Tombs or Temples
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27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
The title of my message is [Tombs or Temples]. I want to look at Jesus’ words to the Pharisees and Paul’s words about our position as believers.
What I am about to say may shock you, but I do not spend time ready fashion or beauty magazines. I am not sure I have ever read an article about beauty, fashion, or makeup.
Recently an online article from a beauty magazine caught my attention. The title: Exactly How Much Appearance Matters, According to Our National Judgment Survey.
In 2016, this magazine conducted a survey with 2497 people to see how much appearance matters. I want to share a few of the results:
64% of people said the first thing they notice about someone is how attractive he or she is.
50% think appearance defines us significantly or completely.
64% of men and women think their lives would be better if they were more attractive.
62% of women and 53% of men are more critical of their looks than of other people’s looks.
80% said everyone judges other people’s looks.
52% of pictures on social media have been doctored by the use of a filter.
The article concludes, yes, appearance matters. And in some cases, it should matter. Our actions show that we care about our appearance. We all get haircuts, some even make sure their hair stays the same color. We wash our clothes. Many buy new clothes or inherit clothes that are new to them!
And as Christians we should have a spirit of excellence. We should dress modestly. We should do the best we can, knowing that we represent the King of Kings!
As Christians we should have a spirit of excellence.
However, this is not the starting point. We live in a society that focuses on appearances. There is concern about how we look, and this goes beyond clothing or style.
People want others to like their ideas. They want respect in their field of work. They want to be appreciated and valued. They do not want to appear foolish, but wise and intelligent.
So we’ve created a society that looks attractive, that seems to have it all together, and that appears flawless.
But we must remember what God told the Prophet Samuel:
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
The goal of keeping up appearances has moved from society and into the church. As I mentioned, God wants us to have a spirit of excellence, but God is more interested in what people cannot see.
He is concerned about the condition of our soul. He is curious about our commitment to Him. He wants to know that our motives are sincere.
If the Christian’s focus is ONLY how other people perceive us, then we miss on God’s plan. It is God’s desire to transform us, making us more like Him.
God’s focus is from the
The transformation process does not begin from the outside it, it happens from the inside out. To describe this process, I want us to think of two objects: Tombs and Temples.
Jesus described the Pharisees as white washed tombs. Paul told us we are temples of the Holy Spirit.
We have a choice to make, there are often two types of Christians, two types of Churches, some are similar to tombs, while other can be described as temples.
What is the difference between tombs and temples? [Tombs are Full of Death] and [Temples are Full of Life].
Let’s begin
1. Tombs are Full of Death
1. Tombs are Full of Death
30 The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
1 Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”
When we arrive to this portion of the book of Acts, the church has spread to much of the then known world. Luke, the writer of Acts, focuses on the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
Paul concluded his third missionary journey. He wanted to return to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. He was warned not to go. It was even prophesied that he would be put into chains if he went to Jerusalem, but he wanted to go.
He arrived and met with Church leaders. It had been eight years since he had been with them and he shared all God did in seeing thousands come to Christ as their Savior.
While the Christians celebrated, Jerusalem was an unstable place for Christians. The Jewish leaders did everything they could to stop the influence of the Christians.
They believed Christians were wrong in their teaching that both Jew and Gentile could be saved. Now Paul was in the capital city of Judaism.
He went to the temple to worship, and Jewish leaders spread a lie that he was blaspheming the One True God. They instigated a riot and Paul was arrested.
He was taken into custody by a Roman Commander who saved him from the mob. He requested to speak to the crowd. As he spoke in Hebrew, the crowd listened.
They were silent until he told them God sent him to the Gentiles. They screamed, cried, and threw dust in the air. Paul was taken to be scourged, beat nearly to death.
It wasn’t until Paul reminded them he was a Roman Citizen and deserved a fair trial that they stopped. The Roman Commander took Paul before the Sanhedrin.
These were the religious leaders who determined the guilt of those who had commited a religious crime. Paul explained that he was not guilty.
The high priest Ananias, commanded someone to strike him, literally punch Paul in the face.
I like Paul’s response: you struck me, God will strike you. Then he called them something unique, a white washed tomb.
That is an odd insult. I have never been cut off on the highway and called someone a whitewashed tomb!
But they knew what it meant. The Jewish people were very meticulous in burying their dead. When they placed them in their tomb, they would paint the outside, adorning it, to make it look pretty.
The only problem, sure it was beautiful on the outside, but there was no life inside, it was full of death.
Furthermore, the religious leaders heard this about twenty-five years before Jesus stood in the same city and said the same things of the Pharisees.
In , Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and condemned them publicly and privately. What was His problem with them?
They did not practice what they preached
They placed heavy burdens on people
They do everything for show
They demand to occupy a place of power and prominence
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Paul merely repeated what Jesus said. They Pharisees seemed to be the perfect picture of a follower of God. They looked the part. They talked the part. They acted the part.
But God could see what no one else could. Sure they looked great, but they were a tomb, spiritually dead on the inside! Therefore, it tombs are full of death...
2. Temples are Full of Life
2. Temples are Full of Life
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Standing before the Sanhedrin we see the picture of the difference between a tomb and a temple. The religious crowd was angry and arrogant. While Paul was humble, but bold in his faith.
How could Paul do what he did?
He explained in 1 Corinthians. He asked a questions that must have been a mystery to some.
Do you now that know that you are TEMPLES of God and that the Spirit dwells in you!
The Temple in Jerusalem was fully of activity. There were people coming and going. They made sacrifices and worshipped God there.
But as Christians we do not go to a temple to worship God, why? Because WE are the temple of God. God does not dwell in temples made by hands, but He dwells in the hearts and lives of His people!
How do we become temples of the Holy Spirit?
It happened for Paul when he was on the road to Damascus. He was living, breathing, and walking, but inside he was spiritually dead. God had to blind him and get him to the home of a believer before he fully understood.
But he repented of his sins and the scales fell from his eyes. Then hands were laid on him and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He described it this way:
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
How did Paul, who was once a whitewashed tomb, become a temple of the Holy Spirit? He had to die. His sins had to die, his past had to die, and his spiritual man had to die.
When did this spiritual death occur? When he accepted Jesus as his Savior. His death was short, for the moment he accepted Christ, he was born again and became a temple of God!
But Paul understood that he had to walk close with God. He had to continue to seek the Lord. While his salvation experience was wonderful, he needed to draw closer to the Lord.
Yes, he was a temple, but he did believe, ONCE A TEMPLE, ALWAYS A TEMPLE! He explained it clearly in , if I defile the temple, I will be far from God, for the temple of God has to be holy!
What does it mean to be holy? To be set a part. When Jesus saved us, he brought us out of the sins, the shame, and the filth that pollutes.
How does one pollute their temple?
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 6:”
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul spells it out very plain: sin leads to death! When we live in sin, we start to die spiritually. So we have to be careful not to let sin live in our lives.
At this time some might wonder, what is a sin? If only I had a list of sins then I would know what I can and cannot do.
Simply put, a sin is ANYTHING Jesus WOULDN’T. If Jesus wouldn’t do it, it is a sin. And Paul is not talking of a momentary lapse, he is speaking of habitual sin.
The mindset that says, I can do what I want, even if I know it is wrong. If we continuously ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the life that we have could be replaced with death. We could be a temple and turn back into a tomb.
This does not happen overnight, it is a process. But in our Christian walk we are either getting closer to God or farther from Him.
So how do I stay alive in Christ?
2 Corinthians 6:16-
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Once again Paul reminds us that WE are temples of the Living God. As temples of the living, the One who resides in us promises:
I will dwell with them
I will walk among them
I will be their God
They shall be my people
I will welcome you
and I will be a Father to you!
How do these promises come to pass? Come out and be separate. Repent on a daily basis. Seek God’s help in areas of weakness. Ask the Lord for victory over temptation.
Paul showed in his actions before the Sanhedrin: We are temples of God, the Holy Spirit is within us, so I will do all I can to honor God with my life!
Close:
Lately as I have read the Bible, I have attempted to take the ancient story and see how it fits with my life. Whenever I read of the Pharisees and Jesus or the Sanhedrin and Paul, I realize what it meant to them.
But to us, we have never met a Pharisee. I do not even know where to find a Sanhedrin. But, I do know these two groups describe two types of Christians, those who have the appearance of Christian and those who have the experience of really being a Christian.
I mentioned this last year in a message, and I was reminded as I prepared this message. As we get closer to the coming of the Lord, I am convinced God is in the process of making a distinction.
He is distinguishing between:
those who REALLY serve Him and those who claim to follow Him.
Those who live for Him everyday and those who give Him a couple days a month.
Those who are in love with Him and those who are in love with the idea of Him.
We can summarize it with two words: tombs or temples.
If believers and churches are not careful, we can look like we have it all together on the outside. We can dress the part. We can speak the part. We can act the part, but if we do not live the part, we are tombs.
But, IF we will come to God and express our desire to be transformed. True transformation does not begin on the outside, it starts on the inside.
God will transform our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls! And then the outward transformation will begin to take place!
Too often people try to change their habits. I will quit using those words, taking that addictive substance, overindulging, or gossiping. Yet they find themselves repeating the cycles over and over.
We cannot look at the habit we have to see the source. Is this temple of God being defiled. Have I come out and become separate, or am I trying to assimilate and go along with societies standards?
I cannot speak for you, but I know for me, I want to be a temple of God. I do not want this temple to be defiled with habits, mindsets, or actions.
But I cannot change myself, I need to be transformed. How can I be transformed?
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.