Der Samuel's August 20, 2023 Sermon

In today’s Letter which is taken from the second letter to the Corinthians, we read the following. – “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.”

In this passage, Paul the apostle references that we are the temple of God. In other words, He reminds us that we carry God in our being and God dwells in us. It’s a strong word, and if we want to for a moment think about these words, then we are in serious trouble. Can you imagine we are the temple, it’s like we are the church, and God lives and dwells in our spirit. If we just think about these words, it says so much.

In this passage, Paul comes to remind us how blessed we are as Christians because our God who created everything, who made marvelous miracles, who brought the dead back to life, and who sacrificed Himself for our salvation is now dwelling in us and walking among us. But here come some questions that we should ask ourselves.

How do we know that God dwells in us?

This is a question that comes to our minds when we read or hear the words of the Bible. To answer this question, we must look deep inside ourselves, because the feeling that gives us anxiety when we do something wrong or lets us feel blessed when we do the opposite and is called our conscience, is the existence of God in ourselves. By being within us, God directs our decisions and grants us the ability to choose between right and wrong. God also walks with us when we follow his path during our life, He leads us beside the still waters and the paths of righteousness as the writer of the Psalms proclaims.

Also if we want to know that God dwells in us we should look at our daily lives, and we will see that God every time, every minute is with us. Sometimes, we don’t want to see God. If we are alive today, it is because of God we are alive. If we are healthy, it is because of God. We have a good life, it is because of God. Everything we had, we have and we are going to have we owe to God.

And, are we preparing our souls to accept God?

This is the most important question. God gave us free will, He is not forcing us by saying “No, you should accept me”, no. He just wants the best for us, and He knows what is the best and good for us. In my opinion, the idea that God chose us to live in us, should be the reason for us to think, act, and live like a true Christian. These are some small challenges for our spiritual life, small tasks that we should fulfill it.

Therefore, let us be aware, because we are the temple of the living God, let us not go astray by overthinking the difficulties of life, because overthinking will be an additional weight that will drown us in the mud of sin. That mud will blur our sight and we won’t be able to see the hope that God grants us every day. Also, overthinking will drive us away from praying and asking for God’s help and guidance, it will cause us anxiety, especially when we reach a point where we realize that the problem is impossible for us to solve. In other words, overthinking will drive us away from being the temple of God and will make us a home of sin. Therefore, as our Lord Jesus said. – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11.28). let us follow our conscience and ask God to always lead our steps through the path of righteousness. We have the honor to be called the people of God. Therefore, before we act, we must realize that we are Christians, we carry God in our being and God dwells in us.