At the beginning of the year, we frequently think about what our goals and plans should be for the upcoming year. We may even set targets for us to achieve in the upcoming year. There is much to be said in planning for each year. Businesses set budget goals for the upcoming year, we also may set financial goals for the year. Plans should also be made for our study and spiritual growth. Spiritually how do we want to grow in the coming year? In what areas do we want and need to increase our Bible knowledge? These types of plans are different than what James wrote in James. 4:13 ”Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain: 14 whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow”, but more like what Paul wrote in Philippians. 3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” As we reach forward in the coming year, we elders of this congregation have decided that we will set the subject -“The Divine Structure”; as our theme for the year. Each quarter, we will successively look at the Divine Structure in each quarter, first, in the Patriarchal Age, then in the Mosaic Age, next in the New Testament Age, and finally in the Local Church. Our Sunday lessons; Bible class, morning worship and evening worship will all focus on these areas. This way each of us will know ahead of time why the lessons were chosen for us and we can prepare and direct our personal study to go hand in hand with the theme and to enrich our Sunday lessons. First, we must consider the theme and define what it means. The word Divine clearly refers directly to God and the spiritual domain. As far as the word Structure, we can examine a dictionary, where we find the following definition of Structure: 1) the action of building, 2a) something (such as a building) that is constructed, b) something arranged in a definite pattern of organization, 3) manner of construction, 4a) the arrangement of particles or parts in a substance or body, b) organization of parts as dominated by the general character of the whole, c) coherent form or organization, 5) the aggregate of elements of an entity in their relationships to each other From the above, the word structure not only refers to a building but also the pattern that could be used to build the structure. Throughout the ages, God has always shown to His people the pattern that they are to follow. For example, in the past, He revealed His expectations to Moses and the nation of Israel: Exodus 25:40 “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.” God wanted Moses, Israel, to follow His instructions exactly, further when those instructions weren’t followed, there were consequences. Consider Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. They offered “strange fire”, fire that God had not commanded, and they paid for their transgression with their lives. They were sincere in wanting to worship God, but they were not sincere in following what God wanted. Not only was a pattern given to them of old but He also has given a pattern to us for today. For those seeking to follow what was instructed for the New Testament church, Paul wrote to Timothy: 1Timothy 1:16 “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Christ is to be our example, our pattern for life. God has given us the pattern, the Divine Structure for today in His word: Romans 6:17 “But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;” How else could we follow Christ’s teaching in John. 4:23 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshipers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth,” if He didn’t give us the information as to how we must worship Him in both the spirit and in truth? God has always communicated to man on how he was to worship Him. As to how the structure of His people was to be built. Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste.” As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 3:11 “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” And again in Hebrews 11:10: for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” In Exodus 25:40 “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount”, God told Moses how he was to make the tabernacle. Could Moses have deviated from the given pattern and been faithful to God? What if Moses really liked figs and so he replaced some of the pomegranates that he was instructed to use as decorations with that of figs. Would he have been faithful to the plans he received from God? Could Solomon have changed the temple design and have been obedient to God? 1st Chronicles 28:11 “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat.” In both cases, no. So why do men think today that they can willy-nilly “worship God” and that worship be found acceptable? 1 Timothy 1:16 “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Is creating a Divine Structure not after God’s teaching, by either ignoring God or by adding to God’s teaching, following the spirit of truth or the spirit of error? 1 John 4:6 “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” If one wants to go to heaven, to be faithful to God’s teaching, to build the Divine Structure set out by God, one must follow this teaching, the example of God. The only way we can achieve this is to be like the Bereans: Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”God has given man, through all of the ages, instruction as to how man is to build the “Divine Structure”. We have those instructions for two of the ages in the Bible, that of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is up to us to study and learn how to build that structure today. How to obey God and have His blessings on being faithful worshipers, faithful followers of him today.
