through 11. Hear now the word of God. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by hand of Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealthiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts, These people say, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood, and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it, and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore, the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and all their labors. This is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated and join me in prayer as we ask the Holy Spirit to illumine us as we study the word of God. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would cause us to be attentive to God's holy word. Make us able to see and understand the timeless truths of God's wisdom. Help us to see where we fall short and help us to believe so that we may follow our Savior and reflect His character. And we pray this in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's begin with the background of the book itself. When Zerubbabel and Yeshua, the high priest, led a band of back to Judah to rebuild the temple, the people of God dedicated an altar to God. But after some opposition from the locals and fear set in, they stopped building. In fact, the work stoppage lasted for 16 years. They did nothing until the ministries of Haggai and Zachariah moved the people to restart the rebuilding project of the temple. Haggai 1-1 informs us that it was in the second year of the Persian Emperor Darius' administration that Haggai began to minister as a prophet of God. We know very little about Haggai himself, except that he's mentioned in Ezra in two different places, Chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, and Chapter 6, verse 14, simply as a prophet. These passages in the Book of Ezra make reference to Haggai in passing, but really don't give us any information about, you know, his life. He seems to have been well-known in the small Judean community, so much so that he doesn't need any introduction. He's simply the prophet. His family name is not even listed. Whenever that happens, that's a telltale sign that everyone knows of him within that community. We just saw this, didn't we, in the book that we just concluded. James did not need any introductions. People knew he was, who he was referring to by just giving his first name, James. The name Haggai means festal, coming from the word hag. That's the Hebrew word hag. It is speculated by some that he may have been born close to a time of one of the feasts of Israel. Now, it had been some time since God spoke through a prophet, but God spoke once more through the mouth of Haggai. From the book of Haggai, we know that his public recorded ministry lasted for a total of 15 weeks. in the year 520 B.C. That would be from the months of August to December. Now, this being the month of August, I guarantee you we will not go through the back of Haggai until December. However, you could see that it was for a very short period of time. Now, along with the prophet Zechariah, Haggai promoted the movement that led to the rebuilding of the second temple. What we don't know is if Haggai was born in Babylon, along with the other deportees, or if he was born in Judah, among the other captives of the Babylonian Empire. Now related to this question that is raised regarding his age, in verse 2, chapter 2 and verse 3, he asks, who is left among you who have seen the old temple? It is conjectured that he asked this question because he is old enough to have seen Solomon's temple, obviously before it was destroyed by the Babylonians. If this is so, this would make him a man in his 70s, or more realistically, over his 80s, or 80 years of age. This should make us realize that God uses us, no matter what age we may be, to promote his glory and kingdom. Isn't it wonderful to know that you never outgrow your usefulness to God? Praise God for that. But what we do know for certain is that Haggai was a prophet of the Lord, and he was commissioned by him. There's no place more clearly stated of that than in chapter 1 in verse 13, where we read, then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. As it relates to who wrote the book of Haggai, many modern scholars have argued that it cannot be Haggai himself, because he always refers to himself in the third person. But that does not necessarily exclude Haggai as the author, since this is a common literary technique in antiquity. However, we cannot know with certainty. But it has come down to us by the tradition of the Jews that it was he who was the author. And as a consequence, I think it is safe ground for us to accept that until we have some new information. As it relates to the dating of the book, there is no mention of the completion of the temple construction, which was in 516 BC. I think it's fair to hold that it seems unlikely that this event would remain unmentioned in the book if in fact it was done. So it may have been sometime before that date. Further sharpening the question of date, the author Haggai seems to assume that his audience requires no clarification as to the role of Darius, presumably because their status as political subjects of the Persian ruler rendered such clarification unnecessary. With these in mind, it seems that the book was written shortly after the oracles were delivered, that is about 520, or shortly thereafter, but before 516. Now, as it relates to the question of provenance, where it was written, if you will, the book seems to indicate that it was written in Jerusalem and no other place. Now, if Haggai was a prophet, then what was the content of his commissioned message? In short, Haggai delivered messages encouraging the post-exilic community to rebuild the temple. In what has come to be the tradition of the prophets, there is rebuke and encouragement in Haggai's message. Rebuke of the people's faithlessness and encouragement to trust in what God will do through them. But we must also be mindful that Haggai's message is not only of present glory, but it's also of future glory. As it relates to that future glory, there are two major themes here that we will explore. One of messianism and that of templology. We're going to address these themes in the latter part of the book. But for the moment, I think we can see that these major themes are interrelated and part of God's broader redemptive plan. Haggai's ministry was one of calling his generation to a renewed commitment to the task of the immediate restoration of Jerusalem's temple and the normalization of the religious life of Israel. The people would have to decide whose interests mattered most to them, their own interest or the Lord's interest. the people of God needed to address in their individual and corporate lives were the following. What was the priority of my life? Would it be God first or themselves? Having said that, let's now dive in as we transition to the text. The Roman poet, Sextus Propertius, born in the first century BC, is credited with writing the earliest version of a proverb for which many of us are quite familiar with. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I wonder if that's really true. Do you think it's true? Does time and or distance make you desire or your desire to be with someone you once cared for grow stronger? What happens over a long period of time when you don't attend to your spiritual needs? I don't mean like six hours. I don't mean like a couple of days or even several months. I'm talking, you know, a long period of time. As it relates to this context that we have here, we have over a decade of neglect. I hope you haven't experienced something that long in your life. But I think there are things we experience, whether it's a very long period of time or a very short period of time, that are common to both circumstances. I think we can experience the following things. Perhaps you've experienced them yourself. Spiritual and physical laziness. Indifference. spiritual apathy, irreligious apathy, which ultimately leads to misplaced priorities in life. The book of Haggai picks up within the history of redemption at a time when the people of God have neglected their responsibilities to God. It's like they started with great enthusiasm for something, And where, but Satan put some roadblocks before them and they have stumbled in their service to God since then. This is something that continues to happen today. Perhaps you can see this in your own life. Where Satan put a stumbling block before you and you go off the path. Perhaps even for years you've gone off the path. Perhaps you are there still today. whether you are here or watching this on the live stream. It's not only on the personal level. There are things that local churches face, and they become fruitless for years. If they continue to survive, they end up being ingrown and cliquish. Let me just stop there. It happens denominationally as well. If the stumbling block, let's say, is theological heresy, it can cause a whole bunch of churches to be fruitless for years, if not even apostate from the truth. If we take our eyes off the stated mission that God puts before us, In his word, we can become fruitless, whether it's an individual or large churches. Why is that? It is because our eye is not on God. It is upon something other than God. Something or sometimes it is trying to please society, It is to perhaps avoid persecution of some sort. It is because maybe we don't want to cause waves. But what they all have in common is that God is not the priority in our lives. God is if he's even there in the background. One thing that arises from these stumbling blocks is a concern for oneself. We become self-focused, self-centered, doing what pleases us. What motivates life now becomes just that, pleasing ourselves. Are you there today? Are you more concerned about what makes you happy? What brings you comfort? What others can do to make you happy. What you can do for others to ultimately make you happy. Where you were once happy to serve God. Where once what brought you joy was the serving itself to God. Now you are motivated to do things to bring happiness to yourself. You see, the thing about the Me Trap is that it never really allows you to be free to love. You're in this web of doing things so you can be happy, for others to bring happiness to you. It's all about backscratching, manipulating, and before you know it, You feel like you're permanently stuck in quicksand. Now, as we reviewed from our confession a couple of weeks ago, that there are times when the Lord allow you to continue in your sin in order to see the pain that it causes you for a period before he draws you back to himself if you are truly his. Something very similar is happening here. In this text, in the life of the people of God, we see this played out. As we enter into the text, we're told that the word of the Lord is given to Zerubbabel and Joshua combined. They represent the political and religious leadership of the newly reformed covenant community in Jerusalem. So whenever we think of the prophets delivering the word of God, we have a tendency to think that they're making predictions of future events. However, the office of the prophet was much more than that. At times, it was delivering a rebuke, calling people to repent from their sins. In fact, that is what's going on here. One can read into the rebuke immediately when the Lord begins with this people instead of my people. Can you see that? God sums up the prevailing attitude of the people, the time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt. It had been approximately 16 years since the foundation for the temple was laid and the sacrifices had restarted. Since then, no new construction had commenced. The foundation? An altar had been laid, but there were neither walls nor a roof on top of the temple. But yet the people had spent their time and their resources with providing for themselves. The people were being challenged to review their priorities. It seems that neither the prophet nor God are sympathetic to their response. God's point is that he finds their response unacceptable when his temple is in ruin or desolate. It seems as if they've built themselves houses and some are undergoing ornate interior paneling made of costly material. That's specifically pointed out. When we step back for a moment and look at the big historical picture, we can see the irony here, can't we? You may recall, King David found it difficult to live in a comfortable home while God was living in a tent. Second Samuel 7-2, the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent, wanting to build him a house. The people here were more concerned with making the boat more safe and beautiful when God's temple was not even constructed. What did this reveal about the people of God and their priorities? Well, their chief interest was to take care of their wants and desires. But God was an object of disinterest to them. All you had to do was look at the temple. We're not talking about ornate gold designs, the likes of what happened in Solomon's temple. We're talking about no roof, right? No walls. God demonstrated his covenantal faithfulness by raising up Cyrus and granting them permission to return to the land. Now the time had come for the people to show their covenant faithfulness, but instead they were more consumed with self-interest. There's a sports term, maybe you've heard it, but it's really more of a statistical term. It's called reverting to the mean. Whenever a player is doing something above his ability, his level of ability, or below his level of ability, there's an anticipation that he will play to his level of ability at some point. And when he does this, they call it reverting to the mean. Whenever God has helped you get out of a difficult situation. Whatever it may be, work situation, financial situation, personal relationship problems, health situation, and God answered your prayer. Has that fundamentally changed the quality of your relationship with God? And how you interact with God and his people? Or have you found yourself reverting to the mean? You kind of wonder about that here. The people are more interested in comfortable couches, 79-inch TVs with awesome sound systems, open kitchen plan with marble countertops, Egyptian cotton with the highest possible thread count. Now, they could do that because they were not far from Egypt. No one is even bringing up the subject of the worship of God. You know, the one that made it possible for us to have all these things, right? What are the priorities in your life? Are they in the right place? Are they in the right order? Do you spend any time with the Lord outside of Sunday mornings? Is worship the priority of Sunday mornings? Do you delight in giving of your talents to the Lord by serving Him and His people? Or do you find it a chore? Do you grumble at serving other people? Do you give of your treasure? Do you give to the Lord with joy in your heart, with thankfulness, so that the Lord would use it in a way that He sees fit in bringing glory to His name? Or do you make excuses? Perhaps something like this. God owns everything. The Bible says he owns a lot of land and a lot of cattle. It says that somewhere in the Bible, doesn't it? Does he need my measly tithe? In verse 5, God tells his people to give careful thought to their religious responsibilities and how they have obviously neglected him. Haggai goes on to explain the consequences of their neglect. The prophet invites his hearers to consider the following. The people strive to excel, but in all their efforts, they seem to come up short of their desires and aspirations. They sow large numbers of seeds in large areas of land, but their crop yields just enough to survive, just enough to eat. They attempt to save money to build a nest egg or purchase luxury items, but yet it seems as if their pockets have holes in them. It appears that the more they don't live up to their standards, the more they're willing to attend seminars on personal happiness and success from speakers that come from SUSA, the capital, or listen to podcasts on how to make $5,000 a month in your spare time. Quote, unquote, spare time. Does any of this sound familiar? Well, if it doesn't, wake up at midnight and turn the TV on and ignore that stuff they call content and just watch the advertisements. That's what this society is saying we need. When you don't achieve the things that motivate you in life, do you double down your efforts or do you take time to consider your ways? I don't mean consider on how you could do things better at what you're trying to achieve. I mean, do you ponder about your relationship with God? God states through his prophet, consider your ways. Think about your priorities. He wants them to wake up. to the way they are conducting life. He wants their attention. Is God trying to get your attention? When God gets their attention, what does he want them to do? Well, verse 8 sums up the central message of this oracle. Get to work. The Lord orders his people to get the timber needed to construct the temple. See, when God's people obey him, he, God, takes pleasure in it and is glorified by it. When you obey God's word and are seeking to glorify God, he is pleased with you and is glorified by your works. When you obey God and serve his people, does it bring joy to your heart, knowing that it pleases God when you do so? Or do you see it as a checklist thing, a chore? You would rather be doing something else that brings you pleasure. Only you can answer that question. But it does say something about our priorities in life, doesn't it? Have you ever tried to achieve things in life, and you apply yourself to it, but it comes at the expense of your responsibilities to God? You think it would give you so much more pleasure or security in life. So again, you double down, and no matter how hard you try, You keep hitting a wall. You ever experience that? At that point, maybe your pride comes up and starts speaking into your ear. I can do this. And yet, you just can't seem to catch that roadrunner. Boy, that can be frustrating, can't it? You've probably stopped and wondered what you're doing wrong or what you need to order next from the Acme Company to improve your chances. But you, have you ever stopped to ask, is God preventing me from achieving this goal? Let's see if our passage has anything to say about this. In verse 9, we read that the people's expectations, their desires, their wants were great, but they didn't really achieve them. It reads, you looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. God stifled their efforts. even when they achieve their goals, and when you brought it home. The Lord says he blew it away. In verse 10 and 11, he lists the things he has done to prevent them, thwart them from achieving their goals and priorities in life. It sure must have been frustrating for them. Have you ever been frustrated at trying to achieve something and failing? I mean, at the expense of God. You wonder sometimes about that, don't you? You ever say, why is God against me? Why is God constantly stopping me? Why has God done this if you've gone that far? Well, God answers this question for them. He says it in verse nine. because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." They've lost sight of their priorities in life. God is not a passive observer. He has been actively involved in their plight. And God is not passive observer in our own lives. Let's think about this for a moment. What does it imply? What does it mean when you have desires that rise to a priority higher than God in your life? What's another way of saying this? I mean, in biblical language. It's an idol, isn't it? It's idolatry. Something, anything that replaces your affections, your time, takes up your resources, well, they're all idols. Do you recall what caused the mess that people were in the first place for and that they were in now? It was idolatry, was it not? And they've returned right back to it. Maybe this time not with azeropoles. Now it's their houses and themselves. How quickly we are so prone to sin, even immediately after God delivers us. But God loves us so much. that at times he will thwart our efforts of achieving whatever it is that we want, that we think makes us happy because of the spiritual harm that it can cause us. So what must we do? Well, the key to understanding the problem is not working hard. It's not working harder on our relationships and putting in more hours at work, but rather it is, as is always the problem, the motivation of the heart. Right? Why? That's the question. Why do you want to advance? Why are you skipping lunch? Working late, skipping worship on the Lord's day for work, not tithing or making offerings to God with your time and your talents. When you make yourself the priority, when you make others the priority in your life, when you make things the priority in your life, you can fully and thankfully expect that God is not going to sit idly forever. Hebrews 12, five and six reminds us, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the ones he loves. and chastises every son whom he receives. As we consider our ways, we must continually acknowledge our sins to our Heavenly Father and place Him as the priority of our lives. So Christian, Is God trying to get your attention? Are you listening? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are plain with us, that you are honest with us. And most importantly, that you love us and that you care for us so much so that you will prevent us from hurting ourselves, hurting those that are around us that we love. We pray, Heavenly Father, that your Holy Spirit would help us, each and every one of us, to consider our ways and see how and where in our lives we are not placing you first. That we have taken what is good and what is wholesome that you have made and made them into idols. Help us to put things in their proper place. Above all, you to be above all, and