The building and dedication of the temple serve to locate
the worship of God’s people and root it in a place. The high places are no longer to be for
worship of the God of Israel, this is the only place where certain types of
worship, sacrifice to be exact, can be offered and accepted. It is the dwelling place of God among His
people in the same way the tabernacle was in the wilderness. It serves the same purpose as the Garden of
Eden, the place where God’s people can meet with Him. Solomon prays as prophet, priest and king at
the dedication. Solomon sees that in the
future the people will turn away from the Lord and prays that when they return
and pray in this place, that God will hear and He will forgive and have mercy
on them. His prayer is based completely
in two things, the faithfulness of God and the given-ness of the wayward nature
of His people. It is a comforting but
also dangerous thing to have the presence of God in your midst.
How did they think Jesus would respond to the question, “Are
we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Did they
think He would say, “Yep, you’re right, you got me on that score”? They had nothing, no argument to make so they
simply went with an ad hominem attack that was based in Jesus’ work in Samaria
in John 4 and the sentiment that He drove out demons by a demonic power. He has just told them that their failure to
hear His words is due to their not being “of God.” Here, Jesus says that if
anyone keeps His word they will not taste death and now they believe they have
Him dead to rights. Everyone dies,
Abraham died, the prophets died, who do you think you are? Jesus has a different definition of death but
it is not one with which they are unfamiliar. Resurrection changes our
definition of death. Physical death is not the final word on the matter. Repentance changes everything because of
God’s mercy and covenant of life.
How are you training yourself for godliness? I go to the gym regularly to train my body
and I keep a little notebook with the details of every workout in it. I search the internet for workout regimes
based on what muscle group or groups I want to focus on at a given time and I
plan for weeks of intense focus on those parts.
In other words, I am intentional about my training and I take note of
what is weak that it might become stronger through effort. Paul is telling Timothy that we need to do
the same with our spiritual life. We
need to take inventory of our strengths and weaknesses and train to strengthen
ourselves in all areas. We do this with
the knowledge we will never reach perfection, there will always be sin in our
lives and we will always need grace and mercy.
My challenge to you and to me is to develop that plan of training for
godliness based on the classic disciplines of the church but beginning by
taking inventory of your life and measuring it against Jesus and His words of
instruction.
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