It’s not enough to build beautiful buildings if you want God to be glorified. Europe and many parts of the United States are adorned with marvelous ecclesiastical architecture – but no one worships in all too many of these centuries-old sanctuaries. Some have been closed, others have been sold off to private owners. And of course, some have been demolished or are slowly surrendering to the elements.

And God warned Solomon that the magnificent Temple he had just finished could be just as ephemeral. For God pointed out that it was Solomon’s faithfulness and the obedience of his descendants that would be of greater importance in maintaining the authentic worship of God than any contributions they could make or building projects they could undertake.

In fact, God went so far as to say that if the kings of Israel became unfaithful to God, God would not only cause His Temple to be destroyed, but He would also remove the people from the land He had given them. And of course all that happened. The northern kingdom was carried off into exile in Assyria, and the southern kingdom into exile in Babylon. And Solomon’s magnificent Temple would indeed be destroyed in 586 BC, just as God Himself had prophesied.

So, sure, it’s important for our deacons and elders and trustees to keep our church buildings in good repair. But to keep our congregations healthy will require of every one of our members something even more difficult: a firm commitment to hold fast to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, an unshakable determination to live more consistently for the glory of God and the good of others. For if any group of Christians settles for anything less than total devotion to Christ, we’re really just getting our buildings ready for the next owners – or for the wrecking ball.

I Kings 9:1-9 (NASB)

Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do,
2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
4 “And as for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,
5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
6 “But if you or your sons shall indeed turn away from following Me, and shall not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 “And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’
9 “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.'”