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Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 21st October 2007 AMYOU ARE GOD'S TEMPLE Pastor Linton SmithThe last two years have been both exciting and challenging. It has been exciting to watch the building taking shape. It has been challenging to continue to use the old building. But our people have been patient and have continued to attend our Sunday services and to conduct our various ministries, and the church has continued to grow during this time. Thank you to you all! I read recently of a church that decided to build. They appointed a building committee and in a series of meetings the committee decided: 1. We will build a new church. 2. The new building is to be located on the site of the old one. 3. The material in the old building is to be used in the new one. 4. We shall continue to use the old building until the new one is completed. I am pleased to say that was not our building committee! Our Bible Reading today - from 1 Corinthians 3:7-17 - reminds us that God lives in His people. Your yourselves are God’s temple. God’s Spirit lives in you. The Temple of God is no longer a building of stone. His temple is now His people! We kept this truth in mind when we began to plan for this building. This building has not been built to be a temple-like structure, but to be a meeting place for God’s people, and to reflect that, the sign at the front will not read Riverton Baptist Church, but Riverton Baptist Church Meets Here. Does that mean the building has not been carefully designed? Far from it! As a meeting place for God’s people, it has been very carefully designed. It has been designed to reflect something of what we believe about God and His relationship with His people. Let’s consider just some examples of that.. It has been designed to reflect that.. o GOD CARES DEEPLY FOR LITTLE CHILDREN! In Mark 10:13-16 we read.. People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. This is one of my favourite pictures of Jesus. And it is not just a picture of Jesus. It is a picture of God, because Jesus said, ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’ The disciples tried to keep these troublesome people and their little children away from Jesus. He would have none of that. He was indignant. Let the little children come to me. And He took them in His arms and blessed them! This scene tells me that God cares deeply for children, and this building has been designed to reflect that. The Kindy and Crèche areas have been designed to say that children matter to God! The parent and baby room reflects the same and the previous auditorium will also reflect that when it has been refurbished! This building as been designed to reflect that.. and to reflect that.. o GOD WELCOMES US INTO HIS FAMILY! In Romans 8:15,16 the Apostle Paul reminds believers at Rome.. You received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. When these people believed in Jesus, God gave His Spirit to them to live in them, and His Spirit within them moved them to call God, Abba, Father. He testified with their human spirit that they were God’s children. In 1 John 3:1 the Apostle John is deeply moved by this. He exclaims.. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! Are we believers? Do we believe in Jesus Christ? Have we invited Him into our lives? Then.. we are children of God. And as children.. we are brothers and sisters.. and members of God’s family. So in Ephesians 2:19 [New International Reader’s Version] the Apostle Paul writes.. You are no longer strangers and outsiders. You are citizens together with God's people. You are members of God's family. What sort of family? An extended family.. a large family.. men, women, children, rich, poor, black, brown, white.. an extended family of people who have put their trust in Jesus and now call God their Father! We have tried to reflect this truth in the entrance foyer. We hope the foyer in itself says, Welcome. We hope that the café tables say, Sit here a while and enjoy a cuppa and a chat. This week we received a letter that moved us deeply. In part it read, ‘Not having any close family at church it was difficult to start with but you really opened your arms to me and I felt very much a part of the church family.’ Let the foyer remind us to do that - to open our arms to all who come! This building as been designed to reflect that God cares deeply for children and welcomes us into His family.. and to reflect that.. o GOD LIVES IN AND AMONG HIS PEOPLE! In 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 the Apostle Paul asks the believers in Corinth.. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? And then says.. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. You yourselves are God’s temple. God’s Spirit lives in you. God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple. When we believe in Jesus.. God gives His Spirit to us.. to each of us.. He lives in each of us.. and in all of us together.. and together.. we are a dwelling place for God.. His temple. In Ephesians 2:21,22 the Apostle Paul underlines this.. In him [Christ] the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. And in 1 Peter 2:4,5 the Apostle Peter puts it like this.. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house. As you come to Jesus.. you are like living stones.. being built into a house.. a spiritual house. I like a song written in 1972 by D. S.Marsh and R. K.Avery. In part it says.. The church is not a building The church in not a steeple The church is a people I am the church You are the church We are the church together This building has been designed to reflect that. The auditorium in which we are gathered now.. on Thursday was set up with tables and chairs and people were sitting around them, chatting and working on some craft or other. At other times it will be set up for dinners. At other times, the Brigades and our young people will use it. At other times, organisations will hire it for concerts. It was designed to be an all-purpose auditorium. Let that remind you that the church is not a building. The church is people. Will that make ‘coming to church’ less significant? No. When we come together God is present in a very special way. Today, right now, God is here - among His people! What awe this should produce! What expectancy! This building as been designed to reflect that God cares deeply for children, welcomes us into His family, lives among His people and to reflect that.. o GOD TRANSFORMS HIS PEOPLE! In the church at Rome there were some people who twisted the Christian message. They argued if God is such a loving God let’s do what we like. Sin merrily. He will forgive. Paul wrote to them and said in Romans 6:1-4.. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Go on sinning, go on living like that? No way! Remember the day you were baptized. Don’t you remember? You went under the water.. and came out of the water. Don’t you remember what that was all about? It was about the old life being buried. It was about rising again to live a new life. It was about the change Jesus has made in your life. He died, was buried, and rose again. You have trusted in Him and died to your old life and risen with Him to live a new life! To the side of the platform we have built a baptistery in which people can be fully immersed. In the previous auditorium it was positioned under the platform and only visible when there were baptisms. Now it is visible on all occasions. Look at it and be reminded that Jesus died and was buried and rose again! Look at it and be reminded that when we believed in Him we were united with Him and died with Him and rose with Him to live a new life. God transformed us! I like the way a young girl put it. She had put her faith in Jesus and applied for membership in a local church. An old deacon interviewed her. "Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your Life?" "Yes, sir," she replied. "Well, are you still a sinner?" "To tell you the truth, I feel I'm a greater sinner than ever." "Then what real change have you experienced?" "I don't quite know how to explain it except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved. I'm a sinner running from sin!" Look at this baptistery and remember the change Jesus made in your life. Be challenged to go on living for Him.. And if you have not yet believed in Jesus, look at it and find hope. Jesus can transform your life also. Is it the act of baptism, the full immersion in water, which makes the difference? No. It is what is in the heart of the person being baptized that makes the difference. The Apostle Peter writes.. 1 Peter 3:21 [Contemporary English Version].. Baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death. Jesus died in your place and mine. He bore our sins in His body on the cross! He rose from the dead.
Now we can have all our sin and guilt forgiven. Now we can turn to God with a clear conscience. All because of Jesus!
Believe in Him. Confess your sin. Receive Him into your life. You will be forgiven. Your conscience will be clear. You will find peace with God.. and a new life!
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