The Temple of God

Recently, members of a Baptist Church came to our door, the man asked me if I was saved. My answer was an emphatic, yes! He then asked if I was sure, to which I replied, “I am absolutely certain.” He asked what Church I attended, and I told him that presently I don’t go to Church. My reason is, “it matters more for me to be invested in Jesus than to be invested in a Church. My purpose in all that I do has to be to elevate Christ as Lord. I try to imagine the community of believers in early times;

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart…[1]

That picture is idealistic, yet, as you follow believers in the expansion of Christianity, the idea of community was always present. There were believers spread throughout the world, yet all were connected by a bond of faith. Jesus was their Lord and King. It is sad, that today believers are assessed and categorized by what Church they attend. We no longer recognize believers as children of God, unless they come to our Church, and follow our rules. “For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters…”[2] I came across a paper from which I have taken the following quote;

I do not attend church, except when asked to lead a service or conduct a funeral or wedding. The only way my current faith could be considered (kinda sorta) orthodox would be if Webster’s Dictionary totally revamped its definition of the word. Much of what the institution does and stands for seems inconsequential, petty and, at times, unconscionably insensitive (gays again, and others). And yet, at its heart, the church is people, good, solid people who are trying to find their way in a world that often makes little or no sense to them. I wish them the very best in their journey.

I doubt that I will ever be an active part of the institutional church again. But I remain open. My hope is that its walls will disappear, that its pew-lined sanctuaries will be replaced by the sanctuary of the world. That is where I live, where most people live; that is where so many of us question and search and wonder and hope and struggle; that is where we try to celebrate Something larger than ourselves, Something we glimpse in each other; Something that we feel in the spaces between us; Something alive where the walls come down. I would gladly come home to that church curl up in its pew and rest.[3]

I imagine the ideal situation would be, that when a disciple of Jesus meets someone who also claims to be a believer, they would be united in a bond of faith. The same though was expressed in an article dedicated to the Memory of Thomas Campbell speaking of the Church;

Its bond of unity was the personal allegiance of its members to the personal Christ as Saviour and Lord. Their common faith was faith in him. Their common love was love for him. Their common hope was hope in him. Their common baptism was baptism in his name. Their unity--the unity of the Spirit--was in him. Their union with each other was the direct result of their union with him.[4]

Paraphrased; the bond of unity was a personal allegiance to the personal Christ as Saviour and Lord. That to me is the key of unity. A personal relationship with God through Christ, is the most essential relationship we need to develop. The prophet Jeremiah indicates God purpose to enact a new covenant tied to individuals rather than to a nation.

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. "for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.[5]

Jeremiah’s prophecy indicated the personal connection to God’s new covenant. It would not be like the covenant given on Mount Sinai which was based on compliance and obedience. The new covenant would be founded on God’s grace.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites."[6]

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.[7]

The first covenant according to scripture was faulty, the new covenant enacted by God through Jesus is a gift of God’s love. Under the first covenant, God’s presences was in the inner sanctum of the tabernacle, and later the temple. But, in the new covenant God’s presence would in the hearts of believers. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?^[8]

Some suggest this reference applies to the Church, but I believe it fits better with the prophecy of God’s new covenant being in the hearts of believers. According to the prophecy and reading its fulfillment in the Hebrew letter, God’s covenant is personal and individual. Some institutions have mistakenly taken personal obligations as group functions, which I believe must be avoided. Jesus is Lord of our lives, he has said that our lives must reflect his life and God’s love. Our duty as his disciples is to reflect the grace and love of God as seen in Jesus his Son. Church is a place of encouragement to elevate Jesus in our lives. It is a community and fellowship of faith. Church isn’t to be an entity itself, it is a gathering of believers being recharged to go back into the dark to shine as lights for God.

The first covenant God made with Israel was national, the temple was built in the holy city of Jerusalem. Sacrifices were made for atonement and thanksgiving. The new covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus, sacrificed on the cross. The new covenant was to be personal, not national, and justification would be through faith. “…we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”[9] The better and more accurate translation of “the law” is simply “law”. If attending Church services becomes an imperative, to that person it has become a burden not a blessing. If contributing money to a Church substitutes for loving your neighbour, it has become a ritual and has no spiritual value. Believers must not think of the Church as being comparable to the temple, the temple was destroyed, and God’s presence was removed; God dwells in your heart. As someone wrote, “If a temple is to be erected, a temple must be destroyed.”[10] We all must keep in mind that Christ saves, and the Church supports.

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"^[11]

Jesus was passionate about the temple –the house of God. He was incensed to see it reduced to a Centre of commerce. The reverence for God’s house, and the zeal with which Jesus purged the temple of commercial transactions took place under the first covenant. Under the new covenant, believers are the temples in which the Spirit of God resides. Prepared and made ready by Jesus, “…you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”[12] My relationship with God is, a child to my father.  Also, I am a citizen of God’s kingdom. I am a member of the body of Christ. I am a temple of the Spirit of God. All of these facets of my relationship with God are personal. They are privileges under the new covenant.

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.[13]

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[1] Act 2:42-46

[2] Heb 2:11 

[3] Why Don't I Go to Church? David B Seaburn Ph.D., L.M.F.T. Psychology Today

[4] CHRISTIAN UNION: A Historical Study. J. H. Garrison, LL.D. (1906)

[5] Jer 31:31-34

[6] Exo 19:4-6

[7] 1Pe 2:9,10

[8] 1Co 3:16 

[9] Gal 2:16

[10] Friedrich Nietzsche. Essay 2, Section 24.

[11] Joh 2:13-16

[12] 1Co 6:11 

[13] Gal 2:20