Body Talk
09/20/09
Pastor
Marji Miller
It seems like I’ve been gone forever. I missed you. I could tell you some great stories about the trip, but instead I’m going to tell you about what happened to me back at work.
Friday. For those of you who don’t know, I spend a lot of my time as a banker, which means I do whatever needs to be done, and Friday, what needed to be done was distracting the customers who were waiting in the very long teller line. So I was talking to them, filling out deposit slips, just trying to speed things up. The lobby was full, I mean full, of people. Then in came a guy with an amazon. For those of you who don’t know, in addition to being an online book store, and amazon is a medium sized parrot and this particular amazon was a good sized bird, beautifully green, very well behaved, sitting on the guy's shoulder. I like birds so I started a conversation. He introduced me to the bird and I was delighted. He said, “You can rub his head.” I don’t get a chance to be around the big birds very often. I asked him if he was sure and he said, “Absolutely.” The bird obediently put his head down to be scratched and I reached out. Instantly I had a parrot clamped onto my finger. I pulled back, bird still attached. Wings flapping all over the place. Everyone in the bank was watching the show. I shook, he only dug in deeper. When he let go it only took seconds to see who had one the tussle. I had blood running down my arm.
OK. It was own stupid fault. I should have known better. The man with the bird apologized profusely and left. There was an animal technician there for the entire performance who strongly urged me to go to the emergency room and get it looked at. I brushed it off. He warned me about infections from bird bites. Everyone wanted me to get it looked at. But, of course, I want to do it my way. I didn’t and by yesterday my fingers were beautifully swollen. This actually has something to do with the sermon. So, remember me with the parrot’s beak wrapped around my hand.
OK, even though I’ve been away for a while I do know we are still on First Corinthians. It seems like we almost know these people. What they thought, what mattered to them, how they worshipped. As we have already said, Paul was writing to a group of people who were very proud of their wisdom and spiritual maturity. Their “wisdom” had some interesting twists, however. It seems they – at least some of them – believed that whatever one did with, or to, one’s body, had no effect on that person’s relationship with God, one’s witness to the world, or the relationships among believers. And what was worse, they seemed to think that if you were really wise, you’d get this.
Today we are going to talk about sex. And bodies. And grace. And power. And freedom.
Christians have always gotten stuck in what the society around us approves of, and one of the ways this showed up in Corinth was in sexual relations with prostitutes. This was an accepted as part of the middle and upper class culture. Paul, the writer of the letter to the church at Corinth, found this to be very disturbing - like so much of what was going on in the church at Corinth. The part of the letter we are reading today seems to be a response to a letter he had gotten from them. It’s like listening to someone who is talking on the phone. You can hear that one side clearly, but you have to piece together what is going on at the other end. Paul wrote:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 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 whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 TNIV
Let’s look at this. No quotation marks or punctuation in the original Greek, so there are some differences among translations about who is saying what. We’ll be following the Today’s New International Version.
It begins: “I have the right to do anything.” Remember, Paul seems to be responding to something the Corinthians had said or written. This particular line was probably a slogan. Remember that these people really, really prided themselves on their “wisdom,” and here Paul played on that. “OK, since you’re so smart, why would you do something that isn’t “beneficial?” That wouldn’t be very wise.
Again, “I have the right to do anything.” Again Paul countered— I will not be mastered by anything. That certainly would not be wise! The truly wise person would avoid anything that has the power to take over his or her life. The Bible warns us about the power sin has to trap us. Over and over and over and over. Our choices have a power to enslave that defies description.
On to verse 13. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” It seems Paul was quoting, again, a Corinthian slogan –justifying their actions. Their line of reasoning: Sex is to the body as food is to the stomach. And if you’re hungry… eat! They defended any sexual activity as something natural, a biological function. Interesting they’d pick eating as their analogy, because all our problems began with eating. When those first people thought it was OK to eat from any tree in the garden. Remember that tree in the middle of Eden? Adam and Eve. Told by God they could eat anything in the garden but the fruit from that one tree. Told not to go there, what did they do? They made a beeline to that tree.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom (Corinthian buzzword), she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6 TNIV
They thought doing what seemed natural would somehow be OK. Wouldn’t mess up their relationships with God. With each other. They were wrong.
So, Paul’s response: The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord. Your body, my body – isn’t made for our own purposes. Our bodies are made for the Lord!
Verse 14: “By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.” Paul was reminding the Corinthians that Jesus didn’t merely rise from the dead spiritually; He rose from the dead bodily. And He promises that we too will be raised. Bodily. Salvation isn’t escape from the body, into heaven. Flitting around looking down on people below. It’s all about a new heaven, a new earth and new resurrected bodies. That is the core of the Christian story. Implication: abusing your body – or someone else’s - is incompatible with flesh intended for the resurrection.
To show how messed up their thinking was, Paul took this over the top. Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Paul wasn’t a coward when it came to his writing. That is a very bold metaphor. When Paul wrote “members” he wasn’t talking about Costco. Where he wrote “members,” think “body parts.” Graphic. Do you not know that your bodies are “body parts” of Christ himself? Our bodies are body parts of Jesus himself. And, in the context of prostitution, it’s not JUST his hands and feet. And don’t let the masculine gender confuse you – like gender exclusive language always confuses – this is NOT a male only problem.
16. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? We aren’t like the Corinthians, in their “wisdom,” believed - separate souls and bodies; we are whole beings. And when we involve ourselves in sexual sin, we become emotionally and spiritually attached to that sexual partner. We may not mean to, but it’s inevitable. The sexual bond is so strong that we can’t break the attachment without leaving some of ourselves behind and taking something of that other person.
18. Flee from sexual immorality. Good idea. Some sin is so powerful, the best thing you can do is run away from it.
19. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. In other places, this means we, as a church, are God’s temple, but, not here. Here my body, your body is the temple.
20. When Paul wrote ***You are not your own; you were bought at a price. He was talking about the cross. He was saying Jesus paid the price. A very high price.
OK. That’s what we have to deal with today. Remember that all of Paul’s writings were written within a specific context. And this one, to his problem church, the one in Corinth, was no exception. He was writing to them to answer their specific questions and to comment on their specific behavior. Can faithful Christians eat meat previously used in pagan rituals? Should women keep their heads covered? Should the rich wait for the poor before they eat their community meals?
Non-issues today. How many of you eat meat offered to idols? How many women here this morning with their heads covered? Do we have a problem with the rich eating before the poor at potlucks? So we must be careful how we use his letters to express universal truth – whatever that means - but there are some fundamental issues here. Not easy issues, but vital ones. For instance, what about sexual behavior? What about our bodies? What about freedom?
Remember, the First Testament – the only Bible the Corinthians had - does NOT regard the law as a burden, but as a joy. God’s commandments are guidelines for meaningful life. God didn’t tell them to avoid sexual sin because he doesn’t want them to have fun. Out of control sexual behavior is not fun. Maybe for a minute, like the rush that you must get jumping off the rim of the Grand Canyon. But how long can that exhilaration last? The splat will come. It’s the same thing.
When God asks, “What did you do with what I gave you?” he’ll be talking about spiritual gifts, of course, but physical ones too! Their bodies were gifts. Paul wanted them to think about what they were doing with those gifts? Maybe time to make some changes?
In the surrounding Greek culture promiscuity and prostitutes and pedophilia were socially acceptable. How was a Christian to understand God’s plan for sex? And, of course, underlying all these controversies was the question of freedom. If a Christian has been set free by the saving and forgiving power of the risen Jesus, did that mean that Christians are free to engage in any kind of behavior?
Apparently, some of them thought so. Just like Paul had written:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 TNIV
So, only the “weak” Christian wouldn’t understand that going to prostitutes was OK. After all, it felt good, everyone else was doing it. And, hey, Christ has set us free! What does it mean to honor God with our bodies?
Probably most Valley Grace’rs aren’t visiting prostitutes, or engaging in pedophilia. BUT maybe you are dancing around the edges – promiscuous sex, pornography – and, again, this is not a men-only problem. There are
millions of women addicted to internet porn, internet affairs. For every man who has an extra-marital affair – unless it’s a homosexual affair – there’s a women. And women are having same-sex affairs too. If you, woman or man, are on the fringes, thinking “I can stop before this goes too far…” It has already gone too far. You need help to stop before you destroy yourself, your relationships with those who love and trust you. Talk to Pastor Greg, talk to me, come to Celebrate Recovery. Get some help! Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Sexual purity is very important, and nowhere in the Bible, that I know of, does it even hint that sex outside marriage is OK (we could talk about how marriage is defined, but we aren’t going to). So, if we’re going to be faithful to the Bible, we know that’s off limits. However, some Christian groups see sexual sin as the ultimate sin. “If I’m not gay/lesbian, and I’ve never had an abortion, I’m pretty much OK with God. So what if I’m selfish, greedy, lazy, bigoted and racist? Hey! I’m not a lesbian.” That is NOT what the Bible says. Sexual sins are not the only sins, or even the most serious sins – if there is such a thing as a sin that is more serious than another one.
And you’re wondering if I’m telling you that not getting enough sleep is as bad as going to prostitutes, right? No, but I am saying those seemingly minor things can have major impacts. Honor God with your bodies. Back to that parrot: what if my hand gets so infected that it has to be amputated. Do you think Pastor Hook could be as effective at sending emails and hugging? What if I got bird flu and died? Really hard to be effective then. Sure, that’s extreme, but extreme things happen!
Even before the bird fight, I had been having a hard time trying to figure out how to preach a sermon on visiting prostitutes. I kept going over things in my mind and nothing clicked. God was being maddeningly silent on the issue, or so it seemed. Have you ever noticed that he usually tells you exactly what you don’t want to hear?
By the time George and I were on vacation I was about frantic. The message was going absolutely nowhere. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
I was sitting in the sun at a high elevation, shorts and tank top, as much skin exposed to the sun as is socially acceptable for someone my age, trying to write. As I was thinking of my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, as the body that would be resurrected to live with God forever, as I thought about my body as part of Jesus’ body, my body as a tool for ministry, my body not mine, I couldn’t help but see the sunburn – remember that sunburn is a leading cause of skin cancer – the sunburn I allowed to happen, no, the sunburn I deliberately tried to get. And it was almost like a heard a voice saying, “Pastor, practice what you are preaching.” There is more to this than sex. There is a much larger application here.
If our bodies are made for the Lord,
If God will raise our bodies to live with him forever,
If our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,
If my body is not my own,
Then there are implications all over the place.
Then, “I have the right to do anything” suddenly sounds like something a thirteen year old would say. We have to rethink everything we do with, and to, our bodies. And with, and to, the bodies of others – for whom Jesus also died. Whose bodies will also be raised and whose bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit.
What we need is a new theology of the body – made for the Lord, raised to live with him forever, temples of the Holy Spirit, not my own – has a very wide application. It concerns gluttony, caring for animal bites – and other injuries, smoking, laziness and physical inactivity, toxic waste, sodium intake, abortion, sunburn, suicide, regular physical examinations, euthanasia, drug or alcohol abuse, coffee overdose, air pollution, genetic research, clothing, taking your medication, and the list goes on. We won’t get any of this right if our thinking is rooted in bad body theology. Because the human body is an instrument for worship, and not an object of worship. But not an object of abuse or neglect either.
Let’s picture me, standing in front of God. Age 70. Dead from skin cancer. Brought on by, guess what? That sunburn that I went out of my way to get, knowing how dangerous it is. And picture God saying, “There was someone I was steering toward to you. Your unique story was going to bring her to me. And she was going to come into your life when you were 75.” Whoops. Now what? Will he forgive me? I think he will. But can I forgive myself? And what about that other person? Who never gets to receive God’s plan for her? We are here for a reason. Honor God with your bodies
Without Jesus, though, one thing is missing - the power to do it. I don’t know about you, but I need more than being told not to eat wrong, not too drink too much, not to skip the exercise. For just one night… We need more than admonitions and guilt. We need power. We have it! We don’t have to live that way. Jesus died so that we could be free from the power sin has to enslave us.
But, what does it mean when Paul says we’re free? What’s the relationship between our freedom in Jesus and God’s law? Does grace mean “anything goes?” How can Paul say, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1 TNIV) and Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy – boy that doesn’t include all of us, does it? – nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 TNIV
Theologians have been trying to systemize this for centuries, and I don’t have an answer for you. If Paul had an answer, he didn’t give it, he took a different approach. Instead, he answered those who would rationalize sin with, “So what? So what if I do have the right? What difference does that make?” I have the right to chain myself to a bus, eat live gold fish or put my face in a wasps nest, or engage in physical combat with a parrot. But why would I want to? It’s not what I’m free to do. It’s what I’m free NOT to do. We have that freedom.
Our bodies are to honor God – never make him look bad, always reflect his grace and power. We are to use our bodies to make the life God calls us to - look like something someone would want. We are to make God look like someone they’d want to know. Our bodies are to be cared for as his tools and resources. We want our lives to reflect his power to change lives! Everything we do, including the way we treat our bodies, is for God’s purposes.
All through the Bible:
Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. Psalm 106:8 TNIV
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:3 TNIV
Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. Acts 15:14 TNIV
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16 TNIV
We were bought from one master – to serve another. For his power. His name. His purposes And, this is what freedom is. Not in being our own bosses – I’ve tried that and it was hell. Freedom is choosing who to serve. A choice made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Live for him! Live a life that draws, a life that reflects his love and grace. That is why we were called. We have a job to do!!
We are all going to die someday, no matter what we do, no matter how we care for our bodies. Cancer happens with the very best of vigilance. Heart attacks hit the most physically fit. Car accidents and diseases happen. I’m certainly not trying to say we can prevent all these things. And I’m certainly, absolutely, positively not trying to tell you they all are the fault of the sufferer. We live in a fallen world. The Kingdom has not come. Suffering and pain are parts of life.
But we do have choices about a lot of things. If my body is going to live with God forever, what do I want the story of that body to be? Sure, this body will be recreated, but it will still be this body. There is going to be continuity. Not my soul – whoever that may be – yanked out of this carcass and transplanted. No. This body. Made new. Do I want to stand in front of God with a body that I’ve abused with too much alcohol? Too much food? Too much sunburn? Do I want to try to explain to God why I left my post before I should have because I didn’t bother to get regular medical exams, and that high blood pressure just blew up? Or that breast cancer or prostate cancer that could have been caught -if I had been doing the things my doctor has been nagging me about for years? So, “Hey God, I’m here ahead of schedule. I know you had a plan for me, but I thought my way was better.”
Would you do that to Jesus’ body? Would you take his body and unite it to a prostitute? Would you expose his body to cigarette smoke or an endless diet of fried food? No? Then it’s time to make some changes. There are some decisions we need to make before we get into the dangerous situations. You have to decide before you’re in the moment. And you need power beyond yourself to do it. Today, I want us to think about deciding from the outset – to settle in our minds to live life God’s way! “Will I obey God in every area of my life?” Some issues need to be settled once and for all. We have decisions to make. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You want to be free from the messed up stuff? I believe all of us, deep down inside ourselves, want to be free from our own impulses and hungers and addictions and messed up lifestyles. There’s someone who wants that more than you do! Jesus can keep us. If we ask him to. His grip is sure. His patience is sure. He won’t let go. It cost him everything to give you that freedom. Let’s grab it with both hands. Let’s follow him into a life of freedom and power and grace and love.
It seems like I’ve been gone forever. I missed you. I could tell you some great stories about the trip, but instead I’m going to tell you about what happened to me back at work.
Friday. For those of you who don’t know, I spend a lot of my time as a banker, which means I do whatever needs to be done, and Friday, what needed to be done was distracting the customers who were waiting in the very long teller line. So I was talking to them, filling out deposit slips, just trying to speed things up. The lobby was full, I mean full, of people. Then in came a guy with an amazon. For those of you who don’t know, in addition to being an online book store, and amazon is a medium sized parrot and this particular amazon was a good sized bird, beautifully green, very well behaved, sitting on the guy's shoulder. I like birds so I started a conversation. He introduced me to the bird and I was delighted. He said, “You can rub his head.” I don’t get a chance to be around the big birds very often. I asked him if he was sure and he said, “Absolutely.” The bird obediently put his head down to be scratched and I reached out. Instantly I had a parrot clamped onto my finger. I pulled back, bird still attached. Wings flapping all over the place. Everyone in the bank was watching the show. I shook, he only dug in deeper. When he let go it only took seconds to see who had one the tussle. I had blood running down my arm.
OK. It was own stupid fault. I should have known better. The man with the bird apologized profusely and left. There was an animal technician there for the entire performance who strongly urged me to go to the emergency room and get it looked at. I brushed it off. He warned me about infections from bird bites. Everyone wanted me to get it looked at. But, of course, I want to do it my way. I didn’t and by yesterday my fingers were beautifully swollen. This actually has something to do with the sermon. So, remember me with the parrot’s beak wrapped around my hand.
OK, even though I’ve been away for a while I do know we are still on First Corinthians. It seems like we almost know these people. What they thought, what mattered to them, how they worshipped. As we have already said, Paul was writing to a group of people who were very proud of their wisdom and spiritual maturity. Their “wisdom” had some interesting twists, however. It seems they – at least some of them – believed that whatever one did with, or to, one’s body, had no effect on that person’s relationship with God, one’s witness to the world, or the relationships among believers. And what was worse, they seemed to think that if you were really wise, you’d get this.
Today we are going to talk about sex. And bodies. And grace. And power. And freedom.
Christians have always gotten stuck in what the society around us approves of, and one of the ways this showed up in Corinth was in sexual relations with prostitutes. This was an accepted as part of the middle and upper class culture. Paul, the writer of the letter to the church at Corinth, found this to be very disturbing - like so much of what was going on in the church at Corinth. The part of the letter we are reading today seems to be a response to a letter he had gotten from them. It’s like listening to someone who is talking on the phone. You can hear that one side clearly, but you have to piece together what is going on at the other end. Paul wrote:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 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 whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 TNIV
Let’s look at this. No quotation marks or punctuation in the original Greek, so there are some differences among translations about who is saying what. We’ll be following the Today’s New International Version.
It begins: “I have the right to do anything.” Remember, Paul seems to be responding to something the Corinthians had said or written. This particular line was probably a slogan. Remember that these people really, really prided themselves on their “wisdom,” and here Paul played on that. “OK, since you’re so smart, why would you do something that isn’t “beneficial?” That wouldn’t be very wise.
Again, “I have the right to do anything.” Again Paul countered— I will not be mastered by anything. That certainly would not be wise! The truly wise person would avoid anything that has the power to take over his or her life. The Bible warns us about the power sin has to trap us. Over and over and over and over. Our choices have a power to enslave that defies description.
On to verse 13. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” It seems Paul was quoting, again, a Corinthian slogan –justifying their actions. Their line of reasoning: Sex is to the body as food is to the stomach. And if you’re hungry… eat! They defended any sexual activity as something natural, a biological function. Interesting they’d pick eating as their analogy, because all our problems began with eating. When those first people thought it was OK to eat from any tree in the garden. Remember that tree in the middle of Eden? Adam and Eve. Told by God they could eat anything in the garden but the fruit from that one tree. Told not to go there, what did they do? They made a beeline to that tree.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom (Corinthian buzzword), she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6 TNIV
They thought doing what seemed natural would somehow be OK. Wouldn’t mess up their relationships with God. With each other. They were wrong.
So, Paul’s response: The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord. Your body, my body – isn’t made for our own purposes. Our bodies are made for the Lord!
Verse 14: “By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.” Paul was reminding the Corinthians that Jesus didn’t merely rise from the dead spiritually; He rose from the dead bodily. And He promises that we too will be raised. Bodily. Salvation isn’t escape from the body, into heaven. Flitting around looking down on people below. It’s all about a new heaven, a new earth and new resurrected bodies. That is the core of the Christian story. Implication: abusing your body – or someone else’s - is incompatible with flesh intended for the resurrection.
To show how messed up their thinking was, Paul took this over the top. Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Paul wasn’t a coward when it came to his writing. That is a very bold metaphor. When Paul wrote “members” he wasn’t talking about Costco. Where he wrote “members,” think “body parts.” Graphic. Do you not know that your bodies are “body parts” of Christ himself? Our bodies are body parts of Jesus himself. And, in the context of prostitution, it’s not JUST his hands and feet. And don’t let the masculine gender confuse you – like gender exclusive language always confuses – this is NOT a male only problem.
16. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? We aren’t like the Corinthians, in their “wisdom,” believed - separate souls and bodies; we are whole beings. And when we involve ourselves in sexual sin, we become emotionally and spiritually attached to that sexual partner. We may not mean to, but it’s inevitable. The sexual bond is so strong that we can’t break the attachment without leaving some of ourselves behind and taking something of that other person.
18. Flee from sexual immorality. Good idea. Some sin is so powerful, the best thing you can do is run away from it.
19. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. In other places, this means we, as a church, are God’s temple, but, not here. Here my body, your body is the temple.
20. When Paul wrote ***You are not your own; you were bought at a price. He was talking about the cross. He was saying Jesus paid the price. A very high price.
OK. That’s what we have to deal with today. Remember that all of Paul’s writings were written within a specific context. And this one, to his problem church, the one in Corinth, was no exception. He was writing to them to answer their specific questions and to comment on their specific behavior. Can faithful Christians eat meat previously used in pagan rituals? Should women keep their heads covered? Should the rich wait for the poor before they eat their community meals?
Non-issues today. How many of you eat meat offered to idols? How many women here this morning with their heads covered? Do we have a problem with the rich eating before the poor at potlucks? So we must be careful how we use his letters to express universal truth – whatever that means - but there are some fundamental issues here. Not easy issues, but vital ones. For instance, what about sexual behavior? What about our bodies? What about freedom?
Remember, the First Testament – the only Bible the Corinthians had - does NOT regard the law as a burden, but as a joy. God’s commandments are guidelines for meaningful life. God didn’t tell them to avoid sexual sin because he doesn’t want them to have fun. Out of control sexual behavior is not fun. Maybe for a minute, like the rush that you must get jumping off the rim of the Grand Canyon. But how long can that exhilaration last? The splat will come. It’s the same thing.
When God asks, “What did you do with what I gave you?” he’ll be talking about spiritual gifts, of course, but physical ones too! Their bodies were gifts. Paul wanted them to think about what they were doing with those gifts? Maybe time to make some changes?
In the surrounding Greek culture promiscuity and prostitutes and pedophilia were socially acceptable. How was a Christian to understand God’s plan for sex? And, of course, underlying all these controversies was the question of freedom. If a Christian has been set free by the saving and forgiving power of the risen Jesus, did that mean that Christians are free to engage in any kind of behavior?
Apparently, some of them thought so. Just like Paul had written:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 TNIV
So, only the “weak” Christian wouldn’t understand that going to prostitutes was OK. After all, it felt good, everyone else was doing it. And, hey, Christ has set us free! What does it mean to honor God with our bodies?
Probably most Valley Grace’rs aren’t visiting prostitutes, or engaging in pedophilia. BUT maybe you are dancing around the edges – promiscuous sex, pornography – and, again, this is not a men-only problem. There are
millions of women addicted to internet porn, internet affairs. For every man who has an extra-marital affair – unless it’s a homosexual affair – there’s a women. And women are having same-sex affairs too. If you, woman or man, are on the fringes, thinking “I can stop before this goes too far…” It has already gone too far. You need help to stop before you destroy yourself, your relationships with those who love and trust you. Talk to Pastor Greg, talk to me, come to Celebrate Recovery. Get some help! Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Sexual purity is very important, and nowhere in the Bible, that I know of, does it even hint that sex outside marriage is OK (we could talk about how marriage is defined, but we aren’t going to). So, if we’re going to be faithful to the Bible, we know that’s off limits. However, some Christian groups see sexual sin as the ultimate sin. “If I’m not gay/lesbian, and I’ve never had an abortion, I’m pretty much OK with God. So what if I’m selfish, greedy, lazy, bigoted and racist? Hey! I’m not a lesbian.” That is NOT what the Bible says. Sexual sins are not the only sins, or even the most serious sins – if there is such a thing as a sin that is more serious than another one.
And you’re wondering if I’m telling you that not getting enough sleep is as bad as going to prostitutes, right? No, but I am saying those seemingly minor things can have major impacts. Honor God with your bodies. Back to that parrot: what if my hand gets so infected that it has to be amputated. Do you think Pastor Hook could be as effective at sending emails and hugging? What if I got bird flu and died? Really hard to be effective then. Sure, that’s extreme, but extreme things happen!
Even before the bird fight, I had been having a hard time trying to figure out how to preach a sermon on visiting prostitutes. I kept going over things in my mind and nothing clicked. God was being maddeningly silent on the issue, or so it seemed. Have you ever noticed that he usually tells you exactly what you don’t want to hear?
By the time George and I were on vacation I was about frantic. The message was going absolutely nowhere. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
I was sitting in the sun at a high elevation, shorts and tank top, as much skin exposed to the sun as is socially acceptable for someone my age, trying to write. As I was thinking of my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, as the body that would be resurrected to live with God forever, as I thought about my body as part of Jesus’ body, my body as a tool for ministry, my body not mine, I couldn’t help but see the sunburn – remember that sunburn is a leading cause of skin cancer – the sunburn I allowed to happen, no, the sunburn I deliberately tried to get. And it was almost like a heard a voice saying, “Pastor, practice what you are preaching.” There is more to this than sex. There is a much larger application here.
If our bodies are made for the Lord,
If God will raise our bodies to live with him forever,
If our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,
If my body is not my own,
Then there are implications all over the place.
Then, “I have the right to do anything” suddenly sounds like something a thirteen year old would say. We have to rethink everything we do with, and to, our bodies. And with, and to, the bodies of others – for whom Jesus also died. Whose bodies will also be raised and whose bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit.
What we need is a new theology of the body – made for the Lord, raised to live with him forever, temples of the Holy Spirit, not my own – has a very wide application. It concerns gluttony, caring for animal bites – and other injuries, smoking, laziness and physical inactivity, toxic waste, sodium intake, abortion, sunburn, suicide, regular physical examinations, euthanasia, drug or alcohol abuse, coffee overdose, air pollution, genetic research, clothing, taking your medication, and the list goes on. We won’t get any of this right if our thinking is rooted in bad body theology. Because the human body is an instrument for worship, and not an object of worship. But not an object of abuse or neglect either.
Let’s picture me, standing in front of God. Age 70. Dead from skin cancer. Brought on by, guess what? That sunburn that I went out of my way to get, knowing how dangerous it is. And picture God saying, “There was someone I was steering toward to you. Your unique story was going to bring her to me. And she was going to come into your life when you were 75.” Whoops. Now what? Will he forgive me? I think he will. But can I forgive myself? And what about that other person? Who never gets to receive God’s plan for her? We are here for a reason. Honor God with your bodies
Without Jesus, though, one thing is missing - the power to do it. I don’t know about you, but I need more than being told not to eat wrong, not too drink too much, not to skip the exercise. For just one night… We need more than admonitions and guilt. We need power. We have it! We don’t have to live that way. Jesus died so that we could be free from the power sin has to enslave us.
But, what does it mean when Paul says we’re free? What’s the relationship between our freedom in Jesus and God’s law? Does grace mean “anything goes?” How can Paul say, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1 TNIV) and Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy – boy that doesn’t include all of us, does it? – nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 TNIV
Theologians have been trying to systemize this for centuries, and I don’t have an answer for you. If Paul had an answer, he didn’t give it, he took a different approach. Instead, he answered those who would rationalize sin with, “So what? So what if I do have the right? What difference does that make?” I have the right to chain myself to a bus, eat live gold fish or put my face in a wasps nest, or engage in physical combat with a parrot. But why would I want to? It’s not what I’m free to do. It’s what I’m free NOT to do. We have that freedom.
Our bodies are to honor God – never make him look bad, always reflect his grace and power. We are to use our bodies to make the life God calls us to - look like something someone would want. We are to make God look like someone they’d want to know. Our bodies are to be cared for as his tools and resources. We want our lives to reflect his power to change lives! Everything we do, including the way we treat our bodies, is for God’s purposes.
All through the Bible:
Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. Psalm 106:8 TNIV
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:3 TNIV
Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. Acts 15:14 TNIV
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16 TNIV
We were bought from one master – to serve another. For his power. His name. His purposes And, this is what freedom is. Not in being our own bosses – I’ve tried that and it was hell. Freedom is choosing who to serve. A choice made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Live for him! Live a life that draws, a life that reflects his love and grace. That is why we were called. We have a job to do!!
We are all going to die someday, no matter what we do, no matter how we care for our bodies. Cancer happens with the very best of vigilance. Heart attacks hit the most physically fit. Car accidents and diseases happen. I’m certainly not trying to say we can prevent all these things. And I’m certainly, absolutely, positively not trying to tell you they all are the fault of the sufferer. We live in a fallen world. The Kingdom has not come. Suffering and pain are parts of life.
But we do have choices about a lot of things. If my body is going to live with God forever, what do I want the story of that body to be? Sure, this body will be recreated, but it will still be this body. There is going to be continuity. Not my soul – whoever that may be – yanked out of this carcass and transplanted. No. This body. Made new. Do I want to stand in front of God with a body that I’ve abused with too much alcohol? Too much food? Too much sunburn? Do I want to try to explain to God why I left my post before I should have because I didn’t bother to get regular medical exams, and that high blood pressure just blew up? Or that breast cancer or prostate cancer that could have been caught -if I had been doing the things my doctor has been nagging me about for years? So, “Hey God, I’m here ahead of schedule. I know you had a plan for me, but I thought my way was better.”
Would you do that to Jesus’ body? Would you take his body and unite it to a prostitute? Would you expose his body to cigarette smoke or an endless diet of fried food? No? Then it’s time to make some changes. There are some decisions we need to make before we get into the dangerous situations. You have to decide before you’re in the moment. And you need power beyond yourself to do it. Today, I want us to think about deciding from the outset – to settle in our minds to live life God’s way! “Will I obey God in every area of my life?” Some issues need to be settled once and for all. We have decisions to make. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You want to be free from the messed up stuff? I believe all of us, deep down inside ourselves, want to be free from our own impulses and hungers and addictions and messed up lifestyles. There’s someone who wants that more than you do! Jesus can keep us. If we ask him to. His grip is sure. His patience is sure. He won’t let go. It cost him everything to give you that freedom. Let’s grab it with both hands. Let’s follow him into a life of freedom and power and grace and love.