You Are Not Your Own — James Jennings

The Body Belongs to the Lord

I'll turn to 1 Corinthians 6. And I want to just drive home this main one thought. And it's this thought. You are not your own. You are not your own. Your body is not yours. Your hands, they're not yours.

Specifically for the Christian. But we're to see, even if you're an unbeliever here, your body's not actually yours either. As much as you might think it is. So 1 Corinthians 6. Let's read two of these verses and then we'll pray and ask the Lord's help.

Verse 19. Go ahead, you read verses 19 and 20. And if you just speak English,.

You can read along in your mind. Yes, we're going to read verse 19.

19 to 20. 19 to 20. Amen. Well, let's pray. Let's pray. Father, I just thank You for this time that we have right now. Lord, I pray You'd make these words of Paul come alive to us. Lord, help us to live this out.

Lord, we don't just want to have it in our head. We want it to affect our heart. Father, please help my brother and I right now just to communicate this clearly to these people. Amen. You know, often you think about your inner man, your spirit, belonging to the Lord, right?

You know, what I do with my mind. What's going on in my heart. Paul here talks about the body. In verse 20, it says glorify God in your body. Many of your versions say in spirit. That shouldn't be there.

No, no debería estar ahí. Paul's focusing on the body. And you see where I got my title from right there at the end of verse 19. He says, you are not your own. And I think often as Christians, we so much emphasize what's going on in your heart and your mind.

But you can just kind of get that idea. It doesn't matter what you do with your body. That's not Paul's view here. And you can see, what is the primary use of your body?

In verse 19. ¿Cuál es el uso primordial de nuestro cuerpo? En versículo 19. What's it say?

Your body is the temple of who? The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit just some force? No, it's a Person. He is a Person of the Trinity. It says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you.

Now, did these people know that? Do those at Corinth who he's writing to know this? ¿Aquellos en Corintios,.

¿que estaban en Corintios, sabían esto?

How does verse 19 start?

¿Cómo empieza el versículo 19?

Well, why would he say that to them? Could mean one of three things. Puede ser una de tres cosas. It could mean they knew about it, that their body was the temple. They just weren't living it out.

Puede ser que ellos sabían que su cuerpo era el templo, pero no lo estaban viviendo.

Or maybe they've actually denied it. They used to believe something and now they say the body is not the temple of the Holy Spirit. They say that's not true any longer.

O quizá que lo sabían en un tiempo, pero ahora lo están negando, que no es el templo de Dios, el cuerpo.

Corinthian Error About the Body

Now, look at earlier on in the chapter. We didn't read this.

Y miremos antes, más temprano en el capítulo. No lo leímos, pero... And just follow me here. I want you to know your Bibles. Y quiero que sigan conmigo. Quiero que sepan sus Biblias. Look at verse 12.

Miren el versículo 12. Who's speaking in verse 12? ¿Quién está hablando en el versículo 12? Paul. Are these all just Paul's words? ¿Todas estas son palabras de Pablo? Some of your versions have quotes around it.

Algunas otras traducciones tienen entre comillas estas palabras. Why is that? ¿Por qué es eso? He's quoting them. And you see this clearly. Look at the start of chapter 7. En el principio, en el versículo 7.

He says, now concerning the matters about what you wrote.

Dice, así que, por cierto, es... Perdón.

7 -1. I'm sorry, chapter 7, verse 1. En el capítulo 7, versículo 1.

Si pueden ver, dice, en cuanto a las cosas de que me escribisteis.

So throughout this letter, he's quoting what they said.

Entonces, alrededor de esta carta, está citando lo que ellos dijeron. But you know what's difficult about that?

¿Pero saben qué es difícil? What language is the New Testament primarily written in?

¿En qué lenguaje fue escrito el Nuevo Testamento?

Greek. In Greek, you know what you don't have? Quotes.

Saben, en el griego, lo que no tenemos es, entre comillas.

So when you go read the Greek Bible, there's no quotes.

Entonces, cuando vamos a leer el léxico, el diccionario griego,.

No hay entre comillas. So it can be hard to know who's saying what.

Entonces, es difícil saber quién está diciendo qué.

But look at, let's read chapter 6, sorry, verse 12. He's saying, they say all things are lawful for me.

Pero si leemos el capítulo 6 de 1 Corintios, él está diciendo que estas cosas son lícitas para nosotros.

And Paul's response to that idea is what?

Y la respuesta de Pablo es esa idea cuál es. But not all things are helpful.

Que no todas son útiles. Then he quotes them again, all things are lawful for me.

Y lo cita de nuevo, todas las cosas me son lícitas. And Paul's response?

Y la respuesta de Pablo? I will not be dominated by anything. No voy a ser dominado. But it doesn't, the ESV has these quotes there. I know some of your versions don't. But look at verse 13. Again, there are quotes.

This is what they were saying. And you're going to see it in a minute because it wouldn't make sense if this is Paul saying verse 13. He says, food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.

Dice las viandas para el vientre y el vientre para las viandas.

That's the Corinthians saying this. And then, who goes on to say this? And God will destroy both one and the other. Is that Paul saying that? Or the Corinthians? Your Bible probably has no quotes at all.

You know what the ESV does? It doesn't have any quotes either. It stopped after he said stomach for the food. So how am I going to know if it's Paul speaking or the Corinthians speaking? How am I going to figure that out?

You guys tell me. Díganme. Because you Spanish speakers study your Bible better than all of us, right? How are we going to figure it out? Well, I mean, you test the statement. Is this true? When he says God will destroy both one, the stomach and the other food, is that true?

¿Es cierto lo que está diciendo ahí que Dios va a destruir ambos una otra como la otra? Is God going to destroy your body?

Does the Bible teach God's going to destroy your body? Yes or no? What happened to Jesus when he rose from the dead? He ate fish. And where'd that fish go? Did he not have a stomach? Did God destroy the stomach?

You see? He had a body. And what's he have right now in heaven? A body. What are you and I going to have in heaven? Paul does say he's going to, yeah, he's going to, how does it say in Philippians? Transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.

Transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.

So I think that's what the Corinthians are saying. Paul's not teaching that. Because look what he goes on to say. This is Paul. He says the body is not meant for sexual immorality. Halfway through 13.

Now, why would he say the body is not meant for sexual immorality? What would make him think the body could be used for that? Why would they come to that conclusion? What did he just say? They're saying food is meant for the stomach.

So we just ate food, it's in the stomach. And they're teaching what's going to happen to the stomach. It's going to get destroyed. And so then their logic is, if that's going to get destroyed, if I go be sexually immoral, the body's going to get destroyed, so it doesn't matter that I'm being immoral.

But what were they doing when they went and slept with a prostitute? Look at verse 14 and 15. This makes it very, very clear. He says that God raised the Lord, meaning His body wasn't destroyed. What's going to happen to us?

And He will also raise us by His power. And then he says in verse 15, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

Never. Verse 16, or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?

And they thought that wasn't happening. This is my point. You see how low of a view they had on the body. It doesn't matter what you do with your body. It's going to get destroyed. Paul's saying that's not true.

He says it matters. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is not your own. It belongs to God. And if you go take your body and you become immoral, he said you're taking the members of Christ and joining them to a prostitute.

I mean, that's shocking language. You see, so this is what Paul was up against.

And this is what Paul was dealing with here.

Good Doctrine Leads Away From Sin

When he says verses 19 and 20. And you know one thing this right away shows us, does good doctrine matter? Oh yeah. I mean, their bad doctrine led them to justify sexual sin. So what does good doctrine do?

Lead you away from sin. And notice verse 15. What did Paul start it with saying? Do you not know? Verse 16. Do you not know? Verse 19. Do you not know? Even earlier, verse nine. Do you not know? Verse three.

Verse three. Do you not know? Look how many times he says this to one church. There are people in the church who lack knowledge about God, about who they were in the Lord. And was it a big deal? Oh yeah, it was a big deal.

And so brethren, one thing we should ask ourselves is what do you and I not know? What would Paul say to you and I? Do you not know? Do you know this? Or do you not know it? And obviously, if you know this truth about the body, that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, does it change how you live?

Yeah, it does. Now, here the question is about the conjunctions. Okay, there are two conjunctions explaining the author's thought and logic as we're talking about a lunchtime. So look at verse 19 and 20.

There's two connecting words that you have to see when you read your Bible in order to understand what Paul's trying to say to you. What are those two connecting words? Yeah, por que? And that's at the start of what?

Verse 19?

20, okay. Yeah, that's one of them. You are not your own, por que? Why?

He's explaining why you're no longer your own. And what answer does he give? Bought with a price. Okay, where's the next conjunction? Where's the next connecting word? Yeah, and what's that there for?

What's it doing? What's he doing? You gotta think. In other words, what's he saying here? I want you guys to say it to me because you'll remember it. Not you, Jonathan, let the others. Silencio. You were bought with a price.

And then there's a connecting word. What's it there? What's it doing? What's it saying to you and me? What's she saying? If we have been bought, then we glorify God.

That's what he says, therefore. Yeah, so it's the conclusion. You being bought. You were bought with a price. So Paul then says the conclusion of the fact you were bought is what's gonna happen. You're gonna glorify God in your body.

Remember, this word spirit is not in the Greek. I realize the Reina Valera has that. These are translations, right? And so here Paul's logic is, first, you're not your own. And he already explained the verse before, the spirit dwells in you.

Then he explains why you're not your own. Because you were bought with a price. What type of imagery is that? A slave market. And then he exhorts us, if you realize you were bought with a price, this is what's gonna result.

You're gonna glorify God. The word glorify can be confusing. What's that mean, to glorify God? What would be a synonym of glorify? Worship, yeah, give honor, worship. So to glorify God means God's getting honored.

He's getting praised because of the conduct of my life. I'm living out what I believe. I'm not being a hypocrite. And it brings honor to the Lord. And so let's think about these three things. At least first, you're not your own.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Let's think of that again for a moment. Does the world encourage you to think that way? That you're not your own? No, I mean, what do the women wanting to abort say? My body, my choice? I mean, that's just the culture at large talks in that way.

When the Lord saved you, Christian, not only has He given you a new heart, but He's taken your body and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Where did the Holy Spirit dwell in the Old Testament? Where did God come down?

Was His presence known? Tabernacle? Temple? You're a temple. I mean, you think of that. That should affect us. Some people say this building is the house of God. I don't like that language. This building is the house of God.

And that, and that, and any Christian here, the Spirit of God dwells in you. You are the house, believer. Now, we already saw why Paul needed to say this. Their bad doctrine of the body, thinking it would be destroyed, led to sin.

And so Paul is countering that. He's attacking that error. Now, even think of this. Think of your body for a moment. Are there verses that talk about how you are spiritually affects your body? Or how you are physically affects you spiritually?

Is there any connection? Does the Bible talk that way? Do they give any verses? Like, if something happens to you physically, you get sick. Does that have any effect? Let's say you get sick. You stay up way too late, vegging, watching videos, and don't go to bed.

Does that have any effect on you spiritually the next day? Can I just treat my body however I want? Let's all go to the buffet. Every day. Let's sleep three hours a night. It's not going to affect me spiritually.

You know, this thing is just going to get burned up anyways. It doesn't matter how I treat this body. Does the Bible talk like that? Paul's not talking like that here. Even listen to this. I gave you it on there, but Proverbs 14 .30.

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh. But envy, you know, this jealous desire in your heart, what's that do to your body? It rots your bones. You see, the Bible talks about what goes on in your heart will affect the body.

That's just one verse. There's others that speak in that way. When the Lord bought you, Christian, He bought the whole person. He got your body too. And He cares about your body. That you glorify God in your body.

Am I calling you all to exercise a lot? Well, Paul says it profits something. Psalm 127 says the Lord gives His beloved sleep. Now, not sleep while I'm speaking. Later. But you know, you could feel uncomfortable how much I'm talking about the body.

I don't think this is something we think about enough. I don't think about this enough. And so, if Paul says, do you not know this? To them, what about us? But think, you're not your own. I was trying to think of how to illustrate this.

Glorifying God With the Body Bought by Christ

Like being gripped with that reality. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Shouldn't that impact you? And so, this is an attempt at trying to illustrate that. Okay, what are you more careful to drive?

What are you more careful to drive?

Your own car or a car that you've borrowed? Which one? The car you borrowed? Why? Why is that? It belongs to? Someone else. Right? Okay. What about not just borrowing any car, but you borrow a car from the king?

But now, would you even be more careful how you drive the car? Okay, one more addition. You're driving the car, you look in the mirror, what do you see? The king sitting in the back seat. How are you going to drive now?

You get the point? Yeah, you're nervous. Brethren, your body is a temple of who? So where are you driving it? Look in the mirror and realize, the Spirit of God lives in me. I mean, am I driving down streets?

I wouldn't take the Spirit down? You see, and the more we realize the fact He's bought us, this isn't a king who's hired us as a chauffeur. Chauffeur? Okay, chauffeur in Spanish. I mean, this is a God who took us who were His enemies, and how did He buy us?

There's this word there, it says with a price. What price is He talking about? Did He take out the debit card? What price? What's the saying? I don't know what He's talking about. What price? How much money?

His son. Well, He had a lot of sons. He had one son. And they had a perfect relationship. And He sent His Son to die for His enemies. To set us free. And that's what Paul says, you are not your own reason, you're bought with a price.

And just, if you've not heard this verse, flip there real fast. 1 Peter 1 .18. Keep your hand in 1 Corinthians. 1 Peter 1 .18. Knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold.

See, it wasn't money. Verse 19. But, He's saying in contrast to this, we are bought with the precious blood of Christ. Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Like that without a lamb. We already read that.

And brethren, you know what's amazing? We get to heaven, you know what's going to define who we are? It's going to be that we were the ransomed ones by the blood of Christ. Yeah, it says, I think I put it there, Revelation 5 .9.

They sang a new song. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, talking about Christ, and by your blood you ransomed people for God. Look, that's the main thing that defines you, Christian.

You're someone who's been ransomed. You're someone who's been bought from the slave market. You're someone who is a hostage. No one was willing to pay and get you out of the situation. But one person, God.

And He sent the only one that could go, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's Paul say? All of this, us being bought with the price, what should it cause us to do? So glorify God in your body.

The Gospel Motive for Obedience

So what's Paul's view is motivating you and I in our lives? What's driving you?

According to Paul. You're driven to glorify God, but what's the fuel getting you to glorify God? What's gripping you? Right there in the verse. What is it? What leads to the result of glorifying God? No.

It's right there in the verse. What leads me to desire to go and honor the Lord? Just right there in the verse. Thank you. We're bought. Look, look, this is important to get. Paul, what motivates you really matters.

I mean, you could have two people.

Doing the same religious things. You know what I want to know? Why is the one doing that and why is the other? And you know what Paul says your motivating reason should be? It should be Christ, death on the cross and purchasing you.

In other words,.

What drives you to obey? It's a love for what Christ has done for you on the cross. Meaning the gospel is driving you to obey. You're not obeying trying to earn favor with God.

You're looking at this person who bought you. I mean, if I was a slave up here and you bought me and then set me free, what do you think I would want to do? I'd want to go serve the very one who set me free.

Because that act of love was so unexpected. It was so unique. And they say, you're free, go.

I want to go with you. I mean, you set me free. You see, what's motivating you? You know, sometimes a father will say to a child, son, we paid a lot for that. So take care of it. Brethren, that's what this verse is saying to us.

And specifically it's saying it about your body. He didn't just redeem your spirit. He bought your body. So you glorify God with your body. And one day you'll get a new one. I already feel my need for that.

But he paid a lot. So take care. Take care what streets you drive down. With the spirit in the car. And so then he gives us this exhortation to glorify God in our body. You know, his main thing in the context is motivating them not to be sexually immoral.

And you see that from verse 13, everything he said there. That's what he's dealing with. But it goes beyond that. But think, isn't it amazing that when Paul's counseling someone who has lust problems, does he say to them, don't commit adultery?

How does he counsel them? He says, do you not know something? Oh, isn't that what everyone wants? Oh man, what's the trick for purity? Oh, there's got to be.

Something I just got to know. Oh, we've got to keep googling about it. What's the answer? You know what Paul says the answer is? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Whoa, wait, it is? Wait, how can I drive down that street?

How can I go join my body to a prostitute? This body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I've got to be very careful. You see? Let's see, what else right here? So, think of this.

You know what happens when you doubt God in a trial? You might get anxious. What could anxiety lead to physically? What's the common thing someone says, oh, be careful, you might get what? Heart attack?

Yeah, that'd be bad. I wasn't thinking of that. Ulcer? How do you say ulcer? Okay. Yeah, I mean, you get an ulcer. No, okay. How I felt spiritually led to what physically? Does that matter to God? According to this passage, it sure does.

Like, I almost never think of that. You know, you could say, oh, this sounds too much about the body. Paul's hitting on this. It matters. Their right knowledge of this is going to keep them from sin. So look, if I lack self-control and I overeat and I hurt my body, does that matter to God?

I'm going to get a new body one day. It matters to the Lord. Obviously, often you know why we're sick? Because God makes us sick. And He allows that to get glory through our sickness and suffering. Well, let me give a couple just kind of thoughts here in conclusion.

Applying “You Are Not Your Own” to Daily Life

I already mentioned this, but let me say it again. Is knowing good doctrine important? Is knowing who God is important? It's incredibly important. I mean, I want to freshly feel the weight of the fact that I am not my own.

Whose hands are these? You know how it is? The person says, that's my car. And people might say, oh, no, it's the Lord's brother. It's not really yours. I know, I know. But we just talk like that, they say.

But how often do you think of that with the body? You think of that with possessions. You know what's a possession I've had for my whole life? This piece of flesh. I've had it my whole life. And I'm called to glorify God.

You know, this thought will actually help in your marriage. You know what Paul deals with in the very next chapter? I'm not like, I want to get into this too deeply, but look at verse 4 of chapter 7. The wife does not have authority over her own body.

But the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body. But the wife does. Why does Paul even bring that up? Next verse. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time.

In the very next chapter, you've got couples who aren't coming together and having intimacy enough. And how does Paul deal with that? He wants you to know your body's not your own, it's your spouse's.

Why are you keeping the body that's your spouse's from your spouse? And I would say to all of us, back to chapter 6, why am I keeping the body from serving the Lord? Because it's already the Lord's body.

Am I depriving the Lord of useful service with this body? Yes, with my mind, my heart, my soul, my whole person. Yeah. Can you say I'm not my own and think of these categories? What about your time? Is your time your own?

Or is it about what the Lord wants you to do? What about your abilities and your gifts? What about your money? What about your ears? When you hear corrupting speech and it defiles you, does that bother you?

Or do I use my ears to partake in gossip? You know, if I could take some of the members off of your body, let's take your hand, your foot, and let's interview them and ask them what they've been doing.

You know what, member, we should cut off the tongue. Let's go put the tongue on the projector. Let's see how much He's glorifying God in your body. Let's listen to a recording of it. We had a microphone on you this whole last week.

Did you know that? We had a microphone on you this whole last week. We're about to listen to everything you've said. As it glorifies God, you all have a buzzer. You're going to hit the buzzer. A buzzer, you know, like a...

But if it doesn't, then you're going to hit the other buzzer or something. Are my lips used in building up and in prayer? Are my hands used in giving to the needy and helping the brethren? What about my feet?

The Bible talks about beautiful feet. Beautiful are the feet that go down to Haven for Hope and speak to the Spanish only speaking people in Spanish and give them the Gospel. Beautiful are the feet that get me off my couch to go to my neighbor's house to talk to them and give them a track.

Or beautiful are the feet that get me off the couch to go play with my kids. You see, that's a spiritual thing. Playing with your kids is spiritual. It's a way of loving your children. And God wants you to love them and cherish them.

So everyone outside can play with them. We're almost done here. This language, again, he just talked about being bought out of a slave market. The Christian is a slave of Jesus Christ. The Bible talks about us being slaves.

But isn't this the best Master to ever serve? You hear a thought that was encouraging to me. If you're not your own and you belong to the Lord, what's that mean? Who's going to provide for all of my needs?

My Master. This is so real. Paul and Acts was on a boat. It was going to be shipwrecked. And the Lord came to Paul in a vision and told him no one's going to die. Listen to what Paul says to those people.

I think it's Acts 27. Yeah, there it is right there. Listen to what he says. He says, this very night there stood before me an angel of God. And listen to this. To whom I belong. It's verse 23 in Acts 27.

How did Paul describe himself? There's a God out there to whom I belong. You see, Paul is in a trial and guess who he belongs to? I'm not my own. I belong to this God. This God controls the oceans. The storms.

My God's not going to let us crash. We're all going to survive. They did eventually crash, but none of them died. You see, this is the best place to possibly be. Is to not be your own. Even when we were lost, we were not our own.

Romans 6, we were slaves of sin. We served a master of sin. So brethren, I don't know what street you drive your temple down,.

But I'm hoping you've looked in the mirror this evening to see who's... And the spirit is not in the back seat. Maybe even think about it like this.

All illustrations are going to fail. You understand? The body becomes the temple. It's like you had a house. It's not just you're renting the house to someone. It now belongs to them completely. Too many of us are living like we still own the house.

Who moves that couch again? The Lord. Because He owns it. So sit down where He put the couch and realize, I'm not my own. Lord, I'm going to trust you. 1 Corinthians 10 .31. It was quoted earlier today.

Whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Well, that's all I have. Does anyone have any questions or anything you want to add that crossed your mind during the time that you think would be beneficial?

Wisdom, Submission, and the Body

Oh, the well-known verse, yeah. Trusting in the Lord with all your heart. I'm sorry. Oh, interesting. That's a good thought, Judy. Well, if you read 5 and 6,.

That's well-known, right?

Acknowledging Him in all your ways. And then he says, do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. Turn away from evil. And what happens? Verse 8. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Notice, do you see the connection? The body, the spiritual truths and submission to the Lord helps the body. You understand? You see what you brought that out? Look, are things going to happen to our bodies that in the providence of God and is suffering from Him?

Yes. Yeah, Paul's not all about just striving to have great health. That's not the point. He wants you to go use your body, your hands, your mind to glorify God. You know, his conclusion is not therefore go work out in the gym 10 hours a day.

His conclusion is glorify God in your body. Now, that's a whole other question in itself. What does it mean? I mean, what is or isn't glorifying God? Whether you eat or drink. Did we honor the Lord during the meal back there?

How could I honor the Lord during the meal? What's Paul say in Timothy? With thanks, receiving the food? You know, recognizing this is all from God? Everything that we have? Okay, we'll close right here, but if...