Builded Together part 2
Let me quote my passage of Scripture again. Because I really want to pull some stuff out of it in this Rant series. Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." So much good stuff there. Continuing to kind of work backwards though, I want to hit the phrase "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." And I want to start with 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Did you catch that? We ARE that temple of God. That's not something that needs to happen. That's something that already happened. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross He drew all men into Himself. He planted Himself in all men. Revelation 21:3 in the Message Bible says it like this, "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God." God moved into the house that the carpenter Jesus built. The house that you are. He moved in, and He's never moving out. He swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's right exactly where He wants to be. All throughout the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the cry of God's heart was for Him to be our God and for us to be His people. Now, through the cross, that's the way things are. The veil was rent from top to bottom, getting rid of any separation that could have possibly existed between God and man. God lives IN man. And we live in Him. But its something that we have to, in a sense, grow into. Remember when we talked about milk and honey? How milk is good for babies because it gives them strong healthy teeth and bones. Equips and empowers them to speak and stand because the milk is righteousness. And we ARE the righteousness of God. Even on our worst day. What you do doesn't define who you are. What you believe defines who you are. And what you do flows from what you believe. When we get our faith right--having faith in God--everything else reveals itself to be in Divine Order. So we ARE the temple, right now, but we are also growing into that holy temple. WE. Together. It is not good that man should be alone. We're all in this together. We need each other. That's relationship. And I'm not talking about using each other to get what we want, anything like that. I'm talking about esteeming each other higher than ourselves. Giving ourselves to each other. Laying our lives down for our friends. Giving everything we have and everything we are to God... by giving everything we have and everything we are to each other! Loving God by loving each other. Fitting together as we understand that we are builded together. Growing together. Learning together. Living together. Loving together!