Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Sometimes, I watch TV. Most of the time, Maggie and I watch Hallmark together. Sometimes, I catch up on MeTV and old shows like Gunsmoke. On a rare occurrence, I will watch a news show. Most of the time, I try to skip commercials, but sometimes I am stuck with them. Have you ever counted how many commercials are about the body? Cosmetics, eyeglasses, diapers, clothes.

Walk into a supermarket, like Walmart, or a pharmacy, and how much of that store is dedicated to the body, making the body look good for this life.

And, then we die, and someone pays a mortician a lot of money to make the dead body look good.

Our culture puts a lot of value on the body, making the body look good and fulfilling the desires of the body. That’s a discussion in itself. We won’t go into all the commercials and the flood of money going to fulfilling the desires of the body.

Cultures have always put a lot of value into making the body look good and fulfilling the desires of the body. As a reaction, many churches and denominations have pushed back, devaluing the body, preaching against vanity and bodily desires, exulting the spirit. The epitome is the stories of Puritans who removed all mirrors from their homes, so that no one would focus on the body.

Other denominations have said, “you know, culture is right.” And they have tried to encourage people to pursue happiness in this life, following their heart, which naturally wants to fulfill the desires of the body.

Which side is right? Is our culture or is the churches which devalue the body?

Trick question, because neither side is right. Too often, instead of creating an understanding of truth from the Bible, we create this understanding based upon culture or based upon a reaction to culture.

So, let’s look at what Scripture says about the body.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 NIV

“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 a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 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.

After reading this passage, if we were in my office, you might look at me and say that this passage is talking about sexual immorality, not about commercials on a tv. You would be right.

However, to understand sexual immorality, we must understand the body. So, we are going to spend two weeks on this passage. This week, we are going to talk about the body. Next week, we are going to talk about sexual immorality. Hopefully, next week, we can correct some misconceptions on what is and is not sexual immorality. Hopefully, we can remove the discussion from a legalistic list of do’s and dont’s, and place it back into the spirit in which this passage was given, especially after we have learned about the body.

Today, we are going to discuss our identity and then the implications of our identity.

Our identity

In our passage, Paul makes three statements about our identity.

We have been redeemed

He says that we have been redeemed.

In the last verse, Paul says:

1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV

you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I looked back in my records, and I quoted this verse in February, March, and April. It is a short verse, the the point of the verse is big, which is why I have quoted it so much.

In February, when I quoted this verse, I was talking about redemption. I had these handcuffs and a brave boy who shall remain nameless allowed me to handcuff him during the service.

I talked about how redemption has three parts.

First, there is liberation from some state of bondage, jeopardy, suffering, or humiliation.

The second part to this term requires some act of personal cost. I asked if anyone was willing to pay me $500 to let my great volunteer out of the handcuffs. No one was willing to.

But, if someone had paid me that money, and I had let the volunteer out of the handcuffs, the guy would not have been redeemed. There is a third part to the term.

The third part: Where you receive freedom from this bondage to serve someone else.

If someone paid me and I let the volunteer out of his handcuffs and he commits to serving that person for the rest of his life, he has been redeemed.

Redemption: Humanity is in chains to sin, death, and the devil. We were this way from birth, and every day that we live, we add chains because of what we do. These chains are leading us to destruction. Nothing we can do can remove these chains or change the result of our lives. Sin, death, and the devil definitely are not removing them.

Redemption: Jesus paid the price that we might remove the chains of slavery to sin, death, and the devil, so that we might be slaves of Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV

you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Paul lived at a very interesting time. People were not judged based upon whether they were free or not. They were judged based upon who they served.

There were some poor people who willingly sold themselves into slavery to a prominent citizen, because they realized they would have more status being slaves to a rich guy than being poor and free.

It wasn’t shameful being a slave, especially if you were a slave to the right person.

Paul says that if we have turned to Jesus in faith, we are slaves to him. Before we were nothing, doomed to destruction. Now we have been redeemed. We have status, because we are slaves to the creator of the universe.

We have been redeemed.

We have been united

Not only have we been redeemed, but we have been united.

Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:17 NIV

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Before we turned to Jesus in faith, we were his enemy. Paul writes:

Romans 5:10 NIV

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

We were the opposite of united. We were opposed to him. We were at war, by our actions, by our mindset.

But, then God reached into our life and won us over, not by sword, but by love.

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Through the death of Jesus Christ, we who were his enemies are brought close. We are united with him.

What does that mean? So many things.

It speaks of our salvaation.

We are united with him in his death. As he died, so have we died to our sins and our former way of life.

We are united with him in his resurrection. We live a new life not defined by our sin anymore.

It speaks of our sanctification.

We are united with him in baptism, taking on a new identity that is revealed in our actions.

Paul writes

Galatians 3:26–27 NIV

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

That clothing is a picture of how we show ourselves to others. Our actions.

We are united with him in our attitude.

Philippians 2:1–2 NIV

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

We could keep going. But, Paul sums it up with this verse:

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We are united with Christ. Therefore, Christ lives his life through us, and through that connectedness, we receive every good that we enjoy: saving good, eternal good, God-exalting good, soul-satisfying good, all through that connectedness to Christ.

Before Christ, we were united with the devil, and through that union, we recieved despair, doom, and a promised destruction.

What is our identity?

We are redeemed. We are united with Christ.

We will be resurrected

We will be resurrected.

1 Corinthians 6:14 NIV

By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

A necessary part of the Gospel is that Jesus was raised from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:3–5 NIV

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.

Every year, we celebrate that fact on Easter, or Resurrection Sunday. However, every day, we should be celebrating that fact. Since Jesus was raised from the dead, we have assurance that we will be resurrected as well.

Paul writes later in chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 NIV

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Death is not the end for those who die in Christ. Every funeral service I do, I speak about this. This fact should always be kept in front of us, because it is our identity. We are those who will be raised from the dead.

Death is not the end for us. For us, there is no end. Since we have been redeemed and united with Christ, we will live forever with him.

One day, Jesus will come again. He will destroy death-- our enemy, our old master. And he will raise us to live forever.

We are not raised to live in Heaven, floating on a cloud with a harp in our hands.

We are raised to walk on this earth for eternity.

In the beginning of time, God created the heavens and earth to be a place where his creation would live forever, in complete enjoyment and in uninterrupted fellowship, with God and the rest of creation.

He said that it was very good.

When Jesus comes again, he will usher in a new heavens and a new earth, where everything will be very good again. Where creation will live forever, in complete enjoyment and in uninterrupted fellowship with God and the rest of creation.

That is what is promised to those who have been redeemed and united with Christ. And, you know what, when God promises something, it happens.

He promised that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs, and she was. I probably shouldn’t have used such a graphic example.

But, the truth is there. When God promises something, it happens. When he promises that those who believe in Jesus Christ will have everlasting life, it means that they will.

What is our identity? We have been redeemed. We have been united. We will be resurrected.

Our implication

That’s all great stuff! But, what is the implication for us today. We have talked about our identity. Let’s talk about the implications of our identity.

We are one with Christ

The first implication is that we are one with Christ.

Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:17 NIV

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

You ask: Didn’t we already talk about this?

Yeah, we did, but only an aspect of it. We talked about being united with the Lord. The implication of being united with him is that we are one with him.

You say: That makes sense, why are you spending so much time on it.

Because often when something makes sense, we do not dwell on it very much. And if we don’t dwell on it, we don’t live it.

So, bear with me as I slow down.

Since we are united with Christ, we are one with Christ.

What does it mean to be one with Christ?

There are two other relationships in Scripture which are described as one.

The first is the Trinity. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Moses describes the Trinity:

Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Three different person, one essence, one being. They each have different functions, but all are equally God. They are united in purpose. They are united in action on that purpose. They are interdependent.

They have been and always will be one.

The other relationship in Scripture which is described as one is marriage.

Genesis 2:24 NIV

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

God created man and woman to reflect him to creation. We talk about the image of God, a lot. Pro-life advocates speak of abortion as destroying the image of God. Which I would agree.

But, very rarely does anyone speak about marriage reflecting the image of God. Because when man and woman stands before the altar and makes a vow before God and the witnesses, they become one even as God is one.

Man and woman have different functions, but they are one essence. They are united in purpose. They are united in action on that purpose. They are interdependent.

God is one. Man and woman in marriage is to be a reflection of that oneness.

In the same way, we are to be a reflection of God’s oneness, as we are one with Christ. We have the Holy Spirit, his essence. We have different functions, yes, but we are to be united in purpose. We are to be united in action on that purpose. We are definitely dependent on him and he chooses to be dependent on us.

We are united with Christ. Therefore, we are one with Christ.

Our bodies are important

Implication one: We are one with Christ.

Implication two: our bodies are important.

Please do not think that I am getting jumping off the deep end.

Our identity is that we will be resurrected. The implication of that identity is that our bodies are important.

Listen to what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 6:12–14 NIV

“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.

The Corinthians had a saying: I have the right to do anything. Paul slaps that aside by saying not everything is beneficial and he didn’t want anything to be his boss. This is a great verse for anyone who is wondering about addictions, or being drunk or high. We are allowing something to be our boss, which shouldn’t be our boss.

Then the Corinthians have another saying: Food for the stomach and stomach for the food and God will destroy them both.

They are saying that we can eat whatever we want. When we are hungry, we should eat. That is how God designed it. One day, our stomach is going to decay and our food is going to be gone. We’ll be dead.

Paul would agree that what we eat doesn’t matter, specifically in his context on whether to follow the OT law or not, and whether to eat food sacrificed to idols.

The Corinthians expanded the meaning of the phrase to apply to relations between a man and a woman. God designed us to have desires. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what we do to satisfy those desires, just like it doesn’t matter what we eat.

Paul says: Stop right there, Corinthians. Our body is important. Sure, God is going to destroy the food that we eat. Sure, our stomach is going to decay. But our body itself is going to be resurrected.

I need to get on a soap box momentarily.

I heard a sermon about death once. He said that death is like unzipping one’s body. You leave the body behind and the spirit ascends to Heaven. He said, “once you leave your body behind, you are truly alive like you have never been before.”

Sounds great. Unfortunately, that is a lie.

God designed us a whole person, body and soul. And he has saved us, body and soul. One day, we will be resurrected, in our physical bodies, and we will live on this physical earth, forever.

As Gordon Fee writes:

“The Christian creed, based on NT revelation, is not the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. That creed does not lead to crass materialism; rather, it affirms a holistic view of redemption that is predicated in part on the doctrine of creation—both the physical and spiritual orders are good because God created them—and in part on the doctrine of redemption, including the consummation—the whole fallen order, including the body, has been redeemed in Christ and awaits its final redemption.”

We cannot bash the body, in favor of the soul. God created both and he will save both.

Our identity is that we will be resurrected. The implication of that is that our bodies are important.

We are one with Christ. Our bodies are important.

Our bodies are members of Christ

You still with me? It’s going to get weirder.

Implication three: Our bodies are members of Christ.

If we are one with Christ, and this speaks of not just our spirit but our whole self, than our bodies are one with Christ. Our bodies are members of Christ.

Just after he talks about the resurrection of the body, Paul says:

1 Corinthians 6:15 NIV

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!

Though it might sound crazy, this is just logic.

If Christ saved both our spirit and our body, and Christ will raise both our spirit and our body, then we are one with Christ in both spirit and body.

Our bodies are members of Christ.

Do you remember what we said in Gal 2 20

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.

The life I live, in the body, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. In my body.

Next week, we will talk about what it means that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. You will have to wait for that bridge into reality.

Today, we are stuck with the invasion of the body snatchers. If you have never seen that movie, don’t do it.

We know the image that Paul will use later, where he says that we as a church are a body, with Christ himself as the head. Some people are hands, some people are feet, etc., based upon our gifting and how God calls us to interact in the community.

But, Paul is not speaking in a metaphor. Have you ever looked down at your hands and thought: these are Christ’s hands. Those are Christ’s feet. This is Christ’s nose, his eyes.

When Paul was on the road to Damascus having persecuted the followers of Christ, Jesus appeared to him and said: Why are you persecuting me?

Our bodies belong to Christ.

Our bodies belong to Christ. God purchased us for higher things. He is to be honored in the deeds of the body, as well as in all other behaviors and attitudes.

So, where are we? We are one with Christ. Our bodies are important. Our bodies are members of Christ.

We should not rip our bodies from Christ.

That leads us to our fourth implication.

We should not rip our bodies from Christ.

At the end of verse 15, Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:15 NIV

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!

That verb: “Shall I then take” could be translated: “shall I snatch and carry off”, like a thief, or it could be translated: “Shall I wrench away.”

Have you tried to rip a branch off of a tree? You feel the ripping of the fibers as the branch creaks and groans, and finally it snaps violently.

This is a violent word.

Think about what happens when we try to unite something with two opposing, independent things. Like, try to make me touch both sides of the room. What would happen to my body.

It is a violent word.

And we would not naturally do this action to something.

Consider an apple tree. My brother has planted four apple trees. He is planning on grafting other apple varieties into those trees. How odd would it be for him to take all that time and effort to bond those branches to the apple trees, merely to violently rip them off again?

When we choose to indulge in sin which is against Christ, using our bodies, every part of them, fingers, toes, eyes, and all the other parts that you can think of, we are violently ripping the members of Christ off of him.

Anthony Thiselton writes:

“The Christian cannot claim the privilege of being purchased as one who belongs to Christ and simultaneously take away the limbs and organs which have been grafted into Christ for un-Christlike purposes that wrench them apart again.”

Paul specifically applies this truth to not sleeping with prostitutes.

But, the truth can be applied across the board.

Knowing that my body is a member of Christ, why would I sin with that body?

We know the song:

Be careful little eyes what you see

Be careful little eyes what you see

For the father up above is looking down in love

So be careful little eyes what you see.

And the song goes on down through the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the heart, the mind.

Great song, but it kind of misses the point.

My eyes are literally for Christ. So I should be careful what I see, because I do not want to violently wrench these eyes out of Christ. The same with the ears, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the heart, the mind, and every other part of the body.

We must remember our identity. It has implications for how we live.

We have been redeemed. We have been united. We will be resurrection. Therefore, we are one with Christ. Our bodies are important. Our bodies are members of Christ. So, we should not rip our bodies from Christ.

Having a theology of the body, we can now discuss the rest of the passage, which we will do next week.