The Indestructible Temple
April 8, 2018 - Pastor Gerry Koning
The sermon series on The Indestructible Temple concludes with the important message that we, people of the church, are now the Indestructible Temple, because the Holy Spirit resides inside of us. And what does this mean for us? It means that we become a holy place and that we can have a very intimate relationship with God. But it also means that we have to protect the holiness of the God's temple by how we use our bodies and that we have to let God's glory shine out. We have to move from mere confession about God to intimacy with God, and people should be able to see this in us.
April 1, 2018 - Pastor Gerry Koning
One magnificent thing about the crucifixion of Christ is that it signified the end, completely and forever, of the Old Temple worship as a means of connection with God. When Christ died, God Himself tore the temple curtain in two so that temple worship became worthless in that very instant, because God no longer was willing to be limited to being worshiped in that space. Instead, God opened up salvation to the whole world by exchanging the Holy of Holies for Heaven and by making Jesus Himself the portal to God. The walls have come down so that all nations, all cultures, can bring their glory and honor into the very presence of God. This is what we celebrate at Easter!
March 25, 2018 - Pastor Gerry Koning
What a contrast there is between the Old Temple and Jesus as the New Temple in terms of how the Holiness of God was perceived. Whereas in the Old Temple structure the Holiness of God was protected by the temple architecture, by the regulations for animal sacrifices, and by the regulations for priests. In the New Temple, embodied by Jesus, the Holiness of God is no longer isolated by protections, but instead distributed to everyone because Jesus Himself so perfectly met the demands, once and for all, for holiness, and was willing to share it with everyone He met.
March 11, 2018 - Pastor Gerry Koning
The message of Jesus' cleansing the temple showed us that Jesus is the temple in and around whom we should center our worship. In His encounter with the Samaritan woman, this theme comes up again and three specific questions are addressed concerning worship, all of which lead us again to Jesus Christ. What mountain should we worship on? What Father should be the basis of how we worship -- a father who has passed on traditions to us, or one who wants to be in a relationship with us? And, in what way should we worship? All of these questions end up directing us to finding our sacred space only and always in Jesus.
March 4, 2018 - Pastor Gerry Koning
In John 2 we have the story of Jesus entering the temple and throwing out the livestock and money changers that had become part of the Passover rituals. To understand why He did this and why He spoke as He did, it helps first to understand the meaning of the temple, and then we can better understand how important it was that Jesus would claim to be the Temple. And this all has great meaning for us as we do life and worship today. We have to ask ourselves, "What temple are we worshiping in, and why?"