As Christians, knowing God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, we live by a different code of conduct. We live by God’s standards.
• They are not standards we abide by to gain God’s favour; they are standards we live by because we have been saved from sin and changed by God.
• We are redeemed, forgiven of our sin and made new because of Jesus. And with this new life comes a new way of living.
• We live in obedience to God because that’s our new nature in Christ.
Therefore having a relationship of incest is not acceptable, Paul said in chapter 5.
• It is wrong for the Christian and it is wrong for the church to let it continue.
• The man has to change his ways or be cut off from the fellowship of the church.
It is also not right for us to sue each other in courts when we have disputes, Paul said in chapter 6.
• We have God’s Word as our guide and the wisdom God gives us to settle matters among brothers and sisters in Christ.
• We do not need to bring matters to the secular courts and subject ourselves to the laws of society. We seek God’s will and settle disputes within the family.
What if we cannot resolve it? Then choose to suffer wrong or be defrauded if need be.
• We forgo the material gain from the dispute (which is temporal gain) and save the relationship with our brother (which is eternal).
• As Christians, we follow a different code of conduct because we live by God’s standards. We go by a different set of values.
Paul continues his emphasis on the right Christian conduct in today’s passage.
1 Cor 6:9-11 ESV
9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. 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.
Paul warns the Corinthians of the danger of continuing in their old ways of living after knowing Christ.
• He warns the “saints” that if they persist in the same deeds as “sinners”, they are in danger of being judged like them.
• Are they deceiving themselves or allowing themselves to be deceived, thinking that they are among the saved when they are persistently sinning.
It’s a warning. If they are true believers, then the warning is no warning at all.
• Yet Paul says he is confident that they know better, that they are saved and therefore urges them to change their behaviours.
• Listen to his emphasis: “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.” (6:11)
Notice the work of the Triune God. Our heavenly Father brought us into His Kingdom, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, accomplishing it by the power of the Holy Spirit!
• Our lives have been saved by the work of the Triune God and we are no longer the same. We WERE sinners in the past but not NOW.
• We live like one who is washed, sanctified and justified. All three words point to the same salvation experience.
So live like one. We are no longer our OLD selves but NEW CREATIONS in Christ.
• Apostle Peter said it well in 1 Pet 1:14-16 “14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
• Know WHO you are in Christ and you will live RIGHT.
I heard this illustration a long time ago: “For a Christian who sins, he is like a pig, having been washed and cleaned but returning to the mud and rolled in it again.”
Later I realised this metaphor is not good, because, in Christ, I am a new person.
“I am not a pig. I am a sheep who now recognises the voice of my Shepherd and wants to follow Him!” That’s who I am and He is my hope of finding pasture and security.
So live like it, Paul tells the Corinthians. Live like one who has been saved from sin – washed, sanctified and justified! True salvation results in morality.
Paul went on, in the next section, to address another prominent sin among them – going to the prostitutes.
1 Cor 6:12-14 ESV
12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
The culture in Corinth has made visiting prostitutes something normal and acceptable.
• The city takes pride in the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which makes prostitution legal and acceptable, in the name of religion.
• For the believers visiting the prostitutes might have been their old lifestyle before they came to know Christ. Sadly for some, they are still doing it.
And they were giving excuses for it. Paul named two popular slogans they had.
• We see them in quotations: “All things are lawful for me” and “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”.
(1) “All things are lawful for me” means “I am free to do anything that is not considered unlawful. I am not doing anything illegal.”
• “Since it is acceptable in society, it cannot be too wrong.”
• This is flawed logic. “Everyone is doing it” does not make it right. What is accepted by society can be wrong, like prostitution, gambling, or abortion.
• This is the mistake of the Corinthians and also of our times too.
Paul has to point them to a higher standard – God’s standard.
• But “not all things are helpful” (NIV beneficial, NASB profitable). Just because people are doing it does not make it good.
• Paul adds, “I will not be dominated by anything.” (NIV mastered by). He warns that there are things that can enslave us and bring us back into bondage.
The inference is SIN, the power that can master us.
• Paul wrote in Gal 5:1 “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
• If Christ sets us free from the bondage of sin, why return to it and enslave ourselves? Why submit ourselves like slaves to be mastered again by it?
Can we think of some things in life that can bind us? Offhand, can we think of some? I am sure we can.
• Gambling, pornography, alcoholism, sex, money and power, and the list can go on.
• These are obsessions in life. They are addictions.
The Corinthians might think that visiting the prostitute is a small thing, but Paul says it’s leading them back into prison, back into the bondage of sin.
• “You are returning to the sin that once mastered you.”
• It’s like Samson in the OT. He comes across as someone strong and mighty, but he could not overcome the seductions of a woman.
• He was in bondage. He was mastered. And he died a miserable death.
• It’s like playing with fire and telling yourself you will never get burned. The nature of fire is to burn. You cannot wrap it up and make it looks good.
How do we break free from this? Find a new Master. Get back to our Master - Jesus.
• Submit to Him as Lord and we will have the chance of overcoming it.
• Jesus said to those who are enticed by riches:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt 6:24)
-----------
And the second excuse that Paul mentioned in a quotation is this:
(2) 13“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”.
Since “food is for the stomach and stomach for the food”, then satisfying my sexual appetite is normal and cannot be wrong.
• God made me a sexual being with its desires, and we are just fulfilling the needs of our bodies when we visit the prostitutes, just like finding food for a hungry stomach.
Again Paul points them back to a higher standard - God’s standard.
• We are not to satisfy the desires of the flesh like animal instincts; God has a different design for our bodies.
• Paul says, “… God will destroy both one and the other.” Both food and stomach belong to the present age and have no eternal function. God will do away with them.
But the body is different. “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” He phrased it this way to sync with the slogan.
• The body is for the Lord. We are redeemed to serve Him in righteousness.
• And the Lord for the body probably refers to Christ dying to save us – spirit/soul and body. 14“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.”
• The body is not destined for destruction but resurrection. It will last forever.
This was an issue for the Corinthians because many do not believe in the resurrection of the dead.
• Paul has to devote an entire chapter 15 in this book (the longest chapter) to address this subject.
• The body is not going to be discarded at the end of our life. God is going to renew it.
• This is what we confess in Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.”
1 Cor 6:15-20 ESV
15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
How can one be united with Christ and yet be united with a prostitute? The two are incompatible.
• How can he be joined to a prostitute when he is joined to the Lord as one?
• Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you?
• God has made us for Himself and we are to glorify Him with our bodies.
Notice three times Paul asked, “Do you not know?” (6:15,16,19)
• The inference is that some do know. They are not ignorant but disobedient. They know but they choose to satisfy their desires instead.
• They are living in denial and self-deception. Paul urges them to come out of it.
• 18Flee from sexual immorality and 20glorify God in your body.
Let me close with this: When Paul talks about the sexual union, he quoted from Gen 2:24, “For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” (6:16)
• Gen 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The context is between husband and wife.
• Listen to what Jesus says in Matt 19:3-6
3And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
God designed marriage to be one man and one woman, united for life.
• This is the only context for a sexual relationship, between the husband and wife, one man and one woman.
• Any other sexual relations outside of this is an abuse of God’s gift and design.
• Premarital sex, extramarital relationships, adultery, fornication, homosexual relations or prostitution, are all outside of God’s design.
DESIGN FOR A PURPOSE
When I go to Daiso I am often amazed at the many little gadgets they have. The Japanese are good at coming up with all kinds of tools to help us with our daily chores. There is one that can help you separate the yolk from the egg white.
There are so many kitchen gadgets that I do not even know what some are for. But every one of them has a specific function and they are made with that purpose in mind.
God has designed marriage and sexual relations for a specific purpose so that one man and one woman can be blessed with a lifetime of companionship and love.
• The union is special because it signifies the union between Christ and His church.
• Any deviation from God’s design will bring damage to our lives, our relationships, our families and society.
• Just like using a tool in any other way other than its intended purpose, we are going to spoil it.
• Sometimes the damage may not be seen or felt immediately but it is there.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body…
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
• Sexuality is God’s sacred gift to mankind. Let us treasure it and honour Him with our bodies.
If you have fallen into sexual immorality, come back to the Master, Jesus.
• Nothing is fatal except our indifference. God’s grace is available if we turn to Him.
• Repent and let Him give you the victory to walk in the newness of life.
Dear friends, we are preoccupied with our needs and we want to satisfy them.
• The greatest need for every man and woman is the need to be forgiven of our sin against God and to put our trust in Jesus for our salvation.
• We need the assurance of eternal life, through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. That’s what we truly need. There is no higher need.
• All other needs pale into insignificance in comparison to this need. Look to Jesus and let Him save you. He is all that we need.
PRAYER
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Grant us mercy, Lord and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Give us the grace and strength to disconnect ourselves from everything that contaminates our spirit, mind and body. Empower us by the Holy Spirit to flee from everything evil and sinful.
We submit to you, Lord, and honour you in all that we think and do.
In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
Note: You can hear the audio sermon with slides at https://youtu.be/cjY60Zs7bj4
Earlier audio sermons are available at https://tinyurl.com/KTCC-EnglishService
