Don't Miss the Temple for the City

The month of September for me has become the month of the minor prophets. The minor prophets are the shorter books written by the prophets in the Old Testament that usually appear at the end. With the bible reading schedule I follow, the month of September is dedicated to reading through them. Now if you have ever read books like Zephaniah, Micah, Malachi, or Nahum, you will understand what I mean when I say that it's not the most interesting devotional reading. I'm sure the prophecy of the destruction of Edom was very interesting to the Edomites, but it doesn't really connect with me well.Let's just say, you probably won't be going through a Beth Moore study on the book of Joel anytime soon...All that said, there is one very important theme running through almost all of the minor prophets. Temple worship was being defiled by the lack of lifestyle worship in the city. Amos 5:21 - 24 says,

““I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. Take away from me your noisy songs; I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.”

Again in Micah 6:6-8,

“With what should I enter the LORD’s presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Will the LORD accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring–my own flesh and blood–for my sin? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD really wants from you: He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful, and to live obediently before your God.”

This is a theme permeating the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures and is continued in Jesus' ministry. In Matthew 12, when confronted for breaking the Sabbath law by allowing his disciples to glean on the Sabbath and repeatedly healing people on the Sabbath, Jesus responds by quoting Hosea (a minor prophet), "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." Later in Matthew 25 Jesus refers to true worship as taking care of the sick, the orphan, the widow, the stranger as a true worship of God.

If you read through any large chunk of the Old Testament and miss this theme, then you have not read it very carefully. That is how pervasive this is. We could be doing everything right on Sunday, singing great worship songs, diligently participating in the sacraments, preaching and listening to biblically sound and compelling sermons and keeping our own bodies moral, but if we neglect worshipping God by engaging the city with love, justice, and restoration, our Sunday worship is meaningless. I've written about this before in a few other posts, which you can read here, here, and here.

Then there is the small two chapter book of Haggai.

Haggai was a prophet during the time of Zerubbabel. Unlike most settings for prophets, the time of Zerubbabel was a time of spiritual renewal where they had destroyed the areas of false worship in Israel and addressed the issue of exploiting the poor (cf. Ezra and Nehemiah). At a rare point in Israel's history, they were actually exercising lifestyle worship well. So what is it that Haggai is complaining about?

Haggai approached Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest at the time and said, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4) Although the Israelites were worshiping God in their lifestyle, they hadn't taken the time to rebuild the Temple after it was destroyed by the Babylonians. They had lifestyle worship, but no temple worship.

I think my generation has done well in responding to the call to worship God through a lifestyle of righteousness, justice, and love for the city. More and more young churches are involving themselves in the plight of the poor, developing relationships with the "strangers" in our country, and taking seriously the call to seek righteousness.

But we've neglected the plea of Haggai. So much of my generation will spend their weekdays worshiping God in their lifestyle but neglect the formal worship time in church on Saturday or Sunday. It's just not a priority. It is true that a lot of "worship" happening in church has been defiled by the utter lack of worship in the lifestyle of those participating, which is why so many young Christians have withdrawn from church. But we don't want to miss the temple for the city. Lifestyle worship gives meaning to temple worship, but temple worship gives clarity to lifestyle worship. Haggai continues to say, "Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord." (Haggai 1:8)

God is glorified in the temple. He is glorified in the songs we sing, the fasts and prayers, the sermons, and bible studies. The temple worship of God guards us against slipping into worshipping the wrong God and misunderstanding His nature. Temple worship clarifies lifestyle worship.

Yes, it is true that if we want our temple worship to mean something, we need to live lives that worship God. But that doesn't mean stop coming to the temple.