Through former CIA spy Edward Snowden’s revelations last year, U.S. citizens found out their
government is secretly watching them more than they knew. Every internet search, view, and purchase (even though in the privacy of our homes), along with every phone conversation, is not only
observed but is apparently being stored in cyberspace. Some might say this is a violation that is nothing short of a “home invasion.”
But if this “home invasion” makes you feel vulnerable, think
about the Spirit’s “holy invasion” [see yesterday’s post] of your heart. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is
naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable”
(Heb. 4:13). How would it change us, I wonder, if we had a
greater revelation of the Holy Spirit’s ownership and occupation of our body
and spirit which are His dwelling place: “Do you not know that your bodies are
temples [homes] of the Holy Spirit who is in you… and that you are not your own?” (1
Cor. 6:19), a “home invasion” that began the instant you gave Jesus the key.
In the past few months, I’ve gained perspective on being God’s dwelling place. But it has also sobered me on keeping a clean
house. Solomon said, “Keep your hearts [house] with all diligence” (Prov.
4:23).
Each of the Apostles had a way of expressing housekeeping: “Keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21); “Keep
a good conscience” (1 Pet. 3:1); “Keep yourself from free from sin (1
Tim 5:22); “Keep yourselves from idols” (1 Jn. 5:21). And Jesus'
all-encompassing command, “Keep My Word” (Jn. 14:23).
If your heart was a ‘house of thoughts,’ would kind of residence would it be for the Holy Spirit? Oswald Sanders asks, “How
uncomfortable would you be if others saw all
the pictures that hang on the walls of your imagination.” If we are to keep a clean house, we must be daily washing in the Word, and confessing our sins to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.(Eph. 5:26; 1 John 1:9).
Two days ago, I wrote that Paul was a tent maker. Afterward, it
occurred to me that his spiritual calling was not so dissimilar. In writing to
the Corinthians, Paul said we are living in a tent (this body) that
will be replaced by a permanent spiritual house. Paul may have been a tent maker by day, but he taught house building by night.
Coincidentally, Jesus is called the architect of our faith
(Heb. 12:2). And our inner man is called God’s temple (1 Cor. 6:19). But more to the point of this post, Paul says we are God's ‘building,’
which is a verb (not a noun), meaning and emphasizing the “process of building.”
The basic idea in 2 Cor. 5:1 is that God is
building a completely new house for the believer’s spirit, “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” What a difference it would make in our daily choices if we had a revelation of this truth: In cooperation with God, we are now building the house we
will live in forever.
With respect for the Spirit-inspired authors of the New Testament, it has always bothered me that Rahab, the woman who sheltered the Jewish spies (Joshua 2), is twice-mentioned as “Rahab, the harlot” (Heb. 11:3; James 2:25). It seems irreverently out of step with her place in the genealogy of Jesus—His great, great, great-grandmother (Mat. 1:5). If anything, it seems to me she should be called “Rahab, the redeemed harlot.” Why the name? Because Rahab the harlot’s name tells us God is a redeemer.
Rahab let the spies down from her window on Jericho’s wall with a scarlet cord. And for her help, they promised that when they returned to destroy the city, she and her household would be saved (Joshua 2:18)—but only if the scarlet cord was hanging from her window. What is the meaning of the scarlet chord? The scarlet chord represents the blood of Jesus. When the tabernacle was built, its walls and curtains were interwoven with scarlet thread. The red thread was a reminder of the blood covenant and the forgiveness of sins. By hanging the scarlet rope from her window, Rahab was looking to God to save her. Thus the name Rahab the harlot serves to remind us that God is a redeemer.
Rahab was an outcast in her culture and an outsider to the Jews. By recalling to us that she was a harlot, the New Testament writers are reminding us that even the worst skeleton in your closet is buried under the blood of Jesus. Because Matthew had come to understand that Jesus, the Lamb of God, had come to redeem mankind, he was not afraid to tell us there was a harlot in the house.
Yesterday, millions of Christians attended church services, held in buildings that are often called houses of worship. But unfortunately, we often refer to them as the “house of God”—an appellation caused by improperly comparing our places of worship to the Old Testament Temple where God’s Presence was, in point of fact, manifested. But in the New Covenant, you and I have become the house of God—“Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you…” (2 Cor. 6:19).
But knowing that a building cannot contain the Spirit of God has not prevented centuries of Christians from erecting grand cathedrals to house religious services. All the more curious that the current trend, at least in America, is to house our Christian worship services in ‘converted’ warehouses where we think nothing of taking a cup of coffee and a pastry into the worship service—an anathema when I grew up. You had too much respect for the building, even if you knew God didn't really live there! This begs the question: how much respect do you have for the real house of God—your body? The eyes through which you are reading this page right now are the windows to the house of God. And your ears, its sound system. And everything your hands do, everywhere your feet go are happening in the sanctuary where God dwells. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).
