YOUR BODY IS GOD'S BODY

The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
1 Corinthians 6:13-14

As believers, many of us have been made to believe something that is clearly false in the Scriptures.  This world tells us that “the body we have is our body, therefore we can do with it what we want.”  If you believe this, follow this simple logic with me... 

Who made your body?  God.  Who took on flesh and came to live in bodily form without sin for us?  Immanuel (God with us).  Whose body was killed and raised again three days later to redeem you and your body?  God.  Who’s coming again to judge the deeds and misdeeds you’ve done in your body?  God.  Who will you and your body spend eternity with someday in the future?  God.  So, who owns your body?  God does.

Scripture is clear that your body is God’s body, and we can’t as a Bible believing Christians argue otherwise.  We did not create it, we did not redeem it, we are not going to resurrect it and we are not going to judge it.  Your body, my body, our bodies, this body is God’s body, therefore we are to be a good stewards of it and honor God with it.   

God did not give you this body to do with it what you want.   He gave it to you to honor Him, and bring glory to Him, and to worship and obey Him. 

"Quote" of the Week

"The body is for the Lord! (It) has been given to you for one reason: to be an instrument for glorifying Christ (6:20)."  -John Piper

⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! 1 Corinthians 6:7-8

The Christians at Corinth struggled with pride and as a result, were a divided body of believers.  They were so concerned with their own reputations and with winning an argument that they went as far as taking one another to court.  They were also guilty of defrauding one another in the secular courts before the unbelieving world.

Paul gives a great word to them in 1 Corinthians 6:7-8.  He says, “No matter what happens in court—no matter how much money you make off of another and no matter who wins, in God’s eyes you lose.”  Paul explains that taking a believer to court before the unbelieving world is a “no-win” situation—a total defeat because it destroys relationships, ruins the reputation of the church and displeases God.  He says, “Why not rather suffer wrong?”  In other words, “Better to take one on the chin than to take down another believer and the church.” 

Jesus says something similar in Matthew 5:39-40.
³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Now for some this is extreme, but is straight from the mouth of Christ and Paul.  Also, both are talking about something deeper than petty issues or trivial court cases.  They are calling for God’s people not to lose sight of what is truly important.   You see the Corinthians were going to court because they valued their reputation more than God’s, and valued earthly possessions more than heavenly treasures.  Paul is calling for them to get their priorities straight.

Examine your own life.  What do you most value?  What is truly most important to you:  Your reputation or the church’s, earthly possessions or heavenly treasures, your rights or your testimony, public opinion or God’s approval, personal victory or God’s glory?

It is vital that we keep our values in check because one day we are all going to have our day in court.  And in that day the details of our life will be laid out for all to see.  And there will be only one ruling that will concern us on that day and that’s God’s.  I want more than anything in that day for Him to look at the life I lived and see that I lived it for Him and His glory. 

"The wisdom of the world says to protect yourself from any kind of physical or financial harm. The wisdom of God says to protect yourself from any kind of spiritual fall." -John Stevenson

LIVING THE UNLEAVENED LIFE

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.  1 Corinthians 5:6-7

To understand this verse of Scripture, it is helpful to understand the process of baking bread in the first century.  In Paul’s day, when a woman would bake bread she would get all the dough ready and then would put it into whatever receptacle it was to be baked in.  She would then take a piece of dough out and roll it into a ball and place it in water.  Over time, this piece of dough would then sour and would be taken out and set aside until it was time to bake more bread.  When the time came, she would put the old piece of dough into the new dough as a starter.  This small piece of soured dough would greatly influence the entire new loaf affecting both the taste and the look of the bread. 

Leaven is one of the most commonly used idioms in the Scriptures.  As you can see from the description above, it carries with it the idea of something from the past influencing something in the present.  So Paul uses this idiom here in 1 Corinthians 5 because he wants his readers to understand that in the same way a little piece of soured dough from the old influences an entire new lough of bread, so a little sin from ones old life influences and corrupts ones new life in Christ. 

In v. 7 Paul calls for his readers to, “cleanse out the old leaven.”  He says, “Take it out, purge it out.”  In other words, there should be nothing from your old life mixed in with the new. 

"Quote" of the Week

Now that you're a new Christian, you're supposed to be an unleavened Christian. That is, you don't have any little leftover from the old life as a starter in your new life. Your new life is unleavened.  -John MacArthur

Whenever the topic church discipline is mentioned many want to get on the defensive.  One of the main reasons why is because of the influences of this world.  In our world, many believe discipline to be a harsh and unloving act and believe “forgiving and forgetting” (AKA sweeping sin under the rug) to be what is truly loving. 

Truth is God’s Word tells us the opposite.  God's Word tells us that if done right, church discipline is the most loving thing you can do to an unrepentant sinner.  God’s word says that discipline done right is what leads people to repentance.  Discipline done right is what leads individuals back into a right relationship with the living God. 

Let me also make the point that not disciplining someone and sweeping their sin under the rug, is viewed by God as an act of hatred.  Solomon is clear in Proverbs 13:24,

Whoever spares the rod hates his son.

Why?  Because with discipline comes correction.  It is God’s method for bringing sinners to repentance.

For my first of two sermons on church discipline click HERE.

"Quote" of the Week

"Just as God our Father disciplines those whom he loves (Heb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19), so the church in its discipline is acting in love to bring back a brother or sister who has gone astray, reestablishing that person in right fellowship and rescuing him or her from destructive patterns of life."  -Wayne Grudem