The Temple Within – Ross Thomas

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14). Amen.

Good morning. As I said in today’s Winepress, today’s message is ‘The Temple Within’ and I am going to attempt to describe a relationship between us as Christians and Solomon’s Temple and how that relationship influences the way we live our lives.

A lot to be sure, so with no time to waste (I’m on a clock this morning), let’s go for a quick trip back in time.

When the Israelites wandered the wilderness and campaigned to claim the Promised Land, their worship was conducted at the Tabernacle. It was a temporary structure, a tent for all intents and purposes, and had an entire tribe devoted to packing and unpacking and maintaining it.

Once David had claimed Jerusalem and brought the Ark there, he sat in his magnificent palace and felt a little guilty:

1 Ch 17:1 “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”

So he decided he wanted to build a temple, a permanent place on Earth for Gods Spirit to reside. But God would not allow him to, as not only did he have the blood of battle on his hands, but it was not his assigned task to perform. God had reserved that task for David’s son, Solomon. But He did allow David to make preparations so that Solomon could complete the Temple. God even provided David with the exact blueprints for it and laid out what it would be built of and provided the resources for it to be constructed.

Essentially the Temple layout it is based on the plan of the Tabernacle, but increased in all dimensions. He also added some things, a porch and a couple of bronze pillars and some storerooms around the outside of the Temple itself. We'll come back to these shortly.

Now looking at it architecturally all of this is rather glorious, everything has its purpose, to worship God in compliance with the Laws. It’s the spiritual heart of Israel and a symbol for all Jews that they are Gods chosen people and that He dwells among them. To history it is famous for being torn down twice, the second time torn stone from stone, just as Christ prophesised. To Christians it’s also suggested that its rebuilding will be a sign of the coming return of Christ. And that’s where most people leave it.

But some ask us to look a little deeper, people like Chuck and Nancy Missler, Watchman Nee and Charles Scofield. They ask us to read the Old Testament through the New and reveal a deeper meaning to this.

So let’s walk through a plan of the Temple and examine its structure, starting from the inner most parts and working out.

First we have, at the inner most location, the Holy of Holies. It is the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested along with the Mercy Seat, the seat of God. It is where the Spirit of God resided on earth, and sat behind a veil that is only entered by the High Priest once a year to perform the required offerings.

Going out through that veil we come to the Holy Place where the main sacrifices and worship were conducted on a daily basis. This is where the table of shewbread resides and the lamp stands, and the alter. It is a magnificent display of gold and silver.

Moving out we come across the Porch. This is a transition in the Temple from the holy inner area which is encased in gold, through the doors, to the area which deals with sin and contains objects of bronze. Two giant bronze pillars stand at the entrance to the Porch like two guards supporting and controlling the entrance.

This whole structure, the sanctuary, was rested on a raised platform and around it were a series of chambers meant to be used by the Priests to store their worship items and historical records.

Around the outer of the sanctuary is an area known as the Inner Court which housed the molten sea, sacrificial alter and fires, all used by the Priests to prepare and cleanse themselves and the offerings before entering the Temple.

Finally, surrounding the Inner Court, and at a lower level, was the outer court which was the only part of the temple accessible by non-priests.

So this all wonderful you say, but what has this got to do with us? If it were around today we would only look from the outside, it would just be another religious building to attract tourists. So why bother?

We bother because the Bible tells us to bother.

We know a large amount of detail because it is extensively documented in scripture; in fact the description for the tabernacle is the lengthiest description of any structure in the Bible.

And we bother because Paul repeatable tells us to.

Let us start with one of today’s readings.

1 Cor 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

What is Paul saying here?

How about Eph 2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Or even 2 Cor 5:16 For we are the temple of the living God.

Repeatedly Paul creates an allusion between us and the Temple. We know the comparison being made is to Solomon’s Temple as it is the only place referred to as Gods residence on Earth.

So let’s revisit the temple architecture and look at its purpose in worship.

Again, starting from the inner most and working out.

The Holy of Holies was the holiest place on earth the place where the Spirit of God resided. He filled the Holy of Holies and shone forth a light. So what does Paul have to say about us and the Spirit of God

1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Eph 6:18 but be filled with the Spirit,

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

And just for good measure, how about some Old Testament confirmation:

Eze 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you

When we give our lives to Christ we receive the new spirit of the believer, Gods Spirit within us as we are reborn. Just as the most inner part of the Temple housed the Spirit of God, so too does the most inner part of us house the Spirit of God.

Coming out through the veil we have the Holy Place. If the Holy of Holies is the Spirit, then the Holy Place is the heart of the Temple where the continual procession of offering is performed. Ezekiel describes this same action being performed on us, this process of cleansing our heart:

Eze 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you.

In Hebrews we are reminded of this:

Heb 10:22 with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience

And David even recognised this whole process himself in

Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me

When we are born again to Christ we are given a new heart, so the Holy Place represents our new Heart.

Outside the Holy Place, through the great doors, is the Porch. This is representative of us living in Gods Will and not our own will, and it is the transition from the spiritual to the flesh. It is where we make the conscious decision of letting God enter and guide our lives.

The entry to the porch is guarded by two giant bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz, I told you they had names. As some of you will know, names in Hebrew have deeper meaning. According to Dr Missler, in this case Jachin means "in his counsel" and Boaz is "in his strength".

This porch is the most important part of our lives as a Christian. It is where we make that conscious decision to follow Gods counsel and work in His strength. As we are told in

Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

If we replace Gods will with our will and start making decisions in the conscious mind based on emotion and desire instead of on faith, we close the door on the inner heart and spirit, and the power of sin starts to take hold of our lives.

So when we listen to the guards at the door, when we work in God’s strength and listen to God’s counsel, we let the light of the new Spirit and new Heart flow out the doors into the world through our flesh and we need that light to shine for the draw of sin in the flesh surrounds the Temple, as it surrounds us.

The Inner Court is the place of dealing with sin. It is where the sacrifices were made and the priests cleansed themselves before entering the Holy Place. It is representing our conscious Soul. The Greeks use the word 'psyche' which has a twofold root. It can mean either "it shall have life" or "it shall wax cold". This could be looked at as a Spirit filled life with Gods light shining forth or an empty cold space devoid of light and the love of God. The Soul is designed to reflect the inner beauty, to be filled with the light of God emanating from the inner spirit.

The Chambers which are in the outer court are our subconscious; they are the hidden parts of our Soul. Originally they were designed to be used by the Priests to store their tools of the trade but in reality they were used to hide their secret idols and private possessions. In the same way, it is the place where we hide our secrets and fears. If we do not choose to open the doors to our inner self but focus on fears we become inwards focused and cold. But the light of the Spirit can cleanse those fears and show them for what they really are. In 2 Chronicles 29, Hezekiah shone light into those dark places as he cleansed the temple and showed them for what they were, things to be carried out and thrown in the Kidron.

Which brings us to the Outer Court, which is our body. This is the part of us exposed to the world, the part that is fully exposed to sin. It is also the part of us that demonstrates the inner spirit to the world around us, it should show the light of Gods love shining forth.

Luke 11:36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

But again if we are focused inwards on our fears, or too busy working in our own strength to gain salvation through continual worship at the alter, how can that light shine? How can we bring the Lords message to those around us?

Now when David got it into his head to build a home for Gods Spirit to dwell on earth, God stepped in to once again clarify things. The analogy of the tabernacle was not enough so he made it larger and spelt out the symbolism in massive bronze pillars.

God didn’t need a place to dwell, he had already built a place to dwell. God doesn’t need a temple, WE are his temple and more effective than any building will ever be. His light is not to be locked away from the world to be seen only by a few.

Every week we end our service with the words “we are called to be Christ’s light in the world, let us GO in peace”. We are supposed to be his Temple going forth with the inner light of the Spirit shining forth from us.

But it is up to us to ensure that we let that light shine forth, that we walk in His counsel and in His strength and don’t close the doors of our porch. For when we do that those fears start to build up, the doubts grow and the faith grows weaker.

So let us not worry about buildings and structures.

Let us not worry about dark closets and secrets and fears.

Let us open our Temple and let the light of Gods Spirit shine through our lives, through our Church, through our community.

Prayer

So let us pray

Father, you commanded us in the beginning to love you with all our heart, all our soul and all our might.

Lord Jesus, you reminded us to love you with all our mind as well, and to love those around us as much.

To love with all our mind, with your Spirit that fills us

To love you with all our heart, that great new heart that You gave us

And as we choose to live in your strength and will, we love you with all our soul

So Lord, fill us with all the strength of our body as we carry those parts into this world and demonstrate the inner light of Your love to the rest of the world in the way we live.

Let us be your Temples, let us carry your light and let it shine forth across our lives, across our Church and across our community.

Amen.

HOPE

HOPE SERMON... God's Goodness triumphing over despair  16.10.2011
Scriptures: Hosea 2: 14 – 23; Romans 5:1 – 5 and 15:13; Mathew 12: 9 – 21
Intro: At PK this year we were privileged to hear Pastor David Peters share his wonderful testimony and teaching on HOPE as it relates to his journey in ministry and marriage with Jane his smiling wife who after giving birth to 3 sons was confined to a wheelchair with MS and died after 30 yrs of marriage. God took David through some dark times and brought him through with hope for the fulfillment of an early vision of international ministry.  This is now being fulfilled together with Greta who was brought by the Lord to marry David. She had lost her husband after 28 yrs. At PK I bought David's outstanding book on hope.
WHY HOPE?
Hope is a very timely subject for us to consider because we live in a world awash with the disease  of  hopelessness, cynicism, hedonism, depression and negativity: media thrives on bad news. The Bible has much to say about hope and it is a key grace which we can ask God to fill us with.
If we are overflowing with hope we can be bringers of Good News to many.
WHAT IS CHRISTIAN HOPE?

• It's not “I hope so!” as if it will probably never happen or mere wishful thinking.
• Christian Hope is 'a sure and certain confidence in God to fulfill the promises He has given through his Word to you primrally through the Bible and through the dreams and visions he has put in your heart.
• Heb 11.1 ties faith and hope together.. faith in the now and hope in future fulfillment of  faith. 'Now faith', it says, 'is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.'
• St Paul wrote there were 3 abiding realities... aspects of God's character that He wants us to enjoy: faith; hope and love.
• Our CPAC vision statement inspires us to be 'Connecting people and Christ to bring Healing, Hope and Life.'
• The Bible gives 3 great pictures of hope; The door of hope to escape the valley of trouble in Hosea 2; the anchor of hope whose rope passes through this temporary world and is firmly fixed in God's presence and the helmet of hope and salvation which keeps our mind in perfect peace.

HOW DO WE RECEIVE HOPE?
God's hope comes into our hearts when we turn to Christ and are born anew by the Holy Spirit. 1Peterr 1:3 says, 'Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' In fact St Peter's whole 1st letter is full of hope for Christians going through trials that many Christians were facing then and many face around the world today. Before I became a spirit-filled christian I was a depressed person and Jesus has given me hope in many trials. One of my favourite verses is Col 1:27 Christ in you the hope of glory. Before we turn from our sins christian hope  is far away as Rom 3:23 says 'All have sinned and fall short of the hope of the glory of God.'
THE HOPE KILLERS.
David Peters lists the following things as killers of hope: He describes the disease of hopelessness as:
( pg 39)

• Loss of joy and growing depression
• emotional numbness
• low self-worth
• unbelief
• spiritual passivity
• addictions

The hope-killers he describes as:

• disappointment  Prov 13:12  'Hope deferred makes the heart sick'
• disillusionment
• despair
• idealism
• demons

BUT HOPE CAN BE RESTORED

• Jesus restored the  man's withered hand, many crowds followed him and he cured all of them. He's the same today and many are cured directly by prayer and/or with medical and nursing skills which he has allowed mankind to discover and improve. Our reading in Mathew 12 gives the gracious picture of 'a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning burning wick he will not quench. Our Jesus is the one who comes alongside us when we are most vulnerable and gently lifts us up  He doesn't blow out our fire when we are burning low but blows on us again so we can flame up brightly again.
• When Daphne and I were at one of our lowest points with our little daughter very slow to develop and told by medical people she would always have to be in special classes. It seemed hopeless  but we called all our friends to pray; we took her for special prayer whenever possible and through the prayers and love of many and wonderful medical and teacher support sour daughter made a miraculous recovery and now has a degree, is a trained teacher and works as a tutor and is happily married. God is good and will do good to all who call on him.
• Soon after Jane Peters died one of her friends was under general anaesthetic for an operation and she had an experience of going to heaven. She saw Jane standing up, happy and smiling. This helped David with his grief. 5 months later he had a vision of a lovely woman and when Greta emailed him  he soon realised she was the lady he had seen. Now they're married and ministering together to the nations. Our gospel today finished with the words, 'and in His name the nations will hope' Jesus is the hope of the nations and today Christians like you and me are sharing that hope. Our positive

lifestyles and good works and testimonies must be always be available as  a witness to the positive hope as 1 Peter 3:13 encourages us

SO WE CAN GROW IN HOPE

1. by The word of God...Eph 1:18
2. by Prophecy: words of revelation or encouragement, dreams and visions
3. by Doing good work and good works whether paid or unpaid
4. by always giving thanks I Thes 5:16
5. by perseverance even under suffering Rom 5 2-5
6. by the power of he Holy Spirit  Rom 15.13

THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING THAT YOU MAY ABOUND IN HOPE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Will you be part of the marriage feast?

Matthew 22: 1-14

On the face of it the gospel story is about a king who was giving a wedding banquet for his son. Well, not that long ago, we were all caught up with the elaborate pomp and ceremony for William and Kate’s royal wedding, the entire service of which was beamed across the world. However, the reception itself was private and only very important guests and close family members could attend.

Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the Pharisees in a parable. He said, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who was giving a wedding banquet for his son so of course, elaborate invitations were sent to members of the royal families and all the important guests. But here’s the thing! All those who were sent these invitations turned them down. The excuse was they were far too busy to attend! I wonder does that ring any bells with us? Again the king sends out invitations imploring his invited guests to attend. This time they respond by killing the king’s messengers. No wonder he is enraged! Imagine the king’s fury and disappointment at being snubbed in this way. I wonder how many of you here this morning have experienced disappointment when, having reached out to your neighbours and friends, inviting them to come to church, discover how few respond. Perhaps that’s why we find this morning’s story so familiar.

We are told the king then invites everyone out on the streets and in the market places. The dinning hall is filled with guests but there is a problem. It just so happens that as the king is `mixing and mingling with the guests, he sees a man who is not wearing the appropriate wedding attire. He is wearing an old, perhaps tattered robe, obviously the gear he wore every day in everyday life, his street clothes. It would be a bit like you or I going to friend’s place for dinner in our old gardening clothes. “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” the king asks.

Perhaps we’d better back up here a little. Commentators have suggested that special wedding clothes may have been provided at the door by the host. This could possibly reflect a tradition in Jesus’ time. Providing the guests with a wedding garment would have been particularly important in Jesus’ parable because many of the guests were drawn from common walks of life and their clothing may possibly have been dirty or ragged. So, in order to maintain the dignity of the occasion these special garments would have been available at no cost. This could also symbolise putting on the robe of Christ. To reject them would be to reject and insult the host’s generosity. We are told the man was speechless. In other words he offered no form of apology or explanation for his rudeness, so the king had him bound and tossed into a place called outer darkness. Jesus concludes the parable with these solemn words: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” On the face of it the story sounds rather harsh, and it is. However, a parable is a story that invites us to dig a little deeper in order to discover its underlying truth.

Firstly, at the king’s reception everyone is invited. Sure, at first, it is an exclusive party. Only the King’s friends and associates are invited. The bluebloods of society and they turn down the invitation. They snubbed the king. Oddly enough, not only do they snub the king but they kill the king’s servants who were sent to deliver the invitation. Obviously, you cannot miss the point that Jesus is speaking about the Jews here, God’s chosen people. Israel had a chequered history of rejecting God’s messengers and stoning its prophets and this wouldn’t have been lost on his listeners.

So the king now opens up the guest list. Go out to the highways and the byways and tell everyone to come. This is where Jesus so often infuriated the Jewish leadership. He openly invited everyone who would come. Jesus was, in effect saying, the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, and therefore the Jewish leadership, no longer has exclusive rights to the kingdom of God. I other words, the sign above the door no longer reads, “Members Only.”

So what does this all mean for us today? Firstly, I believe, that Jesus still invites people to the marriage feast. That marriage feast is the life of following Christ, the experience of committing your life to God, of being saved from the power of sin, the experience of grace, and the experience of being born anew. The invitation is still being asked and the power of God to change people is still just as operative and available today as it was when Jesus told this parable. God is still in the business of converting, changing and calling people to leave what they are doing and to follow him and I believe the invitation to the marriage feast needs to be heard today as much as it did 2,000 years ago.

Secondly, I believe there are still those who will not come, who have not accepted the invitation, and who are as dismissive of the invitation just as our reading suggests. There may be some in our midst today who are too busy with other interests and distractions. They don’t take it seriously. They put off accepting the invitation. There are all sorts of reasons, but the fact is, some have not come to the marriage feast, or they may come but without wearing a wedding garment. In other words, they may come to church. They may even pray, or even be part of the rosters but they are not part of the marriage feast. Why? Because they have not accepted the invitation to come and follow Jesus! They have not experienced what it means to be saved by grace, to believe in Jesus, to be born again. They may know things in their heads but there has been no commitment of their heart.

Thirdly, and very importantly, the message is very clear. If you reject the invitation long enough, there will come a time when it is too late. In this parable, the king sent out his servants to call those who were invited. Some would not come. He sent others to plead with them to come. Amazingly, the king didn’t give up after the initial rejection. He gave them another chance just like he does for us today. Perhaps a new voice, a different approach would convince them. However, when they continually rejected the invitation, the king became angry and destroyed the whole city and turned to others with the invitation. To continually reject God’s invitation to follow Jesus, I believe, is very risky and even dangerous, because there will come a time when it is too late. And let’s face it, none of us know when that time will be.

Jesus makes it clear that those without a wedding garment will be thrown out. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He ends by saying this: “Many are called but few are chosen.” Only those who accept the invitation are chosen. What I’m saying is this; it’s urgent business! It’s not something to be put off, for be very certain if you reject the invitation, you run the risk of bringing upon yourself the judgement of God. I don’t know what form that judgement will take, but it will come. If you believe in the promise of God for your salvation, you can also believe that he will keep his promise about judgement.

The invitation to the marriage feast is God’s invitation to follow Jesus. It is God saying I want to show you my love, my plan for all people and all creation to live in harmony. I want to show you a different way to wholeness, to health, to meaning and purpose.

In conclusion, I want to finish with a story. There was a doctor who one night received a call late at night to say he was urgently needed at the small country hospital. Someone was seriously ill and without a doctor’s attention death was certain. The doctor quickly dressed and took off in his car. At the traffic lights a man jumped into his car, pulled out a gun and ordered the doctor out of the car. “I need your car. Get out,” was all he said. Knowing they were relying on him at the hospital, the doctor managed to hail a taxi. When he finally arrived the nurse met him and told him the woman in question had just died. “You are too late doctor, but would you please have a word with the husband. He is weeping uncontrollably in the family lounge.” When the doctor entered the lounge he found the husband in the corner. To his great surprise he discovered that the husband was the very man who earlier that evening had pulled the gun on him because he needed the car.

Just like that man in the story we sometimes we push out of our lives the very person who can help us. Think carefully about what invitation you accept. Yes, the world’s invitation may appear very glamorous and enticing but its promises are fleeting, and false and will eventually lead to misery and disillusionment. God’s invitation, on the other hand, is entirely trustworthy and will last for all eternity.