Living as a Temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 6:19-20 

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us that we might belong to God.

On this 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, Sanctity of Life Sunday, our message is based on our Epistle, especially verse 19 and 20:  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

In ancient times, there was a code some lived by, that if someone would rescue you, save your life, you would be indebted to that person until you had rescued or saved his or her life, or for as long as you lived. It was called a life-debt.

This is the analogy Paul is referring to in our Epistle. We owe our lives to God. First, for creating us, giving us life; but also for saving our lives from death.

The idea of belonging to someone else might be offensive to some people. But the truth is everyone belongs to someone, even if that someone is yourself.

Some would say, “I’m my own person; I belong to myself and no one else.”. 

If I were like God in every way, perfectly good and loving, all-powerful and eternal, then it would be a good thing to belong to myself.

But the truth is, I fall far short of God in every way. Romans 6:23 tells us we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 

God had a choice; he could let us die, or He could win back our lives for us. God, being the way He is, full of grace and mercy, chose life for us; He chose to redeem us. 

But God did even more than create and redeem us, He sanctified us; that’s how His love came into our lives. 

We all belong to God whether we believe it or not, because He created all and died for all. But unless He would sanctify us, send us His Spirit, we wouldn’t believe that he created and redeemed us; or we might resent it. 

That’s how irrational the fallen, worldly mind can get -- that we would resent God for loving the world and dying to save the world; and be angry at those who proclaim that message of love and life for the world.

Thanks be to God that He would send us His Spirit in Baptism, to give us a heart that loves God, and rejoices to be His child.

Thanks be to the Holy Spirit, that in Baptism He would make us His temple, to live in us and enlighten us through the Gospel, that we would believe and embrace and be happy about God’s salvation for the world.

How good it is that this body is not an empty shell, but a temple for the Holy Spirit to live in, to change and renew our spirits, that our hearts might belong to Christ. 

How good it is that my life doesn’t belong to me, that I’m not the master of my life, that Jesus is. He can treat me so much better than I can. He’s a far better master than I am. 

Considering that everyone belongs to someone, and everyone serves something, how blessed we are to serve the best there is, the Benevolent and Holy One!

Your life is too sacred, too valuable to belong to you; it was bought at too high a price. It belongs to your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier! 

Your life was bought back from sin and death by the life of another, a life for a life; honor the One who gave His life for yours. Consider it your honor, to honor Him in all you are and do. 

Because you’ve been created and redeemed in this sacred way, in the image of God, and by the blood of Christ, your life has a higher purpose than to just serve yourself.  Your life now serves the Divine, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Your life, your body and soul are too dear to God, for you to waste on serving and fulfilling selfish ambitions. 

It takes a very low view of your life to see it as existing for the selfish pursuit of worldly pleasure. You’re worth too much to God for that. 

So, as our Epistle says, glorify God in your body! 

Strive to treat your body as sacred and redeemed; a temple of the Holy Spirit; strive to use your body and your abilities in a holy way to do holy things.

Let the Holy Spirit take control of your spirit, that He would sanctify you for a higher way in life, a better way to live, a more honorable, more loving, more pure, more just and gracious way, the way of Christ, the most excellent way there is.

Knowing this very high view that God has of our lives, and of all human life, and because we are blessed to belong to Him, let His view of life be our view of life.

Let us see life as something to be treasured, not squandered; to be respected, not desecrated; to be saved, not terminated. 

Who am I to discard the life that God has made in His image? Mine is to respect and treasure and protect and keep that life. 

Speaking constitutionally, the most basic human right there is, is the right to live. 

Speaking both constitutionally and morally, who am I to steal that most basic right from another person, no matter how young or how old that person may be?

I have no right to take the life of another person, just because that’s person’s life may inconvenience me, or make my life more difficult, or even very difficult. 

But what I can do is seek out the help I need to see that that person, that child, is loved and cared for, and most of all, brought into the love and life of Christ.

I have no moral right to make a judgment call about whether another person has too low a quality of life to live and therefore should be intentionally terminated. 

Now this doesn’t mean that a person can’t decide to let life take its course; take no more treatments, for example; leave it in the hands of God, as, in the end, all life is.

But it’s another matter when we decide to terminate a life, that would otherwise go on and live.

How tragic when a preborn baby is found to have Down’s Syndrome or another disability, and is then is intentionally ended, aborted. There’s a better way. 

How much better to love and enjoy and be blessed by that beautiful baby, beautiful in the image of God, and when baptized, beautiful as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God has a better way for us to regard life and treat people than the world with its unjust laws would have us do. God teaches us to see every other person in the way that He sees us, and in the way that He sees them.

God sees life so well, so clearly, so justly, so graciously, so honorably. 

Let us see life in the same way; let us see every life, no matter how small, as a soul to be guarded and protected, because Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world, of every race and color and nation.

Jesus is the Champion who came from Heaven to save us from sin and death; let us be champions in this world to speak out for the sanctity of life, for the life of all, for Jesus died for all, that all might hear the Gospel, and repent, and believe, and live. 

The lives of the ones we advocate for, belong, not to them, not to us, not to any woman or man, but to One who loves them most, who made them and died for them. 

Because their lives are sacred to Him, they’re sacred to us; because He died and rose for them and for all, we stand up, and speak out, and advocate for their lives. We plead with the world, let the little children live. Please don’t end their life when it’s just starting.

How blessed we are that our lives are not our own; it means we’ve been redeemed, and that means we don’t have to live a life that’s brief and shallow; brief in time and shallow in purpose. 

Our redeemed and sanctified lives stretch into eternity, from Baptism to forever; we are loved by the One who gives and saves and keeps life, that we might honor Him with our lives on earth, and glorify Him with our lives in Heaven.

Never be discouraged in proclaiming the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ, and in defending the sanctity of His gift of life. Consider it the honor it is, and be bold and loving to share this message of life with the world. 

And as you proclaim God’s gift of life, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, your Lord, to whom your sacred life belongs. Amen.