We Are His House

Hebrews 3:4-6,14 - For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory…We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.


1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

Romans 11:22 - Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Hebrews 6:11 - We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.

1 Peter 2:4-5 - As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Application:

· Jesus is equated with God, making it beyond question that Christ is greater than Moses
· The Christian life involves endurance or perseverance. Am I persevering?
· I am integral to God’s church
· Genuine believers do not become hardened. Instead they persevere
· When we ignore His kindness, God seems a ruthless tyrant; when we ignore His sternness, He seems a doting Father. Am I ignoring His kindness and/or sternness?
· Am I making my hope sure?
· God’s church is growing because the stones in it are living.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

A Building From God, An Eternal House In Heaven

2 Corinthians 5:1-8 - For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.


2 Corinthians 4:18 - So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

1 Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Application:

· The experiences and circumstances of the present life, often painful and perplexing, are what is visible. They are temporary and fleeting.

· When I die, though my physical body will be buried here on earth, I expect that I will go immediately into the presence of Christ, and will be present with Christ until the day of resurrection

· When the Lord returns, I will fully know Him, similar to the way the Lord knows me

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Spiritual House

1 Peter 2:4-5 - As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Exodus 19:5-6 - Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

Isaiah 61:6 - And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.

Philippians 4:18 - I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Conclusions:

• Believers derive their life from Christ, who is the original living Stone to whom they have come, the life-giving Spirit
• The holy priesthood is the whole body of believers
• As priests, believers are to (1) reflect the holiness of God and that of their high priest, (2) offer spiritual sacrifices, (3) intercede for man before God and (4) represent God before man
• Believers are living stones that make up a spiritual temple in which, as a holy priesthood, they offer up spiritual sacrifices
• Israel was to be the people who acknowledged God as their King and, like priests, was to be wholly consecrated to His service
• God’s people, both individually and collectively, are to be set apart to do His will
• Ministers are priests
• The sacrifice is acceptable and pleasing to God because of Christ’s work for us and God’s work in us
• God’s temple is God’s church
• Paul does not mean in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that each of his readers is a temple of the Holy Spirit
• He says you yourselves (plural) are God’s temple (singular)
• Paul eventually speaks of each Christian as a temple of the Holy Spirit
• Jesus is the way to God
• Jesus is not one way among many, but the way

Application:

• Do you reflect God, offer sacrifices, intercede for man and represent God?
• Are you set apart to do His will?
• Are you a priest of the Lord?
• Are your sacrifices acceptable and pleasing to God?
• Are you a temple of the Holy Spirit?
• Do you see Jesus as the only way?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible