Is It Time?

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Scripture

Haggai 1:1–11 KJV 1900
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. 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. 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.

Background

Israel had been exiled among the Persians.
Darius was the king.
He was known for his administrative genius and for the large building projects that took place during his reign.
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah.
He was the grandson of Jehoiachin who was the last king of Judah.
This made him a descendant of King David.
Joshua was the son of the High Priest Josedech.
He and Zerubbabel were among the first group of exiles, led by Sheshbazzar to return to the land in 537 BC.
It was they who had organized the laying of the temple foundations.
At the time Haggai writes to Joshua and Zerubbabel, the work on the temple has been halted for 16 years.

The Problem of Leadership

This word is addressed primarily to men who were in a leadership position among the people.
Personality and attributes of a group quickly starts to reflect those of the leadership.
The failure of the leaders to keep God as the first priority in their lives quickly spilled over into the people that they were leading.
The leaders were building themselves cieled houses.
The word cieled carries the idea of ornate, fancy, opulent, expensive furnishings and finishes.
The leaders were spending a great deal of money on their own houses while letting the house of God sit unfinished for 16 years.
Not only is the temple unfinished, but the leaders have no vision or plan to complete it.
Proverbs 29:18 KJV 1900
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Look at how this lack of vision and leadership affected the people:
Haggai 1:
Haggai 1:6 KJV 1900
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.
Their crops didn’t produce as they should have.
They drank, but couldn’t be satisfied.
They had clothes, but couldn’t get warm.
No matter how much the people earned it was never enough for their need.
God said to the leadership, “Consider your ways.”

The Peoples’ Problem

The heart of the people was far from God.
They knew that the temple had been started and unfinished, but went quietly along with their daily lives.
They accepted the ways things were as the status quo.
They were so complacent that their words echoed the lethargic attitude of the leaders.
The time to build the Lord’s house has not come.
In essence they were saying, “Don’t rock the boat. There’s nothing to see here. Let’s just move along.”
Leviticus 26:18–20 KJV 1900
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
The people knew the commandments of the God just like the leaders.
It’s not as if there were no other choice.
It’s not as if there were no other choice.
Leviticus 26:1–13 KJV 1900
1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. 2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
God said to the people, “Consider your ways.”

The Problem of Priorities

The leaders and the people didn’t think they had enough resources to build God’s house.
They weren’t getting as much as they should from their crops.
They were having trouble getting enough water and clothing.
They thought it wasn’t time to build God’s house because they had lack in their personal lives.
The truth was, there was lack in their personal lives because they had not built God’s temple.
Everything starts with God. Everything centers around Him.

Application

There is a lack in God’s house this morning.
The ministry of the gospel isn’t being carried out the way it’s supposed to.
There are a few of us here, but where is the crowd that used to come.
Where are the people that should be here?
How many people within 3 miles of this church could tell you where it is if you knocked on their door and asked them for directions?
We’ve been so busy with our daily lives that we haven’t built the house of God.
We have a building, that’s true, but we’re too busy to put God’s business and ministry first.
I can’t teach a Sunday School class. I don’t have time to study.
I can’t show up for church during the evening services, I’ve got to get ready for the week ahead. Besides, Dancing With the Stars is coming on.
What are you doing on Sunday evening and Wed. evening that’s more important than coming to God’s house.
Just like the ancient Israelites, we’ve got our priorities wrong.

Changes

We’re going to develop a long term vision for the church.
Through prayer, we’re going to define our purpose in the community and begin to accomplish our mission to reach outside the 4 walls of the church.
With God’s help, we’re going to impact our community and make a difference.
We’re going to bring back the church’s emphasis on prayer by shortening the preaching time on Wed. nights and praying together for our community and for God to show us what our role in the community is supposed to be.
Isn’t it time we got our priorities back in the right order?
Isn’t it time that we began to build God’s kingdom again?
Isn’t it time for you to join us as we start this process?
If not now, then when?
What are you waiting for?
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