God's Sacred Temple

 

"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" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV).

These are very serious words.  The temple of God is sacred because the Spirit of God dwells in the midst.  Each individual believer is the temple, as well as collectively.  Thus it is as a felony to destroy God's temple.  There are repercussions.

What struck me about these verses the most was that 'together' all believers are the temple of God.  Up to now, I vaguely knew this but my mind was mostly fixated on the individual follower of Jesus Christ being a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, true, but the Holy Spirit is the one who binds us all together, as one song-cum-prayer asks the Lord, 

"Bind us together, Lord..."

Actually, Holy Spirit has bound us together in unity of Spirit.  It's the individuals who keep trying to break those bonds.  For example, the Corinthian believers way back when, were doing a good job of that.

When you read these two focus verses in context of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 through 3, you'll see.  There were divisions among them because some believers followed, Apollos, some Cephas and some Paul.  Paul asked them,

"Is Christ divided" (1 Corinthians 1:13)?

Have you gone through a church split?  It is heartrending.  Everyone wants to know, "Whose side are you on?"

To answser Paul's rhetorical question, "Christ is not divided?"

It is those who want to break the unity the Spirit affords us who demand the "which side?" question.  And the dividers destroy God's temple.  They have forgotten God's temple is sacred.

These persons God will destroy.

They will need to answer to God big time.  Therefore, let us make every effort...get that..."every effort"...to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (see Ephesians 4:3).  Being able to remember that God's Spirit dwells in our midst both through us as individual believers AND together, collectively.  This is sacred to God.

Will we honor God and His temple or are we intent on destroying it?

Let us have the mind of Christ.  Let us be on HIS side and so maintain God's sacred temple.  His Holy Spirit is in our midst.

He is HERE!

Father God, hallowed be Your name.  Sacred is Your temple because Your Holy Spirit dwells in our midst binding Your children together.

It is a travesty when we break and destroy Your temple because of our own self interests, especially in the name of some supposed doctrinal or immoral misdemeanor.  It would have been so much better for us to seek Your face, mind and will, and to truly LISTEN to a person's explanation of an individual situation or circumstance.   Sorry Father for all the messes we make.  May we each have repentant hearts that want only Your best interests.

Help us!  May we maintian the sacredness of Your temple.  I ask in Jesus name.  Amen.

                                              ~ERC  November 2023~

Based on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV.

Sing, Bind us Together Lord, along with Chet Valley Church.