HAGGAI

Chapter One

Introduction

The Jews to whom Haggai prophesied were involved in a building project. They had returned from their seventy-year captivity in Babylon and were rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem.

I want to talk about our church building project… But not the one on Fargo Avenue. What we commonly call "the building project" on Fargo Avenue that began in the year 2000 with our purchase of the land is a smaller part of the overall building project of our church that began in early 1985 when Calvary Chapel of Hanford first began to meet. It is this larger building project we must keep in mind – especially as we step forward to build a structure where we can meet for ministry.

The Bible suggests the metaphor that the church on earth is itself a spiritual building. Jesus said, "I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18); Peter called believers "living stones… being built up a spiritual house" (First Peter 2:5). Paul used the metaphor of the church as a building in the books of Romans, Ephesians, and First Corinthians. He said in First Corinthians 3:9-15,

1 Corinthians 3:9 … you are God’s building.

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

1 Corinthians 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

1 Corinthians 3:13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

1 Corinthians 3:14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

1 Corinthians 3:15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

From these and other passages we can derive the following points about the church being a spiritual building project:

1. Jesus Christ is the spiritual foundation of the building project.
2. Jesus Christ is also the Architect and Master Builder of the building project.
3. Leaders in the church are subcontractors in the building project.
4. Believers are both the workers and the building materials for the building project.

Since all believers are both workers and the building materials, they are urged to consider their work in terms of both methods and materials.

Keep this in mind as Haggai urges the Jews of his day to consider their methods and materials. We’ll organize our thoughts around two points: #1 Submit Yourself To A Building Project Review, and #2 Commit Yourself To A Building Project Rededication.

#1 Submit Yourself To A

Building Project Review

Haggai called upon God’s people to review their progress in rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem. Let me give you a brief sketch of the events leading up to his exhortation.

The Temple was destroyed by the invading Babylonian armies in 586 bc. As exiles in Babylon for seventy-years, the Jews were without a temple and without their sacrifices. Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians. Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, gave permission for almost 50,000 Jews to return to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel as their leader and accompanied by Joshua the high priest and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Sacrifices were soon reinstituted on a rebuilt altar for burnt offerings, and in the second year of the return the foundation of the temple was laid. However, Samaritan harassment and eventual Persian pressure brought a halt to the rebuilding of the temple. Then spiritual indifference set in; and for about sixteen more years - until the rule of the Persian king, Darius Hystaspes (521-486 bc) - the construction of the temple was discontinued. In the second year of Darius (520 bc) God raised up Haggai the prophet to encourage the Jews in the rebuilding of the temple. His task was to arouse the leaders and the people of Judah from their spiritual apathy and to encourage them to continue working on the temple.

The Jews were dedicated to rebuilding the Temple, but had discontinued due to difficulty and then indifference. I suggest to you that this pattern can and does occur in the lives of believers in the church: Dedication is always confronted with difficulty; difficulty can lead to indifference which causes you to discontinue your spiritual building project.

Haggai 1:1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

Haggai’s name is derived from a root word meaning festive or festival. Commentators assume he was born on a feast day. Notice he addresses the leaders. He doesn’t only address the leaders, but those in leadership of any kind should take this message as first for them. Zerubbabel was the civil leader and Joshua was the religious leader.

As I mentioned, the Jews dedicated themselves to the rebuilding project, but difficulties led them to stop. Indifference set in and it had now been at least sixteen years since they had made any progress. Haggai is going to exhort them to "consider their ways." He is going to exhort them to submit to a review of the building project. Two characteristics will emerge from their review: Complacency and conformity.

You see their complacency in verses two.

Haggai 1:2 "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built."’"

They had returned with real dedication to rebuild. Strong opposition had risen up against them. They interpreted the difficulties as a sign from God they were to quit. But they were wrong!

Of course there would be opposition. They ought to have expected it. They were doing a spiritual work for God and the enemies of God, inspired by supernatural forces, were bound to come against it and them.

If you are in the will of God, you expect difficulties and press forward. You resolve the problem of interpreting difficulties by knowing that the project you are dedicated to is God’s will. Sometimes you might press for something that you want that is not really God's will; that’s another message.

When difficulties are allowed to defeat your dedication, you grow indifferent and become complacent. Excuses are the evidence of complacency. You start making excuses for falling-off in your dedication to serve the Lord. The Jews said it wasn’t the Lord’s time to build. We sometimes say we don’t have the time. We have a lot of excuses for accepting the status-quo in our spiritual lives.

Review your building project for spiritual progress. If you have excuses, you have grown indifferent and are complacent.

Complacency sets you up for conformity:

Haggai 1:3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Haggai 1:4 "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?"

Once the building project at the Temple stopped, the Jews turned to their own homes. Their enemies did not oppose them building their own homes – only God’s Temple. As long as the Jews were like everyone else, pursuing the things everyone else pursued, they were no threat. In other words, as long as they conformed to the world they were left alone to pursue the things of the world. Rather than making an impact on the world around them, the world was making an impact upon the people of God.

Haggai 1:5 Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways!

Haggai 1:6 "You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes."

The Jews were not able to find satisfaction in the world. The people of God can never truly be satisfied in or by the world. We must seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. Our values must be spiritual and eternal.

Haggai 1:7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways!

Haggai 1:8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the LORD.

"Consider your ways" is the phrase that best summarizes Haggai. He uses the word "consider" four times in his four messages in these two chapters. "Consider your ways"; or, as I am suggesting, review your spiritual building project for progress.

Haggai 1:9 "You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.

Haggai 1:10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

Haggai 1:11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

God has saved you for something greater than the things that this world has to offer. By His marvelous providence, He will reveal to you the emptiness of living for yourself and the glories of living for Him.

For the Jews, the building project was the Temple. What exactly is your spiritual building project?

1. As a Christian, your individual life is a spiritual building project. Your marriage, your family, your career, your hobbies, your recreations – all of these and everything else in your life are a spiritual building project to be dedicated to God. You are to build them using the methods and materials revealed to you by God. You should expect to encounter difficulties; but, when you do, you should remain dedicated rather than allow difficulties to defeat you by halting your progress.
2. As a Christian, your corporate life with other believers is also a spiritual building project. The church as a group is God’s spiritual building on earth. You are called to serve others, and gifted in certain ways by God’s Spirit. We are to work together using the right methods and materials to accomplish the spiritual service God has planned for us. We should expect to encounter difficulties; but when we do, we should remain dedicated rather than allow difficulties to defeat us by halting our progress.

Submit yourself to a review of your spiritual building project. You should see that you have remained dedicated to the spiritual projects God has given you. If you have not remained dedicated, then it’s time to be rededicated!

#2 Commit Yourself To A

Building Project Rededication

Examining yourself is no help unless you do something about what you discover. The Jews heard Haggai, and they heeded him. They rededicated themselves to the building of the Temple. Their rededication involved two things: obedience and outpouring.

You see their obedience in verse twelve:

Haggai 1:12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 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 feared the presence of the LORD.

Again I would strongly exhort leaders to lead by their example. It is too common that leaders criticize the led for slacking-off. Leadership in the church is a ministry of serving others – of washing their feet.

The key word in verse twelve is obvious: obeyed. Rededication is simply submitting to God by obeying His Word. God’s Word is usually pretty obvious. When you disobey it’s usually not because you don’t understand God’s Word, but because you won’t submit to God’s Word as your rule of life and conduct.

Christians convince themselves that they are unable to obey God’s Word when, in truth, they are unwilling to obey it. They convince themselves that God is withholding the power they need to obey. Just the opposite is true! God’s Word which commands and compels you also empowers and enables you. One dear saint put it like this: "I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible." That is the attitude you need to adopt.

Next you see an outpouring. You see this in verses thirteen and fourteen:

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."

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,

God "stirred-up" the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people. Other translations say He inspired them. In the New Testament we would say that God baptized them with His Spirit, or poured-out His Spirit upon them. As Pastor Chuck Smith often says, it doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you experience it. It is an outpouring, a fresh filling, a new over-flowing of the Holy Spirit.

You cannot be a Christian unless you are born again and have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. But once the Holy Spirit is in you, He still wants to come upon you in fresh outpourings to empower your work for God.

Rededication involves your obedience and it involves the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit into your life. It is these two working together for the glory of God.

1. Your obedience is not the cause of God’s outpouring of His Spirit, otherwise you would get the glory.
2. But, at the same time, the outpouring of God’s Spirit is not a force that compels you to obey against your will.

Obedience and outpouring work together as a spiritual transformation that we can call rededication.

Conclusion

There was a specific date on which the Jews rededicated themselves to the building project.

Haggai 1:15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

They could note it on their calendars and celebrate it. It happened at a certain point in time.

Some of you have dates like this. You rededicated yourself to the Lord… To your marriage… To your ministry.

Some of you need dates like this! Maybe it’s today.

[Haggai’s message was restricted to the people of God. They were his audience. But you might be here today and never have committed yourself to God in the first place!]