Have you noticed
how ugly the candidate’s ads are so far this election year? They love
to bring up the fact that their opponent said one thing, yet did just
the opposite. These kinds of campaigns are very successful. For who
wants to vote for someone whose walk doesn’t match their talk?
Clinton was able to beat Bush because he showed Bush saying “Read my
lips, no more taxes!”, then brought up the fact that Bush indeed had
raised the taxes. The politician’s campaign strategists know that if
they can show that a political candidate delivers a message yet his
entire voting record is just the opposite, then the public will label
that person as a hypocrite. And who wants to vote for a hypocrite?
The same is true when Christians speak of having a new life in Jesus
Christ, and yet their walk doesn’t match their talk. Instead of seeing
us as new creatures in Christ, the world sees as nothing but a bunch
of Christian hypocrites If our lives are not being conformed into Christ’s
image, or if we’re not willing to give up parts of our former lives
for the sake of Jesus Christ, we are sending a message to the world
that Jesus really doesn’t mean that much to us. And if that is the message
we send the world, it shouldn’t surprise us that the world is not beating
down the doors of the church to get in.
In our text this morning, the Spirit is going to teach us that we have
remarkable freedom in Jesus Christ, but our freedom is not without limits--1
Cor. 6:12-13.
The Corinthians had fallen into the trap of believing that their Christian
liberty could be used as a cloak for concealing all kinds of wrong doings.
And whenever they were challenged, they would reply with something Paul
had taught them: “Everything is permissible.” Paul had taught them this
truth during the year & a half he spent with them after he birthed this
church. But now they were misusing Paul’s words to give them the freedom
to be involved in all kinds of sinful behaviors.
Notice that Paul doesn’t object to them using his words. To Paul, the
freedom that comes from living under grace was a beautiful thing. Grace
was a truth he never tired of emphasizing.
Paul had been brought up under the heavy hand of Parasitical legalism.
Thus, he had lived with rules & regulations all of his life. As Paul
was growing up, he was subject to over 600 commandments, which covered
just about every aspect of his life. So it was an amazing day for him
when he discovered that salvation was not earned or kept by keeping
a set of external codes. While traveling on the Damascus Road, Paul
discovered that salvation is a free gift of God manifested in the person
of Jesus Christ.
Grace dramatically changed Paul’s life. And he made sure that whenever
he preached Jesus, he included the teaching of grace. Therefore, there
is not a better spokesman to talk to us about living holy under grace.
Instead of Paul rebuking them for abusing his principle of freedom,
he instead qualifies what this statement means. Paul gives us 2 qualifications
to counteract the mindset of those who try to use grace as a license
to sin. The Spirit inspired Paul to do so because he knows how good
we are at coming up with good excuses for doing wrong things.
I still think the funniest one I’ve ever heard was when a teenager tried
to use the excuse for smoking pot based upon the fact that the Bible
said that God created every herb for our good. He was trying to justify
smoking pot upon the fact that since pot is an herb created by God,
it must be good for us. I am always surprised by how many Christian
teenagers try to see how much they can walk in the world and still hope
to get to heaven. If you ever sit down and talk with them, it won’t
be too long before they will want to know what they can do and still
be a Christian. They want to know if they can listen to secular music
and still be a Christian. They want to know if they can watch R-rated
movies and still be a Christian. The want to know if they can get drunk
and still be a Christian. And the ultimate question is if they can have
sex and still be a Christian.
To understand our Christian liberty, we first of all got to understand
that the word “everything” doesn’t mean everything. God would never
allow us to do something that clearly violates any of his commandments
or principles. For instance, we are not free to murder someone. Neither
are we free to worship other gods. Nor can we go around stealing things
in Jesus name. Therefore, we must realize from the outset that when
Paul speaks of freedom, he is not referring to those things God has
clearly forbidden, such as are found in the Ten Commandments. Freedom
doesn’t mean the absence of moral constraints or absolutes.
Suppose you were to go skydiving. And as you jumped out of the plane
at 10,000 ft., you decide that instead of using the parachute you are
going to exercise your freedom and enjoy free-falling. You can enjoy
this for a little while, but eventually you will encounter the greater
law of gravity. Now the only way at this point to continue to enjoy
the experience of skydiving is to choose to live under the constraint
of the parachute. Otherwise, you will enjoy the exhilaration of free-falling
only until the ground interrupts your freedom. God’s commandments act
in the same way. Although they appear to restrain us, but in reality
they were designed to provide the necessary boundaries we need so we
can enjoy the exhilaration of living in this world. The bottom line
is that the freedom we have in Jesus Christ is not the freedom to sin,
but it’s the freedom not to sin.
That is the kind of freedom that Paul taught. He never taught that Christian
liberty gave us a blanket excuse to do whatever we wanted to. Nowhere
in the Bible do you find God telling us that it is okay to sin.
Let’s look at the qualifications Paul gives us in this verse. The first
is that what we do must be beneficial, helpful, or advisable--v. 12.
Perhaps the best way to understand his point is to pick an area of freedom
as an example. Let me choose smoking, a habit that no doubt a number
of those in this room once wrestled with, and some still do. You have
the right to smoke, for it is not specifically forbidden in Scripture
and it is not illegal. But we all know it’s an unhealthy addiction,
without lasting benefit, and it invariably enslaves the one who practices
it.
If you don’t believe me, just walk by a hospital, even when it is cold
& rainy, and see all the people standing outside smoking. What gets
me is to see the patients who are still hooked up to machines, and they’ve
got IV tubes stuck in them, yet there they are smoking a cigarette.
So can a person be a Christian and smoke, the answer is yes. Yes, you
can engage in one of the most filthy of all habits. Yes, you can go
around and destroy your lungs. Yes, you can kill your friends by blowing
second-hand smoke on them. But should you is another matter.
As a Christian I have the freedom to go dancing, go to movies, have
a beer for lunch, smoke a stogie after dinner, and spend my evening
playing 5-card stud with the boys. Not a single one of these activities
is condemned in the Bible. As a Christian we have the right to do whatever
we want. But having the right to do something doesn’t necessarily mean
we should do it.
Since my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, should I do things that
might hurt it? Since I am to be salt & light to the world, should I
do things that might hurt my witness? That is the one that the Lord
used to get Carol to quit smoking. I used to chase her around the house,
reading from books I had found that condemned smoking. But it wasn’t
until the Spirit convicted her that her smoking might hinder her from
being an effective witness, that she quit smoking.
Paul just didn’t want to do things because he was allowed to do them.
He only wanted to live his life so his life would genuinely help other
people. He wanted unbelievers to see the reality of Jesus Christ in
him. He wanted to live in such a way that his life would encourage other
believers in their walk with the Lord. But his ultimate desire was that
he wanted to life in such a way that his life glorified his Lord Jesus.
So the questions we have to ask ourselves is first of all, will this
activity help us in our endeavor to reach the lost? Secondly, will this
activity build up the rest of the members of the body of Christ? And
finally, will this activity bring glory unto Jesus? God’s desire is
that everything we do should have a positive result, not only in our
own lives, but also in the lives of those we touch on a daily basis.
As Christians, we have been given a tremendous amount of freedom, especially
compared to an Old Testament believer. We have relatively few do’s and
don’ts to follow. Our diets are not prescribed. Our worship times are
a matter of personal preference. We have no ceremonial rules to follow.
And for the most part, God has left our daily decisions up to us.
Unfortunately too many Christians are abusing their Christian liberty.
I can’t tell you how many times when I have confronted people living
in open, blatant sin, that they have used the excuse that since they
are free in Christ, they can do whatever they like. All that excuse
is, is an attempt to avoid the reality that a sin has them in its grip.
Please hear me, Jesus did not set us free from the bondage of sin just
so we could become enslaved to it again. That is why he fills us with
his Spirit the moment we are saved. When the Spirit moves inside us,
he brings with him the power to walk away from sin.
The Bible, in talking about Jesus, tells us that: “This High Priest
of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same temptations
we do, yet He did not sin.” (Hebrews
4:15) Why Jesus didn’t sin is a matter we will look at when we study
the book of Hebrews. But the reason he could successful endure temptations
is not simply because he was God. The reason Jesus could successfully
endure the same temptation we face is because he lived on earth as a
Spirit-filled & Spirit-led man.
Always remember that Jesus didn’t come to this earth to show us how
we can live as a god. He came to show us how we can live as a human
being. That is a human being who is filled & led by the Holy Spirit.
That is why Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive
the Holy Spirit.’” (John
20:21-22)
God has given us the power through the indwelling presence of the Holy
Spirit to successfully endure all temptations. But it is only when you
choose to live under the Spirit’s power that you can say, “Instead of
doing what I like, I will do what is right.” If you will tap into the
power of the Holy Spirit, you will become, not the slave of the sinful
desires of your body, but its master.
The second qualification that Paul talks about is if there is anything
that you or I can’t give up, then it has become our master--v. 12. I
love the fact that Paul doesn’t try to dabble in psychology here. He
doesn’t talk about co-dependency. He doesn’t talk about dysfunctional
families. He doesn’t talk about being genetically predisposed to some
kind of deviant lifestyle. He simply says that he will not allow himself
to become ensnared in any kind of immoral behavior that would hurt his
witness or his walk.
Please don’t think that sin was any less prevalent in those days as
it is in ours. There was just as much to tempt Paul in his days as there
is to tempt us in our days. I love to talk about how less sinful it
was when I was growing up then it is today. But that’s really not the
truth. Solomon said that “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes
1:9) This is true even when it comes to sin.
So the answer to living holy is not found in the good old days. The
answer to living holy is found in living out the reality that “Greater
is He who is in you then he who is in the world!” (1
John 4:4) Paul knows that since the Holy Spirit lives inside of
you, and the Spirit has given you the resurrection power to walk in
the newness of life, that you can walk in holy liberty.
We can let anything other than the Lord Jesus be our master. But it
all boils down to making the right choice. Please realize that every
sin is an inside job. James told us that: “Temptation comes from the
lure of our own evil desires. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin.” (James
1:14-15)
I can’t blame my sins on my parents, or on society. Every time I sin,
it is the result of me giving into my sinful desires. One of the greatest
lies of our lifetime is that our behaviors are the results of the environment
in which we were raised. All this lie does is to take away our responsibility
for our own sinful behaviors. And if you take away your responsibility
for your actions, you will never, ever, overcome any kind of habitual,
sinful behavior in your life.
Our immediate reaction to what Paul has said is to think of gross sins.
But Paul is referring to anything other than Jesus Christ becoming our
master. We can become enslaved to our careers. When your job takes you
away from worship and/or your family, it has become your master. We
can become enslaved to leisurely pursuits. When you let your interest
in sports or hobbies take you away from worship and/or your family,
it has become your master.
And even your family can become your master. I know that this is a strange
statement to make, especially since our society is so focused on family
values. But we can’t even let our family take us away from serving &
worshipping the Lord. Paul is very adamant that he won’t surrender the
control of his life to any outside forces.
Now you may be thinking that this is not a realistic expectation to
have. But please understand that Paul believes that when the Spirit
of God indwells someone’s life, he makes a way possible for what was
previously impossible. Otherwise, there would be no transformation in
our lives. And becoming a Christian would be more a mental exercise
than a life altering experience.
God doesn’t want us to merely change the way we think, he wants us also
to change the way we act. No longer are we dead in our sins, but now
we are alive in Christ. No longer are we slaves to sin, but now we are
bond slaves to Jesus Christ. And remember that a bond slave is one,
who after he has been set free, willingly puts himself under the lordship
of his master.
All of these things require choices on our part. And the choice Paul
wants us to make is the godly choice. He wants us to remember that we
have been delivered from the master of this world who had dominion over
our lives.
He wants us to remember that we now are new creatures in Christ, who
have the power & the ability to use our life for his glory. In fact,
that’s really the point of this entire section of our text. Our bodies
are special vessels to be used for God’s glory not our own desires--v.
13.
Once again Paul is quoting a popular slogan of the day. When the people
were challenged by their immoral lifestyle, they would simply reply:
“Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” The people were implying
that since we have certain God-given biological needs, then it is okay
to have these needs met. The logic they were using is that since God
gave us those needs, he expects us to meet them.
If you’re hungry, go ahead and eat. If you’re thirsty, go ahead and
drink. If you’re feeling amorous, go ahead and have sex. Within the
proper limits, fulfilling these appetites are okay. But these people
were abusing the truth that in order to survive one must satisfy all
their biological appetites, especially their sexual appetite. Which
is what we will look at next week.
Paul wants us to know that our relationship with our biological needs
is only temporal, but our relationship with Jesus is eternal. So while
you are satisfying your biological needs, never lose sight of the fact
that your physical body will not follow you into heaven. A fact many
of us should shout Amen! about.
Even though your body is right now the temple of the Holy Spirit, it
is not the body you will spend the rest of eternity in. Compared to
the glorified body you will have in heaven, this body is nothing. Paul
likens it to a tent. But just because your body is merely a tent compared
to the glorified one waiting for you in heaven doesn’t mean you shouldn’t
take care of it. Go ahead and eat & drink to stay alive. Unless you’ve
been given the gift of celibacy, go ahead and get married. And if you
are married, have a great sex life.
Let me close by saying that God has designed every aspect of our existence
to ultimately glorify Him. Even what we do with our bodies is to bring
him glory. That’s what it was originally designed to do. So no more
excuses to satisfy the desires of our flesh.
Instead, live in such a way that your life proves that Jesus Christ
is your new Master. And by his grace and strength live in such a way
that your life shows this world that you belong to him. In doing so
you will bring glory to his name
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TO 1 CORINTHIANS SERIES INDEX
