Renovating Our Body
Renovate

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Lord , we lift up our souls to You and we say to our own selves, we instruct our own soul, our own minds and our own ears. We want to hear from you. Lord. We invite You to be present in the service, Lord; to be so present that you’re walking among the aisles and touching every heart and every person, not just in this room but in the next room and not just in the next room but online, to those people that might be watching and listening. Lord be present. You are real and we want to sense Your presence and to hear from You, from Your word and from Your spirit today. Lord, fall upon us and bring revival to this city. Lord, we pray that You would start with each heart in this room and those that are engaging with us right now, knowing that You would break out into every bible believing, gospel preaching church in our city.

We, especially, pray this morning for Farmington Heights church and pastor Dalen in that service there. Lord, that’s a partner church of ours and, and we pray that people would come to Christ in that meeting today, as well. We pray for different churches every Sunday, Lord, that are partnering with us for revival in this city and not just in this city, but we pray for our service in Rocky Mount at our campus there. We pray for revival in eastern North Carolina. Lord, let it start with us. Lord, we lift up our souls to You now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

We’re in part five of our series, “Renovate.” We’ve been talking about the renovation of the heart. Today, we’re going to be talking specifically about that aspect of our lives, often overlooked – the renovation of the body. I don’t know about you, but I could use a renovation of the body. That’s what we’re going to be talking about today in this series.

We’ve been talking about how life comes from the heart and how what matters to God is what’s on the inside. What really changes your life is not changing what’s on the outside, but changing what’s on the inside, experiencing transformation, renovation of the inside of the heart.

Our theme verse is found in Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Life comes from the heart and change comes from the heart. The heart is like the driver’s seat. It’s the control center of our lives. It’s the seat of our will. It’s the place we make decisions. Yet, there are aspects of our lives that inform and influence the heart. One of those that we’re talking about today is the body. The body influences our will. It influences our heart.

Dr. Dallas Willard, in his book, “Renovation of the Heart,” says this, “For good or for evil, the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life. [Yet,] their essential role in spirituality is the one thing most likely to be overlooked inunderstanding and practicing growth in grace.” For good or for evil, the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life. Yet, their essential role in spirituality is the one thing most likely to be overlooked. We often just dismiss the body as having influence on our spiritual life, but we couldn’t be further from the truth. The body affects our spiritual life. It’s important to recognize its essential role. That’s why we’re titling the sermon today, “Renovating our Body,” because God cares how you view your body. He cares about that. It matters to God how you view your body when you look in the mirror. It matters to God, how you use your body. I want you to think about those two things –how you view your body and how you use your body. It matters to God.

We have an idealized view of the body in America today. Instead of worshiping God, we’ve elevated the human body to a place of worship. We’ve made our bodies an object of worship, especially the young. We idolize the youthful body. We plaster it on every social media page, every billboard,magazine and television commercial. Then, we all pursuethe possibility of always living in a body that looks like it’s in its late teens, early 20’s. We’ve made that the desire of our hearts to stay young looking. We’ve made idols of our bodies. We worship the human body in our culture today.

Gary, why do you say “worship?” Well, just think of it like this – worship is whatever you value the most. Whatever you place the most worth. The word, “worship,” comes from the word, “worthship;” whatever you place the most worth on. Whenever you see something that you think is worth something, then you spend what you think it’s worth. You spend on it; that’s worship. You recognize worth and then you give it worth. You give it your spending, your attention and your money.

Speaking of money, the United States has one of the highest costs of healthcare in the world. In 2021, U.S. healthcare spending reached $4.3 trillion, which averages to about $12,900 per person. Relative to the size of our economy, healthcare costs have increased over the past few decades, from 5 percent of GDP in 1960 to 18 percent in 2021. That’s 18% of our gross national product. 18%, almost 20, like 1/5 of every dollar that’s produced in America goes to health care and that doesn’t include wellness, beauty and those kinds of things – fitness, beauty, wellness kinds of products and so forth. “The average American spends $110 a month on beauty, fitness, and wellness, like vitamins and supplements. That’s around $450 billion a year on wellness products and services.” That sounds kind of low to me, actually. I would imagine January is the big month. That’s when we all signed up for the fitness place. By this time in February, and here I am preaching on the body, we’ve already quit going. We already quit going and we paid for it. We’ll keep paying for another two or three months as if that will help. You have to actually go in there and work that body. This over desire for beautiful, young bodies persists in our thinking and our desires.

We look in the mirror and we have kind of a love-hate relationship with our bodies. We look at our bodies and we hate what we see. I wish I could get that fixed. It’s drooping. I wish I could get it lifted. It’s too heavy. I wish I could thin it out. It’s turning white. I better put some color in it. These are the kind of things we spend a lot of our time thinking about and the truth is, many of us deal with body shame and it leads to many problems in our lives. Many kinds of problems radiate out of our view of self; there are psychological and physiological troubles.

In addition, this wrong view of the body explains many of our societal woes, this elevation of the body and its appearance, so that your identity is connected to your body. You view your life or your gender based on the color of your skin . We have gender wars and gender dysphoria. Our height, weight, age and color are all our health. These are all our beauty or not.

Have you ever wondered how God wants to view your body? There’s two mirrors – one is the one that you can hang on your wall and then there’s one that the book of James says is “like a mirror.” What mirror do you look in as you consider how God views your body and how He wants you to view your body? Does He call your body evil or good? Is the body a good thing or is it just so sinful that it’s a bad thing? Does God have a purpose for your body? What’s the body’s real place in becoming like Jesus? Is there something about our bodies that relates to us following Jesus? These are the kinds of questions I hope today to answer from God’s word, so get your “seatbelts: on. We’re going on a journey now.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, he responded to their questions and their cultural sayings by correcting their views of the body and talking about how God wanted to renovate their bodies completely to Him. He wanted them to learn to see their bodies and use their bodies in a way that God would have them to do. I believe today that we can do that. We can hear this word from God and we can submit our bodies to the Lord so that we view them and use them according to His will.

As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three ways to do that. Let’s dig in.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (ESV) 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and Godwill destroy both one and the other. 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. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. This is God’s word, Amen.

Today, we are talking about submitting our bodies to God for renovation.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR BODY TO GOD FOR RENOVATION:

1. Give your body wholly to God’s purpose.

I want you to take note that the word, “body,” appears here seven times in the text. People sometimes ask, “How do you find the subject for the text you’re preaching from?” One of the key ways to do that is the repetition of a word like “body.” So, I asked God, “what’s this about?” There are many topics here that it covers, but primarily, it seems to be about how God sees the body, how you’ve used the body and how He desires for us to use the body for His purpose.

I want you to take note of that word, “body.” It comes from the Greek word, “sōma.” If you’re taking notes. The way you might remember the Greek word, “sōma,” is have you heard the word “psychosomatic?” The beginning, the prefix, “psycho,” comes from the Greek word, “psuché,” which means soul. It doesn’t mean mind; it means soul. “Sōma,” as I’ve said, means “body.” So, “psychosomatic” means “something that’s wrong with the soul is affecting the body.” That’s the thing that I don’t want you to forget as we’re going through this series, although I have broken it up into many aspects of the self. We’ve talked about the heart, the mind, the thought life, the feelings and the will.

Now, we’re talking about the body. Don’t be confused and think that these stand alone or separate from one another. They all are interactive. We’re taking them a piece at a time so that we might surrender that aspect to the Lord for His help, but we recognize they are of a whole, that they all interact and they all interact in a way that affects the will and the choices we make. The body is part of that interaction.

Here is how Paul seems to be writing this letter to the church at Corinth. He’s dealing with some cultural slogans from Corinth. I would say, that the city of Corinth, during the first century, is very similar in culture to the modern American culture. Their elevation of the human body and their love of the body as an object of idealization is very similar to our modern culture. It’s really not that difficult to apply this thinking.

The people of Corinth had sayings in their culture. Paul seems to be picking out sayings or slogans from the believers that are trying to deal with the cultural way of thinking and transforming their thinking to God’s way. Here’s this first cultural Corinthian slogan, “All things are lawful for me.” Paul is not saying what they have been saying, but says, “according to the Holy Spirit, not all things are helpful.” That’s probably the best way to “unpack” this scripture, is to recognize he’s doing this throughout the book of 1st Corinthians. He’s addressing, prescriptively, what was going on there. This was hedonistic worship of the body, worshiping sexuality. Everything was about sex. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The people of Corinth had been saying that ‘Whatever I do and what I’m doing is not against the law. So, why are you saying to me that I can’t do whatever I want to with my body? It’s not against the law.’ Another way of looking at it, from a believer’s point of view, might be that the truth is, we are not under the law anymore because Jesus fulfilled the law. We are under grace.

Paul says in the book of Romans, “Should I sin all the more so that grace might increase?” He says, “Forbid it almighty God.” So, we don’t have liberty just to keep on sinning. I really do think this is some sort of cultural slogan that still resonates today. I’m not hurting anybody. I’m not breaking any laws.

Verse 12, ” but not all things are helpful.” The word, “helpful,” could have been translated, “beneficial or productive.” Okay, but I can drink all I want and eat all I want. I’m not hurting anybody . Yes, you are. You’re hurting yourself. You’re hurting your witness with the Lord and it’s not productive. It’s not beneficial to your body. That should be the highest measurement. Not, Can I get by without getting locked up?

Here’s what we’re doing in the culture today. We’re making everything lawful so that we become like the people during the time of the book of Judges. They became a law unto themselves, “whatever goes,” but, not all things are beneficial. Just ask the person who has overdone it and given in to “over desire” in their bodies.

Paul repeats the statement again in verse 12, “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” He first says, ‘Okay, I hear you, but not everything you put in your body, not everything you eat, drink, look at, look or listen to is beneficial, but not only that, I don’t want to be mastered. I don’t want to be dominated by anything other than Jesus.’

Wow. I wonder if we could just line people up right now and have them give a testimony. Man, I wish somebody would have talked to me before I got hooked on pornography, alcohol or illegal drugs. Some of you are sitting here right now thinking, Yeah, but I take legal drugs. I have a prescription, so they are lawful. Did you know that lawful drugs, prescription drugs are more abused than any other category of drug? We are the most overmedicated people who’ve ever lived. We think that if we can just grab a bottle, that’ll help us cope with whatever is going on. I’m not saying that we don’t have chemical imbalances; there are right uses and medication can be a gift from God. That’s why He gave us all of the different plant life. Pretty much every drug comes from some plant that God gave us as medicine. Medicine is a wonderful thing . It’s a great thing, but it’s not God. Some of us need to evaluate what we’re putting in our bodies because it masters us. It dominates us.

The Greek word here has the idea of “to be in slavery to.” Okay, it’s legal, but I’ll not be dominated by it. Paul says in verse 13, “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food…” That’s why there’s food, so I can put it in my stomach and that’s why I have a stomach so I can put food in it. That’s how it works. That’s what the Corinthians were saying, but what they were really talking about here and in verse 13 and you can tell that Paul’s using this as a metaphor for what they were really saying–the reason my body has a sexual reality to it, the reason it’s made, it’s made for sex. Sex is for my body and my body is for sex. Gary, where are you getting that? I thought he was talking about food. Just keep reading, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

The people of Corinth were saying, Well, that’s why I have these parts, so I can have sex. What’s wrong? They were really struggling in the church, at least with an early heresy in Christianity called gnosticism. Gnosticism had this idea that the body is inherently evil anyway and so, since it is whatever you do with it, it doesn’t matter because it’s going to pass away anyway, which is what they seem to be saying here, that God’s going to destroy the body and the food anyway. It’s all going to go away, so, whatever we do with the body doesn’t matter.

They had a philosophy of dualism as something like the body’s over here and it doesn’t count. Only what happens in you spiritually is what matters. I’m speaking of the false religion of gnosticism. They carried it so far as to say that Jesus really didn’t live physically. He was a spiritual being; the person who died on the cross really wasn’t His body. It didn’t really suffer. it didn’t really bleed. It was a spiritual illusion. This was the ancient heresy of gnosticism, which lingered around for several 100 years and then affected the false teaching in the Koran. So, this idea of the body, because when God made the body, He said it was good. It’s not inherently evil, but how you view it and how you use it is affected by your sin, so it can be evil, but it’s not made to be evil. It was made to be good.

Jesus did die in the body and He did come as the Emmanuel, “God with us,” incarnationally living among us. He ate, he slept, he cried, he wept, he felt tired, he bled and he died. He elevates the human body to its right place by doing so and then He’s raised from the grave and He lives today. God has a purpose for your body.

Gary, you said “purpose.” I don’t see the word, “purpose.” Look again at verse 13, “the body is not meant for…” If we say something is “meant for” or “not meant for,” we’re talking about its purpose. The body is meant for the Lord and the Lord for the body. You don’t have to get far in the Bible before you hear this. “Let us make man in our own image–the Imago dei– male and female, He made them. He made a lot of bodies–He made animate and inanimate bodies. He made worlds and stars. He made planets and he made plants. He made animals, but only man . Didn’t he say, ‘I made them for myself, that they would reflect my glory. I have a purpose for them; I have a meaning for their bodies.’

Last week, we studied this verse, Romans 12:1. Here it is again, Romans 12:1 (ESV) “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Give God your body. Give Him your body, for His purpose.

As the early church father Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” Why did God make you? What’s the meaning of these bodies? He made you for Himself, that He might dwell in you and that you might know Him. Your bodies have a purpose.

Look in the mirror on the wall. Look in that mirror because you need to go out in public. You need to comb your hair, you know. I think it makes you feel better. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take care of your body. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to the doctor. I’m not saying any of that. Don’t take this out of balance. What I am saying is, do not elevate your body to the position of worship so that it consumes you and that’s all you think about. Instead, put Jesus there and your body; surrender to Him and then, maybe, you won’t think about your body so much. Your body will be second or third down the list somewhere.

I’m thinking about all the bodies that God made, but for our bodies, He wants us to give them to Him for His purpose. All of us have unique shapes.

I was thinking about Moses, when Moses said, ‘I’m not a good speaker. Why are you calling me to set the people free? I’m not good at this.’ He had a lot of excuses. God finally just said to him, “What’s in your hand?” Moses said, “A shepherd’s staff,a rod.” He tells him, “Let’s use that.” You are thinking, Yeah, but I’m not a preacher. Well, that’s fine; we have enough preachers. If you are a teacher, go teach for Jesus; use your body teaching for Jesus. If you are a plumber, “plum” for Jesus. If you are an electrician, “wire” for Jesus. If you are a carpenter, “hammer” for Jesus.

What do you do? What’s that in your hand? Use your body and your talent. What has God called you to be and do? You’ll be more productive out there where the lost people are than I will. You know what my job is – it is to lead and feed. Your job is to be ministers. I’m not your minister. I’m not the minister. I’m the preacher. I’m the pastor. You’re the ministers. Read Ephesians chapter four; check me on it. Go be a plumber for God, a salesman for God, a teacher for God, a banker for God. What’s that in your hand? Use your body for God.

Eric Liddell was a British runner and missionary born in China. His parents were missionaries. He goes to college in China. While he’s at college, he’s a runner and he’s fast. He entered into the 1924 Olympics in Paris and he won a gold medal in the 400-meter run. There was a movie made about Eric Liddell; it’s called, “Chariots of Fire.” I would recommend it to you if you’ve never seen it. I had a great theme song, too; it’s a great movie. Eric Liddell’s father didn’t understand. You need to come home. You graduated from college, now, why do you need to go? It’s just a waste of your body, a waste of your life, to go participate in this Olympic thing. Come back. There’s people in China who need to hear the gospel. Eric tries to explain to his father. He said to his father, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” A year after the Olympic Games, Liddell returned to China to do missionary work with his father. Then, World War II broke out. He was captured by the Japanese and he died without help in a Japanese internment camp. He gave his body fully to the Lord. He’s with the Lord. Now he’s got a new body. I bet he’s still fast.

How did God make you? What’s in your hand? Give your body to the Lord, holy to Him. You might think, Well, that’s strange, Gary. Some of you might start laying out on the floor and the rest of you just divert your eyes. They’re working it out with God. Some of you might want to go home and try this: shut the door in your bedroom, lay down on the carpet (I’ve been saying stuff like this for the last couple of weeks) to inform the body of who it belongs to, to tell your body who it belongs to. Lay on the floor and say, ‘God, I repent of all the filth that’s come out of my mouth. I now fill my mouth with praise and thanksgiving for You. This mouth is Your mouth. These ears are Your ears. These eyes are Your eyes.’ Just lay on the floor with your arms spread out and say, ‘These hands are Your hands.’ You might think that’s ridiculous. Well, that’s okay. I’ll get even more ridiculous than this for the Lord. I’m going to give Him my body, the whole thing, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Give your body to the Lord for His purpose.

One other thing and it’s that commandment that says to remember the Sabbath. The word, “Sabbath,” means rest. Learn the rhythm of life as you think about your body. The word, “Sabbath,” was given to us so that we wouldn’t overly depend on our bodies. If you look at the rhythm of the way God created the universe in the book of Genesis, notice the order. Each day it says, “and it was night and it was day.” And then on the third day, he created this, “it was night and it was day.” It doesn’t say the way you or I would say it, ‘It was day and it was night.’ No, it’s upside down; we are to work out of our rest, not rest after we’re so exhausted from our work, our bodily effort.

We learn the rhythm of working out of rest. We rest in Jesus and we draw energy from Him. “It was night and then it was day.” I got this body up and I worked out of the rest that Jesus gave me. You put it in the bank first and then you go, not after you’ve run out of gas.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR BODY TO GOD FOR RENOVATION:

2. Recognize the spiritual significance of your body.

Your body has a purpose. It is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body. Now, we’re on verses 14 through 17. The apostle Paul gives us three spiritually significant truths about the body here. The first one is In verse 14, he says, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” Your body will be resurrected, it will be raised.

The second one is in verse 15, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!” Your body is a member of Christ’s body. That’s in verse 15; your body is connected. He uses this “marriage” kind of language, that we are one with the Lord, that our bodies are connected to His body. What is Christ’s body? It’s the church. So your body is connected to all these bodies because we’re the church.

The third spiritually significant truth he gives about the body here is found in verse 17, “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” Your body is joined to the Lord in Spirit.

Now, let’s “unpack” this. It’s all in these couple of verses here that shows us the spiritual significance of the body. Beginning with verse 14, he says, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” “God raised the Lord;” He’s speaking of Jesus. God raised Jesus and He will also raise us up by His power. “Power” is the Greek word, “Dunamis;” it’s where we get the word “dynamite, dynamo.” It is explosive power; resurrection power. He’s going to raise you up.

Do you know that Christianity stands alone among the world religions? We believe in the resurrection of the body, a physical body that can be touched, can walk, can talk and can eat if it wants to, but it doesn’t have to.

Do you want to know what that body looks like? Read the Gospels. Look at the resurrected Jesus. He appears on the road to Amaeus, walking along on the road. They didn’t recognize Him at first. I don’t know if they just weren’t looking at Him or if it was later in the day and it was dark and they had heard He’d been crucified so their minds weren’t focused. I don’t know what was different about His appearance. They didn’t immediately recognize Him until He broke bread. They broke bread with them and they recognized something about the way He moved His hands.

I don’t know if you’ve ever lost someone that you really love – your mom, your dad or maybe a grandparent and sometimes you’ll just think about their hands because those hands used to take care of you. Those hands are just imprinted on your memory . They saw the hands of Jesus and then they heard His voice. For some reason, they hadn’t recognized it until they heard Him say the prayer over the bread. He began to pray and they recognized Him. Oh my goodness, it’s Jesus. They recognized Him. He appears to the disciples in the upper room. He had heard that Thomas was doubting because He hadn’t seen Him yet. Now they recognized Him; He looked similar to how He’d always looked or they wouldn’t have recognized Him. There was a similarity, a continuity to the earthly body that is now a heavenly body. Jesus says to Thomas, “See my hands.” He still had the scars. ‘See my feet, put your hand right here to this scar on My side where the soldier speared Me to make sure that I was dead and blood and water gushed forth because he pierced the lung and there was evidence of His death.

Why does He still have these scars? I think they’re like “badges of honor.” The Old Testament prophet talks about how we are carved on the Lord’s hands. I think we’ll see Jesus one day. I know we’ll see Him one day. The line will be long, but I’m getting in the line. I want to see those scars. It won’t matter because it’ll be a timeless eternal environment and there’ll be people to talk to in the line that you haven’t seen in a while. It’ll be good. We will get to see Him.

In 1 John it says, 1 John 3:2 (NKJV) 2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” He’s got a real body and we get one, too. It will have continuity with the one you have now except better. It’s built, it’s fit for heaven. It’s made to live for eternity. So, give Him your body so you can trade that one in when the time comes.

Verse 15 continues, “Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!” You’re joining this body that has continuity with the resurrection body. This body that’s joined to His body. This body that has His spirit living inside of you. Now, you’re joining that with a prostitute? This seems a little odd that He mentions this out of the blue. He’s talking about the body. Now, all of a sudden, he’s talking about going to a prostitute, but you must understand the culture of Corinth there.

I’ve been to the ruins of the city of Corinth. My wife and I went some years ago. You could see an Acropolis, one of the tallest ones in all of Greece. It’s taller than Athens. It’s called the Acrocorinth. During Paul’s time , there would have been the remains of the temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of sex and there they would worship in the city of Corinth. The city of Corinth was a seaport city. It had sailors who came from afar and they loved going to Corinth because they had that temple to Aphrodite up there. The way they would worship would be to go up there, pay your money and worship by laying with temple priestesses that were prostitutes. That was the culture; it was accepted. The body was just a thing; the “plumbing” of the body has no spiritual reality. That was how they thought.

Paul says, “Never!” The body has spiritual implications. What you do with your body matters to God. It will hurt your body to use it wrongly. It will hurt you in a way you haven’t thought about. To call somebody a “Corinthian” during Paul’s day was to say that they were being identified with the unsavory reputation of low morals that the people of Corinth had. It was not a compliment to be called a Corinthian. I don’t know where that commercial came from, that said that we could have Corinthian leather in our cars. I don’t know what that was about, but during Paul’s time, it was not thought well of.

“…Do you not know…”He says this three times in the text, as if you should know. ‘Don’t you know what you do with your body matters to God?’ It’s not just the “plumbing;” it has spiritual significance.

Philippians 3:17-21 (ESV) 17 “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Give Him your body; it has spiritual significance. Paul uses this picture of “the two shall become one flesh,” in verse 16, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” He uses this again in Ephesians 5. He says this, Ephesians 5:31-32 (ESV) 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

The body of Christ is the church. How we use our bodies and how we think about our bodies impacts each other. Don’t idolize your body; don’t put it on a pedestal. Put God there and then use your body to worship Him.

How can we do this? I suggested earlier , how you might physically do that. There are other spiritual habits, spiritual disciplines that would help us yield our bodies to the Lord. I can think of a couple. These are ancient Christian practices that people still utilize today.

One is fasting and praying, so you deny your body food or drink. I would recommend that if you’re able to do it. If you’re a diabetic or have some other health problem, you should make sure you check with a doctor. We know today that sporadic, intermittent fasting actually is healthy for the body. Saying that in front of a bunch of Americans is like the most politically incorrect thing I could say–to speak of fasting as a spiritual discipline. What? I’m supposed to eat. My belly’s for food and food is for my belly. We’re just like the Corinthians. Sometimes, though, to fast is to say “no” to the body and say “yes” to the Lord. Now , if you’re just fasting because of health reasons, that’s great. If you’re fasting because you want to hear something from the Lord and you want to focus your prayers on the Lord, so that every time your belly growls, you pray, it kind of becomes like your “alarm clock” for prayer.

For prayer, you can put your body in different positions. I hear people say, ‘Every time I try to pray, I can’t pray long because I get sleepy.’ Have you been praying in bed? Have you tried getting out of bed when you pray? Have you tried walking around your neighborhood on a prayer walk? You get a “twofer” out of it–you get some exercise and pray. The thing about it is, when you get your body moving, you stop thinking about your body because it’s active now. Your body is not sleepy. It actually gives you more clarity.

There are many spiritual disciplines that are helpful. Now, may I say this to you? Spiritual disciplines will not transform you, nor renovate your body, the way God wants to, but they are “helps” that help you focus on the grace of God and ask for the grace of God. These are ways that we engage.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR BODY TO GOD FOR RENOVATION:

3. Use your whole body to glorify God.

Paul gives us two imperatives: flee and glorify. He opens with “flee.” I’m not talking about the ones that make you itch. I’m talking about run, flee. That’s found in verse 18 and “glorify” in verse 20. Both of these are commands.

In verse 18, he says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” Run away from sexual immorality. There’s other places where he says, “stand firm.” Over in Ephesians, chapter six, he says, “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.” Put on your shield of faith, your sword of the word of the Lord and fight the devil. But, when it comes to sex, he says to run away because your body is involved. Sexuality is a great temptation and an even greater trap.

Many of us have been entrapped. Our bodies have been dominated by this. Some of you, in my hearing, either watching online, next door or in this room, men and women, are addicted to pornography, to the false view of the body being used in some way, contrary to the way God planned sexuality to belong to a man and woman, for life, within the covenant of marriage. In marriage, it’s a beautiful thing but outside of that, it’s a damaging thing. Gary, how do you know it’s a damaging thing? Well, I’m just reading the word of God. I’m not that smart. I just believe what this book says. “Flee from sexual immorality.” Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. You will harm your own body.

Now, I can think of various ways that this is true. All you have to do is consider the number of people who struggle with STD s and other things in our modern culture could be talking about that. That’d be a very physical practical impact on the body; the misuse of the body.

He could, also, be talking about how we are connected to the Body, the church and how we use our body affects the witness of the church and harms the body. I think it could be both. He goes on. He begins to make principles that are important.

He gives us another one of those, “don’t you knows” in verse 19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, or do you not know?” Every time he says this, I feel kind of like he’s slapping me upside the head. ”Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that God gave you?’ He lives inside of you. Where have you been taking your body? You’re taking the Holy Spirit wherever you go. What have you been putting in your eyes, your ears and your mouth? What have you been doing with your body because He lives there.

Believer, this is a reality. This is not just some metaphor.He lives in you. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He lives in you. You can talk to Him. He’s here right now. He’s in you and your body is the temple of the Lord, whom you have from God.

In case Paul needs to clarify it further, verse 19, “You are not your own.” It’s not my body or my choice. It’s His body; it’s His choice. You can carry that wherever you want to. That’s a politically incorrect statement. I understand the implications, but it’s not just about abortion rights, it’s about every other kind of rights to my body, male or female.I’m talking to believers right now. If you’re not a believer today, you’re missing out on the purpose of what God has for you. If you’re a believer today and you’re still using your body, saying, ‘It’s my body; I’ll do what I want to with it,’ then you’re going to experience the hurts that you bring into your body and the pain you’re bringing to relationships. I’m not trying to make some sort of political statement. I’m just trying to read the word of God to you right now. You need to apply it to yourself.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. What price? What’s the price by which you were purchased, believer? What was the price?

Revelation 5:9 (NASB) “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.” The saints and the angels are crying out to the lamb of God, who is Jesus Christ the Lord. That’s the price He gave – His body for yours. He took our death so that we could have His eternal life and so we are to use our whole body as an instrument for His glory. That’s the final command. The first command was run away, flee. The final command was to glorify God in your body, which is what He made us for, that we would be the image of God on planet earth, that we would be kingdom citizens representing Him.

Romans 6:12-13 (NLT) 12 “Do not let sin control the way you you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”

Will this glorify God for me to do this? Does it glorify God for me to view myself through this mirror? Ask yourself these questions.

Some years ago, I went to see an evangelist named David Ring. He was born with cerebral palsy. It was difficult to watch him. He approached the stage and his body was moving erratically. It took him years to learn to walk as a child. His father was a pastor, but he died. His father died when David was only 10 years old and his mother died of cancer four years later. So at the age of 14, he was on his own. They had cared for him; now he had no one to care for him. He became suicidal, but at the age of 17, he heard the gospel and it penetrated his heart. He gave his life to Christ. Even further, he gave his life to Christ to be an evangelist. As he approached the podium, it looked like he wasn’t going to make it. His body was so erratic in movement; his face and hands would make contortions.This is going to be hard. Then, he started preaching. He said, “My name is David Ring and I have cerebral palsy. What’s your excuse?” He started giving his testimony and the whole time his body was moving, but within a minute or two, I didn’t see his body anymore. I just saw Jesus. I was no longer distracted by the strange, uncontrolled movements that he couldn’t control. He said, “I have cerebral palsy, but cerebral palsy doesn’t have me. Jesus has me. What’s your excuse?”

I don’t know what kind of body you have. I can see your bodies from here. You can see mine. I don’t know what kind of health problems and physical problems that you have. I don’t know if you speak well or stumble in your language. I don’t know what your gifts are, but God says, ‘What’s that in your hand? Use that for Me.’ Whatever the shape of your existence, offer it to God for His glory and He can use it.

What I’ve learned is sometimes God prefers the most imperfect bodies because they recognize that they can’t do anything without Him. The truth is, until you realize that you’ll never see the transformation of your body, until you realize that you can’t do anything but, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Next Sunday, we’re going to be taking a spiritual checkup, a survey, during our services to check the spiritual state of our church. A couple of Sundays after that, I will reveal to you how we did on the survey. I hope that you’ll show up next Sunday for that.

As I close, I want to remind you of this hymn that was written by Francis R. Havergal in 1874:

TAKE MY LIFE 1 Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise, let them flow in endless praise. 2 Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee, swift and beautiful for thee. 3 Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee, filled with messages from thee.

4 Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose, every power as thou shalt choose. 5 Take my will and make it thine; It shall beno longer thine. Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne. 6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee, ever, only, all for thee.

Amen. Have you done that? Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet, take my voice. You were made for him and He wants to inhabit and live in you and give you strength for today.

Let’s pray. Lord, I pray for that person, first of all, that’s never given their lives to You. They’ve never known the joy of having Jesus, by the Spirit, live in them. They’ve never known the unconquerable joy and peace. Would you accept Him right now? He’s knocking on your heart’s door, but He will not break down the door. He’s a gentleman. He wants you to choose Him back. He chooses you. Will you choose Him back? He’s knocking right now . Would you answer the door and just say, ‘Jesus, come in. I believe You died on the cross for my sins and that You live today. Come and live in me. Make me a believer, a follower, a child of God. I trust You now as my Lord and Savior. I give You my life.’ Others are here today and you’ve done that. You’ve given your life to Jesus and you trust Him and you believe in Him, but you’ve been holding back aspects of your life and you’ve not really asked Him to take control of your entire life. Would you do it right now and surrender completely? Take my life and let it be holy to the Lord. Consecrated to the Lord. We lift it up to You now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.