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People in America don’t agree on much today. People today don’t agree on politics and the two parties seem further apart than ever. People don’t agree on how kids should be raised, on what kids should be taught in schools. People don’t agree about God, whether there is a God, how God is to be worshiped, how God is to be obeyed. People don’t agree about right and wrong, about how to dress, about how to talk properly, about how to understand our history. People in America don’t agree on much today.

But there is one thing that almost everyone in America, old and young, republican and democrat, religious and secular, agrees on today: things are bad and things are getting worse. Polls show that large majorities of Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction. We may not agree on the why or the how, but we agree that we’re in trouble. 

 

And our scripture this morning was written for a nation that was in trouble. Our scripture this morning is Haggai chapter 1, verses 2 through 11 which you’ll find on page 768 of your Bible and I’d encourage you to turn there. Haggai was speaking to the nation of Israel who had just returned to their homeland from exile in Babylon. And as we will hear, things were going badly after their return, and Haggai is going to tell them why. Listen to Haggai chapter 1, verses 2 through 11.  

 

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 

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 you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. 

You have looked for much, but it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. 

 

Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. 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 soil produces, on humans and animals, and on all their labors.”

 

These words from Haggai are a call to put God first. That before we try to serve ourselves, we ought to serve God. And to understand that, we’re going to look at three things Haggai said: Consider your ways. Is it time? Go and build. Consider your ways. Is it time? Go and build. 

 

Twice in this passage, the Lord, speaking through Haggi, calls to Israelites, consider how you have fared. And it’s important to note that the “you" here is plural, that God is adressing the leaders of the nation Zerubabbel and Joshua, and the whole people of Israel. For a generation the Israelites had been captives, slaves, and refugees in Babylon, but a few years before this they had returned to their homeland, and now the prophet asks them to consider how they have fared. How’s that going for you? How are you doing? 

And the answer Haggai gives is badly. They are doing badly. Listen to verse 6: 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 you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

That’s bad. So Haggai says consider your ways, because when things are going badly that’s when we consider our ways, that’s when we think about what we’re doing.

I used to work as a teacher. And as a teacher sometimes parents want to check in about how their child is doing, they would call me, or email me, or schedule a parent teacher conference. Now the students who were doing well, their parents never called me. No when students do poorly, when they fail a test, when they get a D for the term, when they get in trouble, then the parents want to know what’s going on. Then they consider and think and reflect. 

When things go poorly, we should consider our ways, consider how we got here, just as Haggai told the Israelites to do. He told them to consider their failed crops and their useless clothes and their empty wallets. 

 

Now Haggai is talking about a particular point in history, a specific place, Israel, at a specific time 520 B.C. But his words can also apply to us today. We can also consider how we have fared as a nation. Do Haggai’s words ring true for us today? Let’s consider the possibility. Haggai says: 

You have sown much and harvested little; We Americans sow much and harvest little. Americans work hard; we work some of the longest hours in the developed world. One study found that the typical American worker works 400 more hours a year than his German counterpart; that’s the equivalent of 10 more full time weeks of work. And what do we have to show for it? Are Americans any happier than the rest of the world for working those extra ten weeks a year? 

You eat, but you never have enough; We Americans eat and never have enough. Our appetite for food is insatiable. To put things bluntly, we are one of the fattest countries on earth. According to the CDC over 40% of adults are obese and the additional health care that comes with that obesity costs us 173 billion dollars a year. Nobody wants to be obese, but we as a nation east and never have enough. 

You drink, but you never have your fill. We Americans not only eat but drink. Alcoholism has always been and remains a plague in this country. Many of us during the covid pandemic became familiar with the steady count of deaths reported in the news and how that number kept moving up. Yet because the news rarely reports it, many of us forget that there are 95,000 alcohol-related deaths in this country every year. And beyond that another 100,000 Americans die every year now from drug overdoses. 

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. The point of clothing is to keep us warm and safe. America is obsessed with safety, with staying alive and well. But it isn’t working. For the first time in a long time, American life expectancy has been declining the past few years. Crime once again has been increasing across the board. Americans’ trust in each other has been falling rapidly. We’re no longer safe. 

And you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes. Any American who works these days knows that feeling. With prices increasing at the gas station and the grocery store, although we work, we can no longer afford what we need. I looked at the real estate listings in Mansfield this week and the cheapest home was a 3 bedroom, 1250 square foot home way down on Pratt Street. It costs $479,900. That means a down payment of nearly 100,000 dollars and with interest rates and taxes and insurance, that means a monthly payment of almost 3000 dollars. That’s a cost that will make a lot of working people feel like we’re earning wages just to put them in a bag with holes. 

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. We have fared poorly as a nation. I don’t say all this to be political. I don’t say all this as if our problems began with the last election or as if our problems will be solved with the next election. I say all this because God commands us to consider how we have fared. The Chirstian life is a call to repentance, to consider our actions and where we have gone wrong and how we can correct our actions. And when we consider our nation, our times, our problems, the response is nearly unanimous. Things are bad. And things are getting worse. 

 

And just as things are bad and getting worse now, things were bad in Israel in 520 B.C. when the Lord spoke through Haggai so many years ago. And when we consider what it’s like to live in a country where we have sown much and harvested little; we eat, but we never have enough; we drink, but we never have our fill; we clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and we earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes, we understand the Israelites attitude.

 

When we’re struggling, when we’re burdened, when we’re busy, when we’re just trying to make it through another week, we just look out for ourselves. We’re in survival mode. We don't have the time or the energy to care about other people’s problems, we have our own problems. 

 

Verse two tells us “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” The Israelites thought this was not the time to rebuild the temple. And that makes sense. They were struggling, they were in trouble, they had more important things to worry about than what the Temple looked like. Now’s just not the right time to serve God. 

And many Americans feel that same way today, that now’s just not the right time for church. People say things like. Well these days with all the covid stuff going around I just don’t want to take the risk and come to church; it’s not the right time. Well these days my kids are in sports and I have to take them to sports on Sundays so I can’t come to church; it’s not the right time. Well these days, I’ve been so busy at work, I just need a day off on Sundays; it’s not the right time. 

On their own, these can be reasonable excuses. It’s ok not to be at church sometimes because of our jobs or our family or our health. Nobody gets into heaven based on their church attendance. But sometimes the attitude behind these excuses reveals our hearts, and reveals that in our hearts we have been putting ourselves first. 

 

It’s easy to recognize this in others; we all know when someone else is giving us the runaround. Oh yes I’ve been meaning to get to that. So sorry I forgot about that, I’ll take care of that soon. Don’t worry, I'm going to clean my room. Next weekend I’ll fix that sound the car is making. It’s easy to recognize in others, but it can be hard to recognize when we’re doing it ourselves. 

 

Here’s a confession on my part. When I was a junior in college and kept myself excessively busy doing a million different things, I got an email from an acquaintance who wanted to get lunch and discuss a graduate program for me to consider. I could have answered him yes let’s meet, I could have answered him, no not interested. But I was so busy and I wasn’t sure if I had the time to meet or if I even wanted to meet or if I was interested in the program. So, I delayed. I said to myself I’ll get to that, I just have to do my homework tonight first. The next day, I found I was just as busy and unsure as the day before, and so I figured I’d get through the week before I sent him that email. 

Soon a day became a week and a week became two weeks, became three weeks, became a month, became two months... And I hadn’t forgotten about this email. It was sitting in my inbox, marked unread. And I thought about the email most days, but what I thought was, I’ll get to that soon. Just having a busy day, got to take care of my own stuff first. After three months, I emailed him back. It took me five minutes. We got lunch. It took an hour, had a pleasant, informative conversation. I had spent more time telling myself excuses about not sending that email, than I did having lunch. It’s easy to give other people the runaround and not realize we’re doing it. And we can even do it, to God.

 

It’s easy to say “Now is not the time.” And that’s what the Israelites were saying: the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. But Haggai’s message was that they were making a big mistake doing so: The word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared.

 

They were focused on their own lives, they put themselves first, and they fared poorly. Things were bad. And things were getting worse. And God reveals to them why this was happening. Listen to verse 9: You have looked for much, but it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. 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 soil produces, on humans and animals, and on all their labors.”

The Israelites had everything backwards. The Israelites thought things were bad and therefore they had to put themselves first. However the truth was they put themselves first and therefore things were bad. God was punishing them because God’s house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. God was the one bringing the drought and blowing away what they brought home. 

Why would God do that? Why would a good and loving God bring drought and poverty and pain? Because God is our Father and like any good Father, God disciplines us, he punishes us in order to bring us back on to the right path. God is not content to let his people lead small, selfish lives, where we constantly worry about ourselves and no one else. And therefore God disciplines his people. He sends drought and poverty and pain so that the people will snap out of it, so that they will repent, so that they will consider how they have fared and change. 

How had the Israelites fared? They had fared badly. And why had they fared badly? Because they put themselves first instead of God. And we can ask ourselves those same questions today. How has our nation fared? We have fared badly. And why have we fared badly? Because we each put ourselves first instead of God. 

 

At the core of Haggai’s message is a call to the Israelites and a call to us, to put God first. Put God first. And Haggai’s message is also the message of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus put God first. Jesus said I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Jesus came to do the will of God his Father. Jesus did not choose a life for himself that was comfortable or easy. Now the rest of us, we don’t get to choose the life we’re born into. None of us chose to be born in a rich family or a poor family, in a loving family or a broken family, in a peaceful country or a violent country. None of us chose to be born smart or dumb, tall or short, ugly or beautiful. 

But Jesus, Jesus alone of all the people in history, chose to be born, chose to come to earth, and yet he chose a humble life, life as the son of a carpenter in a small town. 

And Jesus suffered. Jesus wandered Israel with no house, no place to lay his head. Jesus did not amass power or riches or fame for himself. Jesus was rejected by others and betrayed by his followers. Jesus did not seek to maintain his own reputation or his own comfort, he didn’t seek his own welfare. No Jesus said, I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 

 

And what was the will of God the Father in sending Jesus? God sent Jesus so that he would live a perfect life and show us how to live. God sent Jesus so that he would die on the cross taking the punishment we deserved for our sins. God sent Jesus so that he would rise from the grave on the third day, destroying death and offering eternal life to all who believe in him. That is the life Jesus sought to live. 

 

And because Jesus lived that perfect life, and died that substitutionary death, and rose to life and has sat down at the right hand of the Father, the world changed. Because Jesus put God first, the Church began, and billions of people have found meaning and hope and justice and peace and food and family and friends and love. By putting God first Jesus changed the world. 

 

And belief in Jesus can change our own lives as well. If you have never done so, consider putting God first in your life. Consider how you have fared so far and whether or not today is the time for you to put God first, to believe in his son Jesus, that he loves you, that he died for your sins, and that he is God.

 

And for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus, who do believe that he is God, this passage from Haggai this morning reminds us to put God first. We put God first in everything we do. How do we do that? God gives us the answer in verse 8: Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.

 

This verse has three commands for us and these are our applications this morning: Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house.

 

First: Go. Go up to the hills. This is a strange command. God is telling the people to rebuild his temple, which is in Jerusalem, but his first command is not to come to the temple, but to go out, go up to the hills, go outside the city, go outside Jerusalem. The people have been worried about their own houses, not God’s house, but God’s call is to leave both of these behind and go somewhere else. 

 

Go. Jesus' last word to his disciples was Go. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus’ last words are the great commission “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Christians are called to go out into the world so that they can teach others about Jesus. Just as God told Jesus to go down to earth to save us, we are called to go out into the world to save others. 

 

The Christian life is the comissioned life where we go out into the world, to serve others, to teach others, and to tell others about Jesus. Just as Jesus was commissioned to go down to earth, just as the apostles were commissioned to go to the ends of the earth, we have been commissioned to go out and serve God in every part of our life and tell the world about him. 

Second, bring wood. The reason the Israelites had to go to the hills is because that was where the wood was for rebuilding God’s temple. Trees don’t grow in the middle of the city, you have to go out and get them and bring them back. 

In the same way, Christians go out into the world in order to bring something back. We go out, we are commissioned, in order to bring others to God, in order to convert them. It’s not easy to cut down a tree. It’s not easy to drag lumber down a hill and into the city and bring it to the temple. And it’s not easy to bring another person to Jesus, to show them what God could do in their life, but that is what we are called to do. It’s not enough to just go out into the world, we have to make a difference there, we have to bring people to Jesus, we have to convert. The Christian life is a converting life that brings other people to God by sharing his good news with others. 

 

Third, build the house. It was not enough for the Israelites to go up to the hills. It was not enough to go up and bring the wood back to the temple. No, they had to go up to the hills, and bring the wood, and build the house. It’s no use just to leave the lumber piled around the front door. 

In the same way, Christians having gone out into the world, having brought people to Jesus, are not done. We are not done until we have built God’s house. And God’s house is his people. We are the place where God dwells. And when we bring people to Jesus, bring them into the house of God, we need to build them up, we need to care for them. 

The Christian life is a caring life where we serve others rather than seek to be served, where we are kind and forgiving with others, where we are considerate of other’s feelings and other’s needs. The Christian life means caring for others even though that can be hard, even though they don’t deserve it. 

And God commands us to do all these things for a reason. Verse 8 says Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. When we do these things God takes pleasure and God is honored. 

 

God loves us so much, that before we knew him, that before we did anything for him, that when we were enemies of God, he sent his son Jesus to suffer and die on our behalf so that we might have eternal life through belief in him. That is how much God loves us and will do for us. If God will do all that for us before we listen to his words and obey his commands, how much more will God bless us when we do obey, when he takes pleasure and is honored by our works. If we love God, if we put God first, we will experience even more of his goodness. Truly no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him. Let’s pray. 

Benediction 1 Peter 2:4-6

 

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

 

 

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