Blessings
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Thank you all for coming out tonight. I love singing praise to God and hearing from His Word.
Tonight we are going to be closing up our series “renew the vision” as we finish up the book of Haggai.
I pray you have been personally challenged by it as well as collectively challenged as a member of the body of Christ.
Tonight I want to talk to you about the blessings of God.
I had a great conversation with Craig on this one as I was preparing for tonight. We obviously believe what the Bible teaches about salvation by grace and through faith. We also believe what God says about His love for us being unconditional, about our acceptance of Him based on Christ not on us. However we must reconcile the bibles teachings on obdeience and blessing.
Christians often ask the question “If I’m more obedient will I be more blessed” “If I’m disobedieent will I be punished?”
I believe the answer is yes however we have to have the right perspective. The biblical perspective.
Tonight I want us to see not how to be blessed by God although we will touch on it. I’d like to ask you to focus more on how you can appreciate the blessings of God.
Follow along with me
Haggai 2:10-23
10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; And so is every work of their hands; And that which they offer there is unclean.
15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, From before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord:
16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: When one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail In all the labours of your hands; Yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.
18 Consider now from this day and upward, From the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, Even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider it.
19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: From this day will I bless you.
20 And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; And I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; And the horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, Will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, And will make thee as a signet: For I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
Pray
let’s look at
3 Principles to Appreciate God’s Blessing
I. Know where your worth comes from
I. Know where your worth comes from
In verse 10-14 Haggai is prophesying to the priests. We are not in the month Khislev which is between Nov and December and it’s 2 months since the last prophecy.
Starting in v 11 Haggai asks the priests about the law, which is translated in other places as he is asking for a ruling. He is asking them to consider a law and provide what it looks like in practicality.
The law that he asks them to consider is one regarding holiness.
When a sacrifice was taken to be used on the altar it was transported in a garment. Once the meet became sacrificial meat and was going to be used for the offering it became holy. The questioned posed is, if the meet touches the garment, does the garment become holy and/or transfer holiness to other objects?
The priest say no.
Then he asks a question about defilement. If someone touches a dead body and then touches someone else, is that other person defiled. Absolutely.
What’s Haggai getting at? He is getting them to see that they are not the ones that make their work, their buildings, their lives holy. Nor do they make anyone else’s life holy. The only thing they can transfer is defilement.
He gets them to see that their worth is not from themselves, it is from their God.
The work they do on their homes or on the temple is not a holy work because they are doing it, it is Holy Because God is in it.
Haggai seems to be helping them not think to highly of themselves. This is a great reminder for us.
James 4:6
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
In their pride of believing they are something, God made them nothing in exile. Here he provides this warning again. Don’t think you make something holy and great just because you are my chosen poeple. As the garment is not made holy that touches the sacrifice, neither are you becuase you are my people.
Nor can you transfer holiness.
When we come to God we bring absolutely nothing to the table. He brings everything and gives it to us.
If we begin to think our worth, our value, comes from anything other than God, I believe the Lord will get your attention just as He did Israels.
However when we humble ourselves under His sovereignty and see that all good things we have and are come from it, we can then be used by God to do great things for Him. Does this mean we can’t fall into the trap of pride? Nope. It means we must constantly remind ourselves of who we really are and who He is.
Knowing where your worth comes from isn’t for us to think of ourselves as dirt and invaluable. In fact its the complete opposite.
You were nothing yet in Christ you are everything. Knowing that our value is from Jesus lets us know that our value can never be taken from us. You are not worthless, you are priceless when we put our faith in Christ and accept Him as our savior.
Know where your worth comes from and you will appreciate God’s blessings.
II. Consider what is truly important
II. Consider what is truly important
Haggai goes on to prophecy to the people establishing what he just said and now asks them to consider their actions and lives from this day forward against a measuring stick that has nothing to do with the work of their hands or the fruit of the ground.
Haggai tells them you brought twenty measures but there were only ten…you brought 50 vesslles out of the press but there were only 20.
God had smote the work of their hands and not allowed the harvest to last like it should. Remember, this is the middle of winter and god is asking “is there seed in the barn?”
The people had gotten so consumed with the work they were doing to survive they forgot what was truly important.
As New Testament believers we have the words of Jesus
Matthew 6:25-34
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
I don’t want us to mince words here or say something like…well he doesn’t mean to ignore these things....yes He does. Jesus says you focus on building my kingdom and I will take care of your life.
You take the time, talents, and abilities I am giving you and you put them to work in my name and I will care for the food and the clothes.
What if we took the time effort and energy thinking about how we are are going to pay for this or that and put that towards how we are going to reach people for Christ? What could be accomplished for God if we just focused on Him?
“pastor that’s easy for you to say…your the pastor.” It’s easy for all of us to say, the question is are we doing it? We can be like roller coasters and one day we are on fire for God and the next we are like the church in Laodicea.
God has consistently, throughout the old and new Testament, called on those who believed in Him to be fully committed and living for Him in their respective roles. It’s not about being a pastor or missionary, it’s about being a Christian.
When we get our identity wrapped up in what we do rather than who we do it for…then we lose sight of what is truly important.
The Israelites saw the physical temple as the great accomplishment when in reality it was them living for God.
When you see the temple as the big deal and not God’s work in the lives of those around you, you begin to get discouraged when the funds aren’t there for this or that, you begin to forget your value because your house isn’t what you think it should be or your retirement isn’t what you think it should be.
God will take care of all that, you take care of what God has called you to and you will see what is truly important.
Then lastly Haggai speaks directly to Zerubbabel and I believe it shows us
III. Remember why you exist
III. Remember why you exist
Haggai 2:20-23
20 And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; And I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; And the horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, Will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, And will make thee as a signet: For I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
God again delivers his promises to Israel and then notice what he says in the last verse.
He will make Zerubbabel his signet, His sign.
The signet ring is what the king would use to seal a letter with wax.
The symbol to all who would see it that He is the Lords.
Thats exactly who we are. We have the Holy Spirit as our seal
Eph 1:13
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
He is the Seal that binds us to God. We are His because of the Holy Spirit.
When we are saved we no longer live for ourselves, we live for Him. “Pastor, we know that.” Ok great…would you challlenge yourself by doing this…sit down this week and write out how you are living for Him. What are you doing that is for Him? What in your life is fully and solely dedicated to his glory?
If you find yourself without much to write, that’s ok. Time to make a decision. Not based on who you are, but based on who He is. Based upon your salvation secure in Christ.
There is never a bad time to turn from what you are doing so that you may turn to serve Him.
If you right out everything…I encourage you to search your heart and reconsider. get real detailed.
think about the conversations you have, the thoughts you have, the job you do, the people you interact with.
Remember
Phil 1:27
27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
27 Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel,
Our lives and everything in them are to be worthy of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thats not a suggestion. And it’s possible if we lean into that Seal we have been given, the holy Spirit, and allow Him to lead. Just as if the people allowed Zerubabbel to lead. Now he wasn’t perfect and made mistakes but the Seal we have upon us is the third person of Godhead and willl not lead you wrong.
He may lead you to be uncomfrotable, He may lead you unchartered territory, but He will not lead you away from the Lord.
It’s better to be lost in the world with the Lord by your side than secure in the world without the Lord.
Remember you don’t exist just to work…that is vain…you exist to glorify the Lord with your life. To which there is no vain act when done for your Heavenly Father.
What are our key take aways here
1. The work of God is begun, sustained, and encouraged by the Word of God.
1. The work of God is begun, sustained, and encouraged by the Word of God.
2. Outlook is bad, try the uplook
2. Outlook is bad, try the uplook
3. Putting God first is the guarantee of God’s blessing
3. Putting God first is the guarantee of God’s blessing
4. God’s Servants must work together to build God’s kingdom
4. God’s Servants must work together to build God’s kingdom
5. Apart from the power of he Holy Spirit, our labor is in vain.
5. Apart from the power of he Holy Spirit, our labor is in vain.