Galen Call's Sermon Library
"The Dwelling of God" - March 10, 1985
Thank you Juanita, I almost expect to see the organs smoke a little bit after a number like that, maybe your fingers are. Would you take your Bible please and turn to the Book of 1 Corinthians with me? The structure we today dedicate to the glory of God is not the most important one here. There is another building surpassing brick, mortar, and steel in its significance, and I am of course referring to the living temple of God. It's a funny thing about church buildings, there's almost a superstition about them. I think I related to you some time ago how I felt as a child entering a church building in our little town in Kansas. It was an old building, the door squeaked, heavy, massive wooden things on squeaky hinges, and as one would enter this rather musty, old smell would hit you in the face, and yet despite those negatives I can remember entering that place and having this feeling as though I was in the presence of God and almost running through the sanctuary to get to the basement or whatever other room I wanted to go to because I felt like the God was there. People often think of a church building in terms of that's where God lives and yet of course we recognize that that is not the case but the terms we use often reflect that, don't they? For example, we speak of this room often as being the sanctuary, we talk about the altar of the church and yet actually this room is not a sanctuary nor is there an altar here. This probably reflects our awareness of the Old Testament period when in fact God did dwell in a sanctuary when in fact there was a material physical altar which was a part of the worship. God did live in that period of time in a material structure. Just one made out of skins and cloth, later one made of wood, gold, silver, and bronze. But in this present age God does not headquarter himself in such a material building. He does however manifest himself and live in a different kind of building. God dwells in a temple. This passage in 1 Corinthians 3 explains to us the kind of temple that God lives in today. Beginning in verse 9 the apostle says, "We are God's fellow workers. You are God's field." And then he changes metaphors and says, "You are God's building." Then he begins to elaborate on that. He says, "According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ." Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident. For the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. 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. God dwells in a temple and there are four facts in the text that we've just read that I want to study regarding that. The first one is this, that God's temple has structure to it. Not a material structure, but a real structure nonetheless. It was difficult for people of that day to imagine anything else and it still is difficult for us today to think in terms of a temple apart from a physical building. The pagans of Corinth were surrounded by temples, a temple to a palace still stands in its ruins in the city of Corinth. It had been there 600 years already when Paul wrote this epistle. There was a temple to Venus or Aphrodite as well as temples and altars to various pagan deities that they worshiped. Paul seems to build upon the imagery that was familiar to them. They were used to the concept of a temple. Paul wants them to understand that the true God also dwells in a building, a temple, but not the kind that they are used to. This building however does have a foundation. That foundation, he says, is Jesus Christ. Not church traditions, not apostolic traditions even, but he says the foundation is Jesus Christ and it's the only foundation that one can lay. When the apostle says this, he is saying that the foundation of God's temple, the building that is being constructed, is the living person of Jesus Christ, the one whom he had preached to them as crucified, the one that he desired to know above all else among them, Jesus Christ and him crucified and raised again from the dead. The basis of this temple, this living temple says Paul is a person. As a foundation of a building is its resting place and as it provides solid support for the rest of the structure. So Christ is the resting place of our faith and is the solid support of it. The Lord Jesus himself said that he would build upon this foundation. I'm reminded of his words to Peter as well as to the other disciples in Matthew chapter 16. He asked them who do people say that I am and they responded honestly. Some say you're John the Baptist and others say you're Elijah and some say Jeremiah or another of the prophets and he said, well who do you say that I am? Peter responded with these words, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This was pleased with that and he responded to Peter's statement by saying blessed are you Simon, the son of Jonah because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. In other words he says you are right Peter and it is my Father in heaven who has caused you to understand who I am. And then he said I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. Of course from that statement there are those who say that Peter is the foundation, the rock of the church. But of course Jesus is simply making a play on words here as the Greek text is clear. He says you are Petrus using a masculine form of the word. You are a rock Petrus. But upon this Petra using a feminine form, not the same Greek word, I will build my church. You say what is the significance of that? The significance is that Jesus was not saying Peter upon you as a person I am building my church but he was saying upon what you have said, upon that truth that has been taught to you by the Father I will now build that church and what is that truth? That Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. You see that ties together exactly with what the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 3. He says for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. He is the foundation of his church. He says the foundation of a building gives stability and cohesion to it. So Jesus Christ holds together this living temple in which God dwells in this age and provides its stability and its security for its destiny. Now that is true regarding the church but it is true as well regarding the individual. It is a legitimate application of what he is saying here. Jesus is saying as well that for you and for me as an individual there is no other foundation than Jesus Christ. Yes we can build our lives and do a fairly decent job in human terms of doing that but if we have no foundation our lives are in danger. In concluding the great Sermon on the Mount Jesus told about a man a man who built a house upon a rock and he said when the storm came and the rains descended and the flood arose the house stood firm that was built on the rock and Jesus said that is the man who hears what I say and acts upon them. But he says the man who hears what I say but does not act upon them is like a man who builds a house, perhaps an equal house to the former man, maybe even superior. But his house is upon the sand and when the rains come down and as the winds blow and the floods arise and the storm beats against it that house will collapse and great will be its fall. It is not enough my friend to know about Jesus Christ it is not enough to attend an evangelical church where you hear his words but each of us must come to that place where we are acting upon what Jesus said, where we have trusted him as Savior and are living with him as the Lord of our lives and when we do that then we build our house upon the rock. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the rock, the foundation of the church and upon that foundation are built living stones that is saved people, people saved by his grace. You and I who have trusted him we have been united to that foundation that is added to it to provide a superstructure. These together then form the temple or the dwelling of God in the world today. Jesus Christ being the foundation, you and I who are saved being built upon him as living stones in this temple. God does not live in a building or some room, God does not dwell in a cathedral that is not his residence, but God today resides in the body personally of each believer and in us corporately as a church, as a local church which is the context of 1 Corinthians 3. God's temple has structure today but that temple is not made of brick and mortar, it is made of people, people who have been saved and cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see secondly that God's temple has workmen. The context here indicates that those workmen were the apostles and the leaders of that day. Paul says we have laid the foundation, he says I laid it as a wise master builder, the Greek word there is architect. The word then did not mean what it does today, it refers in its original context here to one who is a skilled contractor, not the designer. The designer is the Lord Jesus Christ, but the apostle says I am a skilled contractor who has laid the foundation of the local church there in Corinth and he says now others are building as workmen on top of the foundation that I have laid. And so the application of this is primarily to church leadership, that is primarily who is in view in 1 Corinthians 3 in these words of instruction. But I think it's not stretching it too far to say that all of us are in view as well. The apostle himself seems to broaden it as the context of the passage goes on. He is suggesting that all of us in truth are workmen in this building of God, this temple in which he lives and this age. And he stresses that the important thing is how we build, how we build, notice that. Verse 10. And again the apostle draws upon familiar imagery to the Corinthians. He says that it is possible for us to build in such a way that we use lasting worthy materials or country wise we can use passing and worthless materials. And what does Paul mean by these things? Obviously the lasting things are the gold, silver, precious stones. That by the way does not refer to diamonds and rubies and precious stones of that sort. But it probably refers to marble or to granite. And then obviously the wood, hay and stubble are those things that are worthless and passing in value. Paul is saying that it's possible for us to build with worthy materials, that is with methods and motives that are worthy of God, or it's possible for us to use methods and motives that are not worthy of him. When our methods honor God and the motives of our hearts are pleasing to him, then we build in a way that is worthy of the Lord. We build in a way that uses materials, as he suggests, like gold, silver and marble. That would immediately strike a note with the Corinthians because that's what their temples were made of. That's why the temple to Apollus still stands today because it was made out of granite. None of the gold or silver, of course, is still around. But they were used to seeing the temples to their gods made out of lasting valuable materials. So Paul says, look, you are a living temple, but it's possible for you in a way to build with lasting, worthy, valuable materials. And those materials are right doctrine and right motives. Build with the truth of the Word of God and with hearts that are free from hypocrisy and pretense. And he says, in doing that, you will build worthy. But he suggests as well that we can build out of hearts that have impure motives and with methods that do not honor God and with perhaps even doctrines that are false. Motives can be for the love of money. Motives for work can be for fame or for power or some kind of personal gratification. A preacher can have those motives. So can a Sunday school teacher or an elder or a choir member or anybody in the church? Indeed all of us struggle throughout our lives to make sure that our motives are what they ought to be. They try to preserve them in tact for the glory of God. But if we slip, then we begin to build in a way that does not please God. It is like building out of these materials that are mentioned. And once again, he strikes a familiar chord because this is how their houses were built. Their common house in Corinth in that day had a wooden structure. The bricks were made out of hay that had been mixed together with mud and then dried. That was the wall. And the rules were made out of straw that was that's together to provide protection. And so immediately they saw their own homes here, not the homes of their gods, but their homes, which quickly went up in smoke should there be a fire. That's how passing materials were. Now any religious Corinthian, saved or unsaved, would want a temple for his God that was worthy. Paul is saying to these saved Corinthians, "As you build the temple of the living God, which is people, build in such a way that you use worthy materials, do not allow your motives to become less than honest and sincere. Do not use doctrines that are false." And of course they had a real problem with that, as Paul writes this first epistle. He suggests use methods that honor God, and in doing that you will build a living temple that pleases the Lord. The application is obvious to us today. That's why those of us who are saved should have great concern regarding our service for Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is only by the grace of God that we can never be sufficient for the kind of exacting eternally important construction work that is ours. In fact, Paul himself says in verse 10, "According to the grace of God, given to me, I'm a wise master builder." It's only by the grace of God, dear friend, that you can teach that Sunday school class in a worthy way. It's only by the grace of God that you can play that instrument or sing in the choir or work in the nursery or usher in the church or work in the parking lot with a motive that's right which pleases the Lord. It is only by the grace of God that you can conduct your ministry in that small church or out there in the office where you work or in the factory. It is only by the grace of God that we can consistently day in and day out, build with those materials that please the Lord. We are all workmen of God's temple. God help us to be worthy workmen. To come then to the third fact regarding this temple of God, it is that it will be examined. Paul suggests that there is a day which will manifest what we have truly built. That day is the day of judgment. He does not differentiate it here, but we know from other passages that it would seem to be the day of the judgment seat of Christ which will occur shortly after the rapture of the church when we are caught up into the Lord's presence. The day, he says, will declare it, will expose it, will reveal it for what it is. In other words, the contribution or the part of each person in building the Lord's temple will be examined. Paul says it will be revealed with fire. Now there are those who see this as some kind of a purgatory. And yet if you look at the passage here, it is clear that Paul is using fire in a symbolic way in the whole paragraph. The fire is symbolic of judgment or examination by the Lord, a revelation in his presence of what is truly there. You see, fire consumes and it purifies and anything that is unworthy is taken away. And through that process of examination, Paul says, the test will be revealed to show the quality of each man's work. That is the true character of his labor will be made known. Now, remember we're talking primarily here in terms of a local church. I believe that there will be some way, a way that I do not know, in which a local church will be gathered before the Lord in that day at the judgment seat of Christ. In other words, I think that somehow God is going to reconstitute Grace Church Roosevelt as we have built it on that day. And that we as a church, as we are gathered together even during these days, will be gathered there if we're truly safe people. And that in some way what we have constructed is going to be represented. What it has little to do with the size of a church that we become, with the fame that we may enjoy, with the financial worth or the reputation of what we do, it has very little to do with any of those things. What it does have to do with is the actual, worthy work we have done. The sort of our work is what God is looking for, of what sort it truly is. It is possible for a church to have a marvelous reputation or a facility that is beautiful and attracts even tourists to come and see it. And for all of that, in some manner, as it were to go up in smoke at the judgment seat of Christ and to be nothing but ashes as much as a Corinthian house would be left if a fire got started in it, only ashes from the straw and the mud bricks and the wooden walls. Bernard McGee reminds us that a haystack is far more visible to the eye than is a gold coin, but which is more valuable. There are some churches that are imposing that are far-famed in their so-called ministry who may enjoy even television, and I'm not even knocking that, but what I'm saying to you is that when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ, then we'll be revealed the real quality of the work that's being done. It has very little to do with any of the superficial things that we usually look at as success. It has everything to do with what's going on in your life and in my life in our response to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God's temple will be examined, and the result will be on that day that the temple will be left containing only that which is eternal, precious, and worthy. As a result of that examination, the workmen will receive reward or possibly suffer loss. Remember this is not a matter of salvation here because only Christians are at the judgment that I'm describing to you. He's talking about rewards, the rewards seem to be appropriate recognition, some way by the Lord, for the faithful labor that's been done. The Bible calls these rewards crowns which suggest that they involve not only some physical token, but perhaps even more the privilege of reigning with Jesus Christ in some aspect of His kingdom, on earth, perhaps His eternal kingdom is in view here as well. But the rewards have to do with crowns. Those are rewards that we earn by our faithfulness in what we do and the sort of our work. Loss, on the other hand, seems to be the forfeiture of these very same things. Perhaps there's going to be some way in which God will represent to us what we might have had, I don't know, but it does say that there will be the possibility of suffering loss. The loss of perhaps what one had thought to have accomplished in his life. The loss of commendation by the Lord, the loss of opportunity to serve him, certainly the embarrassment and the shame as a result of the real exposure of what our lives have produced for him. God's temple will be examined. You and I will be examined on that day. You say, "Well, that seems to be a little scary, a little frightening." It was to the Apostle Paul, for in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and 11, he describes the judgment seat of Christ and he moves right ahead to say, "Noing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men." If any of us can think of the judgment seat of Christ and not have an element of fear within him, he's a fool, because the judgment seat of Christ will be a terrifying experience in one sense. Now there will be the joy of being able to lay at the feet of Jesus what has been brought from our lives and is worthy of his worship. But my friend, the experience of that fire, as it were, that examination is not one in which our humanity delights. There is a fourth fact that we see regarding the living temple of God and that is that it's holy. God's temple is holy, verses 60 and 17. Again, I say that the local church is the context of what he's talking about here. He is saying that the local church is a body of people, is a temple of God. He says, "Do you not know that, that all of you comprise the temple of God, the Spirit of God dwells in you, and that's what makes it holy." When he says it's holy, he's saying that it's set apart for divine use for a sacred destiny. And then he warns us in verse 17, "Because of the nature of this temple of God, if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him." The same verb used both times. The word means corrupt to defile, to pollute, to ruin, to spoil. It does not mean to annihilate. But the apostle says here that there is some way it's possible for us to tragically destroy or to pollute or to ruin the temple of God, the local church. And he says that the man who does that, God, will himself ruin or defile or spoil. Now there are commentators who say that this must refer to an unsaved person. I have a difficult time accepting that in the context here. I believe the apostle is warning even some of the Corinthians of the possibility of their destroying that temple of God in Corinth through the kind of lives they were leading, lives that were carnal and disobedient to the word. He is warning them, I believe, saved but disobedient carnal Christians of the danger of spoiling God's work. He says, "The temple of God is holy and that is what you are." There are warnings throughout the Bible regarding this. We're going to look in a couple of weeks at a husband and wife in Acts 5 who learned the meaning of what Paul is saying here. But my mind reflects this morning back to the Old Testament to one of the great kings of Israel or Judah, King Uzziah, a man who did a great deal for Israel politically, militarily, economically, a man during whose reign Isaiah lived in part because you remember that he saw his great vision of God in the year that King Uzziah died. But sometime before he died, Uzziah made a terrible mistake. He forgot what is said in these verses that God's temple is holy and he of course was dealing with a physical temple, Solomon's temple that had been constructed. But at that day, Uzziah in a moment of haste and unbelief entered into the presence of God in the temple and began to offer incense there, though he was not a priest. He forgot the holiness of God in that moment of rashness in his life and for that God struck him with leprosy and until the day that he died, he suffered horribly from that disfiguring, debilitating disease. Recently we talked about the man who put his hand on the ark of God when the oxen stumbled. Remember that? And when he touched the ark, God struck him and he died immediately. You and I need to remember we need to allow to soak into our hearts in every corner of it this truth that God's temple in this age, the local church, is a holy thing. And rather than allowing ourselves even in carelessness to be a destroyer of it, to be faithful workmen, I want to conclude this morning by saying that as we dedicate this physical structure, what we really do as we said in the dedication statement is to dedicate ourselves as workmen in building the living temple, for that's the real building that's going on inside these walls. The foundation has been laid, which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the living son of God. But now we build upon that foundation, let each man take heed how he builds their bond. Let us ask God to give us understanding of what we are doing with our lives. So that we might see now how to build more wisely, to be wise master builders, so that on that day, the day, when our church is gathered in his presence and examined by his holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ, it will pass the test of fire, and that there will be something there left to the honor and glory of him who has loved us and saved us. Let's pray together. Lord it is so easy for us to live for ourselves, and to deceive ourselves into thinking somehow that what we're doing is for you. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. Deliver us from those kinds of deceit which lead us to ruin. I pray today that you will enable us by the discerning work of your Holy Spirit to see our lives as you see them. I pray that we can look back upon the last months and years of our lives and have some kind of an accurate picture of whether we've lived wisely or not. And whether what we have done would pass your judgment or not. And if there need to be corrections, steps of obedience, repentance, then bring us to that point quickly lest we continue fooling ourselves and waste life's brief day. In Jesus' name, amen.