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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 6
9 July 2006
Ye Are the Temple of God
(Message delivered by Pr
Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, July 2, 06)
Text:
1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19-20
The word
“Temple” is usually understood as a place of worship. In this world,
there are many beautiful and splendid temples and cathedrals for
worship, but the most important is whether the living and true God is
present in the worship. In the Bible, the temple consists of two main
parts: the holy place of worship and the courts leading to it. There is
outer court for the Gentiles, where the Lord Jesus cast out all the
merchants and money changers (Matt 21:12; John 2:14), and there is a
court for women (Lk 2:37) and another for Israel and for the priests,
where sacrifices are offered on the altar. Entering the holy place of
worship, we will see the holy place or the sanctuary, where the priests
do their service
with the candlestick and the
table of the showbread or unleavened bread. Behind the veil or curtain
of the holy place is the Holy of Holies or the Holiest, with the golden
censer and the ark of the covenant, where only the high priest enters
once a year, always with the blood of the sacrifice, to communicate with
God (Heb 9:1-7). When our Lord Jesus Christ yielded up His spirit on the
cross, this veil or curtain was rent or torn from the top to the bottom
(Matt 27:51), opening a living way for all to enter into the Holiest,
the throne of grace, the very presence of God, to communicate with Him
and to obtain His grace and mercy in time of need (Heb 4:16, 10:20-23).
Thank God and praise the Lord!
My dear
friends, many religions have their own ways to worship and communicate
with their gods, and the ecumenical movement welcomes all worldly ways
to promote worldly unity and one-world religion. But in order to have
access to the living and true God, there is only one living and true
Way, and that is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: no man cometh
unto the
Father, but by Me” (John 14:6), and the Bible confirms, “Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Holy
Temple of God
The
original term of “temple” in 1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19 is the Holy of Holies
or the Holiest. My dear friends, shall we not give thanks and praise to
the Lord for choosing us to be His holy dwelling place? Our Lord God,
our Maker and Creator, is so great, glorious, holy and mighty but humble
and meek, willing to dwell in us and among us. Do you and I truly know
that perfectly? The believers in Corinth did not know that truth
perfectly; as a result, they had many problems in their church. They did
not love each other, but accused each other and sued each other before
the secular court! They did not live a holy and godly life, but there
was immorality and division among them. The apostle Paul had to remind
them, “Know ye not” once in chapter 3 and six times in chapter 6. The
verb “know” here is the same term our Lord Jesus used when He said to
the Jews in John 8:55, “ye have not known Him, but I know
Him.” Our Lord meant, “You have not known My Father, but I know
Him perfectly” (Vine’s, p 346). My dear friends, do you
and I perfectly know or fully know that we are the temple, the Holiest,
of God and our body is the temple, the Holiest, of the Holy Spirit?
In 1 Cor
3:16-17, the word “temple” refers to the local church, to a group of
believers as “ye” in plural and “temple” in singular. Truly, as our Lord
Jesus says, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).
In 1 Cor
6:19, the word “temple” refers to individual believer’s body as “body”
and “temple” are in the singular. Paul does not say “your bodies are the
temples of the Holy Ghost” as there is only one same temple of the Holy
Spirit (your/my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit), nor “your bodies
are the temple” as it will refer to the gathering of believers (1 Cor
3:16), not the individual.
My dear
friends, do you and I perfectly and fully know that when we gather
together to worship our God, we are the temple of God, and our body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit wherever we are? It is amazing and
comforting to perfectly know that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us now
as the verbs are in present tense, but do you and I truly acknowledge
and appreciate His presence? My dear friends, if you come to my house,
and I ignore you, leave you alone and regard you as if you were not
there, what would you think and how would you feel? Surely, you will be
so disappointed, upset and grieved because of my indifference and
impoliteness. And we usually deal with the Holy Spirit like that, and we
grieve Him so often, and He is God, not man!
Separated from Wrong Doctrines and Sins
God is
holy and His temple must be holy. His dwelling place, the Holiest, is
our church and our body. The word “church” means “a called out people”.
God has called His people out of the world, sins and darkness to be His
own people. His Church (universal) is glorious, holy and without
blemish, without spot nor wrinkle (Eph 5:27), and He expects us, the
local church, to be the same. Each of the members does affect the whole
church as the sin of Achan caused Israel to be
defeated
before their enemy. My dear friends, we are to take care of each other,
pray for each other and encourage each other to live a godly and holy
life so that when we gather together, our holy God will be in our midst
and bless our worship. Then when others attend our worship, they may
“report that God is in you of a truth” (1 Cor 14:25).
I Cor 3:17
says, “if any man defile/ corrupt/destroy the temple of God, him shall
God destroy”. This does not refer to God’s children who are born again
and have the same mind of Christ, but this refers to false prophets and
false teachers who destroy or corrupt the faith of other believers
through their wrong doctrines against God’s Truth, the Holy Bible (Acts
20:29-30; 2 Peter 2:1-3). Nowadays, we can see many local churches and
seminaries, which used to be very biblical and fundamental, are now
corrupted by wrong doctrines, sins, and worldliness. May the Lord help
us to be faithful to Him and to His Word and be discerning and alert so
that we may not be deceived nor defiled by wrong doctrines and sins.
Moreover,
Paul especially warns us against the sins of the body like fornication
and adultery in 1 Cor 16:19-20, which is against our Lord Jesus Himself
as we are the members of Christ. My dear friends, wherever we are, are
you and I alert to keep ourselves pure and separated from all wrong
doctrines, worldliness and sins so that we may be the Holiest, the
dwelling place of our holy God?
Not Our
Own, but the Lord’s
The
conjunction “and” connects the two clauses. We can render the second
clause like this, “and do you not perfectly know that you are not your
own?"
My dear
friends, many Christians are
living without a full
knowledge that they are not their own, but the Lord’s. They can do what
they like, speak and listen to what they like, read and watch what they
like and go where they like regardless of the guidance and approval of
the Holy Spirit according to His Word, the Bible. Then how can they be
holy without the full control of the Holy Spirit? The reason we are not
our own is that we are bought with a price. What price? The Bible says,
“Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
Ghost hast made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). My dear
friends, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We were
created by our God, but we failed to love Him and obey His Word, “Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself” (Luke 10:27). We deserve eternal condemnation in hell, but due
to God’s love, grace and mercy alone, the Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to die for our sins and rise again for our justification and
has purchased us with His own blood. My dear friends, when we sincerely
repented and received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, it means
that we have been saved, redeemed and bought already, and we are not our
own but the Lord’s. Then, are you now your own or the Lord’s, my dear
friends?
Glorifying God
“Therefore,
glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God’s”. This is a command, and there is no
other choice as we are the Lord’s. Whether we eat or drink, or whatever
we do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Our eyes are the
Lord’s, let us use them for God’s glory whatever we may see, look at or
watch. Our tongue is the Lord’s, let us speak, sing, teach or preach for
Him and for His glory. Our hands are the Lord’s, let us do everything
for Him and for His glory even with humble and boring jobs. Our feet are
the Lord’s, let us walk with the Lord and go to do His will for His
glory wherever we are. Then, our bodies will be living and holy
sacrifices acceptable unto the Lord (Rom 12:1).
For our
spirit, we should be determined to glorify the Lord alone by choosing to
communicate with Him in His light, to love and enjoy Him and not the
world, to fear Him, look unto Him, wait upon Him, trust in Him and serve
Him and not men or even ourselves, to hear, obey and follow His voice
and not the tempting voice of strangers nor of Satan, nor of the world,
nor of the flesh, to believe and observe His Word without
any doubt
or question no matter what men may say. At the end we will be happy,
saying to our Heavenly Father as our Lord Jesus said, “I have glorified
Thee on earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do”
(John 17:4).
Conclusion
My dear
friends, it is so comforting to perfectly know that we are the temple,
the Holiest, of our living and true God, where the Holy Spirit is
dwelling in us wherever we are. May the Lord keep us holy and pure from
sins and wrong doctrines so that when we gather together to worship Him,
He will be in our midst. May the Lord use our body and spirit to glorify
Him alone until the end, and be so filled or controlled by the Holy
Spirit that there will be no room for sins, worldliness and even our
“self.” Amen.
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