Honor God With Your Body
HONOR GOD Sermon Series
Week 2:
Honor God With Your Body
Jan. 11, 2015
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV
SEX!
I got your attention, didn’t I? Society is so inundated with sex – from the songs we listen to, to the TV shows and movies we watch, to the lives of celebrities we follow – that its casual practice has become socially acceptable. You see, the sex that is celebrated in society is the misunderstood kind.
This is true all throughout history, and the negative impact of this is quite staggering – from sexual rituals as part of pagan worship, to broken homes and shattered relationships caused by adultery, to devastated lives caused by sexual crimes like rape and incest, to dreams ruined by casual sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies, and to true identities lost because of a confusion brought about by the redefinition of marriage and sex. Can you imagine the emotional and mental trauma people have to go through because of these? The greatest impact in a person’s life is seen in the spiritual realm. Where do we turn to for the answers to these social ills?
The Bible reveals that God is the author of sex, and He has defined it to be exclusively between husband and wife for the purpose of procreation and for their mutual enjoyment. Scripture reveals the beauty of sex, if understood from God’s definition, as well as the dangers of misunderstood, misused, abused, and sinful sex. As a matter of fact, the Bible says sexual immorality and homosexuality are classified as sins that unrighteous people engage in (1 Cor. 6:9-10).
The good news is that by faith in Christ we can be set free from bondage to sexual sins, and that we could honor God with our bodies (1 Cor. 6:20) by fleeing from sexual immorality, controlling our bodies in holiness and honor, and by not doing any wrong to anyone in this matter (1 Thes. 4:3-6). Here are a few lessons from Scripture to help us honor God with our bodies:
1.You are not your own (1 Cor. 6:19, ESV).
The Bible defines sin as “missing the mark.” When we deviate from or pervert God’s ordained definitions of any thing in life, then we “miss the mark.” Based on Romans 1:18-32, R. A. Mohler, Jr. said, “the Bible presents sexual deviance as intentional rejection of God’s authority as Creator and Lord.” This is a big issue with God because “the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13, ESV). The Bible further says that, “Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Cor. 6:18, ESV). God created us, and therefore owns us.
2.You were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20, ESV).
No matter what one’s sins were in the past, we are purchased by the sinless blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (1 Pet. 1:18-19). By faith in him and in what he has done at the cross, he saves and redeems us from all sin, including sexual immorality. Believers in Christ are washed, sanctified, and justified in his name and by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:11).
3. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19, ESV).
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, enabling them by his power and grace to live their lives for God’s glory. For the believer, the reality that God created us, that Jesus redeemed us by his precious blood shed on the cross, and that the Holy Spirit indwells us makes it possible for us, by God’s grace, to honor Him in all things, most
especially in our bodies.