Build for eternity.

Jesus’ disciples were in awe. (Luke 21:5-19) The Temple at Jerusalem was an amazing place, a wonder, famous across the ancient world. It was on par with the Parthenon in Athens and other ancient wonders.

This was actually the second temple, rebuilt according to the ancient specifications 4 or 5 hundred years earlier. About 50 years earlier King Herod had begun a massive renovation and expansion of the temple grounds with various courtyards. Although the actual Temple itself was a bit smaller than our sanctuary, the Temple complex was enormous and went on for hundreds of yards of courtyards and gardens, all dominating the city skyline. 

All of the time, thought, money and effort that goes into such a place reflects its deep importance to the people who built it and who use it.

Last month Meg and I visited our oldest son and his family in Frederick, Maryland, about an hour and 15 minutes from Washington D.C. They’ve been there a couple of years, but they had not yet visited the National Mall to see the monuments and visit the various Smithsonian museums.

Grandpa and Grandma were intent on changing that, so we took them down to see the Washington Monument, the World War II memorial, the Museum of American History and the Lincoln Memorial. We also saw the Capitol and White House from afar.

Why do that? Because we wanted them to see some of the physical, architectural manifestations of the principles and cultural development of the United States of America. They got excited. We made those impressions and we made some important memories.

This, for the Jews, was like that, but even more important. It wasn’t just a wondrous, culturally significant building to them. It had been built as God’s house. They understood God as being everywhere all the time, but the Temple was his home, a place where he would intersect with his people, where the veil between heaven and earth would part as it had when God encountered Moses and others from their history.

It was the physical manifestation of the center of their faith.

Jews from all over would learn about it from scripture and heard more about it. They would make pilgrimages. If they were from far away and/or poor, maybe the dream was to see it even once.

A pilgrim would come with every expectation of a deeply moving spiritual experience. They would be invested in the worship and sacrifices, so we can imagine they were indeed moved.

So imagine these fishermen and tax collectors and so on coming 100 miles on foot over rough terrain, over the course of many weeks, and maybe seeing this spectacular place for the first time. They are naturally overwhelmed.  The whole place is designed to overwhelm.

Then Jesus tells them that it will all come down. He is right. It would get destroyed by the Romans in response to a Jewish revolt about 40 years later. Israel would be disbanded as a country until 1948.

The disciples and others were not generally aware of the deep roots of corruption and hypocrisy that had taken root in the Temple. Perhaps their leaders rationalized their failures. But the thought of all that coming to ruin was shocking.

Are we any different? We have a beautiful church and a beautiful property here. We take very good care of it. We invest a lot of our time and effort into it. We have deeply rooted liturgies, music and traditions we observe. I’m just about through my first year or my first lap learning them.

If all of that were threatened for any reason, we would naturally look to protect and defend it. But they don’t come first. Their value rests in their purpose, which is to convey the Good News of Jesus Christ, to grow in our knowledge and love of God through him, to empower and equip the men, women and children of this church for ministry, and to thereby be a light to this community and the world of Jesus Christ in all his glory. That is why we are here. That is who we are. And that is what we do.

Which is why we must always attend first to the temple God is building within us.

Anything important draws our attention. If your work is important to you, you continuously learn more and more about it through experience, study and trying to gather wisdom from others. That’s in part why farmers gather for breakfast.

If you love to hunt or fish or golf or you love cars or art or books or music – whatever those may be - you invest your time in your passions. We do well to learn how to handle money or our lawns. That is life.

And so we should attend to our faith in him. We do that, we attend to this advice that he gave to his disciples one day so very long ago, and we find that he is right. He is true. Hang on to him and he will bear us through the challenges and tragedies that this life brings. Hang on to him and he will bear us through the seasons of struggle and doubt. Hang on to him and he will bear us through death itself.

By your endurance, you will gain your souls.

AMEN!