The Wandering Shepherd

Christians should admit up front that the Bible never attempts to prove God’s existence or argue to place God’s position above that of man – it presumes those ideas to be true. Over the years of ministry, I have found that if one struggles with the first line of the Bible – “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth” – they will struggle with many concepts of the Bible. I would even argue, they will struggle with many of what have traditionally been framed as our “values” in life. They won’t see the values as important…

Stop and think about it for a moment. Isn’t it true that the highest aspirations of man were never met by the lazy, disorganized and morally ambiguous? In the annals of history, it seems clear that accomplishment – whether in the building of significant architecture, the accomplishment of some great feat in sports, some substantial development of economic wealth or the emergence of some position of significant leadership – all were accomplished by working against the natural tendencies of the body to simply fulfill temporary pleasures and keep the flesh happy in the moment. “Accomplishers” in life seem to consistently fight the not so subtle desires of their body in favor of more strict discipline and control. That discipline serves their value system.

Let’s admit it: we fight a body that repels work and we have to discipline ourselves to resist the urge for constant, instant pleasure and play. We know that inside ourselves is a natural tendency is to resist moral restraint when we would rather just operate under the “Do what feels good!” rule. Truly, the best accomplishments of human society have required sacrifice, discipline, restraint of personal desires and a sense of moral responsibility. A world without those qualities would have long ago devolved into a mess of self-serving abuses of substance and people – and it would have left little in notable accomplishments.

Here is the question: Where did these basic lessons of restraint come from in our society?

In the west, a great part of these values were unquestionably introduced through Judeo-Christian ethics taught from the Bible. We live in the benefits of that reality in our society. The pages of the Scriptures are FILLED with instructions on the importance of sacrifice, moral restraint and the necessity of discipline. It is not a waste of time for believers to publicly press that case as people desperately push to remove all remaining influences of the Bible out of our civic life. I believe that many don’t recognize what they are removing – and won’t until it is gone. They love the benefits, but don’t understand the underlying ethic from which they grow.

In relation to our own sexuality – the Bible offers much instruction – and rebuffs the idea of “doing whatever feels natural”. In the Bible the “natural” thing KILLS. Natural DEGRADES VALUES of the Bible. Natural is not to be trusted, because NATURE is still broken and awaiting its redemption. The strange this is that increasingly, we live in a world that is trying to remove these values and affirm the lowest instincts of their broken heart. They want benefits of relationships that can only be found in the values taught from the Bible, without the costs associated with discipline – but that formula won’t work. It cannot.

Applying Values to Human Sexuality

When God made the Heavens and the earth, the Bible recorded that He saw they were GOOD. Yet, when God made man, He designed him with an essential missing part. He said: “It is NOT good for man to be alone.” It took Adam time to name all the animals, and then Adam caught on to what God already decided – there is none like ME! God gave him a project to teach him a lesson – and human history got going. Then God made woman, and human history took a definite turn toward a new destination. No longer was Adam distracted by the desire to have one like him – a rib and a few moments in the Master’s hand shaped one that was more than pleasing to Adam. The choice for a partner was made. It was not man’s choice – for he had little knowledge and experience to design what he needed. It was GOD’S CHOICE – and God doesn’t make bad choices.

God chose one man for one woman and that same woman for that same man. He designed things to accomplish His purposes – biologically, socially and emotionally. He followed with the instructions to life. He said men and women were not designed to be the same – but were part of one another and were designed to be complementary. He said we were not designed to compete with one another, but to work together to serve His defined purposes in a family. That is the point of our study on 1 Corinthians 7…

Key Principle: The Designer knows the design, and His Word makes clear what it is.

God made the principles and standards clear – but it is up to the church to teach them and the believer to choose to live them. God’s truth will clarify our choices and clear the path to pleasing Him with our lives…

In our last time together we made several notes about this passage:

First, Paul was responding in the letter to an apparent question list sent to him by the church at Corinth. We attempt to apportion the text first by using the phrase “Now concerning” seen in places like 1 Corinthians 7:1 or 12:1.

Second, we looked at the reality that Corinth was a Roman city, under Roman laws. God’s timeless truths were not directly transferrable without looking at the specifics of the Roman situation, where we found that the text was directed at different groups: Married, unmarried, divorced and alone, divorced and remarried, widowed and alone, etc.

Third, we noted that there were FOUR kinds of Roman marriage, making the text more complicated than our own day in this regard:

• Contubernium: “tent marriage” mating of slaves for desired characteristics of a new breed. This was non-contractual as slaves were considered property.

• Usus: “common law marriage” accomplished by one year together. This practice was common, though not legally contractual.

• Coemptio en manum: “pleasurable service women” – the purchase of a woman from her father, particularly to fulfill his debt. This may be a “second mate” for the purchaser. In some cases, the woman was free to leave the house after several years of “pleasurable service”.

• Confarretio: a contractual public ceremony from which we get our own.

Finally, we noted before that Paul began the “Q and A section” with the issue of relationships – because that is the first and most pronounced area where values and character are revealed. We stated that:

1. The Bible defined marriage as one man to one woman in 1 Corinthians 7:2. Earlier the Bible allowed for polygamy for specific purposes, but that allowance ended with the change in human conditions. Revelation is progressive, so our rules are not Abraham’s rules.

2. The Bible defined the proper places and participants for sexual expression.

3. Believers were called to base their practice on God’s Word – not the culture, or even the LAW of the LAND.

4. Men and women are equal in the sight of God in regards to the practice of sexual expression, and need to consult one another and care for one another (7:3-5).

Let’s continue our look at 1 Corinthians 7:

Look back at the letter once again. Paul wrote to a local church that was located at the epicenter of a sensual lifestyle that stretched every value of the Roman Empire. In another study, we will look at what the situation was at that time, but for now, let’s summarize the problem this way: the first century was a time of social change and sexual revolution – not dissimilar to what has happened in my lifetime. The marriage bed was eroded during that time, and the family was slowly disintegrating as the century rolled on. Eventually, the family was broken and courts took over – as the strength of Rome dried up.

Into that climate, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to answer their questions. As Paul continued in 1 Corinthians 7 he made rules for them in their situation. From those rules we extract a series of principles concerning this subject of relationships and sexuality that apply to our time and place. Let’s sample each principle, and pick out a key phrase form the verses:

For some people, marriage is the best option – even when persecution grows (7:8-9).

1 Corinthians 7:8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

If I could add a simple statement to make this clear, it would be this: “Know Thyself”: Paul makes the case that marriage is perfectly acceptable, and God’s normal idea for most people – but the time of persecution may make them think twice. Here, he cautions about denying the sexual desires exist and pretending. Some people were meant to be married. It isn’t simply that they “can’t control themselves” – but rather that they have this intense longing telling them they were meant for marriage, and denying that would be foolish and dangerous to their testimony in an environment soaked with promiscuity.

Before we go on, it is important that we not get the wrong idea about the idea of “burning with passion”. This is not what you would read about in a cheap Harlequin novel – it is more than just sensual desire. The old Greek notion was a phrase lifted from Aeschylus and Pindar – famous Greek script writers of theatre. In their works it meant an emotional reference for “to burn with fire, to set on fire, or to kindle a fire”. In the Christian Scriptures, it is used only in the passive form – a “take off” of the original well known phrase that was used more like “to be set on fire” – as from an outside source. It is sometimes used of passionate response (2 Peter 3:12); sometimes used for the “powerful sensations of grief” (2 Corinthians 11:29). The point I am making is this phrase isn’t simply “hungering sexual expression” – it is a passion to be married in spite of the dangers that persecution presented to them. It was a strong emotional desire from God (the outside source) – hence the passive form.

If we know ourselves to have such a high degree of desire for relational intimacy both emotionally and physically, we should seek marriage (7:8-9). He isn’t arguing in favor of sexual obsession – he is arguing that some KNOW they were meant for marriage and feel incomplete without a partner. It is important to understand your own makeup and fill the needs as God enables. Yet, we are told to find fulfillment IN MARRIAGE, not in SEXUAL EXPRESSION. Sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is a guilt producing trap, with a variety of negative consequences.

God did not call a believer to leave their partner if one came to Jesus after marriage and the other partner did not (7:10-16).

1 Corinthians 7:10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. 15 Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Remember that many Roman citizens were USUS or common law married. They hadn’t had any official ceremony, because they couldn’t afford the various pagan superstitions and didn’t have the money to put into the banquet. As a result, many people came to Christ while engaged in a marriage form that was less than completed in their own heart. They were, in essence, in a situation of long term cohabitation without ceremonial completion – but the law afforded them the privileges of marriage “death benefits”. Two Roman stayed together more than a year with the intent of one day having the ceremony – and one came to Christ.

As the new disciple learned of Israel from Bible stories, it became clear through the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures taught in the little house church they attended that God didn’t want Israel to marry outside Israel. Further, when Israel did marry outsiders, God told them to cut those improper marriage bonds that never should have been formed – a split the families (in Ezra). God wanted a pure people, and saw danger for them inter-marrying others in the land of Promise. As such teachings were given, some early disciples in Jesus thought that meant God wanted them to leave their USUS partner – their common law spouse – but He did not. God’s intent was to make this an opportunity to reach out.

Israel and the church are both God’s people in a certain way – but it was inappropriate to use the principle of separation from Ezra in that way – even though the confusion is perfectly understandable.

The proper application of that principle would relate today to only one legal case – that of a “homosexual marriage” – since God has forbidden that altogether. If someone comes to Christ in such an arrangement and wants to follow Christ – that so-called marriage should be Biblically dissolved – since it was never real in God’s eyes. That may mean children are left with a broken home – and that seems harsh. It seemed just as harsh when God ordered it to Israel through Ezra. There simply is no other choice that would not appear to condone something heinous in the eyes of the Lord. If familial marriage of brother and sister or father and daughter become allowed – this also would come under such a ban. If marriage to an animal becomes law, it will also be under such a ban. Marriage should continue between one who becomes a believer after marriage and their non-believing partner – but NOT if that partner is a close relative, an animal, or of the same sex. Those were never marriages according to God’s Word. It isn’t an issue now, but it will be shortly as we present the Gospel to a world being soaked with paganism.

Paul instructed this:

• In every case where marriage can be preserved and relationships can be kept, believers should strive to do so (7:10-11).

• If one is common law married (USUS) or on the way to that state and the couple is not certain they desire to remain together in light of the change in one partner, the believer cannot simply engage another relationship. If they break apart, the believer should prayerfully anticipate the change in their partner (7:11).

• To “other believers” (to the rest I write, v. 12) who were married in a CONFARETTIO or ceremonial marriage, there was little doubt they should be together for life in the Roman mind, but Paul made clear God loves marriage and knows it is best not to dissolve relationship. In fact, if a believer maintains a relationship, even if it is with an unbelieving spouse, it will add blessing to all in the home (7:12-16). In fact, it may bring Christ to the unbelieving partner!

There are a few things that get “mis-taught” from this passage, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention them, at least in summary form:

First, the section isn’t “just Paul’s opinion” and therefore not part of God’s directive, though some statements clearly are formed based on Paul’s opinion. What do I mean? Some would say that sentences like the one found in 7:12 sound like Paul is “making up Scripture based on his own ideas”:

1 Corinthians 7:12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

What Paul is saying is this: Jesus didn’t speak about this before in the context of His ministry, but I need to offer more – because I am speaking into the Roman world, not the Jewish one of Galilee and Judea of the time of Jesus. Paul IS speaking the Lord’s Word – but not repeating something Jesus already taught. Don’t be misled: the teaching of remaining with an unsaved partner who is willing to live with the believer in spite of their new commitment to Jesus and the transformation going on inside them is a teaching of God – not simply “Paul’s view” of the situation.

Second, having a husband or wife that is a believer doesn’t get you into Heaven. Being from a “Christian family” is not the same as having a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross at Calvary. Some suggest 7:14 sounds like a relative’s faith can get you to Heaven; it cannot.

1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband…

Paul is saying that the influence of God’s Spirit is found in the home of a believer. If you work in an office and are the only believer, you bring something of God to that place they would not have if you were not there. God is at work in you, and where you are, God is at work as well.

Third, God did not condemn children born out of wedlock, but commends that children born in His design for a home ARE blessed because of the choice of parents to follow God in the way they establish their home. Some argue the child of a non-wedded union is somehow “cursed” by God because of the end of verse 14:

1 Corinthians 7:14b … for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

Let’s be careful here, because such an attitude can persist long after the theology is corrected. Children are “unclean” in the passage, but in a very specific sense that must be explained:

This is not about “sinfulness”. The term akáthartos is an adjective – a descriptive word that was derived from wine making practices of the ancients. Conditum was a spiced wine that was mixed with other things and customarily served in the poppinae of the period (pubs). Menus found from the period had the term “conditum viatorium” – or “travelers spiced wine”. The opposite word – the antonym – is kathaírō which is translated “clean” wine. It doesn’t mean there is dirt in the mixed and not in the clean. It doesn’t mean one wine is sinful and the other not – “Clean wine” is “free from additive mixtures”, and unadulterated product that only contains what is on the label.

God isn’t condemning out of wedlock children and cursing their lives. Yes, the term “bastard” was an old English word for that child, and it carried a negative sentiment – because society was trying to deter people from inappropriate sexual encounters. At the same time, the passage is meant to say something about the challenge the child will face. Children born to two parents who are their biological forebearers will face fewer “mixing elements” in their life than children who are in any other arrangement. God is simply saying: “When you follow the design I made, things will work better than any other arrangement.” This is proverbial – it is the NORM. It doesn’t mean that there will be no anecdotal exceptions. It doesn’t mean EVERY child in EVERY home EVERYWHERE will do better with EVERY set of biological parent set. It means the design is the intended way, and other ways will add to the MIX of the child. Likewise, the term “holy” is not to be a term packed with religious significance. The term hágios implies something “set apart” and therefore “different, distinguished and distinct”.

I would therefore translate the phrase at the end of 7:14 this way:

“for otherwise there will be an increasing stress on children in the MIXING of them – but with both parents they have the distinction of a specific family.”

If you were a child born out of wedlock, you probably faced specific disadvantages. They were SO significant, that God expressed it would have been better if an unsaved parent raised you in the home with an saved one. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. It doesn’t mean you are less Christian or your walk with God is somehow critically hindered. It may mean it is harder for you to grasp all the depth of meaning of the word “father” when applied to the One in Heaven. It may mean that you faced other specific learning challenges in your walk – but with the Word and Spirit and in surrender to Christ – all things are possible for you.

God’s distinct call for us is found in our birth; we are to be the person God made us (7:17-20).

1 Corinthians 7:17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

Your salvation doesn’t change all status marks in your life. You are still to be committed to the place God has called you, even if now it is uncomfortable (7:17-20). Paul offered specifics:

In 1 Corinthians 7:17, Paul wrote that God assigned specific parameters to each person’s life. Some were made clear at our birth. Some of that statement in the context of the passage clearly means that God assigned some to be married and others to remain celibate. Another aspect of that verse is that because some came to Christ after marriage but have a partner that does not yet know Jesus, some ministry was “off limits” to them. Clearly they were called to remain with the spouse – even if they didn’t get to do everything they wanted even in ministry for Jesus! They may have wanted to serve in an area that required a saved couple at the helm– but they didn’t have one.

Let’s say it this way to summarize the larger principle: God made choices for us that may not agree with our feelings or what we truly wanted Him to make – but He is Sovereign and I am His. These choices can easily conflict with our feelings – but when I declare Him as my Lord, I subject even my feelings to Him as my Master.

Applied another way, we don’t DECIDE our gender – God already did. Bruce Jenner will die a man, no matter how many operations he gets or how many “woman of the year” awards he receives. I am not being cruel – those who are entertaining his fantasy are being cruel. You are what God made you – period. You may not feel that – and as another human being I want to be sympathetic with your feelings – but that doesn’t make them the guiding force of life. In my ministry, I am sometimes with people who feel like killing themselves – that doesn’t mean they should. I have sat with people who were so hurt and angry they wanted to kill someone else – but their feelings don’t offer a license to act on them. Our feelings, even about ourselves, are inherently untrustworthy. Have you ever reacted out of a passion and then regretted it? We should all remember not to trust how we feel as the final authority.

Let me offer this as but one small evidence: In a thousand years, if Bruce’s remains were found in an archaeological dig, the DNA would reflect that he died a male. Your physical parts are not what make you male – your DNA created in the test tube we call a womb by a scientist we call Jehovah are. “Gender Dysphoria” is a legitimate disease that should be cared for, not appeased by a world bent on removing any sense of control on anyone at any time. That is lawlessness – and its spirit is growing in our country.

Because God made some of the male and some female, some of them born to Jewish parents and others to Gentile – they were additionally confused about how to become what God wanted them to be. Let’s read the verses and then unpack the problem:

1 Corinthians 7:18 Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

What is the big deal with “circumcision”? Let me explain. In the time of the early church, the message of Jesus was moving from a tiny Messianic movement within Judaism to a transformation movement of God all across the Roman world. The earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish. He was Jewish. As the message spread, it came largely through the hands of Jews. As a result, and aided by some Jews who mistakenly wanted everyone in the Gentile world to see this movement as still something within Judaism, some Gentiles were feeling pressure to enter the Jewish world as part of knowing Jesus. They felt pressured to join Jews in worship and walk because they thought it was closer to God – or at least that is what they were being told by some traveling teachers. Circumcision was the beginning point of entry to a Jewish world that called people back to the Atonement taught in the Torah. Paul wrote letters like that of Galatians designed to counter that thinking.

Here is the point: If you were called to Jesus as a Jew – don’t try to stop being one. Things God has said to Jews and for Jews are YOUR things. If you were called to Jesus as a Gentile – don’t play JEW. Don’t wrap yourself in Jewish garb and try to become something you aren’t because it will somehow be more holy or more powerful. God made you the ethnic background He intended you to be. Dare I say it: Be who God made you. Be that for God’s glory. Stop letting someone tell you that what you are isn’t good enough.

Let me bring it even one step closer. If you are a believer, celebrate your identity as a follower of the Creator. If you are a woman – don’t try to dress like a man, act like a man or imitate masculinity. I am a man – and I totally believe we have enough men in the world. Look like a woman. Act like a woman. Celebrate your womanhood. The world will tell you children are a burden – don’t believe them. Celebrate your womb and intentionally shape a life if God gives you the opportunity. It is a career – I don’t care what the world says. Don’t let the world convince you that being a man’s helper is some kind of DOG WORK – that demeans God’s Word concerning your design. At the same time, you are God’s beautiful creation whether you are 22 or 92 Don’t let the world tell you that your value is found in the outward traits of your body. It isn’t. Become within the person God is making you to be – that beautiful creation that God will take joy in watching and hearing.

That is as far as this lesson can go, so we will pick up the passage in another lesson. As I close, let me offer some words I hope to be encouraging…

Six ENCOURAGEMENTS for the Tempted Christian

First, if you struggle with sexual desires, you are normal. That doesn’t mean you are free to do what you want – it means we are all struggling with you. The battle between the flesh and the Spirit has been going on since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. We don’t need false promises, and we can’t solve it with a cheap-grace that simply “forgives my failures. God calls us to obedience and surrender of every area of life – and this is part of that call. The continued struggle of life in the fallen world is the truth, and part of the Gospel. Deeply rooted in the Gospel is this truth: All are bent toward sexual sin of some sort, because all of us entered the world with fallen DNA and a corrupt nature (Romans 5:12-21). Your struggle is common to us – so you need not feel alone!

Second, sexual attraction is (and will likely long be) a part of your life -BUT that is ok. Coming to Jesus doesn’t change that. The Holy Spirit will soften you and transform your mind – but it will probably take a long time and come slowly into a changing heart. I need to be clear: surrendering to Jesus isn’t guaranteed to automatically and instantaneously take wrong desires away. We must recognize that as long as we are in this body, we stand the chance of fighting this fight. We should not be seeking a “healing” of sexual desires – because though they have been skewed – they are part of our design. In fact, this is true of those who are opposite sex attracted, and yes, those who are same-sex attracted. Jesus can do a work in us to heal us – but there is no Biblical mandate that we will lose these urges quickly any more than there is a mandate that we will stop getting hungry – so don’t hold your breath on a false promise.

Third, Jesus commanded us to flee from any sexual behavior that is not according to His holy design – no matter the context. Biblically speaking, whether this is a “one night stand” borne out of drunken promiscuity or a so-called “loving act” in committed monogamy, sexual behavior outside of marriage is a detestable evil because it is mutiny to the design God made and revealed – period. Because one situation is more acceptable to the world than the other doesn’t make one more acceptable to God. His plan is the right way. Any opposing plan in simply more rebellion – no matter how polite it appears to be to the people of our age. Consider this:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around about drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

Fourth, you must not accept the premise that your identity is found in your fallen desires. This is one of the true tragedies of the homosexual movement – they are convincing people that their very identity is bound up in their hungers and desires. We must assert anew this truth: You are not defined by your flesh – that is only the home where YOU live. The desires in this body are temporary, and our identity is tied up in Christ forever (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). In the end, Christ will come again, and your journey will be over. You be like him – beyond the clutches of sin, for “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

Fifth, God will redeem every struggle against the flesh for His glory. Sexual attraction can have a divine purpose! It can humble us and make us seek Jesus for the strength to simply get through the day. It can help us become more empathetic toward the struggles and needs of others as they face their sinful desires. It may keep us from becoming Pharisees. It may help keep us in tune with a broken world we are called to reach. It is a mystery, but yet a truth: God is using even your battle with your own sexuality for the good of telling His story through your life (Romans 8:28).

Sixth, the restrictions of your sexuality are an altar on which you can sacrifice something for your Savior in His honor. Obedience entails celibacy. Celibacy requires restraint. Restraint requires denying your biological wiring in favor of your Savior’s smile. There will be deep fulfillment in loving Him more than yourself. He will also use your life in a more wondrous way. Nothing given up for Jesus gets overlooked by Him.

Perhaps it simply all “comes down to listening to the manufacturer before we void the warranty”: Max Lucado in his book 3:16 notes the following about those living in the dead zone: “God, at this very moment, issues invitations by the millions. He whispers through the kindness of a grandparent, shouts through the tempest of a tsunami. Through the funeral he cautions, ‘Life is fragile.’ Through a sickness he reminds, ‘Days are numbered.’ God may speak through nature or nurture, majesty or mishap. But through all and to all he invites: ‘Come, enjoy me forever.’ Yet many people have no desire to do so. They don’t want anything to do with God. He speaks; they cover their ears. He commands; they scoff. They don’t want him telling them how to live. They mock what he says about marriage, money, sex, or the value of human life. They regard his son as a joke and the cross as utter folly. They spend their lives telling God to leave them alone. And at the moment of their final breath… He honors their request: ‘Get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you’ (Matt. 7:23). This verse escorts us to the most somber of Christian realities: hell” (Max Lucado page 93, 94 – Book 3:16)!

The Designer knows the design, and His Word makes clear what it is.

In our last lesson, we talked about “Litmus Testing” for what is “good” and what is not – as God revealed it to us in His Word. As life gets more complex and compromises are often hidden inside beautifully deceptive packages, we need help with sorting out truth. There is perhaps no area of modern life that has been as compromised in my lifetime as that of human sexuality – so we will all need constant guidance and help on that area of our lives as well… and we are fortunate that God was not silent on these vital issues.

Let me say with both respect and appreciation that there are some who will feel church is not an appropriate venue for this kind of a frank discussion. Yet, from the earliest part of the Bible, God did not separate discussions of sexual morality from the rest of the discussion of our desires and our needs. Laws of the use of our bodies were as routine as dealing with mold on the tent or telling lies to your neighbor. A beautiful part of our Puritan heritage was to add a modicum of special respect and etiquette that inadvertently led to a hiding of the subject of human sexuality from common speech. Let’s understand and respect what that did for our society, but let us also quickly recall that the Puritan memories don’t make the rules for the church – the Word of God does. In that same vein, there are many things the world addresses that I am simply unwilling to carefully think about, let alone discuss with you. Perversion is a reality, but I don’t need to explore it in order to learn what God says is good and acceptable to Him regarding the use of my body. With that is mind, let’s take the next few weeks in the Corinthian letter and look at what God said about this subject of sexuality and the sacred circle. The city addressed was easily the most sensually sin-soaked center of its day – and was well known to be so. At the same time, God’s Word on the use of the body was pure, wholesome and helpful. Here is the truth from God’s Word…

Key Principle: Our sexuality and its moral uses were planned by the Creator of our body.

It occurs to me that sexuality has been tied both in the Word and by our world to romance – and that isn’t a bad thing. It shows that we value, not only reproduction, but God’s inborn and holy desire for propagation of life and entrenchment of the family. Let me illustrate… The older among us may recall that Jack Benny played a cheap man, what was called a “skin flint” on television. Yet, by all accounts, he was in life, a generous and loving man. One author shared a true story about the entertainer this way:

“He was rather shy when he was young. One day at work he saw a young lady that greatly attracted his attention. But he was too shy to speak to her. So he went to the florist & ordered one red rose to be sent to her without any card enclosed. And every day he repeated that order. Well, after 4 days of receiving one red rose each day, the young lady went to the florist & asked who was sending them. The florist told her that it was some guy who worked where she did by the name of Jack Benny. “Yeah,” she said, “I think I know who he is.” So she searched Jack out & asked him why he was sending her those roses. He told her that he wanted to ask her out, & she accepted his invitation. And other dates followed that first one. But still, every day, she continued to receive one red rose. Then Jack & Mary got engaged, & Mary figured that the red roses would stop. But still they came. Finally, they were married, & even on the honeymoon she continued to receive one red rose each day. But once the honeymoon was over, she figured that the roses would stop. But month after month, then year after year, all their married life, every day without fail she received a red rose. Finally, Jack Benny died. But the very next day, here came another red rose. Thinking that maybe the florist somehow hadn’t heard, she called to tell him of Jack’s death & that he could now stop sending the roses. He answered, “But you don’t understand. Before he died, Jack made all the arrangements. You’ll receive one red rose every day for the rest of your life”.

Who doesn’t see gift of the roses as a loving act? I think we all do. Jack’s marriage was, to him, about giving to his wife and making her feel special all her life. What a great picture! I only wish I could boast I had done as well.

Here is the point: One of the greatest opportunities for expression of choice we make in our lives (at least in the west) is our selection of a life partner in marriage. As we are growing up at home, life isn’t really about OUR choices. We go to church if our mom or dad makes us go. We turn in our homework because we don’t want to get in trouble with the school. Yet, in time, we grow up. One of the key areas in which our growth shows, particularly in our teen years, is that of our chosen RELATIONSHIPS. We start to show OUR values by OUR friend choices and eventually our dating choices. For many, this culminates in the choice of a mate. It offers the world, perhaps the clearest picture of our real values when we make such a choice.

Here is a vital truth: More than any other single factor, our external choices are a reflection of our inner character.

People can deny that, but we do what we do, more often than not, because we make choices based on urges and desires. The desires we choose to indulge and the disciplines we choose to maintain are character statements of our inner belief system. If we choose to marry – it is a character statement. How we behave on our way to the altar is a character statement. Who we choose to join there is one as well. Our values are exposed in our choices, and God’s Word has addressed the shaping of those values. The verses we will look at in this lesson make clear that…

Our sexuality and its moral uses were planned by the Creator of our body.

Here is another essential truth: God makes the principles and standards clear – but it is up to the church to teach them and the believer to choose to live them. God’s truth will clarify our choices and clear the path to pleasing Him with our lives.

Look Back: The First Part of the Letter (1 Corinthians 1-6):

As we have been studying the first letter to the church at Corinth, we noted the first part of the letter contained:

• Issues that he heard about from a friend concerning their divisions and struggles as a congregation (1 Corinthians 1-4);

• Issues that were the worst kept secret in the first century churches about morality and legal problems of the Corinthian believers (1 Corinthians 5-6);

• Answers to a series of questions the believers wrote to Paul concerning (1 Corinthians 7-16).

The way we examined them was in terms of themes that Paul addressed with the people. On the way to the questions that Paul answered concerning sexuality, marriage and divorce, Paul already addressed three other issues:

1) Believers at Corinth were caught up in “misplaced affection” for their leaders and fighting in divisions representing differing ways of viewing issues. Paul wrote: “It is not the MEN we follow, but it is the MESSAGE. That deserves our first allegiance. (1 Cor. 1-4)

2) Their misplaced affections were also evident in their misplaced VALUES. They were boastful of their acceptance of open immorality, proud of their LOVING SPIRIT. Paul wrote: “It is not the LOVE that is our first commitment, but the TRUTH. (1 Cor. 5)

3) The believers were further demonstrating their misplaced values in accepting the STANDARDS of the world. The issue was the taking of another brother to the city courts to be judged by godless men. Paul wrote: “It is not the standard of the WORLD we use, but the judgment of the WORD we trust.”

A Look Ahead: The Second Part of the Letter (1 Corinthians 7-16):

The second section of 1 Corinthians was wholly dedicated to answering questions received from that first century church. As we dive into the text, let me offer this encouragement:

Our generation is desperate for clarity, and they can see it in us – if we will walk in the truth of God’s Word. The lives of obedient believers can shine like the sun to point to decency in a dark world. We can stand in light and happily reflect the benefits of clear sight. If we fail to do so, we become like a cloudy day – and the sundial showing the lateness of the hour isn’t clear to the world around us. We may not be able to change the world– but we can, and must take responsibility for one citizen– ourselves. We can live the truth, and without a judgmental spirit our lives will draw people toward the light. We can do so in our personal choices, our language, our modesty, our fidelity in marriage, our concern for personal deportment. We need new instruction far less than stiff resolve to choose a path of obedience that was once more common among people of the faith of Jesus Christ. It is time to light up!”

In Corinth, being a “light” meant understanding sexuality and relationships. I don’t think that was a bad place to start for them, and I think it is a pretty good place to start from use as well.

The problem with the second section of the letter is that Paul turned his attention to an apparent question list sent that we no longer possess – so we guess at the questions by looking at the answers. Commentators have longed to have that list, but we can only surmise the list’s composition by looking carefully at Paul’s answers. What may help us reach that end is to:

1) Cut the text into the portions that seem to address differing questions;
2) Understand the problems that Corinth had in that time.

Let’s start with a pair of scissors and do some “cutting”. One way to apportion the text is by using the phrase that seems to suggest an answer to a new question appears to be the words “Now concerning” seen in 7:1

• 1Co 7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
• 1Co 7:25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
• 1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
• 1Co 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

Now, for our second step, (i.e. “understanding the contemporary problems of Corinth”) we require a little understanding of the times in which the text was written.

Within the sexuality and relationship question list of 1 Corinthians 7:1-24, there appear to be several different groups referenced:

First, there were unmarried people, referred to in some translations as “virgins” because the Biblical standard of purity in sexual relationship was maintained in Paul’s writing, as well as the fact that many translators chose to keep that term.

Second, there were married people of one of the four types of marriage available under Roman law. Since every Corinthian knew the four marriage tyes, we should as well (to really understand what he was talking about):

• Contubernium: “tent marriage” mating of slaves for desired characteristics of a new breed. This was non-contractual as slaves were considered property.

• Usus: “common law marriage” accomplished by one year together. This practice was common, though not legally contractual.

• Coemptio en manum: “pleasurable service women” – the purchase of a woman from her father, particularly to fulfill his debt. This may be a “second mate” for the purchaser. In some cases, the woman was free to leave the house after several years of “pleasurable service”.

• Confarretio: a contractual public ceremony from which we get our own.

Third, some people in Corinth were divorced and alone.

Fourth, some were widowed and alone.

Finally, there were divorced and remarried coming to Christ in a second marriage.

Can you imagine being among the first century believers in Corinth that met in the atrium of a family villa, sitting around the fountain and listening to a reading of these words of the Apostle? Ladies, can you place yourself over by the Glauke Fountain house, filling pots with water and having a discussion – older and younger believing women together.

Listen in: “They say persecution is coming. Should I stay single? Is single more holy? What about marriage, is it always for life? Is divorce a sin in my newfound faith? Can I remarry if I was divorced?”

In some ways, it probably sounds like people who are young in the faith sitting at Starbucks today. Who doesn’t talk about this subject in our modern world? Let’s look at the text in a question and answer format, surmising the questions on the basis of the response of Paul, under the Spirit’s careful guidance.

A Look Within: Question One

Paul began with a bit of a proverb on celibacy: 1 Corinthians 7:1 “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.”

Perhaps what the church wrote to Paul asking for clarification was something like: “Is marriage God’s plan for every man or woman who desires to be used of Him, especially in light of the rising persecutions?”

If you read the Epistles, it is clear that Paul expressed a high view of marriage, and he grew up in a Jewish setting where marriage was honored and stressed. What was probably not well known by believers at the time was the truth that was taught by Jesus – that singleness may also please God.

Here is the point: Believers are NOT incomplete if they are not married, if God has ordained a single lifestyle for them. The word GOOD leaves no room for doubt about this. Jesus said it this way:

“For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.” (Mt. 19).

The answer to the question of marriage or not is this: it depends on your CALLING by the One Who made you.

Specifically in the context of rising persecution, Paul had evidently made a number of statements about remaining unmarried. As you continue to study 1 Corinthians, we will see them pop up. Paul believed in marriage, and knew the institution was a GOD THING, but he was wise about the times he lived in. The Bible commentators Jamieson, Fawcett and Brown note the use of the term “GOOD for a man not to touch” (kalos) would be rightly translated by the term “EXPEDIENT” – as they feel Paul was primarily concerned with troubles of the world.

The point that may have been difficult for believers in Corinth – both Romans of pagan background and of Jewish – was that singleness could be celebrated.

Some of us have been called to stay single for the glory of God. If you understand the Law of God, and the timeless principles it revealed in Leviticus 18, you are already aware that sexual activity is prohibited for the single in spiritual reality, the same way it would be for a castrated eunuch physically. That may sound tough, but it is like every other aspect of our lives – they must fall into harmony with God’s revealed choice for us. Some have the HIGH HONOR of remaining single and focusing all their energies, dissipated in romance, toward obedience and love of the Father in Heaven. Not all can do this, for not all were given the gifts to carry the responsibility. By the same token, others were given the HIGH HONOR of sharing life with another person. They were called to do so, and they should fill their post with JOY.

Question Two

Paul went on to address sexual expression and marriage definition. Note how the point appears to turn into a discussion about physical desires.

1 Corinthians 7:1b “…for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

It appears a number of smaller questions are being answered in these few verses…all were issues regarding sexual expression and marriage:

First, there is the desire question. Should sexual desires be a part of the decision making for marriage? The answer to that appears to be a YES.

1 Corinthians 7:2 says “But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.”

I suspect just as the first question regarded the value of celibacy versus marriage, this verse is dealing with one of the basic values involved in the marriage union:

Is sexuality simply sinful bodily behavior, or does it have a place in the life of a believer?

The term “porneia” used here for “immorality” is that from which we have added the English term “pornography”. It is normally used in the Bible in terms of illicit sensuality – overt sexual rebellion from God’s standard. At the same time, saying that marriage can help someone avoid overstepping God’s sexual boundaries is an open admission that we are sexual beings, and that such a desire when promoted on the streets of Corinth so completely, will be an issue if we simply act like the desires are not real. The church has tried that – it didn’t work because it wasn’t supposed to work that way. Go back to the verses again… Paul made clear several truths:

Should my sexual expression be only in the context of marriage?

1 Corinthians 7:1b “…for a man not to touch a woman.” In times of persecution, the church may advise people to think carefully about abstaining from marriage – that is the point of verse 1.

A simple reading of the text reveals that Paul must have been asked about sexual contact for the believer. In addition to affirming celibacy for those who are called to this (particularly in persecution), the implications of the first five verse of the chapter are that God intended the physical expression of sex for the marriage bed, and that any other place for it was considered acquiescing to the temptation of the enemy – an undesired state for an obedient believer.

Remember that noble Romans were raised with the rights of “coemptio en manum” partners – or pleasurable service persons. By the first century, women were also indulging in this system with male slaves. Paul argues that although the practice was LEGAL and well accepted culturally – it was not acceptable for the believer. On the face of the reading, Paul discounts all other sexual expression beyond the marriage bed. Each man and each Christian woman would find only ONE place to express themselves sexually, with the single partner they married. They are to have, each one, “their own spouse”, thus eliminating sexual slave use.

Is there a specific definition for marriage in terms of number of partners and the biological sexuality of each partner?

1 Corinthians 7:2 “But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.” Regardless of the world’s re-defining of marriage – the Bible’s final word on the intent of the Creator was this definition: One man to one woman in loyalty and fidelity – that is the point of verse 2.

Though Paul is not writing for the purpose of defining marriage as one man and one woman, he clearly upholds the standard found throughout the Bible. God created one woman from and for one man in Genesis. Jesus affirmed it was so in the beginning, and it was the intent of God to have that single union of a man and a woman that left their home and became “one flesh”. Paul reaffirms that position by stating that “each man has his woman” and “each woman has her man”. He calls them “husband” and “wife”. There is no room for a man with a male partner in this passage, nor a woman with a female partner.

Clearly, even in the backdrop of widespread cultural acceptance of homosexuality, the Apostle saw marriage as between one man and one woman – and nothing else.

Let me be clear: It is possible to argue that America does not want to define marriage based on the Bible (though I would disagree). It is even possible to argue that the Bible is wrong about marriage – an ancient document of chauvinistic men (and I would disagree again). What is NOT POSSIBLE is to argue that the text is ambiguous about marriage as defined by one man and one woman with no other possible definition (1 Cor. 7:1-5). The text simply echoed what came before it in the words of Moses and Jesus, and then specifically eliminated any other marriage definition. Marriage was not just a “tradition”, it was a prescribed and defined practice in the Bible.

Is the timing and frequency of sexual union completely at the discretion of either the man or woman?

1 Corinthians 7:3 “The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” The couple should share sexual expression as a normal part of their marriage – for that is exactly where God intended it to be expressed. The desire is not sinful, and the abstaining is not holy. It is critically important that couples learn they surrender the power of singleness in marriage – and become part of one another.

Don’t miss the point Paul made here. That is not only sexually, but it is true financially – it isn’t “his money” and “her money” – it is “their money”. It is true in every way. We marry to become “one flesh” in emotional, spiritual and yes, physical ways.

It is often charged that Paul’s writings reflected a chauvinistic ideology and that he reflected the Roman male dominated society. On closer inspection, does he really? Paul argued that both the timing and frequency of sexual expression needed to be agreed on by BOTH the man and the woman. Paul argued that each OWED the other to continue sexual expression on behalf of the needs of the other. He did not make the woman solely subservient to males needs, and offers clear balance between the responsibilities of the two. Would a chauvinist give equal rights to the woman in such matters as sexual expression?

Is the physical desire for sexual expression sinful in and of itself?

Underlying the whole discussion is the notion some Christians have that the whole subject is fleshly, and therefore not holy. 1 Corinthians 7:5 “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” That is not his point.

Paul instructed couples not to deny their need for physical expression. It is important that both the husband and the wife’s needs be taken into account. Here is the point: Sex is not sinful in the context of a marriage – abstinence may be. The Bible is pro-sex in the right context, and anti-sex in the wrong context. If we deny the physical side of our nature, we will face powerful temptations. Men and women who work hard to meet the needs of the other will find, on the whole, a happier partner with fewer distractions. Paul knew the temptations, because he walked the Roman streets.

There is something both strange and sad about a culture in which teenage sex is condoned so long as it is safe, while teenage smoking is denounced as categorically wrong – as if a single cigarette has anywhere near the same impact on your life. Sexual expression has become a mere issue of health and the law, whereas morality is reserved for such lofty things as tobacco.

Remember: The use of our sexuality was planned by the Creator of our body.

I want to close the first part of our discussion from this chapter with a word of encouragement. It does not escape my attention that we are living in a Laodicean culture in the church and a Sodom culture in the world. There seem to be many who worry about the way our country is going. They feel as though the pressures of the day, the obvious moral slide and the assistance of a Godless media pressing the point of the abandonment of belief in the Divine spell a new peril to the Gospel. They are wrong. It is not so. The Gospel does not usually begin its transformation in the human heart by a won argument, but rather by a loving gesture. It is not the work of human ingenuity that proves God’s existence and His intent to the pagan mind, but the work of the Spirit sparked by simple acts of love and kindness by those who love and follow Him.

Years ago a missionary to India contracted Tuberculosis and was placed in a sanitarium. He did not speak Hindi, but he desired to reach people, even in his exhausted and broken state. He attempted to pass some tracts to people in the hospital, but no one seemed even vaguely interested, even though the tracts were in the Hindi language. In his second week, late one night, a coughing fit awakened him from sleep. As he sat up to catch his breath, he noticed an old man across the room who was weak and shaky, but was trying to stand at the edge of his bed. The man trembled, and then sank back into the bed, tears rolling down his etched cheeks. He curled into the bed, and cried. Sick, the missionary sank back into his bed and soon drifted back to sleep. Over the next week, he noticed the way the nurses handled the old man. He recognized why the man was so desperate to get up in the night. The man needed a bathroom, and was too weak to take the journey to the small room at the end of the hall. The nurses cleaned him up briskly, and one even slapped the old man. They hated changing his bed, and yet didn’t seem to recognize the man had little choice. Night fell again, and this was a restless one for our missionary friend. He awoke several times. On one of the rustlings, this one about two in the morning, he noticed the old man struggling to sit up and make his way out of the bed yet again. After a feable attempt with trembling hands and arms, he slumped back into the bed and began to sob. Our missionary friend didn’t know what to do. He lay there for a few minutes. Then, as though it was obvious to him suddenly, he walked across the room to the old man. When the crying man looked up, he raised his hands as though a slap was coming from his roommate – something he rather expected. He didn’t get a slap, though; he got a smile. Our friend reached beneath the man and raised him up, carrying his now wasted body to the bathroom. He held the man under his arms and let the man care for himself with as much dignity as such a scene could offer. He carried the man back to his bed, and as he lay the man down, the old man kissed his cheek in gratitude. Our friend went back to his bed, and drifted off to sleep. The next morning, the missionary was abruptly awakened by a man who spoke to him in Hindi, which he did not understand. The man motioned to the table, requesting one of the tracts about Jesus. Our missionary friend obliged, but wasn’t sure of what was going on. A few days later, another missionary friend came to visit him in the hospital, a man who spoke the Hindi language and could communicate freely in the ward. In a few minutes, the visitor spoke to each of the men in the ward, and discovered that several of them had trusted Jesus Christ because of what they saw in our sick missionary friend. He didn’t speak a word – he simply showed love. That opened the door of the hearts of the hurting. The Word in their own language and the Spirit Who speaks the languages of all men did the rest.

Let me encourage you to take a stand on morality. The world, and many voices inside the “church movement” are telling you to capitulate. I am NOT. Know truth, live truth. Stand for truth. Know that those who MOCK US now will MARK US later as things fall apart – and if they stay on this course they surely will. At the very same time… Settle down. Stop and look up. Redemption isn’t found in Washington.

Stop worrying about the argument about marriage, sexuality, atheism, homosexuality – all of it. Stop thinking the campuses will turn all hearts from Jesus. Remember: the way Jesus is made clear is in simple acts of love to people who often will not find the world so kind. Those acts are just as powerful today as ever. God isn’t holding together one quintillion stars but struggling with the massive intellect of men on this little rock. Don’t forget, our job isn’t to convince people Jesus is the Way – as much as it is to SHOW people that He is the Way… and we are joyfully following Him home.

I love food, and it shows. I have been working on my personal disciplines and my gym time, but as yet it isn’t showing. Anyway, as both an historian and a self-professed “foodie” I have often wondered exactly how people figured out what was good to eat. Recently I started watching a series of food lectures that surmised how people worked out a variety of foods. Think about it! How could someone figure out that the head of a grain could be pounded and separated from its chaff covering? How did they work out that after the grain was separated, it could be dried, and ground into flour, added to water and a little salt and made into a bread base? If they could figure all that out, how could they then work out that if they cut it in thin strips, let it dry and boiled it in water, they could top it with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese for a spaghetti dinner? Yet, they clearly did. The variables of that evolution of the recipe probably produced many other things that DON’T go together. This past week I went to lunch with Pastor Matt, and watched him consume a burger that was topped with peanut butter and jelly. Some things are just WRONG, and that appeared to be one where I needed to take a stand!

The truth is that modern life is full of options, and not everything is clearly right or wrong. Sometimes we are left with a decision about our participation and what to use our resources on – and the choices aren’t always “cut and dried”. Since we have only a matter of decades on the planet and it moves by much more quickly that many realize – we don’t want to waste it. As a believer, I know that I could easily waste my life on things that will not honor God. At the same time, there is much to enjoy in this life! I sleep on a comfortable mattress, not a bed of nails. I drive an automobile with air conditioning. I eat far too many good meals. How do I know what God allows for me, and what will move me off my mission? How do I know what is His direction for my life and what is His enemy’s distraction to pull me away from Him?

Key Principle: God intended His people to carefully choose what they will include in their lives and what they should stay away from.

This principle can sound like l am about to offer you a legalistic rant, but I am not. Today’s lesson will leave you with a list – but it will be a list of principles, not practices you must conform to in order to please me, or anyone else. These are principles from God’s Holy Word on personal choice items. Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

In the first half of 1 Corinthians 6, after a quick reading one might conclude that Paul wasn’t sure the Corinthians really understood the components of a Christian at all. Notice in 6:2 the phrase: “Do you not know?” You see it again in verse 3 and again in verse 9. It seems there may have been doubt about their understanding of the content of their faith and lifestyle. Curtiss Kitrell wrote:

“What? Know ye not?” This expression is used by Paul eight times in this first letter to the Corinthians. Again and again he had to say to them, “Didn’t anyone ever tell you about these things? … Could it be that the Christians at Corinth did not know better and had to be informed? After all, they had been saved from gross heathenism, dreadful superstition, and loose moral living. Perhaps they really didn’t know how to behave as Christians. Or it could have been that the Corinthians were ignoring certain information given them. They knew what was expected of them but they were doing nothing about it. They were not living up to their potential in Christ. They were not growing because they were not obeying Christ. (Sermon central illustrations).

Corinth was a center for prostitute cults. Of that, there is no doubt. It was an economy fueled by sensuality. Here Paul was directly answering the issue: “Can a Christian go to the brothel?” His answer was clear… God defined that as immoral. “What about Judah in Genesis?” one asks. The answer is this: He was wrong to go into a prostitute, and you would be too. “OK!” you say. “Got it. Now let’s go home…” Not so fast… there is much more here! Here there are principles to help me decide the moral premise of many things that may not have even been invented at the time of Paul…

In the event that it was not clear how to select activities that honor God, and how to eliminate things that were NOT RIGHT for them, Paul offered them eight tests. A believer can apply these to any participation opportunity or choice. Each test can help me decide IF I should participate, if I should exclude participation, as well as HOW MUCH I can involve myself and still be “on mission”.

The premise of the all eight is this: Paul stated elsewhere a number of times that our body belongs to God. It is HIS. This section explains HOW to set your body apart and glorify God with all of you.

Help Test: Will it help on my mission?

1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.”

On a book jacket by John Piper: “February 1998 Reader’s Digest: A couple ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast fives years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .’ Picture them before Christ at the great Day of Judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy. “God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.” —– [Don’t Waste Your Life, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2003, rear jacket]

If we agree with the old commercial from the United Negro College Fund: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste!” how much more is a LIFE a terrible thing to waste! Paul argues that even if something is ALLOWED, it may not be helpful for the mission we were given. A ball gown may be elegant in a waltz, but it makes for lousy as swim wear. Many a believer is adorning his life with practices that do not help him accomplish the goal in life God has given them… and inside they KNOW it.

As a believer I have the right to eat, to drink, to sleep, to work, and to pursue enjoyment. No other mere mortal has the right to tell me how to live my life. God’s Word and God’s Spirit are my guides – not someone else’s preferences or traditions. Yet, though that is true, there are some constraints.

Here, before he even got to that point, he precedes the argument with – “DOES THIS HELP?” The term PROFITABLE in 1 Corinthians 6:12 is symphérō (from sýn, “together with” and phérō, “bring, carry”) – properly, combine in a way that brings gain).

If it ADDS to my life and its mission, then it is worth considering. In my life, art, music, natural beauty, excellent food, dear friends – all add to make the operations of the journey with Jesus more pleasant and fulfilling. Kept in balance, they are HELPFUL. Out of balance, they become selfish and harmful.

Control Test: Will it overwhelm my ability to complete my mission?

1 Corinthians 6:12b “…All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.”

Galatians 5:16 warns believers to be sensitive to a war that is fighting for CONTROL over us … Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Herein is the caution – be careful that the things you are doing are not warring and defeating the work of the Spirit of God within. At the same time, we have the additional need to be careful that the thing we are doing isn’t DOING US. Do I have the absolute control over my faculties? That is a key question to the use or participation in an activity.

Many people allow outside influences to shakle them, just as you would handcuff someone to a jail cell wall. They willingly put their arms forward, allowing the cuffs to snap on and bind them. When they are closed, they are no longer in control of their ability to respond as God would have them. The choices must be made to stay out of the situation BEFORE it becomes a situation.

Let me offer a story or two to ilustrate:

• John is out with his friends until after 3:00 AM. Two of the friends have been drinking and may have taken some drugs. John gets in the car with one of them driving, and ends up ending his sports career in the accident that was caused by the bad judgment of the driver. He hadn’t been drinking, but in getting in the car as a passenger, he was brought under the mastery of the driver and the bottle all the same.

• Suzie saw a school acquaintance on the side of the road walking down Highway 27 at 11:30 with a day bag on her shoulder. As a believer, Suzie thought she should stop and help. Her friend Debbie got in the car and asked for a lift to the south of town. Suzie could tell that she was stoned on drugs. A mile and a half down the road, the officer pulled the car over for a broken tale light. When he looked into the car and saw the drugged young woman, he asked to see both of them outside the car. He asked if he could search the car. Debbie had taken her stash of drugs and put them under the seat. Suzie had to make a call from jail to her parents, and be arraigned on drug charges. She left control of the situation and it mastered her testimony.

In both of these cases, mastery wasn’t drinking; it was placing myself in a place out of the proper controls of God’s designated people in my life. Wrong friends may be the problem, but that choice happens before the TRAGIC problem arises.

Often “mastery” is about surrendering your future choices to another person or influence. We must guard the influences of our life to be careful not to allow something to control our testimony.

Longevity Test: Will it put too much emphasis on things that won’t last?

1 Corinthians 6:13   Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them.

Don’t get the wrong idea about the reference to food. Paul was not trying to surrender pasta in favor of dry and moldy bread. He ate, and at times he ate well. He knew the difference between a quality wine and street swill vinegar, sold by the fast drink vendors. At most street vendors, cheap food and drink was readily available. Since many people had no cooking facility in their one room flat, the average Roman ate all their meals in the community. Many wine bars served CONDITUM, a wine mixed with pepper, honey and seawater – and yes, it was often as bad as it sounds.

Excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy preserved more than walls – it preserved graffiti and dipinti – ancient writings and murals that showed people’s opinions that were contemporary to Paul. The problem wasn’t that FOOD was bad – the emphasis of the sentence was on the temporary nature of food. Our ladies understand this. They will work hard every Thanksgiving, spending hours creating a meal that is literally gobbled down (pun intended) by hungry, ravenous beasts in what seems like seconds.

Is food wrong because it is temporary? No, of course it is not. God made us to eat, and God made us with taste buds. Satan didn’t stick them in our mouth after the Fall to get us off track. God intended us to enjoy and savor life – even though everything here is temporary. What does this test mean then?

Again, the issue is perspective. We must be careful not to get lost in the temporary to the expense of the permanent. Souls are forever – comfort is not. How can we look at a missionary, let alone a martyr in glory in the eye if we refuse to sacrifice any personal comforts for the cause of Christ? We must guard not to allow the temporary to overrun the eternal.

Spurgeon once offered a parable in which he said, “There was once a tyrant who summoned one of his subjects into his presence, and ordered him to make a chain. The poor blacksmith — that was his occupation — had to go to work and forge the chain. When it was done, he brought it into the presence of the tyrant, and was ordered to take it away and make it twice the length. He brought it again to the tyrant, and again he was ordered to double it. Back he came when he had obeyed the order, and the tyrant looked at it, and then commanded the servants to bind the man hand and foot with the chain he had made and cast him into prison. “That is what the devil does with men,” Mr. Spurgeon said. “He makes them forge their own chain, and then binds them hand and foot with it, and casts them into outer darkness.”

With eternities values in view, we will walk uprightly and see clearly during the journey. Don’t live without joys of this life – but don’t live driven by them either.

Purpose Test: Am I using it the way the Lord intended?

I Corinthians 6:13b “…Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord , and the Lord is for the body .

The physical relationship of intimacy was made FOR marriage to be used IN marriage. God tells a story through our sexuality – a beautiful one about the Father’s commitment to Israel, and the Son’s commitment to the church. There is no place in the story for a “side use”. God’s rule on sexuality is: “Use only as directed.” Everything else is dangerous, and produces harmful side effects.

Little Billy took his girlfriend downtown to get married. The marriage license clerk smiled and explained that they were both much too young. Little Billy asked, “Could you give us a learners’ permit then?” Well Billy, I would have to say that there is no such thing.

The Apostle John wrote, “Love not the world neither the things in the world for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not of the Father but is from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15,16)

My body – every part of it – has a Divinely appointed purpose. I am to use all the parts as HE commanded.

• If I use my eyes to gaze where He has warned they should not look, I will be plagued with guilt.
• If I strain my ears to hear what He has told me I should not hear – I will live with the stains on my heart.
• If I take my feet where He warns I dare not go – I will find myself in a place of peril.
• If I place my hands where He has forbidden them to be – I will dishonor Him who called me.

The University of Northern Iowa once offered a general art course that included a most unusual exercise. The teacher brought to class a shopping bag filled with lemons and gave a lemon to each class member. The assignment was for the student to keep his lemon with him day and night–smelling, handling, examining it. Next class period, without warning, students were told to put their lemons back in the bag. Then each was asked to find his lemon. Surprisingly, most did so without difficulty. God designed sex in a way for people to know their partners in such a way that know one else will ever know.

Sexual sin is, at its core, the simple act of using parts in a way that they were not designed to be used or for a purpose for which they were not made to be used. This need not involve another person, but it may. It is the simple act of taking what is made for a distinct purpose – the intimacy of marriage – and using it for personal pleasure. The pleasure of these acts were to be a byproduct, but not the primary purpose. Feeding pleasure only entraps you, and leaves your life stained and guilty.

Margaret was lonely. She wanted to walk with God, but she also wanted a husband and children. She wanted to feel close to someone. She let Bill have what was not his to have. She wanted him to stay and love her. He stayed, but not with the respect she wanted him to have for her. She lived with guilt, and in the end got her man – but wishes she hadn’t. Sometimes the WAY you do something is as important as what you are doing.

Let me challenge the world’s hypothesis that LUSTFUL PASSION is something you should LOVE to have in your life constantly. Let me ask you directly to consider the self-destructive consequences of lust, as well as your commitment to honor the Savior. Lust can be for sexual gratification, but it can just as easily be for heart intimacy. Lust is simply a yearning. Men often yearn for physical gratification while women often yearn for emotional gratification – both are equally wrong if they are not “held in check” by a walk with God, directed by His Spirit.

Memory Test: Since this body will be raised, is this what I want to show I did with it?

I Corinthians 6:14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

There are two sense of this verse. First, we must look at the fact that we will be raised in the power of God – and then we live an unending life before the Lord. Right now it seems so important to have what we want. In one million years, how will it look?

Second, there is a sense of God’s power in the verse. It is as though Paul were asking for us: “Can God deliver me from this?” Sure He can! Since it is true that He raised up Jesus from the dead, He can surely help me with my struggle to resist something God doesn’t want me to do.

The singer-songwriter Jackson Brown wrote: “I’ve learned that if you give a pig and a boy everything they want, you’ll get a good pig and a bad boy.” (Jackson Brown, Jr., Live and Learn and Pass it On).

Link Test: Am I bringing Jesus into an agreement or place in which He would not choose to participate?

1 Corinthians 6:15   Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says , “ THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH .” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

Here is a simple rendering of the principle: “God knows where He wants to be – so don’t take the Spirit where He is uncomfortable!” Participate in things that God desires to participate in. When I fell in love with my wife, we began to express that love by DOING THINGS TOGETHER. Dottie and I had, in the beginning, very different tastes. We still have an entirely different sense of HUMOR. She is a “Three Stooges” slapstick kinda gal, and I am… well, NOT any of those things. We don’t read the same kinds of material. Yet, over time, our lives have become so intertwined that we have learned to like things the other was involved in. I am a boring guy in many ways. A good book, a quiet room and some soft string chamber music are my speed. Yet, I would be willing to watch or listen to a great variety of things if it will bring my wife a measure of joy. Could we do less for our Savior?

The specific topic of 6:15-17 is clearly the joining of a sexual nature. It is the sharing of the most intimate part of ourselves with another. The verses end with the admonition that we can have an intense level of intimacy with the Lord Himself. We can, spiritually speaking, find deep joy and share deeply in the satisfaction of bringing Him joy! Here is the clear idea once again: Don’t put Jesus where Jesus wouldn’t put Himself. You carry Him within – walk like it without!

Harm Test: Will it harm my body or wound my soul?

1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

Radio personality Paul Harvey told the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin.

“First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. “Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more–until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!“

I mention this story for good reason. It is a fearful thing that people can be “consumed by their own lusts.” It is not uncommon; if you look you will see it everywhere in our world. Here is the simple principle: If it will harm your body or dull your passion for God – it simply isn’t worth the cost.

Temple Test: Is this something God would paint on the outside to advertise what a life surrendered to Him does?

Not everything is about what is DOES to me; some things are about what it SAYS to others when I participate in this action. Some things a slave did in a Roman home reflected on the Master.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Drew Anderson (from Tucson, AZ), wrote into Reader’s Digest: “While my wife and I were shopping at a mall kiosk, a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. My eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, my wife asked, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?”

Paul was speaking in the context of sexuality in this passage, and specifically the union with Temple prostitutes of Acro-Corinth. This was perfectly acceptable in the society of the people receiving the letter. A youth’s first experience was lauded by his father and other men. In some ways, our society is becoming much like Corinth of old…

A ten year old study estimated that the average American views over nine thousand sexual acts, or implied sex acts, every year on television. Of that, over eighty percent are by people who aren’t married. The average youth, watching television, from age eight to eighteen (ten years) watched 93,000 scenes of sexual expression, and over 72,000 of these scenes would have been premarital or extramarital affairs.

Is that linked, do you think to the fact that during the same period teenage pregnancies skyrocketed. The vast majority of unwed teen mothers required public assistance, but few connected it with their television diet at all.

After studying the trends, we now conclude that of teens who marry because of pregnancy, sixty percent divorced within five years. Two thirds of teenage pregnancies of the study were fathered by men over 20.

“Well”, you say, “That’s teenagers. Adults make wiser choices, right?” Not really.

Forbes magazine reported this year that pornography is a fourteen billion dollars per year business. By comparison, McDonald’s reported an eight billion dollar income size for their global business.

One huge problem with pornography and sexual advertisements, is not that they emphasize sex too much, but that they don’t emphasize it in its proper place. They eliminate the depth of human relationship and its picture – then restrain sexuality to the narrow confines of a momentary pleasure. They think an act alone defines sex, but that is only a small part of God’s beautiful design.

Here is my question for the Temple Test. Since you probably agree that Jesus purchased you, is your private life the billboard for the owner’s value system?

Here is the problem: Many believers wrongly think Jesus came to save them from HELL – but that is only a slice from the true reality of His Divine purpose. Jesus is as much our Savior from sin’s current bondage as from Hell’s eventual destiny. His power is given for my transforming walk today, not just my destination tomorrow. Many who came to Jesus out of a desire to escape the flames of hell, if honest, would tell you they have no real desire to be delivered from their sinful lifestyle. That is the truth. They want DESTINATION INSURANCE not a life transformation. They want a great final address, not a traveling companion. Think of it this way: That comparison is like the difference between God’s design for sexual expression and its shadowed but poor reflection in pornography. Emphasis of only one part obscures the total purpose and picture – but many are pleased with that portion without the requirement of relationship.

Galatians 1 opens with these words:

Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from [a]God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Clearly the rescue from this age was not a removal – we are still here. Clearly it was not a call to live in monasteries – Paul walked in the cities of his day preaching. How, then are we delivered?

We have a choice to follow God. The mastery of sin is broken (Romans 6). We don’t have to serve it. We can be changed. Now… the real question is: “Do we want to be changed?”

God intended His people to use judgment about what they will include in their lives and allow for themselves.

It seems like my generation struggled with the questions of identity. Look carefully into our writing and film era, and the questions of identity surface all over the place…

Action novel readers and movie buffs will tell you that “Jason Bourne” was a fictional character created for a trilogy of novels by author Robert Ludlum. The earliest appearance of the character was in the novel called The Bourne Identity (1980), adapted for television in 1988 and made a 2002 feature film with the same title where Matt Damon played the lead role. Damon went on to again play “Jason Bourne” in two sequel movies: “The Bourne Supremacy” (2004) and “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007). I no longer find this genre as my personal choice for reading, nor are the films something I would find relaxing on the silver screen – but millions do. I read the first novel back in college, and was fascinated by Ludlum’s ability to write with such clarity he projected a reader deeply into the intensity of the scene as Bourne moved through once threat to his life after another. There is no doubt that Ludlum can write! I mention this not as an endorsement of the books or movies – but simply because I cannot help but think of the issue of identity without recalling the novel I read so long ago.

The story of the Bourne Identity opened with Jason Bourne, a man with amnesia, coming to his senses and wondering about who he really was. He had almost instinctive survival abilities and knowledge slowly returned to him through his retrograde amnesia, as he sought to discover his real identity. While regaining himself, he found himself in the cross hairs of several shadowy groups, hunted by at least one professional assassin, and his own government’s CIA. Publishers Weekly named The Bourne Identity among the best spy novels of all time. I recall being unable to put down the book as Jason was evading assassination and seeking his own identity.

Re-runs of CSI still blare a song by “The Who” called “Who are you?” to snap casual viewers to attention when their show begins playing. As a search for a killer is the question that provides the premise of the show, this “Who dunnit” crime show centers on the whole issue is identity.

For the younger among us, the story of Simba illustrates the same problem. In the “Lion King” a baboon named Rafiki finds the young lion prince running away from his responsibility of following in his father Mufasa’s footsteps. The baboon says, “You don’t even know who you are!”

Whether seeking their own identity, that of a killer, or even of a prince – identity showed up often in drama and film of my generation. Here is what I know: most people struggle to find out who they really are. These films and novels were written with tones that struck at the cord for a search about personal identity. I have served Jesus long enough to know something else… Most believers don’t seem to understand who they are in Christ, either. One of the symptoms of that lack is they don’t identify the uniqueness of being part of the body of Christ, and their actions reflect a life lived in the wrong circle of influence! Many believer find the world’s way of looking at things much more easily understandable than the Bible’s way. Truly Paul was right. We need a transforming of our minds. Here is a truth we encounter in 1 Corinthians as we study today…

Key Principle: When believers recognize their unique identity in Christ, they learn to judge life by different standards!

As we look carefully at the letter Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers of the first century, we discover that Paul presented a fact something that shocks believers who have not previously encountered this precious truth of God: Believers live in two distinct circles (spheres of influence) that do not operate under the same rules.

The point of our reading in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 in the last lesson was to underscore the notion that believers are not like their unsaved neighbors in a number of ways.

First, we have more restricted association when it comes to people who join and become a part of us. Paul reminded:

1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people…

So that we aren’t torquing this out of it context, remember Paul was instructing them on some who were living in known immorality but wanted to remain as part of the church. Yet, Paul suspected he needed to be clearer about this standard. He continued:

1 Corinthians 5:10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

Paul made clear in the verses two important truths. First, I live in a world that I am not called on to judge, but I recognize Jesus will! (5:12a, 13a). God has made government to help keep the world in line now (Rom. 13:1-5) and withholds the right of judgment for His throne at a later time. In that day, believers will play a role, but that is for another time – not now (6:2).

Second, Paul made clear that believers are a part of the church, the Body of Christ, and MUST evaluate and at times separate to maintain the standard of God’s Word (5:12b,13b). That isn’t “judgy” – it is obedience. It isn’t “unloving” – it was a standard given by the Author of love and for purposes that would reflect Him. It may not be popular, but it is right.

Let’s be clear: this wasn’t a witch hunt searching for people to exclude from ministry – quite the opposite. This came to Paul’s attention because it was publicly known and acknowledged, but left un-dealt with in the church. Let’s flatly state the standard then: If someone is involved in immoral behavior according to the standards outlined by Scripture, they are ineligible to remain a part of church ministry. It DOESN’T mean they cannot come to a church meeting – for we invite people in who don’t know Jesus all the time. It means they can play no role that would suggest the believers accept them as one of their own. If you walk as an outsider, we will love you – but treat you as an outsider. Our assumption will be that you need Jesus – even if you believe you made that decision in the past. Our reason is simple: You are not living like a believer is commanded to live by the Lord, and you are living in defiance of God’s standards. That will not work, even if you believe it will. It is not acceptable to God even if you think you have good reason. Rationalizing is the natural work of the unrepentant rebel.

If you have been saying to yourself things like: “This isn’t as bad as ____, who does this”; you are acting the part of a child. If you are rehearsing the tired old “Nobody’s perfect!” routine – remember that truth can be used for anyone to rebel and violate any standard. When we clutch to our sin, we take our hands from the Savior’s to grab something we want MORE than Him – and that is our problem. Believers are to place Him first, and all other things behind. Jesus said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you…. He who loves his life will lose it, he who gives all the things of this life over as loss to cling to Me – will gain life.” Let me be clear: This generation is not the one that is exempt from walking in truth and integrity. It doesn’t matter what temporal benefits you are receiving – they are not what you are called to seek – especially if they violate the Word of Christ.

To make the two circles of a believer’s life even more clear, Paul offered an example: Property disputes between believers must not be brought to public courts (6:1). The issue was this: two people went to church, and one apparently defrauded the other or took something of value away from the other believer, and the victim wanted it settled. This was a civil matter, not an overtly criminal one, and Roman law allowed the alleged “victim” to pursue the matter in court. Paul wrote:

1 Cor. 6:1 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

Look very carefully at the verse, because Paul is precise about what is included and what is not. First, this is a civil case – presented by one civilian against another – as a small claims court any civil department of law would allow. It is not a criminal case. If someone is breaking into your house or abusing another person, that isn’t civil – it is criminal. You call the police and let them decide the steps to be taken.

Second, the context of the case demands that both parties claim to be believers. Where do you see that? Look at the context. Remember chapter divisions are not in the original. Paul has been talking about how people IN THE CHURCH make judgments differently than in the world. This isn’t about a believer and an unbeliever in the direct context. If you read it carefully, the end of the sentence suggests that an appropriate venue for settlement would be in the church. Would that make sense if one party was NOT a believer? Would you settle an issue in a court of the Moose Lodge if the other party was a Moose member and you were not? Would you anticipate a fair trial? The point is the verse is about two believers – there is ample evidence.

The Supporting Principles for this Example:

Paul supplied, under the influence of God’s Spirit, three appropriate examples of his reasoning as to why believers should not settle civil cases before the world, if both are believers. They have the court of the church, and do not need the court of the world.

Principle #1: The Destiny Principle

First, Paul argued that because of our collective destiny, i.e. what we WILL BE, we must settle our disputes among believers within the circle of believers (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

1 Corinthians 6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

There are several terms we must reckon with to get at the meaning of these verses. The term “saints” in the first sentence refers to the same people as the “you” in the second verse. The believers were the saints to whom Paul was referring. The term “angels” refer to the metaphysical beings of the spiritual world and are directly contrasted with matters of “this life”, as in the physical world. The term “angel” is not a metaphor for Pastor or any other person in this world or the contrast would not make sense. Paul laid out the argument:

First, believers will be judges in a future time (6:2). Jesus told the disciples at least some of them would sit on the judges “dais” (Mt. 19:28) because they gave up their future to walk with Him. Paul explained to Timothy that believers would “reign with Christ” (2 Timothy 2:12), a reference to Revelation 20:4 where certain believers became the underling judges to Jesus’ Kingdom.

Second, believers will judge angels (6:3). This requires some explanation for most of us. Remember, Jude 1:6 says that God took the fallen angels that broke into the human world to corrupt it and cast them into prison. 2 Peter 2:4 also affirmed that action. 1 Corinthians 11:12 warned that a lack of submission among believers can affect the angelic observers. These help set up our understanding of what Paul is arguing about judging angels.

Don’t forget the word judge does not mean “condemn” in this verse but “to distinguish or decide”. A wife may ask her husband to look at some wallpaper for the bathroom and help her “judge” which is best for them – he isn’t condemning one choice to wallpaper hell – just discriminating between his taste options.

When to believers judge angels?

First, we should define the terms. Who are angels? The Bible mentions five different types of angels: Cherubim (guardians of God’s holiness, first mentioned guarding Eden in Genesis 3; Lucifer was created to be one), Seraphim (six wings, Isaiah 6), Archangel (Jude 1:9, Michael is only named, Rabbis have seven, including Gabriel, Uriel and others), Messenger angel (Gabriel, Luke 2) and guardian angels (Mt. 18:10).

Second, think about timing. When will believers judge them?

The timeline for angels began, as best we can tell, before the creation of the physical world. It is revealed in the poetry that appears to offer a shadowy presentation of Satan’s rebellion against God’s government.

Isaiah 14:13-14 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14  ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Lucifer attempted a hostile takeover of God’s government. As a result, Satan began to advertise his plan among the angelic host.

Ezekiel 28:18 “By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.”

It appears that one third (1/3rd) of the angelic host followed Satan in his rebellion. That event appears again, as referenced in Revelation 12:

Rev. 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…

God responded to the rebellion at some point in the past by creating the awful place of judgment we know as “hell”. The place wasn’t a fiction of priests of the Dark Ages or Giotto and painters of the early Renaissance – the place was revealed by Jesus as very real in Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:41: 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” We must remember that Hell wasn’t originally created for people – but for the rebellious angelic world.

It appears that in response to the fall of angels, God established the cosmos:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Shortly after, man was lost in sin and rebellion. Gen. 3 tells how a serpent was embodied by the “fallen one” to lead men away from God. Satan then drew man away from God and God revealed redemption’s promise in the same passage. Satan remained railing against believers in earshot of Heaven (Job) awaiting the expulsion from Heaven. He tried infiltrating the race (Gen. 6) but God stepped in (Jude 1:6).

The Bible promises that part way into the Tribulation Period, God will boot Satan from Heaven’s outer domain and he will come with new vitriol onto the earth.

Revelation 12:7-8 “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Satan will be cast to earth to set up a great battle against God. His armies will be destroyed (Rev. 19) and he will be bound (Rev. 20).

The Bible also promises a new government order from God: He will be in charge then in the millennium (Rev. 20). We may not know many details of how we will give angels orders, but we know that we will, and that our positions of authority in Christ’s kingdom! In Revelation, it is martyred believers that specifically are judges, but none of the believers knew which of them would be martyred, so all needed to assume it could be them.

The point is: Since some of us will judge angelic beings, so we cannot take our brothers to court to settle disputes, it is demeaning to God’s intended position for believers.

Principle #2: Position Principle:

After Paul argued about what we WILL BE, he made the point that we shouldn’t take other believers before secular courts because of what WE ARE NOW (6:4-8).

1 Corinthians 6:4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, 6 but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

Paul’s argument is as follows:

• We deal in higher (ultimate life and death eternity) issues in the church (6:4).

• We have available resources of the Spirit’s wisdom within (6:5-6) to keep us from needing outer assistance.

• We have a higher value system and a higher standard than those without (6:7-8) to be prepared to lose something this side of Heaven to uphold Heaven’s values.

OK, you say. I get it. I shouldn’t take a brother to court over a property dispute because of what God has planned for my future, because of what I am in my present position… but there is another compelling reason: WHAT I WAS!

Principle #3: History Principle

Paul argued that because of what I was in my own past (6:9-11) the world shouldn’t be engaged in my hunt for justice in this area. I know sin. I have done sin. I have hurt people and trashed my reputation before. I don’t belong there anymore if I can avoid it!

1 Cor. 6:9 Or 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul reminds us that in the world we were:

• unrighteous (adiakos: violating criminals),
• fornicators (pornos: unlawful use of sex),
• idolators (idolatrace: worship of false gods),
• adulterers (moykous: sex outside of their marriages),
• effeminate (malakos: a boy kept for male homosexual use – abused who felt dirty but not by their choices),
• homosexuals (same sex participation),
• thieves (kleptace: embezzler),
• covetous (pleonektace: insatiable desire for more),
• drunkards (methousos: intoxicated),
• revilers (loudoros: rabble rousers),
• swindlers (harpax: criminals)

Read the list and you will easily see the world does things the EASY WAY. If you have an URGE- fulfill it. If you want it, take it. If it looks good – why hold back? It is easier for us to do wrong then to do good. We have to work at doing good while doing wrong just seems to come naturally. It is easier not to pray then to pray It is easier not to be committed then to be committed. It is easier to have impure thoughts then pure. It is easier not to give then to give.

Godliness is a disciplined life, not a haphazard one.

We are living in a time when the new ethical rules are being written into the next generation, and we seem powerless to challenge them. The rise of naturalism in the last generation is breeding angry atheism in this one. It reminds me of the saying of C.S.Lewis: “We’re all either helping people toward God or away from him”.

I need to stop and let every believer in the sound of these words think about that for a moment. I am either helping draw people near to God with my life, or helping them flee away with my compromises. It really is that simple. My sin affects many others – even when I don’t see it today. Do you really believe Abraham and Sarah knew they were causing the Middle East conflict in their tent so long ago? Just because they didn’t see it doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. Just because they couldn’t imagine how that would affect more than a quarter of the population of the earth living in darkness, doesn’t mean we cannot draw the line back to their compromise in the Middle Bronze Age.

Our society doesn’t truly grasp the concept of freedom our forefathers shared. They think freedom means, that they are free to do what ever they want. It means they are free to do drugs, drink, have sex with whoever or what ever they want, it means that kids are free to do whatever they want to do in school “go or not go” “study or not study”, and it means adults can do to what ever is necessary to get ahead… and you could probably add your own to this list. Tragically the things that are supposed to be evidence of their freedom have in reality enslaved them, and are now a heavy ball and chain around their neck. Drugs and drinking have led many to an overpowering addiction, a lost home, a lost job and a lost family. Sex anytime, anyplace, anyone has led to diseases, death, unwanted pregnancies, massive numbers of abortions, a broken heart from being used, and the inability to enter a marriage bond pure and undefiled. Youth who exercise their freedom in school find them selves uneducated and flopping hamburgers or washing dishes for the rest of their life.

God’s freedom is that which frees me from the bondage of satisfying self in favor of a new ability to please God.

Some believers need to be reminded to get out of the dirt from which they were cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.

Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

BUT what Jesus did for us can be described this way:

Jesus made it clear: No thought is so disguised, no wrong is so hidden, no dark of night is so deep that it can hide you from My flaming eyes fire. Yet a rebel can live. He can come to Me. It is the purpose for which I have come. You cannot fall too far or climb too high that My grace can reach you when you call to Me.

Let’s not leave this lesson until we have said it, seen it and celebrated it – we have a new identity in Christ. We do not act like we did – because we will not lie: We are not who we were. Now we are:

WASHED (apoluo: washed off)

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist once issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. He repeatedly kept his promise. Yet, one time something went wrong. Houdini entered a jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked, and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

It saddens me to observe that many believers remain locked in darkness, when the gate was already unlocked. Paul’s simple point is this:

• You WERE (according to this text): unrighteous (adiakos: violating criminals) – but you are not now CRIMINALS FOR CHRIST.

• You were SEXUAL SINNERS – but you are not now FORNICATORS FOR CHRIST.

• You were USED BY THE WORLD – but you are not now VICTIMS FOR CHRIST.

• You were PARTICIPANTS IN SAME SEX EXCHANGES – but you are not now GAY FOR CHRIST.

• You were thieves – but you are not now ROBBERS FOR JESUS.

• You were drunks and hoodlums – but you are not now PARTY ANIMALS FOR JESUS.

These things are from a past life with its hopes and dreams, its desires and hungers fixed on the physical world.

You are SANCTIFIED (hagiadzo: marked for use):

I plead with you, beloved, don’t EVER get to the place where it is more important to you that sinners be found comfortable in their sin than that God is found to be revered in the place of worship. We are not set apart for popularity, we are set apart for distinct living for His purposes. That is what He intends.

If you don’t believe you would deny Christ when ISIS puts a knife to your throat – then don’t deny Christ when temptation beckons you to give yourself to its cause instead of following hard after Christ.

You are JUSTIFIED (dikayao: to pronounce as fully freed from further obligation to your debt of sin).

Sally was married to Bill for many years. Then one evening Bill had a heart attack and died. Several years later, Sally remarried a man named Jack. Jack was in many ways different than Bill. Bill didn’t like to eat breakfast (he just grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out the door) and Jack liked to start his day with a big country breakfast. Bill didn’t care if the house was kept clean and Jack wanted the house to be neat and tidy. After Jack and Sally had been married for a year, Jack was beginning to get aggravated. He came down the stairs hoping to find things different but the house was messy and as he went into the kitchen hoping to smell bacon and eggs cooking on the stove, he only found a cup of cold coffee. When Jack voiced his dissatisfaction with the situation Sally said “well that’s the way Bill liked things”. Jack said “Sally, Bill is dead. You are my wife now. You have to stop living like you are still married to Bill.

There are so many things that bind us. As long as we hold on to them, their power over us continues. It is only by letting go that we become free. So, what’s making a monkey out of you? You are special because you belong to the Lord. That calls us to be distinct and different.

When believers recognize their unique identity in Christ, they learn to judge life by different standards!