God's Gracious Tending
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Haggai 1:1-11 In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” ’ ”
3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 6 “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Review: Consider Your Ways!
Review: Consider Your Ways!
Last Sunday, we looked at how God was not rebuking the people of Haggai’s day because they were building their houses...
God wasn’t commanding them to rebuild the Temple because He needed a house...
Or so He could live in it.
God was rebuking the people because...
Their neglect of rebuilding the Temple...
Was the same as them saying, “God, we don’t want you.”
Their neglect of rebuilding the Temple was like saying...
We’re not interested in you dwelling in our presence.
Because from the Tent of Meeting to Solomon’s Temple...
Those places symbolized the Blessing of God’s presence among His people.
And, the people worshipping there expressed their pleasure in the presence of God among them.
So, big picture is they are rejecting God by not caring whether He dwells with them or not.
This morning, I want to turn our attention back to Haggai 1:1-2...
I want to point out a very sobering way in which...
God is Getting their Attention
God is Getting their Attention
Haggai 1:1-2 In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” ’ ”
Notice that God says “This people” instead of “My people”.
It seems subtle, but every word from God is important.
2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Here in 2 Chronicles God is calling the people to repentance...
But, He is calling the people “His people”.
So, what is God saying to the people here in Haggai?
Is God saying their not His people?
Is God saying that He has rejected them all together?
No.
What God is doing by saying “these people” instead of “My people”...
He is calling their attention to their behavior.
They are behaving as if they are just people...
Rather than His people.
And, God is calling them on it.
Very similar situation with Jesus speaking to the Churches in Revelation 2 & 3.
Jesus says, But I have this against you, Repent & overcome.
God is awakening them to their horrific behavior towards Him.
Also, by saying...
Haggai 1:3-4 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
He’s calling them on their hypocrisy.
It’s not that they’re putting panels in their house that is the problem.
The problem is that they’re saying it’s not time.
We don’t have the resources to rebuild the Temple...
But, here’s what is interesting...
Having wood paneled houses were not a necessity...
They were a want.
Guess what the Temple walls & floors were lined with?
Cedar panels.
It’s not that wood panels in their houses was sinful.
It’s that they were going past need and into want for themselves...
Before their need for/recognition of...God...was even being considered.
Yet, they complained about not having the resources.
So, God is getting their attention in two ways:
By calling them “these people” rather than “My people” God is making them aware that their behavior is not lining up with their confession...
Which is “Yahweh is Our God.”
Their behavior was equal to them saying “We don’t need God.”
God backing that gripping rebuke up with exposing their hypocrisy.
They say we cant build yet and the assumption is because of bad harvests, etc…that they should wait a while...
But, yet, they have the resources to go elaborate in their houses...
Without even attending the basic needs of the Temple.
Take Away Questions for Us
Take Away Questions for Us
What are we saying we can’t do for God or with God?
That we are actually expending the same time and energy and resources for temporal comforts?
And what are we spending our time doing with other people...
While neglecting time with God?
In what ways are we saying we don’t have the resources to invest in our relationship with God?
I want us to think and pray about these questions...
And ask God to search our hearts, motives, our busyness...
All of it.
And we trust God to be merciful.
We have examples throughout the Word of God...
And the history of humanity of God’s unceasing mercy towards His people.
We have a wonderful example of it here in Haggai...
Look back, with me, at...
Haggai 1:5-11 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 6 “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
9 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
What we see is...
God’s Gracious Tending of His Flock
God’s Gracious Tending of His Flock
Think about the mercy and grace shown here.
They reject God...Just like we do.
And His response is not to call down fire from heaven and consume them.
I mean, if we’re honest we’re just like the disciples...
When we’re rejected we want to call down fire and consume.
But, God is rich in mercy and beyond understanding in love towards His children.
Notice in vv. 9-11…read
How is God tending His flock here?
It seems from the surface that He’s not tending.
It seems at the surface that He’s neglecting His flock.
God was reducing the quantity of their necessities.
Why? How is that gracious?
Because God knows that if He withholds our needs...
We will eventually be reminded that He is our Provider.
And we need Him as our Provider.
God knows that if He tends to us through withholding...
We will eventually look back to Him to provide.
Another thing that God withholding temporal things from us is this...
We will eventually humble ourself and refocus our attention from temporal wants...
To eternal needs.
Right. That is what God is doing.
He is saying, “You don’t need me. Let me remind you that I am all you need.”
To the natural mind, God withholding temporal substance seems cruel...
But, anytime we can be reminded of our absolute need of God for all things...
It is not cruel. It is mercy. It is grace.
And let me say, as well...
The Alternative to God’s Gracious Tending is Calamity
The Alternative to God’s Gracious Tending is Calamity
Romans 1 tells us that God can and has the right to leave us to ourselves.
He has the right, the authority, and the power to give us what we want...
Which is calamity.
Calamity is a life that doesn’t care for God.
As His children, God rescues us from calamity for our good rather than leaving us to it for destruction.
Quite often in our life...
We behave in such a way that we act is if God is our Stagehand to our life.
When we need a prop to make the play go the way we want we put our hand out and expect God to fill it with what we want.
But, don’t we know that God is not the stagehand of our life...
God is the Director of our life.
How often do we pray for God to give us ______?
Without that blank being Him.
Without our prayer or the heart of our prayer being God give me You.
6 “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
They were being short-sighted and thinking that they could provide for themselves...
Rather than seeing that everything we have is because of the blessings of God.
We do that a lot.
Something doesn’t go right, we don’t get the right return on investment...
And, our immediate response is do more...
While neglecting the proper first response, which is going to the Lord...
Asking Him to search our hearts, motives, goals...
Asking Him to direct our paths for the glory of His name.
Our natural tendency is calamity.
Life without God.
But, God is gracious in His tending of us.
That’s why Jesus told us in...
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
God is our Provider.
God tends to us perfectly.
And, His presence is our blessing.
And, we should want, need, and cry out for His presence.
Let’s Zoom In
Let’s Zoom In
Now, I want to close by going back to a very important aspect of this first 11 verses of Haggai.
God’s grace in getting our attention.
We spoke about the two ways in which God is getting their attention.
His heart-breaking label of them as “these people”
And, His exposure of their hypocrisy in their neglect of Him.
Additionally, God gets their attention by stating twice...
Consider your ways!
And, we talked about that last week...
From a sort of zoomed out view...
Like looking at the earth from a 1,000 feet up in elevation.
Right.
God was saying you need to Consider that your behavior is such...
That it is screaming that You Don’t Need Me or Want Me.
But, when God gets our attention and says “Consider your ways!”...
What do we do?
What are the steps that we take?
How do we know if we’re giving God preeminence or not?
I mean behavior that is out right against God’s commands is one thing...
But, what about areas of life that aren’t explicitly against a command?
Can you put a person above God?
How do you know if you are?
Can you put your vocation above God?
How do you know if you are?
Can you put ministry above God?
How do you know if you are?
Behavior doesn’t always show us our sin.
So, in order to get to the root of considering our ways...
I think we need to dig deeper....
Because our ways/behavior is a manifestation of something much more important...
And, something that God is much more interested in.
And, so when we zero in a bit more what we really need to hear God saying is...
Consider Your Treasures!
Consider Your Treasures!
Maybe we could state it a different way.
Consider Your First Love!
IOW, what is your ultimate treasure in life?
Well, how do you consider your treasures?
How do you evaluate your relationship with the inferior treasures (God being the supreme treasure) of your life that God has blessed you with?
Well, the only real way I know, biblically, to evaluate this..
Is by evaluating your reaction to when inferior treasures in your life are threatened.
Or how do you respond, if your pleasure in an inferior treasures is threatened?
Let me explain further.
When anything causes us to behave sinfully there is an idol being attacked...
And, God is allowing us to see that we have given that idol too high a place in our heart...
And, that too high of place means that we’ve replaced God with the idol being attacked.
Whenever we desire something other than God more than God...
That something has become an idol.
An idol can be good things.
Our spouse can become an idol.
Our children can become idols.
Our homes can become idols.
A ministry can become an idol.
Your position at work or church can become an idol.
So, good gifts from the Lord...
We can turn them into idols.
But, the litmus test is if we disobey God with an inferior treasure...
For whatever reason...
That inferior treasure has replaced God...
At that time.
And, so praise God that He tends to us...
And allows us to see when we’ve replaced Him.
The people of Haggai’s day had replaced God with inferior treasures.
And, dear friend, so do we.
Let us praise Him that He speaks into our life...
And, rescues us from the calamities that we grapple for.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer