Obeying is your Business. Blessing is God's Business.
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SERMON NOTES:
Mind Your Own Business
Haggai 2:10-19
Obeying is your business. Blessing is God’s business.
Religious activity does not make you acceptable to God. (10-14)
Don’t forget that disobedience has bad consequences. (15-17)
Remember to trust God to bless you in His way, in His timing. (18-19)
study questions:
For the Next Lesson:
Haggai 2:10-19
1.Read verse 10. As we begin to study the third of four messages in Haggai, how long has it been since the last message for Haggai and the Jews (see Haggai 2:1)? What do you think the people had been doing since the last message (see also Haggai 1:12)?
2. Read verses 12-14. In your own words explain the question from Haggai and answer from the priests in verse 12 (see also Leviticus 6:25 and Numbers 6:20). Do you agree that the judgment given by the priests in verse 13 reflects the Mosaic Law (see Numbers 19:11-16, 22)? What makes the people of Israel unclean according to verse 14? Do you think the Jews thought their work on the Temple made them “clean” and acceptable to God? Why or why not? Do you think that in the 21st century we ever struggle with thinking our "religious activity" makes us acceptable to God? Why or why not?
3.Read verse 15-17. What did Haggai want the people to consider? Why do you think it was important for the people to consider these things? Based on this this passage, did the work on the Temple make the people acceptable to God? Why or why not?
4. Read verses 18-19. What did Haggai want the Jews to consider in these verses? What did God promise in the last sentence in verse 19? What do you think prompted God to make this promise? What did the people do to warrant God’s blessing? Why didn’t God promise his blessing as soon as they started working on the Temple again back in chapter one?
5. So what. How have you looked to “religious activity” or other good “works” to make you feel acceptable as a person? How do you end up feeling when you try to earn acceptance from God? Read Romans 8:1 and Ephesians 2:8-9. What role do good works play in our salvation? What role do good works play in our continued acceptance by God after we have become Christians? What makes us acceptable to God both in salvation and as we walk with Christ as a Christian? How can you personally grow in how you live under God’s grace?