THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIAN TRADITION

 

Chapter 15

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How to Handle God's House on Earth

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Text

1 Cor. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

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1 Cor. 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

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Memory Verse

Gal. 6:7 (NIV) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

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Introduction

When the Bible talks about “God’s house on earth”, it is not talking about a physical building. It is talking about you and me.

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God through Paul told the Corinthians: “You are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). God lives in His people through the Holy Spirit.

 

If anyone tries to mess up God’s dwelling place, He takes it seriously. This place is sacred - set apart for Him alone. Another word for “house” here is “temple”.

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Presentation

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1. What God’s House Is Built With

(1) The seed is the teaching of Jesus (Luke 8:11).

Wherever people believe and receive His Word, God makes His home there. God and His Word are not separate (John 1:1; 6:63).

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(2) No one can manufacture the materials for God’s house on earth (1 Cor. 15:50).

You cannot build a temple for God with human ideas, traditions, or rituals. If you try, God calls it idolatry (Acts 17:16, 24-25).

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Only what comes from Him - His Word and Spirit - can build His house.

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2. Two Ways to Keep God’s House From Falling Apart

This is about feeding your spirit and your body with the right food.

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(1) The right spiritual food (John 6:57-58).

The right diet is the teaching of Christ as passed down by His apostles (John 17:14, 20-21; 1 John 1:1-4). If you skip this - either out of ignorance or rebellion - you cut yourself off from Christ (2 John 9-11; Rom. 8:9, 14; Col. 2:18-19).

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Anything less than the teaching of Christ is breaking God’s covenant for this era. That is what the Bible calls sin (1 John 3:4; Rom. 1:16-17).

 

(2) The right physical food (Gen. 1:29).                 God made your body from the dust, but He breathed life into it (Gen. 2:7). His original design was for man to eat plants (Gen. 1:29). In a fallen world, He permitted meat (Gen. 9:3).

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We should seek God’s heart in all things. He delights not in the blood of bulls, lambs and goats (Isa. 1:11), nor in “sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6) - ‘sacrifice’ meaning ‘to slay or kill’. Jesus’s death put an end to sacrifice. They shall not hurt nor destroy in His holy mountain:

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Isa. 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lord.

 

There is nothing unclean for us, for all things are sanctified by the Word of God and prayer (1 Ti. 4:4), but we should aim in all things to please God, and not to cause our brother to offend.

 

Rom. 14:21 (KJV) It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

 

1 Cor. 8:13 (KJV) Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

 

Whatever your diet, the goal is to steward your body as God’s temple, and to eat with thanksgiving (1 Cor. 10:31, 1 Tim. 4:4). The body works best on whole, living foods - foods with living cells that it can easily absorb and use for fuel.  Bible teachers need to start teaching about body health too. God and your soul live in this body to do His work. If you neglect the body, you cannot serve well in spirit and soul (1 Thess. 5:23; 3 John 2).

 

3. Suicide and Assisted Suicide Are Not Allowed

Your body is not yours to destroy (1 Cor. 7:23; 6:19). Taking your own life, or asking someone else to kill you, goes against God’s design. Your body is His house, and it is also the house in which you live.

 

4. Burial is the Biblical Pattern

Scripture shows burial as the pattern of honour (Gen 23:4), and Ezekiel 37 shows God’s power over bones. Yet God is not limited by how a body returns to dust (Gen. 3:19). Whether by earth, sea, or fire, He knows every person (Ps. 139:16) and will raise each one at His word (John 5:28). Our hope is not in how we are buried, but in Who buried death for us.

 

Conclusion

God cares more about keeping you healthy than about constantly healing you from preventable problems. He wants you healthy in spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23). Do not be ignorant and neglect your body, then run to God only for healing miracles. Take care of the temple. It is where God does His work and where you carry out His mission of reaching people and making disciples.

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Evaluation Questions & Answers​

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1. How would you define a vision?

   • A vision is an invisible reality in your mind - God’s plan or picture of what should be - before it is carried out. When acted on, it becomes a mission.

2. What is God’s original vision which He turned into a mission?

   • To extend His heavenly administration to earth by creating humans in His image to rule and represent Him here (Gen. 1:26).

3. Why are Christians divine law enforcement agents?

   • Because we are responsible to guard and uphold Jesus’s commands, correct error, and make sure that His truth is not twisted in the places in which we live.

4. What is the relationship between the Church and the Garden of Eden?

   • The Church is the spiritual Garden of Eden - God’s dwelling place where believers now have access to His presence and life through Christ.

5. In what one way is the Church a satellite heaven?

   • It displays God’s life, joy, and peace on earth so that the world can see what heaven is like.

6. How can unbelievers discover an invisible God by watching Christians?

   • Through our daily behaviour -  love, forgiveness, integrity, joy, peace, and selfless service. When we live like Jesus, people see God in action.

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Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word. Keep us steady so that no spiritual attack or circumstance makes us quit our post as stakeholders in Your plan to save mankind. Amen.