We are Free, to the Glory of God!
I
Corinthians 6:12-20
Introduction: The sign entering Boothbay on Rt.
27 bears the town motto, Pelegrinis cibum dedimus, “We fed
the pilgrims.” Maybe we should get one made to go under our church sign, “We
are only pilgrims”! One of the themes that we see in the New Testament that helps
us gain perspective in the Christian life is that we are pilgrims, sojourners
in this world. We are not home yet, we are citizens of Heaven! So how do we
live if we are in the world but not of the world? One of the heretical
applications of Christian doctrine that we see the biblical writers confront is
legalism, the human tendency to
define spirituality in terms of what we don’t do (see Galatians). We make our list, this is what Christians
should look like, and try to enforce that “obedience” in the best way we
can. Do THIS and you will live, do THAT
and you are toast! The problem with that
approach is that none of us obeys perfectly, we all sin and fall short of the
glory of God. Salvation can only be by the grace of God, that is, by God’s unmerited
favor. There is another extreme that seems to manifest itself as well, that is,
the assumption that if we are saved by grace and not by works, then as long as
we “believe” we can do whatever we want, it really doesn’t matter! So grace becomes a license to sin. That thinking also is a perversion of what it
means to be “set free” by Jesus, a twisted misunderstanding of grace. Paul asks
and answers that question when he says in Romans 6:1b-2a, “…Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? God forbid!” Letters like I Peter and the one we’ve been studying
the last few months, I Corinthians, also caution against that error. You see…
The Big Idea: We are free in Christ: not
free to sin, but rather freed from sin, so we are free to glorify Him!
I. The extent of Christian Liberty (12-14). We are indeed free in Christ, not free to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, but rather free to live to the glory of God!
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.
There are absolutes of right and
wrong, the Bible from beginning to end contrasts righteousness or holiness on
the one hand, with sin and iniquity. God is holy. He is “…of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity…”
(Habakkuk 1:13). Satan is a liar, the accuser of the brethren. That is truth.
But there are many issues to which the Bible may not speak directly, some that
might be an offense in one culture, and normal in another. What then? What
guides our choices and decisions? Later in this letter Paul will come back to the
effect our choices have on others, using the illustration of a culturally
relevant issue, meat sacrificed to idols! That is not much of an issue in 21st
century America! Yet there is application for us. The guiding principle he
establishes is: will my action cause a weaker brother to stumble? My love and
concern for my brother should then be my guide, his welfare is more
important than my rights. That is
part of what he implies here, it will be more explicit later. He focuses on the
effects my choices have...
The wording in this passage can be a
little confusing until we remember the relationship and the correspondences
that happened between Paul and the Corinthian Church. First of all he was with them for at least 18
months. During that time he had taught and preached and discipled the
believers. There is no doubt they remembered and repeated some of the things he
had preached. He had also written an earlier letter to them (I Corinthians
5:9). And the Corinthians had written a letter to Paul (see 7:1). Most scholars believe that Paul is referring
to some things that the Corinthians were saying, either their own ideas, or
perhaps phrases that Paul had used but were now being taken out of context. Some
English translations put the first phrase in v.12 in quotation marks, “All things are lawful to me…” What those
translators are saying is that this this phrase is something that Paul is
quoting, probably something that some of the people or leaders in the
Corinthian church were saying. The same goes for the first phrase in v.13, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for
food…” Someone was saying this, and
claiming that our freedom means we can do what we want, and our hungers and
physical needs are part of being human, part of how God made us. Have you ever
heard that, “I can’t help it, God made me this way”? Paul gives a few
principles to guide us…
First of all, is the practice helpful or is it harmful? “All things are lawful… but not all things are helpful…” Paul will actually come back to this in Chapter 10 when his is talking there about the question of meat sacrificed to idols. There we read,
"‘All
things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’
but not all things build up…” (I
Corinthians 10:23).
What effect will this choice have on me, or on
others? Is it something that will help or hurt my Christian life and witness? Andy used a provocative example last week of
a Christian couple in Ireland, who had decided to go back to the pub where
there old friends frequented, and even to maybe have a beer while they
were there. What we need to think through carefully: what will we be
communicating to them? Is it “helpful”? Will it build someone up? Would that
help or hurt my Christian walk? Will it help, or hinder my witness? All things are lawful, but not all things are
helpful!
Secondly, does this choice threaten to control my life?
“All things are lawful… but I will
not be enslaved to anything.” The word has the idea, “be master by” or “be
under another’s authority.” Paul is saying he is not going to make choices that
will enslave him to the flesh or to his old nature. An obvious application is the things that can
be so addicting: substances like the abuse of prescription medications or alcohol,
these can became addictive, enslaving. I am free in Christ and I want to stay
free by walking the path the He would have me walk. If something is going to
make you a slave, you are free to say “no!”
Do you ever feel that you just can’t
make the choices you know would honor God and would be best for you? You just
can’t do it alone? You don’t have to. We
are not called to walk this walk alone, in our own strength. Nor will we need
to battle the world, the flesh and the devil forever. Paul says, in v.14, “And God raised the Lord
and will also raise us up by his power…” Resurrection power is at work in us, and resurrection
hope is the promise that empowers us. Remember that idea from our Easter
message? We quoted Erich Sauer’s description of this period in redemptive
history, “The present age is Eastertime. It began with the resurrection of the
redeemer and will end in the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the
spiritual resurrection of those who are called into new life through faith in
Christ. And so we live between two Easters. And in the power of the first
Easter we go to meet the last Easter.” That
is an excellent summary of where we are in redemptive history and how we are to
live our pilgrim lives. The power that raised Jesus from the grave is at work
in you (if you know Him!)! And the God who
raised the Lord will also raise us up by his power.
“If the Son therefore
shall make you free, you will be free indeed!” We are free in Christ. Not free to sin, but rather freed from sin. We are no longer slaves to sin
and to Satan. The chains are off, we are free! Because that is true, we are
free to glorify the Lord.
II. Free to identify ourselves with the Lord (15-17).
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.
Members
of Christ. “Do you not know that your bodies are members
of Christ?” The fact that we are “members of Christ,” we are a part of the church,
His body, should motivate us to make choices that respect our position in
Christ. This principle doesn’t refer only to sexual sin, though that seems to
be the issue in Corinth. Whenever we resist the truth and follow the world, the
flesh, or the devil, we are giving the enemy a foothold. Paul will talk more about this a little
further down in in the letter. We read in 12:12-14,
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of
the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were made to
drink of one Spirit. 14 For
the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Positionally we are “in Christ.” We are “members”
of Christ, part of the body. “Immorality” means that we are joining our body,
which is identified with Him, with another if we engage in sexual sin. Remember
the context in which the Corinthians lived. “Prostitution” was a normal,
accepted part of the culture. But God’s design for human sexuality is not
based on culture, it is not open to what is popular or politically correct. “For
this cause a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh.” One man, one woman, for life. That is the
context in which God designed sexual intimacy to be enjoyed. Right before this passage Paul described some
of the sins that controlled the lives of the Corinthians before they believed.
We read in 6:9-11,
9 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.
We are in Christ, and we are free in Christ: not free to sin, but rather freed from sin, so we are free to glorify Him!
III. Free to glorify God in our conduct and choices (18-20).
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.
Flee! (The example Joseph). There is a time to stand and fight and there
is a time to run, and in the face of sexual temptation, Paul tells the
Corinthians to “flee!” If you think you are better than that, if you think you
could never fall, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Paul similarly warned Timothy,
“So flee youthful passions
and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on
the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).
The story of Joseph is like a drama
on the pages of Genesis. Sold into slavery, God is with him, and he rises to be
the manager of the household of Potiphar. But the time came when Joseph had to
flee! We read in Genesis 39:6-13,
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master's
wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." 8 But he refused and said to his
master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about
anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house
than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you
are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against
God?" 10 And as she
spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or
to be with her. 11 But one
day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the
house was there in the house, 12
she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his
garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house…
All right, I think maybe Joseph could
have handled it better, but the point is he did not merely stand his ground
when the situation escalated, he fled the temptation. He knew sin would be an
offense to his master and an offense to God. When “no” was not enough, he got
out of there! “Flee sexual immorality!”
Now Joseph was a slave, so he didn’t necessarily have “freedom” to avoid potentially
disastrous situations. We do. The flesh is weak, so protect yourself by not
being in situations where you might be susceptible. “Three is a crowd,”
which is a good idea with respect to the opposite sex. For a moment can I go off the main point? Men
are easily tempted visually, that is one reason why pornography has always been
a huge industry and why internet porn is so out of control. I don’t think some women quite understand
this, if they did why would they dress the way they do? Why would they “flirt”
so blatantly with men in the workplace? I think the ladies in our church are a
good example of modesty that honors God. Women, you can help, lovingly, as an
older sister, if you see younger women who need guidance in this area. Enough
said. Men, your only defense is to follow the example of Job, and “make a covenant with your eyes, not to look
on a maiden to lust after her…” If your eyes drift, immediately look away, because
if you do look and lust, what did Jesus say, “You have already committed adultery with her in your heart…” (Matthew
5:28). You are “free to flee,” to the
glory of God! Paul next gives some motivation and some hope.
Recognize you are never alone-
The body is God’s Temple. This
is powerful language. Not only are we “in
Christ” and so we are “members” of Christ, but God, the Holy Spirit, dwells
in us! As he spoke of the church earlier
as “the temple of God” inhabited by the Spirit, here he uses the same metaphor
to describe the body of the believer. God himself is in us, just as surely as
he was present in the tabernacle in the wilderness and in the Temple in Jerusalem,
in this age God, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us!
Remember the price that was paid. He is your Maker, and He is
present. He is also your Redeemer, “…you
are not your own, you were bought with a price…” Remember the price that
was paid. Remember the old hymn, “…was it for crimes that I have done He
groaned upon the tree?” Salvation is a
free gift, but it came at a tremendous price. We were bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body.
What is God saying to me in
this passage? We are
free in Christ: not free to sin, but
rather freed from sin, so we are free to glorify Him!
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? So then, welcome to Boothbay Baptist Church, we are only pilgrims! What does it mean to live as a “pilgrim,” a “sojourner,” to be “in the world but not of the world”? What does it mean to be free in Christ? For one thing, we are no longer in, what Martin Luther called, “The Bondage of the will.” Paul put it this way in Romans 6:17-19…
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become
obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed, 18 and, having
been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms,
because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your
members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness,
so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to
sanctification...
One factor
that motivates us is that we are “in Christ,” members of the body, and God is
in us, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Get that into your head and into your heart. He is with you. Always. The
struggle against sin is real, and it is unrelenting. But we have what we need
to live victoriously. We have Him. So make wise choices, avoid situations
that you know will present temptation, make a covenant with your eyes, and
glorify God in your bodies. Remember the
price that was paid, so you are not your own, you were bought with a
price. And remember, the same power that
raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. Think about that. AMEN.
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