June 8

Deuteronomy 12 “It’s your thing! Do what you wanna do.” So goes the lyrics to the Isley brothers 70’s hit song. It seems to have been the motto of many in the early 70’s. The song is appealing to the individual. However it is devastation to relationships. Some where within relationships there must come a centrality of purpose and action. The Lord clearly lays out the necessity of the centrality of the tabernacle/temple in this passage. Why was there to be only one place of worship? One main reason is given. It was to prevent every man from ‘doing what was right in his own eyes’ (v.8). History clearly demonstrates the proclivity of man to do his own thing. Consider for example the 33,000 to 41,000 denominations in the world. Consider for example the ease with which people jump from church congregation to church congregation, much like they go from Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart. God’s people are not immune to doing what is right in their own eyes. One would think that It would be a little different with God’s people. After all, Jesus prayed in John 17:22, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.” Wouldn’t being one preclude 33,000 denominations? Am I missing something? Much of the glory of our Lord Jesus is invested in the unity of His people. Consider these verses: We are one temple. There is only one foundation, and only one building which He is building on it. Ephesians 2:19–22 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. One day the son of perdition will build a temple in Jerusalem so that He can show Himself to be God. You see the purpose of a temple is to display God. That is why He is building us into a temple—so that He can display Himself as God in us (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It is through his building of the church that His glory is seen. Ephesians 3:21 tells us, “To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” His glory is somewhat dependent upon our unity. So how does He get glory out of the current state of the church? I can only guess that it is through the organic unity of the church, not the organizational unity. One day the organizational structures of the church will be dissolved. When it does, only the organic unity will remain. That will be true glory. On the one hand, in that day we will still do our thing; however, at that time our thing will be one thing: to bring glory to Him. Don’t you think for the sake of His glory we ought to work a little harder on unity? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john