“It’s Time to Build”
Haggai pt 1
Opening Thought - From Sermoncentral.com:
Let me share a story with you about some church people… It’s about 4 people in the church whose names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody…
The church had some financial responsibilities and Everybody was asked to help… Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it… Anybody could have done it… But you know who did it? Nobody… It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done…
Then the church grounds needed some work, and Somebody was asked to help… But Somebody got mad, because Anybody could have done it, and after all, it was really Everybody’s job… In the end the work was given to Nobody, and Nobody did a fine job…
On & on it went… Whenever work was to be done, Nobody could always be counted on… Nobody visited the sick, Nobody gave his time, Nobody shared his faith… In short, Nobody was a very faithful member…
Finally the day came when Somebody left the church and took Anybody & Everybody with him… Guess who was left. Nobody! Isn’t that a sad story?
Today I have two video clips which send a mixed message to us to reflect the current church culture in America. The first clip challenges us about our priorities in life – It asks the questions: “Do we still trust God today?” “Do we have Him in His proper place in our life?” and the next video tells us, “We still trust in God in America!’” But do we really? Is God in 1st place on our priority list today in the American church?
Opening Video Illustrations: In God We Trust? Blue Fish TV and Diamond Rio’s song In God We Still Trust.
Thesis: The church faces the same issue that Haggai did in his time the believers have convinced themselves that it’s not the right time to work on the House of the Lord. The believers in Haggai’s day put off work on God’s House to focus on their own homes. Today many believers have their priorities in life mixed up just like in Haggai’s day and it will cost them the blessings of God in their life just like it did the Israelites in Haggai’s day.
Scripture Text: Haggai Chapter 1
1In 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:
2This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’S house to be built.’”
3Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. 9“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”
12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and 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. And the people feared the LORD.
13Then Haggai, the LORD’S messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD. 14So 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, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
Introduction:
The Israelites who had returned from captivity in other parts of the world came back to help rebuild Jerusalem and the temple but somewhere along the way of rebuilding their priority list got turned upside down. Whether it was the persecution from the surrounding people, the threats, the criticism or the business of life they put God’s House on the back burner and focused on their own personal wants first. They had forgotten to put first things first and God is always to have first place in our life.
Illustration from Stories for Preachers: Mark McCormack, author of What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, says that he spends a full hour each day deciding how to invest the other twenty-three hours. If we will take time out of each day to bring our worries to God, and seek his guidance for every action we should take, our worries will quickly disappear.
Today we need to talk about our own personal priority lists – you know what I mean the unwritten list on which you order your lives around. Every one of us has one – we have all chosen to put certain things on the top of the list – these things get our time, our money, our resources and really our hearts.
Historical Background:
The book of Haggai deals with how we arrange priorities in our life. The Temple was a sign of God’s blessing on Israel and was at one point considered one of the ancient 7 wonders of the world. God’s presence dwelled in the Temple and represented His dwelling with the nation of Israel. The Temple testified to God’s presence, existence, supremacy, holiness, mercy and authority. It was a marvelous site to have looked upon in its day.
(See the 3d video clip of Solomon’s Temple)
Doug Smith from sermoncentral.com stated the following: “The kingdom split after Solomon’s reign, and eventually both parts were taken captive because of their rebellion and idolatry. The Northern Kingdom (called Israel) was overtaken by the Assyrians, and the Southern Kingdom (called Judah) by the Babylonians. In 586 B. C., the temple was destroyed and Judah was taken captive. But in 538 B. C., Cyrus, ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire, defeated Babylon and took charge. He allowed conquered nations, including the Jews, to return to their homelands. He even decided to finance the reconstruction of the Jewish temple. In 536 B.C., only about 50,000 returned to the land. This was a sign of their faithfulness to God. Many of the other Jews had become comfortable in Babylon and prospered; they were not interested in the difficult journey to the once-conquered homeland to undertake the difficult job of rebuilding. Their way of life was more important to them than re-instituting the public worship of God. Yet the faithful Jews made the journey and began the job. They laid the foundations of the temple in 536 B.C. But they encountered opposition. And they put the work on hold. They started to focus on building up their own homes and neglected the house of the LORD. In fact, the rebuilding of the temple was on hold for sixteen years, and that’s why God sent His Word by His prophet Haggai.”
The people felt that they spoke for God – They convinced themselves that it was not time to build! Why would people not want to build the house of the Lord? Why would they not want to take care of the house of the Lord? The Prophet warns them to take careful thought about their priorities. He then reveals to them why the house of the Lord still lies in ruins – it’s because of their priorities in life – it’s because they are centered on their own homes, wants and needs and not on God’s wants or needs.” He challenges them to look at their hearts and take careful thought of their lives. The truth revealed through the prophet was that these believers were dishonoring God with their current priority lists! They put their selfish desires about the Lord and that is idolatry!
Illustration Story: Mixed up priorities from sermoncentral.com
A group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under an eight-point buck.
“Where’s Harry?” he was asked.
“Harry had a stroke of some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail.”
“You left Harry laying there, and carried the deer back?”
“Well,” said the hunter, “I figured no one was going to steal Harry.”
(Bits & Pieces, March 3, 1994, p. 5.)
Many people today have their priorities upside down and they don’t see the danger. There focus in not on god and His House but it’s all on their homes, their ways, their wants their wills. The result is many in the kingdom of God are in danger of having God’s blessing in their lives removed!
T.S. - What happens to our life when our priorities get turned upside down with God and service to God? I see three things that happen form our text today.
I. Deception - They deceive themselves into thinking that serving in and for the House of the Lord can come later in life (verses 1-4).
a. We cannot afford to build a house for God or put money into His Kingdom because our own house takes up all the money.
i. Timing is not right!
1. When I have more money then I will give it to God’s House.
ii. The truth is the timing will never be right because the heart is in the wrong place!
1. The Scriptures are clear that if you withhold from God what is his you then remove yourself from his blessings.
b. You become caught up in the “Pursuit of Happiness.”
i. This mindset always rationalizes God out of picture.
1. I want to remind you that the people Haggai is speaking too for God where the ones who were faithful enough to leave their homes in Babylon and return to rebuild. These people were at one point committed to honoring God and placing Him first in their life. They chose to follow the call of God to return and to rebuild the house of the Lord but something happened – deception creped in and stopped their mission.
2. Lesson from sheep – from Stories for Preachers:
a. Sheep get lost by nibbling away at the grass and never looking up. The same can be said for us. We can focus so much on what is immediately before us that we fail to see life in larger perspective.
b. I believe this is what happened to the Israelites here in our story.
c. D. Greg Ebie notes the following about our arch enemy Satan:
i. “Satan cannot destroy the church, nor can the devil stop the building of the church, BUT HE CAN SLOW IT DOWN. Satan can coerce or entice any of us to forget our role in the building of the church; the devil seeks to blur our perception and distort our priorities leading us away from Christ and His church” (sermoncentral.com).
ii. The Devil is the master at deception and he is relentless in trying to get us to buy into his deceiving ways and to take our focus off of our purpose in life for God.
iii. When deception takes root in a mind and heart then it does not take long for selfishness to move in and take over the priorities of a person life.
II. Selfishness – They convince themselves that they need to pursue their own personal goals first – God can come later (verses 1-4).
a. Many are too busy with their own houses and pursuits of happiness and the American dream than for God’s house or service in His Kingdom.
i. Kevin Higgins in his sermon “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” on sermoncentral.com makes this observation about the problem in Israel:
1. Now we get to the problem. It may not look like much on the surface, but to God it was huge. His people had given in to a little opposition, had gone home and for all those years spent their time neglecting His house while they indulged in the building of theirs. Some of your Bibles may say that they were living in paneled houses. Others say ceiled houses. What that means is that these people had been building or repairing homes and had been finishing them out with expensive, imported wood, probably from Lebanon. They didn’t have time for God’s house, but they had plenty of time for their own. They didn’t have money for God’s house, but they were living in luxury at home. They couldn’t withstand the opposition at God’s house, so they gave up and chose the easy way.”
ii. They wrongly thought that the pursuit of happiness and well being superseded the pursuit of God and His call.
1. Humor Illustration: When your priorities are messed up and you are focused on yourself you can miss the lessons of life:
a. From Stories for Preachers: An elementary school teacher was lecturing to her class on the dangers of not bundling up properly to face the winter cold. She told them a dramatic story about a naughty little boy who disobeyed his mother and went sledding one afternoon without his mittens, cap, and snow suit. Because of it, he caught pneumonia and died. When she finished her story, one boy raised his hand. "Mrs. Johnson, may I ask two questions?" "Go ahead, Tommy," the teacher replied. "Who has his sled now and could I have it?"
iii. Many today think: “When I get my house built, my bills paid, my wants achieved then I will focus on God’s house.”
1. “He can wait but my needs-wants cannot!”
a. “Have you seen the price of gas Pastor Mike!”
2. “God understands my predicament!”
a. “He knows that I have to pay for my car, truck, 4 Wheeler, snow mobile, boat, vacation, and other stuff!”
b. The result of this self-centered mindset is their expectations in life have not come to pass because they are actually robbing God to meet their own selfish goals.
i. Focus on self will never bring contentment or satisfaction to your life.
ii. Focusing on me-myself and I will only result in a self-centered lifestyle which is called sinful in the Bible.
1. And remember “God will never bless sin!”
c. When you rob from God you lose more than you gain – it’s as if the money blow’s out the window.
i. When you steal from God you set yourself up for failure – because you will lose what you already have.
ii. God speaks through the Prophet Haggai and he tells the Israelites that they will never get ahead as long as they put God on the back burner and focus on themselves.
iii. When you dishonor God you lose His help and His blessings!
III. Famine, storms, calamity Why? There selfish ways caused the Lord to take away His blessing on their life and they suffered as a result.
a. Through the prophet Haggai the Lord helps the nation of Israel to assess their current situation (verses 5, 6).
i. In a sense the Lord says, “Has it paid off to neglect my home and to selfishly just focus on your own homes?”
1. Are you more prosperous for doing so?
2. Are you losing more than you are gaining?
3. Are your expectations what you thought they would be by neglecting my word for your work?
4. Have you 80-100 hour weeks brought the prosperity you thought it would bring?
5. Do the long hours of laboring for selfish wants bring you prosperity and my blessings?
b. When God pulls his blessing you get calamity – famine and heartache.
i. Kevin Higgins states this from his sermon:
1. “No matter what these people did, God was working against it. You build it up and God tears it down. You plant it; God won’t water it. You water it; God won’t let it grow. No matter what it is, you name it and God was working against those people all because they had turned away from Him and the building of His house: from God and the things of God, and in so doing communicated that not only did they not need Him, they did not want Him.
Do you see that chorus from the Rolling Stones song in your sermon outline? You know the song. “I can’t get no…satisfaction. I can’t get no…satisfaction. Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try…I can’t get no…” Listen to me: that could have been Israel’s theme song. I’ve sung that song a thousand times, but I never really thought about the message. It’s not just Israel’s theme song, it’s the message of our society, but more importantly it’s the message of God’s people in His churches today” (Can’t Get No Satisfaction, sermoncentral.com).
c. They never had enough resources because it just blew in and out.
i. Selfishness causes you to lose what you already have.
ii. Greed will cause you to be in need.
iii. The people in Israel at this time were facing a severe famine and it was result of their own selfish ways.
1. God will always send us wake up calls in our life to get us to examine our situation.
d. Their greed caused them to have less than if they would have given to the work of the Lord.
i. If they would have done what they were suppose to do – finish building the temple for worship to God then they would have had al the rest.
1. Jesus said “Seek first the Kingdom of God then all these other things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33, 34).
e. God has the ability to withhold His blessings to the disobedient.
i. “Fear the Lord you His saints for to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing” (Psa 37).
ii. These people were missing the blessings of God because their priorities were turned around.
1. They were not serving the Lord – following his plan, his will and his way instead they were following their plan, their will and their own way!
a. Life lesson from Mother Teresa – From Stories for Preachers:
i. After winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa decided that she would not travel to accept any more recognition, because the accolades were beginning to interfere with her work. She knew that she was not in the business of accepting prizes and making speeches; her calling was to serve the poor of Calcutta.
T.S. - What happens when the spirit stirs up the misguided individual and reveals to them there misguided priorities for life? By the way God usually uses a Prophet to open our eyes and help our minds to start thinking clearer again.
I. Obedience – came when their eyes were opened to their downward cycle of their lives - selfishness was the cause of their own personal demise (verses 7-15).
a. There stinginess and selfish focus caused them to have less because God’s blessing was removed from their resources.
i. Obedience to God’s house brings a return on what you do.
1. Obedience leads to revival – remind them of what we learned in Jonah chapter 3.
a. Disobedience to God will cause your resources to be wasted and lost.
b. Obedience brings revival, disobedience brings you disaster, heartache and calamity.
II. Stirring- The Lord stirred up the Spirit to open their eyes.
a. The Spirit’s stirring took the blinders off of their deception.
i. We need this today in the American Church.
b. The Lord challenged the people “To pay careful attention to their ways.”
i. I need to challenge you today to evaluate your ways – try god and see what happens.
1. Reference Malachi’s- challenge to the church
2. Scripture verse on examining our hearts.
ii. He challenges them to evaluate their current financial status.
c. He tells them in the next chapter to examine – their debts and assets – see if is better to work for the house of the Lord or to work for their own selfish purposes.
i. Which brings a greater return on their investment.
1. They need to examine what comes in and what goes out.
ii. Which brings more into their household giving to God or serving there selfish egos.
1. Giving or hoarding which brings a greater reward – which brings the blessings of God?
iii. Parallels Malachi 3 again!
d. The Spirit’s stirring awakened the believers and they honored the word of the Lord and went back to work.
e. They reacquired a healthy fear of the Lord!
i. This also needs to happen to the church in America!
III. Working - They then went to work to fulfill God’s call to His house they discovered His blessings again.
a. The stirring of the spirit opened up the blinded eyes to see that God will not bless sin. He only blesses obedience to His word and His directives.
b. They realized that they needed to work for God not for themselves because when the focus was on themselves they never had enough – their purses seemed to have holes in the bottom.
i. The Stirring of the Spirit helped them to reprioritize their lives.
1. They put things in proper order:
a. God 1st – Your relationship with God – the nation did not just neglect God’s house they really put God on the back burner personally!
i. Maybe because of the opposition they had faced 14-16 years earlier from the Samaritans – who knows –but opposition should never cause us to put God on the back burner!
b. Family life
c. Ministry life
d. Work life
IV. Blessings – come to those who work on and for the house of the Lord.
a. They needed to start keeping score - observing what comes in and what goes out as they work for the house of the Lord.
i. They will quickly discover that God honors His Word!
1. Malachi 3
Conclusion:
Illustration from Stories for Preachers: Charles Francis Adams, a nineteenth-century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: "Went fishing with my son today-a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same say Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father-the most wonderful day of my life!"
Closing thoughts from Higgins:
“Will you honor the Word of God today by hearing the message and being obedient to it? Will you recognize that God has been trying to get your attention and it’s time for you to make some adjustments? Will you fall today at His feet in healthy fear of Him and plead for forgiveness for your sin? Will you ask God to have mercy on you and repent for neglecting Him? Will you repent for splurging on yourselves while God’s work lies in need? Will you repent for refusing to use your talents for the Lord? Will you turn back to Him and let Him use you? Will you say to God today that you know He has created you for His pleasure and glory and that you’re going to go up into the mountains right now and demonstrate your love for Him?”
The Messages of Haggai chapter 1:
It’s time to rebuild, no more excuses.
It’s time to put first things first in your life.
Take note of your old priority list. Did it work out like you thought it would work out?
Put God first, follow His call and get working.
When you get back to work for God then the blessings will come and everything will work out.
