A New Slogan

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Malachi 1:11 Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: Thus says the Lord of hosts:

Congregation: For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.

Minister: In every place incense is going to be offered in his name, and a grain offering that is pure;

Congregation: We offer our worship, for your name will be great among the nations.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

O God, our resurrection and life, the promise of new life in Christ is like cool, sweet water in a dry and thirsty land. We have gathered as believers and as those seeking your truth, which is truth. Guide our worship this hour; speak to us, touching not just our intellects but also our affections–the yearnings of the soul. We bring our daily concerns and our eternal questions. Send your Holy Spirit to us that we may be welcomed into your presence. By His work in us today may you shed light upon our walk and unite us forever with you.

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #314

“God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”

†CORPORATE CONFESSION OF SIN

Listen to this question that the scriptures raise

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth in his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man (Ps. 15:1-3).

TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION

Before we take a moment of silent confession of sin, let us remember our needs together as we confess…

Congregation: Almighty and most merciful Father, we are thankful that your mercy is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings, and deeper than our sin. Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant pleasure, our indifference to the treasures of heaven, and our neglect of your wise and holy law.

Help us to change our way of life so that we may desire what is good, love what you love, and do what you command, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:17–18, ESV)

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Exodus 4:1-17

Craig Hoffer, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #317

“What Child is This”

SERMON 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 “A New Slogan”, Pastor Austin Prince

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Teach us thy ways, O Lord; we will walk in thy truth. Unite our hearts to fear thy name. Amen.

Or ad lib prayer

TEXT

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 ESV

12 “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. 13 “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. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 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! 16 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.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 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, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

AFTER SCRIPTURE READING

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.

Intro:

Life under grace. Seeing the world through new eyes. The gospel has freed us! Has changed us - -washed, sanctified, justified (cleaned, set apart, righteous before Him)

Being a Christian in sexualized Corinth was hard - it’s hard in our day\

“Many people treat morality as a list of rules. But in reality, every moral system rests on a worldview. In every decision we make, we are not just deciding what we want to do. We are expressing our view of the purpose of life.” - Nancy Pearcy, Love Thy Body, 11

What do we do with our bodies?

6 ways we see how God retrains our view of sex and the body.

We will look at six things from the text. We’ll go one by one.

1) All things are lawful for me

1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV) — 12 “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.

Lawful but not helpful

What about our freedom? The Corinthians were likely using the phrase “all things are lawful” to extend beyond its meaning.

They were freed (food laws, etc.), but they were to use their freedom for worship.

Like we studies last week, they are no longer imprisoned

Application: It may be lawful to jump off a bridge but it might not be smart. What are we to do as those under grace? What does wisdom demand from us in the use of our bodies? I can watch game of thrones, but should I? I can watch tik tok all day long, but should I?

I will not be a slave to anything

We are to present ourselves as instruments of righteousness - Romans. 6:13

2) The Lord is for the body

1 Corinthians 6:13 (ESV) — 13 “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.

Food and stomach

This was their worldview of the body. Since food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, the sexualized body was simply meant for sex. Was the partaking of sex as permissible as eating because the desire was “natural”?

I need to eat so I eat. I have an itch, I scratch it. I want to have sex, I do. The body has appetites, so what?

The eye is for screen and the screen for the eye. The phone for the hand and the hand for the phone…

But God will destroy both food and the body

These appetites are a passing thing. They are not ultimate things.

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

A New Slogan - The body is not meant for its lusts, it is meant for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

God redeems the body -- especially in the Greek perspective which saw the body as weak and base and the spirit as valuable. This lax view on the body apparently led to a permissible sexual immorality.

We are not walking stomachs

How should we partake in our freedom? With food or exercise or sex? We are to take it with worshipful gratitude.

Worship: What is done is done in God’s way and for his glory.

Gratitude: What we are given to enjoy is a gift, not our identity, not our sole reason for living. We can consume it with joy and not be consumed by it.

The Lord is for your body: Having a mindset (belief/theology/philosophy) that the body is of no benefit, or that the body is only good for its impulses, or that it is broken inevitably leads to a carelessness and distortion/perversion. From writing on yourself, to cutting yourself, to over eating, to over drinking, to hyper diets, to surgical enhancements, to surgical “corrections”, to base sexual interactions, to brutality, to laziness, to idolization of fitness. Brothers, we are not slaves, and we are not purposeless.

3) God will raise us up by his power

1 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV) — 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

The body will be redeemed. The body is not useless and we should not treat it carelessly. The body is our lives/souls enfleshed. Our bodies are our theology enfleshed. Theology comes out of your fingertips (Wilson)

The Lord will raise the body -- a distinctly Christian doctrine. Not only one day at the creation of a new earth, but now. See Col 3:1 (below)

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1, ESV)

Col 3:1 -- demonstration of the power of God. Who can stop a man from looking at porn? Who can change a man’s appetite not by shame but by the offer of something better? Who gives the fruit of self discipline?

Enjoying God is essential to glorifying God

We are given the fruit of the Spirit, one of which is self-control.

4) Your bodies are members of Christ

1 Corinthians 6:15–17 (ESV) — 15 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! 16 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.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Taking our bodies into sexually immoral relationships joins the body of Christ to those relationships. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit (v.19)

The Corinthians were likely partaking in local temple prostitution, joining their bodies sexually to prostitutes and spiritually to the temple idols.

Physical unions are unique, entwining two bodies into one.

Our bodies are not merely physical, they are spiritual - linked to those whom we partake with physically

We are also linked to the Lord -- one spirit

Eph. 5:30 -- the typology of Christ and the bride and the body.

Fornication is false typology. A lie. An un-covenantal, faux union. Anti - love and anti - truth.

Alexandrian slave, Potamiaena, refused to be a sex slave any longer. She was labeled a Christian and sent to be tortured sexually but was ultimately allowed to be boiled in pitch. Apparently, while in prison her testimony contributed to the conversions of many, including her guard named Basilides, who was also martyred.

5) Flee Sexual Immorality

1 Corinthians 6:18–19 (ESV) — 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 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,

Flee from sexual immorality -- don’t try combat. Get away.

Other sins are outside the body, but the sexually immoral sins are against your own body. We should not be naive to think that sexual sins are like other sins. What is it that is happening here?

that defilement does not attach itself to our body from other vices in the same way as it does from fornication. My hand, it is true, is defiled by theft or murder, my tongue by evil speaking, or perjury, and the whole body by drunkenness; but fornication leaves a stain impressed upon the body, such as is not impressed upon it from other sins.11 John Calvin and John Pringle, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 219–220.

The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Calvin: There is an emphasis implied in the term temple; for as the Spirit of God cannot take up his abode in a place that is profane, we do not give him a habitation otherwise than by consecrating ourselves to him as temples. It is a great honour that God confers upon us when he desires to dwell in us. (Psalm 132:14.) Hence we ought so much the more to fear, lest he should depart from us, offended by our sacrilegious actings.11 John Calvin and John Pringle, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 220.

You have been washed...

6) You have been bought with a price

1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV) — 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Bought with a price

“knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18–19, ESV)

Is that a small cost? Do we treat Christ’s purchase as a small thing?

“A Christian man is a man who thinks not of his rights but of his debts. He can never do what he likes, because he never belongs to Himself; he must always do what Christ likes, because Christ bought him at the cost of his life.” (Barclay, Letters To The Corinthians, 64.)

Glorify God with your body

Glorify God in your body: Our theology comes out of our fingertips. What we do shows what we believe. God is not merely Lord of the soul, but the body as well.

Conclusion

†HYMN OF RESPONSE #324

“Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendor”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

Connect to sermon here

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION Mark 14:22-25

Hear Jesus’ words as he offers the supper to his disciples:

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.

And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

This leads immediately into the confession of faith question

CONFESSION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 75, 80

Minister: Christians, what do you believe about these words?

Congregation: By these words our Lord commands all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in true faith and in the confident hope of his return in glory.

In this supper God declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself finished on the cross once for all. He also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with his very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, where he wants us to worship him.

Minister: Let us worship him together. Be seated.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE The Lord has prepared this table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. It is for those who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and abiding union with his Church.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” Let’s pray.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING Minister: Lord, our God, send your Holy Spirit so that this bread and cup may be for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we and all your saints be united with Christ and remain faithful in hope and love. Gather your whole church, O Lord, into the glory of your kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS [Ask elders to distribute the trays].

Does everyone have what they need?

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

As the Lord Jesus has commanded us, take, eat and drink, remember, believe, and proclaim.

BENEDICTION

The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever more. Amen.

Grace Notes Reflection

In a world that doesn’t really know what to do with our bodies, how does Paul’s teaching from 1 Corinthians 6 distinguish the Christian view as good, true, and beautiful? How does it run counter to the narratives of our day which view the body as central to our identities yet malleable to whatever whims or feelings that we have?

Things to think through this week:

“All things are lawful, but I will not be a slave to anything”( v.12). Is there anything in your life that is controlling you, making you its slave?

“The Lord is for the body and the body for the Lord” (v.13). Do you believe that the Lord is for you? What has He done to redeem your body and at what cost? (v.20; Col. 3:1).

“Glorify God in your body” (v.20). Our theology is what we do, not merely what we assent to or intend to do. How can you glorify God in your body this week? ***This is a good week to think through this with busyness, and feasting, and hopefully, resting.