Divine Ownership by Milburn Cockrell

DIVINE OWNERSHIP

Milburn Cockrell

(1941 – 2002)

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19 -20).

The Bible reveals to us many things which unenlightened reason could never discover. Much of this respects the office of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Since such truths are revealed to us in the Word, every true Christian should know these things. One of the most elementary principles of the Christian life is the words: "Ye are not your own." These words set forth the doctrine of Divine ownership, rather than self-ownership.

THE BELIEVER IS NOT HIS OWN

All men naturally think they are their own masters. Men employ their time and talents as they please without any consideration to God. Men "have turned every one to his own way"(Isa. 53:6), and they do that which is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25 ). They contend it is their liberty to do their own things and to go their own way (Jer. 33:17). Some are heard to say: "With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" (Ps. 12:4). Their conduct, if not their speech, resembles the words of Pharaoh: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go" (Ex. 5:2). Every unsaved man stands in defiance of God: "Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?" (Job 21:14-15).

The idea that every man is his own master is a satanic delusion. The man who lives only to sin and gratify his selfish desires has no conception of God or the teachings of the Bible. Man may be free in a civil sense; he may free from any human yoke, but no man is independent of God. All men belong to God, and they are accountable to the Divine Being for all their conduct. No man is an island!

Every born-again person knows better than this. Paul asked: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" Paul's question is a direct appeal to the conscience of each believer. He addresses himself to their elementary instincts. He takes for granted that no saved person can be ignorant of this truth. He expresses surprise that such a truth should be forgotten.

No real Christian lives to himself. He must live to the Lord in all things. God's will is to be the sole rule of our conduct. We have an obligation to glory God in our life and by our death. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” ( Rom. 14:7-8). We are the property of the Lord, not of one another. We cannot use our bodies as if they were absolutely under our own control. Paul says that our body and spirit "are God's."

THE CHRISTIAN IS GOD'S PROPERTY

There are five good reasons why we are not our own. First, we have no personal rights because of presentation. In eternity past we were given by God the Father to God the Son: "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word" (John 17:6). A number of truths are seen here. In the before-time covenant the Father gave the Son particular people for Him to redeem and glorify. These were given in a special manner to Jesus Christ to be His servants. The number of them is known to God and Christ (John 6:37 -40; 10:27 -28). This select company is of the world before the Father gave them to the Son. At first they were unsanctified and unsaved, for the world had possession of them. But in the fulness of time they came to be the Lord's. After they are given up to be the Lord's they are of the world no longer.

Jesus Christ is God's love gift to the elect. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 ). "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (II Cor. 9:15 ). The elect are the Father's love gift to Jesus Christ. "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him" (John 17:2). "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine" (John 17:9).

Second, we are not our own by production. God creates all men. "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves...."(Ps. 100:3). "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth..." (Eccl. 12:1). "...he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25 ). "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28 ). As our Creator, He has unalienable rights over us. We possess not a faculty of mind or body but from God. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why doest thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (I Cor. 4:7). We cannot exercise one faculty which is not derived from our Creator: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (II Cor. 3:5). We are all God's property by creation.

Third, we belong to Christ because He purchased us. We were in bondage to the curse of the law: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10 ). Christ redeemed us from this miserable state: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13 ). This is why Paul says in my text: "Ye are not your own." Believers are called in Holy Scripture "the purchased possession" (Eph. 1:14 ). The New Testament church was "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28 ). "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:12 ). "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:18-19).

We are the purchased property of Jesus Christ, bought altogether for His ends. We are bought to be His eternal possession. In New Testament times when a man bought a slave that slave belonged to him. We are redeemed for the Redeemer. We belong to Christ, and we are obligated to devote ourselves unreservedly to Him. "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (I Cor. 7:23 ). We must not be defiled or be alienated from Christ. Our hearts and thoughts are to be those of Christ's: "But we have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16 ). All our abilities and influences are to be consecrated to our Lord, for by redemption He acquired special rights over us. Our Redeemer claims our all.

Fourth, we are God’s by possession. He re-stamped His image upon us when He sent the Spirit to regenerate us. He formed us anew in Christ. We became the temple of the Holy Spirit. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God..." The Holy Spirit is enthroned in the sanctuary of our body. Not only is the assembly of baptized believers the temple of God (I Cor. 3:16 ), but also the believer's body is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. This makes the whole man the temple of God .

In the old dispensation God had a temple for His people, but under the new covenant He has His people for a temple. The temple in Israel was entirely dedicated to God's use. It existed solely for His service. And so it is now with the believer's body which is called the temple of God . Our body and spirit exist solely for God's service.

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our body confers sacredness upon our body. The Christian who defiles the body transgresses against the indwelling God and ignores His august presence. How horrible to profane the Eternal Majesty and to pollute His holy sanctuary! There are some things unlawful for a Christian to do. The temple of the Holy Spirit must be kept holy---fit for the Master's use.

Fifth, we are God's property by preservation. Sometimes we are sick unto death, and the Lord sees fit to raise us up and lengthen our days as he did Hezekiah (Isa. 38:1-8). This may be after the medical profession has decided our case is hopeless. Why does God preserve our weak and lowly lives? Such preservation makes our lives sacred, and we must use our days of good health to serve the Lord and be thankful unto Him (II Kings 20:8).

THE CHRISTIAN IS TO GLORIFY GOD

Because our body and soul are entirely God's, we are duty bound to glorify Him with both to the uttermost. "...Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." In the strict sense of the word, we cannot make God any more glorious than He already is. Nothing we do really adds to the glory of God. Speaking to God, the psalmist well said: "My goodness extendeth not to thee" (Ps. 16:2). Nevertheless, God esteems Himself glorified by our services. "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God" (Ps. 50:23). "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31 ).

BODY---OUTSIDE DEPORTMENT

"...Therefore glorify God in your body..." Christians have a poor understanding of this teaching. The general idea is that the soul is all-important, but the body is nothing. Here are some statements I have heard from professed Christians over the years. I heard a modern-day new lighter say, "It does not matter what you do in your body. The only sin a child of God can commit is to teach heresy." An antinomian once told me, "The sins of the body are all the work of the old man. Don't worry about these. The spirit cannot sin."

This reminds me of a story I once heard. Once upon a time a church member committed a crime. When brought before the judge he said, "I did not do this. It was done by my outer man. I have an inner and outer man." The judge told him, "I plan to put this outer man in jail. You can do whatever you want to do with the inner man." This judge was not only a good civil servant, but an able scholar of the Scriptures as well.

Of all the visible wonders of God's creation, the human body ranks first. It is the handiwork of God. The body of the redeemed man is the instrument of the renewed spirit which is in man as well as of the Holy Spirit who dwells with the human spirit. If I use my body for lust, anger, selfishness, and unkindness to others, I am not only making myself an objectionable nuisance to others, but I am guilty of sacrilege, of something akin to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I than take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body" (I Cor. 6:15 -18).

The body must not be neglected or despised, for it is a medium of giving glory to God. In the Dark Ages it was the belief of some that they honored God by punishing the body. Long fasts, beds of spikes, and serious privations were thought to be special marks of piety. Christendom is still not free of some of this. Many Christians care more for the soul than the body. Some are so busy "saving souls" that they care next to nothing for the body. This is all a clear violation of the teaching of Holy Scripture. A man who thinks Christianity is merely a thing of the spirit and not of the outward life has misunderstood the gospel.

To glorify God in our body we must abstain from all evil. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Rom. 6:12 -13). "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (I Cor. 9:27 ). "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5).

But to glorify God in our body is more than mere abstinence from evil. It is to consecrate the power of our nature to God's holy service. I take the word "body" in I Corinthians 6:20 to mean the whole form and fashioning of the outward life. Our bodies must be yielded to God as our reasonable service. "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). Paul does not say, "Present your souls," but "present your bodies." Our bodies are to be presented to God as living sacrifices wholly devoted to God's use.

In II Corinthians 4:10 Paul wrote: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." He does not speak here of self-salvation, but of progressive sanctification which takes place in the body. Paul was practicing what Christ had taught His disciples: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16:24 ). He felt the crucifying effects of Christ's cross in his appetites and activities. He experienced Christ's death in his body so as to reveal Christ's life in his body. The life of the body (Heb. 13:3) of each believer is to be a manifestation of the life of Christ. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

There are many ways we can glorify God with our bodies. We can do it by attending the services of the church and by godly living. We must confess Christ before men and speak well of Him at all times. We must use our strength and substance for Christ's honor and the extension of His kingdom. If called upon to do so, we must gladly suffer in our body for Him even to the point of death.

OUR SPIRIT---THE INSIDE OR HIDDEN LIFE

"...glorify God...in your spirit..." This has a positive and a negative aspect. The negative aspect involves a cleansing of our spirit: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God" (II Cor. 7:1). The positive aspect concerns our worship. We are to worship God in our renewed human spirit. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24 ). "For we are of the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3). Prayer and singing must be performed by this renewed spirit. "I will pray with the spirit...I will sing with the spirit..." (I Cor. 14:15). All service to Christ must be in the spirit: "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son..." ( Rom. 1:9).

CONCLUSION

1. We are not our own masters. We were bought with the precious blood of Christ. When we look at the bloodstained cross, we must realize that Christ bought and paid for us. We cannot live for our own pleasure or profit. We must live according to the will of God and for His glory, whose we are, and whom we serve (Acts 27:23).

2. Let us be desirous of glorifying God. This is what delights the departed saints and the angels of God in Heaven. To abound in this duty will make us happy here on earth and add to our rewards in the hereafter. Oh, the estimable privilege we have of honoring God with our body and spirit in this low land of sin and sorrow!

3. We are duty bound to glorify God inwardly and outwardly. Let us beg God's forgiveness for our failures to honor Him as we should. "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations" (Ezek. 36:31).

4. We cannot glorify God in our body by sexual impurities, intemperance, or lust in any form. Such things give the body the upper hand. God intended that the body be the instrument of the renewed spirit. That part of us which is most akin to God must rule. The body must always serve. When the order is reversed there is a loss of true manhood and inevitable sufferings. The drunkard, staggering down the street, is a man whose body has already become the grace of a lost spirit.