Build
As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it. – 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 NKJV.
So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. – Acts 20:32 NKJV.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. – 1 Corinthians 3:9 NKJV.
Hu Songwen was faced with an impossible situation, at least it would appear to be impossible to most people. Hu experienced renal failure in 1993 and began to receive dialysis treatments. The procedures at the time each cost $80 and in six years all of his and his families’ savings had been exhausted. The alternatives were stark in that he could do nothing and simply die from renal failure or was there something else that he could do?
Hu decided to build his own dialysis machine and build it he did. He somehow found a textbook and using things from their kitchen and medical supplies he was able to obtain he built it. Hu says, “As long as you have a high school degree, understand the principle of dialysis, follow the operational instructions and keep a close watch during the process, nothing should go wrong.” For the past 13 years, Hu’s home built dialysis machine has kept him alive. Instead of paying $80 for each treatment, it now only cost him $10 per treatment, with the added benefit of not having to travel a long distance each week. One study revealed that one in ten in China who needs dialysis cannot afford treatment. Wow! How many lives and millions of dollars could be saved if everyone who needed dialysis could build their own machine, and use it in their own home? (The Telegraph; China Daily; Southern Weekly Magazine 01.29.13)
God chose Solomon to build the Temple in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we know that God does not now dwell in a physical, literal building. Instead, God has chosen to dwell through the Holy Spirit within every “born again” believer in Jesus Christ. We are told this in 1 Corinthians 3:16 – 17 NKJV, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
Believers now have been given an awesome responsibility to build with God (1 Corinthians 3:9) a New Testament temple in which the Spirit of God dwells. Your own body, your own life, is where as a believer that God dwells. How are believers to build a New Testament temple for the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 3:16)? Jesus tells us, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock (Luke 6:47-48).” Have you ever considered what God thinks of the temple you are building for Him? Here is the word of encouragement and commandment that God gave to Solomon and to all believers now, “be strong, and do it.”
(Build the temple of God.)