Haggai: Build My House. Part 3

Read Haggai 2:10-23

• What do you notice?
• What stands out to you?
• What observations or questions does this passage raise?

Discuss:

We tend not to think about things being unclean or defiled in a spiritual sense – we are much more aware of this in terms dirt and germs physically. Jesus points us to a different source of uncleanness than certain foods or something dead, in Mark 7:14-23; the things that come out of our hearts.

• What Haggai seems to be asking is, “can good things come out of a people who are compromised by sin?” What do you think?
• Can we please God when we are still struggling with a temptation? Why or why not?
• Is it honouring to God if we are trying really hard to please Him in one area, but allowing sin to exist or increase in another? Why or why not?

Jesus seems to overturn this expectation that cleanness or consecration can’t be spread, but uncleanness can – he touched unclean people (like people with leprosy, notorious sinners and Gentiles) and they became clean.

• What is Jesus’ part in our transformation into clean or consecrated people, and what is ours?
• Once we are on board with Jesus’ plan, do we have the same kind of promise as in Haggai 2:18-19 – “from this day on, I will bless you”?
  • How does this connect with passages like Mark 10:29-31?

In Haggai 2:21-22, Haggi returns to the theme of God shaking the earth and the heavens, bringing down nations and kingdoms (with subtle references to the Exodus and other victories...)

• How are we to understand the theme of God’s victory over foreign nations and powers in context of Jesus’ loving invitation to all nations to follow Him?
• How can we express that to the people around us, regardless of their national background?

Pray: ask God to help you to be more true to Him, and strengthened to resist temptation, through the truth and power of the Gospel that sets us free. And pray that we can invite others to consider the freedom that the Gospel brings as well.