· The Bible tells us that where your treasure is, there your heart is also. That means we could accurately say that many folks are more committed to professional sports than they are to the church. In 1993 the total attendance at worship services in the U.S. was 5.6 billion, while the total attendance at U.S. professional baseball, football, and basketball games combined was only 103 million (less than 2 percent of the worship attendance, or for every 100 people who attended church less than 2 were at a sporting event.)
· Now the rest of the story: Contributions to churches for the year totaled $56.7 billion (that’s just over $10 per person), but the amount spent on professional baseball, football, and basketball totaled $4 billion (that’s nearly $40 per person or almost 4 times what people gave to their local church per person). Is it any wonder that we look at some fans and say that they really are fanatics? They are more sold out for their team than many church attenders. HOW MIGHT WE CHANGE OUR NATION IF THE CHURCH QUADRUPLED ITS COMMITMENT TO OUR CAUSE? (Statistics reported in Citation: National & International Religion Report, 5/2/94. "To Verify," Leadership.)
Open your Bibles again to Haggai (remember that’s three books left from Matthew). Last week we began a series of messages from Haggai called “A WORD TO THE CHURCH”; putting it simply God wants His church to complete the work He has called them to do. Now is not a time for excuses, or doing our own thing; we must join together to fulfill God’s plan for our church.
Last week we saw that Satan cannot destroy the Church of Jesus Christ, but he can slow it down. The devil wants to bring the church to a grinding halt in order to prevent us from doing the work that God has planned for us to do.
HOW IS THE WORK OF THE CHURCH SLOWED DOWN? Satan wants us to get our priorities mixed up, to focus on the wrong things. Satan has a very effective strategy: he makes us comfortable.
If we are going to rediscover God’s priority for our lives, then we have to get out of our comfort zones.
I’m not going to take the time to repreach last week’s message, but I need to remind you about this one thing. If you are going to keep God in His rightful place as number one in your life, then you are going to have to do some things that will make you uncomfortable.
+ Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)
Making God our first priority means we pursue His kingdom and His righteousness; it’s not one or the other but both. Our lives must be GOD-GOVERNED, not SELF-GOVERNED, and we live by HIS SPIRIT and not by our own desires. It’s impossible to do that and remain comfortable. (See message: "God’s Work Delayed")
Today, I want us to move from seeing how God’s work is delayed to GETTING GOD’S WORK DONE. As the prophet Haggai spoke God’s word to the nation of Israel, God gave the people a three step action plan which goes like this:
Assessment -> Agreement -> Action!
1. ASSESSMENT
God calls each of us to make an assessment of our priorities. We cannot live with the status quo; if we are to move forward individually and as a church, then the time has come for a careful examination of everything we do.
An assessment is to appraise or evaluate; it’s to judge the value or worth of something. An assessment is and examination used to measure accuracy or validity.
+ Haggai 1:5-6 5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT TO YOUR WAYS. 6You have planted much, but have 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." (NIV)
We’ve said that movement from your past to the present and the present into the future is automatic; unless you die you will be living in the year 2004 in only 346 short days from now. Life will inevitably take you from today into tomorrow.
However, what the future will be like does not aterialize by ACCIDENT; a changed future happens INTENTIONALLY.
Will your future be like your present, or will you have changed? Will our church remain as it is now, or will we become the church God has planned for us to be?
The first step toward action is to make an assessment of where you are now, but just a careful examination won’t get the job done. An assessment must lead to agreement.
2. AGREEMENT
An agreement is to be in harmonious unity, to be in one accord or fully compatible.
+ Haggai 1:7-11 7This is what the LORD Almighty says: "GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT TO YOUR WAYS. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the 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 his own house. 10Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands." (NIV)
God repeats the message to “give careful thought to your ways.” We are not to just make a casual observation, but a close and careful examination.
WHY? Only an accurate assessment brings agreement.
· Greg, Pearl and Mike are doing their school work via the internet. Each day they log-on to find out what their assignments are, and after completing their work many of the lessons have an on-line assessment – a short test or quiz for them to take. If they don’t score well, then they are directed to review the lesson again and retake the assessment. Why is that? Because it won’t do them any good to move on to new things if they have not mastered the content of that lesson. For example, it won’t help Greg or Pearl to start doing long division if they haven’t already mastered multiplication and simple division.
An accurate assessment brings agreement––agreement with God and agreement with each other!
+ Amos 3:3 Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? (NLT)
When we agree with each other, then and only then are we able to walk together. Nothing of eternal value can be done unless there is agreement.
You will remain just as you are unless you are willing to agree with God. Regardless of where you are in your relationship with Christ--from the saved to the luke warm to the non-believers--nothing changes until you are willing to agree with God’s assessment of your life.
Satan would like to make you comfortable in your sin; he’ll wants you to believe what others think, “you’re not that bad; compared to everyone else you’re alright.” But what about God?
+ Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (NIV)
God says, “let’s talk things over; let’s come to an agreement about your sin.” Only when we agree with God is He able to do His work in our lives.
Do you remember our #1 priority–His kingdom and His righteousness? Only as we agree with God can Jesus be Jesus IN US, and in turn be seen THROUGH US. Everything that God wants to do in us and through us, both individually and collectively as a church, is impossible until we agree with God.
Where are we going as a church? What is God’s direction for us to walk together in agreement?
An African proverb says, "The man who tries to walk two roads will split his pants." Likewise we could say, “The church that walks two roads is a church split.”
This past Wednesday, we examined our core values as a church. Most conflict within churches arises out of a disagreement over their non-negotiable values. We discovered seven things that we said we are unwilling to compromise upon including:
1. LOVING GOD – expressed through praise, worship, prayer, meditation and Bible study.
2. LOVING PEOPLE – building meaningful relationships within the church and welcoming others.
3. EVANGELISM – bringing our families, friends, neighbors and those throughout the world into relationship with Jesus.
4. DISCIPLESHIP – teaching obedience to the Word of God in order that we all might be mature in Christ.
5. GENEROSITY – giving of our time, talent, and treasure; all that we are belongs to Christ.
6. FAMILY FRIENDLY – God established the family first; therefore, we want to minister to the entire family.
7. COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE – we want everything to be done for the glory of God. We’re building it THICK!
Few, if any of us, would be willing to argue any of those values; each has a biblical foundation. One could think that we have agreement and can move on to action, but we have to look deeper than just what is on the surface.
You see, it’s not good enough to say that we agree with one another, or to even say that we agree with God. OUR VALUES ARE MORE THAN WHAT WE SAY; OUR VALUES ARE DEMONSTRATED BY WHAT WE DO.
An accurate assessment of our values does not just consider if they are biblical; a truthful examination looks beyond what we say is important; it looks at our actions. OUR VALUES ARE SHOWN BY OUR BEHAVIOR.
Someone said, “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.” It’s time for an honest assessment that will bring us into agreement with God, and agreement with each other.
1. We say we value Loving God, then why do we have so little time for prayer and bible study? Why is there no joy or life in our praise and worship?
2. We say we value Loving People, then why are so many of our relationships limited to “Sunday Only”? Why can’t we forgive one another? Why don’t many visitors to the church feel welcomed and get connected to the church?
3. We say we value Evangelism, then why aren’t we reaching out to those in our community? Is our missions offering just “blood money” to appease a guilty conscience?
4. We say we value Discipleship, then why don’t we interact with each other about how to live according to God’s word? Why are we afraid to confess our sins and seek accountability from one another?
5. We say we value Generosity, then why do we struggle to give the whole tithe, the first 10% of our income to God? Why do we expect so much for ourselves, but have little to share with others? Why aren’t we willing to use our time and talents to improve the ministries of the church?
6. We say we value Family Friendly, then why isn’t our nursery staffed? Why do we sometimes push children aside instead of bringing them to Jesus? Why are our children sometimes simply with us, but we don’t intact with them during a worship service, or talk about what happened at church in our homes; is it any wonder some of our kids are bored in church?
7. We say we value a Commitment to Excellence, then why do we come to church late? Why aren’t we prepared to welcome guests?
Yes, actions really do speak louder than words. An accurate assessment should bring us to a place of agreement– –agreement with God and with each other.
An Accurate Assessment -> Agreement -> Action!
3. ACTION–GOD’S WORK GETS DONE!
Can I put it to you simply? When we have made an honest assessment and agree together, then NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. Jesus said, “if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:19 NIV). WHEN WE AGREE ACTION BRINGS ACCOMPLISHMENT!
+ Haggai 1:12-15 12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, 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. 14So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. (NIV)
Haggai challenged God’s people to make an honest evaluation of their situation–take God’s assessment, but Haggai wouldn’t let them stop with just an assessment. It wasn’t good enough for everyone to have their own opinion; Haggai called the people to agreement. An accurate assessment produced agreement which brought ACTION!
Three things in closing that I want you to underline in your Bibles. If we overlook these simple statements made at the close of the first chapter of Haggai, then we are going to miss what God wants to do IN US and THROUGH US.
First notice that Haggai said, “the people obeyed the voice of the Lord.” What is the obedience of the people? We might say the building of the temple, but that’s only part of it. The obedience of the people began when they listened to God’s word to assess their priorities. If the people had not made an honest assessment and agreed with God, then nothing would have happened.
The action, the building of the temple, was the visible or external part of their obedience, but the invisible or internal had to happen first. Before the people could move forward with action letting God work THROUGH THEM, they had to let God work IN THEM.
As a church we cannot overlook God’s call to assess our priorities and come to a place of agreement. In the years to come when people can see the visible result of our obedience, lets remind them that before God was able to do a work THROUGH US we first had to let Him do His work IN US.
Second, underline the Haggai’s statement, “And the people feared the Lord.” Haggai is not telling us that the people were afraid of God; he is also not saying that the people were just in awe of the Lord.
Haggai shows us that the fear the Lord is a life of obedience. Only as you obey God have you really come to fear the Lord. Your awe and reverence for God is not developed through worship but through obedience.
Finally, and I believe most importantly, underline, “‘I AM WITH YOU,’ declares the LORD!” God was with His people as they fulfilled His plan and purpose, as the Bible says, “Come near to God and He will come near to you” (James 4:8 NIV). God is ready to respond to every action we make toward Him.
Now don’t miss this: God is not just announcing that His presence will be with the people. God is saying, “I am with you to direct and empower you.” We don’t do God’s work in our strength and ability; God is actively working THROUGH US!
+ Romans 11:36 For FROM HIM and THROUGH HIM and TO HIM are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (NIV)
▸ FROM HIM–Jesus is the source! We are His church empowered by His Spirit! Jesus is the creator who gives us life; without Him we can do nothing!
▸ THROUGH HIM–Jesus is the agency or authority for the church; He has commissioned His Church by His Word. Through Him all things are sustained!
▸ TO HIM–Jesus is the goal or ultimate end; Jesus is the reason and motive for everything that we do. Jesus is the goal for all life, “to Him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Through the prophet Haggai we can again hear the voice of the Lord. God calls out to His people, “there is work to be done!”
May we, like the nation of Israel hear God’s call to assess our priorities, and may we make an accurate assessment that brings us into agreement with God and one another. Then as we agree together we will be moved to action.
