Run!
From Now On • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We have been looking at the letters of Paul to believers in different parts of the world. So I wanted you to get an undestanding of where these places are.
Map of Africa
Map of the places we see in the Bible
Closer view of the places we see in the Bible.
So the first thing we looked at in this series From Now On was a letter that Paul wrote to believers in Rome. He told those Roman believers in Romans 5 that they were justified (made right) by their faith and not because of themselves. So he encouraged them to live a life of growth….santification. Growing in their faith until the end of their lives. He said in Romans 5:6 “ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” If you have given your life to Christ, even though you sin, you can ask for forgiveness, he will forgive you, and hopefully continue to grow in your love for him and he will give you peace.
The second week, we continued his letter to the Roman believers and reminded them, that because they followed Christ, they have been given the grace of God. Grace that saved them when they did not deserve salvation, but also grace for forgiveness of sins. But he reminded them that even though grace was available to them, they should not sin, sin, sin, because they know they would be forgiven, but part of their growing in their faith was to put those sins behind them. Paul said Romans 6:6 “6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” If we are going to be a slave, lets be a slave to righteousness, not to sin.
Then the last time we looked at the letter from Paul to the people in Galatia. Paul reminded them that they should walk by the Spirit and not their flesh; not their own wants and desires. Remember this whole series reminds us how we should live between the time of our salvation and the time we leave the earth. He included a long list of fleshly desires to stay away from, then he pointed to what the life of a follower of Christ should display: Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
This morning we are going to move to a different letter from Paul (epistle), this time to the believers who were in Corinth.
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Corinth is a city in Greece. And in the book of Acts as the gospel began to go out from Jerusalem, it began to reach places outside of Jerusalem, AND began to reach other people than the Jews, it also began to reach the Gentiles. We know from Scripture that the gospel was for the Jew first, then who? The gentiles. Those people who were not Jews. That’s you and that’s me. So the gospel began to spread to these other places.
You can go to the city of Corinth today. Mom and I did. And you can still see some of the rocks from the old buildings. __ ___ ___
But let me show you another part of Corinth. On the top of the tallest mountain was the Temple of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was know as the greek goddess (small g) of love, beauty and sexuality. She was a false god, a small god and the Greeks worshipped her. And the way they would worship her, many times, was to have sex with prostitutes here where the temple once stood.
So why did Paul write this letter? These new Christians were living in a place where there was great sin. They were exposed to sin that was normal for the unbelievers there, but was not normal for the child of God. It went against what God wanted for his children. They were living there, so they were around this sin, and some people were giving into that sin, even though it was against the will of God for their lives.
So Paul was warning them how they should live as a child of God in a society that was against God.
So lets look at his words to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
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.
So Paul is surely pointing to something. Something that can keep them from growing closer to God while they are walking on this earth. He talks about food…right? But this is not about food. Paul is pointing to something specific…some specific sin that was in their culture. Can anyone tell me the sin?
He says it in verse 1 Corinthians 6:18
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.
This morning, some of you think this is not a problem for you. And it may be true, but this thing, sexual immorality has been a problem in every society, every culture, forever. These words of Paul came from 2000 years ago, and sexual immorality was a problem then, in Corinth. Last week, to the people in Galatia, it was a problem because he called it the works of the flesh. In his letter to the Ephesians, he told them to stay away from sexual immorality, and the same with Rome. 2000 years ago. But the same is still true here, even in Nigeria. Your place here, Nigeria, its a problem.
The devil prowls like a lion looking who he can devour, and one of the ways he uses is sexual immorality. In Corinth, it was going on. People, even Christians were giving themselves into sexual immorality outside of their marriage. And that was not pleasing to God.
So lets look into what Paul writes:
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.
What is Paul saying? All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. So if something is lawful, that means that the police don’t have a problem with you. You are not breaking any rules of the society if you do something that is lawful. But he does say that while all things are lawful, I will not be dominated by anything.
Now let’s make sure we understand what he is saying. Paul is saying, while I can do some things and they are not against the rules or the law, its better not to do them so they cannot have control over me.
Let me give you an example. Today, while I am relaxing, I decide to drink beers out outside on my porch. Then I drink another, and another. Am I breaking the law of Nigeria by drinking beers? No. The police are not going to come and get me and take me to jail because I am drinking beers.
But, is it good, is it helpful for my witness a Christian, as a Pastor, to sit around and drink beers this afternoon. No. So just because soemthing in not against the law of society, doesn’t mean that its ok to do as a Christian. Why? Because drinking beers can get out of control, and when it gets out of control, then you will be dominated by that thing. But as a Christian, we should be dominated by the Spirit, not by our fleshly desires…we learned that last week.
Look at 1 Corinthians 6:13
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.
We know this…food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food… he is not giving us a lesson in HPE, but what he is saying is that your body has a purpose. Just like the purpose of the stomach to digest the food you take it, your body, as a follower of Jesus Christ is meant for the use of the Lord.
He owns it. Its his. Remember that if you are a Christian, now the Holy Spirit resides in your body. Its his house. So as a Christian, we should not give our bodies over to anything that would not please God. That’s what he says in 1 Corinthians 6:15
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!
So let me say this. At the moment you asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, the BIble tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to reside in you. Look how Paul made this clear to the Roman beleivers in his letter….
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So now that the Holy Spirit resides inside of your body, when we sin with our bodies, we are giving our bodies to something else, but we are also giving something else to that thing…
And the THING that Paul is identifying for those beleivers in Corinth was sexual immorality with another person. He calls them a prostitute. Someone who they were not married to. Look again at what he says…
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!
If you are older here, and you understand what Paul is talking about, in your mind, you would say “I WOULD NEVER GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT RESIDES IN ME TO A PROSTITUTE.” But if you give into sexual desires with a person who is not your husband or wife, then that is exactly what you are doing.
Look what he says in 1 Corinthians 6:16
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.”
Paul is telling them, when you join yourself with someone outside of your marriage you become one with them. You have given them something that should only be given to your husband or your wife.
We talked about it last week. What this means: The two will become one flesh. When a man and woman become husband and wife, they will join together, in an intimate way, and become one flesh. That is something special that I hope you will save until you marry. God hopes that you will do that as well.
So what does he say? How should we keep ourselves pure and keep our bodies pure for the Holy Spirit that lives in us, until the time we marry? Look at what Paul says…
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.
Flee, RUN! That word, FLEE means to AVOID. AVOID. He was telling those believers to stay away. When sexual immorality looks like it was coming their away, stay away from it. Why?!!
Then look at the reason Paul tells them to stay away, to avoid sexual immorality in verse 19: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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.
These people in Corinth were living in a culture where giving their bodies over to sexual immorality was normal. It wasn’t against the law of the culture, but it was against God’s law. And by their own profession they were Christians. They had decided to give their lives to Jesus. The people that were receiving this letter were between the already and the not yet.
How do we know this? Look at how Paul’s letter begins in 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
These were not unbelievers, these were those who had given their lives to Jesus. And they were living in a culture where they were surrounded by strong amount of sexual immorality. But they were supposed to be different. They were not supposed to be the same as the culture.
They were not supposed to be dominated by sinful desires, because their bodies were members of Christ.
But this isn’t only true for the church of Corinth 2000 years ago. Its true for the church in Nigeria today. Its true for every believer of every time… we must flee sexual immorality.
We say it all the time…the Bible is the Word of God…the truth of the Bible willl change my life.… well… the Bible tells us to stay away from sexual immorality. In Matthew, Mark, John, Acts, here in 1 Cor, 2 Cor, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessilonians, and 6 times in Revelations…. 25 times in the New Testament we are told about the dangers of sexual immorality. Giving our body to someone that it was never suppossed to be given to. Why? Because it is not ours to give… it is our Lord’s possession. If you are a Christian, your body is owned by our Lord.
So how do we take this instruction from Paul and bring it into our lives today FROM NOW ON?
Just because you CAN do it, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.
1 Corinthians 6:12 “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.”
There will be things in your culture and society that you can do, that the police will not care, , but God will. I have told this example before, but I remember a few years ago, when som eof our kids were taking the WAEC at a former school, if they would bring some money for the person that was giving the test, then the person would allow them to have notes with them from former exams while they were taken the WAEC. I asked him why do people think thats ok? His answer was, thats just the way we do it in Nigeria.
In God’s eyes, is that cheating? Is that how God wants someone who carries his name to act? As a Christian, you should be different. Not just because you should, but we are reflect Jesus in everything thing we do.
Matthew 5:14–16 “14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
When you choose to do what is right in the moment, you honor God, but you will also show the world why you have done what is right. You will be a reflection of Him. So just because you can do it, doesn’t mean that you should do it.
2. The only way you can make the right choice in the moment in because of who is inside of you.
1 Corinthians 6:14 “14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.”
1 Corinthians 6:17 “17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”
You and I do not have the power to resist sin, or sexual immorality. We may be able to say no, one or two times, or maybe more, but the sin of sexual imorallity can and might be a strong temptation for you. The only way you can resist is by depending on God and his Word. He has given you the power, his power, and by his Spirit we are one with him.
How can you resist sexual immorality when you are tempted? Look what Paul writes later to Corinth….
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
You have the power of God on your side. He will fight for you, if you let him. He will help you to stay strong. He will help you endure.
Just because you CAN do it, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.
2. The only way you can make the right choice in the moment in because of who is inside of you.
3. Remember.
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
When you are tempted to give your body to someone else beside your uhiusband or your wife… remember. Remember you were bought with a price. That price was Jesus, beaten, bleeding, dying on a cross. He did that for you. That was the payment he paid for you.
Remember that. When you are tempted, in any way… remember.
