Products of Grace
“19 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; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
Christ is among us and within us. We are compelled to abide by his grace and mercy which has been given freely to us. Many of us seem to think we know what that should look like in our thought lives and in our un-told battles, but what does that look like from the outside? How does making Christ Lord manifest itself in relation to others? Certainly, a case could be made from the above scripture quote for honoring God with our bodies from a standpoint of what we consume and how we steward our physical health, but I don’t believe that I will cover any ground there that is new or revelatory for that train of thought. One of the things that the Holy Spirit did give me as a revelation in regards to this passage is a fuller picture of what it means to be a temple of God/the Holy Spirit.
There is a sense in which a temple is the house of its god, which is easily reinforced in the Judaic tradition if we wanted to go back and look at those scriptures. This I believe is the main thrust of verse 19 above, that we house the Holy Spirit. There is another view of what a temple is that would have been germane to the conversation in the first century, which is that in a polytheistic world a temple is a marker of that god’s domain and power on earth. The statues and ornate finery were and are a display of grandeur and an invitation to passers-by to take note of that particular god’s earthly status and work.
In our role as temples, we are called to serve this same function, to be mobile boundary markers for the kingdom of God and a display of his power and handiwork1. We are commissioned as beacons to go out into the world and shine God’s light, and wherever we are there also is God’s kingdom. In this capacity, how do we interact with others, and how do we invite others to take note of God’s work?
The primary currency of God’s kingdom is love. Again and again in the New Testament and the Old, we are shown by example and asked to love one another2, love our neighbors3, show mercy to the poor and downtrodden4, and love our enemies5. Who doesn’t want to follow a god like that, a god that commands their worshippers to give love to every aspect of people and the world around them? God’s love and grace are often described as streams of water in the bible6 because we live in a world where people thirst for love. And the reason for this is the same reason that the power of God and the work of Christ is evident in someone’s life. It’s also the same reason it’s not easy to fulfill this commandment of love, which is that by nature we are all lovers of selves.
I can see this is evident and at work in me, even as I invite God to work against it in me and help me overcome the flesh. This inward-facing posture that we are born with means that there is a serious deficit of love in the world. Economically, when the supply is low the demand is high. The world is in a crisis of high demand, and we should be banner bearers of the infinite supply. When we take a look at the list of the characteristics of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians the very first one is love, and all that follow it are products of giving and having received love. Likewise, in the world, the one thing that becomes undeniable to others is love that is made evident through actions. The Church and Christianity in general get a lot of hate from worldly people. Even in the midst of that hate, many make room in their hearts for the christians who they know are showing love. Often they give these individuals the moniker of “real Christians” because, at their core, these worldly people have been imbued with the knowledge that God is love, 7,8 and they're quite adept at identifying real love when they see it.
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
They know it and we know it, that ultimately God calls us to love. Every morality-based argument is an argument for trying to show some version of love, whether that’s true love or some false sinful version of love. Everyone who would seek a form of justice do so because of an inherent knowledge (whether they abuse that knowledge or not) that love should be what prevails. This state of omnidirectional love is what God is calling us towards in the perfection of the new heaven and earth. This love is what being compelled to abide by Christ should look like from the outside.
I can say it no better than the God-breathed scriptures:
“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
You may be thinking, "Wait, you were supposed to talk about what being compelled to abide in Christ looks like on the outside, but you're just going to give us an abstract concept of 'love' and plop down a scripture and call it good?" To which my answer is, well yes. Why? Because love is actionable, and the body of Christ is multifacted in its beauty. One person might show love to others through joy and heartfelt encouragement, while another might maintain a steadfast commitment to serve others to the glordy of God. The options are almost endless. There's a bit of a difficulty here if i'm being honest, because this expression is wrapped up in how you connect with the world, but also is an expression of your earnest desire for obedience to God's command to love others and to serve others, and to put others before yourself.
In lieu of giving specific actionable examples I'll give 3 concepts to think about in your outward facing actions. Firstly, knowing yourself, your strengths and weakness, what you're drawn to, and how your like to communcate. Secondly and in my opinion, most important to think of, is your desire for obedeince to God and what he desires for you to do. Lastly the thing you need to think about is overcoming fear, because it's very troublesome, maybe even impossible to love people without being vunerable in any way.
I give these 3 things with a full confession that I'm still working on these things and am in an early stage of understanding. Each of these things are very emotionally dense which means they will take a long time to understand, maybe even a lifetime to grasp. I'm faithful that with prayer God can give us an understanding that we would have taken a lifetime to reach. When we seek the things of God we get what we ask for.
1. Ephesians 2:10; 2. 1 John 4:7-12; 3. Matthew 22:36-40; 4. Isaiah 1:17; 5. Psalm 35:10-14; 6. Isaiah 55:1-2; 7. Romans 1:18-21; 8. 1 John 4:8
PS: I’m going to solicit you for comments here, please take a moment to share where you were impacted by a God-driven love. Also, let me know how you feel about putting my scripture references in linked annotations rather than plain text. Credit for the cover photo goes to @stephanieharvey
