Haggai Week One

Haggai 1:1–15 KJV 1900

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, 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. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, And this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. 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. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. 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. 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. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, And the earth is stayed from her fruit. 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. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Big Idea of the Series: This three-week series explores the theme of true worship in Haggai. By calling the Hebrew people to rebuild the temple, God led them in a renewal of the heart. In the same way, when God calls us to consider our own actions and how they impact our worship, he will lead to a renewal of our hearts.

Week 1

Text:

Topic(s): Worship, Maturity, Humility, Honesty, Repentance

Big Idea of the Message: Worship of God requires us to honestly evaluate our hearts.

In the process of being worshiped… God communicates his presence to men. – C. S. Lewis

If you don’t worship… you’ll never experience God. – David Jeremiah

It’s God’s will that we become true worshipers. And when something is God’s will, he will move heaven and earth to help us do that thing. He wants us as close to him as we can possibly be. He longs to open the windows of heaven and pour out more and more of his love on us. Our only job is to surrender to him on a daily basis so that he can daily give us more of himself. But the Lord is such a gentleman, he will never force us to do anything. He leaves the act of surrendering up to us. And that’s where it has to start. – CeCe Winans

1. Sometimes we believe we are doing what God wants, but it really couldn’t be further from the truth. The temple was the heart of Israel’s worship, but following the Babylonian captivity, it had fallen in severe disrepair. However, the Hebrew people treated it as if it were fine. They had become oblivious to this truth because they were serving themselves. In this passage, God challenges their heart by calling them to compare the temple with their own homes (v. 9).

Romans 1:18–32 KJV 1900

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

2. Typically, people who are struggling in life do one of two things: work harder or blame someone else. Occasionally, some people will resort to doing nothing, too. God instructed the Hebrew people to “give careful thought to your ways” (v. 7), so that they could see that their difficulties were rooted in a disobedient heart. Sometimes we are called to see that our choices are what keep us from receiving the full measure of our labor. Perhaps we are being unreliable or maybe we just aren’t putting forth the effort. It could be that we are outwardly doing all that is required, but inwardly cultivating the wrong heart attitude.

2. Typically, people who are struggling in life do one of two things: work harder or blame someone else. Occasionally, some people will resort to doing nothing, too. God instructed the Hebrew people to “give careful thought to your ways” (v. 7), so that they could see that their difficulties were rooted in a disobedient heart. Sometimes we are called to see that our choices are what keep us from receiving the full measure of our labor. Perhaps we are being unreliable or maybe we just aren’t putting forth the effort. It could be that we are outwardly doing all that is required, but inwardly cultivating the wrong heart attitude.

What it Means to Give God Your Best

1) Your best involves giving God your total being.

Jesus quoted the greatest commandment as loving the Lord “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (). The whole of who we are is the best we can give Him which is why this site refers to our best fit in ministry as that which involves all of who we are. To give God only a part of ourselves falls short of loving Him with “all” of who we are. To present ourselves to “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” as commanded in , is only reasonable in light of what God has done for us.

2) Your best involves giving God your first of everything.

Throughout the Old Testament we read of the Israelites giving God the first fruits and the best of the flock. We serve the same God, still worthy of the first and best of our time, efforts, and resources. To give Him leftover or misdirected time and energy isn’t giving Him the best He deserves.

3) Your best involves giving God your most superior work.

To give God a half-hearted or sloppy effort falls short of doing whatever we do “for the glory of God” (). How can we be “a workman who does not need to be ashamed” if we inaccurately represent Him () because we didn’t take the time required to get it right?

In light of these three points, we must conclude that to give God our best, we can’t compartmentalize our lives — God time, me time, work time, family time. All of our lives, at all times and in every way, must be seen as God time. Wherever we are and in whatever we do, we do it all to the glory of God!

3. Sometimes our lives get so complicated because we fail to see that all our work is in vain. We labor but see no real fruit. We invest our energies in all kinds of activities, thinking that all we really need is to try harder. We work but nothing comes of it. Worship can feel the same way. We think we are doing all that we are supposed to, but it still feels flat and disconnected. God tells the Hebrew people, “Your worship, like your fields, is full of activity but no fruit. You are doing this for the wrong reasons.” Our priorities need to be aligned with God’s will if we are to truly worship God.

4. Our priorities are really the heart of the question. In the movie Click, Michael Newman (played by Adam Sandler) is consumed with getting ahead. He works long hours to get the major promotions but misses so much time with his family that he feels overwhelmed by his life and wishes he had a remote control to help him manage better. With the leap of imagination of film, he finds one. The remote allows him to progress in his pursuits while skipping ahead or past events in his life. He gets ahead but loses so much in the process. In this clip, he realizes that all his work has cost him dearly because all his effort has left him lacking: https://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/click/i-love-you-son.

5. The proper response to God’s confrontation of our disobedient hearts is repentance. It is only when repentance occurs that we can begin to do what God has called us to do. To move forward in that relationship, we have to accept where we have failed it.

6. In the movie Bruce Almighty, God grants Bruce Nolan (played by Jim Carrey) the opportunity to “play God,” for the purpose of drawing Bruce to himself. Bruce spends the movie using this power to try to fill all of the vacuums in his life, only to find that the most important relationship in his life is something he cannot fix. While listening to his loved one’s prayer, he realizes his need to fully surrender to God in every way: https://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/bruce-almighty/i-surrender-to-your-will.

Total Surrender

If you want a change in your life, if you want forgiveness and peace and joy that you’ve never known before, God demands total surrender. He becomes the Lord and the ruler of your life.

You’re surrendering all the time.

First, surrender your mind. Now, when you surrender your mind to God, it means not only what we think but how we think. Some think that when you come to Christ, you have to leave your mind behind. Our faith is not irrational. Jesus will stand the inspection of any scientist, mathematician or intellectual in the world.

There are two forces at work inside of you. One is satanic, and one is God. Don’t let the devil corrupt your mind. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (), the Bible says.

Second, surrender your body. One of the great debates today is who owns the body. Doctors, lawyers, clergy, judges and juries debate the moral, ethical and legal sides of this issue. And the questions surrounding suicide and euthanasia and abortion center on the issues of who owns and controls your body. Who controls your body?

The Bible says if you’re a Christian, your body does not belong to you. It belongs to God. And the Bible also says that it’s God’s temple. Your body is God’s temple, and He dwells in you if you really know Christ (see ).

Third, surrender your will. Before Jesus healed or helped people, He would normally say, “Will you? Are you willing?” And I’m asking you, will you surrender to Christ? Will you let Christ dominate your life and be the Lord of your life? Will you? That’s the question He asks. The Scripture says, “Whosoever will, let him come” (see ).

Have you ever surrendered yourself unconditionally to Christ? Have you ever given Him your mind and your body and your will? When you come to Christ, that’s just the beginning because you must live for Him. And in living for Him, that means that the dominant feature of your life will be love. 

Romans 12:1–2 KJV 1900

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Sometimes our lives take priority over God’s glory, and he must draw us back by calling us to the carpet.