16 Mar 09
Monday of the Third Week in Lent
You are God’s Temple
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
The Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven and dwells and reigns there in glory. If the Temple is where God dwells and reigns, then what about the earthly Temple? The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, and there is no more temple there. Instead we have a new temple on earth---the church.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians describing the church in two key metaphor: “You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor 3:9). The passage that follows then develops this idea of a building. He enriches the metaphor further by declaring “you are God’s temple” (v17). This can be more clearly translated from the original Greek as “you all, together, are God’s temple.” What Paul had in mind was that the church as a community, was one temple. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul refers to individual Christians when he wrote that each of our bodies is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But here in verse 17, the corporate church is the temple.
The implications are that as God’s temple, we are to be pure and holy, righteous and blameless. As we saw in yesterday’s meditation, God wants the temple to be cleared of all the worldly clutter and sinful rubbish. Both as individual Christians and as the corporate Body of Christ, we are to allow God’s presence to dwell in and among us, so that the world can see the glory of God in both our personal and communal lives.
There is no place for sin in and among us. If we tolerate it, we will become temples for idols, and not be the true temple of God. Are we, individually and corporately, the temple of the holy and living God? What would be the verdict ---- from heaven and on earth?
(Bishop Dr Robert Solomon,
Bishop, The Methodist Church in Singapore)
Commitment:
I surrender all the known sins within me that are incompatible with my identity as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I surrender my sins of commission and omission that prevent the church from being the temple of church.
Prayer:
Holy God, you have chosen my heart and your church to be your temple on earth. Help us to repent of our sins so that your splendor may be displayed in and among us. Amen.
Monday of the Third Week in Lent
You are God’s Temple
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
The Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven and dwells and reigns there in glory. If the Temple is where God dwells and reigns, then what about the earthly Temple? The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, and there is no more temple there. Instead we have a new temple on earth---the church.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians describing the church in two key metaphor: “You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor 3:9). The passage that follows then develops this idea of a building. He enriches the metaphor further by declaring “you are God’s temple” (v17). This can be more clearly translated from the original Greek as “you all, together, are God’s temple.” What Paul had in mind was that the church as a community, was one temple. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul refers to individual Christians when he wrote that each of our bodies is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But here in verse 17, the corporate church is the temple.
The implications are that as God’s temple, we are to be pure and holy, righteous and blameless. As we saw in yesterday’s meditation, God wants the temple to be cleared of all the worldly clutter and sinful rubbish. Both as individual Christians and as the corporate Body of Christ, we are to allow God’s presence to dwell in and among us, so that the world can see the glory of God in both our personal and communal lives.
There is no place for sin in and among us. If we tolerate it, we will become temples for idols, and not be the true temple of God. Are we, individually and corporately, the temple of the holy and living God? What would be the verdict ---- from heaven and on earth?
(Bishop Dr Robert Solomon,
Bishop, The Methodist Church in Singapore)
Commitment:
I surrender all the known sins within me that are incompatible with my identity as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I surrender my sins of commission and omission that prevent the church from being the temple of church.
Prayer:
Holy God, you have chosen my heart and your church to be your temple on earth. Help us to repent of our sins so that your splendor may be displayed in and among us. Amen.
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