The temple or the church

On various occasions I have heard some brothers complain that in times of need they have not been visited by the church to which they belong, but that some brothers have gone to see them. At that moment I realize that the term 'Church' is not properly defined in their minds.

In the Old Testament, the temple was a building where the Glory of God lived, but in Christ, the temple is our body. In Matthew, Mark and John, allusion is made to the subject when Christ expels the money changers from the temple: "Jesus answered and he said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. " John 2.19. This phrase, which was incomprehensible at that time, was one of the reasons they used to kill him, without realizing that He was talking about the temple that was his body, where the Holy Spirit of God dwelt.

Today there is no temple in the people of Israel. There were 3 and all were destroyed, perhaps because "The God who made the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by human hands" Acts 17.24. But it is very significant that some men, even before Christ, realized that the temple was not exactly the only place where God dwelt. So Solomon cried out when he built the first temple: “But is it possible that you, my God, do you live on earth with humanity? If the heavens, no matter how high, cannot contain you, much less this temple that I have built! "

Definitely God cannot dwell between walls, just as the Church is not contained within them because the church is the body of Christ, it is an organism with life, it is not a single person, it is not even the pastor, it is not the leaders, no They are only the brothers with whom we get along, the church is made up of all those who love God, who have given their lives to Christ and who have crowned him as King and Savior of their lives. Otherwise, Christ would not have said in Matthew 18.17 when referring to a brother who sins against another: “If I do not listen to them, tell the church; and if he does not listen to the church, consider him a gentile and a publican ”.

It is clear that he was not referring to the walls of a temple that cannot hear.

So, if the church is a group of people united by the same feeling and hope in a promise, how do we say that the church does not come to see us?

I am the church, you are the church, the church is a fortress, each of its members is a brick and the cement that unites and strengthens them is the blood of Christ.

My dear brothers, every time a brother visits you, Christ is visiting you, he is the head and the Foundation, we are his body, always keep him in mind.