When I was young I had a
friend. She belonged to a church of
another denomination. I never understood
her. She was, on the surface, so religious. One time she stayed overnight at my house and
tried to “save” my younger sister, scaring the poor kid half to death which her
threats of hell and eternal damnation.
Then she sat at the top of the steps and eavesdropped on the
conversation between my parents and my sister as they tried to comfort her and
releve some of her fear, then declared in a huff, “Now she’ll never get
saved.”
This same friend thought absolutely
nothing of gossiping, lying and being quite nasty. I slowly came to understand that her
perspective was that since she was saved and all her sins forgiven this
behavior was okay. It was like she had a
blank check or a get out of jail free card to do whatever she wanted free of
any consequences or concern.
Well, I didn’t know it then, but
what I was struggling to understand about her behavior was something the
Apostle Paul had to deal with in the first century church. Paul was clear that because of Christ we are
free, free from bondage to sin and free from the constraints of the law.
Galatians
5:1
Freedom
in Christ
1 It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be
burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Romans
8:1,2
1 Therefore, there
is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from
the law of sin and death.
But Paul never meant that what we do
doesn’t matter or have consequences.
In today’s scripture lesson, Paul is addressing the believers in the
city of Corinth who, like others, read far too much into Paul’s words about
being free in Christ.
I need to tell you a little bit about Corinth to set the
context of Paul’s letter. Corinth was a major city of Southern Greece, strategically situated on an isthmus between two harbors. One led to Asia and one to Italy. This made it a major trade center and largely
wealthy. In 146 BC it was
destroyed. Almost exactly 100 years
later it was rebuilt by Julius Ceasar and became the capital of Achai. The
population was diverse, including Romans, Greeks, Jews and many others. Roman soldiers were given a parcel of land in
Corinth to begin their civilian life. By
and large the people enjoyed a high standard of living, including theater and
the arts, athletic competitions, and the benefits of manufacturing and trade,
specifically in bronze.
Like all Greeks they believed that things of the soul and the
intellect were superior to things of the physical realm. This could express itself in a couple of
different ways, but for the Corinthians it meant that you could do anything you
like with your body, satisfy all your physical appetites. This made Corinth a hotbed of vice, a city
that Bible commentary William Barclay called “the most immoral city in the
world” at that time. It was also the
site of some of the Apostle Paul’s most important work.
Perhaps you can imagine what the
Corinthians thought when Paul wrote to them about how Christians are no longer
constrained by the law. True to form,
what they heard was that it is okay to live life selfishly seeking the
fulfillment of every passion and desire.
As a result, sexual immorality, social snobbery and lack of unity were
persistent problems in the Corinthian congregation.
These were the issues that Paul felt
compelled to address in his second letter to the Corinthians. Paul understood that these people had become
more invested in their own social advancement than in the advancement of the
Gospel. This was deeply troubling to
Paul. He knew he had to correct these
misunderstandings.
Paul wants the Christians in Corinth to know that
being free from the law does not mean we are free to do anything we want. We ARE free from the law of Moses with all
it’s prescribed rules about hygiene and what we can and cannot eat. But we are not free to do whatever we want. We are set free for a purpose. That purpose is so that we may be and do all
that God wants for us. Paul writes
not a sermon, not an essay.
To make this point Paul uses the one illustration he
knows will hit the Corinthians right where the live – He makes it clear that
What
we do with our bodies and how we treat our bodies matters. It is relevant to our Christian faith.
1. What we do matters because our example can
offend or distract a weaker brother or sister. Paul says at one time that he is FREE to eat
anything he wants, but he chose not to eat foods that were ritually unclean so
that he would not offend or weaken the faith of a brother.
WE don’t have clean and unclean foods per se, but I
think we can get our minds around this if we think in terms of alcohol. Maybe you can handle having a social drink
without becoming impaired or addicted.
But knowing that there are people with you, watching you, for whom the
first drink can lead to a nightmare of addiction or life endangering impairment
the right thing for you to do may be to choose not to drink. What you do with and to your body, especially
when others know you are a Christian, can make a very big difference.
2. What we do matters because we may simply
trade one form of enslavement for another.
1/3 of
adults in this nation are obese, while one billion people in the world are
hungry. It’s not that eating what we
like is immoral or illegal, but eating what we like without consideration for
the way our habits harm us or society is wrong.
If food or drink (think caffeine) or sex or your computer
becomes so important that you are
controlled by it, then you have simply
traded one type of enslavement for another.
How do you know if you are enslaved by these things? Try going without it for a week. If you feel uneasy, irritable or find
yourself fighting to control your desire for this food, drink or whatever then
you have given it power over you and have become a slave to it. When anything takes over my life in such a
way, I am no longer free.
3. What we do matters because our bodies belong
to the Lord.
We are free to ignore a healthy diet, to refuse to
exercise, to start smoking, to get drunk 7 nights a week, to shoot cocaine, to
buy on credit until we are desperately in debt and to be mean to everyone we
meet. (Now just in case that last
sentence is the only thing any of you kids out there have heard, LISTEN to what
I have to say next) BUT these things are
unacceptable behavior for Christians because they cause harm to our bodies and
our bodies belong to the Lord.
Your body is God’s creation to be used for God’s
purposes and the purpose is to glorify God in our physical being.
Your soul was redeemed by a price. Your body was made pure by a price – and the
price was the shed blood of Jesus.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Sexual immorality is especially offensive to the
Lord. It’s not a popular or politically
correct notion today but scripture is
clear that sexual immorality is
especially offensive to the Lord. I went
digging this week to check just how true this statement is because there is a
great deal of debate on the internet.
Many writers claim that “the church” has distorted the meaning of the
greek work “Pornea” which us usually translated “sexual immorality”. They claim pornea means idolatry. My study makes it clear that pornea means : adultery, incest, prostitution and indulging
lust – sexual immorality. All sin pollutes
the soul, (lying) but sexual immorality
(sleeping with a prostitute) pollutes the body as well.
Conclusion:
So, while we are free from the constraints of the law, It should be the desire
of every Christian to honor and respect their physical body. What we do with and to our bodies DOES make a
difference.
What we do and how we treat our bodies may lend
credibility to or detract from our Christian witness.
What we do and how we treat our bodies matters
because we can become enslaved by bad habits such as over-eating, uncontrolled
drinking and the like.
What we do and how we treat our bodies matters
because our bodies are not our own. Our
bodies, with our souls, are made to express the glory of God. Our bodies are the temple, a vessel for the indwelling of God’s Holy
Spirit in us. Christ died for our
redemption. Three days later his
physical body was raised from the dead and we proclaim in the Apostle’s creed
that we believe in the resurrection of the body.
To
Do
I
believe all of us can do more to glorify God with our physical being. Today you have the opportunity to confess
ways in which you may have been polluting or mistreating your body You may repent, begin to change, to start
practicing new, healthier habits or give up bad habits that are preventing you
from honoring God with your body.
Maybe you need to start exercising more or lose
weight. Maybe you need to go the doctor
to discuss a concern. Maybe you need to
stop smoking. Maybe you need to quit
drinking. Maybe you need change end a
sexual relationship.
I don’t know what you need to do, but you do…and God
does too.
The ushers are going to pass out a piece of paper
for each of you. Write down your
commitment . Write down how you will
begin to honor God with your body today.
During the singing of the last hymn, bring your
paper forward and leave it anywhere here in the chancel area.
Christ has set us free and we are free indeed. Free to be the very best that we can be. Free to be the man, woman or child God has
called us to be.
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