I Corinthians 6:12-20     How to Take Care of Your Body    Mar 15 (Baptism)

     If you are an average adult, here is what you accomplish with your body every 24 hours: your heart beats 103689 times, you breathe 23040 times, you inhale 438 cubic feet of air, you eat 3.25 pounds of food, you drink 2.9 quarts of liquids, you move 750 muscles, and you exercise 7,000,000 brain cells.           The human body is certainly an amazing work of art created by God.  We are in the midst of a series on stewardship, caring for the things of God.  We have seen over the past couple of weeks that all things belong to God and we are only the stewards, the managers of that creation.  Well, today I want to talk about our bodies.  The NT says in I Corinthians 6:20, “Honor God with your body.”  What does that mean?  The Greek NT word here for honor is “doxazo” which is the word from which we get our word doxology.  It means to honor, to praise, and to give thanks.  So we are to praise God with our bodies.  Our very bodies are to be a living rousing round of doxology.  But so many of us have never thought about our bodies as a spiritual matter.  This morning, I want to see how God wants us to be good stewards of our bodies. 
       Why is the NT so concerned about what we do with our bodies?  First of all,  OUR BODIES WERE MADE FOR THE LORD AND HE CARES ABOUT WHAT WE DO WITH THEM.  Look at verses 12-13.   The people in Corinth were much like modern Americans.  Someone in Corinth had said, “Everything is permissible for me.”  We’ve all heard this before.  It’s my life.  It’s my body.  I can do what I want.  The Bible says that while it may be your life and your body, not everything is good for your life and your body.   The NT says that our bodies were not made to be misused but rather our bodies were made for the Lord.  Did you hear that?  Vs 13 says our very bodies were made for the Lord.  Too many Christians think that God is only interested in my soul or spirit.  The body is not important.  But the Bible says that our bodies were made for the Lord.  God actually cares what you put into your body.  God is concerned that you care for your body because your body is made for the Lord.      
        Secondly, THE BIBLE IS CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT WE DO WITH OUR BODIES BECAUSE OUR BODIES SOMEDAY BE ETERNAL.  Verse 14-15 says – “God will raise our bodies from the dead by his marvelous power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?”   When we are baptized, we are baptized into the body of Christ.  And we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.  We say that every week in our creed.  Our bodies are important and our bodies will be raised to new life someday.         
     You know, I sometimes go to a grave side service and someone says –“Our friend Joe is gone now. This is just the empty shell. This body is nothing.  Joe’s spirit has departed from his body and gone on to higher and better things.”     But that is not Biblical thinking.  The spirit is with God the moment we die, but that is not the end of the story.  That body is still a part of who that person is and that body will share in the resurrection of Christ. It will be remade and renewed along with the rest of creation.  It has to be that way because what God has made will not be lost.  God loves all He has made.  God has ownership over all He has made.  And God will renew all He has made, including our bodies.  What God has made is valuable, priceless, worth caring for.   And our very bodies are made by God and for God.  That makes us priceless and eternal.    

      So how do we care for these priceless and eternal bodies?  First of all, FOREIGN UNIONS ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION.   Verse 15 says that we must take care what we do with our bodies and what we allow our bodies to become involved with because our bodies are part of Jesus Christ.   Listen. You can be a member of the United States Army and be in Rotary and the Sierra Club and any number of other organizations. There is no conflict.  But you can’t be a member of the US Army and be a member of the Taliban at the same time. That would be an incompatible union. You would be a traitor. 

      Now the Bible uses an example of sexuality here.  However, but the same is true for many unions that are wrong for our bodies.  I need to examine how I use my body and to see if it is a fitting union for the Lord Jesus.  For example, I am to be a steward of my tongue.  Nothing foreign such as gossip, cursing, put downs, or negative words should be in my mouth.    Another example:  I am to be a steward of my mind and only fill it with what will benefit my mind to learn, to be educated, to think, to be an intelligent person.  What about my hands?  The Bible speaks often of the works of my hands and my hands are to be busy in my work place with work that would please God.  So many passages speak of my feet and where they carry me.  Do my feet rush into sin or do they come to proclaim peace?  The NT speaks of food in this passage and in others because not all foods and drinks are good for my body.  Many passages in the Bible talk about how I use my eyes.  What do you view with your eyes?  Do you remember that Christ is with you looking through your eyes?  You see, some things are simply foreign unions for the follower of Jesus.  They are incompatible.  Listen.  Vs 16 says when we join ourselves in these foreign unions that we become one with these things.  They become part of us.  They become addictions.   These things enter our subconscious and soul and take over our lives.  

      So how can we resist these temptations?  WE NEED TO LOOK AT OUR BODIES AS THE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.     Verse 19 – “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?”  When you were baptized, God’s Holy Spirit moved in and started to take up residence in you.  As the years go by, as we confirm our faith, each time we say “yes” to God, as faith takes root, that Holy Spirit grows in us more.  The more we say “yes” to God and “yes” to the things of God, the more powerful the Holy Spirit grows in us.  But each time we say “no” to God by our thoughts, words, or deeds, the Spirit is grieved and is quenched, weakened in us.   You know, not many people leave the Lord by some huge decision or action one day.  It is usually one small step with our tongue, our eyes, our stomach, our feet, our hands.  One step at a time until the Spirit is no longer living in them.  John Wesley said that in this way we sin away the Spirit of God given to us in Baptism.  But when we remember that our bodies are the temple of God, we can strengthen the spirit as we use our bodies for the things of God.  
      Finally, at the most radical level, we need to realize that our bodies are not OUR bodies.  Our very self belongs to the Lord.  Look at verses 19-20 – “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” God has bought you with a high price with the very life of His son, Jesus.  God did not just give His son to save your spirit.  The passage says God paid that price to purchase your whole self—body, mind, and spirit.  And with that body, we are to Honor God.  Honor.  Remember the word means Doxology.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Praise God all you creatures here below.  All blessings and all gifts do flow from God.  And all God’s creation joins to sing praises.   We too in our lives and in our bodies are to praise and honor God.    IT IS OUR GOAL TO HONOR GOD WITH OUR BODIES.  Amen.