Cathedral Made of People

Lessons from Downhere - Part 1

Check out their music and albums www.downhere.com!

"Cathedral Made of People"
If they shut down the churches,
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her


This is something I often think about. In America, we are very comfortable in our faith. The government doesn't persecute us, nor has it made our faith illegal. But what if it did? How many of us would remain faithful to Christ? Throughout history, and even today, people have given up everything for the sake of Jesus. They have no where to meet together and worship Him, unless it is in secret.

This is why it is important to realize that the church is not defined by a building. The Church of Jesus Christ is His people. In Matthew 16, He promised that the Gates of Hell could not prevail against the church He would establish. This should challenge us to look beyond our church walls and look outward toward the lost and hurting people that Jesus would seek out.

If they burned every Bible What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?

We have access to any version of the Bible, yet if you're like me, you struggle to even open it and grow from it. Many Christians must face the troubling fact of going to jail for reading the Bible. I confess that I would know very little of the Bible if my many print and electronic versions were taken away. I have unlimited access to the richness of God's word, but I ignore it on a daily basis. How can I take such a beautiful thing for granted?

When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple,
But they can't touch you.

May this song be a challenge to us. We have been granted the gift of salvation and grace through Jesus Christ, and no one can take that away from us. No matter what else they may take, Jesus will stand for us and with us. His kingdom goes beyond what the eye can see. While we may lose everything of material value, we have been given everything we need through Jesus. May we, as Paul, believe in the truth and beauty in these words:  "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." -Philippians 3:7-8