When Solomon was king of Israel he built a beautiful temple in Jerusalem.
• People from all over the world came and saw this wonder and the Jewish people treasured the Temple because it was the place where God dwelled with man, the place where they worshipped Him.
• But as time went by, the nation began to turn from God and turn towards other nations’ gods.
• Civil war broke out and the Nation of Israel split into two Kingdoms.
The Northern Kingdom (Israel) rapidly went down hill and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) followed the same path, just at a slower rate.
The result of this turning away from God was Judah’s captivity by Babylon.
• When the Babylonians came in, they destroyed the beautiful Temple that Solomon had built for God.
• 70 long years passed and then God moved Cyrus of Persia to allow the Jews to return to Judah.
• About 50,000 people went back to Judah and when they arrived, nothing had changed. Everything was in shambles.
Immediately, the returnees set about to rebuild the temple and they re-laid the foundation during a great celebration; but then came opposition.
• The Samaritans (who hated the Jews) did not want to see the Jews prosper and so they kept hitting back at them until finally they just stopped rebuilding the Temple.
As the years passed, slowly but surely Jerusalem came to life again.
• Homes were built, stores opened, commerce established, fields planted, crops harvested, and life began to resemble something of a normal pattern; but there was a problem.
• The Temple foundation still lay in ruins overgrown with weeds.
• Every time the Jews passed it, it stood as a reminder of their failure to take care of God’s house.
This situation remains for 16 years. Finally God sent a prophet named Haggai to wake the people up from their slumber.
• In the book of Haggai, we have four clear distinct messages recorded; each beginning with the date it was given.
(1) Hag 1:1 “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 Jehozadak, the high priest.” = 29Aug 520 BC.
(2) Hag 2:1 “On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai.” = 17Oct 520 BC.
(3) Hag 2:10 “On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai.” = 18Dec 520 BC.
(4) Hag 2:20 “The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month.” - given on the same day, 18Dec 520 BC.
Haggai preached these 4 messages over a span of 4 months.
• From what we know, his ministry lasted only for that short period of time.
• We don’t know where he came from, we don’t know his lineage, his family - all we know is that he has come out of the exile, from Babylon with Zerubbabel.
• God had a purpose for him after 70 years in exile, and God had only 4 months for this man to minister.
And what’s the effect of his appeal?
• In just 24 days after his message, we see the people (led by their leader Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua) started work on reconstructing the Temple of God (Josh 1:14-15).
• The whole nation turned around and completed God’s task because one man spoke on His behalf.
(1) Don’t under-estimate what God can do through you.
We see this in Scriptures - God uses different people, in different places, over different periods of time, for different purposes.
• You cannot compare ministries – what you are called to do, what others are called to do.
• God uses all of us, in different ways. If we are made unique, then God doesn’t want us to copy someone else - He wants us to be ourselves, and do what He calls us to do.
• It may seem a small task, for only a short time, but God’s purpose is fulfilled because of your actions.
GIVE TO GOD SMALL THINGS
Fred Craddock writes, "We think giving our all to God is like taking a $1,000 bill, laying it on the table and saying, ’Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it to You.’ But that’s not how it works!
God sends us to the bank to cash the $1,000 bill - for 50-cent coins. Then He asks us to give 50 cents here, and $1.00 there; to teach a Sunday school class, volunteer your help at hospice, or just to clean up the sanctuary." Small things!
So the big question is - are we as prepared to be used by God?
• It’s good to pause and think - what has God been calling you to do?
• Does God expect anything from me?
What’s wrong with the people of Israel?
They have returned to their homeland Jerusalem more than 16 years ago (536BC, from captivity in Babylon).
• They actually started rebuilding the Temple after their return, but the building work was suspended because of conflict with Samaritans (Ezra 3-4).
• They refused to let the Samaritans to work on the Temple and the Samaritans fight back.
• As a result the work was suspended, and nobody bothered for another 14 years.
When God is out of your mind, He is out of your life.
• The people had gotten indifferent. They build “paneled houses” (1:4) for themselves. So it was not a lack of resources; they have the time and means to do it.
• It was a lack of a heart. The Bible tells us that where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
You can call it apathy, or being lukewarm, or just being lazy.
• Whatever it is, God is neither in their mind nor in their lives.
• So what’s the result of this God-absent life? Read 1:6, 9-11
• Because the people had pushed God out of the center of life, they were now suffering in every other area.
• They had fields without produce, action without satisfaction, and labor without profit.
We see there is a correlation between the blessings of life and our worship of God.
• Jesus’ words in Matt 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
• Seek not His Kingdom and His righteousness, and none of these things will be given to you.
• When our priority is not right, we will see it in our lives, in the fruit of our labour.
A similar message was given to Prophet Malachi.
• The people had drifted away and no longer worship God; no longer bringing their tithes and offerings into the storehouse – the Temple of God.
• Malachi urged them to return to God and restore the offerings.
• And God says in Mal 3:11-12 “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
Why would God do this?
• He allows us to suffer the results of our wrong choices in order to wake us up, convict us of sin, and to lead us to repentance.
• The longer they put it off, the longer they deprive themselves of God’s blessing.
(2) Don’t procrastinate when God shows us what is right and good.
By putting it off, you’re just delaying God’s blessing in your life.
It’s interesting to note that God told them what they were thinking.
• 1:2 “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’”
• God not only knows the situation, He knows what you’re thinking. He knows the condition of your heart.
• In order words, when God speaks to you, He is addressing a need He sees in you.
Remember the time Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4?
• He was able to tell her she has five husbands, and the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.”
• And when the conversation ended, she ran back into her village crying, “Come see a man that told me all that ever I did!”
• The woman came for the water, but that wasn’t her greatest need.
• She needed the living water, and Jesus spoke to her need.
When God speaks through the prophets in the OT, He is addressing the needs of the people directly.
• God was telling the people in Haggai’s time the real cause of their misery in life.
• It pays to listen to God each time we are moved by a message.
• We find this phrase repeated again and again: “This is what the Lord Almighty says; the word of the Lord came through…” (1:2, 3, 5, 7, 13; 2:1…)
Today God is doing the same thing – He is constantly speaking to us.
• It may come as a comfort, a warning, a word of wisdom.
• He is addressing a need, in you, in me or as a church.
• And the result is the same - our heart is being stirred.
1:14 “So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, 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…”
• That’s the work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Taking the Word of God and showing it to us, convicting us of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).
So when God speaks, listen. Don’t listen to a sermon for someone’s sake.
• The Lord says repeatedly, “Give careful thought to your ways” (1:5, 7; 2:15)
• This is the appropriate response to His Word. Ponder carefully & respond to Him.
1:12 says the ‘whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him…’
• They recognized it as a message from God, not from Haggai, not man’s suggestion.
• This one decision – to heed God’s Word – changed them completely.
• You may have been indifferent for 14 years, it really doesn’t matter.
• What is important is take note of what God is saying to you and act upon it.
• It may just be a simple decision, but you need to MAKE IT.
• Procrastinate and you can be in your misery for another 14 years.
"Someday" is Satan’s tool to keep us from growing in the Christian life.
… Mark Sutton in Missions Today
• It is not the lack of resources; it is a lack of a heart.
• Many Christians know what is right & good, but just couldn’t get to doing it.
There is a legend that is worth telling because it contains an important truth:
The devil held a passing out parade at the spiritual academy. During the day he questioned 3 of his evil spirits. To the first he said, "When you get out into the world what you are going to say to the people?"
"Oh," the evil spirit replied, "I shall tell them that there is no God."
"That’s no use," said the devil, "Creation tells people that there is a God. Not many will believe you."
Then he said to the second evil spirit, "And what are you going to tell people?"
"I shall say that there is not going to be a judgment" was the reply.
"That’s not much use," answered the devil, "Conscience tells them about judgment. Not many will believe you."
Turning to the third evil spirit, he asked, "What about you?"
"I shall tell people that there is a God and a judgment to come," answered the third evil spirit, "But I shall add that there is no hurry."
"Excellent!" said the devil. "Many will believe that!"
People believe that there is no hurry about putting things right and turning to God.
The truth is - time is running out fast, and the time to respond to God’s voice may just be now.
