Haggai: Out of the Pit of Apostasy

Build Connection

Last week I mentioned I was in going to play in the finals golf match for the seniors club championship. So I played in it this past Friday. I started off on hole one with a quick birdie and went up one after one hole.

I was up one after the fourteenth hole but then lost the next two holes and was not down by one. On the seventeenth hole my opponent hit his shot right and short of the green and I hit my shot six feet from the hole.

After it was all said and done, I lost by one after 18 holes.

Create Tension

One thing they say in golf is you have to have a short memory. You have to forget about the previous bad shots or bad holes and focus on what is next.

Having a bad memory can be helpful for you in many ways, but there is something you should never forget, and that is what I want to talk to you about!

Provide Solution

Let’s do a little situational update.

We have talked the last several weeks about how after the rule of King David and his son King Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the north and the south. The northern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrians and about 136 years later the southern kingdom was taken into captivity by Babylon.

After 70 years and a change in power, the Persian king Cyrus (Persia overthrew Babylon) decided to let the jews of the Southern kingdom return to their homeland. But the city and the temple was in ruin.

In 538 BC Cyrus issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

In 537-536 BC the work begins but was quickly halted due to opposition.

Now it is about 15 years later Haggai and Zechariah encourage and rebuke the people.

God sends Haggai with this message:

Haggai 1:1–4 “1 On August 29 of the second year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord gave a message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 2 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’ ” 3 Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?”

What God is saying is that…

Your Priorities are misplaced

Priorities are like opinions, everyone’s got one, but no two are exactly alike. They are subject to the individual.

Some will sacrifice time with their family for the comforts more money brings

Some will sacrifice work to enjoy time with family and hobbies.

Some will sacrifice eating whatever they want to be a little healthier

Some spend their money on a new car and some spend their money on better vacations

Some spend their time improving their home while others improving their habits.

For the returning Jews, after the opposition of rebuilding the temple, they spent 15 years doing other things.

They misplaced their priorities.

They started making their own homes better while God’s temple, their place of worship, stood in ruins.

What areas of your life do you have misplaced priorities in relation to God?

Do you spend a couple hours watching a screen but can’t spend 20 minutes reading your bible? If so, you may have misplaced priorities!

Do you think up ways to make your life better and more enjoyable but fail to serve others? If so, you may have misplaced priorities!

One way to serve others is serving in the church…we have need for helpers on Wednesday nights in Awana.

Did you know the average churchgoer spends more money on entertainment than giving to God. This is a sign of misplaced priorities!

When something bad happens, is your first response to complain or to pray? It could indicate misplaced priorities!

If you gave your life to Jesus but have taken it back from him, you need to find a way to get out of the pit of apostasy.

Apostasy is simply the abandonment or the renouncing of your faith.

Now, most christians don’t do this intentionally although some do, but it happens none the less.

Jesus writes a letter in the NT to a church that found it was living in apostasy.

Revelation 2:4 “4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”

A better translation is “You have left the love you had in the beginning.”

You see they were passionate for Jesus, but lost the love they had when they first gave their lives to Jesus.

Jesus also talks about this when he is discussing the end times.

Matthew 24:10–12 “10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.”

Have we let our love grow cold?

Let’s be clear about one thing, hating sin is the same as loving Jesus.

If you love Jesus you will hate sin but hating sin does not equal loving Jesus!

But this isn’t the end of the story for the Jews returning from exile.

Haggai 1:5–11 5 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! 7 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 8 Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. 9 You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. 10 It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. 11 I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”

Because of your lack of putting God first, you are suffering needlessly. Your suffering isn’t because of particular sins in your lives but because of you apostasy.

If you remember in previous messages we have seen God angry with the people because of their unjust practices and worshipping false gods.

Not so now, we don’t see worship of false gods, nor unjust practices, we just see a lack of prioritizing God’s purposes.

As I mentioned last week, what the Jews faced were in relation to the land God had promised them.

For us, apostasy will inevitably lead to two things

You forfeit God’s blessings now and in the eternity

You could completely abandon your faith and as a result abandon eternity with God all together

So, what do we do to get out of the pit of apostasy?

What can we do to avoid apostasy?

Haggai 1:12–14 “12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the people this message from the Lord: “I am with you, says the Lord!” 14 So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,”

They began to obey the message of the Lord their God…

They to work on the house of their God…

In other words they put God back where he belonged! First Priority!

A warning is in order!

Bigger isn’t better -

Haggai 2:1–5 “1 Then on October 17 of that same year, the Lord sent another message through the prophet Haggai. “Say this to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of God’s people there in the land: 3 ‘Does anyone remember this house—this Temple—in its former splendor? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! 4 But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 5 My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’”

Some were complaining because the Temple they were building was not as grand as the previous temple Solomon built. But God is more concerned about being with his people than the impressiveness of the temple.

They were discouraged because they were looking at the physical size of their ministry not the intimacy they have with God and the power of God in their lives.

Encourage Change

Once God is back in first priority

Proverbs 4:27 “27 Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.”

Deuteronomy 5:32–33 “32 So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.”

A Greater Promise awaits -

Haggai 2:9 “9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

When this world as it is finally passes away, Will you be there to enjoy God’s future glory or will apostasy engulf you and cause you to turn from your faith?