God's People Must Be United and Growing in Holiness
1 Corinthians 6:12-20[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, February 26th, 2012
So far in 1 Corinthians Paul has addressed arrogance, divisiveness, love for man's wisdom over God's, ignoring gross sin in the church, and lawsuits. Yes, this is a lovely bunch of people! They were saved by God's grace, but they desired to still live like the ungodly Corinthian people around them.
Today we follow the text into the subject of sexual immorality. In Acts 15 the apostles, elders, and the church in Jerusalem considered what from the Old Covenant under Moses needed to be moved forward into the New Covenant under Christ; these are what they came up with…
Acts 15:28-29 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
It was actually Paul and Barnabas arguing for their freedom from some of the additional requirements Jewish believers desired to lay on the Gentiles, mainly circumcision. So it was Paul the 'freedom fighter' who wrote these words to one of the churches he had gone to Jerusalem to fight for…
12 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything.
13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh."
17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Let's pray to our God...
Message: God plan for sexuality hasn't changed from the beginning; it is a good and wise plan. So let us glorify God in our bodies. Sexual purity is attainable, church!
Let's first consider the apostle's approach to the issue he's addressing. Paul attacks their justification, repeatedly asks that piercing question, and gives three commands.
Justifying sexual immorality. "All things are lawful for me" probably was a slogan Paul had heard the Corinthians were using to justify their sinful behavior, as well as, "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food". Evidently some of the Corinthians were still going to the temples and having sex with idolatrous prostitutes.
Piercing questions:
Do you not know? The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.
Do you not know? That your bodies are members of Christ? Should I make the members of Christ to join with a prostitute? NEVER! The two become one flesh.
Do you not know? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
Three Commands:
Do not join the members of Christ with a prostitute. It is implied, and strongly so.
Why: You become one body with those with whom you have sexual union. There is a bond that is beyond physical, but it is physical. C.S. Lewis stated in his book The Screwtape Letters that "each time a man and woman enter into a sexual relationship a spiritual bond is established between them that must be eternally enjoyed, or eternally endured."[2]
Flee sexual immorality. It is because you sin against your own body when you have sexual union outside of marriage. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Glorify God in your body. Because you are not your own, so the unions you initiate need to glorify God, who has purchased your body as a temple with the blood of His own son!
Why stay sexually pure and holy? Paul gives or implies six reasons
1. Because freedom in Christ is freedom FROM sin, and not freedom TO sin. Freedom was never given as a weapon to destroy God's people and those around them; it was given to remove unnecessary burdens and terrible consequences.
2. Because the body was made for sexual fulfillment but not for sexual immorality. Sound contradictory? It is not. God gave us these wonderful desires because He designed the fulfillment to be extraordinary, as it is; but only for one man and one woman for life.
3. Because your body is for the Lord. Your body is to be used for your spiritual union with Christ, and as a temple of the Holy Spirit; immorality, which He despises, terribly contradicts this union. All sin is incompatible with unity with Christ; but sexual immorality is particularly grievous to the union. There is a spiritual and emotional bond with your sexual partner, like it or not. God says two become "one flesh". The spiritual element makes it a sin against your own body and against the Lord.
4. Because it is a sin against your own body. We know that sexual union is beyond just a physical union; thus the consequences go beyond just the physical aspect of it. This is why we use the terms like rape and violation instead of 'foul'. It is beautiful, private, and a holy thing; therefore when one is sexually violated, it is terribly personal and painful.
5. Because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. No buildings; He dwells in us. We literally do not GO to church, but we ARE the church. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
6. Because you were bought with a price. The worth of something is established by what someone is willing to pay for that item. God paid a high price for us! God gave His only begotten Son, the price being His very blood! Charles Spurgeon wrote these words… According to some, the allusion of price here is like the dowry that was paid by a husband for his wife in ancient days. According to the Rabbis there were three ways by which a woman became the wife of a man, and one of these was by the payment of a dowry. This was always held good in Jewish law; the woman was not her own from the moment when the husband had paid to her father or natural guardian the stipulated price for her. Now, at this day, you and I rejoice that Jesus Christ has espoused us unto himself in righteousness or ever the earth was; we rejoice in that language which he uses by the prophet Hosea, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever;" but here is our comfort, the dowry money has been paid, Christ has redeemed us unto himself, and Christ's we are, Christ's for ever and ever.[3]
You are not your own; you were both made by God and redeemed by God through the death of His Son on that wretched cross. Now I said that sexual purity is attainable here and now in this culture. If that is true…
So How Do We Stay Pure in an Impure Society?
You have to think biblically about sexuality (Prov 5:1, 7:1-5). There is wisdom - that sex is beautiful, satisfying, and unifying. It is also fruitful, bearing children. It is meant to be unleashed only in faithful, monogamous, heterosexual marriage. There is also folly - that sex is simply incredible physical activity with no emotional or spiritual union issues, not prudishly limited to marriage. Consider the outcome of both – look around you! Where would the family be if the ideals of marital purity and devotion were still high in our culture? If even 80% of people stayed virgins until marriage and stayed faithful after marriage, just think of how life would be different for us. God is wise. Let us consider His wisdom and live accordingly. Get God's wisdom in your mind; seek it diligently, hide it away, like mining for silver (Prov 2).
You have to flee from sexual temptation. (Prov 5:1-14, 7:7-8). Put up the white flag and run; you will NOT win. Don't get close, don't flirt, compromise, don't look, don't listen, and walk a different path. Don't go near it, don't think you're OK this time, and don't even let yourself be caught talking about it. The very body you are trying to protect and use to glorify God will betray you if you do. The devil is a deceiver; he is the salesman who talks you into buying his lie, then he becomes the snitch to accuses you and sneers while you suffer the consequences of your choice. If you are going to stay away from sexual temptation, you are going to have to be wise in how you choose friends, and ladies – be intentional in dressing modestly, so as not to provoke your brothers to lust.
You have to get married and stay faithful to meet each other's needs (Prov 5:15-20). God did give you this desire, and at a relatively early age. Why wait and marry at a later age? Will you listen to what this society tells you about marriage, or what God tells you about marriage?
God plan for sexuality hasn't changed from the beginning; it is a good and wise plan. So let us glorify God in our bodies. Sexual purity is attainable, church!
Now before I close, I want to direct our attention back to verses 9-11, which preface this portion of the letter…
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Folks, do not water verses 9-10 down at all; let the terrible weight of such a warning sink in to our souls. For only then can we fully absorb the beauty of the message in verse 11!
You are God's. Why? Because a price has been paid for you.
Church family and friends among us, that priceless blood that paid your ransom in full also cleanses your guilt in full. If you have fought and lost, today is a good day to receive forgiveness from Christ and seek His power to start new today. There is grace, there is washing, and there is hope and a new start! Some have called this, "A Secondary Virginity". If you've failed to live by His wisdom in any way, you can begin fresh and clean today, and seek His wisdom, walk in His way. It is the narrow gate, but it leads to eternal life.
If you are here and you do NOT know Christ, you have NOT been called to believe in and follow Him, let me plead with you in love to consider the good grace of God as well as the right justice of God; though He is right to punish all sinners eternally for all sin, He has sent His Son to provide a "way of escape" from such fearful wrath; there on the cross He made a way for all who would turn from sin to God in faith.
[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.
[2] Lewis quote found in found in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians, by John F. MacArthur. Copyright © 1984 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Published by Moody Press, Chicago. All Rights Reserved.
[3] From an excellent article read at http://blogs.blueletterbible.org/
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