{"id":3156,"date":"2014-05-14T07:27:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T13:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2014-05-14T07:28:25","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T13:28:25","slug":"we-are-the-new-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html","title":{"rendered":"We are the New Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/230\/2014\/05\/tj.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3159\" title=\"tj\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/230\/2014\/05\/tj-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\"><\/a>This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church, and do a two part series called \u201cTemple Jenga.\u201d If you are a pastor feel free to copy and steal everything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2014.05.11 \u2013 Temple Jenga<\/strong><br>\n<strong>Mark 13<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>About 1000 yrs ago a group of Vikings led by Erik the Red set sail from the coast of Norway for the vast Arctic landmass we know as Greenland. Greenland was (and still is) largely uninhabitable. It\u2019s just this massive Island covered in a sheet of ice. But, along the southwestern coast they found 2 deep fjords that were shielded from the harsh North Atlantic winds &amp; salt spray. As they sailed upriver, they began to see green, grassy slopes appearing through the fog, dotted with wildflowers &amp; shrubs. They saw thick forests of willow, birch, and alder trees.<\/p>\n<p>They settled there &amp; formed two colonies about 300 miles apart that were known as the Eastern &amp; Western settlements. And they began to raise sheep and goats and cattle. They turned the grassy slopes into pastureland, and hunted seal and caribou. They built a string of parish churches and a cathedral to rival those back in Norway (picture). They traded actively with mainland Europe. They tithed regularly to the Roman Catholic Church. They were: law-abiding, economically viable, fully integrated European communities, &amp; at their peak they were around 5000 people. They lived in Greenland for 450 years\u2014&amp; then they vanished. And until recently, nobody knew why.<\/p>\n<p>This story is told in Jared Diamond\u2019s book Collapse. Diamond is a Pulitzer Prize winning Geographer. He studies why civilizations collapse (Mayans or Easter Island). For a long time we assumed it was always the result of wars, drought, or some cataclysmic events. But what we now know is that they collapse because they were not committed to the holistic stewardship of all of life\u2026 they become too focused on perpetuating their own culture &amp; lose track of the big picture.<\/p>\n<p>Diamond writes archeologists still come from all over the world to dig in Greenland &amp; they are all looking for the same thing. (I read this and I\u2019m thinking evidence of a war, or disease, drought). But what they\u2019re looking for is fish bones: &amp; they never find them. The Vikings who colonized Greenland were surrounded by some of the most fertile fishing waters on planet. And yet we can tell by studying the ruins\u2026 they were starving. So the question is, why would a society that was sitting on top of the richest food source the ocean has to offer starve to death?<\/p>\n<p>The answer is that the Greenland Norse had a cultural taboo against eating fish. It simply wasn\u2019t done. Vikings elsewhere ate fish, even exported dried fish\u2014but these Greenlanders had some sort of strong cultural taboo against eating fish. (food taboos were common in pre-modern world). Anybody have their own private food taboo against fish? How about against fish at the Chinese buffet? That\u2019s just good common sense.<\/p>\n<p>Anybody watching Vikings (BBC)? I\u2019m hooked. It\u2019s wrong on so many levels and yet still I watch. They portray the Vikings as seafaring raiders. But they thought of themselves as farmers &amp; ranchers. In large part, they raised cattle\u2014it was a huge status symbol for them: real men raised cattle\u2026 they didn\u2019t eat fish. So when they settled Greenland: they cleared forest for pasture, &amp; began cutting down trees for barns, homes, firewood. The deforestation removed the critical footing for the thin fragile arctic soil. Over time the livestock over-grazed the hillsides, and wind and rain erosion began to carry away all the topsoil. Pretty soon the crops wouldn\u2019t grow, and the livestock couldn\u2019t be fattened, so food became scarce\u2026 and even though they were sitting on top of millions of North Atlantic Cod (which if lightly breaded and deep fat fried is amazing when served w\/chips), all archeological evidence suggests that the Norse would rather starve than eat a fish.<\/p>\n<p>They could have learned from the native Inuit people\u2026 How to survive by using fewer trees; how to burn seal blubber instead of wood, fish, &amp; hunt seals in winter when they were at their most vulnerable (instead of raising so much livestock &amp; taxing the fragile land). But the Vikings despised the Inuit. They called them \u201cskraelings\u201d or wretches.<\/p>\n<p>When archeologists dug through the ruins of the Western Settlement, they found plenty of valuable wooden objects: Crucifixes, bowls, furniture, doors, and roof timbers\u2026 which means that the end came too quickly for anyone to do any scavenging. They can tell from the skeletons left behind that the people suffered from horrible malnutrition. They found the bones of newborn calves\u2014meaning that in the final winter they gave up on the future &amp; ate the young animals. They found toe bones from cows that equaled the exact number of cow stalls in the barn\u2014meaning they ate the cattle right down to the hoofs. They found the bones of dogs covered in knife marks\u2014meaning in the end they even ate their own pets.<\/p>\n<p>What they didn\u2019t find were any fish bones. It seems right up to until they starved to death, the Norse never lost sight of what they stood for.<\/p>\n<p>What Diamond demonstrates thru the telling of this story is that most vanishing cultures do at least 2 things wrong: They do a lot of other things, but they all seem to do these two. First, they become highly invested in boundary markers. Boundary Markers: cultural markers that define who\u2019s in\/out. Things like needing to raise cattle, build roaring fires, and never eating fish \u2013 those are boundary markers. (that\u2019s the 1st thing). Second, they use the world around them selfishly. They become more concerned w\/perpetuating their own culture that with the overall well being of the world. The Greenland Vikings tried to recreate a way of life that worked fine in Norway\u2026 but Greenland was too fragile for it. By the time they knew they were in trouble it was too late.<\/p>\n<p>When Vanishing Cultures Vanish, they always do these two things: they become highly invested in boundary markers (defining who is in\/out). And they become more concerned about the perpetuation of their own \u201cway of life\u201d than, the well being of the world around them.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re in Part 2 of Series called Temple Jenga: talking about Mark 13, and Jesus\u2019s strange conversation at the temple in Jerusalem just before he\u2019s killed. We have Jesus and his Disciples walking around the temple, marveling huge stones (the stones @ base of temple were massive), when Jesus launched into this mysterious apocalyptic diatribe. And the heart of his message centered on the Temple.<\/p>\n<p>He says, \u201cDo you see all these great buildings? \u2026not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.\u201d Mark 13:2<\/p>\n<p>If you know this gospel well, you know that all along Mark has been building a case against the temple. And in chapter 13 it\u2019s coming to a head\u2026 and to understand it, we need to try and think like an Israelite. We start w\/the idea that most cultures at that time worshipped creation right? Or at least some part of it (sun God, rain god).<\/p>\n<p>But the Hebrew people were different. They worshipped one God who was distinct from creation. In fact, to the Hebrew mind heaven wasn\u2019t where you went when you died. Heaven was the place where God lived and reigned with God\u2019s angels. (it was less like a place, than another dimension).<\/p>\n<p>So there was heaven, where God reigned &amp; ruled; &amp; there was earth, that God had created and called good. And they thought heaven &amp; earth were created kind of overlapping\u2026 earth was bathed w\/God\u2019s presence (but God was distinct from it). And the whole thing gets hijacked by human brokenness &amp; what they called sin. So the earth becomes disordered &amp; corrupted.<\/p>\n<p>So there was: heaven, the place where God reigns, earth which is now disordered &amp; corrupted, and the temple\u2026 and it was the last place on earth where heaven &amp; earth still overlapped:<\/p>\n<p>In the temple 2 major things were happening: 1) God was present with his people; 2) God was redeeming what was broken (sin). But in the Gospel of Mark (all gospels), Jesus moves against the temple, because it\u2019s longer doing what it\u2019s intended to do. If you remember the temple had these layers of decreasing holiness:<br>\n\u2013 The Holy of Holies: holiest place on earth, where the presence of God and the Ark of the Covenant were.<br>\n\u2013 A little less holy was the Naos, \u2026 only for priests.<br>\n\u2013 A little less holy the inner courts\u2026 only for Jewish males.<br>\n\u2013 A little less holy to outer courts, for women, for the gentiles.<br>\n\u2013 A little less holy was the Holy City, Jerusalem.<br>\n\u2013 And then came the Holy Land\u2014Israel\u2026 &amp; finally<br>\n\u2013 Wilderness: which was far away from the temple as can get (not holy).<\/p>\n<p>And yet in the Gospel of Mark, Ch. 1, the first time we see Jesus, you remember where he is? He\u2019s in the Wilderness being baptized by John the Baptist. And the 2 things that are only supposed to happen at the temple are happening in the wilderness with Jesus. You\u2019ve got the presence of God (dove &amp; the voice), and the forgiveness of sins (John\u2019s baptism was for forgiveness of sins).<\/p>\n<p>So in Mark\u2019s gospel, all the things that used to only happen in the temple, start to happen wherever Jesus is. He moves thru the gospel bringing the presence of God &amp; forgiveness of sins. The difference is, JS does it w\/out all of the boundary markers, &amp; he does it not for the survival of the Jewish people, but for the life of the whole world\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The next time we see Jesus in the temple (Ch. 11), he\u2019s turning over tables &amp; yelling &amp; screaming &amp; disrupting the commercial businesses. And this whole confrontation happens in the place called the court of the Gentiles, right? So, this is supposed to be the place where even those who are not part of the Hebrew people can come and pray, and worship, and make sacrifices, and be in God\u2019s presence. But, instead it\u2019s become a Persian bazaar where the high priest &amp; temple rulers were getting rich, bilking people.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus says, \u201cIs it not written: \u2018My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?\u2019 But you have made it a \u2018den of robbers.\u2019\u201d Mark 11:17. Instead of making the temple a place where God\u2019s presence extends to all nations\u2026 scan credit cards &amp; sell indulgences. And Jesus confronts them, chastising them (almost gets killed). PT: So by the time we get to Mark 13 &amp; Jesus\u2019s odd discourse (they will tear down the temple &amp; I\u2019ll build it up again in 3 days), the temple has become the symbol of everything that\u2019s wrong w\/the Hebrew people.<\/p>\n<p>If you think about it, they are doing what vanishing cultures do. They become highly invested in boundary markers, and they\u2019re so concerned about perpetuating their own Jewish way of life, that they have forgotten about their obligation to the world. You know the story of Hebrew people was always story of obligation. After creation got hijacked, things got worse &amp; worse until one day nobody was listening to God\u2026 until Abraham\u2026 contact. Abraham could hear God.<\/p>\n<p>So God says, \u201cAbraham, come over here! Come out away from the others &amp; let me talk to you. Let me teach you who I am. Let me show you what I\u2019m doing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And God began to hammer God\u2019s image back into Abraham\u2019s people. And God thought, \u201cIf I can form these people in my image, then the rest of the world could see me again\u2026 through them!\u201d So Israel was meant to be a nation of priests, right? Priest are always mediating the presence of God to the people, they were blessed to be a blessing!<\/p>\n<p>They had an obligation to the world.<\/p>\n<p>The temple was constructed toward that end. But instead, they set up boundary markers, &amp; kept most people out, (protecting their culture of clean &amp; unclean), and they stopped caring about the wider world. So God enters in, &amp; Jesus succeeds where Israel fails. Jesus becomes place where God is present &amp; sins are forgiven.<\/p>\n<p>And then, (and this is the twist of all twists) Jesus says, \u201cAfter I\u2019m gone\u2026 you guys, my followers\u2026 you\u2019re going to be the place where God is present &amp; where sins are forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And this is talked about most often in 2 ways.<\/p>\n<p>First: the church began to be talked about as the Body of Christ. This is Paul\u2019s favorite metaphor for the church. (1 Cor. 12: 27) \u201cYou are the body of Christ.\u201d The \u201cyou\u201d there is plural, it\u2019s talking about all of us. The church is the body of Christ. We are the way Christ is present in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the church began to be called the Temple. In 1 Cor. 6:19 Paul says, \u201cYour body is a temple of the Holy Spirit\u2026\u201d And the language here is tricky, I won\u2019t bore you with the Greek\u2026 you know what, why not? I\u2019ll bore you w\/the Greek. Here\u2019s what it looks like: \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c3\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b1 \u1f51\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd. (to soma humon). Let\u2019s read this out loud together\u2026 no?<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s happening here is a technical thing. I\u2019m not a linguist, but the scholars teach us that this phrase pairs a singular noun (body) and a plural genitive pronoun (of you). So if we were to read it literally (and if we were from Texas), it would say, \u201cthe body of ya\u2019ll is a temple.\u201d Why that matters is that he\u2019s not talking about your body. Anyone get told that? We tell this to teenagers: your body is a temple, that\u2019s why you can\u2019t smoke cigarettes. I have a friend who used to say \u201cThe body is a temple &amp; temple could use a little incense.\u201d Don\u2019t tell that to your kids.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that if Paul was talking about your personal body, he would\u2019ve used a plural form of body. But he said \u201cthe body (singular) of ya\u2019ll (plural) is a temple. So, he\u2019s talking about the Church. When we come together as the church we become the temple: the place where God is present, and the place where sins are forgiven. Paul uses this over and over: 1 Cor 3:19 \u201cYou are God\u2019s temple &amp; God\u2019s spirit dwells in you\u201d, 2 cor. 6:16 \u2013 \u201cWe are the temple of the living God.\u201d (all of us together). God is present in is temple\u2026 and we are the temple (church). God is also dealing w\/sins in his temple.<\/p>\n<p>In Acts we have this story of the upper room: when Jesus appears, tongues of fire, (Pentecost). The analog in John says, \u201cHe breathed on them and said to them, \u2018Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.\u2019\u201d Jn 20:22-23<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like JS is saying, \u201cRemember how I became the place God was present in the world instead of going to do some sacrifice at the temple, I just forgave people\u2019s sins? That\u2019s the ministry I\u2019m giving you. Not that you are God now &amp; can forgive sins. But you are going to become the place where I am present in the world forgiving sins\u2026 you are now my body &amp; you guys are the temple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Peter talks about it differently in 1 Peter 2; \u201cCome to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God\u2019s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So your body isn\u2019t a temple, your body is a Living Stone. And when it comes together w\/other living stones in the church, it becomes formed into the temple\u2026 which means a couple of really important things: 1) My life really only becomes intelligible in context of church; when I come together w\/other living stones, I come alive in a whole new way. 2) It means that my life matters\u2026 because Jesus has chosen to live on in the world in &amp; through us. Your life matters to the world\u2026 not just to your children, friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, but to everyone in the world who struggles under weight of brokenness into which we were born.<\/p>\n<p>Because, God\u2019s solution for the brokenness is Christ; and the primary means that Christ is present in the world is that is forms us into living stones, calls us together in the church &amp; build us into his temple\u2026 the place where God is present forgiving sins and healing our broken hearts.<\/p>\n<p>And the only way to blow it, is to start doing what Israel did\u2026 which is to say: to start doing what vanishing cultures do\u2026 setting up cultural boundary markers &amp; forgetting our obligation to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n<p>And the painful reality is\u2026 we do this stuff all the time. I mean let\u2019s just tell the truth, we set up boundary markers all the time.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll set up boundaries around our BELIEFS: and if your beliefs aren\u2019t in line with our beliefs, we\u2019ll try to put you outside boundary of our group.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll set up boundaries around our RELIGIOUS RITES &amp; PRACTICES. You have to be baptized and confirmed by the right church or you can\u2019t receive communion, you can\u2019t really be a part of us. You have to say the sinner\u2019s prayer &amp; walk down the isle\u2014this was my tradition. You had to feel really, really, really bad about your life (never mind that you are only 7 at this point and haven\u2019t really done anything wrong). So you need to come forward and say a specific prayer. We don\u2019t even trust you to say the prayer right so you are going to need to repeat it after me. (I see that hand). Some people say you have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues or you are not a true Christan.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll set up boundaries around MORALITY, if we don\u2019t like your lifestyle, then you\u2019re on the outside (\u2026completely blind to our own moral failings). When it\u2019s all said and done the people who struggling the most: struggle with their own sexuality, struggle with addictions, struggle w\/doubts\u2026 The very people who need God\u2019s presence &amp; forgiveness, they can\u2019t get past the boundaries. So we end up being like the temple rulers, rejecting sinners on behalf of the God who is determined to welcome sinners. That\u2019s what vanishing cultures do\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes we get really concerned about the success of our churches &amp; church culture forget about our obligation to the life of the world. As Churches: I see this in our utter preoccupation with church growth. Honestly, I think God don\u2019t care about churches getting bigger. What God cares about is the world &amp; all the people in it. We exist for the life of the world. Churches have become far too concerned about what makes us grow &amp; what kind of programs we need to compete w\/other churches for a shrinking market share.<\/p>\n<p>We exist not so we can grow huge, and create the ultimate church experience then\u2026 go have brunch, y\u2019know? We\u2019re living stones, built into a holy temple together &amp; we are meant to be a place where all kinds of crazy people come &amp; meet God &amp; God deals w\/all their brokenness.<br>\nThat\u2019s why we exist: to meet the world at the point of its greatest need w\/ the presence &amp; forgiveness of God; that\u2019s what the temple is for!<\/p>\n<p>In JoCo, when kids get in trouble w\/the law, often time the courts will order them to go through this thing called \u201cStrengthening Families.\u201d They pull whole families in &amp; do parenting classes, &amp; life-skills, and counsel the kids &amp; parents together\u2014a whole curriculum. And our church is trying to become a host site. We\u2019re struggling to make it happen (lots of people &amp; resources). We\u2019re having to ask help from other churches, but it\u2019s a tough sell. These folks will never: come to worship \/ volunteer \/ tithe (most are ordered to be there by the court). We have to be okay w\/that. We\u2019re not doing this to grow our church bigger. We\u2019re doing this because we\u2019re on the hook for our community. We can\u2019t just do the stuff that builds attendance, we have to do the stuff that helps the world around us to flourish.<\/p>\n<p>This is what the church is for! We exist because God is on a mission of redemption! The world has been hijacked: poverty, injustice. People all around us are enslaved to addictions, pain, fear, regret, &amp; shame\u2026 And churches can\u2019t just keep on building more &amp; better buildings\u2026 and more and better programs.<\/p>\n<p>If the life of the church becomes just about the quest for the ultimate worship service &amp; not about the life of the world, then we\u2019re doing what vanishing cultures do\u2026 and ultimately God will organize against us.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a text in the OT, where they are explaining how the temple was actually constructed. This piece was cut this tall. These widows had recessed frames. The nave had this many side chambers\u2026 it goes on and on. But there\u2019s this one detail that jumps out at you. 1 Kings 6:7 \u201cThe house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s an old rabbinic belief that as the stone was harvested, it miraculously came out of the quarry in just the right dimensions to fit with what they were building at the time down at the temple. They didn\u2019t even have to shape it at the job site. Every rock came out of the ground with exactly the right shape so that it could be fit together into the temple\u2026<\/p>\n<p>So the rabbis taught: God has cut each of us out of the quarry, &amp; made us living stones; all different shapes &amp; sizes, &amp; he fits us together &amp; then uses us\u2014the body of Christ, the temple\u2014for the life of the world. And so this means that your life is actually unintelligible apart from your participation in the life of the church. Without the church you are just an uncut stone\u2026<\/p>\n<p>But when we join together you become miraculously formed; cut just right from the quarry\u2026 ready to be fit into place in our temple. And together we become the place where God is present in the world &amp; where sins are forgiven. And as this happens we begin to fulfill our obligation to the world. We actually begin to become human as human was meant to be.<\/p>\n<p>I just think about Ed Corbin, one of our homeless members who literally died on our front steps a few weeks back\u2026 at his memorial Jim Schmidt reminded us that for the longest time Ed wouldn\u2019t come inside, stay outside. It took him a long time, year or more to come inside and worship. When he finally did he was here most weeks for 5 years.<\/p>\n<p>Ed needed a walker, but lived in the woods so instead he pushed an empty wheel chair around to add stability. You get so used to seeing someone around every week, you almost start to take it for granted that he\u2019ll be there, pushing that empty wheelchair around the parking lot for exercise\u2026 going slow as can be. It was actually pretty funny to watch him\u2026 like he had an imaginary friend.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I would mess w\/Ed while he was walking slow. Once I said \u201cEd, why don\u2019t you sit down in that thing?\u201d He didn\u2019t miss a beat\u2026 \u201cI cain\u2019t\u2026 I\u2019m in to big a\u2019hurry!\u201d All said in this low growl of a cigarette addled voice. Another time said, \u201cwho you pushing around there, Ed?\u201d He didn\u2019t miss a beat, looking around in feigned surprise: \u201cWhere\u2019d he go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So on Palm Sunday when we all stood around, somewhat helplessly, as the paramedics tried to revive him\u2026 it was a bit surreal. Like a disturbance in the temple\u2026 a wound upon our body. And it was just shocking\u2026 I remember we prayed together &amp; then we walked inside to gather like living stones and to worship\u2026<\/p>\n<p>That morning I saw a side of our church I\u2019d never seen. I mean, we\u2019ve been through a lot of hard things together, but this was different. This was like something you read about in books. But as we walked inside and began to gather for worship I was acutely aware of how all the pieces fit together. That we had worship leaders who were so gifted &amp; sensitive to the moment\u2026 they knew just how to lead us in that place. Watched Cole sticking to Elijah like glue\u2026 Elijah H. was close to Ed &amp; was standing by him visiting w\/Ed when he collapsed. You could see Cole doing what he was born to do, after Elijah had been wounded doing what he was born to do. People who needed to process found someone to process. People who needed to cry found a shoulder to cry on\u2026 talk found a listening ear. That week got several texts checking in on me to see how I was doing &amp; sent a bunch myself. I realized this was happening all over our body all week.<\/p>\n<p>In and of himself, Ed was terribly broken. He came out of the quarry that way &amp; he made a mess of just about everything he touched. On his own his life was never going to image God. But when he was a part of us\u2026 it did. He became a living stone &amp; God fit him into his temple called Redemption Church. His life mattered to us\u2026 even his brokenness mattered to us. And when he was w\/us he was part of the body of Christ, the holy temple.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what the state of Ed\u2019s soul was when he died. I know that he died among friends. I know he died knowing that God loved him &amp; if there was any hope for his hopelessly addicted soul it was in Christ. I know he knew we loved him too\u2026 But even more than that, he died knowing that he was a part of the temple\u2026a living stone.<\/p>\n<p>But if we had put up boundary markers? I don\u2019t care how low you set the bar, Ed would\u2019ve never made it through the front door\u2026 too broken. If we were only concerned about our own needs &amp; having the ultimate church experience \u2013 folk like Ed wouldn\u2019t factor in\u2026 standing out front smoking, lighting one cigarette with the butt of the last.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019m telling you when he was a part of us, our church became more beautiful. It became more like the body of Christ; I don\u2019t know how to explain it\u2026 he became a living stone whose broken life fit with us.<\/p>\n<p>So let me tell you the good news\u2026 if you feel like YOU are too broken to matter to this world, because you\u2019ve made such a mess of your life. If you are in the throes of addictions or depression. If you are struggling with your sexuality, or plagued by doubt, anxiety, fear, anger, regret, shame. Then you have come to the right place. Your life can make sense here w\/these people, even if it doesn\u2019t make sense anywhere else.<\/p>\n<p>And what you\u2019ll learn if you stick around is that the God who set the world in motion &amp; who watched it run completely off the rails. This God has never stopped working for its redemption. This God didn\u2019t leave us here alone, to struggle in the darkness. He entered in\u2014he took on human form. He taught us about God\u2019s kingdom. He showed us how to live &amp; how to be a new kind of person. He was killed for it; but God raised him from the dead. And he breathed on his people the Holy Spirit &amp; that Spirit has travelled down through the ages &amp; it\u2019s in this room right now. And it can take your life &amp; make you a living stone &amp; build you into this temple\u2026 u\u2019ll find God\u2019s presence &amp; God\u2019s forgiveness. You will find that this God will stop at nothing to heal your broken heart:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church, and do a two part series called \u201cTemple Jenga.\u201d If you are a pastor feel free to copy and steal everything. 2014.05.11 \u2013 Temple Jenga Mark 13 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>We are the New Temple<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We are the New Temple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paperback Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-14T13:27:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-14T13:28:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/files\/2014\/05\/tj-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Suttle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Tim_Suttle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Suttle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"25 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html\",\"name\":\"We are the New Temple\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-14T13:27:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-14T13:28:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6\"},\"description\":\"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"We are the New Temple\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/\",\"name\":\"Paperback Theology\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6\",\"name\":\"Tim Suttle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tim Suttle\"},\"description\":\"Find out more about Tim at TimSuttle.com Tim Suttle is the senior pastor of RedemptionChurchkc.com. He is the author of several books including his most recent - Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture (Zondervan 2014), Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), &amp; An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. The band's most recent album is \\\"Straight Back to Kansas.\\\" He helped to plant three thriving churches over the past 13 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@Tim_Suttle\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/author\/timsuttle\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"We are the New Temple","description":"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"We are the New Temple","og_description":"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html","og_site_name":"Paperback Theology","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438","article_published_time":"2014-05-14T13:27:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-14T13:28:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/files\/2014\/05\/tj-300x168.jpg"}],"author":"Tim Suttle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Tim_Suttle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Suttle","Est. reading time":"25 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html","name":"We are the New Temple","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-14T13:27:25+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-14T13:28:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6"},"description":"This is the message from last week at my church. We took a quick break from the lectionary to hook up with our mother church, Heartland Community Church,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2014\/05\/we-are-the-new-temple.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"We are the New Temple"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/","name":"Paperback Theology","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6","name":"Tim Suttle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tim Suttle"},"description":"Find out more about Tim at TimSuttle.com Tim Suttle is the senior pastor of RedemptionChurchkc.com. He is the author of several books including his most recent - Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture (Zondervan 2014), Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), &amp; An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. The band's most recent album is \"Straight Back to Kansas.\" He helped to plant three thriving churches over the past 13 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438","https:\/\/twitter.com\/@Tim_Suttle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/author\/timsuttle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}