We had a great sermon Sunday morning on 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20, “Or do you know know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Our pastor applied this not only to physical relationships but also to everything that we do. There were two points I liked especially.
Firstly, God didn’t just buy us for one hour every Sunday morning. Being a Christian doesn’t mean you just go to church once a week and live like a heathen the rest of the time. God redeemed the totality of our being. Every moment. He has a claim on all that we are, all that we have, all that we do, all that we think, all that feel, etc…24/7. It is easy to look down on the “pagans” who go to church only on Easter or Christmas. But we aren’t any better if we just go to church every Sunday and act like an unbeliever the rest of the week. Notice what I said, “act” not just “say.” We glorify God not only by what we say but also by how we act.
It doesn’t do much good to quote Bible verses to your coworker and then skimp on your work so you’re effectively stealing from your boss by not working to the best of your ability. It is easy to say the required and holy-sounding words, but it is much harder to live it out and be an example. That’s what I’m striving to do in my job. It isn’t setting a good example to spend all my time at work reading the Bible. But I can be honest in my work, I can not break the trust my employers have given me, I can be diligent and not waste my time, I can be polite and courteous to everyone around me, I can rejoice in all my work despite some of it being tedious or boring. All of this can be a witness to the Gospel without writing the words “Christian” across my forehead. I say, it “can” be a witness, not that it “is” right now because I don’t do it as well as I should. But I try. And I’m aware of the goal ahead of me, and I strive towards it.
Secondly, this consecration of all we do must be “fixed” and “habitual.” I must admit, I’m easily moved by emotions and it is easy to get caught up in a moment of passion and love. The “mountaintop” experience, you might say, and I like Peter desire to build a tent there and stay forever…but we must go down into the valley and keep on living there. This giving of ourselves to the Lord must happen constantly and consistently. It doesn’t really count just during a great church service. It needs to happen even when we’re discouraged, when we’re feeling down, when we’re feeling far from God, when we’re struggling with sin. God has a right to not only our spiritual highs but also our lows and we need to offer even those difficult moments to Him.
This was convicting for me because I started to think about how I spend my time. Am I using my time in the best possible way? Not just because this makes my life easier but because it glorifies God if I’m being more productive and not rushing around at the last minute trying to do things. Like doing the powerpoint for my Tuesday webinar on Tuesday morning. Or doing my laundry on Monday morning. Or, well, you get the point. This isn’t something that I’m particularly good at. I usually wait till I “feel” like doing something, “oh…this feels like a laundry day.” Part of this is my personality (hey, I like spontaneity), but organization is good and not everything that I do needs to be an expression of my personality, lol. So I’m going to be working on this, I hope. 🙂
“For the death that He died, He died to since once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
– Romans 6: 10-11
This sounds like a slaver’s sermon, spoken by the master’s overseer. Of course, the master isn’t around – His absence is conspicuous, but you better obey anyway or else! Also He loves you as if you’re His child, so much so that He’ll send you to eternal torture if you don’t act like a slave.
Wait, are we talking about God, or some deranged lunatic?
You’d be correct to say this sounds like a deranged lunatic if we were talking about a person. But it is God. The Creator of the universe. The question isn’t why we would be sent to eternal torture but why some are given the gift of eternal life. Why? Why would He offer His own Son in our place to satisfy His perfect justice. Why wouldn’t He just let us all burn out and suffer forever? He made us and we deserve it for not glorifying God as we were designed to do. Everything we do is an act of cosmic treason against our Maker. We’d be right to call God a tyrant if He were a person, but He isn’t. He is our Creator. Human tyrants are tyrants because they try to steal God’s authority and dominion over us. We all should suffer eternal torture for our rebellion. In fact, the fact that we are alive shows God’s grace to every human being.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them [people], because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, HIs eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” – Romans 1:19-20