The Holy Spirit and the Church

Sermon Outline for Sunday, May 16, 2021

The Holy Spirit and the Church are inseparable. Wherever the true Church is, there is also the Holy Spirit at work. In its fullest sense, the Church did not come into existence until the Day of Pentecost, next Sunday, because it was on that occasion that the Spirit came upon the assembled body of believers.

The New Testament Church uses two symbols or words of speech to depict the connection between the Spirit and the Church: a temple and a body. The temple symbol suggests a focus on worship of God and the body symbol suggests a focus on service to people.

The Church is likened to a building, more specifically, a temple. We see in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul’s writings contain several direct references to this imagery.

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

• The New Testament Evidence

• One of the most famous passages is 1 Corinthians 6:19, in which Paul is talking about the individual Christian, not the entire Church, when he says “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, who you have from God?” His appeal is to personal purity of life, as the context indicates. Let’s look at other of Paul’s writings that speak of all Christians collectively forming one temple:

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

• The warning is directed at any individual who does harm, or attempts to do harm, to the Church, as the first part of the chapter shows.

2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

• Paul is calling for God’s people to be separate from all that is evil.

Ephesians 2:21–22 ESV

in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

• Paul tells us here that Christ wants the Church, the temple, to grow. This is the WHOLE Church.

• Peter also uses this symbolism in 1 Peter 2:5

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

• The Old Testament Background

• The Church as the temple of the Holy Spirit is fulfillment of what God instituted in the Old Testament in both the tabernacle and the temple. When the tabernacle was first set up, we are told:

Exodus 40:34–35 ESV

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

• Similarly, when Solomon’s temple was dedicated, we read:

1 Kings 8:10–11 ESV

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

• Even though God is present everywhere, He chooses to manifest His presence in one place in a very special way.

• Two passages in Psalms brings this out clearly:

Psalm 51:11 ESV

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Psalm 139:7 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

• The Spirit Constitutes the Church

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

• At the moment of conversion, one becomes a member of this body. The person is saved as an individual but is immediately incorporated into the body of Christ by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

• He adds to the Church

• Not only is the Spirit the inner life of the Church, He also adds continually to the Body. He accomplishes this by working though God’s people.

Revelation 22:17 ESV

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

• The Book of Acts is a running commentary on this point. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit were the disciples able to witness effectively.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

• As a result of the Spirit-inspired preach of Peter, his listeners where cut to the heart and convicted by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:37 ESV

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

• The Holy Spirit Unites the Body

• The Holy Spirit is the only true agent in achieving genuine unity among Christians.

• Paul told the Christians at Ephesus …

Ephesians 4:3–4 ESV

eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

• The church at Corinth was guilt of fragmenting itself because of several competing elements in the congregation, each claiming allegiance to a specific individual. Paul is compelled to ask them …

1 Corinthians 1:13 ESV

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

• Because of this divisive spirit in the congregation, he tells them that they are carnal.

• Anything that is opposed to the work of the Spirit is carnal.

• Christians who do not permit the Spirit of God to control them in their relationships are dominated by the unsanctified nature … the flesh.

• Without unity among themselves, the early Christians would not have experienced the presence and power of God in their midst and in their witnessing.

Pastor Andy Lambert ~ pastorandy@cvcog.church