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Article Archive |
2007
God's Temple
By Jim Morris
“Whisper, whisper, in God's house. . .” we sang when our Joy Bus pulled up in front of the church building years ago at another congregation. I drove the bus to pick up the two dozen or so children while my wife, our oldest son, and our bus teacher tried to calm them down before they exploded into the somber sanctuary--“God's Temple.”
Wait a minute. Is the church auditorium really the sanctuary or is the building the house of God? Some may say, “Yes, it is the holy place where God dwells” Others may say, “No, the people are the house of God.”
First, I understand that we sometimes use a person, place or thing to represent another idea. For example, Jacob once had a dream of angels ascending and descending on a stairway to heaven. He memorialized the dream by saying, “this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house” (Genesis 29:22). He called it Bethel which means, “the house of God” (29:10-22). Is God's house really a stone?
Second, some may point out that the “house of God” referred to Moses' Tabernacle (1 Chronicles 6:48), or the Temple in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 6:10). Is God's house really a tent or a temple? Paul reminds us, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands” (Acts 17:24).
Finally, Paul says to Timothy, “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15).
Does it matter how we feel about the house of God? Yes. If we believe that the house of God is a building then our thoughts may be too focused on physical concerns. After all, we may think we can come and go from God's presence to live the way we want when we are away from the building. However, if we understand that the house of God is the church—“the people whom God has saved”—then we are more likely to focus on spiritual concerns. Wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there He is among them (Matthew 18:20).
The church is the “body of Christ” and Jesus is the “head of the body” (Ephesians 1:22-23). What is of the greatest importance is not the physical plant (a building) but the spiritual plants (Christians). God builds His temple with living stones (1 Peter 2:4-5) and not lifeless mortar and brick.
Sometimes it may be very appropriate to sing, “Whisper, whisper, in God's house. . .” because we need to quietly focus on God as the assembly of His people. Sometimes it may be more appropriate to sing and shout praises and thanksgiving to Him. What is most important is that Jesus shed His blood for His church and not for a building built by human hands.
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
03-07-07
#10
