Bought with a Price

Introduction

Background:

Chapter five kicked us off to a new section of the book of 1 Corinthians. Paul started by addressing the divisions in the church and then calling the Corinthian church to get back to the basics of holiness, the gospel, the church, and then ministry. Then in chapter five he started addressing these specific sins and spoke on the issue of church discipline. Now, church discipline is not something that is popular, but something that has to be done…however, I think that some ideas of church discipline are a little out there.

The reason I think that is because we are too quick to give up on people or to embarrass them, especially because the Bible calls us to restore them. Many well meaning church leaders have gotten this issue wrong over the years, and they have either avoided the conflict which makes things worse, or they have completely abandoned people struggling in their sin, severely weakening the church.

Paul now moves his attention to wisdom in handling disputes in the church that spill over into the view of the public. That is, that this Corinthian church was in a mess, and the people of the city of Corinth were scratching their heads because these so called Christians are acting worse than the unbelievers, even in the courthouse.

Context:

In chapter five we saw how division in the church made way for sin, and how the Corinthian church was disgraced because of their refusal to confront sin. In chapter six we are going to see how the Corinthian church is disgraced because of their lack of compassion for both God and each other.

This Corinthian church turned into a unloving church because of the division present, prompting them to bring lawsuits against one another. They also turned into an unholy church because of the rampant sexual perversion that was plaguing the church. It seems that city of Corinth and its pagan worship was invading the church.

The city of Corinth was a major Greek city, and the prominent goddess of Corinth was Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the goddess of lust and sexuality and the city was rampant with it. In fact, prostitution was accepted and normalized, and it seems like prostitution has also been normalized in the Corinthian church. So what the church had done was allowed the world and the culture surrounding it to dictate its theology.

Now, all kinds of churches have all kinds of cultural things that have invade its walls, but as men and women of God, we are called to be set free from those things. We are not called to retreat from the places that we live, but we are called to be shining light in the darkness. And since that is the case, how can we shine a light if we ourselves are pervaded by the darkness.

So Paul is calling this unloving and unholy church to become an unwavering church. He says his famous line here in this chapter, telling the people of God that they have been Bought With a Price, which is the title for tonight’s message.

So, look in 1 Corinthians 6 with me as we begin.

I. A Unloving Church

Look with me in chapter 6, and the last half of v. 11.

1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

What’s taking place?

Paul has received a report that lawsuits are rampant in the church. And what is the source of these lawsuits?

Well, forget about the reasoning behind the law suits, the source of the lawsuit is the abandonment of love. Here is what Paul teaches about love later in this book over in chapter 13

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NKJV

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is the exact opposite of how the believers in Corinth were behaving. They were being selfish, they were being unruly, they weren’t doing things according to order, and they weren’t thinking about the damage to the testimony of Jesus Christ, they were just thinking about what they deserved according to the standards of the world.

Colossians 3:2 NKJV

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

And yet, the Corinthian church, and you and I, spend more time thinking about the affairs of this life, and what we deserve rather than thinking about the glory of God.

We get our first big boy or big girl job, and all of a sudden we deserve nicer clothes, a bigger house, better cars, and we will do anything to get it, even it means bringing others and ourselves to financial ruin. We get so swelled up with pride that we can’t even see that what God intended to be a blessing to us has now turned into a curse.

What happens is we get out of control. And when we get out of control thinking about what we deserve, we fall into all other various kinds of sin.

When the heart of a man, or woman, begins to think about what he deserves, we get into all kinds of perverse and unhealthy things…things that take our focus away from God and puts all the focus on ourselves. And once all the focus is on ourselves, we become consumed with pride, and then we become a disgraced people because we become unloving.

1 John 4:16 NKJV

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

When we become unloving, we have pushed God completely out of our lives, for God is love, and if we do not have love, then God is not in us.

That’s exactly where this church is, they are disgraced because they are unloving, and because they are unloving, the Spirit of God has been quenched in their life.

What is the fruit of an unloving church?

Well, it’s fruit is failure, and in this life, there are two categories where we fail. We either fail practically, or we fail spiritually, and the Corinthian church has managed both.

Practical Failure

1 Corinthians 6:1 NKJV

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

Allowing the World to Judge

Practically, these Christians should have known that the world isn’t able to give them a fair shake. They should have known that when they drag all of their dirty laundry out into the world, that it’s not going to, in any way, produce any kind of victory.

Notice that Paul calls the secular courts and their judges unrighteous. The reason that he calls them unrighteous is because of how the world operates. It operates where money is king, and anyone and everyone can be thrown under the bus, so long as their hands stay clean.

When you get into the high places of life, the only thing you’re going to find is a lack on integrity and a lack of personal responsibility. When we think about our culture now, all we can seem to focus on is how our life is someone else’s fault.

Victim Mentality

We are seeing this kind of thought grow more and more in our world, and it’s something that we are calling victim mentality. People with a victim mentality will always find someone else to blame, and they will always move the responsibility of their own choices off to other people.

When we think of this mentality, the victim mentality, we usually think of people that are on the bottom of society. The people in life that make glaringly bad choices, and somehow find a way to make themselves seem like a victim, allowing them to live in their sad and depressed world.

But the bottom of society isn’t the only place that operates this way. Every body in the world operates this way, even the most esteemed in our society.

Think of our politicians, Hollywood stars, and our CEOs. Our politicians blame the other side for their own spineless behavior. Hollywood stars and these athletes decry on how unfairly they are being treated, and then rile up the world around them. Our nation’s CEOs bow to the pressure of godlessness and produce all kinds of wicked and vile products and advertisements for the world to see.

And the middle class of America, the ones who think they stand may be the worst of all, always crying about why the poor are robbing us because of welfare and how the rich are starving us because of their greed. The whole world in engulfed in victim mentality.

But Jesus says to us that we aren’t victims, but that we are the victors and the rulers of this world. And so Paul asks the question, “Why are you going before the unrighteous to solve your disputes?” He knows that the unrighteous cannot judge according to God’s standard, and yet, we always look to them for a solution.

Practically, it makes no sense for these believers to go before the unrighteous to solve their disputes.

1 Corinthians 6:2–4 NKJV

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?

Negating Responsibility

We have a responsibility in the end of days, that we will stand with Christ as judges over the world. If we as a people cannot even judge the matters of the church, then how can we expect to fulfill our role as judges over the earth?

The people in this church claimed to be so spiritual, and they claimed to have so much status, and yet, they can’t even address the sin in their own church. In no way is this church, at the time when this letter was written, a practically loving church.

They didn’t even love each other enough to be on the same side, much less love each other enough to come to fair and honest conclusions. They claimed to be spiritual, but were anything but spiritual.

They were unloving, so these were not friendly negotiations in court…if I had to take a stab at the conflict, I would say it’s over money or assets…for what does the Scripture say

1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Paul was writing to warn Timothy about people and leaders hungry for money, because greed will cause the downfall of the church.

Church, when it comes to our money, whether personal or in the church, it’s all a tool to advance the kingdom of God. But here, it seems in the Corinthian church it was used to advance their own egos.

So, the church has practically failed by allowing the world to judge what the church ought to judge.

Spiritual Failure

And so, not only was there a practical failure, there was a great spiritual failure.

1 Corinthians 6:7 NKJV

Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?

Accepting the Wrong

They are failing in the spiritual principles taught by our Lord. These are people seeking revenge. They aren’t trying to do what’s right, they are only trying to win…

A church gets into a lot of trouble when its members try to win. That’s a sure sign that there is deep division and spiritual failure in the church…because it’s not about what is right and following the order that God has assigned, it all becomes about winning arguments.

And when you continue in bitterness for the sake of winning, you’ve failed spiritually just as much as you have practically. Because when we go to battle against each other for the sake of winning, everybody loses, even Christ.

Look at where Paul says, “it is already an utter failure”.

Translation: “By the time you drag your brother into to court because you cannot get along, you have holos hettema (Ho-los / hey-tay-mah)”

“You have completely failed in every respect.”

What does Jesus say the appropriate response is based on love for one another?

Matthew 5:40 NKJV

If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

Why does Jesus say this? Paul explains in Romans

Romans 12:17–19 NKJV

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Now, Jesus and Paul are talking about our relationship with unbelievers. If that should be our response to the world, how much more gracious should our cooperation be between each other?

If there are two people in Christ that have a dispute, they should work together to make it right and not to have any more division among themselves. If one won’t respond after everything has been done, the Bible says that the Lord will work to take care of it.

The best thing for you to do if you have been wronged is to forgive. The reason that Jesus says to give them your cloak also, is because He is prompting an action of forgiveness in the face of material persecution.

I’m not for people being cheated, but I am not attached to my material goods either. We can sing, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I’d be His than have riches untold”, but until we find contentment in what the Lord gives and what either He or the world takes away, we are singing a lie.

Here is what Paul is saying in v. 7:

It’d be better to accept the wrong and honor Jesus Christ, than to avenge yourself and disgrace the testimony of Jesus through spiritual failure.

So, Paul says to accept the wrong done, but he also says to accept the wrong you’ve committed.

Accept Your Wrongdoing

1 Corinthians 6:8 NKJV

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!

Translation: Even if you claim that they have wronged you, you are wronging them by dragging them into court.

Here we are with the principle again…we’re not trying to win, we’re trying to do what’s right. If Christian people cannot come together and do what’s right because they are too busy whining about how they didn’t get their way, then we aren’t a spectacle of God’s grace, we become a spectacle of sin of despair…we become the poster child for discontentment and greed.

What we need to do, anytime we are filled with revenge, is repent for our attitude and look to the Lord to restore our love for one another. Here is an unloving church filled with discontentment…always trying to win instead of trying to love.

A Call to Repentance

Paul tells them that they have failed practically, that they have completely failed spiritually, and now he is calling them to repentance.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NKJV

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

The church had more problems than their lack of love…they also had problems with sexuality and with the authority of God’s word. Paul gives an exhaustive list here to close his rebuke of their lack of love, and to open his discussion on their unholiness regarding sexuality in the church.

He ends by saying, “you were all these things, but now you have been saved, so act like it.”

We are about to move into the section where Paul addresses their unholiness. He is specifically talking about their sexual ethics, and I want you to see some things in v. 9

When he says “homosexuals”, he is talking about effeminate men who submit themselves to “sodomites” in a perverted relationship.

Obviously, fornication is sexual activity outside of marriage, and adultery is breaking the bongs of marriage through sexual activity, but notice that idolatry is there in the middle of fornication and adultery. Because where there is idol worship and the pursuit of false gods, there will always be sexual perversion, which is what the people in this church were doing…being part-time Christians and part-time worshippers of Aphrodite.

But now look at the list in v. 10 and there are more connections.

Thieves are people who steal, coveters are people who are greedy, revilers are abusive slanderers, and extortioners are people who rob by force…but in the midst of that list, he calls out drunkards.

drunkenness, like sexual perversion of any kind, comes from a spirit of addiction…and any time there is a sexual pervert or a drunkard, there are going to money problems, because they are by nature greedy people.

Sexual perverts don’t care about others, they only care about sexual pleasure…drunks don’t care about others, they only care about alcohol…but God’s people, according to v. 11, have been washed from these things, have been sanctified, and are now supposed to be living for Christ.

Paul is calling this church to repentance.

The reason he is calling them to repentance is because they are an unholy church

II. An Unholy Church

1 Corinthians 6:12 NKJV

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

A Freedom to be Holy

So far, whether it’s been on Sunday or Wednesday, I have exclusively railed against Christian legalism. But now, the Apostle Paul is very directly addressing Christian liberalism that says, “I am free, and am forgiven, so I can do whatever I want and it’s ok.”

But the freedom that Jesus gives us is not freedom to sin, but it’s freedom from sin, which is why Paul says, “I will not be brought under the power any.”

So much for the victim mentality. We are not victims, but we are victors because of what Jesus did for us.

Now that he has established our freedom to be holy, he establishes our Holy calling

Our Holy Calling

1 Corinthians 6:13–14 NKJV

Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

This is Paul’s other counter argument, saying that the Corinthians are treating sex like it’s food.

# 1 - food is necessary, sex isn’t.

# 2 - Over eating and sexual perversion both come from an unholy appetite.

# 3 - Food eaten in appropriate portions and nutrients strengthen the body, but food eaten in abundance and without proper nutrients destroys our bodies.

# 4 - Sex inside of the context of marriage is wonderful and strengthens marriage, sex outside of marriage destroys us both physically, mentally, and spiritually.

We are called to be holy by being sexually pure…but these Corinthians are treating sex and prostitution like a buffet line.

So, Paul continues.

1 Corinthians 6:15–17 NKJV

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 harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

When there is a sexual relationship, you are taking a body that belongs to Christ, and you are giving it to whomever is involved sexually.

That’s why adultery is a deal breaker. Because you have taken what is your wife’s or your husband’s and you have given it to someone else. You have broken the contract. What an adulterer or fornicator does is commits perversion by taking something that God has declared to be holy and treating it with disregard.

In the same way, when you give yourself to the Lord, your body becomes a living sacrifice, you are then married to Him, joined with Him entirely. But when someone who belongs to Jesus commits fornication or adultery, they, as the Bible says, “become one” with that person. Then you along with Christ, along with His body, which is the church, enter into an state of perversion with a harlot or with another adulterer, thereby disgracing the holiness of Jesus Christ.

Not that you make Him unholy, but you disgrace His name and His marriage to you by committing sexual perversion.

Sex is a very serious thing that we take so lightly.

And so this church, not only are they unloving because of how they treat each other, but they are unholy because of how they abuse their marriage to our faithful groom who is Jesus Christ…but Paul says that they can be an unwavering church, despite everything they’re doing now.

III. An Unwavering Church

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NKJV

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

He ends with with two charges.

First, flee sexual immorality.

You’re not going to win against it, the Bible says to stay away. I imagine that for these Corinthians, it meant not walking through the parts of town where Aphrodite’s ministers were hanging around.

For us in our world today it could be staying off the internet, turning off the television at certain times, or just simply taking the time to pay more attention to your family and your marriage.

The Bible says that every other sin is outside, but sexual immorality affects us to the core.

It weakens us emotionally, physically, and spiritually. A sexual pervert will never be right, no matter how hard they try.

Second, he says we were bought with a price, and we should glorify God.

Our bodies, our money, not our time is ours, but it all belongs to Jesus. The reason we slip into an unloving and unholy lifestyle is because we forget that we have been purchased, and we forget that we belong to Jesus.

We’re going to see in chapter 7 that the wife’s body belongs to the husband, and the husband’s to the wife, because when you enter into a marriage relationship, you give up your rights, and everything you own becomes one.

There’s no such thing as “my money” in marriage, it’s our money. There’s no such thing as “my body” in marriage, it’s “our body”. And there’s no such thing as “your kids” in marriage, there is only “our kids”, whether they are step or not…when you enter marriage, you become responsible for them, as if they were your own, but also respecting the boundaries of the biological parent outside of the marriage relationship.

Conclusion

The point of what Paul is trying to say is that we should love one another enough to settle disputes. We should have people in our churches wise enough and humble enough to arbitrate on these matters…that we should be a holy church that abstains from sexual perversion, and that we should be unwavering in our devotion to God, honoring Him with our bodies, regardless of the culture.