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“*GOD’S TEMPLE*”
(A Series on I Corinthians)
Westgate Chapel 5~/3~/98 a.m.
I Corinthians 3:16-23
PROPOSITION: Every believer and every church is God’s temple and is sacred by His Spirit, reserved for the teachable, and is fully satisfied in the riches of God’s inheritance.
! I. introduction
!! - HOW many of you here this morning believe in the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
!! - HOW many of you believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God?
!! - HOW many of you believe that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead to cleanse you of your sins and fill you with His righteousness?
!! - HOW many of you have put your trust in Jesus’ work of salvation on the cross?
!! - THAT is what the Bible calls being saved....saved from sin and the wrath of God....saved to be part of God’s eternal family.
!! - WHY did God save you?
!!! ~* Because God loves you (John 3:16), Jesus came to die on the cross to buy you back from slavery to sin and death.
!!! ~* And he also saved you so that your life could be a testimony to the praise of His glorious grace.
!! - SO, you are not saved by God’s grace, and then just left out there to do your own thing.
!! - THE quality of your spiritual life is of utmost importance to God....AND he quality of the life of a fellowship like Westgate Chapel.
!! - THIS is why Paul writes, in I Corinthians 6:19-20,
!!! “*You are not your own*; (20) *you were bought at a price*.”
!! - THE believers in Corinth had forgotten the pit from which they had been saved...and that God’s purpose in them was that He be glorified in their lives...both individually and corporately.
!! - AND in I Corinthians 3:16-23 Paul has to remind the believers in Corinth that they were not their own.
!! - IT mattered to God how they lived.
!! - BECAUSE they are His temple.
!
ii.
god’s temple: sacred by his spirit
!! - SO, Paul writes to them in I Corinthians 3:16,
!!! “*Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you*?”
!! - THIS phrase, “Don’t you know...” is used by Paul in several places in his epistles, each time to emphasize an important truth.
!! - HE believes this truth should be self-evident to them by now.
!! - THE believers in Corinth seem reluctant to deal with the critical ramifications of being the temple of God....so he uses strong language.
!! - THE “you” is individual and corporate.....YOU are God’s temple and WE are God’s temple.
You can’t separate the two dimensions of this truth.
!! - THE temple of God is three things,
!!! 1.
The residence of God....He does not live in buildings made with hands, but in the lives of His people.
!!! 2. The manifestation of God....to reveal His nature and His glory to the world.
!!! 3 Our meeting place with God....where we commune with Him.
!! - IN Scripture, God’s temple is always material....not some ethereal notion.
!!! ~* In other words it is a literal, physical, visible thing...your physical body and this physical community of believers seen and known as Westgate Chapel, or Aurora Nazarene.
!!! ~* In the Gospels Jesus called His literal, physical, visible body a temple (John 2:21).
!!! ~* Throughout the epistles the apostles call our physical bodies and the collective body of believers the temple of God.
!! - AND since the Spirit of God lives in us....we are therefore holy AND called to live out holy lives.
!! - BUT the believers in Corinth were living like the world....they were mixing the holy and the profane in two significant ways (frequently mentioned by Paul in the first three chapters),
!!! ~* They were in awe of and were worshipping the wisdom (ways) of the world.
!!! ~* Their partisan and argumentative spirit was causing division and damage amongst them.
!! - WE find out later in the epistle that they were also careless in matters of sexual conduct, pride, partiality to the rich, and worship services full of confusion.
!! - So Paul says to them in verse 17,
!!! “*If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple*.”
(I Corinthians 3:17)
!! - THE word “destroy” literally means to mar or injure....and it relates to injuring, marring the purposes of God for His temple.
!! - WHAT are the purposes of God for His temple?
!!! 1.
The residence of God.
!!! 2. The manifestation of God.
!!! 3 Our meeting place with God.
!! - SO Paul’s words are sharp and filled with urgency.
!! - IF you mar the purposes of God’s temple in your body, or in the church body, God will destroy you....if not in making your life miserable now, then possibly for eternity.
!! - CAN you think of a more serious verse in the Bible?
!! - THE message here is that God has invested His Son to purchase for Himself a bride that is radiant and without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish.....His sacred temple.
!! - HE may seem slow to act, but He will move to protect His sacred temple.
!
! iii.
god’s temple: reserved for the teachable
!! - IN addition to marring, or injuring the temple of God by ungodliness, another problem in Corinth was that they were being swayed by the wisdom, the ways of the world.
!! - THEY were acting like they knew it all.
!! - HAVE you ever been around someone who knows all the answers?
They answer, “I know that!” before you can finish your sentences.
!! - THE problem in Corinth was that you couldn’t teach them anything.
They were wise in their own eyes....legends in their own minds.
!! - HERE is the principle that we will find in the next few verses in I Corinthians 3....God’s temple is reserved for the teachable.
!! - IN verse 18, Paul writes to them,
!!! “*Do not deceive yourselves.
If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise.*
(19) *For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.
As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’*; (20) *and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile*.’
(21) *So then, no more boasting about men*!” (I Corinthians 3:18-21a)
!! - PAUL talks about two things in these verses that are the antithesis of the temple of God,
!!! ~* The standards of this age (verse 18).
!!! ~* The wisdom of this world (verse 19).
!! - THE Greek word used for “world” in verse 19 is /kosmos/, which means the objective world as it appears to us.
!! - WHAT is the wisdom of this world, the standards of this age, as they appear to us on a variety of subjects?
!! - ON THE SUBJECT OF SELF?
!!! ~* The world says,
!!!! • Save yourself, take care of yourself, help yourself, pamper yourself, promote yourself.
!!!! • You have the brains to figure out your future and solve your problems.
!!! ~* God says,
!!!! • Deny yourself, lay down your life, give yourself away.
!!!! • My thoughts and ways are higher than yours, you had better seek Me to find out what to do.
!! - ON THE SUBJECT OF MONEY?
!!! ~* The world says,
!!!! • Make it your #1 priority.
!!!! • Hold onto it tightly.
!!!! • Use it as power.
!!!! • Buy stuff with it....even when you don’t have the money.
!!!! • Your future security depends on having more of it.
!!! ~* God says,
!!!! • You can’t serve two masters....God and money.
!!!! • Honor the God your Provider with your tithe and any giving opportunity He presents to you.
!!!! • Use the blessings of the Lord materially to advance His kingdom purposes.
!! - THE wisdom of the world looks good on the surface, but it is deceptive and ultimately destructive....on any subject you can think of.
!!! ~* Sexuality.
!!! ~* Possessions.
!!! ~* Education.
!!! ~* Accomplishments.
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