MPC
4th May 2008.May 4 - 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 - "Sex in the City"
MPC
4th May 2008.
Phil Campbell
It was very humbling when I first started my engineering degree at the University of NSW. Because I was one of the very few students in my year who didn't study chemistry at school. Apart from taking a few Panadol every now and then, my knowledge of Chemistry was non existent. And after a few weeks of Chemistry 1A lectures, I was just going backwards, swimming in a chemical reactions that made no sense at all.
And the tutor, who was trying to help, seemed bewildered that a first year student in his chemistry class could know so little. So we're looking together at the dismal results from my mid term exam. Where I vividly remember I scored 27%.
Don't you know what entropy is? Um, no I don't.
Don't you know what enthalpy is? Um, no idea.
Don't you know that a mole is Avogadro's number of molecules of a gas? Um, well... I wrote it's a dark spot on your skin.
And on it went. Don't you know...? And the bottom line was, for most of it, I didn't. I didn't have a clue.
Now I've got to say that after some superhuman end of term cramming, the story had a happy ending. Which means I can still explain entropy to you even today.
But I want to introduce you to some other remedial students on a rather different subject. The Christians in Corinth. Who have Paul asking them a string of don't you know questions in almost exactly the same bewildered tone.
If you read through the middle section of 1 Corinthians, you'll notice there's actually a string of ten of them. All in the same grammatical form. All in the same tone. Starting back in chapter 5 verse 6. Do you not know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? The last one in chapter 9 verse 24. Do you not know... that only one runner gets the prize?
Don't you know the basics yet? I mean, here's a church as we've seen over the past few weeks full of aspirational Christians who think they're quite impressive. And yet in lots of ways, they're not even on square one.
And in this morning's passage you'll notice four of the ten instances. Four times, Paul uses the words do you not know.
You probably spotted them already.. Chapter 6 verse 9. Do you not know. And verse 15. Exactly the same words. Do you not know. You'll see it again in verse 16. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute... And finally verse 19. Do you not know... that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?
And of course in each case they should know. Because in each case, it's all about the way we use our bodies in the area of Christian sexual morality. They should already know Christians are meant to be different. And they should already know these key reasons why.
Now maybe you think sexual liberation was just something that happened in the 1960s. Maybe you think when it comes to sexuality Christians have only started being different since about 1965. But let me tell you, Sex and the City could have just as easily been a show about ancient Corinth. Only more-so.
You'd be invited to an upper-class banquet in Corinth, and you didn't get just the food. Instead of an after dinner mint with coffee, you'd be offered after dinner sex. With prostitutes brought in by your gracious host. In fact, it got to the point where the slang word for prostitution was to corinthianise.
A young guy turns 18 in Corinth, and instead of getting his driver's licence he gets what's called the toga of virility. And he's expected to prove himself a man at the earliest opportunity.
Not only that, as long as you were the dominant partner in a male homosexual relationship, in Roman culture it was considered quite okay. As demonstrated by the emperors.
Which means we'll see Paul's calling the Corinthian Christians to be just as different back then as we're called to be today. Don't they know that?
a) the wicked won't inherit the Kingdom of God...
So let's take a look at each key statement in turn. Starting at verse 9. "Do you not know," verse 9, "that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God?" The wicked, as we saw last week, including the sort of people who cheat one another. And are greedy. And which also includes people who are sexually immoral.
Look at his words. "Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, verse 9 nor idolaters nor adulters who are cheating on a spouse, nor what we've got translated there as male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, which is more literally what could be termed both passive and active homosexual partners; nor thieves nor drunks nor the swindlers we talked about last week... none of those behaviours are appropriate for the kingdom of God. None of those... will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Do they not know that? Because to Paul's way of thinking, it should be obvious.
And as we saw last time, he says, that's what some of you were. Before you were washed and sanctified. It's not what you should be any longer.
Now I know for some of you here this morning, some of these words highlight areas of genuine struggle. But for most of the world, it's no struggle at all. Because anything goes.
And instead of leaving those things behind them, these Corinthians want to justify staying exactly the same. They've got a motto. And it sums it up precisely.
You can see it in verse 12. Twice. As Paul quotes in back to them. Of course, these days we say it this way: "I can do anything you like as long as I don't hurt anybody." Their version says this. "Everything is permissible for me." In the word ordering in the original Greek it's even more obviously self centred... because the word me comes right in the middle. Everything for me is allowable.
Especially, apparently, when it comes to sex.
To which Paul says, "But not everything is good for you." And you need to stop and think that through. Because in the area of sexuality it seems no matter how liberated our world becomes, this is an area that can so easily cause so much damage. And leave so much pain and regret later on.
"Everything is permissible for me" they say; and Paul says in the second half of the verse, maybe so... but I'm not going to let anything master me.
Interesting, isn't it, how addictive this stuff is. If you're into pornography, it's hard to stop. If you're caught up in adultery... it's so hard to back out. You say everything is permissable for me. Paul says, I'm not going to let anything master me. If you're so free... how come you're being mastered by it? Because then you're not free at all. You're a sex slave.
Now it's an interesting thing, the next three do you not know statements all make a very similar point. The next three do you not know statements are all about the way Christians use their bodies.
And Paul sets the scene for that with another Corinthian quotation. Which you'll see in verse 13. He's going to quote it. Then he's going to show why they're wrong. So can I suggest you don't learn the first half of verse 13 as a memory verse unless you learn the second half as well...
They say "food for the body and the body for food... but God will destroy them both." The NIV breaks it in the middle and I think loses half the quote. Which I think misses the point. Because it's almost directly parallel with their other favourite cliché that comes in chapter 15. Eat drink and be merry... for tomorrow we die.
Now let me assure you, they're not just talking about food when they say food for the stomach and the stomach for food but God will destroy them both. It's kind of a hedonistic fatalism that says this life is all there is and your body's got appetites, so feed them as much as you can. Because you're going to be a long time dead. And when they're saying these words, they're talking just as much about sex as they are about food.
Here's their logic. If your stomach is rumbling, eat some food. If you're hungry for sex... have some. With whoever's handy. Get along to a Corinthian banquet. And consume in as many ways as you can. And there were Christians who were thinking that it was quite okay.
Because like the rest of the world, they're thinking this life is all there is. They're thinking the body is just for indulging. They're thinking their bodies are disposable throw away containers that they can do what they like with.
Which ultimately in his next three do you not know questions is an idea Paul goes on to correct. The body is more than just a self reproducing food processor. don't they know anything?
They say the body for the food and food for the body. By which they're actually meaning the body for whatever sex it feels like and sex for the body. To which Paul replies in the second half of verse 13 with a handy saying of his own. Pick up in the middle of the verse. The body's not for sexual immorality. The body is for the Lord. And the Lord for the body.
Your body is first and foremost for serving the Lord Jesus.
And their second phrase, God will destroy them both... I mean it might be true that we die. But Paul says there's going to be resurrection.
See, this world thinks you've got to see and hear and taste and touch and experience everything in this life or you're a loser. They're wrong. By his power God raised Jesus from the dead, verse 14. And he will raise us also. Which means bodies are a good thing. And there are plenty more joys to come.
So take a look at the next point. Do you not know. It's in verse 15.
b) your bodies are members of Christ
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Christian basics 101. All different gifts. All part of Christ's body. With Christ's spirit in us.
You and Christ are connected. Your body... is part of his body. Doing his work in his world. Serving his people on his behalf just like the hand feeds the mouth.
Don't you know that? Your bodies are members of Christ. Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? I mean, it's almost unthinkable isn't it.
c) uniting with a prostitute...
I mean, it's simple theological mathematics . And here's the third do you not know in verse 16. The way God designed our sexuality, it's the ultimate bonding agent; it's the two becoming one flesh.
Did you hear about the guy on the news the other night whose mates when they were all drunk decided to superglue his hand to his face? And then they thought it would be funny to glue up his ear as well? Might sound funny at the time, but in the end, bonding the wrong things in the wrong ways is disastrous.
A sexual relationship creates a bond that's fantastic for marriage... and disastrous anywhere else. Paul says, if you go bonding yourself to a prostitute, making the two one flesh, and in a spiritual sense you're bonded to Jesus... do the maths yourself. Paul says if you're a Christian you should know this stuff.
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, the two will become one flesh. But, verse 17, you've already united yourself with the Lord in Spirit. So now you're making him one with the prostitute as well.
I mean, I guess if you were entertaining Jesus in person for the afternoon you wouldn't think of taking him to the seedy side of Fortitude Valley. Or an R rated movie. Or to sit with you while you surf those X-rated websites. But he's with you in spirit. So it's just as if you're taking him with you.
Paul says don't walk into that stuff. Run away from it instead.
The Christians in Corinth could justify just about anything. Everything is permissable for me. And they'd maybe head off to the prostitute feasts the same way you'd go to dinner and a show. It's just a normal human appetite. And Paul says, run away.
Everyone else might be running toward it. But you... run away. Flee from sexual immorality, verse 18. "All other sins a man commits are outside his body. But he who sins sexually sins against his own body."
I don't know what it is with sexual sin. But the effects are deep and painful. And very long lasting. Paul says "Flee from sexual immorality" because in the end you're sinning against yourself. Doing yourself damage in a way that other sins aren't.
And maybe you've experienced that. And carried that damage. Or been damaged by someone else. I know from the growth groups this week that for a lot of people a passage like this can open up some very old wounds.
Be assured, those wounds can heal. Remember verse 11? That's what some of you were. But you were washed. You might have felt dirty. But you're not. You've been washed. You were sanctified. Made into a saint. Your purity restored. No matter what you were.
As long as you leave the past in the past. And don't keep making excuses for the present.
He who sins sexually sins against his own body. And why would you want to do that?
But there's more to it as well. Because when you say his own body, that's not the whole story. And here's the fourth and final do you not know.
d) a temple of the Spirit
Because the fact is, even when you're sinning against your own body... you've got to remember the body you're sinning against is not actually your own.
Do you not know, verse 19, that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?
And the Corinthian Christians should have known that as well. The point being that just like the huge temples of Buddha you see in Japan are Buddha's place where Buddha is meant to be honoured... your body is God's Spirit's place. Not just your place to do what you like with.
You are not your own. Paul's words at the end of verse 19. "You were bought at a price." Someone bled for you. Someone died for you.
Therefore, says Paul, honour God with your body. And stop going on with this nonsense about everything is permissable for me. And the stomach for food and food for the stomach, and God will destroy them both.
You are much, much more than a bunch of appetites on legs. So live like it. Four times, Paul has to say to the Corinthians don't you know that? Don't you know that if you keep up in sexual immorality you're not heading for the Kingdom of God? Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Don't you know that it's wrong to make your body one flesh with a prostitute? Don't you know that your body... is a temple of the Holy Spirit?
I guess they knew. But they're surrounded by a culture full of pornea, the original Greek word for sexual immorality. It was a porn culture. And there's so much pressure to just do what comes naturally. There's so much on offer. And it's so much easier to just go with the flow. When Paul's saying to us, don't you know you're worth more than that? Don't you know not everything is beneficial? Don't you know your body's meant for serving the Lord Jesus instead of leering at that porn star?
I don't know where you're at with this stuff. But one thing I do know is you can't say to me we Christians don't need to hear this stuff because we're above it. Maybe some women are above it. But none of the men. And there's not a single issue mentioned in today's passage that I haven't had to deal with one-to-one with someone in a church in the last 20 years. Usually in their despair from the way things have got so messed up.
I could say don't you know you've got to stop that stuff. But you do know. And if you want to be serious about living as a Christian, I want to suggest two simple steps for accountability.
First of all, if the Internet's the problem, and for so many of the guys it is, it's like having a pornographic library on your desk 24-7... if the Internet's the problem sign up on the site called "x3 watch" (www.x3watch.com) - all the guys on the ministry team have subscribed. It's a computer program that checks all the websites you visit. And emails a list of possible objectionable sites you've visited to your wife. Or someone else you nominate. Simple. Free. And if it's not enough for you that Jesus already knows what websites you visit, it's helpful to let someone else know as well.
Number 2. If you're struggling with other sexual sin, get some accountability with that as well. Tell someone about it. Someone you trust. And start fighting back. Talk to me, talk to Derek, give us all call. Let me tell you, we're absolutely shockproof when it comes to this stuff. And you need to take the step. Because don't you know you're worth more than that?