What is Your Top Priority? (A study of the Prophet Haggai)
There
are certain times in everyone’s life when decisions have to be made to display
one’s top priorities. My coach question my priorities and he wanted me to
respond by showing him that football was more of a priority than my
friends. Have you ever been put in a
situation when you had to make a choice to choose your priority? Maybe you have had to choose between a new
job and more time at home. Maybe you
have had to choose between moving up the corporate ladder and church
involvement. Our real-life decisions
reveal our top priorities. So what is
your top priority?
I
pray that question would be revealed to you as we study the short prophecy of
Haggai. Haggai prophesied to post-exilic
Judah. The Jews had been able to return
to their homeland having been shown favor by Darius, the Persian King (522 -486
B.C.). Haggai’s prophecy was given to
the leaders of Judah: Zerubbabel and Joshua, Haggai 1:1,
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 Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high
priest:
Haggai sent this prophecy to expose
the people’s priorities. We all have
priorities, but our true priorities are revealed by our actions. God’s Word helps reveals the difference
between our stated priorities and are true priorities.
Our Priorities are
Revealed by our Spending
Haggai
starts his prophecy by showing the people how they are neglecting God’s house
in favor of building their own houses.
Haggai 1:2-6,
“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 paneled 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 yourselves, but no one is
warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. (Haggai
1:2-6)
There were certain people claiming
that it was not time to rebuild the temple.
The temple rebuilding began in 536 B.C., but quickly ceased due to local
opposition. Instead of restarting the
building of the temple, the Jews rather turned to establish their own
homes. The key question is in verse 4,
“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this
house lies in ruins?”
[1]
And it was not that they were just providing themselves a place to live, but
they were dwelling in paneled homes implying they were not focused on
necessities, but luxuries. This may seem dramatic, but their spending revealed
their priorities. They did not prioritize the worship of God, but showed their
priority of self. What would your
spending reveal about your priorities?
If someone examined your purchases over the last 6 months what would
they reveal? There is a big difference
in our stated priorities and our true priorities.
Remember
the temple was the place where God’s presence dwelt. So these Jews were focusing on their own
homes while the Lord remained homeless.
Haggai
twice in these first eleven verses challenges the leaders to “consider their
ways.” This is one of the most important
things that we can do for ourselves and for others. One of the greatest challenges of ministry in
the West is the sheer volume of noise, entertainment and busyness. We have so much going on and so many escapes
that very rarely do we stop and consider our ways. Haggai was calling the people to slow down
and consider their ways. The Lord revealed through Haggai that the reason for
the recent trouble in the land is because of the priority of the people. Verse 5-11,
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 yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns
wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Consider your ways. 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. 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, on the
grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and
beast, and on all their labors.” (Haggai 1:5-11)
The Lord brought discipline upon His
people because of their selfishness and lack of concern for God and His
people.
I
am glad that I do not have cable, because if I did I would watch way too much
HGTV. I love watching home remodel or
house flipping shows. The worst part of
those shows is when we have to leave without seeing the big reveal at end. Although I enjoy watching the shows, there is
an undercurrent that subtly attempts to shift wants to needs. Do I need granite counter tops and stainless
steel appliances? No. Are they nice to have? Yes. My concern in living in the
west is that we shift too many wants to needs and therefore neglect the
building up of God’s house, the church.
Our society wants you to focus on renovating your American Dream at the
expense of renovating God’s house. What
is your top priority?
John
Piper has encouraged and modeled a wartime lifestyle. I think it would be
appropriate to quote him at length,
The answer to the
question is no. A wartime lifestyle does not mean that you after providing
yourself and your family with a modest housing, food, clothing, now you are
obliged to give all the surplus away immediately. That is not what wartime
lifestyle says. Rather, the call for wartime way of life says with a lot more
nuance and complexity that the remainder of our resources, so after you have
provided for yourself those necessities, might be 10 dollars, might be 10
million dollars left over. That is the one that is being asked about. What is
left over is managed, stewarded for the good of others, the glory of God, the
advancement of his saving and sanctifying and healing purposes in the world
rather than for personal aggrandizement.[2]
What we do with our money after we
meet our needs reveals our priorities.
Haggai encouraged Judah to consider your ways; it would be wise to
follow his counsel.
Our Priorities are
Revealed by our Submission
Our
priorities are ultimately revealed in what we think about doing, but in what we
actually do. Would Zerubbabel and Joshua
submit to God’s Word? Haggai 1:12-15,
Then Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with
all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the
words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people
feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people
with the LORD's message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.” And the LORD
stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit
of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the
LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth
month, in the second year of Darius the king. (Haggai 1:12-15)
Three key phrases in this section
show that Judah true priorities had changed. First, they obeyed the voice of
the Lord their God. Second, the people
feared the Lord. And third, the Lord stirred up the spirit of the people.
Repentance is an act of God.
God
spoke to the people, “I am with you declares the Lord.” They do not have to fear opposition because
the Lord is in their midst. Think of how
encouraging this word would have been to the people recently returned from
exiles. God is in their midst. It is God speaking and God stirring that
bring the people to work on the house of the Lord. It is a simple and sweet reminder that if
God’s temple, the church, is going to change today, it will be because the Lord
stirs up the hearts of His people. Let
us pray that God would be gracious to stir up our hearts to obedience changing
our priorities from selfishness to selflessness. For as Christians, we want our priorities to
be God’s priorities.
God’s Priorities are
Revealed by the Spirit
The
people are building the temple and it is clear that it will be far inferior to
the one built by Solomon as the Lord asks, “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?” It was obvious to everyone that this temple would pale in comparison to
the previous one and it would have caused them to think that the past glory was
greater than the future glory.
Whenever we hold
on to the past glory over present glory discouragement and despair are sure to
come. Life will never be like it
was. There is a hopelessness that comes
when we cling to past success, but the promise of the Scripture is always of a
future glory that will far exceed the past. Haggai 2:4-9,
Yet now be strong,
O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, 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.’” (Haggai 2:4-9)
The latter glory of this house
shall be greater than the former glory.
This promise is speaking about the day when the glory of the Lord will fill
the earth as the water covers the seas.
He has promised,
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This
phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that
is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken
may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and
awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
The Spirit reveals the Lord’s
priority in creating a kingdom that will not be shaken. The promise that God made to Abraham was
alive and well for the people of Judah after the exile and it will continue to
New Testament saints until the Lord comes and shakes the earth and also the
heavens. So how is this going to happen?
God’s priorities are most clearly revealed in His Son
God’s Priorities are
Revealed by the Son
Haggai shares that
the people of Judah are unclean (2:10-19). Their
uncleanness has brought trouble upon them, but the Lord has promised them “from
this day on I will bless you.” How does the Lord bless unclean people? He does it through His Son. The Lord promises
this at the end of Haggai’s prophecy, verses 2:20-23,
The word of the
LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, “Speak
to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and
the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the
strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their
riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword
of his brother. On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O
Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you
like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts.” (Haggai
2:20-23).
The signet ring was given as a sign
of authority. God has given the signet
ring to Zerubbabel. And in giving the ring to Zerubbabel, God is restoring the
royal line of King David and reaffirming His covenant that one day there will
be a forever king on a forever throne.
Therefore
we read Zerubbabel’s name in the lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:12. God
gave the signet ring to Zerubbabel to point the Jews to look to the promise of
the Messiah who would come and cleanse His people from their sin. The Messiah would come and live a pure and
clean life fully trusting God always living in line with God’s priorities. His
perfect life would end in a brutal death. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, would die
for His people, but on the third day be raised from the dead. And after He rose, He ascended into heaven
seated at the right hand of God. So
those who trust in Christ, have the hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). Jesus blesses a
defiled people by making them clean through His own blood. God’s priority of redemption is clearly seen in
the promise of His Son through the signet ring given to Zerubbabel. God
promises to make you clean if you would consider your ways, turn and trust in
Christ for salvation. God made it a priority to offer your redemption; will you
make it a priority to receive it?
I
pray that you would consider your ways.
Ask God to reveal your current priorities and then by His grace help you
reorder them to His. What is your top
priority? Let it be the Lord and none other.
[1]
ESV Study Bible Note on 1:4 pg 1744
[2]
http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/wartime-wisdom-for-the-wealthy
accessed on 10.22.2014
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