RENEWING THE WORK OF YOUR CHURCH

The following ad appeared in a Kansas City newspaper many years ago: "We will oil your sewing machine and adjust the tension in your home for only $1." If only it were that easy to adjust the tension in our homes, where we work, in the church! If only it were that easy to do the work of the church!

When I set out to write this column every month, I seek to give you some ideas and encouragement to help you carry out the mission of the church through the various ministries of your local congregation. There are times, however, when we don’t really give the Lord’s work the kind of attention it deserves. At times, we give other matters far more importance than the work that God call us to, and we need to renew ourselves in order to give our best efforts to the work of God.

I recently restudied two of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and found help within the pages of their two Old Testament prophecies for renewing the work God calls us to. The circumstances they faced and how they challenged the people of God is perfect for helping us be re-motivated when the priority of God’s work gets away from us.

There had been a revival of the people of God under King Josiah as recorded in 2 Chronicles 34 and 35. God’s people, however, soon drifted back into sin, and they thus had to learn from adversity what they refused to learn by obeying God. So Judah spent 70 years in captivity in Babylon. Then God moved in the heart of the pagan king Cyrus to release the people and aid them in reestablishing their place of worship in Jerusalem. So Cyrus signed a decree and a band of 50,000 persons returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. In the second month after their return to Jerusalem, they began laying the foundation of the Temple, but discouragement soon set in and the work ground to a halt. For 16 years they did not put any effort into rebuilding the Temple.

Then Haggai and Zechariah, within two months of each other, came on the scene. It was 101 years after the revival under King Josiah when these two prophets called for God’s people to renew their work on the Temple. Due to my space limitation, let me stick to Haggai who, through his message to the people of Israel, shows us how to renew the work God calls us to when we have lost our vision. His three challenges are not unique to him, but present good reminders and encouragement to us.

(1) Set Priorities for the work of God. During the sixteen years since they returned from captivity, God’s people, Haggai says in chapter 1, verse 3, had built very nice houses for themselves while the Temple remained in ruins. They tried to blame God by claiming it was not yet time to rebuild the Temple, but Haggai says they were investing their money “in a purse with holes in it.” Their priorities were misplaced. Some years ago, a ministry friend told how the board of his congregation spent four months debating what kind of lawn mower to buy, only to have mowing season end before making a decision. We can get our priorities in the wrong place. Instead we need to give attention to matters that are important to God.

(2) Get Involved in the work of God. Haggai told the people to go to work on the temple, so the Lord may take pleasure in it and be honored. The people of Israel were not receiving God’s blessings because they were not involving themselves in his work. When we put our best efforts into God’s work, however, we receive his blessings. We put huge effort and sums of money into things that do not matter to God. We need instead to turn the attention and efforts of our lives and the church to involvement in the things that do matter to God, and we will see God bless the work of the church.

(3) Receive Power for the work of God. In Haggai 1:13, the prophet “gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.” This promise prompted them to once again set to work on the Temple, and it should prompt us to set to work on the task he calls us to.

There is much more in Haggai – and Zechariah. Have you – and has your church – lost enthusiasm for the work of God. Study these two prophets, and renew the work God has given you.