Haggai: Building God’s ChurchSampel

As we finish our look at the Book of Haggai, God has one final message for His people.

They have finally returned to the Promised Land with the mission of rebuilding the ruined Temple. But the project hasn’t gone smoothly so far. First, they had to straighten out their mixed-up priorities. Then they struggled through seasons of comparison and pride. They are about to experience one more obstacle: fear.

You may not resonate with the idea of fear influencing your faith, but you probably agree that it’s easier to be a Christian on Sunday than on Monday.

On Sunday, we’re together and we’re strong. On Monday, we’re alone. The pressures of the world are strong. The culture and people around you seem so powerful, successful, and popular. Then you look at the church or your faith and what you see seems so weak and unimportant.

How can you devote yourself to your faith and to building God’s kingdom when the world looks so strong and the church looks so weak?

Haggai’s final message for God’s people offers the encouragement we need. Before we get to it, imagine the situation for the people Haggai is speaking to. Compared to the Persian empire that surrounds them, they are tiny in number, living in a small, still-destroyed city. They had no influence.

To those powerless people, Haggai arrives with a message from God that describes a final judgment. God says He will shake everything and uncover what is strong and what is weak. It’s similar to what Jesus described in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders in Matthew 7.

When the storm comes—when the final judgment comes—that which is built on a solid foundation will stay standing. And that which is built on a weak foundation will fall away.

Haggai tells us the kind of things that will crumble on that day: authorities, powers, armies—the kind of things that appear strong now but underneath are nothing. The things of the world.

In contrast stands God, more powerful and reliable than any other force on earth.

Why should you devote yourself to your faith? Why serve others? Give money? Build God’s church?

Because at the final judgment, who will stand? Only those who have a firm foundation. If we cling to God, although the world’s temptations are strong, we have nothing to fear.