Exploring the Three Sixteens has taken us through some exciting stuff so far. We saw the Spirit of God descend on Jesus at His baptism, John the Baptist discussed Jesus’ sandals, the 12 apostles were chosen, God “so loved the world”, the Name healed the lame, and great misery pursued those who refuse to follow Christ.

Moving on to the seventh book in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians, another gem is revealed at 3:16. Here it is:
“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?“ (NLT)
The NIV puts it this way: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”

The Corinthian church needed Paul to remind them many times about the danger of division amongst God’s people. Paul speaks boldly here, explaining that as a Body of believers, WE ARE the temple of God where He dwells. He lives in us! He no longer chooses to reveal himself and meet with people in an earthly building (as he had done in the past, in Solomon’s temple, God’s house). Now he LIVES in us together. He reveals Himself in us. He has put His Spirit in us, collectively.

This echoes the words of Peter (1 Peter 2:5): “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

How this changes things for us when we think it’s okay to not meet regularly with our fellow believers, or to let petty differences divide. All of us are living bricks, living stones in the new temple made through the new covenant, through Christ. God has poured His spirit into us, giving us a new heart to know, obey and love Him. This is the unifying feature of the bricks of God’s new living temple!

Now some of us may be a bit rough around the edges, a bit off colour, a bit sharp or a bit broken. We have personalities and experiences which are so different from one another. But we are  God’s living temple, together. He is in us and we need to accept each other on the basis that we are all saved by Christ. It is awesome to consider how we sinful people, born as enemies of one another in this fallen world, can actually be at peace with others who are part of this same building! We have been cemented together by the bond of Christ.

Let’s work at seeing ourselves in this way. And if there should ever be some cracks in the cement, if some of the bricks have fallen aside or broken, let’s not give up on restoring and repairing this living building where God lives. Let’s work at reconciling ourselves with other bricks in whom Christ dwells.

All this reminds me of some great words from 1 John 4:11-13
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit”.