1996 SINGLE SERMONS
TEMPLE, TORAH, AND TRIBE
DR. JIM DIXON
MAY 5, 1996
PSALM 1:1-6; PSALM 2:1-6
Temple, Torah, and tribe: for the people of God living in the Old Testament era, these were the three most important things. Temple, Torah, and tribe. But what do these things mean to the people of God today? This is our subject this morning: temple, Torah, and tribe, and what these three things mean to us as Christians today.
First, then, is temple. Now, St. Peter’s Basilica stands in Vatican City in Rome. It was designed by Bramante, the famous architect, but it is most renowned for the work of Michelangelo. It was Michelangelo who designed the great dome on St. Peter’s Basilica, and it was Michelangelo who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at St. Peter’s. And Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment is exhibited there at St. Peter’s Basilica, along with many other great works of art.
But St. Peter’s Basilica is not only known for its art and its architecture. It is also known for its massive size. It is the largest church in the world today. 80,000 people can worship in that basilica’s cathedral at one time. And there are 11,000 rooms in St. Peter’s Basilica. It is 1,151 feet long and 767 feet wide. But you see, St. Peter’s Basilica, great as it is, is not a temple. On this Catholics and Protestants agree. St. Peter’s Basilica is not a temple because a temple is a place where the presence of God resides. It’s a place where the presence of God resides. There is not a building today on the Earth that might rightly be called a temple. There is not a building on the Earth today where the presence of God resides.
Now, the first temple was built by King Solomon on the Hill of David almost a thousand years before Christ. It was designed by plans given by God, and within that temple (as in the tabernacle before it) there was a Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies there was the Ark of the Covenant. On the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat and the winged Cherubim. And there in the Holy of Holies was the Shekhinah, the very presence of God. But that temple, the temple of Solomon, was destroyed in 587 BC by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian armies.
A second temple was built by Zerubbabel there on the Hill of David in Jerusalem in 516, and then that temple was expanded (really, it was rebuilt) by King Herod. But that temple was destroyed. In fact, the last temple was destroyed on the Hill of David in the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD when Titus and his Roman legion swept over the city of Jerusalem. There is not a building on the Earth today that might rightly be called a temple.
For 1,926 years, this has been so. There has been no building in this world that might rightly be called a temple. And yet, the Bible tells us the temple remains. The Bible tells us the temple remains because your body is a temple. If you’re a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you’ve experienced regeneration and rebirth, if you’ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ (and the Bible tells us the Spirit of God, the very presence of God, has come to dwell in you), then you now have become a temple. What does the temple mean to the people of God today? It means your very body. As a believer, your body has become a temple.
Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, and he said, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you?” And therefore, the people of God today must treat the temple of their body with respect, because it is set apart for God. God would ask you this morning, “How are you treating your body?” The American Medical Association tells us that 434,000 people in this nation die every year because of tobacco-related diseases. 434,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases. That’s incredible. I mean, that would be the equivalent of three 747s fully loaded with passengers crashing into the earth every day, 365 days of the year. 434,000 people die each year of tobacco-related diseases. That’s more people than die of heroin or cocaine or alcohol or AIDs or fires or homicides or suicides or automobile accidents combined. It’s absolutely incredible.
The World Health Organization tells us that 500 million men and women in the world today will die of tobacco-related disease. And yet, American tobacco companies spend $6,900,000 a day on advertising. Tobacco companies spend almost $7 million a day just trying to get you to use a product that may very well damage your body.
And of course, it’s not really about tobacco. I mean, that’s not really the issue here. It’s about the temple, your body, in which the Spirit of God dwells. And the truth is, there’s nothing wrong with tobacco per se, and God wouldn’t be vexed if you had an occasional pipe or an occasional cigar or an occasional cigarette. But the truth of the matter is (and we all know this) most people don’t use tobacco that way. Most people use tobacco chronically. Most people use tobacco addictively, and it damages the temple, the body in which the Spirit of God dwells.
Of course, there are many ways that we damage our bodies. In the first year of our marriage, when Barb and I were first married (I know you’re going find this hard to believe), every day I topped off the day with three cherry turnovers. I’d get those Pillsbury or Pepperidge Farm frozen turnovers. I’d put them in the oven and they’d puff up real nice. I’d get a large glass of whole milk and three cherry turnovers and top off every day like that. At the end of the first year of our marriage, I weighed 240 pounds. I could take a shower without getting my feet wet.
And how did God feel about that? Did He feel like there was more room in the temple? I think God was upset because it’s an abuse of the body. What’s wrong with being a couch potato (besides the fact that perhaps there is a sin called sloth)? What’s wrong with being a couch potato? It damages the body.
What’s wrong with sexual promiscuity? What’s wrong with having sex outside of the context of marriage? Of course, we’re using our bodies in ways contrary to the will of God as given in holy scripture. We’re exposing ourselves to various diseases. You see, it’s all about the temple. Do you honor God’s presence in your body, and do you really believe your body has become a temple of the Holy Spirit?
In the Middle Ages, millions of people died in war. Millions of people also died because of the plague that just swept over Europe. So many people died in such a short period of time that they could not bury people individually. And so they dug these mass graves, massive pits, and they just threw bodies into them by the hundreds. Historians tell us they filled those pits even by the thousands, and they set those pits on fire.
They did this throughout Europe, and these fires were called bonefires. We get the word “bonfire” from these bonefires that took place all across Europe in the Middle Ages when human bodies were just burned in mass. The Roman Catholic Church was vexed. They claimed that this was a desecration of the human body. And certainly it was not a proper way to dispose of human bodies. And yet, it wasn’t really a desecration of the human body because you really can’t desecrate a human body after death. You see, when a human body dies, their soul and spirit leave that body. And if you’re a Christian, if your body was a temple, it’s a temple no longer. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit leaves that body at death. And the body’s just an empty shell—dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
You can’t desecrate a body after death. But the warning of God is clear this morning. You can desecrate a body before death. If you’re a Christian, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. Respect the temple. Honor God in your body.
God not only wants us as the people of God living today to respect the temple, but He wants us to respect the Torah. Respect the temple and respect the Torah. In California recently, in the month of March, a man was arrested. You may have read about it in the Denver Post. A man was arrested in Chino, California, for stealing human ashes from cemeteries, columbariums, and crematoriums. He was arrested by the police, and they said, “Why were you stealing human ashes?” And he said that he was ingesting them. They asked him, “Well, why were you ingesting them?” And he said because he believed these human ashes, if ingested, would give him eternal life.
They said, “Well, how are you ingesting them?” And he said, “Well, in the beginning, I snorted them nasally. But that was really difficult. But I learned over time that I could just sprinkle the ashes on my food.” He said, “That was far more palatable, and I think that was a step in the right direction.” Well, it certainly was a step in the right direction, but he’s still a few steps from sanity and certainly a major walk from a sound mind. And yet, we can feel for this person. What a tragic person. We can identify with this much: we can identify with his desire for eternal life. We can identify with his desire to live forever.
This is true of people the world over. In every nation, men and women long for eternal life. And how can we find eternal life? Well, you see, the people of God in the Old Testament era believed eternal life came only through the Torah. It came through obedience to the Torah. It came through submission to the Torah.
The Torah, originally referred to as the Decalogue, was the 10 Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Then after that, it came to refer to the entire Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. And then, in later Judaism, the Torah referred to the entire Old Testament canon. And the people of God in the Old Testament era believe that salvation, eternal life, and blessing came through obedience to the Torah, the law of God.
That’s why in our passage of scripture for today, in Psalms chapter one, the Psalmist writes, “Blessed are those who walk not in the council of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. For their delight is in the Torah, the law of the Lord. And on that law, on that Torah, they meditate day and night. They are like a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither. In all that they do they prosper, but the wicked are not so. They are like chaff driven by the wind. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.” It all had to do with Torah. It was Torah that distinguished the wicked from the righteous.
It was Torah that distinguished those who were going to prosper and those who were going to perish. It was Torah that divided between Heaven and hell. It was all about obedience and submission to the law. But of course, the problem was that no one could really obey the Torah. I mean, no one could really fulfill the law. No one could really live in submission to the full counsel and instruction of God. And as the people of God today, we are graced to understand that God has sent His Son into the world to offer salvation and eternal life. We are graced to understand that we are saved by grace and to understand that we are saved by God’s mercy and Christ’s blood. We are saved when we come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
So, what is the Torah to us? What is the law to us? What does it mean to us? What does it mean today to respect the Torah? And what place should the Torah have in our life, understanding that this word “Torah” refers to all the instruction of God? The Greek word nomas, “law,” refers to His law. It refers to His counsel and to all of its instruction. It refers to scripture itself. What is the Torah to us? And God would have us to understand that it’s all about love. For the people of God today, God wants us to understand it’s all about love.
First of all, the Torah is a test of love. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And then the Torah really describes love. Jesus said, “All the law (all the Torah, all the nomos) is summed up in this: that you’d love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and that you’d love your neighbor as yourself.” You can’t know what it means to love God or what it means to love your neighbor apart from the Torah. Every instruction, every council, every word in this book, has to do with what it means to love God and what it means to love your neighbor.
So, what is the Torah to us? Perhaps you’ve read a book called The Birdman of Alcatraz, written by Thomas Gaddis, which tells the true story of Robert Stroud, who was a twice-convicted murderer and a hardened criminal who spent most of his 70 years incarcerated. Much of his incarceration was on the rock island called Alcatraz. And it was there, in the San Francisco Bay, in that prison called Alcatraz, that Robert Stroud one day found a wounded bird in the exercise yard. He found a wounded pigeon, and something happened inside of him. A little spark of compassion began to flicker in this hardened criminal. A little spark of love flickered for that wounded animal. Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz as he was later to be called, picked up that bird, took it back to his cell, and began to care for it. Through that care he began to bring the bird back to health.
That was the beginning. He began to find other birds. Pretty soon, everyone was bringing him birds—other prisoners and even employees there at the prison. They were all bringing him birds. He had canaries, and parakeets, and pigeons, and many types of birds. He began to read books on birds. He became a kind of amateur ornithologist. He became a bird expert. Gradually, his life began to change just a little bit.
One day, Robert Stroud was in his cell, behind the bars. Outside, there was a guard sitting on a wooden crate. And Robert Stroud spoke to him and said, “Could I have that wooden box? I want to make it into a bird cage.” The guard said, “Well, why should I give this box to you? This is the first time you’ve spoken to me in 20 years. Why should I give you this wooden crate?”
And Robert Stroud said, “Please, please,” and there was emotion in his voice. The guard was moved, and he gave Robert Stroud that wooden box. Robert Stroud said, “Thank you.” This was the first time anyone had ever heard Robert Stroud, this hardened criminal, say thank you. The guard was stunned. And the prison psychologist said Robert Stroud was beginning to change. And he did change in his latter years. They said part of the reason he was beginning to change, part of the reason for that transformation, was just the love and the care that he had been giving to birds.
Even loving animals can begin to change us. If it’s true that even loving animals can begin to change us, how much more true is it that loving people can change us? And if loving people can change us, how much more true is it that loving God transforms us? How powerful is the love that we render towards God and that we render towards people for His sake?
And yet, how can we know what it means to love God, how can we know what it means to love people apart from Torah, apart from the instructions of God? For the Torah, It’s all about love. If you really love God, if you want to love God more and more, if you want to love your neighbor more and more, then you need to learn to live by the Torah—by this book.
Respect the temple, respect the Torah, and then finally, respect the tribe. Now, what does that mean for us as the people of God today? Respect the tribe. In Forbes Magazine, a recent issue describes how in February a 23-year-old man jumped off the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. He wanted to take his life. He wanted to commit suicide. It didn’t work. When he hit the water he broke his back, but he didn’t die because he landed right by little boat. In that boat was a fisherman. The fisherman was a psychiatrist. He was a medical doctor and a counselor. He had a life preserver. He gave it to the man. He had a portable phone and he dialed 9-1-1. Incredibly, miraculously, this 23-year-old man was saved.
But why do people do that? I mean, why do people jump off bridges? Why do people tragically and so sadly sometimes take their life or seek to take their life? There are many reasons. I mean, counselors and psychologists tell us there can be many reasons. Sometimes it’s related to finances, sometimes it’s related to medical problems. But psychologists and sociologists tell us that sometimes it has to do with tribe. You see, counselors and psychologists and sociologists tell us that human beings are tribal. In fact, more and more articles are being written today about the fact that human beings are tribal. We find identity, community, and fulfillment in the context of a tribe. That’s why kids join gangs in inner cities. That’s why we have sororities and fraternities at colleges. That’s why there’s the Junior League and the Elks Club. Human beings are tribal. Through these tribes, people try to find some sense of identity and some sense of community. And it’s very painful for a person who goes years and decades without a tribe.
This was no real problem in Israel in the Old Testament era because there were plenty of tribes. There were 12 tribes descended by blood from the 12 sons of Jacob. There was the tribe of Benjamin. There was the tribe of Issachar, the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Joseph, the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Asher. There was the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Zebulon. There was the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Naphtali. There was the tribe of Levi. These were the 12 tribes of Israel. Of course, sometimes the tribe of Joseph was referred to through his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In some of the listings of the tribes, Levi is left out because the tribe of Levi wasn’t given territory because the Levites were the priesthood and they lived throughout all the territories. But these basically were the 12 tribes. And through these tribes, the people of God found community. Through these 12 tribes, for more than a thousand years, the people of God found their identity.
They found their place of service in this context. Within the context of their tribe, they worshipped. And God wants you to understand today that His people are still tribal. But our tribes are not based on blood, genetics, or ancestry. They’re not based on socioeconomics or race. For the people of God in the New Testament era, our tribes are called congregations. Our tribes are called churches. And what does it mean to respect the tribe? It means to commit yourself to a local church for the sake of community, service, and even identity, that you might experience what the people of God are meant to experience.
Respect the temple, respect the Torah, and respect the tribe. This is the will of God for us as the people of God in this time. And it’s really a test of our commitment. I mean, how we treat temple, Torah, and tribe is a test of our commitment. You’ve all heard the word figurehead. The word figurehead is derived from the figures that were carved into wood and placed at the front of ships. These figures were at the bow of the ship just above the cutwater. They looked imposing. They looked strong. And to an observer who was watching an approaching vessel, the figurehead appeared to be leading the ship through the water. The figurehead appeared to be guiding the course of the ship itself. But it was not true, because the figurehead was really just ornamental, just decorative. It had no real function, no real purpose. There’s a lot of people in the world today who claim to be Christians, a lot of men and women who take the name of Jesus Christ. But for many people, Jesus Christ is just a figurehead. He is just ornamental, just decorative. They’re just nominal Christians. Christ doesn’t really lead their ship. He doesn’t really guide their course.
And what’s true of you? That’s what the Spirit of God is asking us today. What about us? And you see, the proof is in the way we treat temple, Torah, and tribe. Are you honoring the temple? Do you really believe your body is a dwelling place of God in the Spirit? And are you treating your body rightly? Is it set apart for God?
And do you respect the Torah? I mean, do you really believe that this book defines what it means to love God and explains fully what it means to love your neighbor? And are you living your life by God’s Word for love’s sake? “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.”
And do you respect the tribe? Have you given yourself to this congregation, or to some other congregation? Are you seeking identity and community there? Are you giving yourself in service there, that you might be the people God has called you to be? Temple, Torah, and tribe. Let’s close with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your love for us. It is a love that led You to Bethlehem and, Lord, ultimately to Calvary. Lord, it is a love that through Your Spirit called us to faith, to belief, and to commitment. Lord, as we’re gathered here in this worship center this morning, we recommit our lives to You, that we would be Your people, the people of God, today. Lord, help us to respect the temple, the Torah, and the tribe. We would treat our bodies, Lord, as Your dwelling place. By Your Spirit we would submit our lives to Your Word, knowing that it’s all about love and what it means to love You and to love our neighbor. And Lord, we pray that we would understand that You have called us to be a tribal people. You’ve called us to assemblies. You’ve called us to congregations. You’ve called us to churches. Help us to be faithful, Lord Jesus, for our sakes, for Your kingdom’s sake, and for Your sake. We love You. We pray this in Your great and matchless name. Amen.