DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
[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. [13] 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. [14] And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. [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? Certainly not! [16] 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." [17] But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. [18] Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. [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? [20] For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. [NKJV]
OPENING REMARKS
Don’t Waste Your Life
John Piper
I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader’s Digest: A couple ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast fives years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .’ Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy.
“God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.” ----- [Don’t Waste Your Life, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2003, rear jacket] -----
An old TV commercial concerning the loss of not educating a young mind but refusing to permit such to happen due to the lack of funds to send one to college said: “It is a terrible thing to waste a mind.” With that thought in mind – how much more tragic would it be for one to Waste a Life?
.. Don’t Waste Your Life!
1. In Your Liberty.
2. In Your Daily Walk.
3. In Your Witness.
TEXT
I. In Your Liberty –
12
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.
A. All Things Are Lawful for Me …
.. Freedom in Christ
. This is a truth that we should never become tired of emphasizing.
. As a believer I have the right to eat, to drink, to sleep, to work, and to pursue enjoyment.
. No individual has the right to tell me how to live my life. God’s word is my guide not someone else’s principles and traditions.
.. This is because Jesus has paid the price for my sins and has set me free from all condemnation concerning them. In Him all of my sins have been forgiven and forgotten by God (Psalm 103:10-12).
Romans 8:1a
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
B. But All Things Are Not Helpful …
1. Our freedom in Christ is not to cause our brother/sister to stumble.
Romans 14:14-23
14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
.. In Christ we have liberty to live our lives w/o fear of being eternally rejected by Him for the things we do. However, it is like all freedom – it carries responsibility and we are responsible not to allow our freedom to become a stumbling block to our brother/sister in Christ.
2. Our freedom in Christ is not to allow the flesh to control us.
.. My freedom in Christ is not a license to sin.
Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not [God forbid (KJV)]. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it.
C. Don’t Waste Your Life
Romans 14:8
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
II. In Your Daily Walk –
13c-18
13 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. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
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? Certainly not!
16 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."
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
A. Our lives are identified by our actions. If you live in the flesh you will produce works of the flesh | if you live in the Spirit you will bring forth fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25
16 … Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
.. Paul here in the text gives an example of what takes place when we yield ourselves over to our sinful nature instead of the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
. In this case we see where he was addressing the Corinthian church concerning those who were joining themselves to harlots which brought no honor to Christ.
. This particular sin was/is so heinous that the Apostle tells us flee such immorality. Oh, that we would not only flee sexual immorality but may we also do that with every sinful situation that we find ourselves facing!
B. Don’t Waste Your Life
2 Corinthians 5:17
… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things become new.
III. In Your Witness –
19-20
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?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
A. We as Christians need to realize that we live in glass houses.
. Our neighbors, friends, family, and even our enemies are observing how we now live our lives.
. This testimony tells others if we truly believe the Christian message: That we belong to Christ (for He has purchased us.
1 Peter 1:18-19
[We are not] “redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from [our] futile way of life inherited from [our] forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” [NASB].
.. What kind of witness are you showing to others through your life?
B. Don’t Waste Your Life
Philippians 1:21a
For me to live is Christ
CONCLUSION
Most [Christians] slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. Do not get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain. Then live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and make the glory of God your singular passion. Don’t waste your life! ----- [John Piper, rear jacket, (adapted)] -----
1 Corinthians 3:11-17
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
.. Don’t Waste Your Life! – Live for Christ! – Redeem the Time!
Colossians 4:5-6
Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one (cf. 1 Peter 3:15).
INVITATION
1. Those who do not know Christ as their Savior
.. Don’t waste your life. God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for sinners. I urge you to turn from your sinful ways and trust the finished work of Christ at Calvary to redeem your soul. What hinders you from coming to Christ today?
2. To the Believer/Church
.. Don’t waste your life. Compared to eternity time is relatively short on this earth. Spend the time wisely and live you life in a manner that seeks to bring glory to God.
3. Come Worship the Lord
.. Our Invitation is open to all –
. Come to Christ
. Come if you need to pray
. Come be a part of us
. Come share with us what the Lord would have you to do
Bruce Allen
Underwood Baptist Church
February 17, 2008
bea0210@hotmail.com
http://ebenezer.reformedblogs.com
