Where Do Your Priorities Lie?

N. Hunter Strength

Alamance Christian School

25 October 2022

Where Do Your Priorities Lie?

Illustration: One of the greatest thefts of all time was that of a thief who made his way into a jewelry store in the middle of the night. He didn’t tip anyone off, he didn’t set off any alarms, he seemed to have barely made a sound and as he made his way to the glass showcases where the jewelry was, he does the unthinkable; instead of hurryingly stuffing his bags full of jewels he instead begins to switch the cheap items with the expensive ones and he does this with item after item and finally he packs up his bag and goes. The next morning comes and the intruder enters the store with clerks happy to greet him. He goes on to explain to them that he has a limited budget but he knows exactly what items he wants so here they come marching all of these items out before him where he goes on to purchase thousands and thousands of dollars of jewelry for almost nothing and then they pack up his bag, shake his hand, and off he goes.

And though the Devil has done that with the world, if we aren’t careful, we, as Christians, can also fall into putting value on things that aren’t really worthwhile, can’t we? Now, we might be wondering, “Okay, what’s so bad about that? Yeah, I might waste a little time. But is it that big of a deal?” Well, I want to ask Jonah Oakley and Levi Beck to come up here for a second so we can see this illustrated in person. - Guys, I want you to take these bubbles and I want you to blow them towards everyone. And everyone, I want you to try as hard as you can to grab those bubbles. Okay? Go… Thanks boys.

Now, which of you were able to touch the bubbles? Okay, good! You put in a lot of work to get to those before the others did, but do you have anything to show for it? You see, the problem with having wrong priorities is that you spend so much energy chasing after things that in the end don’t really matter. And wouldn’t it be a sad thing to spend our lives chasing after things that never truly satisfy while missing out on what matters the most, which is knowing and enjoying God?

Well, this issue of priorities is something that God speaks to in the book of Haggai. You see, what is happening here in the book of Haggai is that the people of God have already returned to Jerusalem, but the problem is that they’ve been back in Jerusalem for 16 years and have decided to make time to work on everything except for the Temple of God and so here we will find God’s response to this in Haggai 1. And as we look at this together, we will find that God is calling all of us to see where our priorities are and He is calling us to a life of active commitment to Christ. So, what I want us to leave here with today are the keys to cultivating commitment to God. I’m going to give you the first two keys here in the beginning and if we have time at the end and you’re still awake, I’ll give you the third one. Ready? Okay:

If I am going to be committed to serving God, I must forget excuses and fix my priorities.

Illustration: How many of you are going to be driving soon, or how many of you already can drive? Okay, here’s a question for you bold ones. How many of you have been pulled over? Well, the other day I found an insurance company's list of excuses they’ve received from people who have been in accidents and here is what some of them were:

“An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car, and vanished.”

“The other car collided with mine without warning me of its intention.”

“I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had the accident.”

“The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.”

“The telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end.”

“The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.”

The reality is that we all catch ourselves wanting to give excuses to get out of commitments or problems that we have in our life. And even though some of these excuses are bad, surely there is none as bad as telling the Lord that we can’t focus on Him because we have important stuff going on, right?

Well, in Haggai 1:2, we read, “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” What we find is that there's a lot going on at this time, the people are trying to get settled in the land again, there is financial difficulty, there is a political rebellion going on, and after all, it’s been so long without the temple anyway, what would a few years hurt? But what we need to remember is the significance of the temple. The Temple was the place where God’s presence dwelt among His people. So for everyone to come up with all of these excuses, we find that they don’t have much concern for the restoration of God’s precious presence among them.

Well, would there ever be a right time to get around to it? They’ll always be farming needs, they’ll always be political issues, they’ll always be practice or work, and parties and family and distractions. The thing is, we will always have other things going on in our lives. Adrian Rogers said, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” So, if we are going to be seriously committed followers of Christ, we need to make Him our number one priority.

So, with the people giving these excuses, God gives them a deep and searching question in Haggai 1:4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”

‌The word for paneled here is a word for luxuriousness. These people would’ve been building these stone walled houses with beautiful wooden walls to give decoration to the rooms. What God is saying here is, “Oh, so it’s not the time to build my temple, but it's time for you to work on your fancy houses while my temple is destroyed?” The word for ruins gives off the idea as though the temple would’ve looked like abandoned farm land with weeds, tall grass, trees and rubble.

‌So these people are coming up with all of these excuses, but none of them are genuine excuses. What God is doing here is revealing to them where their priorities lie. And in v5 He calls for them to think about what they’ve been doing, to search their hearts and actions. And then in v6 he points to their difficult circumstances in their life. Why are they facing these issues? Is it because of sin, or is it just the cards you were dealt? Now in v7-8, He says they need to get busy building His temple and then in v9-11 he ties it all together as He shows them that God has sent the hardships that they’re facing because of their hardened hearts toward Him.

You know, God may send trying circumstances into our lives to get our eyes back on Him. He may shake the sands that we’re building our houses on so that we’d realize He is our only sure foundation. Their first priority wasn’t to seek first the kingdom of God, instead it was to build their own kingdoms. Could that be the case in our lives today? Where are your priorities? And could it be that the trails that you’re facing are to bring your focus back to the Lord?

For you guys and girls that play sports, if you’re wanting to be the best soccer team in your conference, you don’t want excuses from your team-mates, you want commitment, why? Because you care about this thing and you know that if you’re going to do it right, it’s going to take your best. Remember Daniel before they threw him in the lion's den? He knew the cost for praying, but the Bible says that he prayed just like he always did. He didn’t care about the circumstances. Or most importantly, do you remember the Lord? Who, for our salvation, would have to suffer so much to save us and He knew that it would be a horrible death, but He died for us anyway. This leads me to our final key which is:

In the committed service of God, we find joy in His calling.

What we find lastly is that the leaders responded positively as their hearts commit to fear and honor the Lord and their hands commit to doing His work and this isn’t just a response from the leaders only, but from everyone, and Haggai 1:14 .tells us that this isn’t a revival caused by the great speaking abilities of Haggai or the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, but it was by the power of God through the Word of God.

Haggai 1:14 “So 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,”

‌ Once they made the decision to obey the command of God, we don’t see the issues in their life disappear. There is still a drought, there is still political problems, there is still financial struggles but even though they’re facing these issues they find a comforting message in Haggai 1:13​

Haggai 1:13, “Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord.”‌

And this would’ve certainly been a comfort for them to hear wouldn’t it? In Haggai, we find our hearts charged with the question of, “What are your priorities?” And surely, as the people of God find themselves called to build a temple, they would find themselves discouraged amidst the task at hand. After all they would have certainly played the comparison game in their minds with the previously standing temple erected by Solomon some 500 years earlier. But this isn’t an issue plaguing the mind of the Lord, no, the God of Israel calls them to action and though the task may seem daunting, the assuring presence of the Lord is energizing as we read in v14, “And the LORD stirred up the spirit of...all...”

What stands before you, that calling to be a light in darkness for the glory of God, is a task that seems to be so monumental that you may find yourself discouraged before you even start. But not only do we know the One who is Emmanuel, God with us, but today we now go forth with hearts full knowing that God dwells in us. God is pleased when we set aside our personal excuses and give Him top priority because delayed obedience is disobedience.

So, what does this mean for our lives here at ACS? Well, being committed to serving the Lord won’t get rid of your math homework or conditioning for soccer practice. But, when the Lord is the number one priority in our lives, we can study, work, and play with a smile on our face knowing that God is glorified in those things if we do them for His glory, but we must make sure that they don’t take His place. Paul said, “So whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God.”