Ephesians 2:21 - On building a NOT-a-building...

"...in Whom [the] whole building being fitly framed together is growing unto a holy temple in [the] Lord..."

-No ordinary building, this.  A holy temple, set apart, wholly other, unique and special and sanctified, clean, pure, undefiled, a remove-your-dirty-shoes kind of place where God puts His Name and where He is present, where people can learn about Who God is, what He is like, where all the nations of the earth can see and access and worship the one true God.  And yes, scattered throughout the Old Testament, are glimpses of a holy place of worship which serves as a beacon to all the peoples of the earth (Micah 4.1; Isaiah 56.7, 2.2-3; 1Kings 8.43).

-Indeed, the entire universal Church of Jesus Christ is one big temple, a place where worship and celebration can (should) be found and where God is present, where He has caused His Name to dwell, where the nations can come to glimpse and learn about God - or should be able to.  Any unbeliever should be able to show up at any localized expression of this Temple and get a glimpse of what God is like and how to know Him.  The building and framing process is still happening, the Master Architect has a master plan which He is steadily carrying out, more and more people and peoples are being added in and all the more in these last days, people from every nation tribe and tongue, from all walks of life with all kinds of backgrounds and abilities, and each one is gifted in various ways to join in on this magnificent mother of all construction projects.  But again, the Church is NOT a building, not some physical edifice manufactured with human hands, with hammer and saw and chisel.  It is a living entity, a growing assembly of the redeemed, of those who have bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and in whom His Spirit now lives and reproduces the very life of Christ.  This is true for both the worldwide Church as well as the localized expressions thereof.  And the raw material which causes the growth and which holds it all together?  Neither nails nor screws nor any kind of earthly gorilla glue - it's love.  The love of God which those who have received from Him manifest to one another.  Build well today...!