Rebuilding the Temple
Posted in Brandon's Posts, Corinthians, jesus, temple 0 comments
This past week I had the privilege of preaching at Stokelan Drive Christian Church where I serve as the Student Minister. I always enjoy being able to get up and present God's word in that way.
My sermon was out of the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These two books are tucked nicely away in the Old Testament and sometimes I overlook them. But as I was studying up for the sermon, I found so many amazing applications. I was blown away.
If you don't know, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, although found before the middle of the Old Testament, they take place at the end chronologically. The people of Israel had not heeded the warnings of God to turn from their wicked ways. They mocked and ridiculed God's prophets and finally God had the nations of Israel and Judah taken over.
The people lived in exile for 70 years and then God had the Persian Kind, Cyrus, send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. It was a time of celebration for the Jews and they began their journey and started rebuilding.
You see, the most important thing was not the houses for families to live in. The most important wasn't even a wall to protect the city. The most important thing for the Jews to rebuild was the temple. This was where they would encounter and worship God.
The temple was the place where God would reside, and God wanted to be with His people.
My sermon was out of the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These two books are tucked nicely away in the Old Testament and sometimes I overlook them. But as I was studying up for the sermon, I found so many amazing applications. I was blown away.
If you don't know, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, although found before the middle of the Old Testament, they take place at the end chronologically. The people of Israel had not heeded the warnings of God to turn from their wicked ways. They mocked and ridiculed God's prophets and finally God had the nations of Israel and Judah taken over.
The people lived in exile for 70 years and then God had the Persian Kind, Cyrus, send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. It was a time of celebration for the Jews and they began their journey and started rebuilding.
You see, the most important thing was not the houses for families to live in. The most important wasn't even a wall to protect the city. The most important thing for the Jews to rebuild was the temple. This was where they would encounter and worship God.
The temple was the place where God would reside, and God wanted to be with His people.
Now check this out: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6:9). What I am trying to get at is God still desires to be with His people, and we still worship Him, but God no longer dwells in one place.
We are no longer expected to make a journey to Jerusalem and worship God there. He resides in each of us! For clarity, this verse is not saying that we each have a God living in us, or that we are each our own god and have the ability to choose our own rights and wrongs. This says that when we become Christians, God dwells in us, everywhere we go.
Have you ever heard the line, "you can't do that in church"? This understanding is very Old Testament. We act like the only place God lives is each and every church building. But this is not the case!
God lives in us at home, with friends, at family gatherings, while at the ball diamond, when we are alone, traveling, cooking, as we live our lives everywhere doing everything! This brings a whole new understanding to how we are meant to live our lives.
God desires our hearts. He wants us to live for Him, not out of obligation, but because He sent His Son, Jesus to die for us and we love Him for it. If we are having trouble letting go of our own desires and laying them down so we can do the will of the Father, then maybe it is time to rebuild the temple.
Perhaps it is time to do a heart check, and see what our true desires are, and if they are not matching up with God's it is time to find out why. It is time for us to stop acting selfishly and it is time to pick up the cross of Christ and follow after Him.
We do this out of an act of love, because Christ first loved us.
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