My text is found in the opening words of verse 10. For who hath despised the day of small things? That's a question put to him from God. He wants to know, who hath despised the day of small things? As we learned from our recent Bible conference, The Lord's people find themselves facing at various times in their life the stumbling block of discouragement. And that's found often when it comes to the work of God. God's people find themselves facing the stumbling block of discouragement. So discouraged they become if they don't heed the Lord's word and direction to remove that stumbling block, the way it's done, that they feel like giving up, quitting. That was certainly the case with Zerubbabel and the people who had been laboring to rebuild this temple. We looked at that back in the book of Haggai. Sometimes the reason God's people have become discouraged in the work of God that they're doing for the Lord is because they have fallen prey to the temptation to compare what they were seeing by way of success to what others had seen by way of success. In the days of Zechariah, we read that many of them became deeply discouraged and felt like giving up on trying to get this temple rebuilt because it was so small and insignificant in comparison to Solomon's temple. Cyrus had laid the plans for this and it was nothing like the temple that Solomon had built in his day. And because there were those there that remembered Solomon's temple, and they now saw that building being brought up, built up by the Jews then, they were deeply discouraged, downcast, and in essence said, it's not worth it. They committed the age-old mistake of judging the value of their labors for the Lord by comparing them to the labors of others. Ah, it's such a small temple. Many, in saying that, disparaging that, were guilty of committing sin against God. They were disparaging what God had seen fit to raise up. They were disparaging what God had commanded to be built. They were disparaging what God had actually moved upon the heart of Cyrus to give him the plans to rebuild this temple. You do not want to be found disparaging, thinking little of something that God has commanded to be done, no matter how small it is. Here was a case where you see how contagious discouragement can be in the Lord's work. The ones who wept when they saw the foundation of the new temple laid, that's back in Haggai, were the ones who by now were so old, they would not have been able to actually engage in rebuilding the temple. Remember, they were in captivity for 70 years. So they're more than 70, 80, 90, 100 maybe. Those were the ones who were weeping. Because they had actually seen what that temple looked like. And now they see the foundation being set up in Haggai. Yet their discouragement, although they were, their discouragement infected those who were working on the temple. To the point that the Lord had to admonish them, all of them, several times because they had gotten discouraged because of that. Discouragement is contagious. You remember that, not only in the church, but in your own home. You can affect your whole family by living in a spirit of discouragement. It's just downright contagious. Haggai records this problem in chapter two of that prophecy. where God had to come a second time and tell them to work. They got discouraged again, and God comes again and says, get to work, work, work. Against that backdrop, You see, the Lord has also spoken to the prophet Zechariah to deal with the same issue, and that is why this question is raised in my text tonight, who hath despised the day of small things? You see, Zerubbabel was, he got discouraged too. He was really half convinced that the temple would not be finished. There was so much opposition from without, The pagans that surrounded them were opposing it. The people were not wanting to break their backs and get to the work. And he was thinking, and you'll find that from the prophecies, if we just had more men, and if we had an army that could deal with these hostiles, he was discouraged. We're so small. God had a word for him. After assuring him that you're going to see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel that's going to be finished, God asked the question, who hath despised the day of small things? He says, I want to know. I want to know. Who is it? It is a very interesting question coming from God, the one who inhabits eternity. who fills all space with all of his being simultaneously. God is not divided up into parts. He fills all space with all of his being. That's what omnipresence means. Who continually speaks in his word of how, I'll use a modern day term, how big he is how infinite He is, and everything about Him is infinite, limitless. Yet this is the one who by this question shows us that he is very, very concerned about the decks with the help of the Lord. I want to speak this evening on the subject of the danger of despising the day of small things. The danger of despising the day of small things. First, if you're taking notes, days, of small things are an undeniable fact of history in the work of God. Days, times of small things are an undeniable fact in the history of God's work. This is true in many ways and on many levels. It is certainly true that God usually begins almost all of his works in a very small way. Granted, when he spoke the universe into existence by the word of his mouth, that was gigantic. Be, and it was there. But usually, most of his works are done with a small beginning. that the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 13 for instance likens the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed and to leaven illustrates my point. The church we're talking about, just a tiny little mustard seed, a little leaven. While there are always exceptions to the rule, God's grace usually begins in a small way, even in the work He does in the hearts of His people. When a man first comes to Christ, when he's born again by the Spirit of God, he's been regenerated by the Holy Ghost, he's become a new creation. There's no denying that. Old things pass away and all things, all things become new. That's what a new creation is in Christ Jesus. That's the work of God. But it also means that when he first comes to Christ, his knowledge of God is very small. He hardly knows him. Wouldn't you say that's true about you when you were born again? You really, you hardly knew God. Even now, you hardly know Him. You see, God is, the more God reveals Himself, the more He hides Himself. The more you learn about God, the more you realize you don't know Him. There's so much you don't know. But He began that work in that very little bit of knowledge you had, and your faith was very small. Oh, you were justified by—it didn't have to be great faith to be justified, just a little tiny bit, as long as it was real. Lord, I believe. And you were saved. But it's small faith. Your repentance was very small. You might have felt like your whole life had done a 180, and it did do a 180. But compared to what you've learned about repentance since then, you look back and say, whew, I can't believe I kept doing the things I was doing. You learned to grow in repentance. Your convictions changed. Your standards changed as you learned more about God and his truth and his law. They're never meant to be stagnant, brothers and sisters. Your conviction, don't let anyone tell you that convictions don't change. I thank God that my convictions changed. I was convicted at one time in my life, there's nothing wrong with leaving church and stopping by McDonald's and getting meal for my family. What's wrong with that? Until God shone light upon his word that the Sabbath day was still the Sabbath day. I was to keep that day holy. It wasn't my day. It wasn't just for Jews, it was for all of his people. You just can't take out the fourth commandment and say, okay, the other nine are good, but this one, we're gonna take it out. So my conviction changed about it. Once I saw, overnight it changed. But this repentance, it was just so tiny when we first came to the Lord. Our separation from sin was small. Our love for the Lord and for others tiny. But as time passes, as God's sanctifying work of grace is carried on in our hearts throughout our life, this knowledge and this faith and this repentance and this love and this holiness grows more and more. And it grows little by little. But it didn't start out with a bang. It was small. Let me ask you the question then. Do you despise it now because it was so small? I don't. That faith was so tiny, but I'd be dead in sin if I didn't have it. That repentance, I'm ashamed of it. It's changed, but I would never want to trade it for anything, even though it was tiny. It was a day of small things in our lives when the Lord saved us, and we don't want to despise it just because it's small. Take Abraham, for instance. God started out with one son, Isaac. But out of that small beginning, there came a sea that God said was for number as great as the stars of heaven. Oh, it was a tiny, tiny beginning. The beginnings of the church as a New Testament organization, and I'm stressing the word organization. As an organism, it began when the first sinner, Adam, was saved. That's the organism. But as an organization, we're talking about the New Testament. The beginnings of the church as a New Testament organization had a very small beginning. It was just a handful of fishermen, most of them, and they were unlearned. They had no letters, no bachelor's degrees or master's degrees or PhDs, none of that stuff. They were ignorant. But they became the men who turned the world upside down. Because of that little band, you and I one day heard the gospel. It had a very small beginning. But the day of small things is not only found in the beginning of God's works. It can also be found where the work of God has gone on for some time. It can be a day of small things. The day of small things in this case here in Zechariah is not simply because it was just the beginning. It's not why it was a day of small things. It was a day of small things because there had been a decline in the spiritual life of God's people. That's why it was a day of small things. Noah's day, for example, was a day of small things for the church. It was a church. Just a tiny group, but it was the church on the face of the earth. The church then was only composed of eight people. I'll get to Ham in a minute. Eight. Estimates for the pre-flood population in the world range from several hundred thousand to 17 billion. You'll find the scholars. all over the map on that, from several hundred thousand to 17 billion. But let's take a very conservative estimate of 2 million people. And remember that eight of them, only eight, were saved out of 2 million people. Eight. If you believe, as is widely accepted, that Ham was not a true believer, And that means you're down to seven in the church of the Old Testament. So let's take percentages now, do a little figuring. To give you an idea of what that would mean in a few areas, with the current world population around 8 billion people, That would mean there would be about 28,000 Christians worldwide, just in comparison. The U.S. would have a little over 1,200 Christians, roughly 350 million in the U.S. Canada would have 143 Christians by its population size. 143. The entire province of B.C., I'm telling you because I checked the figures before I did all this calculating, the entire B.C. province would have only about 21 Christians. Williams Lake, not even one. It's .397. Now, in Noah's day, whether it was two million, such a tiny little group. Was God still God in Noah's day? He certainly was. His grace was still omnipotent. He had the power to do anything that pleased him. But the fact remains that it was a day of small things. It was a time when, you read in Genesis 6, I quote now, the wickedness of man was great in the earth. It was a time when, quote, violence filled the earth, unquote. It was a time of great spiritual apostasy, great spiritual declension, and therefore, because of that truth, it was a day of small things. There's no way you can deny it was a day of small things. It was so in Jeremiah's day when there was only a small remnant in Jerusalem that stayed true to God. Most of them were gone spiritually. It was the case for those 400 years of silence between Malachi and the coming of Christ. That was a day of small things. You don't hear a word from heaven, no prophecy, nothing until Christ is about to come on the scene. It was so in the days of Christ when only a small band of people were His followers. I mean, this was the Son of God on earth and there was just a small little group that was following Him in comparison who could follow Him. It was so for centuries prior to the Protestant Reformation. Darkness. And it is so now, now in this day, because you and I are living in the day of small things. If I might change the metaphor for a moment, there are times in the Lord's work when the tide comes in. When the Lord's work makes great strides forward, as in the day of Pentecost and afterwards, as in the time of the Reformation. It was a day of great things. The first and the second great awakenings in my country. The 58 Revival in New York City in 1858. The 59 Revival that took place in the UK, Scotland, England, and Ireland. These are great things. Hundreds of thousands swept into the kingdom in a year. It's what the psalmist refers to as that time when God's people shall be willing in the day of thy power. That prophecy has particular reference to Christ's first coming and what would take place as a result of that first coming, the outpouring of the Spirit of God. But then there are times when the proverbial tide is out. It is a day of small things. And we are living in a day of small things. We're living at a time when there is a great famine of the Word. There's a famine in the preaching of the Word. There's a famine in the reading of the Word. A famine in the hearing of the Word. A famine in the doing of the Word. There's little power that men have as they witness to the lost. There have been times when it hasn't been that way. They had power with men, power with the lost. They would get their ear, see them brought to Christ. There's a famine in that kind of power now. There's a famine, little power, witnessing few conversions. I remember reading one time, Spurgeon's Day, he was lamenting that after the service only 12 came to Christ, only. I haven't seen someone come to Christ at the end of a church service in a long, long, long, long, long time. It's not because the gospel hasn't been preached. I remember days when it wasn't that way. The church is in a very lethargic state. And little is being done because it is a day of small things. Little is being done because it's small zeal and small faith and small praying and small burdens. It's a day of small aspirations and small hope. and small joy and small holiness and small grace. I would not be true to God if I painted a different picture than I've just painted of the state of things, whether it's in Canada or whether it's in the U.S. or whether it's in the U.K. It doesn't matter where the church is. It is a day of small things. Oh, I know Maybe someone is thinking that and I'm hearing the echo. Well, what about these big churches where they've got 5,000 coming? What about them? You would think that we're turning this city where we are upside down for the gospel. You would think that. I don't find that happening. What I find in our lands is the decadence getting worse for all the mega churches, for all the glitz and glamour. Things aren't getting better. They're getting worse. So first off, it's very common in the work of God to find days of small things. Secondly, the day of small things is often despised. As we've already seen, this was certainly so in Zechariah's day. It all started with the disappointment in the builders as when they saw the foundation of that second temple being laid. And it led on to the discouragement of the other workers. And from what the Lord is now saying to Zechariah, it's obvious that there was a disparaging and there was a despising of this new temple because it was so small and insignificant. So the million dollar question is why? Why must be raised whenever the thinking comes up in the hearts of the Lord's people? Why is there thinking like this? Whether you're talking about 520 BC or 2024 AD, you've got to ask the question why? Why is the day of small things despised? thought little of, so insignificant, disparaged actually, no real interest in it. Why do Christians become so disheartened? when they find out that their work of God isn't as great or as prosperous or as big the work that they're involved in as the work of God somewhere else. Why do they get discouraged about that? Got to think that one through. Why aren't we as big as others? What's wrong with us? What's wrong with us? Let me suggest a few reasons at least. First, one of the reasons or one of the first responses to the why will be no doubt because expectations are not realized. Your expectations are disappointed. Keep in mind, sidebar here, I hear, I've heard preachers talk about, and Christians, God was so disappointed. You mean, you actually think that God did not know how any sort of situation was gonna turn out? We get disappointed because we're expecting something, and what we expected doesn't happen. Do you think, it's ever with God, we expect something to happen, and it doesn't happen? Then what happened to his omniscience? Now let's just get our theology biblical. But we are not God, and we have these expectations about the work of God. Whether it's the work of God in a church, or his work in our homes, his work in our children, his work in our own hearts. We had expectations, and they were disappointed. I have no doubt that one of the reasons that so many of these Jews wept when they saw how small things were in this new temple was because they expected something bigger. They were older. And as I said, they had seen Solomon's temple. And they were expecting this new temple to be so wonderful, but that wasn't going to be the case. As soon as they saw the foundation laid out, the same thing happens today. Believers compare what God is or isn't doing among them compared to what He's doing somewhere else. They're comparing what God is doing somewhere else to what He's doing with them. Christian's expected more growth. More usefulness, more success, more influence, and the list goes on and on. But it doesn't come. Expectations are not realized. In fact, it seems that everything is actually going backwards and not forward. So discouragement settles in. You come across this tumbling block of discouragement because you had expectations and they weren't met. That's the reason. that they have small things or despised. You go to any level you want to go to, whether church level or personal level, that's what it is. I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting, I prayed about this and I was expecting something different and this is what happens? I don't like this. Now you're telling God, I don't like what you're doing. In fact, truth be known, I despise what you're doing. I want you to do something different that will meet my expectations. How, how arrogant that is. Another reason why Christians become so discouraged when they don't see the progress that others see and despise that they have small things is because of pride. As foolish as it sounds, God's people can become proud in the wrong way of their prosperity, whether it's spiritual or numerical in church size or whatever area you want to talk about it, and become proud about it. I believe that the reason some of the Jews became so discouraged when they realized how small this temple was going to be, it was because in their way of thinking, it took away their ground of boasting to be able to say, look at what a glorious temple we have. Oh, Solomon's temple was glorious. There was the talk of all the nations. And they thought that was going to happen again, but it didn't happen. And now what did they have to brag in this little, small temple? They were despising the day of small things because of pride. Believe you me, there have been plenty of Christians who have not set foot in a small church just because of its size. That's it. Its lack of stained glass windows and a wonderful choir and a beautiful sounding organ as well as the smallness in attendance. Because when the question is asked, how many attend your church that you're going to, they don't want to be embarrassed by the answer. What would you say? Embarrassed. You tell me that's not despising the day of small things. It's not respectable. The same thinking applies to people when they don't meet up to the expectations they have of the preacher or the people who go there because they don't have the same education. They don't have the same wealth. I want you to listen. It's a lengthy, I don't normally quote. Don't ever do this, Daniel. This is a bit long for a quote, but I need to give you the flavor of what he's saying. He told this to his own congregation, and these were thousands of people, one Sunday morning. There is gathered a small community of godly people. So we're starting with a small church. Perhaps they are poor and many of them illiterate. Some of you rich folk who think yourselves wonderfully intelligent, though I am not always sure that you are, he's talking to his creation. Did you hear what he just said? I'm not so convinced you're intelligent as you think you are. If you happen to settle down in that village, you say that you would like to attend the little chapel, but the minister puts his H's in the wrong place. And his speech is ungrammatical. And of course, that is very painful to your refined taste. Then he goes on, the people are very poor, and you hardly think that the church is advancing at all, so to help it, you leave it alone. See the sarcasm? They don't have any money, so in order to help it, you're just not gonna go there. That's sarcasm. He's got his knife out, he's cutting away at the sin. God forbid, you say, that we should despise the day of small things, but you are very sorry that everything is on such a small scale. You say that you pity the poor people, but instead of helping them, you lie quietly by, or you go off to a more fashionable place where you meet with some of your own class and feel more at home. There, the H's are put in properly, though the gospel is left out of the preaching. But the people who attend are such a respectable sort of folk that you feel it is quite the correct thing to worship with them. If that was true in 1883, believe you me, it's true in 2024, over a hundred years. He was nailing it. Pride is why they would despise the day of small things. Go to that little church. Another reason the day of small things is despised It's because God's people undervalue the little things in God's work. They undervalue the little things in God's work. The disciples didn't realize that, what they were doing when they turned away the parents who brought their little infants to be blessed by Christ. Leave them alone, their little tiny things. Babies, he's not interested in those. They're insignificant. And Christ was angry they did that. Remember that boy? He had only five barley loaves and two small fishes, it says. What was the response of the disciples? What are these among so many? We've got thousands of people here, what's this? The Christians in the Corinthian church were coveting the glamorous gifts, the ones that stood out, tongue speaking, prophesying, healing. But the gift they weren't coveting, and Paul said, you should have been coveting it, was what? The gift of love. You were despising that. You had your eyes upon these glamorous, call attention to me gifts. In 1845, Julia Fletcher Kearney, a school teacher in Boston, Massachusetts, was preparing a lesson for some of her Bible school children. She wanted to emphasize how important, how valuable small things were, and so she penned this little poem to teach her class. Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. So the little moments, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity. Little, little, little. You see, men despise the day of small things because they put the wrong value on things. They don't put the proper value on little things that they should be. You got a tiny work here. I sure pray to God that you value this tiny work, that you really value it. If you do not value this little work, you want to ask the Lord to change your heart. And if not, then you're only going to discourage the people here if you do not value this little work. The last thing you want to be found doing is despising the day of small things. God does not despise it. Men despise the day of small things because they use a wrong standard for judging. It's because of this wrong standard that Christians have ended up despising the very things that the Lord actually prizes. They only see a little grace in a fellow believer, and because it's only a little grace, it's despised. Or they only see a little grace in their own lives, and because it's a little grace, they really despise it. They underestimate the value that God Almighty has put grace in their hearts, and because it's the grace of the Almighty, they should value it no matter how small it is. Doesn't mean you're content with a little bit, you want it to grow, but my, when you actually despise that work of grace, whether in you or in somebody else. Do you realize what it cost? Do you realize what it cost that you would have that little bit of grace in your heart and that little bit of faith and that little bit of hope and that little bit of confidence? Do you realize what it cost? It cost the blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ, that you could have it. It is, believe you me, it is valuable to God. Thirdly and finally. Christians must guard themselves against despising the day of small things. We must guard ourselves against despising the day of small things. Our text is not so much a question from the Lord as it is a rebuke to those who are doing that very thing. And we must take it as a rebuke from the Lord. If we find ourselves engaging in this folly, we have to ever guard our hearts against it. Why? Because there will always be small things in the church. There will always be small things in the church. Never will there come a time, this side of glory, no matter what church you go to, where you will not find small things. You'll find believers who are small in faith. You'll find small giving. You'll find small boldness. You'll find small prayer. All these things will be found, but we do not become despising of that because they're found in the church. Listen, folks, if you can find a church where everything is just great, and it's all just great believers and great faith and great... Hey, go to it! When you find it, will you let me know? You must guard against despising the day of small things, because you have small things in your life, too. It doesn't matter to me how long you've been a child of God. You might have the whole Bible memorized. You might be able to quote Charles Hodges' three-volume Systematic Theology by Heart. But you've still got small things in your life. What business do you and I have despising small things in other Christians' lives? Well, you pray, but you don't despise. Because the Lord greatly values the least things in His kingdom, and if He doesn't despise them, why should we? I read in my Bible that the Lord will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. Seems so insignificant. What's a bruised reed? I'm not going to break them. They're special to me. You also want to guard against it because God, He said it in His Word, the Lord loves to take small things to do great things. Do you realize how great your influence could be with others? Do you realize that? You see yourself as a nobody. Good. I'm glad. Because that's what you are. Am I offending you yet? I hope not. I cry to the Lord from my heart many a time. Lord, I am a nobody, and I know it. You see what God loves to do is to take the nobodies of this world. They're just insignificant. And he does great things. because he likes to get the glory. And they can't do that when we get the glory. You see yourself as a little nobody. Great starting point to be used by the Lord. Do you realize how powerful little acts of kindness are? Just little acts. A little word of kindness to someone. You think it's insignificant. Think otherwise. A little text is sent, a little email, a little note, a little phone call. How you doing, brother? Sister, what's up? You OK? Final reason, how else will we ever know greater days if we despise the smaller ones? You know in Psalm 102, the Lord refers to a set time coming for Zion. The set time to favor Zion has come. God was going to visit that city. Here's the reason, listen carefully. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof. Stones and dust, it was God's city. They prized the stones and the dust of Jerusalem. And because of that, it was gonna be a day of great things because they loved the small things. Never despise those days. Always prize God's work, no matter how small it is. Value greatly this little work. Value it greatly. Do not despise it. It's God's work. He cherishes it. It's here for a very clear purpose. So you keep at the work. and take delight in the small things. May God write His Word on our hearts for His name's sake. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Let's seek the Lord together. Our gracious, loving Father in Heaven, we thank Thee that Thou didst set Thy love upon these little, tiny, mortal, sinful creatures. Thou hast made us the sons of God, How great is Thy grace, how great Thou art. Show us, Lord, how we as Thy people can show more that we love the little things and don't despise them. We ask it in Christ's name, amen and amen.