No. 747
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20)
The assertion of this text seems astounding when applied to any member of the human race. Consider the insignificance of humanity, even at its best, when compared to the greatness, majesty and glory of our Creator. Given that none are righteous and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, in what way is it possible for any of our race to add to the honor, dignity and glory of the Heavenly Creator? (Rom. 3:10, 23)
Surely all would agree that if we possess the power to glorify the Creator, the duty to do so should be incumbent upon us. We live by His grace, hence all the pleasures which we have received or may yet receive are among the blessings that come down from above. Our very existence and all that we enjoy of sustenance and material comforts, the beauties of nature and the fellowship of family and friends are ours by the provision of our Creator. As the Apostle declares, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jas. 1:17)
We should all feel the responsibility to make some return to the one who has provided so bountifully for our needs. Even though the conditions of this present time are far from perfect, far from satisfactory to the Lord Himself, He has promised us new conditions, a new heavens and a new earth – new arrangements both of government and society. (Isa. 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13)
Our opening text, like all the Scriptures, is addressed not to the world in general but to the household of faith. Although spoken specifically to the Church, it also applies to all consecrated believers. Nevertheless, it may be beneficial to consider it first from the standpoint of the world, and afterwards from the standpoint of those to whom it was most specifically addressed. How then can a worldly person (a “natural man” – 1 Cor. 2:14) glorify God in his body? He must start with a measure of faith, believing in God and believing that God rewards those who diligently seek Him, otherwise he would have no incentive to worship or glorify God. This limited knowledge and faith would have an influence upon all of his conduct of life, though not necessarily the same influence that it would have upon others still more enlightened – the household of faith.
Under favorable influences, such a natural man should desire to glorify his Creator in his body and should properly ask in what way he could do so. The answer is that he should use his body in such a way as to develop and preserve its powers, both mental and physical. This means he should take heed to diet, exercise, and the use of his time and talents so that all of these might serve their very best and noblest purposes, in his own interest and in the interests of others. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)
The Lord declares that His work is perfect and that He made man in His own image and likeness. (Deut. 32:4; Gen. 1:26) The present condition of the human race, with all more or less in a fallen state, is the result of debasement through sin and disobedience. (Rom. 5:19) The spirit of a sound mind should tell us that this debasement not only disparages the glory of God but injures ourselves. A sound mind should prompt us to do all in our power to counteract these disadvantages and to restore the equilibrium of our being, thus recovering so far as possible our original condition of human perfection, the perfect human nature exhibited by our Lord Jesus while in the flesh. In our present condition our race is a dishonor to the Creator, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)
“YE CANNOT DO THE THINGS THAT YE WOULD”
Here the natural man finds an insurmountable barrier. He can will himself to be perfect but he cannot actually be perfect. He can resolve that the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart will be acceptable to God, but he cannot make them so. He may resolve to glorify God in his body so that whatever he does is to the glory of God, but he finds the cravings of a fallen nature occasionally swerve him from that path, in spite of all his resolutions. He finds that he has inherited a downward tendency which he cannot fully overcome. He cannot do the things that he would. (Gal. 5:17)
He feels his helplessness – what must he do? He should cry to the Lord in prayer, telling Him of his desires to glorify Him and of his realization of his own weakness and insufficiency and generally imperfect condition. To those who take this course, who “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” who “seek” and “knock” desiring to do the divine will, the way will be opened, as the Scriptures promise. (Matt. 5:6; Matt. 7:7) To these the Lord will point out the great Redeemer, who is the Way, the Truth, the Life. To that natural man will come the knowledge that God, taking pity on our fallen state and knowing that we cannot recover ourselves, has provided a Savior and a great one, able to save to the uttermost all who come unto the Father through Him. (Heb. 7:25)
To those that seek, the revelation will be opened that Jesus left the heavenly glory, was made flesh and gave Himself a ransom for Adam and his race. They can thus see that by providing a redemption price for Adam’s sin, God can be just and yet cover the unintentional blemishes of all that come unto Him through the merit of this sacrifice. In this way, God can count them as though they were perfect, reckoning according to their intentions and not according to their actions. How wonderful, how gracious is this arrangement, designated by the Scriptures as justification by faith: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1) Oh that all could grasp even this primary feature of the Divine Plan and receive the great blessing which accompanies it!
THE PATH OF THE JUSTIFIED
Having peace with God as the Apostle declares, the natural man, once justified, determines anew that he will glorify God in his body. He strives anew to live a godly life, rejoicing that the Lord is willing through Christ to accept his good intentions and best efforts in place of perfection. Nevertheless, before long he meets with serious difficulty. He still cannot do the things that he would; he has the will, but actual performance is the difficulty: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18)
He feels appalled at the tide of indifference, carelessness, superstition, folly, sin, and injustice all around him. He wonders why he ever undertook to walk in the ways of righteousness and to glorify God. His attempt to do so has put him in opposition to almost every person and arrangement of the present time. Heartsick, he stops to survey the situation, to determine whether he will go on or whether he will swerve and bend to some extent to keep himself more in touch with those who have less noble standards and ambitions.
Will he go on in his endeavor to glorify God in his body or will he turn aside and yield to sin in greater or lesser degree? He is at a turning point. He needs counsel, he needs assistance, and it is the Lord’s time to bring it to him. At this very juncture the Lord shows this faith-justified natural man that it is impossible for him to go on alone, by his own strength. Doing so will surely mean failure. The Lord offers him divine aid and assistance, but with one condition: full surrender – full consecration of mind, body, time, talent, and influence – everything, to the Lord’s care.
Here is his great struggle. Will he become a disciple of Christ, a follower of the Lamb, or will he stand on his own? Deciding on the latter course is a great mistake. To illustrate the results to be expected from this choice, the Lord gave a parable in which a man had a demon cast out of him, leaving his heart “swept and garnished.” However, rather than allowing the Lord to fill the place in his heart, he attempted to stand on his own, saying, “I will return unto my house whence I came out.” As a result, he was assaulted by seven other demons more wicked than the first. (Luke 11:24-26)
For the faith-justified natural man, acceptance of the proffered assistance of the great Redeemer is the only hope for going forward with his good intention to glorify God. The Redeemer does not force nor even urge this course, but counsels him to sit down first and consider the cost. (Luke 14:28)
If he has sufficient love for righteousness, love for truth, love for honorable and noble principles of life, he will desire to glorify his Creator by following the paths of righteousness. After complete consideration, he will determine that duty calls him to a full self-surrender. By this time, love for the Redeemer should be a powerful factor in his mind. As the Apostle states, he should realize that he is not his own but that he is “bought with a price” – the precious blood of Christ. If the man has the proper character, of the kind the Lord has been seeking during this Gospel Age, these considerations of duty and of love will decide the matter.
AFFECTIONS SET ABOVE
What could be more rational than the laying of all one’s time, talent, influence, property, etc., at the feet of the Lord, with a desire to use all of these in glorifying God? After coming to a knowledge of the grace of God in Christ, who could doubt His loving kindness, His tender mercies? Who could doubt that He would abundantly reward anyone thus coming to God in consecration, granting him, according to the Savior’s promise, a hundred fold more in this present time and everlasting life in the world to come?
When our hypothetical faith-justified believer makes his consecration, giving all to the Lord, we assume the Heavenly Father accepts the sacrifice and grants the blessing of a share in the Holy Spirit. The result is the gradual opening of the eyes of understanding, the gradual attainment of the spirit of a sound mind with respect to all the affairs of life, the gradual transformation of character, particularly in those features which were most defective.
He now begins to understand what the Apostle meant when he wrote, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2) The things of earth are all blemished, and, like a faded flower, they have lost their beauty and attractiveness to those who have a knowledge and appreciation of the fresher and better glories that are beyond. He now has the eye of faith, enlightened by the Word, illumined by the Holy Spirit, and can see things that before were not discernible.
All the divine promises from the lips of Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets are now luminous, giving light upon the pathway and enabling the eye of faith to see the Kingdom glories even as we may see the sun through an obscure or smoked lens. Now he is not alone, for he has the companionship of He who promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;” and “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age];” and again, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20; John 14:3)
To those consecrated to the divine will, the presence and providential care of the Lord brings peace and joy which the world cannot know – which the natural man, even though justified by faith, cannot appreciate: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14) The more of the new mind the consecrated enjoy, the more they are taught of God by His Spirit through His Word, the better they will comprehend the fact that they not only owe the Lord a debt of gratitude for their natural life and earthly blessings, but additionally, they now owe Him a still greater debt on account of their redemption through the precious blood.
The words of the Lord and the Apostles indicate clearly that the consecrated should have a different view respecting their bodies than they formerly had. They should still consider it proper to care for and use their bodies to the Lord’s glory, but they should realize that their consecration to the Lord means something much more. It means their mortal bodies are to be surrendered unto death as the words of the Apostle state: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1)
The central thought of sacrifice is the free surrender or giving up of the thing sacrificed. While it might not be improper for the unconsecrated to think of preserving their life and earthly interests, those fully consecrated to walk in the Master’s footsteps put themselves under new conditions, which would hinder them from merely preserving their mortal bodies and conserving their best protective interests. They are to esteem that their time, talents, influence and wealth are not their own but are consecrated, given over, devoted to the Lord and to His service.
The sacrifice of these things means their spending, not their hoarding; whoever therefore has taken this position and rightly understands what he has done should see clearly that it is his business according to his vows to the Lord, to lay down his life in the service of the Lord, the Truth, and the brethren, by deeds great or small, as the Lord may grant opportunity.
This sacrifice includes money also, because it relates to the flesh, which is consecrated. The property of the consecrated is no longer theirs, but the Lord’s; it is not to be foolishly wasted or thrown away, but it is not to be hoarded either. Their duty is to sacrifice it, use it, to spend it according to their best judgment as to what would be pleasing to the Lord and honoring to His name.
We might think that the world would recognize these consecrated ones and their devotion to the Lord, rewarding them with great honor, but not so. The world did not know the Master, did not discern His spirit, and did not appreciate His sacrifice when it was being made. For the same reasons the world cannot appreciate the motives and devotion of those who follow in His footsteps. In the world’s estimation, those taking this step of sacrifice will deserve criticism and disdain, and they will be counted as “fools for Christ’s sake.” (1 Cor. 4:10; Rom. 8:36)
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE MILLENNIUM
Facts as well as the declarations of Scripture show that God is not glorified in our depraved race, but the very reverse – He is dishonored. However, the picture of the future presented to us by the Prophet is a grandly inspiring one: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9)
This of course will be at the close of the Millennium, not at the beginning of it. During the glorious reign of Jesus and the Church, His joint-heirs in the Kingdom, the work of Restitution will go forward with nothing to oppose it. The power of God’s arm will be manifested throughout the great Mediator’s Kingdom, putting down all insubordination and every enemy to righteousness. All who will accept the divine favor will be lifted from the tomb and from the weakness, sickness and frailty of our present fallen condition. If willing, they will be lifted back to that perfect estate from which all fell in the person of father Adam.
It is for this reason that the Apostle Peter urged: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive [retain] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21)
The Scriptures assure us that none will gain the Restitution privileges of perfection and eternal life against their will. God seeks only those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23) Nevertheless, we are assured that obstacles to repentance and conversion will be removed. Satan will be bound so as not to deceive the people during the thousand years of the Millennial Kingdom. (Rev. 20:1-3) Christ in glory will be the great Physician who will heal the wounds caused by sin and death. Those willing to obey the great Redeemer will not only be recovered from the tomb, but also from the dying process with its accompanying pain and sorrow. (Rev. 21:4)
The Apostle Paul declared that God will have all men to come to a knowledge of the Truth. (1 Tim. 2:4) This is our guarantee that the prophetic picture of the Millennial Age has not been exaggerated. Another picture of the conditions of the world at the close of the Millennium is given in the Lord’s last message to the Church: “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” (Rev. 15:3-4)
The ways of the Lord are still obscure to the world, but the happy day is coming when the entire plan of God will be manifested to all. Only a few have yet been granted an appreciation of the deep things of God, but those who are the Lord’s now may see, understand and appreciate things to come. Through faith they now have a share in the glories of that coming Kingdom and are enabled to glorify God in their bodies by using them to His glory and praise.
THE PRAYER OF THE PSALMIST
The Psalmist gave us a prayer that is appropriate to all the Lord’s people: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psa. 19:14)
To a rational person, a virtuous, well-adjusted, and disciplined character is beautiful and an undisciplined, selfish, unjust, unkind, and violent-tempered character is repellent. The first evokes pleasure and admiration; the latter evokes pain. If men, who have lost much of the original image of God, can generally appreciate virtue and abhor the lack of it, how must a pure and holy God view the matter?
Those who have no personal acquaintance with God give no special thought to how they appear in His sight; but those who love Him and value His approval should carefully study to conform their conduct to His pure and holy mind. All the justified and consecrated are acceptable to God through Christ, whose robe of righteousness amply covers us despite our inherited short-comings and weaknesses; however, we are acceptable to God only to the extent we earnestly strive for the standard of perfection.
The above prayer of the Psalmist should constantly be in the minds of God’s consecrated children. But how may the difficult task of subduing the inherent depravity be accomplished? For some it is hard to control a hasty or violent temper and for others it is difficult to bridle a gossiping tongue. It is hard for some to be strictly just in dealings with fellow-men. There are a host of inherent weaknesses which we must strive against to be acceptable with God. The thoughts of our hearts are not manifest to fellow-men until we express them in words or actions; but even the thoughts and intentions of the heart are open and manifest to God.
The Psalmist gives us the secret of a pure and noble life, acceptable to God: “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.” (Psa. 119:15-16) Such a life cannot be attained merely by prayers and righteous resolutions. It also requires careful, painstaking attention and systematic and diligent effort at self-cultivation. It requires the vigilant weeding out of evil thoughts, and the constant cultivation of pure, benevolent and noble thoughts. These efforts are not to be made by the standard of our own imperfect judgment, but according to the standard of God’s Word. This standard is eloquently commended to us by the Psalmist:
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.” (Psa. 19:7-12)
If we take heed to our ways according to God’s law, it will turn us from the path of sin to the path of righteousness. For the meek and teachable (the “simple”), the Lord’s instructions clearly point out the ways of righteousness. The “fear of the Lord” is not a slavish fear, but a noble reverential fear, begotten of love – a fear of falling short of His righteous approval. The law and the testimony of the Lord warn of the snares of the adversary, and everything which might discourage or hinder our growth in grace. Without the standard of God’s law we cannot see our “secret faults” – we cannot rightly judge ourselves. When we measure ourselves by God’s standard, we can detect and deplore our shortcomings, supplementing our efforts by our prayers to “cleanse thou me.”
There is still another part of this prayer that reads: “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” (Psa. 19:13) What are “presumptuous sins?” To presume means to take for granted without authority or proof. A presumptuous sin would therefore be taking for granted and asserting as truth something which God has not revealed, or perverting something He has revealed. Holding to any doctrine, merely on the grounds of fallible human reason and without divine authority would therefore be a presumptuous sin. An example of such a sin would be maligning the divine character by boldly teaching the blasphemous doctrine of eternal torment in direct contradiction of the Scriptures.
There are many other sins of the same character of greater and lesser degree, but the words here seem to refer directly to the danger of drifting into some particular error – the “great transgression.” Evidently this is the “sin unto death” referred to by the Apostles. (1 John 5:16; Heb. 6:4-6; Heb. 10:26-31) This sin presumes upon the love of God to bring us salvation, then willfully refuses it through the channel which He appointed – the precious blood of Christ, shed for our redemption.
Let us beware of the slightest tendency toward pride and self-will and the disposition to be wise beyond what is written in God’s Word, taking for granted what God does not clearly promise. If we watch and strive against the very beginning of that proud and haughty spirit which surely presages a fall, we will be “innocent from the great transgression.”
If we make the Word of God the theme of our constant meditation, its principles will soon be assimilated and become part of our mental makeup, making our characters more beautiful and commendable both to God and to our fellow men: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psa. 1:1-3)
These verses are foremost a picture of the perfect man, Christ Jesus, but they apply secondarily to those imperfect men and women who, being justified by faith in Christ, are walking in their Master’s footsteps. They are right at heart, even though sometimes imperfect through the weaknesses of their flesh. Fed by the river of God’s grace and truth, they are always fresh and joyous and fruitful. If we have this habit of mind, the acts of life will naturally conform. It will make happier homes; it will sweeten the temper, soften the voice, dignify the language, cultivate the manners, ennoble the sentiments and lend its grace to every aspect of life. It will bring in the principle of love and cast out the discordant elements of selfishness.
While the heights of perfection cannot be reached so long as we still have these imperfect bodies, there should be in every child of God a very perceptible and continuous growth in grace, and each step gained should be considered but the stepping stone to higher attainments. If there is no perceptible growth into the likeness of God, or if there is a backward tendency, or a listless stand-still, there is cause for alarm. Let us constantly keep before our eyes the model which the Lord Jesus set for our example – that model of the complete fulfilment of the will of God, in which the whole law was kept blamelessly. Let us follow His steps of righteousness and self-sacrifice as nearly as a full measure of loving zeal and faithfulness and loyalty to God will enable us to do, and we shall have a blessed sense of the divine approval now and the glorious reward of divine favor in due time.
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This paper is based on Harvest Gleanings, Volume II, pages 448-452 and Reprint 1295.
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