Pt 24 Belong
1 Corinthians 6:12–20
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The consideration this morning respecting this text is highlighted by its title, “Belong”.
It is both a recognition of our permanent state with our father in heaven but also a call to purify our hearts, to sanctify our bodies in the knowledge that it is the very temple of the Holy Ghost.
It is also a call to all who do not yet Belong. To those awash in a world of self, without purpose, without desire for anything more than that which gratifies the self, to those who do not yet Belong.
It is a call to Belong to God, to allow themselves to be purchased by the price of the blood of Christ, and to glorify God in their bodies, and in their spirit which yearns for God.
The Freedom To Glorify God By Choice
Lawful DenialPt 1
1 Corinthians 6:12
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
“All things are lawful unto me”
Paul writes this so matter of factly that it takes us somewhat by surprise, “all things?” “Did I just read that right? Paul writes ALL THINGS are lawful?”.
The answer is a resounding yes beloved. In fact Paul repeats it midway through the verse just in case we missed it.
Let us set aside for a moment that this phrase is difficult to understand and first simply accept what it says.
Paul’s repetition of the phrase highlights that it is a phrase that is to be taken literally and without equivocation.
Just in case we think this an anomaly, Paul repeats the phrase A THIRD AND A FOURTH TIME in the same letter;
1 Corinthians 10:23
23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
We don’t have a problem with those adendums to the phrase, those exclusions that are written there, “but all things are not expedient, but I will not be brought under the power of any, but all things are not expedient; but all things edifty not:
Not at all, yet we remain troubled at the notion of what the begining of those verses imply, what it means.
Now beloved, I am going to go out on a limb here and testify that it means exactly what it says!
Set aside its perceived implications for a minute and first accept that, while we may not fully understand it we do not have any right whatever to change what it says nor to doubt that it cant possibly mean what it plainly says.
ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL! (Be careful beloved, for we do not also negate the denials, the exclusions)
LIBERTY
All through the New Testament we witness the reality that we are free.
A liberty now becomes a part of the people who BELONG to God, who are his, purchased by him and for him for his glory and our joy.
2 Corinthians 3:17
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Liberty, freedom, no longer are we under the law; no longer are those who have trusted in Jesus Christ set to the bondage of sin;
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14
Nor are we under that ancient yoke that the Jews of old could not endure;
Acts 15:10–11
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
In Acts 15 we see the testimony respecting the freedom that we have in Christ, a freedom by which it is certain that Paul’s statement of “All things are lawful” finds its endorsement.
Turn there for a moment that we may consider of it; Acts 15
The chapter begins with its introduction into the issue at hand;
Acts 15:1–2
1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
And what a question indeed.
In fact, it is the very same question we have under consideration as we consider our passage here.
Men had entered the Church denying the liberty by which Christ had made them free, only to bring them back under the yoke of Law, stating that such ought to be circumcised after the manner of Moses.
Paul had spoken of this to the Galatian Churches also saying;
Galatians 2:4
4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
“False brethren” brought in this doctrine, “fake Christians”, one of the “many” Jesus warns of in Matthew 7:22.
So here they are in Jerusalem to formally discuss the matter and to have the endorsement of all respecting the matter of the Law.
Acts 15:6
6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
(Beloved there are no serious questions that have arisen in your hearts that have not already been answered within the scriptures. The question respecting the law and its bind upon those who have been set free is also identified.)
Acts 15:7–11
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
No law then?
If there be no law, then are not all things lawful?
In case we still have doubt on the matter, and setting aside that there may indeed be individuals in this Church and hearing this sermon that may employ the simple exposition of this truth as a source of licensciousness, we move on to the very letter written by them to have sent to all the churches round about.
Acts 15:23–29
23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
The most wonderful aspect of this cannot be denied. We are free, we have been set at liberty by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with a freedom that none in the world have, a freedom to live our lives to GLORIFY GOD BY CHOICE.
But there are NECESSARY THINGS to abstain from in which “ye shall do well”!
Again, as a reminder of Paul’s words to the Galatians, turn again there with me;
Galatians 5:1
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Paul expands further in the next verse;
Galatians 5:2–4
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Now beloved, lest you become vain in your own conceits and consider for a moment that such liberty and freedom you have ALSO becomes licence to “fulfil the lusts of the flesh”, the same passage here to the Galatians is reflected in that short phrase to the Corinthians;
Galatians 5:13
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
There in Galatians we have the THE “but” of 1 Cor 6:12;
Lawful Denial Pt 2
1 Corinthians 6:12
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Beloved, you now belong to God and are set free, at liberty with all things lawful unto you and that without any qualification in the text….BUT;
all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
The Church council of Acts 15 testify directly to the charge given to all the Churches and also placed within that charge a deep truth that they ought to obey IF they wish to “do well”;
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
The things NECESSARY related first to that which enters the body, and then that which the body engages;
The matter at hand had nothing to do with salvation, but the wellbeing of life. “Ye shall do well”.
What we have here is the FREEDOM to Glorify God by Choice.
ALL THINGS ARE NOT EXPEDIENT; they may indeed by “Lawful”, but some things provide no advantage whatever.
They are not useful, nor desirable, they provide no practical benefit whatever. And they are certainly not appropriate for those who BELONG to Christ, bought with a price.
The Choice To Glorify God For Ever
Temporal Consecration.
1 Corinthians 6:13-14
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
We note here a deeper consideration of the frame of verse 12 and with it a fascinating link to our passage in Acts dealing with both food and fornication.
What we see here is that deepening consideration that one is temporal with a temporal effect, the other a defilement against that which is eternal.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.
Food enters the belly and there are no foods that are thereby restricted other than that notified in Acts 15, that strangled and offered to idols and eating with the blood.
Either way however, both the belly and the meats shall one day be destroyed.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.
But Paul here brings the dichotomy between that which is temporal and to be destroyed, to that which shall be raised and remain for ever;
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
The common culture of the people of Corinth was little different to the common culture of our western world today, fornication was the norm of life and living. So much so that to engage in it was seen as natural as eating.
Paul seems to link the idiom of the beginning of verse 13 to that idea, but places a CHECK upon it;
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats:
You almost get the impression that he may have concluded with “therefore sex for the body and the body for sex”, this would be a welcomed thought in the minds of many even today, for what purpose serves the Body if it were not for the fulfillments of its physical lusts?
But instead of doing so Paul writes; but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
A CHECK has been placed and a CHOICE is forced to align our understanding, not with our lusts, but with the truth; our bodies BELONG to the Lord;
Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
While the bellies of our temporal bodies will be destroyed, there is something about the actions of our bodies that have an ongoing effect;
Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
Read the passage again and make a note that, one element of this is temporal (the meats and the belly) while the other is an unsuitable act due its eternal status;
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
A CHOICE seems pressed for those who BELONG to God to Glorify him forever through the sanctity of their bodies.
It comes clearer in the next verses;
The Desire To Glorify God With Fidelity
Usurping Relationship
1 Corinthians 6:15–17
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Paul is dealing with the matter of FORNICATION, that is, sex outside of the covenant of marriage.
It is NOT simply sexual immorality.
Please underhand the nature of the corruption seen in modern Bible versions. They love the grey and hate the black and white.
God is not here speaking of that which changes according to the whims of a degrading and debauched society.
What is moral today was immoral yesterday, no. God speaks with plainness, FORNICATION IS THE ACT (Not the thought) of SEXUAL INFIDELITY, physical sex outside of the covenant of marriage.
It is not something that is slight in the eyes of the Lord, but that which is seen as usurping the relationship between those who BELONG to him, whom he has purchased with his own blood, and that of an harlot, those whom he claims is the object of our lusts.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
Beloved, there ought to be such an incredible desire to glorify God in our bodies, a desire to be faithful to him and to adore him and love him that we would never seek to defile the bodies he has purchased.
We are, you are, a member of Christ IF you BELONG to him.
Your body is his, you are a very real part of the body of Christ.
Truly, should you then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. (May it never be).
There ought to be a true and genuine desire to glorify God with fidelity.
A restraint must be placed upon our lusts that we do not defile that which belongs to him.
The moment a body is joined to another outside of that which is sanctioned from on high, we place ourselves in a state of infidelity to Christ, we USURP our relationship to Christ and join it in defilement.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
In reaching back to Genesis 2:24, Paul makes it clear that the moment an individual enters into the physical union the two become one flesh;
Genesis 2:24
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
In the union sanctioned by God there can be no defilement, no usurping relationship, and we Glorify God in fidelity.
But when outside of that covenant of marriage, when one partner has no more value than any other partner, when no commitment of fiduciary union is promised but each just used their bodies for the purpose of the satisfaction of their lusts, this DEFILES THE BODY;
When an individual BELONGS to Christ but gives their body to an unsanctioned union with no further promise but that of temporal satisfaction, they do so against their own bodies.
The Wisdom To Glorify God Through Fearfulness
Apprehensive Entrapment
1 Corinthians 6:18-19
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
It was clear from the passage in Acts 15 that there were only two elements that would enable us to “do well”, the wilful betrayal of which can therefore simply imply that we “shall not do well”;
Acts 15:29
29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well….
The first of these is clearly temporal, 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.
But the other is seen as having a far more significant relationship to that which is eternal:
Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. (V13-14)
Now in this passage we see its link directly to that which sees God dwell with and within man; know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Beloved it is this reason why Paul places in parenthesis his statement that within him dwells not good thing in Rom 7:18, saying Look there with me!
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:…
He places such in parenthesis to ensure the distinction of that which is in him and that which abides in his flesh, for the Holy Ghost has his residency within each of those who are Born Again, our Bodies are the literal TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST.
And so we ought to FLEE FORNICATION, for Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
Dont “fight it”, dont try to stand your ground against it, dont resist it and dont tollerate it, FLEE.
YOU MUST HAVE THE WISDOM TO KNOW THAT SEXUAL SINS AGAINST THE BODY MUST BE FLED FROM, “FLEE fornication”
“Other vices may be conquered in fight, this only by flight[1] ” Wrote Matthew Henry in the 17th century.
The cost of sexual sins is beyond our reckoning. Fornication has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of millions, if not billions of people around the world. It is a sin against our own bodies and it has long lasting ramifications.
(SEXUAL SELF GRATIFICATION is the goal, and so includes the indulgence of all that unlawfully gratifies the flesh. “Uncleanness” is the description in scripture. Pornography fits that bill. The definition of the word itself OUGHT to teach you its nature (Evil Graphics).)
Men are literally brought down to a piece of bread by fornication (and risk the same with Pornography if there is no turning to the Lord for its forgiveness;)
FLEE, FLEE, FLEE.
Be FEARFUL ENOUGH TO FLEE!
Job 31:1
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
IT IS WISDOM AND WISDOM ALONE that can Glorify God Through Fearfulness!
Turn to Proverbs 5
Proverbs 5:1–6
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Proverbs 6:23–29
23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. 26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
This is truly the most ancient of evils, so many have been destroyed by it and so we see the apostles warning to those who had so easily entertained it, they have no idea that they sin against their own bodies;
It cannot be fought, it cannot be resisted, it must be fled. “FLEE FORNICATION”;
Proverbs 7:6–23
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Fornication is the stolen waters of lust that find only the dead to be in their presence, wisdom itself testifies to the truth of it;
Proverbs 9:16–18
16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she (Wisdom) saith to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
1 Corinthians 10:8
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
King David
1 Thessalonians 4:3–5
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
Romans 8:13
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
1 Corinthians 9:25–27
25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
The Procurement To Glorify God Completely
1 Corinthians 6:20
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2255.
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