JOINED TO THE LORD
1Cor 6:17-20
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Paul is writing to a church that was in the middle of one of the wildest cities of ancient times. These believers came out of a culture with very few sexual boundaries and Paul is having to show them why their old ways will not work in God’s Kingdom.
He reminds them that they are joined to the Lord. They are united with HIm spiritually and so what they do with their bodies matters. So, they are to flee which means seriously avoid sexual immorality. This is a sin against their own bodies. That’s a good enough reason to live a pure life but Paul has not finished stating his case.
Paul reminds them that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Even though much of Paul’s emphasis to the churches involved spiritual truths there is still a connection with the physical body. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is a gift from God to us. Temples were places of worship and were to be treated with respect. But no longer would believers have to go to a physical temple to experience the presence of God. Now because of what Jesus has done the presence of God is living in the believer.
Paul then lists another important reason to live separated lives. Not only were the believers joined to the Lord. Not only were they the temples of the Holy Spirit. They did not belong to themselves. They were not their own. This truth is not emphasized enough, and I plead guilty. In our day of individualism, the idea that we do not belong to ourselves is not a concept people get excited about. But Paul continues by telling them that as believers they were bought with a price.
The price Paul is referring to would be the precious blood of Jesus. God paid an extreme price to buy mankind back from the authority and dominion of darkness. To free us from Satan’s kingdom and make us part of God’s eternal Kingdom. We did not come cheap. So now the responsibility of the believer is to glorify God in their bodies. This would mean living separate from the lust and perversion that is in the world. Since we belong to God, we should glorify HIm with how we live.
APPLICATION
I don’t think I have ever heard a person express remorse that they were not glorifying God in their body. Nor have I heard believers talk about being joined to the Lord and one spirit with Him. Occasionally I hear people talk about being a temple of the Holy Spirit but that is usually in the context of eating healthy and staying physically fit.
I don’t say this to rebuke anyone. I need to add these truths to my vocabulary and make them a bigger part of my life. Jesus said if we know the truth it will make us free. There is much freedom to be found in knowing who we are and what God has done for us in Christ.
PRAYER
Lord help me see these important truths and apply them in my life. My aim is to glorify you.