The Point of Purity Podcast

Body Parts

• Steve Etner • Season 4 • Episode 170

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It is through the use of your body that you either glorify God or magnify King Me. This is why it’s so vital that you learn how to yield to the Lord’s control of your body, and so that you can offer it daily as a sacrifice to God.
 
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It is impossible to live a godly life apart from your body. You are dependent upon your body for more than just living, breathing, and moving around in. It is through the use of your body that you either glorify God or magnify King Me. This is why it’s so vital that you learn how to yield to the Lord’s control of your body, and so that you can offer it daily as a sacrifice to God.

Welcome to the Point of Purity Podcast! I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #170 . In this episode we continue our mini-series on Glorifying God as we discover how our thinking impacts our doing. This week’s Episode is simply entitled “Body Parts.”

 

To help you understand the title of today’s episode, let me begin by repeating what I said in the opener. 

It is impossible to live a godly life apart from your body. “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ... Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.” (James 2:14, 17-19)

You are dependent upon your body for more than just living, breathing, and moving around in. It is through the use of your body that you either glorify God or magnify King Me. This is why it’s so vital that you learn how to yield to the Lord’s control of your body, so that you can offer it daily as a sacrifice to God.

We know that our goal as a Christian is to choose to glorify God daily in everything we say and do. Consider this next point very carefully: you cannot glorify God in your daily life apart from your body. Peter says you are to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.” (1 Peter 2:12) How can the unsaved see your “good deeds” apart from your body? They can’t.

Jesus admonishes us to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) The things you choose to do with your body are what others will see. Are the attitudes and actions you choose going to bring glory to God or attention to self? Let me repeat a point I made in last week’s episode. “Whom you choose to worship determines the thoughts you’re going to think. The thoughts you think determines the actions you do. The actions you do result in the consequences received.” Your body will respond to your worship.

When you choose to let the flesh rule in your life, here’s what happens: “The acts of the (flesh) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21) There is not a single thing in that list I just read to you that glorifies God. Nada. Zip. There is not one item in that list that shows the saving power and love of God to a lost world around you. Your life will always reflect your choices. Your choices will always be directed by your worship. Who is on the throne of your heart? 

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man he sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8 NASB’95)

When you choose to please King Me, there are guaranteed consequences. When you choose to live by the Spirit, there are guaranteed consequences. God told Cain “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” (Genesis 4:7)

The direct opposite of the list I read to you in Galatians 5:19-21 is this list in Galatians 5:22 ...“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Now think about that list. Every one of these things brings honor and glory to God. Furthermore, none of the things on this list are ever of your own doing. They are the fruit of  the Spirit. In other words, they belong to God and God alone. When this list is evident in your life, it’s not because you have found the correct formula and have successfully manufactured the right kind of love or generated the correct amount of patience or kindness. When there is genuine love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control being manifest in your life, it is solely because you have fully yielded to the Holly Spirit and His fruit is being seen through your daily living. It all begins with whom you choose to worship.

As we have seen, we are not to allow sin to exercise kingly authority over us in our bodies. We are not to obey its evil longings for pleasure. Paul then goes on to admonish, “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Romans 6:13) Although you cannot prevent King Me from persisting to try to maintain control over your body, through Christ’s divine power you are able to keep sin from ruling in your body. This is accomplished as you make a continuous, conscious choice daily to offer yourself entirely to God. It all begins with whom you choose to worship.

Praise the Lord, there is a day coming when we will no longer need to concern ourselves with this. As a born-again believer “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, but the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)

I am anxiously looking forward to that day. The fact is: I struggle with my body right now. No, I’m not referring to my physical shape or condition (although that needs some help these days). I can’t stand how my body is always working against me. Sometimes the temptations I experience, and the deep cravings for sinful pleasures it presents me with, seem almost overwhelming. I understand what Paul means when he says, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us ... for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” (Romans 8:23)

What is the “groaning” Paul is talking about. It is the new nature within crying out for the redemption of, or deliverance from, our sinful bodies so that we can live the life we were created for – namely, glorifying Him. Until that time “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Through God’s divine power you are able to say no to the reign of sin in your body. It is “by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body.” (Romans 8:13)

Before salvation, “When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.” (Romans 7:5) Now that you are born again, “you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9) As Paul says, your body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (1 Corinthians 6:13). Since your body already belongs to God, offering it to Him daily as a living sacrifice is a reasonable and spiritual act of worship.

Sin no longer has power and dominion over you. I understand that at times it feels like it still does, but that’s the enemy at work deceiving your mind. You are now dead to sin. It’s power over you is gone.

“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” (Romans 6:6-7, 11-14)

Note that in verse 11 Paul uses a transitional phrase “so you also should consider.” He is saying, in essence, “you must know and fully believe what I’ve just said, or what I’m about to say will make no sense.” So, what did he just say? “Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ.” Your old sinful nature is dead and gone; therefore, the influence of sin no longer has dominion over you. Because of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary you have been freed from the power of sin over your life. Because this is God’s absolute truth, you need to “consider” yourself (or count on the fact you are) dead to sin. Take this truth to the Bank of Heaven my friend. God said it and that settles it!

Notice also that God says sin can reign in your body, NOT in your new nature. As we have established, your old sinful nature is dead and gone, never to come back again. Sin does not reign there because it cannot do so. You have within you a new, holy nature created by God to so He can set up permanent residence there. That new nature is incapable of sinning. Therefore, the only place sin can sit and fester is in your body (your humanness). This is why God commands you to not let sin reign in your body. Don’t allow it to have any type of kingly authority over you.

We’ve also learned that because of the new nature, God has given you the ability to not sin (1 John 2:1). Through the power of the Holy Spirit your body can be controlled. Paul said, “I discipline my body and keep it under control.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) This is why I emphasize so strongly that you don’t have to sin. You sin because you choose to; and you choose to because sinning brings a form of self-satisfying, temporary pleasure. It all begins with whom you choose to worship.

Titus 2:11-12 tells us that “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Saying “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and living a self-controlled godly life is a daily decision you have to make. Not just when you get up on the morning, but all throughout the day. 

Every instance where you are faced with a temptation, you are also faced with a choice. Do I give in this time, or do I continue to submit to God’s lordship and leadership of my life, dethroning King Me and allowing God to rule in my heart? Do I yield to the Spirit and glorify God, or focus on self? You are constantly using your mind throughout each and every day to make choices. Whom you choose to worship determines what you choose to think about. What you choose to think about determines what you choose to do. What you choose to do determines the consequences that will result. This is why it is vital that you daily discipline your mind to say “No” to the flesh and “yes” to God.

 

OK. Let’s hit the pause button until next week’s episode as we continue our miniseries on How to Glorify God. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin),, be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com

One of those resources I have been highlighting for you here is my book entitled “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to transform sinful thoughts and habits into patterns of life pleasing to God.” This book takes you on a journey through the Bible to examine what God has to say about how your thoughts, words, and actions influence and impact your heart. In fact – much of what you heard in today’s episode was taken directly from Chapter 7 of this book “Extreme Mind Makeover.” So go to our website, ThePurityCoach.com, and check out our resources page, or go directly to Amazon.com and purchase your copy of “Extreme Mind Makeover” today.

And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!

So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.