Flee Baby Flee!
1st Corinthians 6:18-20
If there is one message Hollywood has successfully sold to the public it is this… if you are going to market a product … if you want to raise the image of your company or raise your personal self image… if you want to be successful then your image, your sexual image is very important. What we have come to understand unfortunately, is that sex sells. Now how do they do this? Here are a few ways.. One company shows a young man and woman … very attractive of course embraced.. on an elevator, making out.. Can I say that? The entire ad shows the couple from the waist up—they seem to be madly in love. Then the words appear on the screen.. Calvin Klein jeans. The clincher for me is that in this ad they never actually show a pair of jeans. Now if I was going to buy that pair of jeans, I guess I’m a bit stranger but I would want to see them. If I am going to purchase a bottle of cologne I want to smell it first. But that doesn’t concern them because they are not really selling cologne or jeans, they are selling an image. Sex sells.
Now in the previous two messages I have preached we have defined a guardrail as a system designed to keep vehicles from straying into areas that are either dangerous or off limits. Last week I updated this by defining guardrail in this way. Aguardrail is a standard of behavior that becomes a matter of conscience.
The temptation for most of us of course is this… we want to live right on the edge. Financially we rack up all kinds of debt over things we don’t even need to impress people we don’t even care about. We live right on the edge of disaster morally… we flirt with sin… we live on the edge in our thought life spending time on websites we should never be looking at. We live right on the edge of disaster in our friendships because we think we can be friends with just about anyone without being involved in their activities. There’s a Greek word for that right here in the NT. Hogwash. Bologna. Not going to happen. What must happen is that we must all take a step back and establish a guardrail, a blockade, a boundary line that says we will not go any further.
You see we need guardrails in any area of life—any area where we are tempted but in the area of our physical and sexual intimacy we need reinforced steel when it comes to guardrails. And the reason is this. Unlike any area of your life or mine we can recover from almost any kind of disaster, financially-I have seen people do it—they rack up all kinds of debt but with enough time and discipline they recover. People drop out of school-they make a mistake-but they go back-summer, work hard and get back on their feet. There are professional disasters. You can go bankrupt. Get fired, kicked out but eventually through a lot of work and determination you bounce back. And eventually you can look back on it and you have stories to tell your children and maybe you can even laugh about it eventually. But here’s the deal—when it comes to the area of our sexuality these are the stories no one ever laughs about because these are the kinds of disasters that are very difficult if not impossible to recover from. And this is why.. Please write this in your notes.
Sex is not just physical. It is also emotional..In fact it is spiritual. It’s much more than a physical thing. And when we cross certain lines in our desire for intimacy, our sexuality there are things we can carry with us for the rest of our lives. We know that, we just don’t talk about it because we live in a culture that has convinced us that sex is purely physical but we know better. So we need a guardrail because this damage can follow us around for the rest of our lives.
So this is where we really need to listen and to follow what the Bible says. Paul puts it this way…
Verse 18. Flee from sexual immorality. Flee. Not be careful. Watch out. Get as close to the line as you possibly can. He says flee baby flee. Run as fast as you can. He is clear. Now one of the things I know about some of who are here today is this…there are some who are thinking that’s exactly what I would expect a preacher to say and then you go back to life as usual. But if we could put down some guardrails in this area it would change a number of things in our nation…
• It would reduce the number of people who are in prison
• Thousands of children would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy instead of one parent.
• It would actually impact healthcare in our country
• It would impact poverty
• It would hold families closer together
In fact I don’t know of any area of our culture that would not be positively impacted if we could just get this one area right. Another things I know is this—if you’re married this is what you want your husband to do right? To flee. Right? Guys this is what you want your wife to do. Your children. Anyone you really care about. YOU want them to flee from sexual immorality but when it comes to us we somehow think we’re bulletproof and nothing can hurt us.
Look further with me at what the bible says about this. Verse 19. Now Paul would not have asked the question unless there were those who didn’t know. Did you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? They didn’t know and there are many who don’t know today. The scripture says your body is a temple. It’s holy.
So our bodies are sacred-whether you are a Christian or not your body is sacred because God made it. But Paul says for the believer when the Holy Spirit comes in us, that our bodies become a temple. How does that happen? We received it from God.
As a result of that He makes a very striking statement. He says you are not your own. You say Oh I thought this was my body. Well it is but as a believer you asked God to move n. To take up residence. So at a minimum we are co-owners.
Verse 20. You were bought with a price. When Christ came into this world, he lived a perfect life and went to the cross and paid the penalty off sin. That is when he purchased you. That means we are no longer a slave t sin. We don’t have to do what our desires tell us to. God can take that appetite away. The Bible says if you resist the devil he will flee from you. You see you are no longer the master of your body. You are not your own.
As a result, look at verse 20. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Any time you see the word therefore you need to focus on what it is therefore. It means he is about to tell us something very important. Honor God with your bodies.
When I was a kid I had a chemistry set. Always loved science. It came with some litmus paper. A litmus test is a test we take before we can go forward. It uses a single indicator to prompt a decision. So here’s the litmus test for what we do in the area of our sexuality—honor God with your body. If it’s dishonoring to God, don’t do it. Don’t even think about it.
You and I have to say to God ever day Lord my body belongs to you. It’s a temple. And I want this temple to honor you. And Goad says well if that’s what you want then when it comes to sexual intimacy outside of marriage you have to learn to flee baby flee, not flirt baby flirt. It’s a decision we have to make. No one can make it for you. So here are some guardrails. And I want you to hear them in this way..If you are married just take them as they are…if you are not married then apply these guidelines when you are with a married person of the opposite sex. Clear?
1. Don’t travel alone with members of the opposite sex. Don’t get in a car, don’t fly…decide you will not travel alone.
2. Similar. Don’t eat alone with members of the opposite sex. When I have counseled with people who have fallen into an affair many of those relationships started right here in this area. With a meal…alone. Hey you wanna have dinner or hey let’s get some coffee or let’s work late and then it goes too far. Now that probably sounds extreme. Guardrails are extreme. That’s the point.
3. Don’t hire members of the opposite sex because you want to “help” them especially f you find them attractive. Some of your wives or your husband said, I’m not comfortable with you working with them/him/her. Yeah but she need the job. And she says well why don’t you find someone ugly who needs the job. Do they have to be so cute?
4. Don’t confide in members of the opposite sex. This is what happens if you’re not following the 2nd guardrail. You’re having lunch—it’s going to be brief and 1 ½ hours later they say, wow no one has ever listened to me like this before. Really. Can we talk again? Now if that happened in a movie we would know exactly where it was headed. You see intimacy doesn’t begin with the physical, it begins with the emotional. That’s why it’s so dangerous.
Now you may say well he/she is the only one who will listen to me. No, they are the only one you know who will listen to you.
5. When you feel your heart or desires drifting toward a specific person tell someone you can trust. When you sense you are being attracted to another person, tell someone. Now I’m not saying tell your wife or husband. But tell someone in a place that’s safe. That’s why we try to put people in circles not in rows.
Now single people-one rule-just gouge your eyes out with a spoon. That’s basically it. No, actually treat that person like you want someone to treat your future spouse.
A young boy named Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. Suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream. He ran along the beach as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, he went home.
A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a pawn shop. When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was hi! Tom hurried to the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window! I made it!"
"Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you'll have to buy it back.." Tom ran home and got the money. When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. "Here's the money for my boat."
As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine. First, I made you and now I bought you." You belong to me.
