Haggai Sermon

Introduction

It’s easy to get comfortable. Physical, emotional, spiritual. Especially when it comes to performing God’s will. When we get too comfortable, we get complacent. And when we get complacent, God isn’t afraid to let us know. That’s what he did with the prophet Haggai in the Old Testament.

Background to Haggai

After spending 70 years in Babylonian captivity, the Israelites were allowed to return to Judah/Jerusalem in the first year of the Persian king Cyrus. This occurred in 538 B.C.

As Ezra recounts, they started to rebuild the temple, but were met with opposition by outside forces who questioned their authority, and just made things overall difficult. Eventually the people stopped building the temple, for almost 20 years.

Ezra 5:1 “Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.”

These two prophets stepped forward to let the people know that God was fed up with their apathy. He was tired of them living relatively good lives and living “in paneled houses” while His House laid in ruins.

Haggai 1:4–5 ““Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”

As we shall see, the people were very receptive to the messages of Haggai and Zechariah. Ezra also notes this in Ezra 5:2 “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.”

The outcome of these prophet’s messages: the people got their acts together and rebuilt the temple, which was completed it in 516 BC.

Haggai Teaches us 3 Things

When we get too comfortable and complacent in doing God’s will, He will make our lives difficult until we get it!

Haggai 1:6 “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.”

Haggai 1:9–11 “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. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 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.””

Haggai 2:15–19 “Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 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. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.””

Story of Balaam and the Donkey

Story of the Church in the NT experiencing persecution

If you need motivation, remember those who have come before you!

Haggai 2:3–5 “‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

Comfortableness leads to complacency, which leads to sin, which easily spreads.

Haggai 2:13–14 “Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 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.”

Zerubbabel, Jesus, and the Church

How does Haggai’s message really apply to the Church today?

It starts with Zerubbabel.

Haggai 2:21–23 ““Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.””

Descendent of David - royalty.

Strong leader, and yet disappears after the Temple was completed. So who was Haggai prophesying about?

Matthew 1:12 “And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,”

Luke 3:27 “the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,”

The Lord Jesus was a direct descendent of Zerubabbel. Through Christ...

The Lord, “shook the heavens and the earth, and overthrew the throne of kingdoms. Destroyed the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders.” and Zerubabbel was made “like the signet ring”.

Because of this, we can now fully understand that when Haggai says the “latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”, he’s talking about the Lord Jesus who is the True Temple according to John 1. And since the Church is the Body of Christ, that means that Haggai is also prophesying about us.

This is exactly what Jesus shows the disciples in Luke 24, and Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:12 “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

So how do the three themes of Haggai’s message apply to the church?

If the Church is complacent in doing God’s Will, he will make us notice by making things difficult for us.

Baptisms go down.

Discipleship dies.

Righteousness dwindles.

Tithes shrink.

Sin flourishes.

The Church Must remember it’s past when it needs motivated.

The Church has a beautiful and solid foundation, and we must lean on it.

If we have grown complacent in holiness, in evangelism, in love, we only need to cry out to the Lord again!

Haggai 2:4–5 : “Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

Fill this house with treasure

Through Haggai, the Lord promised that “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former,” and this is true - Christ and his body, the Church, are far greater than the earthly temple ever was.

Haggai 2:7–8 “And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.”

You, me, and everyone who has ever placed their faith in the Lord Jesus - we are the “treasures of the nations” that have come into this house. We are the silver and gold that belongs to the Lord. And it’s not full yet.

But we’ve gotten complacent.

The mission is still the same, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything Jesus has commanded us.”

Someone brought you here church. Now it’s our turn. The storehouse still has lots of room, and we need more treasure so go and collect them. Show people how true the words of Haggai are when he says, “In this place I will give peace.” because Ephesians 2:13–14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”

It’s time to stop being complacent church. It’s time to start rebuilding this temple.