If you have been in church over the last
couple of weeks, you would know that we are in part number six, almost there,
it is a seven part series that we are doing. And this series is simply titled
seven ways to put Jesus first. I am actually convinced; the very best thing we
can do in our lives is to put Jesus first in every area in our lives. And my
passion, and my challenge and my desire for the year is that two thousand and
fifteen would not be just another year, but that it would be a significant year.
It would be a year where we actually do those things that we dream of doing, it
will be a year where we make those adjustments, when we step out of our comfort
zones and actually live out what God has called us to. And that is what this
series is all about; the theme verse is very simply one of my favourite verses
in all of scripture. Matthew chapter six verse thirty three: “But seek first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to us also.”
And the basic premise of this whole series
is, when we put Jesus first, God takes care of the rest. What we do first,
determines how God handles the rest. When the root of the tree is healthy, the
tree will be healthy. So, what we have been doing over the last few weeks is
looking at practical areas of our lives and simply saying how can I put Jesus
first there? How can I put Jesus first in my heart? That comes down to putting
Jesus first in our decisions. Day by day, moment by moment, what should I do in
this situation? Putting Jesus first in our decisions. We look at it practically
by putting Jesus first in our day. That simply means that the first twenty
minutes of your day, starting the day by pulling out your Bible, connecting
with your Father. I said I was going to ask you every week, and I am doing it
every week.
I
am challenging you, start the day with Jesus first, pull out your Bible, make a
cup of coffee and spend the first few minutes of your day with Jesus and see
what happens to the rest of your life. Then we look at Jesus, first in our
week. Sunday, the first day of the week. It is about prioritising the body of
Christ. Coming to church is brilliant, but it is more than that. It is about
giving ourselves towards serving, to finding your place in the church. To come
with an open heart, ready to receive, to worship and to serve others through
the life of the church. Then we look really practical, where the rubber hits
the road, we looked at our finance. How do we put Jesus first in our money? And
I trust you have not forgotten that, that God will be working that into your
heart. And then last week, we looked at putting Jesus first in the workplace.
The big gap between what happened in the factory or in the work environment and
what happens in our family and in our Christian circles.
God, how do we bring our faith into our daily
work. And I trust that this week God will be reminding you in various
situations. This morning, we are going to change directions slightly, and may I
ask you a question. Let us get vulnerable for a moment. How many of you love
camping? How many of you love camping in a tent? Someone once said; “I love
camping. As long as the tent is made of bricks.” I must confess, as I get
older, I am leaning in that direction a bit more. Here are a few powerful
scientific facts about tents. Tents attract rain, I do not know exactly, I do
not know how it works, but there is a powerful scientific phenomenon. You pitch
a tent, and the clouds seem to get drawn. I do not why churches call these big
prayer meetings about droughts, why do we not just have a church camp?
That would surely break the drought and bring
the rain. I do not know how it works. Another fact about tents, they can never
go back into the bags they come with. Have you ever noticed that? Maybe at the
factory, they have this steam roller that rolls the tent, but somehow you can
never ever get it back to the size that you bought it in. A third amazing
scientific principle about a tent is tents make the night go slower. I get on
my mattress at home, and then suddenly I am asleep. Not so with a tent, I find
in a tent you can always track the moon. The nights go a lot slower with tents.
We had a great tent, for about twenty years, I remember when we got married, we
bought this beautiful tent. This tent survived ministry trip after ministry
trip, in the heat of Malawi, we were camping in various places, ministering. We
survived all that, our tent survived the Midmar Dam, you know those storms that
come over Midmar Dam, and it survived all of that. Or tent survived Swaziland, and
going on one mission trip after another, it survived all that, but it did not
survive Sam and Adam, our two boys. They perch on the balcony, under cover;
they still manage to rip the whole tent with a foot through. The point is this;
tents are fragile, and need to be looked after.
A tent was never meant to be a permanent
dwelling, a tent is supposed to be a temporary kind of housing shelter that you
use when you are on a journey on a mission, it is somewhere temporary. It is
very interesting that Peter looked at his body, and he said this is a tent. In
2 Peter chapter one verses thirteen: “I think it is right to refresh your
memory, as long as I live in the tent of this body.” He has this
perception that this is simply a tent. But now, tents, Peter had this
understanding that our life here on this earth is not the real deal, this is
not our permanent dwelling. This is like you are going on a dad and kids camp,
it is a quick journey somewhere to have fun to do this, and do that, and then
you go back to your house made of bricks. In the same way, Peter had this
understanding that here on this earth, we live in this tent. One day, we are
going to have our permanent dwelling in heaven.
One day we will have a glorious body but
for now, we live in a tent of this human flesh. And when we begin to understand
that this body is like a tent, then that means that we have to take care of it,
we have to look after it. Something that is so fragile that you can only repair
a tent so much, I have discovered. Tents have to be looked after and taken care
of. So, here is the challenge; to get through our earthly assignment here on
earth, we are going to have to take care of the tents we have been given to
live in. Otherwise, God might have so many plans, but if the tent does not make
it through, then we only finish this many plans. And what it means is changing
our attitude and our understanding to this thing we call our human body, and
realizing it is not going to live for ever, in some ways, it is quite fragile,
so we need to take special care of it. I want to talk today of the habit of
putting Jesus first in our bodies. What does it mean? This gift that he has
given me called the human body, how can I go about putting Jesus first? I want
to read a scripture which is quite a strong scripture this morning; it is in
1Corinthians chapter six. But I believe we can learn much about what Paul says
about our bodies, and then we are going to apply it practically in our lives.
1 Corinthians chapter six verses twelve to
twenty: “12 “I have
the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will
not be mastered by anything. 13 You
say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them
both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but
for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his
power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you
not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and
unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you
not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?
For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But
whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c] 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a
person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against
their own body. 19 Do
you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.
Therefore honour God with your bodies.” That is what we are talking about this morning.
He is speaking specifically with sexual
impurity, and I want to take even more out of this passage today, he comes to
this conclusion when he realizes the plans and purposes God has. He finishes
off by saying; “Honour God with your body.” And to me the habit of putting
Jesus first in our body means living out that. Living out what it means to
honor God with our physical bodies. God’s plane for our bodies, we can pull
out just from that text, and we can quickly pull out just to explain a little
more in a moment. From that text, there are four statements regarding to God’s
plans for our bodies.
1. Your body is meant for God. He created us,
He gave us these bodies, and He has designed our body to be given over and
submitted to Jesus. In other words, God’s plan for our lives is that our bodies
must be submitted to Jesus rather than allowing our bodies to fall under the
mastery of our appetites or addiction which then begins to control us.
2. Your body is the member of Christ’s body.
Do you know, as a follower of Jesus, you are not independent of Christ, your
body is part of His body, so when people see you, they see Him. We reflect the
glory and goodness of Jesus.
3. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
literally. Christ lives in us; it is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is
our church hall, and it is great here, and we are gathered together as the
saints, we can trust the presence and power of God to be here. But the reality
is we could meet outside under a tree. It is not the building that contains the
presence of God, it is the saints. And when the saints come together, the
presence of God is there with us.
4. Your body is not your own. It was bought
with a price when Jesus paid for the price, He redeemed us out of slavery and
death. He bought us to Himself, so actually we belong to Jesus. So, that is
what we are looking at. How do we then take those four statements and work them
practically in our lives so that we can honor God with our bodies? There was
an amazing example of a young man in the Old Testament who did exactly that. Remember
that story about Daniel? I am not going to preach about that, just use it as an
illustration. Daniel was a young man, he was obviously good at what he does, he
had a high aptitude, he was selected for a kind of a scholarship or a bursary
program, they were in exile in Babylon, and he was chosen to come and be
studied and to be schooled in the palace so that he could become one of the
kings or the ruler’s ad visors. And part that meant you gets to eat at the king’s
table.
This
was the choicest food of the day; this was like eat as much as you can ribs and
chicken wings and whatever it was. Every night, there it is. Who needs salad if
you have ribs and wings? And that was their meal, night after night, the richest
wine and the best of the food. Daniel said this in Chapter one verse eight: “But Daniel
resolved.” In other words, he made a decision not to defile himself of
the royal food and wine. And he asked the chief official permission not to
defile himself this way. It carries on in verse twelve: “Please test your servants for
ten days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.” I
am sure that your kids have come to you with the same request before. Verse
thirteen; “Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the
royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So
he agreed to this, and he tested them for ten days.
At
the end of the ten days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of
the young men who ate the royal food. So God took away their choice food and
wine, they were to given vegetables instead. To these four young men, God gave
knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. Daniel
could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. Is that not a good example?
Here is a young man who said; “I want to put Jesus in my body.” I am going to
watch what I eat, and as he honored God with his body, God honored him by
giving him wisdom and understanding to interpret those dreams. What we do with
our first, determines what God will do with the rest. As he honored God with
his body, God honored him with wisdom and understanding. So, it was not just a
ten day diet that Daniel went on. This was a lifestyle that he lived. He lived
a lifestyle of looking after his body so that he could do his very best for
God.
We
are not go into detail, but these three areas, I believe, are hugely important
in terms of our bodies. One is our diet. What we eat, what we allow into our
body. Secondly, I am going to touch very briefly on fitness, how we look after
our bodies. And thirdly, our sexuality. These three areas, diet, fitness and
sexuality, have a huge impact on the state of health and emotional health also.
Let us get practical, and we are going to jump into those four things, the
habit of putting Jesus first in your body.
1. You honour the Lord with your body when
you submit your body to the Spirit’s desires rather than letting your body be
ruled by your own desires. I’m sure you will agree with me that our bodies have
this ability to produce all kinds of fleshly desires. Our body yearns for things
like valentine’s chocolates. Our body yearns for that biltong and that fat
laden meat on a Saturday afternoon. Our bodies yearn for the couch, our bodies
yearn with lust for this and that, but here is a thing. As followers of Jesus,
we have to realize we have given a new heart; we have given a spirit of God
inside of us. And the Holy Spirit comes, and He produces these desires that
want to honour God. But then our bodies are still kicking out these desires
that just want to feed our selfish appetites. And the challenge for every
single one of us as believers, none of us are exempt. Is there is this conflict
that goes on inside of us, which desires do we feed? Do we just continue to fulfill
the desires of the flesh, our bodies, or by faith putting Jesus first in our
bodies.
We fight them off and learn to feed the bodies
of the Holy Spirit. Which can involve the odd game of rugby, and maybe the
sharks would learn to win. Everything is permissible for me, but not everything
is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered or
become a slave to anything. Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but
God will destroy them both. This is a question about who is the boss. Is your
flesh or your body ruling over you, or under Jesus are you ruling over your
flesh and your body? We can use that freedom that Jesus has given us, we can
use that freedom to serve Jesus and others, or we can use that freedom just to
serve ourselves and go back into our old ways. The questions are, is this
beneficial? Those things we do day by day, is this helpful? The second question
is this thing trying to master me? Every addiction is just something that has
mastered us. It has started as once or twice then became a habit, and now the
reality is you are now addicted to something, actually, it controls you.
And Jesus’ desire is that we would live and be
free. But here is the good news and the bad news. The bad news is that your
body does not go down without a fight. The good news is that Jesus breathes His
resurrection life into our bodies so that we can overcame and withstand by the
power of the Holy Spirit. Listen to Peter and Paul; Peter said it like this in
1Peter chapter four verses one and two: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in His
body, arm yourself also with the same attitude.” In other words, get
ready. That attitude that Jesus had to suffer in His body, get that same
attitude. We are going to do some suffering. Why? Because he who has suffered
in his body is done with sin. In other words, to break some of those habits, we
call on the name of Jesus, and we trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, but
then we get ready to put our bodies in their place. Sometimes we have to rebuke
our bodies in the morning. “In Jesus name, get off me, I am going to read my
Bible.”
Sometimes
those chocolates are just calling out your name, you bind them in Jesus name,
whatever you need to do. There is a struggle because he who has suffered in his
body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live rest of his earthly life
for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. That is God’s plan. Do
not waste your life just feeding the flesh when you could be living out the
plans and purposes God has for you. But it is going to involve a fight. Listen
to what Paul said in Corinthians chapter nine verse twenty seven: “No,
I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be qualified for the prize.” There is a sense of; “Come on body, we
are going to serve the Lord.” And I know that all of us are wrestling with
issues with self – discipline, and diets and fitness and sexuality. Paul said
no, I am going to beat my body, make it my slave so that I can count for the
plans of God. We honour God; we honour Jesus by submitting our bodies to Jesus.
And honestly, that is why sometimes fasting is so good. In hate it because my
body likes to eat. But when we fast, what happens is we put the flesh back in
its place, and we clearly have a revolution, a leadership revolution in our
lives. To say no, my spirit is going to rule over my body, not my body rule
over my spirit. And maybe if you are wrestling in this area, with these
appetites are just consuming you, God might be calling you to spend a few days
in fasting.
2. You honour the Lord with your body when
you recognize that your body is a reflection of Jesus. First fifteen of our
passage is;”DO you not know that your body is a member of Christ himself?” Our
bodies are members with Jesus. When people se e us, they see a reflection of
Jesus. Here is a reality, people judge Christians a whole lot more harshly.
Actually, they should, because they should because we believe in Jesus. They
judge as the Bible says, not many of you should teach because you will be
judged even more harshly. And people should because we profess to walk in God’s
ways. But here is the thing, when Jesus came; it says that we have seen his
glory. It says He came as a radiant image of the Father.
So
when people see us as believers of Jesus, they want to to find out what is
Jesus like. So, the challenge for you and us is, are we reflecting Jesus in our
body? That means our appearance that means when people see us, in Romans chapter
thirteen verse fourteen; “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord
Jesus Christ.” Just as you get dressed this morning, putting on shirts
and tops, we put on Christ. We put on His love, His kindness, His gentleness. Clothe
yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. And do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the sinful nature. I want to ask you, talking very practical
today. Are you honoring God with your appearance? Yes, it speaks about
character, we are reflecting Jesus in integrity and His love and His joy and
His patience, but what about your physical appearance? Some people swing this
side, when they do not want to reflect God’s glory, they want the glory. In the
side of vain conceit, they dress, with make – up and this and that, because
they want the glory. That is not what God has called us to. But on the other
side, so, people will swing to the other side. I am so humble, I just will be
ugly. No, actually, God has called us to reflect His glory. So some us need to
take note of the way we dress and our hygiene, and all of those things, so that
people are not put off by us before they even meet us. Our bodied are called to
reflect the goodness and glory of Jesus. We honour Jesus by reflecting His
glory through our bodies.
You honour the Lord with your body when you recognize that
your body is the temple of the Holt Spirit. “Do you not know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God”
This is a beautiful mystery, but the reality is that moment when we repent and
give our hearts to Christ, Acts chapter two verse thirty eight: “Repent
everyone one of you then in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said this
in John chapter fourteen verse twenty three: “If anyone loves me, he will obey
my teaching, my Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with
him.” So everywhere you go, you carry the presence of God. Everything
you do, God is with you. How would you feel if we said to the church, great
news, you have up the church income, because what we do on Saturday evenings is
we rent out the hall to a gentlemen’s club? They show their adult because they
like the big screen, but it really is paying well. How would you feel? It is
like this is where we meet with Jesus on a Sunday morning. We do not want trash
here, I know it is a building but. You feel that way? Exactly the same way, we
are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are sacred to be used to honour God,
to glorify God, That is why you use this is the context of sexual purity, do
you understand, this is a sacred gift, the Holy Spirit is inside of you.
Therefore honour God with your body. Listen to
1 Thessalonians chapter four verses one to eight: “As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we
instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are
living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what
instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that
you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should
learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and
honorable, 5 not
in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter
no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.[b] The Lord will punish all
those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us
to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does
not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.” But here is the reality, we live in a very sexually
orientated world, the reality is what is on the internet, and what is on the
TV, and the fact is we face so much of this temptation, and the church is
certainly not immune to it.
Saints,
let us honour God with our sexuality. And give our lives to Him in purity. We
honour Jesus by recognising that our bodies are sacred. And lastly, let me wrap
it up with this. It says, you honour the Lord with your body when you
faithfully steward your body as God’s possession that has been entrusted to
you. You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Many of you would
remember that we have heard about the parable of the talents, the king goes away
and he fives three of his servants different amounts of money. And he says, I
am going on a long journey, put my money to work, The first one did so, he took
the five talents of gold and he puts it to work, he produced five more. The
same with the other servant, he had two talents and he put it to work. The guy who
had one talent just hid it and produced nothing out of it. And when the king
returned, he congratulated the first and congratulated the second but scolded
the third. “You wicked, lazy servant.”
And the point of the parable is those who have
been faithful with what has been entrusted by God will be greatly rewarded.
Now, let us take that thinking, and apply it to our bodies. You have been
entrusted with something that is not yours. Your body and maybe it will be good
to pinch yourself right now. “Body, you actually do not belong to me. This is
God’s property right here that I have been entrusted with to look after, to
faithfully steward.” It says in Ephesians chapter five verse twenty nine: “2 after all, no one ever hated their own body, but they
feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church” Nobody hates their own body. We feed and
care for it. If you have been abusing and neglecting your body, it is not your
body that you hate, it is a heart issue that God is trying to deal with. In
1Timothy chapter four verse eight: “For physical training is of some value, but
godliness has value for all things holding promise both in the present life and
the life to come.”
I want to challenge you, church, are you
looking after this body, That means what you eat, and it means for us, are we
doing some exercising, are we putting this body through its paces. Physical
training value. Just as a personal testimony, I have found there is huge value
to discipline your body. It does not have to be running the Comrades, for me
five kilometer is still the comrades. But it has done an amazing difference in
terms of health, in terms of energy, in terms of stress. Just getting out there
and getting your body active. It makes a huge difference, our bodies is a way
of honoring God. Friends, the habit of putting Jesus first in our bodies
involves letting Jesus be master of your body and not your body being master of
you. Honoring God with your body means reflecting Jesus glory through your
body, through your conduct and appearance. Putting Jesus first in your body
means treating your body as sacred and keeping it pure. Putting Jesus first in
your body means being a faithful steward of Jesus’ possession. I want to
challenge us as we next look in the mirror, we see that face in front of us,
see that body in front of us, saying body, I want to honour Jesus with my body.
Outlook Curch
Senior Pastor: Brent Brading
Website address: Outlook Church
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