What Have We Turned Our “Temple” Into?
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
We looked in our last post at what we have turned the church into as Christians. In that post I was referring to the physical building. Today I want us to look at ourselves, the church body. What have we personally turned into?
The scripture above gives us a very detailed idea at how God sees us as people. We see that we are not our own. We don’t own ourselves. We are His. God refers to us as His “temple”. This is an awesome responsibility if handled the correct way. But, like so many times, we have distorted what God intended.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” Romans 12:1
A living sacrifice. Three small words that carry a heavy meaning. I’m afraid that we as a church are far from a living sacrifice. Somehow down through the ages we have developed a different attitude. When Jesus came to earth and began the Christian religion, He started it by teaching us and showing us how to serve not how to be served. Jesus was helping others, not waiting to be helped. He prayed to God, “Thy will be done”. You never read where He says “Do My will” to God.
Jesus taught humility not pride. First will be last and the last shall be first. Today we expect God to serve us. We expect something in return for our service to Him. Our motivations are self-centered. We believe God should be happy that we are willing to show up for one hour of preaching on a Sunday morning. God should be honored that we acknowledged Him. We have become very proud.
We think that when the Bible talks about “Come as you are”, He should literally take us as we are physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He should be happy with that and not want to change us. Even though the essence of becoming a Christian is to be made a new creature. We need to be changed spiritually. We are too proud to see this. We think that we (if we go) should be able to show up to church in flip flops, shorts, tank tops, pajamas, etc. God shouldn’t care about those things. God shouldn’t be so superficial. But look at this a little differently. If we are sincere in our desire to be close to God, then we should have a deep desire to please Him. We should want to present ourselves to Him as best as we can. I remember when I first started dating my future wife, I don’t think I have ever spent so much time in front of a mirror! I wanted to make myself look the very best that I could for her. I wanted to please her. I had a new desire about myself, and it was about her. That’s how we should be with God. Instead, we are more about thinking He should be trying to please us. This is why the “pie in the sky” preachers at these mega-churches are so popular these days. They are tickling the people’s ears with what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.
I fear that our problem in our churches is not only a problem with pride, but also a lack of respect for God. We want to bring Him down to our level. We want to treat Him like a buddy rather than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is worthy and deserves our praise. We have all seen those couples in which one of them obviously feels that the other should feel lucky to be their boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. They don’t respect them. It’s almost like they tolerate them in order to receive whatever benefits they can acquire from the relationship. That describes a lot of the current relationships in the church. How will me spending a couple hours a week at this place benefit me? Will it benefit me? I can have my own personal “church service” anywhere can’t I? Not exactly a living sacrifice type of attitude.
So why does God care what our attitude is as long as we are at church? The biggest reason is your attitude is a direct display of what is in your heart. If your attitude is all about you then your heart is all about you. If your heart is all about you then God cannot exist there. God will not exist in anyone’s heart where the blood of Christ has not been applied. For the blood of Christ to be applied to your life you must first be willing to give up your life to Him as that living sacrifice.
“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” Deuteronomy 5:29
When will we truly trust that God knows what is best for us? When will we, as the church, truly love and respect God with the humility that we should? It is time for the church to lay aside the pride. Life does not belong to us. It belongs to God. He has loaned it to us in order for us to serve and glorify Him. And if we are truly a child of His, that should also be our desire.