Chapter Three

We are MADE to be God’s dwelling place.

“But Christ, as the Son is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.”

Hebrews 3:6

• Read Hebrews 3

Jesus versus Moses

I would venture to say that while many Americans can’t tell you the name of the 14th president of the United States, almost everyone could name the King of Rock-n-Roll. As a little girl, I remember watching Elvis Presley’s funeral. The only Grandpa I ever knew had recently died, and his funeral was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t understand why Elvis had such a bigger funeral than Grandpa’s. I remember my mom telling me something to the effect that he was an important man. In my mind, my Grandpa was much more important. That sort of thing is obviously relative, or is it?

Moses was a Rockstar to the Hebrew people. He was born into slavery in Egypt, and his parents were commanded, along with all the Hebrew slaves, to kill newborn males. Through Godly wisdom and intervention, Moses, however, was saved and became the adopted son of the Pharoah’s daughter. God would later use him to lead His people out of Egypt. By all accounts, Moses was one of the greatest Biblical heroes of all time.

After having just explained Jesus’s humanity, the author thought that his readers might try to compare Jesus with Moses. He wanted to make sure that they understood there was no comparison. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus was God’s messenger and High Priest. We will discuss the High Priest later. Right now, I want you to consider the term “God’s messenger.” The original Greek word here is Apostolos. It means one who has been sent on a mission. Jesus was sent on a mission by God Himself. As we have already discussed, that mission was to come as a man, die on the cross, and be resurrected from the grave.  The result of that mission was the salvation of our souls.

Moses was God’s servant. He was entrusted with the care of God’s house, but Jesus? Jesus is greater than the angels. Jesus is also greater than Moses (or any other prophet).  Through Jesus God built His house, and for those who have chosen to follow Him, Jesus is in charge.

God’s House

One night before we were officially moved into the Larmon Mill house, we were there unpacking some things.  Braxton had a remote control that went to the small stereo his brother had given him.  While I was setting up the stereo, he wandered into the hall.  The next thing we know an alarm is blaring through the house. “WARNING DANGER WARNING EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY CARBON MONOXIDE HAS REACHED DANGEROUS LEVEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. “ It scared us to death. 

“What is that?” I yelled above the din.  Braxton shouted, “It’s the Rescue Heroes!”  I said, “No, no what is it?”  He said, “Evacuate mom, it means to get out.”  Anyway, what we eventually discovered was that if you press the stereo remote while standing in the hall under the carbon monoxide dictator, then it will set off a test alarm.  We had failed to hear the initial words indicating that it was a test. 

A few days later we had a house full of kids when lo and behold the carbon monoxide dictator went off again.  When I investigated, I found Braxton with the remote control in his hand, his arm in the air, pointed directly toward the alarm.  He looked at me and said, “They wouldn’t get out of my room.  So, I showed them!”  That’s one way to make you feel unwanted.

Have you ever been somewhere you weren’t welcome? You can just sense it. Maybe there is a subtle glance between your coworkers who are sitting around the breakroom table. Maybe the room goes quiet when you walk in. It’s very unsettling.

For many people the thought of “God’s house” is just as intimidating. Maybe they think of temples, cathedrals, or churches. Maybe they think of the people inside them. The temple that Solomon built for the Lord certainly was formidable. There was a lot of gold, and the priests wore special clothing, and there were rituals on top of rituals, and explicit instructions that had to be obeyed. During the Old Testament, God’s presence dwelt with men by abiding in a golden box called the Ark of the Covenant in a special room in the temple. Today, however, things are different. God’s presence abides in us.

Some people have had bad experiences with church. Maybe you’ve been one of them. Have you ever felt unwelcome there? Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in? Church is crucial to the life of a believer, and I don’t want to minimize it’s importance, but I do want to ensure you that the Church—the house of God—is not a building or even one particular set of people in a particular building with a steeple on top. The Church (capital C) is all the people who comprise God’s house, all the people who have chosen to believe in Him and submit to His authority over their lives. If you are one of those people, then you are a part of God’s house.

Most of the time, when we think of God’s house, we are thinking of God’s family, and we think of ourselves as either being in it (Psalm 23:6) or not. In this passage, however, the author of Hebrews gives us a different way of thinking about God’s house. Instead of considering that believers are in God’s house, he says that believers are God’s house. In other words, believers are the dwelling place of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”

1 Peter 2:5 says, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”

The author of Hebrews says that those who belong to God are “partners with those called to Heaven.” A partnership requires association, unity, a common purpose. Each believer is a house of God in that the Holy Spirit indwells in her. All believers partner together to create God’s entire house.

Building Materials

While moving our first load to the new house, we loaded up and took off down the interstate. Ian drove the truck, and I followed in the van. I had just mentioned that I thought Ian was going too fast when something came flying off the back of his truck. For a brief second it seemed to rain colored squares.  We didn’t get hit, but we could feel things crunching underneath the tires.  The boys looked back and reported what appeared to be large chunks of confetti on the side of the road.  That’s when we realized what had happened.  A box of Braxton’s Legos had gone airborne.

On the evening Braxton’s Legos flew around I65, my husband and I returned to the scene of the crime and pulled into the emergency lane. We disembarked from our vehicle and gingerly began cleaning up the mess.   To our amazement most of the blocks were undamaged. Talk about quality building materials!  Someone might want to consider building real houses out of Legos.  If a tornado hit, you could just pick up the pieces and reconstruct.

Have you ever considered what it means to be the house of God? Verse 2 says that Moses was “entrusted” with God’s house. Specifically, for Moses that mean the Israelite people. The author goes on to explain what happened. Although Moses did his best to take care of God’s house, the people themselves did not take care of their souls. They hardened their hearts. They rebelled. They tested God. They tried His patience. Their hearts turned away from them. They disobeyed. In the end, it turned out that many of them weren’t really God’s family at all. Family, after all, is more than just blood relations, and a house is more than just four walls.

Each human being is like one of those Legos. God created us with the express purpose of building His house.  So, in that sense, we are all of God’s creations. However, unlike plastic squares, we are not inanimate things. We have a choice in what becomes of us. We can choose to become a part of God’s house, or we can choose to rebel. 

How do we choose? Verse 6 tells us “We are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.” The only way we can become part of the house of God is by placing our confidence and hope in Christ. When we have that kind of hope we submit ourselves to Christ’s authority. As a result of that submission, we are faithful. We trust, and therefore we share “in all that belongs to Christ.” (verse 14)

A Fixer Upper

I used to love watching Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines. They would take a house that looked like a rundown shed, and thirty-minutes later, “Tada! Here’s your beautiful cottage complete with shiplap walls and a big country kitchen.” I would dream of all the ways Joanna could improve my home if only she would come to Kentucky and if only I had enough money to pay her. Many women can relate.

Even those of us who don’t have the interior decorating gene still like to fantasize about home improvement. But how often do we think about the home that we are creating for our Lord?

Please don’t misunderstand me on this. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Christ asks us to come as we are, to bring our sinful, sorry messes of self to Him, and allow Him to do the work in our heart. It’s only as a result of that regeneration that we have any desire to please Him, but if we have experienced that regeneration, then we will have a desire to please Him. I’m afraid that many of us on most days simply don’t think about Him at all.

In terms of our earthly houses, we aren’t content with functional spaces; we want to live in beautiful places. We want comfortable and creative homes where our families feel at ease and our friends feel welcome. As believers, we house the Spirit of the Living God. He lives in us! As such, our desire should be to create a dwelling place that is pleasing to Him.

MADE to be God’s Dwelling Place

Ryan, Braxton, and I once attended a Lego Festival. It was amazing. They had an entire section of life-size Lego sculptures—superheroes, cartoon characters, and other structures. I’m sure that those designs were created by following intricate plans. I can’t even imagine how many pages of instructions they needed. Of course, not everyone who plays with Legos follows the manual. Part of the joy is being able to pick up a few pieces and connect them together to form something unique.  Can you imagine if one of those plastic bricks had the ability to protest?  “No! I don’t want to be a boat. I want to be a house.” “Stop it! Don’t put me there. I don’t want to be in that position!”

Of course, that would be ridiculous. Yet, God has given us that option. We are all God’s creation. He made us. He could do with us whatever He wants, but He allows gives us the option of whether or not to cooperate.

CS Lewis wrote, “Imagine yourselves as a living house. God comes in to rebuild house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on… But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominable and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace…” (Mere Christianity)

Before Chip and Joanna Gaines start swinging sledge hammers and rolling up carpet, they talk to the owners to discover what their vision is for their new place. They ask questions about what’s important to them and what kind of atmosphere they want to create for their families. As believers, our hearts and lives belong to the Lord. By rights, we are doubly His. We are His because He is our Creator, and we are His become He is our Redeemer. If we belong to Him, if we are His dwelling place, then I think it’s only fair that we seek His opinion on what to make of us.

In the Great Lego Rebellion of 2010, Legos escaped from their Rubbermaid container. They were free at last. No longer were they enslaved to Braxton’s whims. No longer would they be conformed to his designs. For a brief second, they fell like rain, and then they became nothing more than litter scattered under the tires of passersby.

I don’t want to be a rebellious Lego. Let’s allow the Great Designer to fashion us as He sees fit so that we can be an appropriate dwelling place for Him.