Paul states very clearly how it should be. Look at Phil 1:21. We read, “For to me to live is Christ...” That is so simple, it makes one wonder why some Christians can not comprehend it. There are at least two reasons why they can not. (1) There is some kind of mental problem. For example, we all have come across things in life that we could not comprehend. We tried, but just could not grasp the concept no matter how hard we tried. We call this a mental block.
Illus: This reminds us of the story of the Air Traffic Controller who was directing some pilots in to land. One of the pilots called this air traffic controller and asked, “What time is it?” The Air traffic controller answered, “What airline is this?” The pilot then asked, “What difference does that make?? The answer came from the control tower, “It makes a big difference. If this is TWA, it is 1800 hours. If you are a red neck the big hand is on 12 and the little hand is on 6.”
We often kid each other, and laugh at ourselves, about being slow mentally, but the fact is that all of us have things we have a difficult time comprehending. A Bible preacher can preach to some folks for years that after they are converted THEY ARE TO LIVE FOR CHRIST and some Christians just do not seem to get it! It seems to be too much for some to comprehend. The other reason some Christians are not living for Christ is not that they can not grasp it intellectually, but... (2) There is some kind of spiritual problem. They understand they should live for the Lord every day, but even though they say they have received Christ as their Savior, they simply REFUSE TO LIVE FOR HIM. Paul commanded, I Cor. 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” God’s Word not only commands us to GLORIFY GOD, but It also shows us HOW we are to do it. How? I. IN THE BODY. WHY DOES GOD WANT US TO GLORIFY GOD IN OUR BODIES? Because, it is a fact of life that we either are going to glorify God, or the devil, with our bodies. Listen, if Peter, James, John and the other disciples had lived as some Christians live, God could never have used them the way He did! We do not read anywhere in the New Testament where they were accused of being hypocrites.
They might not have liked what they stood for, and preached, but they said about them, Acts 17:6b, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also...” They used their bodies to glorify God. Our churches are full of professing Christians, but their lives are not bringing glory to God. That is, each week they:
- Laugh at the same filthy jokes sinners laugh at. - Tell lies as the lost world does. - Watch the same kind of movies the lost world watches. - Dress like the lost world. - Live like the lost world.
The only difference you can see when you compare their lives with the lost world is that they claim to be Christians and go to church on Sundays. Otherwise you can not find any evidence they know the Lord Jesus Christ. This kind of so-called professing Christian reminds me of a church that was filled with such so-called Christians.
Illus: One Sunday the preacher said, “I want every one of you to prepare your heart for next week’s sermon and read the book of Hezekiah.” The next week this ungodly bunch of professing Christians came to church as usual. Before the preacher started to preach he said, “Last week I told you I wanted you to prepare your hearts for my sermon by reading in advance the book of Hezekiah. How many of you have done this?” Nearly everyone in the whole congregation raised his hand. Then the preacher said, “Everyone who did not raise your hand may leave. But, everyone who raised your hand, I want you to stay and listen to this sermon. I asked how many of you read the book of Hezekiah this past week, and most of you raised your hands. If you looked in your Bible you would see there is no book of Hezekiah. My sermon today is on “Liars.”
Christians say and do so many things that do not glorify the Lord. They directly disobey God’s command to “...glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods.” It will only be when we people stand before the Lord that we will see how much damage some professing Christians have done because they refused to live for God.
Illus: A preacher was traveling and he stopped at a Subway place to get a sandwich. A young man greeted him and the preacher began to talk to him about the Lord. He then encouraged him to find a church and start attending. The young man said, “Yea, what you say is right. I have thought about getting my life straightened out. In fact there is a church across the street where I live. I have thought many times about walking over there, but I know a lot of those folks in that church and they are a bunch of hypocrites.”
Every time we hear that from a lost person we all have an impulse to say, “No, that is not true!” Yet we know that in many cases it is true. In every church there are some people who will lovingly greet each other, but then will take the same tongue they used to greet those folks and use it to cut them to shreds. James says, James 3:10b, “...THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT SO TO BE.” Some folks have lived such hypocritical lives in front of their family and friends that the lost world laughs at them behind their backs. They have destroyed their testimonies and could not get any people to come to church with them if they paid them! Only God knows the damage that has been done by Christians who refuse to glorify God with their bodies. Paul makes it clear HOW WE ARE TO GLORIFY GOD...IN OUR BODIES! A Christian can never do this until he recognizes he is... II. IN HIS (CHRIST’S) BODY. After our conversion OUR BODIES BECOME HIS BODY. Look at I Cor. 6:15a. We read, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” We are members of the “body of Christ.”
Paul asked the Christians of his day this question. Why? Because Christians then were like many Christians now--THEY DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST!
Paul said, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?”
Illus: We who are married wear wedding rings for two reasons:
(1) To show others we belong to someone. (2) To remind ourselves that we belong to someone.
Perhaps we should wear some kind of ring for the same purpose when it comes to the fact of remembering that our bodies belong to Christ once we are converted. This is why we can not take our bodies and commit sin with them. For instance:
To take our bodies and commit adultery with them means we are taking the body of Christ and committing adultery with it.
You young girls have to keep yourself pure before the Lord. To allow some young man to desecrate your body is to allow him to desecrate the Lord’s body!
Illus: Remember the familiar story of the young girl who was being picked on by her college friends because she was a virgin. She was very nice about it, but finally she had about all she could take. She said something like this, “Listen, any time I choose I can become what you are, but you can NEVER become what I am-a virgin!”
Before we can GLORIFY GOD IN OUR BODIES we must come to the realization that now we are saved our bodies are no longer ours.
Dear saint of God, your body is HIS BODY! I Cor. 6:17 tells us, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” Once we are converted, the old selfish, sinful life has died.
Illus: The whole purpose of baptism is to symbolize that the old sinful self has been buried and now we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.
WHAT DOES GOD WANT TO DO WITH OUR BODIES? God wants to inhabit them. Look at I Cor. 6:19. We read, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” Paul knew all of those Christians were familiar with the Jerusalem temple. They knew that God dwelled in the Holy of Holys and that if anyone desecrated that place by entering it with unconfessed sin they were killed on the spot. We are told that the high priest made a sacrifice for the nation of Israel once a year. He had to make sure that before he went into the Holy of Holys that he was cleansed from all sin. Why? Because no one could go into the Holy of Holys with unconfessed sin in his life.
Illus: The garment the high priest wore had little bells sewn to the bottom. As long as the people could hear those bells they knew he was still alive. Before the high priest entered the chamber he had a rope tied to one of his legs. This was in case God killed him because he was not cleansed from sin, the people could then pull him out of the chamber with the rope.
People treated the temple of God with godly reverence. Through the ages God has required that His people revere His temple. Today’s church people need to study how God’s people revered His temple. Today people come together to worship God...
- Dressed as if they were going to Wal-Mart, or with shorts and holes in their britches.
- With their children jumping up and down on pews and running all over like a bunch of wild Indians, distracting worshippers.
- Eating candy, then throwing wrappers on the floor. - Even with drinks.
They do not do this because they can not eat at home, or because they have nothing better to wear. They do this because they have no respect for the house of God. Just as we should treat the place of worship with respect, so also should we recognize our bodies are THE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Paul knew those Christians knew about the Old Testament Temple. Again, he said, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you...ye are not your own? HOW SHOULD WE TREAT THE TEMPLE OF GOD? We should not allow it to be used for anything that would not bring glory to the Lord Christ Jesus! As we read God’s Word we recognize THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE CAN NOT DO WITH THIS TEMPLE. For example, WE CAN NOT USE THESE TEMPLES OF GOD TO PARTAKE OF SIN.
Illus: A young man said one day that he hated to do it, but he worked for a magazine company that distributed filthy magazines. It was his job to take them around to the 7-11 Stores, etc. He said he had to have a job and this was the only one open at the time so he thought it was God’s will to take it. If he had prayed about it, he would have known God had not opened that job up for him.
He was being tempted (tested) to partake of sin and he failed the test miserably.
Illus: A lady stated she was a Christian, then she stated the one thing she hated about her job as a waitress was that she had to serve alcoholic beverages. She said, “Someone has to do it.”
Listen, if it has to be done, let the sinners do it. A child of God should not disobey God’s Word! Some of you need to go in tomorrow and tell your boss that you have to quit your job because you can not use your body for God and Satan at the same time.
Too many professing Christians try to justify sin by saying, “Someone has to do it.” Listen, that is as ridiculous as a prostitute’s saying, “I do not like using my body that way, but I guess someone has to do it!” Paul said, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” There are many testimonies of Christians who refused to partake of sin to take a job and found that God provided a better job later. If you are truly saved, it is high time that you recognize you became THE PROPERTY OF GOD. “Ye are not your own.”
Illus: The story is told of the little boy who made a little sail boat. One day as he was playing with it the current pulled it away and he lost it. Later he was by a second-hand store and saw his boat in the window. He went in and found he had to pay for it. Well, he bought it, and was heard to say as he walked out of the store, “You are mine twice. I made you and now I bought you.”
So it is with us. We belong to the Lord twice. He made us, and He paid sin’s cost for us at Calvary. Look at verse 20. We read, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” Conclusion:
Paul was once used of the devil. Then he came to know Christ and from that time on he glorified God in his body. God would have us GLORIFY HIM... I. IN OUR BODIES
II. IN HIS BODY Do you want to glorify God in your body? You can! It may mean that you will have to change jobs.
If you are a store or restaurant owner you may have to get rid of the cigarette vending machine, ungodly magazines, not serve liquor, etc.
You will have to do away with all filthy habits and sin. It is time we let the world know where we stand. The only way sinners can know whose side we are on is to “sell out” to God one hundred percent!
Illus: The story is told that during the civil war northern troops were about to raid an old farm house in the South. We are told that old grandpa ran out of the house with a frying pan in his hand after the soldiers. Old granny called after him, “Come back Pa! You can not win the war with a frying pan!” He called back, “No, but I can sure let them know whose side I am on!”
You, nor I, can not win this war alone, but with these bodies we can let the world know we are on Christ’s side by using them in a way that will glorify God!
