The Church as the Temple

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

Thoughts: God has dwelt in different places.  He lives in heaven- but even heaven cannot contain all of God.  In Moses' Day God dwelt in the tablernacle- a tent.  In Solomon's day- God dwelt in the Temple.  The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans and in 587 BC by the Babylonians (for 70 years).  Where does God dwell on earth when He is not in the Temple.  Jesus Himself said that "where two or three are gathered together in my name- there am I in the midst of them"  Paul says God dwells in church- the worshiping people of God here.  In I Cor. 6:19 Paul speaks of the Spirit living in our bodies as the Temple of God.  The Church gathered is Christ's body- and the Spirit dwells in us as the Body of Christ.
    Here the Temple of God is the church, and the warning is to not divide the church- the people gathered.  We must care for the building up of the church and the cohesiveness- holding together of the Church.  What are you doing to tear down and disunite the church?  What are you sacrificing to keep the church united?  Today idealism, sectarian thought is tearing the church apart.  

Prayer: Lord, may I never harm your Temple.  Use me to build it up.