Some of you may have read the children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In the story, the caterpillar had a hunger that could never be satisfied. He was always hungry and always eating. But one day everything changed. He no longer crawled on the ground nor did he feel that intense hunger.
Instead, he was fulfilled and now had wings to fly. Then the author reveals that he was never created to remain a caterpillar; he was designed to be a beautiful butterfly.
In a way, I can relate to this caterpillar and maybe you can too. Like the caterpillar, we were never designed to remain hungry and unfulfilled. Instead, we were designated to live in a relationship with God through the sacrifice of Christ. We were designed to live set apart from the ways of a sinful world; we are set aside to become something greater.
Today we will be using 1 Corinthians 6 for our message. In this writing, Paul was trying to help us understand the process of being set apart from the rest of the world. Set apart from the rest of the world—that’s what it means to be SACTIFIED.
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Do you agree? God is Holy. Do you agree, God is set apart, separate, and unique from His creation? Ok. Did you know that God isn’t the only one who is holy? As His children, we too are to be holy and set apart from the world around us. To be holy is to be sanctified, and the Christian life is a life growing in sanctification.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
When we come to faith in Christ, He makes us new. Paul used 3 key words to describe Christ’s work in us.
1. Washed – We are washed clean of our sin through faith in Christ. 1 John 1:7 tells us “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
2. Sanctified – We are set apart by God and declared holy. Hebrews 10:10 tells us, “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.”
3. Justified – We are considered righteous in the sight of God. The righteousness of Christ is attributed to us. Remember 2 Cor. 5:21 from 3 weeks ago? “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Washed, sanctified, justified. All of this happens at the moment of salvation—the moment we believe and trust in Christ, the One who lived a perfect life, died a sinner’s death to take away our sin, and rose again to give us new life.
Justification is a one-time event, but sanctification is a daily process. Our sanctification begins at the moment we’re justified, but it continues throughout our lives as we grow more and more like Christ. We are justified for our sins one time when Christ died for us. But we are set apart daily and we strive to draw closer and closer to God.
The beauty in being sanctified and set apart in Christ is that we’re no longer enslaved to sin as we once were. Paul listed some of the many sins that are or can be so prominent in our lives. But he says in verse 10, “some of you used to be that way, but you’ve been washed, sanctified, and justified.” It was a humble reminder that they were justified not by their actions, but because of Christ’s death and resurrection. And so have we.
Paul was telling them that their lives should no longer look like their old way of living. That goes for us, too. We are sanctified and set apart from the old way of life. Whatever sin you may be involved in, as a Christian, you are now above that, you are separated from that because of what Jesus did for you. We will only find death in sin, but we find life in Christ. When we come to Christ, everything changes.
1 Corinthians 6:12-14. ““Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.”
Paul had been reminding the Corinthians** that they were sanctified in Christ. So, he encouraged them not to engage in the old life, because some of their old sins were exactly what they were chasing. Yes, we are set free in Christ, but the Corinthians were misinterpreting that freedom. So, Paul quotes one of their slogans twice—"Everything is permissible for me.” But notice that both times he quotes it, he gave a truth that went against that slogan: “not everything is beneficial”, and “I will not be mastered by anything.”
Christ sets us free from the slavery to sin. Hear me on this: we are free NOT to sin but some in the Corinthian church wrongly took that freedom to mean they were free TO sin.
Here’s what was happening. Some in the Corinthian church were abusing the gift of sex and were engaging in sexual immorality. So, Paul says, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will do away with both of them.” (v.13) Eating food is a natural part of life and something to be enjoyed, and they viewed sexual pleasure in the same way. They believed both food and sex were simply intended for their physical bodies and therefore had no bearing on their spiritual lives.
This belief that what we do physically has no bearing on our spiritual lives, came from a heresy called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was popular in the first century and it tried to influence Christian thinking and theology.
One aspect of this heresy was the idea that the only thing that mattered was the spiritual. Physical matter wasn’t important, which meant a person could do anything physically because it had no impact on his spiritual life. So, Paul makes it clear in v. 13 by saying “the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” We can’t separate body and spirit. Our physical bodies belong just as much to Christ as our spirits do.
1 Corinthians 6: 15-17 – “Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh. But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”
Let me try to explain this. Believers are one with Christ, and marriage is a picture of the oneness we share with Christ as His church. When we become believers, we are joined with the Lord through the Holy Spirit. Paul says in v. 15, “Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body?” So that means that the actions of our body affect our whole being.
That truth, in itself, underscores just how set apart we are from the world. We’re not one with the world and it’s way of thinking, we’re one with Christ. And since His Holy Spirit lives within us, our actions should reflect that.
In that frame of mind, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6: 18-19, “Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.”
I read that and I think of the pro abortionists saying, “my body, my choice.” Not if you’re a Christian. If Christ is your Savior, you are not your own.” Simply stated, God is glorified when we pursue the things of God and live sanctified lives.
1 Peter 2:9 reminds us, “but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praise of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God called us out of our sin to belong to Him and be His own people.
He set us apart and we are not our own. That means that all of our choices SHOULD bring glory to God. We SHOULD willingly and joyfully proclaim His honor and glory.
Fleeing from our sin, whatever it is, and faithfully pursuing righteousness may seem like a challenge but it’s not impossible. We never face temptations alone. Because we trust and belong to Christ, His Holy Spirit is always right there with us. V. 19 – “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God.”
Paul tells us that what we do physically does matter. So, in v. 18, he offers us a course of correction. In this case, the sin was sexual immorality. For you, it might be something else. But Paul says, “Flee sexual immorality.” Flee from whatever sin has you bound in slavery.
Flee means to run away, not just walk away, from a situation, don’t take time to think about getting away. Get as far away as possible—and do it immediately. In running AWAY from sin, we need also to have something to run TO. We can’t flee aimlessly from sin, but must run straight to Christ.
Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:1 – “But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.” We are to pursue the SANCTIFIED, set apart, life.
1 Corinthians 6:20. “for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.”
When it comes to taking care of things, we value and take better care of things when we pay a lot of money for them. We, by nature, will give a lot of thought to what we purchase when it’s expensive. Most will spend weeks and even months selecting a home to buy it. On the other hand, we buy a snack from the convenience store without much thought.
On and infinitely greater scale, God chose to purchase you and me and it cost Him a lot. It cost Him the death of His Son. God is trying to get us to remember the price He paid to redeem us to Himself. Wouldn’t we be wise to take special care of what belongs to God, which includes our whole spirit, soul, and body?
In submitting to Christ, we submit in both body and spirit. We’re set apart—sanctified—in Christ, and our bodies are no longer to be used as vessels for sin. Instead, our bodies are to be vessels to glorify Christ. When we submit to Christ on a daily basis, and let His Holy Spirit fill us, we’re well on the road of sanctification. A sanctified life lived for Christ can do nothing buy glorify Him.
I close with this story about Living in a Way That Glorifies God.
Many of you will remember Dan Blocker who played Hoss Cartwright on the TV series Bonanza. When Dan died unexpectedly, Hoss died. The producers knew they couldn’t replace him. So, the storyline on the show was that a woman was caught in a flood. Hoss held her above the water with one hand and held a branch with the other to keep them from being washed away. He died, but he never let go. He died, but she lived.
Fans almost mourned for the fictional character, but they agreed it was a fitting way for Hoss to die.
In the 80's, they were developing Bonanza, the Next Generation. You never saw that, did you? The story was that the original Cartwrights were dead. Ben’s brother now ran the Ponderosa. For various reasons, Adam’s son, little Joe’s son, and Hoss’ son were coming there to live. In the storyline, Hoss died without marrying. The new series said he had an illegitimate son and died before bringing the mother to the Ponderosa.
Test audiences were scheduled with fans of the original series. They were furious. Ben had three sons by three wives. Maybe he had another son somewhere. Adam, sometimes a scholar and sometimes a Casanova, may have had an illegitimate son. If Joe had an illegitimate son, no one would be surprised.
But Hoss? HOSS??? NOOOOOOO!!! Fans refused to believe it. Test audiences were so angry that producers cancelled the series before the pilot even aired. That’s why you never saw the show. Fans refused to believe Hoss’ immorality.
If a fictional character can inspire such belief in his character, how much more should we, “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse [us] of doing wrong, they may see [our] good deeds and glorify God..." 1 Peter 2:12
Do you hear what I’m saying?
So, in all of this, I challenge you as Paul wrote - “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:23
