Year 6, Day 167: Ezekiel 41

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

In a part of Ezekiel that talks about a vision of the coming temple, it makes sense to talk about Up, right?  When Ezekiel thinks about the temple, he is thinking about God at the center of worship.  When we read this chapter, we should think the same thing.

The question that rings through my mind in this chapter, though, is “Where are all the stuff?”  About the only thing that we’ll talk about in the temple is the altar, and we won’t get there for another 2 chapters.  It should strike us odd that when Ezekiel comes to talk about the central place of worship that Ezekiel focus on the building construction rather than the stuff on the inside.

This causes me to pause.  In our modern worship, how much attention do we place on the stuff within our space?  Do we care if we have an organ or piano?  Do we care what color the carpet is?  Do we care if we have chairs or pews?  Do we care if we have a fancy altar and a fancy altar rail?  Do we care if we have a big ornate cross at the front?  Do we care if we have stained glass windows?  Do we care if we have nice hymnals or a projector screen?

In the end, does any of this actually matter?  I’m willing to bet that along the way something in the paragraph above struck a nerve because we do actually care about it.  But should we?  Is my worship of God actually dependent on the stuff inside the space where I worship?  It shouldn’t be.  I think Ezekiel’s lack of focus on the stuff in the temple gives us a significant message.

  

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