Over the years I have frequently heard the complaint against churches for the amount of money spent upon buildings by churches. On the one hand they have some valid complaints. How is it that we can spend billions on buildings while people’s needs go unmet? How can we spend billions on buildings while one third of the world has never even heard the name of Jesus, much less been given an opportunity to repent and believe in Him. On the other hand there has to be a place for the church to congregate for worship and to perform various ministries to meet people’s needs. On the one hand the Catholic church spent great riches in the middle ages building gorgeous cathedrals while peasants wasted in poverty. On the other hand, the cathedral was the one place of manmade beauty which the peasants could enter and enjoy. There they could look up and consider the majesty of God. Should the building which houses the worship of the Almighty be a shoddy thing? How should it reflect His glory?
Jehoash had a passion for the glory of God. Yahweh only had one temple. Jehoash’s grandmother had desecrated it. It needed repair. Is it not odd that Jehoash’s zeal for the upkeep of the temple seemed to exceed the zeal of the priests? But then as king and not priest, perhaps his focus was more upon the material realm as opposed to the priests being focused upon the spiritual realm. A friend of mine is an architect. He reports that the balance between building a building of beauty and a building that is cost effective for its purpose is a problem for architects who design church buildings. But there was only one temple in Jehoash’s day, so it seems to me that a little lavishness upon that building to bring glory to God was excusable. That one building served millions of people. Jehoash was doing what was right to demand that the temple of the Lord reflect the Lord’s glory.
Even today there is only one temple that serves the people of God. Both Ephesians 2:21 and 1 Peter 2:4,5 tell us that today the temple of the Lord is not the physical buildings which we build, but it is the spiritual building of which we are the building blocks. Is the Lord most glorified in the physical building or the spiritual building? Obviously the answer is in the spiritual building. Let us have the zeal of Jehoash in building that spiritual temple! Yes there is a need for physical buildings of some sort, but let us never let the beauty of the physical temple eclipse the beauty of the spiritual temple. Let us never let the focus on the physical building drive the growth of the spiritual temple. Yes both should reflect the glory of God, but when all is said and done the physical will be destroyed. Only the building of the spiritual temple will result in true glory for our Lord. Let us pursue that! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JONAH 3
Why would anyone believe Jonah? As far as we know, they knew nothing of Jonah. There was no reason to believe him. Yet when he preached the God-given message at God’s command, they believed God—not Jonah—and brought forth the fruit of godly sorrow and repentance. If I went out preaching this message today, what would be the response? Probably nothing of value. What is the difference and why? I can only come to one conclusion. God wanted to demonstrate, for all the world to see, His willingness to receive an exceedingly wicked but repentant people. This tells me that no matter how wicked might be the audience today, if we have been commanded preach a message (and we have), then there is somebody out there in whom God is working to bring repentance and belief. If they believe, it is not because of me, but it is because of God. My job is to listen to the voice of the Lord and obey. His job is to draw men and women to Himself. If God uses my preaching to bring someone to Himself, there is no glory in it for me. The only thing I can say is that He empowered me to obey! Everything else is His work. He alone receives any glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
2 TIMOTHY 4
The Lord is a righteous judge. He will judge both the living and the dead. All will one day stand before His judgment seat. I have spent time in a court room as an observer. The times that I have been there have been to be a moral support to those who were either in a court battle or were there on criminal charges. One thing that has impressed me each time that I have been there is the absolute authority that a judge has in a court room. Not having ever been in the military, there is nothing else that I have experienced that is like the authority of a judge. Even a human judge carries a special authority. The lawyers treat them with the utmost respect. The officers respond immediately to their commands. If they want silence in the courtroom, they get it. Even the innocent tend to become timid before them. And this is just a human judge! What if that judge were corrupt, as we know happens every once-in-a-while? The potential for the abuse of power looms great in a judge. They have to be of the utmost highest in character.
If a human judge commands that much authority, how much more the judge of all the earth? I am so glad that He is righteous. But I am not innocent. Should I not be quaking before Him? Not any more. You see, He, the judge, has already paid the penalty for my sin and declared me to be righteous in His sight. I will stand before Him to be judged, not to see whether or not I will go to heaven. That was taken care of on the day I trusted Him as my Savior. I will stand before Him to see if I have done anything that is worthy of reward from Him. Now that is a deal! Not only does He pay the penalty due me and declare me righteous, but He also rewards me of any good work that He deems worthy of reward! Isn’t He glorious? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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