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Over the next several weeks, we will be preaching a series on the metaphors of Jesus. A metaphor is typically defined as a thing regarded or symbolic of something else. John’s Gospel, and some New Testament letters also use metaphors to describe Jesus. These metaphors were meant to communicate important spiritual points about Jesus that the plain language of the time could not explain. We hope that at the end of this series, your faith in Christ grows, not just for who He is, but also because of the metaphors used to describe Him. What, or more importantly, who inspires worship is the first metaphor of Jesus we get to explore today.
In our text, Jesus uses a metaphor and calls Himself the Temple. For hundreds of years, The Temple was a place of worship for Jews and represented the power of God. To understand the power of what Jesus is saying, let’s briefly visit the importance of the Temple in the Jewish faith. In I Kings 8, there are spiritual and symbolic connections to the Temple that would remain with the Jewish people for a long time. The first reason the Temple is significant, is because it hold’s Israel’s symbol of freedom from Egypt, the Ark of the Covenant. 1 Kings tells us when the Temple was opened, “The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the slavery in the land of Egypt.”- 1 Kings 8:6, 9. Commentaries are clear the tablets of stone in the Ark are the original 10 commandments given to Moses in Exodus 34:27. Therefore, the Ark represents not only freedom for the Jewish people but also the power of God itself displayed in the commandments when God made a covenant with Israel to be His chosen people. In the prayer of dedication, King Solomon highlights another important aspect of the Temple besides holding the Ark of the Covenant. He prays for God to make the Temple a place of worship and forgiveness, praying “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven, and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”- 1 Kings 8:27-30. The Temple is also significant, not only for political and spiritual reasons but also for reasons of addressing sin. One commentary says the “lamb is mentioned in the Old Testament 96 times. Of those 96, the “lamb” is referred to as a sacrifice a vast majority of the time—in fact, 85 of the 96 times. For hundreds of years, Jews would bring lambs to the temple, and a priest would sacrifice the lamb as a payment for a person’s sin. However, the lamb was never viewed as a permanent payment for sin. The sacrificial lamb had a shelf life of one year. So at least once every 12 months or the day of atonement, you’d need to bring another lamb to the temple to sacrifice. The lamb—or, more specifically, the lamb’s blood—was seen as a sacrificial payment of death to cover the cost associated with sinning against God.” This means a lot of effort was made to keep the Temple as the focal point of history, freedom, worship, and atonement of sin in Jewish life.
For Jesus to call Himself the Temple is radical. Jesus is saying that atonement against sin is no longer in a symbolic building that holds the power of God, atonement is real and in Him. Sin is no longer a once-a-year thing to address in a remote location, but now for all time has been destroyed by Christ on the Cross “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our sin, by canceling the record of sin that stood against us with its legal demands. Our record of sin He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”- Colossians 2:13-14. Worship is no longer only a choice , worship is also a response that can be made anywhere! Remember the Samaritan woman in John 4? The one who was living a sinful life but waiting on the Messiah? Jesus tells her “But the hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”-John 4:23-24. More importantly, Jesus being called a Temple means He alone is the inspiration of worship, “Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”- John 14:6.
This metaphor of Jesus being the Temple, and the meanings behind it, answers a question of worship for believers today. When I think of our metaphor for today, I think of 2009. I remember getting an invitation through a friend of Rhiannon’s to go watch the band Third Day in Shreveport Louisiana. We carpooled together, jamming Third Day’s Wire album and other great Third-day hits on the way down, and had a great time. Third Day, as always, delivered in concert. Yet the final song is a moment I will never forget. When the lead singer Mac Powell was giving a talk, he brought up the subject of prayer. He went through a variety of examples of the different types of prayer people might need. One of his statements shook me to the core: “Maybe you are here tonight in need of prayer because you thought something would go the way you want, and that didn’t happen. Please know we are praying for you. Cling to Jesus!” The band proceeded to sing the song “Revelation”, and I have to say, I have never before or since sung a chorus with such conviction. “Give me a revelation, show me what to do! I am tired of trying to find my way, I don’t have a clue. Tell me should I stay here, or do I need to move? Give me a revelation. I’ve got nothing without you. I’ve got nothing without you Lord.” Friends, that night is in the top 5 worship moments of my life, including traditional settings. The reason is, I believe with all my heart Jesus Himself inspired me to worship that night. There is power in worship for a believer. As a Pastor, I get asked one question all the time. What is proper worship music? I always try to answer the question of worship by asking another one: does the music worship and glorify Christ? That is, in glorifying Christ, does the worship cover the themes of atonement and worship we have been discussing? Does the worship address what sin does to us, and God’s love despite our sin? Is the worship as personal as the Temple was to Solomon and Jews afterward? Friends, I told you how important the band’s Third Day is in my life. But you know? Jesus is also glorified in Hymns. My hair will stand still when I hear “How Great Thou Art.” Do you know why? It’s not just the lyrics, it’s the story. The original lyrics were written by a Swedish preacher Carl Boberg. According to the story, Carl got “caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterward he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees.” The experience prompted Boberg to write 9 stanzas of the Swedish poem, which would eventually be translated to English and cut down to 4 verses in most modern hymnals. I have to admit, as a follower of Jesus, I would love to hear how all 9 stanzas sound in English! That would make a great Hymn! The verse that always prompts me to worship Jesus with all my heart is verse 3:And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art!” Here is the point. Our church has two services with different worship styles. But because of the questions and examples above, I can attend either a traditional or a contemporary worship setting as long as it glorifies Jesus and answers the questions above. The worship debate comes to a close very quickly when I make my worship about Christ and not my preferences.
Friends, Who inspires your worship? The Bible tells us that worshipping Jesus can be so powerful that it has the power to change our hearts through teaching and correction: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”-Colossians 3:16. When I get corrected or see thankfulness from believers, I get excited because the chances are that correction and thankful heart from someone else is coming from a heart of worship of the living Jesus. Correction and thankfulness are not mutually exclusive. Because of both, I don’t have to get defensive when I am corrected, and I don’t have to be in despair either. Why? Jesus is in both correction and thankfulness. He is our Temple and the inspiration of our worship. Because of Him, your life and mine can and will change. Don’t be afraid, worship and glorify Jesus in all you do. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.