God's Temple
GOD’S TEMPLE
Ephesians 2:19-22
Introduction: (Ezra 1) In about 538 B.C. the Jews were released from 70 years of captivity. Cyrus, the Persian king, was in the process of building a great empire and he wanted the favor of all the gods. So he released all the nations that the Babylonians had taken into captivity, and he told each one to go back home and build their temples and pray for him. Ezra, Haggai, Zephaniah, and Zerubbabel were the leaders.
I. Ezra 3
A. Vs. 2-3 First they built the alter and reinstated the sacrificial system
B. Vs. 4 Kept the Feast of Tabernacles
C. Vs. 7 They gathered the money and supplies needed to start building
the temple
D. Vs. 10-11 When the foundation was laid, the people gathered to
praise God
E. Vs. 12-13 Weeping and shouting joyfully
1. The old people who had seen Solomon’s temple were weeping
a. Possibly out of joy
b. Probably because of this temple was so much smaller than
Solomon’s Haggai 2:3 Who of you is left who saw this house in its former
glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?
2. The others, born in captivity, were shouting because the temple was
being restored and their worship was being renewed (most of them
did not know how to worship without a temple).
a. Psalm 122.1 David - I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house
of the Lord!”
b. Psalm 42.1-4
c. Psalm 84.1,2,10
d. Isaiah 2.2-3
II. Ephesians 2.19-22
A. Paul is speaking to Gentile Christians
1. No longer outsiders
2. Now citizens
B. Now Jew and Gentile are one family
1. First metaphor
2. οἰκεῖος: (derivatives of οἶκος, family) one who belongs to a particular household or extended family, member of a family, relative.
C. All Christians are being built into God’s temple
1. Second metaphor
2. Temple
a. Vs. 20 – foundation
b. I Corinthians 3:9-17
c. Holy
d. God lives in the group, each member being a part of the temple
1) Joined together like concrete blocks in a wall
2) συναρμολογέω (only in Christian writers) fit or join together vs. 21
This word also appears in 4:16 and no where else in the Old or
New Testaments or anywhere else I have been able to find. Possibly Paul created the word to describe how Christians
should fit together.
3) συνοικοδομοῦμαι: build up (together); metaphorically and
only passive in the NT, of the community of Christ being
formed into a dwelling place for God, be built up together
vs. 22
[4) NRSV translates en pneumati “spiritually” in vs. 22 and
Romans 2:29, “spiritual.” In the 34 other places it appears in
the NT, they translate “in spirit” or “in the Spirit.” No other
version that I have found agrees with this translation.]
III. Lessons for us
A. We have damaged God’s temple
1. Gossip
2. Mistreating members
3. Ladies insulting ladies
B. We need to rebuild
1. Repent and confess our sins
a. Five times in Jesus’ notes to the seven churches of Asia in
Revelation 2-3 He calls on churches to repent.
b. James 5.16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
c. I John 1.9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. We need to see some weeping and shouting
3. When we see God working among us, we should gather for praise.
Conclusion: We have some problem people among us, people who are destroying God’s temple. I’m calling for all of us to examine ourselves to see if we are tearing down rather than building up. Repent, change!