Part 7: Consider Your Ways

INTRO

Sometimes we all think we know the reality of our lives, but in truth the only reality is God's reality. When we get too caught up in our own lives, we get a skewed perspective. Often it can feel like we’re running circles…putting out all kinds of effort to only get no where or even fall further behind. Usually have the best intentions of doing the right things, especially when it comes to faith in God, but because of the ruts of life our good intentions are only empty aspirations. When things get skewed, we need a wake up call to snap us back to reality. This is exactly what God does for His people in Haggai.

Haggai 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.

1) Priority Problem (vs. 1-5)

The people of Judah were trying to get their lives in order.

Return from Exile

Homeland destroyed

No real leadership in the land

Families and Neighbors fractured

Everything had to be rebuilt and reestablished

I’m sure they had good intentions of getting their place of worship back in order, but how could they serve and focus on God when there was still so much to do?

Their priorities were skewed.

It wasn’t malicious. It was a gradual fade.

The people were doing what seemed right to them.

May have had an attitude, we can serve God better when our own houses are in order.

No matter how good their intention may or may not have been, the reality is that their priorities were problematic.

What is the most important thing in your life? What really matters to you?

We know what the answer should be, but what do our actions say.

When you “Consider your ways,” what would stand out as your first priority?

Too often, we tend to compartmentalize our lives…work life, family life, me time, friend time, faith life…

If this is how your life is, the reality is that God may not even make the top 5 priorities.

It’s usually not intentional or malicious.

Gone are the days in our society where its socially advantageous to be active in our faith lives.

Honestly, praise God that the Church is no longer a country club…we see that the long term affects of that are devastating.

But in today’s culture, people don’t intentionally let God slide out of priority, it just happens when we take our eyes off of Him and start focusing on the day to day tasks of living.

In reality, though, what we are doing is trying to function in a rut because we have a priority problem. That priority problem leads to a purpose predicament.

2) Purpose Predicament (vs. 6-11)

Haggai 1:6–11 ESV

6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

Upon their return to their homeland, the people were trying to get back on their feet.

Sowing, reaping, eating, drinking, clothing themselves, earning wages…

But they were either going nowhere or getting further behind.

No matter how hard they worked, they could never get a feel for fulfilling their purpose. They were in a purpose predicament.

Again, God calls the people to consider their ways.

Why could they not fulfill their purpose? When your priorities are skewed, your purpose is misplaced!

“The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us. ” ― A. W. Tozer

God tells the people to stop trying to build their own lives and start glorifying Him.

God exposed the curses in their lives to show them that they had neglected God’s glory.

Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

1 Cor. 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

God’s motivation for the people is not to turn their cursings into blessings…it’s to prioritize Him above themselves…it’s to live for His glory!

The blessings in our lives are only true blessings when they are a by product of God’s glory, not from attempts at religious wheeling and dealing.

Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

When we look at our lives, I have not doubts that we experience frustration from our own purpose predicament.

We strive to get our lives to a place where we can breathe, much less focus on our faith in God.

Sometimes we feel like its all we can do to get our heads above water, but we again need to consider our ways.

The strife and inner turmoil in our lives can best be described by Psalm 127:1

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain...”

It sometimes feels like we are living without purpose, because we truly exist for one primary purpose…to glorify God!

If we aren’t doing that…if God’s glory is not the primary focus of our lives, then we build our lives on sand that crumbles and collapses again and again and we labor in vain.

There is only one hope for our lives…to build our lives upon the solid rock of Jesus by obeying Him and making Him the sole priority of our lives that everything else revolves around.

3) Promised Presence (vs. 12-15)

Haggai 1:12–15 ESV

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 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 feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

They obeyed God by shifting their priority to Him (feared the LORD)!

God blessed them with His Promised Presence!

His presence stirred their spirits and moved their hearts to action!

Oh, that we would be a people who respond to the words of God, obey and shift our priorities, that we may be stirred by His promised presence in our lives!

CLOSING

Consider your ways...

Despite your best intentions, is God truly being glorified through your life and your pursued purpose?

Is your life feeling like it’s busy and going nowhere? Do you have a priority problem that is leading to a purpose predicament?

Hear the word of the Lord and stop trying to build your own life…Focus on His glory! Make obedience to Him your purpose above all else and enjoy His promised presence!