Worhiping With ALL WE Are

INTRO: ILLUST: Phrases

If duct tape didn’t fix it, you didn’t use enough duct tape

If it doesn’t fit, force it; if it breaks, it needed fixing anyway

If it feels good....DO IT

READ:

PROPER BODY USE

1) Rights vs Right

All things are lawful - can choose to do lots of things, that perhaps are not specifically forbidden

but - all things are not prudent, proper, beneficial

edifying - building up, (problem, this involves thinking of others instead of self)

The test:

Does it bring glory to God? When you do this, does it point to Him?

Does it edify others, build them up?

Say this: “Today, I am going to bring glory to God by _______________________”

Corinthian thought (wrong): What we do with our body is unrelated to our “spiritual life”

That is, “I think spiritually, and that doesn’t extend to the physical life.”

Here - food, pleasurable and necessary

sex, pleasurable and necessary (to them, anyway)

BOTH are simply actions, with no consequences (in their way of thinking)

QUESTION: Who/what is your master? God, food, sex, play, work, etc.

2) Do You Know the Importance of the Body?

“Do you not know....?

It’s important enough for God to resurrect!

POINT - people see your body (you), what you do with it, how you care for it

Our culture

Feels good, do it

Just because the world says it’s OK…REM the test, and then add to it:

Does it glorify God?

Will it edify others?

Can I serve God by doing this? If God is master, will He approve? (Do you even ever ask this?)

REM: , His will...

POINT - Corinth is awash in sexual sins, immorality, the word is porneia

He uses an example of a prostitute (likely a temple prostitute), saying to be with her is to then be ONE with her, and he dares mention God’s Word:

Genesis 2:24 NASB95

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Back to the beginning - one man, one woman

Any sexual activity beyond that union (called marriage between a man and a woman) is sin, is wrong

That’s the ideal (actually, the STANDARD) from the beginning, and Jesus points to it

BIG POINT HERE: God defines how we are to use our body, for pleasure within the boundaries He has set (no drunkenness, gluttony, abuse, etc.)

es how we are to use our body, for pleasure within the boundaries He has set

ASIDE - 1 Cor., Paul condemns, yes, but he always maintains a picture of hope, correction, repentance (apply to us?)

(no drunkenness, gluttony, abuse, etc.)

Some here today will feel that need to repent, be corrected, to understand the hope

QUESTION - Why did God make us in bodies?

A: to become a member of Christ

HE physically lived and died

HE can redeem our bodies, the sinful flesh

He actually wants to live in, to dwell in, your body - YOURS!

Do you use your body to show that He lives there? DO YOU?

ASIDE: What about “alone time?”

We live as we truly are, when we are alone

So how is your body use then?

(Diet example, that’s when it’s really tough)

This area of morality, especially important for moral/sexual sins

Alone and in public, integrity and consistency are what are displayed

Overall - your body is the most amazing tool God has given you to point people to Him!

3) Ownership

QUESTION: Who owns your body?

We are commanded to care for our body

And, immorality is apparently bad for the body (in contrast to the Corinthian thought, there is indeed a spiritual connection, care for one leads to care for the other)

KEY VERSE/POINT: Flee immorality (word = porneia)

Flee: run away from something dangerous

Culture tells us to fight, that it’s cowardly to run away from a fight

BUT a fight with immorality is one we should not undertake

So God tells us to FLEE immorality!

Intentional, deliberate, allow desire to be shaped by God

Giving in to moral sins is a direct affront, directly offensive to God (“in Your face”)

It’s not the reason He gave you a body!

ILLUST: (Ever scold a child for using something the wrong way, like hitting rocks with a baseball bat?)

And again, we get the idea that we need to be stronger, need to fight

Paul clearly tells us to FLEE

Early chapters of 1 Cor. - REM God’s wisdom vs our own, follow His or our own - we think we know better, we can “handle it”

James 1- temptation (by itself, not sin)

Resist, like in , armor of God

We are to avoid giving in, not to choose sin

So…when you flee from dangerous place, where do you go?

First, when you see danger, do you flee, or keep watching, linger around, etc.?

We should automatically go to a place of safety - where is that for you? Where does God want it to be?

SUMMARY

How can you show that you fear and love God? (First, do you want to do this?)

Care for bodies

Body is a temple, a place for the Spirit of Christ to LIVE, DWELL, ABIDE

Body is what people see; actually, what our body does is a direct reflection of our soul and how we are spiritually connected to God

Who owns yours? 2 choices: You or God. You in control, or is God?

Psalm 139:14 NASB95

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:13–14 NASB95

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

CARING FOR OUR BODIES SHOWS THAT WE RESPECT THE WORK OF GOD’S HANDS

He shaped us, PERSONALLY

Genesis 2:7 NASB95

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Body, then He breathed life into us = A LIVING SOUL!

We need to care for our bodies (transform, not conform, REM?)

BUT…always worship God, not the body, not to be an obsession

This body will die, but God will raise it (lost AND saved, actually)

So while I have it, He expects me to care for it

CARING FOR OUR BODIES SHOWS THAT WE RESPECT THE WORK OF GOD’S HANDS

Bodies are meant for His glory, not ours.

If we are serious about living for the Lord, then let’s be serious about living for the Lord.