Jeff Adams

The real test of clarity of thought, focus or purpose is the ability to be able to reduce something to a single word or sentence. This is usually foundational to any good class on homiletics, or preaching. The speaker should be able to express the big idea of the sermon in a single phrase or sentence. If not, there is probably no clarity of thought. When making the application at the end of a sermon I will often ask people what is the one thing that God has impressed on them from having listened to this sermon.

In Psalm 27 David demonstrates his understanding of the power of focused thought. Listen carefully to what he says.

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. Psalm 27:4-5

Don’t read this through the lens of contemporary experience. David is not saying that the one thing he desires above all else is to stay in church all the time. In David’s day and culture, the temple represented the presence of God, the center of gravity of spiritual life for both the nation and the individual. Were David to express this as a New Testament believer he would probably say something like, “The one thing I desire more than anything else, the one thing that I will procure with all my energy is to abide in God’s presence all the days of my life.”

Thinking of this focus of David’s life the words of Jesus in John 15 come to mind. This is the great passage when Jesus said he is the vine and we are the branches and that we are to abide in him. In some expression the word abide appears nine times in the opening ten verses of John 15.

What is the one thing you desire more than any other in your walk with God? How would you answer this question?

In the Old Testament people came to the tabernacle or temple to worship God. John 1:14 says that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Greek verb literally means that God tabernacled among us. In Jesus, God came to man rather than man going to God.

As the result of the resurrection of Christ and his victory over sin and death, you and I as followers of Christ are said to be the temple of God on earth today, the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). Rather than coming to the temple, we take the temple to the world. You don’t have to be a preacher or missionary to do this. As true followers of Jesus we live out the lives that God has given to us no matter where we are. Our lives are not to be segmented into secular and spiritual, but as the temple of the Holy Spirit we necessarily take God with us wherever we go and to whomever we meet. How are we representing him?