Sermon Tone Analysis

The Foundational Truth…

If you have a Bible and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open with me to , and we are going to dive in this morning to a picture of the disciple’s body.

The greatest temptation we will face today when we come to this text is to think that this text is addressing someone else when it is addressing us.

So keep that in mind as we begin to think about the disciple’s body.

The Foundational Truth…

If you have a Bible and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open with me to , and we are going to dive in this morning to a picture of the disciple’s body.

The greatest temptation we will face today when we come to this text is to think that this text is addressing someone else when it is addressing us.

So keep that in mind as we begin to think about the disciple’s body.

The prevailing philosophy in our day is that we are simply products of our DNA.

This is the way we are made up.

Each of us is given a body and we do whatever we want with our body.

That is the mantra of our day.

We do whatever pleases us most.

You look at the hot button issues in our culture, in our society right now and many of them revolve around that kind of philosophy.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, your body is not your property.

The prevailing philosophy in our day is that we are simply products of our DNA.

This is the way we are made up.

Each of us is given a body and we do whatever we want with our body.

That is the mantra of our day.

We do whatever pleases us most.

You look at the hot button issues in our culture, in our society right now and many of them revolve around that kind of philosophy.

When you look at discussions about the institution of marriage, homosexuality … You look at issues like free speech and pornography.

You look at issues that are out there—many of them deal with the body and many of them are dominated by this philosophy that each of us has a body for us to do with it whatever we desire, and this philosophy is alive and well in the church.

And the question I want to ask this morning is what if it’s just not true?

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 970.

First of all, what if our bodies are not just products of our DNA and it’s just the way we are?

And maybe even deeper, what if our bodies are not ours to do with whatever we want?

What if they actually don’t belong to us at all?

Now we’re diving deep into a pretty countercultural thought.

The idea that maybe my body is not even my own.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, your body is not your property.

That leads us into the deep end of the foundational truth of the heart of that I want us to understand from the very beginning...

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 970.

That leads us into the deep end of the foundational truth of the heart of that I want us to kind of get out on the table from the very beginning

As a follower of Jesus Christ, your body is not your property.

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 970.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, your body is not your property.

And I believe we could make the case that even if you’re not a follower of Christ, your body is still not your own.

And as we see in our picture in our notes, Christ is intended to also transform our bodies.

The Body That Belongs To Christ…

When we think about our bodies we know we all have natural inclinations that are inside of us that cause us to do things.

We do things that we know don’t honor God.

We have desires in us, in our bodies, if we’re really honest, that we know don’t honor God.

We look at things.

We listen to things that we know don’t honor God.

We touch things.

We sense things.

We engage in things that we know don’t honor God so we think of the body as this picture of evil.

And it’s not helpful when we go to , and we see Paul there saying,

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 971.

Romans 7:15-20

He comes to the end and says...

The Body That Belongs To Christ…

Romans 7:22-24

Your body was created by God.

Romans 7:

Apparently, Christ came not just to save our mind, to save our emotions but He came to rescue our bodies and literally to transform our bodies.

Apparently, Christ came not just to save our mind, to save our emotions but He came to rescue our bodies and literally to transform our bodies.

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 972.

So how do we glorify Christ with what we do with our bodies?

How do you glorify Christ with the way you dress your body or the way you carry your body or the way you care for your body or the way you use your body?

That’s what I want us to dive into.

Your body was created by God.

It’s so important here in 1 Corinthians to realize these were people who had distinguished the two.

They saw faith in the spiritual realm over here and they thought it really didn’t matter what you did with your body.

And they lived in a city, Corinth, that was known for rampant immorality, particularly, sexual immorality.

This is one of the most important passages, significant theological passages in all the New Testament about how Christ transforms our body.

So let’s come in on what Paul says to them and then consider what this might mean for us.

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 972.

This is one of the most important passages, significant theological passages in all the New Testament about how Christ transforms our body.

So let’s come in on what Paul says to them and then consider what this might mean for us.

What I want us to see here, as we are surrounded by a culture that fills our minds, telling us over and over again, do whatever you want to do to please your body.

So I want us to see these truths that must be foundational to our faith that affect the way we live out our lives in these bodies.

What does it mean for your body to belong to Christ?

Your body was created by God.

What I want us to see here, as we are surrounded by a culture that fills our minds, telling us over and over again, do whatever you want to do to please your body.

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Body,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 972.

Your body was created by God.

Your body was created by God.

Now this is the crux of the picture and it’s in verse 13 and we’ll come back to verse 12 in a minute.

But Paul uses a phrase here that was common among these Corinthians, especially the Corinthian Christians.

“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” ()

In other words, what they were saying is, “Well, my stomach was made for food and food was made for my stomach,” so automatically you put them together and there’s no problem there.

And the implication was that’s how they also looked at sexuality.

“Well, my body was made for sex and sex was made for the body so they go together.”

This is the way things work.

Paul says, “On the contrary, the body is not meant for sexual immorality.”

Our bodies are invaluable to Him.

In other words, what they were saying is, “Well, my stomach was made for food and food was made for my stomach,” so automatically you put them together and there’s no problem there.

And the implication was that’s how they also looked at sexuality.

“Well, my body was made for sex and sex was made for the body so they go together.”

This is the way things work.

Paul says, “On the contrary, the body is not meant for sexual immorality.”

But here’s the phrase that is so key, “The body is meant for the Lord and the Lord for the body.”

You might underline that.

That is the key phrase.

The body is meant “for the Lord and the Lord for the body.”

Two pictures there.

The first and it’s a pretty heavy truth—our bodies are meant for the Lord but what’s really interesting is the second part of that phrase—the Lord is for the body.

What is that about?