Give thought to your ways and begin to serve the Lord

Date 02 10 19 Text Haggai 1:5-11 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

The week before we began to look at the Book of Haggai. You may remember that I began with the story of Henry VIII and his disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleeves. Ever the romantic, before they had ever met Henry had decided to surprise Anne by disguising himself and meeting her en route to London. According to tradition, the would-be bride was supposed to see through the disguise, fall in love at first sight and swoon into her beloved’s arms. Unfortunately, Anne knew nothing of this and didn't recognise Henry and was shocked and scared at a stranger trying to embrace her. This seems to be the source of Henry's great disappointment in her rather than that she was ugly.

I mentioned my disappointment as a young boy when a fellow pupil said he was bringing a magic set into school. Until then I had not realised that a conjuring set does not enable you to do real magic.

I gave these examples of disappointments as it is one of the themes of Haggai. The book is from the time when the people have returned from exile and are back in the Promised Land but it is not easy and there are many disappointments. These disappointments lead to discouragement and then to apathy, something we can all too often experience too today.

Last week we just looked at the first four verses of the book. We said three things from those verses.

It is God's Word from an ancient time and to an ancient people and yet one that still speaks today if we are willing to hear the message.

Secondly, we considered the sorts of excuses we sometimes use to neglect serving the Lord

Thirdly, the argument as to why such sentiments hold no water - our problem is not really lack of time or other resources. We have Christ our Priest King at our head and if we would simply follow him, all would be well.

I want next to look at verses 5-11 of the opening chapter. Here we have a series of three exhortations concerning serving the Lord and the failure to do this that has marked out the people since they returned to the Promised Land. The background here is that the exile to Babylon took place in 586 BC but in 538 BC the Persian King Cyrus issued his decree that people could return to the Promised Land to rebuild the Temple. Some 50,000 came back, a relatively small number, and when they came to Jerusalem it was in ruins. Not only that but there were economic problems and a lot of opposition. Only two years after returning, work stopped on the Temple and from 536-520 nothing was done. It was at this time that Haggai began to prophesy.

His exhortations are designed to get them back to working on the Temple. These exhortations need to be read carefully as their context is, of course, an Old Testament one. There are warnings in Deuteronomy and elsewhere that if the people fail to keep the covenant then they will know very tangible punishments - famine, drought, economic hardship, etc. Now we are not under the old covenant any more and so that simple tie up between wordly prosperity and serving the Lord is not there in the same way, despite what some claim. Further, Haggai wants them to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. That is not our task today. Nevertheless, there is a new covenant and today in Christ we are to form the Temple of God for his praise and so we can make some broad applications and here we will seek to do so. Three things then

1. Give careful thought to your ways in light of the difficulties you may be facing

1. Make sure you give thought to your ways

The section begins Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. This is the first thing then. We all need to give careful thought to our ways.

This is something Scripture is often calling us to. So for exampe in the New Testament we read

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?

Galatians 6:4, 5 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.

It was when the Prodigal Son came to his senses that he began to consider his situaion and start moving in the right direction.

It is too easy to just sail on regardless. We dare not do that. We need to stop and think.

A very old Puritan Henry Smith once wrote

Holy men have kept the sessions at home, and made their hearts the foreman of the jury, and examined themselves as we examine others. The fear of the Lord stood at the door of their souls, to examine every thought before it went in, and at the door of their lips, to examine every word before it went out, whereby they escaped a thousand sins which we commit, as though we had no other work.

Let's learn from them.

Another Puritan, Thomas Watson wrote

Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls (Psalm 77:6). Often reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your hearts as you do with your watches, wind them up every morning by prayer, and at night examine whether your hearts have gone true all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have moved swiftly toward heaven.

2. Are things proving difficult?

In particular, think of where the sticking points are in your life. Here Haggai focuses on five areas where things have been going wrong. These are in verse 6

You have planted much, but harvested little. There have been poor harvests even tthough there has been plenty of planting.

You eat, but never have enough. When they have eaten, they have not had enough to eat.

You drink, but never have your fill. The same with drink, where they have not had enough to drink.

You put on clothes, but are not warm. When they put on clothes, the clothes did not warm them up.

You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. This is a very vivid way of describing inflation.

The language used is very vivid even though it cannot be tied down to specifics in every case. We are talking about poor harvests, famine, drought, nakedness and monetary inflation. These were the troubles the returnees had been suffering. When such things and things like them happen to us, it ought to set us thinking.

Why am I planting but not reaping? Why am I eating but not full? Why am I drinkng but still thirsty? Why am I putting on clothes but not getting warm? Why am I earning money but I can't afford anything?

2. Give careful thought to your ways and begin to serve the Lord for his praise and honour

1. Make sure you give thought to your ways

In verse 7 the statement is made again This is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. Is there a connection between the way things keep going wrong and the fact that you are not really getting on with the work of the Lord? In those days, it was the failure to build the Temple that stood out and the way God was stirring them up by sending poor harvests, a lack of food and water, coldness and inflation.

In July 1723 Jonathan Edwards made this resolution

Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination.

Are we failing to serve the Lord as we ought to today and is he sending trouble on us in order to wake us up to our need?

2. Get on with the work of serving the Lord

So what should we do? It is very simple really. Verse 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house .... In other words, waste no more time but get up and get going on the work of the Lord now. It is hard work as is implied here but it is work that we must do if we belong to the Lord.

3. Do it in order to give pleasure to the Lord and to honour him

The reason to do this is not in hopes of improving our standard of living. That would be a rather selfish way of approaching things. Rather, it ought to be done so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the LORD. To act in that way would give pleasure to the Lord. It would be to the honour of his name. That is why it ought to be done.

Let's look at our lives then and consider and let's begin to do the work of the Lord with a fresh enthusaism and commitment. How this would please the Lord. How greatly this would be to his honour and praise.

3. Your disappointments all stem from your failure to serve the Lord and an obsession with your own comfort

Finally, we say

1. Think what has been happening to you

Verse 9 sums up their experience so far, since returning to the Promised Land. You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away.

When they came back they were full of expectations. It was so exciting. But it had all come to nothing. It is like someone who has been looking forward to a new school or to going to university, say, and they have talked about nothing but for a long time. However, when the reality hits, then it does not seem quite so exciting. Or think of a new song coming out by your favourite band or a church where a new minister has arrived. So quickly excitement can turn to disappointment. Think of Henry and Anne of Cleeves again.

Or think of a great effort to gather leaves all into one place, all in one barn. But then comes a great gust of wind and they are all gone. They are scattered everywhere.

2. See why this is the case

It is important, as we have said, to consider. Why? declares the LORD Almighty. Why is everything going wrong? And the answer is given. It is to do with the failure to build the Temple. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. As has been intimated before, while God's House remains unbuilt and a ruin they have been busy with their own projects - building their own houses and making sure all is well with them. This is the root of why things are not going well.

Verses 10, 11 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 olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands. There is a little bit of word play here - God's house remains a ruin (chareb) and so God has called for a drought (choereb). It is something like

... my house, which remains destroyed, ... I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains ...

The drought and famine that has scarred the land, the economic troubles that have come can be traced back to this.

It is a little like what Paul says to the Corinthians in the New Testament (in 1 Corinthians 11:28-31) concerning the Lord's Supper Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. We do not have the discernment of an apostle but if we knew ourselves better then we could see how our lack of good order at the communion table and other sins that mar our worship and service were working against us to our shame. Such a realisation ought to make us repent and turn to the Lord with a fresh and revived enthusiasm for the things of God.

Wake up to your situation then and start doing the Lord's work today. Do not hold back.