We Dedicate Our Hearts

In the days of Ezra, they dedicated the Temple of God to the LORD.  That’s because the Temple of the LORD was the place where they encountered God.  It’s where they drew near to God.  It is where they “saw” God.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8 ESV)

Today, we encounter God in a different way.  We draw near to God through the work of Jesus, God’s Messiah.  We receive the Spirit of God and our bodies become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  We recognize when God is at work in us and working through us.  When our hearts are turned over to God, we see God.

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. (Matthew 12:35 NLT)

Our hearts are similar to our minds in that there are both good and bad thoughts that are in there.  Our hearts are different, though, in that they are more like warehouses with stored thoughts than the high-traffic area of our minds.  In our minds we direct traffic.  We decide what to “store” in our hearts.

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)

When we dedicate our hearts to God, we are deciding only to store away things that are of God.  We are also choosing to go into our hearts with God to clean up the places that are storing things not of God.  When we dedicate our hearts to God, it is not just a feeling.  It’s a commitment to, place by place, turn our hearts over to God – creating in us a pure heart.

How about you?  Do you dedicate your heart to God?  Do you go into your heart with God and turn over the places to God that are not of God?  Is God creating in you a pure heart?  Do you see God?

We Dedicate Our Minds

Back in the days of Ezra, Temple dedication included animal sacrifices. Today, we dedicate the Temple of the Holy Spirit by dedicating our bodies and spirits to God.  It’s difficult to understand how to train our spirits for godliness, because we understand our flesh and blood bodies much better.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1 NIV84)

Worship, then, is seen through our actions and heard through our words.  Everything we say and do is an act of worship to (or an act of rebellion against) God.  How, then, do we dedicate our bodies to God in worship?  It starts inside our minds.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV84)

When we dedicate our minds to God, we are recognizing that our words and actions first formulate in our minds.  We think before we speak.  We think before we do.  So. we choose to be purposeful in our thoughts.  We can compare our thoughts to God’s thoughts, so that our words and actions match God’s design and desire for our lives.  We fight the battle for our minds.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV84)

How about you?  Do you fight the thoughts in your mind and make them obedient to Christ?  Do you make your thoughts match God’s design and desire for your life?  Are you transformed by the renewing of your mind?  Do you dedicate your mind?

We Dedicate Our Spirits

Yesterday we reminded ourselves that when we come home to the Father through the Son, we receive the Holy Spirit.  Our bodies, then, are Temples of the Holy Spirit of God.  We should honor God, then, with our bodies.

Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives' tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4:7 NLT)

There is a sense, however, in which we go deeper than our bodies.  There is an essence within us that is us.  This essence is often called our “spirit.”  Our spirits will outlast our bodies and get to reside in a new bodies some day.  Until then, they are the part of us that connects, communicates, and communes with God.  That’s because God is Spirit.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God… (Romans 8:16 NASB)

Dedicating the Temple of our bodies, then, needs to include a dedication of the spirit.  This eternal-part of us should be in lock step with the Holy Spirit of God.  Our spirits should be trained to stay close to God’s Spirit.  This takes training.

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:8 NLT)

We don’t just dedicate our bodies, then.  We dedicate our spirits as well.  We dedicate them to the LORD when we train ourselves to be godly.  We train ourselves to walk together with God.

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. (1 Timothy 4:9 NLT)

How about you?  Did you know that you have a spirit that will outlive your body?  Did you know that your spirit can be with or against God?  Do you train yourself to be Godly?  Do you dedicate your spirit to the LORD?

We Dedicate Our Bodies

In yesterday’s post, we saw the Israelites completing the Temple of the LORD.  They immediately dedicated the building to God.

The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile. During the dedication ceremony for the Temple of God, 100 young bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs were sacrificed. And 12 male goats were presented as a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel. (Ezra 6:16-17 NLT)

This kind of dedication, though, just doesn’t connect with us.  We don’t understand the animal-sacrifice system because we don’t do it anymore.  That’s because the Temple isn’t a building anymore.  We started to get a different understanding of God’s Temple through Jesus, when he was standing next to the Temple building that was completed in the days of Ezra.

[T]he Jewish leaders demanded, "What are You doing? If God gave You authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it." "All right," Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." "What!" they exclaimed. "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and You can rebuild it in three days?" But when Jesus said "this temple," He meant His own body. (John 2:18-21 NLT)

Jesus wasn’t just referring to his own body.  He was starting to help us understand that all of us would soon see our bodies as Temples.  When we approach the Father through the Son (Jesus), we receive the Holy Spirit of God.

Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT)

We dedicate the Temple of the LORD, then, when we dedicate our bodies to God.  We use our hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouths and everything to bring people to God and to build them up as living stones, being built into the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

How about you? How do you use the body that the LORD gave you?  Is it for God’s purposes? Do you dedicate your body as a Temple to the LORD?

Dedication

The people of Israel wanted to return to God.  They were in Babylonian captivity because they had stopped listening to God.  Now, the remnant of Israel had turned back to God in repentance and the LORD had provided a way for them to return to Jerusalem.

So King Darius sent this message: "Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues and other officials west of the Euphrates River--stay away from there! Do not disturb the construction of the Temple of God. Let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work. (Ezra 6:6-7 NLT)

We’ve seen over past weeks that the people of the surrounding area did not like this return or this Temple-rebuilding project.  They worked hard to stop it.  But, the LORD worked through the people, including the king of Babylon, to keep the project going.

"Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this Temple of God. You must pay the full construction costs, without delay, from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted. "Give the priests in Jerusalem whatever is needed in the way of young bulls, rams, and male lambs for the burnt offerings presented to the God of heaven. And without fail, provide them with as much wheat, salt, wine, and olive oil as they need each day. (Ezra 6:8-9 NLT)

God always provides what we need to do what God calls us to do.

Then they will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the welfare of the king and his sons. (Ezra 6:10 NLT)

Even though king Darius’ motivation was a bit selfish (wanting favor from the Israelite God), the LORD provide everything through the decree of this Babylonian king.  The building project continued until completion.

The Temple was completed on March 12, during the sixth year of King Darius's reign. The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile. During the dedication ceremony for the Temple of God, 100 young bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs were sacrificed. And 12 male goats were presented as a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel. (Ezra 6:15-17 NLT)

When the Temple was completed, the people of Israel immediately dedicated it.  This was God’s Temple.  This was the LORD’s house. It was dedicated to the LORD.

How about you?  Do you dedicate God’s Temple (The Church) to the LORD?  How do you do that?  In your walk together with God, do people see dedication?