The priorities of God's people must begin with Him. Haggai speaks to the community of exiles who
have returned to the land to rebuilt the city and says that they have made
their own houses a priority when the most important thing they can do is
restore God's house, the temple. They
are rebuked for getting their priorities backwards and told that this failure
is the reason they have been frustrated in their pursuit of wealth. If they will re-order things and get about
the business of building His house He will bless their other activities. Sounds a good bit like what Jesus said in
Matthew 6.33, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and
all these things will be added unto you."
You won't have to seek them, they will be added. The people receive the word of correction and
promise and get about the work of rebuilding the temple. What implication does that have in your life
today?
Jesus finishes the woes pronounced on the leaders by calling
them whitewashed tombs and standing in the line of their fathers who persecuted
and killed the prophets God sent to warn them of His judgment. They are no better than those former leaders
who failed to heed His words through the prophets of old. His heart is broken over the city, He loves
them and yet they reject His entreaties and refuse to be comforted by Him. When I read this chapter of Matthew I always
get uneasy and it makes me ask Him if these same charges can be leveled against
me as a leader in the church. Am I
willing to hear that He has charges against me even though I believe we
maintain truth and believe that the Word is infallible. Does that mean we keep our priorities right
or does it mean we have the Word in captivity.
It either holds us captive or we have domesticated it to our own
purposes. We need to always be willing
to allow for the reality that we have a nice appearance to others but inside we
have much to deal with in our attitudes.
We live in an age when we argue that sex isn't an important
topic, that it is a personal matter. The
letters to the churches in the Revelation would indicate that it is indeed
important to God. This letter to the
church at Thyatira continues the theme that the churches were being corrupted
by a teaching of sexual ethics that would be not out of line with some of the teaching
you might find in some churches today and certainly not out of line with some
of our cultural mores. The church has a
problem with the issue of sex. I have
friends who are good church people that I know from other places who are not a
bit uncomfortable with living with their significant other. The church needs to be firm and clear on such
matters lest we be overtaken by this teaching unawares. I had a mentor who has said many times,
"Everything you do teaches." When
we fail to teach by words that the Bible is clear on these matters and we
tolerate such practices in our members, we have indeed taught that this is not
unacceptable.
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