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Honor God with Your Bodies: Sermon · Beyond the Sermon

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  You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast The First
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  Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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  On our podcast, the goal is not just to share the sermons we've
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  preached, but to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're
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  learning and what God is doing in US and in our community.
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  You can find more information about our church at
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  fumccollingswood. Dot org.
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  Thanks for listening. This morning Scripture is in
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  First Corinthians chapter 6, starting in verse 12.
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  I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is
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  beneficial. I have the right to do anything,
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  but I will not be mastered by anything you say.
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  Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will
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  destroy them both. The body, however, is not meant
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  for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the
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  body. By His power, God raised the
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  Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.
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  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?
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  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a
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  prostitute? Never.
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  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute
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  is one with her in body. For it is said the two will
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  become one flesh, but whoever is united with the Lord is one with
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  him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality.
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  All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but
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  whoever sins sexually sins against their own body.
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  Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit
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  who is in you, whom you have received from God?
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  You are not your own. You were bought at a price.
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  Therefore honour God with your bodies.
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  This is the Word of God for the people of God.
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  Thanks be to God. Amen.
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  Well, now you know why we invited the kids to go out ahead
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  of time. Let me just acknowledge the
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  elephant in the room. We're talking about sexuality
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  today. I warned you we would, and here
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  we are. If you still feel comfortable
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  though, after last week and this week, don't worry.
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  We've still got money and politics and privilege in the
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  weeks coming, so there's still time to get your toes stepped
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  on. But we're talking about
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  sexuality this morning. Not because I particularly want
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  to, but because Scripture does, God does, and because the the
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  culture we live in tells us that sexuality is such a key part of
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  our identity, right. Ever since the sexual revolution
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  in the 1960s, but I, I think especially since about the year
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  2000, sexuality and sexual identity have come to be
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  elevated within our culture to a primary role in what it means to
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  express ourselves. It's, it says, culture says that
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  it's, it's a key area in which we're told we have to be true to
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  our, our authentic selves, right?
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  An area where we have to follow whatever it is that's in our
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  heart. Modern Western culture says you
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  cannot live a fulfilled life if you're not sexually fulfilled.
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  It's so pervasive, we don't even realize it, right?
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  It's like the air we breathe or the water a fish swims in.
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  And then we add to this all with the rise of casual sex through
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  things like Tinder and Ashley Madison and hookup culture, and
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  you find that sex has been so thoroughly pushed outside the
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  traditional framework of marriage.
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  It's led to all kinds of social and relational issues or
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  infidelity, pornography addiction, sexual abuse, just to
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  name a few. And so I want to be very clear
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  as we get started this morning that we as a church, we believe
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  that God created our sexuality. He created it for our good.
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  But because God's the one who created it, God's the one who
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  who gets to define it in its proper expression, which he does
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  multiple times over the course of Scripture or we hear words
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  like this. For this reason, a man shall
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  leave his father and his mother and be united with his wife, and
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  the two shall become one flesh. This is the ideal that's given
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  in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, right after God creates humanity
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  and brings Adam and Eve together.
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  It was affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19, five when he was
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  being questioned about marriage and divorce.
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  It was repeated by the apostle Paul in his letter to the
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  Ephesians in in Ephesians 5, verse 31, when he was talking
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  about the the comparison between a married couple and the
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  relationship between Christ and the church and how those things
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  interact. And Paul references it again
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  here in this passage from First Corinthians chapter 6, the part
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  of this passage that we read this morning.
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  So I, I want to take some time this morning, look at this
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  passage, what Paul was saying to the Corinthians 2000 years ago
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  and what he's saying to us today, what God's saying to us
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  today. And so Paul begins this passage
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  the same way he did the passage we looked at last week from
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  First Corinthians. It's a little later in First
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  Corinthians, but again, he says I have the right to do anything.
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  He's sharing a quote, a catch phrase from within the
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  Corinthian culture, one that's been adopted by at least some of
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  the members of the church there in Corinth, and and one a catch
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  phrase that Paul clearly wants to refute, right?
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  One he, he doesn't want to just let lie as it is.
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  And so he says again, I have the right to do anything, but not
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  everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything,
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  but I will not be mastered by anything.
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  He's trying to help the the church in Corinth.
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  The Christians in Corinth understand that as Christians,
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  we're not just slaves to our flesh, right?
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  And when Paul talks about the flesh, he's not just talking
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  about our physical blood and bones and muscles.
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  He's not talking about our physical bodies.
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  When Paul says flesh, he means our sinful nature, our lusts,
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  our our disordered desires, those things that sin has
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  disordered within us. And as Paul continues, there's
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  another catch phrase that he wants to talk about that he
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  highlights for refutation. He says food for the stomach and
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  the stomach for food. On face value, you're like,
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  yeah, that makes sense, right? God gave us stomachs for food.
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  He gave us food for our stomachs.
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  That's how God made it. That's how it's supposed to
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  work. But see, The thing is the the
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  Christians within the church in court, they were using this
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  phrase to say, well, we're just using our bodies the way God
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  designed us, right? This is just how God made us,
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  right? He made us sexual beings.
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  We're just having sex. That's how it goes.
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  But Paul says, but your body is made for the Lord, right?
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  It's it's not just made for sex and it's not just made for any
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  sexual practice that might happen to strike your fancy.
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  He continues says you're not free to do anything that happens
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  to feel good in the moment because you don't belong to
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  yourself anymore. He says you were bought with a
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  price. That price was the cost of
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  Jesus's life. So we don't get to define
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  ourselves anymore. We as Christians, we don't get
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  to define our values and our meaning or even our identity,
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  which includes our sexuality. One of the ways we use our
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  bodies, you see, because our bodies have become members of
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  Christ's body, right? We've been united with Christ,
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  but the reality is we're also united to those we have sex
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  with. Specifically in that Corinthian
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  context, Paul was addressing prostitution that was taking
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  place within the the temples there to the the Greek gods.
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  And you know, there's a port city, so there was a lot of
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  sailors coming and going. And where you find sailors
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  coming and going, you find prostitution.
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  It's just the way of the world, but it's not the way of the
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  church or it's not supposed to be, right.
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  And so Paul says when you sleep with someone, you're uniting
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  your body to them. Your body is united to Christ.
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  You're actually uniting that person to Christ as well.
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  The two become one flesh, right? That's that echo from Genesis
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  chapter 2 in Matthew 19 and Ephesians chapter 5.
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  And as Paul continues in his message, he tells the church in
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  Corinth not just to avoid it, but to flee from sexual
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  immorality. My mind automatically goes back
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  to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife back in the book
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  of Genesis. I wonder if that was the same
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  story that was on Paul's mind as he was writing when he says to
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  flee from sexual immorality. Joseph's being seduced by his
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  boss's wife. She grabs him by the cloak,
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  trying to get him to sleep with her, and so he slips out of the
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  cloak, leaves cloak hanging in her hands, and flees from that
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  opportunity. That phrase, sexual immorality,
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  it's a phrase with with broad meaning, right?
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  It's anything outside of biblical marriage.
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  It's adultery, it's pornography, it's homosexuality, it's
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  promiscuity, it's prostitution, premarital sex.
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  Do I need to go on? I think you get the point,
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  right? Paul doesn't feel the need to
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  get into the specifics of what sexual immorality includes what
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  is out of bounds, because he's been very clear about what is in
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  bounds, right? One Man United with one woman
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  within the bounds of marriage, full stop.
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  All right? And one of the problems is that
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  sin has gotten in there, right? And sin has made the focus of
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  sex what I get out of it, right? The pleasure or satisfaction
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  that I receive physically. But the biblical view of sex is
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  different, right? It's actually not about what I
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  get from sex. It's about what I give, what
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  Ioffer thinking about sex Christianly.
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  It's about giving myself to another one who is utterly
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  different from me and yet with whom I'm in covenant
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  relationship. It's an expression of love, and
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  love is always self giving. Not self-serving, not self
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  pleasing, self giving. And this is part of how marriage
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  images the Trinity, right? The the, the intimate
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  relationship within God himself, a Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
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  and how we as the church image the relationship between Christ
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  and the right. And so Paul begins to describe,
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  if we were to continue into Chapter 7, he begins to describe
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  the self giving nature of marriage and how we aren't
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  called to withhold ourselves from one other, but to offer
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  ourselves to each other, to to be faithful to our spouses.
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  But it's interesting to me there in Chapter 7, Paul's clear to
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  say that sex is not what makes us human, right?
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  Sex isn't part of our full expression of our humanity.
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  It's not certainly not the fullest expression of what it is
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  to be human. You don't have to be married to
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  express the image of God. In fact, Paul says it's actually
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  good for people to be celibate to stay single if they can.
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  He even goes so far in Chapter 7 as to imply that there may even
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  be a spiritual gift of celibacy, that God gives some people a
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  special grace to remain single. Because singleness can be a
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  beautiful picture of a life entirely devoted to God, a life
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  entirely available to God and whatever he would ask.
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  Especially in a world that makes so much of romantic
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  relationships, a single person has an opportunity to be
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  wholeheartedly available to God in a way that a married person
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  or a parent cannot be. A single person can be a living
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  image of devotion to God. And remember Jesus.
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  Remember that guy? 100% human, right?
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  That's what we believe. He was 100% human, and yet he
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  remained single. He remained available to God his
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  entire life. His celibacy never lessened his
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  humanity. The American church hasn't done
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  a good job of honoring singleness the way the Bible
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  does, the way other traditions and other periods of church
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  history have. And I think that's to our
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  detriment. We haven't lifted up this this
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  way that God's image is expressed within the community
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  of the church. And no matter whether we're
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  called to singleness or or we choose to marry, we're all
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  called to live within the same biblical sexual ethic, right?
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  Which looks like faithfulness in marriage and celibacy in
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  singleness. Those are the options.
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  Faithfulness in marriage, celibacy in singleness.
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  This is where the call to deny yourself is the rubber hitting
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  the road. You don't belong to yourself,
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  you belong to Jesus. And so sexually, anything
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  outside the bounds of marriage must be denied if we're going to
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  follow the way of Jesus. So what do we do with this
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  information? What does it look like to live
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  within this call to deny ourselves as it regards our
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  sexuality? Well, maybe.
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  Maybe this is new information to you.
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  Maybe. Maybe you've never heard a
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  pastor preach on sex from the pulpit.
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  I was trying to think, I don't know that I have, not as clearly
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  as I have today. Maybe you didn't understand
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  before this morning that that our culture's view of sexual
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  expression isn't compatible with following the way of Jesus, but
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  now you do. Maybe you're realizing that
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  you've been living outside the bounds of a Christian sexual
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  ethic, and you're feeling the grace of conviction working on
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  your heart this morning. Maybe you did know.
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  Maybe you did know, and you've been choosing to live there
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  anyway. If that's you, the invitation is
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  to repent, right? To turn away from that life, To
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  turn to Jesus, to confess your sin, whatever it is, right?
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  Maybe it's pornography. Maybe it's sleeping with a
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  girlfriend or boyfriend. Maybe you're having an affair
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  this morning. Repent.
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  Confess so that you can be healed and forgiven.
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  And maybe you're sitting here this morning and, and at some
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  point in life you've found yourself on the receiving end of
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  someone else's sexual sin. You've been abused, you've been
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  betrayed and cheated on. I'm so sorry if that is the
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  case. It's not what God intended.
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  I've seen the impact that sexual sin has on people.
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  Nothing can undo what's been done to you, but healing is
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  possible. Jesus came to bind up the broken
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  hearted. But Jesus isn't going to force
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  that healing on you. And it doesn't mean it won't
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  take some work on your part to pursue that healing.
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  Would you ask Jesus this morning to bring healing to this aspect
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  of your life, to bring healing to your sexuality?
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  Would you give him permission to work in this part of your heart?
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  Maybe there's something else, something else that God has been
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  speaking to your heart about this morning.
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  Maybe you're unhappy in your singleness and you long not just
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  for for sex, but for intimate companionship.
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  Maybe you've been using sex as a way to manipulate your spouse
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  rather than offering yourself to them.
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  Maybe Jesus is speaking to you and you want to come and commit
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  yourself, or to commit yourself again to following Jesus in your
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  sexuality. You don't have to live the way
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  the world tells us we have to live.
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  Maybe it's something I haven't even mentioned or touched on
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  this morning. Maybe you need to come and talk
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  to Jesus about it, and you need to let Him talk to you and speak
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  what is true over you rather than the lies of the enemy.
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  These are things we in the church aren't particularly
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  comfortable talking about, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't.
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  And when Jesus laid it on my heart to preach this during this
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  season, I said, really, do I have to?
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  But the only one that secrecy helps is the enemy of our souls.
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  Our sexuality is an area that Jesus wants to bring freedom and
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  healing to, and that only happens when things are brought
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  into the light. So I'm going to pray for us this
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  morning. Then we're going to sing the
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  hymn Have Thine Own Way. And if you sense the Spirit
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  speaking to you this morning, I want to invite you to come and
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  meet with him at the altar. Meet God at the altar if you
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  don't sense the Spirit speaking to you this morning.
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  One, I want to challenge you to ask again, But then two, I want
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  to invite you to pray for those who God is speaking to.
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  Right. This isn't a time for judgement.
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  You don't know why anyone might come up to the altar rail.
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  I'm not asking you to judge. I'm asking you to pray for them.
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  It's time for healing to come, for Jesus to minister to
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  people's hearts. And so if Jesus is speaking to
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  you, would you come and speak with him?
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  Let's pray together, Jesus. We are so grateful that there is
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  not an area of our life that you don't care about and there's not
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  a person in this room or watching online or listening
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  later who you do not love with an everlasting love.
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  Oh, God, we recognize, we realize that in this most
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  intimate area of our lives, we've not been untouched by the
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  effects of sin, whether that's our own sin, sins of the world,
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  or the sins of others done to us.
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  And so we come this morning, Jesus asking, would you bring
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  healing? We know your offer is
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  forgiveness all right, if we would confess our sins.
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  You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
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  cleanse us from all unrighteous. You can help us to start afresh
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  today. So, Jesus, in this time, in this
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  moment, would you come? Would you break the chains of
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  oppression and addiction? Would you speak healing into
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  people's hearts? Would you come and convict us,
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  lead us in your kindness to repentance, that in turning to
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  You we can turn away from sin and death and we can find life
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  that is truly life. Jesus, we come to you this
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  morning. Would you have your own way with
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  us? That's our prayer even as we
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  begin to sing. Jesus, come and have your way in
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  this place.