Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 05 – February 1988

 

God’s Holy Temple

 

Sermon by Rev. M. C. DeGraaf on Acts 5:1-11

Reading: Leviticus 10:1-7; 2Chron. 6:40-7:6

Singing: 301; 243; 89; 162; 442

 

Brothers and Sisters,

Our readings this morning from Exodus and 2Chronicles, both reflected a little of the AURA and POWER that surrounded the HOLY PLACES OF GOD in the Old Testament.  Over the Tabernacle, in the wilderness, there always hung that column of fire or that large cloud, that sign that God was living with His people and that He was involved with them, leading them on to the promised land.  There is no question that the Tabernacle and the fire, (the holiness) that surrounded it – were an important symbol for the people.

ON THE ONE HAND it pointed at the love and covenant faithfulness of God.  They could look up and see, “hey, God cares for us and will continue to do so!”  He has not left us or abandoned us to our own ends.  Whatever the future may hold – day and night – He is with us.

BUT OF COURSE, ON THE OTHER HAND, that fire, cloud, and presence in the Tabernacle did not just represent God’s goodness it also pointed at His incredible HOLINESS.  AFTER ALL, having God’s presence concentrated in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple) was not something to be taken lightly.  In some ways it could even be a frightening and terrible thing.  Only the high priest could enter the Holy of holies and even then, only once a year on the Day of Atonement.  AND JUST THINK of the sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, who were killed for simply offering what the NIV calls “unauthorized fire” before the altar.

A SIMILAR THING CAN BE SEEN with the Ark of the Covenant.  In 1Samuel we read of the seventy Beth-Shemites who were struck down because they lifted its lid to look inside.  Or think of Uzzah, in 2Samuel 6, who died instantly when he put out his hand so that the ark would not fall off the cart that the Israelites had (quite wrongly) put it on!  Verse 7 of chapter 6 says that “the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act…!”  He had treated that holy ark of God just like any other piece of freight.  The seriousness of its holiness must have meant little to him.  Because of that Uzzah had deeply angered the Lord and he paid the price.

-As we said earlier – God’s presence can be a terrible thing!  In the New Testament of course, buildings and other religious “things”, lose a lot of their importance.  A church is just a building – in and of itself we would never call it “holy”, or at least we shouldn’t.  Its holiness comes more from the people who gather within it, as Paul says in 1Corinthians 3: “You (plural, the congregation) are God’s temple, (and just like the Tabernacle of old) God’s Spirit lives in you! (and that also is plural).  As we see in the book of Acts, that is a great thing.  It is what makes our being “Christians” possible.  Just like the fire that hung over the Tabernacle – that presence of God in the Church brings great security and joy.  He guides us, comforts us, protects us and gives us a sense of direction!  Without Him the Church would be just as lost in this world as Israel would have been lost in the wilderness.

BUT BROTHERS AND SISTERS, Acts chapter 5 reminds us that THERE IS MORE TO THE “PRESENCE OF GOD” THAN JUST THAT!!

PAUL GOES ON IN 1Cor.3 and says, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him, for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple”.  Just like Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira learned that the hard way.  In many ways their sins were minor.  They had made a big donation to the church (which they were under no obligation to do).  They had simply wanted to protect their name and by so doing they had detracted (taken away) from the honour which was due to God!!  As I said, it’s a sin many of us would consider minor.  After all we commit it practically every day whenever we fail to give the honour to God.  Whenever we do anything simply because of our feelings or our value system instead of God’s will or honour.

I commit that sin whenever I refuse or am afraid to stand up to declare the way of the Lord.  When I prefer to keep silent and just go the way of the world:

  – dress up in their five hundred dollar suits,

  – follow their standards in our sexuality and the things we say to each other,

  – follow their standards when we open up their newspapers
       like the Sun or the Mirror and believe some of the garbage you read there,

  – we just read their magazines like Dolly or Australasian Post and think it’s okay
       “there’s no difference between us and them”,

  – we come to church and stare out the windows or read our Bulletin
        and the minute we walk out the door we just forget all that has taken place!

Is that really so much different from what we read about in Acts 5?  They had said, “Oh yes, we have given our all to God”, when what they meant was: “Well we’ve given three-quarters we’d like to keep the other quarter for ourselves!”

If we’d sit down and analyse our time, and our money, and our standards – I kind of wonder if we could even claim that??

In 2Corinthians 6 Paul writes,

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?, for we are the Temple of the living God.  As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk with them, I will be their God and they will be my people.  Therefore come out from them and be separate’, declares the Lord.”

It is interesting of course that BOTH Ananias and Sapphira were given separate opportunities to confess.  And yet they both went the same way.  It reminds you of what Jesus said about the Kingdom and the Truth, coming before brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives.  I guess as we have seen so often in Acts, it is a matter of priorities.  Are we more concerned with keeping peace in the family, or following the way of God?  If we take our God seriously then there can be no question – He is a HOLY God, and we are His HOLY creation, UN-holiness is to have no place in our lives!!

In Malachi 3 the prophet writes that the Lord will come to His temple like a REFINER’S FIRE and a FULLER’S SOAP, so that He at last will have men who bring offerings in righteousness.  BUT he goes on to ask: “who can endure the day of His coming?” The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was a small sin by our standards.  But when you live on holy ground, when you live in the holy temple of God then every un-holiness must be burned away.  You cannot expect to take some idol and put it up in the corner of the temple somewhere.  There is no room for idolatry in God’s temple!

People of God – if we do not take SIN for what it is, then you can only wonder how we can ever hope to take SALVATION and the work of Christ seriously for what it is!!  Every time we celebrate the saving work of Christ we remember his suffering.  And, as the Heidelberg Catechism (L.D.15) reminds us, Christ’s suffering means that all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, Christ bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.  Christ bore the wrath, the holy anger of God, so that He might make atonement for us and give us the right and privilege to live in the presence of God.  Shall we abuse that privilege by bringing unholy things into the temple?

Lord, forgive us, cleanse us.  We want you to be worshipped and praised!

AMEN.