Haggai 1:1-15
I Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Woodlawn Baptist Church
October 2, 2005
Introduction
About the year 600 BC, the Bible tells us and history confirms that the Jewish people were conquered by the Babylonian empire under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. You have read the stories of Daniel and the three Hebrew boys: those are young men who were taken into Babylonian captivity. In the early years of Israel’s subjection to Babylonian rule, Nebuchadnezzar led his armies to destroy Solomon’s glorious temple in Jerusalem and carried all the spoils back to Babylon.
For 70 years the Jews endured that captivity, hundreds of miles from home, after which time the Medo-Persian empire rose to power. The king of Persia, King Cyrus, decided to allow the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild their communities and the temple. Many of them chose not to and stayed in Babylon and Persia, but many others went back to Jerusalem and took on the work of rebuilding, beginning with Jerusalem and the temple of God. King Cyrus had put in writing the decree to rebuild, so with great hope and bright dreams, the people went to work, putting the pieces of the temple back where they belonged, looking forward to the glorious day when God’s presence would once again be manifested among them.
It wasn’t long before the mixed multitude of people known as the Samaritans showed up and began opposing the work of God’s people. They wanted to help rebuild, but the Jews wouldn’t allow them because they were not full blooded Jews. They were the children of mixed racial marriages and were not allowed to help. Upset by the action of the Jews, the Samaritans sent word back to Persia and got the work on the temple halted, and since Cyrus really had little or no interest in this project, he never reinstated it.
Put on hold by opposition and halted by an unwillingness to fight for this project, the Jews packed up their tools and went home where they got busy with their personal lives. Keep in mind that they’ve been gone for seventy years, so homes are ruined, farms are overrun, hostile neighbors had moved in on them and much rebuilding had to be done, so rather than dwelling on the temple they simply began to work on rebuilding their lives.
Divine Rebuke
For fourteen years the people of Israel stayed at home, during which time the ruined temple sat in their midst. Fourteen years go by and nothing is done. Israel’s civil leaders couldn’t motivate them and their spiritual leaders couldn’t get them back to work. That’s when God broke into their lives with this message from Haggai.
Now, Haggai was probably an old man when he delivered these messages from God. He appears to be old enough to have seen the old temple when he was a boy, before the Babylonian captivity. Outside of that we don’t know much about the man, but his message speaks volumes about his heart and his passion for Israel to come alive once again for the Lord. It speaks even greater volumes about the way God had been dealing with the people (which they had been unable to see) and His open rebuke of them for their neglect of Him and His house. Read with me Haggai 1:1-2.
“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”
The time had not come? For fourteen years they had let God’s house lie in ruins and it still wasn’t the right time to build. Was time a problem? Was money a problem? Was opposition a problem? Look at verses 3-4.
“Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?”
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.
A Heavenly Assessment
What did God think of all that? Verses 5-6 tell us.
“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”
God had grown so upset with the people that He told them to take a look at their lives. They worked and worked, but had little to show for it. They ate and drank plenty, but were never full; clothed, but never warm. They were making lots of money, but couldn’t seem to keep any of it.
Now God goes on. In verses 7-8 He tells them what He wants from them.
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.”
There you go. That’s what God wanted from the people. He wanted them to get busy and rebuild it, and He said that if they would, He would take pleasure in it and be glorified. Then He exposed their condition again.
“Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? Saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man to his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.”
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.
Have you ever known so many dissatisfied people? Chances are you’re one of them. We’re dissatisfied with our jobs, with our marriages, with our homes, with our cars, with our incomes, with our government, with our president, with our culture, with our television, with our doctors, with our health and more. And the kicker? We can’t seem to put a finger on what is wrong, so we redouble our efforts and hit it harder, or faster, or longer, or with whatever else we can muster up.
We’re holding a revival meeting in four weeks, but I honestly don’t see a people who are hungry for personal revival. I see some individuals who want it, but I have yet to see a church who is starving for God’s presence. I don’t see it and many of you have said the same. We don’t want God invading our lives with His glory and His holiness. We like things just like they are. “Preacher, why don’t you just back off sometime?”
We like our sin. We’re afraid to call sin sin and to call people to accountability. You complain when teachers or deacons or church leaders won’t fulfill their duties, but you won’t say it to them. We have much work to do, but few who want to initiate it or do it. We are going in the hole each month, but not because our spending is out of control: the offerings continue to go down. You come when you want to, when you feel like it, when it’s convenient or when there’s nothing better to do and act like its alright. But I ask you, alright to whom?
I am concerned because I see families who have time and money for everything but God and the things of God. We can go to games and events and theme parks and lakes and everywhere else under the sun, but we never have time for worship. We can stay in the latest styles and drive the latest cars and use all the latest gadgets, but we can’t give God ten percent. I’m watching families who are busier than ever, but are not happy; families that have much, but enjoy little. Husbands that are successful at work and can keep up with all their hobbies but are neglecting their families. Kids that look like fine Christians in the pew, but are eat up with empty, shallow living and are starving for the affection of their parents.
Look at verse 6 again.
“You go to work every day, day after day and work your forty hours, but you bring in little. You’re constantly eating, but you’re always hungry; drinking, but always thirsty. You have closets full of clothes and shoes, but they’re not enough; your annual income is sufficient, but you can’t seem to keep any of it.”
Now let me ask you something: Could it be: could it just be that God is tired of us always having plenty of time and money for us and not for Him? Could it be that God has is weary of Christians who are lazy and apathetic about His work? Those people had begun to make excuses, “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.”
“How many times have you heard that?
‘Yes, I believe in missions, but with our economy the way it is, this is no time to be taking on new projects.’
‘Well, of course every Christian is to be a witness where he lives and works. But witnessing to my coworkers is a delicate matter. I don’t think it’s time to tell them about Jesus Christ.’
‘I know I should tithe, but I can’t do it this year. I have too many family obligations.’
‘I’m flattered that you think my talents might help in that ministry, but I don’t have time to serve just now. Maybe later when the pressures of my job let up a bit.’”
While we serve up all those excuses, God says to us, “How long will you live such self-absorbed lives and neglect me? Now therefore says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways.” It is interesting to me that these people were furiously working away and had never considered that the reason they could not get ahead and the reason that so much was going wrong was because God was judging them.
I’m not a prophet and I wouldn’t begin to presume to know the mind of God, but when we can’t keep a bus running right, then the transmission goes out in the van, the air conditioner has to be replaced, there’s no significant rain here in months I seriously begin to wonder whether God is fed up with us.
Now, was all this rebuke from God just about a temple? About a big building of stone? Is it just about a church building and paying the bills here and keeping attendance up? If that’s what its all about then we’ve missed the point! Look at verse 8 again. Why did God want them working on His house? First of all because His house was where people associated worship with Him. When they worked on His house they communicated that they had a heart for Him. When they worked on His house they made Him happy and He was glorified.
That’s what its all about – its about pleasing God and glorifying Him, and when we get so self-absorbed that we can’t come to church because we’d rather make a buck or because there’s a good game on or simply because we don’t want to get out of bed then we are saying to Him that we don’t really care. And so long as you can say that you don’t care to God you can be sure that He is going to work against you.
The Proper Response
What happened when the people heard Haggai’s message? Let’s read verses 12-15 and see.
“Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed 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 did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lords message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.”
First the people honored God’s Word. They heard the messages and obeyed them. Second they regained a healthy fear of God. “They feared before Him.” We like to hear about the love of God and the grace of God and the mercy and forgiveness and the tenderness of God; and all those things are true of Him, but don’t ever forget that we serve a jealous God who is holy and righteous and who will judge. We ought to fear the judgment of God. Many of you have chosen to put yourselves before the Lord. You’re indulging yourselves and forgetting your obligations to Him and in so doing you’re inviting His judgment.
Not only did they honor His Word and regain a healthy fear of Him, but they also went to work. They considered their ways and adjusted their priorities accordingly.
Now I want to show you two things: first there is an affirmation from God in verse 13. God says some words that we need to hear today: “You’ve been neglecting me. You’ve been putting me last on your list and I’m not going to let it slide. You’re dissatisfied, empty and hungry, and it’s because I’ve been trying to get your attention, but listen to me: I’m on your side. I am with you saith the Lord.”
The second thing is that the people experienced a great revival and the work on God’s temple was resumed. If there is a fascinating twist to all of this it is this: Haggai is the most well dated book among the minor prophets. It has been determined that the timing of his first message to the people took place at the end of August during the second year of Darius’ reign. Verses 14 and 15 indicate that the people rallied around the renewed efforts twenty-four days later.
Now this message comes about a month later than Haggai’s did in the year, but our revival meeting is only about 21 days away. The question I have for you is this: will revival come for you in that time? 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?
