It's Not Mine

It's been a LONG time since I've put anything on the blog.  I was reading 1Corinthians this morning which then made me think of the passage in Matthew.  When I was thinking about these things together is made me think of the Philippians passage.

"So?", says I, "Why not put this on the blog?"  Why not!

1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 "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." 

Matthew 23:16-22 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

In the Matthew 23 passage, the temple and the altar are what make the gold and the gift sacred.  In and of themselves they are as they always were - normal, everyday gold and ....gift(whatever the gift might be).  They are MADE sacred by their relationship with the temple and the altar.

So to with us.  Like the gold and the gift, in and of ourselves we are nothing - and we most certainly are NOT holy!  But because God's temple is holy (because He dwells there, making it holy) and His Spirit dwells in us, we are His temple and are made holy because of Him - it is God who makes us holy.

That reminds me of another passage...

Philippians 3: 8, 9 "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - ...".

That "not having a righteousness of my own" portion reminds me of another passage... 

Matthew 22:10-14 "And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.  “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.  And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.”