3.4. BEING A HOLY TEMPLE PROVIDES A DWELLING PLACE FOR THE LORD

The apostle continued:

Ephesians 2:22 "in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

A house may be beautifully situated; be styled in a most attractive way and furnished expensively, but uninhabited. There is something melancholic about uninhabited places. What joy when a house is inhabited - where family life is experienced and happiness is shared. The true Church is where the Lord is at home, a place where God, by the Spirit, finds His portion and delight, and by His presence makes that home so wonderfully attractive.

There are professed churches that are houses but not habitations - that have a form of godliness but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:5 ). They have the outer resemblance of being a living place for the Lord, but are without the spiritual dynamic that comes from being inhabited by God in the Spirit. When Jesus is owned as Lord, that company lives in the Godhead. They are "a holy temple in the Lord" and "a habitation of God in the Spirit".

What a privilege to be the Church of the living God (1 Timothy 3:15 ). Surely this great fact will affect each member that makes up the holy temple of God, as to:

	Their worship, the living God is in the midst:
	Their work, they serve the living God;
	Their witness, they are testimonies of the living God;
	Their walk, they live before the living God;
	Their wonder, they are expectant before the living Lord.

Being His holy temple is possible through total acceptance of Him as Lord. He must be in absolute control, and in full possession of the house. "In the Lord" and "in the Spirit" are the important requirements to being inhabited by God. Repetitive forms of worship are not sufficient - there must be submission too, and flowing in the Spirit. Then, and only then, will the immediacy of the Lord's presence be realized and excitingly enjoyed.

Being a holy temple gives the Lord a place for revelation. If you really want to get to know a person, the best way is to accept an invitation to spend time with that person in their own home. It is in the home that a someone really shows their inner self. The Lord reveals Himself in a very special way in the gatherings of His committed people. It is not without significance that teaching concerning the saints gathered for worship under the Lordship of Christ, given in 1 Corinthians 12:4 to 14:40, includes teaching on the use of spiritual gifts. There, we are informed of "the manifestation of the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12: 7 ). The word "manifestation" means "shining forth". The Spirit of God shines forth in gifts of revelation, power and utterance, inasmuch that when:

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 "... an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you."

In the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, we are given a variety of wonderful ways in which there is a shining forth of the Spirit of God, in the temple of His saints, equal to the manifestation of His presence in the Jerusalem temple in the shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies.

	In the 'word of wisdom', something of God's all-wisdom is seen.
	In the 'word of knowledge' something of God's all-knowledge is seen.
	In the 'discerning of spirits', something of God's all-penetrating discernment is seen.
	In the 'gift of faith', the unassailable, undeniable, unfailing faith of God is seen.
	In the gift of 'gifts of hearings', the compassion and restoring life of God is seen.
	In the 'working of miracles', the creative, wonder-working God is seen.
	In the 'gifts of prophecy', tongues and interpretation of tongues, the communicating God is seen.

His holy temple, the local church, is the vital place of divine revelation. Being a holy temple gives God a local centre of operations. A man's home is the centre of all that he does. The reason for all his activity and work of business, is the maintenance of the home, and the caring for and providing for those he loves. Now, being a holy temple, makes the local church that is submitted to the Lordship of Christ, the centre of God's purposeful operations in the suburb, town or city. When believers are gathered in the Lord's name, the Lord is right there in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20 ). Under the Lord's anointing and direction, business can be transacted that is effective in both heaven and on earth. Jesus said:

Matthew 18:18 "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

This happens when believers are brought into agreement by the Spirit in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus. The holy temple is the place of spiritual, powerful government, where the sinning brother is disciplined (Matthew 18:15-20 ); and the place from which spiritual warfare is conducted, affecting matters local, national and international. This can only be true of gatherings where Jesus is truly accepted as Lord, and is therefore able, by the Holy Spirit, to convey the mind and will of God to the saints, and then show them what to pray, and bears back to God their prayers and decisions which are ratified in heaven and done on earth.

The world needs effective local churches, operating under the Lordship of Jesus. Accepting His Lordship makes the local church a powerful, growing centre of divine operations. The great longing of the Holy Spirit is that there will come an end to people playing church, and a coming into the reality and power of the living Church operating under the government of Christ.