you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.
10 sermons cite this verse
… whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And it feels like maybe you go, that's semantics, but it's not. It's the biggest difference in the world. It's the difference of ownership. Because then every day, it's not like, Lord, if it's not too busy, could you help out? I really could use your help in my life. It's not. It's because of the cross. It's his life. You were bought with the blood of Jesus. I was bought with the blood of Jesus. So every day, purpose comes from ownership. How something's treated comes back to who owns it, right? You don't just go get in a random car and just drive it away. And you don't just pick up a laptop at the coffee shop while the owner's in the bathroom, right? Possession is nine-tenths of the law. So I think nine-tenths or maybe 99.999% of God's will is remembering who owns who. And if I'm my own, then yeah, I just got to be like, well, Lord, could you give me a little input? Like, maybe I'll crack the fortune cookie open and it'll kind of give me a little bit of a sign how I can live my life and fulfill my goals. But once I remember that at the cross, he paid for me. He bought me. I'm not my own anymore. I belong to Jesus. All of a sudden, I am opened up to a life that goes, how do I …
… the clothes you wear, those are all a gift from God. First Corinthians 6.20 says, You're not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God. in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God. So it's all come to me from the Lord. I'm just a steward. Everything I have is on loan from God. So I want to use it for his glory. Number three, Paul compares himself to a witness. So he's a steward, now he's a witness. Verse 24, testifying of the grace of God, testifying. So I'm a witness. So let's think about, maybe you see a fender bender and the police come and you're an eyewitness. So they interview you, what did you see? It's not my job to exaggerate or make stuff up or make it more interesting. And my job is actually just to tell the officer what I saw. And then if I'm called to give testimony in a court of law, it's very important that I tell the truth. …
Jesus saying he came to give his life as a ransom for many, a redemption based upon a ransom paid. 1 Corinthians 6.20, you were bought with a price. And the price, over and over in the New Testament, we are told that the price is the blood, and we'll come to the word blood next week in verse 25. Ephesians 1.7, we have redemption through His blood. Acts 20.28, God purchased the church with His blood. 1 Peter 1, we have been redeemed, not through perishable things, but through the precious blood of Christ. So, this is part of Paul's argument, why God is just to justify the ungodly. Because there was a purchase paid for this deliverance. That's what a redemption is. You pay the ransom price. It's paying the bail, posting the bond, so that the captive can be set free. We'll say this over and over again. You need to understand. God's justification of sinners does not take place by the setting aside of justice, but by the fulfilling of justice. …
… you are not your own? For you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. Part of glorifying God and serving God and being a disciple may very well be making sure I'm taking care of my body well enough so that I'm not a drain on the system later on. Do you see this is sort of a moral issue? That if I'm not taking care of my body and I'm abusing my body, then the likelihood is I'm going to use a much larger portion of that health care resource that's out there in the years to come. And so if I'm having multi-million dollar surgeries down the road because I didn't care enough to take care of myself, and I'm drawing that resource to myself, what this might say to us is that one way that you love your neighbors, you love yourself, is by taking care of your own body so that it's healthy enough so that we're not needing to use that much healthcare resource for us. …
… The catechism says that He may be praised through us. 1 Corinthians 6, you are not your own, you are bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. Think of your kids. if they go out and they're not…of course, you want them to do well in school and you want them to do well in sports or music or theater or the arts, but really what makes you proud is when you see they're respectful, when you see them walking with Christ, when you see them obedient, when you see them honoring others, kindness, gentleness, the fruit of the Spirit, that makes you proud and it brings honor to you. The way you conduct yourselves, if you're somewhere outside of this country, can make your country look good or bad. I'm very pleased to say that when our guys here take their presbytery exams, they make our church look good because they've worked so hard and they know their stuff. When we live a life of joyful obedience, it shows that Christ is praiseworthy. It demonstrates the weight and the worth of who He is, that He can be trusted, that His ways are right and good, that He's deserving of our worship and battle, just like troops on the battlefield, the way they march, the discipline, the way they won't retreat, They'll hold their lines. It brings honor and glory to their commanding officer. So it is when we live lives of joyful obedience to Christ. The Catechism says, for so that we may be assured of …
… we remind ourselves, you are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body, with your body. What is that going to look like? What is that going to mean? It's going to mean at least this, that I am offering to God everything that I am. all that I have, all that I think, all that I feel, all the influence that I can have on another person, all the differences that I have the opportunity to make in walking my earthly pilgrimage in this world. Are you convinced? and if you discern the reality first on the pathway of sacrifice how are we doing? We might just summarize that in terms of three straightforward words. First of all it is a living sacrifice. Sacrifices as we read in the Bible were dead and the picture of the breaking and the disposal of that is different from what it means for you or for me because if I'm going to be a living sacrifice, I have to stay alive and prove it. …
… whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. You can't ask, even though you want to. You can guess, but don't say it out loud. You're hoping the other person will volunteer and tell you what you're wondering, but that's not going to happen. So you're left to wonder. It's just a simple question. What did you pay for that? Someone has a new car, a new house, a new boat, a new almost anything. Now, you're glad for them, so that's not the problem. It's just that you're naturally curious and you want to ask, Faye, just wondering, what did that set you back? Now, again, we're not going to actually ask this. After all, if it's a new car, just go to the dealer's website. You'll see the price that's posted. A house, again, just go online. Well, that's fine. But if you're curious, wouldn't it be great if the buyer just volunteered the deal they got? …
… You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Or you could say, Christian, Christian, Your schedule is not your own. The clock is not your own. Your energy is not your own. You are bought with a price. Glorify God in the way you manage your calendar, the clock. So closing questions for you. Are you more prone to be selfish with your time and attention or careless? We're going to go fall on both sides of that. There may be some here that need to increase their care. Others that need to increase their faith, their love. Are you more prone to overschedule or underschedule? next question what is your present calling in life or callings your particular job you have right now your marital status you have children or not what are your callings and think first and foremost about the good you can do for others in your present callings than dreaming about all sorts of good outside your callings first. …
… Bear much fruit that your Father may be glorified. You were bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I don't think there's any question from cover to cover that the dominant way that the Bible talks about the purpose of God in providence, in salvation, in creation, in redemption, in consummation, is that he aims for his glory to be known and loved and praised. and what we love to emphasize here at Bethlehem College and Seminary is that he created us that we might enjoy his glory. knowing his glory. Yes, essential. Loving his glory, delighting in his glory. Now, if you believe what we believe about this, it raises the affections, not just the thoughts, but what happens in your heart, not just your head, your affections, it raises them to the highest possible level because we argue that God is not glorified as he ought to be until you are satisfied in him as you ought to be. …
You are not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore, you're to glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. That's the reason the apostle Paul had brought his life into a burning focus and had got proper priorities. and the apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, one thing, one thing I do, for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now Paul had just, Paul had learned a proper priority. That is that Jesus Christ is number one. The secret of true success in any realm, are you listening? The secret of true success in any realm is to bring your life into a burning focus. Jesus Christ said, no man can serve two masters. The apostle James said, a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. …