LIVING TODAY IN LIGHT OF TOMORROW

Billy Graham in his book, World Aflame, tells a story about Dwight Eisenhower. During his term as president, he was vacationing in Denver. It came to his attention that a six-year old boy named Paul Haley was dying of an incurable cancer. He had one dream and that was someday to meet the president. Eisenhower said to one of his aides, "Let's go see Paul Haley." They got into the presidential limousine and they drove over one August Sunday morning to the home of Paul Haley who had no ideal that he was coming. Flags on the fenders were flying as this black limousine drove up. Doors flew open, and out walked the president, who knocked on the door. Donald Haley, the father, wearing blue jeans, an old dirty shirt, and a day's growth of beard, opened the door. He said, "Yes, can I help ya?" The president said, "Is Paul here? Tell him the president would like to see him." And little Paul, to his amazement, walked around his father's legs and stood and looked at into the face of the man he admired most. Eisenhower kneeled down, shook his hand, and took him out to see the presidential limousine. Before he said good-bye, he hugged little Paul Haley. They shook hands again and he left. It was an exciting time for everyone, except Donald Haley, the father. He said, "How can I ever forget standing there dressed like I was in those jeans and an old, dirty shirt and an unshaven face to meet the president of the United States."

One of these days we will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. How tragic it would be to meet the Lord and be ashamed. Our text is preceded with Paul's words about appearing before the Judgment Seat of Christ. In the words that follow, Paul gives a series of three warnings. It is like Paul is reminding us how we should live in light of tomorrow.

1 John 3:2-3 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is." John is saying that if a person really believes that one day that he will see Jesus Christ and any day could stand before Him, it will impact the way we live.

2 Peter 3:11 speaks of the kind of people we ought to be in light of our Lord's coming and our meeting of the Lord: "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." In much the same way, Paul reminds us of our future and then gives certain warnings about the present.

Let's notice three warnings that are given to us in verses 16-23.

1. LET NO MAN DEFILE HIMSELF!

Notice verses 16-17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Paul gives us a warning about defiling ourselves. In does so in light of one of greatest truths declared in the Bible.

A. A HUMAN DWELLING PLACE FOR GOD THAT IS DESCRIBED.

The believer is called "the temple of God." There are two words in the New Testament that are used to speak of the temple. One is used to encompass the entire Temple. The other is used to speak specifically of the Holy of Holies. The word that Paul used is the one that speaks of the Most Holy Place. That was the room that was an earthly dwelling place for God. Paul tells us that the Spirit of God dwells in the believer. We are the present Holy of Holies on earth. We are the present earthly dwelling place for God.

As you look into the Bible you find that God has had three primary dwelling places on earth. There was His picture house that was the Tabernacle and Temple. There was His perfect house that was the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, there is His purchased house that is every saved person.

This is a most amazing truth. God lives in us. This is a most astounding truth. We are God's earthly dwelling place. He lives in us by the person of the Holy Spirit.

B. A HOLY DWELLING PLACE FOR GOD THAT IS DEMANDED.

As I said, the word that is used to speak of us as God's Temple is the word that speaks of the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy as it was often called. It was so named because it was the room that God dwelt. He is a God of holiness, therefore it was the Most Holy Place. Paul said, "for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Paul was demanding holiness on the part of every believer since we are the dwelling place of God.

I agree with Chuck Colson's statement in Loving God: "Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian." It is an everyday business of every Christian because God lives in us and we are His Temple.

1 Peter 1:16 says, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." It is for this reason we are to guard ourselves from being defiled. Leviticus 15:31 tells us that in the Old Testament, death was the penalty for defiling the Temple. Paul tells us that if any man defile the Temple of God, which is our body, him shall God destroy. The word "defile" and "destroy" are the same word. They speak of "spoiling, ruin, or corrupting." Paul is saying that when we take holiness lightly, God takes it seriously.

I think of the little song that children often sing in Sunday School:

Be careful little ears what you hear.
Be careful little eyes what you see.
Be careful little tongue what you say.
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little tongue what you say.

I want to remind you that God is not only looking down on us, He is living in us. Therefore we should be careful that we be not defiled. The second warning we are given is:

2. LET NO MAN DECEIVE HIMSELF!

In verse 18 Paul said, "Let no man deceive himself." Paul is talking about a matter of self-deception. His warning has to do with wisdom. Notice the text.

B. THE HAUGHTY SPIRIT THAT LACKS WISDOM.

Notice carefully verse 18, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." Notice the statement, "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world." The word "seemeth" means "think." It is literally, "has the conceit."

Paul is describing those who think they are wise and boast of their wisdom. Corinth was filled with those who considered themselves to be wise. Chrysostom described the Greek wise men as those who, "croak like frogs in a marsh; they are the most wretched of men, because, though ignorant, they think themselves to be wise; they are like peacocks, showing off their reputation and the number of their pupils as peacocks do their tails." 1

They thought themselves to be wise and proudly so. They consider themselves to be wise and called themselves wise men with conceited fashion. They were filled with intellectual pride. But Paul once again, as he has previously done so in I Corinthians (Chapter 1), reminds us that they were not wise. They were only wise men after the wisdom of this world. Their wisdom was a worldly wisdom. A wisdom that foolishness with God.

Notice verse 19, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." Why does God call their wisdom foolishness? I Corinthians 1:21 says, "…the word by wisdom knew not God…" God is not condemning a wisdom that discovers that two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen form water, etc. He is calling the wisdom of the world foolishness when it is an intelligence that keeps men from knowing God.

In verse 19 & 20, Paul quotes from Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11 to demonstrate that both the methods and reasoning of the world are vain and fruitless before God. It is vain and fruitless because it is a wisdom that knows not God. There are those who think they are wise but in reality are fools. A man can have a PHD from Harvard and if he does not know God he lacks real wisdom. If a man's intelligence rejects God, ignores God, and makes its own way to God, it is not wisdom, but foolishness.

Paul's warning is to guard ourselves from thinking that this world's wisdom makes us wise. It is a warning against conceit and pride that comes from thinking we are wise. We must never "think" ourselves to be wise after this world's wisdom. If we think we are wise by this world's wisdom, we are deceiving ourselves.

B. THE HUMBLE SPIRIT THAT LEARNS WISDOM.

In verse 18, Paul tells us how to be wise. He tells us to "become a fool, that he may be wise." He is not saying that we should become ignoramuses or idiots. He is saying that we must come to God with a humble and teachable spirit. Instead of elevating ourselves, we humble ourselves that we might learn.

I think of the old proverb that says: "He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool; avoid him. He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a wise man; teach him." Quintillian said of certain students, "They would doubtless have become excellent scholars if they had not been so fully persuaded of their own scholarship."

It is only as we realize our own lack of wisdom that we can really learn to be wise. Paul's warning is an encouragement to stay humble before God and teachable before God. It is a warning that challenges us too not to be deceived by thinking we are wise, but to be a fool in our own eyes, ever needed to learn.

You have people say, "The older I get the less I know." You see, as we get older the wiser we get and the wiser we get we more we realize how little we really know. You see these religious peacocks strutting around acting as if they are spiritual giants. They may think they are spiritual giants, but in reality they are spiritual gnats. They know very little about God and eternal things. The mark of a man that is really learning and is really wise is humility and a spirit that says, "I know nothing but I want to know more."

The third warning is:

3. LET NO MAN DEPRIVE HIMSELF!

Notice verse 21, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;" One of the problems in the Church at Corinth was the elevation of certain preachers. This had caused certain factions in the Church. They had become more man centered than Christ centered. They gloried in men.

But Paul tells them not to glory in men. Why?

A. OUR POSSESSIONS IN CHRIST.

Notice the last part of verse 21. Paul says, "For all things are yours." It was like Paul was saying, "Why make the leaders of the Church out to be so special. What God has given them, he had given you as well." Whereas, we ought to thank God for our leaders, we must never forget, they do not have a monopoly on God. What they have in Christ, every believer has in Christ. What any preacher has ever experienced of Christ, any believer can experience. All things are yours. There is not one believer that had been left out. All that anyone else has been given, each believer has been given. Any believer can experience what any other believer has experienced.

Paul gives a whole list of things that belong to every believer. He says that he actually belongs to every believer, as well as Apollos or Cephas. He says that the world, life, death, things present, and even things to come belong to every believer. Not just a handful, but to everyone that is saved. All these things are the possession of every believer.

B. OUR POSITION IN CHRIST.

Notice verse 23, "And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." Every believer is in Christ and belongs to Christ Whom is in God. Therefore, if we are Christ's, we have all of God that has been given to the Believer in Christ. This is our position in Christ.

Now here is the point Paul is making. Don't deprive yourself. Don't miss out on what has been given you. Now it easy to think that so and so has something from God you can't have or they have an inroad with God that you could never have. The truth is, no one has anymore than anyone else. The only difference is in one appropriating what they in Christ and the other not.

Certain leaders can be impressive. I love preaching and I love preachers. I listen to other preachers and I study other preachers. It is easy sometimes to lift them to a height in which I feel so inferior or inadequate. But God tells me that whatever they have I have.

The simple truth is, many believers are depriving themselves of what they have in Christ. Don't defile yourself, don't deceive yourself, and don't deprive yourself because one day we will stand before the Lord. That's how to live today in light of tomorrow.

1. "The Letters to the Corinthians" by William Barclay.