Priorities, Priorities, Priorities
Haggai
1:2-4, 13
Intro. A husband and wife were attending a county fair where, for twenty dollars a person, a man was giving rides in an old airplane. The couple wanted to go up but they thought twenty dollars a person was too expensive so they tried to negotiate a lower price. “We’ll pay you twenty dollars for both of us,” they said to the pilot. “After all, we’ll both have to squeeze into that tiny cockpit that was built for only one person.”The pilot refused to lower his fare, but he made a counter offer. He suggested, “Pay me the full price of twenty dollars each, and I’ll take you up. If you don’t say one word during the flight, I’ll give you all your money back.” The couple agreed and got into
the plane. Up they went and the pilot proceeded to perform every trick he knew, looping and whirling and flying upside down and lots more. Finally, when the plane had landed,
the pilot said to the husband, “Congratulations! Here’s your money back; you didn’t say a single word.” To which the man replied, "Nope, but you almost got me when my
wife fell out.”
. It seems his priorities were a little skewed.
. A group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in two’s for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of a 200 pound deer. The other hunters asked, “Where’s Bob?” The lone man said, “Oh, he had a stroke of some kind, he’s a couple of miles back up the trail.” The other hunters were shocked and asked why he left Bob laying there to carry the deer instead. “It was a tough call,” the hunter said, “but I figured no one was going to steal Bob.”
. One more
. A farmer ran this classified ad in the Quay County Sun: “Farmer with 160 irrigated acres wants marriage-minded woman with a tractor. When replying, please send picture of the tractor.”
. This gentleman certainly knew where his priorities lay.
. We are continuing our month of renewal and restoration and resolve.
. Last week we looked at choices, choices, choices.
. This week we will look at priorities, priorities, priorities.
. Our scripture this morning is in Haggai chapter 1. Unlike last week when we looked at 20 verses of scripture, this morning we will look at four.
. A little background before we read.
. The Hebrew people were a defeated people. The Northern kingdom of Israel had been defeated and 136 years later, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was defeated and the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God lay in ruins.
. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the southern kingdom and dispersed the Jewish people throughout the Babylonian empire. Many had been brought back to Babylon.
. Persia defeated the Babylonians and was the great power in the region.
. Cyrus the great, the Persian king, issued a decree that permitted conquered people to return to their homeland and rebuild as long as they paid taxes and were loyal to the Persian Empire.
. Almost 50,000 Jews had returned to Judah and Jerusalem in particular.
. When they got there, they rebuilt the altar part of the Temple and just stopped.
. There was some opposition to their plans plus now they had a place to sacrifice and worship so they turned their attention to themselves.
. All of this is recorded in Ezra.
. Everybody was happy. They had an altar to sacrifice on and that was all they needed.
. We see what God has to say about this in our scripture this morning.
. Haggai 1:2-4, 13
. 2“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’ ”
3Then the LORD sent this message through the prophet Haggai:4“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
. 13Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave the people this message from the LORD: “I am with you, says the LORD!”
. God is reminding them of their priorities
. First we see that Timing needed to be a priority for the Hebrew people.
. Look at verse 2 again:
. . 2“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’ ”
. The people keep putting off the rebuilding. We have a place to worship; we don’t need to do this. The timing is not right.
. Procrastination is not a new phenomenon folks. The Hebrew people were just as guilty of this as we are.
. Things were going pretty good. Why rock the boat and try to build more of God’s house.
There are people against us and it’s just as easy to stay the way we are.
. They would have probably responded much like many in our world today respond if you ask them why they are not working to build the church.
. They could have responded like this.
. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for rebuilding it but the time isn’t somehow right.
. We’re in an economic downturn here and there’s a lot of political uncertainty right now.
. I got other things I have to take care of first, like my farm and my house. I’ll get around to making God a priority…I promise.”
.Their excuses sound familiar, don’t they? They even sound reasonable and realistic.
. They are so good we are still using them today.
. There is a fable which tells of three apprentice devils that were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God."
Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God."
The second said, "I will tell men that there is no hell."
Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin."
The third said, "I will tell men that there is no hurry."
"Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin men by the thousands."
The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time.
. Haggai was calling to their attention that now is the time to rebuild.
. God expected them to be about His business.
. God expects us to do the same.
. We must prioritize the building of God’s kingdom.
. I’m not talking about facilities; I’m talking about lost souls.
.In 2 Corinthians 6:2, the apostle Paul writes:
“ … Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.”
. Folks we need to prioritize our time because Today, right now is the hour of salvation.
. The lost need to hear about Jesus. Now.
. Next we see that tithing should be a priority this year.
. Look at verses 3&4 again:
. 3Then the LORD sent this message through the prophet Haggai:4“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
. The people had been putting all their resources into building their own houses and had forgotten about or ignored the building of the Temple.
. God said that your have these fine houses and my house is in ruins.
. You quit building my house because yours was more important.
. The resources that were needed to rebuild the temple was being used for their personal gain.
. God was reminding them that it would take resources to build the Temple.
. He wasn’t chastising them for having nice houses but He was chastising them for using all their resources for themselves while the church was in need.
. Obviously they had been blessed because God reminds them of their luxurious houses.
. When they first got there they didn’t have much so it was no big deal to provide the resources and time necessary to build the altar but after a little success things changed.
. They were much like the guy in a story I heard.
. Leighton Farrell was the minister of Highland Park Church in Dallas for many years. He tells of a man in the church who once made a covenant with a former pastor to tithe ten percent of their income every year. They were both young and neither of them had much money. But things changed. The layman tithed one thousand dollars the year he earned ten thousand, ten thousand dollars the year he earned one-hundred thousand, and one- hundred thousand dollars the year he earned one million. But the year he earned six million dollars he just could not bring himself to write out that check for six-hundred thousand dollars to the Church.
He telephoned the minister, long since having moved to another church, and asked to see him. Walking into the pastor’s office the man begged to be let out of the covenant, saying, "This tithing business has to stop. It was fine when my tithe was one thousand dollars, but I just cannot afford six-hundred thousand dollars. You¡¦ve got to do something, Reverend!" The pastor knelt on the floor and prayed silently for a long time. Eventually the man said, "What are you doing? Are you praying that God will let me out of the covenant to tithe?" "No," said the minister. "I am praying for God to reduce your income back to the level where one thousand dollars will be your tithe!"
. God has expectations of all His people.
. His expectation is that Christians will tithe or give 10% of their resources for the building of His kingdom.
. God not only expects resources, He also expects us to give of our time.
. Not only was the timing right for the Jewish people to finish the Temple, their time was needed in the construction process.
. If God’s people would be faithful in what God expects them to do, you would be looking for ministries to fund and have people asking what can I do
.
. If we were to prioritize our tithes this year.
. If we were to do what God expects us to do, the ministries of the Creek would explode in our community.
. I am not preaching on tithing because we are in dire straits. For a church our size, we are actually in pretty good shape financially.
. Think for a minute though what we could do for God if every member would make tithing a priority this year.
. If we would give God 10% of our resources and 10% of our time, the whole state of Georgia would be talking about what’s going on at the Creek in Monroe Ga.
. Church I challenge you to make tithing a priority in your life this year.
. The timing is right, all we need to do for resources is tithe and God says to us, just like He did to the Jewish people.
. Trust Me.
Look at verse 13 again.
. 13Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave the people this message from the LORD: “I am with you, says the LORD!”
. God told the Jewish people that He was with them.
. They should trust in Him.
. The time was then and the resources were available, they could trust Him to be with them and guide them.
. I once heard the story about a wealthy man who had no need for pocket change, yet he still took the time to bend over and pick up lost pennies and other coins. Whenever the man found a coin he would stop look at it in his hand, then after standing quietly for a moment, he would then put the coin in his pocket and continue walking. He was once asked about his unusual habit. “Why does a man who has no need for money stand still as though he had just found a gold coin?” The man replied, “When I find a coin I look at the words, ‘In God We Trust,’ and I can hear God asking me, ‘Do you still trust me?’ Once I’m certain that I still trust God more than money I can continue with my day.”
Perhaps we should take the time to hear God ask us the same question, “Do you still trust Me; am I still first in your life?”
. We need to prioritize some things in our lives folks.
. We need to step out because today is the day of salvation.
. We can’t put off growing God’s kingdom any longer.
. We must place tithing as a priority in our walk with God.
. We must trust God for we know that He is always with us.
. The writer of Hebrews tells us about endurance and he writes that we do what God has planned for us by “…Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
. Trust in Jesus. God is with us in our endeavors.
. What are your priorities this year?
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Priorities, Phillip Krueger
Maintain Your Priorities, Michael Luke
