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.
It's so easy to get caught up in so many different things. I'm a Christian, should I go to the movies? I'm a Christian, should I listen to secular music? I'm a Christian, should I eat a Kosher diet? What if I don't practice Lent? What if I'm a dude and I have a long hair? What if I get a tattoo? What if I go to the dance? You see; there's all kinds of things that we can get really hung up on because someone at some point said, "Oh a Christian should do this, or a Christian shouldn't do that." And the problem with that is that it was some Christian who said that, maybe a pastor, or a Sunday School teacher, or evangelist... but God never actually said it... ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, and I'm not talking about things that are blatantly sinful, or immoral, or anything like that. I'm talking about these kind of every-day things that we have somehow stigmatized, but God is completely silent about. This is Paul's answer, "All things are lawful" Meaning, I'm free in Christ. Christ has fulfilled the Law, and I don't have to live under it now. Jesus has done all that is needed to make me acceptable to God, so it's not up to me to try and EARN God's favor, and I couldn't even if I tried... But thanks to Jesus - it's already done. So I'm free... BUT... at the same time... "Not all things are helpful. Not all things build up." I am free from the Law... the written law... but not the LAW OF LOVE. And so in chapter 8 verse 13, Paul says, "If food makes my brother stumble, I won't eat it." Why? Because he would be violating this law of love.
So what Paul is saying here is that he's willing to set aside his freedom for the sake of the weaker brother or sister, so as to not cause them to stumble.
Paul teaches this exact same thing in Romans chapter 14. You can read through that later today if you'd like.
So Church, understand here... AS Christians we are to call our brothers and sisters in Christ to repent, when they are in sin. We are to call out false teaching - the Bible tells us to mark those who do that. But on these other things, we walk in love, we set aside our liberty so as to not cause our brother or sister in Christ to stumble.
Now Paul goes on and says, "All things are lawful, but I won't be dominated by anything." So in other words, not only are we to be guided by love, but also the law of liberty. Like I said, it's kind of like a dance between love and liberty here. So I'm free in Christ, but at the same time, I'll do what I need to do in order to not cause my brothers and sisters to stumble in any way... and at the same time I'm asking myself, "Do I have this thing, or does it have me?" "Am I a slave to this thing - this food, or drink, or habit, or hobby?" "Do I have mastery over this, or does it have mastery over me?"
And here's how the two of them work together - Galatians 5:13 says, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
Now let's go back to our text there in 1st Corinthians 6... and let's look at the next verses (READ 1 Corinthians 6:13-17).
So right there... that makes it pretty clear that the freedom that we have in Christ doesn't allow us to do whatever we want right? Now the ancient Greeks, during this time period had this saying, "Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food." They weren't really much different than we are today. You can find a million pithy quotes and different tid-bits of worldly wisdom online and on social media. But Paul just blows it up and says, "Yeah, and God will destroy both, one and the other." The body - he says, is meant for the Lord. Now let me tell you what he's not saying... He's not saying, "Go to the gym and kill yourself every day." He's not saying that all men need to be built like Captain Americana and all women need to be built like Wonder Woman. What he is saying is, "Don't use your bodies for sin... be that the sin of gluttony, or fornication, or whatever! DON'T DO THAT!" So yes, there is this idea that we shouldn't abuse our bodies or destroy them, right, but ultimately what he's saying here is what he says in the Book of Romans - "Glorify God in your mortal bodies. Use your instruments as instruments of righteousness. Don't be engaging in sin." Why? Because the Spirit of God dwells within us. So the stomach is not for food and the body isn't for fornication - IT'S FOR THE LORD!
So Paul concludes with this, and this is where we’ll conclude as well.
You were bought with a price. Jesus shed His blood for your sake. He died on the cross in order to pay for your sin and buy you out of your enslavement to sin. It’s called redemption. You have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
LETS PRAY
