Church Buildings....extended version (Part 1)

BEWARE: Very very long post. Bear the wordiness.
Note: There are many verses referenced here. Please look it up yourselves. :P Exercise a bit. :P

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I have had the privilege to listen to sermon or heard of sermons teaching that building a big and grand church building is scriptural. As I search and think about the Scriptures, I realize that there is no such biblical support. You may be saying, “But there is so many…” I beg to differ on that.

A lot of speakers usually quote from the Old Testament about the building of the temple. The quotations usually come from books like 1 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, etc. They are unable to quote any sustainable verses from the New Testament because there simply isn’t anything to support big church buildings there! By doing this, they are taking Scripture out of context and interpreting it to think it is God’s will.

I realized something quite interesting on how the temple came about. It is good to note that God never commanded the building of the temple. It was King David’s idea ( 2 Samuel 7). He wanted to honor God by building a more permanent place of worship for the Isrealites. Before the temple, they worship in the tent-like tabernacle. It was this same tabernacle that God commanded the Isrealites to build while in the wilderness. God, in His grace, honored David’s request but told David that Solomon would do the building instead.

But the temple would prove to be Israel’s downfall. They trusted in the temple rituals, the obeying of the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law, the gold furnishings and the grandeur of the temple rather than the Person whose Presence rested in the temple. Not long after Solomon died, the nation split and 10 of the 12 tribes (the southern kingdom) turned to persistent idolatry. The northern kingdom of Judah was wavering between God and Baal even though they had the temple in their area. Read what Jeroboam, king of the southern kingdom did which lead the people into persistent idolatry, “27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam." 28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.” ( 1 Kings 12:27-29)
What caused the southern kingdom to build the two calves? The temple.

The speakers also quote books like Haggai that speak about the rebuilding of the temple and how God rebuked the Israelites for neglecting the rebuilding but they themselves were staying in paneled houses (Haggai 1 focus on verse 2-4). Therefore, we should build expensive and big church buildings. This is pulling Scripture out of context. The temple was an outward sign of their attitude towards God. Notice in the old days, when the people fell into idolatry, the temple was neglected but when they returned to God, they restored the temple. So, God rebuked them for focusing on their own houses first instead of the temple because this revealed what was in their heart. They were falling into materialism and lukewarm-ness in their worship with God. Therefore, God had to warn them sharply through his prophets. It was not because God wanted a nicer temple. Heck, the whole universe is his. Why would he want a nicer temple on earth when he has the whole heaven? He was dealing with the heart of the matter; their heart condition. Also note that the temple was built at minimal cost and it didn’t look as grand as the former temple. How do we know that? We read in the bible that some mourned instead of rejoicing when the temple was dedicated because they had seen the former temple and the current one was nowhere near in comparison (Ezra 3:12-13). The temple was also necessary because the Jews have lost their one and only place of worship. Note that the tabernacle was also long gone. The temple was also a national identity for them; the symbol of the nation. (Interestingly, even today, the Jews want to rebuild the temple. Why? It’s their national identity). Without the temple, they have no identity as the chosen people of the LORD.

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