A Body Submitted to the Holy Spirit

A Body Submitted to the Holy Spirit

1. Bodily Discipline

“Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.” – Daniel 1:12b

• Daniel chose to give himself completely to God, mind, body, and spirit.  In terms of giving his body to God, his first test came when the Babylonian officials wanted him to eat food that was considered unclean for the people of God.  Rather than betraying his conscience, Daniel resolved to discipline his body and eat only the foods he felt were OK for him to eat, even if they weren’t as good tasting.

• In Daniel 1:4, Daniel is described as being “without any physical defect” and “handsome.”  People are born with all sorts of bodies, but there are things you can do to honour God with the one He’s given you.  If you’re not exercising, eating healthy, sleeping enough, or taking care of basic hygiene, you need to start disciplining your body.

• We’re meant to live “in accordance to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh, now that we’re Christians (Romans 8:5).  Our flesh should have no authority over us.  Also see Romans 6:6 and Romans 8:6-10.
• Paul even said “I beat my body and make it my slave” so that he would remain holy before God (1 Corinthians 9:27).  He didn’t mean he would literally beat his body but that he disciplined himself physically.

2. Holiness Before God

“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” – Romans 12:1

• It’s possible that Daniel was thinking of health reasons for eating only vegetables and drinking only water, but foremost on his mind was a desire to be holy and not defile himself before God with food he considered unclean.
• Does God expect us to live holy lives before Him?
• As Christians, God expects that we live in holiness (Leviticus 11:44).  Paul said that we’re “called to be holy” (1 Corinthians 1:2).  Also check out Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, and 1 Peter 1:15.
• This holiness comes only through God (Hebrews 2:11 and Hebrews 3:12).

3. Sexual Purity

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:3

• An important aspect of submitting our bodies to the Holy Spirit is living sexually pure lives.
• God expects us to “control [our] own [bodies] in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust” (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5).
• Sexual purity is not an option but a command.  “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).
• Our bodies were made to honour God, not to defile ourselves.  Paul said that “he who sins sexually sins against his own body,” which he calls the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
• People in the world may offer their bodies as slaves “to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,” but we as Christians need to “offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:19).

Have agreat day

JOHN

This entry was posted on 08/10/2009 at 07:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.