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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, the text comes from the Epistle reading this morning. You may be seated. So, as was mentioned, the three texts all talk and address our calling. But the three texts talk about two aspects of your calling. When you were baptized into Christ, as Miles will be after the service this morning, you were called as His child. You became His child. But you didn’t just become His child spiritually. You became His child spiritually and bodily. He called you in faith, knowing full well everything about you. He knows whether you’re going to have cancer or not. He knows how you’re going to die. He knows the physical problems with which you will struggle as a young man or a young woman, and as an older man and an older woman. He knows your debilitations, every single one of them, and He redeems that body.
He also knows every aspect of your spiritual struggles, your fears and anxieties. And He redeems your soul as well. It’s a package deal. It is both soul and body redeemed by the One who had a soul and body, the God-man Jesus. Just as the God-man Jesus, who had a soul and body and redeemed your soul and body, was raised as soul and body, so you too shall be raised not as a disembodied spirit, but as one who is physically and spiritually together as one, as Jesus was raised, as one person.
Now this is important for this reason. As Christians, we can sometimes overemphasize the spiritual aspect of our calling and denigrate and push to the side our bodily calling, but both don’t. Are your calling in Christ Jesus? It is not as if God has control of the spiritual and you are responsible for the physical. God redeemed both. They both belong to Him. You were bought at a price. All of you, physically and spiritually, were bought at a price.
What we are to do, though, is to glorify and honor God, not just spiritually, but also physically, with our bodies. Now, it’s not as if we get a free, get-out-of-jail-free card because we have a specific debilitation. Simply because I have diabetes doesn’t mean I can eat whatever I want and cover it with insulin. Just because I can handle my liquor doesn’t mean I can drink all the time. Just because I enjoy food doesn’t mean I should overeat.
The epistle reading is definitely and clearly talking about our body sexually. Right? That’s obvious. That we are not to misuse our body in a non-godly way sexually. The only godly way to use our body is in marriage, sexually. This completely then says aberrant heterosexual behavior is wrong. Obviously, homosexual behavior is wrong. The only place for sexuality to be expressed in a godly manner is in marriage between a male and a female. But that’s not the only point of that text.
If I choose not to always be wise in my sleeping patterns, I’m not taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit that was redeemed by God Himself, who had a body. If I don’t eat in moderation, then I’m not taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit, whom God redeemed with a body. If I’m not exercising… all of you know your own physical struggles. I don’t have to give you a laundry list. Contemplate those physical struggles, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, television, whether it’s eating or not eating, starving oneself or overeating, whether it’s not resting or resting too much, whether it’s taking your medication or not taking your medication. You know it.
That body that you know, and you know its problems and limitations, is God’s temple. It’s not yours. It’s not mine. That is not ours to play with. It’s His. You have two callings. Not just a spiritual calling, but a physical calling. That’s why these texts are so profound.
But your spiritual calling is also to be considered. Coming to Bible class and Sunday school, as opposed to, “oh, that’s not something I’m really into.” How are you growing in your spiritual strength if you’re not studying and learning? How about reading your Bible on a daily basis? Taking that time. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. All of the time you’ve been given has been bought with a price. And we’re only given so much time.
As young people, we think… I’ll never grow old. I’ll never have that struggle. I’ll never have that problem. Talk to your parents. Talk to your grandparents. They can tell you, “We thought the same thing, and look at us now.” But that’s not the point. Every single one of you each struggles with something spiritually, and you also struggle with things physically. The things that you struggle with aren’t what I struggle with, and the things that I struggle with aren’t what you struggle with. Both spiritually and physically, you know those things. You know that they were bought with a price. But more importantly, God knows those things in you.
How do we know that? Look at what God said to Nathanael in the Gospel reading. Nathanael is called by God through Philip. Philip says, on the way to see Jesus. Philip and Nathanael are coming. Nathanael hasn’t said a word to Jesus. Who speaks to Nathanael? Who speaks first in this dialogue between Nathanael and Jesus? Jesus does. What does Jesus do? Jesus declares to Nathanael his status in His sight: “You are an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.”
Let me translate that to you. You are a justified sinner, a member of the one holy Christian and apostolic church. “In whom there is no deceit” means, “in whom justified by grace through faith.” He’s telling Nathanael, “you’re mine.” Nathanael hasn’t said a word. How do we know Nathanael gets that? Because Nathanael doesn’t say, “Oh, Jesus, don’t talk about me like that. I’m not that way. You know that.” No. No. He doesn’t, does he?
Look at what Nathanael asks Jesus: “How do you know me?” Why would he ask that? Because Nathanael is acutely aware of his struggles, physically and spiritually. How can Jesus say this about me, who struggles with things? How can He call me an Israelite? A true Israelite in whom there is no deceit? How can He call me a member of His one holy Christian and apostolic church as a justified baptized child of God? How can He call me that when He knows the things I struggle with physically and the things I struggle with spiritually?
Because He knows you. What’s Jesus’ answer? “Before… before Philip even talked to you, I knew you.” Before you were conceived in your mother’s womb, I knew you, and I knew those things with which you would struggle. Whether it’s anxiety, whether it’s depression, whether it’s alcohol, whether it’s drugs, whether it’s anything, He already knows that about you before you were conceived. He desired your conception, and He desires your presence in this world, and more importantly, He desires your soul and body in heaven, knowing full well all of those things about you.
So when Nathanael asks that question and Jesus says, “Before all of this, I knew you,” that’s just like Samuel. He knew him. Now, are there struggles? Only you know your struggles. And maybe some people with whom you’ve shared them. But only you know those struggles in God. I can tell you about Samuel’s struggle. Can you imagine as a young boy, at three years old, being given over by his mother to Eli to be raised in the temple? That was a struggle, and it wasn’t just a struggle physically. It was a struggle spiritually, both.
And do you want another struggle? That God would lay upon this little boy, Samuel, the message, “I’m sorry, this little boy Samuel, to tell Eli this message about Eli’s sin that’s going to be punished on his two sons, Phineas and Hophni.” Oh, thanks, Lord. I get to tell him that his sons are going to be killed. Yes. Yes. God has called us to speak words that are difficult to speak to people. And God has also called us to take care of our bodies and deny them when we wish not to, and take care of our bodies.
Our body and soul were meant for the Lord. It’s a package deal. When it says you are not your own, it means you are not your own just physically. You are not your own physically and spiritually. Right? When it says you’re bought at a price, it doesn’t mean you were bought at a price spiritually. You were bought at a price physically and spiritually to redeem you physically and spiritually.
At the end of communion, when I say to you, “May this true body and blood of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserve you in both body and soul to life everlasting,” that’s why I say that. God is feeding and caring for your body in that Lord’s Supper and your soul in that Lord’s Supper. The Word of God cares for your body here and your soul here. You are not parceled out into two parts. You are one unified person of body and soul.
And we’ve become one with Jesus. That’s what Pastor Schilke preached to you all about last Sunday on Baptism Sunday: how you have been joined with Christ. You’ve become one with Him. Well, you’ve not just become one with Him spiritually. You’ve become one with Him spiritually and bodily. And Paul is pretty clear about your body. He knows all about your weaknesses; our Lord does, but Paul’s pretty clear: you were bought at a price. You are not your own.
And He feeds us and cares for us so that we can glorify Him both bodily. And so, in the name of Jesus, whose body and soul has redeemed your body and soul. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus, a life everlasting. Amen.
