Episode 272: Your Body is Not Your Own, but a Holy Temple for God | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

We are in 1 Corinthians 6. It is a little spicy, and my prayer is that we would sit under it, and we would let the Lord apply whatever part of this chapter that He needs to apply to us. So, if you'll bow your head, I’m going to say a prayer based roughly on 1 Thessalonians 4.

Let's pray together.

Father, according to Your word, we know it is Your will for each of us to be holy as You are holy and to grow and mature into the likeness of Your Son, Jesus. Left to our own strength and power, it is impossible. But as we sit in Your grace and stand under Your grace as beloved sons and daughters, we pray You send the Holy Spirit's power so we are able to abstain from sin, walk in holiness, and not swim in lustful passions like those who do not know God. Help us to remember whose we are and never to exchange the truth of God for a lie, even if we fall a hundred thousand times. And all God's people said, amen.

The Recognizing of Sin and Our Need for Grace

Alright, I've done some dumb things in the pulpit in thirty-five years. One of the dumber ones I did was explain sin with a bow and arrow.

Do you know what the word sin means in Greek? It means to miss the mark. And so, if you're shooting a bow, like a lot of you have, you shoot a bow, you want to hit the bull's eye. If you miss the bull's eye by an eighth of an inch, that's called missing the mark or properly a sin. If you miss it by eight feet or eight miles, it's a sin.

Here's where I got dicey. About twelve to fifteen years ago, I saw Donnie Julian sitting over there—big, strapping guy, bald-headed, tough. I said, hey, Donnie. We hunt together. Would you be willing to hold this archery target while I shoot? And I was like, Donnie, you know I'm a good shot and I’ve been practicing, so everything will be cool. And I said, but just to be safe, I mean, just to be safe, would you hold it to the side in case I have an itchy finger?

So, I came back here with a camo stole, I had a real hunting bow—like one that would shoot a bear or a rhinoceros. This is a big bow with an arrow with a razor tip on it. And the amazing thing to me is that my buddy trusted me enough and loved me enough—maybe too much—that he was going to hold a target while I shot an arrow at him with a razor tip.

Everybody in the church is like, he's not really going to do this. I'm like, yes, I am. So, I pulled my bow up and I went, I said, Donnie, to the side. I went, and then I started to bring it down. Everybody at church is like... I'm like, just kidding, Donnie. Just kidding. You can put it down.

That was a crazy thing to do, but I wanted to drive home the illustration of missing the mark, which is sin—sin.

Would anybody like to hold the target today?

Challenging the Confrontation with Sin

So, today's passage is actually challenging. It's challenging not because it's hard to understand—like I think a fourth or fifth grader could understand it. It's challenging for other reasons.

It says, the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and it lists a long list of variations of sin. The problem, as a preacher and also as a person, is, all of us sin. All of us sin.

And so, it does feel pretty hypocritical to get up behind the pulpit and say, don't do these things when I've done half of them. And when I have my own besetting sins—things I struggle with, things that have brought shame, where I get on my face and say, Lord, take this away. Make me pure. Make me holy. Like, make me like Your Son, Jesus. But I don’t want to be so wrapped up in myself that I wouldn’t step up in love, step over my own sinfulness and brokenness and fears, and love You enough to do what Saint Paul did.

Saint Paul said, I am the chief of sinners. He knew he was a sinner, and yet, in love for the people, for the sheep—the Lord's sheep—he stepped up and challenged them not to do certain things.

We're going to look at 1 Corinthians 6. We're going to begin at verse 9.

Alright, here we go.

Is it hot in here? Is this because I'm preaching on this topic? It feels like 120 degrees in here. Holy moly.

The List of Sin and Our Common Struggle

So, it starts out:

Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Again, what's the problem with that? If, seriously, if you have a synapse in your brain, what's the problem with that? The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. We're all unrighteous. All we like sheep have gone astray, right?

First John, if we say we don't sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

And so, when it says, the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God—that's really bad news. Pretty depressing, right? But that's what it says.

Then there's a laundry list, not comprehensive but some things mentioned:

The sexually immoral will not enter the kingdom of God.

Well, you might go quick. I was brought up in church. I was raised in the church. I've never committed adultery. I've never done dubba dubba dubba.

Yeah, but at some point, I guarantee most of us have looked on somebody with lust in our heart. Was it Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter? I can't remember—Jimmy Carter. Bless his soul. He said he lusted in his heart after women.

How many of us could say we've never had an inordinate desire, sexual desire, for somebody outside of marriage with our spouse?

It says, in Greek, the word is pornao—or and that’s like pornography?

It says those who commit porn or fornicators. Now, in most writings in ancient Greek, it referred to men. I don't know why they let women off the hook, but could we just say, in Christ, there's neither male nor female? And like, there are people that are being sexually immoral. And it says, so if you're sexually immoral without Jesus, you're not going to enter the kingdom of God.

What's the next on the list?

Idolaters.

That is someone who serves or worships false gods. You might say, whoo boy, that’s not me. I mean, have you ever seen anybody carve something out of stone or wood and bow down to it and pray to it? Me either. I'm never going to go up on the high place and worship some pagan deity.

But when it says idolater, an idolater is one who looks to anyone other than the Lord to be his provider, to meet his needs, to love. When you exchange the Lord for a person, even, or a thing, even a good thing—sports, hunting, career.

Adulterers.

Now, you've read the stats. I don't really care about the stats. I care about people. The Christian church isn't doing too well on this. It's almost 50%, but if you use Jesus' standards—if you look at a man or woman with lust in your heart—you've committed adultery. It's about 100%.

So, adultery must be pretty important to the Lord because it was one of the Ten Commandments. Can you imagine? God wrote down ten words, gives them to Moses, and puts them on tablets. One of the ten words that the Lord thought was that important was, don't break your marriage covenant.

The adulteress, her lips drip sweet as honey, but in the end, they're bitter as wormwood. The point is that the Lord is not being mean or trying to constrain you but He's trying to save you and your spouse from unimaginable pain. He's a holy God. He wants you to be holy. He wants you to keep the covenant.

And yet, so many of us—basically all of us if we use Jesus’ standards—have broken this.

What's the next variety?

Men who have sex with men.

One version says, men who have sex with men, but what’s a little strange is that’s not actually what Greek says. They use two words.

They say, men who are malachoy—and that’s one word—and arsenic.

You can tell I'm terrible in Greek, but who cares? There are two words. The first one, who will not enter: men who are malachoy. That word is often used to describe a man softened to act like a woman, particularly in relation to another man.

The second word, which I can barely pronounce, basically just in English means, male bed—that is, a man who shares his bed with another man.

Now, I’m not talking about dudes going skiing or sharing beds because they don’t have money—that’s not what I was talking about. It’s about a sexual intimacy where a man takes a position of a female with another man.

If that’s your struggle, I would say, it’s not my struggle. So, maybe I don't understand it, but I want to say clearly: it’s just one variety of sin. And what I really want to say is, all week, my heart was like about to explode because while this is not my sin, my sin hurts. It makes me feel shame. It makes me want to hide from the Lord.

What I want to say is, please hear this: the Lord loves you. He loves you. Such were some of you, but you were washed.

The early church had plenty of people who struggled with same-sex attraction, not only in desire but action. But it says, what it says: neither the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the adulterers, or men who have sex with men.

Again, soft or men who share beds with other men.

Let's keep going because there are other things on the list.

What's next?

Thieves.

I actually like the Greek word for this because it’s kleptos, which we know as kleptomaniac—that's someone who steals something from someone else.

Actually, in Greek, there's an implication that the stealing is done in secret—not like on TV today where people just go into stores and steal stuff but quietly.

It says, if you're a thief, you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God.

Next?

Greedy or covetous.

Satan has a million pitches, y’all. He knows your weakness.

Hey, man, you might be unable to hit a curveball, a fastball, a slider. Satan doesn’t care. His goal is to strike you out, to take you out.

But one of the ways Satan takes us out is through greed and covetousness. Actually, that’s one of the Ten Commandments as well, isn't it?

There’s this thing where Satan bursts into us: we just want more and more and more.

The lie in my head is, if somebody wrote me a check for three million dollars, I would be so happy. Wouldn’t life be grand?

But you know what? One of my buddies inherited ten million dollars. I’ve told you the story before—back in the early 80s. That was a lot of money then. But it wasn’t enough.

I remember him telling me that he got on a ship—many of you have been on cruises—and he got on what was supposed to be an elite cruise where everyone was a multimillionaire. I can't even imagine how nice it was.

He quickly realized he was the poorest person on that yacht, and he was so undone by that that he demanded to be flown off by helicopter. He just desired more and more and more.

First John 3 says:

Whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him?

Next on the list?

Drunkards.

Alright, I can confess publicly—I have fallen here more than once. And I’d like to tell you it was only in the frat house or before I accepted Jesus, but that’s not true.

We’re all going to like, take truth serum. I’ve broken that. I'm not proud of it. It’s sin.

I’m not going to move the bull’s eye. Right?

If I miss that ten times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, I never want to move the bull’s eye. I want to say, Lord, this is not Your will. I want to be filled with the Spirit.

I recognize this is a place where Satan wants to come at me.

The Bible says, drunkards are not going to inherit the kingdom.

What’s next?

Slanderers.

Can you help me understand what a slanderer is? Like a lot of it happens on social media, right?

A slanderer is someone who wants to kill somebody with their tongue. And I think often, it’s behind their back. You’re trying to assassinate somebody with your tongue.

The Bible says, slanders are not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And the last?

Swindlers.

I’m not exactly sure what a swindler is, but I’m pretty sure Charles Ponzi was one. And I’m pretty sure there’s another guy from New York City—that’s Bernie, right?

A swindler is someone who is greedy and so greedy that he or she will do whatever it takes to get the money and the stuff they need.

Okay, so now, we're all happy because we’ve given you this list. We know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom.

And the problem, if we stop here, is we should just go home in the greatest despair because every one of us is one of these things.

Everyone. I mean, idolatry—who could say they’ve never worshiped or looked to something or someone else other than the Lord? We’re all guilty. We all fall short.

There’s none righteous, no, not one.

So, then, I was taken to Matthew 19 where the disciples come to Jesus and say, well, Jesus, who then can be saved? Like, we can’t do good. We can’t do right. We are unrighteous.

You’re right, Lord. In 1 John, you’re right. We all sin. Who then can be saved?

And Jesus said,

With man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.

And so there’s good news. I want you to look at verse 11.

We have this idea of the early church—that they were like little pilgrims walking around in monks' robes, just doing good and never sinning. But I’m going to tell you—if that’s your view of the Bible, it tells me you’ve never read the New Testament.

They were a train wreck.

1 Corinthians—the Corinthian church—was a train wreck.

But to these people who sinned in so many ways, Paul says this: and such were some of you.

You want to know what the early church is like? That’s what they were like. This list.

Because in such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified—that’s a fancy word for being set apart and given God's holiness—you were justified. You were made righteous before the Lord in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

Friends, that’s the good news. For every sinner, He says, if you're in Christ, you’ve been washed, you’ve been sanctified, and you’ve been justified.

Now, let's continue on down.

Verse 13b—this is important because some of you never got past the homosexual variety of sin. But the rest of this passage talks more about heterosexual adultery than homosexuality, especially men going to prostitutes.

It says this:

The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

The bottom line is this: Jesus or the Father, Son, Holy Spirit—they don’t live in a building. Do you know where they live?

He says, I don’t live in a building made by hands.

Where is the temple of the Lord?

Believers.

So, guess what? Your body and money are good as they used to be. But our bodies, according to Scripture, are God’s temple.

You’ve been purchased with a price—the precious blood of Jesus. Your body is where Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit choose to dwell.

Verse 14 says this: It is by His power that God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us too.

He goes on to say,

Do you not know your bodies are members of Christ?

It goes down to verse 18, and this is an important one:

Flee from sexual immorality.

I want you to think of Forrest Gump—run, Forrest, run.

The Lord knows if we’re put in a situation, we’re dead meat. So, best thing is not to go near that door. Ladies, you can translate this, but in Proverbs, it says, Beware the adulteress. Her lips drip sweet as honey, but in the end, they’re bitter as wormwood.

Don’t go near her door. It’s a place that leads to death. Flee from it. Not so you can be good or that God will like you better. He doesn’t want you stuck in pain, shame, and condemnation. He wants you to inherit the kingdom.

Flee from sexual immorality.

Verse 19 says,

Don’t you know your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?

I see people working out at the gym, running on the road, doing all kinds of things with their bodies.

But what I want to say is: your body's a temple, and it’s a much better temple because it’s the dwelling place of God Himself.

And it says this:

You are not your own. You have been bought with a price.

And the price was severe.

You're not your own. You've been bought with a price.

Therefore, honor God with your body.

Friend, I don’t know which of these varieties of sin you struggle with, but what I want to say is this: please understand that such were some of them—the early church. They were washed.

We have every variety of sinner in this room, but we don’t want to just say, oh bless you, bless you, bless you.

Stop liking sin. Stop encouraging people to go to a place that will crush them and hurt others. Flee from it.

Be who you are. Be whose you are.

And you might say, I can't do it. I’ve fallen ten thousand twenty thousand times. I know. I know, and so does the Lord.

What I want to encourage you is: remember whose you are. Remember He has made you holy. He counts you holy. He's not left you as an orphan. He's coming to you by the power of His Spirit.

It is possible. It is possible in Christ. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Some sins are easier to flick away quickly, and some are more deeply rooted and harder. But I want to declare this to you—what I know to be true: the Lord calls us to freedom.

And if you fall ten million times, don’t move the bull’s eye. Call upon the name of the Lord. Be honest with Him. Have a discussion with Him.

Remember whose you are.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.