Everything is more expensive these days- food staples like milk, eggs, & sugar; GAS probably tops this list, but also eating out, going to the movies, etc… This list of physical & temporal things could go on & on, so let me get to the point quickly. There is another thing that costs much more than it used to- honoring God with our bodies. In our sexually charged society, the high price of honoring God is one that few are willing to pay.
I’ve heard it said that the 21st century is more like the 1st century than any century since & I partly believe it; particularly when the topic is sexual purity. Of course the 1st century didn’t offer quite as many opportunites as tv, movies, & the internet do but it was nevertheless an issue. Approximately 1,950 years ago, the Apostle Paul dealt with this same issue of spiritual purity when he wrote the following verses to the Corinthian Church-
12 “Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”–but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”–but God will destroy them both. The body 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.”17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 honor God with your body.
This Sunday we finish up a section of 1 Corinthians that began as far back as the beginning of chapter 5. We’ve seen how the church is to handle discipline and disputes, & this week we will see how to prevent the church from needing to deal with either one. And it depends on you and me. It depends on our personal investment in holy living.
“The High Price of Honoring God” will be another Church-Builders sermon in our series. Between now & Sunday I hope you will read the text, pray about the message, and consider whether or not you are paying the high price of honoring God. Christ paid the high price of his life to purchase us for God, how can we not pay the high price of honoring God?
I look forward to worshiping with you Sunday. May God bless you and keep you.
Pastor Jeremy
PS- I sent out an email to our youth & parents today with the SOAR information and itinerary. If you are one of them, please take a look at that & follow the directions given. Also, please pray for me, I will be driving to Shreveport & back today to pick up my kids & nephews.
