Transcription
[Music] Will the Lord be with you? If you have a Bible or someone around you does, would you turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians? We are going to be looking at chapter 6, 12 to 20 this morning. 1 Corinthians 6:12 to 20.
And through this series, we've been seeing Paul writing a letter to a church in the city of Corinth. And as we've seen through this series, this church has a lot of problems. And we've been working through a lot of these specific problems and how Paul has specifically been addressing them. And so what we ultimately see in this book is that the church of Corinth is allowing the culture to infiltrate and to influence the church rather than them being impacted and transformed by the gospel of Christ and then impacting and being salt and light to its culture.
And so because of that, we see that with culture, culture rather infiltrating the church, it starts to spread and basically manifest in multiple different ways. And so what we see is the first issue that he addresses is how there are these divisions that are arising in the church, that there are these factions forming and certain religious officials and leaders of the church are starting to grow in prominence. And so they start to get behind certain leaders and they start to say, "Because I was baptized by this person or this is my leader, I have more value or I have more status in the church." And so they start to break apart and they are dividing the body of Christ. And so he calls them back to unity within the gospel rather than continuing to be schismatics.
We also see that he addresses a form of incest in the church where there is a man who is in a relationship with his father's wife and the church was not doing anything about it. In fact, it seemed as if they were boasting in the fact that they were so affirming and so accepting as a church that they would say that even this person feels comfortable in our congregation because we are okay with that lifestyle. And so he starts to address that issue.
We then also saw how there were even lawsuits going on within the church, that there were these petty lawsuits between one brother to another brother and they were just trying to take advantage of others and that they would just do things to just belittle and to destroy one another. And so you see a lot of problems and this is just the beginning. We still have a lot more to go through this book of things going on in this one local congregation.
And so this morning, what we're going to see is that Paul actually goes back to the topic of sexual immorality and specifically their philosophy and their understanding of sex and the body and what its purpose is for. And so once again, as I mentioned this when we talked about the incest message, this is going to be a PG-13 sermon. I feel like Titus happens to always be here for the PG-13 sermons. Um, but we are going to be talking about some things that are going to be a little bit more, you know, um, out there in some respects. Um, but you might be for a moment, you might just be like, "Why do we got to talk about sexual immorality? Or why do we got to talk about some of these things, you know, in a church setting?" Maybe you might even be sick of it. You're like, "All right, we got it. We already heard the sermon about sexual immorality. Why do let's move on to something else?"
Well, if that's you, if that's some, if someone's wrestling with that and saying, "I don't really want to talk about this here," you don't have a problem with me or the series. You have a problem with God's word. Because here's the thing, as I'm working through this, we are going verse by verse. So, the fact that Paul is talking about it again means he thinks it's important. And if we believe he is led by the spirit to give us this word authoritatively, what that means is that we need to look at it and we need to see why is he bringing this up again? Because there's more to it than just saying, "Okay, sexual immorality is bad." We already got that, right? No, we need to see why is God and the spirit leading Paul to give us this specific word this morning.
And so what we're going to see in this section of scripture is that the Corinthians, once again being impacted by the culture, is allowing a lot of different philosophies to come in and certain groups are starting to teach certain things about their bodies and their spirituality. And so they are allowing some of these things, and maybe some of them even coming from some of these groups before becoming Christians, are allowing some of these things to impact and help them make certain decisions for their own lives.
And what we see specifically in the text is that they actually start to recite certain mottos. You'll notice that certain phrases are repeated in this section and it seems as if these are certain mottos or slogans that the Corinthians have started to recite as a justification for their lifestyle, for what they are doing. And so what I think we see with Paul, though, is that he actually gives us a slogan. He gives us a principle to live by as he starts to address their slogans. And I think what Paul shows us is that moderation is to be in all things but Christ. We are to have moderation in all things but Christ.
So what you notice at the very beginning, it says in verse 12, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." So what he's doing there, most believe that those "all things are lawful for me" phrases that he says twice there are actually the slogans that the Corinthians are saying to themselves and that they're saying to the other people in their church is that, "We're free. All things are lawful. I'm allowed to do these things because we are all free in Christ." So they're using freedom in Christ as a justification for their lifestyles and specifically on the topic of sexual immorality. They're going to use this being free in Christ as a justification for sin.
But what Paul, I think, starts to show us in this is that though we are truly free, freedom has limits. I just want to read a few passages, some things that they might be thinking in their mind. John 8:36 says, "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Praise God. We love that. That's such a beautiful, important verse that we need to take root in our own lives to recognize that we are free in the Son. You are free indeed in Jesus Christ. And likewise, Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace." Once again, that is a beautiful verse that should shape our lives. Sin doesn't have dominion over us. Sin doesn't control us. We are no longer under the law. We're no longer under Moses in the Old Covenant. We are now under the grace of God. That's how we are to live our lives. And these are great things.
However, they took this freedom, this liberty that we have in Christ, and they began to abuse it. We kind of already talked a little bit about this in the previous encounter regarding the man with his father's wife, how they were starting to abuse grace. They were going to pervert what grace was meant to encourage. And in Galatians 5:13, it says, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty or your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
So, what he's saying here is that we are free. He's not denying the other passages that we read. In fact, he wrote Romans. So, he's not denying that we are free in the Son. He's not denying that we are now under grace. We're no longer under the law. We're no longer under the Old Covenant. But when we have freedom, when we have liberty, that's not a license to sin. That is not a license to just give into any instinct, any desire that you have. But rather, we are to let love reign. Let love rule. Let love guide us. And so, he's showing us that freedom in Christ is real, but not without purpose or restraint.
It's kind of like saying that you are allowing your child to play on the playground and you say, "You're free to play anywhere on the playground." That's freedom. But what that does not mean is that you're able to run outside of the playground into traffic or off a cliff. That's what they were kind of doing. They were saying, "God's given us all this freedom here, so that means that we can really use this freedom to go and run off a cliff, to destroy ourselves, to enslave ourselves." That's what they were doing. They were misunderstanding.
And so Paul is wanting to balance for us this balance between legalism, which is where we are under the law, where we are constantly living under rules and regulations, and license, where we're saying, "All is fair. You are free to do anything you want, even if it destroys you or enslaves you." And so what he's doing here is, if you notice, after he repeats these phrases, these slogans, he then gives a qualifier to them. So he says, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."
What he's saying here is that when we are considering our freedom in Christ, we are to practice wisdom and temperance. We are to practice wisdom, that is discernment, to think rightly, to think godly, and temperance, that is to have self-discipline, to be in control. Because what they were doing is they were once again using that mantra that we are free, "All things are lawful." And he's like, "But you have to understand, not all things are wise or helpful." Like, yeah, you can eat food. You're free to eat these different foods now. There's no longer unclean and clean foods. You're actually able to eat these different types of food. But that doesn't mean become a glutton. That doesn't mean start to eat all that you want and don't exercise. See, he's saying that you've been given these freedoms here, but he's not saying don't abuse them. Be wise. There are things that are not good or helpful or beneficial for you. So, we are to choose what is best, not what is permissible. Sometimes we choose what is permissible. We're like, "Well, what does God allow us to get by with?" That's not how we are. That's not wise. What is the best thing? That is what we are to choose. What is the best?
And likewise, when it comes to temperance, he then says that we should not be brought under the power of any. So there are good things that may exist in your life that could become sin for you. Because if these good things in your life begin to master you, they start to enslave you to where you are now bound to them, you are addicted to them, then this becomes unprofitable. This becomes sin and detrimental for your life. And once again, this can take so many different forms. This could be just social media or your smartphones today. I think there are so many in the church. I even regularly am checking myself on this that we are being mastered. We are being enslaved to social media, to our phones. It could be to our TVs, to comfort, to coffee. There are so many different ways in which we can be brought under the power of these different substances, these different outlets if we are not careful.
And so we need to be checking ourselves regularly and saying, "Am I choosing the best? Am I practicing wisdom? And am I ensuring that I am not being mastered? Am I not being enslaved or bound to anything that, even though we might justify, say it's good, it's free, all things are lawful here, but is it helping you grow in your relationship with Christ?" That's the ultimate standard here.
So, what is he then showing us as he seems to be affirming the freedom piece while still giving us these helpful qualifiers? I think what he's showing us then is that moderation is key. That we actually can, as Christians, enjoy creation in moderation. God wants you to enjoy creation. In fact, in 1 Timothy 4:4 and 5, it says, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer." That's a pretty awesome verse that God doesn't want us just to live as these, you know, ascetics, these monks, that just live out there and they just deny themselves from any good of this world, anything that may give us joy or pleasure in this world. He's not saying that you have to deny yourself of all these things. In fact, these things are meant for our joy. That we can actually joy and pleasure in certain things that God has created, but we're to do it in a way that is giving honor and thanks to God.
And now, as I say that, one helpful qualifier once again is sin is not moderation. You can't say, "Well, I'm moderately enjoying sin." No, because sin is no longer being moderate, right? That's going to the extreme. So once again, we're not saying when we say moderation and enjoying God's creation, it is not an outlet for sin. In fact, we know that sin exceeds and abuses the boundaries of our freedom. Once again, think about that park example of a kid in a park. You don't say that means you can go and run out into the streets. It means that within these parameters of safety that God has given us, we are free.
And so, how does this apply to sexual immorality? Well, when we think about sex in marriage, it can be a beautiful, lifegiving thing. In fact, it's actually a way we are made in the image of God, that we are able to intentionally create life. So, what we see here is that marriage and sex within it is creative and beautiful, but sex outside of marriage is destructive. See, this is where no longer are you in moderation of enjoying a good thing that God has given, that he has created. See, sex outside of marriage comes with a host of problems. One of them is shame. There are many times that you will see young people today that are sleeping with people that are not their spouse, and you'll ask them the next day how they feel about it, and there's usually a lot of shame or guilt. How many times do you think there are people going to clubs, getting intoxicated, and then the next day they're regretting all of the decisions they made before? Shame and guilt come with sex outside of marriage.
Also, insecurities. I know so many individuals that decided to sleep with their boyfriend or their girlfriend or just maybe a random hookup. And what they then do is because they have given themselves in such a full, intimate way, that now there's a lot of insecurities going on. There's this codependency in which they no longer can function properly without that other person because they gave such a precious part to that person and they aren't committed to them, that they haven't actually said, "I am with you for life." That they have made vows within their community and before God and a covenant of marriage. And so what you do is when you have this relationship with someone who is not your spouse, you have all types of problems with insecurities and power dynamics. And so we see that there are problems in your own relationship.
At this point, we also know there's the risk of STIs. Sexually transmitted infections can happen whenever you are being promiscuous. People literally have died from sleeping with someone that is not their spouse. We also think about unplanned pregnancy. If you're not willing to commit to the person that you're sleeping with, but you could still create life with that person. And now we see that that's why we see so many other problems within our nation, not just in Corinth, but in our own world. That's why we see abortions are rampant because you have a lot of people who are having sex outside of marriage, aren't mature enough, aren't ready to commit and to be disciplined in this area and to raise children. And so what they do is they get rid of the child and they use abortion as a form of birth control. Or we see the other example where, well, maybe the women will take the initiative to, you know, take care of the child and keep the child, but then the men are weak men and then they leave. And so then you have these children who are living in one-parent homes and then that includes then poverty and difficulty with that situation.
And so what we notice is that when you have sex in its proper context with two loving, committed partners before God as God has designed it, you can bring life. It can be beautiful and it can draw you closer together. But when you have sex outside of marriage, you have shame, insecurity, infections, pregnancies unplanned, and all other types of problems in your world and culture. That's the difference between doing things in moderation, enjoying God's creation, what he has made for you, and then abusing these things.
And so then, as we think about moderation, this specifically is meant to apply to good and permissible things. Things like sex in its proper context, food, drink, work, rest, and even entertainment. You have freedom in a lot of these areas. Once again, that's a good thing. Christ has made us free to where we are not bound by 613 laws on these different areas, but rather he has given us these things to enjoy in moderation. But our guiding principle then is how do we enjoy these things in moderation? We ask these two things: Does it glorify God? And is it helping us love our neighbor as ourself? That's how you can discern if this is doing something in moderation and enjoying God's creation. Do it. Are you glorifying God? And are you loving your neighbor as yourself? So once again, if it's abusing your neighbor, if it's causing problems for your neighbor, or if it's even causing problems for yourself, binding yourself, enslaving yourself, then that's once again not loving your neighbor as yourself because you have to love yourself. So we see that we are free, but freedom has limits and within these limits we are to enjoy creation in moderation.
But the other part of this point is that as we say moderation in all things but Christ, and that is to say we are to pursue Christ without moderation. There are no guardrails when it comes to pursuing Christ. We are to pursue Christ with everything that we have. If you were to look at your life right now, would you say that you are pursuing other things, the creation, or are you pursuing the Creator primarily? Are you pursuing Christ without moderation?
See, I want our church to be weird. I want our church to be the Jesus freaks in the local area. I want us to be those people. They're like, "Oh, no." They're probably going to start talking about Jesus or the Bible. They're if I start talking about a problem around them, you know what they're going to do? They're say, "Can we pray for you?" That's what I want our church to be like. I want us to be the weird Jesus freaks. I want us to be the fools for Christ that Paul was already talking about in this letter. That's what we are called to be as the church. Pursue Christ relentlessly. We should be radical for Christ. We are radical for so many other things in this world. But why are we not pursuing Christ without moderation? That's what he shows us here.
I think that we just see the creation. These are good things that we can enjoy in moderation, but we are to pursue Christ above all else without moderation. Because in verses 13 to 18, we are shown that our bodies were made for more. Your body was made for more. It says, "Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise up by his power. 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 harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh, but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
What he starts to do is not only did he just quote earlier a slogan that "all things are lawful." Well, it seems as if in 13, he quotes another slogan that they were saying, "Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods." Basically saying, "Hey, we have a stomach. We know that we get hungry. We have desires. And when we get hungry, what do we do? We're going to go eat something. Likewise, if that's how our bodies function, then if we have a sexual desire, a sexual urge, and there is an outlet for it, I'm going to take it. I'm going to feed myself whenever I have these desires." That's what's going on here.
And what Paul then starts to do is he once again argues from their argument and says, "But the thing is, you were not made for sexual immorality. That's not what your body is for. You were made for more than simple pleasure." Let me say that again. You were made for more than pleasure. Whether that's eating, whether that's food, whether that is sex, whatever that is, whatever things that make you feel good, whether, you know, whether it's that little boost you're getting by the next like on your social media or someone giving you a compliment, all of these areas that give you pleasure, you are made for more than that. And we should praise God once again for that. That we are not made for these temporary dopamine boosts, that we are not just living for the next hit of pleasure in our lives, but that we were actually made, that our bodies have a more important purpose, that your body has a divine purpose.
Because what Paul says here is he says that "the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body." Your body was made for God. That's why it exists, not for pleasure. God is greater than pleasure. Do you believe that? God is really greater than pleasure. And if we believe that, we should do what Romans 12:1 says where it says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." We are to give our bodies to God because that's what it was made for. A car thrives when it's driving down the road. It doesn't thrive when you're driving it in the water. Same thing when it comes to our bodies. You're not going to function well if you're giving yourself over to every impulse, to every pleasure. But if you give yourself to God, that's where you will thrive. That's what your body was made for.
But more does he say? Not only are you made for God? Was your body made for the divine? But he also wants us to think about our future. And he shows that our future should actually impact the way that we live today because he starts to talk about how Christ was raised from the dead and how we also will be raised physically from the dead. So sometimes we think of ourselves as like, you know, we live here, this physical reality, and then we die and then we're spiritual ghostlike creatures for all of eternity. But that's not the biblical gospel. The gospel is that we will be soul and body in the new heaven and the new earth. That our ultimate hope is not heaven in the sky, but is actually to be physical, to be glorified, to be resurrected. That is our hope.
And so in the text, what does he do? He says, "And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power." He wants us to think our future should impact our present because in 1 Corinthians later in 15:37 to 44, he actually explains how our current bodies have a continuity and a discontinuity with our future glorified bodies. Sometimes we think that they're completely separate, but there's actually both a continuity and a discontinuity. In 15:37 and 44, it says, "And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain." And then in verse 44, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
What Paul is talking about here is that this body that we now possess, it's like a seed that when you die, you get buried, right? And that seed when it gets buried is going to be sown into the ground. And one day, it's going to grow and bloom. It's going to raise up from the ground. And so what this is meant to remind us then is that our present reality, our body that was made by God for his glory, is actually meant to be a seed that we plant in the ground and that will be raised in glory. So there is a connection here. And sometimes, once again, our bodies will be perfected. So it will not be the exact same how we think of our bodies today, but it will be really our bodies. Once again, when Jesus, who is the first fruits of our resurrection, when he was raised, he still had the wounds. That wasn't just God saying, "You know, it'd be cool. Let's just make a little fake picture of the wounds." No, it's because it was his real body. It was the body that Christ had that is now raised and glorified. Likewise, the body that you presently have will be the one in the future, except it will be perfected, glorified, without problems or pain or aging or anything that comes along with this fallen world.
And so he says that we need to then really value the body that we have right now to glorify God, that will be sown into the earth and then will be raised in glory. So our future should impact the way that we live today because we, as we think about our bodies, we are not beasts or animals. We are not to be like the things that we see in this world where a dog is hungry and he just starts to go and eat whatever's on the floor. Or if there's someone that walks into the house and then the dog starts to greet the visitor in an inappropriate way. You know, that's just urge, impulse. You are not a beast. You are not an animal. You are made in the image of God. You are a rational, moral being. You are meant to contemplate, to consider, and to weigh different options and to practice wisdom and temperance.
So we see that in this world today, there are materialists who will say that you are nothing but an evolved animal. But what we see in God's word is that you are more than matter. In fact, we actually hear other people say today, "It's just my body. What's the big deal?" Do not reduce your body to simple biology. In fact, that's a modern-day version of Gnosticism where we see in the early church how they start to address some of these heretical views. And one of them is that basically the body is bad. The body is useless. It's just something that you're kind of trapped in and your ultimate goal is to get out and to escape from the body. That's not the biblical truth on how we are to view ourselves. We are not just souls trapped in a body. We, as human beings, were made to be body and soul composites. This is who we are. And that's why our ultimate hope is to be raised from the dead. Do not reduce yourself to biology. Your body is sacred.
And so, not only was it sacred because it's made for God? Is it sacred because of our future hope and what will happen with our bodies? But the final thing he says on this point is that our body is sacred because in Christ we've been unified with Christ. Your body is now united with Jesus because of his death and resurrection. We are now identifying. We are now united in him. We are now members of his body. And that's why it starts to explain. So when you then choose to use your members, your physical body, to go in sin, to engage in sexual immorality, what you're actually doing is you are joining Christ to a harlot. That's what you are doing. That's why he literally says this here.
And in fact, in the city of Corinth, there's some speculation that there may have still been ongoing temple prostitution in this day, in which there would be people that they would think, "Well, this is a way that we can glorify God with our bodies. We can go and we can go sleep and have sex with a temple prostitute." And there were many of them that probably were still doing that after a long day of work. That really sounds nice. And he says, "What you're doing when you take your body to do these things, you are actually taking Christ with you because you are a part of the body of Christ. And so you are not to join Christ to a harlot."
And so all of these things are meant to warn us about the severity of sexual immorality in all of its forms. And that's why he says, "Flee sexual immorality." This is something that we should run far away from. Don't play with it. And that once again, that covers adultery, fornication, pornography, lust, incest, homosexuality, prostitution, rape, bestiality, exploitation, and abuse. All of its forms that can touch on all of us in different ways potentially. And what God is calling to is something higher, something better that you are made for. And this is not meant to condemn you, by the way. This is meant to encourage you, to challenge you to walk in the freedom that Christ has for you, something better, a greater purpose for you. And if you're someone that's like, "I've been struggling with one of these areas," seek help. Come to me and I will help you. Go to someone that you love and that you trust and they will help you. Ask them to help you enjoy the freedom in Christ. Don't just sit on it. Don't just keep dealing with it. Don't keep embracing it. Flee from it. Hear these warnings. There's a reason Paul brings it up again. And he's using such severe language in the passage. You were made for more. You were made for more.
And finally, in verses 19 to 20, not only were you made for more, but you were also bought at a price. You were bought at a price. Verses 19 to 20, it says, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
So what this is saying is that if you are in Christ, if he is your Lord and Savior, you have been redeemed. If you believe this and if Jesus is your Lord, say, "I am redeemed." He has bought us. This is like the language of slavery. We were once enslaved and now Christ literally bought us our freedom. Do you understand what that means when we say we are redeemed? We actually saying that multiple times this morning about he is the redeemer who lives, that we are redeemed. That's he bought you. You are a slave. There's such perfect language for this.
In Hosea 3:1-2, it says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.' So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and one and a half homers of barley." Now, what's going on here, if you don't know the context, is that the prophet Hosea is told to marry an adulteress, a promiscuous woman. And then what happens sometime throughout this relationship is that she leaves him and she goes and commits more adultery and she actually seems to get herself in some situation where she becomes some type of property of another person where she is now like a slave, an adulteress, a sex slave of some sort, a servant of some sort. And now what God is saying is, "I know she has been unfaithful to you. I know that she is immoral, but I want you to go and buy her back. I want you to go and pay for her." And actually, the amount that he has to pay is the average amount for a slave. And by the way, and we don't know the full details of his purchase and who exactly he's purchasing, but it was common in this day for slaves to be auctioned off on a stage and sometimes where they weren't wearing any clothing or very little clothing because they were dehumanized. They weren't viewed as a person anymore. They were property and they were for your pleasure or for your service. And so imagine your wife has done this to herself and now she is on a stage and that is where she is at and there are people that are bidding for her and now you have to go back and get your wife and pay for her. She doesn't deserve it. But it's because of the love of God he goes. And he says, "That's my love for Israel. That's Christ's love for us. We all were that immoral woman. We all have committed adultery in heart, unfaithfulness spiritually speaking. And what Christ did is he says, 'I love you anyway. I'm going to come and get you and I'm going to pay for your freedom. I'm not going to condemn you. I'm not going to forsake you or abandon you. I'm coming to redeem you.'" That's the difference between what Christ does for us and what the world does for us. See, the world will put you on a stage and dehumanize you. The world will use and abuse you, but Christ loves and respects you. Do we believe that? Why do we keep going back to pleasure, going back to the world? Why are we not going to the one who bought our freedom? Who says, "You are redeemed, my son, my daughter"? Jesus paid for your freedom.
And he didn't just pay in any, you know, arbitrary way. He paid with his very best because he paid for our redemption, our freedom, with his blood, with his life. The blood of God, the blood of the divine. In 1 Peter 1:18 and 19, it says, "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." You were paid with the most important, the most precious thing that could possibly ever be given. God himself. God is what was needing to be given so that you could be freed, so that you could be saved and redeemed.
And what we find in scripture is that when God saves, when God redeems, he saves us entirely. You're not partially enslaved to sin anymore. You are now free. You are redeemed. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, it says, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He wants us to be sanctified. He wants us to experience the freedom that he has offered and that he has paid for.
And what this means then, as he says in the text, is that means because you have been redeemed, because you were bought at a price, you don't belong to yourself anymore. You don't belong to yourself anymore. If you're a Christian, if he's really your Lord and Savior, that means he is Lord. True freedom is found in the lordship of Christ. You will have no matter what, a master. It's going to either be Satan, the world, your sin, or it'll be the Savior. You have to choose. But in Christ and his mastery and his lordship, there is true freedom and fulfillment. It's the reason that you were made. And Jesus paid too high a price for you to live as if he is not Lord. Stop making decisions as if you are the one in charge. Start living as if you really believe that you were redeemed, that you were bought by a loving Savior who forgave you for all of our trespasses and sins because he died on a bloody cross for us.
And so our bodies then should be a doxology to God. That is a praise, a worship service to God because as he says in the text, God's spirit now lives in us. What you do with your body is what you do with God's house. What you do with his temple. You are no longer just a follower of a random teacher or philosophy like the Corinthians were doing. You are now a temple of the Holy Spirit. So this is not just a call to flee from a specific sin. The sermon is not just, "Don't sin." That's not the message here. The sermon is, "Glorify God with your body. Recognize you were made for more, that you were bought at a price, you have been redeemed." And as we think about this song, "Jesus Paid It All," that means "All to Him I owe." That's why because he's paid everything. It is finished. The debt is paid in full. So then all that we have, we owe Him. And He will give us true fulfillment, true joy. That is the reason for our being because of this person who bought us at a price with his very life.