How To Build A Church (Spiritually) Series

Our church has been thinking a lot about our new building in our new location. Since the month of May three hundred loads of dirt has been delivered to prepare the lot. A foundation has been poured. Volunteers have worked security at the site around the clock. So many of us have given sacrificially for the new structure.

It has been exciting for us to prepare to build a new facility for our worship. I don’t think we would be surprised that King David longed to build a temple for the Lord’s people to worship him. There is an enormous amount of Scripture about the building of a physical structure, as a house of worship.

There is the building of the Tabernacle found in the book of Exodus chapters 25–27 and chapters 35–40. The building of Solomon’s Temple is found in 1 Kings Chapters 5–7 and 2 Chronicles 3-7. The building of the second temple is found in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah.

We must remember that building any physical structure is a tool to build the church spiritually. You should know the Bible has a lot to say about building the church spiritually too. There are principles we will learn from this passage from cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple.

We can find a blueprint in these verses and if we follow the blueprint, we can build our church spiritually. We find this blueprint when Jesus is as usual at his Father’s house. We see how zealous he is for God’s House to truly be a house of prayer.

The church must proclaim a genuine relationship with God.

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. (Mark 11:12-14)

We find Jesus the day after the triumphant entry. It is Monday morning, and he is closer with his appointment with destiny, on a cross that will take place on Friday. He is walking back to the temple on Monday morning and Jesus is hungry and sees a fig tree.

The scripture says it was not the season for figs. It was too early in the spring, but Jesus saw a fig tree with leaves on it. Fig trees are different from other fruit trees in the sense that the early fruit comes out at the same time as the leaves. That is why when you see leaves you expect fruit. So, why did Jesus curse the fig tree?

Jesus found this fig tree to be a pretender. There were only leaves and no fruit. It claimed to be something that it really was not. From a distance it appeared fruitful, but in reality, it was barren and fruitless. Jesus cursed the tree. “no one will ever eat fruit from you again.”

The action of Jesus puzzles many people. Jesus is usually healing people or restoring sight and making the lame walk even raising the dead. I suppose my own fig tree deserves the same. It is coming back from a freeze and for two years there has not been one edible fig yet.

This story was not only about a miracle, but Jesus’ action was a parable of the nation Israel and tells us about the temple. The tree represented the spiritual state of Israel. They looked religious, but it was an outward, appearance orientated, hypocritical religion. They were professing to have what they did not really have.

To build the church spiritually the foundation must be on a true relationship with God based on Jesus Christ and forgiveness when the individual repents and places faith in Jesus Christ and makes Christ death on the cross count for the payment of their own sins.

There could be two churches compared side by side. Both of them could have Sunday school at 9:45 and worship at 11am. They could have the same number in attendance, sing the same worship songs have the same fellowship meal after the service, but if one does not emphasize relationship with God through Jesus Christ then that church is as fruitless as the fig tree that Jesus cursed.

When I lived in Ft Worth Texas studying theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) I lived in the dorm as a single for two years. I was getting married and had arranged for a house in their married housing area near the campus. I showed the place to my friend. He said it is a great house, but you need to call the house maintenance and get that large bushy dead tree removed from the back yard.