Don't Hide at Church

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
Jeremiah 7:9-10 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?

OBSERVATION: The prophet Jeremiah was calling people on their presumption of God and their wrong thinking. They were treating the temple of God as sort of a home base. When kids play tag they can't be tagged if they are on base. They can run around, taunt the person who is 'it' and do whatever they want as long as they get back to home base before they are tagged. Once on home base the are 'free' or 'safe.'
God's people were running wild, taunting God with all of their sin and disobedience but they thought they were safe as long as they made it back to base. If they went to the temple regularly, they could do whatever they wanted. This is not what Solomon had in mind when he built and then dedicated the temple to the Lord.
It was like the people were holding the temple hostage. As long as the temple was in the land they though God wouldn't 'shoot.' But then God said, "Look at what happened to Shiloh..." (7:12). God tells the people that their hearts and their actions are more important then where they meet. There is no free pass to sin. Deliverance is not for the purpose of greater atrocities (v. 10). Liberty is not to be used as a cloak for vice (1 Peter 2:16). Going to church is not a magic formula you can use to excuse rotten behavior.

APPLICATION: Sometimes people think they have special exemptions because of who they are. I know someone who didn't get a speeding ticket that they deserved because his neighbor is a good friend of the officer that stopped him. I can think that since I go to church, because God and I are on a first name basis, that I have special privileges. That type of thinking misses the point entirely. It doesn't impress God that I am a pastor. What He cares about is how I'm living my life. Am I living a temple life wherever I am? Do I make my words to others as a temple of God? Do I make my actions and attitudes a place where He wants to dwell? Do I treat people -- all people -- in such a way that God would approve? God is pleased with that, not that I show up at church every once in a while.

PRAYER: Father, I never want to play that deadly game of tag that You talk about in this passage -- running to the temple to be 'free' to do whatever I want all the other time. Make my life Your temple. My home is holy. My work place is holy. The gym is holy. The stores and car wash and movie theater and restaurants are holy. Be with me and be pleased in all I say and do today. In Jesus' Name, Amen.