"Back to Work or Blown Away?"
Introduction
Have you ever worked your head off and found little satisfaction when it was all over? Do you feel like the more money you earn the less there seems to be? Does whatever you do feel like a chore or a bitter task with little fruit? Do you try to save, but when it comes to using what you saved or set aside, it seems to be far less than expected? Do you get to the point where even though you eat more there is less satisfaction? Well, if you found yourself answering yes to any of these questions, you may find a reason and a solution in these five little messages from the prophet Haggai.
Historical Background
The united kingdom of Israel had become a good sized and notorious nation under David and Solomon. Solomon’s son did not follow good advice and caused the kingdom to split into the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern kingdom (Judah). A splinter group that occurs from dissension rarely does very well and thus the Northern kingdom lived in sin their whole existence; both people and kings. In 722BC God finally culminated ample threats and prophecies of judgment when the Assyrians ravaged them and deported them out of the land. The Southern kingdom roller coastered up and down until they suffered final judgment and captivity at the hand of Babylon about 586BC. After seven difficult decades of discipline by the Lord the Jews finally relinquished their propensity to idolatry. God caused them to find favor under Persian rule and return to their own land in various caravans.
These were the remnant. These were not the same rebellion people who refused to give up their other gods. These were those who had been humbled and finally learned the lesson of trusting God along. A group of these god-fearing people returned under the leadership of Zerrubabel. Upon arrival, they immediately set up an altar to the Lord and set about to rebuild the temple. Within the year (536) the managed to restore the foundations for the temple. They had sacrificed their resources and managed to gather significant financing; nearly 5 million in gold and another half million in silver had been collected for the temple project. However, due some hardship and preoccupation with other things, construction on the temple came to a halt up till the time of Haggai and Zechariah. (520 -- a period of about 16 years)
That is the state of things at the time that God calls Haggai to address the situation. These were good people, in the right place who got sidetracked along the way. These were those used to sacrifice and hardship had left the glory of Babylon with all its wealth to start over and scratch a new world in a decimated land. Somehow, in spite of their devotion to God, they became sidetracked. God used Haggai to deliver five pointed messages delivered over a four month period to get them back on track.
I. Message One -- Consider your calendar and adjust it to God’s 1:1-2
These people had taken it upon themselves to dictate the timing for doing God’ will.
In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, This is what the Lord Almighty says: "These people say, `The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’" 1:1-2
When we ask our children to do a job we often hear, “Yea, I’ll do it latter!”
Sometimes that is all right but sometimes the timing is as crucial as the task. When we take it upon ourselves to dictate when we will do the Lord’s work, we can always find reasons to put it off a little longer and still feel spiritual about it. As long as we intend to obey, we figure God understands and is pleased. We so often judge ourselves by out intentions rather than our actions. Conviction and repentance (change) are not the same. One precedes the other. Conviction without repentance is incomplete. Delayed obedience is disobedience. We have to realize doing God’s will has as much to do with the timing as it does the task itself. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own things that the work of the Lord gets put delayed, put aside and even forgotten.
"But my family is the work of the Lord. I have to make a living and support my family don’t I."
Yes, God has given us a ministry to our families. Remember, these people had families too. Notice, they were not refusing to work on God’s things. They just were doing it on their own time table. Time is life and life is time. Therefore it is important to do things on God’s timetable because we never know whether we even have a tomorrow or if what God asks us to do now will save our life tomorrow. God calls them to consider their calendar and His calendar. They are not always the same. We need to let God’s calendar dictate our calendar.
What can we learn in relation to Chico from these messages?
Like this remnant, there is a history of hard work, devotion and even sacrificial giving. Some who were in on the ground floor of the building and the ministry are still here. Most have a true desire to see God’s presence reflected from this place and the glory of God evident in all that we do. Yet it seems we have become sidetracked along the way. When are you going to do God’s work on God’s calendar?
We know what needs to be done. Are we willing to do what needs to be done now?
II. Message Two -- Consider your priorities and ways and get to work on His stuff first 1:3-15
A. The Message 3-4
In putting off what God wanted them to do, these people demonstrated that their priorities were a bit misplaced which God’s second word through Haggai pointedly addressed.
Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?" 1:3-4
Not only had the people distracted their focus from God’s time table to theirs but demoted God’s agenda behind their own. God rebuked the people for minding their own things first to the neglect of His temple. Their priorities were out of place. It was not a matter of sacrificing one for the other. It was a matter of which held first priority.
“I will concentrate on the Lord’s business when I finish mine.”
“I will give money to the Lord when my income gets bigger.”
“I will dedicate time to the church ministry when I retire or the kids are grown.”
The principle here is the same as Christ’s admonition in the New Testament to seek the kingdom of God first and then God promises to supply the necessities of life. As a result of following faulty priorities, they ended up loosing the very thing they had shifted their priorities to accomplish.
Haggai exhorts the people to consider their ways. He urged them to think about what was going on in their life and why it might be that way.
Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways! "You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes." Haggai 1:5-6
We have a tendency to adapt to difficult situations and not question why. We forget that things may sometimes be happening for a reason. God may be trying to get our attention. Our struggles may be the consequence of our own actions. Instead of looking at what God may be trying to say or the fact that we might be on the wrong track, we sometimes even blame Him for not blessing us. We may get angry and disappointed at God when it is really us who have the problem. We have reshuffled our priorities.
God called them to get their priorities straight and work on His stuff first.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways!”Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says the LORD. 1:7-8
Do something about it NOW! Work on the My temple NOW!
Why? To please the Lord! To glorify the Lord!
Why should we give God’s things first priority? It pleases Him! It glorifies Him!
When we give attention to the things that reflect God’s work it draws attention to Him. When we make Him our first priority it warms his heart and puts a smile on His face. God reinforced the consequences of not giving His agenda first priority.
"You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?" declares the LORD of hosts, "Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. "Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. "I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands." 1:9-11
God told them that the reason they had to work so hard to achieve and get ahead and yet never seem to arrive is because their priorities were not right and He blew it away. He blew it away to get their attention and to get them to consider their ways.
We can never go wrong giving God first priority. We don’t like this but Jesus made right priorities clear.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple. Luk 14:26
Friends, we can’t afford not to give God priority over our time and resources. The reason for their troubles was failure to do what God had asked when He asked them and to put His agenda first. God called the people to evaluate the things going on in their lives. All because they failed to consider their ways in relations to God’s ways. They put their agenda first and put off God’s agenda.
What was the people’s response to this piercing proclamation of Haggai from God?
B. The results of the message
There are five things that happened as a result of Haggai’s message regarding priorities. Not all proclamations of the Word result in such wonderful result. This is a pastor’s dream come true.
1. The people heard with their heart
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed (listened) the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for (feared) the LORD. 1:12
The word for obey can also be translated “hear”. There was really no concept of hearing without obeying. The people heard and understood. The reason I opt for translating the word as hearing here in this passage is because the actual active obedience didn’t come until a bit later. Therefore I think that something first transpired in their heart. There was a heart change before there was a behavior change. They experience renewed thinking before transformed living. They were convicted about their neglect and actually heard what God was saying to them about priorities; ready to do something about it.
2. The people demonstrated reverence for God
Because they understood the message, they responded from the heart in worship. They demonstrated reverence and awe in a true fear of the Lord. We’re really talking about a repentant heart in response to hearing God’s voice. As a result of a repentant heart, God responded. God loves to respond to repentant hearts. Much of the time why we don’t hear from God is because of a heart problem. He speaks but we have hardened our heart to hear. They go from a messed up priority and a selfish heart to listening to and fearing God.
3. God affirmed his commitment to them
As a result of the softening of their heart and their attentiveness to God, He spoke through Haggai again and affirmed something that has inspired people from the beginning of time and occurs all through the Bible.
Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, " ’I am with you,’ declares the LORD." 1:13
“I am with you!” This is a phrase that indicates commitment. When God promises he will be with us he means he is committed to us. He wants our company. He is committed to our welfare. “Be with me” is a plea for intimacy and support. God’s declaration of “I am with you” indicates support and intimacy. Jesus told his disciples who were about to embark on an impossible ministry of world-wide impact, “I am with you always even to the end of the age.” Nearly every effective leader in the Bible heard these words at one time or another. It is our only hope. Here God reaffirmed his support and commitment to see them through and show His presence.
God promised that because they made Him first, He would hang with them
4. God motivated their heart for the work
Not only did God promise His presence, He also worked in their heart.
So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people
This isn’t the first time God caused a sweeping awakening among a people. It began with the civil and religious leaders and spread to all the people.
5. The people went to work (obeyed the call)
and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. 1:14-15
Twenty-four days after the first call to consider their ways the people obeyed and focused on rebuilding the house of the Lord. This is a sequence that any true messenger of God lives for. Not acclimation, not fame, not fortune or even pat on the back although that is nice. It was Paul’s passion. It is my passion.
• That people will respond to the Word of God and take it to heart (listen).
• That people will be inspired to worship God in reverence and awe.
• That people will hear God reaffirm his commitment to be with them
• That people will sense a stirring within the depths of their heart to kingdom work
• That people will actually accomplish God’s agenda for their life and truly obey.
What about Us?
Have we failed to put God first? I know this is just a building and it is not God’s true temple. The original one was not the true temple either. Jesus went into the true temple. Yet somehow God chose to give us some tangible manner to honor Him down here. This place represents God in the community. This place reflects our commitment to God. Whether we like it or not, some people judge our level of commitment to God by the way this place looks. This place ought to be the first priority in all out lives. If we can’t do the work, pay to have it done
It should be the sharpest looking property in the community!
Not only the property and grounds but the things we are called to do in ministry. We need to look around. Not just to be negative about things but to be honest about the state of affairs. Sunday School, children’s church, small groups, fellowship times, services, opportunities for caring, follow-up, outreach, commitment to prayer. We wonder why things may not be going so well in our life or the life of our church family. We wonder why we are not experiencing the glory of a vibrant ministry. There may be many reasons. Perhaps, in part, it is because our priorities are not in line. Perhaps it is because our stuff comes before God’s stuff and God is blowing our stuff away in order to get our attention. I call us all to really hear God’s voice this morning and respond. Show Him reverence by putting him first and acknowledging our inadequate response. I can assure you that God has promised never to leave you or forsake you. He is here even this moment talking and moving among us. Listen!! He is with us. He has plans for us. He is committed to us. I long to see God supernaturally stir our hearts for the work. I long to actually see us obey when God calls.
III. Message Three - Consider the future glory and be encouraged 2:1-9
In comparison to Solomon’s glorious temple, this rebuilt version seemed lame. Now a month later, the people who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple found this task discouraging. They found no delight in completing the task because it seemed anticlimactic. So, God sent another message through Haggai to adjust their thinking. So often God helps us survive the present by summarizing the future.
Haggai 2:1-9
This message went first to the leaders -- the governors and priests. Observe what God does here to encourage and take note.
• He addressed their discouragement.
“How do you see it now?”
“Does it not seem to you like nothing in compassion?”
• He affirmed His commitment to them AGAIN.
“Take courage and work for I am with you.”
• He appealed to a past promise.
“Remember My previous promise when you came out of Egypt that My spirit is abiding in your midst do not fear”
• He accentuated the future
“I will bring you all the wealth of the world”
“ I will fill this place with greater glory than ever before.”
“ I will give peace”
What about Us?
Often our work seems to be inadequate and inconsequential. We can get discouraged at what things look like compared to history or even other churches. I understand the discouragement of some of you old timers. You remember the “glory days.”
We sometimes lament that our church is not like the one up the street or doing the things that they are doing. We might even feel discouraged that our church is not like the early church in Acts when thousands were added to the church and huge growth realized. I can’t tell you that this is a direct promise from God. This passage and its promises applied directly to Israel. When I read this passage in bed one night, I felt like God was speaking to me and to us. He calls us to take courage and work
Take courage pastor. Take courage elders. Take courage all you people of Chico because He is with us to see us through. It is His work if we give him the first priority and take our call seriously. His Spirit continually abides with us and eliminates all need to be afraid. If God is for us and with us, who can be against us?
It is his presence among us that distinguishes us from all others. He can bring all the necessary resources to accomplish His agenda for us. He can cause the latter glory of this place to outdistance the former. He can cause us to be at peace and contentment in His presence.
One promise certainly does apply directly to us. Jesus promised He would build his church and even the formidable gates of hell and all the armies of hell can’t stop Him. Will we believe that promise for Chico? God not only wanted them to get their priorities straight but their walk as well.
At the end of the ninth month God sent another through His servant Haggai concerning sin. Not only do faulty priorities hinder the work of God but fouled lives.
IV. Message Four - Consider present sin and repent 2:10-19
This message deals with the problem of sin and the promise of fruitfulness.
• The Problem: Sin in the life
On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Haggai the prophet, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Ask now the priests for a ruling: ’If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’ " And the priests answered, "No." Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?" And the priests answered, "It will become unclean." Then Haggai said, " ’So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the LORD, ’and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.
In doing the work of the Lord, we must come with a clean heart. The clean does not make the unclean clean. The unclean defiles the clean. Only sacrifice can make the unclean clean. God is not just interested in getting work done.
He wants it done with clean hands and heart. He wants it done with right heart attitudes. When we seek to do God’s work with an unclean heart we will not realize the fruit of our labors.
’But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD, from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. ’I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the LORD. Haggai 2:17
We may work hard in ministry trying to make things work but find that everything we try to do takes us back two steps. It can be either wrong priorities or sin in our lives.
• The Promise -- fruitfulness
’Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the LORD was founded, consider: ’Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you." ’ 2:18-19
Consider your fruitlessness. Acknowledge the problem of sin. Take care of the sin and even though there may have been no fruit before God promises to bless you. Sin does not block blessing forever. Even though there has been sin, God blesses repentance.
What about Us?
Do things feel like a blasting wind has hit us? Perhaps there are issues among us that need to be addressed. Perhaps there are things that need to be confessed and cleansed. Defiled lives affect effective ministry. Only God can bring the necessary cleaning and He promised that if we confess our sin He will forgive us of that sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That forgiveness and cleansing leads to fruitfulness. God prunes his vineyard that it may bring forth much fruit. He will bless us if we humble bow before Him.
V. Message Five -- Consider future Victory for God’s people and rejoice 2:20-23
• Victory for God’s people
• Vindication of God’s leaders
What about Us?
There are those who have continually cursed this place and these people by their negative words. God promises to overthrow all those who stand against His work in this place and through these people. God promises ultimate victory and success in Him. Will we trust Him? Will we take courage and get to His work?
The message of Haggai is to give careful thought to our life.
After all our consideration we need to hear and obey. We need to hear what God calls us to do and then do it first. Get busy with the business of the kingdom. Instead of dryness we will experience fruitfulness.
