SPRINGCREEK FELLOWSHIP
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Psalm 29:1–10CSB
- God So Loved (Live At The Wheelhouse)
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness
- Good And Gracious King
- In Christ Alone
1 Corinthians 6:12–20 CSB “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh. But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.Our passage this morning is not just about avoiding sexual immorality.In fact, if the only thing you get from reading this passage is don’t sleep with a prostitute (harlot), then you’ve missed what I believe is the main point—THE VALUE GOD PLACES ON OUR BODIES!John 4:24 CSB God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”Because John 4:24 tells us, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” we often think that God is concerned only with OUR SPIRIT & SOUL!The BODY, on the other hand, is often thought of as a PRISON to be escaped from, a SHACKLE that binds us, a WEIGHT that must be discharged, that the body (due to the Fall) is stained, or tainted goods!The Christian life becomes the “BIG WAIT”—something we do until we are released, set free from this “flesh and blood” (15:50), “earthly bodies” as opposed to “heavenly bodies” (15:40), “corruptible” as compared to “incorruptible”(15:53), and “mortal” as compared to “immortality” (15:54)!BELOVED, if we are not careful—if we do not understand and accept ALL that God’s Word says about our bodies—we may develop a, “This is what I’m STUCK with till Jesus or death comes” attitude—which in my opinion, is extremely DANGEROUS!WHY or HOW IS THAT DANGEROUS?Q: If I view my body ONLY as the place where sin occurs(and it is)—a place where the “works of the flesh” are manifest, if in my mind, I think of my body ONLY as an “instrument of sin or unrighteousness,” then, how will my body react to those impulses?A: IT WILL FULFILL THOSE THOUGHTS (a self-fulfilling prophesy).Romans 12:2 CSB Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.Romans 12:2 NLT Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.THAT is why (Romans 12:2) admonishes us, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your MIND...”CEV – “Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think…”“What does the world say, or think?” TWO THINGS:1. A WORLDLY or CARNAL believer says, (v.12) “Everything is permissible for me…”They misapply (Galatians 3:24-25)to say that there is NO LAW—no tutor—I’m under grace!2. The world also says, (v.13a) – “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food…”In other words, “Whatever is NATURAL for me to do, whatever is in my NATURE to do (be it gluttony, drunkenness, or sex), then that’s what I’ll do—with no consequence!The world says, “Follow your impulses, your desires, your cravings, whatever makes you happy—it’s only natural!”Reminds you of SATAN in a GARDEN saying, “Here’s some food—surely you will not die…you got to eat if you really want to live!”BELOVED, your bodies are a GIFT from God! Some of us (maybe all of us) need to renew our minds (which is the Biblical meaning of “repent”) in the way we deal with andthink of our bodies!Let me give you FIVE TRUTHS or PRINCIPLES about our bodies:TRUTH #1: The PURPOSE of the body in the Lord – (6:13)1. Your Body is FOR THE LORD! – (Romans 12:1)True worship is offering this body “…as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God!”2. The Lord is FOR YOUR BODY!God is PRO-BODY! – God is FOR your body!That may be surprising to some (possibly many) – Some believers have the attitude: “The Bible says that the creation of God is GOOD, and I’m not about to blame this mess on God!”TRUTH #2: The Resurrection of the body in the Lord – (6:14)It’s not JUST your spirit that is eternal! One day God will raise up your body!EVERYTHING is redeemed—creation included!TRUTH #3: The INTERACTION of the body with the Lord – (6:15-17)(v.15a) – God is JOINED TOGETHER with your body!Galatians 3:27 CSB For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.“He has no hands but these hands, no feet but these feet…” Folks, that’s not just a pretty poem…that’s dead-on theology!(vv.15b-17) - When you sin, God experiences it completely!“What do I do?” – (v.18a) – RUN!Genesis 39:7–12 CSB After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?” Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her. Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there. She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.(v.18b) – Sexual sins are in a distinct class…they also carry distinct consequences! Ever heard of Herpes, VD, Aids?Romans 1:27 CSB The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.TRUTH #4: The HABITATION of the body by the Lord – (6:19)God LIVES IN your body…He’s not “out/up there!”TRUTH #5: The REDEMPTION of the body by the Lord – (6:19-20)God OWNS your body…He paid for it!CONCLUSION: (PSALM 8)Psalm 8 CSB For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David. Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!1 Corinthians 6:12–20CSB
John 4:24CSB
Romans 12:2CSB
Romans 12:2CSB
Galatians 3:27CSB
Genesis 39:7–12CSB
Romans 1:27CSB
Psalm 8CSB