The Body is getting into shape

I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. [Isaiah 42:8]

Yes, this is a FREE Bible study! Enjoy it. It is a bit like looking at a puzzle where you have to connect the dots to discover the image. Please let me help you, because I have given it some thought...

Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. [Jeremiah 7:11]

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' [Matthew 21:12]

The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. [John 2:20-22]

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. [Hebrews 10:5-6 NIV see also Psalm 40:6]

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. [Romans 6:13]

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. [Romans 6:19]

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. [1 Corinthians 6:18-20]

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. [1 Corinthians 12:12]

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [Galatians 2:20]

And he (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. [Colossians 1:18-20]

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...
[Colossians 2:9]

Old Testament
God tells us in the Old Testament that he doesn’t allow idols. There is simply no room for competition. JHWH, the Great I AM, is the one and only true God. He is like a jealous lover and he will never share his bride (his people). The most holy place or holy of holies was where God dwelled in the tabernacle. Sacrifices were offered to him and people came to the temple to worship and pray. JHWH, the Almighty God, is holy and perfect. He refuses to share his glory with idols!

New Testament
Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and reclaimed the temple for his Father. He acted like a jealous lover. In the same way Jesus needs to come into our lives to drive out what is wrong and prevents us from worshipping God.
When Jesus walked the earth, his presence replaced the temple. He was 'the fullness of the Deity in bodily form' as Paul phrased it in his letter to the Colossians [2:9]. When Jesus went back to his Father in Heaven, he had fulfilled many prophecies. He had raised the temple (his own body) in three days. On earth a new body of Christ was formed, consisting of all believers in Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit of God came down to connect the different parts of the body. And being God, the Holy Spirit is not limited to time or space. He lives and moves within the Body throughout the ages and transforms it into one perfect organism. Yes, this is a great mystery... You really have to connect the dots to see the whole picture.

Same DNA
Every body consists of an infinite number of smaller parts (cells). Every cell has the same, unique DNA pattern. In the same way, every single believer represents Christ on earth. And the Holy Spirit of God is able and willing to dwell within such a confined human body. But he is not limited! He is also moving between bodies, between Churches and between the individual cells of the whole organism. He truly makes us - Christians from all nations and backgrounds - one.

Get the picture?
Jesus will drive out all the wrong influences. His body, also known as the Church, will become clean, pure and holy and fully devoted to God again. God's Spirit was not confined to the temple in Jerusalem. In the same way God's Spirit is moving in and through us, human followers of Jesus Christ. He wants us, as a church without walls or any other confinements, to be united in holiness. And he wants every individual part of the body of Christ to be holy as well.

I ask you to re-read the Bible texts that I have quoted above. Try to connect the dots and you will discover a beautiful picture. I know, it is still a fragmented image, but look a bit longer and closer and you will see that this image is becoming sharper!

Allow Jesus to clean up the house. Don't grieve God's Holy Spirit - let him do his cleansing, purifying work in you! Get into shape, with the help of the perfect Coach (the Holy Spirit - instructing, correcting, motivating and inspiring). Read the Instruction Manual (the Bible), do your daily exercises and use your wireless connection (prayer). Become a purified part of the holy Body of Christ! Flee from sin! Be a disciple!

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [James 4:8]

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1 Thessalonians 5:23]

Please read the beautiful lyrics from Jars of Clay below...

All Bible texts: NIV - UK