The greatness of a building, city, or nation is not due to its beauty, size, strength or any other physical characteristic. In Mark 13, the disciples make note of this very thing with Jesus, “And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” To which Jesus responds, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” He did not say that the temple and the buildings were not beautiful, rather, he was emphasizing that they are only buildings. Greatness belongs to God.

1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,
2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. 
3 Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress. 

Across this country of ours, and even in Europe, you will find large beautiful church buildings. The stained glass windows are a sight to behold. The steeples and bell towers are great. The artwork outside and in are beautiful. The sanctuaries are large and acoustically pleasing. But, there is very little life in them. Back in the day, these buildings were teaming with people but now they struggle to stay open with the handful of members left.

It is sad to see these buildings largely inactive and struggling today, but what happened? Though I do not know details in each particular case, one thing that often happens is that too many resources are invested in the structure and not the ministry. The beauty of the building is emphasized over the greatness of God. Council meetings focusing on the budget and how to “make money” instead of ministry and how to spend money.

Jerusalem was a great city, but it was not great because of its size and walls and gates and beautiful stones. Jerusalem was great because of the greatness of God. When the people forgot about that, Jerusalem fell, eventually being burned to the ground. And likewise, the Church is great because of its head, Jesus Christ, who died and rose to redeem his bride, the Church. May we be able to, “Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that THIS IS GOD (emphasis mine), our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.”

LET US PRAY: Holy God, you are great and mighty. You are awesome in power and beautiful. You have saved us through Jesus. You are our King and You reign on high. May Your majesty be made known throughout the whole world. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.