Where does God live?

The Lord said, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; where is the house that you will build for me, and what is the place of my rest?’

And Solomon said, "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”

Stephen affirmed it before the high-priest saying, 'the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands; for heaven is God's throne, and earth is his footstool; what house will you build me, said the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hands made all these things? You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the holy ghost; as your forefathers did, so do you.'

Who then are the people that persecute the spirit of God? It is those who resist the Holy Spirit and who are not themselves temples for the Spirit of God, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” It was those who wanted the outward and appearance level church, who didn't have the Spirit; they refused to be taught and rejected the true temple of God which is NOT a building made by man.

Paul said, ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not worshiped by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’

We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people... ’ and again, “I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” However, “what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” If we are entertaining anything of ourselves in our hearts at the same time as trying to worship God, we are actually idolators. “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

If we deny the Truth, longing for an outward kingdom and an outward temple and serve the idols of our hearts, then our hearts are NOT God's Temple. Understand that it is those who were stiff necked and uncircumcised in their hearts who could not hear the words of the Spirit of God. So the question that we all should ask is “Am I like this?” The stiff necked and uncircumcised way is clear, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” If we are guilty in any of these ways, if we serve ourselves, live for ourselves, serve an outward temple, are 'trying to be more holy,' but hide what our hearts are REALLY like, then we simply live in a religion with no power. We serve nothing but ourselves, but we label it God, and there is no worse thing. We're deceiving ourselves into feeling like everything is 'ok,' everything is 'good,' everything is 'happy.'

Know what God has spoken of from the beginning, the mystery, which is 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' So that every one may truly say, 'I live, and move, and have my being in God.” And know that the Spirit of God will bring you out of the outward and appearance level kingdom, away from a physical building which mans hands have made; of metal, stone, and wood. This is an image that has been shattered by the Mountain, the precious Cornerstone of the True Church of God. THIS Church, of which Christ is the head, is made of living stones, living members, a household of the Spirit: a mortar and stone which shines with the Light of God in Christ Jesus. No man may claim righteousness in This House, and no man may make himself holy in This House; for the holiness and righteousness of This House is Christ Himself.

Take a few moments to read the following verses from Matthew 6:19-34.

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are you storing up treasures for yourself on this earth? Is the food, drink, clothing, money, and material things that you see everyday the things that take up your thoughts? Do you worry about even the most basic things of life? Are you concerned about how you appear to others or what others think of you? If the answer to even ONE of these questions is 'yes' or even 'kind of' then it is the evidence that you serve the outward church... the temple of yourself.

It’s a love story. . . Baby, just say “YES.”

Just say yes. 

That’s it. 

That’s it? But what else? Surely that can’t be it. What do you require of me?

What do I have to do? What do I have to do for you? Tell me, please. I just want to know. God, I love you. Please just tell me what I need to do to please you. To glorify you. I want to serve you, to give my life to you, to follow you. This is what I want, really God, just answer my prayer and show me my calling for my life. show me what you want me to do. 

 

But listen, Jesus says. Just stop what you think is passionate praying and simply listen. Listen to what He says. And don’t listen with your mind. Listen with your heart. 

I am the Way. I am the Truth. I am the Life. I AM. I. 

So maybe like the Jews in John 6 who have just seen Jesus multiply the 5 loaves and 2 fishes and now feel desperate to follow this man, you ask Him “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (6:28). You feel so desperate, so serious, about how to learn from this great teacher, this miracle worker who can heal cripples and provide food out of nothing for thousands. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to follow such a person? Of course! He can do so many things. . . just think. . . think of all the things he could do for me. 

 

For me?

 

Hmmm, think about that for a moment. . . do we follow Jesus because we are excited to see what He can do for me? 

Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. I want to go to heaven, I want to know I have eternal life, I want to have eternal security when I die, I want to know my life has purpose. 

Take a step back a moment from these thoughts that we believe we have the right to have. Take a step back and let us open our hearts to what Jesus says. What Jesus wants for our lives. He says to the inquiring Jews in verse 29, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”

But that didn’t answer their question; they had wanted Him to tell them what to do in order to follow them. So they rephrased their question: “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness” (v. 30) They want a sign from Him, something they can see. Jesus then answers ‘It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 

“Sir, give us this bread” the Jews say. They still feel that they want Him. But do they really? Jesus’ next statement reveals the truth. He declares “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.” (v. 35) “Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. but as I told you, you have seen me, and still you do not believe. . . my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Come to Me. 

Believe in Me. 

Look to Me. 

Is this a “to do” list that Jesus is giving them? Or merely an invitation to trust who He is? To trust His sufficiency, His power to draw their souls, His Spirit, His life? To eat of the true bread which is not a list of do’s and don’ts but Jesus Himself? Just to take the plunge of simple faith . . . in Jesus. 

To just say “yes.”

Indeed, this is what Jesus wants from us. This is all Jesus wants from us, is to say “yes.” Not just to say it with our lips, which can be done by anyone, but to say it with our whole hearts. The way you would say “Yes” to the perfect Lover who loves us unfathomably and unconditionally, so much more than any earthly love we have ever known or imagined. The way you would say it, knowing that to say “yes” to this Lover is to renounce forever all other lovers that have ever wooed our hearts, especially His biggest rival. . . our very own selves. Yes. To renounce our very selves. (“Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”) Luke 17:33

Jesus’ call of love is that strong. It must be that strong, that exclusive, that it would forever rescue us from evil. “Arise, my darling, and come with ME.” (Song of Solomon 3:10). Not with Me and all your other lovers. Not with me and your selfish, sinful nature. But with Me alone. For I will purge you of yourself and make you a new creature. . . a pure, sinless, spotless virgin betrothed to Me. The righteousness will not be of yourself, of your own purity or holiness, for THAT isn’t real righteousness at all. But it will be the pure and holy covering of MY blood with MY Spirit living in You. 

The truth we must know is this. Unlike the beautiful princess in Taylor Swift’s music video of “Love Story,” we are not beautiful. We are not princesses. In fact, there is absolutely nothing attractive about us at all, nothing that would make the amazing Lover, Jesus, take notice of us in the slightest. Only our sin --which makes us disgusting, worthy of nothing but judgment and death. 

We try to fix ourselves. We try to improve. We try to go forward in our pursuit of Him, trying to do things to get him to take notice of us, to make ourselves worthy of Him. We try, like the Jews, to ask Him what we can do to please Him. But Jesus does not want us to choose doing things instead of His grace. If we do so, we by default are choosing ourselves. “I do not set aside the grace of God,” Paul says, “for if righteous could be gained through the law (doing things), Christ died for nothing.” (Galatians 2:21). Asking what we can do to please Him is to insult (as well as reject) the boundless grace with which He reaches out to us freely. (for the sake of our own self love)

The invitation, nonetheless, still extends out to us in the midst of our sin. It’s an invitation from the King of Kings. It’s an invitation to take His hand and leave the dirty kingdom of ourselves and enter the Kingdom of Life in His Spirit. An invitation that doesn’t require us to do anything. That doesn’t want us to do anything. Just Jesus speaking quietly to our hearts, “Say yes.”