Rebuilding God's Temple

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5
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​Too often Christians make the mistake of thinking that what we do on Sunday morning, the corporate gathering of the saints for worship, is nothing more than an expanded Bible study, a place where we gather to study the Bible and then toss in some praying and singing just make it complete.  But corporate worship is so much more than that.  According to scripture, each believer, every Christian, is a living stone whom, when brought together, reconstitute the temple of the living God.  Like the tabernacle in the Old Testament that was taken down and transported to a new location, and then when it was erected, the glory of God filled the tabernacle because that was the designated meeting place between God and his people.  The Israelites understood that God is omnipresent, but they also understood that when the tabernacle was set up, that became God’s embassy on earth—a piece of heaven in the here and now.  The place where the tabernacle stood was now sacred and holy ground, the very throne room of God.  So also, when the saints come together as “living stones”, like the tabernacle with all its various pieces, they reassemble the temple of the living God.  That place becomes God’s embassy on earth, heaven in the here and now, the very throne room of God.  We stand in the presence of our King and worship him.  Gathering with the saints for corporate worship is the most important event in which we can ever possibly participate in this world.