HAGGAI: NEVER ENOUGH. Haggai 1:2-11. This is what the LORD Almighty says: These people say, The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD s house.

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1 August 30, 2015 HAGGAI: NEVER ENOUGH Haggai 1:2-11 Pastor Robert Simmons 2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: These people say, The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD s house. 3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? 5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. 7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. 9 You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD Almighty. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands. Our summer series is taking us through the twelve Minor Prophets of our Old Testament. Never ever forget that they are designated minor prophets because of their brevity and not because their message is of lesser importance. Today we come to the tenth prophet in our series which means after today we have only two more to examine. As you know we have not gone into great detail with these books but I have taken the track of introducing you to these inspired books by preaching one sermon from each of these books. My thanks to Brett for teaming up with me to preach from these books in my absence. These books are difficult to hear. We are accustomed to hearing sermons on love, grace, peace, joy, happiness, and similar topics. We have a tendency to cringe when we hear a sermon or read a book of the Bible where punishment and judgment from God are openly and forcefully expressed. I admit I don t like hearing these things and they make me feel a bit uncomfortable. However, the message of these books are very important for us to hear. Most probably there is no other time in the history of our nation when we need to hear from the prophets than today. These last three books in the Old Testament deal with the period of time after the Babylonian captivity. The prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi perform their ministry in the time when the remnant of Israel come back to NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 1

2 Jerusalem after having been in captivity for 70 long difficult years. These three books will deal with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and especially with the rebuilding of the Temple. So, just to remind you of what has happened to Israel in these twelve books: the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom were disbursed and destroyed by the invading Assyrians. Eventually Babylon conquered Assyria and became the dominate world power. About 130 years after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, the Babylonians came calling on the Southern Kingdom and removed Judah from Jerusalem and held them captive in Babylon for 70 years. The Persians took over as the dominate power of that part of the world and king Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and to rebuild their temple. The first leader to begin the task of rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple was Zerubbabel. Eventually Ezra and Nehemiah get involved so when you read those books of the Old Testament you are dealing with the period of time when Judah is going back home after captivity to rebuild their city and the temple of God. By the way, while we are at it, the books of Ezekiel and Daniel are books that were written by prophets who had been taken to Babylon. They are books that deal with the period of the exile of the people of Israel. That simple outline of history will go a long way in helping you read these books. Isaiah and Jeremiah are warning of God s judgment that is coming because of the people s idolatry, as do the most of the minor prophets. Ezekiel and Daniel deals with the period of captivity and the last three Minor Prophets are dealing with the return of the people to rebuild the city and the temple. One final historical point about this period of time. Once Judah comes back from captivity in Babylon, they never again flirt with idolatry. They struggle with plenty of other sins, just like all of us, but the Babylonian captivity cures them of the sin of idolatry. FIVE LESSONS FROM HAGGAI First, God never abandons his children! 1:13 It is true that the Babylonian invasion and captivity was God s judgment upon the sins and rebellion of Judah. When God s commands are ignored or rebelled against, punishment and judgment follows. We don t like to hear that, but Biblical history reveals it is true. However, God s judgments were always given to God s people as a corrective measure. They are meant to awaken the people and enable them to repent and seek God again. Take a look at two important verses in Haggai: the first verse is 1:13 where God tells the people I am with you. How comforting it would have been for these disobedient and rebellious people to hear. They must have thought NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 2

3 through the difficult years of captivity 70 years that God had given up on them. Surely God has abandoned them and now they are on their own. But no. I am with you, declares the Lord. The second verse to notice is 2:4,5: Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord, and work. For I am with you, declares the Lord Almighty. This is what I have covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. God reminds his people that he has been in covenant with them since the time they were delivered from Egypt and he has not forgotten or abandoned his covenant with them. God is a covenant keeping God! But notice that verse 5: my Spirit remains among you. To remain means he has never departed from them. God informs his children: I have been with you from the beginning; I am with you now; I will be with you in the future. What a powerful and comforting message for these beleaguered people! That is the same promise God makes to you and me: I will never leave or forsake you; I will be with you to the end of the age. In good times and in bad, our faithful, covenant God is there for us! God will punish sin and wrong in the believer but God never abandons his own! Do you belong to God? Are you in covenant with him? Now if you don t belong to God, there is no such hope. There will come a time when God will abandon those who are not his we call that hell. But God will never abandon those who belong to him. The second lesson is God uses people, circumstances, and various situations to lead us to where God wants us to be. By using the word us I mean God s people. God has some strange ways to teach his people to obey and love him. God has some strange ways to get people to where he wants them to be. God wanted these people to stop their idolatry and the worship of false gods. He sent them prophets to teach them and warn them. They refused to listen, so God sent them Babylon. And it was while they were in the vice grip of a pagan power that God got their attention. Okay, now for some good ole reformed theology. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. If you have heard the call of God and have responded by grace to that call and are a follower of Jesus, you are predestined to be made more and more like Jesus. And God will do whatever it takes and as long as it takes to form Christ in you. God s children cannot be anything less than Christ-like; there are no other options for a believer in Christ. And if it takes the school of hard knocks to get you there, then the school of hard knocks it will be! It may not be pleasant or wonderful but God will do in you whatever it takes to make you like his Son. So yield to him sooner rather than later, if you know what I mean. NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 3

4 Let me give you another example from Scripture of God getting his child where he wanted them. Scripture said Jesus would be born in Bethlehem but Mary and Joseph were in Nazareth. And Mary is very pregnant! How is God going to get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem? He moves the heart of Caesar Augustus to declare a degree that a census should be taken whereby everyone had to travel to their home town to register. There could not have been a more inconvenient time for Mary and Joseph to travel and register; this was a huge interruption of their lives. But God was behind the degree to, among other things, get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be for Jesus to be born in the right place. God can send you and me to a Babylon experience or God can arrange things that are terribly inconvenient and even down right an interruption to our lives all for the purpose of getting us where we ought to be. And that is a wonderful thing even though it may be a painful and difficult thing at the time. Here is a third lesson from Haggai: Watch out for the not now but someday syndrome 1:2 The people longed to return from Babylon and get back to Jerusalem and to get their life back on track. When they got back they were horrified to see the temple was totally destroyed and their homes were no more. The temple was extremely important because it represented God s presence in their midst. God has always had a presence among his people. In the early days God spoke directly and literally to his appointed leaders. After the Exodus God had a tabernacle erected and dwelt in that moveable tabernacle. The people knew God was literally in their midst. Eventually a permanent Temple was built and God s glory filled it. And then the tragic day came when Babylon invaded the land and totally and completely destroyed the Temple. It was gone and the people were carried away to a foreign land. There was no longer and visible image of the presence of God for them. After 70 years of living in Babylon under the thumb of a pagan people, God sent Persia to overthrown Babylon and King Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to begin making their way back to their homeland. And when they arrived and saw the Temple gone, they began to rebuild it but it didn t take very long before they got sidetracked. They became very concerned about their needs and wants. They stopped rebuilding the Temple and started spending all their time on taking care of themselves and rebuilding the Temple took a back seat. Anytime the idea came up that they should be rebuilding the Temple the common response was not now, but some day. That became their consistent song not now, but some day. Second verse, same as the first. And all the while God was being pushed out of their thoughts and lives through neglect. God speaks to them in 1:2 and says to the people, the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord s house, but it sure is NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 4

5 time for you to take care of your wants and needs and concerns. Have you ever been bitten by the not now, but some day bug? I don t have the time to read my Bible now, but I will someday. I don t have the time right now to develop my prayer life, but I will someday. I don t have time to volunteer for a ministry now, but someday I will. I don t have the means to give a tithe now, but someday I will. I don t have time to share my faith with others and invite them to church, but someday I will. When you begin thinking like that you will never find the right time to do what you need to do it will always be off in the future somewhere. Not now, but some day. No, it s time now to give your attention to the Lord. It s time now to start reading the Bible. It is now time to develop your prayer life. It is now time to find a place where you can serve Christ. It is now time to begin practicing tithing. It is now time to share your faith and inviting those without a church to come worship with you. Don t fall into the not now, but someday trap! Notice a fourth lesson from this prophet: beware of the danger of misplaced priorities 1:2-6 When you begin living in the not yet but some day trap you have your priorities out of place. As the people made their way back home they became consumed with themselves and their needs and wants and forgot or ignored the things of God. In our reading from Matthew this morning we hear Jesus telling us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added to us. When I was a child our Sunday school and VBS taught me this little song about the Biblical way to spell joy. Perhaps some of you know this song also: Jesus and others then you, What a wonderful way to spell joy. Jesus and others then you, What a life for each girl and each boy. J is for Jesus for he has first place, O is for others we meet face-to-face, Y is for you and whatever you do, Put yourself last and spell joy. The important thing to remember about that song is that Jesus always, in every situation and circumstance, is to come first. These folks returning to their homeland failed to put God first in their list of priorities. Don t make that same mistake in your life. The point of misplaced priorities leads very easily to our final lesson from Haggai: everything without God equals nothing! 1:5-6 In putting their own concerns first they had to learn the hard way this leads to dissatisfaction, frustration, emptiness, failure. The harder they worked on themselves the worse things got. What was the missing ingredient? God! Without God in his proper place in your life you can have everything but on closer inspection you will discover you have nothing! You can accumulate more NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 5

6 things a nicer car, a bigger home, a larger pay check, an impressive promotion but if your priorities are wrong you will be empty, frustrated, unhappy, and dissatisfied. Life was made for God to be first in our priorities. Remember Matthew 6:33! Where is God on your list? NEVER ENOUGH (#6 in the series: Major Themes From the Minor Prophets ) Page 6