"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and
country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.'" -
Luke 14:23
Most Old Testament Jews failed to grasp God's vision regarding their places of worship. But King Solomon had a clear understanding of the temple and its purpose. Here is Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8:27: "Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" Solomon also had no desire to monopolize the knowledge of God and have this knowledge confined to Israel. His prayer in 1 Kings 8:43 is that "all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you."
Solomon did not pray that all the nations of the earth might be subject to Israel and that he might reign over them, but that they might be subject to God and that God might reign over them. This ministry of making the Lord known to all people was to be the great destiny of the Jewish nation. Somehow, they completely missed the boat.
As time went by, they kept trying to scale God down. They tried to stuff their great and awesome God into this little temple and make Him their private possession. They tried to turn Him into a little tribal god to whom no one but them had access. How easy it is to repeat that same mistake today.
We need a vision for our lives and churches like the vision Solomon had for the temple. He understood it was not to be a little golden box in which the people could hide from the rest of the world, but a place where the nations of the earth might come and learn to pray to Him who would hear them and forgive their sin.
Prayer
"Lord, help me to see my church as more than a place where I go to be blessed. Help me to see it as a place where all may come to be saved and equipped to minister. Amen. "
We are to gather together to worship and to develop resources we can use to tell the world about salvation through Jesus Christ.
Most Old Testament Jews failed to grasp God's vision regarding their places of worship. But King Solomon had a clear understanding of the temple and its purpose. Here is Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8:27: "Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" Solomon also had no desire to monopolize the knowledge of God and have this knowledge confined to Israel. His prayer in 1 Kings 8:43 is that "all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you."
Solomon did not pray that all the nations of the earth might be subject to Israel and that he might reign over them, but that they might be subject to God and that God might reign over them. This ministry of making the Lord known to all people was to be the great destiny of the Jewish nation. Somehow, they completely missed the boat.
As time went by, they kept trying to scale God down. They tried to stuff their great and awesome God into this little temple and make Him their private possession. They tried to turn Him into a little tribal god to whom no one but them had access. How easy it is to repeat that same mistake today.
We need a vision for our lives and churches like the vision Solomon had for the temple. He understood it was not to be a little golden box in which the people could hide from the rest of the world, but a place where the nations of the earth might come and learn to pray to Him who would hear them and forgive their sin.
Prayer
"Lord, help me to see my church as more than a place where I go to be blessed. Help me to see it as a place where all may come to be saved and equipped to minister. Amen. "
We are to gather together to worship and to develop resources we can use to tell the world about salvation through Jesus Christ.
Have A Blessed Thursday,
Richard
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