WE Are God's Temple!

Good Morning!  I wanted to share a short reminder with you today that I pray we can meditate on this week.  We have been spending the last couple weeks discussing throwing off our old sinful selves and standing for Righteousness!  I was thinking about this as I was reading John 2:12-25.  For many, this passage is known as “Jesus Clearing the Temple!”  This is a powerful scene where we see the "Lamb of God" become the "Lion of Judah!" We see Him roar loudly for the Temple of God to be cleansed of anything and everything that had become a barrier, preventing people from worshiping Him with ease.  The people trying to come into His temple were being robbed by the sin that was taking place there.  He had set up His temple with the desire and the mandate that it was to be a consecrated, set apart, and holy place where relationship with God could happen without any hindrances.  It was to be a place where burdens were laid down and rest could take place as the people’s focus remained solely on God.  With this in mind, it is incredibly important that we remember what we learn in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.  It says this, “Do you not know that YOU are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells IN YOU?  If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the Temple of God is HOLY and THAT is what YOU ARE!”  This is a strong verse from the Lord but in it I see a couple incredible truths.  The First is that God's dwelling place has now moved from being in one building, one temple, to being In One people, HIS people!  WE are now, together and individually, the dwelling place of His spirit!  I want us, today, to bask in the overwhelming privilege of that powerful truth.  The same God who created all things and holds all things together Lives IN Us!  We ARE His Temple!  How amazing.  How undeserved.  The second important truth I find ties into one of the verses I just love in the passage of John and is found in John 2:17.  This verse takes place after Jesus had turned over tables and began driving out the men with a whip. It says the disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  They recognized that the scripture was being fulfilled in their sight!  Jesus was FULL of ZEAL for the temple of God!  He was extremely passionate about God’s dwelling place!  I want us to consider today that scripture tells us Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever and I want us to realize how full of Love, and Passion and Zeal Jesus STILL is for His temple – US!  In talking about believers not being bound together with unbelievers. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “For what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?  Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial?...Or what agreement does the TEMPLE of God have with IDOLS?  For We are the Temple of the Living God, just as God said, ‘I will DWELL IN THEM and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people!’  Therefore come OUT from their midst and BE SAEPERATE!”  God is calling us to come out from a life connected to sin and be Separate!  Be Holy!  Why?  Because He is Holy and He LIVES IN US!  He desires to cleanse us of everything in our life that sets itself up as a barrier against our coming to God.  He wants to drive out every sin that disrupts our relationship with God or acts as a stumbling block for someone else to come to God! In the passage found in 1 Cor. 6:15-20 it says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are NOT your own?  For you have been bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body!”  You see Jesus is still full of ZEAL for the temple of God!  He is passionate that sin does not create a barrier for you and I in being able to freely worship God.  As we have talked about before, sin separates us from God, it acts as a barrier, but it also defiles the very temple of the living God!  We are that temple and just like Jesus did in the book of John He longs to drive away from us any sin that pollutes His beautiful temple!  He wants all of this because of His GREAT Love for us, because we are His!  Remember we are a New Creation and part of that New creation is that we are being built into God’s Temple.  Ephesians 2:19-22 says that we “are being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a HOLY Temple for the Lord!”  It is amazing to me that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has chosen to live IN US!  Let’s take that as seriously as Jesus takes it!  Let’s be a people who are FULL of ZEAL for God’s Temple to be Holy and Righteous!   I pray that we will be ever open to Jesus driving out what needs driven out of our lives, knowing that as 1 Cor. 3:17 says; "God's temple is sacred", and we are that temple!  

Scriptures to meditate on this week:  John 2:12-25, 1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:15-20, 2 Cor. 6:14-18, Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:5