Glorify God with Your Body

July 6, 2014 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 7:40 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 20 BREAKING NEWS: You are not your own. You have been purchased and the new owner has definite plans for you that will be for His glory and His glory alone. How should you react to this information? One suggestion would be to get the details of your purchase and the new plans that have been put in place for your life. Perhaps we should review the background of how all of this happened. The previous plan for your life was a sure failure. No matter how things went—that is to say, whether you lived or died—you were doomed to spend an eternity living out a painful and never improving existence in a Lake of Fire that cannot be quenched. Neither would you have burned up so that the pain would be forever unending. This was going to be the conclusion of a life where sin had become so normal that it wasn’t even noticeable anymore. However, at some point in your life, you heard about the Calvary option to take away all of your sins and to give you an expected end that is glorious and in the presence of God the Father. But there was even more to the offer. You were given a joy that shines above all of the trials and tribulations you endure in this life on earth. Furthermore, you don’t have to endure any of life’s challenges alone. You have a Redemptive Agent who is ever present and encouraging you at all times to draw closer to Him. Under the terms of the Calvary offer, you are required to allow God to be glorified in you. For every difficulty you have endured and for every trial you went through, God was glorified whenever you trusted Him with the outcome. This glorification of God through you is non-negotiable. You wanted God to destroy your enemies but He said leave them there so that He can bless you in their presence. You wanted your enemies out of your presence but instead God said I will make them your footstool if you hold your peace while I fight for you. Those promises are about public situations but there is something for your private life as well. You have not been made physically handicap to restrict your movements or actions. On the other hand, you have been given specific instructions that demand that you discipline your movements and actions through obedience to God. You can still do all that you have previously done to some degree but you do not have the option of doing some of those things now. You must now ask a twofold question. Will my actions bring glory to God and will my actions build up or tear down my fellow man? All actions are now required to be to the glory of God and those actions should be edifying to others—especially those who are part of the same redemptive plan that you now claim. Our bodies have a new assignment as well. Our bodies make up the temple of the Holy Ghost who lives in us. Therefore we are more than spiritual entities because God owns our bodies and spirits. It is not sufficient to acquiesce to God mentally and accept that we are united with Him in spirit. Because the Holy Ghost lives in our bodies, we must walk circumspectly and glorify God even with our bodies. Robert C. Hudson June 28, 2014

Pursue Unity in Christ

June 29, 2014 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 17; 3:1 – 17 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 17; 3:4 – 9 A Christian should desire the opportunity to experience fellowship with others who profess the same faith. But what is fellowship? When we speak of Christian fellowship, we speak of time being set aside where members of the Christian faith can gather to spend time with each other. The time could be used for socializing, group study, group prayer, group worship, missions, or some area of ministry. The idea being that we connect with others of the same religious faith as a response to humanity’s social makeup and need for interaction and cooperation. On the spiritual side, the fellowship helps us to grow individually and collective in the faith. This sounds great; however, there are some pitfalls we should be aware of while moving towards this social congruence. In this life, all we have to work with are “real” people. Each of us comes with baggage and ongoing issues of some type. These are things you cannot make go away by dressing up and parading around on Sunday. In fact, some of us find our way to a local church seeking help to deal with our baggage and issues. The good news is that the local church is the proper place to turn while seeking such help. We come as individuals but we come as individual members of the same spiritual body. The body is one and therefore the members must somehow work together in order for the one spiritual body to function in this physical world. When all of the individual members do not collaborate as one, some functions of the body will be greatly inhibited. We understand this with physical bodies but do we truly understand this with a spiritual body? When a stroke or some other form of paralysis attacks a physical body, some functions are limited at best. The local body is constantly in need of spiritual rehabilitation. The individual parts don’t always work well together. There is a role for each Christian in the body of Christ. Many contribute to the overall working of the body by providing physical resources needed by the body. These physical resources are varied and needed for proper functioning of the body. Others contribute to the working of the body by employing spiritual gifts needed by the body. These too are just as varied and needed for the body to be wholesome. Physical and spiritual resources are needed in the church for the parts of the body to function in unison. In the physical body, all parts are kept in unison by a properly functioning head. In the spiritual body, we never have to worry about the head functioning properly because the head of the spiritual body is Christ. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Therefore, he will always function properly to promote unity within the body through the Spirit. Outside of the body, we negotiate with each other to promote a form of unity that is often fleeting. But within the body, the Spirit of Christ works with each member to promote lasting unity throughout. As Christians in the local church, let us pursue unity in Christ. Robert C. Hudson June 21, 2014