Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
The you in this passage is plural. You are God’s temple - all of you, you together - are the temple. Let me repeat. That’s one temple – singular. The Spirit dwells in you – all of you together. That's us. He is in our midst. We all aren’t individual temples, but together we make up the temple of God.
Temples revealed something about the god that they honored, for example, the size and power of the Zeus temple or the beauty of the Athena temple. The worshippers came together to try and show the world what a really big deal their patron god or goddess was.
But human hands made those temples. In Acts 2 we have Pentecost – where God moved from the Holy of Holies into His people. We, the church, became His temple, made by Him.
That’s an awesome thing. How has God chosen to reveal Himself to the world? Through us. Yes, we all have individual responsibility. But He is also revealed through the body of believers living in community and loving each other. And together, we are empowered to love the world.
The church isn’t about a building, or organization, or even an agreed on set of creeds. But it’s everyone who calls on the name of Jesus and follows Him. We, together, are the church, His temple. And the world will decide on Him based on what they see in us.
When we engage in silly arguments, or when a church splits, that’s like pulling a wall down in the temple or knocking over a pillar. We want our foundations to be strong and true, but also held together with love. For when we are united by the power of the Spirit, and love one another, then we can reach out in a powerful way to love our neighbor as well.
The Master Builder is building His temple. I wonder what it looks like to our world.
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