Jesus, Lover of Our Souls. What About Our Bodies?
Sermon synopsis from Sunday,
September 24, 2016
“As a
father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord
shows compassion to
those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are
dust.” (Psalm
103:13–14, ESV)
Though we presently bear the image of Adam the “man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47–49, ESV)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–5:1, ESV)
Church of Grace, I pray these words have encouraged you. I pray they renew your faith in Christ as we look together to the resurrection. Amen.
When it comes to the subject of
salvation, there may be a tendency for us to think only about the
immaterial aspect of it because we tend to think of salvation mainly
as the salvation of our souls. When we think of the word
“soul” we understand it as synonymous with non-physical.
If we think of salvation mostly in immaterial terms, we will
neglect the physical aspect namely that Jesus means to save
our bodies also through the resurrection. One could argue that
according to the scriptures, salvation is understood more in terms of
ultimate resurrection from the dead to eternally inhabit a renewed
earth versus “going to heaven when die.”
Must “soul,” however, always refer
only to that immaterial aspect of us, or can soul refer to our entire
person both body and soul? Even in common usage we understand that
“soul” can refer to the entire person not merely the immaterial
aspect such as when we describe someone as a “beautiful soul.”
Our Body: A Temple of the Holy
Spirit
God's word says, “your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you” (1 Cor. 6:19a)
consequently “You are not your own, for
you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (vv.
19b-20). Since we have
trusted in Christ we have the peace that “we
are God’s children
now” (1 John 3:2),
but since we are
waiting for the
resurrection “what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know
that when he [Jesus]
appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is”
(vv. 2b,
c).
Our
present bodies
then,
that is, our “outer
self is wasting away” (2
Corinthians 4:16b) because
of it's fallen and unredeemed condition.
We are presently in a
state of “weakness” (1 Cor. 15:43), yet
despite this fact the scriptures exhort us nonetheless to “glorify
God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20b) and to not “present
your members [bodies]
to sin as instruments for unrighteousness,”
but
rather to offer our bodies “to
God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans
6:13). We
can live lives pleasing to God despite our present physical
condition. God
loves even our bodies. They belong to him and he means to resurrect
and glorify us both
spiritually and physically.
Though we presently bear the image of Adam the “man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47–49, ESV)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–5:1, ESV)
Church of Grace, I pray these words have encouraged you. I pray they renew your faith in Christ as we look together to the resurrection. Amen.
Comments