Outline
Introduction
Haggai came and challenged the nation to rise up and build a great temple for the worship of Jehovah. He ignited the flame which put the Jewish people to work in rebuilding the temple
Discussion
I. The Times
__A. Haggai appeared on the scene suddenly in 520 B.C., and nothing is known of his life before or after his preaching.
__B. The old temple was completely destroyed in 586 B.C. when king Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem.
____1. After 50 years in Babylon, the Jews were allowed the privilege of returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the ancient temple.
__C. The first enthusiasm for rebuilding the temple soon grew cold, and building operations ceased. The probable reasons were:
____1. The exiles had learned to do without the temple during their stay in Babylon.
____2. Opposition from the Samaritans and other surrounding tribes offered a ready excuse.
____3. Limited resources and poverty resulting from the failure of crops and from devastation brought by the Persian armies on their way to Egypt also hindered.
__D. Haggai was the man who was able to put courage into the hearts of his kinsmen and to inspire continuance of this vital enterprise.
II. The Book of Haggai
__A. This book contains 38 verses which have been divided into two chapters.
__B. This book consists of four sections, each which recounts a message from Jehovah to the Jews in Jerusalem at 520 B.C. These four sections include:
____1. Rebuke and a call to action (1:1-15)
____2. A call to courage and encouragement (2:1-9)
____3. A call to patience (2:10-19)
____4. A message of hope (2:20-23).
III. Main Lesson for This Generation
__A. The danger of procrastination is evident.
____1. The people came to rebuild the temple, faced obstacles, became discouraged, and ceased to work.
__B. A stern call to duty is a good tonic.
____1. Haggai was an exhorter.
____2. He was able to stir up the fire within his people.
__C. There is futility of human effort when it is separated from a spiritual emphasis.
____1. The center of life is spiritual.
____2. The purpose of making money, for example, is to give to the service of the Lord.
__D. Full obedience to God is a necessary condition of approach to Him.
____1. Without obedience, there is no salvation.
Conclusion
IV. The importance of obedience is stressed.
___A. This is the way man shows his love of God.
_____1. The one way man has to show his faith in God is through obedience.
_____2. God separates the foolish from the wise upon the basis of obedience.
Introduction
The people of this nation sat up and took notice when one of its greatest orators, Patrick Henry, issued the challenge: “Give me liberty, or give me death.” His voice help to bring on the American revolution, and he was one who helped to guarantee our independence. About 520 years before Christ, the prophet Haggai challenged his people who were indifferent in rebuilding the temple, and he was able to ignite the spark which set the flame in the hearts of the Jewish people that Jehovah’s house might be rebuilt.
Discussion
The Times
Babylon fell at the hands of Cyrus in 538 B.C. Soon after the occupancy of the city, he gave permission to the Jews to return to their former homes and encouraged in every way the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. In the spring of 537 B.C. a large company started on the homeward journey. On reaching Jerusalem the returned Jewish exiles immediately set up the altar of burnt offerings, and according to Ezra 3:8-13, they laid in the second year the foundation of the temple.
However, the first enthusiasm for rebuilding the temple soon grew cold, and building operations ceased. During their stay in Babylon, the exiles had learned to do without their temple and, therefore, had lost a great part of their zeal. The Samaritans and other surrounding tribes offered opposition, and their limited resources and poverty resulting from failing crops and the devastation brought by the Persian armies on their way to Egypt gave them opportunity for other excuses. It is not difficult then to see how these building operations, begun in 536 B.C., came to a complete standstill. Under these circumstances Haggai can be described as a messenger of Jehovah. He came on the scene and preached in 520 B.C. His book consists of four sections, each of which recounts a message from Jehovah to the Jews in Jerusalem.
The Book of Haggai
The first message from chapter 1, dated the first day of the sixth month, during our September, reproves the Jews for building their own ceiled houses while saying that the time for building Jehovah’s house had not yet come.
The second section, which is included in chapter 2, verses 1 through 9, contains a message dated the 21st day of our October in which the builders are encouraged for their work. Jehovah gave the message that the latter glory of the temple would be greater than the former. The third section from chapter 2, verses 10 through 19, contains the word of Jehovah which came to Haggai on the 24th of our December. It is in the form of a parable based on certain ceremonial laws according to which the touch of a holy thing does not sanctify so much as the touch of an unholy pollutes. Thus were the people polluted, and thus every work of their hands. Their sacrifices availed nothing, and their adversities persisted. The fourth section from chapter 2, verses 20 through 23 is another word from the Lord to Haggai on the 24th day of the ninth month. It is for Zerubbabel, and it declared that God would overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the forces of many of the Gentiles by war. In that day Zerubbabel, the Lord’s servant, would be as a signet to the Lord. Haggai was able to challenge Israel to endure all the hardships of the present with the assurance that better days were ahead. He was determined to have the temple rebuilt, and though probably an old man, he was deep in the conviction that he was right. He was perhaps neither an orator nor a poet, but he had a note of urgency that enlisted attention and secured obedience. Though his public activity was brief, he accomplished the job of his heart.
Main Lessons for Us Today
In this world with all its perplexing problems, there are valuable lessons from the book of Haggai and its author which can encourage all of us. First, Haggai points out the danger of procrastination. The Jewish exiles came back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. They faced obstacles in their neighbors and in famine. They were out of the habit of worshiping God in the temple during the time of their exile. Therefore, they kept postponing the time for really completing the work.
It is easy for people to put up with their second best. Carol Ellis, head of the David Lipscomb College speech department, sometimes reminds his students that “a door knob which comes off is replaced with a nail, and one just never gets around to replacing the door knob”. In Acts 26:28 we have the great message, “Almost you persuade me to be a Christian”. I think of a woman in West Nashville, Tennessee, who died at the age of 77. At the funeral service, someone remarked privately that this person had been waiting 60 years to accept Christ. She died out of Christ without being a member of the church. Think how many people, in this age of crisis when the hope of the world is in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, just put off accepting Christ and converting the neighbor.
A number of us this year may need a good tonic, or a stern call to duty. This stern call to duty may be the tonic which we need in this nation. Haggai occupied a needed place in the history of God’s people. Today we need evangelists with challenges from the Lord. We need elders with plans and the faith to put the plans into practice. If the New Testament church is to be restored, we must also restore its enthusiasm and zeal.
It was Haggai who reminded the people that human effort when separated from spiritual emphasis is futile. Haggai heard the complaints from his people. They reiterated that the promised blessings were slow in coming although they had been working for three full months. Haggai made it clear to these people that the land had been defiled and profaned by their neglect. Evil had manifested its power of infection, and their years of selfishness, neglect, and sin had rendered them unclean in God’s sight. They must persevere and be faithful to God if they were to be victorious. Fruitful seasons, good crops, and rich blessings would then be theirs. Remember that there is a law which was given from God through Paul which says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
It was Haggai who reminded the Jewish exiles of his day that full obedience to God was a necessary condition of their prosperity. Surrounding nations were to be overthrown. If the people were faithful, they would become objects of divine care and would be protected in the great upheaval. Over five centuries before Christ, Haggai gave the challenges to his people. Today, many years on this side of Christ, I stand and give the challenge of obedience to the people now. If we would restore the church in America and throughout the world, I remind you that full obedience to Almighty God is required.
How Big Is Obedience?
How big is the thing called obedience? Material things must pass away. We have the song which states, “Earth holds no treasures but perish with using however precious they be. Yet there’s a country to which I’m going; heaven holds all to me”. Jesus said: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). Jesus says that there is no permanent security in this whole world. We are born to die. Therefore, fear “God, and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Jesus put salvation like this: “He who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
I want to tell you three things this evening about obedience. It is my hope that as you drive home tonight you might ask, “Now since the Bible says that obeying God is the most important thing in the world, what were those three things which Brother Collins mentioned from the Bible confirming the greatness of obedience?”
Here is number one. Obedience is so big that it is the one way man has to show that he loves God. In Mark 12, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment”. How can I show that I love God? 1 John 5:3 says: “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments”. As you live from day to day, the one great way that you have of showing God that you love Him is by knowing the will of God and by keeping His commandments. There was a time when God spoke to man through Abraham and then later through Moses. Now God speaks to man through Christ. Hebrews 1:1 says: “God, who had sundry times and in divers manners spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son”. God now speaks through Christ. The message of Christ is the gospel. This is the will that we obey. The one way I have, therefore, of telling my God that I love Him is by knowing the will of God and by keeping it to the best of my ability.
There is a second thing which shows the bigness of obedience. Obedience is so big that God teaches that the one way in which you can show that you believe in Him is by obedience. Hebrews 11:6 says: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”. How can I show that I believe? Hundreds of years ago, a man named Noah believed, and he showed his belief by building the ark. This is the message of Hebrews chapter 11. Abraham is known wherever the Bible is proclaimed as the father of the faithful. Abraham believed enough that he was willing to kill his son to show his faith and devotion to God. Abraham believed and showed his faith by his willingness to kill one whom he loved. Moses believed in God. The Bible says: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:24-25). Moses showed faith in God by saying, “No” to Egypt and “Yes” to the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel. One way that man has to show his faith is by his obedience. I do not care how much you might say that you believe in God, if I present the will of God delivered through Christ, and I cannot get you to obey it, something is wrong with your faith. What is wrong with that person who knows what is right and will not do it? He does not love God enough; he does not believe enough. What is wrong with that man who says, “I know what the Bible teaches, but I am not willing to do it”? He is weak in love and weak in faith.
There’s a third thing about obedience. By obedience we can show our wisdom. Both the wise and the foolish can go to church. Both the wise and the foolish can attend [Bible studies and lectureships]? How can we tell that we are wise in the sight of God? In Matthew 7:24 and 26, Jesus said: “Whoever hears these things of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man. . . . Everyone that hears these things of Mine, and does them not, shall be like a foolish man . . .” The wise and the foolish heard; the wise and the foolish knew the will of God. The wise obeyed, but the foolish did not obey. The one way you have to show that you are wise in the sight of God is by your obedience.
How big is obedience? Here are three things: obedience is the one way you have to show God that you love Him, the one way you have to show God that you believe in Him, and the one way you have to show God that you are wise in His sight.
Christ has given the gospel. It has been written down in the New Testament. Love, faith, and wisdom are shown by whether or not you read, know, and obey the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this hour, we lift up Christ, His gospel, and His church. God knows how much you love Him, how much you believe in Him, and how wise you are by the way in which you accept the gospel. With these three things in mind, certain things that may seem minor at times become very major. May I list three things which might be minor in the eyes of some people but which are major to those who are trying to obey the Lord.
Since we believe that obeying God is the most important thing for man and that through our obedience we show our love, our faith, and our wisdom, notice how major certain things are to God. Each time we sing, we do it without the aid of instrumental music. Why do we sing? My friends, we are not trying just to be different. We believe in this with all our hearts. What are we trying to do? We are trying to obey the Lord. In the New Testament, for some reason which I may never know, Almighty God picked vocal music to be used in the worship of the church. Colossians 3:16 says, “Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord,” and in 1 Corinthians 14:15 we read, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also”. Here I am, a human being headed for death and eternity. Here I am as one who believes in the power of Almighty God. God loves me enough to give Jesus His Son to reveal the will of God to me. I know that I show my love, my faith, and my wisdom through obedience to God. I lift up my eyes and say, “God I know that Your will says, ‘Sing.’ I know that I may show my love, my faith and my wisdom by whether or not I obey Your will and that as a member of Your church, I need to worship according to Your will.” We engage in singing and leave off every other kind of music because we believe that it is a matter of obedience or disobedience. We are trying to say that obeying the Lord is the most important thing in the world. I want to tell God that I love Him and believe in Him by the kind of music that I use as I draw near to Him in worship.
The Power of Memory
On the Lord’s day, Christian people meet to break bread. Acts 20:7 says, “Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached to them”. As a little boy, I remember a big family Bible which my mother owned. Years ago I used to pull up on that table and open that big book. When turning through those pages one day, I found a lock of hair. I ran to my mother and asked, “Why are you keeping this old lock of hair in the Bible?” She took me into another room and showed me a picture of a gray-haired woman. Mother said, “This is a picture of your grandmother, my mother. Before you were born, she died. I am keeping this lock of hair in memory of my mother, and I have kept it in the Bible through the years.” At your house, it may be a picture that you keep in memory. Maybe it is a pair of baby shoes which you have kept through the years in memory of the time when your child was a little baby. It may be a newspaper clipping of a funeral service. It may be the picture of a beautiful girl in a wedding. But you keep these things in memory. Several thousand years ago, Almighty God fixed something that you can keep in memory of His Son’s death. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, concerning the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, Paul said for Christ, “This do in remembrance of Me”. God gave you the power to remember, and with that power you can meet as a Christian upon the first day of the week and think of Jesus’s death and His blood. Why do we do it? As members of the church, we meet upon the first day of the week and partake of the Lord’s Supper in memory of Christ. We are seeking to obey the Lord. It is our desire to show Him that we love Him, believe in Him, and want to be wise in His sight. We do it as a matter of obedience.
In our church buildings, we have baptistries. Why do we have them? Because Romans 6:3-6 says that we are buried with Him in baptism into death. Acts 8:36 states: “They came to a certain water; and the eunuch said, ‘See here is water; what does hinder me to be baptized?’” We bury people because we are trying to obey the Lord. The sinner dies, the old man is buried, in the water – an act of obedience – the person comes in contact with Christ, and he is raised a new creature who can go forth to live a new life. We are doing this because we want to show God that we love Him, believe Him, and want to be wise.
I heard a friend give this illustration one evening. He said, “About half a block from the church where I preach in Nashville, Tennessee, there is another church building. And the man in that building preaches that the miracles of Christ are not true. I preach that they are true. Both of us cannot be right. Jesus either raised Lazarus from the dead, or He did not”. If the first man is right, the Bible is false, and it isn’t worth the paper it is printed on. If the second man is right as he presents the Bible, everything matters. It means that you will be raised, and I will be raised. It means that there is a heaven, a hell, and a judgment. It means that Jesus Christ died so that we might be saved.
Then my friend said, “Two blocks down the street from where I preach, there is another church building. And in that building, there is a man who preaches that you do not have to repent and be baptized to be saved. When I preach, I stand up and quote Acts 2:38. I tell people to believe and repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. I tell you that both doctrines cannot be right.” I stand here this evening to ask you: “What will you take as your guide? As for me, I will take this book, the gospel will, the book that says in the language of Christ: ‘He that believes and is baptized shall be saved’ (Mark 16:16), or in the message of the inspired Peter: ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). I want to tell Him: ‘God, I believe in You, I love You, and I want to be wise in Your sight. And God, if I read the message in Your will given by Jesus Christ, I want to obey it’”. Obeying the Lord is the most important thing in the world.
Some Examples from Daily Life
Imagine two houses on the same street. In one house there is a man who is a liar, a gambler, an adulterer, and a drunkard. In the other house there is a man who is a Christian, who wears the name of Christ, who works for the church, who lives a Christian life, who is honest, who is upright. What is the difference between these two men? One thing: the man who is a gambler and a drunkard does not love God and believe in God enough to obey Him. It is the difference between disobedience and obedience. Whether it is the subject of the Lord’s supper, baptism, repentance, gambling, adultery, honesty, dishonesty – whatever it is – the problem is: Are you willing to obey or to disobey the Lord?
Here is a man who has a business. He finds one employee to be truthful and honest; another lies and is dishonest. What is the difference? The man who lies and is dishonest does not love God enough to obey Him. The man who speaks the truth and is honest loves God and is trying to live the right kind of life. It is the difference between obedience and disobedience. This is the major consideration for all the world. I just hope that your conscience – if you are disobeying the Lord – hurts you so much tonight that you cannot sleep. If you say, “I’ve never obeyed the Lord in repentance; I’ve never been baptized to be saved; I don’t meet upon the first day of the week to break bread,” or if you say, “I am just a good moral man, but I am rejecting the Lord,” or maybe you say, “I will lie in little matters, and I am a little dishonest,” I hope that your conscience hurts you. It should hurt so much that you will realize that you are violating the gospel and that you are doing the worst thing in the world by disobeying the Lord, and that even tonight you will resolve to do something about it. These are subjects which are major. Whether it is Christian living, the Lord’s supper, adultery, purity, drunkenness, or anything else, the lesson is that the most important thing in the world is to obey God. Christ is the Son of God. He came and revealed God’s will to man. We are begging you to obey it from the depths of your heart.
Conclusion
May I say something now about the difference between obeying God’s will and your will. Matthew Chapter 7;21 says, “. . . but he that does the will of My Father who is in heaven”. Many people obey their own will. When God’s will agrees with their will, they obey God’s will. When God’s will disagrees with their will, they just keep on obeying their own will. I challenge you tonight to obey God’s will!
Questions for Class Discussion
- What was Haggai’s great challenge to his nation?
- When did Haggai preach?
- When was the temple destroyed?
- What caused its destruction?
- How long were the Jews in Babylon?
- Who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem?
- Why did the Jews’ enthusiasm for rebuilding the temple grow cold?
- What obstacles did they face?
- How many chapters are there in the book of Haggai?
- How many verses are there in each chapter?
- Relate the four messages contained and the book of Haggai.
- Give the four lessons for our generation taught by Haggai.
- When is human effort futile?
- What is a necessary condition of approach to God?
- Name three things which show the importance of obedience.