A. The practice of house-sitting and house-sitters has been around for a long time.
1. Perhaps you have used a house-sitter or been a house-sitter.
2. People often use house-sitters if they have pets or plants that they want someone to look after when on vacation.
B. But there’s a newer phenomenon called AirBnB where any of us can rent someone else’s house or let them rent ours.
1. I heard about someone who bought an AirBnB for horses because they were hoping for a more stable income (haha).
2. Covid-19 has certainly slowed down the growth and use of AirBnB, but statistics from December of 2020 showed that there are 7.9 million different places in the world that you can rent through AirBnB.
3. And in 2020, AirBnB listings worldwide generated 26.8 billion dollars in gross revenues, which is about half of what was generated in 2019, before the pandemic began, but that’s still a lot of money.
C. You might be wondering why I am talking about AirBnB house rentals and house-sitters, well, it’s because I want us to make a spiritual analogy.
1. If you had an AirBnB or had someone house-sit for you, what are the things you might worry about the most? What might be the biggest nightmares that you can imagine?
2. We might worry about the person breaking something or stealing something.
3. We might worry about the person trashing the place.
a. And if we returned to a mess, we might confront them about the stack of dirty dishes, or the trash scattered on the floor throughout the place.
b. They might defend themselves saying, “My time there was temporary, and I didn’t think you would mind the fact that I made a mess.” But they would be wrong about that.
4. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, imagine if the person redecorated your house!
a. Imagine you returned home and found your nice neutral colored walls are now pink, or your Berber carpet has been replaced by shag, or your comfortable couch has been replaced with some futuristic plastic furniture.
b. When you confront the person who made the changes as to why they would do such a thing, they reply: “The house didn’t express me accurately. I needed the house to communicate who I am!”
c. And of course, you would reply something like: “But the house isn’t yours! My residence does not exist to reflect you! I gave you permission to rent my house and to take care of my house, not to take over my house!”
D. In those scenarios, the house renters and the house-sitters would have made the same mistake: They acted as if the dwelling was theirs, but they certainly should have known better.
1. Here’s the spiritual application: We make the same mistake when we act like our bodies belong to us alone.
2. The truth of the matter is that everything and everyone ultimately belong to God.
3. God is the creator and rightful owner of everyone and everything.
5. And this even more true for those of us who have entered into a relationship with God, and we should know and understand that our lives and our bodies belong to God.
E. Paul explains this truth very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
1. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to indulge their passions?
2. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to grab attention for themselves?
3. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to express their opinions?
4. Are Christians supposed to use their bodies to do evil or harm others?
5. Of course not, Christians are to use their bodies to honor and serve God.
F. Look at how Paul expressed that truth in his letter to the Romans: 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13)
1. Paul makes it clear that Christians are not to use their bodies as weapons and tools for sin, or evil, or unrighteousness.
2. Rather, Christians are to use their bodies as weapons and tools for good and for righteousness.
G. The Christians at Corinth had difficulty understanding this truth about our bodies.
1. They had trouble understanding that our bodies belong to God and should be all about God.
2. When it came to the use of their bodies, the Corinthians insisted that “Everything is permissible for me” (1 Cor. 6:12) or “I have the right to do anything” (NIV) or “I am allowed to do anything” (NLT).
3. In their way of thinking, the flesh was separated from the spirit.
a. They believed you could have fun with the flesh as long as you honored God with the spirit.
b. They believed you could have it all: you could have wild Saturdays and worshipful Sundays, but Paul had a different and godly way of thinking.
c. Paul would not allow for this dichotomy - this compartmentalizing of ourselves.
4. Paul reminded the Christians at Corinth that God has interwoven the body and the spirit, and had elevated them to equal status.
5. Paul wrote: However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. (1 Cor. 6:13-17)
a. When we become a Christian we become part of Christ’s body, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us.
b. What we do with our bodies cannot be separated from Christ and the Holy Spirit.
c. Wherever we go, Christ goes, and whatever we do, we involve Christ.
H. Therefore, as Christians, we should understand that our bodies are not our toys, but are God’s tools.
1. I heard about a sign that a professional mechanic had on his toolbox that read: “Don’t ask to borrow my tools. I use them to feed my family.”
2. We can appreciate his need to protect his family and therefore the need to protect his tools.
3. To do his work, the mechanic needed his tools to be available and functional.
a. When he needed his wrench, it had better be available and in working condition.
b. When he reached for his screwdriver, it had better be clean and unbroken.
4. The mechanic’s work was important, and therefore his tools were important.
I. The same can be said about God’s work and God’s tools.
1. There is no more important work in the world than God’s, and therefore the tools of God – His people - need to be available and functional.
2. Our lives and our bodies are not our own, they belong to God and must be dedicated to God.
3. And our lives and our bodies must be maintained and employed according to God’s instruction manual.
J. Let’s talk for a minute about maintaining our bodies.
1. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made by God, but we must not abuse them or neglect them.
2. When we look into the Word, we see that God warns us about overindulgence and addiction to things that might harm the body and hinder our service to God.
3. In the passage we have been looking at in 1 Corinthians 6, we notice that Paul says: “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Cor. 6:12)
a. The phrase “Everything is permissible for me” is not God’s philosophy, but is the world’s philosophy, and that’s why the phrase is in quotation marks.
b. Worldly people and worldly Christians might think that everything is permissible, but Paul cautions us that everything is not beneficial, nor should we be mastered or controlled by anything.
4. This is why Scripture forbids gluttony and drunkenness, because both of those things can destroy our bodies and hinder our service to God.
a. Proverbs 23:20-21 says: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
K. Gluttony is one of those subjects that we don’t talk about very often.
1. The words translated “glutton, gluttons, and gluttony” actually only appear only 6 times in the whole Bible.
2. They appear twice in the Gospels when Jesus is accused of being “a drunkard and a glutton” (Mt. 11:19; Lk. 7:34)
3. The word appears once in Titus, when Paul says that Cretans are called liars, evil brutes, and lazy gluttons. (Titus 1:12)
4. The other three occurrences of the word for gluttons appear in the Proverbs, and one is the passage we read a minute ago.
5. So, although the Bible casts gluttony in a negative light, it doesn’t make it a huge focus.
6. What I want to briefly say about gluttony, with regard to our bodies belonging to God, is that the gluttonous impulse is a sign of disharmony with God’s provision and creation, and that it can disrupt the spiritual lives of people of every size and shape.
a. And let me also clarify that a person’s size and shape is affected by more than just what they eat, we also must acknowledge the part that heredity and metabolism play.
b. Some people have won the genetics sweepstakes, while other people have not – some people can eat as much of anything they want and it doesn’t show up on the outside.
7. Christians of earlier generations paid more attention to this dimension of spiritual life than our generation does.
a. They understood that over-indulgence in food did not just lead to thickened waistlines and clogged arteries, but rather it led to spiritual disaster.
b. Gluttony isn’t wrong just because it may make us physically unhealthy, rather it is wrong because it is the fruit of self-indulgence.
c. Gluttony can be a form of idol worship and can be an addiction that controls us.
8. In Philippians 3:19, when Paul was talking about people who live as enemies of the cross of Christ, he concluded: Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things.
9. When Paul wrote to Timothy he cautioned him about putting too much emphasis on physical exercise over spiritual exercise: For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Tim. 4:8)
10. My suggestion is that we avoid extremes when it comes to over-indulgence or under-indulgence in both food and in exercise.
11. We should do our best to maintain God’s tool - our body - feed it well, keep it moving, and give it the rest it needs – this will enable us to be God’s servant who is rested enough to serve, fueled and mobile enough to work, and alert enough to think.
L. When it comes to over-indulgence or over-dependence on alcohol, the Bible is very clear.
1. In contrast to gluttony, the words translated drunk, drunkards, drunken, and drunkenness appear more than 60 times in the Bible, that’s 10 times more than gluttony.
2. These 60 plus times when being drunk is mentioned are repeated warnings and condemnations for those who would allow alcohol to control and destroy their lives.
a. The lists of those who won’t be going to heaven include those who are drunkards (1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21).
3. Paul’s command about alcohol is given clearly and concisely in Ephesians 5:18: And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit.
4. One of my favorite verses on this subject is: Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise. (Pr. 20:1)
a. Here’s how The Message renders this verse: Wine makes you mean, beer makes you quarrelsome – a staggering drunk is not much fun.
5. Beyond the negative effects of alcohol on the body (alcohol is a harsh chemical that can poison), is the surrender of our minds when we are under the influence of alcohol.
a. We’ve heard people say: “That’s just the beer talking.”
b. People who are under the influence of alcohol say and do things they would never say or do if they weren’t drunk.
6. So those of us who belong to God, and know that our bodies belong to God, should not allow alcohol take control of our minds and bodies.
7. But for clarification, allow me to point out that the Bible does not say, “Thou shalt not have a drink of alcohol,” and so Christians have the freedom to drink as long as their drinking doesn’t have a negative effect on themselves or others.
8. It is sad to me that alcohol is being added to so many drinks these days to make it easier to partake of it – there used to be just wine, beer, and hard alcohol like whiskey, vodka or gin; but now you’ve got things like wine coolers, hard ciders, hard lemonade, and hard seltzers.
9. A long time ago, I decided not to drink alcohol at all, so that it would never cause a problem for me or for anyone else, you might decide to do the same or to do something different.
10. Additionally, this same principle about not allowing anything to harm our bodies, or control or inhibit our thinking applies to the abuse of legal and illegal drugs, or the addiction to nicotine.
11. Our bodies don’t belong to us, so let’s honor God with our bodies.
M. But perhaps where this concept of our bodies not belonging to us runs most counter-culture is in the realm of sexuality.
1. Let’s go back to the Scripture we have been examining from 1 Corinthians 6.
2. Paul wrote these words to counter the Corinthians’ misunderstandings about their ungodly use of their bodies with regard to sex.
3. Paul wrote: 13b However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… 18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. (1 Cor. 6:13b, 18-20)
4. The sexual anthem of our day is: “I’ll do what I want. It’s my body.”
a. God’s firm response is: “No it’s not. Your body is Mine.”
5. Before I go any further, let me be sure we understand that God is not anti-sex.
a. God is the one who created everything and He made man and woman and marriage.
b. Sex is God’s idea and from His perspective sex is special and holy.
c. Max Lucado says that God “views sexual intimacy the way I view our family Bible. Passed down from my father’s side, the volume is one hundred years old and twelve inches thick. Replete with lithographs, scribblings, and a family tree, it is, in my estimation, beyond value. Hence I use it carefully.
When I need a stepstool, I don’t reach for the Bible. If the foot of my bed breaks, I don’t use the family Bible as a prop. When we need old paper for wrapping, we don’t rip a sheet out this book. We reserve the heirloom for special times and keep it in a chosen place.”
6. And God wants us to regard sex in the same way.
a. God wants us to view it as a holy gift to be opened in a special place at special times.
b. The special place is marriage and the special time is with your spouse.
7. Casual sex, intimacy outside of marriage, pulls the Corinthian ploy that pretends that we can give the body and not affect the soul.
a. God has created humans to be so intricately connected that whatever touches the body also touches the soul.
b. You probably noticed that Paul emphasized that sexual sin is different from other sins because of how it has a negative effect on the way God created us and God’s purpose for sex.
c. The me-centered phrase “its okay as long as no one gets hurt” sounds noble, but the truth is sex outside of marriage damages everyone involved – it damages us spiritually, and emotionally, and maybe even physically.
8. But God-centered thinking rescues us from the sex we thought would make us happy.
a. We might think that our dalliances outside of God’s sexual boundaries are harmless, because there is no immediate negative effect, but we must not be fooled.
b. Max Lucado wrote: “Casual sex is a diet of chocolate – it tastes good for a while, but the imbalance will ruin you. Sex apart from God’s plan wounds the soul. Sex according to God’s plan nourishes the soul. Consider his plan. Two children of God make a covenant with each other. They disable the ejection seats. They burn the bridge back to Momma’s house. They fall into each other’s arms beneath the canopy of God’s blessings, encircled by the tall fence of fidelity. Both know the other will be there in the morning. Both know the other will stay even as skin wrinkles and vigor fades. Each gives the other exclusive for-your-eyes-only privileges. Gone is guilt. Gone the undisciplined lust. What remains is a celebration of permanence, a tender moment in which the body continues what the mind and soul have already begun. A time in which “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25). Such sex honors God. And such sex satisfies God’s children.”
c. What a beautiful, meaningful and fulfilling plan from God for men, women, and marriage.
d. Studies show that religious people, committed to keeping God’s marriage covenant, experience significantly higher levels of sexual satisfaction, than other groups of people.
e. Perhaps that would make a good headline for evangelistic purposes!
9. Although we don’t have time to go into it today, the application of the truth that our bodies are not our own also applies to things like abortion, same sex marriage, and sex change operations.
N. Our bodies belong to God and we must use them according to God’s will.
1. Ten years ago, I preached a series that I called “Wholly Devoted” where we explored how to be wholly devoted to God.
2. We talked about how to take every part of our bodies and devote them to God – everything from our minds to our tongues, our eyes and ears, our hands and feet, and even our knees.
3. We must not use any parts of our bodies as tools for unrighteousness, but we must use all the parts of our bodies as tools for righteousness.
4. We are not our own, we were bought at a price, therefore we must honor God with our bodies.
5. My body and your body is God’s tool, so we must maintain it, and my body and your body is God’s temple, so we must respect it.
6. May God give us the desire and the ability to make our bodies all about God.
7. If we can help you in your spiritual relationship with God, then please come talk to one of us during the song we are about to sing, or after the worship service.
Resources:
• It’s Not About Me, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2004.
• To Hell on a Cream Puff, Sermon by David Owens
