How much is enough?
How many promises does God need to make for you to feel protected or
secure?
It seems that the world always wants us to add something
to what God has done. There is always a
nagging question that gets raised, and niggling doubt that rises like a specter
in people’s minds. It often sounds
something like this, “I have to do something, don’t I?” We continually are plagued by people who
teach that there is something we must do to, some contribution we must make for
our salvation.
Such people are like those who say, “Flee like a bird to
your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their
arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.” In other words, “God’s protection is not
sufficient for your soul. You must
run! You must hide! You must be your own security, your own
defender, even your own refuge.”
The modern parallel of this might be, “God helps those
who help themselves.” People quote it as
if it were Scripture. (It is not.) And they live by it as though it were
inspired. (If it is inspired, it is
inspired by our own vain imagination.)
In essence, when we claim we must be our own defense, or that we must
make ourselves worthy of God’s love, we are making ourselves gods. We say, “Thank you very much, but I am quite
clever, and I can handle this, God, but I will call You if I need You.”
Such foolishness!
The LORD is in His holy
temple! Indeed, He reigns from heaven,
but He also reigns here on earth! Paul
says, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells
in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16 ESV) And
later in the same letter, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you
were bought with a price.” (1Corinthians
6:19-20 ESV) Jesus’s blood was shed for
our salvation. It is enough.
Those sections of scripture have suffered much abuse in
our modern individualistic society. We
read, “You are God’s temple,” and we think, “This body, right here, which is me,
is God’s temple.” There is truth in
that, but these passages are actually referring to the Church, that is, all of
God’s people together, all those who are redeemed in Jesus. As the temple of God we are the presence of God
in this word to testify to His love and salvation.
This is one of the reasons that it is so important to be
in fellowship with a congregation. We
were not meant to live life alone. We
need the mutual consolation of our brothers and sisters in Christ – the
presence of God within the temple that is His assembled people. The biblical word for this is koinonia – a close relationship between
us and God, and also us and other Christians.
What we are doing right now, reading the Word, is a form
of koinonia. David wrote these words, not just for
himself, but also for us. As we reflect
on them in faith we are united with him and with one another. Reading them speaks God’s promises to us
bringing us into koinonia with Him as
well as with one another. The overarching
picture is like a web uniting us one to another to God.
God gives us refuge in Christ, and He shelters and keeps
us within the church by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Trinity’s work as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit in their own koinonia
bind us in unity with in Jesus’s death and resurrection.
Father, make me and
all believers to be Your temple, that we might show your presence in this world
so others may be gathered to Christ, believers built up in Christ, and the
world served as Christ. Amen.
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