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Have you ever played with LEGOS? Whether you have or not try to visualize these popular kid's building blocks as you read through this study.
The Apostle Paul declares in Ephesians 1:3-4, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (v4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (KJV). Recently I was doing a study on some of these words from this passage and felt the Holy Spirit hit me quite solidly with a cool truth. Note the word "chosen" in verse 4. In the original text of which it was written (Greek) we find this word to be eklegomai (ek-leg'-om-ahee) [Strong's NT:1586]. It is comprised of two words. The first is 'ek' [Strong's NT:1537] which is a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence the action or motion proceeds), from, out (of place, time, or cause; literal or figurative; direct or remote). The second portion of the word is what hit me. It is the word 'lego' (just like the kid's toy blocks) [Strong's NT:3004] and bears the meaning of a primary verb. Here are 'some' of the defining statements about this word which I have taken from the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and the Thayer's Greek Lexicon. * to "lay" forth. Being a father of four kids my mind automatically went to a giant box of LEGOS in my son's room that contains hundreds and thousands of LEGO pieces and sets that he has been "collecting, gathering, picking out, laying them forth, and laying them with one another" for more than a decade. Beloved, that is what we are. We each are a LEGO in the hand of God that He has chosen, called out, for a specific purpose and place in everything that He is building in the earth.
This morning (Sunday -- 11.21.04) at Restoration Ministries... I took my kids' BIG BOX of LEGOS to church. I had the ushers give every
person in the sanctuary a LEGO block. I shared this scripture and teaching. I
then had everyone come up and hand me their block. On a table in the front of
the sanctuary, where everyone could see, I placed the LEGOS one upon another. It
took a while... I got rather excited because every time I thought we were almost
through the ushers were bringing up another group. It took a long time, but we
needed to invest the time in order to learn this lesson. When all was said and
done I had built a box. Just a simple LEGO box. Four sides, a bottom, and a top. 1 Kings 6:7 informs us that when the magnificent structure of Solomon's Temple was being built there was not even the "sound of a hammer" inside of that place being built as a house for God. Everything was 'pre-fabricated' and then brought to the site and simply put into place. The workers built that massive edifice as a child builds with LEGOS. Psalms 22:3 shows that God 'inhabits' the praises of Israel. The word 'inhabit' used here literally means "to settle down, or to sit down" and it bears the implication that God is ENTHRONED in our praise. 1 Peter 2:5 reveals that WE are LIVING STONES being built up into a spiritual house and that we, as holy priests unto God, should offer the sacrifices of praise to Him. Romans 14:7 gives a powerful principle: No man lives to himself and no man dies to himself! Batman had Robbin. The Lone Ranger had Tonto. Superman had Louis Lane. Spiderman had Mary Jane. You are God's LEGO. Allow me to incorrectly play with the words and use the original scriptures given (Eph. 1:3,4) and say that before God ever created the first ray of sunshine He looked over the expanses of time and "eklegomai"-ed you. He chose you... He spoke across centuries, millennia, and generations and out of the tangled masses of humanity He signaled us with a purpose and a destiny... a place to fill... a special, specific gap that was created for us and we for it. In Solomon's Temple there was no hammering... implication -- God will not beat you or force you. You are not a square peg that God will try to force into a round hole. When you and I submit to HIM (the great big Jesus -- by Whom and for Whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16)) we then find our "PLACE". God is not just building US. He is building and INCREASING His kingdom / government (Isaiah 9:6,7). As we come together in a corporate setting God is putting together the LEGO pieces He chose. That is you and I friend! A LEGO block is really unproductive by itself. When it comes together with a bunch of other blocks and someone who has a plan then --> we find a PURPOSE FULFILLED.
After this teaching and demonstration we had one of the most powerful praise & worship times we have experienced. God placed His LEGOS in order... they FIT TOGETHER to make a HOUSE for Him and He came in like the Sovereign King that He is and enthroned Himself in the throne room that we became for Him. There was no prodding, prying, or hammering. We came in completely pre-fabricated for our purpose and snapped right into place. However, this is not 'just' for a church service. As we live among a city, nation, and world of other believers we find that God is corporately building a GIANT LEGO PROJECT and we come to realize that it is not about 'having' church, but it is ALL about BEING THE CHURCH! Think on these things. |