Living Outloud: From Awe to Action

We explore Solomon’s astonishment in 2 Chronicles 6 and trace the story to Jesus tabernacling among us and the Spirit dwelling within us. Awe turns practical as we ask how to honor God with our bodies as living temples shaped by Romans 8 power.

• Solomon’s dedication of the temple and the question of God dwelling with people
• The incarnation as God tabernacling among us in John 1
• Jesus as the final sacrifice fulfilling the temple’s purpose
• Our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6
• Living sacrifice as daily obedience and uncluttering the heart
• Romans 8 power for holiness, assurance, and embodied worship
• Recovering awe, fear of the Lord, and humble dependence

Chapters

• 0:00 Hear It, Love It, Live It
• 1:39 Solomon Dedicates The Temple
• 3:13 The “Ridiculous” Idea Of God With Us
• 5:26 From Tabernacle To Incarnation
• 8:26 Sacrifice, Temple, And The Cross
• 11:16 You Are The Temple: 1 Corinthians 6
• 13:23 Life In The Spirit: Romans 8
• 16:16 Returning To Solomon’s Prayer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

Welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:25

This is Mike and Kelsey.

SPEAKER_00: 0:27

And this is Living Out Loud, where we're going to be talking about what we read earlier in the week in the podcast, pump the brakes a little bit, slow down, and talk specifically about what we can learn about who God is and who we are and what we can actually do about it. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 0:42

We got to live. The tagline to our Ministry Out Loud Bible project is to hear it, love it, live it. So when you're listening to Mike read the passages, read the scriptures throughout the week, that is hearing it. Our desire and our hope is that you love the scriptures from hearing it. But if we hear it and do nothing with it, we are forsaking the final and very important part of living it. There's something to do, there's some way to live out what we read in scripture. And so that's what this uh segment is for.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13

So if you're joining us for the first time on this episode, you might want to go back and listen to maybe even just the last episode uh in about 2 Chronicles 5 and 6, just kind of hear the whole context and then come back and join us. If you've been doing that, then well, let's keep on rolling. So in 2 Chronicles, we're gonna focus on chapter 6 in this conversation, uh, where Solomon is is praying and dedicating this temple that's now been built. And he is being very reflective of this moment of like, we're building a temple. Like, and God's gonna live with us in this temple, but like he's God. Like, how I'm building this building. Yeah, it's big, it's beautiful, because God is big and beautiful, but like it's not anything close to him.

SPEAKER_01: 2:00

And like the earth is his footstool, so what is one building on that?

SPEAKER_00: 2:05

Why would he it's like a tassel, like, yeah, like this is this is ridiculous that this is even possible. And so Solomon's just kind of like I his mind you can see his mind being blown in the moment. Like you like he's just doubling back on like what what is what I can't even believe this. Um in verse 18, he Solomon says, But will God really live on earth among people? Like, this is not what gods were understood to do. And even even the one true God who loves his people and has been faithful to fulfill his promises to his people, even even his people are like, Yeah, but he doesn't like live among us, like he's God. We're we're sinful puny humans. And like, so when we say, Yeah, God's gonna live with us in the temple, like that that's not that's not really what's happening. Like will will God really live on earth among people? It's a really fascinating verse because today, in 2025 at this point, with the benefit of having the whole Bible and the completed works of the Word of God, uh, then we know that yeah, He does come and live among us. That's who Jesus is, God, Emmanuel, with us. But we gotta understand from Solomon's point of view, that is ridiculous. Can we allow it, and we're gonna keep exploring this uh in our conversation. Can we allow it to still sound a bit ridiculous?

SPEAKER_02: 3:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:40

Can we let the sheer absurdity of God living with us, among us, and I would say God forbid, but he didn't forbid it, within us? Can we just let that be as preposterous as I think it really is?

SPEAKER_01: 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:59

I think we tend to take it for granted as Christians, because that's just matter-of-fact and way of life for us. Yeah, Jesus came and he loves us, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. That's preposterous. If Solomon had known that was possible, he would not have words. He would like, yeah, it was like, What? Like, he's in you? Like the whole and the Holy Spirit had come on people like his father David, uh in David's case, actually kind of his whole life as soon as he was anointed. That was the exception. Other times the Holy Spirit came on someone for a task, for a time, and then would leave. And that's a blessing too.

SPEAKER_01: 4:39

But like and when God showed up, it was as a pillar of fire and smoke in the desert, or a loud voice that shook everyone to their knees. Like, or Moses was the one who came the closest to seeing God, and even then God was like, You can't look at me, you're gonna just have to see my backside, and that's it. Like, so so for God to come as a man and walk around on this earth like a human being was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00: 5:07

Sullivan just built the curtain to keep people from accidentally walking into God's presence. Right. He just built the curtain. There's a whole room, and there's a big thick curtain that's taller than you could possibly reach the top of. And that was to say, hey, don't, don't accidentally come in here.

SPEAKER_01: 5:23

And now he's just gonna like come eat and drink and like sleep and cut his finger and bleed and like have human experience. What?

SPEAKER_00: 5:31

For everybody who who is his people, which by the way is not just Israel anymore. Like to Solomon, what we are experiencing with God with us and in us today is crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 5:43

Yeah. Not only like it was it would be next level insane for for Jesus to come and be fully God and fully man, but then for Jesus to go and leave behind his Holy Spirit that dwells in us is I I I hope this can blow our minds a little bit. I hope we can back off of our understanding that, yep, this is just how it is, and let it blow our minds. Like let Solomon's awe rub off us on us a little bit and let us be in awe at the the reality that God is not out there separate above and apart. He is with us, and that's insane, even now. So when Solomon goes ahead and says, Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built.

SPEAKER_00: 6:38

Like, yeah, he's like, We're not doing God any justice.

SPEAKER_01: 6:41

We're not doing him a favor. Like, we're not we're not giving him a house as if he needs a house. Like the highest heavens can't contain him. He's God. He is God. He's God.

SPEAKER_00: 6:55

I think we've lost I think we've lost that sense of awe.

SPEAKER_01: 6:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 6:59

And with it comes a sense uh a fear of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01: 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:02

But we've lost that sense of awe of like God God is but I I don't have words. He's yeah like who what makes you think that your puny words, your limited vocabulary, can even capture who God is and describe him? How arrogant to think that you could contain him with your vocabulary. Now, obviously, let's talk about God and you know, but with the understanding that we can't fully describe him with our words. No wordsmith can fully capture the character and quality of God in in the most descriptive words, because he's bigger than that. And he's we don't deserve to have him in our life at all. Yet that's what he's made possible. So let's let's let's sit on this a little bit and blow Solomon's mind a little bit more as we look at some of the scriptures that he did not see coming.

SPEAKER_02: 7:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:53

Um this idea of who like, is God really going to live among his people? Well, can you believe, Solomon, that John wrote this? I would just want to read the the first chapter of John, kind of it's in in its entirety. It's really a a comprehensive look at from the beginning of time to what we see today, see God's relationship with his people. I'm reading from the New Living Translation, John 1. In the beginning, the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. And God created everything through him. And nothing was created except through him. The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. Verse 10. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They're reborn, not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So, verse 14, the word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son. Verse 14, when it says that he made his home among us, I think we may have mentioned it on the podcast before, but that word is he tabernacled among us, which is that temporary temple that Moses and the people had, and was even through Saul and David's time, the place that was functionally the temple, and this temple that Solomon built is similarly this idea of tabernacle, God coming down to live among his people. So this verse in John, John's making it very clear, like Jesus came to set up his temple among us. Something that Solomon would he said is infathomable. You cannot imagine that God would dwell among people. But John's testifying firsthand, eyewitnesses, like no, I've you're not gonna believe this, Solomon. I've seen this. I've seen God come down to be with his people, and it was through Jesus. It's wild.

SPEAKER_01: 10:39

It was through the word becoming a human, the word becoming flesh to dwell among us. Like, not just God coming into a temple, but God coming into humanity, into the form and body of a human baby born on that first Christmas, right? Like wow, it's making me emotional. Like it is hard to give words to when you just let yourself sit with it for a minute. Like God came into the form of a human so that he could die in our place, so that he could have a human body die. Because that's what we deserve, is for our human bodies to die. And so he took on a human body so that that could happen and save us from the punishment we deserve. Like, like not only I think what's what would blow Solomon's mind and what should strike awe and fear into our hearts is that not only did God come to dwell among his people, not only did he come to be among us to not just to visit like a cousin from out of town.

SPEAKER_00: 11:47

Hey, let's have fun.

SPEAKER_01: 11:47

But he came with the express purpose to die in our place. He didn't just come to be with us, but he came to die for us. Like let the gospel preach to your heart a little bit today.

SPEAKER_00: 12:02

Well, that's that was the focus of the temple. Even when Solomon was talking to his friend King Hiram, he was saying, Hey, we're we're doing this great big project to build a temple. I say temple, it's not really a temple because our God is too big to fit in the temple. It's it's really more of a place we're just gonna offer sacrifices. Ultimately, it's where we're gonna offer sacrifices to God. And that's the function of it. And isn't that what Jesus came to do? To be among us, yes, to be with us, but also to serve as that sacrifice that would now make all the temple sacrifices no longer necessary. But that's what we needed as sinners. We needed God to establish like death is the consequence of sin. And there had been lots of lambs and oxen slaughtered to temporarily fulfill that requirement. But then in order for God to actually be truly satisfied, i uh uh that our our sin is no longer held against against us, God himself had to die. But that's some that's like the one thing God can't do. So God became human so that that human could die, but being God, it fulfills God's requirement. And now today we are called to be a living sacrifice. Jesus came so that once and for all we don't have to die eternally and we don't have to make repetitive sacrifices to atone for our sin. He his death counted for that. But what do we do in response to that? We have to now recognize that we are the temple where God dwells with us, and what happens in temples, sacrifices. And so we are a living sacrifice, continuing to give up everything that doesn't line up with God and and clutters his temple, fills it with things that are not holy. We sacrifice those, we sacrifice our own dreams and desires so that we can actually be a temple that he that it's worth not not that we're ever worthy of him, but that properly reflects his presence with us. I think it's a powerful verse in 1 Corinthians 6. This is Corinthians, not Chronicles. Sometimes you get those confused. This is 1 Corinthians, New Testament 6, 19. Paul is in the context of talking, frankly, about sexual immorality in this church, which is a big issue. But it's not just a list of do's and don'ts because, you know, he's a Puritan. No, he's he's saying, here's the reason why sexual purity and morality is so important. Verse 19. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit is living inside you like God dwelt and made his presence among his people in the temple. The Holy Spirit is doing that same thing in you. Your body is a temple. You are not your own, he says. You were bought with a price, which is what we just talked about with Jesus' ac Jesus' sacrifice. You are not your own. You the my body, my nope, nope, that's not what's true. You are not your own, you were bought with a price. Therefore, and here's the here's the thing to do then, honor God with your bodies. Now, yes, Paul was in this context of sexual immorality, that certainly applies. But your bodies, your physical bodies, like you're not just a spiritual being, and whatever happens to your physical body isn't important. No, that that's not even true. You you are a spiritual being with a physical body that God made and gave you. We need to honor God with our physical bodies, but knowing that we have this whole physio-spiritual reality that, like, yeah, we've got physical, physicality, we've got spirituality, they're intertwined in ways we don't even fully understand. Honor God with your body, with your life, with your heart, with your mind.

SPEAKER_01: 16:19

And yet he doesn't leave us on our own to figure out how to do that. We're not just like, okay, well, I'll do my best to be a good person, I guess. I'll do everything I can. I'll I'll work real hard to be good and be a good temple. No, in Romans 8, uh, I'll read in verse 10 Christ lives within you. Christ Himself lives within you. So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you. Like, how many times, three or four times, in that two verses, we see that the spirit of God lives in you? That's why we're known as the temple now. Like, because Jesus came and he died, and then he left his Holy Spirit to live in us. Therefore, verse 12, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. It goes on and on. Go read Romans 8. There's a reason it's like the most favored passage in Christianity.

SPEAKER_00: 17:46

Oh, yeah, epic.

SPEAKER_01: 17:47

Um, but like again, just going back to let can we let this fill us with awe, with some reverence, with some humility, with some fear of God, that that we are not left on our own to try to be good enough to be a good temple, but he lives within us and he corrects us and he guides us and he rebukes us and he encourages us so that by his power, through his strength, we are a temple of the spirit that is living a life worthy of the calling we've received. Like, like, wow. Wow, God himself, his spirit lives within us. It could not be more clear than how it's written in Romans 8. His spirit lives within us. That's what makes us a temple. And so this idea of needing to die to ourselves to be a living sacrifice isn't left up to us and our strength. It's it's his strength through us, in us, by him alone, are we able to live a life of righteousness that pleases God, that knows God, that loves God and is known by him and loved by him. Like it's his Holy Spirit and his work within us that makes all of that possible. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00: 19:04

So to conclude, let's go back to Solomon's prayer where he's getting his mind blown.

SPEAKER_01: 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:11

Second Chronicles chapter 6, 18. Will God really live on earth among people? Actually, Solomon, yes, he will, believe it or not. Why, even the highest heavens can't contain you, how much less this temple I've built. Well, Solomon, I got news for you. We are gonna be the temples. It's crazy. Nevertheless, he's like, okay, I can't understand it. Moving on, nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. May you watch over this temple day and night, the place where you've said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people, Israel, when we play toward pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive. May that be our prayer for us today as we go out.

SPEAKER_01: 19:57

Lord, may you watch over this temple as I point to myself. Lord, watch over this temple day and night, this place where you said you would put your Holy Spirit. Like, watch over me, God. Hear my prayers from where you sit in heaven. Hear my prayers. Lord, be with me and watch over me. It's not just a cute like bedtime prayer for little kids as I lay me down to sleep. Like, no, Lord, day and night, watch over me. Be with me, and thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 20:31

Well, my friend, you are the temple. Go out, take good care of it, take this seriously, and just relish in the presence of God. Let your mind be blown today, thinking about the God who made his presence in you. We'll talk next time.