Boy, it's nothing compared to overcoming the obstacle of differences of opinion. You know, Zerubbabel's enemies outside the nation did not want the Jews to rebuild because the Jews represented a threat to them, so they didn't want them to rebuild. And Zerubbabel's people and workers would slack off or quit because it threatened their comfort zone. Many of them wanted to build their own homes first, contrary to God's command. God said, first, you rebuild the temple, the walls, then you build your home.
Well, our outside enemy is an unbelieving world that does not see the building of a church as very important or profitable. If we were building a Walmart here, contractors would be falling all over themselves to help us. But we're building the kingdom. Yeah, it's not a big important thing to people in the world. And our inside enemies are not only those who see this project as a threat against their comfortable status quo, but also, those who disagree with or the entire project to begin with.
There are some people who think this is not necessary, that we just shouldn't do it, just leave things alone. You know what? 12 years ago, when we got to this point in our growth, we left things alone, and what happened? We started to shrink. And it took a decade to get back into the cycle of things to get to the same point we were at a dozen years ago.
Let us not make the same mistake twice. Other people believe that the wrong people have been appointed. And so, you know, not everybody agreed with Moses being appointed either. And there were people that didn't agree that Zerubbabel should be the one leading the project. There's always that element that feels, Well, he's not the right guy.
Why'd they, why? How come I wasn't on the committee? You know, there's always that problem. And some brethren would rather have a different design. Why didn't you put this room over here?
And how come this is that you know, there's always this difference of opinion on how to do things. And then there are some who just do not agree with this idea of pledging. I mean, I I've tried to find more synonyms for the word giving in the last 6 weeks, you know, than I ever had in my life. Now, I understand that there are some brethren who just do not like the idea of pledge. And if you're visiting today, please forgive us, we're kinda doing something internal here, but you might learn something about, you know, church affairs and how the church of of Christ does things.
Some folks don't like the word pledge. They think, Well, you know, it's like tithing. We don't tithe here. I want to explain something to you. A tithe is a specific amount that you are commanded to give.
That's what a tithe is in the Bible, a specific amount that you are commanded to give. You have no choice, you must give it. And that's what they did in the Old Testament. We don't do that in the new test in the old testament, excuse me, they did a tithe. We don't do that in the new testament.
A pledge is an amount that you choose to give in the future if the Lord continues to provide for you. That's all that it is. There is no command, there is no specific amount. In our case, you know, for this building project, we've asked the brethren simply to inform the elders of your intention of what you will do. I mean, brothers and sisters, how will the elders know how much money we have to spend on this work if you do not inform the elders how much you plan to give.
We're going to have workers out here saying, Well, are we going to put the roof on? Well, I don't know, we don't know. Sister so and so said, Well maybe she'd give and maybe she wouldn't, and you know, we can't operate like that. We have to know how much money we have to spend on this. And the only way to figure that out is if brothers and sisters simply tell us what they intend to do.
That's not a tithe, that's an intention. And in brackets there with the pledge, it's always, if the lord provides. If I am healthy, if the lord continues to provide, I plan to do this. Some people say, well, that's not a biblical idea, and I beg to differ. I want us to keep your finger in Zechariah.
Flip over to second Corinthians. I will give you the biblical precedent. 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 5. The background here is that in Jerusalem, there are there was a famine, and there was difficulty, and there was a need to provide benevolence for this church. And Paul and others were going around to all the churches collecting money to be sent to Jerusalem.
And the churches were instructed to plan ahead, to pledge, to make an intention of what they were gonna give, so that when Paul arrived, the money would be ready, and he could just pick it up and bring it to Jerusalem. Listen to what he says. 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 5. So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness. Your previously planned bountiful gift, what is that?
Is that not something that you intended to give in the future? Wasn't that a pledge that you made to give for this particular project to help the poor in Jerusalem? We're doing exactly the same thing, brothers and sisters. We are working on a church project to serve the kingdom, and we need the brothers and sisters to make an intention, a pledge, a promise of what they intend to do to help out. Perfectly biblical idea.
Now, you know, during the sermon, we don't have a lot of time to feed back. That's why we're having this meeting at 4 o'clock. If you have a response, a question, a dis we can disagree, it's okay. But if you'd like to voice that and share that, that's okay. That's why we're gonna have that meeting at 4 o'clock, to be able to kinda get this out in the open and share and, you know, try to answer your questions and your concerns a little more in-depth.
Now, I believe that each person who has a different opinion or a disagreement, and I'm not saying this just for the sermon's sake, I sincerely believe that these brethren do so because they really wanna do what's best and most biblical for this congregation. Just because you disagree with how the building goes or how the money is collected doesn't make you an enemy. It just makes you a person with a different opinion, and that's okay. That's alright. But I also believe that most of these different opinions have nothing to do with doctrine, have nothing to do with morality or ethics.
Most of our disagreements are just opinions. They're just opinions. Now the response to those who are enemies on the outside, an unbelieving world, is exactly the same as our response to those who have a difference of opinion in the church. And you know what that is? The response is the response of love.
Jesus says that people will know that we are his disciples by the way that we love one another. John chapter 13 verse 35. If we argue and if we divide, especially over the color of the carpet or where the kitchen ought to go, I mean, if we if we eat each other up over things like that, what does that say about us to the outside world? If we quit the work or if we rebel against our leadership over issues of how bricks are put together, or how money is collected, or how it's counted, then the enemy has defeated us, assured we're sitting here. We've lost.
Now we've chosen the design that hopefully will meet as many needs as possible. It's not perfect. It's the best that we could do, with the resources and the money that we had available to us. And we're collecting the money in the most orderly and biblical way that we know how to do. The elders have approved it, they prayed about it, discussed it, studied it.
You know, the ministers have discussed it among themselves. There's been a lot of thought that's gone into this, and we feel there are no biblical principles being violated here whatsoever. So let's not lose sight of the objective over squabbles about, you know, how our gift will be called or how it'll be counted. Let's not let's not lose sight of the objective here. In the end, our giving will pay for the construction.
You can call it what you want. Okay? Put any name on it you wanna put on it, a gift, a pledge, an intention, whatever you wanna call it is fine. Just make sure that all of us are involved, in this particular project. You know, the true victory that I personally, am seeking for is not just to finish construction.
The objective that I personally am shooting for is to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. I want the day to come that when all of this is done and where we have this lovely new auditorium here, new carpet, new front, and, you know, all really nice that we really are proud of what we've done, I also want every single member to be sitting here and to sing with a sincere and joyful heart to god build the glory. That we've not only overcome the obstacles of our of our building project, but we also have overcome the temptation that Satan has placed among us to divide over a difference of opinion. That love has conquered this this divisiveness that we may, be tempted with. This is the true challenge, I feel.
And then, finally, the last obstacle, I call it the 10% obstacle, the final 10% obstacle. And I used to work as a sales rep many years ago, and during this time, I went to a lot of training meetings, you know, salesmen are always being trained all the time. And one of the things that the trainers always stressed was that the last 10% of the sale, or the last 10% of the project, was always the hardest. And we were always told that that last 10%, that's your commission. You don't get paid for opening the account, you get paid for closing the sale.
That's what you get paid for. Anybody can open an account, but it takes somebody that has a lot of skill and perseverance to close the account. That's what it's all about. Zerubbabel found out that the people were zealous to begin the building. Man, they left captivity and said, let's get back there, let's start building.
They were really on fire to begin with, but boy, it sure petered out after a while. After a while, opposition grew, the temptation to complain or quit grew proportionately. And so I say to you elders, and I say to you building committee people, and I say to you team leaders, and I say to all of those who are involved directly and indirectly in this project, please realize that it'll become harder before we're finished. So be ready for that. Be ready for the fact that this will become more difficult, more complicated, more inconvenient before it's over.
It's easy to start, it's not so easy to finish. That's why the trophies go to those who finish and not to those who just start. We do have a comfort in this, however. In Matthew 28 verse 20, Jesus tells all of those who work in building the kingdom, and lo, I am with you always. We have the assurance that Jesus Christ, who is with us at the start, you know, when we first put up our our sign and when we first started singing, to God, build the glory, that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is with us at the beginning, will see us through the middle and will be there to receive honor at the end.
Let's not lose sight of this. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus Christ as we move ahead, and we will not fail no matter what and no matter how hard the last 10% will be. Well, 58 years ago 58 years ago, a few people responded to God's call and they began a New Testament church in Choctaw. It'll be 58 years in September. September will be our 58th homecoming.
We've got a lot of big plans for that. 58 years ago, there was a small beginning in Choctaw. Since then, this congregation has baptized thousands of people. This congregation has planted other congregations. It has sent out missionaries to different parts of the world, and through its various efforts, you know, through the various things that it has done, it has preached the gospel to literally millions of people.
So we shouldn't despise small beginnings, and Choctaw is proof that a small beginning can lead to great things. Let's continue in that spirit and let's build to God's glory while we maintain our love for one another. Now, another small beginning is the first step that we take in being buried with Christ in baptism. That's the small beginning we make in becoming a Christian. Or stepping forward to repent of our sins, perhaps, and being renewed because we've been unfaithful or we've lived in a sinful way.
It's a small step to come down front and to say, I wish to be renewed, I wish to be restored. That's a small beginning, but these things lead to a great and final day when we will be with God in heaven forever. These small steps lead to forgiveness and eternal life. If you need to make a new beginning or to start over again this morning, we encourage you to do so now by coming forward as we stand and as we sing our song of invitation.