|
Anybody Understand the Body? |
|
Anybody Understand the Body? |
|
If you are an adult of average weight, here is what you accomplish in twenty-four hours:
The body's entire structure, from head to foot, is a miracle of precision engineering and production. No matter what portion of the human body is considered, one cannot but be impressed with what a marvelous mechanism each member is. The major organs alone, and there are ten of them, perform such unique feats of electric conduction that it would take a bog book to explain each one adequately. In the fraction of a second it takes you read one word on this page the marrow in your bones produces over 100,000 red blood cells. Even though your brain will forget more than ninety percent of what you learn during your lifetime, it may still store up as much as ten times more information than there is in the Library of Congress with its 17 million volumes. An issue of Sunshine Magazine compares the human mind to a computer. It stated that scientists were asked to determine the size, the cooling system, and the power required to perform electronically the same functions that are automatically accomplished by a man's brain during his lifetime. They decided that if all parts were transistorized and built on a miniature scale like those used in rockets to the moon, the following would be needed: A machine the size of the United Nations building in New York; a cooling system with an output equal to Niagara Falls; and a power source that would produce as much electricity as is used in home and industry in the entire state of California. I think you would agree that our bodies are a marvel within themselves. Men have been studying the body for centuries and still do not understand all there is to know about the body. I am afraid that Christians do not understand the body and I am not talking about a physical understanding of the body, but a spiritual understanding. Verses 12-20 of 1 Corinthians chapter six mark a transitional passage within the book. It begins a section in which Paul is answering certain questions that had been asked by the Corinthian believers. The first question Paul answers had to do with the body. It would seem that pagan concepts about the body had been carried over into their new life in Christ. In those days, Greeks looked down on the body. There was a proverbial saying, "The body is a tomb." The important thing was the soul and the spirit of man. The body did not matter. Because of how they felt about the body, two attitudes existed. Some took extreme steps to subject and humiliate the desires of the body. Others said that since the body was unimportant, you could do what you liked with the body. Nothing done in the body was considered wrong. Paul's answer was a discussion of the body from God's perspective. Verses 12-20 help the believer to understand his or her body from God's point of view. Let's notice the text and seek to get an understanding of the body of the believer. First we see: 1. THE PURPOSE OF THE BELIEVER'S BODY In verses 12-14, Paul discusses the purpose of the body. He says in verse 13, "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." The believers body is "for the Lord." The believer's body is to be subjected to the Lord's purposes. The body was not designed with the purpose of fulfilling our own desires, but to fulfill the purposes of the Lord. The purpose of the body is not for gratification but glorification. The phrase, "and the Lord for the body" means that the body was so made that God could use our bodies to fulfill His purposes. The Greeks thought of the body as unimportant, but Paul says our bodies are important. They are the vessels of the Lord. Our bodies are an instrument that God uses to fulfill His purposes. Our bodies were designed with the purpose of using them for the Lord. Understanding the purpose of the body, Paul tells us what our attitude should be. First, A. How We Should Perceive The Physical Desires of the Body In verses 12-13 Paul speaks of our physical desires and what our attitude should be about those physical desires. First, he tells us that our physical desires should be secondary. He says in verse 12, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." Paul stated that the satisfaction of his God-given desires were right when fulfilled in God's will. It is lawful to fulfill those desires. The desire for food, drink, and even sexual desires are physical desires that God has placed within the body. There is nothing wrong with the fulfillment of those desires as long as they are fulfilled within God's will. He adds that the fulfillment of these desires is not always "expedient." The word speaks of that which is to our advantage or profit. The idea Paul is expressing is that it is not wrong to fulfill our physical desires but there are limitations to the fulfilling of those desires. Our body has the need for drink, but that desire can be fulfilled in a way that is not to our profit. God put the desire in us that craves drink, but when we satisfy that desire with alcoholic drinks, then we have not fulfilled those desires outside of God's will but also in a way that is not profitable for us. We all have sexual desires and there is nothing wrong with the fulfillment of those desires if fulfilled as God intended. When we fulfill those desires in pre-marital and extra-marital sexual relations then those desires have been fulfilled outside God's will and unprofitable to us. To fulfill any God-given desire outside of God's will is not expedient. It is not to our advantage. The fulfillment of our God-given desires in God's way and will is always to our profit and advantage. Outside of God's way and will are always consequences. Paul is telling us that the fulfillment of our physical desires are to be subjected to God's plan and purpose. The fulfillment of our physical desires are to be secondary to the fulfilling of His will. God's will always come first and the fulfilling of any of our desires comes second. That is why Paul said, "all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." The physical must not be the dominant force in our life. The plan and purposes of God for our life must be the dominate force and factor in our life. We cannot let the physical desires of our body dictate to us what we do. We must let the will of God determine what we do. Paul not only tells us that our physical desire are secondary, but also temporary. He says, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them" (Vs.13). God created food so it would satisfy the needs of the stomach. He also designed the stomach so it could use food to meet the physical needs of the body. But there will come a day when there will no need for either. Paul is looking out into eternity when we live in glorified bodies. In glorified bodies we will have no need to eat. One day when their purpose is fulfilled God will do away with each. The point that Paul is making is that since physical desires are temporary they should not be first and foremost in our life. Secondly we see: B. How We Should Prioritize the Spiritual Design of the Body In light of all Paul has said, the believer should make the priority of his life the spiritual and not the physical. Since fulfilling our physical desires contrary to God's plan and purpose is not profitable, and since the physical is temporary, we should seek His plan and purpose for the body above anything else. Paul says in verse 13, "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." The purpose of the body is not to do what we want, how we want, and when we want, but as God planned and purposed. He says in verse 14, "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." God raised up the body of the Lord Jesus and will one day do the same for us. If one day our bodies will be glorified in heaven by God, they should be used to glorify God on earth. This is the purpose of the believer's body. The second lesson about the body we see is: 2. THE PERVERSION OF THE BELIEVER'S BODY The Corinthian society was notoriously immoral. The very name Corinth was synonymous with debauchery and immorality. On the hill of Acropolis stood the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. To that temple were attached 1,000 priestesses who were sacred prostitutes. In the evening they descended from Acropolis and plied their trade on the streets. To have sex with a prostitute was a common thing in Corinth. You might say it was a way of life. It was so common that the practice came to be called, "Corinthianizing." Many of the believers at Corinth had formerly been involved in such immorality. It would seem that because of the pagan idea that the body was unimportant and therefore what was done in the flesh was not wrong, there were some that still had not given up such a practice or were having a hard time giving up the old way of life. In verses 15-18 Paul describes such immorality as a perversion of the body. He explains why it is such a perversion of the believer's body. First, notice: A. The Association that is Involved Paul says in verse 15, "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid." Paul uses questions and logic to make his point. He reminds them that their bodies are the members of Christ. We read in Romans 12:5, "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." We also read in 1 Corinthians 12:12, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ." Our body has many members: eyes, ears, arms, legs, etc. Our many members make up our physical body. As believers we are members of Christ's body. His body is made up of many members, those members being each child of God. As believers we are Christ's spiritual body. Paul's argument was that they were using a member of Christ's body in an act of fornication and immorality. The idea is unthinkable to Paul. He says, "God forbid." May it never be! Can you imagine the holy, spotless, sinless Lord Jesus lying with a prostitute? God forbid that we even think of such a thing. Yet, when a saved person does certain immoral things they are actually associating the Lord Jesus with that immorality. To even think of doing such a thing should make the believer shudder. As believers, we must never forget that our bodies are the members of the Body of Christ. What we do in these bodies associates the Lord Jesus with what we are doing. Secondly: B. The Adultery that is Involved Paul says in verse 16, "What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh." Paul reached back into the book of Genesis and speaks of God's description of marriage. That description is given in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore shall a man leave father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." From what Paul said it is clear that the phrase "one flesh" involves a sexual union. It is a union that is experienced and enjoyed by a husband and wife. God never intended sex to be between a man and a woman. He intended that it be between a husband and wife. Paul's argument was that when they had sexual relations with a harlot they were entering into that oneness God described. He adds in verse 17, "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." Just as a husband and wife enter into a oneness with one another, two become one, believers have entered into such a relationship with Christ. To have sexual relations with a harlot was not only associating Christ with that harlot, but was also committing spiritual adultery. It is a matter of being unfaithful to Christ. He says in verse 18 that such a sin is a sin against a person's own body. But what was far worse and more serious is that is it a sin against Christ's body. It is no wonder Paul says in verse 18, "Flee fornication." The tense of the words is, "Make it your habit to flee, keep on fleeing." Understanding what Paul says, the believe should not use their body for the Lord's purposes, but also guard their body from an unholy purpose. What one does with their body and in their body is important. The Lord Jesus is involved. Augustine lived a corrupt life before he was saved. Once saved, he turned from his life of immorality and sought to please God in all he did. On one occasion he was through the old district where he used to live and saw a girl with whom he had been involved. She saw him at the same time. He started running away but she followed. "Augustine, why do you run? It is only I." Augustine kept running and shouted back, "I run because it is no longer I." Whether is be fornication or anything else that would pervert the body, we should flee. Why? Because we are members of Christ and one with Him. Lastly notice with me: 3. THE POSSESSION OF THE BELIEVER'S BODY Paul says in verse 19, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which in in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own." Here is one of the most amazing truths in all the Bible. God lives within the believer through the person of the Holy Spirit. Our body is God's earthly dwelling place. In the Old Testament God dwelt on earth in a building. In the New Testament we find that He dwells on earth in a body, our body. The word for "temple" speaks of the Most Holy Place. The body of the believer is now the Holy of Holies. Notice how Paul describes the believer as God's dwelling place. First, A. We See Our Purchase Paul tells us in verse 20, "For ye are bought with a price." The word "bought" speaks of the price of redeeming a slave. We were slaves to sin and Satan, but the Lord Jesus purchased our redemption through His own blood. The point that Paul makes is that we are not our won. We belong to God. Secondly, B. We See Our Praise Our response to being owned by God and indwelt by God is, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods." Our bodies are not unimportant. They are God's. Therefore we should do nothing in our bodies that would not bring glory to His name. How can we think of perverting the body when our bodies are the members of Christ and the dwelling place of God? |
