Studies in The Book of Haggai
Study 2
The Causes and Consequences of Spiritual Apathy
Introduction
Last week we began to study together one of the less familiar books of the Bible, Haggai, one of the minor prophets. We saw that Haggai ministered to the people who had returned to Jerusalem after 70 years exile in Babylon and the main problem that he addressed in his ministry was that of the people’s Spiritual apathy towards the work of the Lord. The specific work that Haggai had in mind was the work of rebuilding the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem which had been destroyed by the Babylonian armies under the leadership of king Nebuchadnezar. When Babylon itself was eventually overthrown by the Persians, their king, Cyrus, gave permission to the Jews to return to Jerusalem giving them specific instructions to rebuild the temple of the Lord. That was in 539BC. However some 18 years later the temple still wasn’t finished. In fact after an initial burst of enthusiastic work by the people of God during which time the temple area was cleared of the rubble, the altar was rebuilt and the sacrificial system of worship restored and the foundations of the temple laid, the work on the rebuilding of the temple came to a halt. Although the people met with opposition to their rebuilding project, the local Samaritans doing all that they could to stop them, the real reason why the building work came to a standstill was because the people of God had drifted into a state of spiritual apathy. They lost the initial vision and enthusiasm for the work. With the passage of time they got used to worshipping God amidst the rubble of the unfinished temple and succeeded in salving their conscience with regards to their neglect of the work by making what seemed to be a very plausible excuse for not continuing with the rebuilding project – “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.” It’s not that we are against rebuilding the Lord’s house, no not at all, its just that we don’t think that now is the right time to do it.
And looking at this situation last week we identified three evidences, three symptoms of Spiritual Apathy – God’s Work is neglected; God’s people are Contented; God’s People make excuses for not doing what God wants them to do.
Having looked last week at the evidences of Spiritual Apathy we want this week to consider
The Causes of Spiritual Apathy:
What were some of the underlying causes of this spirit of indifference, this spirit of apathy towards the Lord’s Work, the work of rebuilding the temple, that prevailed among the people in Haggai’s day? Well I think we can identify three causes.
First of all the people were overcome with a spirit of
1 Self-Centrednesss:
The people had tried to justify the fact that for over 16 years they hadn’t been applying themselves to the work to which God had called them, the work of rebuilding the temple, by saying ‘It isn’t the right time for the Lord’s house to be built. Well, through the prophet Haggai, God, with unsparing hands, tears away this thin flimsy veneer of an excuse with which they had tried to cover over their spiritual apathy and exposes the ugly reality of the self-centred disposition that lay beneath that veneer. V4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses while this house remains a ruin?” and again in v9 “my house remains a ruin while each of you is busy with his own house.” That phrase ‘each of you is busy with his own house’ literally reads ‘is continually running after his own house’ and it conveys the idea of being completely preoccupied with something to the extent that one devotes all ones time and ones energy and ones resources towards the thing that is their chief concern. It is to regard something as being of primary importance. To give something top priority over and above everything else. This is what the people were doing in relation to their own houses. The reason they had little concern for the house of God was because they were too concerned about their own houses. The reason they were not able to give time to God’s work was because they were so taken up and so focused upon their own work. When they first arrived back in Jerusalem from Babylon that wasn’t the case. Then the most important thing as far as they were concerned was to see the temple restored because the Temple was so central to their life as a nation. The temple was the visible symbol of the presence of God among His people – “the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for His dwelling. This is my resting place for ever and ever; Here I will sit enthroned for I have desired it…” It was also inseparably connected with the Covenant that God had made with his people – God through the prophet Ezekiel had encouraged them whilst they were in captivity by saying “they will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob … I will make a covenant of peace with them, it will be an everlasting covenant…I will put my sanctuary among them for ever. My dwelling place shall be with them. I will be their God and they shall be my people.” Then too the temple was also inseparably connected with the promised coming of the Messiah as the prophet Malachi was soon to remind them “See I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the Covenant whom you desire will come” says the Lord Almighty. Thus the people knew that the rebuilding of the temple was vitally important to the fulfilment of the promises of the covenant especially in relation to the coming of the Messiah. And knowing how central the temple was to their faith, to their divinely established system of worship and to the Covenant promises they initially gave this project top priority when they first returned to Jerusalem. But with the passage of time their priorities began to change and they started to give top priority to their own personal and domestic affairs and comforts with the result that the work upon God’s house began to slip down the list of things to do. Yes they still intended to do it but only after they had seen to their own personal affairs. In short they became self-centred instead of God-centred in their outlook. They put themselves first and God second and such a self-centred approach to life eventually spawned a spirit of apathy towards the work of God.
Self-centredness is one of the chief causes of spiritual apathy within the Church today. It is one of the main reasons why God’s work is being neglected. Many Christians have got their priorities in life all wrong. Instead of putting God and the things of God first in their lives, they put themselves and their own desires and own needs first. They are like the people that Paul described in Philippians 2/21 a passage we considered together some months ago – “everyone is looking out for their own interests not those of Jesus Christ.” So taken up with their own affairs, so concerned abut matters relating to their own welfare and their own comforts and their own desires and their own ambitions that they have little thought of the things of God and no desire to get involved in any meaningful way in the work of God. People of whom it can be said that the things of God whether looked at in relation to the development and up-building of their own personal spiritual lives, or considered in the sense of the corporate work and witness of the congregation of which they are members, such things are not given priority in their lives. Oh they haven’t abandoned the things of God completely but they are so devoted to other things that God is given the left-overs of their time, their energy, their interest, their finances and so on. Let me ask you this morning is this true of you? Is your life God-centred or is it self –centred? Are you so busy running after other things that your are relegating the things of God and the work of God to a place of secondary importance in your life; a bit part of your life rather than the primary concern and chief purpose of your life?
One commentator has this to say about those words of Paul from Phil 2/21 “everyone seeks their own interests not those of Jesus Christ”
Alas brethren it would not surprise us greatly to hear Paul, if he were to revisit the earth in our time, say of a large number of the present race of Church members…they seek their own interests not hose of Jesus Christ…in the frequent indisposition among church members to give liberally…of their money, or their time, or their thoghts or their labour to Christian work… we see far to plain reason to think it likely the apostle would speak so.”
Well if Self-centredness was one cause of Spiritual Apathy the second cause of this spiritual disease was
2 Worldlimindedness:
And usually where you find the former you will in all likelihood also find the latter. Worldlimindedness is the Siamese twin of Self-centredness. What evidence do we have that Haggai’s contemporaries were worldly-minded? Well look again at v4. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin.” When God refers here to their “panelled houses” he is highlighting the fact that the houses that the people had built for themselves and in which they were living were not just comfortable, they were in fact luxurious. A Panelled house or room was one in which the walls were covered from floor to ceiling in cedar wood panelling and such luxury was usually only found in royal palaces. We read for example in 1 Kings 7 of the construction of Solomon’s Palace and one of the features of the palace was that the throne was covered from floor to ceiling in cedar panelling. In Jeremiah 22 God through the prophet describes the self-indulgent luxurious lifestyle of Israel’s Kings who had turned their back on the ways of God. The king says “I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms. So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it n red.” God says “does it make you a king to have more and more cedar.” The point being that cedar wood panelling was a sign of luxury, it was the décor of royalty. It was your Laura Ashley wallpaper of the 5th Century B.C. The people of Haggai’s day were decorating their homes with top f the range, the best that money could buy materials. An ordinary, run of the mill, average style of décor wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted the most elegant, the most stylish, the most luxurious, the best they could get. No expense was spared. The cedar clad roofs and the floor to ceiling panelling were damning evidence of their materialistic, worldly-minded outlook on life. What a contrast between their houses and the house of God. It lay in ruins while they dwelt in luxury. They hadn’t time to build God’s house but they had plenty of time to build their own. They hadn’t money to give to the building fund for the reconstruction of the temple but they had enough money to decorate their homes in the style of kings. They were so concerned about earthly things that they had become increasingly indifferent to spiritual things.
And you know brethren there are many professing Christians today who, like the people in Haggai’s day, have little concern for spiritual things because they have so much concern for material things. Christians who have a very worldly-minded outlook on life. Instead of setting their affections on things above they set them on things below. Our Lord said that a man’s life “does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” and yet to look at many Christians today you would think that this is exactly what they think a mans life does consist of. They will spend hundreds indeed often thousands of pounds in order to make their lifestyle more comfortable and enjoyable. Their houses are stylishly decorated and furnished with top quality items. They see the latest piece of electronic gadgetery advertised on television or in a magazine, whether it is some domestic appliance or some entertainment system, or whatever and before you know it they have bought one for their home. They are constantly making improvements to their property, maybe putting an ensuite in this bedroom and adding an extension to that room. They are quite prepared to spend substantial amounts of money on their own home but ask them to make a meaningful financial contribution to the work of the Lord, ask them to give generously towards the improvement of the Church property and they cry poverty.
I have worshiped in Church buildings that are in an awful state of repair. They are cold, damp, paint peeling of the walls, broken windows boarded up with plywood, carpets worn through, toilet facilities abysmal and so on and yet in going to people’s houses for lunch afterwards you find yourself in a spacious, beautifully furnished, well-equipped, comfortable modern house. It made me think of these words from Haggai – Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses and this house remains a ruin.
Tell folks that plans are afoot to initiate an innovative method of outreach in the town that will involve a substantial amount of financial outlay and that you are looking to the members to come up with the necessary funding and the worldly minded Chrisitans within the congregation will say they cant afford to give anything to the project, or if they do give something it is a very small conscience salving token donation. The same thing is true when it comes to the financial support of missions.
Now please don’t misunderstand me in what I am saying here or should I say in what God’s Word is saying. God was not pointing the accusing finger at the people merely on account of the fact that they had built lovely houses for themselves and were living in very comfortably surroundings. That in and of itself was not wrong or sinful. What God does condemn is the sinful materialistic, worldly-minded, self-centred attitude by which these people were driven to desire such things for themselves while caring little about the work of God. It was the fact that their heart was set more upon material things than spiritual things that God was condemning. They had their priorities all wrong.
There is nothing wrong and sinful about living in a lovely, comfortable, well-furnished, well equipped house. There is nothing wrong with making improvements to your property. There is nothing wrong with changing your car every three or four years or whenever. There is nothing wrong with having a nice holiday each year. Such things are not wrong and sinful in and of themselves, they become such if ones heart is set upon them to the extent that the acquiring of such things for yourself are more important to you than the things of God and the work of God.
“is it a time for you yourselves to be living in panelled houses while this house remains a ruin.”
Jesus said “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
“do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So self-centredness and Worldly-mindedness were two of the causes that lay behind the people’s spiritual apathy.
There is I believe one more cause we can identify in this passage and that is
3 Ungratefulness:
We find that in that little phrase in v4 that is translated in the NIV “you yourselves” and in the KJV “for you,O ye” What you have in the original is a repetition of the personal pronoun and when that happens in the Hebrew language it is usually done for the purpose of emphasising, of putting stress on and drawing attention to the word. John Calvin captures the sense very well when he translates it “Is it a time for you, YOU, to dwell in covered houses and this house to lie desolate.” And the point that is being made by God here is this – how could you, you of all people allow such a thing to happen. You who have enjoyed so many privileges and so many blessings from my hand. You the people upon who I set my love. You, the people that I chose for myself out of all the people’s of the earth. You, the people over whom I spread my protecting wings to preserve you while you were in exile. You, whom I brought back again to your own land according to my promise. How could you do this? Is this the measure of your gratitude in view of all that I have done for you? Has all that I have done for you meant so little to you? John Calvin comments “We see how great is the ingratitude of men. The kindness of God had been especially worthy of being remembered, the glory of which ought to have been borne in mind to the end of time: they had been restored from exile in a manner beyond what they could have expected. What ought they to have done but to have devoted themselves entirely to the service of their deliverer…” Of course when they first returned things were different. In those early weeks and months immediately after they set foot once again on the home soil they were full of wonderment and gratitude to God for what he had done for them. ‘When Zions bondage God turned back as men that dreamed were we, then filled with laughter was our mouth our tongue with melody.” And they showed the gratitude they felt at that time by getting stuck into the work of clearing the site and laying the foundation. But with the passage of time their sense of gratitude had undoubtedly diminished considerably and this was reflected in their lack of commitment to the work of God.
And again brethren I would suggest that herein lies another cause of much spiritual apathy among Christian people today. Their sense of gratitude to God for all that he has done for them has become dull with the passing of the years. In the early days immediately preceeding their conversion, in those days when they first came into membership in the Church they were deeply impressed with a sense of wonder and thanksgiving to God for the fact that He in His sovereign grace had set His saving love upon them, chosen them in Christ, forgiven them of their sins, saved them from eternal damnation and assured them of a place in heaven. And in the light of all that God had done for them they determined to serve him wholeheartedly and do anything he wanted them to do. They wanted to glorify God in a life of faithful service. But as time went on their sense of gratitude diminished, their priorities changed and they became less committed and less devoted to serving God and slowly but surely became more and more intent on doing their own things and serving themselves. They have become like the Church at Ephesus of whom it was said ‘you have left you first love.’
I wonder is that true of you as a Christian? Has you sense of gratitude to God for what he has done for you in saving you from your sin, has that sense of gratitude diminished over the years to the extent that it no longer motivates you to serve the Lord? If such is the case then I suggest that you take yourself again to the scriptures and remind yourself of the horrors of Hell from which you have been rescued. I suggest that you take time to stand, in your minds eye, on the brink of Hell’s abyss and ponder that terrifying sight. And having done that I suggest you take a walk, again in your minds eye as you read through the gospel narratives, that you take a walk to Calvary and there look again upon the one who was wounded for your transgressions and pierced for your iniquities. And as you do so remind yourself – ‘no man has greater love than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends.’ You need to stand once again under the shadow of the cross and ponder the fact that Jesus gave his all for you. And you need to stay there until the sense of gratitude returns, until the self-centredness is destroyed, until the worldlimindedness is overcome, until the spiritual apathy is replaced by a renewed spiritual fervour
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing so divine
Demands my soul my life my all.
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