Don't do anything that will hurt yourself.

As we enter into this new year, we are going to have a series of three messages. The message series is about three rules for living. I think, if we get these things right, our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves will be moving in the right direction. All of the principles come from 1 Corinthians. Here are the three rules which should govern how we conduct ourselves:

Don’t do anything that will hurt yourself. ()

Don’t do anything that will hurt another person. ()

Don’t be mastered by anything. ()

Read them again with me.

In your bulletin this morning, you should have received a bookmark with these three rules for living on it. These statements are not original to me, but I have found them to be very helpful in my life. These statements have become somewhat of a philosophy for living. This morning, we are going to look at the first statement. Don’t do anything that will hurt yourself.

When Jesus came to earth, he made a statement in .

John 10:10 CSB

10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

Jesus was talking directly to the Pharisees and he calls them thieves because the way they approached life stole the joy of living. Do you know people like that? People who steal the joy of living? Jesus is saying there are people who are physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological terrorists. These people can actually rob your life of its fullness. They can steal the joy you have in life. They even try and destroy the good things about your life. You can even rob yourself of life to its fullness. You can do things to yourself which will rob you of the abundant life.

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Jesus wants His disciples to have abundant life. Another way of saying this is to “have life to the full”. The idea is a cup that is overflowing. All other philosophies are eventually life destroying. Jesus' way of living is life affirming. Simply "making it through the day" or "muddling through life" is not good enough for Jesus' disciples. Jesus came to give us life to the fullest.

Does this describe your life? Maybe you think, “But pastor, you don’t know what I have going on right now. My life is hard. My finances are overstrained. My marriage is on the rocks. My kids aren’t listening to me. I lost my job. My health isn’t good. How can I have abundant life, life to the full, when my life is so hard?”

I think the key to having the abundant life is found when we follow the Bible’s prescription for living. If you want life as Jesus designed it to be, something about how you are living is probably going to have to change. Maybe it is something about the way you are thinking is going to have to change. Maybe it is the way you are viewing your situation that is going to have to change. You know the definition of insanity, right? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Change is the essence of life. We should be willing to move from where we are to where God wants us to be.

A husband was unsure about his choice of clothes for church so he sought some counsel from his wife. He asked, “Do you think I should change?”

There was a husband who was unsure about his choice of clothes for church so he sought some counsel from his wife. He asked, “Do you think I should change?”

She took advantage of the opportunity and replied, “It depends—are you talking about changing your shirt or making a wholesale change as a human being?”

Some of us might need more change than others, but all of us need to be willing to move in the direction God would have us to move. Let’s look at the first principle for living, “Don’t do anything that will hurt yourself.”

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 CSB

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.

Paul is making use of a rhetorical question. He is saying, “Surely you understand....” It is kind of like saying "Is the Pope Catholic?" Do you think money grows on trees?" “Does a bear poop in the woods?”

It is kind of like saying "Is the Pope Catholic?" or "Do you think money grows on trees?"

Paul is saying that everybody should know this by now. Every Jesus follower should know that their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside every believer. You receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation to empower you to be what God wants you to be in Christ.

Why shouldn't we do anything to hurt ourselves?

We shouldn't do anything to hurt ourselves because our body is a temple of Holy Spirit.

In the Greek language, there are two words for the word "temple". The first word is a general word indicating the temple complex. The usage of the first word for temple would be saying, "Look over there, there is the temple."

The second word for Temple is naos.

naos - dwelling place of God

This word refers to the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The word is speaking of the place where God would dwell. Paul uses the word “naos” when he says every believer's body is a temple of Holy Spirit. We know God does not dwell in places made of brick and mortar. God dwells in us.

Paul continues, "You are not your own you were bought with a price." The picture Paul is painting is of a market where people would go when they wanted to purchase a slave. Paul is making the case that Jesus paid top dollar for you. Christ paid for you with His own blood when He died on the cross and shed His blood to pay the price for our redemption. Now that you are bought by Jesus, you shouldn't make your own decisions anymore. Jesus tells us how to live. So why shouldn't I do anything to hurt myself?

We shouldn't do anything to hurt ourselves because we are bought with the high price of Jesus' blood.

Finally, Paul says, "Therefore honor God with your body." Our body is not a prison as Plato once said. Our body is a tool we are to use to glorify God. We spoke about this last week. We are to live “sola dei gloria”, for the glorify of God. We are to live in such a way that people see the way we are living and see who God is. To glorify God is to reveal God in our actions. Everything about me is to be for the glory of God. Everything about you is to be for the glory of God.

The Bible speaks often of living in such a way that God is revealed to those around you. Some people think God is revealed to others by following a certain set of rules and regulations. Some people think God is revealed to others by a certain dress code. Some people think God is revealed by certain habits and rituals we do. However, Jesus told us how everyone will know we are His disciples.

John 13:34–35 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Notice, Jesus said the defining characteristic of His disciples is love! Jesus didn't say if you think the right things, have the right theology, or keep a certain code of rules and regulations. Jesus didn't say if you dress a certain way. Jesus said, God is revealed to others if we love one another. This is how they know we are followers of God, if we love one another. This is vital and this is key.

You glorify God when others look at you and see the love of Jesus in you. The way you work should point people to Jesus. Your marriage should point people to Jesus. Your dating life should point people to Jesus. Your parenting should point people to Jesus. Your hobbies should point people to Jesus. Your politics should point people to Jesus. Everything about who you are and why you do what you do should point people to the love of Jesus. People will not see Jesus in you if you are doing things that bring harm to yourself.

We shouldn't do anything to hurt ourselves because our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

The way you work should point people to Jesus. Your marriage should point people to Jesus. Your dating life should point people to Jesus. Your parenting should point people to Jesus. Your hobbies should point people to Jesus. Your politics should point people to Jesus. Everything about who you are and why you do what you do should point people to Jesus. You do everything you do for the glory of God. He redeemed you for his glory and you are to live for his glory.

We shouldn't do anything to hurt ourselves because we are bought with the high price of Jesus' blood.

We shouldn't do anything to hurt ourselves because we are to glorify God with our bodies.

This morning I am asking you to consider the first part of a biblical philosophy for living.

Don't do anything that will hurt yourself.

How do we hurt ourselves? We hurt ourselves in so many ways and when we do we are defiling a temple of the Holy Spirit. Think about all the ways we hurt ourselves these days without even thinking about it. We don't eat healthy food and we overeat. We drink too much and ingest harmful chemicals into our bodies. We work too much and experience the stress of having an unbalanced life. We don't get enough sleep. We watch things we shouldn't watch. We don't exercise. We commit acts of sexually immorality.

Think about all the ways we hurt ourselves these days - all of the things we know are unhealthy to our bodies

· We don't eat healthy food.

· We drink too much and ingest chemicals into our bodies.

· We work too much and experience the stress of having an unbalanced life.

When we do things to hurt ourselves, our quality of life suffers. We are not able to live the life Jesus wants us to live.

· We don't get enough sleep.

· We watch things we shouldn't watch.

John 10:10 CSB

10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

· We don't exercise.

He came to give us life to the fullest. When we decide to live life differently and live by our own philosophies or another religion or teachings, we hurt ourselves and rob ourselves of what God intended us to have in life.

· We are sexually immoral.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 CSB

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.

If we can get this philosophy for living right, think of the difference in your life and in the lives of people around you. Your life would change. You may start to have different habits in your personal life, your work life, and your home life. You may cease behaviors known to cause health problems. You may ingest different forms of media and entertainment. Others may see your life and wonder why the change. They may ask you, “Why are you different?” They may see the change in you and may say, “I don’t know about going to church or becoming a Christian, but I want to know why they are the way they are.”

If we can get this philosophy for living right, the entire world would change. Everyone would stop and think, “Is what I am doing going to hurt me?” “Is what I am about to do going to defile a temple to a Holy Spirit or is it going to affirm a temple to the Holy Spirit?” Is what I am about to do going to express my dedication to Jesus or is it going to detract from Jesus?” Is what I am about to do going to bring God glory or am I glorifying something or someone else?”

God gave you the choice to follow His way of living or follow your own way of living. What will you decide? Will you decide and purpose in your heart to live according to Jesus’ plan and have life to the fullest? Jesus came to show us how to live a life worth living. This morning, I ask you to consider a biblical principle for living – Don’t do anything to hurt yourself.

Pray.

Father God, your Son said that he came to give us life to the fullest, a truly abundant life. We are your children and the sheep under your care. I ask you to glorify yourself in us. We know that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and sometimes we are guilty of not listening to his voice. I pray, today, we would listen and be change. Show us ways we are hurting ourselves so that we can live for your glory and honor. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

Christians, continue to pray. Pray for the ones here with us who need to know Jesus in a real and personal way. I am aware this morning that some of you came to worship this morning and you realize your life is not what you hoped it would be. The truth is at one point in time; all of us had lives that were out of control. Without a personal relationship with God, we all stray away from what’s right. We stray right into danger. We are all bent towards sin. We never had to be taught to do wrong. It is just natural for us. Naturally, we are all sinners. Our sin separates us from a holy God. The evil one will try to convince you that you have to deal with your problems on your own. He will try to convince you that you’ve got to get your life straight by your own power. He will try to tell you that after what you have done, God probably doesn’t want you.

At the same time, you are here today and you feel something drawing you towards God. God is drawing you by his goodness and by the Holy Spirit. You are not here by accident. You are here today because God wanted you here today. This is a divine appointment. Today, your life can be changed. You can be forgiven. No longer will you be known by the title of sinner. You will be known as a child of God. Jesus came to earth, lived without sin, and died in our place. Then, he rose from the grave. Why? So that you could have peace with God. So that anyone who calls on his name will be saved, will be forgiven

There are those of you here today who need God’s grace in your life. You are ready to be made new. Today, by faith, when you call on Jesus, your sins will be forgiven and you will be made new.

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, would you raise your hand so I can pray for you?

Pray.

I am going to ask our deacons to come forward at this time. Our deacons will be coming forward to pray with you and for you. If you prayed to receive Jesus, please come to the front of this worship center and let us pray with you and celebrate your new life in Christ. If you want to pray for someone you know who needs to receive God’s gift of salvation, you come and get on your knees asking God to reach into that person’s life. Maybe you need to come in rededication of your life to God as we are on the verge of a new year. This is a time for you to respond to the call of the Holy Spirit in your life.

<after closing the time of invitation>

Perhaps you didn’t come forward for one reason or another, but you really do want to talk with us about what is going on in your life. Perhaps you need help, prayer, or you just want to know more about being a follower of Jesus. I would encourage you to do one of two things. After we are dismissed, just stay where you are. One of our deacons will come and talk with you and pray with you. The other thing you can do is check one of the boxes on the Connection Card. Put it in the offering plate as it passes. We will get in touch with you this week. You see, this church exists to minister to one another. We are here to support you in your walk with God.