What you do with your body matters.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness” (Romans 6:12,13).
Sin involves our body. Salvation involves our body. Worship involves our body. We bring the parts (“instruments”) of our body that we have misused shamefully for our own evil desires to be reborn again to new life as promised and proclaimed in worship. And we offer those very parts of our body to God in worship as “instruments of righteousness.”
Saved and forgiven feet. Saved and holy hands. Saved and victorious voices. “In view of God’s mercy … offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship (Romans 12:1).
What you do with your body matters, because of what God does with your body.
The physical and the spiritual are connected. It’s a Bible teaching that I get to review with families at the graveside of a Christian loved one who has died. That believer’s soul lives eternally in heaven, but their body is being buried until it rises again when Jesus will return. Here’s what I say …
“May God the Father who created this body …”
In the beginning of the world when God created Adam, he didn’t first create a soul that floated around until it found a home. God first created the physical body of Adam from physical dirt, and then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
“May God the Son who redeemed this body together with the soul …”
Jesus didn’t just save our souls, he saved our bodies, too. How did Jesus save us? By engaging his own body in worshipful surrender to God the Father. “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Peter 2:24).
“May God the Holy Spirit who has sanctified this body to be his temple …”
In his grace, God considers your body holy along with your soul. So much that the Holy Spirit lives in you and calls you his temple. His holy place of worship. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? … Do you not know that your bodies are temples 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 bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:15,19,20).
“Keep these remains unto the day of the resurrection of all flesh. Amen.”
We will die, and our bodies will be buried in the dust of this earth. But, we know and believe in “the redemption of our bodies”(Romans 8:23). On Judgment Day our bodies will rise to join our souls for eternal life in heaven.
What does that all mean for you right now in worship, before the day when your lifeless body lies motionlessly in the ground waiting for Jesus to return? Worship God with your body movements and motions now.
PRAYER: God, how can it be that you love all of me? Not just my soul, but my body? Thank you for saving my soul and my body. Thank you for redeeming all of me. I believe your promise that after I die, Jesus will someday return to reunite my body with my soul in heaven. Amen.
DISCUSS: Agree or Disagree—Physical movement and expression in worship is not expected.