Growing up I watched as the builder chose brick after brick and placed each in a wall of the building under his construction. On occasion a whole brick wasn't necessary. So the builder looked at the space in the wall, then at the size of the brick. He deliberately and carefully shaped and prepared it to fit exactly into its place.
When God wanted Moses to build the Tabernacle, He didn't leave the pattern up to Moses. God showed Moses the exact pattern he was to follow. (Exodus 25:9)
When Solomon built the temple of God, his measurements were precise, not "close enough" (2 Chronicles 3:3). And when the temple was built, "it was with stone prepared at the quarry" (1 Kings 6:7).
So when Paul says that as Christians we are "being joined together" to be "built together" into a "holy temple, "a dwelling for God", he means we each have been deliberately chosen, precisely fitted, and exactly placed by the Master Builder in the living and growing "structure" of the church (Ephesians 2:19-22).
We are a part of the church, the temple of God, the body of Jesus Christ.
You and I don't have a choice! Or do we?
Many of us have excitedly given a gift to someone, a child for example. They hold it in anticipation. You see the huge smile on their face, and you can't help but smile too! They begin, and finally, unwrap it. They look at it, and without looking up at you they say, "I have this." They toss it aside and reach for the next gift.
Many Christians find the church unimpressive, undesirable, and unnecessary. They are bored with, critical of, and dismissive towards the church. But all the while they never look up at the Gift Giver.
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, it's true (John 3:16). But it is also equally and gloriously true that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.", voluntarily, willingly, sacrificially (Ephesians 5:25). "The church of God" is that which God "obtained with his own blood." (Acts 20:28), the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Impure sinners, an impure bride. Jesus loved us and died on account of our sins and in our place as sinners, "so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:29)
The angels who owe nothing to the blood of Jesus worship Him forever as the Lamb of God slain for us (Revelation 5:11). You and I? We the redeemed, the church, and the bride, who owe everything to the blood of Jesus, are bored with, critical of, and dismissive of what He's obtained and is building.
We each, dear Christian, have been chosen, fitted, and placed in His church at a cost greater than our discomfort, disinterest or dislike. Give thanks, rejoice, and take your place in something bigger and better than you will ever know by yourself.
You may discover that you've never received a gift quite like this before.
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