Pentecost 24

And as Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings! And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
This is our text.

“What great stones” remarked one of the disciples, as they made their way out of the Jerusalem temple. They had just come from the temple, a structure that began construction under King Herod the Great about 20 years before the birth of Christ and took about 80 years to complete. As Jesus and his disciples were there for their visit on that day, the temple would have still been in the midst of construction. But the stones were magnificent – some of them as large as 37 feet long, 18 feet wide, 12 feet high. Polished smooth and then decorated with gold. They would have been a site to behold. Beautiful and impressive. They were taken by the beauty of the construction.
Surely you have had that experience before. Perhaps you were visiting a friend, attending church with them on a Sunday after a brand new construction – and they were walking you through, giving you the guided tour. Explaining the long process of coming up with a building plan, describing the construction phases and then proudly displaying the finished product. The experience must have been similar yet perhaps on a lesser scale for those disciples on that day.
Typically you and I are impressed with new constrictions, with brick and mortar, plaster and stone. Jesus was not. He acknowledged their beauty and the fine craftsmanship. Indeed they were impressive. But they would not stand. Not forever. The day was soon to come when those magnificent stones were thrown down and the temple would stand in ruins.
Jesus was speaking as a prophet. The Jerusalem temple would be destroyed. The Romans would pull it apart only about 40 years after Jesus stood there on that day. Perhaps the disciple who asked the question would have been there to witness it. But that was not the point. Nor is it the point for us. The thing that gives beauty to the walls of a house of worship is not the skill of the craftsman who assembled them. Nor is it the stones, the windows, these days we might even add the technology. Rather what gives God's house its beauty is the Word of God that is spoken inside it. Temples, cathedrals, basilicas and churches rise and fall, they come and go. But it is the Word of the Lord that stands forever.
Many of you surely recall the old church building that used to stand just down the way. Is was nice in its time. It served its function and purpose but needed to be replaced. And so our current building was constructed. But there was much in that old building worthy of remembering. Even the stained glass window has been preserved here for us to look at and remember. And now we have our current facility. Every time I have the pleasure of guiding someone through it for the first time, to a person they remark at how beautiful it is.
This is good. A house of worship should be beautiful. After all, remember what happens here. Remember whose house this is. This is not a tool shed, nor is it simply an assembly hall. This is sacred space where God comes to deliver his gifts of forgiveness to us. When we gather together here it is for “Divine Service” - the Divine, serving us. God comes to serve us in His Word and Sacraments. God comes to wash away our sins and to bless us with eternal life. This is, as we pray, a “foretaste of the feast to come”. That is to say, Christian worship is the appetizer for the feast of heaven.
Perhaps you do that for your family feasts. In a few weeks you will sit down with your family around your thanksgiving table. Some times the family chef allows some of the goodies to be served before hand to stave off the hunger pains and whet the appetites for the feast to come. This is what God does in true Christian worship. He serves us from His table. It's not about what we do – our singing, our praising, our praying. Not what the pastor does: how good he is at writing or making public presentations. It's what God does. We might perform these activities, but it is because they are His that he commands; things that we do, but as we do them He is in them working through them to serve us and forgive us. Every Sunday, God, our serving god, our giving god, ties on his apron and assembles his collection of serving utensils so that he can give us a feast of forgiveness.
The thing that makes this happen, that brings all of this about, is not the building, it is not the people, it is not our singing or our praying or our sincerity or excitement. What makes this house a house of worship, what makes these people God's people, what makes us the Church, is best said by the Augsburg Confession: “The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.”
It's the Word of God. His Gospel taught according to how it is given in His Word. His sacraments according to how they are commanded in his word. We teach the Word of God, We preach the Word of God and as a result these walls are beautiful.
But we often get confused. How tempting it is to lay these truths aside. How tempted we are to believe that its the shine and the polish on the stones that makes this house God's house. How tempted we are to think that if we want our church to be successful in its mission we need something other than the pure and true Word of God.
I have been to churches with impressive buildings. Brand new, polished and shined. Top of the line fixtures and technology, lighting and chairs. The aesthetic experience was as good as any theater you would attend for a show or a concert.
I have been to churches where the members were intentionally friendly – there was a team of people coached to look for visitors. They walk right up to you, shake your hand, introduce you to people, give you information, point you to the bathrooms, the coat rooms, invite you to the upcoming church activities. All good things.
I have been to churches where there is a high level of enthusiasm among the members. They are pumped up and excited and happy to be there and eager to see their church advance and grow. The are enthusiastic in their worship and in their singing.
I have been to churches where their news and notes are thick with pages and announcements for all the activities and programs that they have going on during the week. There are programs for men, for women for youth for children, for singles, for couples, for couples with kids, for everything you could imagine.
All these things are good things. They are worthwhile things. It is good for churches to have shiny new buildings. This can be a great blessing. It is good when church members are zealous and eager and excited. It can be good when churches offer many actives and programs for people to be involved in. But while these things are good, they are not the church. Why is it that we so often think that they are the church? Why is it that when we visit a church we come away impressed by all these extras? Why do we come away from church and the thing that sticks in our minds is all that other stuff. The extra stuff, the un important stuff. Why don't we focus on the Word of God?
God's Word does two things. It tells us about our sin. It tells us about our savior. When we go to church, those are things we should be looking for, eager to hear, celebrating.
Consider this, when you go to church, listen for the Word of God. Listen for God's word of Law that points out your sin. In our worship we often begin with a confession of sin. We tell God that we have sinned against him in our thoughts in our words and in our actions. We confess our guilt before him and ask him for forgiveness.
There are many who will tell you that if you want your church to grow, if you want to attract new members you should throw that part of the service away – it makes people feel bad about themselves. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that it really only tells us what we already know. We have sinned. We have sinned against each other and we have sinned against God. The Word of God tells us this and we know it in our hearts. When we come to church, when we come to meet God, we tell him what He already knows and what he has told us in His Word. We tell him that we have sinned.
But our sin is not the focus of our worship. We don't come simply to admit that we have messed things up. We come to hear about God's forgiveness. Remember, God's word does two things. Telling us about our sin is only the first thing. It is that second thing that is really amazing.
God's Word tells us about our Savior. God's Word tells us about what God has done for us to erase that problem of sin. God's Word tells us that God has not held that sin against us. He has chosen to deal with us in mercy and compassion. He has given to us His promise that He loves us and that he will bring us to heaven, that he has reserved us for eternal life. We come to church to receive from God the fruits, the results of that promise.
God did not leave us to manage our sin by ourselves. That's what the government does: they tell you that you have broken the law, that you owe taxes, and then you have to fix the problem yourself. You have to fix what you have broken and set right what you have done wrong. That's not what God does. God takes your wrong and he does it right. He makes it right. He sent Jesus to do what is right for you. To live the right and righteous life in your place. And then, all of that wrong that you have done, all those sins that you confessed at the beginning, even the ones you forgot to confess or perhaps didn't care to confess, he has taken care of them too.
This place. These walls, the house, this is the place where God has invited you to come. We built the building, we keep it up and running with our work and our effort, but God has set it aside as His house, his forgiveness place. This house is the location where God has said, I will be here for you every time you come. Ever sin that you carry through the doors will be piled up on Jesus. He died to pay for it. In exchange, say the Lord, the God of Heaven, I will give you forgiveness and eternal life and salvation.
This house is a forgiveness house. This house is God's house. This house is the place where the Word of God is in full operation.
You want to talk beauty? You want to talk magnificence? You want to talk glory and splendor? Don't get dazzled by shiny rocks flickering lights. Look to the Word of God; the Word of God that diagnoses your sin and then in the next moment scoops it up to forgive you for all of it. Look for the Word of God that delivers to your ears the forgiveness of Jesus and the Eternal life that we have in his name.
Amen.