Darwin once said,
“If it could be demonstrated than any complex organ existed which could
not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications,
my theory would absolutely break down.” I believe the human body demonstrates
that Darwin’s theory is wrong.
Our human body is comprised of so many complicated organs, that it is
impossible for it to have been built piece-by-piece through Darwinian
processes, because each one had to be fully present in order for our
body to not only function, but to also stay alive.
The average human heart pumps over 1,000 gallons of blood a day. Which
means it will pump over 55 million gallons of blood in a normal life
span. And during our lifetime it will on an average beat about 2.5 billion
times. Thankfully it never sleeps, for if it did, it would stop beating.
And the moment it quits beating, we will die.
Our lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries which are used to exchange
oxygen for carbon dioxide. This process is so complicated, that it is
easier for a man, shot out of a canon, to carve the Lord’s Prayer on
the head of a pin as he passes by it. Yet, the moment our lungs quit
working, we will die.
Each of our cells are made up of DNA. Into each cell nucleus is folded
1.8 meters of DNA. Since a nucleus is 6 microns long, this is like putting
30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. Depending upon the way these
cells are folded is what determines what kind of cell it becomes. Folded
one way, the cell becomes skin cells. Folded another way, it becomes
a liver cell. But if your DNA fails to fold in the right way to form
a liver, guess what happens? You would not be here today.
Let me ask you, based upon just this little bit of information, did
we evolve, or were we created by an intelligent agent? I believe that
based upon scientific information, that the complex systems of our human
body proves that it was created by a Creator, who we know to be God.
Therefore, if God is our Creator, then isn’t he the rightful owner of
what he created? And if he is the owner, than doesn’t he have the right
to tell us what we can & can’t do with our bodies? This is the premise
upon what these 2 verses are built upon.
Notice that for the 6th time in this chapter, Paul starts off by asking,
“Don’t you know?”--v. 19. He is not expecting us to answer this question
by a “No!” response. He is expecting us to say, “Why of course we know
that since we belong to God we are to use our bodies to bring honor,
rather than dishonor to him!” What Paul is saying here is not a new
piece of information, it is not a new Holy Ghost revelation about how
we are to live.
It is not like God hasn’t revealed to us over and over again how he
wants us to live. The problem we have in regard to living holy is not
an absence of information. Rather, it is in making the proper application
of the information God has revealed to us as we encounter the various
situations we will experience as we go throughout our day.
In these 2 verses, Paul reminds us of 3 very important truths God has
revealed to us many times in his Word. The first truth you need to remember
is that your body is the place where God lives--v. 19.
The reason Paul says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit is to
counteract the philosophy of the world. At the time this letter was
written, the body was thought to be completely disengaged from the soul.
One school of philosophy taught that God was only interested in what
you did with your soul. So some of the philosophers were going around
teaching that the soul was the spiritual part of mankind, but the body
had no moral significance. This led to the perverse thinking that you
could do whatever you wanted to your body, and it wouldn’t affect your
standing before God. Another school of philosophy taught that if it
wasn’t for the body, people could be highly spiritual individuals. One
philosopher who believed this line of reasoning said, “I’m a poor soul
shackled to a corpse.” And the corpse he was talking about wasn’t his
wife. As a result of buying into this kind of teaching, people would
go around beating their bodies brutally trying to stop it from doing
sinful things.
These 2 mind-sets are what Paul encountered when he first started the
church in Corinth. And as he brought these people to faith in Jesus
Christ, he spent much time teaching them the truths about the physical
body in relation to our spiritual walk. But for some reason, his teachings
didn’t take hold of their heart. So being a good teacher, and a compassionate
father, he gentle reminds them of what he has previously taught them.
What Paul wants us all to know is that this physical body of ours is
a place so sacred that the presence God, his Shekinah glory, dwells
there. The term used in this passage for “temple” is not the word for
a pagan temple, or even for the Jewish temple. Rather he uses the same
Greek word that was used to refer to the most sacred of all places:
the Holy of Holies.
Almost no one, no matter how perverted they are, would commit a sin
inside a church building. But as disgusting as that would be, it would
be no worse for you to commit a sin at home than it would be to commit
a sin in this room. While it is true that at this moment, since God
has set this room aside for the worship of him, that it is right now
a sanctuary. But God will never call this room the Holy of Holies. However
since the Spirit of God indwells your body, that is what God calls your
body.
Not only should this cause you to want to keep your body holy. But the
fact that the Holy Spirit’s presence in you makes your body the most
sacred place in all the world should cause you to feel a great sense
of dignity about your life. But with this dignity comes responsibility.
And it is the responsibility side of Christianity that we seem to struggle
so much with. We like the notion that as sons & daughters of God, we
have become princes & princess in his kingdom. We like the fact that
as such we are royalty.
But we don’t like the notion that we are to live in such a way that
what we do doesn’t tarnish the image of our king. But notice that Paul
tells us that the Spirit of God who lives inside of us is holy. As such,
can we really expect that we can live lives that are unholy? The Spirit
of God didn’t take up residence in us so that we would continue to live
the same way we did before he moved in. He expects that his presence
in us is going to drastically change the way we live.
One of my favorite TV shows, “The Beverly Hillbillies,” was very successful
because it made fun of a bunch of country bumpkins who were taking out
of poverty, and placed in a new environment of living in the midst of
the blue-bloods of society. But it is not funny for us to continue to
live as sinners when we have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness
and placed into the kingdom of God, where we are now to live as saints.
And just like the Clampetts had the resources to live differently, so
do we. God did not save us from the power of sin only to expect us try
to live free from sin on our own power. One of the purposes of the Spirit
living in us is to give us the power to live sin-free lives. To be filled
with the Holy Spirit means that we not merely allowing him to occupy
our lives, but that we are allowing him to control every area of our
lives. Let me illustrate the difference between merely having the Spirit
occupy us and having the Spirit control us.
Here are 2 glasses filled with water. They illustrate our lives before
we came to faith in Jesus Christ. Let me drop this unopened packet of
Alka-Seltezer in one of the glasses. We could now say that the water
has the Alka-Seltezer living in it. But notice that the Alka-Seltezer
is merely occupying the water but not making any difference. Since the
presence of the Alka-Seltezer hasn’t been unleashed to do what it was
placed in the water to do, there is no fizz.
Let me drop in this glass, a opened packet of Alka-Seltezer. Notice
that not only is the Alka-Seltezer occupying the water, but its presence
is also affecting the water. The fizz proves there is a transformation
going on. The fizz proves that the Alka-Seltezer is changing the water
from merely being water, into being something of a useful purpose.
The same is true when it comes to the Holy Spirit. You can have the
Spirit living in you, but not controlling you. This doesn’t mean you
are not saved. But since you are not letting the Spirit change your
life, you are not fulfilling the plans & purposes for which God created
you. Thus you are of no real value in his economy.
But if you let the Spirit’s presence & power permeate every inch of
your body, which means you have to go from letting him occupy you to
letting him control you, then God will use you in ways you never dreamt
were possible. And then you will discover the joy that comes from knowing
that you are of great value in God’s economy. This is important to know
it light of what Paul talks about next. For Paul moves from the image
of the temple to the image of the slave market--v. 19(b)
The second truth that Paul wants us to know is that we are not the owner
of our own body. This fly squarely in the face of the great American
dream. Everyday you get up, you walk out into a society that prides
itself being free.
The creed of our country is I am free to do what I want as long as it
doesn’t hurt someone else. The anti-Christian organization, the ACLU,
lives solely for the purpose of making sure that no one tells you how
you are to live. And they have been very successful.
Here are a few lines from a recent episode of the popular TV show, “Law
& Order,” that tells of the success organizations like the ACLU have
had: “The highest court in the land has ruled that our government can’t
tell us what to do with our bodies. Why should suicide be any different?
We should all have the right to choose to live and die on our own terms.”
God says that this is a lie. You don’t have the right to live anyway
you want to. God delivered you from a life of bondage to sin so that
through your new-found freedom you will live in such a way that your
life will glorify the Lord. Jesus said that you are to “Let your light
so shine before men in such a way that they many see your good works,
and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew
5:16)
Now, most of you would never come right out and say that you are free
to do whatever you want, but your actions certainly say that. Please
don’t abuse God’s grace by dabbling in sin. While it is true that Jesus
will forgive you of any sins you commit, to play around with sin proves
you don’t understand the concept of being free in Christ. The freedom
we have been giving is not to do whatever we want with our body, rather
it is to serve Jesus Christ with our body.
Paul goes on to explain to us the reason why we are not free to do whatever
we want in v. 20(a). When God originally created mankind, he also gave
Adam & Eve the option of freedom. They were free to choose whether to
serve sin or to serve God. And since not only did Adam & Eve choose
sin over God, but so did each one of us, God chose to send his own son
to look for us so he could bring us back to enjoy the state of perfect
fellowship we were created to have with God.
But this restored fellowship would come with a terrible cost. The price
tag of our Christian liberty was far more tremendous then what it is
going to cost us to secure the liberty for the people of Iraq. Their
freedom is costing us a few extra dollars at the gas pump. But our freedom
cost Jesus Christ his own life.
In the Old Testament, we see in the book of Hosea, the perfect story
of how God redeemed us back unto the relationship we originally had
with him. In the marriage of Hosea & Gomer we see the perfect illustration
of the nature of redemption. The Greek word that Paul uses for “bought”
means to redeem or buy back what was once the owner’s property.
The book of Hosea is a story of a tragic marriage between Hosea and
a prostitute named Gomer who God told Hosea to marry. After they were
married, Gomer became unfaithful to her husband, and she returned to
her former way of life. But no matter how wild Gomer acted, God told
Hosea to continue to love & pursue her. No matter how sinful Gomer acted,
Hosea never quit loving her.
This is a tremendous picture of how God keeps loving us despite how
sinful we become. The climax of the story comes when Gomer falls into
slavery. God tells Hosea to go and buy her out of slavery. So Hosea
goes and finds Gomer being sold at a public auction. And since she was
a prostitute, she was worth a lot of money. So as the bidding begins
you might have heard, “I bid 12 pieces of silver. I bid 13 pieces of
silver. I bid 14 pieces of silver. I bid 15 pieces of silver.”
And finally, you might have heard, “I bid 15 pieces of silver and a
bushel of barley.” And at this moment you would have heard Hosea yell
out, “I bid fifteen pieces of silver and about five bushels of barley
and a measure of wine.” (Hosea
3:2) And since no one else bid any more, the auctioneer might have
said, “Sold to the highest bidder!”
In the same way, God, who as our Creator owns us, had to send his son,
the Lord Jesus to go look for us. And since we choose sin over him,
we ended up in slavery to sin. Therefore, God had to buy us back from
sin. And as the auction began, Satan yelled out “I bid sex, and success,
and power, and pleasure, and fame and fortune!” Since no one else could
match his bid, it appeared that we would forever be sold into slavery
of sin with Satan as our master. But then Jesus yelled out, “I bid my
blood.” And since his blood is worth more than anything in this world,
God said, “Sold to the highest bidder.
God used the blood of Jesus Christ so that he could set us free from
lying, from stealing, from sexual immorality, in fact from all kinds
of sin. Through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, “God has rescued us from
the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and He has brought us
into the Kingdom of His dear Son.” (Colossians
1:13) Jesus’ shed blood has made possible the transformation of
people from sinners into saints.
People tend to place a value on things according to it’s price. They
don’t look at a Rolls Royce in the same way they look at a Volkswagen.
Not only is the price tag quite different, but so is the quality of
the craftsmanship. Do you realize as a Christian how much you are now
worth to God?
Let me tell you a true story. A gem dealer was strolling the aisles
at the Tucson Gem & Mineral show when he noticed a blue-violet stone
the size & shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as
possible, he asked the vendor, “You want $15 for this?” The seller,
realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as the others in the bin, lowered
the price to $10 dollars.
The stone has since been certified as a 1,900-carat, natural star sapphire.
It was appraised at 2.28 million dollars. It took the lover of stones
to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the Lover of souls to recognize
the true value of ordinary looking people like you & me.
To understand that we are more valuable than anything, or anybody in
this world, we have to put into perspective the worth the Lord has placed
on us. Please realize that in and of ourselves we are worth nothing.
But we are valuable because God set the price he was willing to spend
in order to buy back those who chose to reject his love. Peter tells
us that “God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited
from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot.” (1
Peter 1:18-19) Jesus’ blood is what makes us so valuable to God.
The third truth Paul wants us to see is it that our responsibility to
what God has done is to glorify God with our body--v. 20. Notice that
Paul doesn’t say we are to glorify God with just our heart, our mind,
our soul, and our strength, but not with our body. That is because it
is impossible to give our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength
to God, but our body to sin. It can’t be done. The reason Paul goes
to the lowest common denominator is that if you honor God with your
body, he will automatically have your heart, your mind, your soul, and
your strength.
Now what exactly does it mean to glorify God with our body? It means
to heed what his Word has to say about life rather than follow what
the world tells us to do. It means to choose to obey his will instead
of seeking after our own desires & lusts. When you are glorifying God
it means you are fleeing from the things of this world that would dishonor
him.
Let me say in closing that glorifying God with our body is not a matter
of making & keeping a list of do’s and don’ts. Rather, it’s a matter
of doing those things which please him because we love him. The desire
to glorify God with our body flows out of a heart of gratitude in response
to God bringing us into his family. The desire to glorify God with our
body flows out of a heart of gratitude in response to God the Holy Spirit
choosing to live inside of us.
All God asks of us is to not to let anyone or anything else try to share
that same spot with him. And considering what all God has done for us,
I don’t think that’s too much for him to ask of us. Will you make a
commitment this day that not only will you honor God with your heart,
your mind, your soul, your strength, but also with your body? For some
of you, that means you need to make Jesus the Lord of your mind, your
soul, your strength, and your body. If you have never done so, I invite
you to do that right now!
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