1 Corinthians 3:16-23 (New International Version)
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

I. Caring about the Temple we build (v. 16)
• Some building of jobs and ministry is

in heaven.
• The Church is more than a

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, but is not the absence of one.
• Christ did not die so that we could do

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or

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.
• Christians

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in a local church are God’s Temple.
• The practice of Christian individuals

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from a local church is unbiblical Christianity.
II. God’s people make the Temple sacred (vv. 17-20)
• The people together in a local church make God’s house into a

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.
• God will destroy the person who

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or

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the church. (Mt. 25:31-46, 2 Pet. 3:10-13)
• “Destroy” is not

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, but damnation or dissolution of purpose.
• God will not choose

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over His bride – the Church.
• The grammar and language prohibit us from making this text about taking care of our

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.
•

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Christianity adapts unchanging truth to the time, but

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Christianity is not Christianity.
III. It’s all God’s (vv. 21-23)
• All authority is God’s and church leaders serve the

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.
• Exhortation is a charismatic gift that uses speech to

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and

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others.
• Worry is

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in something other than God.
• People are not

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but depend on the Lord.
• There are rules in a

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, but

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are impersonal.

TAKE OFF
1. Have you ever been part of a group (friend group, club, organization) that has dissolved or broken up? What things contributed to the demise of the group?
2. Last week’s Take Away was about staying connected to the foundation of Jesus. Did you see any improvement in your identified area of growth?

TEXT
1. What thoughts or feelings did you have during this week’s sermon?
2. What metaphor does Paul use to describe the church in verse 16? What activities destroy the church? Why is destroying the temple such a grievous thing requiring destruction of the perpetrator?
3. In verse 18 Paul tells the Corinthians to not deceive themselves. What is a person’s emotional state like while they are being deceived and how does the emotional state change when deception is revealed? How do you think the Corinthians felt when Paul was correcting them in this passage?
4. How does being part of a local church and the global church protect us against deception and falling into factionalism both individually and corporately?

TAKE AWAY
During the Life Group break, how will you stay church engaged through relationships?