BEYOND THE SANDBARS OF LIBERTY
1 CORINTHIANS 6:12-20
INTRODUCTION: Not too long ago there were several newspaper and television accounts of shark attacks, two in Florida, and one here in New Jersey. One of the reasons sighted for one of the attacks is that the victim was out too far – ie; they were beyond the sandbars that separate the beach from the ocean, the shallow area from the deep area. Often people go beyond these natural barriers – particularly those who are surfing. For the surfer it is one thing to go beyond the safety of the sandbars, for the believer it is quite another.
The sand bars are our liberty. Liberty provides us freedom. Freedom allows us to excel, to take risks, to achieve great things for God. Often though, we want to try and extend the reach of our liberty in Christ, and in doing so, we actually lose liberty and place our self in the control of powerful forces and dangerous situations.
I The Qualifications Of Liberty – 6:12
Paul begins this section talking about our liberty – our freedom as believers. In fact this passage will set the stage to talk about other liberty issue further on in the letter.
Liberty has limits. Even today of liberty of speech does not extend to yelling fire in a movie theatre.
One major limit or qualifier of liberty is love. Here is what the Scripture says -- Mark 12:31 The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these."
ü Liberty cannot be detrimental to others
ü Liberty cannot be detrimental to me, hence …
A Permissible
1 A result of our freedom in Christ is that or what is permissible.
2 The word means “in my power”
3 What we need to understand …
a The removal of sin does not give me the right to keep doing wrong
b Actions which may in and of themselves not be sinful can control our lives and lead us away from God and produce sin in our lives
c Some actions will hurt others and they are not right in and of themselves
4 Things that are permissible are the things that I control, not things that control me
B Beneficial
1 What is permissible or in my power is limited by what is beneficial
2 Beneficial things are those things that are
a Helpful
b Worthwhile
c Profitable
d Advisable
C Controlled
1 The text says , “that I will not be mastered by anything”
2 The issue is control – I will not be controlled by anything
3 It is a play on words with permissible
a Permissible means – “in my power”
b Mastered means – to be overpowered
4 Mastered in this context is the opposite of Permissible
Paul is laying down a biblical principle:
ü Liberty is mine in Christ
ü Liberty is limited to what is beneficial to me
ü Liberty is limited to what I am the master of, not what overpowers me
Although all things are mine in Christ, all things are not profitable for me, nor are all things wise for me!
Paul goes on now and seeks to explain our liberty in terms of our body life as a believer in Christ.
Body life for the believer is important.
ü Body life refers to my interaction with others in the body
ü Body life refers to my interaction with Jesus as the head of the body
II The Body Life Of The Christian – 6:13-18
A Eternal, Not Temporal
1 The Corinthians did not understand the difference between the temporal and the eternal.
2 The symptom Paul is dealing with is sexual immorality, but the issue our position in the body. The Corinthians were blending the two.
3 Food and Stomach
a Paul is quoting a saying the Corinthians were using
1) Food was made for our stomachs and stomachs were made for food
2) Food meets our needs and is necessary for our well-being
3) So, things that were made for each other should go together.
4 Body and Sex
a Made for each other
b Needed for health and well-being
c Should be no problem in putting them both together
5 Paul says that food was made to fill your stomach, BUT your body was made for God, not you.
a Your stomach will not last
b The food you eat will not last
c Your “body” will last
1) Soma – our whole being
2) Physical
3) Spiritual
B Dependent, Not Sovereign
1 God is concerned with our physical self
a Raised Jesus with a body
b Raise us with a body
c Eternity brings us a new body
d A new heaven and a new earth are coming.
1) Why have a new earth without a body to enjoy it?
2 Our place is with Christ
3 Paul gives the first of three “Hey, you should know this statements”
a If our bodies are members
b Like the limb on a body
c We are part of the body of Christ
OUR LIBERTY IS LIMITED BY OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!
4 This is why Paul says that he will never remove us from one body and place us with another body – IE: Christ and Prostitute
Whenever there is a union between two people something happens -- Ephes. 5:31-32 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.
ü Not told what the mystery is
ü But we are told that it applies to Christ and His church – US!
SO THEN WE CANNOT HAVE A UNION WITH SOMETHING AND NOT HAVE IT CHANGE US – OR EVEN CONTROL US.
WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL OF OUR LIBERTY – CHRIST IS, AND SHOULD WE LEAVE HIS CONTROL WE BECOME CONTROLLED BY THINGS WE SHOULD HAVE POWER OVER
C Vulnerable, Not Invincible
1 Once again Paul says we should already know this – should not have to be told
ü We are free to be all that we can be in God, but we are not free from God
ü We were designed to praise and worship God
ü We were designed to be a dwelling place for God
2 Yielding to our desires – uniting – is a grave situation
a The power of a union – word means to cement
b Changes take place
c We are affected by what happens
d We are changed
Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, ya’ can’t get it back in!
3 Paul offers one solution to keep us from being controlled by our liberties.
! ! ! ! RUN! ! ! !
4 The only safety in temptation is to run
a Prayer is not the answer to temptation – we already know what we need to do
b Reading our Bibles is not the answer to this kind of temptation – the Word hidden in our heart is telling us to RUN!
c Calling a friend is not the answer to your temptation – unless your trying to get a different answer than the one God is giving you
d We need to run to the freedom that is ours in a relationship with Christ!
III Our Relationship To God – 6:19-20
A We Are A Temple Of The Holy Spirit
1 Temples do not worship
2 Temples are prepared to receive God
3 Look at what happens when God fills our temple
2 Chron. 7:1-2 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it.
a Nothing gets in when God fills the temple!
B We Are Never Our Own
1 We are promised a habitation of God’s Spirit
2 God promises that we will never be in a position when we are without his presence.
2 Tim. 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
1 Cor. 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
C We Have Been Bought
1 Christ paid for us
2 We have something in common with Him
2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
a Participate means to have something in common with
3 We were purchased by Christ to be his slaves
a Slaves were known by their masters
b Christ’s purchase of us changed our master and changed our identification
1 Kings 21:20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!" "I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD.
Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
Romans 6:16-18 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
4 We were purchased from an obligation of sin and punishment to an obligation of obedience
D We Have A Responsibility To Honor
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