Haggai 1:1-11 'Don't prioritise the wrong house.'

Chad Bird’s life fell apart, in part because his priorities were messed up.  He writes, ‘I went astray for two decades in the pursuit of my ambitions.  I drove myself to be an accomplished person.  My life had to be awesome.  I chased down the career I wanted, and clawed my way up to the position I coveted.  I pursued a degree, then another degree, the still another, until I knew more about my PhD studies than the details of my children’s everyday lives.  I could tell you Rabbi Oshya’s exegesis of the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 … but I had no clue what my daughter’s favourite stuffed animal was.  When my dreams came true, when I reached the fabled end of the rainbow, I found a pot of gold – fool’s gold.’

Are you putting yourself first?

Previous generations thought that it was wrong to put yourself first.  This one thinks it’s a virtue.  The following is a meme I read: ‘You’ll learn to put yourself first after you notice that other people are constantly putting you last.’  I remember a children’s story from when I was a child.  It suggested J.O.Y. was found by putting Jesus first, others second, and yourself last.  That doesn’t come naturally to me, but it is both counter-cultural and satisfying.

Haggai opens, verse 1, on 29^th August 520 B.C.  About 66 years earlier the Babylonians had overrun Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and taken people into exile.  Yet 18 years earlier, the new superpower, the Persians had permitted the people to return and rebuild the temple.  But, despite the fact that they have now been back eighteen years, the temple still lies in ruins. 

This is not because the people weren’t capable of building things.  They say, ‘the time has not come to rebuild the house’ (2), but they have been building houses.  Their houses!  Fine-panelled home (4).  What does that say about their priorities?  It says that comfort and impressing their neighbours mattered more to them than fulfilling their calling to the glory of God!

What are our priorities?  What comes first for us?  What building projects occupy our minds most?  Are we primarily into protecting our comfort, establishing of career, or earning a reputation?  Even our relationships will be unbalanced if we don’t put God first.  Put Jesus before people and you will actually love people better than if you put them before Jesus.  For Jesus is the source of Christian love.

We are no longer being called to build a temple in Jerusalem.  In the gospels Jesus says that he is now our temple—where we go to meet with God—and so temple building involves showing the world how great he is.  Is that our first priority in life!

Does selfishness satisfy?

So, do you prioritise the glory of Jesus over your own?  Are we more concerned what people think of him than what they think of us?  Are we wanting to share the good news about him so that they might honour him?

In verses five and seven, God calls them to ‘consider your ways.’  The Hebrew focuses on the heart.  We might translate it, ‘consider the path your heart is on.’  What did it say about the state of their hearts that they were more concerned by their fine panelled homes than the temple of God?  It said that they built their priorities around self, status and comfort. 

And how did that work out for them?  They had sown and yet harvested little; that drank and were never filled; that ate but never had enough; they were clothed but never warm; and, they earned wages but had holes in their bags (6).

God loves you too much to allow you find satisfaction in god-substitutes.  He brought them dissatisfaction with stuff and status in order that they might find true satisfaction in him.  In Isaiah God asks, ‘why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?’ (Is. 55:2).  As someone pointed out, ‘every time a rich, beautiful celebrity dies by suicide, we are being reminded that everything is never enough.’

The status and comfort offered by a panelled house can’t satisfy!

So where do we find satisfaction?

We find our satisfaction by being involved in the right building project!  ‘God is inviting you into a bigger and more satisfying building project than our panelled houses can offer is.  Let’s not spend our energy renovating the wrong house’ (Stephen MacAlpine).

The people were commanded to get on with building the temple in order that God might take pleasure in it (7).  But how do we please God today?  ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6).

We please him buy putting our faith into practice.  ‘But,’ you reply, ‘my faith is so small.’  Jesus commends the faith the size of a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20).  ‘But I have blown it so many times.’  Don’t you know that there is rejoicing in heaven when a sinner repents? (Luke 15:7).  ‘But I struggle to put God first.’  I do too!  But God does not treat us as our sins deserve (Ps. 103:10).  He smiles at our imperfect efforts to please him.

His greatest pleasure is found when he sees us taking pleasure in him.  Like the parents delighting when their baby looks at them and smiles.  ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him’ (John Piper).

‘… and rewards those who seek him’ (Heb.  11:6).  I don’t understand everything about God’s rewards on earth or in heaven.  I know that it is something to do with sharing in the joy of his glory.  I know that everything that we do for him on earth will have a significance that lasts all eternity.  The applause of this world lasts a brief time, but the approval of heaven goes on forever.  I like the motto of the person who suggested that we should aim to, ‘love God, die and be forgotten.’

Conclusion

‘Consider the path your heart is on’ (verses 5 and 7).

Think of your priorities.  Do you live for career, comfort or reputation?  Stephen MacAlpine asks, ‘how Jesus focused are you?  Are your non-Christian friends convinced that you are more enthusiastic about Jesus than you are about your renovation project or the university grades of your children?  Are they amazed by how much Jesus sets the tone of everything that you do?’

Jesus is our temple.  May his glory be our first priority.  May his pleasure bring us joy.

Benediction

‘May all your hopes come to nothing, may you plans be frustrated, may your desires remain unfulfilled, until you learn to seek your joy in Jesus and learn to enjoy his good gifts in the light of his love.’