The book of 1 Corinthians 6:17 says this to us as children who belong to God
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. - NKJV
But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit - NIV
But he who joins himself to the Lord becomes spiritually one with him. - GNT
When we have Jesus as the Lord of our lives, then the WORD of God says that we are joined together with Him in the spirit. We become one with the Lord and we do not belong to ourselves anymore. Been one with the Lord is beneficial to us his children. Our body becomes a temple where the Lord lives through his Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20 records a powerful statement
"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? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."
The amplified puts it this way
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]? You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body."
We have received the Holy Spirit as a gift from God and we have been bought at a price and the price was not an ordinary price, this price was through the precious blood of God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ and we are now His own therefore, we are to honor and glorify God with our body.
God cannot live in a body that is defiled, this is why he says that we are to honor and glorify Him through our body. We are not to use our body in ways that will grieve His Spirit by living and doing things to please ourselves. We need to always remember that God himself lives in us and we are to respect God that lives in us.
Scriptures on God living in us.
John 14:23
Jesus answered, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.
Ezekiel 37:27
My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
1 John 3:24
Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Romans 8: 9 - 11
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
2 Timothy 1:14
Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Ephesians 3:17
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith.
It is through faith that our body becomes the temple of God.
We are to honor God with our body.
The dictionary meaning of honor is
- To respect God with our body
- It's the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right.
- To praise God with our body
- To compliment God
- To glorify God with our body
Therefore, because our body is the temple of God the WORD of God says to us in Hebrews 13:5
"Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”
And in Deuteronomy 31:6
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
God abides in us and he promises not to leave us nor forsake us. We all fall short of his glory sometimes but even if we do we have an assurance of his presence in us always. God will not abandon us in our time of weaknesses and in those times we can focus on him in us instead of on ourselves.
And this is why He said this to us in Romans 8: 31 -39 that nothing can separate us from Him because He lives in us!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And since He is in us then we are blessed according to Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
God loves us so much that he called us his children and He even went further to live in us. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob abides in us and we need to see it has a privilege that we have Him in us. When we are troubled we are to look in us and not at our situation and circumstances of life.
He said this to us in John 10: 4 - 5 "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Because we have the Spirit of God himself living in us we hear his voice only and we can differentiate his voice from any other voice that is around us, how do we recognise God's voice? We recognise his voice by going into his WORD and we get help from Him by Him reminding us of his WORD.
Our body is the temple of God!
We also have his nature in us because He lives in us.
Matthew 5:48
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
We have God's ability in us as his temple.
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
We have his strength in us as his body.
2 Corinthians 12: 9 - 10
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We also have his power in us.
Colossians 2:12
Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
We are blessed with his wisdom.
Proverbs 4: 6 - 7
“Do not turn away from her (Wisdom) and she will guard and protect you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!
And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]."
Our sermon today is about our body been the temple of God and according to 1 Corinthians 6: 12 - 20 we are to glorify God in our Body and Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6: 12 - 20
"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. 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. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
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! 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.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 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? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."
Therefore, we are not to use our body for sexual immorality, by doing that we are involving God who lives in us in immorality and He is been grieved has we indulged our selves in sexual immorality.
We have become one with the Lord in spirit. He is joined to us and we are joined to him, becoming one with the Lord is a blessing to us his children and the WORD of God says as Jesus is so are we in this world. Also since we are in Him we are his body here on earth. This is why He said we are to honor him with our body and in our spirit because they belong to Him.
We belong to God and we are His temple.
Remain in Him and He will be glorified in us all.
Be blessed in his presence always.
