The Temple Motif
(topical)
1. One gal relays this unusual coincidence:
"I met my best friend in a Texas high school in 1981. We were both military brats who’d spent time in Germany so we had some stuff in common.
"While my mom was organizing old photos in 1986, we discovered that my family and my best friend’s family had stayed at the same hotel in Munich during the same weekend in 1978. The best friend, her brother and stepfather were in the background of several of our pictures and even appeared in ’walk on roles’ in some of the movies my dad took at the Olympic Stadium." [source: coincidences.nawaz.org]
2. This gal had been in the same room in Germany with the gal who she would meet years later in Texas -- and become best friends with.
3. In a sense, this is the relationship many Christians have to the OT Temple. It is in the background, a stranger to us. Then we realize that WE are now the Temple, and all of a sudden it is an old friend!
4.When the Jewish people lost their Temple to Roman destruction in 70 A.D., they could no longer offer sacrifices because sacrifices could only be offered at the Temple by a properly cleansed priesthood.
5. So they began to rationalize and developed strained interpretations to be able to replace their good deeds as sacrifices. From the Talmud we read:
"When R. Shesheth kept a fast, on concluding his prayer he added the following: Sovereign of the Universe, Thou knowest full well that in the time when the Temple was standing, if a man sinned he used to bring a sacrifice, and though all that was offered of it was its fat and blood, atonement was made for him therewith. Now I have kept a fast and my fat and blood have diminished. May it be Thy will to account my fat and blood which have been diminished as if I had offered them before Thee on the altar, and do Thou favour me." [source: Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth Folio 17a]
6. Believers in Christ know that there is no longer a need for a sin offering, according to Hebrews 10:18, "And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."
7. Speaking of Himself, Jesus said, "I tell you that one greater than the temple is here" (Matthew 12:6). As we saw in our first sermon, the temple moved from a building to Jesus, and now He shares that temple status with us.
8. Although the Scriptures most often assert that the believer is the Temple of God because he is indwelt by the Spirit, it is also true that the believer is indwelt by all 3 Persons of the Trinity, for Yahweh is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Turn to John 14…
John 14:15-17, 23 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ….23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Main Idea: The Temple motif is prominent in the New Testament, and we can see many implications of that prominence.
TS ---> As the final part of our 3 part "We are the temple" series, let’s look at 3 more implications.
I. The Struggle Within Our PERSONAL Temple
A. Law of God written on our HEARTS
1. Used of conscience in Romans
Romans 2:14-15, " Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them."
2. Used of the New Nature under the New Covenenant
Jeremiah 31:32, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people."
The new nature seems to be an intensification of the conscience…
3. Parallels the Ark of the Covenant with the Law
Deuteronomy 10:1-5, "At that time the LORD said to me, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest."
"So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now."
4. We still have a sin nature
• literally called the "flesh"
B. The Struggle: Who is WORSHIPPED in our Temple?
1. There is an idolatry war within us
2. Our sinful nature wants attention over Yahweh
• It is incapable of reform; we can say "no" to it, but we cannot eliminate it; we can choose to set our mind on the things of the Spirit
• Romans 8:6-8, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
3. We have an identity crisis; who am I, who are you? I am God’s temple, Ed Vasicek in all the spiritual depth of God’s Spirit, or am I my own man, Ed Vasicek, the man who wears the mask of society?
"You probably know Ted Giannoulas even if you’ve never heard his name. He has been the San Diego Chicken for 30 years. He originated the character as a college student, but Ted is getting older. At age 50, being the Chicken has been his life and his whole identity. His face is never photographed unless he is in costume. No one knows the real Ted. He has no family. At first, he loved his alter ego. "I discovered an untapped personality in that suit," he said. "It was like, now I have freedom. Now I’m no longer Ted." But there is a price to pay.
Ted himself says, "I have plenty of Chicken stories. I’m afraid I don’t have any Ted stories."
Many people live life being someone God didn’t create them to be. They lose themselves in other things instead of finding their identity in Christ."
[source: Sermoncentral, David Ward]
Application: We are all strugglers. The battle is raging within every one of us, and just knowing that gives us a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. We are in this together, and we can encourage one another to put God first in our temples! But we have to choose our primary identity: Temples of the Holy Spirit or the chicken costumes of the world?
II. Evangelism and Church Planting Are TEMPLE Ministries
A. Those reached correspond to SACRIFICES
Romans 15:15-17, "I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
B. Those reaching out with the Gospel correspond to PRIESTS
I Corinthians 9:13-14, "Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."
• when you witness, you are performing a priestly function, and thus a priest
C. The suffering experienced by God’s servants is a SACRIFICE
Philippians 2:17, "But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you."
* There is a difference between suffering because of our faith and suffering because of our stupidity; there is a difference between suffering as a human being and suffering because we are a Christian. Yet, in all instances, we can glorify God in our suffering!
III. The Challenge of the Gathered Church: BUILDING the Temple
A. The purpose of church meetings is a CONSTRUCTION term
Ephesians 2:22, "And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
B. That Term Is EDIFICATION
1. The term "edification" is translated "building up" in the NIV; it is where we get our word "edifice" from and it means to build. We are a temple in process!
2. I Corinthians 14:26 discusses the criteria for what is included in a church meeting. Paul rules, "Let all things be done for edification."
Romans 15:2, "Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification."
3. When our personal agendas become more important than edification, a church is in trouble. Edification asks, "What is best for the body, the church; agenda asks, "what do I or I and my friends want?"
C. The Opposite: DESTRUCTION
I Corinthians 3:16-17, "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
1. Those who destroy the Christian individually
2. Those who destroy a Bible-believing congregation
3. Those who hinder the spreading of the Gospel
CONCLUSION
1. As you can see, we are Temples of the Holy Spirit; as God dwelt with His Shekinah under the Old Covenant, so He dwells in our hearts under the New Covenenant.
2. What happened in the Temple happens within us and between us. We are special for at least three reasons: we were created in the image of God (human), we were redeemed by Jesus Christ, and we are temples of the Holy Spirit.
3. Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to act like who we are.
