How much is all this going to cost?

“So Solomon built the house [of God] and finished it.” (1 Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬).

When I asked a Bible study class how much they thought should be spent on a church building, most replied, “Less than we do.” I thought that was an interesting answer. People like beautiful, well-maintained spaces for worship. But many underestimate the cost and commitment involved.

The temple Solomon built in Jerusalem was beautiful. Huge rocks from a quarry. Cedar-paneled walls overlaid with gold. Carved angels, engraved Palm tree and flowers, and olive wood doors. The furnishings and fabrics were exquisite.

How much did this all cost? Scholars disagree. At the very least it’s tens of millions of dollars in today’s currency. It probably cost far more than that. Too much? Appropriate for the Almighty God?

It’s true that the overhead of a building consumes a significant part of a congregation’s budget. But it’s also true that a church building is a visual that God is a part of a community. It provides a place for God’s people to gather and encourage one another to live out our faith. It is a place to go in the worst moments of life to find hope. It’s a place that reminds us we’re not alone in this. We rejoice, mourn, live, and die together as God’s people.

God didn’t need a temple. Neither did his people. They worshipped for a long time without one. They would still fall into sin with one.

When a woman anoints Jesus’s feet with costly perfume, he’s touched by the nice thing she did for him. Perhaps we should look at temples and church buildings in a similar way.