A Warning That Cannot Be Ignored

This sermon was delivered on Sunday, November 6, 2016, as part of an ongoing series through 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The pastor briefly reviewed prior messages on spiritual immaturity, jealousy and factionalism in the Corinthian church, the sole foundation of the Church in Jesus Christ, and the building materials used in constructing the Church. The central warning of this passage is found in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, where Paul declares that the Church is the temple of God and that whoever destroys that temple will be destroyed by God.

The pastor explains that the word 'you' in these two verses is plural, referring to the Church as a collective body rather than to the physical body of each individual believer (the latter image appears in 1 Corinthians 6:19). The word 'destroy' also carries the meaning of defiling or corrupting the Church. To answer why the Church is so important that God issues such a severe warning, the pastor presents three biblical images of the Church. The first image is 'the people of God,' derived from the Greek word ekklesia meaning 'called out ones,' referring to those whom God has called from darkness into light. The Church is not a building or a denomination, but a community of those who have received Jesus Christ as Savior and voluntarily gather together.

The second image is 'the body of Christ,' the most frequently used image in the New Testament. Every believer is a member of the body, needing to remain connected to Christ as the Head and to the other members of the body. The pastor emphasizes that no believer can say 'just me and God is enough' and neglect the local church, because the Great Commission can only be fulfilled through the unity and diversity of the whole body of Christ. This unity transcends all barriers of race, language, social class, and nationality.

The third image is 'the temple of the Holy Spirit.' The pastor explains that Paul uses the Greek word naos (the inner sanctuary, the dwelling place of God) rather than hieron (the entire temple complex), emphasizing that the Church is the place where the Holy Spirit truly dwells. It is precisely because the Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit that it bears the fruit of the Spirit, has power to proclaim the Gospel, and produces extraordinary results such as the three thousand who believed after Peter's first sermon in Acts.

The sermon concludes by bringing the three images together: the Church is the people of God redeemed by the blood of Christ, the body of Christ carrying out the Great Commission on earth, and the temple of the Holy Spirit who indwells it. These three reasons explain why Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 3:17 is so severe and why no believer can afford to ignore it.