There are some verses in the Bible inHaggai 1:5-6 (NIV) that really capture the dissatisfaction of our age. "Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.' "
It doesn’t take too much imagination to come up with our own one-liners. Why not try? You fill up your gas tank, but always run on empty. You put on a new pair of shoes only to wear holes in them. You wind up your clock, but never have enough time. You surf the internet, but never catch a wave. You purchase a Happy Meal, but never find the happy. Maybe I’d better stick to my day job!
In which areas of your life do you feel the greatest dissatisfaction? Is it planting? Is it eating and drinking? Is it clothing? Is it your personal finances? Your home? Work? Family? Marriage? Children? Complete the followingsentence. My life would be better if I had more ____________. Have you noticed that when we feel dissatisfaction we just keep trying harder, as if trying harder is going to give us the edge?
When we feel dissatisfaction, we keep using our own power to try harder.
Take food, for example. In Haggai 1:6 (NIV) the Lord says, "You eat but never have enough." And so what is our response to hunger? We go shopping! We buy two cases of soda instead of one. We buy the family pack of meat instead of a single pound. We fill the pantry, the cupboards, and the freezer. And after exerting all that energy, what do we have the audacity to say? "There’s nothing to eat in this house. I’m hungry. Let’s go to the store. Let’s go out to eat." Is it really food that we’re hungry for? "You eat but never have enough." Why do we eat but never have enough? Where is the satisfaction?
In Haggai 1:6 (NIV) the Lord says, "You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." Men, if you ever wonder why your wives have so many purses, now you know. They have no other logical explanation to explain what happened at the mall. "My purse was full of money, but then it was all gone. It must have fallen through a hole in my purse. But don’t be upset. Look. I bought a new purse and matching shoes, and matching earrings, and necklace, and matching outfits, and they’re so cute!" Wow, I am in so much trouble now. Does anyone have a place I can stay tonight? Lara likes to remind me that my boat is a big hole in the water that I throw money into.
But what is our response to our money woes? "God, if only I made an extra one hundred dollars a week. If only I could get lucky and win that lottery, I’d give some of it to the church! If only taxes weren’t so high, or gas prices dropped, or my utilities were less, or I got that raise, or I came into some money....."
Having more never satisfies.
Have you ever wondered why more never satisfies? More almost always becomes less! We live in bigger homes, draw larger salaries, have more stuff, and have more luxuries and conveniences than any people in the history of the world. Yet we’re less satisfied. "Give careful thought to your ways: You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
Just a house?
In your outline I want you to pencil in the phrase:Just a house? It’s a question really. In the book of Haggai God’s people are returning from exile to the holy city of Jerusalem. They had been scattered across the Babylonian empire after having their city completely destroyed, including the city wall and God’s holy temple. You can imagine the Israelites' excitement. They had been aliens and strangers in distant lands, but now God was restoring their great city and gathering them together. Nehemiah, the great leader, had rebuilt the wall around the city. Ezra the scribe had begun teaching the law. Revival was sweeping through the city of Jerusalem.
But as the Israelites returned to the city, they kind of lost touch with this national revival and got caught up with other priorities, such as rebuilding their own houses. Probably any one of us in the same circumstance would have done the same. Three of our greatest needs include food, water, and shelter. We cannot survive without them!
But the harder people worked on building their own homes, the more they lost sight of the spiritual restoration God had in mind. As they put the finishing touches on their homes, they had all but forgotten about the temple. They were letting the temple, their sacrifices, their worship, their giving, and their observance of the law fall by the wayside as they pursued more pressing matters. Their philosophy was, "My family first, then God. My house, then God’s house."
When we neglect God's priorities, we become less satisfied.
But the longer they pursued their own priorities and neglected God’s priorities, the less satisfied they became. And so through the prophet Haggai God essentially says, "Give careful thought to your ways. There is a reason for your dissatisfaction. There is a reason you harvest little, you never have enough food, you never have enough drink, you are never warm, and that you are financially ruined."
In your Bible let's turn to Haggai 1 and read for ourselves what God says. Haggai 1:1-15 (NIV) says, "In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.' ' Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?' Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.' This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,' says the LORD. 'You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?' declares the LORD Almighty. 'Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.' Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: 'I am with you,' declares the LORD. So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius."
Your house is a statement of your priorities.
Your house is never "just a house". It’s a statement of our priorities. God certainly expects us to take reasonable measures to look out for our families. But excluding God while pursuing other priorities is inexcusable! In Haggai 1:11 the Lord describes how he called for a drought on the fields, mountains, grain, new wine, oil, whatever the ground produced, on men, on cattle, and even on the labor of people’s hands!
It doesn’t matter how much harder we try to make a life without God work. If God doesn’t come first in every area of our lives, we won’t be able to squeeze out even a drop of God’s blessing. This is why giving thanks to God before eating and drinking is imperative. When we first acknowledge God, it allows us to experience greater satisfaction as we eat. This is why serving God is imperative. When we serve God, rolling up our sleeves and really going hard at it, it allows us to experience greater fruitfulness. We make an impact on others and on God’s kingdom. Work becomes enjoyable and satisfying.
This is why Christians value tithing. When we give to God out of the first fruits of what we earn, that hole in the purse gets plugged. Our money goes a whole lot further. God pours out his blessing on our lives. As we’ll see in a few weeks with Malachi the prophet, God throws open the floodgates of blessing and gives us so much that we don’t have room enough to store it all. The drought ends as God becomes first in your life.
More than a house.
Houses aren’t just houses. They are a statement of priority. And so it makes sense to ask, "Whose house will come first? Will it be God’s house or your house?" In your outline I want you to pencil in the next phrase: More than a house.
As the Israelites began construction on the temple, it became evident to the old-timers who had seen the former temple, that the new temple would be lackluster in comparison. When you read Ezra’s account, the young men are celebrating as the foundation of the new temple is laid. But the older men are wailing!
One reason we don’t make God a priority is because we don’t think it will matter. We say to ourselves, "I don’t have that much to offer. What I can do doesn’t matter. There are other people who can do so much more and give so much more than I can." We forget that when God shows up, he does immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.
In Haggai 2:1-9 (NIV) God addresses the situation. The old timers among the Israelites were forgetting an important lesson. "On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 'Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 'Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?' But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."
The old temple was glorious because of its physical structure,its size, its silver, and its gold. If God wanted to rebuild that kind of temple, all the silver and gold belonged to him. He could have if he wanted to! The new temple would become more glorious than the old one because God himself would come and fill the temple with his glory. Referring to Jesus Christ, God says in Haggai 2:7 (NIV), "I will shake all the nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory." Referring to Jesus Christ, God says in Haggai 2:9 (NIV), "The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And in this place I will grant peace."
We work to bring glory to God's purposes.
The lesson here is that our work has meaning and lasting significance because of who God is and not because of who we are. Apart from God, our work is laughable at best. But with God’s blessing, the ordinary can become extraordinary. This is why in 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) Paul says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
In a short while our church will burn the mortgage and begin developing plans to build a sanctuary. We can build the greatest church building the world has ever known. But if God doesn’t show up, it's just bricks and mortar. A house has little or no value if it isn't for God coming to fill it with his glory. Our work has little or no value if it isn't for God coming and pouring out his blessing. God is what makes the temple great. God is what makes this church or any church great. It takes more than a house and more than a physical structure to honor God.
Being God's house.
Now in your outline, pencil in one last phrase: Being God’s house. In Haggai 2:10-14 (NIV) we discover how the Israelites are defiling God’s holy temple with their actions. For them, the temple was God’s dwelling place. But God didn’t want to be left in the temple. He wanted to be with his people and wanted to fill their lives with his holiness and presence. Not just at the temple, but everywhere they went!
In Haggai 2:14-15 (NIV) God says through Haggai, " 'So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,' declares the LORD. 'Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled. 'Now give careful thought to this from this day on— consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD’s temple.' "
In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) the apostle Paul asks, "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) he asks, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
In Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV) Paul says, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
Are you giving priority to being God’s house? To being the temple in which God lives by his Holy Spirit? Are you daily inviting God to come into your life and take away your drought of dissatisfaction?