Consider Your Ways

Introduction

For our first anniversary, points of reflection, of review. And we start to think, did I really do that? Or well, I can’t believe that that’s over. I’m getting waved over to this microphone. I think I’m going to stay here for the remainder of the morning. They made that clear. Thank you. And so as we’re reviewing, we think about all kinds of different things, whether it be how I should have handled a situation. What could I have said that would have changed that moment in time? Or perhaps we look back fondly and we say, that was a wonderful day. That was a wonderful night. There’s things I can learn from that. There’s things I can grow because of that situation. And we apply them, and hopefully, if they’re good things, we repeat them, and if they’re bad things, we avoid them at all costs.

But this morning I want to ask us to consider our ways. In the book of Haggai, Haggai makes us plead twice in verse 5 and verse 7. He says, Consider your ways. So let’s go back to the prophets this morning and look at Haggai chapter 1. In Haggai chapter 1. I’ll go ahead and read the first several verses, and then we’ll turn to the book of Ezra to get a little bit of context for this prophet. 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 the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerebbabel, the son of Shaltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, 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 penal 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 yourself, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Kind of like some of our Christmas money, isn’t it? Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. He tells them to consider their ways, he’s saying, You have, you gather, but you’re not full.

You earn money, and yet it goes right out of our pockets. Y’all missed the joke earlier. It’s okay. We’ll move on. Anybody says again, consider your ways. And I think we would do well to consider our ways this morning and see if we have the same problem. Did you catch what it was? In verse 2, the people were saying, it is not yet time to rebuild the house of the Lord. Now, that doesn’t sound good, but perhaps they’re okay at the moment. Until we come to verses 3 and 4. And then we realize, Houston, we have a problem. In verse 3, then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Notice verse 4. Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

So just to underscore any possibility of it being okay that the house of the Lord remained unfinished, there is this question. Have you ever heard of a debate or someone where someone gives this really good question and someone comes back with the ultimate line and come back? This is the time to rebuild the house of the Lord. Is it time for you to lay in your panel houses? Is that okay? Is that alright? We think about this. We need to consider. What do we do? Are we like that? How did these this people of God? How did they come so far to where they were focused on their luxury. They’re physical things. Rather than the most important thing that could they could have amongst them, which would be the temple of the Lord.

Rebuilding the house of the Lord, putting spiritual things first. Consider that perhaps we have that problem in today’s society, don’t we? Getting a little too preoccupied, a little too busy, a little too spiritually indifferent sometimes, as we let the cares and worries of this physical world surround us and take up all of our time.

But first, some context. Turn with me to the book of Ezra in chapter 3. Several years earlier, Zerubabel had led back a group of Israelites. And in Ezra chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, note this. When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua the son of Josedak with his fellow priest, and Zerubbabel the son of Sheltiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the land, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord.

Burnt offerings morning and evening. Did you get that they rebuilt the altar? They rebuilt the altar, they were offering sacrifices to God. This was good. They were putting the Lord first. Note in Ezra chapter 4. Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerebbal and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, Let us build with you. For we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the day of days of Ezra Hadan, king of Assyria, who brought us here. But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers’s houses in Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God.

But we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us, and you see these people trying to get in on this work, and you see Zerubbabel take the stand, and you go, Yes! He got it. They’re putting the word, the house of the Lord first. They’re gonna understand, they’re gonna get it done, and then we come to verse four. Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build. And verse five, and bride counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. So you see the rebel had been pushing. These people had been working towards building.

1. Begin With Self-Evaluation

They had gathered what they needed more or less. They had been working, they had been sacrificing, they had been thinking about things of God, and then it came to a stop. And in Ezra chapter 5, we see Haggai introduced. This is just for interest. Now the prophets Haggai and Zachariah, the son of Ido prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. It is that prophet Haggai who we focus on this morning. So I want to think about three things for us to consider going into this new year, and as we reflect. And as we begin, let’s begin with self-evaluation. Look at the way back at Haggai chapter one. If you have a marker, it’s probably going to be useful for you to put it here.

In Haggai chapter 1. Now remember verse 5, he says, Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. And in verse 7, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Is it is is the Lord implying some sort of employing some type of rhetorical strategy here? What is he exhorting them to do? Consider consideration, evaluate, think about what you’ve done, what it has produced. Has it been good or bad? What do we see in between verse 5 and 7? Sandwich in the middle is verse 6. Think about this. You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have your fiddle. You clothe yourself, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

So he’s saying, think about it. Here’s what happened. You did this, you didn’t get it. You did this, you weren’t satisfied. You did this, you see that the pattern. There’s four different things he mentions in verse 7 again. Consider your ways. But what I’m interested in this morning for us is am I putting God first? Are we as a congregation, are we as individuals putting the Lord first? And I think there’s several ways to evaluate that that go beyond just, yes, I believe in God. Yes, I’m here this morning, so I must be all good. See, the problem with the people was not that they were in the wrong place. They were in the right place. In fact, they had even begun theoretically working on it.

Zerebuble had stood up for the Israelites to be the one to build the house of the Lord once again. And yet that wasn’t enough. Why? Well, in verse 2, the people were saying, perhaps out loud, perhaps just with their actions, it is not time to rebuild the house of the Lord. You know, it’s just, it’s kind of sad if you think about it. How busy we get. Have you ever just been so busy you thought, I just don’t have another moment in the day? Or perhaps you press the candlelight and you stay up till two or three in the morning consistently and constantly, and you think, I just can’t do this much longer. Well, why? Well, because there’s there’s a job to work, there’s a house to tend to, there’s people to care for.

There’s, as my dad always said, things to do, people to see, and places to go. And there’s just always going to be something. And can I let you in on a secret this morning? Things will always need to be done. Did you hear me? Things will always need to be done. Amen. I figured maybe I’d get more from the mothers on that one. There’s always things to do. And we understand that. And yet we go on living in this vain cycle, trying to do everything. We try to get everything done. We try to do all of these physical things that are going to need to be done again. And that’s okay if it doesn’t come at the expense of our service to God. You see, that was the real problem in verse 4 of Haggai chapter 1, isn’t it?

Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? There’s nothing wrong with luxury. There’s nothing wrong with being on a baseball team or singing in the chorus, but there is a problem when those things come before God. And while we don’t have a spiritual temple to build, we do have an almighty God to serve. And we would do well to invest our time that way. When we consider investments, many of you may be participating in retirement accounts, saving. What do you do? You take a portion of your money and you put it in the account. Why? So that it grows. And so that when it comes time for you to retire, you have something to live off of.

2. Consider the Cost of Busyness

You have something to work from financially. We should be doing the same with our full hearted service to God. We’re going to die no matter what. These things that need to be done, they’re going to keep happening. The house is still going to need to be cleaned, even when you’ve passed on. But that God is eternal. And our destiny, eternally, whether heaven or hell, is decided upon how we serve Him. And we have an almighty God to serve, and we would do well to remember that. But I want to make this point, and I want to spend a good deal of time on it this morning. Consider the cost of busyness. Look with me in Luke chapter 12. These people were living in paneled houses, and what does that mean?

It means they were taking care of themselves. They were covering their needs. And we saw that in verse 6 even. They were sowing, they were eating, they were doing what they needed to do, although without God, it just shows misplaced priorities lead to dissatisfaction. But they were so consumed with the things of this life, God’s work was being put on the back burner. And it reminds me, of course, of this rich fool. Do you remember him in Luke chapter 12? Read with me in verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. They said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one that lays that treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. What was the problem with this man?

Was it that he was building bigger barns? Is the Lord against us building barns? Is he against us doing things, living in panel houses? No. But if it comes at the expense of serving God, it is wrong. And while we look at that man and we say, What an arrogant fool that man is, to sit back and say, Soul, I have done well. I can eat, drink, be merry now. We think, what an arrogant fellow, don’t we? I can’t be the only one. And yet, with our busyness sometimes, it may not be building or storing up our bank accounts or portfolios, but it sure does seem with our 24-7 schedules, our race to be busy, our race to get just a few more things done each day.

Sometimes God gets squeezed out in the in the interim, doesn’t it? I’ll start serving God when. As soon as this is over, I’ll be back to serving him. Or when I have my job secure, or when I feel good in this, or when we have enough money, or when I can just relax, then I will serve God. When I am retired, I will have all this time. I can visit the poor and the sick. Then there’s always going to be needy. But consider your ways. Consider that the Lord is to be served today. And just like that rich fool, we may face our soul being required of us this day, maybe even in the coming moments. There was an illustration of a professor at a time.

I heard this from Rick Azell, but I do believe that is a pretty common illustration. It’s an instructor at a time management seminar who told the pre the his the participants to prepare for a quiz. So he reached under the table and he sat out this wide-mouth gallon jar. And he puts it up on the podium. And next to it are a bunch of fist sized rocks. And so he’s he he made them guess how many of these rocks do you think will fit into this jar? And they took their guesses and he started putting the rocks in one by one until they were about at the top. And he asked them, he said, Is the jar full? And all the participants looked at the jar and they said, Yes, it’s full.

And he reached under the table and he pulled out a bucket of gravel. And he dumped some gravel in and he shook the jar. And the gravel filled in the spaces between the rocks. And then he asked the participants again, is this full? And now they weren’t going to be fooled. This time they said, No, probably not. And he said, Good, you’re catching on. So he took out a bucket of sand and he poured in the sand and it mixed in with the gravel and the rocks. And he asked again, now is the jar full? And the participant said, No, it’s not full yet. And the instructor nodded, good. He was pleased that they had understood an important principle. Instructor poured a picture of water into the jar.

And at this point he stopped and asked the group, what’s the point of this? Somebody said, Well, there’s always gaps. And if you work at it, you can always fit more into your life. And the professor said, No. The point is this. If I hadn’t put in those big rocks first, I would have never gotten them in at all. Do you see that? We need to make sure that we’re putting first things first. We need to consider our ways. How dare we go about spending all our time and resources and energies on these physical things while the house of the Lord remains in ruins. You know, we’re not much better than the Israelites, even though it’s not a physical temple to be rebuilt. Anytime we are distracted from the purpose of God, we have left the big rocks out.

And that’s the that’s the clue of the whole message, isn’t it? That when we put off God, when we procrastinate serving, he’s never going to fit himself back in. The lazy man’s saying is tomorrow. And yet tomorrow never seems to come. We need to serve God this morning, this day, this life. We never know when our soul will be required of us. But moreover than that, we have an awesome God. We think about the Israelites in the time of Haggai, and we think, there’s the stuff. Build the temple. What is your problem, people? But they had their paneled houses that needed work. They had their stomachs to fill. They had their bodies that needed to be warmed with clothing. But go back to Haggai chapter 1 and notice an important point, an application of misplaced priorities.

Do you remember verse 6? You have sown much but harvested little. What was their problem? Were they not doing good? Were they unskilled laborers? No. God was not with them. They had not placed all their trust in God. He was not their first priority, and without God, they had nothing. Ultimately, and even in a physical way, they didn’t have enough. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew chapter 6. In the section beginning of verse 25, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing? And he’s making the point. This is an important principle to grasp.

Put the Lord first. He will provide for you. But you come down to verse 33 and it punctuates the entirety of the point. But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness shall be added to you. Verse 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The point is, with the Lord, with God, putting God first, there is nothing to be ashamed of. There is nothing we will lack. Because spiritual gain is what we are for. We are for spiritual lives. It is not about building up treasure. It is not about paneled houses. It’s about serving God. It doesn’t matter where you have a paneled house or an unpaneled house. It matters that the Lord will provide a home for you.

And unless we get that, we’re going to be stuck in the same place that that rich fool was building up his barns. We will never come to start serving. You say, Well, this new year, I’m going to start doing this. I’m going to start doing that. I remember Josh preached a sermon here, Josh Creel. And he talked about how one of the worst times to be at the gym is in January, right? Because that’s when everyone makes their new year’s resolution, and everyone’s at the gym. But as you find out, as February, March, April goes on, that gym’s not quite as packed anymore. Why is that? Well, we have great plans. We have good ideas, and certainly we need to exercise more. You’re looking at person number one who needs to do that.

But you think to yourselves, well, I’m going to start in the new year. And you do. And then you don’t. Because, well, I’m busy today. Didn’t you see how busyness always comes into play here? I have something to do. I have somewhere else to go. Let us always serve God. I need to go serve my brothers and sisters. I need to go worship God. I need to please God now. Because this is my chance. This is my opportunity. And this is the day the Lord has made and blessed me with the opportunity to live in. And until we get that, we’re going to look back. And when we consider our ways, we’re going to see we missed it. And brothers and sisters, if we get to the day of eternity, the day of judgment, and we’ve missed it.

What a terrible, awful thought that would be when there is no tomorrow. There’s only an eternity of reaping what we have sown. The Lord is good to us, and the Lord is wonderful. But the point is we need to stop waiting and start serving. Look at Haggai chapter 5. We read those many times through even verse 7, but pick up with me in verse 8. 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. What are they to do? Go up to the hills, bring the wood and build the house. Why? So I will be glorified, says God. That is why we live, to glorify God. And that’s what he’s telling them to do.

In verse 9, 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 and on the grain, the new wine, the oil on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast and on all their labors. Did you see that in verse 11? I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, on the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast and on all their labors.

He got everything. Because they traded serving God for serving themselves. Did you see that in verse 9? Because of my house that lies in ruins, well, each of you busies himself with his own house. If I stop and evaluate my year in 2014, what will I see? Will I see a lot of investment in my home and in my bank account and in my television set? Or will I see a lot of time spent serving the Lord, serving his people, growing in faith, spending more time in prayer, learning more about the Word of God. Consider your ways. If we would begin with self-evaluation, we’re smart people. We know what we’ve done. We can see that God is worth it all. Surely the people could have realized that they were sowing, but sowing much but reaping little.

They knew God should go first. It wasn’t a question of ignorance. It was a question of procrastination and indifference. Until we recognize, accept, and consider the implications that God knows and God is watching, we will continue to push into the backburner. When something’s on fire, you go put it out because it’s urgent and it needs to be taken care of. Unfortunately, loving God too often gets pushed to the backburner because we don’t see him in front of us. And the judgment day is some mythological day we think that’s coming in the future. Yeah, we know it’s real, but then we do nothing about it. We need to stop viewing the Bible as a book of fantasy and as a book that shows us the way of life.

3. Consider What It Means to Obey God

And when you have an access to life, you don’t just read about and say that’s great. You go all in and you live for God. If we were to consider what it means to obey God, we would see what happens when we do. Look with me in Haggai chapter 1 and chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Speak now, deserubbable, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now?

Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubable, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehosadak the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. The interpretations can be looked at another day, but consider the importance. God will reign. And we can choose to submit to his service. We can choose to benefit from this plan of salvation and his blessings that he offers us, or we can continue or begin ignoring them even this day. We have an awesome God. We have a mighty God. But it is not a God to serve in the spare time. We need to put our big rocks in the bucket first. And we may help ourselves by starting to light a fire within us and say, I have a God who needs to be served now, not a God who needs to be served sometime in my lifetime.

Please pray with me at this time. Our dear God and most gracious and loving Lord, we praise you for your greatness. We recognize with your spoken word you created the heavens and the earth. We know, O Lord, that you are mighty, you are strong, and you are God. We thank you for choosing to look upon us with favor. We thank you for sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We pray that in all things and all ways we will bring glory to you. We will praise you as the mighty God you are, and we will recognize that you have offered us the mind-blowing chance to live eternally in heaven with you. Thank you, Lord, for loving us, and thank you for blessing us.

Conclusion

Please forgive us when we’re distracted, when we’re indifferent, and when we procrastinate on serving you. Help us to realize that you are God. We are mere men and have the humility to live as such. Thank you for your blessings. We pray that you give us strength, courage, and conviction to live on and to serve you. And in all these things, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. As we consider the message of Haggai, consider that the people of Israel, the people in Jerusalem. They knew God. They had a covenant with God. It wasn’t just some wicked people. It wasn’t just some horrible, mean leaders. These are people who knew God, who got caught up in the busyness of their own homes. Let’s consider our ways this year and start serving God today.

Because He’s worth it. And heaven is worth everything. Now that can only be said, those blessings in God can only be found if you are in Christ Jesus. Christ will save us, but we must be in His body. And fortunately, God has provided that way. Perhaps you’re here this morning and you never have been into the body of Christ. Recognize this morning the waters are ready. You can be baptized, having your sins forgiven. You can begin serving God today. Or maybe you’ve allowed too much sand and gravel and water to fill your jar. And the rocks, the priority of God have been left outside. If you need prayers for help, if you need prayers for forgiveness, you can come forward this very morning in just a few brief moments, and you can have this congregation pray with you and pray for you.

And we can restack that jar and begin serving God this very day. If you are subject to any or all of these invitations, please come forward right now as we stand, as we sing the invitation song.