Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
The disciples stood in awe of the temple. It’s size and craftsmanship coupled with it’s divine purpose was something to behold! Expecting to hear such awe mirrored from Jesus, they must have been shocked to hear the judgement that Jesus predicted.* To undo the artistry and massive strength of the temple of that time would have seemed impossible.*
Jesus made it clear in His “woes” against the scribes and Pharisees that He did not favor the religious establishment of His day. Here, standing outside of the temple, He speaks against the ultimate symbol of that religious establishment.* It’s enough to pause and think about what Jesus must think of our religious establishments of today.
The scribes and Pharisees put their entire lives into doing what they thought was right. They put their entire beings into doing things the way that they thought must be done to honor God…. and they missed it. They were blind. They were fools. They thought that they were wise.
In our efforts to create spaces for people to connect to God, how often do we miss it? How blind are we? How foolish have we become? The reality is that we need Jesus to answer these questions.
We must walk as followers of Jesus in a humility that understands that our perspective is not always His. We must live our lives according to His example, understanding that what we think works isn’t always God’s way. We must return to Him and His voice often to see if we are aligning to His ways.
As my family and I prepared to move across country in obedience to God to start a church, there were many ideas of what “planting a church” could look like. Ideas of buildings, people, and organizational structures intertwined and fought for attention. Strategy and good ideas came from every direction. Marketing, advertising, and social media posts made promises of success. None of these things are bad. Strategy isn’t bad. Marketing isn’t bad. These things are very good… when done in obedience. God spoke something else to us. Our part is to hear Jesus say, “I will build my church,” and allow Him to do that how He wants to.
There are things that Jesus wants to do in your life. The way you have always done things may be good, but are they God? The religious practices of our life that we call church might be exactly what God is calling us to do in this season, but what if He’s not? What if there is something else that He wants to do, so He’s asking us to do something else?
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to pause and ask Him if there is something new He wants to do in your life. Perhaps today God wants you to let go of how things have always been done and take hold of the new thing that He wants to do. Maybe He wants you to hear Him speak today.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 593–595, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 24:1–2).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).