Pastor's Thoughts
How To Hate God
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.” Haggai 1:7
For seventy years God’s people had been in exile and their homeland lay in ruins. The people had turned their hearts away from the Lord and the Lord withdrew his hand of blessing from them. A remnant was carried off into exile in Babylon. Seventy years later another remnant returned to Jerusalem. However, it wasn’t long before they started to fall into the same sinful pattern as their forefathers. They started to rebuild the temple. The foundation was laid. But then they stopped. For twenty years God’s house was ignored. “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built,” the people said. Though this people didn’t realize it, once again they were telling God that he was not important to them in their lives. They were telling God that they hated him. The book of Haggai is only two chapters long but this book contains some powerful words of admonition that come from the Almighty God and also call us to repentance today. If you want to tell God that you hate him, here’s how to do so.
1. Don’t come to church.
Every week less than half the members of this congregation gather at church to hear God’s word and to sing God’s praises. How the devil rejoices! The devil realizes that God the Holy Spirit and God’s word and sacraments go together. Take God’s word out of the lives of God’s people and God’s people will spiritually die. They will go about their daily lives. They will tell themselves that it doesn’t matter if they skip church, that they are too busy, that they can always go next week, that church makes them uncomfortable. They may not realize it, but not going to church, not gathering with God’s people for worship is the number one way to tell God that you hate him.
2. Don’t support the work of the church.
Our annual report tells us that there are 303 giving units in this congregation. Last year 143 of them gave less than $100 to support the work of our church. Because of this the work of our church is limited. We recognize that we should support our called workers with housing. Our workers are worthy of their wages. But we can’t give it because we don’t have the money. Our church has a building debt to pay off. But we are no longer receiving an adequate amount of money to make our monthly payments, much less to pay off this debt more quickly. We are asked by synod to consider giving 10% of our church income to support the preaching of the gospel through home and world missions. But we can’t do it. Last year we gave 2% of our income to support the Lord’s work in the world. This year we budgeted 3% but we don’t know if we will have the money to actually send it in. The potential for this congregation to proclaim the saving name of the Lord is very much limited by the lack of giving on the part of many of our members.
Here was the problem in Haggai’s day. The people were so wrapped up in living for themselves that they forgot the Lord’s house. Thus God bluntly asked the people, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while my house remains a ruin?” God knew their problem. The people thought that if they gave to support God’s house, they would lose. They didn’t believe that giving to the Lord was a blessing. They believed if they gave to the Lord that their lives would be burdened. But the result of their lack of support for God’s work was that God withheld his hand of blessing from them. So God said to them, “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
If you want to tell God that you hate him and live your life without God’s hand of blessing upon you, don’t support the Lord’s work through your church. Love money, not God. Trust in money, not God. Believe in money, not God. Live for money, not God. Let others carry out the work of the Lord. The church can get along without your money. Isn’t it amazing, that in this era of financial prosperity when God’s people have experienced the most luxurious life ever known in the history of the world, God’s house has to go begging? But now more difficult financial times may be threatening us. Could it be that what was happening to God’s people in Haggai’s times is now happening to us? Give careful thought to your ways. The number two manner for you to tell God that you hate him is to not support the work of God’s church generously.
When the people of Jerusalem heard the word of the Lord through Haggai, we are told, “The whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.”
They didn’t want to hate God. They recognized that they were sinning against the Lord and they repented. Then they came together and began again to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God. And this was God’s word to encourage them, “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
A couple of months later their spirits began to lag again. So God spoke to them another word to encourage them. Through three imperatives God exhorted them, “Be strong, all you people of the land.” “Work, for I am with you.” “My spirit remains among you. Do not fear.” God also spoke a word of prophecy concerning us. God said to them, “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD Almighty.” We are the gentiles who have learned to love the name of the Lord. We are the ones who desire to walk with the Lord and to tell him how much we love him. We are the ones through whom God today would glorify his name and carry his wonderful message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ into all the world. God’s Spirit remains among us so that today we also can be strong in the Lord, we can work for the Lord, and we can set aside our fears as we live for the Lord.
I headed this message “How to hate God” because that is how Christians so often act as revealed in their church attendance and in the offerings they bring to church. But at the same time I am convinced that the heading God’s people really want to see is “How to love God.” God, how can I reveal publicly that I love you? May God’s Spirit rest upon all of us and may the love we have for God be seen more and more openly by our coming to God’s house for worship and by the generous manner in which we return to God our time and our talents and our money. Then this prophesy of God through his prophet Haggai will be fulfilled in us. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the LORD Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the LORD Almighty.