Lesson:: HOW TO HANDLE THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH
TEXT: 1Cor. 3:9, 16, 17
MEMORY VERSE: Gal. 6:7
‘Do not be deceived God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.‘ (NIV)
INTRODUCTION:
The house of God on earth I am here-in-after referring is God’s dwelling place here on earth. Do you guess where that place would be? Our text has given us a hint as to where it should be. The Holy Spirit through His agent, Paul, reveals that the believers in Christ in the city of Corinth were God’s building. That should be a dwelling place. Don’t you think so? In case, man’s ignorance mars or attempts to mar Gods house, God has warned that He will not spare anyone or anything that destroys or attempts to destroy God’s dwelling place on this earth saying that such place is sacred (that is, only suitable for His occupation or consumption). A similar word to ‘house’ is ‘temple’.
OBJECTIVE: At the end of the lesson, the audience should be able to see the building materials with which God’s house is built; two ways to keep the building from destruction and how neither suicide nor assisted suicide is permissible.
PRESENTATION:
Step I: BUILDING MATERIALS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH
(a) The seed that must be first planted to germinate God’s house and/or government house here on earth is the teachings of Christ (see Luke 8:11).
(b) It remains that anywhere this seed is believed and accepted, God makes His dwelling there because God is not different from that seed (His Word cf. Jn. 1:1; 6:63).
(c) No man can build a house for God on earth since the building materials cannot be manufactured here on earth (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50).
(d) Any attempt to do so, God sees as idolatry (see Acts 17:16,24,25).
Step II: TWO WAYS OF PROTECTING GOD’S
BUILDING FROM DESTRUCTION OR COLLAPSE
(a) This is a reference to the knowledge of consumption of the right spiritual and physical foods.
1. The Right Spiritual Food (c.f. Jn. 6:57,58)
(a) The right spiritual diet is the teachings of Christ as handed down to us (His believers) by His original Apostles (see Jn. 17:14, 20,21; 1Jn. 1:1-4).
(b) Those not consuming this type of diet, either for want of the knowledge or deliberate refusal, are severed from Christ (cf. 2Jn. 9-11; Rom.8:9, 14; Col.2:18,19)
i. Anything short of the above is breaking God’s covenant regarding the type of righteousness He accepts in this era otherwise called ‘sin’. (. 1Jn 3:4; Rom.1:16,17)
2. The Right Physical Food (see Gen. 1:29)
(a) Living foods God recommended to be eaten for nourishment of God’s dwelling – our body – are all around us.
(b) Our body made of sand became cells after life was breathed into it by God. (see Gen. 2:7)
i. The natural elements are 100 per cent present in us suggesting ability to nourish
us optimally if we feed our body therewith.
(c) So, the sand-made body that became alive through God’s in-breathing was meant to be nourished with foods containing living cells and converted to cellular or liquid form for the body’s easy absorption into the
bloodstream to supply the needed fuel for the body.
i. These are RAW PLANT-BASED FOODS according to bodily health scientists.
ii. It is high time our Bible teachers started teaching us also towards the welfare of the body as though they are aware that both God and our soul abide there to do business as they do with the soul for a balanced knowledge.
Step III: SUICIDE AND ASSISTED SUICIDE ARE NOT PERMISSIBLE
(a) God warns severally that our body is not our own (1Cor.7:23; 6:19).
(b) To take our lives (suicide) or asking another person to volunteer to kill us (assisted suicide) is forbidden by our Maker.
CONCLUSION:
God is not as concerned about healing of diseases as He is concerned about health. He desires that we be healthy round about in spirit, soul and body (see 1Thess. 5:23; 3John 2) and instructs that we be not ignorant to neglect our bodies only to come to Him with prayers for miracles of
healing afterwards. OUR BODY IS GOD’S HOUSE AND OURS TOO TO LIVE IN.
EVALUATION:
1. Apart from the Word of God, what other materials can we use for building a dwelling place for our God on earth?
2. What kind of building materials are needed for maintenance of God’s house on earth?
3. What did we refer to as ‘The right physical food’ in our lesson?
4. What body condition can warrant God to permit ‘assisted suicide’?
PRAYER: Thank God for the lesson and pray for the know-how to keep our bodies as God’s temple, holy for our Holy Father and for us to dwell in healthily to prosecute God’s business of souls’ fishing and discipleship.
For more on the theme, click here and here.