Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

GRACE & TRUTH

Have you ever wondered if you can really relate to people in the Bible? We can think things like, “Our world is so much different today; is it really possible that what is written in the Bible is relatable to what I’m going through?”

Those are fair questions to ask, especially when we think about sexuality and the challenges with purity we face today. But when you take a deeper look at God’s Word, you will find people who faced very similar challenges. In fact, Paul wrote two letters to the Church in Corinth — and there is a lot that we can learn from that is very relatable to our culture today!

Paul’s letters to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians & 2 Corinthians) are not just about dealing with sexuality, but there is quite a bit concerning sexuality in these letters because it was a big issue in the culture of Corinth at that time. Here is some insight:
– Corinth was an incredibly sexualized culture
– Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure, was the god they worshiped
– In Greece, Corinth was the main center of the worship of this goddess of sexuality
– Temple prostitution was commonplace in this pagan religion
– Sexual perversion was a part of their culture

How does Paul handle all of this? He doesn’t avoid the issues. He talks about them directly, with God’s love for the people. But he challenged them with the Truth of God’s Word. He calls believers to live to a very different standard than the culture. With the culture being completely entangled in sexual sin, Paul brings the radical truth from God’s Word about sexuality!

In short, he looked at the culture that was heading down the wrong path regarding sexuality and offered God’s GRACE & God’s TRUTH.

We’re going to look more specifically at some of what Paul wrote in a few different chapters, but this is a key verse in this devotional that we will look at.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honor God with your body.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Corinthians 6:11

CLEANSED FROM SIN

God has your best interests in mind in the areas of love, sex, and dating. God loves you so much!

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul addresses an issue that is happening in the church involving sexual immorality. He gives the church specific instructions on how to deal with this issue. You can imagine that was a hard truth to deliver. Then, in the next chapter, Paul says these words.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NLT)
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Paul is not beating around the bush! As he does in these letters to the church in Corinth, he shares with them God’s TRUTH, even if it is hard to hear. But he doesn’t stop there; he then shares the good news of God’s GRACE.

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NLT)
Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The truth is that all of us have been separated from God because of our sins. And it is only because of God’s GRACE, through Jesus Christ, that we are saved and cleansed!

No matter what you have done, God has paid the price for you to be set free and made right with God. And not just saved and going to heaven, but cleansed from the mess of your past.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:12-13

IS THIS GOD’S BEST?

Have you ever thought, “How much can I get away with and still be okay? How close can I get to the line without crossing over?” A lot of us do; it can be in our human nature. Paul addresses this head-on by discussing sexuality with the Church in Corinth. He puts it this way:

1 Corinthians 6:12 (MSG)
Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.

This mentality differs from “how much can I get away with.” Paul writes about this mentality: “I may be allowed to, but it’s not God’s best.”

We should ask ourselves not, “Am I allowed to?” but, “What is God’s best?” The question is not, “Can I do this and still make it to heaven?” or “Can I do this and it not technically be a sin?” the question is, “How can I honor God?”

“Allowed to” vs. “God’s Best” is a filter if you have a vision for your future. Vision from God for your future is what constrains you. When it comes to your body & your sexuality, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. It’s the mentality that says, “Others can, but I won’t.”

The lie we can sometimes believe is: “If I don’t do what everyone else is doing or what people say I should be doing by this age, I’m missing out.” The truth is, you are not missing out on anything by living God’s way!

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:15-17, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

BOUGHT WITH A PRICE

Remember, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, which is in a hyper-sexualized culture. Paul starts making very radical statements, like “You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20).

And in this section, Paul gives an unpopular opinion. It was unpopular then, and it is unpopular today, but it is God’s truth. Sexuality is a big deal, and how we use our bodies can have big consequences.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (NLT)
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.

A logical question would be: “But didn’t Paul say just a few verses earlier that we can be cleansed from our past? Doesn’t Jesus forgive all our sins?”

We don’t always like to live with a paradox, but two things can be true at the same time.
1. Sexual sin can negatively impact your life more than any other sin and can have severe consequences (TRUTH)
2. No matter what you have done or how far you have run, God wants you back (GRACE)

In this chapter, Paul clearly communicates God’s GRACE & God’s TRUTH.

What is so amazing about God is that even in your sins and your mistakes, He “bought you with a high price.”
– You are undeserving, but God pays a high price for you
– Even when you go back to what he saved you from, God still loves you
– In your mess, in your sin, in your promise not to go back to the sin and return again to it, in your brokenness and shame – IN ALL OF THAT AND MORE – God says, “I paid for you. I want you. I’m pursuing you. I love you!”

God’s love relentlessly pursues you, and his love never runs out, no matter what you have done.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

STRENGTH TO RESIST

How do I live pure when temptation is so hard? The sexual temptations we face

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NLT)
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

To the church in Corinth who faced sexual temptation all around them, and to the church today that faces the same, Paul encourages us in 2 big ways:

1. Have a sober awareness to always stay on guard! We are all just one step away from doing something stupid. Don’t be too arrogant in thinking you could never fall into temptation.
2. God is with you and empowers you to resist temptation! We sometimes think, “There is no way I can resist this. It’s too much for me to bear. I give up.” God’s Word says something different. What you face is no different than what other Jesus followers have faced throughout centuries past, and just as God has been faithful to others, he will be faithful to you.

God gives you the strength to resist temptation! Because “When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13b).

“A way out” of temptation can look like:
– Confessing scripture that combats the temptation you face
– Calling a friend or leader, telling them you’re being tempted, and asking them to pray with you
– Changing your environment (this can be as practical as leaving the room you are in and going for a walk)

God offers a way out, but for us to resist temptation, we have to take that way out.

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

SET APART FOR GOD

As you may remember from 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul gives the illustration of our bodies being the “temple of God.” It’s especially significant when you realize what a “temple” would mean to the people in Corinth — a place of worship to a false god that included sexual perversion.

Paul communicates that our bodies are actually God’s temple, holy and dedicated to God. He calls us to be set apart to Him, distinct from the world around us. Paul continues this analogy in his second letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NLT)
14 Don’t team up [be unequally yoked] with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? 16 And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Even in our relationships with others — who we date, who we marry — God’s standard is for us to be with someone who is also a believer in God and a follower of Jesus. Why? “For we are the temple of the living God.” God is worthy of us committing our lives, including all parts of our sexuality, to Him and His way.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (NLT) 17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. 18 And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

“Come out from them,” & “separate yourselves,” & “don’t touch their filthy things” — all of these speak to the concept of being SET APART. God is holy and set apart, and as “we are the temple of the living God,” He has called us to be set apart to Him as well!

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:8-10

REPENTANCE LEADS TO LIFE

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was so direct and challenged them in a significant way in the sexualized culture they lived in — full of God’s GRACE and God’s TRUTH. As he writes the second letter to the Corinthians, he comes to a point halfway through where he addresses how direct and challenging his first letter was.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 (NLT)
8 I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. 9 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. 10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

What an interesting perspective that is! Have you ever read something in the Bible or heard a message preached and thought, “Ow! That one hurt me!” In our Christian life, there will be times when we are cut to the heart and convicted because of God’s truth. Paul’s point here is that the conviction and pain caused by God’s truth is very good because that “pain caused you to repent and change your ways.”

If you’ve ever worked hard for something and failed, competed at a high degree, and lost, you know the pain that comes with that. But any good coach will tell you something like, “You may have failed, but you’re not a failure. Don’t waste this pain. Sometimes, you win, and sometimes, you learn. If you learn from it and get better, this is not all a loss.” That is what Paul is telling us here.

The pain has a purpose. Repentance had a reward. When you have Godly sorrow from your sin that causes you to change your ways, the pain that comes from that is not wasted. God desires for you to have the type of sorrow for sin that when you fall, you get convicted that God’s called you to be different, stand back up, and run after Jesus. That kind of repentance leads to lead, and no regret comes with it.