By: Obed Pineda
Imagine for a moment that you are walking next to a high, wide wall, made up of cement blocks of various sizes. As you follow the path of the wall, you observe with quite curiosity the work of the masons who tied the blocks that make this wall. Admire the precision with which they distributed the weight and balance between the various sizes of block, to ensure that the wall is firmly standing preventing the disaster of a collapse on an innocent pedestrian. As you continue walking along the wall you suddenly find one of the blocks out of place. Due to the smooth surface of the wall, this small block stands out because it is out of place within the wall, creating a gap instead. He approaches to examine this hole in the wall to understand why the block is sticking out. When he gets there, he discovers that in the place where the block is coming out, the wall is no longer straight, but is now inclined. Curiously, all the blocks in the inclined part of the wall are perfectly tied, but only that small block, the one that is causing the wall to tilt, is not tied to the rest of the wall. Such a small gap, compared to the rest of the wall, divides, and damages the strength and integrity of the structure. Question, would you continue walking confidently alongside that wall compromised by the gap in it? Would you feel confident that that wall is not going to collapse on you if the small gap has already started causing the wall to lean? The Holy Scripture says, “wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). The subject His Church’s perfect unity of great importance to our Lord and Savior. Our God values the unity of His people so much that He has shown us through His creation the vitality of harmony. However, there are those who seek to disrupt the harmony that produces healthy growth in the Church and (as the inspired Preacher warns) can destroy much good. For this reason, it is necessary to learn from the Biblical pattern how to work with these types of people. The Church in Corinth was a congregation richly blessed with miraculous gifts among its membership (cf. 1 st Corinthians 1:4-7). Sadly, despite being so blessed by our God, the Bible tells us that she was plagued with spiritual problems. By slowly examining the 16 chapters of the epistle (almost in every chapter the apostle corrects a problem that existed within that congregation) we find the thread that reveals the core of the problem within Corinth: there was no true unity among them. Instead, there was carnality and spiritual immaturity that opened more and more the gap between them as a congregation (cf. 1 st Corinthians 3:1-3). Chapter after chapter the Holy Spirit demonstrates why “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls” (Luke 11:17). Let us remember that the Church is being built as the dwelling place of God. Thus, the house of God in Corinth was being damaged by the strife and quarrels that the lack of spirituality was causing in that ancient city. But this is where we must pay close attention: the Church (which is the house of God) does not belong to us (cf. 1st Timothy 3:14-15). When the contentious spirit dominates among us as a Church, the dwelling place of God is what we harm with our spiritual immaturity. Once again, it is God who has built it through His only begotten Son. It was He who purchased it with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot and without blemish (cf. Acts 20:28). Who among us would like someone who wants to destroy what we have attained with great sacrifice to arrive? This is why God warns from heaven, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 st Corinthians 3:17). Knowing that, as a Church, we are the temple of God, we must understand that God has left us in charge of caring for, and keeping, His house clean and intact (cf. 1 st Peter 4: 10-11). For this same reason we must fear being the ones who cause damage to the Body of the Lord. The writer to the Hebrews advises us, “anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:28-29)? When we do not respect the home of our God, our ingratitude and irreverence provoke Him to anger. This disrespectful and indifferent spirit toward our God’s temple is what the inspired amanuensis describes as trampling on Jesus, denigrating His precious blood, and insulting the work of the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew penmen elsewhere scribes, “Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). Ergo, when we do not take care of the dwelling place of God, which is the Church, we are taking for granted the blessing that He granted us through His Son. It is for this reason that we must understand that it is our responsibility as children of the great King to take care of his Kingdom and protect it from invaders who only seek to desecrate God’s chosen holy thing.