Jeremiah 7:8-11.
The Lord was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah when he told the people this, “‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before Me in my Temple and chant, ‘We are safe!'—only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears My name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
The truth was this was not a temple God had asked them to build.
It was man-centered, man-created temple.
And the mistake was made that God valued the temple for itself.
It represented the heart of David, who we KNOW had a heart after God, and so it was accepted as the best he could do… but there was no fundamental sacredness in this particular temple.
It was the improper focus that served as the error of the people.
We see that even some of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first temple, “wept aloud when they saw the new temple’s foundation” being built. (Ez 3:11-13)
Perhaps it was because the focus had shifted from being a God-centered sanctuary to a man-centered shrine.
Their focus was simply misplaced.
I have been saying it for a number of years now.
I think we have lost our awe and reverence for the Lord.
No, we haven’t forgotten altogether how wonderful He is, but we have simply allowed worldliness to diminish our continual adoration and devotion to the King.
We sing songs in worship on Sunday about how good He is and how faithful He is, and then complain on Monday morning when our car won’t start.
We experience a personal encounter with Jesus in our quiet time so rich it’s power should carry us for months, but then we walk away and appear as James warns us about, “it is like glancing at your face in a mirror, you see yourself walk away, and forget what you look like!” (James 1:23-24)
Oh that we would return to our first love.
That we would shift our focus on Jesus.
And that our churches would forget all about being relevant and remarkable.
It’s not our church, anyway… it’s the Lord’s.
And He isn’t concerned with glitz and glamour.
He isn’t concerned with temple worship that competes with worldly entanglement.
He’s concerned that hearts aren’t right.
He’s concerned that we haven’t learned to praise Him past a Sunday service.
He’s concerned that we’re more fixated on gathering around a sermon than we are about gathering around the dirt-stained sandals of the Savior.
This is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
The one who will share His glory with no other. (Isaiah 42:8)
Oh dear church… are we too focused on being “relevant” and ever so “remarkable” while the people within it’s temple walls are becoming more alienated in heart from the God of the Temple??
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