• Home
  • About FCJ
  • FCJ Staff
  • Advertise
  • Student Writers
  • Special Sections
  • Cookbook
  • 507-765-2151

Fillmore County Journal

"Where Fillmore County News Comes First"

  • News
    • COVID-19
    • Feature
    • Agriculture
    • Arts & Culture
    • Business
    • Education
    • Faith & Worship
    • Government
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Outdoors
  • Sports
  • Obituaries
  • Commentary
  • Police/Court
  • Classifieds
  • Legal Notices
  • Columnists
  • Social Scenes

The temple of the Lord

February 6, 2023 by Fillmore County Journal Leave a Comment

Rev. Peter J. Haugen

St. Paul Evangelical

Lutheran Church

The glory of the Lord was once found in the pillars of cloud by day and of fire by night. That glory filled the temple, but that glory departed from the temple in judgement before the Babylonian Captivity. That glory did not return when the temple was rebuilt, not as it had been. And that glory is now found in Jesus.

And in this Jesus, the glory of the Lord came again into the Temple. We see it when our Lord was circumcised, when He was presented and Simeon and Anna beheld Him, when the boy Jesus confounded the teachers with His understanding, when the man Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple in holy wrath. The glory of the Lord returned to His temple.

St. Paul urges us Christians, “by the mercies of God, to present [our] bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1). He explicitly ties this into the worship life of the church. This should not surprise us, given that the temple was the place of sacrifice. It is not possible to present our bodies “a living and holy sacrifice” apart from the church. It is in the church that we receive the mercies of God by which we can do this.

But it does not end there. We must go back into the world. But we are not to be conformed to the world, for we do not belong to the world. This means both that we should not live as the world lives, seduced by her fads and ideologies, and it means that the world does not have any claim over us, now or in the life to come. The world can rage and storm against us, but she cannot overcome us, not so long as we abide in our Christ.

For “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually one of another” (Romans 12:5). Even more, our very bodies are “a Temple of the Holy Spirit who is in [us]” (1 Corinthians 6:19). And the Temple of the Lord is where His glory dwells.

This has profound implications for how we must live, and for how we must treat our own bodies. We are not at liberty to do as we will with our bodies, but we are “to present [them] a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,” confessing in life and in death that we are united in Christ with our brothers and sisters… and with God Himself. So do not be conformed to the world.

The Temple of the Lord was both the place of sacrifice and where the glory of the Lord was manifested among the people of God, in cloud, in fire, in blood, in mercy, in Jesus. And now you Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You Christians are a member of the body of Christ, a living and holy sacrifice to God. May God grant us grace to be steadfast and faithful in this. Amen.

Filed Under: Columnists, Faith & Worship


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

FILLMORE COUNTY WEATHER

Fillmore County Journal - Your number one source for news and community information in Fillmore County Minnesota

News Categories

  • Features
  • Agriculture
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Education
  • Faith & Worship
  • Government
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Outdoors

Church Directory

Christ Lutheran Church - Sundays 9:00am
509 Kansas Street NW, Preston, MN 55965
507-765-2161 | christlutheranpreston.org

Elstad Lutheran Church - Sundays 10:30am
37784 Dogwood Road, Lanesboro, MN 55949
507-467-3769 | www.elstadlutheranchurch.org

Greenfield Lutheran Church - Sundays 9:00am
235 Main Street S, Harmony, MN 55939
507-886-3272 | greenfieldlutheran.com

Our Savior's Lutheran Church
Saturday 5:30pm & Sunday 9:00am
805 S. Broadway Street, Spring Valley, MN 55975
507-346-7251 | oursaviorsspringvalley.com

St. Columban Church - Sundays 10:00am
408 Preston St., NW #2, Preston, MN 55965
507-765-3886

St. Mary's Catholic Church - Sundays 8:00am
405 Twiford Street SW, Chatfield, MN 55923
507-867-3148 | www.chatfieldonline.com/stmarys

Wykoff United Methodist Church - Sundays 10:30am
236 Gold Street S, Wykoff, MN 55990
507-202-2275

NEWS

  • Features
  • Agriculture
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Education
  • Faith & Worship
  • Government
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Outdoors

More FCJ

  • Sports
  • Obituaries
  • Commentary
  • Police/Court
  • Classifieds/Legals
  • Social Scenes
  • Special Sections
  • Columnists
  • Journal Writing Project
Fillmore County Journal
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
  • Home
  • About FCJ
  • Contact FCJ
  • FCJ Staff
  • Employment
  • Advertise
  • Commentary Policies & Submissions

© 2023 · Website Design and Hosting by SMG Web Design of Preston, MN.