“Building Quality Relationships: With Jesus – Respect the Temple”
Eph. 5:3-8; Ps. 139: 1-6 & 13-18
Let’s begin with a brief exercise. When I say “Now”, I want you to exhale and empty your lungs. Ready? Now…Now take a deep breath and fill your lungs. In the second that it took that air to reach your lungs, your body, no matter how cool or hot the air around you, warmed it to your inner temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Your body also put moisture into that air so that it reached your lungs at a humidity of 75-80%, no matter how dry the air is around you. Your nose trapped bits of dust and even killed small germs from the air you breathed. Right now, about 750 million air sacs in your lungs are passing that warm, humid, clean air on to your blood. That blood will run through 60,000 miles of blood vessels and take precious oxygen to every one of your 6 trillion body cells. Each cell will automatically pick what it needs from your blood and dump what it doesn’t need back into your blood. The human body is sensational.
Speaking of sensational, do you know that your brain is the most complex instrument in the world? About the size of a grapefruit it weighs around 3 pounds. It is composed of some 12-14 billion cells. There are more electrical circuits in a single brain than in all the radio and television stations of the whole world put together. If someone could build the electronic equivalent of the human brain, it would require a building three times the size of the Empire State Building to house it, all the power generated by Niagara Falls to run it and all the water of the falls to cool it. And when it was complete it wouldn’t even be able to decide whether you should have waffles or pancakes for breakfast! The human body is special.
But our bodies are not only sensational and special, but OUR BODIES ARE ALSO SACRED. Of course, not everyone agrees with that. There is a SECULAR VIEW OF THE BODY. Some would call it the ‘low view.’ In this view the body is only temporary; it is a prison house, a jail cell, for the soul. The body is only a mass of matter that will one day dissolve and disappear. Since the soul is the only thing that matters, what we do with our bodies does not matter. We are free to do with and in our bodies whatever we desire. Live wild; live free. As long as the soul is pure, we’re okay.
But over against this view the Bible presents the SACRED VIEW OF THE BODY. In the creation account in Genesis we learn that all humans are created in the image of God. We are never independent of Him. We bear His nature within us. That foundation underlies the rest of the scriptural testimony. Consider Ps. 139, verse 13: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This is the Psalmist’s way of proclaiming God as the creator and author of life. God is somehow, mysteriously, involved in the formation of life. GOD IS THE KNITTER, THE WEAVER OF OUR BODIES. The ‘inmost being’ includes the seat of the emotions, our passions and desires and longings. From our earliest moments we were created under the artistry and direction and guardianship of God.
Look at Ps. 139:15: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth...” David is referring back to Genesis 2:7 and the creation account; as Adam was specially created, so was David; and so are we. Isaiah wrote (49:1&5): “...before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword ... He who formed me in the womb to be his servant...” Jeremiah claimed God told him (1:5) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...” You are a unique, God designed person.
In verse 16 of Ps. 139 David says “My eyes saw your unformed body.” Throughout the Old Testament references to God’s ‘eyes’ are used to connote God’s sovereign oversight in the life of an individual or group. And the word “unformed body” is the Hebrew word for embryo. It is a noun derivative of a verb meaning ‘to roll up.’ In the earliest points of development, when only what some would call today ‘a blob’, God is at work in the creation of life.
Curt Young, in his book, The Least of These, writes: “I recall a series of lectures in embryology presented when I was a pre-med student at the University of Illinois. The theme was simple. In studying prenatal development, we can describe what is taking place, but we cannot explain why.” (1) It’s like having the ingredients of some delicious dessert in front of us – they have value only if there is a cook who knows how to put it all together correctly. Likewise the genetic substance is before us in the womb – but science has never been able to understand how it all goes together correctly; scientists do not have the recipe! It is a spiritual process; the Author of Life is at work! That’s why the Bible uses the same language and same personal pronouns for both life in the womb and life after birth! Life is sacred.
And it’s not just an Old Testament teaching. One of the two most common words used for an infant in the Greek New Testament is “brephos.” Scholars have defined this word as “a breathing, nursing infant.” Consider how Luke – who was a medical doctor as well as an apostle – uses this “brephos.” When Mary, aware the she is carrying the Christ child, goes to visit Elizabeth, Luke writes of Elizabeth “...the baby (brephos) leaped in her womb ...” Luke used the same word for baby in the womb as for a breathing, nursing infant! Luke reminds us that God is involved with life even before birth!
In fact, GOD VALUED THE BODY SO HIGHLY THAT HE WAS BORN IN A HUMAN BODY. John wrote that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” In the Old Testament God appeared in the Tent of the Tabernacle. But in Jesus he appeared in a body of flesh. And then on Pentecost the Holy Spirit took up residence in those who believed in Jesus Christ. So Paul wrote in 1Corinthians (6:19): “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” The word Paul used for “body” is “soma”, and it is not the usual word for “flesh;” it refers to our whole being - body, mind, and soul. Body and soul are an oneness which houses the Spirit of Jesus Christ! Beginning in the womb and on through our earthly life, our bodies are sacred. As The Message puts it, “I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made!”
OUR BODIES AND OUR LIVES HAVE DIGNITY. A temple has no meaning apart from who inhabits it. Our bodies get their meaning from Jesus Christ. Our dignity does not come from our status, popularity, our looks, our sexuality, or our lineage; it comes from Jesus. He not only lives within us, but He loved us enough to die for us. Our dignity does not come from the fact that we know God but that He knows us; not from the fact that we love Him but that He loves us; not from the fact that we do our best to be like Him but that He is working in and through our bodies to transform us into His image. He loves us so much that there is no one or nothing that can condemn us.
Not only are our bodies sacred, but OUR BODIES ARE POSSESSED. We mentioned it last week but it bears repeating. 1Cor. 6:19-20 – “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” On the cross Jesus purchased our salvation – He purchased our lives – body and soul. GOD HOLDS THE TITLE TO HIS TEMPLE, OUR BODIES. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, we “belong, in body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful savior Jesus Christ.” As Paul told the Roman Church (14:7-8 GNT): “We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only. If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we
die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” He’s the landlord. He determines the rules and regulations. He lays down the
ground rules.
And this is good news! Because He loves us, in the words of the Catechism, “Christ, by His Holy Spirit, ASSURES (US) OF ETERNAL LIFE.” The Holy Spirit, at home in our bodies, assures us of eternal life. Ephesians 1:13-14 – “And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory!” He loves us enough that there is nothing anywhere or anyplace that can separate us from His love.
Not only does He assure us of eternal life but through the Spirit he makes us “wholeheartedly WILLING AND READY TO LIVE FOR HIM.” (2) Paul, in Romans 8:10-11 (GNT) put it, “But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.”
Since God owns us and makes the rules, He does not let us wander aimlessly through life. OUR BODIES HAVE A PURPOSE. Consider Ecclesiastes 12:13 (GNT) – “After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.” We are to HONOR GOD WITH OUR BODIES. As Paul stated, our bodies are meant for the Lord and the Lord for our bodies. (1 Cor. 6:13) Our bodies are instruments through which we are to serve God. There are several implications of this truth.
The first one we dealt with last week – FLEE IMMORALITY; so I won’t address that again here. Second, we must TAKE CARE OF OUR BODIES. Hope Church is blessed that Gert spends so much time keeping our facility looking clean and immaculate – especially the Sanctuary. She does it because she believes it belongs not to us but to God; it’s His temple. If our bodies belong to God, if they are His temple, then we must give the same care to them. As one person said, it’s distressing to see pooped-out pastors and Christians ‘dragging along their devoted ruins.’ Another stated, “Words about salvation come pouring out of their mouths, but their bodies are sacraments of damnation.” The fact is that doctors spend a lot of time
dealing with diseases and afflictions that are the results of living poorly. Years ago the president of the Rockefeller Foundation said, “Americans look upon sloth, gluttony, alcoholic temperance, reckless driving, and they’ve come to expect government financed cures for all unhappy consequences. People have been led to believe that National Health Insurance, more doctors, and greater use of high-cost hospital-based technologies would improve health. Unfortunately, none of them will. (Changes) can only come from self-imposed changes in the way individuals live.”
The truth is, American and American culture is schizophrenic. We spend billions of dollars building a gambling industry and then spend billions of dollars trying to help people from being addicted to gambling. We spend billions of dollars building a tobacco industry and then spend billions of dollars warning people of the hazards of smoking and building programs to treat those ravaged from smoking. We spend billions of dollars producing alcoholic beverages and then spend billions of dollars treating people ruined by alcoholism and warning people of the dangers of alcohol. We spend billions of dollars promoting ‘free sex’ and then spend billions of dollars warning people of the dangers of free sex and treating those devastated by free sex. Changes can only come from self-imposed changes in the way individuals live.
We must also TAKE CARE OF OUR EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH. For all the neuroses and stresses that impact people today, the church provides direction. First, the Psalmist pointed to it (103:3-5 GNT): “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy. He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.” Jesus then affirmed it (Mt. 11:28): “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Notice we are not promised to never be ill and struggle emotionally. But when in such circumstances there is a source of healing and strength which we must demonstrate through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are not only to honor God with our bodies, but also TO SERVE GOD WITH OUR BODIES. Romans 12:1 (CEV) is our mandate: “Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God.” Eugene Peterson, in The Message, translates it powerfully: “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”
What’s that look like? Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. In the words of Alan Redpath, “The feet that led you into sin should now take you to the house of God and to the place of prayer. The eyes that once looked upon things that aroused lust should now be turned upon your wonderful Saviour. The ears that listened to doubtful stories should now be eager to hear the Word of God. The hands that once squandered your money should now labor in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. The tongue that talked so loosely and glibly should now be singing His praises and telling others of His love. Your body is the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Is everything in the temple singing ‘Glory to God?” (3)
PBS once ran a story about some very striking fish which live 5 miles deep in the ocean. They are incredibly colorful, so much so that a certain group of people decided to bring some of the fish to the surface for their tropical aquarium. But when the fish got near the surface, they blew up! They were designed to live under the pressure at the bottom. They belonged to the depths of the ocean. And that’s the way it is with all of God’s creation. Everything is created to live in a certain environment and soon lose life outside of that proper environment. And we were created for God! Colossians 1:16, in speaking of Jesus Christ, states: “All things were created by Him and for Him.” I, you, each of us, every one of us – is created for relationship to Christ. We are not our own! Just as the fish were created for the ocean, and the earth to be in orbit around the sun, we were created by Jesus for a relationship with Him. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ, or if you’ve wandered out of relationship with Jesus, you’re like a fish out of deep water. I urge you this morning to get back into the deep water and be who you are meant to be – get into a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. Fight it if you want to - but sooner or later you’ll explode without Him. You belong - body and soul - to Jesus Christ.
(1) Curt Young, ‘The Least of These’, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, © 1983 by Curtis J. Young, p. 42
(2) Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A #1
(3) Alan Redpath, ‘The Royal Route to Heaven’, Fleming H. Revell/Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, © 1993 by Fleming H. Revell, p. 78-79
