My Body Is All About God Series

A. The practice of house-sitting and house-sitters has been around for a long time.

1. Perhaps you have used a house-sitter or been a house-sitter.

2. People often use house-sitters if they have pets or plants that they want someone to look after when on vacation.

B. But there’s a newer phenomenon called AirBnB where any of us can rent someone else’s house or let them rent ours.

1. I heard about someone who bought an AirBnB for horses because they were hoping for a more stable income (haha).

2. Covid-19 has certainly slowed down the growth and use of AirBnB, but statistics from December of 2020 showed that there are 7.9 million different places in the world that you can rent through AirBnB.

3. And in 2020, AirBnB listings worldwide generated 26.8 billion dollars in gross revenues, which is about half of what was generated in 2019, before the pandemic began, but that’s still a lot of money.

C. You might be wondering why I am talking about AirBnB house rentals and house-sitters, well, it’s because I want us to make a spiritual analogy.

1. If you had an AirBnB or had someone house-sit for you, what are the things you might worry about the most? What might be the biggest nightmares that you can imagine?

2. We might worry about the person breaking something or stealing something.

3. We might worry about the person trashing the place.

a. And if we returned to a mess, we might confront them about the stack of dirty dishes, or the trash scattered on the floor throughout the place.

b. They might defend themselves saying, “My time there was temporary, and I didn’t think you would mind the fact that I made a mess.” But they would be wrong about that.

4. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, imagine if the person redecorated your house!

a. Imagine you returned home and found your nice neutral colored walls are now pink, or your Berber carpet has been replaced by shag, or your comfortable couch has been replaced with some futuristic plastic furniture.

b. When you confront the person who made the changes as to why they would do such a thing, they reply: “The house didn’t express me accurately. I needed the house to communicate who I am!”

c. And of course, you would reply something like: “But the house isn’t yours! My residence does not exist to reflect you! I gave you permission to rent my house and to take care of my house, not to take over my house!”

D. In those scenarios, the house renters and the house-sitters would have made the same mistake: They acted as if the dwelling was theirs, but they certainly should have known better.

1. Here’s the spiritual application: We make the same mistake when we act like our bodies belong to us alone.

2. The truth of the matter is that everything and everyone ultimately belong to God.

3. God is the creator and rightful owner of everyone and everything.

5. And this even more true for those of us who have entered into a relationship with God, and we should know and understand that our lives and our bodies belong to God.

E. Paul explains this truth very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

1. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to indulge their passions?

2. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to grab attention for themselves?

3. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to express their opinions?

4. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to do evil or harm others?

5. Of course not, Christians are to use their bodies to honor and serve God.

F. Look at how Paul expressed that truth in his letter to the Romans: 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13)

1. Paul makes it clear that Christians are not to use their bodies as weapons and tools for sin, or evil, or unrighteousness.

2. Rather, Christians are to use their bodies as weapons and tools for good and for righteousness.

G. The Christians at Corinth had difficulty understanding this truth about our bodies.

1. They had trouble understanding that our bodies belong to God and should be all about God.