IN our last sermon when we considered verse 12 we heard that the people obeyed the voice of the Lord. It is true that the voice they heard was the voice of Haggai, but they were convinced that Haggai was speaking what God had given him to speak. In these three verses which end chapter 1 of Haggai and the first oracle of God to Judah through Haggai, we are told of the wonderful blessing of obedience to the word of God. As we meditate on these verses we will find ourselves understanding how this experience in Judah resonates for us as we seek to listen to God in his word and obey the message God's word gives us.

THE MESSENGER.

In this passage Haggai is given this designation that he was the messenger of the Lord. It is important that those who come to us in ministry should also be truly the messenger of the Lord. It is only as far as clergy and ministers are truly messengers of the Lord, that there will be any true and effective ministry.

For this to be true every one who is ordained into the ministry of the church of God should be truly called by God to the ministry, and act and live in such a way that he or she is always seeking to hear the message of God, and are faithful in proclaiming that message. It is not sufficient just to be students of the bible. Of course this is absolutely essential, but the minister must be one who first of all hears the message of God for himself or herself, and then be sure that they are listening to God for his message to declare to the people. Here is the difference between preaching and teaching. Teaching the word of God is simply expounding the meaning of the text of the bible. This is of great value but more is needed. Preaching is hearing God speaking and conveying the message relevant for the people on every occasion.

When we seek to appreciate the ministry of Haggai we begin to see a man waiting upon the Lord for his word. For this to be so we see a man living in the presence of God, and living in the word of God, and spending time being in the presence of the Lord. Only in such living was he able to hear the Lord when the Lord spoke his word. Only to such people does God make his word clear. These days the demands of ministry are so great that the minister can be always doing, and so leaving little time for dwelling in the presence of the Lord. However, if the minister is so busy that there is no time to be quiet in the presence of the Lord, then that minister is too busy, and must change or else he will miss the Lord when he speaks.

THE MESSAGE.

The next thing our verses declare to us is the message of God itself which was given to Haggai to declare. And what a wonderful message it is. Here is the wonderful blessing found in obedience. The people obeyed the call of God to commence building the temple of God. Immediately following this action of obedience Haggai was given the message. What encouragement and strength the message must have given to the people of Judah.

The message was a simple one of promise and declaration from God – I am with you. There is a mountain of blessing in these simple words. There is no greater blessing than knowing God is with us. God is the Almighty One. He is the altogether loving God. There is nothing he can't do. All this love and power is directed to the ones he declares he is with.

For the people of Judah in the time of Haggai it meant that God was with them in this task of rebuilding the temple of the Lord. It meant that God would defend them from all enemies who would seek to hinder their building of the temple. It meant that God would be with them to supply all the resources that were required for the building of the temple. It meant that God would make sure that all the skill and expertise required for the building of the temple would be supplied. It meant that God would be the peoples strength in body, mind and spirit at all times. It meant that God was with them all the time as the Almighty one they could come to in all their need.

Why this blessing was so blessed is found in the fact that in the work of God, if the Lord is not with us, and in the work, then there can be no blessing. If there is any thing the people of God need to be sure of is that God will be with them.

The question is as to how we may experience the presence of the Lord with us exercising his almighty power on our behalf. The secret is before us in this history. When Judah were not listening to the Lord and heeding his word, God was against them and not with them. The moment Judah changed and obeyed the word of the Lord there came the blessed declaration that the Lord was with them.

How does this work out in the life of believers today and the fellowship to which they belong? In the life of Judah at this time God sent his prophets to speak his word, and obedience followed when the people heard, received, believed and obeyed that word. For us today it means living by the Bible, the word of God. Seeking to hear the Lord's voice speaking to us from his word, and faithful ordering our lives according to that word. If this is to be so then it is essential that the church today receives the Bible as the word of God and seeks to order its life according to its doctrine. Obeying the word of God means expelling from the church all contrary opinion, and speaking against all teaching and opinion that would diminish the authority of the Bible. We should not be surprised if the church today is weak when the word of God is not received and obeyed.

THE EFFECT OF THE MESSAGE.

There is an essential and most necessary understanding we must embrace, believe, and allow to control all our living and thinking in the life of faith. It is what is revealed here in our verses. We are told here that it was the Lord who acted in power in the lives of his people Judah. We are told that the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the governor, Joshua the High Priest and all the people. God motivated the people for the work. God empowered them. God enlivened them. God moved them forward to engage in the work.

I have found the message revealed here written indelibly on my mind and heart. In worldly and earthly life we use our human skills, and the more effort we put in, there is the expectancy that the greater result we shall achieve. The more skills and expertise a person has will impact on anything we do, and so the most gifted people excel most in earthly projects.

In the spiritual realm this does not apply. It is true that God gives his messengers and his people gifts for the work of the church, and it is essential that God's people identify, develop and use such gifts. Paul introduces us to this fact in 1 Corinthians 12. However if we depend on human effort, and our development and use of the gifts of the Spirit, and depend on our effort to realise blessing in the Lord's work, we will be sadly disappointed.

Success in the ministry and in the work of the church is when God moves by his Spirit to make success come. In the case of Judah God entered the mind and spirit of his people and stirred them up for the work he wanted them to do, and it was because of this that they were able to go forward and succeed. However hard they laboured in their own strength they would still have not succeeded. It was the Lord's work in the hearts and minds that stimulated them to do the work of rebuilding the temple; and it was the Lord who enabled them to do the work giving the strength, wisdom and gifts for the work. Because God was stirring his people to work, God was also, by his power and wisdom, acting to make the work progress safely and well.

Why do we need to take this truth to heart? We need to take it to heart because God will not give his glory to anyone, even his own redeemed children. It is God that must receive the glory for all progress and success in the work of God. If we as believers begin to attribute success in the life of the church to ourselves, then we will find that the glory of the Lord will depart from us. We can do nothing of any spiritual worth or good in our own strength. It must be the Lord who stirs up our hearts and minds to do his work, and we must realise that all blessing achieved is because the Lord, in grace and power, has made it so.

In the work of the church, the people of God, and particular ministers, must realise the truth that without the Lord we can do nothing, and earnestly supplicate before God for his word to come to us, to tell us what he wants us to do, and to then pour out his Spirit in power to make the work he directs us to, to be effective. Without the Spirit of God at work amongst us we may build an earthly organisation, but we will not be doing the work of the Lord, nor will their be real spiritual life seen among us.

APPLICATION.

So let us apply the message of our text to ourselves and the church of God today. Two things stand out. One is concerning God and the other is concerning ourselves as believers.

With regard to ourselves as believers we learn the importance of obedience to the word of God. There can be no real blessing from God in our lives and in the life of the church unless the people of God are obedient to the word of God. For the people of Judah this obedience was shown in that they received the word of God from the prophet Haggai and obeyed it, and this obedience was proved because they set themselves to obey God in the building of the temple.

There are times when God speaks directly to us and his people to engage in a particular work, and when this is so we must receive that word and and act upon it according to the Lord's direction. However the obedience pressed upon us from this study is the obedience to the word of God which we have received in the infallible Scriptures, the Bible. Obedience requires us not to question the Bible, judge it, change it, interpret it according to our own wisdom, or reject what our human wisdom deems to be unacceptable or far fetched. The Bible is God speaking to us, and our obedience commences when we receive the word of the Gospel of our salvation, believe it and hold fast to it. Unless we obey the word of God and receive Jesus as our only Saviour, and the one who bore the punishment for our sins in our place on the cross, we haven't begun to be Christians or shown obedience to the Lord. From this beginning we live in obedience to the word of God, and in this way we know that the Lord is with us.