“Called to God’s Blessedness”

Listen carefully to the following words: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

Who said that? The statement was part of a proclamation for a national day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. The man calling for the national day of prayer was the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

It’s good to pray. We are a needy people. By the way, we are needy all the time, but in recent days we’ve just become more aware of our neediness. And so people are praying. As a church family, I know we’ve been praying about a building program.

Our needs are not limited to buildings here. Though this church and this community is experiencing undeniable growth if we would but recognize the properties that are being subdivided right now, we are an exception to the norm. I saw a report that for Baptist churches in the South, church membership is down 8% year over year. But what do we need to do next? It’s no secret that as a nation we’ve turned away from the Lord and his authority. And we’ve seen the effects of it in the increasing deterioration of morality.

If there’s hope for our church, our community, even our nation—for any nation—we must change our ways. Check the historical record. No nation since the beginning of time has mocked the Creator God and survived.

I’m grateful that people are praying, but know this. Prayer is just the beginning of change that is lasting. We learn that from the Old Testament prophet Haggai.

The truth is, we’re not the first people to face the fact that change is needed. Israel was in the same predicament five hundred years before Christ. God got their attention, too. We can learn from what happened.

The problem was relatively simple. The priorities of God’s people were out of whack. The Lord gave the Jews a job to do: rebuild the temple. But instead of rebuilding God’s house, the people rebuilt their own houses and said, “Ah, we’ll get around to fixing up the temple one of these days.” But “one of these days” never came. And before long, sixteen years had passed.

So God sent his people some wake up calls—like drought and an economic recession. But the people still didn’t “get it.” So God sent a prophet, Haggai, to give it to them straight. In a four month period, Haggai delivered four pointed messages, sermons intended both to confront and encourage change.

The first message came and in it Haggai exposed the problem head-on. Listen to Haggai 1:2–4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

The Spirit took that message and stirred up the peoples’ hearts. After sixteen years of excuses, the people started rebuilding God’s house. The needed change had begun.

About two months passed, and the people faced another problem. Discouragement set in. As they began to rebuild the temple, it quickly became apparent that this temple would pale in comparison with the former, gold-filled temple built by Solomon. And so Haggai delivered his second message as recorded in Haggai 2:1-9. It was a message of encouragement in which Haggai said, in essence, “Be strong! Don’t focus on the glories of the past. Just do what God has asked you to do in the present. Besides, God’s not interested in gold, but in his glory, and that’s exactly what he will receive from this place. So keep building!”

And so the people kept building. Two more months passed and more discouragement came. The people struggled to get over the hump of their past failures. A question haunted them, “Can you really experience God’s blessing after you’ve blown it?” And if so, how? Perhaps you’re wrestling with that question right now.

There’s hope. Haggai addressed that very issue in his third message as recorded in Haggai 2:10-19.

Getting right with God involves more than just “praying a prayer.” The Jews did that, but the stark reality of their past sins still plagued them. They needed further counsel and encouragement on what to do next.

We need this message, as individuals, as a church, and as a nation. We’ve prayed as a church and perhaps some have fasted and we’ve asked God what he wants done here for Devine through this church. That’s great. But now what? What does the Bible say that people must do to get in line with God?

That’s the question Haggai addressed. According to Haggai 2:10-19, getting in line with God or getting right with God involves more than just talk, namely, two vital activities.

The Christian life is a life of Repentance

Perhaps we should say that in the beginning of the new life in Christ, repentance is one side of the same coin with faith. There will be no lasting change and no blessing of God apart from genuine repentance. Repentance is more than shedding a few years. It goes beyond feeling sorrow and regret for past actions. It even requires more than admitting we’ve got a problem.

Fundamentally, true repentance involves change—a change of heart and life. When a person repents, he turns from going his own way and begins to go God’s way.

But how does that happen? The Bible teaches that we are incapable of changing on our own. We don’t want to change. We resist change. Quite frankly, we may know that we need to change, yet refuse to do so.

Then again, it’s possible to respond with a deficient repentance. In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul calls it a “worldly grief,” an initial willingness to change, yes, but only because we dislike the consequences of our sin, and not sin itself. Sometimes people buy into the idea that coming to God will rid them of the consequences of their sin, but that’s not true.

If we’re going to exhibit true repentance, according to Haggai, there’s something absolutely essential. We must grasp the holiness of God. Specifically, we need to understand two things about holiness.

We must first understand how holiness is obtained

Let’s look back to Haggai 2:11-12.

Notice that Haggai didn’t initiate this message. It came from God. God revealed his word to the prophet. The prophet’s job was merely to proclaim it.

God told Haggai to ask the priests for their expert advice on the issue of ceremonial cleansing. Remember, when God asks a question, it’s not because he needs information. He’s teaching something.

Here’s the first of two questions—Haggai 2:12 “‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’ In temple worship, often a priest would carry part of the sacrificed animal in the fold of his robe. In so doing, the priest’s garment became holy, according to Leviticus 6:27.

But would the holiness be transferred to the other food items as well? For instance, if the robe containing the sacrificed meat touched some bread or stew in the temple, would those items become holy by contact? That was Haggai’s question.

To which the priests answered, “No.” Why not? Because holiness cannot be transferred by secondary contact. More about that in a moment, but first let’s notice Haggai’s second question.

Notice Haggai 2:13 “Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” According to the Torah, if a person touched something dead he became ceremonially unclean or defiled. So Haggai asks, “If a person who is unclean because of touching a dead body then touches a food item, does the food item also become defiled? The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” The case law of Numbers 19:22 made that clear.

Now, what’s the point of the two illustrations? By asking these two questions, Haggai teaches us two critical lessons about how holiness (or godliness) is obtained.

Godliness isn’t caught

You don’t get it simply by going to church, or picking up a Bible, or listening to a Christian radio station. All are good things to do, for sure, but they’re not enough. You can’t “catch” godliness.

The people to whom Haggai spoke were engaged in a “holy” task. They were rebuilding the temple of God. But though the job was sacred, it couldn’t make them holy. The “holiness” of the building wouldn’t rub off on them.

But apparently, some thought it would. It’s no different today.

Some people light candles and put religious relics in their homes. In their zeal, they believe these “holy” objects will give them favor with God. Other people go so far as to retreat to so called “holy” places thinking that there they will find holiness.

Know this. We can be involved in good, even “holy” tasks, but that doesn’t make us holy. We can teach Sunday School lessons, participate in church work days, sing God-centered songs, and give lots of money to missions—all good things. But none has the power to transmit holiness.

The reason? Godliness isn’t caught. On the other hand…

Ungodliness is inherited

Inherited from whom? From Adam.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this or not, but it’s true. You can catch a cold from somebody else, but it’s impossible to catch somebody else’s health.

“The power of defilement is far easier to communicate than holiness.” “Scripture teaches that the sin of Adam has contaminated the entire human race, but believing parents cannot transmit their saved condition directly to their children.”

Don’t miss this. Holiness isn’t contagious. You don’t obtain it by sitting in a church or picking up a Bible. “Well then, how do we get it?” you ask. Haggai tells us how…

We must understand what holiness demands

Haggai 2:14 “Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.”

Haggai applies the priests’ answers to the situation facing his people. As a nation, there was a time when Israel was holy, set apart for the Lord’s use. But no longer. In Haggai 2:14, Haggai says their deeds and offerings were unclean. Everything they touched became unclean. Why? Because they’d slighted God. For sixteen years, they’d failed to do God’s will in completing the temple. And the unfinished temple stood like a corpse in their midst, a witness to their sins of negligence.

But something else was missing. Yes, in response to Haggai’s first message four months earlier, the people started rebuilding God’s house. But getting right with God involves more than external action.

A lot of people have the notion, “Ah, just do your best and God will be satisfied.” Is that true? Not according to God’s Word. Haggai says that people can do something for God—even rebuild his temple—yet remained defiled. What’s the problem? It’s this.

Good deeds can’t clean up a corrupt heart

What does God think of people today who do humanitarian things, yet refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Many today say it doesn’t matter what road you take to God as long as you’re sincere. Mohammad is one way. Buddha is another. Jesus is yet another. They are all great “men” who show us the way to God.

But that assertion overlooks one critical factor, namely, what the holiness of God demands. The fact is, I need more than a great religious leader to show me the way to God. I need a remedy for my sin problem.

God doesn’t grade on the curve. He is holy, and he demands holiness. You cannot enter his presence if you have sin in your life. The religions of the world teach that you can offset sin by doing good things. But a sinner who does good is still what? He’s still a sinner, and he still has a fundamental problem that his good works can’t change. He has a corrupt heart.

You say, “That’s just the Old Testament. The God of the New Testament is loving, and as long as you do your best, he’ll take you to heaven some day.” It’s true that he’s loving, but he never demonstrates his love at the expense of his holiness. James 2:10 (a New Testament text) says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” No, good deeds cannot clean up a corrupt heart…

Only atonement can do that

That’s why rebuilding the temple was so vital in Haggai’s day. The only way to be right with God is through atonement, through a blood sacrifice that provides a covering for sin. After Adam and Eve sinned, God killed animals to provide a covering for them. In the Torah, God instructed his people to offer animal sacrifices to cover their sins. That’s why the temple was needed in Haggai’s day. You can’t approach a holy God without an atonement, a covering for your sin.

You say, “If we need atonement, why don’t we offer lambs today?” The answer is, we have One! His name is Jesus. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).”

When Jesus Christ came into this world, he came to give his life as an atoning sacrifice for all who would believe in him. He died for our sins. He paid its penalty, broke its chains, and sets free all who call upon him.

The moment a person accepts Jesus and his atoning work, God takes away his sin and gives him a new heart. But until that happens, a thousand—even a million—good deeds won’t change the condition of a corrupt heart. Holiness demands an atonement.

How does a person or even a nation get right with God? It starts right here—with repentance. But repentance isn’t a matter of cleaning up our own lives. It’s involves coming to grips with God’s holiness, a desire to be changed, and the willingness to accept his provision of atonement. If you want to be right with God, that’s what must happen in your life. There is no other way.

Haggai urged his people to engage in a second activity in Haggai 2:15-19…

Getting right with God involves reflection

Three times in this section Haggai says, “Consider…” In other words, “It’s time to stop coasting and start doing some soul-searching evaluation.” Someone has rightly said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In the second portion of Haggai’s third message he urged his people—and us—to reflect on two subjects.

Think about the consequences of disobedience

Look with me from Haggai 2:15 and on. We see that things had been going bad for the Jews. Here Haggai explains why. He invites his people to remember how things were before they started rebuilding the temple. Things had been bleak for a decade and a half.

The farm market plummeted. Cash crops were down fifty percent—the wheat that should have produced twenty measures produced only ten. Grape production was even worse, dropping to forty percent—with vineyards that typically produced fifty vats of wine yielding only twenty.

And what was the problem? Was it just bad luck? No. These were the consequences of disobedience. Allow me to make a couple of observations from this.

1. When we ignore God, life is hard. God will not play second fiddle in our lives.

2. In some cases, God touches us where it hurts most. Haggai 2:17 makes it clear that God himself brought these hardships on his people. Haggai 2:17 “I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail…”

God did it. He is sovereign. Listen to his words in Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Yes, sometimes the Lord touches us where it hurts most. Why? Because he’s cruel? No. It’s because he knows what’s best for us. What’s best for us is to put him first. That’s why he sends us wake-up calls. That’s the idea.

Do God’s wake-up calls always get our attention? Listen to what God said in Haggai 2:17 “I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.”

No, hardship alone doesn’t turn people to God. For years God had been judging the Jews, touching them where it hurt most, but they didn’t turn back to him. Instead they hardened their hearts, just like Pharaoh and the Egyptians did.

Amos addressed the same problem in Amos 4:9. Speaking for God he said, Amos 4:9 ““I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.”

Just because things get tough doesn’t mean people will get right with God or get in line with God’s will. Some people get bitter rather than better. Only those who take to heart what God is doing will change. That’s why reflection is so key.

It’s sad to say but a lot of people won’t stop and think about God until he touches them where it hurts the most. For some, it’s their pocketbook. For others, it’s their health. For still others, it takes a shattered relationship to cause them to admit their need to get right with God.

Haggai’s message hit home. Four months earlier his people repented. But that didn’t mean life became a bed of roses. When the people started rebuilding the temple, they got discouraged. So in message #3, Haggai reminded them of what life was like before they repented.

We, too, need to think about the consequences of disobedience. Fellow Christian, life may be hard now, but think about what life was like before you met Christ. Think. Remember. Reflect. That will encourage you to keep living for God. So will this.

Think about the blessing of obedience

Look at Haggai 2:18-19. In this section Haggai urges his people to think about the blessing of obedience. As we’ve just seen, when we ignore God, life is hard. On the other hand, so is this…

When we obey God, life is fruitful

"From this day on I will bless you," God said. Life was hard before, but that’s because of disobedience. From this day on, things will change. Why? Because now you’re building my house instead of living for yourselves. Now you’re obeying me.

Know this about God. He loves to bless his people! He’s generous. This is his promise. If you obey me, I will bless you. And life will be fruitful.

But remember, fruit doesn’t grow over night

Haggai asks an intriguing question in Haggai 2:19, "Is the seed yet in the barn?" The answer was no. Why was the seed not in the barn? What time of year was it? It was the ninth month on the Jewish calendar—December on ours. And in December in Israel, the seed would not be in the barn because they’d just planted it in the field.

Yet on that December day, speaking for God, Haggai made a prediction. In Haggai 2:19, he announced a bumper crop was coming!

That’s quite a prediction, isn’t it? It’s the middle of winter. No sensible person would dare predict the quality of next year’s harvest in the middle of winter—especially since the yields in previous years had been down fifty to sixty percent! It would make more sense to wait a month or so to observe weather patterns and assess the amount of precipitation.

But that’s not what Haggai did. He received God’s promise, and God passed it on to his people. He predicted a bountiful harvest, not because he had inside information on future weather conditions. He predicted it because he saw the repentant and revived condition of his people. They were right with God. And since they were they were ready to experience God’s blessing.

Granted, it hadn’t come yet, but that’s because fruit doesn’t grow overnight. The seed was still in the soil. It takes time to see fruit. And patience. And faith. But the fruit will come. We have God’s Word.

Perhaps you’re in a waiting time right now. And perhaps you’re wondering if it’s worth it. The seed is in the ground, and you don’t see much happening right now. Be encouraged. The harvest will come.

Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." And then he gave this promise—"and all these things will be given unto you (Matt 6:33)."

What must anyone of us do or this church do or this nation do to get right with God and experience his blessing? According to Haggai’s message, getting right with God involves repentance—we must come to grips with how holiness is obtained and what holiness demands—and reflection—we need to get serious about obeying God in the long haul.

So, let’s take to heart Haggai’s message… There are many lessons for us. I’ll mention four.

1. We don’t have to wait to change. I find it interesting that in Haggai 2:18, Haggai repeats the date he already stated in Haggai 2:10—the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Why the repetition? In part, I think it’s because he’s saying that this is the day of change.

When you know what God wants you to do, you don’t need to think about it. You need to do it. If you know he wants a change to occur, then change! Don’t think about changing. Change. Surrender today to live God’s way.

2. God is interested in heart change, not mere ritual. Holiness isn’t “caught.” It’s not enough merely to go through the motions. If it’s real, change begins in the heart, and then spills over into the life.

Maybe you’ve been attending church for awhile. Perhaps you’ve even been reading your Bible and praying. That’s good.

Now answer this. Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? True change involves not just external actions, but internal repentance. Jesus said there will be religious people in hell. A lot of them, in fact (Matt 7:23).

3. No matter what we’ve done in the past, we can experience God’s blessing in the present. No one is too far gone for God. No one. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28).”

Do you want to be right with God today? You may come to him, and he will save you. God’s word is clear. No matter how ashamed you are of your past, you may come.

And to those who may resist, know this. No matter how impressed you are with your past, you must come. The reason?

4. There is no substitute for atonement. None. Mere good people don’t go to heaven. To be right with God we must either be perfect or know the One who is.

Hebrews 9:27–28 “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

As you and I get right with God, then our church is aligned with his will and it has the potential of continuing on from there. May God help us.