26 July 2014 - treasures of the temple

26 July 2014 - treasures of the temple

Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,
his ministers, officers, and functionaries,
surrendered to the king of Babylon, who,
in the eighth year of his reign, took him captive.

Hasn't this happened to us in a lot of ways?  Isn't our Church a captive of our social order, if you can call it order?  Aren't we?  We know that Jesus deserves the treasures of his temple.  But aren't they being carried off?  Isn't society removing the ways in which Jesus should stand out, should be justly exulted?  And isn't this because we haven't given him the centrality he is due within us?  Haven't we failed to give him the treasure of reverence that he wants?  The place in our hearts where we meet him begins to look rather mundane, like a conference room rather than a temple.  He becomes just another box to check off, another task to do on our list.  Is it any wonder society is able to make off with the treasures Jesus gives it?  At first we don't even notice their absence. Life, marriage, and virtue are openly plundered.  The outside begins to reveal something amiss within.

Our skill isn't at issue.  We cannot by our own effort rebuild this temple.

The king of Babylon also led captive to Babylon
all seven thousand men of the army,
and a thousand craftsmen and smiths,
all of them trained soldiers.

Even though we are comprised of army, craftsmen, and smiths we cannot put this temple back together in captivity.  Without the LORD directing our hearts, without the LORD to unite us, we remain in Babylon.

‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

We imagine that if we do these great things we can rebuild the kingdom ourselves.  The more spiritual the work the more dangerous it becomes when untethered from the LORD who empowers it.  Even if we prophesy, drive out demons, and do mighty deeds, such things will not produce the fruit which they should if we don't surrender them entirely to Jesus.  Even if we really do these things, without Jesus, we do no lasting good.  We find that we are building on sand.  We listen to the words he speaks but do not act on the most central tenet of what he says.

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
And what, precisely, is this will, if not the various manifestations of good works and mighty deeds?

For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."

Let us take heart, then.  His will is to save us.  He will not leave us long in this exile:

The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem,
and gathers the dispersed of Israel,
Healing the brokenhearted,
and binding up their wounds (cf. Psa. 147:2-3)