Haggai 2:1-9

Last week we saw how on 29 August 520BC, the Lord God challenged his people to stop focussing on themselves and get on with rebuilding his house – the temple.

The people were spending all their money down at the DIY superstore, and all their time & energy on refurbishing their homes.

But though they worked long hours, they never seemed to have enough to pay off the credit card.

And then they heard the Lord's rebuke. They responded, and began work on the temple 3 weeks later.

But, of course, there's no stone temple today, and God doesn't call us to build one.

Instead, each Christian believer is now a temple of God – a temple of the HS. And together we form the church which is the temple of the HS.

So we're called to make the building up of Christ's church our first priority because it's in the church that God is glorified and worshipped.

It's through the church that God makes his presence known to a world that is lost forever without him.

But this seems like such a tough ask because it's such a massive task –

• we need courage & wisdom to speak to friends
• we need money to pay for all the support structures of St Peter's – the workers, the building, the admin etc.
• we need money to support our mission partners.
• we need people to give time & energy & skill – you name it, we need.

The list just seems endless. The demands seem endless. The task of building Christ's church seems so enormous – so far beyond us.

Perhaps, after last week, you went away with renewed enthusiasm and determination for the task, but now, after a busy week, you're not so sure – reality has bitten and you really don't think you can contribute much at all.

Perhaps you went away determined to talk about Jesus to a friend or a relative. But when it came to it, your courage failed you; or you just couldn't find the right words.

Perhaps you went away last week determined to give more time to prayer, and to come to a SPA Bible study. But you forgot to pray, and your husband or wife complained about your being out at church again.

Perhaps you decided last week to give regularly, or to increase your giving, but then a bill arrived, or you just forgot.

Perhaps you were at the Church Council meeting on Monday night, and heard that it's going to cost £7k to repair the floor; that we really need to upgrade the boiler and the kitchen, and yet this year we're predicting an £8k shortfall in the current account.

All of this, and we've got envelopes out in the chairs in the hope of giving at least £3k to our mission partners!

And if that wasn't enough, we're now talking about a church mission in February and starting home-groups in the new year.

All-in-all the task of building Christ's church, seems impossibly daunting, with constant obstacles to overcome.

But feeling overwhelmed at the mission God gives us is nothing new - back in Jerusalem, work had been slow.

It was a month since Haggai preached God's word to them, but they'd lost a week's work for the festival of booths – how ironic that just as they were attempting to rebuild the temple, they had to stop to celebrate the consecration of the old temple – that old, magnificent temple.

What's more, having had another poor harvest, they had to celebrate the harvest festival.

It was all so... discouraging!

So, on the 17 October 520BC – exactly one week short of 2530 years ago – God spoke again through Haggai to Governor Zerubbabel; HP Joshua, and all the people.

And he asked them three questions, v3:

Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?

How does it look to you now?

Does it not seem to you like nothing?

Few of the people could remember the old temple – even a 75 year old would only have a childhood memory – but the readings during the Festivals would have reminded them of the splendour of the old buildings, and, of course, things were better back then...

And now, as they looked at the abandoned building site covered in buddleia and rosebay, it looked like nothing. And would probably never be anything.

Discouragement can set in very quickly.

But God knows how we feel when we're faced with the challenge of building his temple - or his church.

And so, v4, we hear him saying, 'Be strong O Zerubbabel. Be strong O Joshua. Be strong, all you people of the land.'

Be strong and, end of v4, WORK!

Yes God calls us to have faith in him – to be strong in him & trust that he will provide all we need for the task – but genuine faith always results in action – in hard graft – in work.

But this isn't the rallying cry of the half-time team talk - “Come on boys you can do if you try – dig deep, keep going, ignore the pain!”

And it's not like the song, 'Search for the hero inside yourself, seek yourself and you will shine...'

No, it's not a matter of looking within because God gives help from without – v4, '...work, for I am with you. This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'

The success of the venture doesn't ultimately depend on the people's hard work – no matter how hard they work, they will never restore the temple to its former glory because the glory of the temple comes from God himself. The glory of the temple is God's presence in it.

Same with the church – glory of church is God's presence in us by his HS.

So building the church is a joint project – yes there is inner determination, but that determination springs from, & is energised by, the promise of God, the commission of God and the presence of God.

And as we build Christ's church we hear again the promise of Jesus, 'I am with you always to the very end of the age.'

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.

'I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.'

These are Christ's solemn promises. And we take strength from them and work in the power of the Spirit to build his church.

So far so good – we can understand all this. But then in vv6-9, God says some things which seem very odd indeed. READ vv6-9

What has this got to do with the building project?

Well, in v6, God says that he will 'once more' shake the earth.

A long time before Haggai, God appeared to Moses on Mt Sinai (Ex 19) – Moses went up the mountain, and when God descended on the mountain, it shook violently. This was the sign that a new chapter in God's relationship with his people had begun. It was as a result of this meeting between God and Moses that the first temple – or tabernacle – was built.

So when God promises to shake the earth again, he's promising another new chapter in his relationship with mankind.

So when did, or when will, God shake the earth again? When did, or when will the new chapter start?

Well, if you remember, when Jesus was raised from the dead, Matthew tells us that there was a violent earthquake in Jerusalem.

Not only that, but the temple curtain which kept people out of the most holy part of the temple where God's glory dwelt, was torn in two.

When Jesus died and rose, he fulfilled all the functions of the temple, and began a new chapter in God's relationship with mankind. From then on, everyone who trusted Christ became the temple of God's HS. This was the start of the church – the new temple built of living stones.

And within a matter of weeks, people from other nations were becoming temples of the HS. The church became a temple far more glorious than the old stone building.

And yet even this is not the ultimate fulfilment of Haggai 2.

Our first reading from Hebrews 12 spoke of a future shaking of the earth and the start of another chapter in God's relationship with his people.

This is the final shaking, when the whole earth will be transformed into a temple of God's presence, and the words of Revelation 21 will be fulfilled:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

That's where God is taking his church.

But for now, he says to us as we build his church, 'Be strong and work, for I am with you and my Spirit is in you.'