Millennium Men
Week 7 — 1 Corinthians 6:19

We Own Our Temple

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit — not your own. This week covers food, physical health, sexual purity, and the Sabbath as acts of stewardship over what God has entrusted to you.

Download PDF

M2 Week 7: We Own our Temple

Temple Caretakers

God has made us caretakers of our earthly body. The body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and should be cared for like we would take care of a physical church building. We wouldn’t allow vandals to come in and spray paint the sanctuary, turn over the pews and desecrate the altar, so why would we allow ourselves to do the same thing, proverbially to our own bodies. This isn’t about being legalistic; it’s about being good stewards of what God has given us charge over.

Making a conscious choice to eat better is one of the best decisions you can make! Most nutritionists agree that eating better is not only the key to being healthier, but also looking and feeling younger! There is so much data regarding what foods are best and when to eat them. Recently, intermittent fasting has become a trend and I believe it does have health benefits, but you should consult your physician before embarking on a new diet or way of eating. I am certain that each person is uniquely created with differing body chemistries and metabolisms. Here are some key concepts to remember when you are eating or trying to create new habits:

Note: I’m not a nutritionist. I’ve picked up knowledge and wisdom from several experts and packaged them here for you.

Food Choices

  • Don’t change too much all at once. Pick one thing and stick to it for at least 4 weeks before adding to it.

  • Try not to embark on hardcore diets. Make small lifestyle changes like drinking water instead of sweet tea or not using creamer in your coffee.

  • Use the 90/10 rule with almost everything you try. If you’re like me and you love food, giving up something forever sounds like a terrible idea! Allow yourself to eat 9 meals and then have something you want on the 10th meal. If you do this, I believe you’ll eventually notice that your cravings decrease.

  • When it comes to picking foods, choose the ones closest to the source. Pre-packaged foods typically cost more and are full of unhealthy additives.

  • Eat more fruits and vegetables! Most of us don’t get enough fruits and veggies, especially fresh ones in our diets. (French fries don’t count!)

  • Frying is not the best way. Bake, steam, broil or try to consume your fruits and vegetables with as little cooking as possible.

  • Know your baseline caloric intake.

  • Better foods and certain kinds of foods can increase your metabolism.

  • Below is a list of foods that I love and try to eat as often as possible!

    • Broccoli

    • Blueberries

    • Blackberries

    • Olive Oil

    • Fresh Almonds

  • As men age, they should get their testosterone checked

  • Daily vitamins and supplements can help if you’re not getting the proper nutrition

    • What I take:

      • Vitamin C

      • Multivitamin

      • Fish Oil

      • Vitamin D

      • Zinc

      • Collagen

      • Vitamin E

      • Turmeric (Post workout)

    • Your body is repairing itself at night, so I take these at night:

      • Vitamin C

      • Beet root

      • Baby Aspirin

      • Collagen

  • Foods to avoid:

    • White flour

    • Granulated sugar

    • Prepackaged foods

    • Hydrogenated Oils

    • Sodas

    • Anything that tastes amazing.

To Drink or Not to Drink?

Drinking alcohol is not a sin. Jesus turned water into wine. But doing anything to excess is probably sinful—especially when it comes to alcohol. We need to be vigilant about guarding our minds. Drinking to excess lowers our mental barriers and gives the enemy a chance to pounce. Read what the Bible says about being sober-minded in the verse below:

1 Peter 5:8

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

We should always remember our witness to others that are less mature. Read what it says in Romans 14:1-4 and Romans 14:13-15

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 1

We could also apply these verses to the new question: To Vaccinate or to Not Vaccinate?

Whatever your decision is regarding vaccinations, I encourage you to do your research regarding the pros and cons. Regardless of one’s decision, we should operate in love. The enemy wants to divide us. Let’s be smarter than the enemy! We should love and accept others regardless of their political affiliation, their stance on vaccinations or whether they’re vegetarians or omnivores! Whatever we do, we should do in love.

One of my best friends in the world is from Panipat, India. He is a Hindu and a vegetarian. When I visit with him, whether we are in India or Europe or North America, I choose to be a vegetarian around him because I know it makes him more comfortable. My main goal is to lead him to Christ and so whatever I can do to show him love, I do in order to draw him nearer to our Father. In this way, we should love one another enough to not engage in arguing about whether to vaccinate or not, but to do EVERYTHING we can to point people to Christ and all of our motives should be love.

If we’re arguing, we’ve lost the big picture. Choose not to argue. It’s ok to defend your beliefs but do so in love and do so at the right time. If someone is argumentative, it’s likely that they aren’t going to be ready to receive the Truth about the Gospel, anyway. EVERYTHING we do should be to draw people closer to Christ!

Verses to Remember and Discuss

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Q: Have you really thought about the fact that your body is the temple where God lives?

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Proverbs 25:27

It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to search out matters that are too deep.

1 Corinthians 6:12

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Ecclesiastes 3:13

That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.

Q: What am I doing to maintain sexual boundaries and purity?

1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

Sexual sin dominates the male landscape in America. It changes men, makes them ashamed and afraid. We cannot be the Millennium Men that we are called to be while willingly committing sins against the Temple of the Lord—your body! If you have a sexual addiction, you aren’t alone. Don’t be ashamed of it, tell someone you trust that you need help. Get another man to pray with you and help you. We can break this chain off your life, together. Shame wants to keep it in the dark because it can keep you ineffective unless you deal with it. The only way to deal with it is to confess our sins, one to another so that God can set us free.

1 Corinthians 10:13

*No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. *

Remembering the Sabbath

God modeled the Sabbath for us after He labored for 6 days in Creation. God demonstrated that we need to rest our bodies after 6 days of work. John Piper states that he believes the Christian Sabbath is on Sunday and not Saturday. I’m not sure we should worry about which day we celebrate the Sabbath but rather the frequency and how we approach the Sabbath that matters most to God.

There was apparently an argument among the early Christians that Paul wrote about in Romans 14. He didn’t take sides. Read below:

Romans 14:5-8

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Whatever we do and however we observe the Sabbath, we should do so unto the Lord. John Piper stated that in his home, they don’t watch or go to the movies or watch television or ball games on the Sabbath. He said he wanted to limit the influence from the outside world so that he could set the day apart. That’s what being holy actually means, “set apart”. Is your Sabbath any different than any other day off or weekend? Are you careless and not thoughtful about the Sabbath? If so, repent and ask God to show you a better way to observe His holy day.

Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Ezekial 20:19-20

I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.

Isaiah 58:13-14

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Colossians 2:16-17

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Don’t make the Sabbath a legal issue. This is a matter of the heart. God made you and He designed you for a Sabbath. I think that rest is something we need to do better. Being from the Midwest, I’ve always associated hard work with character, and I still believe that working hard is the signature you leave behind, but God didn’t design us to work so much that we don’t have time for relationships—especially with Him.

Leviticus 26:2

Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

Psalm 92

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

1 It is good to praise the Lord
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
2 proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
    I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
5 How great are your works, Lord,
    how profound your thoughts!
6 Senseless people do not know,
    fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.

9 For surely your enemies, Lord,
    surely your enemies will perish;
    all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have exalted my horn[b] like that of a wild ox;
    fine oils have been poured on me.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
    my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Observations from Psalm 92 help us understand how to observe the Sabbath.

  1. Praise the Lord and make music (v. 1)

  2. Proclaim His love in the morning

  3. Proclaim His faithfulness at night

  4. Sing for joy

  5. Ponder what He has done.

What is the author (Moses) of Psalm 92 saying will happen if we observe the Sabbath?

  • Exalted my horn like a wild ox (Increased my strength)

  • My eyes see the defeat of my adversaries

  • The righteous will flourish like a palm tree

  • Growth like the Cedars of Lebanon

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

Discussion:

Q: What does hidden sin do to our spiritual growth?

Q: What one thing can I add or subtract to help us treat our temple better?

Q: What should our Sabbath look like?

Q: Have we (the Church) been careless with the Sabbath?

Q: What blessings can I obtain by observing the Sabbath properly?

Q: Have you ever entertained a “digital sunset” where you put away electronics and phones at a certain time each day or weekend?

Takeaways:

  1. Take one thing out of your diet that’s bad and replace it with something healthy

  2. Do I have a trusted friend in whom I may confess my secret sins?

  3. Begin by remembering the Sabbath. What one thing can you do to set it apart?

  4. Have you tried a digital sunset?