Honor God With Your Bodies Series

Theme: Worship with your Bodies

Text: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Greetings:

Introduction: we have started the month with the covenant of Rest, enter into the rest of God. We have meditated on the significance of Work and Rest based on Genesis 2:1-3. Now we have come to understand that we worship God with our Bodies. Our physical bodies are the Temple of God, honor one another as the temple of God, as the temple of the Living God, and as the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, honor God with your bodies. Worship God with your bodies.

Joke: Tommy told his mom, "I don't want to go to Sunday school anymore, it’s boring. I want to go to the adult service with you and Daddy."

He sat in the main sanctuary for the first time, and he noticed a display of A few photographs of men and women were displayed.

Tommy asked his mom what it is. She told: "These are some members of our church who died in the service."

Tommy said: "Oh, Then, I'll go to Sunday school from next week."(Adopted).

1. Honor the Temple – Your Body

Temple denotes the "abode of the gods" and refers to a structure or building associated with, dedicated to, and set apart to be a dwelling place for a deity (Acts 17:24, Matthew 23:16). Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The body is made of flesh and blood. The body is decorated with clay. The body is ash, a cloud of dust, and components of mud. But God expects us to Worship Him with the beauty of Holiness in this body.

Paul says that your body is the house of, the inner sanctuary of, a temple of God. Paul emphasizes the significance of the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). Paul says that a temple is a place of worship. The proprietor of the body of a believer is Holy Spirit. So, our bodies are not at our disposal. They are to be used for the purpose for which God designed them, at conversion, the body becomes a Cathedral, a Temple after receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seals his eternal salvation immediately at the point of initial salvation. (Ephesians 1:13,14).

Your bodies are the Temple of God because it was created or built by God, dedicated to Christ, and inhabited by the Spirit of God (Benson). Our body is so constituted, as that it may be the temple of God, His peculiar and perpetual habitation (Bengel). God does not dwell in an auditorium, but in the body of the believer. A building is not the sanctuary; believers are the sanctuary. We do not have the right to do with our bodies what we wish. We can’t abuse our bodies for our own pleasure. Here, Paul elevates our bodies to the level of being temples, holy places, that house the Spirit of God. Mysteriously, we carry His Spirit in our bodies (ref: Bible Ref.com).

This temple needs daily to be sanctified by the truth of His Word (John 17:17), and by the washing of the water of His Word (Ephesians 5:26, John 13:10). We need to practice "pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father" and "keep ourselves unstained by the world." (James 1:27). "Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1) "If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth." (1 Peter 1:17). (Precept Austin).

2. Honor Temples of God – Other Bodies

There are world-popular Temples, Cathedrals, and holy shrines all over the world that are very attractive. People fight for them, even Sacrificing their lives to safeguard the sanctity of the temples. There are incidents where people and leaders have lost their lives due to disputes and ill-treating such places. But Paul says that we all are the Temples of God. We are the sanctuaries and holy places. How do we treat one another?

Paul in his Second Epistle to Corinthians mentioned that we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16). He further narrates how our fellowship plays a vital role in the building of the holy temple of God (Ephesians 2:21).

You are like the living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Though many members form one temple, the whole congregation being that which each is in miniature individually. Just as the Jews had one temple only, so in the fullest sense all Christian churches and believers form into one temple (Jamieson Fausset).

According to Tertullian, (the Theologian), all Christians have become the temple of God by virtue of his Holy Spirit sent into their hearts and consecrating their bodies to his service. They should make chastity the keeper of this sacred house, and suffer nothing unclean or profane to enter into it, lest the God who dwells in it, being displeased, should desert his habitation thus defiled (Benson).