Don’t you know that you yourselves are
God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16
- God Calls Us to Live Out the Gospel in the Church
All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by his Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 26 “Of the Communion of Saints“
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
- God Calls Us to Work Together for the Gospel
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:9
Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them; and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also? Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD.
Numbers 16:9-11a
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the LORD, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22
- God Calls Us to Find Our Sufficiency in the Gospel
Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23
As we hear the world screaming at us with its wisdom about how to live and how to be fulfilled in life, as we hear our own flesh prodding us to find our significance and security in this world, Paul is calling us to remember the foundation of the church, the foundation of our own lives. It is Jesus Christ, and His gospel that we stand on. That is where we find our security and our significance. Because we belong to Jesus, we must focus our lives on the gospel. As we relate to ourselves, to the Church, and the world around us, focusing on Jesus and His gospel is the only way to please our Lord, to please our God, to please our King.
morning sermon October 9, 2022, Rev. Tim Rackley