I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12; 16:25).

B.      Our ways may seem right to us, but are they?  Let us consider our ways to see whether they lead to life.

II.      HAGGAI – NEGLECT THE LORD, AND THE LORD WILL NEGLECT YOU

A.      The book of Haggai was written to encourage the Jews to finish rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem.

                                                             1.      When the nation of Judah had utterly rejected God and mocked His messengers, God at last sent the Babylonians to destroy them.  Nebuchadnezzar tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned the temple, slew many of the people, and took the rest into captivity in Babylon starting in 606 B.C. (2Chron. 36:15-21).

                                                             2.      After Babylon fell to the Persians, God raised up Cyrus as king, and he decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple in 538 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-11).  The first return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem was led by Zerubbabel in 536 B.C.

                                                             3.      Work on the temple began, but soon the people became discouraged and turned their attention to building their own homes.  It was at this time that Haggai wrote his prophecy in 520 B.C.  This period of time is recorded in Ezra 4-6.

a.       The Samaritans opposed and threatened the Jews concerning the temple after the Jews rejected their help.  This along with the hard work, desolate land, and crop failure discouraged the people from completing the temple construction (Ezra 4:24).

b.       From 534 to 520 B.C., no work was done on the temple.  At last, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah told the people that it was time to finish what they had started.  Construction of the temple resumed, and it was finished in 516 B.C.

B.      To convince the people of their error, God said to them through Haggai, "Consider your ways!”  He wanted them to see how their neglect of the Lord had affected them.

                                                             1.      The error of the people is captured in this question from Haggai 1:4 – "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”  They had built their own houses but neglected the temple.  This was not the purpose of their return from captivity.

                                                             2.      To open their eyes to their error, God showed them how their choice to neglect His house had negative effects on them.  Consider God’s call for these Jews to consider their ways.

a.       Haggai 1:5-6 – Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways!  You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”

b.       Haggai 1:7-11 – Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways!  Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.  "You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, "Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.  Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.  I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”

                                                             3.      Haggai showed the people that it was their own choices that led to their suffering.  If they had made the Lord their first priority, then they would not have suffered so.

III.   CONSIDER YOUR WAYS

A.      In passage after passage of Scripture, we are taught that choices have consequences.

                                                             1.      In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us the proper priorities to guide our choices and ensure our blessings.  He said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).

a.       By "these things,” the Lord was referring to such things as food and clothing.  He taught us not to worry about these things because God would supply them if we sought His will as our first priority.

b.       The post-exilic Jews learned this truth through Haggai, for they were in constant need due to their neglect of the Lord and His temple.

                                                             2.      In Galatians 6:7-8, the apostle Paul taught the universal principle of sowing and reaping.  He wrote, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

a.       A man can no more sow to the flesh and reap life than he can sow tares and reap wheat.  Both scenarios are impossible because they violate the immutable law of God.

b.       Foolishly, many men behave as if they can defy this law of God and succeed.  They are sadly mistaken, and great will be their fall.

                                                             3.      James addressed some who suffered by their own evil choices in James 4:1-3 – "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?  You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

a.       These early Christians were marred in selfishness and strife, which hindered their prayers and prevented them from receiving anything from God.

b.       Such is the consequence of greed and materialism.  It is a lesson sorely needed today.

                                                             4.      In Proverbs 6:27-29, consider the consequences of adultery: "Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?  Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?  So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her will not go unpunished.”

a.       Every man who commits adultery believes he will not be discovered.  He is blindly and foolishly mistaken, for his punishment will be severe.

b.       Proverbs 6:32 says, "The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it.”  So it is with anyone who commits any form of immorality, for he sins against his own body (1Cor. 6:18).

                                                             5.      Some choices even lead to the consequence of death, such as the choice of Judas to betray Jesus (Matt. 26:14-16, 47-50; 27:3-10), the choice of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to God (Acts 5:1-11), and the choice of some of the Corinthians Christians to abuse the Lord’s Supper (1Cor. 11:27-32).

B.      Therefore, consider your ways and their consequences.

                                                             1.      Suffering is not always the direct result of our own choices (see the book of Job), but sometimes we do bring on our own hardship.  Can we see the plain, difficult, and unpleasant truth when we have no one to blame but ourselves?

                                                             2.      Consider your ways.  Is the source of your troubles your own poor choices?

a.       Are you making poor choices that affect your family?

b.       Is your marriage broken because you have chosen not to be a godly spouse?

c.        Are your children suffering because you are not raising them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4)?

d.       Are you separated from God because you have chosen to sin (Isa. 59:2)?

e.        Do you make these poor decisions because you choose not to study the Bible or follow God’s wisdom?

f.        Is your health suffering because of bad decisions concerning food, habits, activities, medicine, tobacco, illicit drugs, alcohol, etc.?

g.        Are you in financial bondage because of your bad choices with money?

h.       Is the church suffering because you have chosen not to work in the Lord’s kingdom?

                                                             3.      These questions are not difficult to answer, but the answers may be difficult to accept.  Nevertheless, consider your ways and change them if they are in conflict with the ways of God.

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      The ultimate consequences to our choices will be realized on the Day of Judgment.

                                                             1.      According to Romans 2:6-10, God "will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.  There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

                                                             2.      It is Jesus who will judge us, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2Cor. 5:10).

B.      Therefore, let us all consider our ways and their consequences so that we may live well on the earth and live forever in heaven with the Lord.