Text: Haggai 1:1-11 (EHV)
Sermon
How often have we heard or thought this: “It just doesn’t make sense.…” We know 10+10=20. But there are plenty of times in life when the numbers just don’t seem to add up. “He was a good kid from a good family. How did he get hooked on heroin?” It just doesn’t make sense. “She took such good care of herself—no family history. And now, pancreatic cancer? What a mess…” It just doesn’t make sense. We like to think, especially when we are young, that life makes a lot of sense. We like to think that there is a law of nature, a scientific breakthrough, or a Google search that will make everything make sense. The older and experienced among us know that there are plenty of times when life obstinately refuses to make sense! What sense is there to the stabbing death of a young woman at a furniture store in California? Or the abuse of a child? Or a virus that supposedly appears out of nowhere and kills millions of people worldwide? It just doesn’t make sense….
At least some of the Old Testament Israelites must have been thinking along those lines as they were dragged away into captivity in Babylon—Jerusalem surrounded and assaulted, their homes torched, their lives going up in smoke, the Lord’s temple a smoldering heap of rubble. Weren’t they supposed to be God’s chosen people? Why the war? Destruction? Death? Deportation? It didn’t make a bit of sense…
70 years later when a remnant returned to Jerusalem from captivity, they must have been thinking the same thing. The Holy City of Jerusalem looked like a ghost town, walls and gates broken and crumbling, the temple courts once thronging with people and shaking with the sounds of singing were a mute heap of rubble overgrown with weeds. It just doesn’t make sense….So some of them decided to roll up their sleeves and put some sense back into life. Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt. A new altar was installed on the Temple Mount. They dug a little deeper and laid the foundation for a brand-new temple.
But you know how people are…. They soon lost interest in rebuilding the temple and began to pay attention to building projects that made a lot more sense: their own houses. Why should they prioritize precious time and money building God a house when their own houses needed work too? Because this makes sense: if the Mrs. is happy, then everyone is happy! This makes sense too: We’ll take care of ourselves right now, so that we’ll be in a better position to take care of God’s house later. But you know how people are… The “later” never came. After laying the foundation, nearly 2 decades went by without any real progress on the temple itself.
That’s when the Prophet Haggai was sent to proclaim a major message that, humanly speaking, doesn’t seem to make a bit of sense: 4 Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. 6 You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it. 7 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. 8 Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.
The Israelites, it turns out, were preaching a sermon about personal priorities with their paneled houses and their procrastination with God’s house: Self-first; God-second. In other words, giving to God first doesn’t make a bit of sense.
Do we ever think like the Israelites of old? A financial advisor tells me that if I “pay myself first” and invest it carefully, I get more money. But if I give money away, I have less money. That’s the way money works, right? So if I prioritize the work of the Lord with FIRST fruits giving, then that means that every other area of my life will suffer, doesn’t it? Or if I give some of my time, talents, and treasures away—then that means that I have less for myself and what I love, right? And we all know that the American dream is that I have MORE than mom and dad did.
It’s true. Humanly speaking, giving to God or others doesn’t make a bit of sense. It’s also true, that the default mode of our sinful nature is to keep stuff, store stuff, stockpile stuff, even hoard stuff—as we look out for #1. We call it the good life. But God calls it greed. We call it being sensible. But God calls it sin.
Did you notice in Haggai’s sermon how the Lord turned eloquent excuses to not give, upside down? You sow much seed, but you harvest little... You eat and drink, but are never satisfied.... you get dressed, but no one is warm... Money is put into a bag with a hole in it... You expected much, but there was little… Translation: the people had less, because they gave little. And God himself was seeing to that - one drought, one bag full of holes at a time. Think about it: The God that once fed 5,000 hungry stomachs using only a boy’s picnic lunch, is the very same God who can insure that a stockpile of stuff won’t be able to make ends meet.
Does Haggai’s message sober us up this morning? Because in a not-so-subtle way, this is the sermon we are preaching with our paneled houses and our procrastination with God’s house and work: Giving to God first doesn’t make a bit of sense.
Haggai’s words should make us wonder about what we have come to expect of this congregation’s ministry. If we have come to EXPECT a full-service ministry with church, school, and early childhood ministry, then how can we really expect them to fully function if the paneling of our houses remains our first priority? We have received a vibrant Christian ministry built by the sacrifice of our parents and grandparents. But are we willing to prioritize the Lord’s work in order to pass them on to our children and grandchildren? Listen: Pastor Zarling didn’t invite me here as a mercenary to practice scare tactics on you this morning. And I’m certainly not going to engage in a shallow, sentimental ra-ra session of “do it for the kids of this congregation!” I simply tell you the truth: You get the ministry that you are willing to financially support, because unlike the government, a congregation can’t just print more money.
Now think of this: Do you think that the people who gave generously to the rebuilding and maintaining of the temple in Haggai’s day went home and God let them freeze or starve to death? So after Haggai’s rebuke, why could the Israelites give so confidently to the Lord and his work? Because they believed in a God who gave himself completely for them!
So it isn’t our giving that makes no sense. It’s God’s giving that makes no sense! That the Holy One of Israel would give himself completely for the sinful ones of America makes no sense whatsoever. That’s why it’s called grace. And God’s grace is simply amazing. Jesus didn’t give 10% of himself for you. He was in it 100% for you and your salvation! What dedication to your salvation did it take for Jesus to leave streets of heavenly gold for the cow manure of Bethlehem’s barn? How much was Jesus willing to give up for you, not even having a house to call a home or a pillow to plop his head upon! How full is Jesus’ sacrifice for your forgiveness as he goes all the way to the cross for you! He didn’t swipe a MasterCard for you. He shed his precious blood to redeem you, to make slaves into dearly loved sons and daughters! The one who said: “I thirst” is the one who washed you clean in baptism! The one who cried out “Why have you forsaken me” is precisely the one who will never leave you or forsake you! The one who prayed “Give us this day our daily bread” is the same one who opens his hands and satisfies your desires. Should we trust a God like that? No, thank God that we do trust a God like that!
So the big issue before this family of believers called Water of Life is this: Is our relationship with the Savior our life’s priority? Or is it just another one of life’s hobbies? Let's open our eyes and see the harvest that is waiting! There is absolutely no question that the blessings are there, and the resources are there for aggressive Gospel ministry. So the question is not one of resources, but of our resolve. Where is the Lord and his work on our list of personal priorities? Is he a FIRSTfruits priority? Or is he a leftovers hobby? Will we settle for nice paneled houses? Or do we desire to make a real, eternal difference?
My prayer this morning is that Haggai’s message opens our hearts in a major way. We worship a God who knows how to make much into next to nothing because of our greed; and very little into abundance due to his grace. We worship the ultimate Giver. God gave us his first…God gave us his best. In Christ, God graciously gives us all things. Our God is faithful. Trust him. Bank on his promises. And then get busy—not building a new house—but filling this current one up! Amen.