It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. – Philippians 1:20.
God’s Temple
The first truth we must establish on the basis of this text is that in this life Christ must be magnified in the bodies of those who believe in Him. This is because God dwells only within His children, not in unbelievers, and if He is to be seen at all in this life, He must be seen in the lives of those who know Him.
Throughout the history of the Christian church this truth has been perverted over and over again. People have often made the mistake of identifying the hand of God with the development of the Reformation churches, the cause of democracy, the movement for prohibition, pacifism, or even civil rights. But God is not magnified by these. There is no doubt that many of these movements have been based on Christian principles, at least in part, and that God has often blessed them and blessed people through them. But God’s hand is never seen in the movement itself; it is seen in the lives of those who guided it. Where people honor God in their bodies God prospers their work. When they cease to honor Him the institution ceases to be a vehicle in which His glory is seen, even though its beneficent effects may last for generations.
Some people have sought to limit God to the Bible, but this is wrong also. The Bible is free of error and God has chosen to honor it as He will honor no human words. But God does not dwell in the Bible. God is only magnified as He enters into the life of believers through the Bible and forms their lives in accordance with its principles.
Some people have sought to glorify God by building great churches, but Christ is not magnified in buildings. I have a friend who is very sentimental in his nature who is certain that God is to be found in great churches more than in other places. It is a fine thought, but it is wrong. I have answered by telling him about the three greatest churches I have read about and heard of being visited by close Christian friends. The first is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This church is built over the site that Constantine selected as the original location of the cross and tomb of Christ about A.D. 325. You would think that such a site would be holy. But I’ve been told that if you have ever been there, you know that the church is divided into areas in which the various church orders compete for prominence and seek to entice tourists to their particular attraction. Imagine God dwelling in a place like that!
The second church is Chartres Cathedral, the highest flowering of the genius of Gothic architecture in Europe. But one must remember that this church was constructed in the Middle Ages when the common people who built the cathedral were held in spiritual bondage through their fear of God. The famous east portal contains the stern terrors of Christ presiding over the final judgment, and the entire period of the construction of the cathedral was marked by fits of self-chastisement as people tried to ward off evils they believed God had sent upon them. Imagine God dwelling in a building constructed out of such distorted conceptions of God’s nature and of the Christian message!
The third church I want to mention is the great basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome. Here is the pinnacle of Renaissance architecture embellished with the highest achievement of Renaissance art. Michelangelo worked here, and so did Raphael. But these men were paid with the indulgence money squeezed from the peasants of Germany, and it was in protest against such injustices that Luther started on the path that gave birth to the Protestant Reformation. It’s no wonder that Paul stood on Mars Hill in Athens and reminded the Greeks of his day that “the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.” – Acts 17:24.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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