Some Words For Wednesday - The Contagion of Sin and the Costly Commitment of God

(These are some brief notes from the message shared last Sunday when we gathered as a church.)

We've reached the final part of our series in the book of Haggai.  What have we learned so far?

a.  The temple today is the people of God built upon the Son of God.  The foundation of the temple is the gospel, and the walls are the people who believe the gospel.

b.  If we want this temple to be a dwelling place for God, we must learn to live as the family of God.  If we are parts of the walls, we are not to behave like bad Lego, dropping in and out of the community life of the church.  The temple is to exist everywhere and all the time, not just Sunday and not just in the building the church uses for meetings.

c.  When God dwells within the temple, His glory will be revealed.  We will begin to reach out more confidently, know God's glory is being displayed.  We reach out with the gospel not to hold onto God, but because He holds onto us.  We work because He is with us, and therefore nothing is impossible.

We now arrive at the end of the book of Haggai.  The people are now engaged in rebuilding the temple.  God seeks now to encourage them to continue trusting in Him.

1. The Contagion of Sin

Haggai initially gives a couple of illustrations (v12-13).  Essentially, he points out that holiness does not transfer itself from one object to another, but uncleanness does.  Imagine wearing some pure white gloves, then picking up a clump of mud.  The mud does not become "glovey", the gloves become muddy.  The gloves do not transfer "pure white gloveness" onto the mud - the mud transfers dirt onto the gloves.

The Lord is telling His people about what happens when they ignore Him.  Their previous rejection of God affected and infected everything that they did, even their acts of worship.  "What they offer is unclean" the Lord says (2v14).  And so God had withdrawn His contribution to the community life of His people.  Their expectations regularly became disappointments (v16-19).  But God's aim was to prompt them to turn back to Him (v20).

Today, a sinful rejection of God creates a sin-spreading infection.  Sin is contagious - it soils everything we do.  This is referred to in the prophecy of Isaiah: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." (Isaiah 64v6)

But if our best efforts can never be good enough because of our sins, what hope is there for us?

2.  The Costly Commitment of God

The people have now been rebuilding for two months.  The Lord has already expressed His commitment to them: "I am with you" (2v4).  But they had had to wait for renewed blessings (v16-18).  Now the Lord says: "From this day on, I will bless you" (v19).

We cannot earn the favour of God by being good.  But God has done something instead.  Before we could contribute, he committed Himself to us, to bless us.

"But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5v8)  God didn't wait for us to crawl out of the mud.  He sent Jesus to take our place - to take our sins upon himself - to carry the contagion and become untouchable, even by His Father.

God committed to being with us and blessing us, and the cost of that commitment was His only Son.

How do we receive the blessings of God?  By faith.  We must trust God's promises of eternal life and eternal blessings that are won through the death of His Son in our place.  We then wait to receive all of those blessings in full, but they belong to us now because God is faithful.

God then tells Zerubabbel, the leader of the people, that everything is going be shaken (v21-22).  But He would remain faithful to His people, and choose a leader to be His signet ring (Haggai 2v23).  What does that mean?

A signet ring was used by a monarch to give the seal of approval.  It's a bit like the image of the Queen's face that is on a stamp, which gives the seal of approval for a letter to be delivered.  God's disappointment with previous kings of Judah had led Him to remove them like removing a signet ring (Jeremiah 22v24-25), but now He promises a leader who would be that signet ring.

We find that leader today in Jesus Christ.  He is God's seal of approval - it is Christ's image stamped upon our prayers that gives the seal of approval so that they can be delivered to God.  "For God, who said "let light shine out of darkness", has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4v6)  

If you live in Christ, you are sealed with God's approval.  In Christ, you are blessed forever.  As we continue to do the Lord's work, we can trust in our God - He has demonstrated His commitment to His people.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with thee;

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be!

Some Words for Wednesday - Haggai 2: Sequelphobia

(These are notes from the message shared last Sunday when we gathered as a church.)

Do you worry about sequels?

I watched the trailer for Captain America 3 a few days ago, and it looks awesome!  I am a huge fan of the character and the recent movies he has been in.  But...what if it isn't that good?  Sometimes, great movies end up with very disappointing sequels - I am sure you can think of a few!

So when you hear of a sequel to a great movie being made, you might worry that they won't do it justice - especially if the first movie was one you really loved.  Urbandictionary.com refers to this as "sequelphobia" - a fear that the sequel won't live up to the original.

That's what some of the people of God were feeling when they began to rebuild the temple.  They worried that the second temple would not be as great as the first - Solomon's temple.

The structure and decor of Solomon's temple was so eye-catching, the description of it takes up two whole chapters of the Bible (1 Kings 6-7).  But when the Babylonian army led the Jewish people into exile, they also destroyed the important buildings, including that iconic place of worship.

Now the Jewish people were back in their homeland, rebuilding the temple.  But there were mixed feelings about it.  In the book of Ezra, we read that those who could remember Solomon's temple wept as the new foundation was laid, even while others rejoiced (Ezra 3v11-13).

This is reflected in the Lord's words in Haggai 2v3: "Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?  How do you see it now?  Is it not as nothing to you?"  The anticipation of disappointment paralysed the people and halted the work.

You may be tempted sometimes to compare the church you're in now with a church you used to go to.  You think of the building that church met in; the style of service; the number of people.  You compare it with your experience today, and think: "We'll never be as good as that church!".  The anticipation of long term disappointment paralyses you, and you start to think that it isn't worth the effort.

God's remedy for this was simple.  He helped the people remember what made Solomon's temple so great - the covenant faithfulness of a great God.

When Solomon's temple was dedicated, the people reacted with thankfulness.  But what were they so thankful for?  The wonderful building?  The beautiful decor?  No - they gave thanks to the Lord "because He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!" (2 Chron. 7v3).  In that moment, they recognised that it was the faithfulness of God that made the temple great.

So God inspires the people again as he repeats His promise of steadfast love: "Work, for I am with you." (Haggai 2v4)  God's faithfulness renewed their strength to labour for Him.

Their history as God's people was meant to encourage them, not discourage!  God doesn't say "Stop looking back - just look forward!"  Instead, He deliberately points them to the past, and their exodus from Egypt (2v5).  They could see the faithfulness of God demonstrated, and He had not changed!  He would always keep His promises.

Today, we look back to the cross to see the faithfulness of God.  Or course, we can see His commitment to us as we look back over our own lives, but the death of Christ provides evidence that is unmistakable and irreversible.  God demonstrates clearly how committed He is to being with us - to being the "I am with you" - as He becomes a man and gives His life to save us.  His commitment is reaffirmed as He gives His Spirit to dwell with us (Haggai 2v5).

We are therefore not to be discouraged by what we lack, but encouraged by what we have - a God who is with us, and who has proven His commitment through the gospel.  The gospel therefore becomes the foundation of the spiritual work ethic of a church.  We do not work to earn God's commitment, nor to pay it back, but simply because He is with us and will not forsake us and, therefore, nothing is impossible.

God has now provided a greater temple for all nations.  He tells the people that things are going to be shaken up.  The world will change; nations will rise and fall; and it will all be part of His purposes (2v6-7).    There will be a greater temple with greater glory; a place where people will no longer cling to temporary treasures, but find lasting peace (2v7-9).

We find this place in Jesus Christ.  He is the temple of greatest glory, one that can never be destroyed.  As we abide in him, what is our reaction to be?  "Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe" (Hebrews 12v28).  

We are to concentrate on being a worshipping community, a dwelling place for God.  He will fill His home with His glory.  He has given His Son for us.  He has given His Spirit to us.  We can trust Him to provide all we need to do all He has planned.

So don't go compare.  Just go to work, for God is with you.

Some Words for Wednesday - An indwelling God will create an outreaching church

(Some notes from the message shared last Sunday when we gathered as a church.)

We're continuing our series in the book of Haggai.  Last week, we looked at chapter one and started to consider what a modern day temple should look like.   We recognised that the temple today consists of a gospel foundation with gospel-believing walls.  The foundation is Jesus Christ and his saving work, and the walls are the people who have trusted in him.  This community becomes a dwelling place for God.

So what does God's home look like?

1.) Gospel-centred, Spirit-filled and God-glorifying.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the church, and the teaching of the apostles and prophets (recorded for us in the New Testament) fills the rest of the foundation.  The foundation is the gospel and all its implications, and therefore the teaching of the church will centre on Jesus Christ and what he did to save God's people. The church will be gospel-centred, and the lives of believers will demonstrate their response to the gospel.

The church community will seek the help and direction of the Holy Spirit.  It is the work of the Spirit to make us gospel-centred.  When Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, he said "he will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16v14).

It's no surprise, then, that when the apostle Peter is "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4v8) he declares "this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4v11-12).

When we are Spirit-filled, we become gospel-centred.

As Jesus approached the hour of his death, he declared that his aim was to glorify the Father (e.g. John 17v1).  When we are filled with the Spirit, we will glorify the Father by recognising Him as the source of all good things (Ephesians 5v18-20).  In other words, when a church is gospel-centred and Spirit-filled, it will be God-glorifying.  Informed by God the Spirit, our response to the gospel of God the Son will glorify God the Father (John 15v8).

2) Everyone will be involved, but not in the same way.

In Haggai 1v14, everyone is involved in the building work - but clearly not in the same way!  Within that diverse community, there would have been people with different strengths, knowledge, passions and abilities.  They would have taken different roles in the work.

In the church, God enables everyone to be involved, but we're not identical.  We are like different parts of the same body.  Everyone is able to contribute to the life of the church in different ways.

We must therefore learn to be patient and submit to one another, and recognise that people will respond differently to the same situation because they have different gifts.  I must learn not to be offended by other peoples' gifts because they aren't passionate about the same things as me.

We must also learn not be scared as the church changes.  If you're at home, and the walls start to move, it's right to be scared!  That's not meant to happen!  But that isn't the case with God's home.  In God's home, the walls are meant to move.

In other words, the structure of this temple is always meant to be developing, just as a body matures and develops.  The foundation should not change, but the structure is meant to change as individuals grow up in the Lord.  In fact, the more solid the foundation is, the more movement you'll see in the walls.

Finally, this temple isn't meant to exist only on a Sunday, and lie in ruins for the rest of the week.  As a church, we must be a dwelling place for God everyday, everywhere.  Whatever the setting, when we're with other members of our spiritual family, we should be ready to love and serve one another.  We must crucify our embarrassment, and replace it with encouragement.  For example, praying, singing, and sharing from the Scriptures are not activities reserved only for prearranged church meetings.  They are to be a part of the community life of the church.

But why focus so much on being a community, a spiritual family?  What about unbelievers?  Shouldn't we be focused on them instead?

3) An indwelling God creates an outreaching church, not the other way around

As I mentioned in the last blog post, it is tempting for churches to think that as long as they're busy, they're being a church.  E.g. As long as they're busy reaching out to the community through social events, then corporate prayer, Bible teaching and fellowship aren't that important.  Outreach makes them a church.

But that isn't the case.  We mustn't assume God dwells within our church community because we're too busy to notice Him.  He wants to be sought, acknowledged and enjoyed.  It is not the activity of sacrifice that draws Him, but the attitude of heart (Psalm 51v16-17).

God is then glorified as He dwells in the temple among His people (Haggai 1v8).  If we want unbelievers to see the glory of God - to hear the gospel and, by faith, see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4v6) - it doesn't begin with God working within their hearts; it begins with God working within our hearts.  God must dwell within us as a community rather than as individuals who happen to get together occasionally.

This doesn't mean we wait to begin outreach work.  But we're not to view our ministry to each other as being unrelated to our ministry to the lost.  How we share the gospel with each other as a spiritual family has an impact on how we share the gospel with unbelievers.

As you reach out with the gospel, recognise the importance of God dwelling within the church.  No matter what you do, a torch will not shine if the bulb has been removed.  God's glory will not shine if He is not dwelling within a church community.  

But it will shine wherever He makes His home.  An indwelling God will create an outreaching church.

Some Words for Wednesday - Too Busy to Build (Haggai Chapter One)

(Here are some notes from the message shared last Sunday when we gathered as a church.)

We're continuing our series in the book of Haggai.  Last week, we considered how we should understand the Old Testament.  Here's a summary of the main points:

a. If Jesus is your guide to life, then he should be your guide to the Old Testament.  In Luke 24, when the risen Jesus appears to his followers, he teaches them the gospel through the Old Testament.  In doing so, their minds and the Scriptures are opened.  To fully understand the Old Testament, we must see what it teaches us about the gospel.

b.  In the Old Testament, the way God saves His people from temporary situations tells us something about the way He saves His people eternally through Jesus Christ.  The Old Testament is not fundamentally about me - it's not a story that teaches me how to become the hero.  Instead, it directs me to see how Jesus would be the hero - a better hero than any other.

c.  Jesus has replaced the temple as the place where we meet with God.  The book of Haggai is about rebuilding the temple.  Today, the temple is God's people built on the foundation of God's Son.  The foundation of the temple is the gospel; the walls are the people who believe the gospel.

Now we approach the book of Haggai.  What was happening at the time?  God's people had returned to their land after a period of exile.  The temple was in ruins, as were many other buildings.  The people began to rebuild the temple, but were halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius (see Ezra 4).

However, they did not return to the rebuilding work.  Haggai then brings God's message to the people and their leaders in chapter one.

1.  Too busy to build 
Haggai first approaches Zerubabbel and Joshua, who were the leaders.  Instead, they were being led by the people!  "These people..." Haggai begins (v2).  As a parent of four children, I've sometimes had to remind my kids who is Dad!  Here, the Lord's words imply that the people need to be reminded who is God.

So in verse 3, Haggai begins to speak to the people.  They had focused their attention on their own homes, and overlooked God's home, the temple.  "My house is in ruins!" the Lord declares, while the people had elegant homes, with paneled walls.

They had lost sight of what was most important - the acknowledged presence of God in their community.  They didn't recognise that without the Lord, something was missing in every area of life (v5-6).  The people were safe - life was getting back to normal - and perhaps they thought that God didn't need to be so present anymore.  So they put their efforts into making their lives nice and comfortable.

The people were busy (v9b), but they were treating God as a second-class citizen, when He should have been treated as the heart of the community.  

As a church community today, we mustn't allow a culture to develop where being busy is more important than being godly. It can be tempting to think that the most vital thing for a church is to be busy.  As long as you're a busy church, it doesn't matter whether or not you meet to pray, or to be taught, or to simply have fellowship - as long as you're busy!

But we must never forget, we are to be a dwelling place for God.  If we ignore Him, everything we are busy with will be missing something.  Here, in Haggai, God says that His blessing has been taken away (v10-11).

The best kind of home is one where everyone is involved; where everyone contributes to the life of the home.  God contributes something vital to the community of His people.  If we exclude Him - if there is no desire for His constant presence - then we lose His contribution to the life of the church. 

Without Him, we cannot hope for the impossible (Matt 19v26).  Without Him, the best we can do will be temporary, and the worst we can do will be eternal.

So how do we maintain a dwelling place for God today?

2.  Build everything on the foundation of the gospel
Put all your trust in the foundation of the temple - God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.

What prompts the people to go back to building?  The message of God's faithfulness (v13) - "I am with you."  God's faithfulness inspires action - His covenant promises to the people are the true foundation of the temple.

Today, the gospel is our foundation because it brings a message of God's faithfulness.  His covenant promises find their fulfillment in the work of Jesus Christ.  

While Jesus lived on earth, he was the God-Man, the true "I AM with you".  When he dies, God's message of faithfulness is declared to the world.  Paul recognises this in his letter to the Romans.  "If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Rom 8v313-32)  

All the glory ultimately belongs to God, therefore, because He provides the foundation.  Everything we do will sink into the mud if there isn't a solid foundation underneath it.  God is glorified in the temple (v8), and He is glorified in church communities today as they seek His presence, knowing that it is only through His covenant promises that they are able to stand.

3.  Don't behave like bad Lego
As a closing thought, consider now the people who believe the gospel, those who make up the walls of the temple.  For how much of the week does this temple exist?

Does it just last for the Sunday?  Just while the service is going on?  And then fall apart like bad Lego after everyone has gone home?  Does is look good for that one day, but lie in ruins for the rest of the week?

God wants to be pleased with His home (v8).  So we are not to behave like bad Lego, leaving gaps in the walls as we drop in and out of church community life.  If we want to enjoy God's presence in our churches, and have a consistent witness in our communities, we must learn what it means to be a church all the time, everywhere.  

Next week, we'll consider in more depth what that might look like in practice.

Some Words for Wednesday - He-Man, Haggai, and how to understand the Old Testament

(These are some notes from the message shared last Sunday when we gathered as a church.)

We're beginning a series in the book of Haggai.  This book comes towards the end of the Old Testament, and towards the end of the period of history that the Old Testament covers.  So how is the book of Haggai relevant to us today?

In order to do that, we're going to go old school and take an approach that the Puritans liked back in the 17th Century: asking questions and then explaining the answer.

Question: What approach should I take to the Old Testament?
Answer: If Jesus is my Lord, I must submit to his understanding of the Old Testament, and follow his approach.

In other words, if Jesus is my guide to life, he must therefore be my guide to the Old Testament.  So what approach did he take to the Old Testament?

There are some very helpful passages in Luke 24.  The resurrected Jesus appears to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus.  They are unable to recognise Jesus, and instead speak of their despair after the death of the one they thought would be the Messiah.  Jesus responds like this:

"Wasn't it necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24v26-27)

Remember, at this time "all the Scriptures" meant "all the Old Testament".  So Jesus uses the Old Testament to explain the gospel.  Later, the two followers describe their experience:

"Didn't our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24v32)

As Jesus explained the gospel through the Old Testament, he ignited their hearts and "opened...the Scriptures".  He does this again a little later to a larger group of followers, and again we read of their experience:

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures... (Luke 24v44)

Jesus is teaching us that it is only when we recognise the gospel in the Old Testament that our minds and Bibles are truly open.  

Question: What does that mean in practice?
Answer:  Firstly, it means the Old Testament is not about me.

The accounts in the Old Testament are not fundamentally tales to teach me about morality.  I'm reminded of the cartoon "He-Man" that I watched when I was a child (ok, and maybe when I was an adult, too!)  I'd watch the episode, thinking it was all about action and fighting, but then, at the end, there was a short scene where He-Man would talk to the viewer.  He would explain how the story was really a lesson about morality, e.g. If Orko had been honest with his friends from the start, he would never have been kidnapped by Skeletor!

In other words, the moral was "If I'm a good person, I end up being the hero".

This is not the message of the Old Testament.  It is not an adventure story that teaches me how to become the hero by being good.

As an example, consider the well-known story of David and Goliath.  It's tempting to see this story as a call-to-action.  If I'm brave and strong - if I have enough faith - I'll defeat my enemies and win my battles.

But consider what's really happening.  God's people face an enemy they are unable to defeat.  God provides a shepherd, not a soldier, as a rescuer.  This shepherd enters the battle claiming he is not alone, but God is with him.  He defeats the enemy, not with a sword, but with something far humbler - a sling.

Already, we begin to see how this points to Jesus.  He is the rescuer that God provides to save us from an enemy we cannot defeat (Satan).  He is the Man-With-God, a good shepherd who gains victory, not with a sword, but with something far humbler - a cross.

I can learn helpful lessons about life from the Old Testament, but it is not fundamentally a book about me.

Question: So what is the Old Testament about?
Answer: The way God rescues His people from temporary situations in the Old Testament reveals something about how He saves His people eternally through Jesus Christ.

As examples, we can see this in the way He saves His people from condemnation through Noah; from famine through Joseph; from slavery through Moses; from sovereign instability through David; from exile through Cyrus (prophecied by Isaiah).

But here we have Haggai!  What has Haggai got to do with the gospel?

Question:  What's going on at the time of Haggai?
Answer:  God wants His people to rebuild the temple.

There had been a time of sovereign instability - unreliable kings ruling over Judah.  This ends with Judah being overthrown by the Babylonians.  They destroy the temple, all the important buildings, and the walls around Jerusalem, and the people are taken into exile (2 Kings 25v8-12).

But some years later, the Babylonians are overthrown by Persia, and the Persian King, Cyrus, instructs the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1v1-2).  They begin; then are stopped for several years; then are allowed to begin again, but are reluctant to do so.  It is at this point that the prophet Haggai appears!  He is used by God to spur the people on to rebuild the temple.

Question: What has the temple got to do with the gospel?
Answer: Jesus came to replace the temple as the place where we meet with God

Jesus is now our high priest in heaven.  We do not go to a temple to come close to God.  Instead, in Christ we are always in the presence of God.

So what is our temple?  It is one where the foundation is the gospel, and the walls are the people who believe the gospel - who see the gospel as the foundation to their lives.  We are given this picture by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2v19-22:

"So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

A church is the people, a spiritual home made of bricks that are breathing, where lives are the stones.  The foundation of this home is the gospel - Christ is the cornerstone, and the gospel teaching of the apostles and prophets fills the rest of the foundation.

(Turn this concept upside-down, and we find another biblical image of the church as a human body, where the people are the parts of the body, and Christ is the head.)

So when Haggai talks to the Jews about the temple, he is not talking to us about the church building.  We are not to think of bricks and mortar, of mortgages and timetables.  These can be helpful, but they are not the church.  We can use these things as a church, but they do not make us a church.

For us, the temple is God's people built on the foundation of God's Son.  Haggai's encouragement to invest time and energy into the temple for God's glory is an encouragement for us to invest our time and energy into our church communities for God's glory.  This work is to be done upon the solid foundation of the gospel.  Christ's completed work motivates and enables our ongoing work.

In the next post, we'll look at chapter one and Haggai's first challenge - the danger of being safe.