The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 12: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll? Heavens No!"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 12; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll”: Heavens, No!” By looking at the title of the message, you can tell that we are going to be talking about some things today that might give you pause--as in why would we talk about such things in church! One thing I appreciate about the Scripture is that it deals with real world things. Including the most intimate areas of life—sexuality. Since there may be some of you tuning in who feel your kids may not be ready to be exposed to the subject matter, you might want to engage the message later, or even explain it to your kids after you have digested it. Because there is one thing that we know, sexuality will be talked about. And if we don’t or feel we can’t talk about it with discretion here, then where can it be talked about, among God’s people? And let’s not forget, the original audience no doubt had even little kids in their midst. So why are we going to talk about sexuality today? The short answer is that our passage today, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 deals with it, and it happens to be next on the list! Our passage today is not about things that are pleasant. One thing that you may have noticed so far in our study of the Corinthian correspondence is how raw and real their issues were. Like 2 weeks ago. Remember that we talked about an incestual relationship in the church, and what the Corinthians were to do about it—exercise church discipline. Last week we talked about lawsuits—Christians suing Christians for damages and inviting pagans to arbitrate. Paul gave them a dose of “death theology”--as in denying themselves, taking up their cross daily and following Jesus. Paul told the Philippians what this looks like among fellow Christians in Philippians 2:3: we are to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility we are to consider others more significant than ourselves. But what is the bigger picture Paul addresses in this letter so far? Disunity. Of all things the apostle could have addressed it was disunity. But what kind of culture did the Corinthian believers emerge from? Immorality. Talking heads seeing who could outdo one another with the most emotional tales, whether true or not. A “Me first” mentality where “my rights” are first and foremost. But why would Paul put unity front and center as his number 1 issue, especially in these first 6 chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians? Simple answer: Jesus did. He considered unity among his people at the top of his list as he prayed to the Father right before he went to the cross in John 17:22–23: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” Jesus was far more concerned about our witness to the world than we ever thought about being. He died to bring glory to the Father. He died to produce reconciliation between sinful people and God. And Jesus is vitally concerned about the witness the church gives to the world. The disunity that Paul pointed out to the church in Corinth greatly concerned him and must have broken the heart of Jesus. Whether it was promotion of certain personalities, acceptance of vile sexual practices, brothers suing one another and asking the pagans to arbitrate, all of this fell far short of a unified Christian witness showing the world they were Jesus’ disciples because they loved each other. And just as if things could not get any worse . . . wait for it . . . Christians in Corinth were engaging in prostitution. How wicked can that be? Illicit sexual activity, under the guise of spiritual fulfillment and a “what is natural is OK” philosophy, is what we are talking about here. Simply put, the Corinthian church was failing miserably in her God-given task to be a faithful witness to the non-Christians around her. Today, I want us here and all within the sound of my voice—we who call ourselves followers of Christ to not fail in our witness to the non-Christians around us. Now is our time to shine. I watched an interview of John MacArthur recently. He said that, particularly now, Christians ought to be the most level-headed, sane, joy-filled people on the planet. But tragically, because we so often look like the world, act like the world, and frantically react the same way the world does to our current crisis, it is no wonder we show a vastly diluted witness to the world. We are called to be salt and light to the world. Salt as in reminding the world that we as Christians have a living relationship with the living God. And light as in showing our good works resulting in those around us giving glory to our heavenly Father, the only wise God. As we begin this morning I want to outline for us where we are going. In vv.12-14 we will take a look at common slogans many of the Corinthians lived by, having to do with their philosophy of life, and it boils down to this: “it does not matter what I do with my body,” or to put it in more modern terms, “what I do with my body is my business.” They considered it a priority to please themselves, especially when it came to sexual activity and food. Paul will set the Corinthians straight and once again, show that what they do with their bodies really does matter. In vv.15-17, Paul explains the spiritual entanglement that happens when they engage in sexual activity outside a marriage relationship. In vv.18-20, Paul commands the Christian to flee sexual immorality because of who they are and because of whose they are. So, let’s read 1 Corinthians 6:12–14: “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. “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. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. As I mentioned, the Corinthian Christians emerged from their cultural soil permeated with “sensual freedom”. To be a Corinthian, as we remember, was to be considered sexually immoral. They were free to do whatever they wanted with their bodies sexually. I don’t want to get explicit but we need to see a strand of what the Corinthians came out of. It was common for Corinthians to horribly mistreat slaves any way they wanted to, to include sexually. No voices of protest. No advocates for the oppressed. Abolition had not entered into anyone’s mind in that day. In a master-slave relationship, sexual abuse was extremely common. That is just how things were done. Into this moral slime pit of despair comes Paul preaching “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And God began to work. And an increasing number of people became more human. To include those who were slaves and their owners. God didn’t work only at the slave level of society. People from the highest social and political ranks also came to faith in Christ. So now imagine the scene: people who probably abused slaves were sitting next to the very slaves they abused. In their world, sexual activity of all kinds was as natural as eating. Everything was permissible. But Paul taught them a new way: what they did with their bodies mattered. I cannot imagine when Paul was with them for 18 months that he failed to train them in the ways of godliness and how important it was for God’s people to honor him with their bodies. And so I will say, Paul doesn’t instruct them, he reminds them of the importance of serving God through what they do, especially sexually, and as we will see, with whom they shared meals. Here is Paul’s reminder: “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” And Paul feels that he has to spell it out to the Corinthians, and us, too: immorality bad, abstaining from immorality good. But Paul does not merely moralize. He does not just tell them to stay away from sex. He reminds them that a resurrection is coming. “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” Though it is obvious, exactly what will God raise up on that Day? Our bodies. The implication is that we will give an account to the Lord after we have been raised of what we have done sexually. In other words, I can hear Paul saying, “get ready for resurrection day. You will give an account for what you did with your body.” So after Paul once again sets the Corinthian believers straight regarding their common clichés, he now addresses straight on about how powerful sexual entanglement is, and how much damage sexual immorality does to them as individuals and the body of Christ overall. It is definitely more than mere physical activity. There is a strong spiritual component as well. Let’s read vv.15-17: 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! 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.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. In v.15, Paul reminds them of something they knew full well: every Christian is a member of Christ’s body. This is not mere rhetoric of a mentality or a strong feeling of solidarity with Christ. This spiritual reality is just as real as a physical one. Paul likens spiritual members—Christians—to actual physical members attached to an actual physical body. Imagine a beautiful, healthy, 25-year old woman standing in front of you. And all of a sudden an evil power directs someone very strong to come up and literally rip off her arm. And then her arm is to be attached to the body of another woman who needs an arm. Picture her as like the bride of Frankenstein, with one body part here, another there. This, says Paul, is what happens when a Christian, a member of Christ, deliberately goes and joins himself to a prostitute and becomes part of her--or him, because male prostitutes existed then. That’s how damaging, how ugly this situation is, says God through Paul. And lest they think this is just something Paul made up in his head, he reminds them of the opening chapters of Genesis, where “the two shall become one flesh.” This is marriage as God intends. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” This “leave, cleave, one flesh” relationship is good and right. A natural part of married life is sexual activity. In other words, sex is God’s idea. Sex is a wonderful thing—If the couple is wearing wedding bands. But sex is horrific in any other context. It is a no-brainer that sexual activity is more than mere mechanics. It should be obvious as well that the two Corinthian quotes Paul cited do not work here. There is not a mere mechanical union between two people. There is a spiritual component in play, just as strong as the physical. Things have not changed from that day to this. Why it is for example, divorce is so difficult, even if kids are not involved? Why is it that one of main reasons why young people commit suicide is over broken relationships? Two people get involved physically, which they are well aware of, and spiritually, which they may not be aware of. Then something happens. They have a fall out and break up. Tragically, many take their own lives. They are convinced their world has come to an end. Something spiritual between them has died. Imagine a piece of plywood. Several layers of wood permanently glued together to form a sheet. Now imagine cutting off a piece 12” square and then trying to separate all the “ply’s”. It is an impossibility to make a clean break. This is what it is like for those in a former sexual relationship--never a clean break. Again, this underscores the spiritual aspect of sexual activity. And notice in v.17, Paul reminds them of the truth that the Corinthian Christians’ have with the Lord: But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Members of Christ’s body are joined to him in a real, unbreakable bond. And so the unexpressed question is simply, “Why would any Christian wrench himself away from the body of Christ and join himself, in Frankenstein fashion to a prostitute?” In vv.18-20, Paul ratchets things up. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 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, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Notice in v.18, Paul issues a direct command in direct contradiction to the Corinthian quotes and at the same time reveals why divine commands are issued in the first place: Flee-run away from sexual immorality. Do everything possible to get away from it. But why deny oneself of sexual pleasure? The warning here is that sexual sin is damaging in ways that are different from all other. There are many ideas floating around between the learned guys, but think of the purpose for sexual activity. This is God’s first command given to the human race: be fruitful and multiply. For procreation and pleasure. Anything that pollutes this exclusive relationship flies in the face of God’s gracious command. And this pollution somehow goes deeper into our soul than any other sin. God knows this and he wants to spare us immense pain. Now let’s turn our attention to vv.19-20: 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, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. These verses hold the key to this passage we have been talking about today. Let’s begin with the end of v.19-v.20. Once again, Paul reminds the Christians of whose they are: “You are not your own”. In essence Paul says, “you are not allowed to consider yourselves free agents. Or that ‘sex with whomever is as natural as eating.’ Because the Messiah suffered for you, you have been spared the wrath of God. Why do you want to engage in the things that will bring down God’s wrath on your head? Christian! You are joined to the one who laid down his life for you--the King stooped to meet your deepest needs. In the area of sexual behavior, show the Lord you love him by doing what he says. Christian! Glorify God with your body.” That’s Paul’s bottom line. Let’s look carefully at the beginning of v.19, for this opens up for us the back story of what Paul is talking about in this passage. Let’s read this sentence again: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” Let’s begin with the numbers. “You” is plural. “Body” is singular and so is “Temple”. What’s Paul getting at? Simply put, all of the Christians, together, make up the one temple of God. In other words, he is stressing the unity of the body here. The issue at hand is that the Corinthian church was to be a place where the holy, pure, presence of God was, for the Holy Spirit showed himself among them. In other words, the Corinthian church was to be God’s Temple, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, for the local church was Christ’s body. This was to be the dwelling place of the only true and living God. Now, with that said, one would think that the church of Jesus Christ, the Temple of God, would be the only game in town. Not by a long shot. The true temple of the Only God “competed” as it were, with the objects of worship in Corinth. Later in this letter, Paul actually called them demons. He knew the spiritual warfare that waged all around him, with the score of 15 gods and goddesses to the 1 True God. But these religious gatherings were enticing. Lots of festivals. Lots of food. Wine free-flowing. Along with these feasts in the name of the gods came some “after dinner entertainment,” as one scholar put it, that of temple prostitution. For after all, what party would be complete without living out the meme of the day, summed up like this: “Sex is as natural as eating.” See, with all the wickedness that went along with the very attractive pagan festivals, held in honor of the many gods and goddesses of the city, all the people in town were expected to participate. Again, with all the food and wine offered, along with the “after dinner entertainment,” of temple prostitution, is it any wonder that the Corinthian Christians might just be a little tempted to participate, especially those who still held on the meme of the day, emphasizing their freedom in Christ? “After all, since Christ forgave me of my sins I can do what I want,” is apparently what some thought, and lived out. What Paul was warning them about in this passage was their poor witness to their world. Let’s quickly review their witness before I apply this to us today. The Corinthian Christians exalted one spiritual leader over another. They boasted in human beings rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christians were proud about their sexual looseness in the church. They took their grievances between themselves out to the pagan public. And some who claimed to be Christians defended the philosophy of the day: “we can do what we want with our bodies,” even celebrating at the temple feasts, complete with temple prostitution. The big question for them: “was Jesus Christ and him crucified enough, or were they still looking for spiritual meaning?” What a godly witness, Corinthians! At the very least, their Christian walk, such as it was, did not match their talk about Christ Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth, crucified for sinners, actually being the only place where true spirituality was found. Apparently, they thought they could return to the world and still have Jesus, even though Jesus told them to turn their back on the world. As a result their witness to the pagans was nil. Well, as we know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In our culture we have altars to our gods. We have cultural memes. And many who claim to be Christians have apparently returned to the enticements of this life. For the sake of “reaching” the lost, far too often we revert to being like those who the Lord wants us to witness to. Tragically, too many of us feel that for the sake of spiritual freedom, we can adopt worldly philosophy. And we are deceived into trying to find spiritual meaning there. Time will fail us if we even try to scratch the surface of how deeply the church has compromised with the world’s ways over the years and even in our day, and therefore have such a watered-down witness that there is little distinction between us and the world. But let me briefly give you 3 areas where the world is looking for spiritual meaning: sex, drugs and music, which I will lump together with the common meme: “rock and roll”. It’s no secret that sexual activity has been viewed as a spiritual experience down through the ages. It was in the first century. It is today. Let me give you just 2 quotes to give you an idea of what non-Christians are typically after when it comes to sexual activity. Here’s the first: “Sex is a core function of humanity. It plays a huge role in the physical health and vitality of the body. Sex is also an immense, universal force that can merge your spirit (your divine essence) with your body.” Here’s the second: “Embrace the act of sex as worship of your partner and a sacred representation of the divine.” I’ll stop there but you can see the point. When it comes to drugs, many use them to escape reality. Or perhaps they develop an addiction they can’t shake. But many others use drugs as a way to enhance their spiritual experience--to make it more intense. Native American Churches use Peyote, while the Amazonian peoples of South America use ayahuasca [i-a-WES-cah] to connect with the spiritual world and for learning and healing purposes. This drug is considered a “teacher” and a “wisdom plant.” Marijuana is used in Hinduism to promote spiritual experiences. Hindus associate cannabis with the god Shiva, who is believed to have given the drug to humanity as a sign of gratitude. It is well known that the Beatles’ use of drugs profoundly affected their work. According to Rolling Stone magazine, until Paul McCartney joined the other 3 in his first LSD trip, they were on opposing sides: George, John and Ringo against Paul. After Paul finally joined them down the LSD road, they produced what many considered their finest Album, “Revolver”, which greatly influenced so many groups contemporary with and after them. Lennon’s foray into Buddhism and Harrison’s increasing love for Hinduism and even McCartney’s admission of God’s existence in the aftermath of his LSD trips was in large measure the foundation on which Revolver and later on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” rested. Rock and roll was a genre of music that began in the 50’s and eventually became a staple of the music of our culture. It is widely known that “Rock and Roll” was a reference to sexual activity, which goes right back the issue of those seeking spiritual reality apart from Christ. Let me give you two examples of what I mean. The late Jimi Hendrix considered his performances preaching acts, in so many words: “I can explain everything better through music. You hypnotize people to where they go right back to their natural state which is pure positive, like in childhood when you got natural highs. And when you get people at their weakest point, you can preach into the subconscious what we want to say.” In other words, Hendrix’s music set up the people to receive what message he wanted to preach to them. And one of Jefferson Starship’s songs in my opinion epitomizes sexual activity as a spiritual experience, beginning with its title: “Miracles.” The words of this song are graphic so I won’t repeat them here. But this song in my opinion completely weds together music and the couple having a spiritual experience while engaging in sexual activity. So what am I trying to accomplish here in this application? Simply underscoring the famous statement made by Mircea Eliade, a scholar of world religions who said, "Mankind is incurably religious." In other words, regardless of whether a person is rightly related to God through Christ or not, we are wired to worship something, anything. We must have a spiritual reality—even the atheists. The militant atheist spends his time deliberately suppressing the knowledge of God who he insists does not exist. In his denial of God’s existence he therefore is living in the spiritual reality of fighting against God. So, if Paul were to stand before us today, he would say, “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” as the way of finding spiritual reality? “Heavens, no!” Though we are religious, since the day we became sinners in the Garden of Eden, we have been trying to fulfill the longing for spiritual reality on one hand but stubbornly holding on to our rebellion against the only true God with the other. The Corinthian church is a tragic example of this. Don’t misunderstand, though. The Corinthian church was a true church. Jesus Christ and him crucified was the foundation which Paul laid. There were many in the Corinthian church who were no doubt born again by the spirit of God. The true Christians, together, as Paul said, made up the temple of the Holy Spirit--the very dwelling place of God. But some, perhaps many, Corinthians either forgot who they were, or they turned back and re- embraced the cultural memes of the day. They thought they could make an ethical return to their culture and that would be OK with Jesus. And with that, the witness of the church was compromised. The same is true with so many in the Church of Jesus Christ in our day. How many of us have embraced the culture, along with its memes, like, “Christians are supposed to obey the 11th commandment.” What is the 11th Commandment? “Thou Shall Be Nice.” Christians are not supposed to oppose anything the politically correct crowd says is off limits. Like calling sin, sin as God defines it. Jesus was not afraid to call sin, sin. But look where it got him. Dare we do any less? Let me give you an up to date cultural meme: live in continual fear that we probably have the coronavirus and don’t know it, or if we pass it on to someone, even unknowingly, they stand a good chance of dying. In other words, it seems that we cannot even be human beings when it comes to the Coronavirus—we must be scared to death around fellow image bearers, even avoiding breathing when we are in one another’s presence without protection. This is not an exaggeration. In one of his daily updates, Governor Northam encouraged everybody to wear something to cover their faces. But this goes against a law already on the books prohibiting the wearing of masks in Virginia due to criminal activity. We are in a conundrum! But Governor Northram cited “some epidemiologists” who apparently said that now the droplets can be transmitted by breathing. So for the sake of protecting others we are all encouraged to wear masks, lest we pass on the virus and our neighbor dies. Where will the panic end for the Christian? It will end when we stop believing the panic narratives and fully trust God’s promises made to believers. I’m not saying we should throw our precautions to the wind. We obey the laws unless the laws mandate we disobey the Lord. What I’m concerned about is what the panic narrative is doing to our heart, our spirit as Christians. Psalm 27:1 is still applicable today: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? I want us to take a moment and stop here. I want us to take stock of our heart. I want to read this verse again slowly. And I want us to ask the Lord this question: “Is my heart at rest because I believe this passage of Scripture?” If your heart is at rest, give him the praise. If not, ask the Lord to help you get your heart in line with these inspired words. If Psalm 27:1 is true of you, then you and I need to live as though we believe it. It is the Lord who is our light and salvation. But who is the Lord? Holy. Righteous. Love himself. The one who truly has our best interests at his heart. Perfect. All wise. All powerful. And the one who has every right to tell you and me what to do. The Lord told us how to maintain confidence in him in the face of things like the world is facing now: walk in fellowship with him. See, we cannot claim to have confidence in the Lord if we are living in sin. Psalm 32:1-7 makes that clear: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent [about my sin], my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah—stop and think about that.  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah—stop and think about that.   Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah—stop and think about that. Here is the point I want us to walk away with. We are to live differently from the world. This is the only way we can be a witness to it. When we as Christians respond to the world’s pied pipers in the same way the world does, how will they know that we listen to the sound of a different piper? How will they know there is a different way to live, like having confidence that the Lord is in complete control? And along with the apostle Paul when he said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” See, for the Christian, the most this virus can do to us is to send us on a one-way trip to the presence of Jesus, never to be apart from him. As I mentioned last week, the most potent weapon the devil has is the fear of death, with the operative word, fear. We combat the fear of death by first of all being in the family of God through repentance of our sins and faith in Christ as Lord and Savior--the one who died for you and me. If you are not rightly related to God through Christ, in the strongest way I know how, go to God. Ask him to save you. Turn away from your sins--the very things that put Christ on the cross. Embrace Christ as your Lord and Savior. Follow the one who died for you and rose again from the dead. And if you are in the family of God, arm yourself with the truth. The Lord has given us a wonderful way of controlling what goes on in our minds. I call it a thought checklist and it is found in Philippians 4:8. I have found that when I continually think about what the Lord would have me think about I am able to rejoice in Christ and pray to him in a thanksgiving-saturated way. Here is Paul’s thought checklist: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. I encourage you to, before you lay your head on your pillow tonight to read Philippians 4:4-9 at least 5 times and attempt to memorize Philippians 4:8. Begin to control what you think about—what you meditate on. God has given you and me the ability to do that. Use God’s thought checklist to keep the panic out. Let me complete this message today with John MacArthur’s words ringing in our ears. I’ve already mentioned them before but they are potent: Christians are to be the most level-headed, sane, joy-filled people on the planet. For the glory of God and for the sake of Christ.