The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 23, 2022. The Bible verses used are 1 Corinthians 3:6-17.
First Corinthians Three, Sixteen says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
It seems to me that this one little
verse--just one sentence, seventeen words--says an awful lot to us. The
first thing it says, at least to me, is that each and every one of us is very
special and very important to God. I mean, think about this. You are
God’s temple. Not just your physical body, but everything about you.
Your mind, your heart, your body, your soul. Your hopes, your
dreams, your fears, your desires. Everything about you, everything that
makes you you, is God’s temple.
That’s pretty cool, you know.
Because the temple was a really special place. Especially the
original temple, the one built by King Solomon. The Bible goes on and on
about that first temple. It gives the exact dimensions of it, which were
directed by God. It gives all the materials the temple was made out of,
which were also directed by God.
And this first
temple was made out of the best, the most expensive stuff available. It
was made of cedar and juniper. It was made of special stone from a
special quarry. There were all sorts of ornate carvings. And
everything was overlaid with silver and gold and bronze. There were tens
of thousands of people who worked on that first temple, and it still took them
seven years to build it, that’s how incredible it was. And of course, the
cost of it was enormous. It’s been estimated that it would cost well over
two hundred billion of today’s dollars to build that temple.
And the thing is, the Apostle Paul, and
the people of Corinth that he was writing to, would’ve known all that.
What Paul was telling them, and what Paul is telling us, is that each one
of us, you and me, is just as valuable as that temple. Each one of us is
just as beautiful as that temple. Each one of us has been created out of
the best stuff available. And each one of us has been made according to
exact specifications that came from God.
That’s pretty awesome to think about.
If that does not make us feel good about ourselves I don’t know what
will. To think that we were made to God’s exact specifications with as
much care as it took to make the most beautiful, most expensive building that
has ever existed on earth. That’s pretty good.
But of course, there was a reason the
temple was made the way it was. Maybe you know what it is. The
temple was not just a place of worship, the way the church is now. The
temple was thought of as, quite literally, the house of God. The temple
was where God lived. That was not just a metaphor or something--they
believed in it literally. The temple was where God physically lived.
That’s why it was so important that it be built the way it was.
They were not just building a house of God. They were
building a house for God. And they wanted to build a house that
was worthy of God, to the extent that it’s possible for humans to build a house
that’s worthy of God.
So when Paul says “the Spirit dwells in
your midst”, that was not just poetic license. That was not just
something Paul was saying because it sounded good. Paul meant it
literally. Paul was saying that just as God lives in the temple, the
Spirit of God lives in each of us.
Now that’s a pretty awesome thing to think
about, too. To think that God’s Spirit physically lives in each one of
us. That God’s Spirit lives in me. That God’s Spirit lives in you.
That the Spirit of the Almighty, all-powerful God would live in us.
That’s quite an honor. That’s pretty good, too.
But while it’s a pretty awesome thing to
think about, it’s also a pretty awesome responsibility. Because just as
the temple was made to be a house worthy of God, to the extent it’s possible
for humans to do that, you and I need to make ourselves worthy of God, to the
extent it’s possible for us to do that. If you and I are God’s temple, if
God’s Spirit is going to literally live in us, then we need to do everything we
can to be that perfect, beautiful temple that is worthy of having God live in
it.
What does that mean? Well, it means
we need to take a look at every aspect of our lives. Because, as I said,
when Paul says that we are God’s temple, he’s talking about every aspect of our
lives. Our physical body is part of it, but only a part. Our
thoughts are part of it, too. So are our feelings. Our minds, our
hearts, our bodies, our souls, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our desires,
everything about us, everything that makes us who we are, is part of God’s
temple.
That means we need to make everything
about ourselves worthy of God, to the extent that we possibly can. Our
thoughts need to be worthy of God. Our words need to be worthy of God.
Our feelings need to be worthy of God. Our emotions need to be
worthy of God. Our hopes and dreams need to be worthy of God. If you
and I are God’s temple, then everything about us needs to be worthy of God.
That’s a pretty tall order. I
certainly have not done it. I’ve had my moments--I suspect each of us has
had our moments--but I certainly am not worthy of having God dwell in me.
I don’t know anyone who is.
But maybe that’s the point. Because
you know, as great and fantastic as that first temple was, for all the billions
of dollars and all the man-hours it took to build it, it still was not really
worthy of being the house of God. It may have been the best, fanciest,
most expensive building that ever was or ever will be, but it still was not
worthy of being a place for God to live. It’s simply not possible.
No building built by humans, no matter how much it costs or how long it
takes to build, could ever be worthy of being the dwelling place of the
almighty, all-powerful, awesome, perfect, holy God.
And no human being, no matter how good, no
matter how righteous, no matter how generous or loving or caring they are, can
ever be worthy of being the dwelling place of the almighty, all-powerful,
awesome, perfect, holy God either. It’s simply not possible. That
is, it’s not possible for us. But it is possible for God.
See, God takes our best efforts and makes
them better. That first temple, as great as it was, was not worthy of
God. But God took the best efforts of the people of Israel and blessed
them and made them worthy of God. And that’s what God will do for us.
God will take our best efforts and bless them and make them worthy of
God.
So our part in this, what we need to do,
is make sure we’re giving God our best efforts. Our thoughts are not
going to be worthy of God--but we need to make our best effort to make them
that way. Our words--certainly my words--are not going to be worthy of
God--but we need to make our best effort to make them that way. Our
feelings, our emotions, our hopes, our dreams, are not going to be worthy of
God--but we need to make our best effort to make them that way. If we do,
then God will take our best efforts and bless them and make them worthy of God.
And the best way I know to do that is to
spend time with God. That means prayer, of course, and it means reading
the Bible, but it also means just spending time in God’s presence.
Spending time thinking about who God is. Spending time thinking
about all the things God does. Spending time thinking about all the times
God has been there for us. Spending time thinking about all the gifts God
has given us. Spending time thinking about all the times we did not get
what we wanted, but later on got something better. Spending time thinking
about how everything we have and everything we are comes from God.
If we spend that kind of time with God,
we’re more likely to give God our best efforts. Not out of force or
obligation, but because we’ll want to. When we think about how awesome,
how incredible God is, when we think of everything God has given us, we want to
give God our best efforts. It does not feel like an effort. It
feels like a joy.
So this week, that’s what I’d invite you
to do. Spend time with God. Think about who God is and what God
does. Think of all the gifts God has given you. And then give God
your best efforts. God will bless those efforts and make them worthy of
God.
You, and I, are God’s temple. God’s
Spirit dwells within us. That’s an incredible honor. Let’s do our
best to be worthy of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment