It is needless to say that I share your joy today in the opening of your new sanctuary, a home sanctified to one purpose only, the praise and adoration of our Heavenly Father, our loving remembrance of Jesus, and the sincere fellowship of those of like precious faith. With this new home you have added to your responsibilities in spiritual and temporal matters, but in these we know that you will not fail. You will also know that in these circumstances you are not alone. Within these walls you will experience your joys and sorrows, but within an atmosphere of holiness. I appreciate how some of you feel this morning. Some can scarcely keep back tears of joy, while others can sense their future responsibilities.
A torch has been lighted this day. It must shine brighter as the days go by, so that if perchance some storm tossed soul floundering in the billows of ignorance should be guided to the torch, he may be saved from death (Matthew 5:16). This responsibility is not the responsibility of a few, but each one must do his part. May the angel of the Lord with the unsheathed sword guard the door of the sanctuary and slay the modern enemy of indifference if it should attempt to enter in!
Faith Responsible
Amid our rejoicing we are suddenly arrested with the thought, “what does the Master think of it” ? That will depend altogether on the attitude of those who dwell within its walls, those whom the Master has been pleased to call His brethren and sisters, those whom God has called His sons and daughters. What was it that urged you to undertake such a project that will call for sacrifices and self denial? My answer is faith, faith in God, faith in Christ, faith in yourselves, faith in your brethren, and faith in the things you most surely believe. Having put our hands to the plow, let us not look back.
Paul said to those at Athens: “The Lord dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” He meant, I believe, that in a building without believing tenants, or even those who believe they live but are dead, God finds none with whom to walk, just a sickening response to His wondrous invitation to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. If we appreciate the words of that soul stirring anthem, “The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him”, it does something to us. How true it is that we get lost in the world, but when we come into the temple of God, we find ourselves.
Temple within a Temple
But now, brethren, we strike a more personal note, something of a challenge, something that calls for self-examination. We have doubtless all read in Ezekiel of a wheel within a wheel. Here in this house of God we have a temple within a temple. Let us read carefully 1 Cor. 3: 16,17, also 1 Cor. 6:19. Amid our rejoicing at the dedication of this material temple, we suddenly become aware that our bodies are or should be holy temples unto the Lord. I can imagine someone saying in his or her heart, “Lord, is it I? Am I such a temple?” Then, after deep contemplation, we exclaim: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
When Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord, we read in 2 Chron. 2:4: “Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord, my God, to dedicate it to Him and to burn before Him sweet incense.” The question of who builds the building matters not. I am reminded of the centurion who loved Israel and built them a synagogue (Luke 7:5). Herod also built the temple in which Christ taught, and we are all familiar with His words when He drove the money changers from the temple: “My house is the House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.” He taught daily in the temple. What does it mean to dedicate anything, a building or the people who worship in the building? It means to separate or hallow for a specific purpose, both the building and the people, separated in this instance for the glory of God, and in His service alone.
And now just a brief word of exhortation to you who by your love for God, His Son and the brethren, have made what we see with our eyes this morning, a house in which we trust God by His spirit will dwell. The exhortation is contained in one word: Luke 4:16. “And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” His custom, that is a profound exhortation. Shall we dedicate ourselves to this custom? We all want to follow Christ, then let us every one follow His custom. If you in this new home do this as diligently as the Master did, this house will indeed be hallowed by God. If not a word was spoken, and if we, with profound love look upon this table of the Lord, how can we but say: “I was glad when He said, Let us go into the House of the Lord ?”
Shall we, with deep reverence, dedicate the house to the glory of God with these closing words:
“Bless the house, O Lord, we pray,
Make it thine by night and day,
Bless Thy children here within,
Make them pure and free from sin.
Bless them, Lord, that they may be
Fit, O Lord, to dwell with thee.”
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One