BOUGHT AT A PRICE                           Psalm 139:1-18                               01/19/03

 Let’s read this beautiful Psalm together, shall we?

 1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,"

12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end —I am still with you.

 

Do you know how wonderful you are?  No, I don’t mean just wonderful to me, but wonderful to God. Do you know how wonderful you are? 

 

And do you know how much God loves you?  Oh, we sang, “Jesus Loves Me” as children, and sometimes as adults, so somewhere in the backs of our minds is the concept that Jesus—God—loves us.  But do we really realize how much he loves us?

 

God loves us so much that he bought us, purchased us, at a high price—the death of Jesus Christ. And in the scripture that Matthew read to us from 1 Corinthians (6:12-20), the Apostle Paul reminds us that our bodies are members of Christ, meaning a part of Christ. And in verse 17: “Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

 

Last week, I talked about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit is one-third of God and the Spirit lives within each of us who are believers. Verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 6 asks us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God…” When you were baptized, when faith started to take root in your life, God’s Holy Spirit moved in and started to take up residence in you -- and not just in your heart and mind – but in your body as well.
Ponder this again: The Holy Spirit lives in your body.

In what way, if any, does this change what you do or don’t do with your body?

But wait a second, maybe even this is the wrong question. Here is a wild thought for individualistic Americans who like to think in terms of individual ownership and independence. Maybe it’s not YOUR body at all!  The second part of verse 19 that I just read to you, plus verse 20, says, “Do you not know…that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify (honor) God (with) your body.”

God formed your innermost parts, He knit you together in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, your body is the dwelling place of the Spirit. AND your body was an extremely expensive purchase made by God – “bought with a price” –what Christ did when he died on the cross.

He redeemed you. He bought you off the slave block. And it cost him his perfect life. And since Christ has purchased you there is a sense in which you no longer own your own life...including your body. Your body belongs to God. He holds the voucher.

WE NEED TO GET OVER THE BELIEF THAT OUR BODY IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION. OUR BODIES ARE NOT OUR OWN, GOD BOUGHT THEM, THEY ARE A TRUST FROM GOD.

The other kind of thinking—that our bodies belong to US--is how we got into this abortion mess, isn’t it? Women started saying – “This is my body and I should be able to do with it as I please.”

And the sexual thing, immorality. People started saying, “This is my body and I should be able to have sex with whomever, whenever we both agree. It’s nobody’s business what I do with my body.”

“Don’t intrude on my individual rights! Don’t tread on me! I am my own person! I am free to pursue my own destiny and pleasures.”

Really?

If you are a follower of Jesus you must know that you have given up your rights of ownership and you are a possession of the loving, living God who made you so wonderfully and who bought you out of sin and darkness and did so at great expense to himself.
If you are a follower of Jesus you see your life, including your body, as a trust given to you by God to be operated in his own best interest.

When you decide what you are going to put in your body you have to do so, conscious that it’s not really your body that you are filling.  When you decide to do something wild and crazy – you have to remember that you are doing it with someone else’s body on loan to you, and with the knowledge that the this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  “You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.”
If you are a follower of Jesus – your purpose, your aim, is to honor God with your body. This is the key point: IT IS OUR GOAL TO HONOR GOD WITH OUR BODIES.

I’m not suggesting that this is easy or that there isn’t forgiveness and grace when we blow it. For the God who owns our bodies is gracious and merciful.

But we need to realize that if we are following Jesus we need to be honoring God with our bodies – if we are not doing so, then we are not following Jesus.

”Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the house of the dead (Sheol), you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea…” (Psalm 139:7-9)  God is there.

 

It’s all a package deal. The Holy Spirit lives within our bodies, connecting us to the Spirit of God. We cannot separate our body from our soul. The state of your soul affects your body and what you do with your body affects your soul.

 

We have to take a holistic approach to our faith. We must recognize that we don’t just honor God with our words, or our songs, or attitudes, or our spirits –honoring God has to do with how we manage our bodies as well.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”   Are our bodies fit to present to their creator as a living sacrifice? I know I need to work at it. I have been working at it for the past 8 months, but I could work at it a lot harder. I could exercise more, as well as eating less.

 

I have a friend who really likes to go to a particular restaurant and order their double cheeseburger and fries.  It is good, but it is really greasy. She likes to say it’s 'fat free'. When we say "Huh?" she replies: "They include the fat at no extra charge! The fat's free!"

God expects us to be faithful stewards over everything that He has given to us, including ourselves. This includes our physical, emotional, and relationship health. Our lifestyles and our thoughts are simply sets of habits strengthened by daily practices. We can, and in many cases should, alter and change them.

We begin by recognizing that not everything is good for us. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial…I will not be dominated by anything.”

It is really pretty simple: promiscuous sex, unhealthy diets, overeating, drugs, excessive alcohol, lack of adequate sleep, and too much work are not good for us. Can we do any of these things if we want? Of course we can. Should we? Of course not! The first step in being a faithful steward of our bodies is to admit that everything is not good for us.

One of the most visible signs that we are not taking good care of our bodies is the shapes of our bodies. Our typical high calorie, high fat diets have led to many of us to being overweight. I can speak to this personally, having battled with my mind, which wants instant gratification and the foods that I love, since I was 3 ½ years old.

 

What we eat and how much of what we eat affects our physical and mental health. The National Cancer Institute estimates that one third of all cancer deaths may be related to the foods we eat. Eating less fat and fewer high cholesterol foods and eating more fruits and vegetables is not only the solution, it is God’s plan for us. And don't forget to control the size of your portions.

For many of us, it isn't easy to get our weight under control. But it is necessary, if we are going to honor God with our bodies. And know that there is no perfect or ideal weight. Good health comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. For one person, 150 pounds may be perfect, while for another it is too much. But most Americans are simply carrying around too much weight.

But there are other things we need to do, knowing that our body is a temple—a place of worship—for the Holy Spirit of God. For example, wear a seat belt. How many of you buckle your seat belts each and every time you get in your vehicles? Accidents are the number one cause of death and disability in people under the age of 45. Buckling a seat belt provides instantaneous results. Your risk of serious injury or death goes down by 35 to 50%. It is the simplest and most effective prevention step you can take.

Quit smoking. Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of death in our country. Smoking is responsible for one out of every six deaths, yet one third of Americans still smoke. You can quit smoking. It isn’t easy, and I speak from experience here, too. But you can do it. Get help from your doctor. Tell friends and family members to help you. Find substitutes for smoking: go for a walk, chew gum, drink water.

Exercise regularly. The lack of exercise has been clearly linked to heart disease. Sedentary individuals are twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease than more active people are. This includes skinny people, too! Our physical activity needs to be ongoing, frequent and long term, and work doesn’t count.
 
Manage your stress. Stress is the body's response to any demand that confronts it. We can manage our stress when we see life as a challenge rather than a threat or an unending series of hassles. When we have a mission or purpose in life, an overriding belief that what we are doing is right, meaningful, and glorifying God, we can better cope with stress. Take charge of you life.

Another thing we really have to do is to resolve those relational conflicts in your life. Good communication, close ties and healthy working relationships with other people can protect us from many of the emotional and physical effects of stressful life events. Work to improve your communication skills, because that’s usually where conflict begins. Last weekend, Larry and I went shopping for a new sofa. I thought we were “just looking,” but Larry intended for us to buy. That miscommunication nearly ruined our day. Stop burying your head in the sand and stop flying into a rage.

So, to sum it all up, we must learn to control our appetites for all things, learn moderation and practice self-control. Some one once said that the things we like are usually "...illegal, immoral or fattening."  Yes, unfortunately they are. Too often we let our stomachs, our desires, and our lusts be in control of our lives. Too often we simply want instant gratification. We say, “Just this once,” even if it has long term negative consequences. We need to take control. We have to change our behavior.

 

I know I’ve made a lot of suggestions this morning and the task of building these bodies of ours into suitable temples for our God must seem overwhelming. So, just for today, I’d like to see each of you set specific, achievable goals. It has to be more than, “Gee, I wish I could lose some weight,” though. Think about how you are going to do it—with a program, like Weight Watchers? By cooking more and eating out less? By going for a walk after supper every day?

 

Make your goals specific enough to measure, but make them realistic. Saying you will losing 15 pounds in the next six months is much more realistic then saying you’ll do it by Valentine’s Day. Start slowly. Don’t try to do it all at once. Pick one or two areas to start with. For example, don’t leave here today saying, “I’m going to quit smoking, and I’m going to walk an hour every day starting tomorrow.”  You’re setting yourself up for failure and what follows are guilt and shame.

Rely on friends, family, and each other for help. Admit your weaknesses. Ask for suggestions on how to change. Ask for prayer. We can be more faithful stewards of our lives, our bodies, our health and relationships.
 
God wants us to take care of ourselves. In fact, he even expects it of us. He created us and has redeemed us. He has given us life and new life. Jesus said in John 10:10: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Jesus is not just talking about life eternal with God in heaven. He is talking about life right here and now. We cannot live life to the fullest; we cannot live it abundantly unless we take care of ourselves.

“Honor—glorify--God with your body.” If you get that down, you are light years ahead of most people in their walk with Christ.

 

Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for caring about our bodies, as well as our minds and our souls. We confess, though, that we tend to lag a bit when it comes to using our bodies for you. We see them as our own and for our own purposes. Forgive us and set us free from our short-sightedness and self-centeredness. Help us to honor you with our bodies and to the glory of Christ.
Amen.

 

 

Sources:

Body Talk by Bradley Boydston

Faithful Stewards of Ourselves by Glen VanderKloot