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Dec 09, 2018

Neglected Temple...Ruined Relationship

Passage: Haggai 1:1-2:23

Series: Mining the Prophets

Keywords: false gods, haggai, loss, priorities, prophet, rebuilding

Summary:

What do you do when life is chaotic, disrupted or even burned-over? It is so easy to get our priorities wrong but even more so when life has been deeply disrupted. This message taken from the prophet Haggai calls us all to avoid functional idolatry by putting the building of God's kingdom and His relationship with us consistently before lesser but alluring attractions.

Detail:

Intro:  You guys ever heard of the town Paradise, California? Well, if you guys keeping up with the fire in California, Paradise was one of 17 cities that was consume by fire.  Paradise city has the population of 26,000. The people of Paradise were in shock how the fire destroyed everything. Making the residents of Paradise homeless.  The fire spread at the size of a football field, every thirty-seconds.  The fire destroyed nearly 5, 000 to 7,000 acres.

Image yourself in their shoes of the people who lost their house, lost all their memorabilia, their job; they lost everything that they know  Everything gone and no one can salvage it; some cases people left their pets at the last second so that they can flee from the destruction.  Everything is gone.  Pictures us in their shoes.

Returning back to the rubble:

We would probably focus on our home, our stuff, and our personal comfort, instead of focusing on God in the disaster.

We also find this true in the time of Haggai When Israel focused on their home, their stuff, and their personal comfort in instead of focusing on God.

Theme:  We must prioritize God above all else or everything else well become our idols

  1. Babylon King, Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the temple 587-588 BC.
  2. The Babylon Empires made the Israelites as slaves and brought them back to Babylon.
  3. However, The Persian Empire defeated the Babylon Kingdom, and the Persian Empire is kinda a Libra mentality, and allowed all countries to worship their gods.
  4. In fact, Persian Kings, Cyrus, allowed the Israelite to go back home.
  5. This is the famous Cylinder of Cyrus that mentioned the decree for all defeated countries to go back to their homeland and rebuild.
  6. After the death of Cyrus and Cyrus son, Darius the first, encourage the Israelite to rebuild the temple (Ezra 6:6-7).

Before we dive into the Text, on the power point is the outline of the book of Haggai. They are called Message 1,2,3,4 because God deliver a memo to the Israelite through the mouth of Haggai. This memo was a warning sign, encouragement, and a future of God’s kingdom.

Message One: the call to rebuild the temple (1:1-15)

Message Two: the call to renew the perspective (2:1-9)

Message Three: the call for Spiritual Purity (2:10-19)

Message Four: the Hope for Messianic Promise (2:20-23)

Have this on the back burner, when you hear and read temple, I want you to think kingdom of God and God people i.e. the Church. In other word, have in mind that the temple is our modern time of having a relationship with God.

  1. Message 1 The call to rebuild the temple
    1. August 29 the Lord used Haggai to speak to Zurubbabel and Joshua (1:1)
      1. Zerubbalel means, seed of Babylon, he was appointed from Cyrus to be the governor (Ezra 5:14)
      2. Joshua, who represented religious authority and appointed high priest.
    2. The Lord used Haggai to communicate to Judah to rebuild the temple (1:2-4)
      1. The time has not yet to come to rebuild the temple
        1. God is calling out Judah because the temple is still laid in ruins as the people fix their own home; they allowed the temple to stay in ruins.
          1. (Click) Paneled house (1:4) indicates luxury house that is only for the rich who can afford this style of construction. Judeans only focused on building their house. In fact, (Ezra) 3:7 gives an accounts that the people return from Lebanon to rebuild the temple but the project was abandoned, and Scholars believe the people used the material on their own project/house.

Think of it like this, the house signified our desires.  The temple is our relationship with God.  The house they built once again is our strong desire to possess rather than putting God first. The house is our IDOL. You know, the time has not yet to come to seek you first Lord, first I need a new car because the old car is going to die, so I need to work a lot of hours. First Lord, I need to focus have a family before seeking you. Is Alcohol and drugs are first in my life? First Lord, I need to be clean before I go to you Lord. What about tithing, Lord, first I need to pay off bills before I can give you my tithes. Did you know 80 percent of Church member don’t tithes. Come on, first Lord, I need to focus on this before I come to you. Hear me out, I am not asking to invest in Mosaic Fellowship, which by the way we still paying off this building. This is pay by Mosaic advertisement by the way. I am just kidding, it’s a joke. Lest be honest, we are no different from the people of Judah. WE rather invest in our comfort that will wither away, instead of investing in the Kingdom and our relationship with God.

  1. You do what you want, but remember there’s consequence of your action (1:5-6).
    1. God will allow the Jews do what they want but there will be consequences, for the Judah their effects will be economic failures.
      1. First, abundant planting has produced less harvest;
      2. Second, the food supply has been of insufficient quantity to satisfy hunger;
      3. Third, drink is in such limited supply as to fail to quench their thirst;
      4. Fourth, clothing is of inadequate quality and quantity to keep the wearer sufficiently protected from the elements;
      5. Fifth, wages have less purchase power that it is as though they are placed into purses riddled with holes, quickly falling through and disappearing from sight.

Can we relate with Judah? Think about it, when God is calling you and you ignore his call. Things do not go your way, when you are not seeking God, your marriage fails, or your boss fires you. Hundred things can happen you if you do not answer God’s call. I am not supporting prosperity gospel, because things can still go bad if you obey God. However, these verses are for people who know the truth and try to oppress the truth.

  1. You better do…This (1:7-11)
    1. God will not take pleasure with Judah because his house lies in ruins. God was displayed with the house,( i.e, temple). (1:9)
      1. The temple signified God presence, and a place of worship. The temple also signified the promise of God that he will provide protection and security, as long as the people worship and obey his commandments. The temple reflects God’s relationship with the Jews to the world.

Think of it like this, my mom has a philosophy that cleaning a house must be wipe down from top to bottom. If the whole house is clean, but the kitchen is dirty, than the whole house is a mess. Everything must be clean. In other words, if one part of the house is dirty, than the whole house is duty. If the Jews were building their own house and neglect the temple, than the whole city is ruin. A Ruin Temple Equals a Ruin Relationship with God.  

Needless to say, Judah obeyed the Lord of host (1:12-15) Sept 21

  1. Message 2: the call to renewed perspective (2:1-9)
    1. How many people remember the good old days (2:1-3)
      1. Temple destroy 588-587 … the men must have been 67-68 years old.
    2. It is important to note that the people were building the temple for three weeks, so scholars believed that the people enthusiasm dissolved soooo… God spoke to the people again to give courage.
      1. God wanted to boost their morale (2:4)
        1. Be strong o Zerubbabel
        2. Be strong Joshua son of Jehozadak
        3. Be strong all you people of the land

In other words, the people of Judah started to slack/ they were being lazy. It’s like the Movie “Up.” The dogs had a mission to accomplish, (Click) but when they see a squirrel, they detour their mission to chase the varmint.  This text is relating with US. How many of us finally heard the call and purse God? The first week we doing great, walking with God, praying and reading the text, but than, week 2 we slack. Instead of reading the text everyday, we read the Bible every other day. Than week 3,

we read the next once a week. Right? Come on, let’s be real. No different.  

  1. Focus on curse (9)
    1. When the text says this house, I do not think the temple they were building will bring the peace. In fact, after Jesus death that temple was destroyed. So what does this house mean when it mentioned this shall be greater?
    2. A better temple than the last one.
      1. Literal interpretation is waiting for the future Messianic Kingdom.
      2. (Click) Spiritual temple composed of people from all nations (1 Cor. 3:9, 16-17)

Conclusion

I believe in Haggai 2:9 speaks about Spiritual Temple, the temple is within you once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, in which God will give you peace. I believe to maintain the Spiritual Temple is through reading Scriptures and praying… This is a daily practice. Not a once a month, once a week, but daily. Not a check off the box, but a yearning to seek Him­­...to build a relationship with the King.

Before the Haggai’s message,

What is your priority? Is God first in your life? Or is our home first? Once again, home signified our IDOL. Owning a home is not bad; it’s when you put the house first before God.

Is God first, or our relationship with our girlfriend or boyfriend. Is God first, or business, IPhone, twitter, Instagram first?

I agree reading Scripture, prayer, ministry, and fellowships with believer are examples of putting God first.

Are you reading Scripture to guide your steps?

How much you read scripture equal the relationship with God. It will reflect our inner self.

Are we praying to connect with the Father through the aid of the Holy Spirit?

How much we pray equal the outcome of our relationship with God.

  • Message 3 The Call for Spiritual Purity (2:10-19)
    1. The need for purity (2:10-14)
    2. Rhetorical questions to seek Purity (2:15-17)
    3. The discipline for Impurity (2:18-19)
      1. God discipline Judah for not being pure before Jehovah this, he destroyed the crops.
      2. The promise of blessing (2:18-19)
    4. Message 4 Renewal of the promise of Salvation (2:20-23)
      1. Foretelling that God will destroy the Earth (2:20-22)
      2. God will established his New Kingdom throw Jesus Christ (2:23)