THREE PRIORITIES FOR LIVING

[ Haggai 1:1-11 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 3 & 5 February 2001

Haggai is a very brief book of two chapters and thirty-eight verses, and the events that are narrated cover a period of only four months at the end of the year 520 BC. His message contains five separate proclamations.

What is Important To You?
What do you consider “top priority” in your life?
Three Priorities for Living:

I. GOD’S WORD MUST COME BEFORE OUR WORDS [:1]

“The Word of the Lord came.” We have no record of any prophetic voice in the promised land since the time of Jeremiah. Daniel and Ezekiel had been prophets in Babylon, but now the long silence is broken and the restored community hears the voice of the Lord again.

“Through the prophet Haggai” – “Through”, literally it is “by the hand of” rather than “to” is unusual in the introduction to a prophecy [elsewhere only at Mal.1:1]. The phrase emphasizes that the prophet is the channel through which the message from the Lord is transmitted. He is the intermediary in the process of communication.

In this verse we have the three office of the theocracy – prophet [Haggai], priest [Joshua] and king [Zerubabbel] – brought together again.

The first and most significant priority we can cultivate is to make the Scriptures a part of our lives. A biblical mentality is the secret to surviving the aimlessness of our day. We must daily soak ourselves in the Scriptures. “It is blessed,” wrote Spurgeon, “to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you”.

• Be Committed to Biblical Mentality/Thinking.

II. GOD’S WORK MUST COME BEFORE OUR WORK [:2-4]

Excuse #1: NOT THE [RIGHT] TIME [Haggai 1: 1-2]
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.” [Haggai 1:2]. Sin of procrastination.

Excuse #2: NO TIME [Haggai 1: 3-4; Lk.14:16]

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” [1:4]. The excuse of “no time” is actually an excuse of our priorities in life. The sin of “No Time” is actually the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is putting any idea, goal, or commitment on par or above the Living God!

God’s Response: NOW IS THE TIME!

“NOW this is what the Lord Almighty says…” [1:5]. For he says, “In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.
[2 Cor.6:2].

There is never a right time for engaging in the Lord’s work, if we are waiting for a time without problems. It is always possible to pint to those who will hinder and oppose, and to the difficulties that will arise from lack of resources.

“For the person who wills to do right, the time is always present.”

We know that God doesn’t live in temples made by hands [Acts 7: 48-50], and that our church buildings are not His holy habitation, but the way we care for these buildings reflects our spiritual priorities and our love for Him. The respect accorded the physical structure was an index of the spiritual vitality of the people.

“Hallowed be Thy name” is the first petition in the Lord’s prayer [Mat.6:9], but it’s often the last thing we think about as we seek to serve God. Jesus said, “I do always those things that please Him [the Father]” [John 8:29], and that’s a good example for us to follow.

• Be Committed to Biblical Action/Attitude.

III. GOD’S WAY MUST COME BEFORE OUR WAYS [: 5-11]

“Consider your ways!” [:5] the prophet urged. This must have been one of the Haggai’s favorite expressions, for in this short book of 38 verses, he uses it in four verses [1:5,7 ; 2:15,18]. It was time for the people to do some serious self-examination before the Lord. The first steps to renewed obedience required a realistic assessment and appraisal of what has gone wrong. Haggai invited the people to examine their lifestyle and actions in the light of the covenant God made with them before the nation entered the land of Canaan [Lev.26 ; Deut.27-28]. God’s covenant stated clearly that He would bless them if they obeyed His Law and discipline them if they disobeyed [Lev.26 ; 18-20; Dt.28: 38-40].

The situation that is described [:6,9] was one of considerable hardship and economic distress. But had they stopped and ask why these things were happening? That was the challenge being issued to them: to see their unfortunate circumstances as God’s fatherly chastisement to recall them to himself [see Amos 4:6-11 - five sets of temporal misfortune are described each ending with the comment, "Yet you have not returned to me"]. Haggai revealed the source of their trouble: the people were busy building their own houses and had no time for the house of the Lord [:9].

Haggai refers to God as the “Lord of Hosts.” This title appears 247 times in the OT; and in this slight volume of Haggai fourteen times. Surely it has reference to the fact that the Lord is sovereign over the armies of Heaven and earth. He is absolutely sovereign without any rival.

The purpose of obedience was not merely to see a building raised; it was first and last to bring pleasure to God and to glorify Him: “that He may take pleasure in it and be glorified” [:8]. The chief end of the work of every man and woman of God is not so much to build churches, or to carry out other external works of righteousness or good works, as it is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

• Be Committed to a Biblical Lifestyle.

CONCLUSION:

Express your loyalty to the Lord and give His service top priority in your living [Jn.15:8 ; Phil.1:11]. Pleasing Him, and considering His interests and desires, have to be paramount.

Place His Word, His Work and His Way First Place!