Bought with a Price

Please stand as you are able as we read God’s word:

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 NRSV

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “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 meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Pray...

Let me begin with a question: how much is your body worth?

Follow up: does how you treat your body, and how you let others treat it, reflected that worth?

Paul is writing to Christians living in a permissive society, one that celebrates human sensuality, and one that also dehumanized the human body. Corinth was a city filled with temples to the gods, and many of those temples were filled with prostitutes. Part of their beliefs were that the gods became aroused through human sexuality, and their arousal meant abundant rain and harvests. And so young boys and girls were sold into slavery to become objects of sexual gratification. Their bodies were not their own.

Corinth was also a city of slaves - people who literally had no rights over their own body. They could be used and abused by their masters without any recourse. If they displeased their masters, they could be beaten or killed - and no one would raise a hand to help them.

We too live in Corinth. While most of us are insulated from it, human trafficking and sexual slavery is a huge business in the US. The past few weeks, as with every Super Bowl, thousands of - mostly - girls will have been shipped in from various locations to create temporary brothels. They will be used sexually without their consent - either as an act of celebration or commiseration about whether a particular team won or not. Their bodies are not their own. Every year, thousands of immigrants are shipped across the US border, undocumented and therefore without any legal protection. Many of them don’t experience the American dream they hoped for, but a form of indentured servitude. Their bodies are not their own.

We live in a permissive society as well. We have adopted a Corinthian attitude about our own bodies. The vibe of the day is that if it feels good, do it. The prevailing attitude of our time is that, as long as no one is hurt and as long as there is consent, then do whatever you like with your body. Sex is purely a biological urge, and so bodies are mashed together in often dehumanizing, devaluing ways, and it is all seen as acceptable because “no one got hurt”.

But is that true? Is it true that no one is hurt by this? Our culture is a liar. The truth is that not every scar is visible. Many today walk around in oppressive guilt and shame over a past sexually promiscuous lifestyle. The feeling of being dirty on the inside. Being plagued over things we wish we could do over. Culture said it was just sex. That it doesn’t mean anything. In buying our culture’s lie, we’ve discovered possibly too late that we’ve really sold ourself to the highest bidder. We become enslaved to our own sensual passions and the passions of others. As a result, our bodies are no longer our own.

The truth is that how we view our body - and especially how we understand it’s worth - has a direct bearing on what we will do to our body and what we’ll put up with others doing to it.

Culture tells us our body has no worth outside of what others may assign it. Is there some way to get a clearer understanding of our worth?

In our passage this morning, Paul gives us three images that stand directly opposed to that lie - the Cross, a marriage, and a temple.

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First, Paul directs us to the Cross. The first thing that shows our worth is that

Jesus thinks your body is worth dying for.

1 Corinthians 6:12–14 ““All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “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 meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.”

Paul starts by quoting what the Corinthians were saying and doing. They thought their freedom in Christ meant that they were free to do whatever they liked with their body. They were what we would call antinomian - “without law”. To them, freedom in Christ translated to freedom of morality. “Food is meant for the stomach...” obviously pertains to other parts of the body. Sexual organs were made for sex and sex for sexual organs. Again, I can do whatever I want with my body.

But Paul counters: no you shouldn’t. Why? Because it’s not just your body! God made your body and he made it for himself. You - including your physical self - were created to know God and be in relationship with him. And what sin has destroyed, God is redeeming through Jesus.

We tend to be oblivious to how much we actually matter. Paul’s words are a rebuke, but it is because he understand our dignity better than we do. These bodies that we so quickly dismiss, feel ashamed of, or mistreat, Jesus wants them for his own!

Let me tell you about a horribly insensitive thing that used to happen in my hometown. Every year the FFA would host an annual slave sale. FFA students would be marched up on the stage and local farmers and business ppl would bid on them. The student was obligated to give a day’s labor to whoever won the bid. Horribly insensitive regarding our nations slave history.

The point is that their worth was what someone was willing to pay for them. How much are you worth? Paul says that the cross screams your true worth! It’s what Jesus paid for you. Jesus thought you were worth dying and rising for so that you could be his.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next image Paul points us to is marriage. Your worth is revealed in the fact that

Jesus thinks your body is worth joining with.

1 Corinthians 6:15–17 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

Paul describes our relationship to Jesus through the sacramental mystery of marriage. Sacrament - something that does inwardly what it signifies outwardly. What we understand in the Bible is that the sexual union of ppl isn’t just at the physical level. They literally become “one flesh” a real joining together of body and soul.

This is why sex matters. It’s why who we have sex with matters. Because there is a real spiritual union happening through the physical act.

Paul says we have been joined with Christ as through marriage - by faith and baptism we are made one with Jesus. And so to be blunt, to use our body in illicit sexual ways is to drag Jesus into these unions.

And to be honest, sex isn’t the only way we prostitute ourselves. I prostitute myself with the fridge. Some fornicate on Amazon, buying things they don’t need or can’t afford while trying to make themselves feel good. How many false gods do we turn to as we look for our worth? Jesus has shown you your worth by being willing to become one with you!

The great gospel movie, Coming to America (show pic), starring Eddie Murphy depicts a young Prince Akeem leaving his place of status and privilege to go in search for a bride. He finds her in Queens, NY among the down-and-outers and dregs of society. Yet he willingly enters into that terrible place in order to win her hand. In doing so she becomes a queen. And if that isn’t the gospel, I don’t know what is!

It’s important to notice how Paul refers to Jesus, not by his name, but by his title - Christ. Anointed One. Messiah. King. If you have made Jesus Lord through faith and baptism, this is who you are now one with. You’ve become one with the person with the highest rank possible. In fact, Jesus’ elevation as king elevates you!

Jesus thinks you are so valuable that he has chosen to join himself to you forever. Have you ever decided to enter into that relationship with him? Faith & baptism...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The final image Paul using to show us our worth is the temple.

Jesus thinks your body is worth living in.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 “Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

In the ancient world, both inside and outside the Bible, there was understood to be a separation between the realm of God/gods - heaven - and the realm of ppl - earth. What connected these two separated realms was a temple (show pic). Temples were how humans could come into the presence of their god. Temples bridged heaven and earth.

In OT, this is seen with both the tabernacle in the wilderness - a mobile temple - and with the physical temple in Jerusalem. The very presence of God rested there, manifested by a pillar of cloud in the daylight and fire at night. Can you imaging the comfort and peace there must have been to look out your tent and see the visible sign of God’s presence with you?!

But Paul is now very clear that the physical temple has been replaced by a bodily one. God’s long-term plan was never to abide in a structure of wood and stone, but with and in his people.

“Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” If you are in Christ, then Jesus lives in you through the Spirit. Your body now hosts the very presence of God! In reality, you are more of a temple than the original temple ever could be.

In speaking of the coming Spirit, Jesus said, John 14:17 “This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”

In the Vineyard we like to say we are “people of the Presence”. Part of what we mean is that as we gather, our focus is on experiencing God’s living and dynamic presence among us. But it also means that we have the indescribable honor of being people who carry his presence inside us. You are the dwelling place of the living God! As precious as the temple in the OT was, if you’re in Christ your value far exceeds it.

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All this to say, your value isn’t determined by what others have said or done. It’s not determined by your own past or mistakes. Your regrets no longer need to cloud your view of yourself. Your worth is decided by Jesus, and in my mind he has proven beyond doubt just how valuable you are.

I read the story of a young girl sold into sexual slavery this week. In order to emotionally survive she had to learn to detach herself from her body. It was owed by another and treated accordingly. In her words, “My body never belonged to me anyway - everyone always took it.” She was eventually able to escape and begin a new life. During the course of trying to heal from the trauma of trafficking she found Jesus. The words I read this morning became precious to her: “You are not your own; you were bought with a price”.

This had once been true of her is a negative, dehumanizing way. But now they were true is a life-giving and supremely dignifying sense. She more than most of us understand what it means to be redeemed - bought out of slavery in order to be set free. This is what Jesus has done for each one of us. You are worth far more than you realize. Your body is infinitely valuable to Jesus - redeemed by his own blood, joined with him in marriage, and the very dwelling of his presence. Does your view of your body reflect these realities?

How do we respond to God’s word today? The truth is that I can tell you what God says, I can offer you some applications, but in the end you have to make an intentional choice. If you have a low opinion of yourself, will you choose today to live in light of Jesus’ opinion of you? Whether you feel it’s true or not, will you agree with Jesus about your worth?

I know that some of the things I’ve said today have maybe stirred up shame or regret about the past. Let me tell you something amazing; when God’s Spirit came to live inside you, the past was scrubbed clean. As a temple of the Spirit, you have been cleansed and sanctified. Today is a the day to get free of the past and being walking in light of who you really are - a son or daughter of the King.

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Communion

“...you are not your own? For you were bought with a price...”

In any other context, hearing that we are not our own, that we have been bought for a price, would be devastating. It would indicate a loss of freedom, dignity, and worth. But when applied to Jesus, it’s the very opposite. Belonging to him is the only way to true freedom. Nothing shows our true worth that what he paid for us. Nothing could be more dignifying that being united to this King. To belong to him - and him to us through his indwelling Spirit - is the highest and greatest blessing we could ever hope for. As we come to the table, we remember and participate in his sacrifice so that he could be one with us.

On the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.