Sunday Review 8/23

Last Sunday, we covered Chapter 19 of The Story - The Return Home. We talked about some of the joys of various homecoming festivals, and how being home, even when life is busy, can seem so good to your soul.

We also talked about the fact that the book of Ezra records that the Jews were sent back to Jerusalem with a mission. King Cyrus of Persia told them to rebuild God's temple. But there were enemies of Israel who tried to delay or stop the progress of the construction of the house of God.

But when King Darius, the new king of Persia, learned of this opposition, not only did he put a stop to it, but he demanded that the enemies of the Jews be the ones to financially support the temple's reconstruction, as well as to provide needed elements for the sacrifices to God that would take place there.

God seems to be rather insistent that this "house" be built. But we are reminded many times in Scripture that God doesn't live in temples made by human hands.

Acts 17:24-25
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 

If God doesn't "need" anything from us, including a "house" to live in, why is he so focused on the Jew's building a temple for him?

I believe it's not the temple itself God is concerned with, but everything the temple represents!

So what does the temple represent?

1. God's Presence
The temple was where the Jews went to worship. It was where they went to pray. It was where they went to inquire of the Lord and bring their sacrifices.
2. God's Praises
The temple was, after all, where people went to worship God. That would serve as a reminder that it's always appropriate to do so.
3. God's Provision
The idea here was that God's temple would be the first completed building in Jerusalem, right? So while they're building their houses, and their businesses, and their markets, they'd see that finished temple and remember that once again, it was God who brought them out of captivity. It was God who brought them into Jerusalem again, and it was God who brought them freedom and resources to settle here again.

Now, in our modern situation, the temple represents the church. Let me be so bold here as to suggest that in THIS case, I DO mean the church building.

Our specific building, Plum Creek Christian Church, was constructed in 1912. Construction finished in December of that year. Plum Creek had been meeting before that time in a barn a short distance North East of where the church currently sits at 4021 E 550 N in Rush County Indiana.

Plum Creek isn't a temple, or for those of you who are reading who don't attend Plum Creek Church, YOUR church isn't a "temple" either. But it is where we gather together to worship God. And he is still concerned about what happens inside that building. He's concerned that we:

1. Gather Together to Celebrate His Word - Not just from specific leadership persons such as myself as the preacher, or Libby Tanner as a Sunday School Teacher, or Scott Sterwerf as an elder. Those facets are certainly true and accurate, but from everyone I talk to at Plum Creek, I hear words of wisdom, words of kindness, words of life!
2. Gather Together to Worship Him - I appreciate our worship teams at Plum Creek and the unique worship experiences they help to arrange. Lifting our hearts to God together gives me great joy each week.
3. Gather Together to Enjoy Fellowship with his People - I have made lifelong friends at Plum Creek. People to love, people to pray with, people to bounce ideas off of. People who's shoulder I can cry on when I need to. I can testify that the people of Plum Creek do a great job of wrapping their arms around you in troubled times.

God is still just as concerned with what happens inside the building today as he was back there. And just as there were enemies to face the Jews who re-constructed the temple, there are enemies today who would threaten our work on building the kingdom of God. In order to stand up to those enemies, we need to be strong and united, as the Jews in our story were. I'll leave you with this scripture, and encourage you as I do to follow Paul's instructions in order to best carry out the work of building God's Kingdom.

Ephesians 4:1-6
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

Be one, my brothers and sisters - and let no enemy inside or outside of the church stop you from building God's kingdom.