The Dance Of Love And Liberty Series

The Dance of Love and Liberty

Text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

So... I saw a video the other day.  It was from a closed circuit security camera.  And on this video was a guy who was pushing a shopping cart in a grocery store parking lot.  He took it to his car and unloaded the groceries, and then it looked like he was going to take the shopping cart to the cart return area,  but instead, as he got a few feet away from his car he looked to his right, and then he looked to his left, and he even looked behind him, and then he shoved in the general direction of the shopping cart return, and it rolled into a car, and quickly walked away.  Now as I watched the video i thought to myself... "Instead of looking to the right and the left, and behind, he should've looked up."  

You see; in that instance, this person was showing that to him, there might have been someone to his right or left, or behind him that mattered, but no one up above mattered.  And in that instant - basically the guy showed that he was a practical atheist.  There's an old saying that goes, "Character is what you are in the dark."  Believe it or not it was a high school teacher who told me that one time.  He had all the class stand up - it wasn't a large class... I think there were about 15 of us in the classroom, and this teacher said, "I"m going to turn the lights off, and smack one you in the face with a ruler."  And it was an indoor class-room, no windows to let any other light in.  And he walked over, and switched the light off.  And we students were all kind of standing there, and I felt someone move behind me, and I heard some other moving going on.  And then, after about 10-15 seconds the lights came back on, and out of those 15 students in the class-room, only 3 were still standing where they were, the rest had either moved behind those three or had slunk off into a corner and hunkered down.  School was a lot different in those days.  But the teacher had made his point.  A lot of people will say things like they're big, and tough, and brave, but when it comes right down to it, they aren't... and the same is true with a lot of folks who say they love God, and follow Jesus.  When it comes right down to it, those are just words.  When things get hard, they give up.  When things don't go their way, they walk away.  We see that happen over and over again in Jesus' own ministry.  

And just like in that video - the guy didn't look up, because in that moment, he didn't think, or didn't consider that God's opinion of him is more important than anyone else's.

Now the second thing that struck me about that was, why didn't he just push the cart a few more feet and return it to the return area?  Because it was inconvenient?  Because he was in a hurry?  I mean, it started like he was going to do the right thing, but in the three or four steps he took he opted for the easy path, the lazy path.  And of course; those two things go together right?  I mean... if no one above matters, then you're free to do whatever you want, live however you want, say whatever you want… Right? 

If there's no God above then we might as well all just eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.  We might as well indulge ourselves in whatever gives us pleasure and comfort. The point of me telling you all of this is that it goes right along with what we're looking at in 1 Corinthians today.

So if you would, take your Bible's and open them up to 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (READ).

Paul begins here by saying, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful..."  Now that, and what he says a little later one "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" are quotes that were common in Corinth at the time.  These were little tid-bits of worldly wisdom that the Corinthians (and other Greeks) would use to justify their sin.  Kind of like today, where people will say things like, "Only God can judge me."  And what Paul is going to do here is cast down these vain, lofty arguments, using Biblical truths.  And what we have here in this passage is kind of a dance between LOVE and LIBERTY.  In other words, as Christians, we have been set free from the Law.  The reason for that is because we are in Christ, and Christ has fulfilled the Law.  We are free in Christ!  So Paul says here, "All things are lawful,(That's the worlds quote) but not all things are helpful (Biblical truth)..."  Now hold your place right there for just a second, we'll be right back to it, and turn over to chapter 10.... 1 Cor. 10:23 (READ).  That's what Paul means by "Helpful"... things that build up.  So here's the idea that Paul is getting at - we are free in Christ, but at the same time, we're bound by love.