OPEN: In the heart of Kentucky is a facility dedicated to housing hundreds of bars of pure gold --- weighing more than 4,600 tons. Does anybody know what that facility is called? (Fort Knox) When we think of Fort Knox we often visualize it as being nothing more than the vault that holds that gold, and yet the place where the gold is held is only a small part of a military base covering 109,000 acres spread across 3 counties which houses 23,000 soldiers (you need lots of guns to guard that much gold).
The vault itself is built to be inpenetrable - its constructed of granite, steel, and concrete. The vault door alone weighs more than 20 tons. In fact, there might be more steel than gold at Ft. Knox. The vault is made of steel plates, steel beams, and steel cylinders. To open the door, several staffers at the depository must individually dial in separate combinations known only to them. And EVEN the president of the United States doesn't have the combination to the vault.
Over the years - in addition to gold - the Vault at Ft. Knox has also protected the gold reserves of several other countries; the English crown jewels; the Magna Carta; the Gutenberg Bible. And back in the early 1940’s it also held the original U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence (Uncle John Salutes the Armed Forces, pp 363-366)
APPLY: Ft. Knox captures our imagination because just hearing the name “Ft. Knox” brings to our mind images of huge stacks of gold. We know of Ft. Knox as a place that holds items of great value. And that’s the kind of imagery that God uses to describe YOU – “you are God’s temple and… God’s Spirit dwells in you” I Corinthians 3:16
You have become a place that holds an item of great value. You hold the Spirit of God inside of you. YOU ARE GOD’S TEMPLE!
Now why would God use the imagery of the “Temple” to describe us? Well, just like Ft. Knox captures our imagination, the Temple in Jerusalem captured the imagination of the people of that day. The Jewish historian Josephus reported that the Temple was “covered on all sides with massive plates of gold,” and when the sun struck it, “it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from solar rays.”
The Temple of God was a wondrous thing and, in the Old Testament, the Temple was where God dwelt. But when Jesus came --- that all changed. I Corinthians 3:16 declared “…you are (now) God’s temple… God’s Spirit dwells in you.” God doesn’t need a physical Temple anymore because you and I are it! He dwells inside of US now.
But now, there are people who struggle with that. There are people who feel the need to have their Building be the NEW TEMPLE.
For example, in Old Testament the Temple was divided into two rooms. The first room was called the “HOLY PLACE” (that’s where the table of shewbread, the candlestick and altar of incense were housed). And the back room (where the Ark Covenant was) was called the HOLY OF HOLIES. In the Catholic church, there’s spot in back of their priest that’s called the HOLY OF HOLIES. and only the priest can go there. Why? Because, apparently they are trying to make their buildings to be reenactments of the Old Testament Temple, and they regard their building as a holy sanctuary like that Temple! And their reenactment is a place where you have to go through the Priest to get to God. That’s not Biblical… but that’s what they do.
Now, other churches aren’t quite so brazen. Most churches don’t have priests wearing special garments and standing between us and God, and they don’t have a Holy of Holies, but what they do have… is AN ALTAR. Why have an altar? Because that’s what that’s what the Temple had. That’s where they made the sacrifices. And so, churches like these will call the stage the altar, and people who want to be saved - or pray a special prayer - they come down and lay it all on the ALTAR. Again, that’s not biblical, but it’s what they do.
Now WE don’t do stuff like that! We don’t have SPECIAL PRIESTS with priestly garments that you have to go through to get to God; and we don’t have a HOLY OF HOLIES hidden up here somewhere on stage; and we don’t have an ALTAR where people come to surrender to Jesus. I mean, those things are just NOT in the Bible! So we don’t do them!
We wouldn’t do dumb stuff like that would we?
Well… we might.
You see, just having a Church building can become a trap. Not that I’m complaining about church buildings, it’s just that a building can become the HOLY place where you do HOLY STUFF. And by default, everything you do OUTSIDE the building is not HOLY STUFF.
ILLUS: Years ago, I was the camp Dean for a Sr. Week up at Lake James Christian Assembly near Angola, IN. My assistant Dean was a man named John who told me he had a “GREAT IDEA.” He wanted to teach the kids about how a Christian should evaluate secular movies and that he wanted to do was show “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and then have a discussion about what was wrong with the movie.
Personally, I’ve never seen the movie – before or since - but I was pretty sure it was a fairly godless movie. But my tendency is to trust people I have placed in a position of responsibility, and John was my assistant Dean, not to mention a pretty smart fella. With a shade of foreboding I asked “Are you sure you can do this? And he smiled and assured me there was no nudity and little if any cursing… and that he knew exactly what he was doing.
I had an appointment that night, so I had to be gone while John conducted his experiment but when I returned, I came back to a camp staff that was in rebellion. My workers were furious. Whatever John had done had backfired in a BIG WAY and I spent the rest of that week doing damage control!
At the end of the week, I ran into one of the camp staff named Conrad who (referring to the movie disaster) stated “That was really a bad idea.” To which I shamefully replied “tell me about it.” Then Conrad shared a surprising statement: “Last week my family and I watched that same movie at home – and we didn’t see anything wrong with it. But when John showed it at camp I was embarrassed.”
Did you catch that – Conrad and his family had watched “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” at home and they had seen nothing wrong with it at the time. But when they came to the holy place (called camp) NOW it was unacceptable.
You see, that’s the danger of church building. Folks tend to see them as HOLY PLACES where you do HOLY STUFF. But you can do “NOT SO” HOLY STUFF outside the HOLY PLACE. Once I open the door and walk out, I don’t have to be concerned about doing HOLY STUFF anymore.
But the Bible tell us “you are God’s temple and… God’s Spirit dwells in you” (I Corinthians 3:16). In other words: YOU are the HOLY PLACE where the HOLY STUFF happens! If you wouldn’t do something INSIDE the church building, because you view the building as holy… but you WOULD do it outside the church building… then you’ve misunderstood who you are! You are the temple of God!!! God is inside of you!!! So wherever WE are that’s where the HOLY PLACE IS, and that’s where the HOLY STUFF happens. That should influence the things you and I say and do and watch.
Now, I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, and I have no desire to have a “Morals Police” come into your home and police your behavior. That’s not my point here. My point is… you and I are answerable to God for what is done in THIS Temple (I pointed to my heart). It doesn’t mean we’re always going to get it right… but we should at least try!
The question (of course) is how do I do that? How can I at least try to get it right? And I struggled with this question for long while until I realized that the answer was right there in front of me… in the Temple!
Do you remember the picture we’d shone on the screen about the inside of the Temple? The first room, called the Holy Place held the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Lampstand and the Altar of Incense.
One of the first pieces of furniture that catches my attention is TABLE OF SHEWBREAD. This was the place where the priests ate bread in the presence of God. Are you a priest? Yes you are (I Peter 2:9). And do you eat bread in the presence of God? Yes you do - it’s called Communion. Every time we eat and drink of communion we are eating drinking the in presence of God. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:28 “A man ought to EXAMINE himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.”
At Communion we need to examine ourselves. We don’t want to approach God with unrepentant sin in our hearts. Now, some people might examine themselves and then say “Well, I’ll never be righteous enough to take communion” … and so they don’t. But that’s NOT what Paul is saying (if it were, none of us would ever be able to partake). What Paul is saying is examine yourself! Do it! Be honest with yourself, don’t lie to yourself, present your faults to God and then ask forgiveness… THEN take communion. And we should do this every week, every time we take of the Lord’s Supper.
2ndly – across from the table of shewbread was a GOLDEN LAMPSTAND. What does a lampstand do? It gives light! What do we Christians have that gives us light? The Bible. Psalms 119:105 tells us that God’s “word is a lamp unto (our) feet and a light unto (our) path.” The Bible sheds light so we can see what is important. It lights up the dark corners of our hearts.
Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
So, first we need to examine ourselves at the COMMUNION table, but then we need to go a little deeper. The Scriptures cut away the barriers we’ve erected to justify ourselves and it exposes the excuses we make to hide from God. Thus, when we REALLY read the Bible it makes our hearts naked and exposed before God.
Then there’s one more deeper level of self-examination and that’s represented by the ALTAR OF INCENSE. In Revelation 5:8 we’re told that the incense offered up by the angels were “the prayers of the saints.” Thus, when we pray, we are offering up a sweet incense into the presence of God.
Speaking of prayer, David wrote “Test me, O LORD, and try me, EXAMINE my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. Psalm 26:2-3
David prayed for God to examine Him. He asked the Lord to test him and try him so that he didn’t miss anything. Self-examination is good, and the Bible’s examination of us is better, but the ultimate examination of our souls is done in prayer… asking God to reveal any hidden sin in our lives. When we do these things, it helps us to learn to do Holy Stuff in Holy Ways, in the Holy Place – which is our hearts.
Lastly, in the room behind the Curtain is the Ark of the Covenant. This was where God dwelt. Of course, now Paul says that that’s changed: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20
God’s Spirit now dwells in you… in the innermost part of your heart. And He gives you the strength to change your life, to make it more Holy and acceptable in His presence. BUT… His Spirit also gives you the strength to stand for God in a harsh and difficult world so you can do Holy Things even in the midst of a sinful atmosphere.
ILLUS: Ray Stedman told of hearing an airline stewardess tell of the day she was serving coffee on a plane, and as she came down the aisle she stopped beside a man who smiled at her who made a lewd suggestion to her. It shook her, and she did not know what to do for a moment. She turned, and went to the back of the plane to recover herself, and she prayed and asked God to show her what to do. When she believed she had the proper answer for the man, she returned and knelt beside his seat. She looked him right in the eye and said, “Sir, I saw what you showed me and I understand what you mean but there is something you need to know. I am a Christian, and my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God says he is going to destroy anyone who damages his temple.” The man began to stammer out an apology, and she said, “I understand. Don’t say any more. I just want you to know that.”
You see, she was able to take that bold stand because she understood that God’s Spirit was within her. And you can do the same… but first you need to HAVE that Spirit inside you, and you can’t have Him until you belong to Christ. Acts 2:38 says we need to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
INVITATION
