The Temple of God
We as a church are in the ninth week of a ten-week series, “Reimagining the Church.. Each week, we explore a different image or metaphor for the church. This week, we will be talking about “The Temple of God”. We see this image throughout the Old and New Testaments. God desired a deep and loving relationship with his people and The Temple of God was the place where God could dwell with his people. Paul reminds the church in 1 Cor 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst.” Paul is reminding the early church and us today that the church should be a place where God’s spirit lives and dwells. It is the church, where God has chosen for us to worship and experience God and we, as the church, are to be called to be mini temples reflecting Jesus in both our actions and behavior to the outside world.
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The Temple of God
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Good morning! If you are visiting with us this morning, my name is Pastor David Pranga. I am the Executive Pastor here at Brewster Baptist Church. I am so glad that you have come to join with us today.
Whether you are watching online, or here in the Sanctuary, thank you for making the time to worship together. Currently, we, as a church, are in a series entitled “Reimagining the Church”. Each week, we have been exploring a different image or symbol for the church. This week, I get to share with you about the church being “The Temple of God”.
How many of you like movies? How many of you like Marvel movies? In the past 25 years, the Avenger movies have been a very popular series. These movies are full of superheroes, such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and, my favorite, Spiderman.
Marvel movies are popular primarily due to their engaging combination of thrilling action, charismatic characters, and great storytelling. In each of these movies, the superhero character, initially, has no idea that they have a superpower – a superpower that is inside them. As we watch the movie, we see the transformation that takes place in the character’s life.
My favorite superhero is Spiderman. Peter Parker is a regular high school student. There is nothing special about him. One day, he was bitten by a genetically altered spider, which gave Peter superhuman strength and a spider-like ability to cling to any surface.
As we watch the movie, at first, Peter did not understand his superpower and all that it entailed. He had to learn how to use it properly. Sometimes, he failed. Other times, he was successful. As time went by, Peter Parker learned to use his superpower for good, and for fighting crime. He then became known as Spiderman.
How many of us remember Uncle Ben’s quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”? As Christ followers, and as the body of Christ, we also have an incredible superpower. The church has something that most of the world is searching for.
The questions that I have for you this morning are these. Do we, as a church, recognize our superpower? Do we understand what it is? How can we (the body of believers) be the church that God has called us to be?
Our text today is from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
The apostle Paul shares with us that you are God’s temple. What we often miss, in the English translation, is that the word “you” is plural. The word “you” is referring to the “whole body of Christ” – not just us, as individuals. Paul is speaking to the entire church.
We, as the church, are God’s temple. God’s very Spirit dwells in our collective midst. That is quite powerful! God is our superpower. Something I think we, as the church, often forget – that individually, and collectively, we have God’s Spirit with us – the same Spirit that brought Jesus back from the dead!
For the past eight weeks, we have been looking at different images of the church. Today, we are looking at the image of the “Temple of God”. We see this theme of the “Temple of God” unfold throughout both the Old and New Testaments.
The “Temple of God” is simply the place where God dwells with His people and rules as king. God’s temple is a holy place. It is the place where people could be in God’s presence. It was a place of worship, where humanity and God could be together.
Garden of Eden: The first place we see the picture of the Temple of God (where God dwells with His people) was in the garden of Eden. Genesis 1:27-28 says:
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God created us; He designed us to be in relationship and commune with Him from the very beginning. We read in Genesis that Adam, Eve, and God are in perfect relationship in the garden of Eden. Life is good. There is an intimate relationship with God and His people.
All of humanity lived in harmony with each other, with nature, and with God, as God had intended it to be. Life was good. Unfortunately, this beautiful picture did not last long, as we know.
The first humans chose to rebel against God. They chose not to listen to what God said. Adam and Eve did their own thing. This was the issue. God, who is Holy, perfect, and without sin, had to kick them out of the garden.
Adam and Eve could not worship and be together as God had intended. God still loved Adam and Eve, but because of their sin, they had to leave the garden and the presence of God. There was now a huge chasm between God and mankind.
The rest of the biblical story is about the hope for humanity. God wanted to reunite with his people that he loved.
Tabernacle: As we move forward through the Bible to Exodus, God speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai. God tells Moses to build a tabernacle. This would be a place where God would dwell with His people. This was to be a holy place. It was also a place where the people would offer sacrifices for their sin and worship Him.
Exodus 25:8-9 says,
“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishing exactly like the pattern I will show you.”
The tabernacle was a very large, but movable, tent. It was a place where God would dwell with His people as they journeyed from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land. The tabernacle was the very first step in restoring God’s presence with the Israelites.
What was so significant about the tabernacle is that every room, and all the furnishings, represented different aspects of God. I want to talk about two of the rooms.
The Outer Court was the first room. It was a place where the people made sacrifices to God because of their sin. People could not approach God as they were. Their sin must be dealt with. There had to be a sacrifice for the sins the people committed. This was in accordance with God’s instructions.
As you moved through the rooms of the tabernacle, each room drew us closer to God’s Perfect Holiness and Presence. The last room was called the Holy of Holies. This was the most holy place in the tabernacle. It was the place where God’s Spirit dwelled. It was a very sacred place.
Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year. A thick curtain separated the people from entering God’s presence. The tabernacle gives us one key message: God is holy! He is set apart, glorious, and perfect. God desires to dwell with his people, but our sin separates us from His Presence.
Temple: Hundreds of years later, the tabernacle was replaced with a more permanent structure that King Solomon built in Jerusalem. The temple was enormous in size. It was the new, permanent, physical place for God to dwell, and for the people to be in his presence and worship Him.
According to Isaiah 56:7, this building was to be “a house of prayer for all nations”. Through this temple, God not only manifested his love and care for Israel, but anyone from any culture could go there to worship Him.
Unfortunately, the Israelite leaders, like Adam and Eve before them, rebelled against God. They were filled with evil and injustice. The temple was destroyed. Once again, the people were exiled from their land.
Many years later, the people returned to Jerusalem and built a second temple. However, that temple fell into corruption again, and was destroyed. People began to wonder if there was any chance for God to dwell with His people in the way He intended, and they yearned for.
Jesus: As we travel through the Old Testament, we come to the prophets, who predicted that one day, there would be a new temple. Isaiah 7:14 says that He will be called Immanuel, which means, “God with us.”
As we move forward to the New Testament, Jesus arrives on the scene. Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus walked on earth, as both God and man. We see that Jesus was dwelling with the people. This is important…. Jesus is God with His people.
As we will see, Jesus is the final tabernacle. Jesus is the Holy of Holies. Jesus is the actual presence of God. Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the final sacrifice on the altar.
In John 2:19-22, Jesus referred to His own body as the temple, saying it will be destroyed, but rebuilt in three days. The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that accomplished what the temple in Jerusalem could never do.
When Jesus died on the cross, the thick curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was torn in two – representing that anyone who trusts in Jesus can now have communion with God. It was Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over sin and death that made a way for God to not only dwell with His people, but for God to dwell in His people.
People of God: As we move forward to the New Testament writers, they continued to refer to the temple of God in the letters to the churches. There was no need for a physical building anymore. The people did not have to go back to Jerusalem to visit the temple.
Jesus’ presence would now be in the believers, through the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them. In that way, believers in Christ would be mini temples. We would be representing Jesus to the world we live in.
These are just a few Old Testament and New Testament passages that mention and talk about the Temple of God. Back to the movie “Spiderman” – Peter Parker had a superpower, one that gave him incredible strength and spider-like ability.
As Christ followers, and as the church, we have a superpower with us, as well. Our superpower is that we have the God of the universe dwelling here. The Holy Spirit is with us and in us to do great things.
As we talk about reimagining the church today and focus on the symbol of the temple of God, let me give you three final thoughts.
How the Church is to be the Temple of God
Glorify God
The church must be a place where our primary reason for existing is to give praise, honor, and worship to God. It is a place where God is lifted high and glorified. It is a place of prayer and communion with God. His spirit dwells where believers come together.
Colossians 3:17 says,
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Everything we do as a church we do to glorify God – from our worship services on Sunday, to serving in the nursery, teaching Sunday School, working with students, coming together in our small groups, serving on the buildings and grounds teams, making meals for those who need it, and ministering through vacation bible school, the list could go and on.
Hopefully, the reason we are doing these activities and services is not for our own good or what we get out of it. Our primary purpose for doing these things is to point people to Jesus. We want people to see that our God is great and mighty. We want to see God being glorified by our actions and words.
Be a Holy People
Jesus was our primary example of how we are to live our lives. As Christ followers, we want our actions and behaviors to be like those of Jesus.
I like what 1 Peter 2:9-10 says,
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We, as the church, need to remember where we came from. Once we were in the darkness and lived like the world does. God continuously drew us closer to Himself until we understood the truth.
As believers, and the church, we are God’s chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. God cares very much how we live our lives, how we get along and how we treat people, how we show mercy and grace to people, how we handle conflict, and, most of all, how we show love to each other.
It is our responsibility to live a life in such a way that brings honor to God. Our lives should be different than the world. Hopefully, by our actions, people will see there is something different about us. They will ask questions. They will come to know that we have Jesus in our lives.
Be a Light to the World
In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says,
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
There is old saying, “If your church went away, would anybody notice?” One of our strengths, as a church, is that we care about our community. We want to be a light to our community and to the world.
I think it is great that we have the Food Pantry here. We come alongside the Lower Cape Outreach Council to help individuals and families who are in need. We give 100% of our Holiday Fair proceeds to different organizations on the Cape. We support the Clemmers in the Congo, Sofia Baptist Church in Bulgaria, and many missionaries throughout the world.
It is our mission to not just do good works, but to do good works with the purpose of people coming to know Jesus. That is how we are different from the world. We want to point people to Jesus Christ with the ultimate purpose of seeing people come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.
We want to see our friends, and family members, and neighbors, and co-workers, and people from every nation, come to believe the good news of the gospel. I believe God wants our church to be the light to our community.
Remember back to “Spiderman” and Uncle Ben’s quote, “With great power comes great responsibility.” As a church, we know the truth of Jesus Christ and what he has done in our lives. We need to remember the great power we have by the Holy Spirit and the great responsibility to love people and to glorify God.
Questions for Discussion or Reflection
- What is your favorite superhero movie and why?
- The theme of the “Temple of God” unfolds throughout the Bible: God was with Adam and Eve in the garden; God was found in the tabernacle and then the Jerusalem temple; Jesus arrives and dwells with his disciples and followers; later, God sends the Holy Spirit to his followers. What do we learn about the character of God and how much God loves his people?
- Read 1 Corinthians 3:17. What are the problems facing the church of Corinth? What traits did the Corinthians have that made them so worldly? Why was that so troublesome to the Apostle Paul?
- What is the foundation of the church (vs. 11)? Why is the foundation the most important aspect of our faith? How does understanding this help us? How does it help us with conflict?
- What are some implications of the fact that God’s Spirit lives in every believer? How does this fact affect how you view yourself and others? How should our attitude and actions be influenced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?
- How do verses 1-17 in 1 Corinthians 3 reveal the seriousness of the Corinthians’ divisions? What important fact had the Corinthians failed to appreciate in verse 16?
- Why are unity and working together so important in the church today? How does it affect our witness to our community and to the world?
- What can you do to help build up the church? What needs could you meet in your church over the next month to build up others?