Standing on Holy Ground | A Sermon on 1 Kings 8:27-30

Introduction
Today, we begin a new series about the Holy Temple.  But don’t think this is just a series of lectures about some ancient ruins of a long, lost temple.  What the Bible says about the Temple is highly relevant to your life today.  The New Testament teaches that Christians are the “Temple of God”, that each one of us is a “living stone” in God’s spiritual temple.  I want us to understand the full ramifications of what this means for how we are to live every day.  So for the next 4 weeks, we will explore the Biblical concept of Holy Ground.  And we will end on August 25^th a special rededication service for our “Holy Ground” here at Pleasant Grove Methodist Church.

Our Scripture today is 1 Kings 8:27-30.  This passage is part of King Solomon’s prayer when he dedicated the first Temple he built in Jerusalem in 957 BC.  Solomon asks an important question.

1 Kings 8:27-30
²⁷ “But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! ²⁸ Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today. ²⁹ May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. ³⁰ May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

Will God really live on earth?
In his prayer, King Solomon asks a wise question:  Will God really live on earth?  For thousands of years, human beings across the globe have worshiped in sacred places.  There is archaeological evidence of sacred rituals in caves as far back as 100,000 years.  The oldest evidence of a temple is Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey that dates back to approximately 9600 BC—that’s 11,000 years ago.  Obviously, people have always felt the need to worship God in special places—whether natural or manmade.

Christians believe God is omnipresent – meaning God is everywhere.  If I go to church, God is there.  But God is also with me when I go on my morning walk.  And God is with me when I lay down to sleep.  And God is with me when I go on vacation.  Psalm 139:7 – “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!”  If we believe in an almighty, all-powerful God, we also understand God can be everywhere.  So why go to the trouble to build and worship God in a temple, or a church, or even in special place we deem “Holy Ground”?

People sense a deep need to worship a Higher Power.  Christians call this higher power God.  But we also inherently seem to understand, something troubles and separates us from God.  Isaiah 52:2 reveals, “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.”  Sin separates us from God who is Holy and Sinless.  This was not always so.  Originally, God dwelled in perfect Holy Communion with humanity.

Heaven and Earth and Holy Ground
In the beginning, God made heaven where God and His angels dwell, and God created earth where animals and humans live.  Then God made the Garden of Eden where God and humanity abide together in perfect harmony.  

Unfortunately, Adam and Eve sinned and broke their relationship with God through disobedience.  Their sin separated them from God.  And all creation suffered from this “great fall” that corrupted everything.  Romans 8:20 says, “all creation was subjected to God’s curse.”

It’s not so much that God can’t be around us because we’re filled with so much disgusting sin
(as guilt and shame ridden people often think of it).  God has always loved us unconditionally and desired a relationship with us aven after we sinned.  The problem is:  we cannot abide the holy presence of God.  Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  God’s holiness is like a beautiful light emanating from a brilliant and holy fire.  Our sin is an impurity that would burn up in the presence of God’s absolute holiness; we could not survive it.  So God’s act of separating from us is actually an act of merciful grace.  

Yet God has never stopped loving us.  And God always wants to be with us.  And God started working from the very first moment we sinned to save and reconcile with us, but it’s a very difficult and expensive to rescue us.  It’s a plan thousands years in the making and cost the death of God’s very own Son—Jesus Christ.  And so, from the very beginning, God has made special places to be in His holy presence.

Holy Ground
In Genesis, we see God is primarily working through individuals and individual families.  Therefore, worship is primarily done by individuals or their families and private altars.  In Genesis 6, God told Noah to build an Ark to save his family and a remnant of the animals from a great flood.  Afterward, Noah built the first altar mentioned in the Bible.  As God painted a rainbow across the sky, Noah worshipped God on holy ground.  

In Genesis 12, God appeared to Abraham and blessed Him at Shechem, promising to make His descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.  So Abram built an alter and worshipped God and they cut a covenant together.

In Genesis 22, we find the disturbing story where God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, the miraculous child of promise on holy Mount Moriah.  Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain as Abraham mournfully seeks to obey God in this terrible request.  It is hard to understand, but  this story foreshadows God's plan of salvation for humanity.  Mount Moriah is the same hill as Mount Calvary.  God cries out and tells Abraham not to sacrifice his son.  God provides a ram to take Isaac's place.  2,000 years later, Jesus--the Son of God--carries the wooden cross up Mount Calvary and is crucified upon it to atone for the sins of the world.

In Genesis 28, we find Isaac's son Jacob sleeping on another piece of holy ground in a place he names Bethel, which means “House of God”, because there he dreamed he saw a ladder upon which angels where ascending and descending from heaven to earth.

In Exodus, God broadens His focus from individuals/families to a whole nation—the Israelites.  In Exodus 3, God appears to Moses in a burning bush and tells him to take off his sandles because he is standing on holy ground.  God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh in Egypt and let God's people (the Israelites) go free from slavery.  

Then in Exodus 20, Moses climbs up holy Mount Sanai where God gives him the 10 Commandments and the Law for His people.  This is how God's holy people are to live.  God's people became a nation.  They were slaves, but God rescued them from Egypt.  

As the Israelites wander through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, they dwelled in tents Since His people lived in tents, the Holy, omnipotent God who dwells in the glory of heaven humbled Himself and came down and lived in a tent alongside His people.

The Tabernacle

In Exodus 25, God gives instructions to build a Tabernacle, Israel’s first worship center.  That's how bad God wants to be with us, despite our stubborn, sinful, rebellious nature.  For 440 years, the Israelites worship the Holy and Living God, Yahweh, in the Tabernacle, an elaborate tent complex designed to mimic the Garden of Eden, the intersection of Heaven and Earth.  Here are some of the ways the Tabernacle was designed to mirror the Garden of Eden:

• The Menorah Lampstand in the Tabernacle looks like the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.
• There are pomegranates embroidered on the priestly garments to represent the fruit of the garden.
• There are cherubim guarding the Holy Place in the Tabernacle that houses the Ark of the Covenant (the footstool of God); these represent the cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden.
• The holy presence of God is with His people in the Tabernacle as He was with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The purpose of the Tabernacle was to make space for holy ground where people could once again dwell in the presence of God.  And all the elaborate rituals of the Old Testament Law where meant to make it possible for sinful humanity to come into the presence of their holy God as much as possible.  

The Israelites worshiped God in the Tabernacle for 440 years until they settled down in Israel.  And finally, after most Israelites were dwelling in houses and not tents and the king of Israel lived in a palace, God finally told King Solomon to build a Temple--a permanent structure, not a tent.  The pattern for the Temple was much the same as the Tabernacle—mimicking God's original plan to dwell with people in the Garden of Eden.

Then and Now
Despite God being beyond physical containment, He chose to make His presence known to the Israelites in the Tabernacle and then the Temple.  These worship centers served as the focal points for prayer, worship, and the experience of God's presence.  The temple was a physical reminder of God's covenant with Israel and His promise to dwell among His people.  The temple was a place to seek God's mercy and forgiveness and healing. 

Of course, God is not confined to a specific building, no matter how sacred and glorious it was.  God is still everywhere.  But the ancient temple in Jerusalem was the communal place where the ancient people of God (Israel) gathered to worship together.

Together
And that's a key word for us to take away today:  together.  God’s people are meant to worship God together.  Of course, we can and should worship God every day in our own personal ways and in our own personal spaces.  However, our worship is always incomplete if we do not join together with other believers as a community.

Conclusion
There is much to unpack as we examine the history and purpose of the Temple.  I'm going to share more over the next few weeks.  I hope you will stay tuned as we examine a number of important ideas and themes connected to the Temple.  Stay tuned!

The Names of God - Yahweh-Shammah

Introduction

Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”  God’s names reveal His character and help us to know Him.  Today, I want to consider the name Yahweh-Shammah, which means the Lord is there. We will see it is a name for God and also for a great city that Christians hope to inhabit one day.

Ezekiel was a prophet of Israel that lived in captivity in the time of the Babylonian Empire. Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and set up a puppet government that promised to be loyal to Babylonia. Then, Babylonia took several important people captive as hostages back to Babylonia. Ezekiel was among the captives. A few years later, Jerusalem rebelled and Babylonia returned to reconquer and destroy the city. When Ezekiel and the Israelite captives in Babylon heard the news of Jerusalem's destruction, they were devastated. But God gave them a vision through Ezekiel. God said Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed because of Israel's sin of idolatry. However, God was going to one day build a new eternal city and temple and Israel's heritage and way of life will be built into the very walls of the city.

Ezekiel 48:30-35
³⁰ “These will be the exits to the city: On the north wall, which is 1 1⁄2 miles long, ³¹ there will be three gates, each one named after a tribe of Israel. The first will be named for Reuben, the second for Judah, and the third for Levi. ³² On the east wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. ³³ The south wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, will have gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. ³⁴ And on the west wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.

³⁵ “The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be ‘The Lord Is There.’”

Slide – Yahweh-Shammah
The New Living Translation translates the Hebrew Name for God and the eternal city as "The Lord Is There".  The original Hebrew word was Yahweh-Shammah.  Yahweh means "I Am" or "I Am Who I Am".  Usually, this is translated into English as LORD with all capital letter to indicate the original word was Yahweh.  Lord is decent translation; it captures something of the original meaning.  A lord is sovereign.  You can't tell a lord what to do; the lord tells you what to do.  God (Yahweh) is Lord of all.  He is sovereign over everything.  He is who He is.  We can't control or manipulate Him.

Shammah means There.  Ezekiel 48:35 is the only time Shammah is used in the entire Bible.  

Yahweh-Shammah is the last word of the last sentence of the last chapter of Ezekiel.  The Prophet ends his vision of God’s restoration of the broken dreams of God’s people with this hope:  “Something new is coming.  I know our homes have been destroyed.  Our culture is demolished.  Our city and temple are gone and we are prisoners in a foreign land.  But One Day the Lord will build a new city and it’s eternal name will be “The Lord is There.”

Do you know the Lord is there?
Do you know the Lord is there?  Some people struggle to know the Lord is there.  Thy think of God as an old man in the sky, or a distant deity, or some ethereal energy or spiritual force.  However, the Bible repeatedly tells stories that reveal God is real, tangible, and personable. 

God spoke to the prophets.  God was a friend to Abraham. Genesis says God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the day.

If that weren’t enough, God took the form of a man and came down to earth.  He was born as a baby named Jesus.  We read how Jesus was dedicated at the Temple.  Luke tells us about a time when Jesus got separated from his parents during a trip when he was 12.  The Gospels tell so many amazing stories about Jesus’ miracles and teachings, but it is also clear that, in Jesus, God is a man with flesh and blood who gets thirsty and hungry and who, in the end, even bleeds and dies.

So God is real and He is there.  God is not something vague or far off or impersonal. He is there.

God is there when a baby is born and a new life comes into the world.
God it there with the mother as she struggles through the pain of childbirth.
God is there with the father who can't do anything but watch and pray as the woman he loves gives birth.
God is there when your kids go back to school in uncertain times and with the teachers trying to educate them and keep them safe.
God is there when a young couple gets married or when a person struggles to remain single.
God is there when you start a new job—with the uncertainties and the hopes for the future.
God is there when you lose a child and you feel like your heart is utterly broken and you don't knwo how you can go on.
God is there when someone betrays you or when you are the betrayer.
God is there loving you even when you are being disciplined.  He was with the Israelites consoling and encouraging them with a new vision--even as they learned their homeland had been destroyed.
God is there when we celebrate, when we laugh, when we cry, when we live, and when we die.

Ezekiel and his people were devastated when the temple was destroyed.  For them in their time, the temple was where God lived.  The temple gave the people access to God’s presence.  The temple’s destruction meant they no longer had a place to be in God’s presence.  However, Ezekiel shared a vision for a new city called, Yahweh-Shammah, “The Lord Is There”.

Jesus came to start building that city in our hearts.  Do you remember how Jesus once told the religious leaders, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19).  The people thought he was crazy.  It had taken them 46 years to build the Temple.  However, Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical temple.  Jesus was talking about His body, which the Bible says was crucified and buried in a tomb and rose back to life on the third day.

This is part of a New Covenant God made with people.  If you repent of your sins and turn to God as your Lord, He forgives your sins and He is there for you.  In fact, His Holy Spirit lives in your heart!

You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem and seek God’s presence in some ancient temple.  God is right here, right now.  1 Peter 2:4-5a says, “⁴ You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  ⁵ And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.”

When Christians gather together, we form a spiritual temple where God is present.  Isn’t that amazing!  Remember how the presence of God filled the two holy places in the Old Testament.  First, there was the Tabernacle in Exodus.  As the Israelites were living in tents traveling from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land, God also lived in a tent called the Tabernacle.  It was the Israelites first Holy Place to worship in the presence of God.  The presence of God was revealed through a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Later, when the Israelites were settled in the Promised Land, King Solomon built the first temple and dedicated it to the Lord as the holy place where people worshiped in the presence of the Lord.  And the Lord revealed His glorious presence to the people through a great cloud of smoke that filled the temple.  Then we fast forward to the New Testament, to the book of Acts in the second chapter.  Jesus' disciples are gathered together in an upper room and the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the place as the Holy Spirit filled the believers and it was as if tongues of fire were dancing above each disciple's head.  It was just like in the Old Testament stories, except this time the presence of God did not inhabit a building; God filled people who believed in Jesus!  Christians are no the temple of God!

What’s more, Ephesians tell us the church is the body of Christ.  When we put our faith in Jesus, we are His body and His temple and the Lord is there.

A Future Hope
We still long for a day when all that is wrong with the world will be made right.  That Day is coming.  It is closer today than it was yesterday.  Jesus promised He would return One Day to separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the weeds--His faithful from the unfaithful.  That Day is coming and no one knows the day or the hour, so we have to always be ready.

One Day, God will make a New Heaven and a New Earth where everything is the way it was meant to be.  In that day, we will live together in the City of God on Earth.  Picking up on the vision God revealed to Ezekiel, the Revelation of John describes the New City named “God is There.”

Revelation 21:1-4
¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Holy Communion
Whenever we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, it reminds us of what Jesus did to reconcile us to God.  It also reminds us of His presence with us now.  Finally, it reminds us of our role to be the Body of Christ in this broken world until He returns.

Ekklesia 2 - Called Out of Shame

Introduction

It has been 10-11 weeks since we had a regular, onsite worship service at Pleasant Grove.  In fact, all over the world, it has been months since congregations have gathered in the sanctuaries for worship.  Does this mean we are no longer the Church?  Absolutely not!

In fact, during these crazy times, the Church may be more active doing God’s work than ever before.  I have been busier than ever doing Zoom meetings, making phone calls, and learning new technology.  I’ve had to become a medical expert, media expert, Bible expert, statistical expert, sociological expert… (not really, but I've been learning about and using tools in all of these categories and more…) I've been doing a daily devotion every morning on Facebook Live for almost 2 months.

I’ve been very busy!  In fact, I’ve hardly taken a real day off since his all began.  Even on my days off, I’ve been emailing, fielding texts and phone calls, and just thinking about ministry stuff.   One day soon, for my own personal health and well-being, I’m going to have to take some time off to just unplug from everything.  I’ll be turning my phone off, my computer off, everything off and you won’t be able to get hold of me.

Believe it or not, you’ve been busy too.  It may not feel like it, but you have.  Have you been staying at home? Doing nothing? Your sacrifice is for your own safety and the safety of others. That’s sacrificial love and it’s work. I’ve talked with people this week who haven’t left their homes in over 2 months! Wow!  That takes a toll.  Have you been living by faith? We like to know what the future holds and what our schedules will be.  However, we are living in a time when everything that used to be considered stable is up in the air.  The school calendar, sports schedules, vacations, camps are all being postponed and we don't know when they will be "normal" again.  Faith is the bedrock of the Christian faith and we're having to live by a lot of faith right now.  And it's tiring.

Others are considered “essential workers” who must bravely go out--sometimes to the very places everyone else is asked to avoid.  I know you're tired.

The New Testament Church dealt with and worked around plagues and persecutions.  They couldn't always meet in their usual ways or the ways they wanted because to do so might get them arrested and tortured or killed.  They had to be creative with Church, just as we are having to be creative during this COVID 19 pandemic.  We could learn a lot from their experience.

Today, I want to continue our message series “Ekklesia” about the purpose of the Church.  What is the Church?  What is our purpose?  The Greek word for Church used in the New Testament is Ekklesia.  It roughly translates “the called out ones.”  The Church that Jesus established is composed of people who are called out of darkness into the light, called out of shame into nobility, called out of a fallen world into God’s Kingdom.  Now, when we talk use the word "church" today, we think of a building.  Driving down the road, we might say, "Oh!  Look at that pretty church!" (Meaning the building).  But when the New Testament uses the word Church, it is referring to the congregation.  So as I am talking about Church in these messages, I am trying my best to use Church to refer to the people gathered in a Christian congregation.

The Church is a group of people who’ve been called out of something old into something new, something ugly into something beautiful, something shameful into something noble.  I want to read from God’s Word.  In this passage, I want you to imagine that you are a Gentile (because unless you were born a Jew, you are a Gentile.)

Ephesians 2:11-22

¹¹ Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. 

[How does it feel good to be called an outsider?]

You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 

[How does it feel to be called a heathen (an uncivilized person who lacks morals, and enemy of God)?] 

¹² In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. [How does it feel to be hopeless?]

¹³ But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. ¹⁵ He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. ¹⁶ Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

¹⁷ He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸ Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¹⁹ So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Where Does God Live?

Throughout the ages, people have built temples for their gods.  They wanted to control them…

The One True Living God the Bible tells us about, cannot be control and He does not need a building.  Acts 7:48 says, “The Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands.”  And Isaiah 66:1 says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Could you build me a temple as good as that?  Could you build me such a resting place?”

And yet, when God liberated the Jews from slavery in Egypt, they lived in tents as they traveled toward their new homeland.  And so, the God of the Universe, who made Heaven and Earth, humbled Himself and lived in a tent among His people.  God’s tent was called the Tabernacle.  The Tabernacle was where the people worshiped God and where God ministered to a guided His people.  God appeared in the Tabernacle as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Whenever the Spirit of God moved, the Israelites packed up the Tabernacle Tent and moved with God.

When the Israelites settled down in their new homeland in Israel, they built houses.  And God continued to live among His people in a Temple made of stone—like the way His people lived.  People revere their Temple. It was the most impressive building in their city.  People traveled from all over the world to worship in the Temple.

But because people are full of sin, no one could come completely into God’s presence, whether in the Tabernacle or the Temple.  Gentiles, sinners, and women were not allowed to enter either place of worship.  People with any kind of illness or deformity were also not allowed.  Only Jewish men in good standing were allowed inside, close to God.  And of those men, only those who were priests were allowed into the Holy of Holies close to God.  And of those priests, only the high priest was allowed into the Holiest Place in the presence of God—and that was only once a year on the Dy of Atonement after strenuous preparation and purification. 

These exclusions were not because God didn’t want to be near His people.  To the contrary, the fact that the God of the universe would choose to live in a building at all is proof that God did want to be near His people.  However, sin separates us from God.  The presence of God consumes sin like a blazing hot fire consumes dry leaves.  It was mercy that caused God to keep people at arm’s length; it was for their own safety!

But then an amazing thing happened!  God took on human form and came into the world as Jesus Christ—the Son of God!  And God lived among His people as a man! And 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”  Now, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be completely absolved of all sin!  So, there is now absolutely nothing at all that can separate us from God.  As Romans 8:38-39 says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Church – The Temple of God

So as we consider the purpose of the Church, we understand that the Church is where God lives.  The Church is where we meet with God, commune with God, worship and adore God, and receive God's guidance.  The Church is the Temple of God.  However, we must also understand, the Church is not a physical building.  The Church is the people.  Which people?  The Church is those people who have faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16).  Remember, in my message last week, we read Matthew 16:17 where Jesus said to Peter, “and upon this rock [i.e. the rock of this faith] I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

And now is Ephesians 2:20-21, the Scripture says, “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”

And 1 Peter 2:5 says, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”

Once again, we are not talking about this building—this physical building or any physical structure.  If the church building in your community no longer existed, there would still be a Church as long as Christians gathered for the Lord's purposes.  The purpose of a physical building is simply to provide a convenient space to do the things the Church is called to do.  At my church, Pleasant Grove, they started out in the early 1800s meeting under the shade of a pleasant grove of trees (that's where the name Pleasant Grove comes from.)  As time went on, the congregation decided it would be easier to have church if the built a roof to shelter them from rain.  And as time went on, their building structures evolved to meet the church's ministry needs.  However, it was always about the peoplee and ministry, not the buildings.  Church is the people, bot the building.  Actually, if the physical building ever hinders us from being the Church God calls us to be, we should abandon the building.  

Jesus actually said as much about the holy Temple in Jerusalem in his day.  In Matthew 24, we find Jesus and his disciples walking through Jerusalem and the twelve disciples are admiring the beautiful buildings with sentimental hearts and Jesus says, "A day is coming soon when not one stone of all these wonderful buildings will be left upon another."  And he was blasted by his enemies because he said, "Tear down this Temple and I will rebuild it again in three days."  Now, it had taken decades to build the Temple.  There was no way one man could rebuild the Temple in only three days.  What did Jesus mean?  Well, Jesus was crucified and buried for three days and then he rose from the grave and established the Church--the new Temple of God.   It is not a physical building; it is a people who believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Closing

We will look more at the purpose of the church next week.  But I want to close for now.  And as I close, I want to invite everyone to truly consider:  Are you the Church? Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah (the Chosen One), the Son of the Living God? (You can’t be the Church without this faith.) 

You have been called out of shame, but you have to start walking (by faith) out of that shame into the noble life God has for you—a life where you are the living stones of God’s Holy Temple and you are His holy priest. Do you want to leave shame behind? I pray you do and I'm praying you will.