Why Does My House Lie In Waste?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
1 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, 2 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. 3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses,
And this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
Today we are in the book of Haggai. It’s an interesting little book, it's a minor prophet in the old testament and the minor prophets were famous, so to speak for having a lot to say in very few words. Haggai was not an exception to this. And what I could say, if I had to summarize, the entire book, up into one sentence, would be this.
The message of Haggai is this, your houses are not being blessed, because God's house is not being built.
Now, there was an exile that took place in somewhere around 538 BC, and we can find all this in the book of Ezra.
King Cyrus of Persia had allowed, the exiled Jews, 50,000 of them, to return to Jerusalem being led by Zerubbabel after they had been in captivity for around 70 years. Two years after this, the construction on the temple began, that was the reason they were allowed to return.
And so two years after that, the work stopped. They go and neglect the work of rebuilding the temple for 14 years, the work on the temple resumed in the year 520 BC and was finally finished, four years later in 516 BC.
Like I said, you can read about all of that in the book of Ezra, I won't read it for the sake of time today. But when these people had come back in to Jerusalem, gone was the glory of the former kingdom. Gone was the glory of the former temple, gone was the great population and all that was left was the rubble of Jerusalem, the remnant of the people and the task of restoration.
We find that Haggai showed up on the scene with a call to action from the Lord and after 14 years of delay, the message inspires the people to get back to work in only 23 days; now that's pretty amazing.
I’ve read, several times now, the book “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” and in that book, Thom Rainer talks about a decline in churches that are dying…He writes,
“Often the decline is in the physical facilities, but it is much more than that. The decline is in the vibrant ministries that once existed. The decline is in the prayer lives of the members who remain. The decline is in the outward focus of the church. The decline is in the connection with the community. The decline is in the hopes and dreams of those who remain.
Decline is everywhere in the church, but many don’t see it.”
This sums up much of what we see going on with the people here in this book.
The House of God at the beginning of Haggai was in ruins, what was the problem, well, as we will see in a moment, the people had their interest on themselves...
Some new testament passages come to mind here...
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
The people of Israel were not seeing the flourishing they expected, and Haggai reminded them that this is due to their apathy and postponed obedience.
The first thing I want you to notice here is:
1-The people had a problem prioritizing their comfort over God’s temple.
1-The people had a problem prioritizing their comfort over God’s temple.
A-Procrastination
A-Procrastination
2 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.
We are met straightway with an excuse for the lack of work...In essence, the people were saying, “It’s just not the right time to continue building the temple. Let’s wait, and then the time will be right.”
How many times do we put off doing what we know is the right thing?
How many say, “One of these days I’m going to get saved,” although they know their life is but a vapor? How many say, “I know I need to speak to my friend about his soul, but the time just isn’t right?”
How many say, “I’m going to teach a Bible class one of these days, but I’m just so busy right now?” How many say, “I’m going to apologize for that wrong, but today just isn’t the right day?”
It’s time to stop making excuses and get busy!
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
In other words, God is saying to us, we must do what we can when we can…We’re not always going to have the opportunity we have today. We’re not always going to have the opportunity to get saved…the friend to speak to about their soul…the health to teach that class…the relationship to mend…We will not always have these things.
What about you? Are we going to wait until it’s too late to act? - All we have is today...
B-Priorities
B-Priorities
3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses,
And this house lie waste?
The word of the Lord was a powerful condemnation of the Israelite people...
At this point in time, these people were fairly established after their return from exile and they had built homes and businesses and were settled in their regular routines (who does that sound like today?)...
In spite of this, which seemed great on the outside, they had abandoned their commitment to the house of God.
In verse 4, we find the words “…cieled houses” - This is to say paneled houses, which was a sign of luxury…Much like even today, if you see a home with wood siding, you know somebody spent some major money on that…Not only does it cost more initially, but the maintenance on it is very expensive; this is why vinyl siding is so popular.
The wood for these paneled houses in verse 4 would have required expensive timber to be imported, this word in Hebrew goes even further to indicate the homes were “well appointed” or “comfortable”...
Let me clarify that God isn’t condemning these things, but He is condemning these people because of their misplaced priorities.
They said the temple wasn’t complete because it wasn’t the right time, but God says, is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? - He, of course, referring to His house there.
These are strong words and are intended to clarify the radical disparity between their own standard of living and the condition of the house of God. They were living in comfort while God’s house remained unbuilt and God’s will remained undone.
The danger for the Israelite people was not that they had abandoned the building of the temple, it was that they had abandoned God.
Their comfort rose in importance, their fear of the Samaritans, among others, was greater than their fear of God, and they succumbed to the pressure of self-preservation.
How about us today? Where are our priorities? Are you taking care of yourself, but not God’s work?
The second thing I want you to notice this morning is:
2-Ignoring God’s house led to a lack of blessing.
2-Ignoring God’s house led to a lack of blessing.
A-Reflection
A-Reflection
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 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.
We see a calling here to consider your ways...The Hebrew figure of speech for this phrase is literally “put your heart on your roads.”
Haggai asks God’s people to consider what direction their lives were heading and if they really wanted it to continue that way.
God tells them in verse 6 that they planted but did not harvest like they expected. This lack of harvest was leading to a lack of satisfaction and provision. He goes on and on with other illustrations like drink, clothes, and income.
All these things were less than they expected, and the reason was their delayed obedience to God.
Haggai described a double curse. Instead of much, little was reaped; and the little that was brought home melted away without doing any good, this is what is meant by “…he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”
I don’t know of any Bible passage that describes our age better than that! We are so busy today, but it seems we accomplish nothing. In this passage, we are literally talking about the judgement of God.
The Lord continually punished the Jews in Haggai’s day because they did not put first things first.
God continues to punish those who don’t put first things first.
47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
We need to consider our ways!
Will God punish us because we fail to put first things first? Are we going to be more concerned with our needs and desires than the needs of those around us? If so, God will be far from pleased.
Are we going to be more concerned with our own needs and desires than with the work of the Lord? If so, God will be far from pleased.
Will the Lord punish you because you fail to put first things first?
B-Remedy
B-Remedy
What is the remedy?
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
8 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.
9 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 unto his own house.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew,
And the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11 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 labour of the hands.
The remedy is to get to work!
God tells them again the reason they are not blessed is because His house has been ignored. The trouble they have faced is His judgement for their lack of effort to be obedient to His will.
They were not supposed to think, “Someone else will do it.”
William Carey was a groundbreaking missionary to India. When he proposed the idea of going to India to reach the lost at a gathering of fellow British pastors, a well-known minister named John Ryland told him: “Young man, sit down. You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine.”
This is not the case at all – God will do it, and He wants our participation. As far as we can perceive, God often will wait for our participation.
William Carey had the right idea; his motto was “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Throughout Scripture we see this pattern: heart change leads to behavioral change.
God expects our behavior to change, but He is clear that behavior is simply a reflection of the heart.
When our hearts change, our behavior follows.
Tonight, we are going to look at the result of this message…the reaction of the people.
God was angry…His house must be built! It cannot lie in ruins...
More than 2,500 years ago, the people of God had neglected building the house of God…They built their own houses, while ignoring His house.
God didn’t like it then. And He doesn’t like it now.