I Corinthians 6:19 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?
When I was growing up, my friends and I would oftentimes trade things. We would trade matchbox cars, football cards, and so on, and there was kind of an unwritten rule among us that you could trade anything except something that was given to you that was special. For instance, my friend would never trade a matchbox car he received for Christmas from his grandma. That was off limits. No matter how much I wanted it, he couldn’t trade it because it was given to him by his grandma.
Even as adults, oftentimes the way we treat certain things depends on who we think to own it. If I am borrowing something from a neighbor, I should be mindful of the fact that it belongs to them. I am careful how I treat it. In ways both mundane and profound, the way you think about issues comes down to the ownership of God. Who do you think to own the things in question?
In I Corinthians 3:16 we see that God owns His church, and in I Corinthians 6:19 we find that God owns each individual believer. In other words, God’s ownership of the church and of you informs all your judgments. On the other side, pride clouds judgment. So, the better my understanding of God’s ownership, the better my ability to have discernment in every area of life.
Let me give you a couple of examples from I Corinthians. The first is ourselves, our gifts and so on. The Bible says that we should count people like Paul and Apollos, and by extension ourselves, as ministers of God and stewards. We are servants of God and we steward things that really don’t belong to us. They belong to God. Because of that I need to be faithful with my gifts and my talents. I don’t need to be great because great is what God makes of me; faithful is what I do with what God has given to me. “Therefore judge nothing before the time,” the Bible says.
So, there is coming a day when God will recognize who we are, what we’ve done, and why we have done it, and “then shall every man have praise of God.” Every believer will have praise of God. That is what we should be shooting for, but our discernment of people should be based upon what God has given. I have no right to be smug because I feel myself better than someone or to be jealous because I think someone else to be more talented than I am. When I realize God owns both of us, then I realize that everything each of us has has been given of God. God’s ownership informs all of our judgments about such things.
A second example is consequences for sin. Paul says in I Corinthians 4:14, “I write not these things to shame you, but as beloved sons I warn you.” Later, he basically says, “Some of you are puffed up so I am warning you.” When we think about the consequences of doing right and wrong, what gives context to all that is realizing that I don’t own myself. God owns me.
A third example is purity, purity in my person and in the church. The Bible speaks of a certain sin that was reported among the people of the church that wasn’t even named among the unsaved. The Apostle Paul said, “And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned… Your glorying is not good.” Their moral discernment was at fault because they forgot that God owned each of them and God owned them as a group.
Lastly, let’s consider eternal issues in the church. Paul says, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” He continues, essentially saying, “I speak this to your shame. You are taking brothers to the law among the unbelievers instead of taking the wrong.” There is a lot to understand here, but what you find is a common thread running through all these specific issues that we face as believers. There are subtle distinctions that we need to make. Whether it is some judgment a church is making between two believers, the judgment I make between myself and another believer, the distinction I make between moral right and wrong, or the distinction I make between the gifts God has given me and that He has given others. None of those things become clear until I recognize the ownership of God because pride clouds one’s judgment.
Do you want to think clearly? Do you want to see things well? Do you want to make the most of what God has given to you? Recognize and relish the ownership of God.