The Temple of God | 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Today we are back in 1 Corinthians and back to

Paul's passionate rebuke and exhortation to the

believers in the first century city of Corinth

concerning the nature of the church there. And

as we know, it was a bit of a mess there in Corinth.

Last fall, I had the privilege of teaching the

history of the church at Masters University.

And I began the semester by asking the students

a series of questions on the very first day of

class. This was my introduction to the course.

I asked these questions that you see on the screen.

I said, what is the church? And I got a bunch

of blank stares. How do we define that? What

is the church? Is the church visible or is it

invisible? Where is it located, the true church?

Will I find it in a particular institution? Or

will I find it in a particular type of building

or an ecclesiastical system? And if the knee

-jerk reaction is, no, Jeff, it's a people, okay,

which people? And what is it that binds that

people together that then makes them this thing

we call the church? The reality is if you've

grown up around the church in America in the

modern age, those might be difficult questions

to answer. Not because the Bible and church history

are somehow lacking in giving us the right answers,

but because church leaders, for the most part,

have done a poor job informing their congregations

of what God's design for the church has always

been from the very beginning. Sadly, the things

that we value most here in the West run counter

to God's design for the church. The things that

we love, things we grew up in, they run counter

to everything that God has said about belonging

to his church. I'll give you a brief list of

them. Individualism. We love that as Americans,

right? Rugged individualism. Consumer choice.

We want all the choices we can get, right? And

then we pick according to what we want. All kinds

of forms of pragmatism. Whatever works. We make

it up, but whatever works is what guides our

choices. The pursuit of comfort and wealth and

all things. Defining success by, boy, that's

big or that's popular. That automatically means

success. Faith. Your faith is actually just a

personal and private matter. Doesn't impact other

people. It's about you and God alone. And the

notion that if I'm just spiritual, that's actually

better, more valuable than being a part of this

boogeyman we've created called organized religion.

I always ask the question, would you prefer disorganized

religion? But these things are out there, right?

And all of these trends that you see on the screen

have led to the degrading of biblical Christianity

in this country. And in its place, something

has risen that... would be unrecognizable to

a Christian who lived in the year 150 or 325

or 450 or even 1600 or 1800. Unrecognizable.

Cultural Christianity in the modern age has reshaped

how we think about this concept of belonging.

Rather than viewing our place in the body of

Christ as faithfully and sacrificially bound

to other believers by covenant, we now tend to

see the church as optional. It's just optional

or therapeutic, mostly self -focused, a religious

add -on to our busy lives that when we do choose

to participate, we do so with the idea that this

will personally benefit me. We put ourselves

at the center of everything. We no longer see

the church as God describes it, as the place

where his presence collectively dwells in us.

And we only have ourselves to blame, and I especially

blame church leaders, men and women who've written

book after book and given talk after talk about

how the church needs to change and adapt to cultural

trends rather than staying anchored to the eternal

truths in God's word. And so now if you rub shoulders

with other pastors, you hear these buzz phrases,

church strategy, church vision, where the whole

goal is to tap into religious consumers. rather

than to form a covenant people. And of course,

what that means is we now emphasize style and

the vibe, the vibe over real substance. In so

many churches, it's about the style. It means

making things as convenient as possible for the

people rather than requiring sacrifice from them.

Striving for big and shiny above. gritty and

authentic. Just big and shiny, the big show,

the big lights. It means entertainment over liturgy.

It means teaching that is topical and shallow

over teaching that is scripturally deep and challenging.

And by doing this, we've allowed the average

Christian to wrongly think that belonging to

a church is a weekly event rather than a way

of life. Oh, I belong to that church. How do

I know? I go there sometimes on Sundays. That

worship is what we do when we just sing praises

on Sundays. That's it. That's the extent of worship.

That ministry is done by the professionals, by

an elite few. The rest of us, we just attend.

We attend services and we sit there and we enjoy.

And by the way, if your church fails to meet

your expectations, You just go down the street

and find a new church who might make you more

comfortable. Because there's so many to choose

from, and we are consumers at heart. So the problem

we face today, it just isn't ignorance on the

part of congregants. It's a problem of church

leaders and the formation that we've done in

our local churches. We've allowed our modern

values not just to seep into the church, but

to overwhelm what was once an ancient and sacred

thing described for us in the words of Scripture.

This morning when I walked in, the band was rehearsing

the song we're going to sing next. It's called

Forgiven. And this lyric just jumped out at me

as I was praying through my morning. We've forsaken

the feast above for all the crumbs below. And

that's true about the church. All these crumbs

that we've found acceptable, sufficient. And

so this morning, as we come into God's word,

I want to implore you to lay aside what you think

you know about the church. I want you to lay

aside your expectations and your preferences.

Lay aside whatever tradition you were raised

in or whatever you remember from some church

in the past that you experienced. I want you

to completely clear the deck in your minds and

look afresh at what God's word says about who

you are as a member of the body of Christ, what

scripture says. this place is. And what if I

told you, according to God's word, we're far

more than just a group of religious individuals

who come to a gathering spot on Sundays to hear

the word preached and to sing songs. That it's

so much more than that. What if I told you we

are a people bound together as a part of God's

holy dwelling place? That we embody that. Would

that not change the way you view the church?

Would that not change the way you function? within

the local church. Just a quick warning for you

before we jump in. Today's passage might require

you to completely rethink your life as a Christ

follower. Are you okay with that? Are you open

to that? To have to rethink the way that you

have always thought about the church, to rethink

about how you participate in the life of the

church. Okay, grab your Bibles. We're going to

1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3, we're finishing

the chapter today. Guys, this means we're almost

20 % into the letter. We are just flying. Chapter

3, verses 16 to 23 this morning. But first, just

to get the context, let's back up to verse 10.

We'll read from there because this is where,

beginning in verse 10, where Paul starts talking

about the building of this structure that we

call the church. And this is very important.

Verse 10. According to the grace of God which

was given to me, Paul says, like a wise master

builder, I laid a foundation. For what? For the

church, right? For the church in Corinth. And

another is building on it. But each man must

be careful how he builds on it. For no man can

lay a foundation other than the one which is

laid, which is Jesus Christ. We talked about

you don't keep laying foundations. There's one

foundation for the local church, and it's Jesus

Christ, verse 12. Now, if any man builds on a

foundation with, look at the beautiful things,

gold, silver, precious stones, and then look

at the very ordinary things, wood, hay, straw,

each man's work will become evident for the day.

The Bema Seat Judgment of Christ, the day will

show it because it's to be revealed with fire,

and the fire itself will test the quality of

each man's work. All the work that we do for

the kingdom of God, for the local church, all

the works that we do will be tested by fire in

the end. If any man's work, which he's built

on it, remains, he will receive a reward. If

any man's work is burned up, He will suffer loss,

but he himself will be saved. Yet so as through

fire. Two weeks ago, or three weeks ago, we talked

about that, right? The bama seat, judgment and

the rewards and the loss. It's a serious passage,

isn't it? Now, today's verses, verse 16. 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. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among

you thinks he's wise in this age, he must become

foolish so that he may become wise. For the wisdom

of this world is foolishness before God. For

it is written, this comes from the book of Job,

he is one who catches the wise, and their craftiness.

And again, from the book of Psalms, the Lord

knows the reasonings of the wise that they are

useless. So then let no one boast in men, for

all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos

or Cephas or the world or life or death or things

present or things to come. All things belong

to you, Christians. And you belong to Christ.

And Christ belongs to God. Now, I'm going to

do something unusual this morning. I'm going

to briefly touch on those last six verses first,

verses 18 to 23, and then we'll come back to

the primary focus for this morning, which is

just the two verses you see there, verses 16

and 17. Here's the reason why we're doing this.

Verses 18 and 23 are very much a summary of what

Paul has been writing since chapter one, right?

This same theme has come through in all three

of these chapters, and it's a summary. So we've

spent quite a bit of time studying these things.

What I'll do is just point out some interesting

nuances in that last section, and then we'll

come back to the big idea for today. Make sense?

Okay, look back at verse 18, and you'll notice

that he's talking again about this issue of wisdom.

which was so important to Greeks, right? Wisdom.

And he's once again making this contrast. You

have the wisdom of man and you have the wisdom

of God, divine wisdom. Okay, so there's this

type of wisdom out there. We see it every day

that is earthly. It belongs to this age, Paul

says. Not eternity, but to this age. And there

are many men and women out there, back in Paul's

day and today, who think they're very wise according

to this. standard of the world. But in verse

19, Paul renews our thinking and says, no, no,

think differently about this. In reality, the

opposite is true. In verse 19, he says, the wisdom

of this world at this age is actually foolishness

before God. It's foolishness before God. So a

man may be very well read, very impressive. in

his knowledge of all kinds of topics of math

and history and science and literature, all kinds

of things. But apart from knowing God, he's actually

a fool, right? According to the standard of divine

wisdom, he's a fool. Because after all, think

about this, what creature, what creature's thinking,

no matter how earthly smart they are, is comparable

to the Almighty Creator. So whose word are you

going to take, man's or the Creator's, right?

And the irony is that that earthly wise man or

woman is going to look at you or look at me and

say, you're a fool for trusting the creator.

Right? We hear this all the time. And knowing

this, Paul doesn't hold back in verse 18. He

says, look, if you think you're wise according

to the standard of this age, if that's what you're

looking for, let me warn you, you better become

a fool before God. Get it straight. And he says,

if you're willing to become that kind of fool

before God, then guess what? You're actually

becoming wise, right? He turns the whole thing

up on its head. You're actually becoming wise.

And that's according to the only standard that

will matter in the end. You can get all the approval

of man in this age. When you pass into eternity,

it is not going to matter a lick. The only standard

that's going to matter in the end is the standard

of the eternal judge. So be a fool before him.

That's what Paul is trying to say here. Now,

he's been walking through the same argument since

the beginning of the letter. What's new in this

section, and I want you to see this, is the very

opening part of verse 18. He says, let no man

deceive himself. That should be a warning to

us. He's writing to Christians, and he's saying,

don't be self -deceived. The truth is, true born

-again believers can be self -deceived, especially

in this area. We can find ourselves getting swept

up by the wisdom of this age, putting more time,

more stock, more trust in the opinions of intellectuals

and influencers than the truths that God has

shown us in his word. We spend way more time,

right, on YouTube and on social media and all

kinds of opinions of intellectuals and influencers,

right, philosophers of this age. And if we're

not alert and careful, we can find ourselves

so absorbed in those worldly pursuits, so absorbed

in those earthly philosophies that we take the

mind of Christ and we replace it with the mindset

of the world. That's easy for any of us. Look

at how you spend your time. Look at the places

that you put your mind and your heart. It can

happen to any of us. So be warned. We're all

capable of deceiving ourselves, thinking that

we're becoming wise when actually we're acting

the fool. So Paul says, get this straight. Remember

that the wisdom of man is restricted to this

age. It will pass away. God's thoughts are eternal.

The word of the Lord shall endure forever. So

how are you investing your time? It's an important

question. Even worse than being just temporary,

Paul's making the case here in this section that

man's reasonings, they're not just useless in

eternity, they are capable of leading you astray

in this life. So be careful, right? So in that

sense, if they're leading you away from the mind

of Christ, they're actually destructive. That's

the case that he's making here. So in light of

that, he concludes in verse 21, he says, look,

so then don't boast in men. Stop boasting in

men. This comes back to this again, the same

argument he's been making since chapter one.

He says, stop lining up behind your favorite

teacher. Stop idolizing these men. As wonderful

a believer as they are, as great a teacher as

they are, stop lining up behind them, right?

Stop doing that. The mindset that you're investing

in when you do that is symptomatic of the wisdom

of the world. This is what unbelievers do, right?

They line up behind their philosophers. Stop

doing this. If you're going to boast in anything,

boast in the Lord, he says here. And then he

adds this amazing statement. This is, to me,

when I read this and started studying, it just

blew my mind, this all -encompassing statement.

He says, besides, all things belong to you. Did

you see that? It's verse 21. All things belong

to you. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or

the world or life or death or things present

or things to come, all things belong to you.

Here's what he means in context. If you have

the wisdom of God, if that's what you're driven

by, the wisdom of God, and you're found in Christ,

you already have everything. You have everything.

So you don't have to choose between this apostle

or that teacher. They all belong to you. Isn't

that great? I mean, we prayed for Crossroads

this morning. You could go on and listen to Pastor

Todd teach. He belongs to you as well. We're

part of the church. You have my teaching and

Adam's teaching and our elders. It all belongs

to you because you're found in Christ. And then

it gets even bigger and better. As a child of

God, he says, all of creation is yours as an

inheritance, right? Every moment of this life,

he says, is yours. Enjoy it. God has given it

to you to enjoy. Death is yours. Why? Because

it just ushers you into the presence of Christ,

right? He goes on, things present. They're yours.

Enjoy them. The future, all eternity lies ahead

of you. It's for you. What Paul's doing here

is he's imploring the Corinthian believers to

lift their eyes, to quit doing earthly things,

seeing the world through that. The lens of this

age, lift your eyes, see the bigger picture.

Everything belongs to you in Christ. So why would

you grumble and divide over something as silly

as that's my favorite teacher or you're my favorite

teacher? How silly is that in light of the big

picture? That's what Paul's saying here. And

the reality is sometimes, guys, we just need

to step back. from our petty little issues and

refocus our minds on the things that really matter,

who we are in Christ, what we have in him, that

is a game changer for any Christian to have that

ability to step back and go, I need to change

my perspective. Because we get caught up, right,

in the nitty gritty of life and all the frustrations

and all these things. Step back. Everything is

yours. Amen? So, okay, let's get on the big idea

this morning. I want you to refocus on verse

16. I want you to take this really seriously.

Look at verse 16. Do you not know that you are

a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells

in you? Now, the first thought in your mind might

be, and this is indicative of modern -day evangelicalism,

your first thought might have been individual

when you read that. Paul's talking about me.

As an individual, my body, as a temple of God,

the spirit who dwells my soul. And that's not

theologically wrong. That is a true thing. But

that's not what Paul's talking about here. And

the interpretive clue that we have for this,

it's built into the original Greek. You wouldn't

see it in the English language because our language

doesn't work this way. Both times in verse 16,

when he says you, it's written in the plural

form. He's not talking to individuals. It's in

the plural form. We don't have a plural you in

English. Isn't that ridiculous? Unless you say

y 'all, right? You add y 'all. Okay, then we'll

speak to a whole group of people, y 'all. But

when we say you, it can be singular or it can

be plural. Well, in the Greek, it's plural. So

in speaking that way, Paul's talking to the Corinthian

church as a group. He's talking to the entire

body of believers in that city. He says, you

collectively are a temple of God. Look around

at each other. You collectively are a temple

of God. And the Spirit of God dwells in your

midst. That's what he's saying here. Now, it's

true that our bodies are also, right, as individual

believers, a temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul's

going to talk about that when we get to chapter

6 two years from now. Just kidding. Just kidding.

But the immediate context here, again, what he's

been talking about is divisions in the entire

church. So he's not yet gotten to the individual

temple of the believers. He's still talking about

the church as a whole. By the way, catch the

little subtle dig. that Paul puts in here. He

says, don't you know this? You Corinthians, you

think you're so wise, right? You think you know

so many things, yet you're not aware of this

basic truth that you, the body of Christ in this

city, that collectively you are a temple of God

and he dwells in your midst. How do you not know

this? And the implication is this is a basic

truth. But it's lost on so many Christians in

this country. It's a basic truth that we just

haven't understood because of our modern mindset.

Now remember, again, Paul started to draw the

picture of this building, this structure back

in verse 10. Like a wise master builder, he says,

I laid the foundation and now others, including

the people he's writing to, you guys are building

on it. And he says, look, some of you guys aren't

being faithful in that building. For whatever

reason, you're not on the construction team.

You're using these really perishable things,

wood, hay, and straw, that aren't going to last.

Others of you are stewarding this well, right?

You're using imperishable materials, good stewards

of the project. And this building that Paul founded

and is now being built, he says it's specifically

designed to be a temple for Yahweh. That is what

we're building. We're building a temple for Yahweh,

the living God. How many of us knew that? We

just come here on Sundays. It's great. We love

it. Great music. Get the preaching. It's all

that. You're building a temple with everyone

else here, a temple for Yahweh. Now, think about

this for a second. If you're a Greek believer

in the first century, how would you have understood

this word temple? If you were a Jewish believer,

you knew right away, right? The temple in Jerusalem,

right? They understood what that was. But the

majority Greek believers in the city of Corinth

in that church, they would have immediately thought

of what? All the pagan temples in their city

and throughout Greece, temples to all kinds of

false deities, Apollos and Athena and Zeus and

all the rest, right? But this much they would

have understood because they'd seen it with their

own eyes. When a temple is built to a particular

God, That place, that structure is devoted to

that God. They understood that because it was

all over their city. Well, now they're being

told, you as a people are collectively a temple

for Yahweh. Right? You're part of Yahweh's holy

creation. You are his holy place. You, the body

of believers, are the place where he makes his

presence known. under the new covenant in the

person of Jesus Christ. This is a giant vision

for the church, you guys. Far more than we tend

to think of. It's mind -blowing, isn't it? Peter

also talks about this. So this isn't just found

in Paul's writings. Peter, in his first epistle,

describes the building of this very same temple

to the Lord. Describing the believers themselves

as what? Living stones. Not only are you building

together, but you're actually stones in the structure.

Living stones being built up together into what?

A spiritual house. Not a church building physically,

a spiritual house. That is very important to

recognize. A spiritual house. And then catch

this, Peter says, all the believers in the church

together constitute a holy priesthood. You're

a priest if you're a believer. Now you say, wait,

how is that possible? Biblically, priests are

the ones who are set apart by God to offer up

sacrifices to him. And Peter says, exactly. Did

you catch that? Wait, biblically, priests are

set apart by God to offer up sacrifices to him.

Yes. Peter says. That's what we are. He finishes,

look at how he finishes the thought. Together,

you're a spiritual house for a holy priesthood

offering up spiritual sacrifices. Not physical,

we're not bringing animals. Spiritual sacrifices

acceptable to God through our high priest, our

mediator, Jesus Christ. So not only are every

one of you in ministry, builders in this construction

project, you're also a part of a holy priesthood

bringing spiritual sacrifices to God. Giant vision

for the church. Giant vision. This means when

you think about spiritual sacrifices. Bringing

with you into your life in the church offerings

of praise and worship, offerings of sacrifice

and service, offerings of obedience and holiness.

These are the spiritual things that we bring

to the altar of God and say, here I am, Lord.

Here I am, part of your temple. This is what

it means to participate in the life of the temple

of God that we share here at Oak Hill, whether

you knew that or not. You also heard our call

to worship passage from earlier in Ephesians

2, the same picture being drawn for us. Paul

says, you Gentiles are no longer strangers and

aliens, but now you're members of God's household.

You're part of the family. Having been built

on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ himself being the cornerstone. You ready

for it? In whom, here's this building again,

the whole building being fitted together is growing

into what? A holy temple in the Lord. Same language.

God's design for his church is that all of us

here be fitted together like those stones that

Peter talked about. Living stones, each with

a unique shape and size, each carefully chosen

by God to fit together into this temple that

we're building as one. We're to be growing together,

all of us, each member contributing to the overall

integrity of the structure. that we have as a

temple here at Oak Hill. Isn't this a beautiful

metaphor? Can your mind process this? Isn't it

more than just, oh yeah, there's this place I

go to on Sundays. It's so bigger than that. Wow.

Now at the end of verse 16, Paul tells us this

also. The Spirit of God dwells in you as a church

body. Yes, he dwells within you as an individual,

but he also dwells within the body itself. His

presence is among us. And listen, this is how

it's always been with Yahweh. I don't know if

you know this. I went down this rabbit hole yesterday

on this. I started thinking about all the ways.

that God redeems a people so that he can be with

them, so that he can dwell with them. It is everywhere

from Genesis to Revelation that God redeems a

people for himself so that he might dwell with

them, that we might be his people and he might

be our God. It's everywhere. I mean, it starts

in the garden, right? You have Adam and Eve with

this intimate fellowship with God, intimate fellowship

with him, right? And then we get to the patriarchs

and we find God coming to Abraham in Genesis

12 and saying, walk faithfully before me, Abraham.

And then we get to Genesis 26 and God says to

Isaac, I will be with you. I will be with you.

Genesis 28, God says to Jacob, I am with you

and I will keep you. Genesis 46, God assures

Jacob, even though you go into the land of Egypt,

my presence will be with you. During the Exodus

and Sinai period, in Exodus 3, God says to Moses,

I will be with you. This is his desire. Exodus

19, Israel's called to be what? A kingdom of

priests and a holy nation. Those are the very

words that Peter then echoes under the new covenant.

A kingdom of priests. and a holy nation. Exodus

29, God says to Moses, I brought my people out

of Egypt, out of slavery, so that I might dwell

with them. Exodus 25, God instructs his people

to build what? A tabernacle and a sanctuary in

the wilderness. Why? So that I may dwell among

you. This is what God's always wanted. Exodus

40, the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle

as a sign of what? His constant presence with

his people. From there, we see Numbers 9. They

have the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar

of fire by night. Why? That's a sign of Yahweh's

presence with his people. I'm guiding you and

I'm among you. Deuteronomy 31, we first hear

God make this famous declaration. I will not

fail my people, he says. I will not leave you.

I will not forsake you. Joshua 1, God promises

this successor of Moses, I will be with you just

as I was with Moses. And we get to the period

of the kings and the presence of God becomes

even more obvious. The temple in Jerusalem is

built, the Ark of the Covenant is put in the

Holy of Holies and this house, this temple, this

structure becomes the place of Yahweh's name

and his presence, the place that his people will

come to pray and to worship. God dwells in their

midst. 2 Chronicles 7, fire comes down from heaven

and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. His

presence established in Zion, his beloved city.

And then during this period, we have this amazing

prophecy from Isaiah talking about the future

Messiah. And what does he say? His name will

be Emmanuel, which means God with us. That's

the ultimate promise of Christ, that God is with

us. Are you seeing the trend? This is what God

desires. Even in exile, the promise of God's

presence continues. Jeremiah 31, God gives to

the house of Israel and Judah the promise of

a coming new covenant, which includes what? I

will write my law within you. You will know me

from the inside, he says. Ezekiel 37, the valley

of dry bones. They will come to life, he says.

Israel and Judah will have a promise of restoration,

a promise of a second temple, the promise of

a revived Davidic kingdom. And God says, my dwelling

place shall once again be with them. My presence,

my presence, my presence. Then we come to the

New Testament. And in John 1, Emmanuel is revealed

to us. The logos of God becomes flesh for what

purpose? To dwell among us and to show us the

Father in a very personal way. Jesus promises

to make his dwelling with us. He says, abide

in me. Make your dwelling with me and I will

abide with you. We will dwell together, Jesus

says. In John 2, we learn that the temple is

going to come down someday, but Jesus himself

will be our temple. John 14 and 16, Jesus says,

look, I'm going away, but I promise you, I will

send you the Holy Spirit who will be with you

and in you, that God might dwell with you within.

It's amazing. Matthew 28, Jesus says, by the

way, by the way. Don't be depressed. I am with

you always. I'm with you always, even to the

end of the age, he says to his disciples. It

doesn't stop there. Acts 2, the Spirit of God

is poured out on the church, and it's announced.

Our bodies are now temples of the same Spirit.

Ephesians 2, Jewish and Gentile believers get

brought together to be a single dwelling place.

For God to inhabit. Hebrews 10, we're told that

through Christ, we have direct access into God's

presence in the truest tabernacle in heaven.

God with us. God's presence. He redeems the people

so that he might dwell with them. And then we

get the grandest vision of all, Revelation 21.

the new heaven and the new earth, the final state

of things. And John says this, I heard a loud

voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle

of God is among men. He will dwell with them

and they shall be his people and God himself

will be among them. Genesis to Revelation. This

is the story of God. It's always been about him

redeeming a people for that purpose that he might

dwell with us. So now we come back to 1 Corinthians

3. What's Paul's intention here? To grab the

attention of these Greek Christians and say,

don't you understand what God's doing? Do you

not know what he's trying to do here? What he

is building in you and through you? Do you not

understand how special you are to God? You're

not just a bunch of loosely gathered individual

worshipers. Together you are a sacred and holy

temple where God dwells with you by the Spirit.

He desires to be in your church. He desires to

be in our church. There's a reason why he cares

for his church so deeply. Because we were purchased

by the precious blood of his Son. Right? He cares

deeply for us. It is a blessing. It is a privilege.

It's also a responsibility. It's a responsibility.

It's a stewardship responsibility that we all

have, not just elders, not just deacons, all

of us, to build and to serve and to sacrifice

and to care. Is that how you view your life in

the church today? Is that how you view how you

function within this local church with this size

of a vision? All right, let's look at verse 17.

Look at the warning now in verse 17. If any man

destroys the temple of God, God will destroy

him. Why? Because the temple of God is supposed

to be holy, right? And he says, that's what you

are. If you're part of the temple, you are holy

because God's holy presence dwells among you.

I've declared you holy, God says. Our God's a

protective God. That's what we find in verse

17. He doesn't look kindly upon anybody who comes

to his church to defile it or destroy it. And

yes, there are people like that in the world.

There are people out there in this community

who have set out to destroy the work of God's

people, to hinder the work of the church, even

to try to remove that foundation of Christ through

false doctrine. They're out there. And in the

process, look what they're doing, setting themselves

up to be destroyed by God, to suffer the worst

eternal fate you can imagine. God will judge.

Now, obviously, I don't think there's anybody

here this morning that's setting out to intentionally

defile the church here at Oak Hill, right? I

don't think that's true. But should we not consider

that there are ways that we can unintentionally

bring damage to the bride of Christ? Yeah, we

can. We can. when our walk with Christ becomes

lukewarm, we're not building as we should. When

our commitment to the body becomes just casual

and inconsistent, we're not building. When we

use the body as a place to be served rather than

to serve, when we're not employing our gifts

and our energy to build the temple here, when

we become takers and not givers, consumers and

not participants, we're not building as we should.

And whether we know it or not, that is damaging

the building of the structure here. When our

brothers and sisters are in need, but we don't

show up, or when volunteers are asked for and

we don't raise our hand, we can damage the body

of Christ. When you read the New Testament letters,

you see every member is called to be part of

that construction team, building in some way,

building in some way. And you see in the ancient

church, In the ancient church, there was not

even a conception that any Christian would just

be an attender of services. There wouldn't even

be a conception of that. I just attend services.

Now, it can get worse than what I've just described

because what I just described is unintentional

damage to the body of Christ. The language that

Paul uses here in verse 17 is very severe. Destroy,

he says. Thyro in the original Greek. It can

mean to defile or corrupt. If any man corrupts

or defiles the temple of God that I establish,

I will destroy you, he says. Now, I think what

Paul's referring to here, and I think there were

very real people in the city of Corinth who were

doing this kind of damage. They're causing division.

They're creating factions. They're undermining

church leadership. They're stirring up controversy

over non -essential issues. They're turning away

from sound doctrine. They're choosing to live

in open sin. They're injecting doubts into the

minds of other believers. Guys, those things

drain the life of a church. They chip away at

the building of the structure. Not only do they

not build, they actually destroy the structure.

So there's a spectrum of things here that can

damage the church. But those things that Paul's

talking about here, this division, this strife,

this conflict, this undermining of church leadership,

may it never be that anyone in this room ever

destroys the bride of Christ by doing those things.

Okay. Time to wrap up. How are we doing? We're

good. I want to come full circle. Can I come

back to those questions I asked at the beginning?

Can we answer them? What is the church? It's

the ekklesia, right? That's the Greek word, which

is a compound Greek word that comes from the

word ek, which means out, and the verb kaleo,

which means to call. So the church is an assembly

of people who are called out of the world and

set apart as a people belonging to God. That's

what the church is. Now, is it visible or is

it invisible? Yes, it's both. It's both. And

you should understand both sides of that. It's

visible in the sense that, yes, there are physical

assemblies of God's people all over the world,

all over the world. But it's invisible in the

sense that we, with our human eyes, cannot see

who among these assemblies is truly a believer

and who's playing a game, who's faking it. Only

God knows that. So the true church is invisible

in the sense that only God knows those who belong

to him. We can only see with our human eyes.

So it's both. It's both. Where is the church

located? Is it found in an institution or a building?

Listen, if you go online today or you go on YouTube,

you'll find far too many religious leaders. making

this wildly arrogant and exclusive claim that

theirs is the only true church. You see it everywhere.

Arguments, by the way, that when you listen to

them, they're not rooted in scripture. They're

rooted in fallible historical traditions. So

just know that. But according to God's word,

the true church isn't located just in the east

or just in the west. It's not found. in the city

of Rome or Alexandria or Antioch or even Constantinople,

right? It's not found in any one institution.

It's not found in any ecclesiastical system.

It's not confined to any type of building. The

true church is spiritual. It's not physical.

This is why it's a spiritual house, Peter said.

It's not physical. It's located wherever a people

gather, a people, by the way, saved by God's

grace through faith, where they're assembled

in sacred devotion to the worship and exaltation

of Christ and his word. It's spiritual. The reformers,

they took a lot of time on this in the 16th century.

They said, we need to really carefully define

what a true church is. And they came up with

three basic things. Wherever the gospel is rightly

preached. Right? Wherever the sacraments of baptism

and communion are rightly observed. And third,

and this one may be a surprise to you, wherever

church discipline is practiced according to biblical

guidelines so that the church remains pure. In

that type of a place where those three things

are present, God dwells with his people by his

spirit and they as a people are bound together

in covenant, living stones being chiseled by

God and built into a spiritual temple. where

Christ himself is the cornerstone, our spiritual

head, and our king. That's what a church is.

In such a place, we as God people, we make it

our joy. We make it everything to be in fellowship

with him and to be fellowship with our brothers

and sisters in the faith. Loving, caring, serving,

encouraging, exhorting, comforting, and bearing

with one another. That's the picture of the church.

Friends, we are a temple of God. here at Oak

Hill. We belong to something far greater than

us as individuals. We are a temple of God. And

you know what? Life in the church is not optional

for a believer. It's not to be self -focused.

It's not an add -on to your busy life. It's not

the way it was designed. We're members of something

that is ancient and sacred and in the fundamentals

is completely unchanging. So we're not to be

consumers, but participants. We're not to favor

style over substance. We're not to make convenience

our idol, but rather we're to sacrifice our time

and our talents and our treasure for God's glory

and the good of others. Lay aside the worldly

wisdom of big and shiny, will you please? Lay

it aside. It's not about the vibe. It's not about

feeling entertained by the music or by the preaching.

It's the last thing you should be looking for

is that the guy in the pulpit is making you laugh.

Life in the church is not a weekly event. Worship

is not just singing. It's your entire life of

holiness and obedience. Ministry is not just

done by the staff or by a few. Ministry is for

everyone. Everyone to do according to your gifts

and talents and passions. And no, if your church

disappoints you in some way, the answer isn't

to bounce. And just find a new one that's gonna

make you feel more comfortable. These are the

things that we have to learn as American Christians.

And I know you guys do. Look, I know I'm preaching

to the choir somewhat because the fact that you're

here at Oak Hill means you get some of this,

right? You understand it. Otherwise, you might

be in some giant church somewhere, a faceless

non -participant. But you're here. Praise the

Lord for that. So lay aside any wrong idea that

you had about the church when you came in this

morning. Lay it aside. Take your personal expectations,

your preferences, and say, Lord, I'm willing

to have open hands with those things. Show me,

teach me. Look at what God says about his church.

Look how he's always desired to dwell with his

people in a temple, in a temple to his glory.

And let's, you know what? Today, let's commit

to one another to keep building this particular

temple for his glory and for our good, amen?

Let's bow our heads. Father, as always, we ask

that you would renew our thinking. I know, God,

that we are all, we're sinners saved by grace.

We are fallible. We often think wrongly about

things. We often look out at the wisdom of this

age and we apply it to things that you've described

in your word. And then we battle to say, well,

which is the right vision? Lord, I pray that

when it comes to this important topic of the

church, that we would begin to see things only

according to your wisdom and not according to

the wisdom of men. that we would change our thinking,

that we would redirect our hearts to live out

this massive vision that you've given us for

your body. We want to be functioning, participating

members of your body, Lord Jesus. So help us

to do that. Cause us to do that. And whatever

corrections or adjustments we need to make, Lord,

help us to do that by your spirit. always be

a place of believers who are set apart to worship

you and to glorify you. Help us to strive well

to embody all that you are and to show this community

what it means to be a Christ follower. Work in

us, work through us for our good, Lord, but most

of all for your glory. Thank you for our time

in your word. We pray in your precious name.