Sermon Notes (8.15.21)
Today’s Text: Haggai 1
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, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2 “The Lord of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”
3 The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ” 5 Now, the Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways:
6 You have planted much
but harvested little.
You eat
but never have enough to be satisfied.
You drink
but never have enough to be happy.
You put on clothes
but never have enough to get warm.
The wage earner puts his wages
into a bag with a hole in it.”
7 The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? ” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
10 So on your account,
the skies have withheld the dew
and the land its crops.
11 I have summoned a drought
on the fields and the hills,
on the grain, new wine, fresh oil,
and whatever the ground yields,
on people and animals,
and on all that your hands produce.”
THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, delivered the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with you — this is the Lord’s declaration.”
14 The Lord roused the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the Lord of Armies, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. (CSB)
THE CONDITION(S)
Haggai 1:1-6
WORD OF THE LORD
LORD OF ARMIES
HOUSE OF THE LORD
Have you neglected the house of the Lord?
EPHESIANS 2:19-22
So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
It is true that a person does not have to go to church to be a Christian. He does not have to go home to be married either. But in both cases if he does not, he will have a very poor relationship.
– Kent Hughes
PANELED HOUSES
How’s that working for you?
If you are selfish, and make yourself and your own private interests your idol, God will leave you to yourself, and let you promote your own interests as well as you can. But if you do not selfishly seek your own, but do seek the things that are Jesus Christ’s, and the things of your fellow human beings, then God will make your interest and happiness his own charge, and he is infinitely more able to provide for and promote it than you are.
The resources of the universe move at his bidding, and he can easily command them all to subserve your welfare. So that, not to seek your own, in the selfish sense, is the best way of seeking your own in a better sense. It is the directest course you can take to secure your highest happiness.
– Jonathan Edwards
THE CALL
Haggai 1:7-12
REBUILD – the Why & the What
THE WHY – Celebration & Formation
I don’t have a radical thesis to offer about discipleship. You won’t find in this book some new program or novel formula, some previously unknown secret revealed by a guru who finally solves the problem of discipleship—like the spiritual equivalent of those weight-loss pills you see advertised on television (if only!). To the contrary, my argument is the very opposite of novel; it’s ancient: the church’s worship is the heart of discipleship. Yes, Christian formation is a life-encompassing, Monday through Saturday, week in and week out project; but it radiates from, and is nourished by, the worship life of the congregation gathered around Word and Table. There is no sanctification without the church, not because some building holds a superstitious magic, but rather because the church is the very body of Christ, animated by the Spirit of God and composed of Spirited practices.
– James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love
THE WHAT – Reflect. Repent. Remnant.
THE COMMITMENT
Haggai 1:13-15
“I am with you, declares the LORD.”
HEBREWS 12:1-2
Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?
Repent.
Remember.
Rebuild.
A Prayer for Salvation
“Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through your Son Jesus I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my sins and receive him as Savior. Amen.”