"Do you not know that you are God's temple," writes St. Paul, "and that God's spirit
dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy,
and that temple you are."
Paul's words can be interpreted in two ways. First of all, they can be interpreted to refer
to the individual believer--your body, your mind, your heart is the temple of God. Anything
that destroys that temple is a sacrilege.
I read an introduction to a speech recently. The speech was by a Canadian, Peter Hanson.
In the introduction he wrote of what a moving experience it was even for him, a Canadian, to
visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He described watching crowds of people of all
ages reach up to touch the cold wall of granite rising out of the ground, containing the names of
every American soldier known to have died in that conflict approximately 50,000 of them.
Some people who came just stood and stared; others broke down and wept. "Why?" they all
seemed to be asking. Young boys taken from loving families to fight a war that basically had no
meaning. Fifty thousand American soldiers died, and for no good reason. Fifty thousand brave
young men slain in that terrible conflict. Then Hanson adds, "Fifty thousand that is also the
number of Americans who are killed by cigarettes every eight weeks." (1) That will make you
think. "Do you not know that you are God's temple...?"
There is another way of interpreting this text that is more in keeping with the context.
Paul is writing to the Corinthian church a church in conflict. Some are claiming to be
followers of Paul, others are claiming to be followers of Apollos, a skilled preacher much
admired in the early church. In other words, some are still linked to one former pastor, some are
still linked to another. Paul counsels them to grow up. "Who is Paul?" he asks. "Who is
Apollos?" Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God who gives the growth.
Then Paul compares the church to a building. He himself laid the foundation at Corinth,
now another is building on that foundation. The foundation, of course, is Christ, and that is all
that matters. Then Paul adds, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit
dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." In this context, we can
see that God's temple is the church.
WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD.
What does that say to you? It says three important things to me.
FIRST OF ALL, THE CHURCH IS A LIVING BODY.
"This is the church," goes the little nursery rhyme, "This is the steeple; open the door and
here are the people." Wrong! The church IS the people. Stone, mortar and glass will never
constitute the church. A building is simply where the church meets. It is not the church. The
church is a living, breathing, growing, influencing body infused with the spirit of the living God.
At least, that is what the church is supposed to be.
"I am building a church," said a small boy playing with a set of blocks, "and we must be
very quiet." His father, eager to encourage this unexpected act of reverence, asked, "Why are we
to be quiet in church?" "Because," the boy replied, "the people are asleep." Heaven help us if that
is how we perceive the church or if that is the way others perceive us. The church of Jesus Christ
must be the most alive, most dynamic, most awake institution on this planet.
A visitor to the Grand Canyon once stood speechless before the grandeur of that
marvelous sight. Finally he recovered enough to exclaim, "I wish I had been here to see this
happen." The ranger standing nearby said, "You are!" The ranger was saying that the Grand
Canyon is still happening. That mighty gorge in the earth is still changing, still growing. So it is
with the church.
Wasn't it thrilling to watch thousands of protestors demonstrating for freedom in East
Germany this past fall? Did you notice the location of their headquarters? A large Lutheran
church. It is even more interesting that these East German Lutherans were carefully following
the methods of an American Baptist preacher who bore the name of their founder, Martin Luther
King, Jr.
The same kind of phenomenon was taking place in South Africa. Again the main
instigator for freedom was the church. In the dictatorships of South and Central America, the
institution they want to muzzle first is the church. The church is no dead museum for displaying
the relics of a by-gone era. The church is alive, and well, and making God's voice known in
human affairs.
When young St. Francis knelt before the life-sized crucifix in the little tumble-down
chapel of St. Damien in Assisi, he heard God's voice: "Renew my church." St. Francis was not
sure what that summons meant. Taking it literally at first, he went to work restoring the badly
decayed chapel itself begging, buying, borrowing stones and timbers. He saw before long that
something far more costly was being asked of him, however. It was not the church building that
needed renewing, but the interior life of the people. That is our summons today as well. The
church is alive. We are God's temple.
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, THEN, ARE
CHRIST'S BUILDING BLOCKS.
We build on a foundation that others have laid. Example. James Watt was the "inventor"
of the steam engine. Right? Wrong. Peter Drucker in one of his books notes that Thomas
Newcomen in 1712 built the first steam engine which actually performed useful work. It pumped
the water out of an English coal mine. Watt's steam engine was simply more refined "state of
the art" we would say today. The true inventor of the combustion engine, however, and with it
what we call modern technology, was neither Watt nor Newcomen. It was the great Anglo-Irish
chemist Robert Boyle, who did so in a "flash of genius." Only, Boyle's engine did not work and
could not have worked. For Boyle used the explosion of gunpowder to drive the piston, and this
so fouled the cylinder that it had to be taken apart and cleaned after each stoke. Boyle's idea,
however, enabled first Denis Papin (who had been Boyle's assistant in building the gunpowder
engine), then Newcomen, and finally Watt, to develop a working combustion engine. Boyle had
the idea, and the others built on that foundation.
That is the nature of all knowledge. It is also the nature of the church. We are the
building blocks in God's temple. He uses us, if we will let Him, to build something beautiful and
lasting. None of us are prima donnas. None of us are stars. We are all building blocks.
Someone once said, "All the world's a stage but nobody wants to be a stagehand."
Lefty Gomez was a talented baseball player. When he was inducted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame, a reporter walked up to him and asked, "Lefty, what was your secret?" Lefty
smiled, his eyes began to sparkle, and he replied, "Two things. Clean living and a fast infield."
Lefty was acknowledging that he alone wasn't responsible for all his victories. He had teammates
who were helping him.
George MacDonald once noted that one draft horse can move two tons of weight. Two
draft horses in harness, working together, can move twenty-three tons of weight. MacDonald put
his finger on the strength of the church. When we work together, we can perform miracles.
Literally. Perhaps that is why Jesus said, "Whenever two or three of you ask for anything in my
name, it will be granted." Not one person asking alone, but two or three agreeing and then
asking. And then working together.
One thing is clear from St. Paul's words. It is a serious matter when seeds of dissension
are sown in a congregation. We have a world to save. We don't have time for petty bickering.
Cotton Mather, the Puritan divine, once made a very astute observation about bees. He
noticed that every swarm has its own unique scent, and when different swarms meet, the
conflicting smells trigger a fight. However, Mather also noticed that when the bees are
pollinating plants, they get covered with pollen nectar which masks the smell of the individual
groups. When they all smell the same, there is no competition and their work gets done. We are
the temple of the living God. Each of us are building blocks in that temple. Imagine what would
happen to the temple if the blocks were in conflict with one another. (2)
One last thing. THE FOUNDATION OF GOD'S TEMPLE IS CHRIST.
Joyce Carey, a British writer, was once asked how he put novels together. Obviously,
there are many ways a novel can be constructed. It may be scribbled from a start, with episodes
added on as the plot begins to unfold in the author's mind. Or it can be designed by piecing
together a sequence of casual events as a loose outline. According to Carey, however, wise
writers will begin with the sketch of a central episode, working back to a beginning and
outworking an ending. (3)
For Christians the central event in human history is the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. We are inspired by his example and empowered by his presence in our lives. Our
perspective on history is unique. We focus on the world outside, but we always view it from the
foot of the cross. In everything we do we pray that we do it in the love and spirit of Christ.
Most of us are familiar with the name Bill Lear. Lear is best known as the father of the
Lear jet. Bill Lear made a childhood resolution to make enough money so that he could not be
stopped from finishing anything. A tinkerer, inventor, and self-made millionaire, Lear made a
fortune with the Learoscope and other navigational aids for aviation. He later branched out into
stereo systems and communications satellites. He was in his sixties when he launched the first
Learjet, producing the ultimate personal aircraft at a price that most top executives could not
resist. At 65, Lear sold the business, but did not like the life-style of a Beverly Hills millionaire.
So he established a laboratory in Reno, Nevada, where he worked on developing a better steam
engine and improving his jet aircraft. Lear kept working, even when he knew he was dying of
leukemia. His last words to one of his colleagues were: "Finish it? You bet we'll finish it." Of
course, Bill Lear didn't finish his work. He left that for his colleagues. (4)
Jesus' last words to his disciples were "Go make disciples...." In other words, finish what
we have begun. And that is his command to us today. Finish what Christ started. Finish what
Paul and Apollos added. Finish what millions of saints through the ages, including many who are
dear to us, have added to that. Like the Grand Canyon, God's temple is still happening still
growing still changing. And we are part of it. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and
that God's spirit dwells in you?" God's temple. That's who you and I are.
------------------------------------
1. Peter G. Hanson, STRESS FOR SUCCESS (New York: Doubleday, 1989). pp. 205-6.
2. JOYFUL NEWSLETTER, 1-89, p. 2, Robert C. Savage
3. David Buttrick, HOMILETIC (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987).
4. Peter Hay, THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ANECDOTES, (New York, New York: Facts On File Publications,
1988).
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