The Lord’s House – Part 2 – Living Stones

(1 Peter 2:4-10)

We come to Him and are born of His very life. That same Spirit that raised Christ form the dead gives us a life we never had before.  Every human, every man and woman, is born with a spirit, and the Spirit of God searches the whole earth and finds hearts who are open to receive that Life.  We can only call this a mystery, similar to natural childbirth.  When a child is born, it is not simply a physical being, it is a living soul.  The spirit of everyone of us then hungers for something naturally indefinable.  But God is searching for us.  He sent Jesus Christ, as the good Shepherd, to find us like lost sheep.  Some of us appeared to be more lost than others.  Indeed some of us were really lost.

He found us, saved us, cleaned us up and we knew Him.  We became aware, not only of ourselves now, but of the Living God.  Just before the referenced passage, Peter refers to us as newborn babes.  He continues with the description of us as living stones, being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  Sacrifices of praise and worship are inspired in us by that Spirit He filled us with.  To be sure, we do more than praise, pray, and worship but these activities are the foundation of all else.  And our listening, our sitting at the feet of Jesus, the Master Teacher is primary.  None compares to His wisdom, His life, His love.  His words are Spirit and they are Life.

We have written, as we have heard, that we are His workmanship.  Peter writes we are being built up.  When Solomon built his temple, no sound of human working or human tools were heard at the temple site.  The stones were fitted together forming a perfect harmonious structure.  The Lord is bringing us all to that.  Everything that hinders the flow of His life, everything of self is being removed.  He brings us to a place of being living stones and His life flows from one member to another.  It is all built upon the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ himself.  No other foundation can be laid.

Often, other materials, other stuff that is not founded upon Christ is used in building.  Such material cannot stand the test of God’s fire.  If we pay attention, He will teach us to build His way as He taught the disciples.  We find we can be in the place where His fire is a gentle burn easily removing chaff and burning it up.  His sanctifying work.  As we abide in Him growth will happen.  We grow down deeper into Him and blossoms come, His fragrance comes forth, and then pleasant fruit, pleasing to Him and a blessing to others.

A few years ago, I attended a conference where a pastor, Steve Chua, was teaching from the letter to the Ephesians.  During that weekend or shortly after I had a picture of God’s building in my spirit.  I was aware of us as living stones fitted together.  Each “stone” was alive, organic if you will.  A mortar was between each stone as would be used in natural building.  I have understood that mortar to be the love of Christ working in each one of us.  Each stone was not static but growing and expanding.  As each would grow, the whole building would expand.  Finding ourselves to become a spiritual house is a beginning, not the end.  He will expand the house to hold more of His glory and presence.

As He adds to the stones with new members, what an awesome house we can expect.  The glory of this latter house will be greater than the former.  We understand this on several levels, different perspectives, but we remain focused on this spiritual house, even the body of Christ, not mystical, but spiritual.  Real and substantial, built by God Himself as a city not made with hands, or any human effort, but by the Spirit of God.  His ways are higher than ours and past our finding out, except by that Spirit that opens our eyes and ears.  My we continue to grow in grace, truth, and love ever being aligned with His plumb line.  Such as necessary for the building to truly become what He desires to inhabit.

The Lord’s House – Part 1

(Ephesians)

We read in Ephesians 2:22 that we are being built together to be a habitation, a dwelling place, of God in the Spirit.  His goal is for us to become a house for Him to stay in.  We would be a welcoming place for Him all our days.  Over the years this thought, this desire of the Lord, has been mentioned and expanded upon in pictures to clarify and emphasize it for us.  As we press toward the unity of faith, toward being the fully mature new man (Eph 4), we hear again Jesus’ prayer that we would be one as He and the Father are one.  How seemingly impossible, but with God, this is not only possible but an aspect of His ultimate desire and will.  It will be accomplished.

He has called us to participate with Him in the building.  First, we submit to His working on and in us.  We are His workmanship, created for good works, which He planned beforehand that we should walk in them.  What an awesome thought.  Before the foundation of the earth, He called us to walk with Christ to fulfill His desire to have this dwelling place.  We are being built together into a dwelling place of God by the Spirit.  We grow in our identification with Christ, as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  No institution can represent this.  We do organize ministries and churches.  Administration is a necessary part of our functioning.  We look to keep that in the background.

Recently, a brother I met for the first time responded to a comment I made saying, we need structure.  True.  The human body has structure but the skeleton is on the inside.  If we see the bones protruding we know something is not right.  The flesh, living tissue should be healthy so that the body is seen.  Too much structure and we are distracted from the face and getting to know the person.  When we see that sort of thing, let’s not get critical, let’s pray for more flesh to cover the bones.  Pray for the spiritual health of the place.

I am more and more unsure, uncertain how to proceed in this regard.  The Lord never intended to build any organization.  We all get frustrated at such a statement but it is absolutely certain.  It does not mean we should never own a building or put a name on it.  But we must never become attached to it.  We have not here a lasting city.  Organizations built by humans are like humans.  The grass withers, the flower fades and we need to move on.  I have participated in churches, a bible school, and Christian academic schools.  They all have a temporary place in our lives.  These are places where we can be offended, hurt, betrayed as well as encouraged, taught, and experience growth.  Many of us have experienced unjust rejections.  Hold no offense.  Allow the Lord’s justice to manifest in His way, in His timing.  He then has each of us in greater measure for His purpose and He receives a greater glory, more of us.

We simply need to again consider the life of Jesus.  He grew up in a family.  He went to synagogue school.  Has anyone been touched by rejections and unjust, undeserved treatment on the extreme level that Jesus knew?  The enemy’s vicious, jealous, arrogant, and blind overreach set up His total victory over his greatest weapon, fear of physical death.  That weapon of death was utterly destroyed.  Through the process, Jesus finished His course to fully become the chief cornerstone.  As the disciples followed Him they became, as John writes in Revelation, foundation stones of the walls of the city.  They are built upon that chief cornerstone.

We are His workmanship.  That bears repetition.  This is true individually and corporately.  When we do not fit in a certain place, in certain relationships, we move.  Was trouble necessary to spread the church from Jerusalem?  Persecution accelerated and the diaspora came.  That is the word Peter used in his letter and it was translated, “to those scattered.”  They were seeds scattered.  We are not meant to only stay in one place.  That movement is primarily spiritual and relates to our growth, our upward climb toward His full purpose.  Geographic movement is often, but not always, part of the process.  I sense a personal challenge here yet not what I will or think.  I want the Good Shepherd to lead; His direction and His timing bring us to His destination.

If we are paying attention, we see He is building globally.  Technology has caused us to remain in meaningful, instantaneous connection all over the world.  And we hear more and more stories of translations by the Spirit.  God is doing more than we ask or think.  I have been praying for spiritual changes.  God has responded with natural manifestations.  This has included earthquakes, and literal fires.  I did not ask for them and they came.  His building is a house of prayer.  We are learning and seeing that prayers release His judgements.  Also prayers bring His mercy.  We all desire His rich mercy.  But without justice, no true mercy will come.