God is Building a House

For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.  (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)  Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Hebrews 3:3-6

Have you ever built anything? I have. I am a builder by trade. I love to see the results of taking raw materials and turning them into a beautifully finished product. Building and making things is an art unto itself. Perhaps you aren’t a builder, but you undoubtedly enjoy some other craft or hobby. Do you like sewing? Cooking? Landscaping? Then you know the joys of manipulating and changing shapes, forms, and appearances of something. You know the joys of taking individual elements, ingredients, media, and turning them into a homogenous piece. Building or making things like this does not happen on its own. There has never been a truly accidental masterpiece. Behind every building there is a builder. Behind every meal there is a culinary artist. Behind every painting there is a painter.

     Did you know that God is building a house? In church vernacular, we often speak of the church as the building or the house of God. We do this carelessly sometimes, as we refer to the meetinghouse or gathering place as the “house of God.” Scripture paints a different picture, however. Seemingly, God cannot be housed within the walls of an edifice or structure made by human hands. No, when God speaks of his house, particularly in the New Covenant, he is speaking of His people.
  
  Hebrews makes this point when it is speaking of how Christ is greater than Moses. Moses was one of the pinnacle characters in the Old Covenant. Moses was revered by those outside the Jewish faith as perhaps being a God because of the incredible way that God used Him in the time of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Moses was a leader, a spokesperson, a prophet, and a mediator. Yet, in Jesus, we have something far greater than Moses. At the end of the day, Moses was a mere human – and only a human. Jesus, however, was more than simply a human. He took on flesh, added a human nature to His Divine person, but behind that was the fact that He Himself was the creator.
    
The author of Hebrews says, to paraphrase verse 3 of Hebrews 3, “Jesus is more spectacular than Moses just like the builder of a house is more spectacular than the house itself. The house is a product, but the builder is a master craftsman.” He goes on to say that “every house is built by someone,” i.e. a person, a builder, “but the builder of all things is God.” Why do humans make and create? Because we have inherited something of God’s image in creativity. God is the ultimate builder, the ultimate designer, the ultimate craftsman. Yes, He created everything in the world, the universe, every thing in existence comes from God’s design. But this Hebrews passage isn’t speaking simply about God’s physical creation, but His new creation that takes place in the lives of individuals, and is gathered into a body, a structure – the church. Moses, as one of God’s Old Testament covenant people, was simply a part of the house. He was faithful within the house, but Jesus is faithful over the house that is being built.

     Yes, that is the distinction. We are part of the house, servants in the house, members in the household – but Jesus, as true and Divine Son, is over the household, the family, the building. The miracle here is that we have a part in the household at all! We as New Testament covenant people of God have been brought near by Christ. Paul speaks of this same thing in Ephesians 2 when he says that Jesus “came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:17-22)

     Do you see the miracle? Do you see the wonder? The whole Trinity is involved in making us, former enemies and haters of God, into a wonderful structure – a house and a dwelling place – for God. God the Son brought peace by the blood of his sacrifice. The Spirit is building people, people from every language and nation into this structure. God the Father is welcoming us because of our newfound access by Jesus Blood and the Spirit’s drawing. And we, collectively, God’s people, are being shaped into a building – a house for God. When we gather at church and says we are in God’s house, we would be more correct, and perhaps more joyful, in saying that we are gathering with God’s house. Do you see your brother or sister as part of the structure of God’s house? Do you see your fellow believer as equally vital in the framing of this great building? Do you see the miracle that you are involved at all? Brought near by Christ, drawn by the Spirit, shaped and formed and grown into this intricate edifice that surpasses any human cathedral in glory and extent?
    
     And if the building is glorious, extensive, and vast, how much more glorious is the builder? Just as Christ is greater than Moses, so He is greater than us. God’s building of His house out of sinners like you and I is a marvel of His Grace. The author of Hebrews closes this section by saying, “we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” We should never boast that we are part of this house, we should boast in our hope. And what is this hope? What is this boasting? “As it is written, ‘let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Cor. 1:31) God is building a house, and if you have received the Grace of Christ, you may boast in your Redeemer and Builder – for He is the master Craftsman, and His work will be beautiful.

 
In love and humility,
Pastor Aaron Frost
May 28, 2021