Sermon Study Guides

Forty years after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's temple and carried God's people into exile, King Cyrus issued a decree that the Jews could go home. The Jews returned and laid the foundation of a new temple, but two years later, when opposition came, the work on God's house ground to a halt…. For sixteen years.

Meanwhile, the people got on with their lives. So God sent the prophet Haggai to deliver a message to the people: “Give careful thought to your ways” (1:5,7; 2:15,18).

Principles in Haggai:

1. A People with Misplaced Priorities.

God had told His people to rebuild the His Temple, but they had other priorities. God wasn’t first, and for 16 years they delayed their obedience to God. The people said they didn't have the time or money for God's house, but somehow they had time and money for luxury upgrades on their houses. They put themselves first and God second.

Because the people had been busy with their own houses, not the Lord’s house, their harvests were poor. The poor harvest wasn't random. Nothing in this story is random or chance. God was behind it all. God caused hardship, not to destroy them, but to turn them back to Him.

Why would a good God bring hardship on His people? Because God loves His people and He wants a relationship with them. Drift happens when we postpone what God has asked us to do. And "not yet" can quietly turn into sixteen years.

2. God Loves His People Too Much to Let Them Drift Away.

"The Lord disciplines the one he loves" (Hebrews 12:6). Here’s what happened: “Then … the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God.” And He responded: "I am with you, declares the LORD" (1:12). No lecture. No list of everything they'd gotten wrong for sixteen years. The very first word after they turned back to God was: “I am with you.” That's the heart of God toward His people. And it's His heart toward you.

God’s people heard God, they put Him first, and “they came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty their God” (1:14). Shortly after beginning to work on the temple, the people were discouraged because their work seemed small and insignificant compared to the Temple of Solomon. But the Lord encouraged them, “Be strong, … and work” (2:4). Clearly God did not think their little temple was of no value or that their labor was in vain.

Nothing God has asked you to do is insignificant.

3. God is Accomplishing Through You More Than You Can See

God, in effect, says to His people, ‘I am with you in this work! I’m working with you on the temple. How dare you see the work as not important!’ God had a purpose for the temple in Haggai’s day—to fill it with His glory, the Messiah, Jesus.

What we do matters to God because God has asked us to work and He works with us. God takes the small things we do—a cup of water for someone, a visit to a hospital, leading a small group, an invitation to church, an act of kindness, offering forgiveness, praying a prayer—and makes them a habitation for His glory.

Take courage! God is working in you and through you, and you are building more than you see! Nothing you do is trivial if God is working with you. He will bring Glory to Himself as you remain faithful to do what God has asked you to do.

IN - PURSUE RELATIONSHIP

1. Do you have any projects that are unfinished and have been so for a long time?

2. Describe a place or time when it was all about you, your beliefs, or your culture.

UP - PURSUE GOD

1. Read Haggai 1:1-11; Matthew 6:33; Hebrews 12:6. How did the Israelites have their priorities misplaced? What were the consequences of their actions? How did God get their attention?

2. Read Haggai 1:12-13; 2:4-9. What did God ask the Israelites to do? What has God promised in response?

OUT - PURSUE MISSION

Spend a minute in silence to seek God. Share what you heard.

1. Read Haggai 1:9-11. Do we recognize God’s discipline as loving? What makes it hard to receive discipline from the loving God of the Bible? How can we change our mindset towards discipline?

2. Read Haggai 2:4-5. How could the Israelites think their work was not important? What role do comparisons play? Describe a similar situation in your life.

3. What work has God called your group to do? How can the group accomplish it?

Personal Reflection

What is your “not yet” with God? In what ways are you drifting? Is there something you are delaying that God would like you to do now?

Spend time with God this week. Ask Him for clear direction. How can you prioritize your life in obedience to God?

Be aware that God is glorified in the small things. Thank God for bringing good out of the small things.

The Word (NIV)

Haggai 1:1-11 ¹ In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:

² This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”

³Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

⁵ Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. ⁹“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Hebrews 12:6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Haggai 1:12-13 ¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.

Haggai 2:4-9 ⁴ But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ⁵‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

⁶ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ⁸ ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ⁹ ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

This Week's Writers: Elsa Henderson, Mark Eckstein, Bruce McKay, David McMillin and Jorel Quemuel