Dock
Resource Kit
Sunday sermon, 20 September 2026
Summary
This week Michael talked to us about stewardship through the minor prophet Haggai, who challenges the post-exile people of God for living in “panelled houses” while God's house lay in ruins. He argued this was never really about wood panelling, but about priorities; showing how misplaced priorities are futile and never satisfy, while reordering our priorities around God makes room for his presence, both individually and together as his church, the true temple. Drawing out Haggai's repeated refrain, “give careful thought to your ways,” Michael closed not with a call to give immediately, but an invitation to prayerfully reconsider how we steward our time, attention and finances in light of God's kingdom.
Key Points & Takeways
A nine-word tour of the Old Testament sets the scene for Haggai - Promise, rescue, law, land, kingdom, fracture, judgment, return, stall: God promises Abraham blessing, rescues Israel from Egypt, gives the law, brings Israel into the promised land, establishes a kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon, which fractures, falls under judgment, goes into exile under Assyria and Babylon, then returns under King Cyrus, only to stall after laying just the temple's foundations.
Haggai prophesies to a remnant who started rebuilding and stopped - Sixteen years after returning from exile, the people have built the temple's foundations but focused on their own homes instead of finishing God's house (Haggai 1:1–4).
God doesn't hate wood panelling, this is a question of priorities - Haggai 1:4 asks, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses while this house remains a ruin?” It's not wrong to want comfort or nice things; humans were made for abundance in the garden. The question Haggai raises is how our priorities are ordered, not whether we're allowed nice houses.
Misplaced priorities are futile, they never satisfy - Haggai 1:5–6 describes planting much but harvesting little, eating without being filled, earning wages that go into “a purse with holes in it.” Michael illustrated this with Jim Carrey's observation that fame and wealth don't satisfy, and his own habit of collecting Bibles, always thinking the next one will be enough; only God actually satisfies.
Reordering our priorities makes room for God's presence - Haggai 2:4–5 shifts from rebuke to promise: “Be strong… work, for I am with you… my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.” The point isn't guilt-driven compliance - it's that God's presence, not our competence or resources, accomplishes his mission, and we get to take part.
Our lives are like a house Jesus wants full access to - Building on Revelation 3:20 (“I stand at the door and knock”), Michael described how easy it is to only let Jesus into our ‘tidy’ rooms, contrasted with his young daughter, who insists on showing visitors every room, including the messy one. Jesus, as Lord and not just guest, wants access to every area of our lives, including how we steward money, time and resources.
The temple's true fulfilment is the church, God's people built together - From Exodus 25:8 (“make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them”) to Ephesians 2:19–22, Michael traced how the goal was never the building itself but God's presence, now found in the church, ‘a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit,’ built together rather than only individually.
‘Give careful thought to your ways’ is an invitation to reflect, not a formula - This refrain repeats in Haggai 1:5 and 1:7. Rather than prescribing a fixed percentage or number of hours, as some traditions do, Michael framed it as an invitation to genuinely consider the flow of our resources; because, as Jesus taught, where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
There is room for a prayerful response - The people received Haggai's word on the first day of the sixth month and began work on the twenty-fourth (Haggai 1:1, 15), 23 days to pray, consider and respond, rather than blind instant obedience or indefinite delay. Michael's challenge mirrored this: not to give immediately under pressure, but to take time to pray and talk it through.
Dock Discussion Questions
Michael joked that “God doesn't hate wood panelling.” Is there something in your own life; a comfort, a possession, a habit like Michael's Bible collection, that isn't wrong in itself, but might reveal something about your priorities?
How comfortable to you feel about considering how you use your resources, and specifically money, through a biblical and spiritual lens? To what extent do you think our financial practices can be spiritual practices?
Haggai's repeated refrain is “give careful thought to your ways” (Haggai 1:5, 7). What would it look like for you to genuinely give careful thought to how you use your time, attention and money this week?
In the ‘life like a house’ analogy, Jesus wants the full tour, not just the tidy rooms, much like Michael's daughter, who shows visitors every room, messy ones included. Is there a ‘room’ in your life, an area of finances, time or habits, you've kept the door closed on? How might you let Jesus into that area of your life?
There were 23 days between the people receiving Haggai's word and starting the work. Why might it matter that God gave them time to pray and respond, rather than demanding instant action? How might that shape how you respond to this week's challenge?
Long-form, edited transcript
What’s God Got Against Wood Panelling?
Haggai 1:1–15; 2:4–5
Discovering Haggai
Good morning, church. One of the things I like to do when I read the Bible, because I'm a good Anglican nowadays, is read the lectionary readings for the day and choose one to study. Recently the lectionary has been going through the minor prophets; those short books in the Old Testament we usually skip past, and I was reading Haggai, thinking, do you know, Haggai would make a great sermon on stewardship. A week or so later, Phil asked me, ‘Would you talk on stewardship?’
So we're going to do something adventurous this morning: not only are we going to address one of the trickiest subjects; because British people always get awkward about money, but we're also going to look at the minor prophet Haggai; a book you maybe haven't read in a long time, or ever. I can guarantee this will be the best stewardship talk based on Haggai you'll hear today. Maybe ever, though we'll see.
You might know that a prophet in the Bible is a specific person with a specific word for a specific time and context, and Haggai is a prophet in the Bible, so we need to catch up with the context of Haggai.
The Story So Far, in Nine Words
We're going to do a tiny bit of background so we can get caught up, in two minutes, with nine words. Here we go.
Promise: God chooses Abraham and promises to multiply his lineage and bless all peoples on earth through him.
Rescue: Through Joseph, the people of God end up in Egypt, where they are enslaved. God rescues them.
Law: in the wilderness after the rescue, God gives Moses the law on Mount Sinai.
Land: God leads the, through the wilderness in the land that He promised them.
Kingdom: Israel wants to be like the nations around them as asks for a king. They have three kings; Saul, David, and Solomon, and that's all well and good, until…
Fracture: Solomon's son drops the ball, and the people of God become two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
Judgment: the people in their separate natiopns turn away from God and worship other gods, so God brings them into exile; Israel taken by the Assyrians, and later Judah taken by the Babylonians.
Return: About seventy years after the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus says, ‘You can go back, you can rebuild, and then…
Stall: they return, they build the foundations of the temple, and then they stop, and focus instead on their own homes and their own lives, without finishing the temple.
That's the context we find ourselves in with the prophet Haggai. He's prophesying to a remnant who have returned from exile — not everyone, but those who have — who built the foundations of the temple and then stalled.
Scripture
There are only two chapters in the entire book of Haggai, so we're going to read half of an entire book of the Bible this morning. Here's chapter 1:
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house.”’
Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much but 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.’
This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the Lord. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and 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. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.
So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.
Does God Hate Wood Panelling?
Does God hate wood panelling? I grew up in a house with wood panelling across the entire downstairs. It was the nineties. My parents hated it; I remember them ripping it all out.
This oracle is delivered in a specific context: post-exile Judah, where nothing has been built for sixteen years. You'll be amazed to hear the main prophecy challenging this lack of progress isn't actually about wood panelling. Verse four asks, ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses while this house remains a ruin?’ That while is so key, because it's a question of priorities.
This is the challenge Haggai has for the people of God; a question of priorities. I'm being slightly flippant with the joke about panelled houses, but it's worth naming, because when churches teach on stewardship and how we use our resources as Christians, it's perfectly natural for us to get defensive. God created us and put us in a garden of abundance; food, shelter, and most importantly, relationship with our creator God. We are made to be people who are not struggling. It's not wrong for you to want nice wood panelling on your house if that's the fashion. The question is how our priorities are stacked up: will we prioritise the things of God first, and then worry about what we eat and wear and drink, and whether the panelling needs ripping out?
So God doesn't hate wood panelling. This whole question is a question of priorities.
The Futility of Misplaced Priorities
That’s because there is a futility in misplaced priorities; verses five and six describe planting much and harvesting little, eating without ever having enough, drinking without ever having their fill. God isn't punishing them for having nice houses; he's exposing a pattern of busyness and effort spent on things that don't satisfy.
We see this all the time today. There's a well-known Jim Carrey quote:
“I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it's not the answer.”
The mega-wealthy tell us this all the time about how riches don’t satisfy, why does a multi-billionaire keep trying to make another billion pounds they don't need and can't spend? It doesn't satisfy.
We can apply that on a much smaller scale as very few of us are ever going to be billionaires thinking ‘this next billion wasn't satisfying.’ I love Bibles. Do you know how many I've got in my house? Forty-nine. To be honest, I thought it might be more, I was almost relieved, but I've got my eye on a few more. I like to have a Bible for different occasions: this is my prayer Bible, with little tabs for different prayers, but it's a bit big for travelling around, so I like a smaller one too. You get the idea. Maybe you have something in your life where you think, once I get that one thing, that'll be enough, well, I will almost certainly never stop buying Bibles.
The world tells us just one more thing will satisfy, but it won't, because only God satisfies. That's why God is challenging our priorities in Haggai; misplaced priorities are futile, they don't satisfy. So God doesn't hate our desire for comfort, or for using our money to give ourselves what we need. But we need to reorder our priorities.
Reordering Our Priorities Makes Room for God
Look at chapter 2, verses four and five:
But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
We see in this passage that when God's people prioritise the work of God rather than the work of their own homes, he is with them. This scripture, this narrative, is not about guilt-driven compliance, it's about God's presence achieving things. It's not our own competence, not our resources; it's the work of God that accomplishes the mission of God, and we get to take part in that.
Your Life Is Like a House
When I was a young Christian in Scotland (if you can't guess from my accent) I was in a sermon, taking notes furiously like you all are now, and the preacher gave an analogy some of you will have heard, because it's pretty widespread: your life is like a house. It's predicated on Revelation 3:20.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Our lives are like houses. Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and we choose whether to welcome him in or ignore the knock. Many of us choose to welcome him in, and it's very easy to stop there. When people come over to my house, I'm quite happy for them to mostly stay in the rooms I've prepared: the living room, the dining room, the downstairs bathroom that's just been cleaned, and the nice scented candle is lit.
But I've got a five-year-old daughter, and she will give you the full tour of the house. She really wants to take you up to her room to show you all the cool things in it, and on the way she'll show you every cupboard, and definitely include the one room where I've hidden all the stuff so the house looks tidier than it is. She'll definitely, one hundred percent, show you that space.
Jesus wants the full tour of the house of our lives, total access. He wants to know the good, the bad, the leaky taps. He wants the keys to the safe, because he's the only one uniquely qualified to completely redesign, renovate and restore every single area of our lives; including how we steward our money, our resources, and our time. Because Jesus is not just our honoured guest; he's our brother, our friend, our teacher, but most importantly, our Lord and our Saviour. We were bought with a price, and the house of our lives is no longer ours, it's God's. Will we reorder our priorities and our resources around that truth, that we are not our own? Will we make room for God to move in the way we use our resources and our priorities?
What Is God's House Today?
I think one reason we don't teach from Haggai and the minor prophets very often is that the concept of temple and covenant can feel detached; easy to think, well, it doesn't really apply to me. But it really does. Exodus 25:8, as God gives Moses the instructions for the tabernacle, gives us this picture:
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
The tabernacle was not the goal. The temple was not the goal. As we've already said, the presence of God is the goal, that's what it's all about. That's why Haggai is urgently prophesying to the remnant of Israel: not because he has a desire for great architecture, but because he has a desire for the presence of God to move powerfully in continuing to restore the people of God.
That's important, because the metaphor of your life being like a house, and inviting God into every room, is a great metaphor, but it's a little too ‘me-centric’ on its own. When we come to the New Testament, we realise that the temple, the presence of God, is God's church. Yes, he's with us by his Spirit; yes, he lives within us; but he calls us to be together, built together as the people of God.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19–22)
We are a building, with Christ as the cornerstone, together, not just individually. We are the dwelling place of God, the church. That building only grows in line with how much we, as individuals and as a church, are willing to align ourselves with the priorities of God.
Application: Give Careful Thought to Your Ways
So into a little application: God doesn't hate wood panelling. We don't need to get defensive and say, ‘well, what about the things I need,’ God does desire for you to have what you need, which is why we do so much together to look after one another. But our priorities are often misplaced, and often futile, and don't satisfy us. Reordering them makes room for God, and the temple we're trying to grow is the body of Christ, the church.
Here's a brief brain-break: do you notice what's repeated in verses five and seven? “give careful thought to your ways.” This is an encouragement: give careful thought to your ways.
What does that look like for us? When I think about giving careful thought to my ways with finances, I think of growing up in a working-class family without many savings, not going on holiday very often, and not knowing that people like me were even allowed to invest money until I was in my thirties. I thought that was only for the really rich, maybe careful thought is stewarding our money wisely. Or maybe my careful thought to my ways looks like giving myself a bit of pocket money each month, saving up, doing lots of research and pros-and-cons lists before I buy my next Bible.
But I'd suggest the kind of careful thought God is really asking for is the one Phil challenged us with: will we line up our finances and resources with God's priorities, and what will that look like for us? Will we give careful thought to our ways by going and praying and considering?
I won't go into the historical detail of why Haggai is one of the most precisely, provably timelined books in the Bible; come and find me after if you want to know more. But did you notice something? Verse one says, ‘On the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month,’ and verse fifteen says, ‘on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.’ That's twenty-three days between receiving the prophecy and beginning the work, about three weeks.
That's encouraging, because if it was just a matter of blind obedience; “Israel, just do what God says, go build,” it would have been the next day. Or it might never have happened at all, because they couldn't be bothered and just worked on their own homes instead. But there are twenty-three days here between receiving the word and actioning it. Maybe they needed to gather materials, so perhaps they started after a week or two, but either way, they had time to pray, respond, consider, and be obedient. That's really encouraging, and it's what we're encouraging you to do too.
Some traditions prescribe exactly how much you should give, a fixed percentage; other traditions and religions prescribe exactly how many hours you must volunteer. But as we've seen in the flow of this scripture, far more important than a specific number: “do this, obey or don't,” is that God wants us to consider what's important to us in the flow of our resources, because as Jesus taught us, where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
Not a Giving Talk, But an Invitation
We talk about stewardship at least once a year, and it's not because we look at the church budget, panic, and decide someone has to do a giving talk, ‘Michael hasn't done one in a while, make him do it.’ It's not the most fun sermon to preach, and definitely not the most popular one to hear, normally after a talk like this, people don't come up and say ‘great sermon,’ they just slink out the door. And that's okay, because we're not trying to make you respond right now. There are no envelopes under the seats, no pens on the seats. We're not saying, with the Holy Spirit's backing and after I've been a bit enthusiastic, give us some money now. We're not saying that at all.
This is a prioritisation question, because I, and maybe you, forget that our priorities shift, our financial situation changes, the things vying for our attention change, the things that want our money change. Like Zerubbabel, Joshua and the elders of Israel, we just need to give it some careful thought.
Over two and a half thousand years ago, they took three weeks to act. So the encouragement, the application, the challenge today (if you feel led to give right away, I'm not saying don't), but genuinely, go away and talk about it with whoever you need to talk to. Pray about it. Take your time. I believe, and I've lived this, that God challenges us all the time to examine the flow of our time, our attention, the things we do, our love, and our money, and asks us what it might look like to put his kingdom first in all things, so that we, the people of God, can be built together, so that more people will come to know the love of Christ and the freedom Christ brings.
It might seem like a small challenge today, to go away and think about it, it might not even feel like a challenge at all. But it's only not a challenge if you don't go away and pray and think about it. I encourage you to do that: to go away, to pray even now as we shortly respond in worship, to consider what God might be challenging you on with your priorities, your time, your attention, your finances, and how the flow of those things builds God's kingdom together.
Closing Prayer
Let's take a moment to be still.
Father, we thank you that you long for us to be in your presence. We thank you that you've made yourself available to us through Christ Jesus our Lord, you have restored our relationship with you.
Father, we thank you that there's no area of our lives that you don't also long to bring reconciliation, restoration and redesign to. I pray that we as your people, would leave nothing off the table, that we would not keep any door locked in the house of our lives.
You don't look to take from us, but to give immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, you give us yourself. We thank you that even now we can be in your presence.
Lord reveal to us those things that might need to be reorganised, reprioritised, whether that's how we spend our time, our energy, our finances, or any other area.
Have your way, Lord. In Jesus name.
Amen.