"Now is the Time to Return" Haggai 2:10-19

SHARING LIFE AT FBCBF ON JANUARY 25, 2009 BY PASTOR BOB BENDER
“NOW IS THE TIME TO RETURN” FROM HAGGAI 2:10-19

Perhaps this prayer reflects your spiritual condition today: “Dear Lord, So far today, I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, selfish, over-indulgent, coveted my neighbor’s spouse, or taken your name in vain. I’m very thankful for that. But, in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed. And then I, along with everyone I encounter, will need a lot of help from you. Amen.” The Christian life wouldn’t be very hard if we could stay in bed all day. It’s all that stuff that happens after we get up that gives us problems. How can we stay close to the Lord after we wake up? That’s what we are going to find out today.

The theme of the OT prophets is simple: “Return to God so that He may return to you” (Zech 1:3). This is the message of Haggai, the prophet of encouragement as well. God’s people had physically returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity, but they had yet to return spiritually. They were honoring Him with their lips, yet their lives were far from him. They were working with their hands in the rebuilding of the temple, yet they disregarded the temple of their own hearts that were in disrepair. Hear the lament of Solomon, “Thou hast made me the keeper of the vineyards, yet my own vineyard I have not kept” (SOS 1:6).

We have been through a time to reflect as God wakes us up in chapter 1:1-12; a time to renew as God stirs us up in 1:12-15; a time to rebuild as God shakes us up in 2:1-9; and today a time to return as God cleans us up in 2:10-19. How can we return to Him? We return to him by embracing this idea from Haggai’s fourth message in 2:10-19: We return to God by remembering that disobedience brings discipline but obedience brings blessing.” Haggai begins with two penetrating questions to get across something the people needed reminding of:

I. REMINDER: SIN BRINGS A CURSE (VV. 10-14).

Sin has always resulted in a curse. The first thing God did after He created man was to bless him (Gen 1:22). The next thing that happened after they sinned was that everything they touched would be cursed—multiplied pain in childbearing and sweat to make the earth produce its fruit (Gen. 3:16-19). Sin brings nothing with it but pain and tragedy and where I come from that is a curse not a blessing. That’s why Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ became a curse for us in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles.”
Obviously God wants to bless us, but our sins get in the way and God never blesses sin. Those of us who are in Christ will never come under the eternal curse of hell as we are His children—always in relationship with Him. However, there is reality of broken fellowship with Him when we disobey. If we think we can sin and get away with it, we are only fooling ourselves. Our disobedience has a way of polluting everything it touches, which is exactly the point Haggai is trying to make with two questions that were seen as object lessons.

(Read verses 11-12) God had made a separation between holy things and unholy things—a separation we need to be reminded of today. And so He asks a question through His prophet: If that which is holy touches that which is unholy, does the unholy thing become holy? The answer is no; holiness is then not transferable.

(Read verse 13) God has a second question for his people. If that which is unclean touches that which is clean, will the clean become unclean? The answer is yes; wickedness is then transferable. If you have the measles and come in contact with someone who doesn’t have them, do your measles go away or does the other person become contaminated? If your child comes in with dirty shoes and walks on the clean carpet, does the clean carpet clean the bottom of their shoes or do their shoes dirty the carpet? If you are a virgin and have sex with someone with an STD, does your purity cleanse them or does their disease infect you? In Africa there is the myth that if a person who has AIDS and has sex with a virgin, they are cured of AIDS! (Illustration: water in one pitcher and tea/coffee in the other and mix the two). God is saying in these two questions that if the holy touches the unholy, the unholy remains unholy and that if the unholy touches the holy, the holy becomes unholy.

And now the punch line (read verse 14). Notice God did not say that some of their work is unclean, but every work of their hands and what they offer is unclean. If your heart is not right, all is wrong. Jesus says to us, “If your eye is bad, then your whole body is full of darkness and how great is that darkness! (Mt. 6:23). God is more concerned about this temple (pointing to my body) than this temple (pointing to the church building). God doesn’t want His house filled with empty hearts. God is not impressed with your religious ritual. You can have your hands full of three Bibles and if your heart is empty, you are dishonoring God. I Samuel 15:22 says, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” Spiritual work is no substitute for spiritual worship and service is no substitute for sanctification.

We are all like magnets that attract sin that soon become maggots because sin putrefies everything it touches. No matter how long we have known Jesus; what position we have in the church; or how much God is blessing, there is the defilement of sin that leads to death. The unnamed woman of I Timothy 5:6 was dead while she lived. The prodigal son was dead while he lived. In Revelation 3:1 the church at Sardis that had a reputation of being a live church was dead because of those church members who had soiled their garments.

Sin brings a curse upon you—just ask Simon Peter. Sin brings a curse upon those you love—just ask David’s family. It brings a curse upon God’s people—just ask Achan and the people of God who were defeated at Ai because of his sin in the camp. Make sure there is no sin in our camp today, or the blessings of God upon us will cease.

Are you touching what is dead--that television program, video, computer site, magazine, book, an inappropriate relationship, cheating on your income tax statement, repeating dirty stories or gossiping? By touching that which is unholy you are polluting your whole life.

Psalm 24 says, “Who can ascend to the hill of the Lord and who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, He shall receive a blessing from the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 6-7 says, “Come out from their midst and be separate and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you . . . let us cleanse our selves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Why? Because sin brings a curse.

Paul challenges the carnal Galatians and us today, “Where is that sense of blessing you once knew?’ (Gal 4:15). “Where is the blessedness I knew/When first I saw the Lord?/Where is that soul-refreshing view, Of Jesus and His love?/Return, oh Heavenly Dove, return, Sweet Messenger of rest. I hate the sins that made Thee mourn/And drove Thee from my breast.” How will you respond to this first principle of life? If you do not respond appropriately, then you will experience more bad news with Haggai’s second principle:

II. REFUSING TO OBEY GOD BRINGS DISCIPLINE (VV. 15-17).

Haggai now goes from preaching to meddling. They were wondering why they had been working for 3 months on the temple at God’s command and yet nothing had changed regarding the fruit of their labor. They had been told that God had blown away their profits because they had neglected the building of the temple (1:9). Now that they had gotten to work they thought God would come through for them in their labors away from the temple. Is it worth it to obey God? If not, we might as well live for the devil!

God now connects the dots between the principle of obedience and their own experiences . God is saying, “From this day onward (since the day you began working on the temple), set your heart on why things are as they are in your life. You are expecting a crop of 20 measures of grain and you only have 10. You expect your wine vat to be full up to fifty measures and it only full up to 20.” Today you would expect a pay check of $1000 and it is only $800. You expect your investment to earn 5% and it is only earning 2%.

God then asks, “Do you want to know why?” . “I smote you and every work of your hands.” He reminds them that the reason why their work was fruitless is because their hearts were not right and God cannot bless sin. God told them that their disobedience in their hearts had brought a curse upon the crops of their hands. God had to put His hand of discipline upon His people to get their attention and more importantly their hearts. How did they respond? Did they get the message? . Tragically, they did not return to Him.

A couple had two boys, ages 8 and 10, who were pretty bad and always getting into trouble. The boys’ mother heard that their new pastor was successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The pastor agreed, but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old in that morning with the older boy to see him in the afternoon. The pastor, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, “Billy, where is God?” The shocked boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no response. So the pastor repeated the question in an even sterner tone, “Billy, where is GOD!?” Again the boy made no attempt to answer, so the pastor raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy’s face and bellowed, “BILLY, WHERE IS GOD!!?” The boy screamed and bolted from the pastor’s office, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him there, he asked, “What happened?” The younger brother gasping for breath replied, “We are in BIG trouble this time, dude. God is missing and they think WE did it!”

I am making two assumptions today with you: (1) All of us want to do the right thing and obey; that’s why we are here today and (2) None of us obeys God completely and that’s a second reason why we are here today. So here’s the deal: If you uncover your sin, God will cover it; but if you cover your sin, God will uncover it.

Consider your life. Perhaps the reason why God is not blessing you is because of sin that demands His discipline. If God is missing in your life, guess who did it? You! However, it is never too late to return to God and there is no better time than today. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Now is the time to return. The bad news is that refusing to obey God brings His discipline but the good news is:

III. RETURNING TO GOD BRINGS A BLESSING (VV. 18-19).

Notice verse 18 where God commands His people to again consider their state of affairs “from this day”—from what day? From the day this message was delivered (v. 10). He says to consider from this day onward, “Set your heart on this: now that you have returned to Me, has the harvest come in?” The answer is No; it hadn’t.

The people had returned to God with their hearts in addition to their hands; they had obeyed this message of Haggai and yet the blessings of God as defined by a fruitful harvest had not yet been realized. God assures them that that will be the case as in verse 19. He makes the commitment to them that “from this day on I will bless you.” God is telling His people that the harvest will come eventually. You don’t plant today and harvest tomorrow; there is a lag time between. The people knew this, but were impatient regarding God’s promised blessings.

Aren’t you glad we are not like those people? These final verses of Haggai’s message deal with a universal issue that all of us encounter from time to time. If I am obeying God and have returned to God with my whole heart, why doesn’t He bless me in ways that are evident right now? The answer is this: God promises that He will bless us if we are obedient, but He doesn’t tell us the nature or the timing of that blessing. Remember this principle of life that is always true: We reap what we sow. We reap later than we sow; we reap the same nature of what we sow; we reap more than we sow. Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.”

Now while I believe every word of Galatians 6:9 and it has proven true in my life and I believe every word of this principle of life on the screen, there is another biblical truth that comes to bear here. And that is Luke 17:10 where Jesus says, “So you, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves, we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” I tire of Christians who stomp their feet like spoiled brats throwing a temper tantrum saying, “I sacrificed for Jesus with . . . and He didn’t fulfill His end of the bargain, so I have given up. I might as well live for the devil.” This “What’s in it for me?” mentality has to end. Along with the blessings of serving Jesus, He also promised us some hard times as well. I’m sorry, but Jesus didn’t die to make us healthy and wealthy. As we take verse 19 at face value, we need to consider what a blessing is.

A gambler at the race track noticed a priest blessing a horse before the first race and he won. He noticed the same scenario again at the second race and he also won. The last race, the priest went up to Gray Monday--a 30 to 1 shot and did a similar routine. The better immediately went to the betting window and bet $1000 on him. But Gray Monday came in dead last. The better found the priest and told him he had noticed his actions on all three horses and asked demandingly what happened to Gray Monday. The priest said, “That’s the problem with you Protestants; you don’t know the difference between a blessing and last rites!”

What then is a blessing? It is best defined by its use in Matthew 14 when Jesus fed the 5000. Verse 19 tells us that He first blessed the food (5 loaves and 2 fish) and then distributed it and it fed all with some left over. In this context we see a blessing as “Blessing: A sovereign act of God by which He causes anyone or anything committed to Him to supernaturally produce more than is possible resulting in your growth, others’ good and god’s glory.” This promise applies to our time, talents, treasures, and testimony. In order to receive a blessing, we need to further apply Matthew 14 to our lives. Like the people who Jesus fed, we need to get in the right position of receive a blessing. That position is one of humble obedience (sit down), cooperation (in groups of 50 (Mark’s record), and anticipation (don’t you know they were expecting something cool to happen).

It is decision time for all of us. Deuteronomy 11:26-28 says, “I have set before you a blessing and a curse; the blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God and the curse if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord.” I Peter 3:9 says, “You were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” God wants to bless your socks off in 2009! Will you allow God to do so in your life in 2009? Will you allow God to take your time, talents, treasures and testimony and multiply them for your growth, others’ good and the glory of God? And by the way, His promise to you is that you will receive your share of blessings along the way. Now it is the time to return with your whole heart.