The Temple of God

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

“I will dwell in them and walk among them;

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

‘Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord.

‘And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you.

And I will be a father to you,

And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’

Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 NASB’95)

Don't Be Partners with The Ungodly

All throughout the New Testament writings we are warned against unholy unions with the ungodly of this world. But let me state here that the ungodly are not just all who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. The ungodly are all who are living ungodly and immoral and rebellious lives against God, for whom sin is still their practice, and for whom righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, and obedience to God are not what they practice. So they can be people who profess Jesus as Lord but who live the opposite.

So, what is an example of one of these unholy unions? The primary example which comes to my mind every time are these institutional market-driven “churches” incorporated under (combined, united, merged with) the state. Although some or most of them may still teach some of the Scriptures, many of them out of context, they are largely being led by the marketing schemes of human-based institutions who have altered the character of God/Christ, his church, and his gospel, in order to draw in large crowds from the world.

Therefore, much of their decision making for “the church” is based in marketing schemes and business models for how to “grow their churches” and for how to “draw in large crowds of people from the world” into their gatherings. And so the message of the gospel is largely being altered to pacify people in their sin and to not offend the ungodly who they want in their ”churches.” And many of them no longer teach God’s requirements for biblical repentance (death to sin) and walks of obedience to our God.

And many of them have turned their gatherings into stage productions put on by a small group of people while the rest of the people sit in their pews or in their chairs and sing the songs and listen to the sermons and then go home and resume normal life until the next week when they come back and do it again. But that is not the biblical role model of “church” which is the body of believers in Jesus Christ who are walking by faith and who are ministering to one another via the gifts of the Spirit given them by God.

Cleansing of The Temple

Do you remember the story of Jesus cleansing the temple? I think there are two separate biblical accounts of him doing this, so many people believe he did this more than once, but the point is that he did this and why he did it. It was because the people had turned the temple of God into a marketplace, which is exactly what these market-driven institutional incorporated “churches” are now doing, too. So Jesus told them to STOP making his Father’s house a place of business, and he is still saying the same today.

And then we have today’s passage of Scripture which warns us against being in fellowship and union and partnership with the ungodly, which is exactly what these institutional market-driven “churches” of today have done in direct opposition to God’s commands. They have united with the world and with the ungodly and so they have turned the temple of God (the gatherings of the body of Christ, his church) into marketplaces in order to attract the ungodly to their gatherings, which is the opposite of what God commands.

And then have you read in the book of Revelation about the fall of Babylon? And who or what is “Babylon”? It can be a physical place on this earth, yes, but it is a symbol of spiritual corruption and rebellion against God and of idolatry and sexual immorality and of worldliness and moral decay. And that is a picture of these institutional market-driven “churches” partnered with the state (the ungodly) who are compromising the truth of the gospel and morality and God’s commands in order to attract the world to their meetings.

And what are we then instructed to do about this? We are to come out from among her lest we participate with her in her sins, lest we also then share with her in her punishment, “for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” And today’s passage instructs us to “come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord, “and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me.” We need to take this seriously!

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

The Message of the Gospel

Now, do some of these institutional market-driven “churches” (businesses) get some things right? Surely some of them do. Do some of them still teach the truth of the gospel? Some of them still teach some of the truth, but few teach the full gospel message, from what I have been able to observe. Many teach a very diluted and altered gospel which only requires a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then the “believer” is guaranteed forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal destiny, regardless of how they live.

And those who do teach God’s requirements of repentance and obedience to his commands often will teach them more as suggestions, or as things that we should be doing, but not as part of faith which saves and without which we are not saved and heaven will not be our eternal destiny. But Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught that faith which is genuine will result in death to sin and walks of obedience to his commands. But if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

And the most critical thing that we need to teach the people is that if sin is our practice, and if walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands are not what we practice, then we don’t know God, we are not born of God, we are not in relationship with Jesus Christ, we are not in fellowship with him, we are not saved from our sins, and we do not have eternal life with God in heaven. And it doesn’t matter what our lips profess. What matters is that we are not walking in sin but we are obeying our Lord, in practice.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Listen to Our Hearts

Songwriters: Geoff Moore / Steven Chapman

How do you explain, how do you describe

A love that goes from east to west

And runs as deep as it is wide?

You know all our hopes,

Lord, you know all our fears.

And words cannot express the love we feel,

But we long for You to hear.

So listen to our hearts.

Hear our spirit sing

A song of praise that flows

From those you have redeemed.

We will use the words we know

To tell you what an awesome God You are.

But words are not enough

To tell you of our love,

So listen to our hearts.

If words could fall like rain

From these lips of mine,

And if I had a thousand years

I would still run out of time.

If you listen to my heart,

Every beat will say,

Thank You for the life, 

Thank You for the truth,

Thank You for the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfgrAkLqho 

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The Temple of God

An Original Work / April 5, 2025 

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love