Conclusion
Conclusion
The Fixed Abode
1 Corinthians 12:4-27; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Our last passage must sum up the whole of our studies together: “in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22 Weymouth).
A fixed abode! God, not the dim, fugitive unknown; but God the real, the intimate, the permanent. And how can this be? By being “built up together.” Finding God, the Spirit, is an individual thing, but it is also deeply collective. We cannot expect the permanent abiding of God unless we “are built up together.” Only a community transcending race and class and color can be the fixed abode of God. But we have asked God to abide in a compartmentalized society and in a divided heart. It cannot be.
When Moses was about to build the tabernacle, he was given a vision, and the Voice said, “According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so shall you make it” (Exod. 25:9). He did. Then the account says, “So Moses finished the work. Then . . . the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod. 40:33-34). When? When Moses had made all things according to the pattern.
We have seen the pattern—the kingdom of God on earth. It has spoiled us for any other pattern. This is it. For it, we will live, and for it, we will bleed—and if necessary, die. We will go out and make all things according to that pattern, within both ourselves and society. And God will take up a fixed abode with us as we are built up together.
We cannot ask God again to abide in this ramshackle thing we call society, where some of the children are pinched and starved and some have an unused overplus, where the weaker are exploited by the stronger and injustice is deeply imbedded. No, we will be “built up together,” where the sufferings of one are the sufferings of all, and where the gifts of God are shared with all the children. Into that holy tabernacle of humanity we can ask God to come—and God will come!
O God, our Lord, we cease our divisions within ourselves and in society and ask you to take up your fixed abode with us. We will do our part. With our life we say it. Amen.