Sacred Spaces

Many years ago my wife and I set up a small house church in the flat where we lived. Both of us had experienced the teaching and traditions of many denominations and had become disillusioned by many of their practises: but we craved A purer and more biblical form of Christianity and we held to what Jesus had said in mark 16 verse 20, ‘And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

The church for us were living beings passionate and on fire for Christ not the buildings of different denominations scattered through each community city and country. The history of the early church for nearly the 1st 400 years we're in people's homes not in purpose built buildings with its own priest or pastor. Each church was governed in the beginning by a plurality of elders, each with differing but complementary gifts. And no one person ruled over the congregation. Isaiah 66 verses 1-2 says this, ‘Thus says the Lord:  “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool.  Where is the house that you will build Me?  And where is the place of My rest?  ² For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look:  On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.

And in Acts 17 verses 27-28 Paul writes this, ‘so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 

And then John 4 verses 23 to 24 Jesus has this to say, ‘²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

So firstly, church is not a building of wood or bricks or mortar but for me churches the people who have given their lives to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 verses 21 to 28 says this, ‘ ²¹ For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. ²³ But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. ²⁸ Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

And in Exodus 3 verses 1 to 5 we have a prime example of how all places can be sacred spaces for God, ‘Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” ⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

But more importantly than this is the biblical teaching that each and everyone who repents and surrenders his or her life in faith to the lordship of Christ becomes a living temple of God in 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 to 20 it says this, ‘¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

And in Colossians 1 verses 27 it says this , ‘²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

But the heart of this teaching is found in John 14 verses 19 to 24 where Jesus teaches about the indwelling of the father son and the Holy Spirit!  ‘¹⁹ “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and ^[f]manifest Myself to him.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

Where you as a disciple of Christ and a child of God go, go to the father son and Holy Spirit go also! And when we come together in unity in love the church as a living Organism not as business, ministry organisation goes and grows. In 1 Peter 2 verses 4 to 5 Peter the apostle says this, ‘⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’

Ice living stones we come together joined by the mortar of the Holy Spirit so that wherever you are Christ is also there! Finally in Revelation 21 verses 5 to 8 it says this, ‘⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said ^[b]to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

⁶ And He said to me, “It^[c] is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. ⁷ He who overcomes ^[d]shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. ⁸ But the cowardly, ^[e]unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

We, is individual and gathering or fellowship of Christians are called to be and to become overcomers and more than conquerors! Maintain your biblical integrity and remember the unseen churches greater and mightier than the scene church let the Holy Spirit teach you all things in Christ be ways you as your living head.  Amen