How many of you like to curl up with a good book?
Is that your idea of an enjoyable evening? It is for me. But what
if that book is an owner’s manual? Do you like reading those? I
don’t know what it is but I just can’t stand reading the owner’s manual for
anything.
My Dad was telling me the other day about this great
battery-operated weed-eater. He said it works great, it’s inexpensive and
I should buy one because I will love it. But then he said that I would
have to read the owner’s manual because it was tricky to set up and get started
with it.
Well, never mind then. I’m not buying one. I
don’t care how great it is. If I have to read the owner’s manual then
that’s a deal-breaker. I know I shouldn’t be that way but I guess I have
enough rebel in me that I’m just not going to do it. I know it’s dumb but
it’s just the way I am.
I was looking at the owner’s manual for my car the other
day. I was trying to find something about a fuse and I was getting
frustrated because I couldn’t find it so I broke down and looked in the
manual. Did you know that there is all kinds of good information in
there? I have had that car for 8 years and did not know there was a
little drawer under the passenger seat until I read that manual. Isn’t
that crazy?
I’m serious. I thought all it was good for was
telling where the fuses where and then the rest of it was stupid stuff like,
“Insert key into ignition. Turn to the right to start engine.” But
it had some other good info in there and I felt dumb for not reading it
before. Sure, some of it is common sense but some of it is there because
nobody knows the car better than its maker.
Can you tell where I’m going with this? Yes, the
Bible is the ultimate owner’s manual. It was written by our Maker and
should be required reading for all of us. If every time I got in my car
and went to back out of somewhere, I hit another vehicle, you would say that
either something is wrong with the car…or more than likely something is wrong
with the driver, right?
In the owner’s manual it says to always check my mirrors
before backing but, see, I don’t need my mirrors. I can’t hear any other
cars coming. I can’t smell them or see them through the windshield.
So it must be clear. Bam! Oh, no! It happened to me
again. Those other drivers are crazy! They need to learn how to
drive. He came out of nowhere! Probably taking the marijuana.
But then I just happen to be looking through the owner’s
manual it says to check all my mirrors before backing. Maybe I should try
that. What do you think? Sounds ridiculous, right? In 1
Corinthians chapter 6 we read Paul’s letter to the church there in nasty,
sinful old Corinth and he lovingly tells them, “Check your mirrors or you are
going to crash.”
Let’s read that passage in 1 Corinthians as we see how
we at Christ Fellowship can be true disciples in the real world. We have
been talking about how we should be disciples and we have seen folks here in
church doing just that. We have seen people learning from Jesus and then
teaching and encouraging others with what they have learned and that’s great!
But what about when we are away from our church family
that loves us and wants us to do well and will brake for us even when we don’t
check our mirrors? How can we be true disciples when our world is just
like Corinth in that sexual immorality is not just accepted but expected?
How can we live, knowing that Christ has set us free from sin; free from guilt
and shame and free to live a full and abundant life (John 10:10) when the world
we live in says they are not going to check their mirrors and they are
certainly not going to read any owner’s manual?
Let’s read 1
Corinthians 6:12-20. “I have the right to do
anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do
anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say,
“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them
both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord,
and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord
from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 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! 16 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. 17 But whoever
is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from
sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but
whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you
not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were
bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Now, depending on
what translation you have and what version of that translation and what year it
was translated and the mood of the translator, you may or may not see the
quotation marks around some of that passage indicating that Paul was quoting
the Corinthian people themselves for part of it. I’m not kidding.
I’ve never seen anything like it. None of them are wrong. Some
versions just make this easier to see than others.
It is important
to see it, too. Otherwise, you might get confused about the point Paul is
trying to make. The Corinthians were being very casual (to put it nicely)
about their sexuality. They had the mindset, much like the world we live
in today, that their desire for sex was no different than their desire for
food. “It’s not that big of a deal who, what, where or when we do
either one.” Or to put it another way…”We don’t need to check our
mirrors.”
To begin with,
though, I want to define some terms. I won’t be too graphic, unlike some
of my commentaries that scarred me for life, but I want us to see what Paul’s
main purposes for writing this passage were. When he says in verse 13
that the body was not meant for sexual immorality that phrase translated
“sexual immorality” is, in the Greek, “pornea”, the word from which we
get pornography and is used for anything from the lust of the eyes to anything
that is not sex within marriage.
So, what’s the
problem, Paul? Why get so worked up? Everybody knows that sexual
desires are no different than other desires. Is it wrong for me to eat
most of my meals at home but every now and then go out to eat? Well,
let’s start from the top. Paul refutes the common Corinthian theory that
“I have the right to do anything and so I will do everything.”
Paul quotes them
in verse 12 but says, “I will not be mastered by anything.”
Yes, Paul says in Galatians 5:1 that it is for freedom that Christ set
us free but being a slave to whatever the Corinthian appetite wanted was not
freedom. It’s the same for us today. We don’t talk much about
alcohol, tobacco or over-eating but if any of those things or anything else you
put in your body become your master then Paul would say you have sin and that
you are not free as Christ intended.
Now, while any of
those sins are bad enough, Paul says in verse 18 that sexual sin is even
worse. That’s why he says to flee from it. Flee from it just like
Joseph did in the Old Testament when his boss’s wife tried to seduce him.
Run away from it. Don’t stand there and try to talk your way out of it or
try to justify just a little bit of it. Get out of that situation.
If you are driving
your car and find yourself about to go into some high water, what do they all
say to do? Turn around. Don’t drown, right? You wouldn’t sit
there and try to talk the water into going away. You wouldn’t say (or
shouldn’t say) that just a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt your
car. You know full well that before you know it, the water is going to
start coming in under the doors and around your feet and by then it’s too late
to read the owner’s manual.
You know that
your car’s owner’s manual says to turn around. So does your body’s
owner’s manual. Paul goes on to explain why. He says that all sin
is done outside the body but sexual sin is done inside the body and a lot of
people struggle with this because alcohol and tobacco and over-eating and other
things are done inside the body as well.
You have to
understand something about Paul. Paul was a lot of things. Stupid
wasn’t one of them. He was very educated and he knew basic biology at
least. But he was also a preacher and he loved this church in Corinth and
since he was also an observer of humanity, he knew that sexual sin had
consequences beyond all other sins. It still does today.
So Paul
illustrates to us why we should flee from sexual immorality. He actually
starts in verse 15 where he says that sexual sin is a sin against
Christ Himself. He says our bodies are members of Christ and since it
says in Genesis 2 that when a man and a woman come together they become one
flesh. So, would you unite Jesus with a prostitute? Would you show
Jesus those websites you visit? Would you let Him watch the TV shows you
like to watch at night or read those romance novels you keep hidden?
Your car’s
owner’s manual is not written to keep you from having a good time in your
car. It tells you the best way to take care of it so that you enjoy that
car as long as possible. It’s the same with the Bible, your body’s
owner’s manual. God wants you to know everything you need to know to make
your life the best that it can be here on earth and in the next life.
None of us would
dare take Jesus to some of the places we go in our minds or on our computers or
TVs and Paul knows that there are benefits of obedience and there are
consequences of disobedience. But the consequences of sexual disobedience
are just worse than others. How many thousands of times have you heard on
the news that somebody - some movie star or televangelist or political figure
has lost every single thing they ever had because of one bad sexual decision?
Paul is writing
to Christians here, not unbelievers, and he is reminding them of the reasons to
do what the owner’s manual says to do. Would you want Jesus Himself to be
a part of what you are doing? If not, then don’t do it. Turn
around. Flee from it like it will drown you because it will.
Then Paul says in
verse 18 that sexual sin is also a sin against ourselves. He says
we sin against our own body. How many of you have ever said or at least
thought something along the lines of, “If I had known I was going to live so
long, I would have taken better care of myself”? I’m finding more and
more than growing older is not for sissies. I’m 47 and feel like I’m
about to fall apart sometimes. I can’t imagine being twice this age.
Note that Paul is
not talking here about our spirits or our intellect or anything else. He
is talking about our physical bodies. Sexual sin takes its toll on us
physically, not just emotionally and spiritually. Sure, a large portion
of the population comes down with sexually transmitted diseases but even if you
manage to avoid all of that Proverbs 6 says, “For on account of a
harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the
precious life. 27Can a man take
fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? 28Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be
scorched?
Sexual sin is a
sin against Christ. It is a sin against our own bodies and it is a sin
against the Spirit of God as well. Look at verses 19-20. 19 Do
you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you
were bought at a price.
One of the
incredible benefits of asking Jesus to be Lord of your life is that the instant
that you do you receive the Holy Spirit into your life to be your guide and
helper. To continue our car analogy, you get a driver for your
life. He is better than just a GPS unit or a good stereo, you get
somebody that will actually drive your life the best way possible.
The problem comes
when you grab the wheel and insist on taking the car into sexual
immorality. Not only do you risk crashing and burning but you have sinned
against the One who is driving. You have offended, grieved and sinned
against the Holy Spirit of God.
Paul goes on to
say that you are not your own. Did you know that? There is no such
thing as a self-made man. Paul knew and we know that God made us.
But that is not what Paul brings up right here. That’s not why Paul says
we are not our own.
Did you know that
God is the great Sustainer as well? He made us and He sustains us.
But that’s not Paul’s point here either. We are God’s workmanship because
He made us and our every breath is sustained by Him but Paul says we belong to
God and we should not – we have no right to sin against God because He redeemed
us! That’s what it means to be bought with a price.
He paid the
ultimate price for us; for our minds, our souls and our bodies and we have no
right to sin in any way but especially sexually when God paid the price of His
own Son’s life for us. Yes, He’s the Creator and yes, He’s the Sustainer
but because He is also the Redeemer He has every right to be the Author of our
owner’s manual.
He has given us
His Word as our owner’s manual and because He redeemed us He can say whatever
He wants in there. But because He loves us, lives in us and wants the
best for us we should read it and live by it no matter what the rest of the
world says or thinks or tempts us to do otherwise.
I don’t know what people do who have no Spirit living
inside of them to guide them. I don’t know what they do when they need to
be sustained by God’s loving grace and mercy. But I know that Proverbs
14:12 says, “12There is a way which seems right to
a man, But its end is the way of death.” Romans 3:23 says we have all
sinned. Romans 6:23 says that the wages – what we get for that sin- is
death. But John 3:16 says the God loved you so much that He gave His Son
to be the Redeemer for our sins so that you might have everlasting life with
Him in Heaven instead of everlasting death away from Him in Hell.
That’s what the
owner’s manual says. Today is the day to believe it, ask God for
forgiveness of your sins, repent of those sins and be saved. Will you do
that today?
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