"12 “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh. 17 But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."
I Corinthians 6:12-20
Good Morning Beloved,
Welcome to worship, thank you for joining us!
We're glad you're here!
First, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You Father, for the marvelous Word You have prepared for us today. However, we confess, though, that we tend to fall short, in living out what we so often learn, especially when it comes to using our bodies for You. We see them as our own and we have a tendency to use them for our own purposes. Lord, we ask that You would forgive us and set us free from our short sightedness and self-centeredness. Father, help us to honor You and glorify You with our bodies.
To the glory of You, to the glory of Jesus Christ and to the glory of the Holy Spirit
in Christs' name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Lets Get Physical
Open your Bibles with me to I Corinthians 6:12-20. Follow along with me, if you will, as I read our text for today's study to get it settled in our hearts and minds. I Corinthians 6:12-20.
"Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh. But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."
I Corinthians 6:20 says, "for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."
Therefore glorify God in your body. Therefore glorify God in your body.
This is a rather startling, really grabbing, kind of radical command. Wouldn't you agree? Therefore glorify God in your body. Another way of translating the verse might be, worship God with your body...or honor God with your body. Perhaps, even praise God with your body.
The word here for praise or honor is "doxazo" in Greek, which is the original language of the New Testament. "Doxazo" is the word from which we get our word doxology.
Paul is saying, "Turn your body into a living robust rousing round of doxology."
And this is kind of a wild and radical thing to say.
In the ancient Greek world the human body was an encumbrance to be overcome. The only thing that really mattered, in the Greek world view, was the SOUL.
The Greeks always considered the body to be irrelevant to anything significant.
There was a Greek proverb: The body is a tomb.
Epictetus said: "I am a poor soul shackled in a corpse."
So, the object of Greek religion and philosophy was to help a person get beyond the body and to the only thing that really mattered – the soul or the spirit.
And this underlying Greek assumption led to two schools of thought. Some people argued that since the body was a tomb you need to do everything you could do to deny it and all of it’s passions.
Discipline. Structure.
As much as possible deny yourself of food, wine, and sex.
"Mortify the body" was the war cry of this group.
However, in contrast, the second line of thought said, "Well, since the body is unimportant and what you do with it is irrelevant to the soul, why not become an all-out stark raving hedonist?"
Deny yourself no pleasure! Indulge yourself in everything!
And as we continue to read through I Corinthians, we start to see that there were Christians from both of these schools of thought, who were causing trouble in the Corinthian church. Paul is trying to get his original Greek-world readers to see that as followers of Jesus our approach is totally different. You see, we don’t view the body is superfluous to the soul or even secondary -- something to be overcome so you can get to real spirituality.
Jews and Christians alike, don’t separate the body from the soul. It’s all a package deal. The state of your soul affects your body and what you do with your body affects your soul.
Sure you can distinguish between the two but you can’t separate them, pry them apart. which is what the Greeks wanted to do.
As a matter of fact, “You can actually honor God with your body,” says the Apostle.
You see, honoring God isn’t a matter of denying the body but of using your body to glorify him. And this really brings religion down to earth.
A few of your are scratching your heads and saying “Okay... your point being? Will you please cut to the chase?”
Well, think about it a minute. Our culture – our world is very much into the body. We go to the gym, we indulge ourselves with fine food, and we even the most restrained person tends to pursue pleasure in some form. Vacations. Roller-coaster rides. Skiing. Snow-boarding. Let's be honest, the only reason we would deny ourselves anything is so we can better our bodies. So we diet. We exercise. At least some of us do. And for what? All, because we want to improve the body... make it healthier. To make us look better, feel better.
In some ways we have the opposite problem of the ancient Greeks. We almost worship the body! We see the body as an end in and of itself. And while this is the opposite of the Greek problem the irony is that Paul’s word to these early Christians is really right on the mark and applicable to us and our body-obsessed world.
So why is Paul so concerned about what we do with our bodies?
Well, first of all, it's a matter of creation.
OUR BODIES WERE MADE FOR THE LORD AND HE CARES ABOUT WHAT WE DO WITH THEM.
Let's take a closer look at verses 12-13."“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them."
The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Therefore, the implication is eat as much as you can.
Or to apply the proverb to the issue at hand, "Sex is for the body and the body is for sex."
"These urges we have to eat and procreate are natural - therefore we should indulge them as though they were in end in and of themselves. If there is nothing beyond what we do with our bodies we should maximize our indulgence."
Or so argues your neighbor who has this unending stream of sexual partners – who works out endlessly so he can feel good about himself and how he looks.
And if this is all there is to life -- who can really blame him!
We’re not here to make fun of people for being body obsessed. This is very understandable in a mechanical material-only world.
But the Apostle Paul is saying: "You say, ‘Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food."
This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But, our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.”
"Our bodies were made the for the Lord," that what Paul says. They were made to be in union with God so that we may become more godlike. Your purpose in life isn’t to have as much fun as possible – to experience as much pleasure as possible or to enjoy as many types of food as possible. Our bodies were made for the Lord, Paul says.
This isn’t to say that food and pleasure are bad – to the contrary. We need to eat. They are a part of having bodies. Food is good. Sex is good. Pleasure is good. But we were not made to let those things control our bodies and define our lives.
When God created our bodies He did so with the intention that we would use them to honor him and reflect his glory! His glory, not ours!
So, Paul is concerned about what we do with our bodies. And, so is the Lord. So is the Lord.
Why? Because our bodies will share in the resurrection!
We are told in verse 14, "God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power." And, in verse 15, he continues, "Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!"
An idea of union with Christ again. Don’t you realize that your bodies are parts of Christ – members of Christ? ...even those of you in the back row there.
Pinch yourself. Ouch. That body with all of it’s flesh and all of the nerve endings are a part of the body of Christ. When you were baptized you were baptized into Christ; and you became one with him. And because you are one with him you will share in his resurrection. And we’re not just talking about your souls or your spirits but about all of you – including your bodies.
As we see in the Nicene creed, summarizing the biblical teaching, "We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.."
I'll admit, I always kind of cringe a bit when I go to a grave side service and someone says –"Our friend Bill is gone now. The body is just the empty shell. Bill has departed from his body and gone on to higher and better things. So, now we say good-bye to his body, knowing that we will see him again in heaven." Each service various, but it's often something along those lines.
While I do understand the sentiment intended, that’s not exactly accurate. The body isn’t just an empty shell that can be disposed of, thrown out, like the box that your new pair of shoes came in. Its not like the butterfly disposes of the cocoon.
If you are united with Christ in more than just a spiritual sense – in a bodily sense, too! Therefore, you don’t want to do anything with your body to taint, to negatively impact that union.
Let's look at verse 15 again, – "Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!"
And Paul isn’t just talking about prostitutes. But he is using an absurd example to talk about any kind of sexual immorality. For sex is an act of physical and spiritual union. It’s not just a mechanical release of sexual urges – as I believe a great many of today's culture is inclined to think.
But sex is an act of union – body and spirit meeting together.
And whatever unions you enter into, if you are also in union with Christ, those unions should be of the nature for which we were created by Christ. They need to be pleasing to him.
You can be a member of the United States Army and the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. You can be in the US Army and be in Rotary and the Fraternal organization or any number of other organizations. But you can’t be a member of the US Army and be a member of say, the Taliban at the same time. You can't be a member of some terrorists group! That would be absurd! Its an incompatible union. That is what Paul is saying about a sexual union. Whatever, sexual union you engage in, it must be compatible with your union with Christ. If you are in union with Christ, a sexual union with someone who is not your spouse is totally unpleasing to God, its unfitting, unbecoming a believer in Christ!
Verse 16 says, "Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh"
Then he adds, in verse 18, "Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body."
Sexual sin is worse than some other sins because it isn’t just an assault on the soul – a person’s spiritual well-being. But it is an assault on the body as well. Therefore, if we are looking so highly of our bodies, if we are going to be so very concerned about our bodies, we need to must also see that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit indwells in us. He has made a home inside every believer.
We heard this in chapter 3 where Paul talked about the church as the temple or dwelling place, the residence of the Spirit of God, but here in chapter 6 he takes the idea a step further and says that our bodies as individuals are also the temple of the Spirit.
And Paul reminds of this in verse 19, "Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"
When you were saved, when you were baptized, when faith started to take root in your life, God’s Holy Spirit moved in and started to take up residence in you, and not just in your heart and mind – but in your body as well.
Before we move forward, I'd like us to just paused for a moment and think about that!
That's extremely important. The Holy Spirit lives in your body.
In what way, if any, does this change what you do or don’t do with your body?
But wait a second, maybe even this is the wrong question.
I do realize that this is a radical thought for the self-centered, individualistic Americans who like to think in terms of individual ownership and independence. It’s not YOUR body at all! Effectively, its on loan to you!
If you loaned something of great value to you, and believe it or not, that is how God sees your body, would you expect them to take care of it? Would you be OK with it, if they essentially "trashed" it?
That is the point that Paul is trying to make! Its not yours, it belongs to God, take great care of it.
Just look at verses 19-20, "Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."
Your body is the dwelling place of the Spirit. AND your body was an extremely expensive purchase made by God – “bought with a price” – an obvious reference to what Christ did when he died on the cross.
He redeemed you. He bought you off the slave block. And it cost him his perfect life. And since you have been purchased by Christ there is a sense in which you no longer own your life...including your body. Your body belongs to God. He holds the pink slip.
WE NEED TO GET OVER THE MIND SET (and this is the third implication), WE NEED TO GET OVER THE MIND SET WHICH VIEW’S ONE’S BODY AS A PERSONAL POSSESSION. THEY (our bodies) ARE A TRUST FROM GOD.
This is how we got into this abortion mess, isn’t it? Women started saying – “This is my body and I should be able to do with it as I please.”
Men started saying, “This is my body and I should be able to have sex with whomever whenever someone agrees.”
“Don’t intrude on my individual rights! Don’t tread on me! I am my own person! I am free to pursue my own destiny and pleasure.”
“Restrictions and rules are artificial impediments to the individual’s right to pursue his or her own way.”
Really?
If you are a follower of Jesus you realize that you have given up your rights of ownership and you are a possession of the loving living God who bought you out of sin and darkness and did so at great expense to himself.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you see your life, including your body, as a trust given to you by God to be operated in his own best interest. When you decide what you are going to put in your body you have to do so conscious that it’s not really your body that you are filling. When you decide to do something wild and crazy, you must remember that you are doing it with someone else’s body.
“You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.”
If you are a follower of Jesus – your purpose, your aim, your point of resolve, is to honor God with your body. Here's the point: IT IS OUR GOAL TO HONOR GOD WITH OUR BODIES.
I’m not suggesting that this is easy or that there isn’t forgiveness and grace when we do blow it. Because the God who owns our bodies is gracious and merciful. However, that does not mean we are to do what we want and take advantage of His grace and mercy.
Therefore, we need to realize that if we are following Jesus we also need to be honoring God with our bodies – if we are not doing so, then we are not truly following Jesus, are we?
In Closing....
There has been a lot of talk about sex in this chapter, which is probably the only thing keeping some of you awake, because this is a complicated passage. And it has taken a little longer to flesh things out. But I’m going to let you in on a secret. This passage isn’t really about sex! Only indirectly. This isn’t a sex talk but a lesson on the body. Which, happens to include sex. However, it also includes a number of things, like over indulgence. Like abusing our bodies.
Paul is trying to get his readers to take a holistic approach to faith and to recognize that we don’t just honor God with our words, or our songs, or attitudes, or our spirits – but honoring God has to do with how we manage our bodies as well.
Glorify God with your body. If you get that down now, in the natural, beloved, the you are light years ahead of most people in their walk with Christ. This is the real meat of the faith
Honor and glorify God with your body.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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