David's Sermons

Haggai Part 1 - Put God First

Date: 4/1/00
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: Haggai 1

Haggai 1

  1. 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,
  2. 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.
  3. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
  4. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
  5. Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
  6. 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.
  7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith 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 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,
  15. In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

This is the start of a series on the book of Haggai, which we'll look at in four parts. The titles for the four parts will be:

  1. Put God First
  2. Be Strong
  3. Be Clean
  4. Be Encouraged

Background

Let's start by looking at the background to the book of Haggai. Haggai was born during the time of the Jews captivity in Babylon. The Jews' great desire was to be back in their homeland, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple and return to God's prescribed means of worshipping.

In the year 536, King Cyrus allowed some of the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to start building the temple. They had opposition, though, and this led them to stop their work for 16 years. This is where we are at the start of the book of Haggai. See Ezra for more on the rebuilding of the temple.

Put God First

The word of the Lord came to Haggai. The Lord looked down at Jerusalem and saw that His house was unfinished. The Jews were living in their own completed houses, while no work was going on to complete the Lord's house.

  • Their priorities were wrong. It seems the people's attitude was "Once we are settled and comfortable, then we will work on the Lord's house" but they were finding it increasingly hard to get by. They lacked in their own lives because they weren't putting God first in their plans. It is important for us to have God in the right place in our lives. If we give Him the pre-eminence, He will honour that, but if we place our selves, our families, our security ahead of God, we will find things start to go wrong.
  • They were relying on their own resources. Instead of looking to God, the people were trying to manage things themselves. The fact that their crops were failing was a sign from God that they needed to change their ways, but they were too spiritually blind to see this, and just kept toiling along in a downwards spiral. I sometimes wonder how much of my efforts will be revealed to be purely my own efforts when I stand before the judgement seat of Christ. It's only when we do tasks in faith that they are pleasing to God. And it's only then that we can be successful.
  • The temple lay unfinished. They had started with vigour, but a few setbacks had stopped them and they had taken their eyes off the vision God had given them. It's very easy to take our eyes off Christ when problems come into our lives. It's at these times that we need a Haggai in our lives: someone who will encourage us to get started again, to get moving instead of just moping.
  • The response of the people to Haggai's word from the Lord was quick. They rose from the langur they had been in and started again working on the Lord's house. Notice that as son as they started, the Lord spoke to them and assured them He was with them. As soon as we start any task for the Lord, in the Lord's power, we have the same assurance, that He is with us.

The Lord's message to the Jews, on two occasions, was "Consider your ways". Perhaps if we examine our lives we will see places where we have our priorities wrong, where we have started something and not finished it. Perhaps we are trying to sort out our own affairs before we do God's work. It could be time to return to the task which has long lain unfinished. If we do, we have God's assurance as we start: "I am with you".

© David Meiklejohn 2000
David@Meiklejohn.org.uk
www.meiklejohn.org.uk

Next - Haggai pt 2