Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 9 verses 1 through 5:
When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lordand the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, 2the Lordappeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 4As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel for ever, as I promised your father David, saying, “There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.”
Psalm 26 verse 8:
Lord, I love the house in which you dwell
and the place where your glory abides.
And James chapter 2 verses 14 through 17, and 26:
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.
Today's Scriptures tell of the dedication of Solomon's mighty Temple to the LORD and the Psalmist's encomium for the Temple's holy magnificence, "Lord, I love thy house in which you dwell and the place where your glory abides." Here we see religion in all its beauty and its expression in full flower through architecture and artistry.
And then we have a word from James the brother of Jesus which serves not so much as a counter weight, but simply a reminder to keep things in perspective and proportion. Just as the body is not flesh alone but also spirit, James says, so also faith without works is dead. A house dedicated to God, he seems to be telling us, can be an architectural wonder and crafted with the utmost of gift and care, but if it is not also a place which meets human need then it is just a pretty body without spirit. A true House of God is to be dedicated not only to the glory of God, but also to the service of humankind. Faith without works is dead, James said. So, too, a church without service is just a building.
I pastor now a church with a truly glorious and inspiring sanctuary. I love it. I love the place where the glory of God abides. But I know that's not enough to be a true church. A true church must be dedicated not only to God but also neighbor. And I am reminded of this every time I drive up and see not only a great spire reaching up to the heavens, but also transepts reaching out to towards the city, and a Baptist Center putting clothes on the backs of those in need. And that is what makes it a true church -- the place where the glory abides not only in the building, but also in the bodies of the people who come to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment