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[0:00] Well, good morning again and welcome to faith. We're so glad to be here together. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, we're going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 today as we're continuing with our Abiding in Christ series. And we'll be looking this morning at the picture of the disciple's body. We've been looking at the picture with the concentric circles that are in your bulletin when Christ is in you. He is going to affect different areas of our life. As a matter of fact, our entire life. As we see, he affects our minds.

[0:39] He affects our emotions. He affects our will. He affects our body, our relationships, and ultimately our mission. And I think the greatest temptation we're going to face today is thinking that the message is about someone else when it's really about us and everything about us.

[0:58] We are going to be having an opportunity to see this morning that God wants to take not only the spiritual aspect of us, but also our bodies as well. The prevailing philosophy, I believe, in our day-to-day is that whatever we want to do, whatever makes us feel comfortable is okay. And who we are or that we are simply products of our DNA and we really have no choices and we can do whatever we want to with our bodies. And that's really the mantra of today. Do whatever it is that you want to do, whatever pleases you most. And when you look at the hot buttons of our culture today, marriage and homosexuality and abortion and all of these things, really this is where this philosophy comes out. You know, it's our body and we can do with it whatever we want.

[2:03] And this is what we're going to be looking at, touching on today. And as the church, how does the body of Christ respond to this? What does God say about us, about our bodies, and that our bodies are not just products of our DNA? And we can't use the excuse, well, this is just the way that I was born and this is just the way that I am. And as we look deeper, we'll realize today that our bodies are really not our own. Our bodies are not ours to just simply say that we can decide to do with whatever we want. We're going to dive into that countercultural thought this morning. And that leads us into the foundational truth or the first foundational truth this morning that I want us to understand from the very beginning. And that is this. As a follower of Jesus Christ, your body is not your property. And think about that. Our body is really not our own.

[3:10] And I think we could also make the case that even if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, it's not your body either. Because we were created by God, we were created in God's image, and we were created for Him. And when we think about our bodies, I think we all realize we have, we all have natural inclinations that are inside us that cause us to do certain things.

[3:36] And we know we sometimes that we do things that do not honor God. And maybe we look at things, we see things, we listen to things, we touch things. We sometimes, we know that we at times do not honor God. And I think as we go to keep your finger there in 1 Corinthians 6, but let's look to see what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 7. It's not helpful when we think about, well, you know what? I do these things that I don't really want to do. The Apostle Paul had the similar situation.

[4:17] He says in verse 15, For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

[4:35] But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. And verse 20, Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

[5:11] And then he comes to the end of that section in verse 22 through 24, and he says, For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Apparently, Christ came not just to save our mind, not just to save our emotions, and all these things we've been talking about. Jesus Christ also came, I believe, to rescue our bodies, and to cause our bodies to come under subjection to him, and everything else. So how do we glorify Christ with our bodies, in the way that we dress, in the way that we eat, in the way that we carry ourselves, and all of these other areas? How do we glorify God with all of this? And that's what we're going to dive into this morning. And I think it's important that as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we're looking at a people in the city of Corinth who had some issues that the Apostle Paul is addressing, and they saw faith and the spiritual realm over here, and they looked at the natural, their bodies over here, and they didn't put those two together. And they didn't think that what they did in their bodies affected their spiritual realm. And they lived in a city where in the center of the city was the temple of Aphrodite. And she was the goddess of love, and there were over a thousand temple prostitutes that people would go to on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, even those within the church would go into them because that was the religion of their day. And even the believers, even the Christians who were in the church at Corinth, didn't see a problem with it because they said, well, that's just our bodies. And we're going to look into a minute in 1 Corinthians that the way they looked at things, it really was not a problem for them. And Paul is going to come in, and he's going to correct that way of thinking, that our bodies and what we do with our bodies does matter and is an important part of our faith. And it is important to Jesus Christ.

[7:46] And I think we're going to be looking at one of the most significant theological passages in all the New Testament about our bodies and about how Christ transforms our bodies. So let's go in and look to see what Paul says to them and consider what that might mean for us today.

[8:04] Let's look at 1 Corinthians 6, beginning with verse number 12. Paul says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord, and he will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body. But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own. Verse 20, for you are bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Let's pray. Lord, this morning, I ask that you would open our minds, help us to understand that everything we do with our bodies, what we put into it and how we use it, you are very concerned about. And teach us this morning how we may allow Christ in us to transform our bodies as well and how we use them. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So what I want us to see here is that we're surrounded by a culture that fills our minds. Everything that we're surrounded with, radio, TV, the media, over and over again tells us that do whatever you want to do that places your body. And it's okay. So what I want us to see are these foundational truths in our lives that must affect the way that we live and live our lives in these bodies. Because these bodies are what we have.

[10:36] These bodies are how we interact with the world around us. And so what does it mean for our bodies to belong to Christ? And what we see next is the first main point is that your body was created by God. God created them. God created these bodies. And if you remember in the Old Testament, back in the book of Genesis, when God creates and he looks and he sees that everything was good, when he looks at man, he says he saw that it was very good. God created mankind for a purpose. God created our bodies. And this is the crux of the picture, what we see in verse number 13. We're going to come back to verse 12 a little bit later. But Paul uses a phrase that was very common to those in Corinth and especially to the Corinthian Christians. And they talk about food for the stomach and the stomach for food.

[11:39] Look at verse 13. This is what they said, food for the stomach and stomach for foods. That was the mantra that they used. Well, how can you see yourself doing this and it not being a problem? Well, they said the food for stomach and stomach for food. But God will destroy both it and them. So what was this talking about? Well, in other words, what they were saying was, my stomach was made for food.

[12:09] And food was made for my stomach. So automatically you put those two together. And so there's no problem. And the implication was when they looked at their sexuality, they said, well, the body was made for sex and sex was made for the body. So therefore, just like food, no big deal. They were made for one another. So I don't.

[12:31] So, Paul, I don't see what the big deal is. So this is what they were saying. They're saying this is the way things work. Paul says, on the contrary, the body is not meant for sexual immorality. He says, but God will destroy both it and them. Now, the body is not for sexual immorality, but for whom? What is the purpose of our bodies? The purpose of our bodies are to exalt God. The purpose of our bodies are to be raising him up.

[13:03] And that's what Paul is saying. But here's the phrase that is so key. What does he say? But our bodies were made for what? For the Lord and the Lord for the body. So he takes what they were saying. He takes what they were using. They were saying food for the stomach or the stomach for food and food for the stomach. He says, our bodies for the Lord and the Lord for our bodies. So he puts, he ties those two together. Our bodies were made for God. And God wants to use our bodies as well for his honor, for his glory. We were created by God. And that means this next thing. Our bodies are what?

[13:51] Invaluable to him. God created us with a body and God wants to use our body and our bodies are important to him. Our bodies are important to him. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, God's word says. Psalm 139, right? So God cares about our bodies. God cares about what we do with them. That's the picture in 1 Corinthians chapter number six. It's a dangerous tendency for many today to think that we can grow in the spiritual realm, but then do whatever we want to do with our bodies.

[14:29] That to think that we can be right with God, grow spiritually, and it doesn't matter how we care for these bodies of ours. Well, you know what? They're just bodies and they're going to die one day.

[14:42] Our soul is what is eternal. So therefore I'm going to enrich my soul, but I'm going to trash my body. So that is something that we even see in the New Testament that God says our bodies are important.

[14:54] Paul even says that exercise does profit the body. And so what we're going to be looking at this morning is what does it mean for Jesus to be within us and to be transforming or to be using our bodies. So not only are our bodies invaluable to him, what we see in the New Testament, what we see in Scripture is Christ has also made an eternal investment in our bodies. He's made an internal, eternal investment in our bodies. Look at verse 14, 1 Corinthians 6, 14.

[15:31] And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. You know, these Corinthians, these Corinthian believers are saying, well, you know what? My soul's okay. It doesn't matter about my body. Well, Paul said, well, you know what?

[15:50] It mattered for Jesus' body. Jesus wasn't just raised the Spirit. What did God raise? God raised his body. And what does God say? He will also raise us up by his power. And what does the Bible say? We will have throughout eternity. Our what? Bodies. We are going to have bodies throughout eternity. Now, not fleshly bodies as we know them today, but similar, we're told, similar bodies to the body Jesus had when he rose from the grave. A body that was transformed, a body where he could eat if he chose, but he could walk through walls.

[16:32] He could disappear. He could be from one place at one point in time and be somewhere else. So we don't understand a lot about the new, these new bodies we're going to have one day.

[16:43] But Paul says, the body was important because God raised up Jesus with a body and he will raise us up one day as well. Glorified bodies, but a body nonetheless. So they're important to God.

[16:56] God has made an eternal investment in our body. Therefore, we are to honor God with these bodies. And that leads us to the next point. And that's this. Your body, my body was purchased by Christ.

[17:13] It's not only created by him, but it's purchased by him. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? Let's go back to verse 15. He says, For you were, what? You were purchased. You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

[17:43] And the implication is, God purchased you, not only spiritually, God purchased your body as well. Because we're going to get a glorified body one day. He says, Therefore, glorify God in the bodies you have today. That's Paul's summation of it.

[18:02] Your body is not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

[18:16] So he said both are important. Spiritually, you know, our mind, our thoughts, when we are transformed in our mind through his word, when we grow spiritually, grow to be more like Christ in our attitudes and our thoughts, He says, also glorify God with your body, what you do with them.

[18:38] Verse 15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? What does Paul say?

[18:49] Of course not. May it never be. May it never come into existence. Now, let's break down this picture. Here, Jesus Christ has done what?

[19:01] He has united us with himself. He's done that by his death on the cross. He has made it possible for us to be reunited with him. So our bodies are members of Christ himself.

[19:13] That's the picture he gave us in verse 15. So here's a picture of how Christ unites us to himself. First of all, Christ took on a body like us.

[19:25] Now, if our bodies are so evil, because there are many throughout history have said, these fleshly bodies are evil. Therefore, we are to put them under subjection.

[19:38] That's why there were many who would flog themselves. There were many who would lay on beds of nails, things like that, just to put their body under subjection.

[19:53] They said, because these bodies are evil. Well, if our bodies were so evil, how could Jesus, who is God himself, who is perfect in every respect, stoop to taking on such an evil thing?

[20:07] So Jesus Christ unites us with himself by taking on a body, just like ours. And as we read the New Testament, the Bible says, Jesus got hungry.

[20:20] Jesus got tired. He needed to sleep. Jesus had the same bodily functions you and I have. He had the same bodily urges that you and I had.

[20:34] He was hungry. He grew tired. And so Jesus took upon himself a body just like ours. Not only that, Christ gave up his body for us.

[20:50] Now, there was no sin in Jesus whatsoever. And so what he did was, he used his body and upon himself, he who knew no sin, the Bible says, became sin for us.

[21:05] And upon himself, he took the weight of our sin. And because of that, he was able to take upon himself the full weight of our sin on the cross and satisfy God's wrath for our sin.

[21:20] So he took upon a body just like us. He gave that body for us. And then Christ, as we're going to see, now displays his body through us.

[21:32] That's the point of 1 Corinthians 15. We don't see Christ physically today. You know, we can't go around and say, okay, where's Jesus? The Bible says he ascended up into heaven. He is at the right hand of God the Father.

[21:45] So if the world wants to see Jesus today, where do they look? They look at you and me. They look at those in whom Christ dwells.

[21:56] We've been seeing that the last few weeks. And when the world wants to see when, let's go back a moment, when Jesus was on earth and he says, you want to see God? Where do you look?

[22:08] He said, you want to see God? Look at me. Because I and the Father are one. He says, I came. I came from the Father. And I'm here doing the will of the Father. You want to see God?

[22:19] Look at me. And in today, if Jesus were to say, do you want to see me? Look at my people. Because I am in them.

[22:30] I dwell in them. So we are his eyes. We are his ears. We are his feet. We are his hands. We are the body. That's what the New Testament calls us.

[22:42] The body of Christ. Not body necessarily in the general term alone, but his body as well. His body collectively and his body individually.

[22:52] We are all the body of Christ. And so when we bring the gospel to others, we act like his feet. And we travel from point A to point B to give the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ loves us, died on the cross on our place, and we can have a life with him.

[23:10] That's the picture of Christ in us. And based on what he says, he says, shall I then take the members of Christ, his body on earth, and unite them with a harlot?

[23:21] No, that would be unthinkable. And we see that phrase in verse 12. He says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

[23:39] This is an extremely common phrase with the Corinthians in their day. And it says, well, everything's okay for me to do because we have freedom in Christ.

[23:50] Well, actually, that was something that Paul did teach. He said, we are free in Christ. But the problem is, they had taken that truth and so warped it that they said, it doesn't matter what I do with my body, it's okay.

[24:04] Because notice, Paul says, all things are lawful for me. If it's not sin, it's permissible. So Paul says, as long as it's not sin, and the Bible does not prohibit it, Paul says, it's lawful for me because I am free in Christ.

[24:20] I am free from all those additional laws that man made that all the rabbis and the lawyers of the law gave, all those additional things.

[24:36] Jesus said, it's what God said, and it's permissible. But notice what Paul, how he transforms what they were saying. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are what?

[24:47] Some of your Bibles might say expedient. What does that mean? Helpful, beneficial. Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but not everything's beneficial. Not everything is what's best for me.

[25:00] Then he repeats it. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be what? I will not let anything bring me under its power.

[25:11] I will not allow sin to control me. I will not allow anything that is against God to control my body, to control me.

[25:22] So here's what Paul's saying. Let's rethink that phrase. Everything's permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. So we don't ask.

[25:34] Here's the thing about freedom in Christ. The proper question is, not is it okay for me to do something, but to ask, is this the best thing for me to do?

[25:45] And not only that, we can ask, is it the best thing for the body of Christ? Is it the best thing for everyone else? Not only for us, but for others. So Paul says, all things are permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

[26:00] All things are permissible, but I will not allow myself to be subjected and allow sin to become my master. Let's go on. Christ has set us free from certain things.

[26:19] Christ has set us free. Free from what? First of all, sin that harms so deeply. That's a picture in chapter number six.

[26:29] When we look at Romans, we see that we are dead. We've been saying this over and over again the past few weeks. Paul says we are dead with respect to sin.

[26:42] Before Christ came into our bodies, we really almost had no choice because we did what came naturally. It's like the nature of certain animals.

[26:55] There are certain animals you cannot tame. Why? Because their nature will not allow us to do that. A pig. Its nature is, because of the way it's designed, it is going to go and play in the mud.

[27:09] No matter how many times you give it a bath, no matter how much perfume you spray on it, the first chance it gets, it's going to go out and play in the mud. Why? Because that's its nature.

[27:21] That's what it does naturally. And mankind naturally, apart from Christ, is naturally bent toward evil.

[27:33] Naturally bent toward just doing what makes us comfortable. Doing what makes us feel good. The problem with that is, what we tend to want to do is not what's best for us.

[27:48] See, therein lies the problem. It's just like taking something, whatever it is, and using it in a way that it was not designed.

[28:06] It's like, how many of you probably have a knife in one of your kitchen drawers where the tip is broken? How many of you? Why?

[28:17] What did you do with that knife to break the tip? Use it as a screwdriver, which a knife was not meant to be a screwdriver. You use it as a punch, which a knife was not designed to be a punch.

[28:32] And see what I'm talking about? If you use a knife in the way that it's designed to cut things, it will probably, you'll probably not break the tip. But the moment you begin using that knife in a different way from which it was designed, you're going to have problems.

[28:50] You see, our body was not designed to be a smokestack. And so we put smoke in our bodies, nicotine, all this other stuff.

[29:05] What does it do with our bodies? Or we go out in the sun and what do people do? What's been in vogue for the past few years?

[29:17] We want to go and get a suntan. Right? And some people like that are called sun worshipers. You know, they go out and they go, they want to get as dark as they can.

[29:28] I mean, if you work outside and that's what you do, yes, you're going to get dark. But what is one of the problems? See, if we look at history, if we look at different peoples who were in very sunny, arid, hot climates, how did they dress?

[29:46] Long sleeves, hoods. I mean, they were covered. And one other reason is because when they sweat and the wind came, it actually cooled them off. But what do we do in the sun?

[29:59] We strip down. And because we want to get a suntan, the whole point I'm getting at is our bodies were not designed just to soak up the sun's rays because then we get skin cancer.

[30:10] And I could go on and on and on with things we do with our bodies that ultimately are harmful. And if we look at scripture, it might be saying, you know, take care of this body God gave you.

[30:23] And so we have to be careful. So he set us free from sin that harms so deeply. So Paul's saying, ask yourself, is this an advantage?

[30:34] Is this an advantage to the church? Is the way you're using your body an advantage to bringing people to Christ? Sin not only harms us, but it harms others as well.

[30:48] He also set us free from bodily sin that controls. So quickly, what did Paul say? I will not be brought under the power of sin.

[30:59] I don't want it to become my master. That's the way sin works. We do something, and before we know it, we can't not do it.

[31:11] I mean, even psychologically, there are psychological rules that come into play when we give in to a temptation.

[31:24] And it comes to a point where the reward center of our brain, we are drawn to it like a moth to a flame because we want to get that next fix of whatever it is that we engage in.

[31:39] And so Paul says it can master you. It can control you. But he says, Paul says, I don't want to be controlled by anything but Christ.

[31:50] That's the way sin works. Ultimately, it controls us. Look at verse 12. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

[32:05] Remember, he's talking about how the Corinthian Christians were using their bodies. Paul says, I will not be enslaved by anything. Sin creeps in and begins to control more and more and more.

[32:20] And any of you who know someone who has a very, very destructive addiction, it doesn't matter how destructive that addiction is.

[32:32] It's like we're drawn to it no matter what the consequences are because it gives us some form of pleasure for a short period of time.

[32:44] And no matter what, we just feel like we have to do it. And that's the power of addiction. Paul says, I don't want to be addicted to anything. I don't want to be mastered by anything.

[32:55] That's why Paul says, in verse number 18, what does he say? Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body. You know, if we lie, stealing, whatever, those types of sins are outside the body.

[33:13] But he who commits sexual immorality sins against the body. In other words, don't hang around and play with the temptation. Remember Joseph in the Old Testament? There in Potiphar's house?

[33:24] When he was seduced, what did he do? He ran. He took, flee sexual immorality. Literally. He literally ran away when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him.

[33:40] What about King David? You remember that? Kings normally go out to war, to battle. He stayed home. He goes out on his rooftop. He sees Bathsheba on the next rooftop over.

[33:54] And rather than going back downstairs, he looks. He longs. He goes, gets someone to ask about her. Who is she? And he had so many opportunities to flee this temptation.

[34:11] But yet he gave into it step by step by step and he was drawn in closer, drawn in closer until he regrettably engages in an act that you can't go back and undo, ultimately ending up in murder.

[34:28] And we see that's the way sin works. But he didn't. David could have at any point in time, as Barney Fife used to say, he could have just nipped it, nipped him in the bud.

[34:43] But he didn't. He chose to go along with it rather than fleeing from it. Also, set us free from bodily sin that devastates so painfully.

[34:55] Bodily sin that devastates so painfully. Think about all these things that we do that might destroy our bodies or might affect our bodies.

[35:07] Bodily sin that devastates so painfully. That's why Paul says it's different. That's why Paul says it's different.

[35:18] What do we see in King David's life? How it affected his family. Lost a child. It affected his kingdom.

[35:29] It affected every area of his life. That choice, those choices affected the rest of his life and affected everyone around him. Look at verse 19. flee, excuse me, verse 18.

[35:42] Flee sexual morality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual morality sins against his own body. In verses 9 and 10, Paul talks about those who engage in these types of sins won't inherit the kingdom of heaven.

[35:58] And lest anyone say this morning, well, what if this is where I found myself? What if I've been guilty of this? Does that mean I don't have a chance? Let's look at what he says in verse 11.

[36:12] He is talking to these Christians in the church in Corinth. He says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

[36:32] He says, if Christ is in you, you're forgiven. If Christ is in us, we've been set free from that. We don't have to do it anymore.

[36:43] So, in effect, what Paul is doing is he's saying, stop it. Just stop it. Because you've been set free from that, you no longer have to engage in that kind of behavior, and not only that, God does not want you to be engaging in that kind of behavior.

[37:01] He has set us free, rather, to enjoy his purpose for our body. God has a great purpose for our bodies. This is Romans 7, 4.

[37:13] Romans 7, 4 says, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should do what in our bodies?

[37:28] Bear fruit to God. Everything we do should be for him, that God would give the glory for it. whatever it is that we do should point others to God.

[37:39] So not only that, we were meant to exalt his, God's glory, God's great glory in our bodies.

[37:49] Remember, this life is not about us. It's about us glorifying him. We're here to glorify God in our bodies. Everything we do should glorify God.

[38:01] So if we ask ourselves, well, is this okay for me to engage in? I think it's okay. Remember, that's not the right question. The right question is, will it bring me closer to Jesus?

[38:13] Will it bring me closer to God? Will it point others to God? There are a lot of things that we may be able to do in Christ and not sin. As Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but he says, not everything is beneficial.

[38:28] And I don't want to be brought under the control of any. So something may be okay. But think to yourself, it might be okay if I try it, but if I try it and I'm one of those whatever percentage that gets stuck and becomes addicted by it, do I want to be one of those?

[38:48] It's like, you know, I could probably take one of those sockets out of the wall, those electrical sockets, and touch the connectors and I might not die.

[39:05] Right, Jeremy? There are people who, Jeremy, how many times you get shocked? Can't count, right? You get shocked all the time. But you're careful how you do it. So, you know what?

[39:17] I just don't want to be that percentage that touches it once and gets killed. And so, when we take our body and how we use our bodies on this earth, something may be lawful for me, but I don't want to be one of those that, you know what?

[39:37] Oh, before I know it, I'm addicted. So, we might as well just not engage in it. So, Paul says, we are to exalt His great glory in our bodies.

[39:49] This brings us to our next main point. Our bodies are not ours. They belong to Him. We're here to exalt God. Your body is filled by the Spirit.

[40:01] This is the beautiful picture at the end. Look at verse 19, 1 Corinthians. Or do you not know that your body is the what? It's the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.

[40:14] So, we've been talking about this these entire few weeks. Abiding in Christ. Christ in us. He affects our mind. He affects our emotion. He affects our will. He affects our relationships.

[40:25] He affects our mission. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. That shoots down that idea that our bodies are our own and we can do whatever we want to it.

[40:40] After all, it's my body, right? Wrong. Paul says, it's not your body. It's God's body. It's just on loan to you. It's like if I were to have, and this would be nice, but I don't, if I were to have, let's say, a Ferrari.

[41:00] Then I said, Alan, you want to borrow it? Oh, yeah, you take it out on the road, right? But what would I probably say to you? Well, I might let you just be what?

[41:12] Be careful with it, because I want it back in the same condition. And I think God would say to us, this is my body. Do what you can to get it back to me in decent condition.

[41:30] And not join yourself, as Paul says, these Corinthian Christians were doing, and on and on and on, because our bodies are important to God. They obviously are, because Paul made a point to talk about our bodies.

[41:44] So just a short lesson on the temple from the Old Testament. For us here in 2017, the temple of God, what does that mean? Well, when you look at the Old Testament, the main thing, the place, the temple, was the place where God's presence dwelt among his people.

[42:03] People wanted to go see God, they went to the temple, and God's presence was there in the temple, the place where God's presence dwells. It was also the place where God's holiness drew the nations to himself.

[42:18] God said to his people, the Jews, he says, you're going to be a shining light, and it's through you, and through my work in you, and my law, and what I'm doing for you, that is going to attract the nations to say, the Jews have an awesome God.

[42:34] The Jews have a great God. And so the temple, if you look at a picture of what the temple would look like, there were different sections.

[42:45] There was a court, there was an outer court, court of the Gentiles, and there were a lot of people who were non-Jews that would travel many, many, many miles to come to Jerusalem to worship a God that they were not born worshiping.

[42:59] Why? Because God showed himself so powerful, so strong, and so good to his own people. And so it's a place where God's holiness draws the nations to himself.

[43:12] Then you get to the New Testament, and Jesus says, I'm the temple. Matter of fact, he made reference to that. You tear down this temple, in three days I will build it up again. He was talking about him being resurrected from the dead.

[43:25] He says, I'm the place where you see the glory of God. I'm drawing the nations to myself. And then he says to us in the New Testament, you're the temple. So what does he carry us on with that same idea?

[43:39] I'm going to use you to draw the nations to me. You are my presence in this world. Isn't that awesome? God wants to use us to draw the world to himself.

[43:51] And then in our bodies, we possess his presence as the church. we are the body of Christ. The church, the church universal, all who belong to Jesus, we possess his presence as a church.

[44:08] And because of that, what do we do? We display his holiness to the nations. That's what God wants us to do, to display his holiness, his presence to the nations.

[44:18] So we can either use these bodies for wickedness, or we can use them as instruments of righteousness. Christ longs to purify us. He rose from the grave so that he could redeem us, so that we could become an instrument of righteousness.

[44:36] He died to transform our bodies for his glory. So our question as we close this morning is this. What in my body needs to be purified for the glory of God?

[44:53] God what about the way that I'm treating my body needs to be purified? Is it the way that I'm eating? Is it what I'm putting into my body?

[45:04] Is it what I'm doing to my body? And we ask ourselves that question. Is it what I'm doing?

[45:18] What in our bodies need to be purified to cause us or for us to be able to glorify God in our bodies? Let's pray. Father, as we have come together this morning, our prayer is that just as the Apostle Paul was talking about the bodies of these Corinthian Christians and how our bodies were meant to glorify you and how what we do in these bodies and what we do with these bodies matter, Father, help us to be mindful that you have created us as a whole person with our mind, our will, and our bodies are to be working together to do that which honors you, glorifies you.

[46:16] Father, may we be mindful of that every day as we live. Lord, may we be able to be as a whole person glorifying you in everything that we do.

[46:30]  Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.