What is "The House of God"

[PATrobas]

Reminders - The House of God

            About 1500 BC God commanded Moses to construct a portable tent or tabernacle, where God could dwell to have fellowship with His people. The outer court held the wash basin and the altar of animal sacrifice. Within the court walls was a covered tent called the Holy Place which contained the altar of incense, table of showbread, and lampstand. Finally, inside that came the Holy of Holies which housed the Ark of the Covenant, the holy house of God. Around 960 BC David’s son Solomon built a stone temple for God in Jerusalem. It was a much bigger and more permanent building but held the same basic elements of the tabernacle, including the Holy of Holies where the High Priest met with God once a year to offer the blood of an animal sacrifice for the people. It was the center of worship where God’s people would go to meet with Him. Though this temple was grand and glorious, it was only an earthly shadow of the real dwelling place of God and His people in the heavenlies. ^{Hebrews 9:1-28}

            Today, we have mistakenly replaced the Jewish temple with another building we call “a church.” Some of these places are wildly extravagant costing millions of borrowed dollars, housing gold and silver instruments of religious ceremony, priceless pieces of art adorning the walls, and imitations of the glory of God in stained glass lighting. These buildings, built to impress the world by a false holiness are what Jesus said of the Pharisees, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” ^{Matthew 23:27-28} God is not opposed to having a gathering place to meet. Whether it is in someone’s house, a barn with hay bales for seats, or an unused pizza parlor, the place isn’t important, the people inside are. We shouldn’t think of our Sunday meetings as a place we have to go to meet with God, because God has come down and lives in us. We are now the tabernacle and house of God. We don’t go to a special place to pray; we pray in our spirit. We don’t go to a special place to worship; we worship Him in spirit and in truth. We don’t go to a church to meet with God;  we are the church. We do go to a certain place each week to exercise our gifts and ministries from the Word of God to fellowship, to pray, and to break bread together.

           Final Thoughts:  Paul called all the believers at each location “the church.” He never called a building the church. He wrote his letters to the people who were at certain places. Here are some examples: “Paul…Unto the church of God which is at Corinth…” ^{1 Corinthians 1:1-2} “Paul, an apostle, unto the churches of Galatia.” ^{Galatians 1:1-2} “Paul…unto the church of the Thessalonians”  ^{1 Thessalonians 1:1} Because we are members of God’s church, we are also called the body of Christ, and are individually called “saints.” Some examples of this are: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” ^{Romans 1:7} “Paul, to the saints which are at Ephesus.” ^{Ephesians 1:1}  “Paul and Timothy…to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi.” ^{Philippians 1:1} The word saint means clean, separate, holy, and we have been made that way not by what we do but by what we have believed. All those who have put their trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for eternal life are saints according to the Bible. Wherever and whenever the saints gather, they, the people are called “the church,” the real house of God. ^{John 14:23}

[Neighbor]

Whatever.

Personally, I love that so many individuals who gather together do want the place of gathering to be attractive, clean, sanitary and pleasant to the eye, a comfort for the physical body for their own benefit and for the inviting of many as will come from the world at large to hear the word of God being shared and the individuals receiving each other with a holy kiss whether physical or  spiritual. Yes the physical plant is NOT holy, it is utilitarian, but it need not be shabby  for the individuals of the body to remain humble.

As my boss and pastor once said to me as I was setting  up for a wedding reception and asked if he minded that  I was going to use the Lord's Supper presentation table for a dessert tray. He said, "I absolutely want you to do that. I don't ever want anyone thinking the table is holy. It is a table.

That said,  I  like it best when the air conditioning works, the toilets flush and there are pleasant flowers at the grounds of the church  property. No apologies offered for that.

[AdHoc]

1 hour ago, PATrobas said:

Reminders - The House of God

            About 1500 BC God commanded Moses to construct a portable tent or tabernacle, where God could dwell to have fellowship with His people. The outer court held the wash basin and the altar of animal sacrifice. Within the court walls was a covered tent called the Holy Place which contained the altar of incense, table of showbread, and lampstand. Finally, inside that came the Holy of Holies which housed the Ark of the Covenant, the holy house of God. Around 960 BC David’s son Solomon built a stone temple for God in Jerusalem. It was a much bigger and more permanent building but held the same basic elements of the tabernacle, including the Holy of Holies where the High Priest met with God once a year to offer the blood of an animal sacrifice for the people. It was the center of worship where God’s people would go to meet with Him. Though this temple was grand and glorious, it was only an earthly shadow of the real dwelling place of God and His people in the heavenlies. ^{Hebrews 9:1-28}

            Today, we have mistakenly replaced the Jewish temple with another building we call “a church.” Some of these places are wildly extravagant costing millions of borrowed dollars, housing gold and silver instruments of religious ceremony, priceless pieces of art adorning the walls, and imitations of the glory of God in stained glass lighting. These buildings, built to impress the world by a false holiness are what Jesus said of the Pharisees, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” ^{Matthew 23:27-28} God is not opposed to having a gathering place to meet. Whether it is in someone’s house, a barn with hay bales for seats, or an unused pizza parlor, the place isn’t important, the people inside are. We shouldn’t think of our Sunday meetings as a place we have to go to meet with God, because God has come down and lives in us. We are now the tabernacle and house of God. We don’t go to a special place to pray; we pray in our spirit. We don’t go to a special place to worship; we worship Him in spirit and in truth. We don’t go to a church to meet with God;  we are the church. We do go to a certain place each week to exercise our gifts and ministries from the Word of God to fellowship, to pray, and to break bread together.

           Final Thoughts:  Paul called all the believers at each location “the church.” He never called a building the church. He wrote his letters to the people who were at certain places. Here are some examples: “Paul…Unto the church of God which is at Corinth…” ^{1 Corinthians 1:1-2} “Paul, an apostle, unto the churches of Galatia.” ^{Galatians 1:1-2} “Paul…unto the church of the Thessalonians”  ^{1 Thessalonians 1:1} Because we are members of God’s church, we are also called the body of Christ, and are individually called “saints.” Some examples of this are: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” ^{Romans 1:7} “Paul, to the saints which are at Ephesus.” ^{Ephesians 1:1}  “Paul and Timothy…to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi.” ^{Philippians 1:1} The word saint means clean, separate, holy, and we have been made that way not by what we do but by what we have believed. All those who have put their trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for eternal life are saints according to the Bible. Wherever and whenever the saints gather, they, the people are called “the church,” the real house of God. ^{John 14:23}

 

Nice posting. The "Ekklesia" (Gk.) means "gathering of the select ones". In times past God did dwell in a building made with hands, and called it the Father's House (Jn.2:). But since Matthew 23:38 God  dwells singularly in the spirit of a believer (Jn.4:24) and corporately in the Ekklesia. Israel was designed around her Feasts and God granted here safety from her enemies. The Church is very different. It is  designed around hate and persecution. It must be able to function in a Wutong in Beijing, or on a snow covered slope in Siberia. Singing and shouting is not required and each city or town is an autonomous unit. The gifts are all speaking gifts (miracles cause speaking) and all may speak. Its multiplication is via the gospel and rebirth, and except for the Temple in Jerusalem, every meeting is found in "houses" in the New Testament. The Temple only housed Christian meetings for 40 years and was then destroyed.

It would do us well to cultivate a habit of called the Church "THE ASSEMBLY". We would stop venerating a building.

[Marathoner]

Places where I've assembled with brethren:

A pole barn, a warehouse, in kitchens, in tents, on a pasture, in a lumber yard, work sites, in stairwells, in a farmhouse, on the porch of the same farmhouse, in a corn field, in a few hospitals, and various other places. 

His Church is everywhere!

[Vine Abider]

17 hours ago, Marathoner said:

Places where I've assembled with brethren:

A pole barn, a warehouse, in kitchens, in tents, on a pasture, in a lumber yard, work sites, in stairwells, in a farmhouse, on the porch of the same farmhouse, in a corn field, in a few hospitals, and various other places. 

His Church is everywhere!

This is why I love Ephesians (2:22) - it so clearly states that we are a "dwelling place of God in Spirit"!

And then there's 1 Timothy 3:15 "the household of God, which is the ekklesia of the living God."

And @PATrobas, as @AdHoc point out, the Greek word for "church" is "ekklesia."  The word church came in around the time of the King James bible translators as a word that more accurately describes the building or structure.  It was thought that the political powers that be could more effectively control the building than controlling an assembly of people. (We have had a number of discussions on here about this.)  To me it is a travesty that the mistranslated word "church" has remained so engrained in the culture, but there it is . . . 

[Neighbor]

On 8/11/2023 at 5:16 PM, PATrobas said:

 

            Today, we have mistakenly replaced the Jewish temple with another building we call “a church.”

Don't think so, it is no mistake that I go to a building called church. It is but a building of course, but that is no reason it must be pale, drab, shabby even. It can be as nice as the local body of Christ may wish to make it. No apology need be made for having  nice facilities.

It is a joy to have really good air conditioning,  good accoustics, decent offices for  business purposes and counseling, even great classrooms for schooling and so on. If a community  of believers can afford  some really fine decor well so much the better.

Will the money be wasted that could have been given to the poor? No! God has unlimited assets that He can make available to the poor, as  He may choose.  

 

[PATrobas]

21 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Don't think so, it is no mistake that I go to a building called church. It is but a building of course, but that is no reason it must be pale, drab, shabby even. It can be as nice as the local body of Christ may wish to make it. No apology need be made for having  nice facilities.

It is a joy to have really good air conditioning,  good accoustics, decent offices for  business purposes and counseling, even great classrooms for schooling and so on. If a community  of believers can afford  some really fine decor well so much the better.

Will the money be wasted that could have been given to the poor? No! God has unlimited assets that He can make available to the poor, as  He may choose.  

 

As you agree, the building is not a church as we so commonly call it. You can call it whatever you want but it is not a church, hence the point of my OP. And I am not opposed to having a facility that functions to meet the needs of the body meeting together. However, as I pointed out, there are SOME that have made the building an idol and the centerpiece of extravagance, millions spent not for functionality but for show. Not only that, but what kind of testimony is it to go to the world to borrow money from them to build such places? Where is faith in borrowing from the world, since, as you pointed out that God has unlimited assets? If a building can be purchased without borrowing, that serves the assembly, great. Do it, as the Lord leads, but there are many benefits to renting also. Fine decor? Peter told the women to not to adorn their outward appearance with "fine decor" but concentrate on the inner appearance. I have served in third world countries where dirt floors and open walls with tin roofs sufficed as a meeting place because it was the gathering of the saints that mattered, not the building. I'm not trying to be contentious, only pointing out that Jesus wasn't to impressed with how great and pretty the temple was, nor do I think He is impressed today with some of the extravagance spent on buildings, instead of spending that money on building the church through evangelism.

Edited August 15, 2023 by PATrobas

[Neighbor]

Hi,

Too many rules of man there for me.

If one wants to meet in a dirt floor shack or under an oak tree  that is okay by me; but don't make man's rules for me to have to obey asking me to meet in a shack, when I am perfectly capable of meeting in a very comfortable finely appointed facility that is not only clean and sanitary, but also rather beautiful. Not when  also having capability, as a group of Christians, to go around much of the world helping other Christian groups evangelize, sharing the gospel of Jesus, as well as helping them to be able to have facilities that are clean, sanitary, and even beautiful in their own setting.

Yes God has unlimited assets, no need for a Christian to compromise in order to be Godly in worship, in faithing actively around the world.

I do know of a few personal and practical examples of having built, of having been observed and that observation leading to  sharing of the gospel in some very poor regions of the world including right in the USA. 

As to borrowing -God provides. Sometimes it is with security for a loan. Is it reasonable to never own a home to live in until one can pay cash for it? Again rules of man, rules that choke against the call  by God to go. Does one wait until all is in order and fully secured before following the call by the Holy Spirit to do something (Including building a structure)? My answer is no, one does not. 

Many  have put up capital as long term security for loans so that  facilities can be built today and paid for over time, knowing full well the security is lost to the securer until the loan  is fully paid. It is a way to work out receiving interest on one's security as the work desired gets underway today not twenty years from today. Inflation alone makes  that a sound manner of doing business even the business of serving God as led by the Holy Spirit.

No one is forced into serving nor financing nor securing a financial note. God raises up big boys and girls in a tough world. We do not need  be protected from ourselves by those that do not wish to participate. Those that wish not to participate are quite welcome to come in from under an oak tree and share of a comfortable padded seat in an air conditioned facility a church build and fellowship with one and all inside.

[TheBlade]

Well OP.. "And I am not opposed to having a facility that functions to meet the needs of the body meeting together." very gracious of you. My thinking is.. I can be like this and go through all the Churches I KNOW about and how it looks how some dress blah blah blah. Now I get this RED FLAG pop up in side. I am no Apostle and I have no authority over any pastor or Church. So there is no pastor of any Church that GOD requires them to listen to me. Me being no one.

You talked faith...ok so where's yours? Well if you know these Churches and all the people (really the Church) are His and if you know what He starts within each one He will finish...where's your faith? Yeah relax He knows how to take care of His own. Out of all you could have talked about .. you went negative. 

 

[PATrobas]

I'm not here to argue, only present what the Lord has put on my heart to share. I see nothing in my original OP that is not Biblical. I was only pointing out that the church is not a building, people are. I see nowhere in Scripture where God tells us to borrow money from the world no matter how good the cause including borrowing from the world to buy or build anything. "Is it reasonable to never own a home to live in until one can pay cash for it?" God says, "Owe no man anything but to love one another..." Rom. 13:8. Reasonable or not, it's what the Word says. Love you brother. Let's leave it there.