Invisible Walls (Ordinary Time - Day 92)

1 Kings 8:65-9:9

The last church I was part of decided to start a building campaign. It was a massive, millions of dollars building campaign that I didn't like. As soon as I was convinced that the leadership of the church was taking the green light, I was out. My heart was out of line with what the leadership was choosing to do with the resources of the people. In my anger, I covertly attained the membership directory of the church and started sending a mass email to everyone. I got all the way to the "M's" before the email made its way all around the Houston area. People I never intended to receive the email ended up receiving it. Finally, to put out the fire, one of the associate pastors from the church came to my house and asked personally asked me to stop sending the emails.

I ran away from that church based on my belief that building was a misuse of people's money, and that more could be done pouring those resources into the community. After all, that's what I was doing. Why shouldn't the church do what I thought was right? It was a losing battle though. It was a David and Goliath.

Several years have passed since I sent that email out, and as I sit on the verge of another inevitable building or buying campaign, I need to look inside my heart to really decide if buildings are really as bad as I once thought they were. I think today's passage speaks into this in great detail, and I would like to write about how this temple that Solomon built got God's stamp of approval.

First of all, it was King David's idea to build a temple. The scriptures say that when David got the idea, he got pushback from God himself. The author says that God asked David, "Why do you all of a sudden think that I need a temple. What makes you think that after all these years of being outside, I would need to be put in a box?"

Right off the bat, the temple was an idea contrary to what God had in mind. David never got to build a temple, but his son Solomon did. It took massive amounts of people, money, and natural resources to complete it, but it got done. When it was finished, the author says that God put his stamp of approval on it and sanctified it. But, there were strings attached. Buildings always have strings attached when we connect a confined space with the presence of God.

The author of 1 Kings tells us that in order to keep God's stamp of approval on the building, Solomon would have to do the following: live in God's presence, be pure in heart and action, live the life God had set out for him, and be attentively obedient to his guidance and judgments.

If Solomon did these four things from the time the temple was built until he passed, the author tells us that God would back his leadership and make his leadership a sure thing on solid foundation. If Solomon didn't do these four things, then he would lose the people of Israel and the temple would become a thing of contempt.

When we choose to call a building holy, we are taking the risk of putting standards on our leadership that possibly won't be met. The standards that were given to Solomon in order to keep the building stamped with approval, were not standards confined to the building. The standards he was given dealt with the way he lived his life inside and outside the temple. That's a pretty big risk if you ask me.

The author tells us that God questioned, but didn't disapprove, the construction of a temple. Just like in Solomon's days, I don't believe God disapproves our buildings. However, I think construction projects come with standards on leadership, and the standards overflow into everyday living. I also think that for those of us who aren't planning on building a building, but are building community, the following questions provide a good inventory of where we're at on having a sacred space that's stamped with God's approval.

1. Are we living in God's presence inside and outside of our buildings?
2. Are we pure in heart and action inside and outside of our buildings?
3. Are we living the life we believe God has set out for us, inside and outside of our buildings?
4. Are we being attentively obedient to what we believe are God's guidance and judgments, inside and outside of our buildings?

 If we can answer these questions satisfactorily and honestly at the end of each day, then chances are that our buildings are stamped with approval, and are being used in a way that doesn't compartmentalize God. In essence, the walls of the building are invisible and what goes on inside doesn't look any different than what goes on outside.