“Glorifying God with our Bodies”—Pt.1
(1 Corinthians 6:12-20)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
•Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6 (page 770; YouVersion).
Paul has been writing about the former lives of the Corinthians. He has just said to them in verse 9, “Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexual, nor sodomites,—verse 10—nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Then, this classic statement in verse 11, Paul reminds the Corinthians that these things describe their former lifestyle before they were saved. He says in verse 11, “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.”
So having addressed the former lifestyle of the Corinthians, Paul now seeks to correct the behavior of some of these Corinthians who have been wrongly using their bodies, using them in ways that are harmful and destructive, rather than using their bodies for the glory of God.
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
12 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.
13 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.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
•Pray.
Introduction:
We Christians have a number of popular slogans we use. We may speak them, write them, or put them on bumper stickers and T-shirts. For example:
“Not perfect, just forgiven”
“When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.”
“Let go, and let God.”
“Do your best, and God will do the rest.”
“Keep on keepin’ on.”
“Pray until something happens.”
These witty slogans are often helpful and often humorous. Sometimes they border on the offensive, like the slogan in the form of a question, “How will you spend eternity—smoking or non-smoking?”
But you see, they are memorable catch phrases and are not particularly bad if understood in the proper context.
In Paul’s day there were some Christian slogans that were being bandied about the Corinthian congregation. Two of them occur in these three verses. One is repeated twice in verse 12 and another one occurs in verse 13.
The first slogan is the statement, “All things are lawful for me.” It occurs twice there in verse 12. Then in verse 13 there is the slogan, “Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods.”
These slogans were possibly uttered by the Apostle Paul when he founded the church in Corinth. If so, they were statements that he made in a very specific context. In any case, the Corinthians had allowed these slogans to be used in a way to justify immoral behavior. Specifically, the Corinthians were using these slogans in ways that harmed their bodies.
Most scholars believe that the Corinthian Christians were influenced by the popular Greek culture and philosophy that taught that the physical body was not really that important. It was a sort of dualism that suggested that what really mattered was the spirit of a person, not the body. The body was like a physical inconvenience.
The Stoic Philosopher Epictetus, for example, who lived in the days of 1 Corinthians said, “I am a poor soul shackled to a corpse.” This was Epictetus’ way of saying, “This body is a cumbersome physical bother to me.”
This kind of thinking led many Greeks to live a lifestyle that treated the body as though it were separate from the spiritual person. Ethically, it meant that a person could pretty much do whatever he wished with his body. After all, it was just this physical thing to which he was chained until he died. So, gluttony was okay, sexual promiscuity was okay, and just satisfying whatever bodily appetite one had was okay.
They were like, “The stomach was made for food and food for the stomach so let’s eat as much as we can!” Or, “The body was made for sex and sex for the body so let’s have as much sex as we can.” That’s actually how they thought.
Their reasoning was like, “Didn’t God make the stomach?” Answer: Yes. “Well, didn’t God make food?” Yes. “Well, there you go. If God made the stomach and gave us a desire to eat, then what’s the big deal?”
And, “Didn’t God make the body?” Yes. “And He created sex, right?” Yes. “Well, there you go. If God made the body and God made sex and gave us a desire to have sex, then what’s the big deal?”
It’s not altogether unlike the way many persons falsely reason today: “Didn’t God create everything?” Yes. “So He gave us alcohol, He gave us tobacco, He gave us drugs. Well, if God made these things and gave us a desire to have these things, what’s the big deal?”
So what Paul does here in our passage this morning is to correct the improper use of these slogans by giving some principles about living the Christian life and the Christian’s proper use of the body.
First principle:
1) I Will Avoid things that are Unhelpful to Me [12a]
12 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.
In verse 12, Paul quotes the very slogan that had been popularly quoted time and again in Corinth. It is the slogan at the beginning of verse 12, “All things are lawful for me.”
Some of the translations are helpful here in that they put quotes around that phrase, “All things are lawful for me.”
Like most Christian slogans, there is an element of truth to this statement. It is true that Christians are not bound to the exhaustive legal code of the Old Testament, the some 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law. Christians live not under the law, but under grace.
Yet, this does not mean that Christians just shrug off all moral values. Moral principles still guide the Christian life.
The problem with the Corinthian congregation is that many were using this slogan, “All things are lawful,” to justify sinful behavior. Yet while the Christian is free from sin, he is not free to sin.
So Paul adds the necessary qualifier, the necessary limit, to the Christian’s freedom. He quotes the slogan, “All things are lawful for me,” and then adds, “but all things are not helpful.” See that in verse 12? He grants the slogan, “All things are lawful for me,” true enough he may have said. But, here comes the qualifier, “But all things are not helpful.”
So the first principle here is (1) I will avoid things that are unhelpful to me.
There are proper limits to our freedoms. While we may be free to do certain things, the doing of those things are not necessarily helpful to us, helpful to our bodies, helpful to our witness.
Many new Christians, and especially younger Christians, want to know how far they can get to the line without crossing over. Their questions are often phrased like, “Can I be a Christians and also—do this, or do that.” You know, “Where is the line?”
And rather than seeking where is the line so I can get as close as possible to it, we ought to be asking where is the line so I can stay away as possible from it. That was good, I need to say that again. I don’t often have an original thought so I need to really milk this one!
Rather than asking where is the line so I can get as close as possible to it, I ought to be asking where is the line so I can stay away as far as possible from it.
The problem with these questions is that they reveal a heart that still wants to have a foot in both worlds, a straddling of the fence, a wanting to have my religion, but also wanting to engage in worldly behavior.
This misses the point of Christian freedom. It is a freedom with limits. It is a freedom to live in holiness, a freedom that brings great benefit to our bodies.
So the question should not be, “Am I free to drink, or am I free to smoke.” Strictly speaking, can a Christian drink or smoke and still go to heaven when he or she dies? Well, of course. We’re not saved by our works.
But—while it may be lawful for me to smoke, it is certainly not helpful to my body and to my witness.
I like Jerry Vines’ statement here. He said, “I don’t think a person will go to hell for using tobacco, I don’t believe it’ll send a person to hell, it’ll just make you smell like you’ve been there.” Well, amen.
There are helpful and necessary limits to our freedoms.
Galatians 5:13, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh…”
Principle number 1, I will avoid things that are unhelpful to me. Principle number 2:
2) I Will Avoid things that Enslave Me [12b]
12 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.
“All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
Blomberg, “Christians have a newfound freedom, but that freedom should orient them toward doing those things that are beneficial and away from doing those things that can ensnare them and then dominate their lives.”
“All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
There seems to be a play on words in the original Greek here. The phrase could be translated, “All things are in my power, but I shall not be overpowered by anything.”
It’s like William Wallace in the movie “Braveheart (1995).” There’s the scene at the end where Wallace is going to die a very cruel death by order of the King, Longshanks. His daughter-in-law, Isabella, secretly visits Wallace in the jail cell and offers him a drug to help him endure the torture. She says, “Here, drink this. It will dull your pain.” And Wallace replies, “No, it will numb my wits, and I must have them all. For if I’m senseless or if (I cry out), then Longshanks will have broken me.”
It was his way of saying, “I will not be brought under the power of anything. I want nothing to enslave me.”
I will avoid things that enslave me. What are some examples of things that may enslave a Christian? Food, drink, drugs, tobacco, work, exercise, family. And countless other things. Examine yourselves and fill in the blank.
Beware of the things that enslave the Christian. It begins with one compromise and then a slow, but deliberate hardening of the conscience. We hear the voice of God speaking to us, warning us, telling us not to do a certain thing, but we harden our conscience and do as we please.
“What the heart desires, the will takes, and the intellect justifies.”
One compromise leads to another and before long, it is full-blown disaster.
The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:16-27, warns us not to be “like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”
Principle number 1, I will avoid things that are unhelpful to me. Principle number 2, I will avoid things that enslave me. Principle number 3:
3) I Will Use my Body to Honor God [13-14]
This is Paul’s battle cry, the main point of this passage, “I will use my body to honor God.”
13 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.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
How will I use my body to honor God? Two ways, first:
A) Refraining from Sexual Immorality (13b)
Second part of verse 13:
13 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.
The Corinthians uttered this slogan, “Food for the stomach, the stomach for food.” Well, that’s generally true. That makes sense, “Food for the stomach, the stomach for food.” The food and stomach were made for one another.
This is probably a principle Paul taught when he founded the church there in Corinth, teaching how Christians are free from the dietary restrictions of the Old Testament Law. He likely taught that the foods previously considered “unclean” in the Old Testament are now considered “clean.” Food for the stomach, the stomach for food.
But then the Corinthians took this slogan, “Food for the stomach, the stomach for food,” and wrongly applied it to sexual relationships, “Sex for the body and the body for sex.”
But Paul says, “No, the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
In other words, unlike the eating of food, there is a spiritual element in sex. There’s a spiritual relationship between one’s body and the Lord. The body is “for the Lord and the Lord for the body.”
This is why a person can have promiscuous sex and never find ultimate contentment and satisfaction because there is more to sex than the physical use of one’s body. There is a spiritual relationship between the body and the Lord. Our body is to be used to honor God.
We’ll talk about this more next time when we talk about how the Corinthians were justifying the use of prostitutes in their worship. It sounds really bizarre to us, but remember:
“What the heart desires, the will takes, and the intellect justifies.”
Principle 3, I will use my body to honor God—by refraining from sexual immorality, and:
B) Remembering my Body’s Eternality (14)
That is, God has an eternal purpose for my body so I will take special care of it. True, one day I will die and my body will be placed in a grave, but God will raise my body and change it into a glorified body like unto the Lord’s. That’s verse 14:
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
So Paul says, “Remember that your body has dignity.” Take care of your body. God has an eternal purpose for your body.
There’s a spiritual element at play every time you use—or misuse—your body.
Knowing what God will do with our bodies in the future should motivate our taking care of our bodies in the present.
More about that next time.
•Stand for prayer.
1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name. The author intends to provide free resources in order to inspire believers and to assist preachers and teachers in Kingdom work.