Acts 7:47-50
Jan and I have had the privilege of visiting some of the
great architectural buildings in Europe and in the United States, and the
public at large calls them churches, and so do most Christians. One of my favorites is Notre - Dame Basilica
of Montreal. The reason may be its
marvelous woodcarving and the many types of wood that are used in doing the
project. If you work with wood it is a
site to behold, and it took years to build the building that stands on that
site today. But the question must be asked;
does God call these wonderful marvels his church? And the other question that must be asked is
does God dwell in any of them?
Shall
we address the second question first, Stephen’s discourse with the high priest
and those who have accused him of falsehoods.
Picking up Dr. Luke’s account in Acts 7:47-48, “But it was Solomon who built a house for
him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet
says,” and then Stephen quotes from the prophet Isaiah, “This is what the Lord says:
Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house could you possibly
build for Me? And what place could be My home? My hand made all these things
and so they came into being.” (Isaiah 66:1-2) So what Christians and the world refer to, as
the church building is not the dwelling place of God and that is very clear in
Scripture.
Now the first question: “does God call these
wonderful marvels (buildings built by the hands of men) His church?” First
and foremost is this fact; the Church is eternal, as is the Word of God, and
that opens another question; can a building built by man be eternal? Now each of us who have by faith, through the
grace of God received Jesus Christ as our Lord, have eternal life now. The apostle John tells us this clearly in John
17:3, “And
this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.” And when
Christ came to live in our earthly body, we began at that moment to be
eternal. The apostle Paul gives this
insight; “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold,
the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
The
new that has come is Christ in you the hope of Glory, and we must know that our
flesh is not our identity; we are now “a spirit critter” as my friend Bill
often said. If we can grasp this truth
that the Christ life is eternal, and we have entered into that time line, and
our life now, not later but now, extends forever into what we call both future
and past. Much is made of Christ living
in us and it should be because you understand that verses stating that “you in Christ”
or more numerous, and if you are in Christ where are you at this moment?
I
often look for the evil one’s deception and what a great scheme he has pulled
off by getting followers of Christ to join the world in calling a building the
Church. If you ponder on this at all, it
is trickery; our identity in Christ has been replaced by a building. And as you contemplate this look at the
ramifications, many only act like a Christian in a building, they do not
understand that God is living in them, if they have by faith interred into
Christ.
This
is what Scripture refers to as the Church: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's
Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.
For God's temple is holy, and you are
that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV) “Or do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have
from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify
God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV) We have
been conned by the one the Lord
warned us about, in John 10:10, the thief, the liar, the evil one, the devil,
and the con was to give up our identity and call something made by man what God
calls His temple. All who are in Christ
and Christ in them are the Church, and where two are more are gathered
in
His name we have His promise He will join us.
From
the Back Porch,
Bob
Rice
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