4 Things You Need to Know About the Church
1. You (y'all) are the temple of God.
Throughout human history God has always found a way to dwell with his people. During the time before the Fall God simply walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. The first two humans enjoyed a relationship with God that we can only dream about until we enter into eternity. During the time of the patriarchs God appeared to his people in various ways, but he didn't really dwell with them in any kind of permanent fashion. Then, as Israel was wandering around in the wilderness God chose to dwell with them in the tabernacle. Though it was nothing more than a portable "tent" it was where God's manifest presence was. Several centuries after arriving in the Promised Land the temple was built in Jerusalem which was to be God's "permanent" dwelling place. This was where sacrifices were made and worship was conducted. However, even this was not the final stage of God's plan for dwelling with his people.
In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul makes the bold statement that the Church is the temple of God. Remember, even though Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and others were, and are, workers in God's field it is God who is giving the growth, and in v.9 Paul tells us that we are God's building. Peter expresses the same truth in 1 Peter 2:4-5;
As you come to him, a living stone - rejected by people but chosen and honored by God - you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built up to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 2:19-22 Paul again makes this case;
So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.
The message of Scripture is clear - God is using individual believers to build something beautiful for his glory and purposes. He is creating a matchless bride for Christ Jesus his one and only son. We, the Church, have become the temple of God, the place where he dwells on earth.
2. The Spirit of God lives in you.
This is one of the profound mysteries of the Christian faith - the Spirit of God lives in us. Don't ask me how God makes that happen, because I have no idea. All I know is that it is consistently taught in Scripture from the time it was promised in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, to the time it came to pass under the New Covenant.
So, what does it mean for the Spirit of God to live in us? Well, a great place to start an investigation is Romans 8. In this chapter "Spirit" is mentioned roughly 20 times! Let me offer a list of some of the things that comes with the Spirit living in us.
- There is no condemnation (v.1)
- We are set free from the law of sin and death (v.2)
- We have life and peace with God (v.6)
- We have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead (v.11)
- We are not obligated to obey temptations (v.12)
- We are adopted as sons and daughters of God (v.14,15)
- We have direct access to God in prayer and assistance by the Holy Spirit (v.26,27)
That's just a starting point from Romans 8, but there is so much more. We are empowered to live the resurrection life that God has called us to. We are given gifts by the Spirit for the building up of the Church. The Spirit bears fruit in and through us to reflect the character of Christ, and so on. In the end, what it comes down to is that when God gives us the Holy Spirit, he gives us himself.
As the gathered Church, since we each individually have the Spirit dwelling within us, we can count on God being among us in a special way as we worship him together. Remember what Jesus said, when two or three of his people get together, he will be there among us.
3. God takes care of his people.
In verse 17 Paul says, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." Whatever else this statement might be, it is clearly a warning for anyone who would try to harm God's Church.
God has always taken care of his people. He told Abraham that he would bless those who blessed Abraham, and curse those who cursed Abraham. God certainly took care of his people when he delivered them out of Egypt after 400 years of captivity. God is the avenger of his people and we should take comfort in that. No matter what the world throws at the Church we can rest assured that God will see that justice is served. For more on that just look at Revelation!
This is not just a warning for enemies on the outside of the Church. There is also a warning for those within the Church as well. Remember, from the outset of this letter Paul has been addressing the internal conflicts in the Corinthian church - namely divisions. God cares deeply about his Church and Christ is jealous for his bride. If we choose to cause strife and division in the Church due to our own preferences, pride, and sin then God will hold us accountable for that. That's not to say that we will be "cut off" from the people in any kind of eternal sense, but God will discipline us if we undermine his work in building the Church through our own selfish ambition and pride.
4. You are holy.
I love the way Paul wraps up this little lesson in ecclesiology (study of the Church). He simply restates what we should already know - God's temple is holy. He's already established that we - the Church - are God's temple, now he takes that to its logical conclusion, "God's temple is holy, and that is what you are."
To be holy is to be sacred, to be set apart, and that is what we are because we are God's children. We have been made holy by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross being applied to our lives through faith. Now, we are to live like it.
The Church should be noticeably holy when compared to the world. This is not so that we can look down our noses at the unholy masses and think ourselves superior. Rather, we are to be different so that we will bring glory to God (because he is the one who made us holy), and point people to the Savior that can make them holy as well. Holy living has gotten a bad reputation over the past few decades as a reaction against legalism. However, if we are going to be faithful to what God has called us to be, we can't get past it. God's people are holy people.
If we are going to be a missionary outpost and a building founded on Jesus Christ then it is imperative that we have a clear picture of who we are as God's Church. We are the temple of God. We have the Holy Spirit within us. We are a people that God takes care of. We are holy. There is obviously so much more we could say, and need to say, about the Church, but these two verses in 1 Corinthians 3 are an excellent starting point for readjusting our view of what it means to be the Church.
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