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While on a hunting trip several
years ago, I stumbled across an old cemetery. Nearby was a
half-standing building that was almost completely covered with
kudzu (southern ivy) and honeysuckle vines. As I approached it,
I made out the word "church" on the front wall.
All across our land there are
many buildings-large, small, brick, steel, old, new - which are
called "church." Most of these buildings come complete with
nice comfortable pews, air and heat, stained glass windows, and
a steeple. To the majority, believer and non-believer, “church”
has come to mean a building. I am not suggesting that God does
not use physical buildings today. He obviously does! There is
nothing wrong with being taught the Bible and worshipping God in
a building. But many people have difficulty separating the real
church from the physical building. What exactly is the church?
Old Testament Rituals
Under the Old Testament teaching
of the Mosaic Law, God used a special priesthood, a complex
sacrificial system, and a physical building called the temple,
to make Himself known to man. The Jews learned many details
about God's redemptive plan through the use of all of these
things. Israel was immersed in the activity that surrounded the
temple.
The temple was so important to
God that He used specially gifted craftsmen to construct it.
These uniquely chosen builders were given special tasks to
perform. There were engineers, carpenters, brick masons, and
others, all working together following a special blueprint given
to them by God (Heb. 8:5).
"All who are gifted artisans
among you shall come and make all that the Lord has
commanded" (Exodus 35:10).
"And Bezalel and Aholiab, and
every artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and
understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the
service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the
Lord has commanded" (Ex 36:1).
At an appointed time, the
invisible God revealed why such great care was taken in
constructing this building. God revealed His awesome presence in
the temple in the form of a cloud and fire. This unveiling of
His presence was called His glory (that which shed light
upon Him).
"Then the cloud covered the
tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34; see I Kings 6-8).
New Testament Reality
At Pentecost, fifty days after
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God did a remarkable thing. He
set aside the temple, the old physical building made with human
hands, along with the entire legal system that it represented.
He replaced it with a new spiritual temple! This new temple was
not made of brick and wood - but of people! He then relocated
the expression of His glory in people.
"For you are the temple of
the living God; as God has said, 'I will dwell in them, and
walk with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people" (2 Cor. 6:16).
"Don't you know that you are
the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in
you?" (2 Cor. 3:16).
"Now, therefore, you are no
more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone, In whom all the
building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in
the Lord; In whom you also are built together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22).
This spiritual building is made
up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians placed together into a
living organism built of "living stones" that pulsate with the
very life of God.
"You also, as living stones,
are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter
2:5).
Today our invisible God locates
Himself not in physical buildings but in those people who belong
to Him. The bodies of believers have become the dwelling place
of God - the body of Christ. Believers, not buildings, are the
church. Believers are the “house of God.”
"For we are members of His
body, of His flesh and of His bones. This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His church" (Eph.
5:30;32).
Built On A Firm Foundation
Architects know that a building
is only as strong as the foundation upon which it stands. The
church of Jesus Christ is built on an everlasting, solid
foundation. Peter expressed the true identity of Jesus Christ by
saying that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He
recognized that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh. It was upon
this truth that Christ told Peter He was going to build His
church (Matt. 16:18). God's living temple is being built upon
the foundation of the deity of Jesus Christ.
Gifted Craftsmen
Just as gifted craftsmen built
the old physical temples (Bezalel and Oholiab), gifted craftsmen
are also building up this living structure. At His ascension,
taking His role as the High Priest and the head of His body,
Jesus Christ placed gifted craftsmen into His body in order to
build it.
“But to each one of us grace
was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it says, ‘When
He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And
He gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:7-8).
Each member placed into the body
of Christ becomes a craftsman designed by God to play a part in
constructing this living body.
“For the equipping of the
saints for the work of service, to the building up of the
body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).
This special capacity for
construction comes from the Greek word "charismata." It
is a supernatural God-given capability for service, given to
believers when they become a member of the body of Christ. Each
member of the body is equipped by God and is challenged to
become a part of the building process. Both Paul and Peter
mention these special gifted craftsmen in their letters (Rom.
12:6-10; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:11, 1 Pet. 4:10-11). Upon
completion of this living building, the Head - the Lord Jesus
Christ - will reunite His spiritual body to Himself.
“For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1
Thess. 4:16-18).
The Bible teaches that God is
present everywhere (Psa. 139:7-12) and that the heaven of
heavens cannot contain Him, much less a physical building (2
Chron. 6:18). But God today chooses to locate Himself, not in
buildings made with hands, but in people who have trusted the
Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
The next time you see a physical
building on the corner with the name “church” on the outside,
remember who the real church is.
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