Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Keeping Your Body Pure and Holy

Dear God-seekers, I want to speak to you today about keeping your body pure and holy in God's sight, because your body matters.

First, I'd like to say a few words about sex.  The Lord created sex for married couples, and I am talking about husband and wife. Fornication and adultery are sins against your own body, as well as the other person's body.

The apostle Paul wrote: "Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body...Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that 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? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." (1Co 6:13,18-20)

Paul explicitly said that immorality is a sin against your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are to flee immorality (1Co 6:18). The Scriptural standard is still complete sexual purity.

The churches in Pergamum and Thyatira tolerated sexually immoral people in their midst, and the Lord had this against them (2:14, 20). For we are to avoid unholy associations with so-called brothers, who are sexually immoral (1Co 5:9-11), because there must be no immoral or godless person among those who are the disciples of Christ (Heb 12:16). No unholy person has any inheritance in God’s kingdom (Eph 5:5).  The Lord revealed to the apostle John that unholy people will inherit the lake of fire, not the kingdom of Christ (Rev 21:8), and those outside the holy city are the unholy people (Rev 22:15). 
 
However, immoral sins against your body are not limited to sexual acts committed physically between two people. Any impure or lustful thoughts or acts you commit by yourself or with anyone else are also immoral sins, according to Scripture.

Moreover, in addition to your physical acts of sexual immorality, and the thoughts and intentions of the heart, you also need to be sure that you keep your body pure and holy in terms of the attire and adornment you wear, as I explained in Garments of Godliness. Likewise, on another blog in my article, Faith Works!, I explained this in more detail, but I would like to share an excerpt from it here. 

"Paul stated when he wrote in Galatians 5: '"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.' (Gal 5:19-21)"

"To those who say that what a woman wears externally does not matter, and that jewelry, makeup, and other artificial adornments are not a problem for Christians to put on their bodies, this is what the Lord says.  He says the 'property of Jezebel' that the daughter's of God are wearing just like the world are not pure.  They are not of God.  Jezebel 'painted her eyes and adorned her head' to make herself sexually attractive, in order to deceive and seduce men, probably in the hope that Jehu would not kill her (1 King 9:30b).  That is impurity. It is also sensuality, since it lends itself to exciting sexual desires.  And can also be idolatry, since they love those things of the world that they wear, just as the men likewise love them.  They do not want to part with them.  And it also causes men to idolize women, as if they were goddesses, because of the way they are artificially adorned with worldly things.  It also leads to lust and envy, as well as carousing, and 'things like these.'  Paul clearly forewarned us that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God; they will miss heaven."


"To those who insist that the property of Jezebel is not impure, sensual, or idolatrous, I say that you are badly mistaken.  Don't you know where all those worldly things originally came from? Do the research as far back as you can go, and see for yourself. Those things were introduced into the world by satan through his angels."

The apostle Paul wrote:

"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. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." (1 Thes 5:23-24)

"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' Therefore, 'Come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.' And, 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty.' Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”  (2Co 6:16-18; 7:1, NIV).

"...The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit..." (1Co 7:34b)

"And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." (Rom 6:13)

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." (Rom 12:1)

"Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience." (Col 3:5-6)

"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." (1 Tim 2:9-10; cf., 1 Pet 3:1-6) 

Putting it All Together
Paul explicitly taught that we must keep our bodies holy and pure, and so did Peter.  These days it is popular to eat things that are considered "pure and natural".  There's nothing wrong with that.  But we must not neglect the more important matters in the sight of God, and that includes keeping our bodies holy, pure, and natural, the way God created them.

The Lord created sex for married couples, which means fornication and adultery are sins against your own body. The Lord will cast anyone committing these sins into hell, if they do not repent.  It doesn't matter how many souls you have evangelized or how gifted you are spiritually.  It doesn't matter how much money you have given to charity or any other things you have done. You cannot earn your way into heaven by your gifts or your good works.

The Lord created us in His image, and it is sin to change the image of God, by making ourselves look unnatural or putting artificial things on our bodies.  That includes jewelry, makeup, hair attachments, unnatural hairdos, tanning cream, bleaching cream, tatoos, body piercings, dying the hair, perming or relaxing the hair, gold teeth, fake fingernails, fake eyelashes, expensive clothes, or anything that is immodest, impure, immoral, worldly, or unholy.

Without holiness, no man shall see God's face (Heb 12:14).

It's not legalism to obey God's Word.  If this is an area where you know you have not been walking in obedience to God, then please repent and amend your ways.  Change your life, so that you don't perish in hell.  The Lord Jesus still loves you!  But His standard for heaven is high, and He is not changing it for anybody.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.  The "Pure Water" image is courtesy of Wayne Consultants & Mfg. Inc.  The image of the hands under pure flowing water is courtesy of the BHR Group, copyright © 2011 BHR Group, a trading name of VirtualPiE Ltd.

Author's note Also see Garments of Godliness and Faith Works!, as well as my other articles called, Obedience by the Spirit and Baptized with the Spirit. You may also like Godly Attire and Adornment -- Seven Divine Revelations, Is Practical Righteousness a Lost Truth?, Called to be Blameless, Keeping Sundays Holy, Restored Truth, The Highest Form of Slavery, and Is Tithing Required? You can access the Seeking the Lord Main Directory or my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." Now I'd like to ask a very important question.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Len. please clarify for me. I'm a 45 year old African lady. I've been using dried henna leaves to condition and enhance the black colour of my hair. Otherwise my middle age hair would look very dull with visible ugly white strands scattered around. Is it also a sin to use dried henna leaves?

    yours sister Xx.

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  2. Hi Len. please tell me am I also sinning. I'm a 45 years old lady who uses dried henna leaves for conditioning my black African hair. These dried leaves also dye white hair strands black. I've been using henna leaves mixture even before my hair started turning white. Now that my hair needs the maintenance mores than before, am I supposed to stop using henna leaves? Please tell me, I don't want to taste hell.

    Secondly, I've always used a black eye liner lightly, just on the lower eye lid. Without this my eyes look rather undefined. I don't use colourful eye make up. Please tell me if I also need to discard, the only piece of make up that enhances my natural beauty. I wouldn't want to miss the rapture or go to hell, after I've denied myself a lot of worldly pleasures.

    please send me a link notification when you reply this post.

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    Replies
    1. Dear sister, I don't advise you to use any makeup at all, including eye liner. God made your eyes just the way they are and if he wanted lines beneath them to define them, He would have put lines there. I am not familiar with the hair treatment you described, but there are various formulas that are supposed to remove the gray color from one's hair (dies) and I would not advise you to use any such product. But you should go to the Lord about these and He will answer you.

      Shalom!

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  3. Hi! Good evening. :) No offense. But, what specific religion do you belong?

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    1. I am a Christian, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you?

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  4. Hello, I would like to know about wedding rings. Should we stopping those too?

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    1. Hello, I think the following article will help to clarify my position on that, specifically the section about Wesley right before my conclusion: http://len-seekingthelord.blogspot.hu/2012/06/garments-of-godliness.html. Grace and peace.

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  5. Hi Len! 😀 Are you a baptist, protestant, catholic, born again, or a mormon? Kindly say your SPECIFIC religion, because christianity is composed of many religions. Need to know yours. Kindly tell me. Please. Thank you! 😀

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    1. Hi April, I always have a problem when the first question someone asks me is what denomination I am from or what church I go to. It reflects something about the person asking. They have not yet learned that such things as that are what create divisions in the Body, rather than unite. Knowing the answer to such a question does not help the person know me any better, but rather helps them pigeon hole me into a box, where I am liable to being stereotyped.

      You said you "need to know" my religion because Christianity is composed of many religions.

      When two people meet each other for the first time, there are more useful questions to ask, in order to get to know one another. The goal should be to know no man according to the flesh, as Paul said, but to know the person's heart. I think a more useful introductory question to ask is "How did you come to know Christ?"

      When Jesus was asked by what authority He did these things, He replied by saying that He would first ask them a question, which if they answered, then He would answer their question. He then asked them by what authority John baptized, whether from man or from heaven. When they refused to answer Him, He also refused to answer their question.

      So let me ask you, how did you come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior?

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  6. I came to know Him by watching a religious network. Watching movie about His life when He came to earth and watching the life stories of His saints. Then, I tried to be holy.. to become a saint.. for Him.

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    1. That's good. And so you repented of all your sin, confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and were born again at that time? Did you ask Him to take over your life? Did you receive the Holy Spirit?

      I came to know Christ when someone told me I was searching for Jesus and challenged me to read the Bible, asking God to show me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. God convicted me of my sin, I repented and asked Him to forgive me, and asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I believed on Him for my salvation, because He paid the price on the cross for me. Here is my testimony:
      http://budapesttestimonies.blogspot.com/2011/02/truth-set-me-free.html

      I also want to share with you some articles related to what you said in your previous commment regarding Catholicism, Christianity, & Mormonism:
      http://wordistrue.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-cult-of-mormonism.html
      http://wordistrue.blogspot.com/2011/02/unbiblical-practices-of-catholic-church.html
      http://len-seekingthelord.blogspot.com/2017/08/in-yolk-of-christianity.html

      Regarding receiving the Holy Spirit, please read this and pray to receive:
      http://spiritofthelordgod.blogspot.com/2011/06/baptized-with-spirit.html

      By the way, I am curious: why is that a man's picture on your profile, but your name is April Carolyn? Are you male or female?

      God bless you.

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  7. When a person is born again of the Holy Spirit, like you said in your article, we are commanded to keep our bodies pure and holy. Coming out of the free sex culture, after becoming a Christian, and through the study of God's Word, I slowly began to realize what God considered holy as far as sexual practices were concerned. What helped me as far as dominating sin in my life was the realization that conversion means we are God's Holy people and by extension our bodies and members are also holy. This understanding has helped me to overcome sexual temptations in a world that glorifies just about any kind of pleasure imaginable in the name of sexual freedom.

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