1 Valley View Chapel October 21, 2012 First Things First 1 Making First Things First Haggai 1:1-15 Introduction In 1989 Stephen Covey wrote a groundbreaking book that Time magazine called one of the 25 most influential business books ever written. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold more than 25 million copies and has been translated into 38 languages. Covey coined terms that many of us use on an almost daily basis: Be proactive ; Begin with the end in mind ; Think win-win ; Seek first to understand, then to be understood ; Synergize ; and Sharpen the saw. Habit #3 is: Put first things first. Covey defined the habit: Habit 3 is about life management your purpose, values, roles, and priorities. What are first things? First things are those things you, personally, find of most worth. Defining our first things does not guarantee that these first things will occupy a place of paramount importance in our lives, however. Covey went on to say that we have to evaluate whether our efforts exemplify our desired character values. In other words, do our conduct and activities reinforce what we say are the most important things in our lives? For the next two weeks I want to talk with you about priorities. You have priorities whether you know it or not. Everyone has priorities. So the issue isn t: Do you have priorities? You do. Everyone does. What I want us to think seriously about is whether we have the right priorities and whether we are living by them consistently. Personal priorities are based on our purpose in life and our hierarchy of values. Do you want to know how you can tell what you value most in the world? It s what you are most passionate about. It s about what sets your heart racing; what inspires hope; what sets on fire your imagination. Cell phone phobia I guess one sign that the apocalypse is almost upon us is that many people have no higher value than their cell phone. It s the last thing they touch before they go to sleep, the first thing they reach for in the morning, and it s what they keep in their ear, their hands, on their hip, or in their purse virtually every waking hour. The February 17, 2012 edition of The Los Angeles Times published an article about the newest phobia nomophobia (short for no mobile phone.) The article stated that cell phone obsession may be undermining many peoples lives. The article cited the following statistics:
2 People check their cell phones an average of 34 times per day. 66 percent of people fear losing or being without their cell phones. 75 percent of people use their cell phones in the bathroom. About 30 percent of people would rather leave the house without a credit card or cash than their mobile phones. 55 percent of women would rather leave home without makeup. 63 percent said they would climb through trash to find a lost cell phone. 25 percent said they would physically fight a thief to get their phone back. 40 percent said they would start to miss their phone in less than an hour. 11 percent of respondents would rather leave home without their pants than their smart phones. Sounds like a lot of people are pretty passionate about their cell phones! Sounds like their cell phones are at the top of their priority list. Recently I read John Ortberg s latest book Who Is This Man? He had an interesting observation, one that I never thought about before, but how true it is! Dallas Willard said that obituaries rarely say things like She had a fine figure, and a thick head of hair, and wonderfully white teeth. He drove fast cars and dated fast women. He earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in his spare time at home. But our advertisements are filled with promises to give you the very things you wouldn t want listed in your obituary: great looks, great money, great sex, great food, great widescreen TVs. C mon! Do you really want your obituary to say that you had a killer 4G smart phone with 6,000 apps? Yet these are the kinds of things many people obsess about. Wrong priorities and empty lives 2500 years ago God s people living in Jerusalem also struggled with having the right priorities. They invested time and money in that which they thought would bring them joy and fulfillment only to find out that these things failed to deliver on their promises. Their story of priorities gone bad was chronicled in the Old Testament book of Haggai. Look with me at Haggai 1:5-6 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have 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." (NIV) In today s language, we d say that they bought the latest, greatest smart phone; an 80 widescreen TV with a $10,000 sound system; an $80,000 luxury car; and a $25,000 wardrobe from Niemen-Marcus. Their values could be stated this way: If some is good then more is better and too much is just right!
3 The only problem is that they when they put their head on the pillow at night, they still feel like something was missing. As the late Peter Gomes once said: The good life isn t necessarily the life that is good. And that always happens when our priorities reflect misplaced values; when we ascribe ultimate worth to that which is not ultimately worthy. Walter Kaiser was correct when he said: You can t cheat God without cheating yourself. Sooner or later God will show us that we ve been barking up the wrong tree. Background As with any book of the Bible, it s important to know the historical context. Haggai made it easy for us for he told us in the first verse when he received his prophecy: In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Haggai 1:1 (NIV) King Darius ruled Persia from 521-486 B.C. The first day of the sixth month of the second year of the rule of King Darius would be August 29, 520 B.C. Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The protective walls surrounding the city were torn down and the magnificent temple that had been built during Solomon s reign 400 years earlier was utterly destroyed. Thousands of Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity. In 539 B.C. the Medo-Persian Empire under King Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and became the dominant world power. In 538 B.C. Cyrus granted permission to all Jews who wanted to return to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding the temple. Why did he do this? Because Cyrus was a superstitious man. He wanted to gain the favor of Israel s God and he figured that the best way to do it would be for the temple to be rebuilt. He not only provided the work force, he also financed the entire project. 50,000 Jews took Cyrus up on his offer. They started work on the temple in 536 B.C. It wasn t long before those not sympathetic to the Jewish religion, who had been moved into Jerusalem and Judah from other lands by the Babylonians, began to persecute the builders, making life difficult for them. We re told about it in Ezra 4:4-5, Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans. (NIV) The Jewish rebuilders got discouraged and gave up their work. For the next 16 years the project was little more than a foundation and a heap of rubble, a silent testimony to an uncommitted people who didn t have the heart to finish what they started.
4 The people forgot their purpose and misplaced their priority. The first thing was no longer the first thing. 18 years earlier King Cyrus had proclaimed to the Jewish exiles: "'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:2-3 (NIV) Yet the people had said in Haggai 1:2, The time has not yet come for the Lord's house to be built." Haggai 1:2 (NIV) But the time had come and gone! For 16 years the people had been rationalizing their avoidance of the work God had called them to do. There s a tinge of sarcasm in God s response: Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" Haggai 1:3-4 (NIV) Why was it not time to rebuild the house of God? They had not been brought back to the holy city to neglect the work of God and establish their own agenda. God had moved the heart of Cyrus for one reason only: so that a temple would be built where people could offer sacrifices for their sins and praise the name of the Lord. Other concerns homes, jobs, families, sports and recreation have their place. But none of these things should assume the first place. The first place was always and ever to be the glory of God. Application The Jews of the 6 th century B.C. were hardly the last people to give to God the leftovers of their time, money, energy and commitment. It still happens in the church of Jesus Christ today. The people of God have largely forgotten what the first thing is. They think that Jesus died on the cross so that they could spend their time on home improvements, or work responsibilities or recreational activities or youth sports or any of a countless number of lesser things. When will the church of God realize that putting God first is in her best interest? When we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, God makes all the rest of life manageable. When I put God first, it reflects well on my relationships, my finances, my work, and everything else that pertains to me. When I put God first, food tastes better; sleep comes easier; hobbies are more enjoyable; vacations are more restful; and work is more productive. But self-interest isn t the main reason we are to put first God and his purposes. The main reason is stated in verse 8, Go up into the mountains and bring down timber
5 and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord. Haggai 1:8 (NIV) The main reason to put God first is because it gives him pleasure. Why did God make you? So that you could send 50 or 100 or more text messages a day? So that you could become a scratch golfer? So that you could have the biggest TV on the block? So that you could get the corner office on the top floor? God in his grace may give you those things but they were never the reason why he knit and embroidered you in your mother s womb and gave you breath and years to live. John Piper said: The church today exists for the glory of God. Valley View Chapel is on this earth to praise him; worship him; adore him; serve him; and share his goodness and love with people everywhere so that they, too, will fulfill their destiny and join the great company of the redeemed. But such a passionate response to God doesn t come without sacrifice. Dave Stone, pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY wrote: Several years ago I heard leadership guru Jim Collins tell about his goal of reading a hundred books a year. The first night he sat down with a book in his hand, he also began watching Monday Night Football. The game was more exciting than the book, so Collins watched football. Soon he realized that in order to read his hundred books, he'd have to unplug his television. Collins looked at the group of Christian leaders and asked the million-dollar question, What must you unplug in order to accomplish your goals? We can t have it both ways. Something needs to be unplugged if Jesus Christ is to assume his rightful place of supremacy in our lives. Last year at our annual district conference in the Poconos I heard a pastor from California tell the delegates: We are coming to the time (if we re not already there) when the most loyal members of the church will show up about half the Sundays of the year. If he s right (and I fear that he is) then it s time for some of us to unplug something in order to give Jesus Christ his rightful place and make first things first. But I can still love and serve Jesus without coming to church all the time. I don t read that in the Bible. But I do read this about the early church that turned the world upside down for Christ: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42 (NIV) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:46-47 (NIV)
6 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Conclusion Stephen Covey s third habit Put first things first is all about our values lining up with what we say are our priorities. When what is most important to God is most important to us, then first things are first. And when our first thing is the glory of God, not only is God pleased but he pours down on us pleasure and purpose that are indescribable. Allow me to close with words from the pen of C.S. Lewis, words that many of you have heard before: Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim and earth and you get neither. That s what happens when we make first things first.