Owned!

Owned!

1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV

[16] Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

As always, it is important to define and clearly establish who the audience of the message in the verse above is for. This helps to define the demands and the expectations from those in the audience. Paul was speaking to the church in Corinth, so these were people who were expected to have an understanding of who God is, what His will is, and how they were expected to walk. Unfortunately, they had allowed the pressure from the world get to them, and they were now seeking approval from men as the standard. Cliques led by the efforts of men were now becoming more important than the demands of the walk of faith. This is grave danger in starting in God and seeking to continue the journey by personal effort or self-help. At no time must a follower of Christ become distracted to the point where you think that you can now do the work on your own, or rely on human help only.

This work now needs to be done under new management, and that is why the same writer, speaking to the same audience, said quite clearly that when a man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has to give way to the new. Whatever inspiration you got from the world to carry out any assignment has to now be subjected to the dictates of the Spirit of God, who is the new boss now. Whatever was the motivation for the perspiration to carry out the work for the world, now has to bend to the empowerment and direction of the Holy Spirit. Something has to be possess someone to drive him or her to work tirelessly in pursuit of a goal. For all of humans, there is a vacuum in all of us, and someone must fill it in order to drive that which we need to get done. God and the devil are the only two masters relevant to this conversation, and with opposite eternities on offer. 

Be sure that the one who drives you knows the right destination. It will be quite unfortunate if the one who possesses you to pursue a course of action does not have life in himself and is therefore unable to guarantee you eternal life. The picture of the temple in the old testament was one set up exactly as God wanted, with worship and sacrifices made exactly as God prescribed. No one could offer strange or unholy sacrifices, as death was the result of such practices. The standard of God has not changed, and has not been lowered for anyone; those who carry the vessels of God cannot afford to live as they please or do as they please. The one who owns is the one who inspires those he owns to do the work He needs to get done. Labour by itself does not count; perspiration without God's inspiration and help does not lead to anything of value. If you are under God's ownership, your life's pursuits must reflect that reality. God's time of favour is here.