THE CHURCH, GOD'S TEMPLE

I Cor. 3:16-17 ... "Do you not know that you are a 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."

      In the ancient world people built temples of stone, brick, or wood and ornamented them with gold, silver and precious stones. They usually sacrificed a significant part of their own wealth and even their means of life to make these structures as elaborate, beautiful and costly as they could. They understood that the temple was the house of the god they worshiped, and they felt they owed the deity the best they could provide. This was true of Israel's temple in Jerusalem. It was called the "house of God" or "temple of God," and God's presence was considered to be perpetually found there. Many times in the Old Testament, when someone is said to "come before the Lord," it meant the person came before the temple, or (previous to the temple), before the tabernacle. As Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed to God, "I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever," (I Kgs. 8:13). God later replied, "I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Since God inhabited the temple, it had to be treated with great reverence. No one could enter it unless he had been ritually purified, and things could not be brought into it unless they were authorized and had been sanctified. Conduct within the temple had to be according to the standard prescribed by the Mosaic law.

      When the law of Christ replaced the Law of Moses, the physical temple in Jerusalem ceased to be God's dwelling place on earth. God still has a temple in which He dwells here, but it is not one made of stones, brick and timber. Paul declared in Acts 17:24 that God "who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." In I Cor. 3:16-17 the apostle states that God's temple now is the church, the community of God's people in Christ. Christians are collectively the "temple of God," and the Spirit of God dwells in them and among them. As members of the church, therefore, people are privileged to live in the presence of God and in close fellowship with God. Since only priests are allowed to enter a temple, and since their duty there is to offer sacrifices, it becomes the lot of every Christian to be a priest and to offer sacrifices. Thus we read in I Pet. 2:5, "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house  for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Christians do not need a huge, costly temple as the residence of their God and the fit place to serve Him in worship. We ourselves are that temple, and God dwells within us.

      It is still essential as it was in the time of the physical temple that no one  defile the temple of God. Since the present temple is the church as the community of God's people, the things that would defile it are whatever would disrupt the fellowship among its members or its fellowship with God. In the Corinthian letters Paul deals with a wide variety of things that were weakening the fellowship of the members:  sects identified by human names,  fornication, lawsuits, marriage problems, idolatrous influences, and varieties of false doctrine. As their fellowship with one another was broken down, their fellowship with God was also greatly disrupted. The realization that the church, (not the literal building but the community of Christians), is God's current temple should cause us to hold the church in highest esteem and treat it with the greatest respect we are able. We should be most careful lest we defile its sanctity and offend God.

NOT OF MAN'S WISDOM BUT OF THE SPIRIT

I Cor. 2:4 ... "My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

      The apostle Paul preached the gospel of Christ over a large portion of the Roman Empire, from Israel in the east to Rome (and perhaps even Spain) in the west. Congregations sprang up in country after country, and in city after city, and Christianity as a new religious movement became known to the average citizen in most places. We read such reports as Acts 19:10, "All who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." In the Macedonian city of Thessalonica the enemies of the Christian missionaries are said to exclaim with alarm, "These men who have upset the world have come here also," (Acts 17:6). Paul and his assistants were preaching the gospel, the power of which was noticeably transforming society, for it contained essential truth able to penetrate people's lives, perfect them in righteousness, and fill them with hope for a better future.

      We might ask today, "What was the nature of the gospel which Paul and others preached to the people of their age?" In the second chapter of First Corinthians especially the apostle tells draws a contrast between human wisdom and divine wisdom. We must not think that formal education in school is a product of our modern age. The ancient world had great schools and academies where instruction was both regular and quite vigorous. Neither must we think that human science and learning were rudimentary then. Both were, in fact, advanced to a degree by the First Century that astonishes most people today when they first learn about it. Paul was evidently well versed in much of this wisdom, at least in the philosophical and literary areas. Yet, as he stood before audiences and proclaimed the gospel, he did not draw from that source to appeal to people to believe in Christ as the Son of God, to accept His doctrine as the standard for their lives, and to obey His plan for being saved from their sins. In vs. 1-2 previous to the text above he confessed, "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

      It seems that many today have chosen to ignore the message of I Corinthians 2. There are congregations that choose only ministers who have doctorate degrees. Those who might know the Holy Scriptures far better, and who might be far more skilled in their interpretation and application, are passed over because they do not have multiple university degrees. One wonders if Jesus, or Peter, or Paul, or John would be allowed to speak from their pulpits, because none of them had academic credentials. There is growing evidence that many today seem ashamed and embarrassed by the content of the Scriptures because they do not incorporate the achievements of human wisdom during the past nineteen centuries. The preacher or teacher who tends to use the Bible less and human philosophy, science, and literature more gains greater recognition and praise than the one whose purpose is "to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Do not think this writer is anti-academic. I have seven years of university education, all with superior grades. Also, I spent forty-two years teaching mathematics and physics. Now in retirement I avidly keep busy reading volumes of philosophy, history, social science and theology. And yet, I am very concerned that so many in the church today have come to the place where they seem to honor human wisdom more than the wisdom God has revealed to us in Holy Scripture.

THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING?!

I Cor. 1:21 ... "Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

      To many people the word "preaching" has a bad connotation. It conjures up thoughts of sitting still and quiet on a hard pew for what seems like an interminable time while a man up front drones on in a dull speech that is entirely boring. To others it suggests a highly emotional address by someone who seems to want to convey the idea he is possessed by the Spirit. Still others think of preaching as a very negative, critical, condemnatory speech in which a very angry man, who seems to be exempt from his accusations, tries to overwhelm every listener with guilt. And some think of preaching as a meaningless activity that fills a necessary time slot in a church service, that is, a mere ritual that must be performed to be "proper." In all these views of preaching many people would readily welcome the application of Paul's phrase, "the foolishness of preaching." They would gladly support any effort to revolutionize preaching to make it interesting, stimulating, and relevant to their tastes and perceived needs.

      In spite of the varied abuses of preaching we must recognize that it is not an optional activity in a Christian worship service. In Mk. 16:15 Jesus commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Timothy was commanded to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction," (II Tim. 4:2). Honor and praise is bestowed upon the preacher in Rom. 10:15 in the exclamation, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (or preach) good news (the gospel) of good things." The fault is ours if preaching is dull, boring, offensive, or meaningless. The preacher may be going about it in a way the Lord would not have him, being slothful and indifferent on the one hand or aggressive and fanatical on the other. The audience might be at fault in expecting something from preaching other than what the Lord wills, as II Tim. 4:3 predicts will indeed happen: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires."

      It is necessary to understand that Paul is not himself saying that preaching is foolishness. In v.18 he reveals whose assessment it is that preaching is foolishness: "For to those who are perishing the word of the cross is foolishness." It is among the unbelieving lost outside the circle of Christian fellowship that preaching is foolishness. They see no meaning or importance in it because they are unconcerned about God's will, about God's judgment, and about the course of their lives toward eternal destruction. Noah's preaching was evidently foolishness to antediluvian mankind, for they disregarded it, probably with ridicule and contempt. How relevant and necessary it must have suddenly seemed, however, when the water lapped over the highest peeks, and there was no where else to flee. Jonah's preaching did not seem foolish to the people of Nineveh, who listened seriously to the prophet's message and repented, (Jon. 3:5-10). Their sober response saved them from an early grave, as v.10 points out, "When God saw their works, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it." The people of Nineveh, therefore, were saved by the preaching of Jonah, even as I Cor. 1:18 says of anyone who listens and takes heed, "to us who are being saved it (preaching) is the power of God." When the gospel is preached in its fullness and in its truth in the spirit of love, (Eph. 4:15), it will lead those who pay attention to it unto faith, obedience, and eternal salvation.

ORIENTING OUR WISDOM

Rom. 16:19 ... "I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil."

      Knowledge is a wonderful thing and greatly to be desired. The tens of thousands of schools and the billions of dollars spent to operate them are evidence of the value we place upon education, the effort to plant knowledge in the minds of our youth. We admire those who store up great amounts of knowledge in their minds, and honor them with awards of many kinds. When an activity or situation promises a degree of acquiring knowledge to those who participate in it, we are usually willing to sanction it on that grounds if no other. There is a possibility, however, that benefits do not always result from knowledge. In the novel The Long Ships by Gunnar Bengtsson there is the story of a renegade priest named Willibald. For many years he sacrificed his comfort and risked his life to try to convert the heathen Vikings of Scandinavia to Christ. Then he came upon a copy of Ovid's The Art of Love, which he read with the most intense interest. What he learned  reshaped his mind and changed the course of his life. The knowledge he derived from that book, so scandalous that Caesar banished Ovid for publishing it, put the priest to thinking about things he had never thought of before. His appearance as a priest became no more than a guise for preying upon innocent women who put their trust in him as a man of God.

      This world is a mosaic of good and evil. We are challenged day by day to seek out the good and try to incorporate it into our lives. At the same time we must try to avoid the evil and exclude its influence from our lives. There is great reward in gaining knowledge of what is good, and there is often much misery that comes with the knowledge of what is evil. Jesus said in Jno. 8:32, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Although He probably spoke mainly of the truth revealed by God that leads one to salvation and liberation from the bondage of sin, Jesus' statement also applies to the knowledge of truth in the general sense. The knowledge of what is true and good is a powerful force to motivate us to live by truth and fashion our lives by goodness. In Rom. 16:19 the inspired apostle expresses his desire that those who read his words will make it their goal to become knowledgeable of what is good and then develop that knowledge into wisdom that will guide their lives in the proper course. We should want to know no more about evil than what is necessary to identify it, realize its disastrous ends, and be able to avoid it.

      In the second part of the exhortation the apostle holds forth the hope that his readers will be "innocent in what is evil." In some versions this phrase is translated "simple concerning evil." The word "simple," however, does not convey the meaning of "easy" or "uncomplicated" (and hence "uninformed") that we now attach to it. The word in the original Greek is akeraios, which means "untainted." It was the term used of metal to denote that it was unmixed with an alloy, and of wine and milk to certify they had not been diluted with water. It therefore signifies something that is absolutely uncontaminated and pure. The knowledge of evil which goes beyond what is necessary to resist and defeat it will, in time, corrupt the soul that acquires it. Thus we are advised in I Ths. 5:22 to "abstain from every form of evil." It seems we all have a natural curiosity about things that are evil. They have a strong, enticing, seducing force to them. (For example, if a movie is banned because of unsavory content, people feel a great urge to see it as soon as it is available somewhere.) It is far better to deny yourself the inclination to learn every alluring detail of evil and spare yourself the devastating power of its deception and consequent corruption.

SELFISHNESS, TEMPTATION'S OPPORTUNITY

Rom. 15:1-2 ... "We who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification."

      A very strong case can be made for the affirmation that selfishness is at the base of every sin. The first recorded temptation is that of Satan beguiling Eve in Gen. 3:5 to eat of the forbidden tree: "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The woman's appetite was whetted to gain something desirable for herself, namely, insight and wisdom comparable to God's. She was encouraged to seek for herself what was only within the province of God. And so it has been ever since with sin and the temptation to commit sin. The urge to gain something for one's self is the opportunity for temptation, and the concession to get it constitutes the temptation.

      It was the work of Christ to restore to man what was lost by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. To make His efforts effective in human life requires that a person learn to break free from the bondage of selfishness. Jesus stated in Mat. 16:24 that "if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." The disciple of Christ must conquer the basic urge of our unregenerate nature to seek his own good first at every turn in life. One must develop the overriding policy of putting the interests of the Lord first in his life. The Christian's attitude must be that of Php. 3:7-8, "Whatsoever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I might gain Christ." Also, in this Christian requisite of self-denial, one must learn to consider other people, especially fellow disciples, before oneself. In Php. 2:3-4 the standard is set: "With humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

      Rom. 15:1-2 centers on this fundamental principle that Christians must purge themselves of selfishness and benevolently consider the state of being of others, at least those who are also in Christ. The consciences of some brethren are more sensitive than those of others because their knowledge and understanding are not as advanced. To apply one's greater knowledge in a way that will cause a weaker disciple to be offended is a glaring case of selfishness. In the reference to eating meat in Rom 14:15 the admonition is given, "Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." Rather than demand "our rights" to practice something, which the Lord left to our consciences to decide, without regard to the impact it might have on weaker brethren is the epitome of selfishness and amounts to sin. Too many Christians ignore the view of brethren in certain matters, saying when challenged, "Well, it is THEIR problem if they object to what I do, not mine!" How insensitive and destitute of brotherly love is such an attitude! The verse following our text reminds us that "even Christ did not please Himself." In like manner, those who would follow Christ must not put pleasing themselves before the spiritual welfare of their fellow disciples, even when they consider that their choices are matters of opinion rather than matters of faith. Our goal should always be to seek that which is "good to his edification" for those in our fellowship whose faith and consciences are yet untrained and weak. Such a considerate, unselfish approach will work to build up weak faith and tender consciences to the height of knowledge and understanding where they can see clearly the reality of things. Otherwise, weak brethren are often offended to the point where their Christianity collapses under a weight of disappointment and confusion so that they desert their place in the family of God.

THE PROBLEM OF JUDGING

Rom. 14:10 ... "Why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God."

      The Latin phrase, E PLURIBUS UNUM, "one from many," is the motto of our nation. It calls attention to the way in which our citizens are a blend of people from many diverse countries, cultures and languages. This idea applies just as well to the church of Christ. Its commission is to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mk. 16:15). As people believe and accept baptism (v.16), they are added by the Lord to the church, (Acts 2:47). A common bond is then established among all these redeemed souls which Eph. 4:3 refers to as "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." A fellowship of faith, love and obedience to God's will is thus established that prevails among Christians even though they might differ greatly in race, speech, social customs and the like. That, of course is the ideal. As everyone knows, however, it is not always the practice.

      Where the Lord has specifically spoken about something, for Christians that is the end of the matter. The pronouncement is to be accepted by faith and enacted without question. Any violation of this is sin, since Rom. 14:23 declares that "whatever is not from faith is sin." In other words, when an idea or action does not proceed as a response of faith in God's direction for us, it is sin. When such transgressions occur, the Lord Himself will judge the offender. Thus v.12 states that "each one of us shall give account of Himself to God." Beyond the specific declaration of the Lord's will, however, there are myriad things that lie within the realm of opinion or personal preference. As long as one does not cause another Christian to stumble by these things, or try to impose them as obligatory upon others, or violate his own conscience by them, the Lord permits the individual to believe or practice them. This is the context of the apostle's discussion in Romans 14. Lying on your side on a mat or couch at a dinner table, greeting others with a kiss, and washing the feet of strangers are customs peculiar to society in apostolic times and are optional for Christians. Abstaining from meat, wearing no makeup or jewelry, and praying to God in 16th Century English are also optional for us.

      We promote peace and true fellowship in the church by acquiring the wisdom to separate what is opinion from what is faith and by developing the self-control to respect the difference. Any violation of faith in practice must be addressed by the instructions in Mt. 18:15-18, both for the sake of the integrity of the church and for the rectification of the offender. When we notice someone acting on a matter of opinion, it is not our prerogative to challenge him and demand that he change. Unto this purpose our text asks, "Why do you regard your brother with contempt?," and then answers in v.13, "Let us not judge one another anymore." The church of God is too precious and important to disrupt and bring it into disrepute it by our petty scruples. Paul writes in v.20, "Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food." The reference to food (in some versions "meat") is general and may refer to any other item of personal preference. We do much and needless damage to the fellowship of the saints when we make an issue of faith out of something that is really only opinion. At times we may be so emotionally involved that we are unable to see the difference. In such cases we need the calm, detached counsel of third parties, (themselves being men of faith and truth). Our grand object must be always to "pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another," (v.19).

A CHRISTIAN'S DEBT TO EVERYONE

Rom. 13:8 ... "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

      The gospel of Christ perfects relationships between people when they internalize its precepts and implement them in their behavior. The reason for this is simple, when one understands the basic precept of Jesus' teaching. That precept is love, which means unselfishness. When a person interacts with others on the principle of unselfishness, he is hardly apt to offend them. His consideration flows outward to them rather than inward unto himself, as in the case of a selfish person. Typical in the gospel is the exhortation of Php. 2:3, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself." Jesus would turn each of us away from self indulgence and cause us to take into consideration the needs of people about us, especially of those who are involved in some kind of suffering. So rather than having debts to each other that are paid by acts of getting even, we should owe nothing but love to one another.

      There is another important point in the text that must be considered carefully. It is expressed in the words, "for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." The object of "the law," whether it be the law of Moses or the law of Christ, is to establish a mode of life which God approves. This text (Rom. 13:8) and many others like it declare that love, when it is the kind that dwells in God, will achieve the same goal as law. When it is incessantly expressed in pure form, it will lead a person into the lifestyle which pleases God. At this point, however, many people draw a faulty conclusion. They decide that one can magnify the action of love in his life and pay less attention to the details of the law. In other words, one need not take the New Testament too seriously or be overly concerned with its detailed requirements. Just devote your life to the way of love, and all will be well. The fallacy in this line of reasoning is that it gives too much credit to our human ability to deny selfishness and surrender ourselves totally to the principle of absolutely unselfish love. The strongest man is still, after all, just a man and therefore subject to human frailty. As long as we live in the flesh there is always the dark side to our nature, something which I Cor. 2:14 calls the "natural man." This wild potential needs to be controlled, for its desire is to satisfy itself. God, who knows our constitution far better than we ever will, is fully aware of our inner "natural" character. He has given us a law by which to subdue it and then keep it under control. The more one takes his attention off of the law God has given us to govern our lives, the more that person makes himself vulnerable to corruption by his basic human urges. We are thus admonished in I Cor. 10:12, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

      Love is not, therefore. a substitute for strict attention to the New Testament law and its details. In fact, in the words of Christ Himself, one cannot truly love Him without being attentive to His law. In Jno. 14:15 He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." It is erroneous for someone to say, "I will love Jesus and my fellowmen without reservation, so I need not pay any great attention to every jot and tittle of New Testament scripture." Jesus declares that we can keep His law only by the love that we have for Him. It is actually a reciprocal thing in that love leads to obedience, and obedience leads to greater love. We need to preach and practice love far more than we do, but not at the expense of devotion to the law of Christ.  Love and obedience to Christ cannot be separated.