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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:
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
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
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
Standing before the Sanhedrin we see the picture of the difference between a tomb and a temple.
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