Joined To The Lord-3

JOINED To The LORD-III—1Corinthians 6:12-20

OR--Those Uncontrollable Christians

Attention:

Pitiful Pilots

The small plane is flight & in trouble because the pilot has passed out just as they are making their descent to land it. Two buddies(goobers/rednecks) immediately spring into action. They take over the controls & try to land the plane. They’ve seen it done on TV so it can’t be that difficult, Right?!

They start descending & as they the wheels touch the ground the one ‘pilot’ screams to the other ‘pilot’:

"Pull up, the runaway is ending!”.

The second ‘pilot’ swiftly gets the plane back up in the air.

They make a big turn & start descending again.

The moment they touch the ground, the ‘pilot’ screams again, "Get the plane up, the runaway is ending!”

The second ‘pilot’ swiftly gets the plane back up in the air ... They make a big turn & start descending again... This goes on again & again...

During their fourth descent the ‘pilot’ says : “Bubba, this is so dumb, they built this huge, expensive airport but with such a short runaway."

"I know," answers the second ‘pilot’, "But look how wide they made it ..."

Some of you are trying to land on a ‘short’ runway as it were!...But you are going about it in the wrong way...You’re going about it on your terms & thus without Jesus!

1Sam. 15:22-23—“So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings & sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity & idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.””

Prov. 16:32—“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”

Prov. 25:27-28—“It is not good to eat much honey; So to seek one's own glory is not glory. Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.”

*The apostle Paul warned the church at Corinth of the inherent danger of sexual immorality.

‘Inherent’= “existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute”

God must be allowed to control our bodies, so...

God’s people must be joined to the Lord.

Why must God be allowed to control our bodies?...& Why must God’s people be joined to the Lord?

4 distinctions emerge from our being joined to the Lord.

We’ve found previously that When you/we are Joined to the Lord...

1. His MASTERY Emerges(:12)

2. His USE/PURPOSE Emerges(:13-14)

3—When you/we are Joined to the Lord...

His MORALITY Emerges(:15-16)

Explanation:(:15-16)Sexual morality

:15—“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ & make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!”

“Do you not know...”—

—What follows can & should be a shared knowledge among the Corinthian Christians. Likewise, the same knowledge should characterize all Christians.

Christians have no excuse for a lack of biblical knowledge...

Heb. 10:23-25—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love & good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, & so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

“that your bodies are members of Christ?”

Moral(ity)=“of or relating to principles of right & wrong in behavior.”

Morality is ONLY rightly determined & settled in & thru God...& thus NOT determined of man(politics/majority/mores/traditions/history)! ‘True’ morality flows from one’s relationship with God!...It is never something that can be merely sustained outwardly, because it is decided & maintained thru the heart that is given to God’s heart!

It is obvious that Paul had correctly taught the Corinthian Christians that their bodies were of great consequence to their salvation & continual living in Christ. He had revealed to them that their very “bodies” were “members of Christ.”

As “members of Christ”, our heart’s desire is entirely driven by Christ’s desire. Our body/members must be given over to His use. Thereby, you must know Jesus personally...Know His way(s), His desire.

“Shall I then take the members of Christ & make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!””

The Corinthian Christians were behaving/acting/living as if they had given their “bodies” up to “harlotry”, while being convinced that they were remaining spiritually unscathed in that same “harlotry”!

*Such describes the danger of false teaching & the danger of neglecting God’s available word(written & spoken)...the danger of neglecting personal devotional reading of the Scriptures...the danger of neglecting further knowledge of God thru Christ in fellowship.