Sermons
on
1
Corinthians:
My
Body
(1
Cor 6:12-17)
I.
INTRODUCTION.
A. A
beautiful
blond,
a
senior in high school share this with her Bible class: “When
we date, we start giving gifts, like flowers or candy.
When a couple becomes engaged, they give
special things—a diamond and very personal things.
The most personal gift that I can ever give
is myself. I have nothing more precious
to give. When I marry, I want to give my
husband the best that I have—my whole self as completely as I can.”
1. Is she not precisely right? Indeed, the most precious thing we can give
to our spouses is ourselves.
2. As right as that girl is, how
odd is that
sentiment in the modern world?
a. How many high school seniors
have not engaged
in casual sex because it was fun?
b. Two
years
ago,
some
researchers published a study in American
Journal of Sociology a study of 832 high school students.
- 573 of the students
reported at least one
sexual encounter within the past year.
- Among
those
573
students,
there were 63 couples, with no outside partners, while
there were 288 students involved in a network of liaisons among one
another.
B. If
you’re anything like I am, you’d really prefer not to discuss sex in a
forum
such as this one.
1. At
times,
quite
honestly,
it is quite awkward to stand before and discuss
sexuality, especially those texts of Scripture which get quite graphic,
and
there are several of those.
a. Some
might
say,
“Find
something else to preach about; we really feel as
uncomfortable hearing it as you feel preaching it.”
b. Of
course,
that
is
not at all the biblical position.
- We
discussed
last
Sunday
night Micaiah’s statement to Ahab: “Whatever the LORD
says to me, that I will speak.”
- We
also
recall
the
Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders: “I have not
hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27). Sexuality, because God made us sexual
creatures, is part of that whole will of God.
2. I’m
not aware of any problem with sexuality in the congregation this
morning: not a
single one.
a. Honestly,
I
think
it’s
better to preach texts such as the one before us this
morning
before there are problems in a congregation; as the old cliché goes:
“An ounce
of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
b. Paul
is
going
to
provide prevention for immorality himself in chapter 7, but
before
he can get there, he must tell the Corinthians to clean house.
- As
we
have
been
discussing from this book, the Corinthians had an adulterous
relationship among them and they boasted about it.
- That
dispute
seems
to
have spilled over and caused a legal battle between one or
more members of the church.
- Now,
Paul
returns
to
the theme of sexual immorality.
As Paul writes about sexuality, he tells us three things about
my body:
MY BODY IS FOR THE LORD, MY BODY WILL BE RAISED BY THE LORD, & MY
BODY IS
ONE WITH THE LORD.
II.
MY
BODY IS FOR THE LORD, vv. 12-13.
A. “’Everything
is
permissible
for
me’—but not everything is beneficial.
‘Everything is permissible for me’—but I will
not be mastered by anything. ‘Food for
the stomach and the stomach for food’—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality,
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
B. “Everything
is
permissible
for
me” & “Food for the stomach and the stomach for
food”
were slogans used by philosophers in the ancient world to argue for a
hedonistic lifestyle, especially as it related to sexuality.
1. Many
Greek
philosophers
argued
that casual sex was acceptable as long as that
behavior did not control the person; the Cynics, one group of
philosophers in
Paul’s day, would carry out their desires in public.
2. The
slogans
Paul
uses
here were used in antiquity quite like the slogans “It’s my
body” and “I’m not hurting anybody” in our own day.
3. In
quoting
these
slogans,
Paul is using a rhetorical device known as diatribe.
a. In
a
diatribe,
the
orator would construct a false opponent, claim the
opponent
would say certain things and then destroy the false opponent’s
viewpoints; it
would be like Hillary Clinton going to a campaign rally, saying here’s
what
Rudy Giuliani would say, and here’s why Giuliani is wrong.
b. We
do
a
form
of this all the time. If we’re
in a discussion with someone discussing some issue and we begin playing
“devil’s advocate,” we’re basically doing what Paul was doing here.
C. Paul
twice declares that everything is permissible.
1. There
are
some
scholars
who say that Paul is referencing the freedom we have in
Christ when he writes that everything is permissible.
2. That
view,
however,
doesn’t
adequately deal with the word “but” in Greek; the word
shows a contrast between two diverse concepts.
3. Have
you
ever
an
argument with your spouse when he or she said something and you
said, “Whatever, but here’s what I think . . . .”?
It seems to me that Paul is saying, “OK,
look, the philosophers and maybe some of you Corinthians are saying you
can do
whatever you want sexually, but here’s the truth.”
D. Even
though some claimed in Corinth that everything was permissible, not
everything
is beneficial.
1. The
KJV
uses
the
word “expedient” here, and Paul is using the term in a sense
that
we speak of “expedient” in the church.
The pulpit is an expedient in that it aides worship by providing
me a
place to set my notes and Bible; it doesn’t change worship but helps it. The pitch pipe is an expedient in that it
aides worship by providing the correct pitch for singing; it doesn’t
change
worship but helps it.
2. The
ancients
claimed
that
they could fulfill their sexual appetites however they
wanted, but Paul declares that’s not helpful.
a. Why is that not helpful,
beneficial, or
expedient?
- In
the
previous
paragraph,
Paul declared that those who habitually do such
shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Would
not
such
behavior,
therefore, take me further from God rather than close to
him?
b. We dare never think that sexual
immorality is helpful to us.
- How
many
high
school
and college students think, “If I don’t find some avenue to
release this appetite, I’m going to be agitated and not be able to
perform my
best”?
- How
many
married
people
might think, “My spouse is too frigid.
If I don’t find some fulfillment of these
desires, I’m not going to be as good a husband or father”?
- How
many
engaged
couples
think, “We’re going to get married anyway.
I need to know as much about my future spouse
as possible”?
- But,
we
must
understand
such behavior is never beneficial.
E. Neither
will
Paul
allow
himself to be mastered by such behavior.
1. Paul
uses
a
future
tense here which demonstrates a decision of the will; in other
words, Paul declares that he has made his mind up that he will not
allow his
sexual appetite to control him.
2. How
many
people
in
the modern world allow sexuality to control them?
Sex, for them, is not a special part of
marriage, but it is something they must do, like an alcoholic with his
bottle.
F. Paul
uses
another
slogan
which was quite prevalent in Corinth: “Food for the
stomach
and the stomach for food.”
1. Corinthian
philosophers
argued
that
sexuality was just like eating, a purely physical act,
and it should in no way be frowned upon.
2. It
is
very
true
that sex has a very physical component to it—God created us
as
physical creatures, but, of course, God did not create us as only
physical
beings, for we are made in his image.
3. The
reason,
according
to
Paul that we cannot do whatever we want physically is that
God is going to destroy the body.
a. When Jesus comes again, these
bodies will be
destroyed and we will be given new bodies.
b. Therefore, why engage in
physical acts which
are going to jeopardize our eternal inheritance?
- That premise has a larger
context that just
sexuality.
·
Why
spend all our time being greedy and attempting to obtain more and more
things
when God is going to destroy everything at the return of Jesus?
·
Why
spend time having a good time with alcohol when these bodies and that
alcohol
will be no more when Jesus comes again?
·
Why
do anything physical that is going to take us further from God when
physical
things are not going to last?
-
Are you this morning spending
your time
with the things of this world when they aren’t going to last?
G. The
body is not meant for sexual immorality,
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1. Although
God
created
as
physical and sexual creatures, he never, ever intended these
physical, sexual bodies be used for immorality.
Since God created our bodies the way that he did, does it not
stand to
reason that he has the right to regulate how we use our bodies?
2. The
body
is
for
the Lord, for his service.
And, the Lord is for the body, for, as we’ll see next week, he
dwells in
that body in a very special way.
3. How
are
we
using
our bodies? Are we using
our bodies for the service of the Lord or for immorality?
III. MY
BODY WILL BE RAISED BY THE LORD, v.
14.
A. “By
his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”
B. The
Corinthians seem to have had a lot of problems over the resurrection of
the
dead.
1. There
are
many
people
in our own day who have a lot of questions and even get
caught
up in error over Armageddon, the return of the Lord, and other such
subjects.
2. Paul
is
going
to
deal with the Corinthians’ problems in detail over in chapter
15,
but here he simply declares that the same God who raised Jesus will use
the
same power he used in his resurrection to raise the Corinthians.
C. The
resurrection
does
not
simply have implications as we stand beside the casket of
a loved one who died in Christ, but it has implications for how we use
our
bodies. Since Jesus raised Jesus and
will raise us also, we cannot use these soon-to-be-glorified bodies
however we
chose.
IV.
MY
BODY IS ONE WITH THE LORD, vv. 15-17.
A. “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!”
1. In
1
Corinthians
12,
Paul is going to write at length about the body of
Christ and
how each member of that body is part of Christ and is to be used in
that body
in a special way.
2. There
have
been
several
works written by our brethren and others declaring that
the
church is the modern incarnation of Jesus.
a. While
some
of
those
works have taken extreme views on certain matters of doctrine,
I
believe the premise of those works is valid: Jesus has ascended back to
the
Father and the church is to be the incarnation of Christ in the modern
world:
we are to be his lips speaking the good news, his hands offering
compassion to
the downtrodden, and the like.
b. Because
the
church
is
the present manifestation of Christ in the world, we are
members
of Christ.
3. Should
we then take ourselves as members of Christ and unite them with a
prostitute?
a. Paul uses a very strong work in
Greek for
“never”—it basically means “Absolutely not!”
b. Corinth
was
full
of
prostitution—There were a variety of temples in Corinth where
prostitution was practiced; many young girls were abandoned by their
parents
and these girls often became slaves who were forced into prostitution
very
early; and, in the Roman world, prostitution was considered an
acceptable
alternative to adultery.
B. In
the
next
verse,
Paul makes clear why one could never take a member of
Christ
and join him with a prostitute—“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,’” v. 16.
1. There
is
one
important
message we need to understand about sexuality, whether
biblical sanctioned or sinful: Sexuality is not just a physical act. That destroys the notion of harmless casual
sex.
2. Why
can’t
we
just
have sex with whomever we choose?
Simply because the sex act makes the two individuals one.
a. In
the
OT,
we
find the idea of becoming one flesh in Gn 2:24.
The broad context there has to do with much
more than sexuality, but the context is one of humans being physical
creatures:
God causes Adam to go into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs, created
the
woman, and brought her to Adam. Adam
then declared that Eve was “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Immediately following Gn 2:24, we find the
statement that Adam and Eve were naked, obviously physically naked.
b. From
that
context,
Paul,
guided by the Spirit, takes the principle of being bound
with a husband or wife sexually and declares that is the only person
with whom
we can be so bound.
- Notice
carefully
the
words
Moses records in Gn 2:24: “For this reason [the fact that
woman was made from man] a man will leave his father and mother and be
united
to his wife, and they [the husband and wife] will become one flesh.”
- Only
a
husband
and
wife can become one flesh.
I can’t become one flesh with my boyfriend/girlfriend, a
prostitute, or
someone I met on a business trip. Because
of the intimacy involved in both marriage in general and the sexual act
in
particular, sexuality, the most intimate of physical acts, belongs only
in a
relationship where we have the closest broad intimacy with anyone on
earth.
C. We
are to unite ourselves to our spouses: physically, emotionally,
financially,
and in many other ways.
1. It’s
a
grave
mistake
to say that either the union or the intimacy in marriage
only
revolves around sexuality, for there are so many ways we become
intimate in a
marriage.
a. For
example,
Tammy
&
I have become more and more like one another in the years
we’ve been married—sometimes, it is frightening the extent to which we
think
alike.
b. A
couple
weeks
or
so ago, Tammy & I were in the car on the way to the
bank. I was driving, so Tammy was
filling out the deposit slip. She said,
“Honey, how much cash do you think we should get back?”
I said, “How much do you think we should get
back?” She gave me her answer, and I
burst out laughing. You know why? I was going to suggest the same amount.
2. That
stuff
happens
to
us all the time, and I don’t think it’s coincidence.
We have, in many ways, become one person
since we married, and I know those of you who have been married much
longer
than I could give story after story after story.
D. While
the
closest
intimacy
we could ever hope to have is with our spouse, we have
a
spiritual intimacy with the Lord, an intimacy we can’t have with anyone
else:
“He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit,” v. 17.
1. Some
might
think,
“What
on earth is this statement doing in this paragraph?”
On one level, it does seem to break the flow
of Paul’s argument, for Paul has been discussing physical intimacy
prior to
this verse and he’s going to discuss it in the verses to follow.
2. However,
it’s
a
mistake
to divorce what we do in the body with who we are spiritually.
a. There
have
been
several
in the past who have done precisely that—they have said
that
Christians could do whatever they wanted in the flesh and that did not
affect
their spirits.
b. Paul
demonstrates
right
here
that’s not at all right, but how we live in our bodies
affects who we are spiritually.
3. Because
we
are
one
with the Lord in spirit, we have an intimacy with the Lord that
those
outside of him simply cannot have. Are
we maintaining that intimacy? Are we
living in the body—sexually and in every other way—how God would have
us live?