The Body

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Today’s Workout

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

So glorify God in your body.

Believers, it is prudent for us to ask each other, “Do you believe that you were bought with a price?”

And, “If you do believe, do you think that grace was bought cheaply or at a high cost?”

Too many times we treat grace is if it was cheap or common, just because we believe that we’ve received it as a free gift. But we have to ask ourselves that if grace is misunderstood, if it is tossed aside in favor of so many temptations of this world, can we say that we’ve ever really known grace? Just because someone holds up fools gold and proclaims “I’m rich” doesn’t mean that the rock in their hands is worth anything. Hebrews 12:15 warns us about falling short of the grace of God, and so many passages throughout the Bible make it clear who “shall NOT inherit the Kingdom of God”. Romans 6, Ephesians 2, and Colossians 2 all contrast being dead in sin to being alive in Christ for those who are bought with a price and who glorify God.

So the question I ask is, “Is your body a temple of the Holy Spirit that lives and abides within you?”

Can you show me? Have you shown me in your life today? With how you have treated others? With how you have handled stress and challenges and temptations? With how the Holy Spirit has manifest itself through your life as opposed to you just walking in the flesh like you did before?

If you haven’t, do you want to? Or are you satisfied with some concept of “cheap grace” and a “heaven ticket” that allows you to remain your own? Are you satisfied with glorifying your own self and your own passions and desires instead of glorifying God? Is the freedom that you really desire a “freedom from God, godliness, and rightousness” and a “freedom to sin and self fulfillment”?

There is a much better way. The “One Way”.

Make Him your master today. Accept His Lordship over your life. Repent from your ways and turn to Him, believe Him, and you too can be a dead vessel raised to new life.

You too can be the BODY OF CHRIST – the true church that is made up of children of God – not a building or denomination or gathering of dead, religious people.

One

John 17:20-26

²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them,that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Today’s Workout

The phrase “that they may become perfectly one” speaks to the unity of the believers as the body of Christ and the unity of believers with God. So the question begs asking of ourselves, “Is my life in unity with God?”

I think that if anyone immediately answers boldly, “Yes, I am one with God” – they might have more to fear than even the lost sinner. If there is no tension pressing them to examine themselves and identify those areas where they fall short of the glory of God so they might come to the foot of the cross with a humble and repentant heart – we might have to ask them whether or not it is their faith or their pride that is strong.

Yes, Christ has made known to us not only the name of God, but the perfect example of His righteousness. And His righteousness looks quite different to us than the judgmental, religious, ritualistic, and hypocritical self righteousness of the proud and the wise. His righteousness shines so brightly against the contrast of our imperfect lives that we are humbled by the opportunity of being called Children of God. If we have anything to boast of, it is Christ alone, not our own works, words, actions, or victories. Because what victory is there to be had that is not built upon the foundation of Christ the cornerstone?

So like Paul, I don’t yet claim to have yet achieved it, but I press on towards the upward goal of following in the footsteps of my Christ. I do not oppose you friend, because you are not my enemy. Just because you see me standing firm against sin, doesn’t mean that I stand against you, friend. I too know the battle that rages between flesh and spirit. I too know the temptations that are common to all men. I don’t stand as a perfect example for you to follow, but I follow the one who is. And we each have this same opportunity.

And do you know that as we follow our master, we become more like him? Those who follow another master into destruction, their deceit, wickedness, selfishness, and pride – it grows up and chokes the joy out of their lives – and it tries to choke the life out of those around them. They are diseased trees bearing deadly fruit into this world. But you who follow the good shepherd who lays down His life for the flock – His love, His spirit, His very nature comes and abides in you and remains – and that love infiltrates the darkness of this world and overcomes it.

Examine your life. Not so that you can become either proud or guilt stricken, but so that you can realize your need for the grace that this Good News of Jesus Christ offers those who would humbly see themselves in their fallen condition, and who would submit themselves in faith to be raised to new life, to follow a new master, to live free from sin – not free to sin.

We are not dogs who return to their own vomit. We are not slaves to sin. We are free indeed – not by our own strength, but by the grace of God. We do not walk alone. We are one with Him, and He is one with us.

“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” – Revelation 22:15

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” – Galatians 5:19-21

Galatians 5:22-26

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with itspassions and desires.

²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

I can’t hear you?!!

​Shout with joy to the Lord , all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! 

He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalms 100:1‭-‬5 NLT

One of You is a Devil

​Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

John 6:70 NKJV
If an apostle chosen and identified by Christ himself was a devil – how many moreso who have given themselves titles and received such titles from men?
Especially amongst men who divide themselves and honor men not God by saying we follow “Peter”, or “Pope”, or “Luther”, or the “Baptist”, or any name other than the name above all names – are you seeking to honor men, or do you seek to honor God?
Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.

I Corinthians 1:12‭-‬15 NKJV
This world is filled with deceit, division, and darkness, but we do not cower in the corner with our little flame of truth. 
I encourage you to read Matthew 5, 2 Peter 2 and Jude 1 if you disagree with anything I share here, friend. 
If someone’s “light” leaves you seeking prosperity in this life more than righteousness – if it leaves you justifying your remaining in your sinful ways,  I encourage you to make sure that you know the difference between the blind leading the blind along the broad path that leads to destruction and those who know,  love, serve,  and remain living in Christ, not just in word but in deed. 
Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord , And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?” – Isaiah 29:15 NKJV
“The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” – Isaiah 9:2 NKJV
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. – Matthew 6:19‭-‬24 NKJV
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See below a related article “A Tragic End for Judas”

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A Tragic End for Judas
“When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind…saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood’” (vv. 3–4).  
– Matthew 27:1–10

All four Evangelists describe Judas as a traitor when he first appears on the scene in the Gospels (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16; John 6:71). On the other hand, Peter is not defined by his betrayal of Jesus in denying the Savior three times. Since Peter repented and was restored (John 21:15–19), he is remembered as the rock, not primarily as the denier of Christ. Yet Judas never turned from his sin and bears the shame of his deed forever.
Matthew’s juxtaposition of Peter’s denial and Judas’ death invites us to compare the state of their souls. Like Peter, Judas is remorseful after the fact, changing his mind about the wisdom of his deed after seeing Jesus condemned (Matt. 27:3–4). Unlike Peter, Judas does not feel the “godly grief” of repentance (2 Cor. 7:10). The Greek verb for Judas’ change of mind (Matt. 27:3) is not the one normally used for repentance. Moreover, Judas does not really try to stop what he has started and will not testify of Christ’s innocence before Pilate. John Calvin writes, “True repentance is displeasure at sin, arising out of fear and reverence for God, and producing, at the same time, a love and desire of righteousness.” Were Judas repentant, justice and righteousness would move him to intervene on Jesus’ behalf. Godly sorrow leads people to run to God, but Judas’ despair makes him run into the arms of death (v. 5).
Once more, the Jewish leaders care more about the minutiae of ceremonial regulation than the greater sin of killing an innocent man (see Amos 5:21–24). They use the blood money paid to Judas to buy a place to bury Gentiles (Matt. 27:6–8), thereby fulfilling prophecy (vv. 9–10). The text Matthew cites seems to be a paraphrase of Jeremiah 19:1–14 and Zechariah 11. Both prophets allude to Israel’s rejecting the shepherds God sent to them and the destruction that results. For centuries the Almighty sent His prophets to shepherd His people, but His people rejected them and the destruction of exile occurred. Now with the condemnation of Jesus to death, the leaders have rejected the “Shepherd and Overseer” of their souls (1 Peter 2:25), and they make themselves even more worthy of God’s wrath than their ancestors.
Coram Deo
Matthew Henry comments, “Some have said, that Judas sinned more in despairing of the mercy of God, than in betraying his Master’s blood.” Neither Judas’ betrayal nor his suicide is the unforgiveable sin, only his refusal to seek the grace of Christ. Peter and Judas both committed heinous transgressions, but Peter found restoration when he repented. Today let us repent of our sins and turn to Jesus, knowing that He offers pardon to all those who trust Him alone.
Passages for Further Study
2 Chronicles 7:14 

Psalm 7:12–13

Luke 11:29–32

2 Peter 3:9