Building God's Temple Today

So the Lord stirred up the Spirit of Zerubabbel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.  Haggai 1:14

This is the beautiful result of the children of Israel listening and responding to the voice of the Lord.  But if we back up a few verses we see that God was not very pleased with those who had returned from captivity.  They were brought back from captivity in Babylon and were instructed to rebuild the Lord's temple.  But the people were slack in this command.  Here's what the Lord said in response to their slackness. (By the way I love the prophets.  The books of the prophets really shows you the personality of our God, as is demonstrated in the following verses.) In Haggai 1:4 God says, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (Temple is translated house.)  And in verse 9 God says that He is pronouncing judgement:

"Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.  Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.  For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

Unlike other times in Israel's history, the people of God listened to Him! Verse 12 says, "The people feared the presence of the Lord..." and then we see in verse 14 that the Lord stirred the people and they came and worked on the house of the Lord.  That word "stirred" is the Hebrew word "ur" and it means to awaken or to rouse oneself.  These people were asleep and God woke them up!

Let's cross reference this verse in Haggai with Ephesians 2:19-22 which says,

"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Did you catch that?!  We are the temple of the Lord!   But this begs the question: how is the temple of the Lord being built today?  Obviously not physically with stones and the work of craftsmen.  No, the temple of the Lord is built today by becoming a member of the household of God!  And how do we become part of the household of God? -By being saved; born again!  When we become a Christ follower, we become a member of the household of God, thus the building of the temple of God.  And how do we, after becoming members of the household of God, continue the building of the Lord's temple?  By bringing more into the household of God.  By sharing our faith, and by evangelism!  I know that word gets a bad rap because it's uncomfortable sharing our faith because, you know, we don't want to offend anyone with the gospel and such.  But that's how we built the house of the Lord today.  There's no getting around it.

Now we know that scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, if God was upset with His people for neglecting to build His temple in the old testament wouldn't He feel the same way about His temple being neglected today?  This implies the next question.....do you share your faith?  According to Lifeway research 78 percent of churchgoers have not shared their faith with anyone over the past 6 months.  What!?  I'm really not surprised.  I mean we live in a culture where the modern evangelistic approach says to mutter a sinners prayer, and then promises to them that receive Christ a "life enhancement."  There's no mention of sin or hell, and so there's no genuine repentance, and therefore no real conversion. So the thought of sharing our faith is not really all that important because we've been indoctrinated into a society that is so afraid of offending each other that this political correctness has even seeped into the Church.