Holy Wind Bags and the Sacred Sanctuary
Genesis 2:4-7 & 1 Corinthians 6:9-20
INTRODUCTION… What your body does in a 24 hour period (http://www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=177)
* your heart beats 103689 times
* your blood travels 168,000,000 miles
* you breathe 23040 times
* you inhale 438 cubic feet of air
* you eat 3.25 pounds of food
* you drink 2.9 quarts of liquids
* you lose 7/8 pounds of waste
* you speak 4800 words, including some unnecessary ones
* you move 750 muscles
* your nails grow .000046 inch
* your hair grows .01714 inch
* you exercise 7,000,000 brain cells
Over the next couple of weeks, John will be giving a series of sermons focusing on our bodies and what the Bible has to say about it. So, today, I thought we would spend some time in the Word preparing for those messages by looking at Biblical views of our bodies. There are two passages that I think directly speak to us and give us a Biblical view of our bodies.
I. HOLY WIND BAGS (GENESIS 2:4-7)
READ GENESIS 2:4-7 = “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
A biblical view of our physical bodies begins to develop in the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis. Most of the time when we think of the Creation story, we think of Genesis 1 and its account of the seven days of Creation. Genesis 1 contains a beautiful poem about the Creation of the Universe and our world. Genesis 2 begins with a summary of the creation story that uses a few different words that are key in our understanding of the human body.
Verses 4-6 describe for us life on this new planet Earth. It did not rain in the beginning, but the ground was watered from springs in the ground. This makes Noah’s story all the more potent when we realize that he was building an ark for the day when it rained. It hadn’t rained yet! The world, according to Genesis 2, was waiting for human beings. Human beings would tend the soil and plant and harvest.
The key verse is verse 7. Verse 7 gives us the beautiful view of human beings and our first Biblical view of our bodies. Verse 7 tells us that we are Holy Wind Bags. Verse 7 says, “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” The vivid mental picture we get of God in verse 7 is a potter who sculpts a man from the dust of the ground or a carver who whittles him from a piece of wood. God, a little later, also intimately constructs a woman in verse 22. God makes human beings quite specifically and purposefully and with much thought. Human beings were not an afterthought of creation, but were the whole point. God also said in Genesis 1:26, “’Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” God made you and I with purpose. God made you and I as the crown of creation and not as something with left over parts.
Yet, that is not the most amazing thing in this passage. Verse 7 tells us that God breathed His own breath into us and man became a living being. Now, we know of course that many things on our planet are alive. Trees and flowers are alive. Ants and flies are alive. Bears and elephants are alive. Human beings share the created-ness with all of these things, but we are very different. We were formed by God and our life force comes from the very breath of the Creator Himself. Animals and people are both alive, yes, but only human beings are Holy Wind Bags. We hold the very breath of God inside of us! It is this breath that separates man from beast and gives human beings a distinct role in Creation. We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and we share His very breath (Genesis 2:7). God saw to it that something of Him animates us!
ILLUSTRATION… http://elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+420
A little girl crawled up into her great grandmother’s lap one day. And looking up into her great grandmother’s face she saw all those crevices, lines, and wrinkles. Then she felt her own smooth baby-like skin. She said to her great grandmother, "Did God make you?" Her great grandmother said, "Yes honey, God made me." Then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, did God make me?" Her great grandmother said, "Oh yes, God made you too." And then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, don’t you think God’s doing a lot better job these days?"
The first view of the human body tells us that we hold the holy breath of God inside of us and He did indeed create us with great purpose. The second view of the human body comes from the New Testament in the book of 1 Corinthians and communicates to us even more of what we should think about ourselves.
II. THE SACRED SANCTUARY (1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-20)
READ 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-20 = “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 "Everything is permissible for me"-- but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-- but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-- but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
The Apostle Paul is trying to help the Corinthians in their Christian lives and has written them on many subjects in his letter to them. In the last part of chapter 6, Paul is speaking to the Corinthians (and to us) about the human body. Paul mentions in verses 9-10 several sins that affect the body and a few that do not. The Corinthians lived in a society in which they did not mind misusing their bodies and sexually immoral behavior was commonplace.
The Corinthians were using some phrases among themselves to justify what they were doing. “Everything is permissible” and “food for the stomach and the stomach for food” were two phrases they were using among each other. The sense we get is that they were sinning with their bodies and felt that it was permissible. They thought the body was just physical and God was only concerned with their spirits… so they could what they wanted with their bodies. Paul tells them (and us) that this is not true. It does matter what you do with your body.
I think our world is a lot more like the city of Corinth than we would like to admit. You see, the Corinthians were accepting immoral behavior as right. Do we do that in our society? Do we live in a society where it doesn’t matter what we do with our bodies? Do we think and act the same way as the Corinthians?
ILLUSTRATION… Barna.org (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=2)
Living with someone of the opposite sex without being married = 60%
Having a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not married = 42%
Getting drunk = 35%
Having a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex = 30%
Using drugs not prescribed by a medical doctor = 17%
Verse 19 tells us the exact reason of why our bodies and what we do with our bodies is so important. Paul asks us rhetorically, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Paul tells us that our bodies are a sacred sanctuary that houses the Spirit of God. We know that when we come to Christ in faith and we are baptized, that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). We are then carriers of this Holy Spirit. He is inside us! He becomes part of us! Paul also tells us that this gift of the Holy Spirit was not free… Jesus paid with His life so that the Holy Spirit could reside in you and in me. Our body is a temple. Our body houses the Holy Spirit. Our body is then a sanctuary. It is that place in which the presence of the Creator God who saved us dwells. That makes you very special and very significant.
The Apostle Paul tells us that it matters how we use our body because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. It matters to God.
It matters who you have sex with because God is inside you.
It matters if you honor you marriage because God is inside you.
It matters if you use drugs and drink alcohol because God is inside you.
It matters if your body ends up in sinful situations… because God… is… inside… you.
The Corinthians did not believe it mattered if they sinned with their bodies. They were wrong. They had an unbiblical view of their bodies and it led them into sin that needed to be corrected. When we have a correct view of ourselves, it helps to keep us on the right track.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF A BIBLICAL VIEW OF OUR BODIES
The reason that a Biblical view of our bodies is important is because our culture and our world are telling us things that are not true. There are many ideas out there that challenge the Truth of God when it comes to our bodies and who we are as human beings. We have got to keep our thoughts straight when it comes to these errors so that we are not led astray.
# 1 “Human beings were an accident and have no worth.” Agent Smith, a character from the popular trilogy ‘The Matrix’ illustrates this when he says, “I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure.”
Many times the movies of our day describe for us the common thoughts of the culture. I think this movie quote illustrates for us that some think humanity was an accident on this planet and that we just infect the world. We have no purpose or value. We just are born, consume, and die. That is all. I hope you know that this is not true. Matthew 10:29-31 encourages us, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
You are a Holy Wind Bag and as such the very breath of God animates you and gives you life. God has given each of us a purpose. You are a Sacred Sanctuary and the Holy Spirit resides in you to give you direction and hope and strength in this life.
#2 “Human beings have no purpose.” You may have come across someone who was convinced that there is absolutely no purpose to life. Life has no meaning. We, as people, have no purpose or meaning. We were just accidents and now we are just taking up space on this miserable rock. Why do you think that Rick Warren’s book “Purpose Driven Life” has sold so many millions of copies? The reason is that our world is telling us that we have no purpose. Our lives have no meaning… and it simply is not true. Psalm 57:2-3 tells us, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and his faithfulness.” Paul is speaking to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians (5:4-7) when he tells them, “For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight.”
You are a Holy Wind Bag and as such the very breath of God animates you and gives you life. God has given each of us a purpose and has even promised us purpose after this life. You are a Sacred Sanctuary and the Holy Spirit resides in you to give you direction and hope and strength in this life as a deposit of what is to come.
#3 Human beings are alone and must rely on ourselves. It makes sense, does it not, that if our world and society tell us that we are an accident and have no purpose… that we are also alone in our lives and we have no help or hope at all. Many people in this world face each day with no hope and no support. They find escape in drugs and alcohol and sex and entertainment and other people. They look out for number one because no one else is there to help. The Bible tells us this is not true. John 14:15-20 tells us, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
You are a Holy Wind Bag and as such the very breath of God animates you and gives you life. God has given each of us a purpose and has even promised us purpose after this life. You are a Sacred Sanctuary and the Holy Spirit resides in you to give you direction and hope and strength in this life as a deposit of what is to come. He has not left us alone, but a companion resides within us.
CONCLUSION…
