The Organic Temple

The only thing you've missed is we've talked about eating for five minutes, so now we're going to get on with it. Some people would say our purpose as a community is to have fellowship together. Some would say our purpose for a community, the purpose for our community is to build a big church. Some would say, well, I knew this church back in my hometown that was really going well, and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see happen out here. Someone else might say that I think we should approach this whole idea of a Christian community this way. But, you know, brothers and sisters, I'm really committed to approaching the idea of this community according to God's plan. And I realize that some people might say, well, everyone has their own interpretation of what God's plan is. But I think it's clear that if we want to go toward a goal, we first of all need to know what that goal is, and then we're going to figure out how to get there. How many of you have ever started out on a ride in a pretty spring afternoon? Not really. We used to do this a lot in the 60s. Those of you who've never had the chance of buying gasoline at 20 cents a gallon don't do it as much anymore. But you get in your car and you go for a ride and you say, well, I don't know where we're going to go. We're just going to go for a ride. How many of you ever find that to be kind of a frustrating experience? You know, you see the same streets, and it's so much better to say, hey, we're going to drive out to Laurel Highlands. You have a goal, and then you know where you're going to go. And you might take a circuit, this route to get there, but you get toward a goal, and the way you get there is determined by where you want to go. Well, just the same way we, a Northway Christian community, are desirous of going where God wants us to go. And I praise God that he gave us his word that tells us where we're headed when you read the Book of Revelation. If you haven't read the Book of Revelation recently, I want to encourage you to do that so that you can begin to be reminded and refreshed as to what God is doing with his people. And I've written out for you what I think is sort of a capitalized expression of what God is doing in his church. God is preparing for himself, an eternal companion, an eternal bride. The word of God tells us with whom Jesus will fellowship and share rulership over all of creation for all of eternity. I could speak the rest of the morning easily establishing that in Scripture, but the two scriptures that I mentioned talk about the bride of Christ and their shared rulership. And so it's clear that at the end of it all, from Genesis to Revelation, the final consummation, the last thing that God is going to do is to raise up a companion for his Son Jesus, whom the Lord has called a bride. The most intimate of relationships that we know is husband and wife. And so that the Lord would not overextend our capacity to handle this, he has told us that our relationship to him will be like a bride and a bridegroom. Now, this is so exciting when you think of all of history as being pulled together for the purpose of this raising up God's companion for His Son Jesus. And if this is what God is about doing, then the activity of Northway Christian communion, indeed of any church, should be the bringing forth of that companion. We should be seeking to develop the character of the person that Jesus would say is fit to be his eternal bride. Ephesians 5:27. The Bible says that God is preparing for himself a bride without spot or wrinkle. That's the kind of bride, that's the kind of companion that God wants us to be. In Philippians 3:10, Paul says, I seek to know nothing but Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. I want to know him. And what God is doing is preparing for himself, that kind of companion throughout all of history. And the way that the Lord is doing that is through worship. The way that God's people are prepared to be his bride is through worship. Beloved. There's so much that needs to be undone when it comes to our attitude about worship. I'm afraid I could spend hours just talking about how we've taken the life out of worship. One of the scriptures that's most difficult for many people to understand is when David said in Psalm 121, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. How many of you are growing up thinking that's the last thing I was when people said to me I was supposed to go to church glad. But David said, I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house. How many of you were glad you were coming out here this morning? Hallelujah. Now that to me is a testimony of what God wants to do. Anticipation of being together as his people in worship together. The primary activity Northway Christian community is to be worshiped. It's not fellowship, because if it were fellowship, we become disillusioned with one another. It's not evangelism, because if it was outreach and evangelism, we'd become exhausted in our efforts. It's not family life, because we would soon become gripped by the shortsightedness of our own vision. But the primary thing that we're doing together is learning to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when we are taken to be with him, we will be a fit bride prepared to spend eternity at his side, sharing his rulership. I want to tell you this. If we learn worship together, the Bible tells us that all these other things will happen. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33, so that where there's a worshiping body, there will be a body who is fellowshipping one to another. Where there is a worshiping body, there will be evangelism. As we evidenced last week. Where there is a worshiping body, there will be proper order in the home. And I am convinced that God wants to unleash among us, yes, even each one of us, the power of worship and praise under the fulfillment of his purpose in each of us. Have you ever wondered why some of the Koinonia groups you may have been part of, or a Bible study you were part of, or a committee that you were on, or so on just seemed to be such a burden? Don't put your hand up, but how many of you were involved in some something in church that was really laborious and you couldn't figure out this was supposed to be good, but I found it to be really dead and dry and dull. Beloved, I believe that the reason why the local church around the world has fallen so short of God's purpose is because it is not learned the principle of worship. And when we look at the end of the book, we see that what God had intended all along was for the people that he was raising for himself to be a kingdom of priests. Revelation 1:6. God is making a kingdom of priests who will learn the wisdom and the power of worship. Where God is worshiped, his presence is manifested. And where his presence is manifested, his power is displayed. I'm going to say that again. Where God is worshiped, his presence is manifested. And where his presence is manifested, his power will be displayed. You want to know what will give life to your Koinonia group? It's worshiping the living God because Jesus will be present there. Want to know what gives life to Your home devotions. It's not sitting down and rigidly learning Scripture. It's worshiping the living God whose presence is manifested in our midst. And you know something? In revelation at the end, those same three, worship, presence and power are consummated. Worship is fulfilled. As we'll read a little bit later, the presence of God is everywhere. And the power of God is literally eternal life. And so worship in its consummate sense is eternal life. We're going to see how God worked this through. I learned this in its initial steps in my life back in 1973, where as a seminary student, I was getting dredged down by the labors of higher criticism. Heiligeschitte, which is the German word for redemptive history and all kinds of things that made a lot of nonsense to me. And God moved me into a little group of people who were worshiping the Lord. They weren't hung up on their doctrine. They didn't ask me if I spoke with tongues right away. It just demonstrated what it meant to love Jesus. And as I began to grow in the freedom of that, my life was changed. And I believe that many could give that same testimony here today. Now follow with me in the scripture as we see how God has displayed this principle of worship in one specific sense, I'm just going to try to narrow it into one, and that is the temple. The temple. I'm going to move this microphone over here so I can use the overhead for a minute. What was the first name given to the temple? Anyone know? It was a tabernacle. Right. The tabernacle, literally, the word tabernacle literally means temporary dwelling place. The tabernacle was where God told the Israelites to build for him a place that he might dwell with him. Turn in your bibles to Exodus 25, Exodus 25, And I'll read quickly now. By the way, we, as promised, last week the Lord supplied some Bibles and Brother J, if anyone wants a Bible to follow along. If you'll put your hand up, Jay can pass those out while we're going on here. They're back in the corner there. Exodus 20:5. I'm just going to touch a couple of parts of this scripture. The Lord said to Moses, verse one, speak to the people of Israel that they take from me an offering. Listen to this from every man whose heart makes him willing. God doesn't want your unwilling offerings on your way out the door. You feel led of God to offer some of your resource to him. There's a little box back there, but please don't put anything in there if your heart's not well, because the Lord wants to. He receives what's given willingly from every man whose heart makes him willing. You shall receive an offering from me. And then he goes on in details that we won't go through that. And verse 8 and let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell in their midst according to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all of its furniture, so you shall make it Brothers and sisters, I could, and I'm sure some of you have received teaching on the significance of the tabernacle. But how many of you, be honest by putting up your hand, would say that you've never really taken a lot of time to study Old Testament worship because Hebrews chapter 10 tells us we have a new and living way of worship. How many of you have had a hard time studying worship in the Old Testament? Okay, praise the Lord. I confess that his been hard for me. And, you know, I find that God is never one to waste words and that as I began to meditate on this, I found it startling that God took 50 chapters of the Old Testament to describe the tabernacle. 50 chapters. There must be something very significant about the Old Testament and the tabernacle worship. In fact, In Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, it tells us that it was given to us as a shadow of what was to come. Now you say, well, what does foreshadowing mean? What is a shadow? How many of you have ever with someone, maybe here in the fellowship this morning, or a friend or a relative sat down with them and looked at an old album of when they were growing up, usually, how many of you keep those albums under lock and tick? Well, you know that when you open up those albums and you look back to when you were a kid, you see a picture of what someone has turned out to be today. And you know, you can tell an awful lot about them. If they're real skinny and a bean pole, then they're real filled out and fool. Now you say, boy, you know, you really went through a metamorphosis back there when you were in your 20s or whatever. And you can tell an awful lot about the kind of person they were and the kind of things they were doing just by seeing the shadow of what they've become. Well, likewise in the tabernacle, God's told us that it's a foreshadowing of what was to come. Other there's four things that I've listed here about the tabernacle the first thing was that it followed the deliverance of the Israelites. This particular event occurred after the Israelites had been delivered from Egypt. Okay. God said, afterwards, make me a place where I can dwell by my presence. Then, as I mentioned, God was very specific. Look with me at verse eight. Well, none make it according to all that I show you concerning the pattern, the detail is incredible. The third thing I thank the Lord for those with a little more artistic ability, is this is where the tabernacle was located in relationship to the people of Israel. Okay. What do you notice about the location of the tabernacle? It's in the very center of the people of God. And every time the people of God moved according to the command of God, where did they put the tabernacle? In the center of the people. Because worship was the central activity of God's people all the way back then. God is so consistent, brothers and sisters. He doesn't change his ways. He was teaching the same thing then that he's teaching today. He surrounded the tabernacle with all the different tribes. That's what these yellow markers are. And every time they move, they set it up the same way, right in the center. And then the fourth thing that God said is at the end of the book of Exodus 40, here's what happened. When God's people did and worshiped according to the pattern that was given, the presence and the power of God came upon him. Look at verse 30. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud abode upon it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So much power that Moses couldn't even enter into the door. So when God's people did what God had instructed, God did what he promised. He dwelt among them, and he met their needs by his very presence. Now we move on after this occurred in about 1400 BC, about 1000 BC, David had established the rulership of God in the promised land. And Solomon then was instructed by God to build him a temple. Now, Solomon's Temple. How many of you know. All the Micahs. Okay. Solomon's Temple came forth. If you want to look with me, look in First Kings, chapter five. Again, Solomon's Temple followed the pattern in that God instructed that it be built after there was peace, after there was deliverance. Look at verse four. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I Purpose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David, my father. And he goes on to quote the prophecy. And then God saw the temple built. And I want to say this, if you have any problem today with the, with the edifices of other ministries. I know there was a lot of people who were very upset because Robert schuller built a 15 million dollar crystal cathedral. How could he waste God's money? I'm not here to judge his motives, but I'll say this, that Robert Schuller's crystal cathedral was nowhere near as opulent and magnificent as salvation. I don't have time to read through it, but every stone was quarried away from the temple. When it was constructed, there were no tools at all. Each stone was laid in place and then on the inside it was entirely covered with cedar. And then all the carvings were made in intricate detail as God ordered them. And then many of these things were overlaid with gold and precious jewels. It took 30,000 Israelites and 150,000 slaves eight years to build that temple. Can you imagine that? It was magnificent. It was magnificent. Now. The temple was built according to God's design. It too was the center of life. Now this overhead may not quite portray full impact, But in the laying out of this city, Solomon's temple, this is the inside picture and this is the outside picture was at the very center of old Jerusalem, which was the permanent dwelling place of God's people. And so God once again located the symbol of worship and the center of the activity of the people. Now interestingly, what else happened there at the temple? Was it just worship? It was the suit center of political life. It was where decisions were made. It was the center of festivals and all the joyful expression of praise and of fellowshipping of the people. It was the center of life. But primarily it was there for worship. So God was consistent. And in case you've forgotten the story, what happened when Solomon dedicated the temple? Everyone remember. Look over in Second Chronicles chapter seven. These are parallel accounts. Second Chronicles chapter seven. Oh boy. When Solomon had ended his prayer fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering. And the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. Someday I hope you all have to stay out in the foyer. The presence of the Lord, his glory filled the temple. When God's presence was manifested, his power then changed people's lives. Now we come to the New Testament. These were just a foreshadowing. This was just God's initial statement of what worship is to be. We come to the New Testament and we say, well, what was God's purpose there if Jesus brought forth a much better covenant, If Jesus had a better plan, which we all know the Bible is very clear in Second Corinthians, chapter three, that this covenant, this Testament, is so much better than the Old one. Why isn't there detailed instruction in the New Testament about an even more glorious temple, a more glorious building, a more magnificent structure? Has God changed his program of worship? I don't think so. John 4:24 tells us that God seeks those who would worship him in spirit and truth. Where are the glorious temples of today? It's not First Church. It's not the Crystal Cathedral. It's not Coral Ridge. It's none of those giant buildings that we all ooh and ah at. You see, God has made a more magnificent structure than anyone could ever duplicate. His temple in the New Testament is no longer something that can be patterned, reproduced by the hands of man. For God said, no longer will I use sticks and stones and gold and cedar, but my new temple will be a living temple. My new temple will be your bodies. And God has made for us an organic temple. Temple. An organic temple. That's what we are called in the Bible together, an organic temple. Now, interestingly to me, that's certainly true individually. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:16. Here. It tells us that if you have entered into relationship with Jesus Christ, look at this verse 16. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? Here it is. Speaking on any individual basis, you're a temple. But more so in our scripture for today. Just keep flipping over to Ephesians 2. As Paul read for us, here we are, Ephesians 2:21, in whom the whole spirit structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. God's temple is an organic living expression of his worship in this day. That's what we are to be together. And you will never know all that God wants for your life until you know your role, your place, your position as a stone in God's living temple. Now, Peter picks up this exact theme. Keep going. I'm glad your fingers are loose today. First Peter, just keep on flipping over that way. Right after the book of Hebrews comes, First Peter, chapter two. In 1 Peter 2, Peter says, Verse 4, Come to him, to that living stone rejected by men. But in God's sight, chosen and precious. And like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house. There aren't too many statements that are harder for us to understand than living stones. But brothers and sisters, there are living stones. Stones. How many of you believe that? All right, for the rest of you, Doug, would you come up, Brother? For those who don't know who you are, would you tell them your name? Doug Stone. Now, the big question is, are you alive or not? He's alive. There is our living stone. But spiritually, in life, all of us are living stones. And the picture that God clearly is saying is that he is taking Ray the living stone, and Dick the living stone, and Rose the living stone, and Paul the living stone, and he is fashioning that into a living temple. Now, I don't know what that does to you in your heart, but if God is so anxious and concerned that he is building a living temple, how important do you think worship is to Him? You see, he hasn't deviated from the. The pattern. It's still ordered of God. Read Ephesians 4, 1st Corinthians 12, 1st Peter 2. God still gives the orders as to how the temple is to be built. He still is in the midst of his people, and the temple is still the center of what God is doing. And God's presence and power is still at work where God's people are functioning as his organic and living temple. Now, God has established the principle of worship, that where he says he is worshiped, where praise is offered up to him, he will manifest Himself. A very beautiful scripture on this, and it's worth underlining. Flip all the way Back to Psalm 22. If this is new for you, that's flipping around in the Bible, I trust that you'll bear with us in that Psalm 22. There the Bible says a very precious truth, yet Thou, Lord, art holy and throned on the praises of His. And if you look up the Hebrew word there for enthroned, it literally is the word for inhabits. Psalm 22. 3. Anyone else have the King James Version? Is that the word that you see there, Mrs. Spiker inhabits? It means to live. God lives in the praises of his people, and we're God. And to sincere and committed worship. God says, I will manifest myself. My presence will be seen there. And I yearn for the day that when we as a people, not as we were this morning, just singing a chorus and then a hymn and a chorus, but when we learn to worship together, that we will see the presence of God so powerful in this room, that when people come in here without ever having a teaching on healing, they'll be healing. However, having people come forward and have prayer for them, they'll be saved because the presence of God will be attending the manifestation of the praises of God's people. Listen, when you come face to face with the Lord, as I said last week, you're going to change and you will come face to face with him as we learn how to worship and praise him together. That's what's going to make us glad to say that we're going to the house of the Lord. And so that was God's fulfillment, the foreshadowing in the Old Testament, the fulfillment in the new. But is there anything else that's going to happen? Well, to me, this is one of the most beautiful things I've learned in a long time. I want to share this with you. There's the foreshadowing and the temple and tabernacle. There was the fulfillment in the organic temple. And finally God says there will be the consummation when we are with him. What else could God do? He's made the most beautiful physical expression that man had ever seen in Solomon's temple. He made the organic water life that's so unique that man could never recreate it. And now he says, I've got something else for you. What is the principal activity of heaven? Look at Revelations, chapter five. If you get past a little bit of the apprehension that you have of reading Revelation and you get into chapters four and five and so on, let's just look, for example, Revelation 5:11. Let me read it for you. Then I looked and I heard around the throne. There's the circle again. You see the throne in the center and the living creatures and the elders, and the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all therein, saying, to him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Brothers and sisters, sisters, heaven is a worshipful place. I don't think that's all that we're going to do. I believe we're going to have a lot more happening than just strumming harps or whatever else you might envision. But there's going to be worship. And if you want to be prepared for heaven if you want to be a fit companion for Jesus, then you need to be coming into worship. Now, don't think that suddenly when you get to heaven, all of a sudden you're going to have the maturity to know what to do. I believe heaven is just an extrapolation of what you were on earth, and hell is just an extrapolation of what the lost are on earth. It's just taking what you are now to the infinite and God saying to us, prepare yourself to be my bride. But what if the temple. What happens to the temple in all of this glory? What more could God do? And then the Lord led me to this scripture, and I praise him for it. Look at Revelations 21:22, And John the Revelator says, and I saw no temple in this city, for its temple is the Lord God and the Almighty and the Lamb. The temple that God foreshadowed back in the tabernacle and brought into magnificence in Solomon's temple and expressed in a living fashion becomes God himself. And you and I are literally immersed in the. The reality of worship as life itself. And if you have any doubt about what you're to become, well, you just flip back a few Pages to Revelation 3 and look at verse 11, verse 12. The Holy Spirit says through John in verse 12 of Revelation 3, he who conquers I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Praise the Lord. I'm sorry, I'm just starting to jump off a little bit over here. But just look at the person next to you and say, you're getting to be a pillar. You're becoming a pillar. When I was growing up, I was often accused of being skinny as a bean pole. But you see, God was foreshadowing what I was to be. I was to become a pillar in the temple of my God. And if the temple is the Lord himself, what is the pillar in the temple? He's part of the Lord himself, and brothers and sisters, in its fulfillment. God no longer is in the midst of the people, but the people are in the midst of Him. And that is worship in its ultimate sense. It's so much more than a few liturgies and a couple of choruses. It's so much more than standing up and sitting down when you're told worship is life itself. And if we don't learn to do anything else. In North Wake Christian Community, I pray to God. We learn to worship. We learn to love the Lord with all of our heart. We learn to give expression to what I believe. Many of us feel we're so inhibited, we look at that person's head in front of us and say, what are they going to think if I just suddenly let out a big shout? Well, I don't know what they'll think. But I know that if God has his way with us, he's going to make us into a chorus, a choir, if you want, will of pleasing praise and worship to him. And I don't think we're going to care that much what people think. We're going to learn to worship in order. We're going to learn to worship as God has destined, but we're going to learn to worship now. What does this mean to you and to me in application? Simply this. In whatever we do together, I want us to be hungry for God, to be hungry to learn to worship. It won't just happen to you. As I said last week, you've got to say, lord, teach me to praise you then. The second thing I want to urge you to do is to be open to some new things. Some people said last week I really had a great time in service. I hope that person's here. Don't be embarrassed by this. I wouldn't mention your name, he said. The only thing I didn't like was they clapped. And I never clapped in church before. Well, I never had coffee and Danish in church before either. But be open, won't you, to learn. And if anything that you hear tucked from up in this podium contradicts this word, then don't you do it. But if it's in here, I can't make you do it. And no one's going to say you have to leave here. If you don't do it. People are simply going to say, you listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. Now some of you are saying, I know. Well, listen, I'm not like that. I'm not used to doing it. Beloved. That's the whole point. I'm not like that either. I'm not a pillow pillar in the temple of God. But I want to become one. And the critical issue today is, do you want to become what God wants you to become, or do you just want to stay what you want you to be? That's the critical issue in all of this. Wherever we are. If you've known the Lord for 30 years, praise God, but don't stop now. Remember, be humble, hungry for God. Be willing to do what he wants you to do and to learn. And be patient with yourself. God's patient with you. He's got all of eternity with you, he's got to be patient, right? And he's given you time to grow. We're going to give you all the time that you need. Just be moving along that path. Remember this. You are actually, let me say this. I'm convinced that as I watch mankind, I'm convinced from what I read in the scripture, that you become like what you worship. You become like what you worship. And if you choose to worship your own image of what you think 20th century American man should be, that's what you'll become. If you choose to worship Madison Avenue's characterization of what man should be, that's what you'll become. If you choose to worship power and influence, that's probably what you'll become. But if you choose to worship the living God, that's what you'll become. Amen. Close your Bibles. Let's sing this course again. For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth. All the earth. I. I exalt thee. Oh, let's stand and sing. I exalt me again. Sa, O lord. Praise the lord. Thou art worthy, o lord. Worthy of. Thou hast creator. For Thou has created all things. Praise the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Love you, my children. Continue on this path. Praise your name. Praise God. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. He my rock is my for. Just have the ladies sing that. When you praise the Lord, just tell him you love him. Praise the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, father. Praise God. Praise the Lord. There are some this morning who would say that though they know what God wants of them in their own heart, they have not the power nor the will to say, lord, make me like that. Because fear has bounded you up, it's tied you in a knot. That God would somehow make you something that you don't want to be. That he'd make you something strange, make you something. Something different. What you need to be able to pray this morning is for the Lord to give you the will to become what God wants you to be. For him literally to put inside of you the motivation to be what God wants you to be. If that's the prayer that's on your heart, we're going to sing. Cause me to come Thy river O Lord. Make this your prayer as we sing it. Lord, Cause me to come to the river of water. Cause me to come to thy river alone Cause me to come to thy river alone Cause me to come Cause Cause me to drink Cause me to drink Cause me to drink from thy river, O Lord Cause me to drink from thy River. Cause me to drink All I River, O Lord Cause me to cough Cause me to drink Cause me Cause me to live Cause me to live in thy river alone Cause me to live in thy river alone Cause me to make in thy River, O Lord Cause me to come Cause me to drink Cause me. Praise the Lord. This morning I've had the privilege of speaking to those of you who have come to know the Lord. You've come into a relationship with him that's as this song would indicate, progressing from coming to the river to drinking of the living water, to living in it. But I know that this morning there are some here who in your own life, you have not yet taken that initial step. You've not yet been willing to say to the Lord, father, I need to come to you. The Bible