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You Are Not Your Own (Pt 2)
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
March 18, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kids’ Korner.
The sermon starts at 16:15 in the audio file.
Or, Glorify God with Your Heart and Parts
Self-indulgent pride knows no boundaries. Self-indulgent Christian pride knows some boundaries, but those boundaries are usually hand-selected. We know better than to say, “If it feels good, do it.” We prefer to try, “If if feels good, and there isn’t a verse against it, don’t let the legalists judge you for it.”
Once we see what Paul is really saying to the Corinthians in chapter 6 we may be surprised. And once we see what Paul is really saying we may say, “Ow.” Our situation is so different from that in the first-century Roman Empire, yet among us sin is still ruining our righteousness like a rusty nail through a flip-flop into the arch of your foot.
The Corinthian Christians were tolerating a man in such gross sin that even the pagans of that day couldn’t stomach (chapter 5). The Corinthian Christians were seeking a version of social justice from unjust judges against their fellow believers (first part of chapter 6). The Corinthian Christians were justifying their self-indulgence with a gospel mantra (middle of chapter 6): “all things are lawful.”
That’s where we finished last Lord’s Day. Paul clarified some limits to Christian liberties, namely, that just because you could do it doesn’t mean you should do it, either because it isn’t helpful to a fellow believer or because it makes one helpless as a slave to the “thing,” whatever the thing may be. Liberty is great! And liberty in Christ is freedom from the burden of the law as well as freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.
Then Paul clarified categories about the Christian’s relationship with bodily appetites, and in doing so moved toward his target in the paragraph. It seems that at least some of the Corinthians Christians were saying that sex is like food: all good, all the time, and of no consequence in the future kingdom. But Paul says the body is “for the Lord and the Lord for the body.” Food may be digested and expelled, but the body has everlasting purposes. It’s not a perishable commodity.
In verses 15-20 Paul asks three more times, “Do you not know?” He’s already used this rhetorical device multiple times in the letter, each time expecting that they are not living in light of the truth they’ve been taught. The church had an application problem.
Application problems, of course, get touchy. Some will complain against certain doctrines, but many more will complain when you step on their toes. It’s one thing to say, “Be like Jesus.” It’s another thing to say, “Be like Jesus, and do you think Jesus would get His hair cut like that?” Or, “Do you think Jesus would watch that TV show?” Paul is stomping around in rhetorical snow-shoes. The Christians in Corinth really should have acted better, and we really will find application, too.
Members of Christ (verse 15)
Paul asks two questions in verse 15 that he knows the answer to before he asks.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Here is one of the great gospel truths: the believer’s union with Christ. When a man believes, he is supernaturally put “in Christ” and also Christ is “in him.” The union is a spiritual union, and yet it affects the physical life as well.
Christians are members of Christ. The word refers to body parts, to “limbs and organs” (Revised English Bible), and sometimes specifically to reproductive parts. Our bodies are members, meaning that it is not just my thoughts or my will or my heart. There is a lot more that Paul will say about Christians being members of Christ’s body in chapter 12 related to our responsibilities to serve the rest of the body. Here it is about our responsibilities to purity. Keep you[...]
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By Trinity Evangel Church1 Corinthians 6:12-20
March 18, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kids’ Korner.
The sermon starts at 16:15 in the audio file.
Or, Glorify God with Your Heart and Parts
Self-indulgent pride knows no boundaries. Self-indulgent Christian pride knows some boundaries, but those boundaries are usually hand-selected. We know better than to say, “If it feels good, do it.” We prefer to try, “If if feels good, and there isn’t a verse against it, don’t let the legalists judge you for it.”
Once we see what Paul is really saying to the Corinthians in chapter 6 we may be surprised. And once we see what Paul is really saying we may say, “Ow.” Our situation is so different from that in the first-century Roman Empire, yet among us sin is still ruining our righteousness like a rusty nail through a flip-flop into the arch of your foot.
The Corinthian Christians were tolerating a man in such gross sin that even the pagans of that day couldn’t stomach (chapter 5). The Corinthian Christians were seeking a version of social justice from unjust judges against their fellow believers (first part of chapter 6). The Corinthian Christians were justifying their self-indulgence with a gospel mantra (middle of chapter 6): “all things are lawful.”
That’s where we finished last Lord’s Day. Paul clarified some limits to Christian liberties, namely, that just because you could do it doesn’t mean you should do it, either because it isn’t helpful to a fellow believer or because it makes one helpless as a slave to the “thing,” whatever the thing may be. Liberty is great! And liberty in Christ is freedom from the burden of the law as well as freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.
Then Paul clarified categories about the Christian’s relationship with bodily appetites, and in doing so moved toward his target in the paragraph. It seems that at least some of the Corinthians Christians were saying that sex is like food: all good, all the time, and of no consequence in the future kingdom. But Paul says the body is “for the Lord and the Lord for the body.” Food may be digested and expelled, but the body has everlasting purposes. It’s not a perishable commodity.
In verses 15-20 Paul asks three more times, “Do you not know?” He’s already used this rhetorical device multiple times in the letter, each time expecting that they are not living in light of the truth they’ve been taught. The church had an application problem.
Application problems, of course, get touchy. Some will complain against certain doctrines, but many more will complain when you step on their toes. It’s one thing to say, “Be like Jesus.” It’s another thing to say, “Be like Jesus, and do you think Jesus would get His hair cut like that?” Or, “Do you think Jesus would watch that TV show?” Paul is stomping around in rhetorical snow-shoes. The Christians in Corinth really should have acted better, and we really will find application, too.
Members of Christ (verse 15)
Paul asks two questions in verse 15 that he knows the answer to before he asks.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Here is one of the great gospel truths: the believer’s union with Christ. When a man believes, he is supernaturally put “in Christ” and also Christ is “in him.” The union is a spiritual union, and yet it affects the physical life as well.
Christians are members of Christ. The word refers to body parts, to “limbs and organs” (Revised English Bible), and sometimes specifically to reproductive parts. Our bodies are members, meaning that it is not just my thoughts or my will or my heart. There is a lot more that Paul will say about Christians being members of Christ’s body in chapter 12 related to our responsibilities to serve the rest of the body. Here it is about our responsibilities to purity. Keep you[...]