Month: May 2015

God’s Presence in Mission

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The final stage in the Old Testament storyline is the return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. In Haggai, we zero in on God’s call to rebuild the temple.

Clearly, we recognize that God is not bound to some physical structure. So why does he want his people to rebuild a building for him to dwell in?

In the Old Testament, the temple was the special dwelling place of God. Certainly, his omnipresence is affirmed, that is, he is present everywhere. But the temple was to be the place that nations looked at and could see the glory of God dwelling in a special way. It was the pinnacle of God’s witness to the watching world. At the start of Haggai, the temple is destroyed, thus God’s primary witness to his glory is in shambles. So he calls his people to rebuild it for his glory.

But why does that matter to us?

What’s incredible is that we as the church are called the temple of God (see 2 Corinthians 6:16-18). Now, we are the special dwelling place of God—not confined to one place, but spread throughout the earth for the glory of God.

We are called to build the church—God’s temple in our day—for his glory. When Jesus calls us to make disciples, we aren’t simply to evangelize the lost but to teach them to follow God’s commands: essentially, build the church. Paul, the greatest missionary that ever lived, didn’t simply reach the lost, but he led people to live as local churches. And he returned later to strengthen them. Paul built the church, and we’re called to follow his example.

But that is an overwhelming thought. Every church, new or old, struggles with sin and temptation: our flesh. Satan wages war against God’s people, and the world is constantly pressuring us to conform. What hope is there for building the church?

The promise God gives the Israelites through Haggai is the same promise he gives to us to prepare us for the task ahead:

Twice in the short book of Haggai, God declares: “I am with you!” Jesus encourages us with the same thing in the Great Commission.

May we rest in his presence and trust in his authority to live out our mission: to build the church for his fame.

Dry Bones Live

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In the midst of Israel’s exile, God uses Ezekiel to provide his people a message of hope, and he does this through some amazing events. One instance paints a powerful picture of several Gospel truths. Check out the story of the dry bones from Ezekiel 37:1-14 below:

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.

What an incredible picture of God’s life-giving power!

God is teaching us three primary truths through this passage:

  1. We are dead.
    -We aren’t simply broken or weak spiritually. We are dead, deader than a doornail, and there’s no doubt that we are dead because all we consist of are dry bones. We are beyond even the slightest signs of life.
    -Spiritually, we are dead. Sin has destroyed our ability to pursue God apart from a miraculous intervention, but that is just what God provides…
  2. God must act & sustain.
    -God is our only hope. Dry bones can’t move on their own, so God must act to give us new flesh, a new life, a resurrection. He must breathe into us the breath of life: this is the resurrection life we experience in salvation. God is the actor in our salvation. We simply receive and respond to the life he gives with faith and repentance. It’s totally and completely a gift from him (see Ephesians 2:1-10 as well).
    -Also, he must continue to sustain that life through his breath. He not only resurrects us but he sanctifies us as we see at the end of the chapter when God identifies himself as “the Lord who sanctifies.” He enables us to grow and continue in the holiness that he has given to us when he saved us from our sin.
    -We can’t resurrect or sanctify ourselves. God must act first and continue to sustain us.
  3. We must preach these truths.
    -God used Ezekiel as his means for raising the dry bones to life, and he has called each of us to share the gospel as the means for raising our friends, our neighbors, and strangers throughout the world.
    -If we don’t preach these truths that have the power to raise people from the dead, then no one will experience the eternal life that we have come to experience in Jesus (Romans 10:13-17).

We’ve been given a huge stewardship. May we be a people that carry this life-giving message to everyone we meet for Jesus’ fame.

Living as Exiles

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After many cycles of disobedient kings in Israel, God sent judgment, and the people of Israel became exiles under the rule of the Babylonian empire. God would eventually rescue his people once again, but until then, he called his people to live for his glory where they were. According to 1 Peter 2:11-12, as God’s people, we are now exiles, too. So we can learn a great deal from Israel during this time. But what does it mean for the church to be exiles, and what are its implications?

As exiles we are called to a…

1. Pilgrimage – As God’s people, this world is not our home. We are journeying through this life to a time when brokenness will be no more, and we will dwell with God forever. Our hope is not in what this world has to offer. So as exiles, we must keep our sights set upon our future dwelling place with God, and we do that by living for things that last beyond this life. We shouldn’t become consumed with material things, accomplishments, or fame, but instead, we focus upon bringing glory to God and sharing the hope of the Gospel with others.

2. Stewardship – As God’s exile people, we must be careful not to allow our focus upon our future home cause us to disregard the stewardship we have been given while we live in this world. We must not simply bide our time in this world as we wait for the next, but just as God called the Israelites to work for the good of Babylon while they were exiled (Jeremiah 29:7), we are called to work for the good of our cities.

Stewarding the resources we have been given for the good of our cities through building, sharing, serving, and engaging culture is part of what we’ve been made to do. As image bearers of God, we are called to create and have been sent to make culture as a reflection of our creative God. And not only will our stewardship for our cities’ good be for God’s glory, but it will also be for our good according to Jeremiah 29:7.

May we be a people that strike the balance of being on a pilgrimage and bearing a stewardship for the fame of Jesus in our city.

***To wrestle with this some more, I’d encourage you to spend some time reading and meditating upon the life of Daniel as well as Jeremiah 29:1-14.