It is obvious that building a sanctuary takes a lot of money, and compared to what most families handle in the course of their operations, it takes a lot of it. At some point in the preparations or building, it is therefore likely that someone will ask whether or not this expenditure is “wasteful.”
Though it may seem prudent and wise, it is actually the logic of Judas. “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” (John 12:4–5). The short form is that if it is not somehow being spent on us, or in ways that we can directly benefit from, it is being wasted. If it is spent on glorifying God, we tend to think we are pouring water into sand.
How about a multi-purpose building? That way we could give God His gift, and we could use it too. Kind of a time-share tithe.
Now there are obvious ways in which we could pretend to glorify God while not actually doing so. If we built a sanctuary out in the wilderness that we visited every fifty years — that would not be a good use of resources. But we want to build a sanctuary is used regularly and constantly, and in the advancement of God’s kingdom.
This will include evangelism, and benevolence, and other ways of reaching out to our unbelieving community. But beauty lifted up to Heaven is not an adjunct to what we are called to do; it is the very center of what we are called to do. Worship of God is no afterthought. A visual statement of God’s heavenly authority, an acoustic space that enables us to praise Him in glory, a place on earth set apart to indicate our ongoing obligations to true worship of the true God – these are not throw away items.
So the use of money to accomplish such things is something that pleases God. He does not want us to adopt the hard logic of the pragmatic Judas. He wants us to lift our eyes to higher things, and money is simply a tool for helping us do this.
So let the stones cry out.
I would love to see a book, study, or sermon on the logic of Judas. A cautionary tale of our modern killjoy selves.
Doug, You write, “If we built a sanctuary out in the wilderness that we visited every fifty years — that would not be a good use of resources.” Why would this not be a good use of resources? If each generation of your assembly were to go to the sanctuary in the wilderness only once, would not such a structure be exceedingly set apart–holy? What standard are you using to determine whether a particular use of resources is good or not? And why do you caricature a multi-purpose building as “kind of a time-share tithe” when it could be used… Read more »
John, Because the churches that build multi-purpose buildings to be their sanctuary usually do so as a push against, what they perceive as the wastefulness and “idolatry” of a beautiful sanctuary dedicated to worshiping God. I’ve been part of some of these churches who are so caught up with the idea that church is the people rather than the building that they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Their utilitarian sensibilities turn God’s beauty into something less than holy or set apart. These same people would probably have had Moses build the tabernacle out of a Winnebago or something… Read more »
Right, “multi-purpose” in this context does not mean “the entire building has uses other than worship and Sunday school.” That’s pretty clear from this passage:
He’s thinking of churches that are designed to be as easily used for things that have little to nothing to do with any aspect of the mission of the church, as by the church.
Being from an older tradition (and NOT assigning inerrancy to any unscriptural tradition), I think that there is more to this. I hail from an older location in the U.S. (compared to the relatively “young”) west. When I think of a “church” (building), it is something that is immediately identifiable, even to those who do not belong to Christ. I (at least formerly) could take a 5 year old and ask them to point out the church, and they could do it without fail. Not once would they confuse the building with “Carpet City” or “Joe’s Wigs and TV’s”. Even… Read more »