FROM “ORGANIZED” TO “ORGANIC” Part 6

5. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHURCH       Part 3  

c. CHURCH IS PEOPLE, FIRST AND LAST   

Under the Old Covenant (Testament) the Tabernacle, then the Temple, was the place where the presence of God primarily dwelled, and to which the people were called to worship Him a minimum of 3 times a year....

The Three Annual Festivals      

14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. 15 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. 17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD. 18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning. 19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Exodus 23:19)

Jesus came to replace the temple with Himself! He predicted the destruction of the physical temple, (which happened in the physical too, in AD70).....   

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)

The people, then and now, cannot understand the revolution that would take place with the death and resurrection of Jesus. They, and we, continue to look for a 'place' to worship God, when we should instead, be looking to a 'person'. For the new 'temple' referred to, is to be the resurrected body of Jesus, as He had predicted.....   

Jesus Again Predicts His Death
17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:17-19)   

When He was crucified the people mocked Him.....  

39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:39-40)     

And as indeed happened, for Jesus explained after His resurrection.....   

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:45-8)   

He told them to wait for an incredible personal experience....

49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) 

.....when through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, 40 days later at Pentecost, the temple would also become you and me!.....   

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)    

We have to live our lives in a holy way, in order to honour the temple within..... 

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)    

Paul again, puts it very strongly!.....      

18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:18)

Having established that we are indeed God's living temples, we will next week, investigate the implications of this revolutionary change, for the church.

Having established that we are indeed God's living temples, we will now investigate the implications of this revolutionary change, for the church.  

Jesus spoke about the change that He had brought with Him.....

16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. (Luke 16:16)

Sadly, our church system has been set up on the Old Covenant basis that the church is the residence of God rather than His temple being His people, which is the change under the New Covenant. The signature, sign, or seal of the New Covenant is the promise of the Holy Spirit to live within you and me, the individual believer....

26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. (John 15:26)  

This actually first happened at the time of the Feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) 50 days after Passover (where Jesus was sacrificed as the 'Passover Lamb', at the time the lambs were being slaughtered for the feast, the next day!).....   

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)      

Please note that the Holy Spirit did not simply come to the house, but entered each individual there. At that time, each individual became the residence of the Holy Spirit; each one was now the temple of God.   

On that amazing day, 3,000 individuals were baptised (to replace the 3,000 killed for disobedience to God at the first Pentecost at Mount Sinai).....  

28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. (Exodus 32:28).....       

41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:41)  

Please note that it does not say, 'the church increased by 3,000 that day', but that the number of believers, i.e. 'individual temples of the Holy Spirit, increased by 3,000'.   

The word translated as 'church' in the New Testament is an incorrect translation. The true word is the Greek 'ekklesia' which means 'assembly', or a 'congregation' of people, temporarily gathering together to discuss an issue. It had political and employment connotations.     

The word 'church' comes from the Greek 'kyridakon' which is not found in the New Testament at all!        

Why did this change arise? Put simply, through the politicization of the church. Starting with Emperor Constantine's conversion, and continuing through King James's headship of the Church of England, the church was used as a means of controlling the people. The presence of God was therefore invested in the church and its formal organisation, in order to enable human control to be exerted. This tradition has continued, in more subtle ways, right down to today.

Under the New Covenant, those called to ministry were not called to control, but to serve and equip the saints, who were, and are, the true inheritors of the kingdom of God..... 

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:11-12)

Where this occurs, the body of believers will come into unity, for the splits, divisions and agendas of the denominational church system will no longer be an issue, no longer be of relevance.....    

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13) 

It is not 'power to the people', as promoted by the Baptist Church and some others, but rather, power to God, as he builds His kingdom in you and in me. Our focus and leading is to be from God, not humans, however well-intentioned they may be.....     

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)  

And again, being confirmed by Paul.....  

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, (Romans 14:17)       

We are, therefore, to move from a worldly based church system to developing the spiritual kingdom within all genuine believers.

 (Continued next week.)  

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