In Jason Dohm's sermon 'Whose House First?', the focus is on the book of Haggai, specifically chapter 1, which addresses the prioritization of God's house over personal interests. The people, having returned from Babylonian captivity, neglected the rebuilding of the temple, focusing instead on their own homes. God, through Haggai, calls them to consider their ways, attributing their lack of prosperity to this neglect. The sermon underscores the importance of prioritizing God's kingdom in our lives and warns against the complacency that can arise from neglecting divine responsibilities. Dohm draws parallels between the people's situation and modern believers, emphasizing that God can cross categories in the law of sowing and reaping to get our attention. He also presents four applications: the responsibility of leaders, the importance of connecting divine displeasure with personal setbacks, the relevance of New Testament teachings on prioritizing God's kingdom, and the necessity of overcoming discouragement to fulfill God's will. The sermon concludes with a call to action, urging believers to respond to God's promptings and prioritize His kingdom.

Good morning. Sermon text is found in Haggai chapter 1. Please follow along with me. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, saying, Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people says the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell on your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat but do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled with drink. Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths.

Oops, sorry. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord.

You looked for much but indeed it came too little and when you brought it home I blew it away. Why, says the Lord of hosts, Because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew and the earth withhold its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehoshedek, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people feared the presence of the Lord.

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshedek, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. The title of the sermon this morning is, Whose House First? Your House?

Your Little Kingdom? Or God's House? God's Kingdom? It really is a book, a chapter about priority. Who will have the place of honor.

The Word of the Lord comes to a people who have given the place of honor to themselves for far too long. And God calls them back and puts them back on track. It's really a book about God's mercy and his kindness towards a people whose hearts have grown cold towards his things over a period of time. Habakkuk, where we just came from, and Haggai form bookends of the Babylonian captivity. Habakkuk is the voice of God saying that God is going to raise up the Babylonians in judgment against the people of Judah to take them into captivity.

And then Haggai is raised up as a prophet after the Babylonian captivity is actually over, and to cause zeal to rise up in the Lord's people again to get back to work on doing the temple. Haggai is the first prophet after the exile. There have been a number of prophets leading into the Babylonian captivity. And then there is a period of decades, probably, of quiet, where there are no prophets speaking things, at least not things that have made their way into scripture. But now God does.

God raises up Haggai to both rebuke and encourage the good guys. I said this last week. Often God raises up prophets to address the scandalously sinful. Idolatry, adultery, murder, violence. None of that is here.

It is just neglect. It is just neglect. Neglect is not a small thing in God's eyes. But really, these are people who we should look on as the good guys and gals. They are people who risked life and limb.

Volunteers were set at liberty to come back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and to begin to rebuild Judah. These were the volunteers. These were not the people who were sleepy towards God. They were the people who had zeal to uproot their multi-generational lives, meaning there have been multiple generations in the 70 years of captivity and they had chosen to risk life and limb to come back and rebuild the temple. So God raises up a prophet Haggai both to rebuke but not just to rebuke also to encourage the good guys and gals.

Last week we worked our way through the early chapters of Ezra because it sets the context. And then I ended here in Ezra, in Ezra chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. Let me read that again and then we'll launch into Ezra 5, 1 and 2. Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Ito prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Josadach rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

So you really get this encouraging sign that God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and that the people responded, and that the prophets were right alongside them, prophesying and helping them to engage with whole hearts in the work. So that brings us to the book of Haggai. Let's pray. Our God, we know that it was said of the Lord Jesus, zeal for your house has eaten me up. Our Lord was just filled to overflowing with zeal for your house because it was zeal for you, zeal for your kingdom.

He wanted your people to be pure, holy, full of worship. And I thank you that we see this Spirit returning to your people in the book of Haggai. We pray that you would work through the preaching of your word now to stir up zeal for your house in our own hearts, that it would eat us up. A desire to see holiness among ourselves, among your people, a desire to see heartfelt true authentic worship flow out of us would consume us. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Okay, let's go back and re-read some of chapter 1. Let's just start by subdividing into verses 1-11. I know that's a big chunk. That's a much bigger chunk than we would normally preach an entire sermon on. So I just have to say for the record, I hate preaching on chapter at a time.

And I can't wait to get to Ephesians where we will not preach a chapter a Sunday we will not preach a chapter a month when we get to Ephesians I promise you that Ephesians will probably take six to nine months If we get through the Ephesians short of a year, it will be a miracle. Haggai chapter 1 verses 1-11. Follow along. Follow along. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoshaphat the high priest saying Thus speaks the Lord of hosts saying this people says The time has not come the time that the Lord's house should be built.

Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat but do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled with drink.

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little.

And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, says the Lord of hosts, because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands. In this section, God speaks to this people, that's what they're called in verse 2, about the cause of their lack.

So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, cause and lack, fill in the blanks. God speaks to this people about the cause of their lack. This people, we're used to hearing God address them as my people. Not here. If you're a father, maybe you've heard your wife from time to time say, this is what your son did.

Like a temporary excommunication. A temporary disowning to communicate the displeasure. That's what's happening here when God in verse 2 says, this people says instead of my people, which is God's normal language is to own his people. But here he temporarily disowns them in his language in order to communicate his displeasure. We're given a time stamp here from the beginning.

It's August 29th, 520 BC. 520 years before Jesus on August 29th, God raises up and speaks through this prophet Haggai. 2. Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest. You know this, but Zerubbabel appears at the very beginning of the New Testament in the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew chapter 1 verse 12, in that genealogy, he's right in the middle of it.

King David is one of his forefathers, many generations up, and Jesus is one of his descendants many generations down. So he is in the line of David and in the line of Jesus. So it's right that he would be the governor of Judah, and other times he would be the king but now he's the governor. Joshua, his lineage can be traced up through Zadok, a high priest, to Aaron. He's of the priestly line.

It's very fitting that he's the high priest. God starts by quoting the people. There's something wrong with what the people says. So God quotes the consensus. The people generally are saying something that is wrong.

God quotes them. What are they saying? The time has not yet come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. They don't deny that it must be built, and they don't deny that it's their responsibility to build it. They dispute the timing.

All in good time, my friends, all in good time. God answers their saying with a question. Look again at verse 4. God answers this saying of the people. It's not time yet to rebuild the temple.

He answers this saying with a question. Verse 4, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? Remember in Ezra 3, right when the people had gotten back from captivity, this first wave of 50, 000 people returned. Even though they were afraid of the greater multitude around them that lived in the land when they came back, even though they were afraid, they set up their altar and worshiped anyway and they laid the foundation of the temple and began the work. But then in Ezra chapter 4 they meet with this resistance and persecution and work on the temple stops and now there has been a 14 year period of inactivity.

14 years, no work on the temple. Matthew Henry says this, and I think it hits the nail on the head, listen to Matthew Henry, afterwards when the violence of the opposition had abated, they continued very indifferent to it, had no spirit nor courage to set about it again, but seemed glad that they had a pretense to let it stand still. Though those who are employed for God may be driven off from their work by a storm, yet they must return to it as soon as the storm is over. Isn't that true? Isn't that true that when we engage in the work of God and building His Kingdom that we have a right to expect opposition and resistance and persecution that may actually drive us off from the work, but that's no excuse to stay off of the work when the headwinds subside, we have to get back to work.

That's what they did not do. There was real opposition, real resistance, real persecution, things that maybe legitimately stopped them from their work, but for 14 years, God shows up to say, no. No. What have they been doing in the meantime? Giving attention to their own houses.

The house of God lies in ruins. The houses of the people are paneled. That's what we have in Haggai chapter 1. The temple ruins people's houses comfortably restored. Verse 9, every one of you runs to his own house.

The ESV renders it just a little bit differently. Each of you busies himself with his own house. They were busy. They're not being accused of being lazy. They were being accused of working on the wrong thing.

They were running to their own house. They were busying themselves with rebuilding their own lives at the expense of what they actually came back to Jerusalem to do, which was to rebuild the temple and restore the worship of God. The question God asks points to the absurdity of what is happening. By saying, the time has not yet come, it sounds so prudent, so measured, so judicious. We know the temple has to be rebuilt, and we know that we're the ones responsible to do it.

All in good time, my friends. All in good time. It sounds so measured and wise, But what it really means is that it is a time for God to dwell in a demolished house long after we live in comfortably restored houses. This is the time that is upon us. The time for God to live in a demolished house when our houses have already been restored.

Comfortably restored. When put in those terms, you have a statement that none of the people would actually own. Which one of them would sign up for that? Here's the time that we're in. We're in the appropriate time for God to live in a demolished house while all of our houses have already been comfortably restored.

Who would own that statement? No one. But that is to connect reality to what they're saying. When they said, it's not yet time, all in good time my friends, all in good time, when they said that, the reality was, The reality was, it was a time for God to live in dishonor when they lived in comfort. Sometimes we trick ourselves with how we position things.

How we say things. It's not yet time. This can sound so measured and wise, but really when you translate it into reality, you end up with a statement that no one would own. No, I wasn't saying that! Now God says this, consider your ways.

Think about what you're doing. Think about what has priority. Think about what is getting your time and your energy and your resources. You are! Your time goes to you!

Your energy goes to you! Your resources go to you! While God's house sits neglected! Now, God says, in essence, Understand this, that's why I've been withholding profit from your labors. I've been withholding and that's why.

Ah yes, the law of sowing and reaping. Galatians chapter 6 verse 7, Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. What that normally means is that if I sow an abundance of seed, I will have an abundant harvest. That's what that normally means. I sowed in abundance, so I will reap in abundance.

Now God raises up a prophet to speak on August 29th, which is late in the harvest season in Israel. Did you know that? August 29th, late and you would know whether it's good or bad by August 29th in Israel. Most of the crops would have been harvested by August 29th in Israel. It must have been clear from what we have in Haggai chapter 1 that it was another very disappointing harvest.

They sowed a lot, and it's another bad harvest. It's like they've been taking their pay and putting it in a bag with holes. I had my pay, then I walked along and I look, and it's dribbled out on the road as I walked. There's no way to reclaim it. God here is actually drawing on the language of Deuteronomy 28.

Deuteronomy 28 is a very famous chapter on the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. Listen to Deuteronomy 28 verses 38 and 39. Just think about the words picked by God to speak through Haggai. Deuteronomy 28 verses 38 and 39. You shall carry much seed out to the field, but gather little in.

So in abundance reap in scarcity, For the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes. For the worms shall eat them." They are recounting on the law of sowing and reaping. I'm going to go out in the field with a lot of seed and sow a lot of seed so that I'll reap in abundance. God sends locusts to disrupt the normal law of sowing and reaping.

You plant more vines and have many vineyards with the expectation of an abundance of wine and grapes, but God sends worms to disrupt the law, the normal course of sowing and reaping. Here's the thing, to get our attention, God can and does cross categories. To get our attention, you're not paying attention. To get your attention, God can and does cross categories. What does that mean?

I so dishonor by neglecting God's house His kingdom. Him. When you neglect his house and you neglect his kingdom, what are you really neglecting? Him. And I reap a very disappointing harvest in the field.

He crossed categories. You were sowing it over here, but you reaped it in a different category. You sowed dishonor in your neglect of God's house, in your neglect of God, and you did reap, but you reaped over here in the field. He crossed categories to get your attention. That's exactly what's happening in Haggai chapter 1.

If I don't understand that God is working to get my attention, if I don't consider my ways, to put it in the language of Haggai, I'm tempted to say the law of sowing and reaping isn't working anymore. I sowed a lot and I Reaped scarcity What happened to the saw the law of sowing and reaping Oh, no, no, it's sowing and reaping God is just crossing categories to frustrate you, to get your attention, to put you back on track. So here in Haggai chapter 1, God connects the dots. You sowed dishonor of me through your neglect of my house, and now you're reaping scarcity, because I crossed over into your fields and into the stalls of your animals. And You planted a lot, but I sent worms.

So that you would reap what you sowed over here in relation to my kingdom. Look again at verse 8. Verse 8. Such an important verse. Haggai chapter 1 verse 8, go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord." A couple of things.

First, they weren't even ready to build the temple. It's not like they were teetering on the edge of progress. They've not even made ready. They hadn't even collected what would be needed. The first thing the prophet says is, go get wood.

Now why is that significant? Because they were exactly the opposite of David. In 2 Samuel 7 verse 2, David says to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. That disturbed David. A very similar circumstance that the people of God in Haggai had become comfortable with.

David was completely uncomfortable with it. Here I am, I live in a palace, a cedar palace, and the Ark of God, the Ark of The covenant dwells in a tent. And that was disturbing to David. Haggai comes to the people who aren't disturbed by that at all. And God wants to disturb them.

David was disturbed by that. In 1 Chronicles 22, it's really about the end of David's life. David amasses materials for Solomon to use. So in 2 Samuel 7, verse 2, what I just quoted, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. David was disturbed by that, but as this chapter progresses, God tells David, you can't build me a temple, it's going to be your son.

So what does David do? Okay, I'll just wait. No, David does all he can short of laying the foundation. He amasses wood and stone and gold and silver and bronze and workmen and craftsmen so that when he dies there's a mountain of resources for Solomon to start on day one. David has a very different heart.

Okay God, you won't let me build the temple. I'll do everything short of it. It was zeal for God's house. It was zeal for God's house. David's example condemns these people.

David's zeal condemns these people. I'm going to stress again, these are the good guys. They have known zeal, they have had zeal. They have done significant things to obey the Lord. But now they're cold, and God is going to make them hot again.

Second, God says, build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified. Build the building so that I can take pleasure in it and be glorified. Now just think about that for a minute. That begs the question. What does God need with an earthly building?

Why would God take pleasure in any earthly building? The temple at the time of Jesus was considered a wonder of the world. But not to God. At least Not for the structure. What does God need with an earthly building?

Nothing. Solomon says that when he consecrates the first temple. I know you don't dwell in buildings made with men's hands. The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. That's the language that Solomon uses when he consecrates the first temple.

But God had prescribed an external pattern of worship which required it. The worship of God could not be right, could not be done according to what He said without it. Does that mean that God was satisfied with the externals of worship? No. But it does mean that part of the internals of worship is to honor the externals that God has prescribed.

So no, God isn't satisfied with just the externals. Never, never, never, never. But part of the internals of worship is to say, God how do you want to be worshiped? And then when he speaks, you worship that way. You can't ignore the externals that God has called for and just say, oh worship is all about the heart.

Well, it says something about your heart for worship when you ignore God and how he says to be worshiped. This is the regular principle of worship. Furthermore, for this people at this time, rebuilding the temple was representative of priority. It spoke volumes. Not Working on the temple spoke volumes.

It was a loud statement. 14 years of neglect was a loud statement and God heard it. And working on the temple would be a loud statement. God wanted to hear that loud statement. God wanted to take pleasure in that loud statement.

That the people had heard his voice, and they loved him, so they were committed to obeying him, and they were working on the temple, restoring the temple, rebuilding the temple, so they could worship God as He prescribed His people to worship Him. God takes pleasure in it, and is glorified when we give evidence of love for Him. God takes pleasure in it and is glorified when we give evidence of love for Him. Does your love for Him, at least what you think is love for Him, is there evidence? Could we convict you?

I love God. Okay, bring the evidence. We'll see if we can convict you. Many of us would walk free. We would go free, un-condemned, of loving God.

Because of the scarcity of evidence. Alright, next section, verses 12-15. Haggai chapter 1 verses 12-15. Follow along. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehosedach the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him.

And the people feared the presence of the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshaphat, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. In this section, the people respond in obedience and reverence.

So if you're taking notes by filling in blanks on the handout, obedience and reverence, fill in your blanks. The people respond in obedience and reverence. In verse 12, we see four very wonderful things, all jammed into one verse, in Verse 12. First, the response is widespread. The governor?

Yes. The high priest? Yes. All the remnant of people who have been brought back? Yes.

It's widespread. It's not top down. Alright, The governor and the high priest say you have to build the temple. They build the temple. The reading of this is that there is a zeal from the work from top to bottom.

Second, they obey. Jesus said, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. They make a statement by getting busy on the temple. They have his commandments and they keep them. They are the ones that love God.

That's John 14, 21. Third, they receive the message of Haggai as the word of the sender. They understand there is someone sending Haggai. It's God in heaven. Haggai's words are actually God's words.

Haggai is simply an ambassador sent to stir the people up to get back to work. They hear Haggai's voice and they say, That's God! God is speaking to us. God is rebuking us and encouraging us to get back on track. Fourth, they feared God.

The NASB renders it just a little differently. It showed reverence for the Lord. The people heard the voice of the prophet. They knew it was God's voice. And they stood in awe of God and trembled at His Word.

Finally, God speaks to encourage the people and stirs them up to the work. And what a word of encouragement. I am with you, says the Lord. God shows up, rebukes them for being lazy, and leaves. Come back in a few decades.

Get to work, and I hope to find you working when I get back in a couple of decades. God has the prophet say, I'm with you. God doesn't just command and leave. He didn't then, and He doesn't now. He does command.

It's His right to command. It's good that He commands, instead of just leaving us to our own inclinations. Thank God that he commands. But he doesn't just command and leave for a decade or even a week. He's with us.

Of course, Now that Jesus has come, we have additional depth and richness in this saying. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. If you ever wondered, from even the depth and richness of all the Old Testament testimonies. How can you wonder now that Jesus has come and walked this sinful earth in order to Empathize with us, sympathize for us, show us, be with us. God is with us, Emmanuel.

It's Isaiah 7, verse 14. So, God with us isn't even a New Testament concept at all. That title of Jesus, Emmanuel, is in the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah 7, 14. And a practical way in which he is with them is stirring up their spirits to the work. Don't see those things as separate.

I'm with you. And then the very next words that we read is, he's stirring up the governor, he's stirring up the high priest, he's stirring up the whole remnant of the people to the work. This is a practical way in which he is with them. He is working in their hearts to get them back on track. To give them a zeal for the good things that they have been neglecting.

Consider Philippians 2.13. When you read through Philippians, it's so easy to skim over this one and really miss what this is communicating. Listen to Philippians 2.13, the Apostle Paul. Paul writes, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Let me read it again.

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. You wake up one morning, just have desire to do the things that please God. Trace that upstream. What will you find upstream? God!

You'll find God! It is God who works in you both to will. I want to do things that please Him. Why is that? It's God.

Invisibly stirring you up to want, to desire, to do the things that please Him, and to do them. Not just God working in you to do them, but God working in you to will to do them. God is invisibly at the root, even of our obedience and well-doing, so that all pride is stripped away. And all glory goes to God. You see how that works?

Because God is invisibly at the root invisibly upstream the source of Wanting to do good and then doing good all pride is stripped away from us You wanted to do it because he stirred you up to it You did it because He stirred you up to it. You did it because He stirred you up to the Word. His Spirit working on your Spirit to make you want to do it and then to do it. So that our being proud of those things would be so inappropriate. It would be so blind to what's upstream of our desires to do good and our doing good.

By the way, almost identical language is used in Exodus 35 of the making of the first tabernacle. If you go to read Exodus 35 and the making of the very first house for God, his tent, the tabernacle, you find him stirring up craftsmen, stirring up people to give resources to it, you find almost identical language. So he did it for his first tent, and he did it for his first temple, and now he's doing it again, stirring people up to work on his house. Applications, I give you four. Application number one, Leaders pay attention.

Who does Haggai speak to first? The governor and the high priest. Did all the people bear the responsibility to build the temple? Yes. Who does the prophet rebuke first?

The governor and the high priest. Leaders, we are not above rebuke. In fact, to the degree that these areas of responsibility have been given to us and we are off track, we are first in line for the rebuke. First in line. Not exclusive to it.

The people got their share of reproof from the Lord through the prophet here, but it starts with the leaders. To the degree that God has given us a sphere of authority, and that's true of men and women and children in different areas to the degree that God has given you a sphere of authority and you're off track according to his word, God wants to have a word with you. First, before he has a word with the people who are under your authority, you're first in line for the rebuke, you're first in line for accountability. It's quite sobering. James, you and I should tremble.

As I considered the flow of this passage and how it plays out, it made me tremble. As an elder, as a husband, as a father, having different areas of authority, and know that to whatever degree I'm off track for the reasons that God gave me the authority, He wants to have a word with me and that I'm first in line for the rebuke and the accountability. Number two, Think of God calling for a drought on all the labor of your hands. That's verse 11. God says, I called for a drought on all the labor of your hands.

Everything that you're working on I called for a drought. You planted seed I brought locusts. You planted vineyards I brought worms. So that your lives have been like getting pay and putting it into a purse with holes in it. Know that if God wants to get your attention, He can cross categories with sowing and reaping.

I had a good job. I'm making good money. But everything keeps breaking, needs fixing. Every time I have something laid aside, something else goes wrong that requires money. When that's happening, it doesn't have to be this, but you're a fool if you don't ask yourself, is it this?

Am I sowing dishonor to God over here, and then God's trying to get my attention that I haven't connected the dots yet? Maybe God has brought us to Haggai to help you understand that God is crossing the categories in sowing and reaping in your life. And you just say, I can't get a break! There's a reason. There's a reason you can't get a break.

Friends, consider your ways. Friends, consider your ways. Number three. Consider what I'm going to call two New Testament commentaries on Haggai 1. So I'm going to give you two New Testament passages and I'm going to call them commentaries on Haggai 1.

I think they unpack what Haggai 1 is all about. The first is this, Matthew 6 verse 33. You knew I was going to get here, Matthew 6 verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. You're worried about food, don't worry about food.

You're worried about clothing, Don't worry about clothing. Seek the kingdom first, and God will take care of the other things. Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. The house of God, figuratively, should have our priority. Does it mean that there's never a time to work on your own house?

No. Either literally or figuratively? No, it doesn't mean that. It means What should have our priority is God's house, God's kingdom, God. Second New Testament commentary on Haggai 1, 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15.

Listen to what Paul writes to the Corinthians. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." The flow of argument here is this. Christ died for you! Don't you love Him? But you love Him for that.

If you love Him, let the love of God compel you. You're not going to live for yourself anymore. You live for Him. He died for you, and so His love compels you. His love for you compels you.

Your love for him compels you to not live for yourself anymore. Just building your house, making your house more comfortable all the time. But to live for him. Number four, finally. Go on a search for this.

Let's listen to Matthew Henry and then go on a search. There is an aptness in us to misinterpret providential discouragements in our duty. As if they amounted to a discharge from our duty. When they are only intended for the trial and exercise of our courage and faith." So let me go through that again and pack it as I go. We usually save our expositions for scripture, but let me exposit Matthew Henry here.

There is an aptness in us to misinterpret providential discouragements in our duty. What's he saying there? There is an inclination in every human heart to misinterpret the headwinds. We know we're supposed to do something, but we encounter resistance, opposition, maybe even persecution, and we draw the wrong conclusions as if we've been set free from the duty. Resistance or discouragement or persecution means I don't have to do it anymore.

When they are only intended for the trial and exercise of our courage and faith. No, you misinterpreted. It doesn't mean you don't have to do it anymore. It means that God wants to stretch you in the doing of it and grow you in the doing of it. So the people maybe misinterpreted the resistance and opposition and persecution to say, oh we don't have to do that anymore, it's not time to build the temple anymore, when God was really just stretching them and teaching them about His faithfulness, and growing them.

So there was 14 years of inactivity, and God had to send a prophet to get them back on track. We'll go back to Habakkuk. The just shall live by his faith. What does it mean if it doesn't mean that? The just shall keep going because of trust in God.

Not say, I'm off the hook because there's resistance. You'll never do anything in life if you adopt that as your motto. Where there's resistance, I'm off the hook. What worthwhile, what God honoring thing can you engage in with no resistance? You'd have a hard time coming up with a very long list of things that belong on that list.

Friends, when you go on the search, is there somewhere where you were doing good, you were doing God's will, but you encountered resistance, opposition, persecution, and so you stopped, and you just never took the work back up again. You should look. You might have grown so used to the inactivity that you don't even think about it anymore. That's why I say go on a search for this. I bet that people were surprised at Haggai's words.

They weren't even thinking in the categories that God speaks in after 14 years of inactivity. Strike while the iron's hot. If you find something when you go on a search for this, strike while the iron's hot. 23 days later they were assembled and building. That's the timeline of Haggai chapter 1.

23 days later. They probably finished with harvest, they got wood, and they started. If you don't strike while the iron is hot, you don't strike at all. That term is a metal craft term, meaning you heat the metal up to red hot and you have to strike while it's red hot. Because that's when the metal is pliable and you can change the shape of it.

If you don't strike while it's hot, you can hit it to death when it's not red hot and you won't change the shape of it. There's a window of time and opportunity to strike. When God speaks to you to say, this has been neglected in your life, go to it. If you wait, you're lost. You know that's true.

God shows you an area of neglect and coldness in your life that hasn't been right, then strike whether it's hot. God, I pray that we would. God, I pray that you would. I pray that you would Show us areas of our life that have dishonored you through neglect, and we've gotten so comfortable with our inactivity that we don't even think about it anymore. It doesn't even prick our consciences or register in our thoughts anymore.

I pray that you would show us things like that in our lives, and then that you would stir us up to will and to do. You would make us want to act right away, and you would make us act right away, so that you would find us striking while the iron's hot. Thank you for raising up prophets to speak. Thank you for your word that speaks to us today. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.