The other day, my Daily Bible took me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is one of my all-time favorite books that ranks up there with Romans, James, and 1 John. I simply love it, hanging on every word that God pours into my soul. Yesterday, we read in the Bible about "Expelling The Immoral Brother" in 1 Corinthians 5. To give a brief summary, Paul calls us to call out other brothers in Christ who are living like the world--living in sin--but how we can't call out the world who's living in sin because they don't live by the same standard that we do. Today, Paul neatly follows up that message with what we read this morning--one of my top-five favorite passages in the whole Bible. 1 Corinthians 6. I'll let you look it up and read it on your own because it'd be super long to copy and paste the whole thing here.
Okay, so a mere chapter ago Paul addressed conflicts within the church as far as calling other brothers in Christ out. Now he transfers cleanly to talking about lawsuits (Read: Disputes) between believers. As believers, we need to be careful how we address other believers. Continually in the gospels, Jesus calls us to be set apart which Paul reiterates in Galatians 1:15 and Romans 1:1. We are all called to be different than the rest of the world--set apart for Christ--which is why what Paul is addressing here is so important. When we have disputes with other believers, don't take it before a judge of this world because that looks bad. Judges of this world judge this world, The Judge of the next world will ultimately judge everything. Paul even goes as far to say, "I say this to shame you...", in verse 5.
That's not what stands out to me, though. It's verses 9-20 that lacerate my heart. I'll copy it here because I think it's so powerful, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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. 12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body".
Paul just identified in the earlier passage the differences between the wicked--people who are unsaved--and Christians who have accepted salvation. Now he says, "Do you now know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?...And that is what some of you were. 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." HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! We were wicked, we were literally dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2), but God called us out of death to life. Amazing. Can't get over that.
I just finished reading Ezra. In the very last chapter of Ezra we read that the Israelites are convicted for marrying outside of the faith. Basically, for whoring their identity out to the first buyer. Isn't that what we all do? We have this new identity, this life in Christ, yet we continually look elsewhere for our satisfaction. A few posts ago I talked about how my identity was in the world and I dwelt in sin and identified with that, but over and over again we read in Scripture how our identity is in Christ. We find whatever fixes us temporary and sell ourselves to that. We make a prostitute out of the grace of the cross, using it for our own pleasure. Paul even goes on to address this later in this passage in verse 15, "[addressing sexual sin] Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute [gives himself out to the pleasures of this world] is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh. (Gen. 2:24)" This is where it gets awesome, "He who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in Spirit. Flee from sexual immorality." Boom. Done. Roasted.
As part of my devotions lately I've been reading entries from Richard Wurmbrand's, "100 Prison Meditations". Such a great read, and I'd encourage everyone to pick it up (it's really cheap) and incorporate it into your studies as something to think about. This morning he analyzed the genealogy of Christ that we see in the beginning of Matthew. If you look at the genealogies portrayed between the beginning of Matthew and the beginning of Luke, you will find a difference in number. Matthew claims 42 names whereas Luke boasts more. The thing is, though, while Matthew claims to have 42 generations listed in the genealogy, it really only has 41 (Jeconiah is counted twice). So where is the other one? According to Richard Wurmbrand, and I'm only using this because I find it interesting and relating to this post, we--ourselves--are the 42nd name in the genealogy of Christ. Matthew 12:50 says, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." To quote Richard Wurmbrand, "We can be mothers to Him, insofar as Jesus is conceived in us. His relationship with us will encompass that of son and mother, and we will be motherly toward Him."
To bring this full circle, let's look back at 1 Corinthians 6:17, "But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit." Christ's desire for us is to be spiritually in-tune with Him. He wants us to be one in spirit with Him and in step with His love for us. When we are saved we have an obligation that comes out of love to continually die to ourselves and live for Christ. We want what He wants. We hate what He wants. In that way, we are one with Christ. As Wurmbrand would say, "We will be motherly toward Him."
So these trivial little battles that permeate our day? These things that get under our skin? These temptations that Satan throws in our face like sand to blind us? These things that we continually prostitute ourselves out to? What if we actually cut ourselves off from them? If we become one with Christ, it will be completely unnatural to adulterate with worldly pleasures and sin.
By the way, check this song out. I feel like it speaks directly to this subject.
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