There was a priest who served in large city, and one cold day in December he discovered that the baby Jesus - that had been his church’s manger had been stolen. He reported it to the police and he explained to them “We’ve just got to find that baby. He’s the only Jesus these people have ever known.”
The story of Jesus’ birth… well it can run that risk. There’s a lot of people today that, when think about Jesus, they think of Him as if He’s only a baby in a manger because… that’s all they ever see! But of course… Jesus was far more than that. The key note scripture for our sermon series is: Matthew 1:23 which says “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
You see, Jesus WAS born as a baby, born of a virgin. But He was more than just a baby. Jesus was God with us. Over the last 2 weeks we’ve been looking at the fact that God has always wanted to be with us. He’s always wanted to walk with us and talk with us, much as He did with Adam & Eve, and Noah, and Enoch, and Abram. And He’s always wanted to dwell amongst us - like He did with the Israelites in the Wilderness. And, it was in the wilderness that God declared “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Exodus 25:8
Now, that Sanctuary that God wanted built was the Tabernacle. It was a tent-like structure that was always in their midst in the wilderness. And when they got to the Promised Land, the Tabernacle, was set up at a community called Shiloh. But the day came, as it always does with tents, that the Tabernacle eventually outlived its usefulness. And it was then that Solomon built the temple.
ILLUS: One scholar noted that when the Temple was constructed it was a magnificent building. It stood on Mount Moriah… and it could be seen for miles around. It was an elegant building. And you could tell that the builders took pride in their work because it’s gold and marble literally made the building glisten in the sun. The Israelites had good reason to be proud of this building.
So, when they dedicated the Temple to God (as it says in our text) there was the blowing of trumpets and playing of instruments. It was a time of rejoicing and feasting. There were hundreds of sacrifices made., and we’re told that as soon as Solomon finished his prayer (dedicating the building), “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." II Chronicles 7:1-3
(PAUSE) This was a day that Israel would remember for years. The glory of the LORD filled the Temple, and God was in the midst of His people. GOD DWELT WITH HIS PEOPLE!
Now there are couple things about this story that caught my attention. 1st, Solomon had prayed in I Kings 8:13 “ I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
Well, that was a nice sentiment… but that didn’t happen. Approximately 200 years later, according to the prophet Ezekiel (chapters 8-11), God’s glory left the temple because of the sin of Israel and the temple was destroyed shortly after by Babylon. (https://israelmyglory.org/article/the-day-the-shekinah-returns-to-israel/#:~:text=The%20Shekinah%20glory%20left%20Israel,Israel%20was%20over%20them%20above)
WELL, THAT’S A BUMMER.
But it’s not that hard to understand. The Temple was just a building. God didn’t need it. He didn’t need a place to live. I mean, even the vastness of heaven couldn’t hold God. And besides, God had a better Temple in mind. Do you know what Temple God really wanted? The real Temple God wanted was you!!!
I Corinthians 6:19-20 says “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.” When God allowed Solomon to build the Temple, THAT Temple was an example of what God wants in YOUR life.
For example, we’re told that “the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house.” (II Chronicles 7:2) Now, here’s the deal - when you became the Temple of God (When you became a Christian) His Spirit came and dwelt inside of you. Acts 2:38 says “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
If the Spirit of God is inside of you, God doesn’t want to share you. God wants to be the center of your life, and He wants to fill you! Since that’s so - then you’ve got to be careful what you put into your life, because if you put anything else into your life you might end up pushing GOD (His Spirit) out, because there’s no room for anything else.
ILLUS: Now, this is a drinking glass. You might look at this glass and think “there’s nothing in that glass” and you’d be right… kind of. You’d be right that there’s not nothing in the glass… except air. We don’t think of air as SOMETHING when it’s in a glass, and yet, I’m told that the air pressure in this glass would be 14 pounds of pressure per square inch. SO THERE IS SOMETHING IN THIS GLASS, and you can measure it!
But, you just can’t see it.
Now, I can put something else in this glass (colored water) and if I put something else in this glass… you know what happens to the air? It gets pushed out! And so it is with the Spirit of God - you have to be careful what you put in your life, because if you put something else in your life that doesn’t belong there – what you put in will push THE SPIRIT out of your life.
Be careful about having added things in your life. Things like selfishness, anger, bitterness, and slander. In fact Ephesians 4 tells us we are NOT allowed to have those emotions control us because if we do, we literally “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom (we’ve been) sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
So, if we allow ourselves to be mean and harsh to others (no matter what they’ve done to us) we can end up pushing God’s Spirit out of our lives. Now - by contrast - Ephesians tells us we should “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) If we are kind to people at Church, tenderhearted, forgiving of things they’ve done to us - we’ll be showing that we are filled with the Spirit - and that will please God.
So, the goal of the Christian is to dedicate our lives to being full of the Spirit.
Now, as I was preparing for this sermon, I read about a Jewish holiday that starts today. Today is the Jewish holiday called Hanukkah (or the festival of lights). About 300 years before Jesus was born, Alexander the Great conquered Israel. When Alexander died, his successors began to rule the Holy Land and they sought to influence Jewish society with Greek thinking. But, that didn’t go over real well.
Ultimately, one of those foreign rulers decided that it would be a good idea to offer a pig as a sacrifice at the temple. That in turn, led the Jews (led by a family named the Maccabees) to revolt and throw out their foreign overseers. And one of the first thing they did was cleanse the Temple.
A preacher named Ray Stedman pointed out that in modern day Israel “Hanukkah is a celebration of THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE for the ULTIMATE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, whom the Jews expect will come to the nation of Israel.”
Now, by contrast, (he said) Christmas celebrates the actual coming of that Messiah to a sinful, weary, and waiting world.
So, the Jews celebrate the cleansing of the Temple for the coming Messiah. That’s interesting because the Temple was cleansed a lot of times in history. The Jewish Kings Hezekiah and Josiah had to cleanse the temple during their reigns. When Ezra and Nehemiah rebuilt and dedicated the 2nd Temple they cleansed the Temple as well. And of course, Jesus cleansed the Temple Himself a couple times .
And I got to thinking, if the Temple of God at Jerusalem had to be cleansed a few times - well our Temple of the Holy Spirit could probably stand being cleansed as well. I mean we are the temple of the Spirit. And just like with ancient Israel, there’s worldly things that can tend to creep into our lives as well.
So, once in a while, we need to do some spiritual ‘house-cleaning’ too. We need to think about the movies and shows we watch; We need to examine the music we listen to; We need to ask if the books we read would please God.
NOT EVERY BOOK IS WORTH READING
NOT EVERY SONG IS WORTH SINGING
And NOT EVERY SHOW IS WORTH WATCHING.
CLOSE: The opening illustration of this sermon told of a priest who desperately wanted the police to find the baby Jesus that had been stolen from the church’s manger scene. “We’ve just got to find that baby. He’s the only Jesus these people have ever known.”
And that’s the problem for many church goers. The Jesus they know doesn’t get out much. He’s like a little baby, He’s cute; He’s cuddly; but He doesn’t do anything. And that’s the way they like it. If Jesus stays as a baby, then they can live their lives any way they want to.
But you know, if you take Jesus seriously - if you rejoice in His presence; if you live for Jesus as being “GOD WITH US” - God can step down into your life, and light up your existence.
There was one part of the story of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple that I ALMOST missed. Like I said earlier – on the day of the dedication There was the blowing of trumpets and playing of instruments; It was a time of rejoicing and feasting; There were hundreds of sacrifices made., and we’re told that.
But then we’re told: “Fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.” Huh? When the people rejoiced in God’s presence, God HIMSELF responded in a powerful way, He literally LIT their offering on fire. And that’s what JESUS can do for your life, if you allow Him to be “God with YOU”
INVITATION
