1 Kings 9:25 – Be committed to a church

When the temple was completed, Solomon would go there to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar three times a year. He would also have incense burnt on the altar before the Lord. The three occasions he went would probably be the three annual feasts namely, the Feast of Unleavened Bread leading to the Passover, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and the Feast of Booth or the Tabernacle. All these he did to demonstrate his faithfulness to the covenant.

The last line had been variedly translated. In the NIV it was translated as “…and so fulfilled the temple obligations”, meaning that Solomon fulfilled all the obligations required by God in the Law of Moses. The NASB and The KJV translated it similarly as “so he finished the house.” The last two translations implied that the purpose of why he built the temple was accomplished. No matter how this line had been translated, we get the sense that Solomon had met the purpose of having a sanctuary built for God. He corrected the flaws when he first ascended the throne, where the people would go to high places to have their sacrifices offered. It is a fitting conclusion for the purpose of building the temple. For with the completion of this house of God, the people no longer needed to offer at the high places. They had a centrally located place to make their sacrifices to God.  

Thankfully for us Christians, we have many churches that are built for the people of God to gather weekly for corporate worship. This made perfect sense because one building alone cannot contain all the believers in Christ together. So we have different churches built by different denominations all over the nation for this purpose. However, we need to know that whichever church we worship in, we are first and foremost the Lord’s. We gather to worship the Lord.

More importantly, we must know that the real church is not the building. It is the gathering of God’s people called out of the world to worship and serve Him. So Jesus assured us that when two or three of us are gathered in His name, He is in our midst. This, however, should not leave us uncommitted to a local church. It is important that we are each a member of a local church where we can serve God, one another, and be accountable to God through the leadership of that church. It would also be the place where we can be adequately taught the Word and learn how to walk with God faithfully. So go to a church, be a committed member of the fellowship, serve God, be taught, and grow together in the Lord. Let’s make Hebrews 10:25 a part of our spiritual journey. We are called to “…not forsaking our own assembling together…, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We need to be in fellowship with God and with one another. This is a sure way to ensure our spiritual growth and accountability!