BO12 | Haggai - Cape

INTRODUCTION

Haggai and Zechariah (next week) were contemporaries:

They both prophesied after the return of the Israelites from exile.

As we have seen in the other prophets, the Lord judged Israel and Judah …

… for their sinful rebellion and failure to repent

… by sending them into exile and scattering them among the nations.

Both Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the building of the temple now that the remnant has returned.

First wave of returned exiles 538 BC.

Temple completed in 516 BC.

(22 years later) This is a problem! No worship, sacrifice, presence of the Lord in their midst.

Read v1 = 520 BC.

I don’t keep a calendar based on the reign of King Darius.

Four Sermons

I want to give you this book.

There’s no way we are going to cover all of this.

Haggai 1 - The Lord makes a dispute with the returned exiles

Chapter one is the issue at hand in the book of Haggai.

The people and their leaders have failed to attend to the rebuilding of the temple.

Haggai 2:1-9 - The Lord encourages Zerubbabel and Joshua …

… the governor and high priest.

Haggai 2:10-19 - The Lord explains that spiritual corruption defiles worship

Haggai 2:20-23 - The Lord chooses Zerubbabel and his Davidic line …

… affirming that the Lord will work his divine purposes through Zerubbabel.

Richard Taylor (NAC) The overall purpose of the Book of Haggai is thus quite clear. Its four messages seek to stir the people of Judah to turn from their self-centered ways and to undertake, with God’s help, the restoration of the Jerusalem temple so that the Lord may once again uniquely manifest himself in this sacred place. If they will present themselves to him as a pure people, the Lord promises divine enablement for their task, unsurpassed glory for the new temple, and elevation of a Davidic heir to lead the people in triumph over their enemies.

This morning we are going to focus on this first sermon …

… in which the Lord makes a dispute with the returned exiles

… that they have neglected the building of the temple.

PRAY

They both prophesied after the return of the Israelites from exile.

6:00

SOWING TO ETERNAL JOY

The Dispute

Haggai 1:2 — The time has not yet come!

That’s interesting. Is it because there is great opposition?

Perhaps there aren’t enough resources.

Maybe they don’t know how to build stuff.

Let’s see if we get insight into what is happening.

Read Haggai 1:3-4 — Is it a time for you yourselves?

Ah! The people have enough resources to build nice houses for themselves.

So, it’s not a circumstantial problem.

Evidently, it’s problem of priority, or perhaps, a problem of the heart.

Haggai 1:9b — The Lord’s Diagnosis

I think this verse cuts to the heart with a clarity that is nearly unparalleled.

How often do we sort of silently agree together a people …

(you don’t just have an individual who decided to build his house instead of the temple …

… it was a community problem.)

… to scatter to our own households

… care for me and mine

… and neglect the worship of the Lord.

What we have here is a cultural problem.

Not a culture problem out there.

We are that culture:

An unspoken culture to be a certain way.

10:00

Consider Your Ways: Sown Much, Harvested Little

Consider your ways!

How has it been for you these days?

It’s a, “How’s that going for you?” moment.

The people have not been concerned for the ways of the Lord.

Particularly his design for worship.

The temple …

… is supposed to be at the center of the community.

From the moment the tabernacle was established …

It is not only the place where God manifests his presence among the people …

… it is also supposed to be the center of their lives

… so that the people orient the every aspect of their culture and households around the worship of the Lord.

So, worship would not be this thing that you do off to the side …

… and then live the rest of your lives off on your own.

No, the worship of the Lord would be at the center of their lives!

Worship, enjoyment of the presence of the Lord and the good gifts that come by his generous grace …

… is supposed to be the deepest satisfaction of the people of the Lord.

If there’s no presence …

… Moses says, if you don’t go before us, we don’t want to go.

It is in their trust and dependence upon the Lord …

… and their satisfaction in his provision

… that the people are to build their society

… the foundation of their households

… the justice of their government

… their joy of their lives.

DEFINITION: Worship is …

… living in the presence of the Holy God through the sufficient sacrifice of Christ with an attitude of reverence and awe that creates a living sacrifice of tribute and fellowship.

That’s in our partnership course.

Life in the presence of the Holy God.

Now, how can they expect live in the presence of the Holy God if they neglect to build the temple in which the Lord has promised make his presence known.

The bottom line is this:

The people have conspired together to pretend that they can establish their lives and find joy for their lives …

… by seeking first their own private household happiness

… while neglecting the worship of the Lord as the center of their corporate life as a community together.

Households gathered together around The House.

There is a house.

That house is the Christ.

You remember in Mark that Jesus went up out of the temple …

… in judgement upon the failure of worship there.

To put it bluntly:

They have sought the things of this world rather than the things of God.

Matthew 6:30b–33 (ESV)

O you of little faith! Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

They have sought first what they shall eat and what they shall wear and figured that the things of God could be added latter on.

The more practical among us will say …

… all well and good, but you have to eat and you have to live somewhere!

I don’t think Jesus would agree.

He had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days!

Satan offered him bread and his response was:

You can keep your bread!

That’s not how I live! I live by God’s word …

… and by dependence upon the provision, the promise of the Father.

First faith.

Then, according to the provision of the Lord, the things we need in this world are added.

16:00

That’s a difficult pill for us to swallow!

Does Jesus really mean that if we were starving in a desert and given only one wish …

… we should skip the opportunity to ask for a loaf of bread?

Instead, we should use the opportunity to seek the voice of God!

You can have all the rest, but give me Jesus.

But you can’t eat a Bible! Can a voice feed you?

Well, as I recall it, every day of creation begins with the words, “And God said …”

Haggai makes the argument this way.

Verses 5-6 say … (READ)

You’ve tried it your way, how’s it working out for you?

You’ve sought to feed and clothe and shelter yourselves …

… but it’s not working out!

You were never supposed to provide for yourselves that way.

That’s legalism!

You were never supposed to live by work.

You were supposed to live by faith.

That’s Habakkuk.

The scriptures continue this argument throughout the Bible.

Just like here in Haggai, often the metaphor that is used is the image of sowing and reaping.

Galatians 6:7–8 (ESV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Reap what you sow isn’t a “how much” question.

It is a question of the nature of the seed that is sown.

Some have tried to make this passage about giving more and more in an offering plate.

That’s not faithfulness. That’s just a wolf in sheeps clothing himself sowing to the flesh.

Paul central purpose in Galatians isn’t making an argument to sow more.

He is making an argument to sow entirely differently.

You reap what you sow is a distinction between sowing in order to reap …

… finite rather than eternal things

… things that are passing away versus things that are unfading.

Sow to the flesh and you’ll reap rotten, decaying, dying and corrupt fleshy things.

Sow to the Spirit and you’ll reap imperishable, undefiled and unfading things.

Proverbs 21:17 (ESV) Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

This world is necessarily a limited world.

If you love to please your appetite with the things of the world …

… eventually you’re going to run out of resources.

Why?

Because we were created with limitless appetite!

We are never satisfied! And I would suggest that this is by God’s own design.

God is not cruel! His design in creating us is righteous and excellent.

Surely this means that our limitless desire is to be satisfied by some imperishable, undefiled and unfading reality.

21:00

1 Peter 1:3–4 (ESV)

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

All these things are kept for you in heaven.

Peter is making an argument that we are to live lives with an orientation toward the divine …

… with a conviction that the Lord alone can satisfy our appetites.

… that were we to gain the whole world we would die with stomachs full and souls empty.

1 Peter 1:6 (ESV)

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials

We may rejoice in our eternal inheritance today.

We rejoice and cling to the hope of reaping what is sown.

We who sow to the Spirit reap the joy of the Spirit today, though we are grieved by various trials in this world …

… because we can see the praise and glory and honor that will be revealed on the day of Christ Jesus.

We are those who grab future glory and pull this joy into the present by faith.

Titus 3:3–5,7 (ESV) For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures … But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us … so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

First there is rescue from slavery to passions and pleasures.

Jesus in the parable of the soils in Luke 8 says that the thorny soil fails to bear fruit because the Word is choked out by “the cares and riches and pleasures of life.”

Haggai and the whole testimony of scripture is drawing a clear dichotomy.

There are those who bear (or reap) the fruit of God’s word …

… that is his promise of steadfast love and mercy—of provision and joy

And there are those who choke out this word, this hope, this promise …

… by seeking first the cares, riches and pleasures of this world.

If you choose to go that route …

… if you’re gonna seek the world and you’re gonna reap the world

… you better be good.

Man, the piles of plans I have for me.

I have lots of plans, ambition for myself.

But I’m old enough to know this.

I’m not good enough. I’m just not pulling it off.

What does this look like?

Can we get a glimpse of our future hope?

Isaiah 65 whets the appetite for an eternal future in which sowing and reaping are simple and sure.

Isaiah 65:17, 22 (ESV) For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

New heavens and new earth are designed for just sowing and reaping.

In the new heavens and new earth we can take pleasure in fruit of creation itself …

… because the Lord himself dwells at the center of creation.

26:00

Consider Your Ways: The Pleasure of the Lord

Read Haggai 1:7-8

A Meal with Jesus (quoted by Tim Chester - unsure of original quote) Since [God] does not need [creation], its whole reason for being must lie in its own goodness; He has no use for it; only delight.

I find this to be one of the most shocking and transformative realities of revelation.

The Lord delights in creation! He takes pleasure in it.

At creation, he looked at the work of his hands and repeatedly pronounced and observed that it was good.

The Lord’s relationship is not utilization, pragmatic or a matter of consumption.

He isn’t using us! He is delighting in us.

This is what is so wrong with how passages like this are often taught.

Sowing and reaping are used as a trope to convince the church to give more because God needs your money!

No! God doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need to consume anything you have.

The Lord delights in your trust of him!

The Lord takes pleasure in a people who center their lives and their community around his worship and presence.

A Meal with Jesus (quoted by Tim Chester) The world is more delicious than it needs to be. We have a superabundance of divine goodness and generosity.

The world is popping with color.

Creation is flowing with diverse excellencies.

Does this not point us to the reality of our God?

The very existence of creation is a tangible abundance of grace.

And let us remember, the fact that in a fallen world there is such a thing as a people who are called by the name of the Lord is itself tangible evidence of lavish grace.

Ephesians 1:7–8 (ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

The very existence of a redeemed people are evidence of his pleasure and grace.

Why does the Lord take pleasure in his people?

Psalm 147:10–11 (ESV) His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Because we are the fruit of his steadfast love and mercy.

The people of God are the product of generosity.

The redeemed are Christ’s harvest of God’s covenant keeping word.

We are his by his choosing.

Because we exist by his grace.

Why does the Lord delight in the redeemed?

Because the redeemed exist by his grace.

Our very existence is to his glory.

Why does the Lord demand the returned exiles attend to the building of the temple?

Because the Lord delights in a people who trust in him.

It is the aroma of his own grace and kindness wafting up to heaven.

It is the aroma of a people who live in dependence upon his provision …

… and so enjoy his lavish grace.

He delights in the redeemed because he delights to save!

Psalm 149:4 (ESV) For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

How does he dress us up?

ILL: Washing my new car and putting decals on it.

What does it like to see when he looks at us?

Saved, rescued, redeemed.

He loves to see his grace.

The Lord takes pleasure in his people whom he adorns with salvation.

He loves his workmanship and dresses us up with his redeeming grace.

GOSPEL

36:00

time

APPLY

This is a difficult sermon to land the plane.

I mean, just do everything 100% for Jesus all the time!

This is call to faith, not to legalism.

I don’t have a list.

Contribution Rhythm — LEVERAGE

Sacrifice: give it up for the sake of our own soul

Generosity: give it over for the sake of another

Mission: leverage it for the sake of the gospel

Thanksgiving: enjoy it as a good gift from God with thanksgiving

test

Read Haggai 2:23

Haggai ends with a promise to Zerubbabel, who is a descendent of King David.

The Lord is renewing his covenant to David …

… a covenant that comes with the promise of a future Messiah who is the priest-king

… who will establish his people once for all and reign forever.

I will take you. I will make you. I have chosen you.

The Sovereign design of the Lord to bless and keep.

The Lord Bless You and Keep You!