The Love One Another Podcast | Episode 14 - Honor God With Your Body

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 01 (00:02):
This is the Love One Another podcast from Beach
Point Church.
Together we're exploring thefirst letter to the Corinthians
with the hope that we will beformed by the way of the cross
and the love of the one who boreit.
Admitting, as this letter says,that we are nothing without
love.
Love, empowered by the Spiritthrough the work of Jesus, is an
unstoppable force.

(00:23):
It invites each of us to joinGod in the work of redeeming all
things back to God.
With that in mind, let's openour hearts to God's word today.

Speaker 00 (00:46):
I have the right to do anything, you say, but not
everything is beneficial.
I have the right to doanything, but I will not be
mastered by anything.
You say food for the stomachand the stomach for food, and
God will destroy them both.
The body, however, is not meantfor sexual immorality, but for

(01:06):
the Lord and the Lord for thebody.
By his power God raised theLord from the dead, and he will
raise us also.
Do you not know that yourbodies are members of Christ
Himself?
Shall I then take members ofChrist and unite them with a
prostitute?
Never.
Do you not know that he whounites himself with a prostitute

(01:27):
is one with her in body?
For it is said, the two willbecome one flesh.
But whoever is united with theLord is one with him in spirit.
Flee sexual immorality.
All other sins a person commitsare outside the body, but
whoever sins sexually sinsagainst their own body.

(01:48):
Do you not know that yourbodies are temples of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom youhave received from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought at a price.
Therefore, honor God with yourbodies.
In Corinth, much like in ourworld today, people were quick
to justify their behavior byinsisting they had the right to

(02:10):
do whatever they wanted.
Everything is permissible forme, they would say, twisting the
idea of Christian freedom intoa license to indulge the flesh.
But Paul pushes back.
He doesn't just give themrules, but he reminds them of
their identity.
You are not your own.
You were bought at a price.
Those words sit like an anchorin this passage.

(02:31):
They are the heart of Paul'sargument and the foundation of
everything he calls them to do.
Your body, your choices, yoursexuality, none of it exists in
a vacuum.
It all belongs to the Lord now.
And that's not a burden, it's agift.
The Corinthians lived in aculture that treated the body
like a tool for pleasure.
What you did with your bodydidn't matter if your spirit was

(02:54):
intact.
Paul flips that thinking upsidedown.
He says the body mattersbecause it was created by God,
redeemed by Christ, and indweltby the Holy Spirit.
Your body is not a shell toescape or a playground for
desire.
It is a temple.
It is a sacred space.
And how we treat it reflectswhat we believe about the
gospel.

(03:14):
This passage speaks directly tothe hypersexualized culture we
live in.
But it also goes deeper.
It speaks to the way we viewcontrol, freedom, and purpose.
Paul reminds us that justbecause something is allowed
doesn't mean it is helpful.
Just because you can doesn'tmean you should.

(03:34):
Freedom in Christ is not aboutdoing what we want, it's about
the power to do what is good,holy, and life-giving.
The call to flee sexualimmorality is a broad
commandment.
As teens in our youth group, wealways pushed our youth pastor
to tell us how far is too far.
We were looking for a boundaryline that we could get away

(03:56):
with.
I still remember beingchallenged to instead think
about what would bring honor toGod.
It reframed the question forme.
Maybe not always to my desiresor preferences in the short
term, but certainly in the longterm.
To flee sexual immorality wasradical for the Corinthians.
Historian Tom Holland notesthat in their day, any man in a

(04:18):
position of power had the rightto exploit his inferiors.
He could use any slave orprostitute to relieve his sexual
needs.
But now everything had changed.
Paul was insisting that thebody of every human being had
dignity.
Paul was not arguing for alower view of sexuality, but a
higher view.
He was saying we are more thanour impulses and to recognize

(04:40):
that our bodies and those ofothers are sacred.
Each body mattered to God.
Each body was created in theimage of God.
He was protecting the weak andthe vulnerable.
Those who are now in Christwere to treat each person with
dignity and respect.
Sin always promises pleasurebut leaves us empty.

(05:02):
It disconnects us from others,from God, and from the truth
about who we really are.
Paul is pointing us back toJesus, the one who purchased us
with his blood and filled uswith his spirit, so that we
could live free and whole andtreat others with the same love
he has for them.
Here's today's reflection.

(05:24):
What would change if you livetoday with this truth at the
center of your heart?
I am not my own, I belong toGod.
He didn't just save your soul,he claimed your whole life.

(06:12):
That means your story is notdefined by past mistakes, and
your worth is not determined bythe world's standards.
You were bought at a price.
So honor God with everythingyou are.
You are not your own, and thatis very good news.

Speaker 01 (06:36):
Thank you for taking the intentional time to align
yourself with God's love and thecall to love one another.
You can find the Love OneAnother Sermon Series and other
resources at Beachpoint.comslash messages or on the Beach
Point Church app.
May you carry the love of Godinto every encounter you have
today.