If you were to try and identify just one, what would you say the main difference is between the old and the new testament? I believe this passage has steered me to my answer and a few supplemental thoughts as well. I hope you will read on and that you will not pick up any stones as you read.
David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon, saying, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.”
In the old testament the sanctuary of the lord was a building; in the new testament its human beings. That a holy God would inhabit a fallen man with a will of his own as opposed to a neutral stack of bricks and mortar is a radical concept isn’t it? Holy God living in fallen man! Do we truly grasp this scandalous concept?
Why I ask this, is that it is Sunday morning and most of us will soon be heading out to our various places of worship. Many of us entering these buildings were taught since infancy, with hands clasped, “Here’s the church”, with index fingers pointed skyward, “Here’s the steeple” with clasped hands turned upside down revealing 10 wiggly digits, “Ta da! Here’s all the people!” And, as we grew and regularly entered the building, we were taught a new ditty…..
Up there’s the pastor / Beneath him, his staff / Lower yet, the pews / Where the people are counted.
I know. It doesn’t rhyme. But it doesn’t have to for it to do its job. It becomes established by tradition. Although, its a misnomer, maybe we can call this free-verse, where rhyming is forgiven. Our indoctrination into religion continues though with the next verse….
With Pastor is bible / Taught him by masters / Mama has chewed her food / Now shares it with her chicks
This poem not only does not rhyme. It makes no sense if the new testament still remains a plumb line of truth.
Churches have their doctrinal statements and their bylaws but far far more powerful than those documents are the traditions of men branded over time into our hearts and minds – becoming hallowed (therefore un-challengable) by practice. All our unspoken practices form the rigid wineskin of religious culture where trust and dependency are inordinately and unintentionally placed on things that would never have entered the minds of the apostles, prophets and teachers of the powerful early church.
While our childhood rhyme is cute, it turns out that it is by no means innocent. Neither are the extra-biblical ideas it spawned in our institutions where unfathomable amounts of resources have been devoted to maintaining the bricks and mortar while the mystery of Christ in us (the temples of God) has gone overlooked.
I propose that we inaugurate a new church tradition. We can call it Biblical Church Day where we devote our honor to the new testament church. On BC Day, we will not attend the buildings which the early church never had. We won’t participate in a single program which they would have never conceived of. We will simply gather in small groups and perhaps read the scriptures. We can share a meal together. Perhaps we could call it communion. In our gatherings, we will not only remember Jesus and the blood he shed but also the church for which it was so effectually shed – the new testament church, the last (and coming) wineskin strong enough to turn the world upside down.
As I am sure you have perceived, I am proposing that our good-vision of church (which admittedly has done and still does so much good) may be at cross-purposes with a best-vision – a kingdom– driven vision that was inaugurated with Jesus and is about to be rediscovered in our own hearts. In the coming kingdom we shall not only see good delivered through the institutional mechanism but we shall see abundance Life expressed through a living body of saints whose identities as kingdom citizens, sons and friends have been restored.
As the army breaks camp, leaves behind its dependencies on the old wineskin; transfers them to Christ, the head of the Church, it will rediscover the more broadly distributed gifts of pastor, prophet (and perhaps even apostles) operating in ways that reinforce the fact that in Christ, we have always had everything we need. While my comments cannot be reconciled with our traditions and will sadden if not anger some, I pray that the stones might be put back on the ground and some might instead pick up the pen and tell me where I have erred biblically. Or -perhaps explain to me that along the way, our traditions did get the holy stamp of approval at the council of This or That and I just missed it.
Father, may you inaugurate the culture of your kingdom and eclipse our traditions with the simplistic, powerful radically good news of your son. May we burst with wonder and joy as we discover that he has been dwelling in us all all along waiting to be re-birthed into a world and creation starving for the inevitable freedom of the sons of God. We answer, “Yes Lord, truly you are with us! In you, we have rest! In us you shall subdue your enemies. We shall set our hearts and our souls to seek you. We shall arise and acknowledge with awe and wonder, that we ourselves are the flesh and blood, spirit sanctuaries in which you now dwell.” How absolutely astonishing! Thanks you.