Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Monday, September 21
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1 Peter 2:9-12-But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Quite often in our religious world a great deal of significance is granted to church buildings. Many people treat them as sacred spaces, where many mam-made laws and traditions are enacted in order to foster the idea that such a building is somehow holy.
Indeed, learning about the origins of church buildings is a fascinating study.
Ancient Judaism was centered on three elements: the Temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifice. When Jesus came, He ended all three, fulfilling them in Himself. He is the temple who embodies a new and living house made of living stones—“ without hands.” He is the priest who has established a new priesthood. And He is the perfect and finished sacrifice. 25 Consequently, the Temple, the professional priesthood, and the sacrifice of Judaism all passed away with the coming of Jesus Christ. 26 Christ is the fulfillment and the reality of it all. 27 In Greco-Roman paganism, these three elements were also present: Pagans had their temples, their priests, and their sacrifices. 28 It was only the Christians who did away with all of these elements. 29 It can be rightly said that Christianity was the first non-temple-based religion ever to emerge. In the minds of the early Christians, the people—not the architecture—constituted a sacred space. The early Christians understood that they themselves—corporately—were the temple of God and the house of God. 30 Strikingly, nowhere in the New Testament do we find the terms church (ekklesia), temple, or house of God used to refer to a building. To the ears of a first-century Christian, calling an ekklesia (church) a building would have been like calling your wife a condominium or your mother a skyscraper! 31 The first recorded use of the word ekklesia to refer to a Christian meeting place was penned around AD 190 by Clement of Alexandria (150–215). 32 Clement was also the first person to use the phrase “go to church”—which would have been a foreign thought to the first-century believers. 33 (You cannot go to something you are!) Throughout the New Testament, ekklesia always refers to an assembly of people, not a place. Ekklesia, in every one of its 114 appearances in the New Testament, refers to an assembly of people. (The English word church is derived from the Greek word kuriakon, which means “belonging to the Lord.” In time, it took on the meaning of “God’s house” and referred to a building.) 34 Even so, Clement’s reference to “going to church” is not a reference to attending a special building for worship. It rather refers to a private home that the second-century Christians used for their meetings. 35 Christians did not erect special buildings for worship until the Constantinian era in the fourth century. New Testament scholar Graydon F. Snyder states, “There is no literary evidence nor archaeological indication that any such home was converted into an extant church building. Nor is there any extant church that certainly was built prior to Constantine.” In another work he writes, “The first churches consistently met in homes. Until the year 300 we know of no buildings first built as churches.” 36. (Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices, 10-12 (Kindle Edition): BarnaBooks)
None of this means that we should be disdainful or contemptuous of church buildings if we are blessed or have them. We should be good stewards of all that we have (1 Corinthians 4:1-5).
Yet at the same time, let us keep our focus on what the church truly is: God’s people. As such, a church building should be utilized to carry out the work and mission of God’s people in the world. It should be used as a place to organize and plan for the works of evangelism, benevolence, edification, and worship (i.e, the works which God has authorized the church to carry out in the world of man). When more care and concern are shown for a physical building then for the people of God and His mission, then God is dishonored in the very buildings which are supposed to be set aside to carry out His work.
I was reminded of this recently while thinking about some friends who used their church building to provide a shelter and place of safety for some homeless people in their community. They were honoring God by using their church building to help those who were in need.
1 John 3:17-18-But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
James 2:15-18-If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Sadly, some condemned these Christians for using a ‘sacred place’ to minister to those in need.
Just like that: a church building supposed to honor God had become an idol by the very people of God themselves.
What are some dangers of equating a church building with the church?
What are some ways that we can use our church buildings?
May the church of Christ seek God’s wisdom for how we can best use our resources (including our church buildings) to His glory.
Grant us wisdom, Lord. Amen.