Limavady Reformed Presbyterian Church
Northern Ireland
Studies in the Book of Haggai
Study 3
The Consequences of Spiritual Apathy
Introduction
Over the past two weeks we have been considering the teaching of the opening section of the book of Haggai. Although classed as one of the minor prophets Haggai had a major message to proclaim. As we have been seeing he addressed a particular spiritual condition that prevailed among the people of God who had returned to Jerusalem after the 70 years exile in Babylon, that spiritual condition being one of Spiritual apathy. In our first study we considered the evidences of Spiritual Apathy among the people and cited three such evidences – God’s Work was being Neglected; God’s People Were Contented; and Empty Excuses were being offered for not doing God’s work. Last week we looked at the root causes of their spiritual apathy and once again I identified three such causes – Self-centredness: Worldly-mindedness and Ungratefulness.
This morning I want us to look at the consequences of the people’s Spiritual Apathy. The first consequence of the people’s Spiritual Apathy is found in v 2 where we see that
1) Their Relationship With God was Marred:
Look at what it says in that verse “This is what the Lord Almighty says These people say ‘the time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’” The translation in the KJV reads “This people says…” Notice the way God refers to Haggai’s self-centred, ungrateful, worldly-minded, spiritually apathetic contemporaries THIS people. Not my people. There is more than a hint of contempt in this indignant abrupt, cold form of address. Its as if God does not want to be in any way associated with them. He seems to have had enough of their dilly-dallying and timewasting, their self-centredness and worldly-mindedness and as it were distances Himself from them. He uses what in effect is a term of reproach. The same form of address is found in Jeremiah 7:16 where God, on account of the fact that the people of God at that time were wholly given over to idolatry and immorality, says to the prophet ‘do not pray for THIS people, nor offer any plea of petition for them…’ You get the same thing a couple of chapters later in 14:10,11 ‘This is what the Lord says about THIS people, they greatly love to wander they do not restrain their feet, therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins’ Then the Lord said to me do not pray for the well-being of THIS people.’ Similarly in exodus 32/9 where the people have just made the golden calf and are worshipping it God says to Moses “I have seen THIS people and behold they are a stiff-necked people.” In each case the sin of the people aroused God’s anger against them and their sin resulted in a marring, in a breakdown in their special relationship with God. And that is exactly what had happened in Haggai’s day. The people’s spiritual apathy, their indifference to the ruined state of the temple, their unwillingness to apply themselves to the important work of rebuilding God’s House, their self-centred, materialistic approach to life had kindled God’s anger with the result that their relationship with God was marred. He no longer addresses them in those gentle, loving affectionate tones that he had used when speaking of them or to them in the past, instead he uses a contemptuous term spoken no doubt in a sharp, abrupt and cold tone of voice. Its almost as if he virtually disowns them. Of curse God did not disown them. He could not abandon his covenant relationship with them. But there is no doubt that whilst they were still his people they were very much out of favour with God on account of their sin, their relationship was marred.
Of course its fairly easy for us to understand what is happening here in this breakdown in the relationship between God and his people. We have all experienced something similar in our relationships within our families. Those of you who are married can cast your minds back to the day when you tied the matrimonial knot. You men can remember your bride walking down the aisle and coming alongside you as you stood at the front of the Church and you thought to yourself how beautiful she looked, and you thought that your heart was almost going to burst with love. You ladies thought to yourselves, how handsome your husband-to-be looked and how happy you were to be marrying him and everything at that moment was wonderful between the two of you. And it probably remained like that for, well I wont say how long. But there came that day when your spouse did something that really hurt you or annoyed you, maybe something they said, maybe something they did or forgot to do, whatever, and the result was that there was friction between you and your relationship was marred. For a while you didn’t want to speak to them. When you absolutely had to it was in cold abrupt tones. Warm loving consideration for your partner gave way to cold indifference. You were still husband and wife of course. The status of your relationship hadn’t changed. Your conflict did not annul your marital status. But the experience and enjoyment of your relationship was marred, and remained so until you eventually addressed the problem and got it sorted out.
The same is true in respect of the relationship between parents and children. There can be a breakdown in that relationship as a result of disobedience on the part of the child. The objective relationship does not change – the child is still the son / daughter of those parents, they are still his/her parents but something of the closeness of the relationship is lost while the child remains in a state of disobedience. The relationship is not what it should be. Well something similar was happening here in Haggai’s day. Their spiritual apathy, their indifference to God’s Work, their self-centredness, their worldly-mindedness, their ungratefulness, had kindled God’s anger against them resulting in a marring of their relationship with Him.
When a person is born again of God’s Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ adopted into God’s family that person is brought into a very special relationship with God. God becomes their Father, they become his child. And one of the marvellous truths of the gospel is that that objective Father/Child relationship cannot be broken and will never be dissolved. However the Christian’s subjective experience of that relationship can be marred as a result of sin in the life of the Christian. When the believer sins and refuses to face up to, confess and turn from their sin and chooses instead to live in a state of known disobedience to God, the closeness of their relationship with God is adversely affected. God is still their Father, but there is something of a distance, something even of a coldness in the relationship. There is much less of a felt sense of God’s fatherly love. The close sweet intimate fellowship that the believer once enjoyed when he or she was living in obedience to God’s will disappears. The relationship becomes marred as a result of sin. And it will remain that way until the believer turns from their sin. That was David’s experience in the aftermath of his sin with Bathsheba. His sin, terrible as it was, did not dissolve his objective relationship with God. He was still God’s child. What it did do however, was mar his subjective experience of that relationship. He didn’t have the same sense of God’s love for him. He didn’t have the same sense of God’s presence. The joy of his salvation was replaced by sorrow. He felt as though God’s hand was heavy upon him, which it was, because God instead of blessing David was chastening him. And it was not until David faced up to his sin, it was not until he confessed it unto God, it was not until he cried out in repentance “have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me…” It was not until David came to that point of genuine confession of and repentance from sin that the broken, marred, relationship with God was restored.
Let me ask you this morning, as a Christian, do you feel that God is somewhat at a distance from you. Have you in recent months lost that sense of God’s nearness to you and love for you that you once enjoyed? Is your fellowship with the Lord not what it used to be? Do you find that you cant speak to the Lord as you once did, that your relationship is not as close as it once was? Does there seem to be some sort of barrier between you and the Lord? If so then, perhaps its because there is some sin in your life that you have been unwilling to face up to and deal with. Some sin that you have been unwilling to forsake and that you have been indulging for some time. Maybe like the people in Haggai’s day you have fallen into a state of spiritual apathy over the past months. Maybe you have become less disciplined in your Christian life. Less disciplined in your attendance at worship, less disciplined in your reading of the scriptures, less disciplined in prayer, less disciplined in your speech, in your conduct. Maybe you have allowed other things to become more important to you and take preference in your life over the things of God and the work of God. Maybe over this past year or over these past years you have been slowly but surely pushing God from the centre of your life where he should be and wants to be, to the fringes, and you have been giving God the leftovers of your life. Brethren if such is the case, is it any wonder that you that you have lost that sense of communion and personal fellowship with God that you once enjoyed. Is it any wonder that you feel that God is at a distance from you? Your sin has marred your relationship with God. Your sin has caused God to withdraw the sense of his nearness and his love from you. And until you confess your sin and truly repent of it your relationship with God will remain marred.
Here then is the first consequence of the people’s Spiritual apathy - their relationship with God was marred.
The second consequence of the people’s Spiritual Apathy was
2) The Blessing of God Was Withheld:
We see that in verses 6 and 9-11 READ
Living as they did in a rural setting God’s people were dependant upon good harvests not only to provide sufficient food for themselves but also to provide a good stable economy in the land that would in turn provide the necessary financial income for the people to maintain their more than comfortable lifestyle. The problem was however that for a number of years now the harvests had been very poor. Like all sensible, hardworking farming folk, they had busied themselves doing all that they could by way of working the land with a view to doing all that was humanly possible to ensure a good harvest. The ground had been ploughed up each year and prepared for sowing. They had sown plenty of seed and so on. But despite having done all they could the much longed for bumper year didn’t materialise because not only did the rains not come, even the early morning dew, which in Palestine is as plentiful and as important as the rains themselves, was in very short supply. Consequently the harvests had been abysmal. They had sown profusely and with great expectation – “you have planted much…you expected much…” but all their labour was in vain all their hopes were dashed. “you have sown much but have harvested little…you expected much, but see it turned out to be little.” And what had happened was that the continual pattern of drought and bad harvests had resulted in the onslought of an economic depression. People who in former years, prior to this prolonged period of economic hardship, were able to spend their money on luxuries and even save and invest their money, found that with the ever rising inflation that inevitably accompanies bad harvests and a shortage of food, all their savings were being used up. What formerly had bought luxuries now had to be used to pay for the bare necessities of life. The money they earned didn’t go as far as it used to. It was as God describes it here in very graphic language like ‘earning wages only to put them into a purse with holes in it.” The food they purchased wasn’t sufficient to really satisfy their hunger. They couldn’t get enough drinking water to satisfy their thirst, probably because it was so scarce and therefore rationed on account of the drought conditions. Even the very clothes they wore were not sufficient to keep them warm. Some commentators suggest this was due to the thinning of their blood and bad circulation as a result of a limited and unbalanced diet because of the scarcity of food. For years they had put all their effort into working hard to give themselves a comfortable, indeed a more than comfortable lifestyle, building beautiful houses for themselves, saving up their excess income each year and so on, but in a few short years they ended up poverty stricken and in want. Their savings all gone, their barns empty, their fields bare, their wells dry. What was happening. Why was this ? Well the answer is really quite simple- GOD WAS WITHOLDING HIS BLESSING FROM THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR SIN. READ v9-11. God says to the people ‘do you want to know the reason for your current problems? Well I will tell you. It is because of your self-centred, worldly-minded, ungrateful attitude that has driven you to put yourselves first and me second. It is because you have allowed my house to lie in ruins all these years. It is because you have been making empty excuses for neglecting the work to which I called you and for which I brought you back to this land, the work of rebuilding the temple. It is because for the last 16 years you’ve been saying, “We’ll get round to doing God’s work some day” but have spent all your time thinking about yourselves. And because of all this I have withheld my blessing from you.’ There is a play on words here in the original which doesn’t come out in any of the English translations. God says that the people had left His house to lie DESOLATE and now he was making their land DESOLATE. God is saying I will give you a taste of your own medicine. I have shut up the heavens so that the rain and dew hasn’t fallen. I have caused the land not to produce a crop. The Sun has baked the soft rich soil until it has become hard like iron. Instead of blessing you I am afflicting you. Instead of being the objects of my bountiful provision you are the objects of my chastening displeasure.
God of course had warned his people when he gave them the Law that he would remove his blessing from them and send them hard times instead if they sinned against him. In Leviticus 26/14ff we read of God’s threatened judgement upon the people if they forgot him and sinned against Him. In v19 God says “I will…make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain for your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.” You get the same warning in Deut 28/24 “the Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder.”
Haggai mentions the corn, the wine and the oil, - the three basic crops of the land of Israel. That which was part and parcel of their staple diet and upon which their whole economy depended. In Deut 11:14 God had promised that of they loved and served him with all their heart and with all their soul he would abundantly bless them in these areas. “If you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today – to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and all your soul – then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”
But the people hadn’t loved the Lord their God with all their heart and soul. They had put themselves first. They had become indifferent to God and to His work. They looked at the ruined temple and said ‘ah it’ll do rightly for another while yet. We’ll get round to fixing it up some day.’ And so because of their spiritual apathy God withdrew his blessing from them and chastened them for their sin. The adverse circumstances the people were facing were a direct consequence of their sin. God was dealing with them in very real, practical observable ways. Ways that ought to have caused them to see that he was displeased with them. Oh no doubt the bad weather could have been explained in meteorological and scientific terms. Had they had your Bill Giles’ and your Michael Fish’s no doubt they would have had their weather maps of Palestine out covered in isobars and arrows showing wind speed and direction and their symbols of bright sunshine and High pressure and would have been able to explain why the hot dry weather was continuing and why it hadn’t rained for so long. But behind all the human, scientific, meteorological explanations there was another more important and more simple explanation. The God who controls the wind and the rain and the atmospheric pressure and the sunshine, He had determined that the clouds would not gather over Palestine. He had determined that no rain would fall. He had determined that the Sun would shine brilliantly in the sky from morning until night. And all this as a form of chastening against His people on account of their sin.
You know brethren God delights to pour out blessing upon his children. He delights to pour out blessing upon us as individuals as families and as congregations. But when his people become so self-centred and so worldly-minded in their attitudes and in their conduct so as to put themselves and their own interests first and push God to some place of lesser importance in their life, When spiritual apathy begins to settle in and become a regular feature of a believers, of a family’s, or of a congregation’s life, God often responds to such sin by not only withholding his blessing from them but also by actively pursuing a chastening policy against them. He does so, as we see from this book we are studying, to get us back on the right track spiritually so that he can do what he wants to do, bless us once again. And sometimes he has to lay his heavy hand upon us in order to get us to take time out and reassess our priorities in life.
Sometimes he removes material blessing from us by taking away our job and causing us to live on a much reduced income. Maybe a person has been used to having a well paid job, maybe even having two considerable wages coming into their home and during that time they were able to buy what they wanted without even a second thought. Able perhaps to save and invest a fair bit each year. Able to afford a nice Holiday and so on. And despite the fact that God had been greatly blessing them materially they were not giving God the primary place in their life that he demands and deserves. And so God withdraws that blessing. Their circumstances suddenly change and they find they are made redundant and things become tight financially for them and they struggle to make ends meet and have to dip into their savings to pay bills and have to count every penny in order to get by. Now of course the loss of their job can be explained in terms of the current difficulties in the economic climate, the fact that the firm they work for has to make cuts to survive, The loss of orders to foreign companies, the lack of government funding for their particular job sector or whatever. But behind all these things there is another explanation, God’s withholding blessing from and beginning to chasten that Christian for their sin.
Sometimes the blessing he withholds from us is the blessing of health. After many years of good health we suddenly find ourselves overcome by one medical problem after another. We have this problem and no sooner has that cleared up than we find something else is wrong with us. And yes the Doctor can investigate and usually tell us the reason why that particular part of our anatomy isn’t functioning as it should but perhaps behind that reason there is another reason – sin in our life has caused God to have dealings with us by withdrawing from us the blessing of health we once enjoyed in order to get us to think about our spiritual condition.
We are going to see that God called these people to give serious thought to what was happening to them and to weigh up what God was doing in their life. “Give careful thought to your ways.” God was speaking to them in their everyday experiences in life and they needed to listen to Him.
Maybe God has been speaking to some of you in this way. Maybe you have not been putting God first in your life. Maybe you, professing to be a Christian, have been not living as a Christian. Not being as committed to God and to His service as you should be. And maybe God has touched your life by withholding blessing from you and bringing you into some adversity in life. I wonder did you ever think to yourself why has this happened in my life? Why have we hit such hard times? Why have I got these problems? You see folks, God doesn’t allow those who are truly his children to go on in sin unchecked. He will make a point of dealing with them with a view to bringing them back to himself. That is what he did to the people in Haggai’s day.
The writer to the Hebrews tells us “whom the Lord loves he chastens…no chastening seems pleasant at the time but painful. Later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
This is what God was doing in the lives of Haggai’s contemporaries. And it wasn’t pleasant. It was painful. But they did learn from it as we shall see and such chastening did produce a harvest of righteousness in their lives as they returned to the Lord and once again put Him first in their lives and subsequently experienced again His blessing.
The name of God was dishonoured.
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