HOUSE CLEANING

Rev. Zeny M. Calusay at FARM, August 30,2009

SCRIPTURES:1 Corinthians 3:16 – 17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20 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.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, 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. 

TRUTH: The body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and must therefore be kept clean for God.

The three points below will help us evaluate ourselves if   OUR `HOUSE’ NEED CLEANSING! 

1. CORRECT VIEW OF THE BODY:
a. It is sacred: The temple of the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit lives in it
1 Corinthians 3:16 – 17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
b. It is owned by God: God bought it with a price, you are not your own
1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20 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.
c. It is to be used to honor God: A holy and pleasing offering to God, an instrument for worship.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, 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. 
2. MISUSE OF THE BODY
a. Using the body for any purpose that was not intended for it, such as `immorality’
1 Corinthians 6:13b,18 (NIV) 13 The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 
b. Satisfying our physical needs wrongly.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 
In ways in conformity with the cultural norms, rather than in ways that honor God
When we give ourselves over to our fleshly appetites, we lose control, we indulge
When we act in ways that the body is exalted ,
c. Two common lines of thought to excuse sin in the use of the body: 1 Cor 6:12-13
Statement1: Everything is permissible for me
Pauls’ Refutation: (1) But not everything is beneficial (2) but I will not be mastered by
anything. 
Statement 2: “food for the stomach and the stomach for food”
Paul’s refutation: the natural reasoning does not hold true with the body because the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 
3. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE USE OF THE BODY
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
a. Will you have courage and unashamed to give an account to God?
Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 
b. Can you present a sanctified, blameless body before God?
1 Thessalonians 5:23 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. 

CHALLENGE:
Are you ready for house cleansing?
1 Peter 4:17 (NIV) 17For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 
2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV) Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”