WWUTT 1507 The Body is for the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:13)

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The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will do away with them both yet the body is not for sexual immorality but the

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Lord and the Lord for the body when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, a daily

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Bible study in the Word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete equipped for every good work.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study in First Corinthians chapter 6 and I want to add this disclaimer again that the subject we'll be talking about here is sexual immorality.

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As with yesterday I'm going to begin reading in verse 12. We'll go through verse 20 in the Legacy Standard Bible the

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Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. All things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable.

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All things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will do away with both of them.

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Yet the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the

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Lord for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord but will also raise us up through his power.

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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?

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May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her?

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For he says the two shall become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the

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Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality.

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Every other sin a man commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body.

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Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own?

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For you were bought with a price. Glorify God then in your body.

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So as I mentioned yesterday as we're just looking at verse 12 here this statement all things are lawful for me appears to be something of a creed that was recited among the

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Corinthians and it's not necessarily wrong scripturally to believe that although there are certain bounds and limitations on how that is applied.

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For example in first Timothy 4 .4 Paul says for everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving for it is made holy by the

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Word of God and prayer. But that is applied to food for as he had previously said that the teaching of demons forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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So it's almost as if the Corinthians have taken this saying all things are lawful for me and they're applying it to everything like I can do anything

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I want now I can do it with liberty and freedom and it isn't wrong for me to do that because God has made it lawful for me but Paul puts that back in the proper context all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable not all things are beneficial not all things turn into growing in godliness and holiness in Christ not all things benefit the body our own bodies nor do they benefit the body of Christ so we must be mindful of those things there are certain things that even as we go on here in first Corinthians Paul is going to tell the

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Corinthians to abstain from if it's going to make your brother to stumble yeah you may not be in sin in doing that but you would be in sin if you participate in that and it causes your brother to sin now you've participated in that sin so we have to be mindful of one another and even be willing to sacrifice certain things for the benefit of each other so Paul repeats the saying again all things are lawful for me and then says but I will not be mastered by anything there are certain things that the

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Corinthians were probably doing and they were being mastered by those things in which case it was now turning into sin you were doing it as a matter of liberty but you've given yourself over to drunkenness you drank wine to excess and now you're drunk you ate food to excess and now you're a you uh hoarded up all things for yourself and didn't share with anybody and now you're greedy and uncharitable so all things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything we will submit our minds and our thoughts to Christ we will understand that all things that we have we have been given by the

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Lord because all things ultimately belong to God and we are to be good stewards of that which the

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Lord has entrusted to us not only the possessions that we have but even our gifts and our opportunities so don't be mastered by anything even your own fleshly desires may we be in all things submitted to the will of God verse 13 food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food now in the legacy standard bible in the new american standard that's not in quotations or there's no quotation marks around it but in the english standard version it is because again this is understood as something that the corinthians were repeating in order to permit themselves to anything any kind of food here especially food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food and that's not necessarily unbiblical either because from the very teachings of Jesus he said that very thing food for the stomach and the stomach for food the corinthians again were just taking something that was said by the

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Lord and they were applying it in an unbiblical an ungodly way so consider what

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Jesus said in Mark chapter 7 this was when the pharisees had confronted

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Jesus and and had said to him why do you let your disciples eat with defiled hands like they don't wash their hands before they eat and Jesus rebuked the pharisees and said you are teaching his doctrines the commandments of men you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men there's nothing wrong with washing your hands before you eat but it is wrong if you make it a command of God God has said you can't eat food unless you wash your hands well you are loving the doctrines of men not loving the commandment of God and so then

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Jesus goes on to explain exactly what does defile a person and it's not because he ate his food with defiled hands this is

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Mark 7 beginning in verse 14 he called the people to him again and he said to them hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside a person that by that by going into him can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him and when he had entered the house and left the people his disciples asked him about the parable and he said to them then are you also without understanding do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled thus he declared all foods clean that's mark 7 19 going on to verse 20 and he said what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery covening wickedness deceit sensuality envy slander pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and they defile a person so a person is corrupt from the inside out but the statement that jesus makes there about you know food just goes into a person and is expelled that was verse 19 the food enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled therefore the food cannot be the thing that defiles a person so here this saying that was used among the corinthians appears to come from the teaching of christ in that way food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food and paul adds but god will do away with both of them the stomach destroys the food god's going to destroy both the stomach and the food so don't quote this creed as though it's something you can place your hope in because food doesn't last forever and the stomach isn't going to last forever god is going to do away with both of them you can't even trust in your own body so when whatever you do in your body you must entrust to god even the food that we eat is not just automatically okay it is only good under what condition remember what paul said to timothy under what condition is the food good everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving for it is made holy by the word of god and prayer it's not good just inherently by itself because as we read in romans 8 all things have been subjected to corruption to futility so even the food that we eat it would wither away and die and become nothing even if we didn't eat it everything created by god is good but it's made holy by the word of god and prayer that we would enjoy and partake in these things in a right way in submission to god in thankfulness unto him as paul will later say with the corinthians whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it to the glory of god so it's not good in and of itself it's good because it is done unto the lord food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food but god will do away with both of them so submit in all things in your body and even in your eating unto the glory of god paul goes on to say yet the body is not for sexual immorality but for the lord and the lord is for the body now it's kind of tricky here why does he jump straight from food back into sexual immorality here it could be that the corinthians were using statements like this like all things are lawful for me and food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food as though to also say the body is for sex and sex is for the body so therefore if all things are lawful for me and god has created me as a sexual being then i can enjoy these things and i can do it just fine and i'm not in sin but god is going to do away with both of them right so don't take the food statements don't take the statements about food and stomach and try to justify sexual immorality with something that applied only to the food or maybe maybe the the corinthians that paul is responding to here maybe they weren't engaging in sexual immorality but they were asking if they could there appears to be some things here in this letter that paul is responding to that actually came as questions from the corinthians that were being asked of paul chloe's people come to paul with a report about the church they also ask a series of questions so paul is responding to those questions but he's also rebuking the corinthians based on the report that he got from chloe's people so it could be here that what paul is responding to is not necessarily that there's sexual immorality among the corinthians there was but it was sexual immorality that they were not dealing with that was back in chapter five it was the man who was sleeping with his mother -in -law with his stepmother and paul was rebuking them because they would not deal with this man but he doesn't specify any other kind of sexual immorality that's going on among them so maybe this isn't a rebuke of sexually immoral activity among the corinthians but they were simply asking about it if the the stomach is for food and food for the stomach if all things are lawful for me then what about sexual immorality and they wouldn't have asked it in that way you know they're like what about sex outside of marriage why can't i go have sex because look at this body i mean god created me with sex organs he's the one that created sex so if all things are lawful for me can't i go do that and that's okay and here's the clarification paul gives to that he says yet the body is not for sexual immorality but for the lord and the lord for the body ultimately the body is for the lord stomach for the food food for the stomach but god's going to destroy them both because he has authority over both he has authority over your entire body so anything and everything that you do in your body you don't do it because it's lawful for me you do all things in submission to god because the body is for the lord and the lord is for the body the lord himself dwells within our bodies and that's what paul is going to go on to say that you are members of the body of christ and the holy spirit dwells within you whom you have from god that's in verse 19 so the body is for the lord and the lord is for the body the body is not for sexual immorality so just because god gave you sexual organs just because god gave you a desire for sex and indeed there is a desire there for sex the desire itself is not wrong but the desire for sex that is sinful is wrong even the desire itself is wrong we talked about this last week when we were in colossians well we were in first corinthians chapter six but i took you back to colossians chapter three where the apostle paul says the following consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed or covetousness which is idolatry on account of these things the wrath of god is coming upon the sons of disobedience and in them you also once walked when you were living in them that's very similar to something that he said to the corinthians back in chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals he mentions sexual sin there and then he says in verse 11 you once were these things such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus christ and by the spirit of our god again colossians chapter 3 verse 7 and in them you also once walked when you were living in them but now you must put them all away because we're new creations the old is gone the new has come put off the old self and and all of its manner and and wrong practices the old man with its evil practices as paul says in colossians 3 9 put on the new man which is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the one who created him so we are to be of christ and not of the world but as paul mentions those sexual sins there to the colossians in colossians chapter 3 it's it's even covetousness it's even evil desire it's even the passion that exists within our flesh and within our members those things are wicked those things are sinful and it's even against those things the desire for sin that the wrath of god is coming against those things so we must not be of our flesh we must even in our bodies submit ourselves fully unto the lord the body is not for sexual immorality god created sex he created it to be good he meant for it to be enjoyed only between a man and his wife in marriage anything else is sexually immoral it's sin against god and it is sin that the wrath of god is coming against so do not partake in those things don't think it's okay don't even desire it don't even have the desire for it even the desire itself done with the mind for those things that are against what god desires for us the desire for sin is sin the body is not for sexual immorality it is not meant for you to enjoy sex outside of what god created it for the body is for the lord so stop looking for ways that i can enjoy this sexual activity in other means and in other circumstances no your first thought should be christ honoring christ in my body not looking for the ways and liberties that i can take with my body but submitting yourself to christ in your body see that's ultimately the way that we've been set free we've been set free from the bondage of our sin that we may be with god that's the ultimate liberty that we have received we were previously in shackles chains slaves to our sin and we couldn't worship god our only desire was for our sin because we were a slave to it so we're rebelling against god we're going after the ways of our flesh that's who we were before christ slaves to our sin passions in passion to our flesh we couldn't escape from it until christ came and died on the cross for our sins and it's by his death that our that the death we were enslaved to we've now been liberated from those chains have been broken by faith in jesus christ it is by faith in what he accomplished with his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave by faith we've been set free and as jesus said if the son sets you free you are free indeed and that freedom is to worship god and to honor him and we might even live our lives in such a way that is holy and pleasing and acceptable to god previously we could not do that we were completely incapable of that paul says so in romans chapter 8 let me turn there and read that to you for uh for the mind that is set on the flesh this is romans 8 6 for the mind that is set on the flesh is death but the mind that is set on the spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile to god for it does not subject itself to the law of god it is not even able to do so because we're enslaved to our sin we're enslaved to the passions of our flesh those who are in the flesh are not able to please god romans 8 8 verse 9 however you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of god dwells in you exactly what we're talking about here in first corinthians 6 but if anyone does not have the spirit of christ he does not belong to him but if christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness but if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you this is the power of god that we have in us this is the body for the lord and the lord for the body god dwells within us if we have faith in jesus christ so we've been broken from the bondage that we were in to our sin and now we've been set free in christ to worship god and be his children and be members of his kingdom and fellow heirs with christ of the eternity that we have been promised that's what we get in this freedom that we have in christ that's the greatest thing about this freedom not that we can do whatever we want to do in our bodies it's that we now belong to the lord we're no longer a slave to the kingdom that is coming to destruction we are members of the kingdom that is coming into completion and will exist forever with god as our king dwelling among us i will be their god and they shall be my people the lord says so the body is not for sexual immorality it's for the lord and the lord for the body so my friends stop looking for ways to permit yourself to enjoy passions that you feel in your fallen flesh don't go after those things take all of your members submit them to christ because that's the greatest thing about being in christ we get to be with god we are our friends of god we are adopted sons and daughters of god this is the way that we have been set free so be for the lord for the lord is for you heavenly father thank you for what it is that we've read here today and may we take it to heart to the very core of our beings from the inside out we would be transformed to be people of god and desire the things of god walking in holiness and in righteousness not trying to find ways to entertain the passions of our flesh we want to with everything that we have today worship and honor god taking even those those passions and those desires crucifying them so that we may live unto the lord who is for the body and our bodies for the lord so may we honor god and worship god with our bodies we ask these things in jesus name today amen pastor gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues you can find a link to the blog through our website www .utt