Day 14: 6:12-20 (The Body as God’s Temple: Living in Holiness and Honoring Him)

1. SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

2. OBSERVATIONS :
a.  What did this passage mean to its original audience? 
Before coming to Christ the Gentile Christians at Corinth operated under a pagan belief that the soul and body were two separate unrelated entities. When coming to faith in Christ they apparently brought with them their pagan perspective that sexual conduct was no more morally and spiritually significant than eating food. Their attitude was, “Sex is just a bodily appetite to satisfy as we see fit”. Paul proceeded to correct their distorted understanding about God’s purpose for the body and sex.  Because our bodies are for the Lord, we must use them according to his purpose in creating us as sexual persons. Sex is sacred, it has a God given purpose. 

Please read this article: A Christian Perspective on Sexual Morality
 
b. What does this passage reveal about God?
Jesus gave his life to redeem me from sin and Satan so that I could belong to God. God created us as sexual persons and he did so with a purpose in mind. Sex is immoral when it violates God’s purpose for us.

c. What does this passage reveal about my life as a Christian?
Christians must flee from sexual immorality (i.e. Sexual conduct outside the sacred space of the marriage covenant). The reason is because our bodies belong to the Lord. Our redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus did not merely forgive us. Neither did it free us from Satan so we could do our own thing. We were redeemed so that we could belong to God! We are stewards of our bodies but God is the owner.

I am united with Christ. My primary and “union” is to him even before my union with my wife. I should not take what belongs to Jesus and use it for any purpose which dishonors and displeases him.

I am a temple of the Holy Spirit!

 3. APPLICATION: What does this passage impact my affections, attitudes and actions?
I must flee from sexuality. That means I must guard my eyes, my mind, my heart, and my body from anything that would tempt me to seek sexual pleasure outside of my marriage.
I must remember that my body is not my own to do what I want with it. I must be a faithful steward of my body, not only in matters pertaining to sex, but in everything I do. When I hear God say that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit I feel humbled and overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude that he would grace me with his presence!!

4. PRAYER:
Dear Lord, I want to glorify you with my body. I ask you to help me keep my eyes and my mind focused on your will. Help me to see women the way you want me to see them and to avoid objectifying them. Help me to be disciplined and devoted to you with the way I use my body. Help me to remember that I am united with Christ and filled with the Spirit and everything I do is with you at my side!  Amen.

- Pastor Randy.