This Sunday we are thrilled to welcome Neel and Chalor Roberts, missionaries to Thailand. Neel will preach from Haggai, share how the Lord is working in East Asia, and encourage us to be missions minded here in Boston.
Haggai ends with a final word from God renewing his promise to bring about his final plans for his people and planet Earth. Two parts of this plan are his focus: 1) God will do what is necessary to bring about his global and eternal plan politically and militarily (vs. 20-21); 2) God will continue to remake and renew our lives in Christ (v. 23). The historical occasion of the rebuilding of the temple pleases the Lord. He takes the opportunity to speak of his overall plan from the time of rebuilding to eternity.
Purity of soul is the result of a loving response to, and wanting to be with the one you worship. You can be “pure” or obedient by doing what your Lord wants you to do and be. But the Lord’s heart for you is that you respond to his love and acceptance from your inner person, not from a religious approach that says, “Look at my actions, can't you see that I'm a good person. Accept me.” So Haggai encourages his readers three times in this brief passage to “give careful thought” to how you are viewing your relationship with the Lord.
Their task was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s temple was a magnificent structure destroyed in 586 B.C., forty six years before the time of Haggai. But there were challenges that thwarted the rebuilding effort. The rebuilt temple will not be as great a structure; they were discouraged with something less; motivation to complete it was missing; their perspective was old. Renewal of their perspective came through Haggai’s words to be strong because God is with them. And the glory of this next temple will be greater than the glory of the first temple. Consider this: what is the condition of your "temple” in 2016?
In our fast-paced world today, it seems like there is always too much to do and too little time. With our limited time, attention, money and energy, we make decisions every day that reveal our true priorities. In our passage this morning, the Lord delivers a tough message through the prophet Haggai, exhorting us to “consider our ways “ (1:5) to make sure we are prioritizing our relationship with Him and His church.
