davidbowerkingwood

Every Christian’s Responsibility!

Last week I published an essay on “Deeds, Not Words.” One of the first comments I received had to do with Christian service and that surprised me a little as my thoughts were more focused on Christian living.

While the Bible makes it clear Christians are all called to Christian service, the Bible also makes it clear these forms of service can vary widely. In Ephesians 4:11 we read of a few examples:

“¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”

I have in mind another area of deeds, the service of Christian living, living our lives in active service to God by all that we do, think, and feel. The verses that immediately came to my mind are found in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 where it is written:

“¹⁹ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

Here it is made clear that we are to honor God with our bodies; I would suggest that we should also honor God with our souls and spirits as well.

In this we find a common denominator that applies equally to all Christians; each and every one of us must, by our deeds, honor God in these three areas, body, soul, and spirit. Let us consider them one at a time.

Honoring God with your Body

 In the context of these verses the Apostle Paul was speaking of sexual sin. That is probably a good place to start as it is so widespread in today’s culture. Earlier in this section of Scripture the Apostle wrote:

“¹² You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. ¹³ You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. ¹⁴ And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

¹⁵ Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” ¹⁷ But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.”

The world is riddled with promiscuous sex and sexual innuendo to the point it permeates almost every aspect of life; sexuality is attached to cars, soap, toothpaste, you name it. Is it any wonder Christians become confused by all the clamor and begin to act in ways dishonoring to God?

This is an old but effective tool that has been used by the “evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world” for thousands of years; the truly sad thing is it still works in the lives of Christians! The only effective defense is the shield of faith and obedience to the Word!

Honoring God with your Soul

Each morning, as you wake up, you have the opportunity to restore a divine perspective to your worldview, your view of life and self.

I rejoice in the fact that I am a created being, created by and for the Lord Jesus Christ. I live in a created world that continues to exist as an expression of the mighty power of God. This provides the framework for the rest of my day.

I see the hand of God in all that comes into my view; the beauty of the sunrise, the air I breath, the water I drink, all reflects God’s grace, love and mercy to His creation.

I reflect on the thought that every person I see is made in the image of God; they are eternal and there will never be a time when they are not a part of God’s creation.

Honoring God with your Spirit

As a Christian man I rejoice in the fact I have a living spirit, a spirit that has been restored to life by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. I exult in His Lordship over my life and delight myself in the promise of eternity with Him.

I love to meditate on God’s view of life, this moment we are experiencing in our mortal bodies is so brief, so quickly gone that one can only wonder at the significance we attach to it.

I suspect that as a baby I had some sort of crib or baby bed but I have absolutely no recollection of it; it is completely vanished from my memory. By comparison with eternity this brief span of my mortality is of even shorter duration; a brief flash and then gone and perhaps even forgotten.

What a joy to know this is only a brief prelude to life and that the vast majority of my life will be lived in a new heaven and a new earth in a body far superior to the one I inhabit now.

This is God’s promise and I rejoice and delight in it! By God’s grace may you rejoice and delight in it too!

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Revelation 21:1-4

Next week I will start a three part series on the separation of the church and Israel focusing on the removal of the church by the Rapture; I invite you to join me.