The following message was delivered
on Sunday morning, August 11, 2002, in the Adult Sunday School
class at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Now we do welcome the visitors among us, the vacationers who
are returning from vacations, and you younger men and women
who have joined us for these several classes. Let me just
give a word of explanation for the visitors and the vacationers
who've been away from us. This class is in a state of transition. Pastor Jay has completed a series
of 15 expositions in the Book of Ruth, and God-willing, Pastor
Carlson will be taking up with us a guided study through Don
Carson's book on spiritual reformation, a study in the prayers of the
Apostle Paul. If you've not obtained a copy,
of that book. There are copies still available
in the bookstore, and we urge you to obtain one and to seek
to read at least the first chapter in preparation for the first
lesson several weeks' time from now. And in this transition period,
growing out of the ongoing interaction of your elders with one another,
as we seek to discern what matters ought to be addressed in this
public forum, whether in the class or in the public worship
morning and evening, it was decided that this would be an expedient
time for me to take up with you the subject of the Christian
and the stewardship of his or her body. Now, everything in
me reacts against having to give the male and female pronouns,
but apparently It's more and more becoming accepted and expected
practice, so I will succumb, though everything in me still
regards the masculine pronoun as generic, and I would like
to say the Christian and the stewardship of his body, but
I will succumb. I will bend to the consensus
and say the Christian and the stewardship of his or her body. Last week, I stated that the
material was organized under four major headings, and we covered
Headings 1 and 2 last Lord's Day. Now, when I give this review,
as I've often reminded you, I will not pause to cite, let alone
expound, the many texts that were cited and at least briefly
expounded last week. If you were not here, I urge
you to get the tape The tape is available. I don't know if
it's CDs as well. And there will be printed notes
of the major headings and the major text made available to
you either next Lord's Day or the following. So I'm going to
give this brief review of headings one and two that we covered last
Lord's Day. And the first heading was this,
an emphatic disclaimer and a sober warning as we take up the subject
of the Christian and the stewardship of his or her body. And the disclaimer
was this, that these lessons are not in any way an outgrowth
of, nor a capitulation to, the growing cult of body worship,
which in turn is a clear manifestation of our increasingly paganized
society and culture. That's the disclaimer, and the
warning was this. Don't take these things and go
from indifference and carelessness to imbalance and fanaticism. Remember, the two illustrations
that I gave you are analogies that have been helpful to me.
If the devil can't keep us from climbing the hill of a truth,
he'll push us down the other side from the pinnacle of that
truth. If he can't freeze us out from
considering a truth, he'll burn us up. with a fanatical application
of that truth. And it would be most grievous
to me and to your elders if, as an outgrowth of these lessons,
some of you not only climbed the hill but tumbled down the
other side, and not only embraced the truth but burned yourself
up with it. Well, after giving this disclaimer
and the warning, I stated that the next two major headings,
headings number two and three, would be set forth under the
analogy of a string of pearls, and that we must never think
of these issues in separate categories. I must teach them in separate
categories, but the string is always found piercing the pearls
and holding them together. And the pearls are never to be
considered without that string that pierces everyone and holds
them together in a unit. So we then move from heading
number one, a disclaimer and a sober warning to the string. And that string was an effort
on my part to set forth the larger biblical and theological context
of any responsible consideration of the Christian's stewardship
of his body. And that string, I suggested,
has six strands to it. A lot of the household string
you have will often have three strands. Well, you think of some
household string with six strands, every one of them vital to the
composition of that string. And the pearls that we'll begin
to consider in a few moments, specific texts of Scripture addressing
matters concerning the stewardship of a Christian's body, Those
pearls are pierced, and through them runs this six-strand string. And we must never isolate the
truth of that pearl apart from the string that runs through
them. And I will be emphasizing that
for some of you ad nauseam, but that's all right. Peter realized
he emphasized certain things ad nauseam and said, I'm telling
you things you already know, you're already established in
them, but I think it necessary as long as I'm in this tabernacle
to stir you up by way of remembrance. Now what were those six strands
that compose the string? Here they are. I'll just state
them. No text, no explanation. This is simply a statement of
them. Number one, as a result of the fall of man, physical
abnormalities, liabilities, diseases, degenerative diseases, various
illnesses, and death itself are woven into the fabric of human
existence and will remain until the redemption of our bodies
at the return of Christ. All of the perfect health gurus,
notwithstanding, this is the teaching of the Bible, and this
is validated by men's experience. Carlton Fredericks died in his
seventies. He didn't even live into his
80s. And many of the gurus, religious
and non-religious, die like all men and experience degenerative
diseases and various illnesses. Second, our concern for and care
of our bodies must always be subservient to the greater concerns
of our souls and of the kingdom of God. Third strand, a long
and healthy life is to be desired and responsibly sought when it
is desired and sought for the sake of fruitfulness for God. Strand number four, poor health,
chronic physical ailments, and premature death may be a result
of an unexplained, mysterious exercise of the absolute sovereignty
of God. Fifth, poor health, chronic physical
ailments and premature death may be the result of divine chastisement
for sin or a divine restraint from sin. And sixth, poor health,
chronic physical ailments and premature death, along with all
of their consequences, may be the direct result of sinful carelessness
or indifference to the stewardship of the care of one's body. And it is that sixth strand that
greatly burdens me personally and burdens your elders, both
in the present and in the long-term vision and concern for the blessing
of God upon your lives and upon the life of this church. Now,
that's my review of major heading number one, this emphatic disclaimer
and sober warning. Major heading number two, the
string that pierces the pearls, that is, the larger biblical
and theological context of any responsible handling of this
subject of the Christian stewardship of his body. Now we come to take
up the pierced pearls, that is, the biblical case for the Christian
exercising a responsible stewardship in the care of his body. In the
time that remains, I've already mentioned this, we'll be examining
four texts this morning. God willing, next Lord's Day
in the adult class, three additional texts and then adding to that
major heading number four next week, God willing, the areas
in which that stewardship must be responsibly exercised and
discharged. Now, as we take up these texts
together, what is my goal? I want to tell you right at the
outset. When reduced to the irreducible minimum, the common denominator
of my goal this morning It comes down to two things, and may I
mention by way of an aside, I'm teaching you this morning with
the full knowledge and consent of my physician who replaced
my lens on Thursday, all right? I asked him explicitly, should
I teach the class on Sunday? He said, you go right ahead,
just don't get in a fight. That's what he said to me. So
I hope I don't get in a fight this morning, because I've already
got a black eye, and I don't want to get another one, all
right? Good. Here we are. Here's my goal.
I'm telling you right at the outset, and I trust that if any
of you have your defenses up, the statement of my goal will
be used of God to dismantle the fences. Here's my goal. My goal
is to set before you a sound biblical case seeking to persuade
every Christian to acquire and to promote in others a conscientious
and balanced concern regarding the stewardship of one's body. Now, you would not know, but
I have spent hours on that statement. Every time I thought I had it
right, yesterday on the treadmill, two parts of it, I said, no,
Lord, that's not right. Ran upstairs, got my pen, quoted
them. Thought I had it right. Sitting
at my desk at 10.30, quarter to 11 last night, I said, no,
it's still not right. Driving over this morning, still
said, Lord, I still don't have it fully right. But as right,
right as it can be, this is my goal. This embodies what my goal
is, to set before you a sound biblical case seeking to persuade
every Christian to acquire and to promote in others a conscientious
and balanced concern regarding the stewardship of one's body. Now let me break down some of
the important parts in that first aspect of my goal. The key words,
I'm attempting to set before you a sound biblical case. That means I'm not just going
to prove text you were going to spend sufficient time with
every text to get the flow of thought to make sure it is seen
in its proper context so that your judgment as a believer is
carried that this is indeed a biblical case, not Pastor Martin's case
with a sprinkling of an irresponsible handling of the Bible, a biblical
case intended to persuade you. That is, I'm not interested in
emotional manipulation. I am certainly not interested
in personal embarrassment. And I've pleaded with God, and
my last words to my wife were, honey, pray that God will give
me a sweet, reasonable And driving over here, since my wife and
I are reading through 2 Corinthians in our devotions together, the
phrase in 2 Corinthians in the latter part, I beseech you by
the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. And I said, Lord,
give me something. of the meekness and the gentleness
of Christ as I set before my people what I hope is a sound
biblical case with a view to persuading you to do what? To
acquire, that is, to make your own and to promote your desire
to have others make something their own. And what is that something
that I hope you will make your own and you will help to pass
on to others that they may make it their own? It's a conscientious
and balanced concern, a conscientious concern. That is a concern that
gets into the realm of conscience. Something that is conscientious
is something that is rooted in one's sense of duty and obligation. You see, the relationship between
conscience and conscientious. My goal is to present a biblical
case that, by persuasion, will work its way into the theater
of your conscience, that moral monitor that says, right, wrong,
Virtuous, vicious, pleasing to God, not pleasing to God, a conscientious
and balanced. That is a concern that is in
balance with other areas of conscientious concern that are part of our
biblical duty. And all of this with reference
to the stewardship of one's body. Now that's my first goal. That's
what I'm out to do. I'm like a salesman appears at
your door, and you say, what do you want? He said, I want
to present my product, and I want to present it in such a way that
before I walk out the door, you sign on the dotted line. No hidden
agenda. That's number one of my agenda.
Number two is this. My goal is to set before you
a sound biblical case seeking to persuade every Christian to
implement and to promote in others an informed, disciplined effort
to administer a stewardship of one's body. You see the progression? You not only want to get into
your conscience to create a concern, but also, as a result of our
study, that you will implement and seek to promote in others
an informed, disciplined effort with regard to the stewardship
of the body, an informed effort. The Scripture says that the soul
be without knowledge is not good, and he who makes haste with his
feet sins, Proverbs 19 and verse 2. I am not interested in people
getting into their conscience of biblically rooted concern
and then running off half-cocked and doing all kinds of crazy
things. No, I want your action to be informed, informed by the
scriptures, informed by sound, medically proven matters of diet
and exercise and the care of the body, matters that come to
us not by special revelation, but by general revelation. My concern is so to present a
sound biblical case, seeking to persuade every Christian to
implement and to promote in others an informed and disciplined effort. And why do I use the word disciplined?
Because that which is disciplined is done out of commitment to
a lifestyle. The last thing in the world I
want to do is faddism. In any of these areas, I want
to see us coming to grips with such statements as 2 Timothy
1.7. God has not given us a spirit
of fearfulness, but of love and of power and of self-discipline. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians
5.22, is self-control. Or 1 Corinthians 9.27, Paul says,
I bust at my body and bring it into subjection. He says, I live
a lifestyle in which my body is my slave. I am not slave to
my body and to its appetites. Now that's what I'm out to do
under God. seeking to set before you this
sound biblical case with a view to persuading every Christian
not only to have a conscientious and balanced concern regarding
the stewardship of one's body, but to implement and promote
an informed, disciplined effort in the administration of the
stewardship of one's body. And if concern informed by the
Bible does not lead to implementation, you know what my lessons have
done? They simply increased your sin. I don't want to do that. Because my Bible says in James
4, and in verse 17, is it? James 4, 17. To him that knows to do good,
and does it not, to him it is sin. So if I persuade your judgment
that it is good to have a concern about the stewardship of your
body, and you do not move to implementation, I've only increased
your sin. I've increased your knowledge
of what is good and what you ought to do. But if you don't
do it, I've only increased your sin. On the other hand, in the
language of our Lord, John 13, 17, If you know these things,
blessed are you if you do them. I've only robbed you of blessing
if I increase your knowledge and am not an instrument under
God to move you to action. And I don't want to rob you of
the sphere of God's blessing. So that's what I'm out to accomplish. Has it been clear? I hope it
is. I don't know how to make it more
clear as of now. Probably going home, I could
change this word, that word. That's my goal. That's my twofold
goal laid out on the table. And I hope that every Christian
hearing me say these things has an amen corner in his heart saying,
Pastor, if you truly love us and you're a faithful preacher
of the word, How could you have any lesser goal than this? I hope your conscience affirms
that my twofold goal is an expression of genuine love and fidelity
to my God-given task. All right. Now then, we're going
to look at our pierced pearls. And I'm going to keep calling
them pierced pearls until that sticks with it. Every time you
look at one of those pearls and you forget it's pierced and got
a string through it. Oh, it's pierced pearl. Remember the string. Remember the string. Remember
the string. It's not pierced for cosmetic
sake, but it's pierced for utilitarian sake. It's pierced that the string
might go through it. All right. Pierced pearl numbers
one, two, three and four. If I have time to cover them.
have as their organizing principle the opening words, an apostolic. We're going to look at an apostolic
supplication, an apostolic exhortation, an apostolic declaration, and
an apostolic assertion. All right? And again, I clue
you. That verbal parallelism, that
didn't come while I was brushing my teeth either. All right? An
apostolic supplication which warrants this concern and effort
regarding the stewardship of one's body. We're going to look
at an apostolic supplication which warrants this concern and
effort regarding the stewardship of one's body. Turn, please,
to the book of 3 John. It's been a long time since any
preacher asked you to turn to 3 John, I'm sure, including this
preacher, one of the often neglected little epistles in the New Testament,
3 John. Did I read verses 1 and 2? The
elder, John identifies himself simply as an elder. Unto Gaius,
there are two, possibly three different Gaiuses in the New
Testament, and this is probably the third, not a Gaius referred
to in other passages. The elder unto Gaius the beloved,
whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all things
You may prosper, speaking to Gaius, and be in health even
as your soul prospers. Now John is writing to a man
named Gaius. This man was noted for his zeal
and faithfulness in connection with his ministry of hospitality
and financial support of itinerant missionaries. Look at verse 5.
Beloved, You do a faithful work in whatever you do toward them
that are brethren and strangers with all, who bore witness to
your love before the church, whom you will do well to set
forward on their journey worthily of God, because that for the
sake of the name they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore are to welcome such
that we may be fellow workers for the truth. Here was a situation
of these itinerant gospel missionaries, and Gaius had earned a reputation
that when any of them came by there at Ephesus, this was the
guy who was out to greet them at the city limits. to welcome
them into the home, to provide for them, and when it came time
for them to pack their duds and go off to preach in a new area,
it was Gaius that was slipping a $20 bill in their back pocket
and who was seeking to help them on their way. In other words,
this was a man who was evidently kingdom-oriented with respect
to his possessions, his interests, his energies, and his general
concerns. You see that from the passage.
You're persuaded of that, okay? Second thing John says about
him, very clear in verse 3, I rejoice greatly when brethren came and
bore witness unto your truth even as you walk in truth. Here was a man who had earned
the reputation of being a man who was healthy spiritually.
He was walking in the truth in such a way that his reputation
was known throughout the church, and when people came and had
interaction with John, they bore witness, hey, this man Gaius
is going on with God. He's not stuck in a rut. He's
going on with God in his personal Christian life. He is concerned
for the kingdom of God in the use of his energies and his stuff,
his goods, his interests. He's a kingdom-oriented, obedient,
growing, flourishing disciple. You see that from the text? Okay. Therefore, John can say this
in verse two, his supplication for him. I pray that in all things
you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul is prospering. In other words, he doesn't say,
I pray that you may prosper in all things, be in good health
as your soul may prosper subjunctive. But it's an indicative. He says
your soul is prospering. And the prospering soul that
you have, Gaius, is to be the measure of your generic prosperity. I pray that in all things you
may prosper, and then specifically that he may prosper in having
good health. You see, he moves from the generic,
this is his prayer, his supplication, I pray that in all things you
may prosper. In all things you may prosper. You see how general prosperity
was crucial to this man's kingdom-oriented ministry. How's he going to receive
and show hospitality to itinerant missionaries and send them on
the way with some shekels in their pocket if he himself is
out of work? And he himself is sick and on
the bed. So he says, I pray that in all things you may prosper,
because here is a kingdom-oriented, obedient, Christ-honoring disciple. And John says, may you prosper
in all things, generically but specifically, and be in health,
even as, kathos, like an equal sign in the Greek, kathos, even
as your soul is prospering. So I say, Here we have, as our
first pierced pearl, an apostolic supplication which warrants this
concern and effort regarding the stewardship of one's body. And why do I say that, having
thought in this brief exposition to carry your judgment about
the significance of the text? Because that which is the focus
of an apostolic supplication ought to be the believer's prayer
and his responsible pursuit. Once Gaius read John's letter,
I have an apostle praying for me that I'll prosper in all things. Would that be an incentive for
him to be diligent in his employment, that he might prosper to continue
his ministry of generosity and hospitality? The apostolic prayer
would not lead him to say, oh, I got an apostle praying I'll
prosper in all things. So I go out and hit the golf
ball around the golf course four hours a day. He got an apostle
praying I'll prosper. If an apostle's praying I'll
prosper, I don't need to use the means. You think that's what
he did? No, because then John could not say you're walking
in the truth. Everyone would look at him and say, this guy's
become a lazy bum, hiding his laziness under the prayer of
an apostle. Shame on him. You follow me? You're with me.
You're with me. I've got to carry your judgment. Now, in the same
way, suppose he said, ah, I've got an apostle praying I'll be
in good health. Whoopee! I can stuff my belly with whatever
I like. I don't need to push myself to
get cardiovascular exercise. If I'm going to live to be 90,
I'll live to be 90 like Churchill, no matter what I do, and become
a de facto hyper-Calvinist. You think that's what Gaius did?
No way, Jose. When Gaius knows an apostle is
praying that he'll prosper in all things and be in good health,
this becomes the incentive to the wise, responsible use of
every means to which may be added the general will of God. that
we prosper in our labors, in our relationships, and that we
be in good health. I say this apostolic supplication
warrants the believer's concern to have a responsible stewardship,
both a concern and an effort to implement this responsible
stewardship. of the care of one's body. Now moving on quickly, pierced
pearl number two is an apostolic exhortation which warrants this
concern and effort. It's just a band of early morning
phlegm on the vocal cords. We're going to look at an apostolic
exhortation which warrants this concern and effort. Please turn
with me to Romans chapter 12. Remember what I'm trying to do
now. I'm trying to get inside your conscience with the Bible.
That's all. No emotional manipulation. No
psychological battering. But I do hope the Word of God
will batter down some of the rotten thinking and rotten practice
that exists in some of you sitting here. I make no apology that
I hope God's Word will be a battering ram to knock down some of those
walls. Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable or spiritual service. Do not be fashioned
according to this world or this age, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, most of you know that
in Romans 1 through 11, the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the
Spirit, gives us what can justly be described as a breathtaking
panoramic display of the mercies of God shown to hell-deserving
sinners in the person and work of Jesus Christ and by the ministry
and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There is a summary of Romans
1-11, a breathtaking panoramic display of the mercies of God
shown to hell-deserving sinners in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus, and in the person, ministry and indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. Now, what is to be our appropriate
response to this display of God's mercies when the realities of
it are embraced by faith and experienced in the soul of the
believer? What is to be the response? What
do we do? before this breathtaking, panoramic
display of the mercies of God. Paul tells us, I beseech you,
therefore, in the light of this breathtaking, panoramic display
of the mercies of God in this gospel that is the power of God
to salvation, I beseech you, I entreat you, therefore, in
the light of all of this, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies." We might think it would say, to give your whole
heart. But it doesn't say that. It says,
present your bodies. It starts here with toes, ankles,
knees, thighs, waist, chest, head, arms, fingers, bodies. That's what you're sitting in
the pew with. It's your body. Put a pin in it, you feel it.
Put it on a hot stove, you feel it. It's your body. That's what
the text says. The Greek word for body always
means body. In any context like this, I present,
I beseech you to present your bodies. And what are the qualifying
phrases? Well, when you break them all
down, it comes out something like this. We are to present
our bodies to God as a holy, that is, set apart for God, living
sacrifice in the confidence that such a presentation is acceptable
to Him. I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
set apart unto God, in the confidence it is acceptable to Him. For
this is your spiritual or rational service. God doesn't ask you
to run out and find a lamb or a bullock and present this dead
carcass in a temple. He says, if you've understood
anything of my mercies, present your bodies. It is pleasing to
me when those overcome with the wonder of my mercies present
everything from the top of their head to the sole of their foot
presented to me. It pleases me when in response
to my mercies they present their bodies. And in that context and
atmosphere of a presented body, Paul says, there are some activities
to go on in the head and in the heart. And here they are. Do
not be fashioned according to this age. I'm not to allow who
and what I am in my bodily experience and existence to be shaped and
molded by the thought patterns and by the currents of this age,
the society in which I live, this world system under the control
of the devil. It is not to exert a molding
influence upon who and what I am as a grateful responder to God's
mercy centered in the body. and its activity. Don't detach
yourself from the context. And how is that to be done in
practical experience? He tells us, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. You will be transformed so that
you are part of the counterculture of the age as your mind is constantly
being renewed. renewed by the truth, renewed
by a God-centered, Bible-based perspective on all of life in
general, and in particular, what your body is for and how your
body is to be useful in the service of God. And as you are being
transformed in your mind, then you will in the totality of your
redeemed being prove, work out in actual experience, the will
of God, that which is the good, the perfect, and the acceptable. Now, no little part of our bodies
being instruments of doing the will of God in non-conformity
to the age and transformed into biblical thinking and action
is in the area of such things How can I have the most energy
and strength and efficiency to serve the God in my body to whom
I presented my body? Isn't that an inescapable deduction? Therefore, I'm in the matters
of diet and exercise and cardiovascular fitness directly related to energy
and strength levels. I am to be concerned that I do
not unnecessarily put toxins into this body that would unnecessarily
make it liable to illness and sickness and weakness. I am to
be concerned about not putting in too many calories into the
body that I load it down with an excessive burden. of weight
that serves no good purpose except to strain the heart and strain
the cardiovascular system. I am to be concerned not because
I've sold out to body worship, but because I love God's mercy
in Christ and I've given my body to Him. That's why it is soaked
in gospel taproot. gospel soil, its tap roots sink
down into gospel soil. Now, no little part of this is
recognizing the spirit of the age must not press in upon us.
And the age, as it manifested itself in Roman society, was
hedonistic to the core. Pleasure, food, wine, leisure,
sensual indulgence. That was the age in which these
Roman Christians had to be determined, I will not be conformed by this
age. What's our age? Obesity is of epidemic proportions,
not only among adults, but now down into children. That's a
fact. And we're not talking about obesity
determined by artificial weight charts. Self-indulgence. Couch potato. Laziness. Lack of discipline. That's the age. God says don't
be conformed to it. In the context of a body presented
to God in response to his mercies and committed to doing the will
of God. I say this apostolic exhortation
warrants the concern and the effort with respect to the stewardship
of the body that I said it was my goal to persuade you ought
to be your concern and your effort. Now we come to the third pierced
pearl from the apostolic supplication that warrants this concern and
effort, the apostolic supplication, the apostolic exhortation which
warrants the concern and effort. Now pierced pearl number three,
an apostolic declaration and its application which warrants
this concern and effort respecting the stewardship of one's body,
an apostolic declaration and its application, which warrants
this concern and effort to have a responsible concern about the
stewardship of one's body. Here, our pierced pearl is found
in 1 Corinthians 6. The paragraph begins in verse
12, I'll not go into the exposition
of that part, but starting in verse 14, verse 13, reading very
quickly to the end of the chapter, and then we'll glean the central
issues. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats. But
God shall bring to naught both it and them. But the body is
not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the
body. And God both raised the Lord
and will raise us up through His power. Do you not know that
your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members
of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. Or do
you not know that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? For the two, said he, shall become
one flesh. But he that is joined to the
Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that
a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication
sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which
you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought
with a price. Glorify God, therefore, in your
body. And if you have the New King
James using an old and unreliable textual variant, and your spirit
which are his, there is no solid evidence that Paul wrote that.
I'm sorry to disappoint you. And I can't go into that matter,
it shouldn't in any way cripple your confidence in the Word of
God. But what Paul wrote was, you were bought with a price,
glorify God therefore in your body, full stop. Now, in this
passage, the main subject is obviously the matter of sexual
impurity. And this is Paul's antidote for
sexual impurity. I think that's the term I used
when I expounded this a couple of years ago, the divine antidote
for sexual impurity. Now, the main ingredient in the
composition of this antidote is Paul's declaration concerning
the dignity of the body in the light of creation and redemption. The main ingredient, as Paul
composes his antidote, what medicine can I give the Corinthians that
will immunize them against this horrible epidemic of sexual immorality? It just ooze throughout the society. And many of these Corinthians,
having been converted, were still drifting back into it. And Paul
thinks, what kind of medicine can I give them? What shall I
put into the concoction and tell them, drink this, and this will
help immunize you against sexual impurity. Well, it's obvious
that the main ingredient in Paul's antidote, in Paul's preservative,
in Paul's inoculation against sexual impurity is setting forth
the dignity of the body in the light of creation and redemption. Look at the four ways in which
he does this. Number one, the body is made for the service
of God, 13b. But the body is not for fornication,
but for the Lord. Your body was given for the service
of the God who made it. Turn to Genesis 1 and 2, that
is on the very surface of the passage, when God forms the body
of Adam out of the dust of the ground and forms Eve from the
rip of Adam. It is that in that body they
might serve the God who gave it to them. Paul says your body
was not given to fornicate. It was not given to experience
illicit pleasure in the area of its capacity for sexual enjoyment. God gave you a body with the
capacity for sexual enjoyment, but He didn't give you the body
for sexual enjoyment. He gave you the body for the
service of God. and only as your sexual pleasures
and activities serve the purpose of God's will and God's glory
are you to indulge them and to express them. The body is made
for the service of God. That's its dignity. Secondly,
the body is marked out and destined for resurrection glory. Verse
14, God both raised the Lord and will raise us up through
His power. What dignity these bodies have.
They're going to be raised by the power of God. These very
bodies When I get on my treadmill, I say, Lord, until the day of
resurrection, this is the only body I've got in which to serve
You. Lord, help me that this exercise regimen will fit me
to serve You. Get as many miles as I can until
my work is done. But Lord, thank You one day it's
going to throb with resurrection power and life and vigor. I get
excited on the treadmill. That old body that I'm pushing
to huff and puff on a treadmill, is going to be redolent with
resurrection power and glory. What dignity marked for resurrection. Third thing, I've left teaching
and gone to preaching. This body is incorporated into
our saving union with Christ. Look at this amazing statement
in verse 15. Do you not know that your bodies,
not your souls, though our souls are, but your bodies are members
of Christ. When by the Spirit we are united
to Christ, it's not just our souls and spirits. I can't explain
it in some mechanical way, but standing before you with these
ten fingers and this eye that's been pierced and got a new lens,
this body is united to the Son of God at the right hand of the
What dignity the body has. It's united to Jesus Christ. And then the fourth way he shows
the dignity, and this is the climactic statement, he declares
that the body of the child of God is nothing less than a blood-bought,
spirit-indwelt, God-owned temple of God Himself. Look at the language,
verse 19 and 20. Or do you not know that your
body is a temple, a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, which you have from God, and you are not your own, for
you were bought with a price? What dignity is placed upon the
body? It is right now not pointing
to the resurrection, but right now, there at Corinth, in the
midst of all the pressure to sexual impurity, He says, look,
you Corinthians, this is what you need to know and keep before
your consciousness. That body with which you are
tempted to fornicate and indulge in various kinds of sexual impurity,
that body is marked with an unspeakable dignity. It is nothing less than
a blood-bought, spirit-indwelt, God-owned temple of God Himself. That's what your body is, Christian.
Whether you think about it, whether you've pondered it, that's what
your body is. It is nothing less than a blood-bought,
spirit-indwelt, God-owned temple of God Himself. Oh, what dignity
God has given to the body of the child of God. Now, remember,
the string pierces even this pearl. With all six strands,
the body has no less dignity when it's breaking down and it's
got arthritic joints. and the glasses get thicker,
and the lenses need to be sucked out and replaced, and all the
rest, it has all this dignity. It's blood-bought, God-owned,
spirit-indwelt, a temple of the living God. Now, what simple
concrete application does Paul make of all of this? All of this
data piling up one thing after another to say, all Corinthians
recognize the dignity of your body and you won't fornicate.
And here it's 1030 and I'm supposed to quit, but I'm going to finish
up this text. I'm going to exercise papal rights
here, Pastor Carlson, the only other elder here, and with or
without your consent, I'm going to finish this up. All right. I try to be an example of concluding
the class on time, and I generally am, but I've got to finish this
up. It's too critical. What is the simple, concrete application
Paul makes of all of this? Look at the text, verse 20. You
were bought with a price, the final statement about the dignity
of the body. Now look. Glorify God, therefore. What is the therefore growing
out of this amazing statement of the dignity of the body? It
is this. You and I as Christians, it's a present imperative of
the verse. We must be committed to a conscious,
continuous, relentless desire that God will be glorified in
this body to which he has assigned such amazing dignity. That is what the practical application
is. That's why my third pierced pearl,
I gave this heading, an apostolic declaration and its application
which warrants the concern and effort of responsible administration
of the stewardship of our bodies. Now let me ask you some questions
that I hope will forever get inside your conscience. Could
you sit here this morning and take a sharp knife and say, O
Lord, this body to which you've assigned such dignity I can glorify
you, the God who has given this body, who has given such dignity
to this body. I glorify you now while I take
this knife and I make slashes across my arm and I stab it into
my thigh. Is there anyone here in his or
her right mind with any sense of spiritual propriety that could
do that? Could you glorify God in your
body by self-mutilation? I know what your answer is. Of
course not. You think I'm stupid, Pastor? No, I don't think you're
stupid. But I do think some of you have made some pillboxes
in which to protect yourself from reality. And I want to blast
open your pillboxes in the meekness, in the gentleness of Christ,
and out of love for you. Remember, I'm coming into your
pillbox to blast you out of it, out of love. Second question,
could you take a handful of poison ivy leaves and while rubbing
them on your arm and on your face say, Oh God, I glorify you
by deliberately inflicting myself with a bad case of poison ivy.
Anyone here could do that? I don't think so. Got no takers.
Could you take a glass of polluted, toxic water that you know has
intolerably high levels of lead, cyanide, and a host of infectious
bacteria, and say, Oh God, knowing what's in this glock, I drink
it to your glory. Any takers? They say, Pastor,
you're really gone. You're out in right field now.
No, I don't think I'm out in right field. When we are persuaded that our
body is everything this passage says, culminating in this statement,
that it is a blood-bought, spirit-indwelt, God-owned temple of God Himself,
and when we take seriously another passage in Corinthians that talks
about glorifying God and focuses not on sexual abuses, But on
these issues, 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether therefore you eat or
drink, do all to the glory of God. Can you or can I sit down
to a meal and say, O Lord, I'm glorifying you by eating stuff,
the cleric content to which I'm utterly indifferent, the levels
of animal fat, saturated fat concerning which I'm totally
indifferent. I glorify you by clogging up
my arteries, by putting on excessive weight. Lord, to your glory,
bless this irresponsible ingestion of this pile of food. Is there
anyone here who can do that? If you can't, then don't do it.
Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all. to the glory
of God. Glorify God, therefore, in your
body. Can you glorify God by saying,
Lord, here it is, Thursday, And I've done nothing but move from
my bed to the shower to the car and back again. That's my cycle
of life. I've not taken a walk. I've done nothing consciously
to increase my heart rate. I know all of the facts are clear
about the necessity of some form of cardiovascular aid. But Lord,
to your glory, I'm going to sit here and read a book and not
get myself off my duff. out to take a brisk walk, or
down in a treadmill, or some reasonable effort. Can you do
that to the glory of God? And let me go further. Can you
then say, O God, I know that this may chop off ten years of
my life, and for Your glory, I want to have grandchildren
that just can go and put a flower in my grave rather than play
with me in the backyard. For Your glory, Lord, I want
my husband or wife. to have to be traipsing me around
from one doctor's office to another because I brought upon myself
illnesses as a direct result of my irresponsibility about
diet and exercise and medical knowledge and involvement. Lord,
I glorify You! Dear people, you can't do that.
I know you too well. You love God too much to insult
Him that way. But are you not insulting Him?
not with words, but by deeds. I said, my goal was to persuade
you to have a concern, but beyond that, that the concern might
move to a commitment to effort. And then I added the word, and
with this I close. In both of those parts of my
goal, I said to produce a concern and a desire for you to propagate
that concern. Parents, you've got to be concerned
that your children think biblically about these matters and practice
biblical patterns. Husbands, you've got to be concerned
for your wife. Wives, you've got to be concerned
for your husbands. Children, if you've got parents
who are indifferent without being disrespectful, you've got to
be concerned to try to reason with them and say, Dad, I don't
want to see you die before I have any grandchildren. But it's obvious,
you go on the way you are, Dad, you're a setup for a heart attack.
We've got to be concerned for one another, to encourage, to
admonish, to strengthen one another's resolve. That by the grace of
God, we as a people will be known, not as those who sold out to
the cult of body worship, but a people committed to glorifying
God in our bodies. Well, I've taken more time. God
willing, we'll take up the fourth apostolic thing, and then, the
Lord willing, the three others as our time next week. And I've
got two weeks allotted to me, so I'm not pressured. I'd hoped
to get through the four, but you never know what happens from
the notes to the preaching. Let's pray. Oh, oh, before we
dismiss, pass, no, no, that's next week, because that's number
four. Excuse me. Number four, I've got a recommendation
of a tape. What I want you to do this morning,
as you leave, the deacons will be standing there, there is clipped
together some articles that I would urge you to read between now
and next week, every one of them written by responsible medical
personnel. None of this is kooky stuff.
None of this is far out alternative medical stuff. It is all articles
rooted in sound statistical analysis. summaries of stuff that's appeared
in the New England Journal of Medicine, and I would urge you,
please, to read that material, to sensitize yourself, so that
when I apply and seek to show the areas where this concern
must be manifested, this material will have already filtered into
your judgment. All right? Let's pray. Our Father,
we thank You for Your Word, that it is a lamp to our feet and
a light to our pathway. And we pray that the things we've
considered this morning will be written upon our hearts by
the power of the Spirit and that we may be given grace. Work in
us, Lord, both to will and to do of your good pleasure for
Jesus' sake. Amen.