That’s something He wants for all of His children. . . not to be worried about permanent housing for Him or for our gathering place – but, instead, to be more concerned about allowing our hearts to be His home – His Dwelling Place.

He gave the people of Israel copious details about how to construct the Tabernacle – the moveable tent that served as the Sanctuary for their worship. He gave no information at all about the construction of the permanent Temple in Jerusalem – except to say to King David: “Did I ask anyone to build me a Temple?”

Here at Quarry Ridge, we’re like the Israelites with their Tabernacle because we move in and out every week. More importantly than that, we’re Tabernacle People because we have the opportunity to focus on what’s really important – being God’s Dwelling Place in our hearts!

It’s our hearts that this blog addresses, and how Jesus desires for us to grow in our hearts before we worry about building a facility. I believe it’s something every church needs to learn and re-learn often.

People use the word “church” in a number of different ways. It has been used as a name by a rock group and by a chain of fast-food stores. Most of the time, Christians use the term to refer to a building. Sometimes it is used to refer to the members of a particular congregation – like “Quarry Ridge Church.” Sometimes we use the term “church” to refer to the Sunday morning Worship service.

But what does “church” really mean?

The word “church” derives from the Greek word ecclesia. It was a common word in first-century Greek and meant simply “meeting” or “assembly.” The word ecclesia, or “church” was not originally a religious term. It only gained this meaning by the attachment of other words to it, such as “church of God” (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1) and the “church in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:1).

In early Christian usage it referred basically to the regular gathering of God’s people
in a particular place. Many translators rendered the word ecclesia as “congregation,” meaning “those who come together.” It refers to the regular coming together of believers, and never refers to a building.

The word ecclesia refers to both the smaller gatherings of believers, “the church
that meets at their house” (Romans 16:5), and the larger gatherings of several such groups, “the whole church” (Romans 16:23).

Ecclesia is not a building – but a living, breathing, gathering of Christ-followers linked together by their common faith. The primary purpose of church is genuine community with God, with one another, and with others who come within the influence of our fellowship; the church is where everyone has the opportunity to participate, and where everyone aids in the building up of our common life, both in the “church in the house” and in the “whole congregation.”

You’ve heard about the proverbial cart before the horse? Someone somewhere put a cart in front of a horse and apparently tried to go somewhere like that. There’s a cart with the yoke pointing out where the horse is supposed to be attached for pulling the cart, and then there’s the horse behind the cart. Not going to go too far, huh?

There are a lot of examples in the world like that.

• I had a friend who installed underground sprinkler systems in Saudi Arabia for grass carpets that would be laid down to create golf courses for the royal family – only to have to replace the grass after a few weeks because there was no soil for the roots to sink into. They should have hauled in some soil first – but they didn’t seem to get that.

• For Hallowe’en this year, Gail and I went to buy candy. The aisle was filled with boxes of Christmas merchandise waiting to be displayed, and on the end caps were the Thanksgiving merchandise already marked down “for clearance” before Hallowe’en was over.

• In Alaska, funding was approved for a multi-million dollar “bridge to nowhere” because someday there might be something. . . um, nowhere.

• A group of people get together and build a million-dollar building in hopes that people will miraculously show up and spontaneously become a mega-church. Apparently, they’ve watched “Field of Dreams” a few too many times and took to heart the instruction “If you build it – they will come.”

Sorry – that’s putting the cart before the horse.

Being a “church” means being a community of people living life together, building fellowship among its people, and extending that loving community to others.

How does it get done?

To truly be a “church” we must first work on the development and strengthening of our faith in Jesus – learning to live like He did and learning to love like He did.
To be the “church” each of us must first be growing in our inner being.

To be the “church” that Jesus set us out to be, we must first be enlightened, informed, educated, and improved before we seek to build a facility to house us.

It’s all about edification before an edifice!

Listen to what Jesus said to us:

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

And Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18: “I will build my church”

Listen to the emphasis: I will build my church; I will make you. . .;

Jesus builds His Church, and as we learned before, His Church is a living, breathing gathering of Christ-followers who live and move in community together.

We are to be His witnesses – giving testimony about who He is and what He’s done and what He brings to the world.

How? Paul teaches us how we’re going to be built into a living, breathing Church.

“. . . you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Do you get that?

He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now He’s using you and me, brick by living brick, stone by living stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – we are His holy temple built by God Himself, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

We’re being strengthened by His Holy Spirit – it’s not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength – that enables Christ to live in us as we open the door and invite Him in to live in us as His Dwelling Place – His Tabernacle.

And it’s through His indwelling Spirit in us that we are able to take in the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.

Paul is urging us to reach out and experience the breadth of Jesus’ love! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God!

When we are able to do that – then we have become His Dwelling Place in our hearts, and we have become His Holy Temple all together as one body.

Then and only then – do we (or any church for that matter) dare think about building a structure to house what we’ve become and to house what He’s doing in us for the only purpose of sharing with the world who Christ is and what He’s done for us and what He can do for them.

We work on constructing our Inner Being before we work on constructing a facility:
Edification before an Edifice.

Peter teaches us to “. . . live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. . . in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:8-9, 13-15)

Folks – we must always embrace that we are to be Tabernacle People. . . flexible, moveable, hard-working followers who are searching for God’s best for us, and living with His Holy Spirit in us. Where He places us or houses us is not nearly as important as how we allow Him to grow us up in our inner being.

It’s about the state of our hearts – not about real estate.

It’s about education – not about accommodation.

It’s about being roused – not about being housed.

It’s about edification before thinking about an edifice.

Right now, Quarry Ridge has no building we can call our own – but we are most certainly a “church!” In fact, we may be more of a church today after 3 years of gathering than we will be after 20 years of living in a building.

Jesus promised us: “I will build my Church!” As a part of His Tabernacle People, you are challenged to be more concerned with being edified in your inner being than in building an edifice to house our gathering

Are you willing to be an active, intentional Tabernacle Person?