4. I Am the Temple of God

I Am the Temple of God; I Work Together with Him.

This page draws from the entirety of 1 Corinthians 3. It’s hard for me to write out from the lesser knowing of God that I enjoyed a few years ago when I wrote the first pages for 1 Corinthians. Thus my goal of inserting the same style of presentation of the Word of Christ cannot be fully realized. I must write out from present word. We’ll begin this page with the statements of faith enlarged, which will be followed by three boxes, “The Temple of God,” “Worship & Work (from Webster’s 1926),” and “Building upon Jesus.”

The Spirit in Us. But first let’s place this chapter into the flow of meaning. Paul has established that the Spirit of God, that knowing of God by which He knows Himself, is inside of us, now part of the essential fabric of our own souls, causing us to know the Father inside our own story of self.

Even though we are immersed into the Spirit, however, we have not “disappeared.” We remain unique persons, known by Jesus who calls us by name, and we remain free forever. Our fellowship with God is by our own choice, and never by compulsion. Yet this fellowship begins with the certain knowledge of God inside of us. – We are His temple.

The Jeopardy of Liberty. In Ephesians 2, Paul establishes how we are the dwelling place of God as the Church together, local and universal. But here, the context of being the temple of God is as individual persons, our own physic/spirit body. God is inside of me, not incidentally, but rather, I am His temple. You look at me, and you see God made visible; that’s what temple means.

But here is the terrible thing about liberty. The Spirit of God is given to me, and I can do with God, His Word and His Spirit, whatever I feel like doing. This is the authority given to me.

Our Statements of Faith. I receive my reward according to my labor. I am God’s fellow worker; I synergeo with God in all that we do together. I plant the good seed of Christ; I water with the outpouring of the Spirit. I lay the sure foundation of the Lamb; I build up my brethren as God’s house. God brings increase. I am God’s cultivated field; I am God’s dwelling place. I build my life wisely upon the foundation of Jesus. I reveal His nature; I wear the bright jewels of the Spirit. My work endures the fire. I am the temple of God; the Spirit of God dwells inside of me. I keep God’s temple devoted to Him; I am devoted. All things belong to me, for I belong to Christ. Everything is my possession and in my care. I come out from Christ who Himself comes out from God.

A Temple. So, what is a temple? Temple and body are speaking of the same thing; their difference is only in view or perspective. I think that “body” is the larger and more significant in meaning of the two, but temple brings in the meaning and act of worship. Nonetheless, the concept of working together fills this chapter, and that is the metaphor of “body.” And so Paul has brought both concepts together into the word “temple.”

So this gives us two things together, worship and work. This is interesting, for the vast majority of our life in community was working together and worshipping together, and often a seamless flow between the two.

Sharing Form Together. Paul returns to this same topic at the end of Chapter 6, we are one Spirit with the Lord, and our spirit is God’s Spirit, our body is God’s body. We now understand that spirit/physic are two parts of the same form. Paul has not yet invented the word “symmorphy,” God and us sharing the same form, but we can see his thinking pressed in that direction.

This was my whole motive in starting the Symmorphy series. – What is God doing inside of me? How do I know myself as filled with all of God? How do we operate together? We begin with the premise that worship and devotion come first, working together comes out from worship.

The Temple of God. I am God’s temple. The Spirit of God is inside of me as part of the very fabric of my soul, acting as my knowing of God and my knowing of me. I worship God, and I am the place of His worship. I am devoted to God, and I am the house of His devotion. I am available for no other devotion and no other worship.

I am filled with all the fulness of God; I reveal God to all. A God who is meek and lowly of Heart makes Himself known to others through me. When others wish to see God and to know Him, they look to me, and I show them the worship of our Father. I show them the meaning of Love among us. God lives inside of me, and I live inside of God.

Worship. Worship (from Webster’s 1926): - noun. 1. Courtesy or reverence paid to merit or worth; honor, respect. 2. Excellence of character, dignity; worth; worthiness. 4. That which is praiseworthy, a valorous act or feat. 5. Act of paying divine honors to a deity; religious reverence and homage; adoration or reverence paid to God, or something held as sacred from a reputed connection with God.

Worship: - verb. 1. To treat with the reverence due to merit or worth; to respect; honor. 2. To pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honor of; to adore; venerate. 3. To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission as a lover; to adore; to idolize.

Definitions of Work. Work (Webster’s 1926): - verb intransitive. 1. To exert one’s self physically or mentally for a purpose… Doing something undertaken chiefly for gain, for improvement in one’s material, intellectual, or physical condition. 2. Hence, to operate; act; especially to act or operate effectively; to have a desired effect or influence. 3. To be engaged or employed customarily in some occupation. 4. To make way slowly and with difficulty; to move, progress, proceed, or penetrate laboriously, slowly, or with effort.

Work: - verb transitive. 1. To fashion by or as if by labor; to create; make; shape; form; hence; to bring into a desired form. 2. Hence, to bring to pass; to effect; cause; produce; accomplish; do.

A Living Flow. Work is a fairly large term; I’ve included only a portion. The picture Paul is presenting here is that we exist as a back and forth flow with God, between being His temple, that is, the place of His worship, and working together with Him in the accomplishment of life and salvation. Our Jesus Secret box should show a small portion of this back and forth.

Yet this is an extraordinary thing. We have never really considered the meaning of God inside of us and of our direct connection to all that is God through Jesus. God releases our understanding only as He feels safe with us.

Worship & Work (from Webster’s 1926). I worship God; I am the place of His worship. I synergeo with God; God synergeoes with me. God and I work together in everything we do.

I revere God as worthy of all honor and respect; God is revered inside of me. We exert ourselves together physically, spiritually, and mentally, in order to gain life for others. I adore and venerate God; I am the place of His adoration. God and I operate and act together effectively. We always gain the effect or influence we seek. I honor God with extravagant love and with extreme submission to union with Jesus. I am the place of God’s extravagant Love revealed. God and I fashion and create together. We shape and form, we cause and accomplish, we do all things together.

Every part of my life and form is sacred and devoted to God. Others see God and me working together, and they know that God is True.

Acknowledging Jesus. Every word I have ever heard preached from 1 Corinthians 3 was focused on our performance. Yet we build upon the foundation that is Jesus only through faith, through acknowledging that He is all.

This construction of our lives is much more than what we once thought of as Christian life and work. The wondrous work that God and we are doing together is building a highway for God, that He might enter into His creation. Thus we know that God and we together are making us to be just like the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God.

Building upon Jesus. I acknowledge that Jesus is the only foundation of my life. I build everything I am and do upon Him alone and through faith alone. I take the straw of my life and, giving thanks in all, I weave it together as gold. I take the wood of my human flesh and I see God inside and out. I receive all that the Spirit is and does as the bright shining jewels of Christ as me. I am not afraid of the fire; I welcome the judgment of Christ. I know that as Jesus examines me, He finds Himself as every Word God speaks written upon my heart. All the work God and I do together is proven through the Fire.

Are We Willing? Most of Paul’s first letter to the Church at Corinth is concerned with the purity of our devotion to God as His temple. Yet this concern over our devotion is intermingled with the absolutely incredible reality that God fills us, that God is part of us, that we contain all the fulness of God.

Christians have never truly reckoned with what it means to be the temple of God, spirit and body. There is a reason for that. You see, part of worship is trust. Can God trust us enough to cause us to know that He has already given Himself to us? Are we willing to be like Jesus?

Asserting Our Confidence. Again, we complete the page with a bold and assertive declaration of faith. Confidence that God speaks the truth is the only thing that pleases Him.

I Am God’s Temple, the Place of His Worship.