I Corinthians 3:16-17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Have you ever seen a small child walking with their daddy, and the son or daughter has a shirt on that reads something like..."I belong to Daddy" or "I belong to Mommy"? Have you ever seen a young man and his girlfriend walking hand in hand with shirts that say, "I belong to Him" and "I belong to Her"? The Apostle Paul also talks about we Christians not belonging to ourselves. That’s what I’d like to speak to you about in this lesson.
"TO WHOM DO YOU BELONG?"
I Peter 2:9-12 explains: We belong to God!
What did Paul mean when he said that God owns our bodies? So many people think they have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies. God tells us that this is not freedom but that we are enslaved to our own desires. When we become Christians the Holy Spirit enters your body and you no longer are the owner; God is.
When you rent an apartment, the apartment isn’t yours, therefore, you must take care of it. You have to live by the rules set down by the owner. When you claim to be a "Christian", you give up ownership of the body, the building you live in. The builder of the building-God. The owner of the building-Jesus Christ. The occupant-The Holy Spirit.
Turn to ICorinthians 6:12, " All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any." What did Paul mean when he wrote this? In easier terms: I can do anything I want if Christ hasn’t said, NO, but some things aren’t good for me. Even if I’m allowed to do them, I’ll refuse if I think it might grip me and make it hard to stop.
Paul wrote this chapter for those who think that - Just because something isn’t a definate command they think that "that sin" is OK. This is for people that say,"Well, there’s nothing in the bible that say’s not to do this". Paul says, "Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the kingdom?" Back in Paul’s time,not just now, people were misquoting and misapplying this all the time. Many Christians in Corinth were excusing lots of their sins by saying,"Christ had taken away all our sins and so we have complete freedom to live as we please.
Now, we know that’s NOT why Christ died. He died to free us FROM sin.
If something isn’t good for you, if something you are doing or something you are eating or smoking isn’t for the building up of your body, the temple, Christ is against it.
And if Christ is against it, being Christians, we should be against it too.
Another thing the Corinthians were saying was that what they were doing wasn’t strictly forbidden by scripture. Paul said, "While Christ has taken away all our sin, this does not give us freedom to go on doing what we know is wrong and can harm the body.
Indulgance is forbidden. Whether you’re stuffing yourself with food or drinking too much or what ever it may be we are to carry on with self control. It is my opinion that God sends us examples to learn from and if we don’t learn from the examples we are given, we fall into the same trap. If we fall into the same trap, being Christians, we go against God.
Paul also told the people that some actions aren’t sinful in themselves but they aren’t appropriate because they can control our lives and lead us away from God.
Paul says that sexual sin is never right. Our bodies weren’t made for that but for the Lord. And, the Lord wants to fill our bodies with His Spirit.
Many religions think the soul is important but the body is not. Christianity has sometimes been influenced by a few other religions. Christianity is a very physical religion. We worship a God who created a physical world and pronounced it,good. He promises us a new earth where real people continue to live physical lives. Not some pink cloud where disembodied spirits listen to harp music. The heart of Christianity is God himself-taking on flesh and blood and coming down to live with us, offering both physical healing and spiritual restoration.
We are a combination of both dust and spirit, just like Adam was. Eccles. 12:7,"then shall the dust return to the earth and the spirit to God, who gave it."
Like Adam, our spiritual lives affects our bodies and our physical lives affects our souls. Because Adam spiritualy sinned, he physicaly died. Because he physicaly sinned, he spiritualy died. You see, you can’t commit sin with the body without damaging the soul because our body and soul are joined.
In the "New Earth" we will have resurrection bodies that are not corrupted by sin. Then we will enjoy the fulness of our salvation. BUT, until this happens, we are to take good care of ourselves.
Verse 6:14,"And God is going to raise up our bodies from the dead by his power just as he raised up the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 6:15,"Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts and members of Christ?
Christ’s body is the church. You and I are part of that church. Do you think Christ would call the church Holy if it wasn’t? He would not! Colossians 3:17 says,"And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, and come with him into the presence of God the Father to give thanks.
To me this means that we represent Christ at ALL TIMES. What impression do people have of Christ when they see you? What impression do people have of Christ when they hear you talk?
Romans 12: 1-2,"Let your bodies be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to Him." Every day God will give us the fruits of His mercy. He wants us to be new people with clean thoughts and clean bodies to glorify Him. Not dizzy from marijuana or alcohol, not dirty from fornication and adultry, but Holy- the kind He can accept.
The body IS important!
Who owns you?
If you confess to be a Christian, your owner is Jesus Christ. He bought you for a price and He paid it at the cross. He gave His life for you.
There are those who think...How can you live in this world and not be worldly? How can you be a true Christian and still live a happy, balanced life? Well, you must have definable values and definable goals and a way of life to achieve them. You must carefully study, meditate, and live by every Word of God. You must rise in the morning and pray to God for help, wisdom, love, and guidance. You must constantly follow the example of Jesus Christ revealed in the Bible.
If you do this you will be filled with Joy, with the goal of living forever with God in His Kingdom.
by: R. Neal Gracey, Deacon
