[The Land on Which the Temple is Built/The Temples Building Plot/The Site of the Temple]
2 Chronicles 3:1
Pastor Lee, Sunghoon
Let us think about where we should build our lives, in order that we may lead them befitting of our status as the Lords temple, instead of squandering them as we please.
First, the temple is grounded in the faith that God alone is our reward.
Mount Moriah is where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to God.
It is where Abraham believed, in the face of such an extreme test, in Gods promise and that He would take responsibility. Mount Moriah is the one place signifying the belief in choosing God above all else. Paul was able to pay attention to the one person God was trying to save, because he always put God ahead of himself. That is why, in order to lead the one person to the Lord, Paul was able to refrain from using his privilege as a Roman citizen to get out of taking beatings and prison. Paul stood on the belief that he should follow the Word instead of his own thoughts, that God would take responsibility even when acting on the Word feels deathly, and that He is the greatest reward and purpose. On this belief are we raised as the Lords temple.
Alas, we often value grandiose structures and expensive materials, outward appearances and authority, over faith. I also tried to build a magnificent temple out of fancy materials: a nice background, degree, and ministry. But I was missing the most important plot of faith. Because I did not believe God was the only reward, I was always fretting about my future, and my head was full of the calculus that holy deeds warrant proportionate compensation. My idea of the greatest prize was not God but honor, recognition, and wealth. But God presented me with a yoke: my wife who disregarded all of my prized materials. Since I was not grounded in belief, I could not take my wifes criticisms as valid and deserved instead, I resented her very much. So I was ever thinking of divorce and suicide my lifes conclusion of having furnished the temple with frivolous materials in the absence of a site of faith.
Second, the temple is based on confessing your sins and repenting under any circumstances.
During the twilight years of his reign, David, who had repented continuously throughout many trials, tried to boast his might by counting his subjects. Only after the numbers, one million and three hundred thousand, were reported, did David realize he had belittled God and committed a grievous sin, but, as a result, seventy thousand died. Amidst this incredible crisis, God appeared before David through an angel on Mount Moriah. David takes on his subjects sins as their shepherd by confessing in front of God that he is the sinner. Similarly, when Paul received the Holy Spirits vision and made a Holy Spirit endorsed beeline for Philippi, he took beatings he did not need to take and was thrown into a deep cell he did not need to stay in. Nevertheless, Paul sung the Holy Spirits hymns, thereby spreading the Word to Philippis disenfranchised. Paul fully realized he was the sinner who had crucified Jesus, and made a complete U-turn from his past. This is what it means to be the Lords temple, the site of repentance. When we look at our own sins at all times, we become built as the Lords temple, residence of the Holy Spirit.
At the brink of divorce, we met Pastor Kim Yangjae and through her ministry, based on contemplation of the Word and upholding the family, received the amazing grace of the Lord that protected me and my family to now.
Because, since birth, I had not thought of studying anything other than the bible and theology, I regarded myself as being quite knowledgeable on the subject.
But such knowledge could not save my family nor could it nurture my wife. In the end, what is important is that we each stand before God as a sinner and meet Jesus, who atoned all our sins. There is not much to life.
Third, we must pay the price for the land.
God accepted Davids confession specifically on the threshing floor of the Jebusite Araunah. After repenting, David receives Gods instructions through the prophet Gad to worship there. Araunah, having heard this, volunteers everything necessary for the kings worship. Yet, David refuses to take the present for free, instead paying for the entire mountain. There he builds an altar and after the worship, the calamity ends. Araunah was Jebusite, the last of the seven peoples of Canaan that Israel had to drive out. This final enemy, now under Davids rule, recognized the Lords sovereignty and became the foremost of worshipers by offering everything for worship. On the other hand, David had already admitted his subjects sins as his own, and, therefore, pays his dues too. As king, he had the authority and power to just take all he wanted, but he has fully repented and so does not use his privilege. In this way, Araunah and David each pay for salvation, making the plot a place of worship that God responds to. Gods temple is built on the grounds of us applying this to our lives. When we, as the Lords temple, apply ourselves to the cross, everything, including our work and background, leads to saving souls. Even though it may seem endless now, our church is built on faith, repentance, and application. I solemnly ask that you endure a little longer and stay with your mokjang (basic unit of the church community). The day of release will only come when staying locked with the community and the Word. My wife and I always criticized and disparaged one another, but by sticking with the community, I feel us slowly changing into coworkers in the Holy Spirit. There are yet tall and precarious Taurus Mountains to scale and prisons to be locked up in, but now we have the Lords Word and our community. So we need not fear I believe we can walk this journey together.
