Building The Temple 3 Sermon

I pointed out last week that went by
faith we are joined to Jesus under the
terms of the new covenant we can expect
for benefits to come our way let me
quickly list them for you one more time
number one our sins are forgiven Romans
8 1 there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus number two we are declared
righteous before God our sins aren't
only forgiven we are actually declared
righteous second Corinthians 5 21 God
made him who had no sin that is Jesus be
sin for us so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God number
three we have access to God's throne of
grace Hebrews 4 16 let us then approach
the throne of grace with confidence so
that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help us in our time of need we just
saying about that Lord we need you God
is the answer to our need and then
number four God can freely live in us
and among us once again 1 Corinthians
316 don't you know that you yourselves
are god's temple and that god's spirit
dwells in you that's where we want to
pick it up this morning because if
there's one theme that runs throughout
scripture that we've been looking at
these last couple of weeks it's the fact
that god wants to dwell among
his people and as we have seen sin is a
huge obstacle but in the person of Jesus
Christ God has broken through the sin
barrier and so the result is that he can
now once again dwell among his people
and just as in the Old Testament his
dwelling place was first the tabernacle
then later on the temple under the New
Covenant he no longer bill lives in
buildings made with hands he lives in
and among God's people you and I become
the Temple of the Living God listen one
more time to 1 Corinthians 316 don't you
know that you yourselves are god's
temple and that god's spirit dwells in
you you are the temple and God's Spirit
dwells in here now what I want to point
out for starters this morning is that
this indwelling of God's Holy Spirit in
and among Christians takes place on two
different levels first of all it takes
place in our lives as individual
believers again in Corinthians this time
chapter 6 verse 19 Paul says don't you
know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have
received from God you are not your own
what are the first things that happens
when a man woman boy or girl comes to
faith in Jesus is that you become
eligible to receive the Holy Spirit the
Holy Spirit as you know is the third
person of the Godhead he is the agent
through which
whom the father in the Sun realize their
plan and purpose and the spirit of Jesus
imparts to us the life of Jesus so that
now under the terms of the new covenant
we have the law written on our hearts
that is the genius of the old of the new
covenant predicted years ago by the
Prophet Jeremiah and quoted for us by
the writer to Hebrews in Hebrews chapter
8 the verses 10 and 11 when he quotes
from Jeremiah this is the Covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel
after that time declares the lord I will
put my laws in their minds and write
them on their hearts I will be their God
and they will be my people no longer
will a man teach his neighbor or a man
his brother saying know the Lord because
they will all know me from the least of
them to the greatest notice what he is
saying under the terms of the New
Covenant God's will is not simply
expressed from the outside like it was
under the Old Covenant it is
internalized it is written on your heart
that's the big difference between the
Covenant maded Mount Sinai and the
Covenant in the blood of Christ sealed
on Mount Calvary under the Old Covenant
God told you what it was that you had to
do but he didn't give you generally
speaking for the general population help
on the inside to live that way and so
Israel continually broke the
commandments of God but under the terms
of the New Covenant God in the person of
Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit
comes to live within
you and from the inside out he begins to
change your life because your body is
now the Temple of the Holy Spirit last
week after the service of person here
asked me a really insightful question
she said to me after we had been talking
about the Covenant made with Israel at
Mount Sinai which is a law covenant she
asked me the question why did God give
all these Commandments to Israel when he
already knew that they weren't going to
be able to keep those Commandments and I
said that's a very important question
because there are two answers to that
question one is that God gives the law
to Israel to help keep them on the
straight and narrow just like you tell a
child do this but don't do that so that
they wouldn't drift too far away from
God didn't always work very well but
that was one motive but there was a
second motive even more significant and
that's to actually show them that the
law couldn't keep them on the straight
and narrow it was to serve as a
conviction of sin so that when Jesus was
revealed that they would understand they
would need a Savior from outside
themselves Paul writing to the Galatians
puts it this way Galatians 3 24 and you
could read his ol argument to that
particular chapter the law was put in
charge to lead us to Christ that we
might be justified by faith God never
gave the law god never tells you what he
wants you to do with the expectation
that that's going to make you a
righteous person in fact the more you
understand what it is that he wants and
the harder you try to live up to it the
more you're going to fail and that's the
way it's been designed because that
drives us to
knees and that drives us to Jesus for
forgiveness restoration and redemption
so on one level God gives the Holy
Spirit to each of us as individual
Christians it's what sets Christians
apart Christians are in just better
people than non-christians Christians
are people in dwelled by the Holy Spirit
and if we allow that Holy Spirit to have
his way in us he will change us from the
inside out to make us more and more like
Jesus that's one level but there's a
second level and that is he comes to
dwell in us as a community of believers
he comes to dwell in us corporately
second Corinthians 6 16 Paul says we are
the Temple of the Living God as God has
said I will live with them and walk
among them and I will be their God and
they will be my people notice it's
plural we are the Temple of the Living
God God isn't interested only in living
in a whole bunch of individual
Christians he is also interested in
taking up his habitation in a group of
Christians together not only is our body
the Temple of the Living God the church
is the Temple of the Living God together
and i'll give you one reason for that
god is a triune God he is relational
from all eternity past God the Father
God the Son God the Holy Spirit have
demonstrated their love together
relational a and one of the purposes of
the church is to manifest the character
of God and you cannot manifest the
character of God fully as an individual
you need other people around you because
it is in the give intake of love
relationships that God's character comes
to expression and gets revealed to the
world for that reason when people say
well you know it's just God in me I
don't need to church their theology is
seriously at fault because from God's
perspective it's never just you and God
that's where it starts this will see it
more detail in a few moments but it's
never just you and God it's you and the
rest of God's people because God's
purpose according to the book of
Ephesians is that the manifold wisdom of
God should be revealed to the
principalities and the powers through
the church and so God dwells not just in
the individual believers hard he also do
wells in the community of faith and that
is why David was so committed to God's
purposes for the nation of Israel that's
why he was committed to building the
Temple and that's why in the New
Testament under that analogy of the
temple Paul talks about being built up
in Christ together so that we can become
a holy habitation for God's Spirit you
see where that argument goes it's not
just you and me lone little wolves off
to the side no it's you and me together
I believe with all my heart that what
God wants to do is build
old churches that are so filled with the
presence of God's Holy Spirit that the
world knows that these are people who
are God's people who in their
relationship with each other and in
their relationship of the world are able
to manifest the Spirit of God and
reflect his glory now here's what I want
us to understand this morning for this
to happen you can just throw a bunch of
bricks together and hope that a building
comes out of it the building has to be
built up from the ground on up and
that's what Paul is talking about then
in these verses that are really our text
this morning in him that is in Jesus the
whole building which is now the temple
the church is joined together and rises
to become a holy temple in the Lord and
in him you two are being built together
to become a dwelling in which God lives
by his Spirit the reference here is
clearly to the building of Solomon's
Temple back in the Old Testament I don't
know how many of you remember but
building that temple was not only a
major undertaking it took a long time it
took seven years if you read those
chapters in second chronicles than you
discover that King Solomon recruited a
hundred and fifty three thousand plus
slaves foreigners in the land to do the
work in building the Temple and it was a
costly enterprise in a glorious
enterprise and the one of the
interesting things about the temple
is that all the components for the
temple were prepared off-site so that
when the temple was actually assembled
on that threshing floor that David
bought from Aruna not a sound of a
hammer or a chisel that was heard here's
how one King 67 describes it in building
the Temple only blocks dressed at the
quarry were used and no hammer chisel or
any other iron too was heard at the
temple site while it was being built an
interesting tidbit of information don't
want to read too much into that but I
suspect I suspect that was being
pictured here is the silent way in which
God through history has been gathering
his people together and building up the
church it's almost invisible to most
people but it happens around the clock
because that's what God is aiming for
because when Jesus comes again he is
going to come for a people among whom
God can dwell in his glory forever and
ever so that here's the question if the
image of the temple in Paul's writing
here is dynamic rather than static it is
to say it is something that is actually
happening in time and in space what
needs to happen for this kind of temple
to arise what needs to happen for God to
be able to dwell in his glory among his
people not only individually but also
corporately well I submit to you two
things let's walk through them the first
is that every stone must relate properly
to the foundation
every stone must relate properly to the
foundation you are no longer foreigners
and aliens fellow citizens with God's
people and members of God's household
built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets with Christ Jesus himself
being the chief Cornerstone two things
in those two verses that we need to note
and the first is the emphasis on the
foundation of the apostles and the
prophets what Paul is saying there is
that as God is building his church he's
building his temple it starts with a
foundation all buildings they're going
to last are built on a foundation what
is the foundation the church is built on
well it is the Apostles and the prophets
what does he mean well it is the
revelation received by the prophets of
old and the Apostles in the New
Testament concerning the person of Jesus
Christ that he is the foundation he is
the corner stone on which the church is
built that's why he goes on to say then
point out the second thing that Jesus
Christ Himself is the chief Cornerstone
the chief cornerstone the cornerstone as
you know is a block that holds the
building together and that determines
how how the how the structure is made
particularly in old times when buildings
were made of stone and blocks here's a
picture of what a cornerstone back then
would look like it is a huge stone that
served to bind a building together and
when psalm 118 says that the stone which
the builders rejected
that has become the head of the corner
it is the cornerstone that is being
talked about it's a verse that is quoted
at least five times in the New Testament
always with reference to Jesus because
he is the cornerstone sometimes it's
translated as a capstone the two are not
the same a cornerstone is what you see a
capstone is on top that holds a building
together but in either case the message
is exactly the same the church is built
in relationship to Jesus who is the
foundation Paul puts it this way in 1
Corinthians 3 11 no other foundation can
anyone lay then that which is laid which
is Jesus Christ so here's the point you
don't just willy-nilly become part of
this temple that God is building you
don't become part of this temple because
you're born into a Christian home you
don't become part of this temple because
you've gone to Sunday school or you've
gone to church or because you've learned
how to live a good life no you can only
be part of this temple if you are born
again through faith in Jesus which means
confessing your sins recognizing that
you don't have what it takes to be the
dwelling place of God in the spirit and
you have come by faith to Jesus in
repentance saying lord I want you to be
the Lord of my life and I need your
spirit to live in me because apart from
that I cannot be what you want me to be
now those are the basics of faith but
the basics of faith are very easily
overlooked because you see we live in a
world where people recognize the
fragmentation of human society the
tribalism of the nations that goes back
all the way to the building of the Tower
of bball and if you listen to our
political leaders of it
all the tensions and the difficulties in
society today that everybody is trying
to reduce life to a common denominator
so that somehow or another we can get
along with each other is in that trailer
it's never going to happen because Babel
was reversed at Pentecost it can only be
overcome through the power of God's Holy
Spirit and if you want to be a living
stole and as Peter describes it you've
got to come to Jesus to become part of
this building 1 Peter 2 4 & 5 he says as
you come to him the living stone
rejected by men but chosen by God and
precious to him you also like living
stones are being built into a spiritual
house to be a spiritual priesthood the
Christian life always begins by each of
us individually coming to faith in Jesus
and if we want our lives to be part of
this temple that God is building we need
to be living stones through the new
birth that only Jesus Christ can produce
and if you're not sure about that in
your own life then would you please make
sure because no other foundation can
anyone lay but that which is laid which
is the person of Jesus Christ so every
stone has to be properly related to the
foundation but take it a step further
every stone also has to be properly
related to every other stone i said
earlier a pile of stones a building does
not make they have to be assembled to
become
a building and so here again every stone
in him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy
temple in the Lord in him the whole
building is joined together and rises to
become a holy temple in the Lord now
keep that verse up for a moment because
there's a lot more to that verse than
the English translation would indicate
the phrase joined together is a Greek
word that doesn't occur anywhere else in
the Bible and the reason for that is
that it is a word the Apostle Paul makes
up and he makes it up by combining three
Greek words together and without going
into all the details related to that let
me just say that the best way to
translate that phrase join together is
with the English phrase harmoniously fit
together and the picture here is that of
a stone mason assembling a building out
of field stones now most of our
buildings today are made out of blocks
and bricks and that leads us in the
wrong direction because they're all the
same size and they all fit together just
so but think of a fireplace mantel that
is put together a fieldstone or some of
the older buildings that have been
assembled out of stones gathered in the
field that's quite an art because the
first thing the mason has to do is he
has to collect all these
print stones and he will pick them for
variety and for color in for variation
he will pick some and he will reject
others as unsuitable and he'll gather
all of those stones together he'll bring
them to the building site and then he
will start fitting them together and he
will take one and look at it and he says
this is a good stone that I could begin
with and he will cement it to the
foundation and then he'll pick another
one and he will say you know these two
would look good together let me put them
together in and on he goes in this whole
process some stones will fit together
really well some will not fit so well so
what does he do takes his hammer and his
chisel knocks the edges off and in this
way he assembles the wall or the
building until it rises to become a
multi-faceted demonstration of a wall
that demonstrates the skill of the Mason
that's the image Paul is drawing on here
and that's why he makes up his own Greek
word to talk about stones that not only
fit together but that fit together
harmoniously and what you have here is a
picture of how God goes about building
the spiritual temple in which he wants
to live you'll have noticed I'm sure
that our dear Lord has a lot of very odd
sheep in his flock I mean you and I are
the measure of what's normal everybody
else is just a tad off color right and
you and I in the natural this is why
fragmentation of the world is such a big
issue in the natural everybody
gravitates to their own kind read an
article in the paper just this past week
somebody's been doing a long study on
sperm whales and how they communicate
with each other and they've discovered
that they favor their own pod and
they're developed their own level of
communication and nobody else can be
part of that that's a good example of
what happens with tribalism in the human
race how in the world you ever bring it
all together the world keeps on trying
it's never going to succeed because it
runs contrary to nature but what God
does is he Peaks people from every tribe
tongue a nation black on yellow red and
white they're all precious in His sight
we sing our little children songs and so
he picks you with your temperament he
picked somebody else with another
temperament he picks still somebody else
who's who's got rough edges and he
starts building you together and in
those places where you don't fit
together he knocks off the rough edges
and then he says I'm going to cement you
in place next to this one who's very
different from you but you know you kind
of look together you look good together
with your different colors and with you
different personalities on with your
different temperaments and so God builds
the church as a fitting habitation for
God in the spirit as I said earlier that
fits the context in Ephesians 2 where
Paul is talking about jew and gentile
coming together you and I can begin to
appreciate the difference between Jew
and Gentile in biblical days as I've
said earlier it's like having a child
molester living next to you and inviting
him to come in to babysit your children
while you're going to a party that's how
big the difference lies and Paul says in
the cross of Jesus that division has
been overcome and by the spirit
Jesus God is putting you together to be
a holy habitation for God in the spirit
you with me so there are two questions
that I want to leave you with is 40
number one are you properly related to
the foundation who is Jesus has there
been a time and a place in your life
where you have made sure that by faith
your sins are forgiven you've
surrendered your life to him as best as
you know how and you have invited his
spirit into your heart to change you
from the inside out because I'll tell
you something apart from that
transformation you're never going to
make it because what the Lord is going
to ask of you is beyond your human
natural capabilities you haven't gone I
don't care how nice the person you are
you will soon reach the end of your
niceness when you are cemented next to a
rough stone that is very unlike year are
you related to the foundation but
secondly the big question is this are
you willing to let the Lord do in you
would needs to be done to make you into
a holy temple are you willing for the
Lord to break down all those things that
are barriers between you and other
people and are you willing to be bound
together by the power of God's Holy
Spirit in a way that enables the temple
to rise up and be a dwelling place of
God
in the spirit are you prepared to be
part of community are you prepared to
rub shoulders with people that are
unlike ear are you prepared to deal with
lingering resentments that live under
the surface that keep the unity of the
body of Christ from happening the way
that it needs to happen are you willing
to let the Lord deal with the
peculiarities of your life that get in
the way of community in the body of
Christ and are you willing to allow your
giftedness your unique ability your
presence to be to be demonstrated for
the good of all taking the risks that
you need to take so that you're not just
a passive participant but you're an
active participant because it matters to
God that your colors show up and do you
understand what I'm saying your colors
need to show up in the law because you
matter and God has chosen you that's one
of the words that Paul uses by the way
when he says jointly fit together God
has picked you for a purpose in his
temple and I believe with all my heart
and I'll say it again that God is
building communities of people who are
so transformed by his power that God can
show up in glory so what happens when
this temple gets built up when this body
begins to take shape according to the
promises of Scripture well thing back to
Solomon's Temple what happened when
after seven years Solomon's Temple was
finished and it was dedicated well we
read about it in second chronicles
chapter seven verse 1 and 2 when Solomon
finished praying fire came down from
heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the
sacrifices and the what the glory of the
Lord filled the temple the priests could
not enter the temple of the Lord because
the glory of the Lord filled it same
thing happened years earlier Exodus
chapter 40 when the tabernacle was
dedicated the cloud covered the tent of
meeting and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle Moses could not enter the
tent of meeting because the cloud had
settled upon it and the glory of the
Lord filled the tabernacle the glory of
the lord is the manifest presence of
god's holy spirit same thing happened on
the day of Pentecost when they were
gathered together in unity the Holy
Spirit was poured out and it changed
everything let me speak to you from the
heart why do you think being part of
church is so important why do you think
showing up for a service is so important
why do you think giving your heart to
God's people is so important because God
is building a temple God is building a
place where he can live by His Holy
Spirit and I believe in all my heart
that when God's people are first of all
built on the foundation of Jesus and
then allow themselves to be built up in
the unity of faith by the power of the
Holy Spirit God shows up and when God
shows up the lame walk the Deaf hear the
poor have good news proclaim to them
lies
change by the power of Jesus don't ever
think you just come to church to sing a
few songs or listen to somebody talk I
put some money in the offering plate
they're all important components but
churches a lot more than that jesus said
where two or three let alone many more
are gathered in my name there I am in
the midst of them and what ought to
happen when God's people to gather
together in the unity of faith in the
unity Holy Spirit is a holy expectancy
that says God is here and when God's
here what's he going to do how's he
going to speak to me how is he going to
change my life how is he going to
transform me how is he going to give me
instruction Direction plan and purpose
what are the women here talked to me
last week after what are the services
and we had been singing the song come
lord jesus come and she said to herself
into the Lord I wonder what would happen
if the Lord really came and write that
moment totally unexpected for her her
that is that foretaste of glory that God
wants to give to his people it'll come
in different forms to different people
we don't all have the same personality
we don't all have the same need but i'll
tell you when god's spirit hovers over a
congregation and you know that he's here
spiritual gifts pop forth lives change
he shows you what needs to be shown you
and the church demonstrates the
character of Jesus for the world to see
but it takes surrender surrender to
Jesus surrender to community forgot to
build this up because when he builds us