From the MLJ Archive

Romans 12:1-2 — The Bible offers many commentaries about the spiritual, but how can we glorify God with our physical bodies? Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones provides 3 key points to why and how we must Glorify God with our bodies in his sermon on Romans 12:1-2. First, that the whole person is to be saved, not just a man’s mind and spirit. Dr. Lloyd-Jones states that we must never leave out the body in our ideas of redemption because it is the “temple of the Holy Ghost” and should be treated as such. Although we will someday leave the body, it is not simply flesh that houses our soul. It is instead, a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Secondly, we must glorify God with our bodies because the soul must have a body to express itself. We are not just souls floating around inside of bodies. No, we are intelligent beings that can think, see, and do physical acts. The body, soul, and mind are all intertwined and when combined, they make us who we are. Thirdly, we must not disregard the eternal importance of our physical body because it is one of the chief sources of temptation and sin. Dr. Lloyd-Jones states, “The greatest fight for every Christian is the fight against the temptation of the body.” Sin is lurking around every corner. We must always be on the lookout to protect ourselves from bodily temptation. To counteract our sinful tendencies, we must present our bodies as a “living sacrifice.” Like Paul states, we must sacrifice our own sinful desires for eternity. We want to preserve our bodies to be “holy and acceptable to God”. If we strive for this, then we will be ready when we must inevitably present them to God.