Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Introduction Video
“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. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 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.
– 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Opening Question
When was your body at its strongest or most capable, and how did you feel about it?
The Discussion
In the passage above, Paul wrote to the people of Corinth critiquing their culture’s view of the human body’s purpose, pressing them to confront their ideas about the body. We intend to follow suit today and define our relationship with and perspective toward our bodies.
What messages did you hear about the purpose of your body when you were younger?
How has your perspective about your body changed as you’ve aged?
What is something about your body that makes you thankful for it?
The Ditches
The Traditional Conservative View: is body negative, saying that the body is dirty because of its sexual desires.
The Modern Liberal View: is body indulgent, saying that it is for experiencing as much pleasure in one life as you can.
The Eastern Cultural View: is body escapist, saying that the body is to be escaped from in some transcendent way.
The Atheistic View: is body pointless, saying that there is no purpose for our bodies.
The Christian View: is body positive, saying that your body is united with God in Christ.
When have you heard messages from people, advertisements, or the media that reinforce one of the views listed above?
How could the first four views listed affect a person’s ideas about faith and God?
If we view our bodies as united with God, what are some specific ways we can honor that union in how we relate to or use our bodies in the world?
The Delight
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
– Genesis 1:31
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.– Psalm 139:13-24
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
– 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.– Zephaniah 3:17
What are some of the frustrations or challenges you face in your body?
How does the idea that God delights in your body confront those challenges or frustrations?
What practices could help you to delight in your body as God already does?
Closing Thought
“My dear son, be patient, because the weaknesses of the body are given to us in this world by God for the salvation of the soul. So they are of great merit when they are borne patiently.“
– St. Francis of Assisi, The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi
In your final time together, offer God a prayer of thanksgiving for the body he has given each one of us, asking for the grace to accept our bodily weaknesses and for the gift of supernatural healing and strength to those who need it.
Closing Video
Pray this every day this week over your body:
God, I give thanks for my body.
I give thanks for its size.
I give thanks for its shape.
I give thanks because you know what it’s like to live in a body.
Most of all, I give you thanks for one day for a new body.
But today, would you meet me in all those places where I may be feeling insecure and anxious?
Would you help me to remember that you came to redeem all the parts of me?
In Christ’s name,
Amen.