Finish What You Started

Haggai: The Best is Yet To Come

Haggai: 1:1-15

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

10-01-2023

Finish What You Started

Do you have trouble finishing things? Most of us do.

In 2013, Jon Acuff, one of my favorite authors, published a book called, “Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do What Matters.” He said that people came up to him and thanked him for the book but admitted that they had no problem with starting, it was finishing that was the hard part.

I have the gift of ADHD. I’m great at starting projects. Visit my house and I’ll prove it to you. But finishing? That’s a whole different animal.

In 2018, Jon wrote a follow-up book called: “Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done” which went number one on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

Why? Because starting is easy, finishing is hard.

According to studies, 92% of New Year’s Resolutions fail.

Jon writes,

“Every January, people start with hope and hype, believing that this will be the new year that does indeed deliver a new you. But though 100% start, only 8% finish. Statistically, you’ve got the same shot at getting into Juilliard to become a ballerina as you do at finishing your goals. Their acceptance rate is about 8%, tiny dancer.”

This morning, we are going to learn that struggling to finish what we start isn’t a new phenomenon. And sometimes God sends someone to remind us to finish what we started.

Postcards

We are beginning a new sermon series I’m calling “Postcards.” We will study the Bible's one- and two-chapter books over the next few months.

Haggai

2 John

3 John

Obadiah

Philemon

Jude

These are books that most people don’t know very well and sometimes skip over. These six books only contain 7 chapters and 136 verses. That’s just a little less than the book of Philippians we just finished studying. You can read all six in less than 15 minutes, which I would encourage you to do.

We are going to start with Haggai. Haggai is the tenth book in the books of the minor prophets. Minor doesn’t mean “less than” but they are called minor because of their length.

Turn with me to Haggai chapter 1.

Prayer.

Background

In order to understand the book of Haggai, I need to set the context of the book.

In 607 BC, the Babylonians attacked the southern kingdom of Judah. This had been prophesied by Jeremiah and happened as a result of the people’s disobedience to God’s rule and His ways. The people would go into exile for seventy years.

The Babylonians started deporting thousands of the best of brightest of the Israelites, like Daniel and his three friends.

In 586 BC, The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and tore down the Temple.

In 539 BC, The Medes-Persians defeated Babylon. King Cyrus, gave the order allowing Jewish people to return to their homeland. Only about 50,000 returned home.

They returned home to a city that had been destroyed. They set to work immediately.

In 536 BC, a new altar was built and construction on the new Temple started but then stopped. For the next 16 years, the foundation of the Temple lay untouched.

Enter Haggai in 520 BC. We don’t know much about Haggai. It is believed that he was in his 70s and his name means “feast.”

Haggai is unique among the prophetic books because it is entirely in prose. Most of the other books are poetry.

Haggai consists of 4 sermons, delivered over a four-month period. Let’s look at the first message.

The Lord’s Challenge

“In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:

Darius had replaced Cyrus as the King of the Medes-Persian empire.

This message came to Haggai on August 29, 520 BC.

He addressed it first to the leaders. Zerubbabel was the governor and was from the line of David. Joshua, not that Joshua, was the high priest, the religious leader, and was from the line of Aaron.

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

Haggai uses the name for God that highlights His power and might - the Lord of Hosts.

Notice, “these people.” Not my people, but these people.

For the last 16 years, the people have been making excuses as to why the Temple hasn’t been finished.

It’s a really bad time to work on such a project. It’s harvest time so we are really busy. And the economy is really tough right now and there aren’t a lot of extra funds to finance such a huge endeavor.

Excuses. Before we are too hard on them we need to just admit that we do the same thing. We make excuses as to why we don’t obey God.