The Challenge

Over 4 Wednesday evenings, we will look at the challenges from the book of Haggai.

Haggai dates each of the messages, but this is not common among the prophets of his day.

Our message happened somewhere around September 1, 520. (Some scholars say August 29, 520 B.C.

The first group of exiles from Babylon had returned roughly 16-18 years earlier.

In their return and zeal they began work on the Temple, but this was a short lived fervor. They gave up the work and carried on with their lives.

In the book of Ezra, we see the challenge to build the Altar so that sacrifices can return.

In Ezra, we see the beginning. We don’t see the completing.

So let’s read our text and see Haggai’s assessment of the situation.

Haggai 1:1–15 ESV

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 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. 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 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. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 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.” 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 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 feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Taking Inventory

A message to the leaders: 1) Zerubbabel & 2) Joshua

Civil & Spiritual

The message is Haggai’s assessment:

Haggai 1:2 ESV

2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”

His assessment of the people’s thought pattern

Their words are not necessary

Their actions speak

So what actions?

Haggai 1:4 ESV

4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

You are living high on the hog, but the Lord’s house is in shambles.

Haggai uses this to explain their priorities.

He wants them to look in the mirror.

Haggai 1:5 ESV

5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.

How does this relate to the church today? How does it relate to us?

Facts of Proof

“The old saying is the proof is in the pudding.”

Haggai 1:6 ESV

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.

In essence, there is not a gain with your effort regardless of diligence. Problem follows problem and trial follows trial.

Why?

Haggai 1:7–9 ESV

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 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.

The people were so concerned with their own gain, their own prosperity, their own happiness.

They had little concern for the House of the Lord.

Maybe this prophet’s words should remind us of James the brother of Jesus:

James 4:13 ESV

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—

James 4:14 ESV

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:15 ESV

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

In essence, God has a purpose in their lack of “success”.

Haggai 1:10–11 ESV

10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 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.”

So the outflow of failing to honor the Lord first is lack of His blessing.

And maybe even His cursing.

Can we look at the outcome of our efforts and determine if we are in the will of God? Why or Why Not?

A Turn of Focus

Haggai 1:12–15 ESV

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 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 feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

The Leaders turned

The people followed the leaders.

They received God’s favor & Presence

The people got to work

What is the moral?

How does this story bring to mind the areas of slow compromise that enter the church?

How do you and I protect against losing focus?

How do we respond if these words are a picture of us?