Sermon Tone Analysis

Hey Alexa, Where is Zeus?

Just a few weeks ago, archaeologists in Egypt announced that they had discovered an ancient temple.

That an ancient temple was found in Egypt wasn’t so surprising.

After all, Egypt is one of the oldest cultures in the world.

What was surprising was that the temple was dedicated to Zeus, the Greek god of the sky.

It’s not often one finds a temple for a Greek god so far away from Greece.

Zeus, apparently had fans far and wide.

Zeus, of course, was the biggest god of them all in greek mythology, and in Bible times there were hundreds of temples to Zeus all over Greece.

Most temples were built to be the home for a statue of Zeus, the most famous one at a temple in Olympia, Greece.

The statue itself was an object of worship.

It was supposed to have the power to bring order to life, especially through the weather and good harvest.

Over time, the temples were destroyed either in war, fire, or earthquake.

And the statue was destroyed with the building.

The worship of Zeus died out, for the most part.

No temple, no Zeus.

The Tabernacle

Israel’s temple had no statue.

It’s God was present in a pillar cloud of fire.

Heaven itself covered the earthly tabernacle and then temple.

In the Old Testament, the temple was God’s house.

God lived among his people visibly.

You could see God residing in the temple from miles around.. the glory-cloud, which was his presence, was always over and inside the temple.

We read the story in Exodus.. as God gives instructions to build the tabernacle, he says that the tabernacle’s purpose is so he can dwell among his people.

Exodus 29:42-46 “This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you.

I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by my glory.

I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.

I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them.

I am the Lord their God.”

God isn’t a God who plans to be aloof.

God doesn’t just wind up events like a top and just let it spin.

God is personal.

God is involved.

He doesn’t exist in some unseen chamber away from his people.

He says “I will meet with you.”

Twice.

And then twice says “I will dwell among” my people.

That’s not a God who is unapproachable.

That’s not a God who is inaccessible.

He is having a tabernacle built so that he can live with his people.

He follows through on that promise.

Jesus, the Temple

This God lived among his people, alive, and speaking to them.

Hundreds of years later, Jesus shows up.

He is called Emmanuel, because God is with us, among us.

Pretty soon a building is not needed.

The presence of God on earth is no longer a pillar cloud in a temple, but he makes his home in a body.

Jesus himself is the presence of God on earth.

And just as Jesus is called the temple of God, so too his people.

Jesus’ people, the Temple

This passage in Ephesians is talking about God’s people as a temple.

God’s church, is where Jesus resides.

We just finished reading a snapshot of The Table of Los Fresnos.

Paul is saying a lot here.

we’re only going to focus on one thing.

Ephesians 2:19-22 “So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”

Three phrases are used for the assembly that is gathering in Ephesus:

God’s Household

Holy Temple

God’s Dwelling

All three highlight God’s residence.

Three different ways to talk about where God has decided to live.

God’s house.

Where God makes a home and dwells with his family.

God’s temple, where He is visibly present among his people.

God’s dwelling, where God can be found living with his people, residing with his people, as he promised he would.

All three are part of God’s promise to come and live among his people.

As Pastor Nathan mentioned, this is Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the church.

Jesus came to reside among his people.

Those people that are baptized that day become:

God’s Household

Holy Temple

God’s Dwelling

God makes good on his promise to dwell among his people.

The tabernacle and temple of the Old Testament is a shadow of that Promise.

It’s no longer a temple made with hands, but a living and breathing organism we call church.

What happens in the “Temple”?

It raises the question, though.

What is it that His people are doing when He is among them?

That answer is found at Pentecost.

The very first gathering of the church.

Four things that characterized this new gathering.

We read it earlier:

Acts 2:41-42 “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”

Here are the four things that this new church, this new temple, is doing as they gathered together:

the apostles’ teaching

the fellowship

the breaking of bread

prayer

The very first characteristic is devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

They focused on the Bible.

The Bible is how they get to know the Jesus who lives among them.

The second characteristic is that they devoted themselves to the fellowship.

They gathered.

They didn’t isolate themselves.

This passage later describes them meeting together every day of the week.

Eating together.