1 Cor. 6:11-20
I know today is Pentecost Sunday. We’re supposed to talk about the birth of the Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts Chapter 2 and Joel Chapter 2 and Peter’s first great sermon to explain the disciples’ miraculous outpouring of the gospel message in languages from all over the world. But you’ve heard the sermons on that topic many times. Today, we’re going to talk about spiritual housekeeping so that we don’t lose touch with that great gift of the Holy Spirit who God gave then and who still operates inside us today if we are willing to cooperate.
So we have this text in 1 Corinthians 6, which at first looks like we’re going to have to talk about sexual immorality today. Notice also that his is the second half of the chapter and it looks like we’re going to go backwards and cover the first half of 1 Corinthians 6 next week. That’s because the text before us is actually a pretty good text to work with on Pentecost Sunday. I hope you’ll see what I mean by the time we’re done here today.
Obviously Corinth had big issues with sexual immorality. It was a key example again in this section of Paul’s letter. But even here, the bigger picture is our relationship to God and his Law as we live under Grace. Note Paul quotes their thinking and perhaps his own words when he says, “All things are permissible for me.” There is no legalism. There is no law that you must obey in order to be saved. But that doesn’t mean nothing is harmful. There is a difference between permission to do stupid things and actually doing them.
This reminds me about warning labels. Products today are covered with funny warning labels, and yes, I am going to give you a few examples. On a package of peanuts, the ingredients were listed as 100% peanuts. Then comes the necessary warning label: Allergy advice: contains peanuts, not suitable for nut and sesame allergy sufferers. On a can of Kraft Easy cheeseig diference, the kind that’s pressurized like canned whipped cream? Warning, for best results, remove cap. On a microwave: Warning, do not use for drying pets. My favorite: Warning: do not hold the wrong end of a chain saw. Do you realize that all those silly warning labels mean that there are people out there who need to be told those things because they don’t have enough sense to know better without being told? Can you understand that God looks at people who don’t listen to his warnings about sin in the same way that we look at people who don’t have common sense about simpler things?
But there is one significant difference between God's view and ours. We think of those silly people and laugh at them as they get what they deserve for being so dumb. God doesn’t laugh at the silly people. He loves them and has done a lot of work to protect them from getting what they deserve. That’s what Christ on the cross is all about. “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” Can anyone here claim that they should not be counted among the silly people that Jesus came to save?
Paul makes it clear, even though one may argue that all things are permissible, that doesn’t mean that all things are beneficial. The Christian life calls for wisdom. Spirit filled Christians obey God’s commands because we admire God’s wisdom and thank him for his loving instructions that keep us safe and provide for that abundant life that Jesus talked about.
For the Corinthians, the Biblical teaching about morality was new to them. They were used to a more natural approach. Food for the stomach and the stomach for food. Do what comes naturally. But Paul taught them that physical intimacy is more about spiritual relationships, not just mechanics. God designed marriage as a picture of the pure and holy relationship between God and humans. Paul says that in Ephesians 6. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” He goes on to say, “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
The Church is the bride of Christ, and how the two shall become one is a profound mystery according to Paul. One day we will understand completely how this is so. But for today we know that it is accomplished in us by the gift and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is why Paul says two more things. Your bodies are members of Christ. Whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in Spirit. Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. Listen to the word Paul uses, “Whom you have received.” The Holy Spirit is not a thing. He is a person. He is God. He is in you!
One of my favorite ways to think about this is in a little booklet called “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” It was written many years ago by a man named Robert Munger, a Presbyterian minister. It really helped me understand life with Christ when I was a very new Christian. I would love to read the whole thing to you. But if I whet your appetite you can ask me to get you a copy. Now I am just going to share a few excerpts.
It starts like this: One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart. What an entrance he made! It was not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real. Something happened at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire on the hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been silence. He filled the emptiness with his own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will.
In the joy of this new relationship I said to Jesus Christ, “Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have You settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to you. Let me show you around.”
The first room was the study—the library. In my home this room of the mind is a very small room with thick walls. But it is a very important room. In a sense it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books on the bookcase, the magazines on the table and the pictures in the walls. As I followed his gaze I became uncomfortable.
Strangely, I had not felt self-conscious about this before, but now that he was there looking at these things I was embarrassed. Some books were there that his eyes were too pure to behold. On the table were a few magazines that a Christian had no business reading. As for the pictures on the walls—the imaginations and thoughts of the mind—some of these were shameful.
Red-faced, I turned to him and said, “Master, I know that this room needs to be cleaned up and made over. Will you help me make it what it ought to be, to bring every thought into captivity to you?”
“Certainly!” He said. “I’m glad to help you. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and looking at which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with Scripture and meditate on it day and night. As for the pictures on the walls, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but I have something that will help. He gave me a full size portrait of himself. “Hang this centrally,” He said, “On the wall of the mind.” Since then, I have discovered through the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ himself, his purity and power cause impure imaginations to retreat. So he has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity.
In the dining room Jesus looked at the stuff I regularly consumed, like vain ambition, selfish desire and hunger for more. He didn’t touch it but said, “I have meat to eat that you know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." He looked at me again and said, "if you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, not your own satisfaction. Seek to please me, and that food will satisfy you." And there about the table he gave me a taste of doing God's will. What a flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. Everything else is dissatisfying in the end.
We walked next into the den. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa and a quiet atmosphere. He also seemed pleased with it. He said, "This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together."
Well, naturally, as a young Christian I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in intimate comradeship. He promised, "I will be here every morning early. Meet with me here and we will start the day together." So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and he would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase. He would open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truth. He would make my heart warm as he revealed his love and grace towards me. They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the den the "withdrawing room." It was a period when we had our quiet time together.
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened. Why, I don't know, but I thought I was just too busy to spend time with Christ. This was not intentional, you understand; it just happened that way. Finally, not only was the time shortened, but I began to miss a day now and then. It was examination time at the university. Then it was some other urgent emergency. I would miss it two days in a row and often more.
I remember one morning when I was in a hurry, rushing down the steps, eager to be on my way. As I passed the den, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there. Suddenly in dismay, I thought to myself, "He was my guest. I had invited him into my heart! He had come as Lord of my home. And yet here I am neglecting him." I turned and went in. With downcast glance I said, "Blessed Master, forgive me. Have you been here all these mornings?"
"Yes," he said, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked his forgiveness and he readily forgave me as he does when we are truly penitent. He said, "The trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to me also. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at a great cost. I desire your fellowship. Now," he said, "do not neglect this hour, if only for my sake. Whatever else may be your desire, remember I want your fellowship!"
There is much more to that little book, it is a very good thought and prayer exercise that helps a Christian be fully aware of the Holy Spirit living within. In introducing this study, Robert Munger said, “Without question, one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will make the human heart his abode.
Our Lord said to his disciples, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). It was difficult for them to understand what he was saying. How was it possible for him to make his abode with them in this sense?
It is interesting that our Lord used the same word here that he gave them in the first of the 14th chapter of John: "I go to prepare a place for you...that where I am, you may be also." Our Lord was promising his disciples that, just as he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and would welcome them one day, now it would be possible for them to prepare a place for him in their hearts and he would come and make his abode with them.
They could not understand this. How could it be? Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ was given to the church and they understood. God did not dwell in Herod's temple in Jerusalem! God did not dwell in a temple made with hands; but now, through the miracle of the outpoured Spirit, God would dwell in human hearts. The body of the believer would be the temple of the living God and the human heart would be the home of Jesus Christ. It is difficult for me to think of a higher privilege than to make for Christ a home in my heart, to welcome, to serve, to please, to fellowship with him there.
If you read the book, you will be encouraged to explore the other rooms in the home that is in our hearts. There’s the workshop, a rumpus room, the bedroom and a hall closet, you know, the kind where skeletons are kept. It’s difficult to let Jesus into every nook and cranny of our lives. But that is what he came to do.
In fact, the best thing we can do is turn things around and give him the deed to the house, so that instead of being your guest He becomes the master and you become His guest! You cannot be a victorious Christian in your own strength. That is impossible. Jesus says, “Make me the owner of this house and let me do it through you and for you. That is the way.”
That is what Paul was talking about in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 when he said, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
There is one more thing we need to realize about the miracle of Pentecost Sunday. The Pentecost story reminds us that witnessing to Christ is not about our own convenience. It's about being radically transformed by the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the language (literally and metaphorically) of those God wants us to love and serve. Pentecost reminds us that we cannot sit idly back and wait for people to learn our ways. We have to be the ones who learn new ways. The Holy Spirit could have easily touched everyone around the early disciples so that the listeners could understand the language the disciples spoke. But instead, it was the disciples who were transformed. They were the ones who learned new languages, ones they could use to communicate with people using the words they already knew.
If you invite the Lord to live in your home, know this. Your home becomes a light house. Your life becomes a thing that serves the Lord by reaching out to the lost. Your salvation is not for your own personal comfort. Your salvation is to empower you to be used of God to save others.
Struggling churches like ours that are in transition have to ask themselves some tough questions. But in many of them, when you ask about their greatest challenge, the answer is pretty simple,. "We need more people." You hear that a lot. Some go further and are a little more blunt: "We need more people to join so we can pay our bills." For some churches, too many, bringing new people in is not about welcoming them to a community of faith. It's about ensuring the local church's survival. And the reality is that people can see that desperation from a mile away. No one joins a church, or any other organization, just to be another name on the books or another offering in the plate. And no one should.
We're not going to be that kind of church. What if instead of asking people to build up our church, we asked ourselves how our church could help build up others? What if the focus wasn't so much on healing our own ministry, but on helping those who need it the most? What if our greatest priority wasn't saving the church we know, but instead sharing that church with others and giving them the freedom to help change it? And what if we lived together like the Resurrection is real, and is happening still? Because it is. And because we have work to do. The true Church is not dying! All we have to do is look to God and be the true Church.
Let’s live for Christ and really be part of the living Church, the body of Christ! Amen.
I know today is Pentecost Sunday. We’re supposed to talk about the birth of the Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts Chapter 2 and Joel Chapter 2 and Peter’s first great sermon to explain the disciples’ miraculous outpouring of the gospel message in languages from all over the world. But you’ve heard the sermons on that topic many times. Today, we’re going to talk about spiritual housekeeping so that we don’t lose touch with that great gift of the Holy Spirit who God gave then and who still operates inside us today if we are willing to cooperate.
So we have this text in 1 Corinthians 6, which at first looks like we’re going to have to talk about sexual immorality today. Notice also that his is the second half of the chapter and it looks like we’re going to go backwards and cover the first half of 1 Corinthians 6 next week. That’s because the text before us is actually a pretty good text to work with on Pentecost Sunday. I hope you’ll see what I mean by the time we’re done here today.
Obviously Corinth had big issues with sexual immorality. It was a key example again in this section of Paul’s letter. But even here, the bigger picture is our relationship to God and his Law as we live under Grace. Note Paul quotes their thinking and perhaps his own words when he says, “All things are permissible for me.” There is no legalism. There is no law that you must obey in order to be saved. But that doesn’t mean nothing is harmful. There is a difference between permission to do stupid things and actually doing them.
This reminds me about warning labels. Products today are covered with funny warning labels, and yes, I am going to give you a few examples. On a package of peanuts, the ingredients were listed as 100% peanuts. Then comes the necessary warning label: Allergy advice: contains peanuts, not suitable for nut and sesame allergy sufferers. On a can of Kraft Easy cheeseig diference, the kind that’s pressurized like canned whipped cream? Warning, for best results, remove cap. On a microwave: Warning, do not use for drying pets. My favorite: Warning: do not hold the wrong end of a chain saw. Do you realize that all those silly warning labels mean that there are people out there who need to be told those things because they don’t have enough sense to know better without being told? Can you understand that God looks at people who don’t listen to his warnings about sin in the same way that we look at people who don’t have common sense about simpler things?
But there is one significant difference between God's view and ours. We think of those silly people and laugh at them as they get what they deserve for being so dumb. God doesn’t laugh at the silly people. He loves them and has done a lot of work to protect them from getting what they deserve. That’s what Christ on the cross is all about. “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” Can anyone here claim that they should not be counted among the silly people that Jesus came to save?
Paul makes it clear, even though one may argue that all things are permissible, that doesn’t mean that all things are beneficial. The Christian life calls for wisdom. Spirit filled Christians obey God’s commands because we admire God’s wisdom and thank him for his loving instructions that keep us safe and provide for that abundant life that Jesus talked about.
For the Corinthians, the Biblical teaching about morality was new to them. They were used to a more natural approach. Food for the stomach and the stomach for food. Do what comes naturally. But Paul taught them that physical intimacy is more about spiritual relationships, not just mechanics. God designed marriage as a picture of the pure and holy relationship between God and humans. Paul says that in Ephesians 6. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” He goes on to say, “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
The Church is the bride of Christ, and how the two shall become one is a profound mystery according to Paul. One day we will understand completely how this is so. But for today we know that it is accomplished in us by the gift and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is why Paul says two more things. Your bodies are members of Christ. Whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in Spirit. Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. Listen to the word Paul uses, “Whom you have received.” The Holy Spirit is not a thing. He is a person. He is God. He is in you!
One of my favorite ways to think about this is in a little booklet called “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” It was written many years ago by a man named Robert Munger, a Presbyterian minister. It really helped me understand life with Christ when I was a very new Christian. I would love to read the whole thing to you. But if I whet your appetite you can ask me to get you a copy. Now I am just going to share a few excerpts.
It starts like this: One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart. What an entrance he made! It was not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real. Something happened at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire on the hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been silence. He filled the emptiness with his own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will.
In the joy of this new relationship I said to Jesus Christ, “Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have You settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to you. Let me show you around.”
The first room was the study—the library. In my home this room of the mind is a very small room with thick walls. But it is a very important room. In a sense it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books on the bookcase, the magazines on the table and the pictures in the walls. As I followed his gaze I became uncomfortable.
Strangely, I had not felt self-conscious about this before, but now that he was there looking at these things I was embarrassed. Some books were there that his eyes were too pure to behold. On the table were a few magazines that a Christian had no business reading. As for the pictures on the walls—the imaginations and thoughts of the mind—some of these were shameful.
Red-faced, I turned to him and said, “Master, I know that this room needs to be cleaned up and made over. Will you help me make it what it ought to be, to bring every thought into captivity to you?”
“Certainly!” He said. “I’m glad to help you. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and looking at which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with Scripture and meditate on it day and night. As for the pictures on the walls, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but I have something that will help. He gave me a full size portrait of himself. “Hang this centrally,” He said, “On the wall of the mind.” Since then, I have discovered through the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ himself, his purity and power cause impure imaginations to retreat. So he has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity.
In the dining room Jesus looked at the stuff I regularly consumed, like vain ambition, selfish desire and hunger for more. He didn’t touch it but said, “I have meat to eat that you know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." He looked at me again and said, "if you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, not your own satisfaction. Seek to please me, and that food will satisfy you." And there about the table he gave me a taste of doing God's will. What a flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. Everything else is dissatisfying in the end.
We walked next into the den. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa and a quiet atmosphere. He also seemed pleased with it. He said, "This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together."
Well, naturally, as a young Christian I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in intimate comradeship. He promised, "I will be here every morning early. Meet with me here and we will start the day together." So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and he would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase. He would open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truth. He would make my heart warm as he revealed his love and grace towards me. They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the den the "withdrawing room." It was a period when we had our quiet time together.
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened. Why, I don't know, but I thought I was just too busy to spend time with Christ. This was not intentional, you understand; it just happened that way. Finally, not only was the time shortened, but I began to miss a day now and then. It was examination time at the university. Then it was some other urgent emergency. I would miss it two days in a row and often more.
I remember one morning when I was in a hurry, rushing down the steps, eager to be on my way. As I passed the den, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there. Suddenly in dismay, I thought to myself, "He was my guest. I had invited him into my heart! He had come as Lord of my home. And yet here I am neglecting him." I turned and went in. With downcast glance I said, "Blessed Master, forgive me. Have you been here all these mornings?"
"Yes," he said, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked his forgiveness and he readily forgave me as he does when we are truly penitent. He said, "The trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to me also. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at a great cost. I desire your fellowship. Now," he said, "do not neglect this hour, if only for my sake. Whatever else may be your desire, remember I want your fellowship!"
There is much more to that little book, it is a very good thought and prayer exercise that helps a Christian be fully aware of the Holy Spirit living within. In introducing this study, Robert Munger said, “Without question, one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will make the human heart his abode.
Our Lord said to his disciples, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). It was difficult for them to understand what he was saying. How was it possible for him to make his abode with them in this sense?
It is interesting that our Lord used the same word here that he gave them in the first of the 14th chapter of John: "I go to prepare a place for you...that where I am, you may be also." Our Lord was promising his disciples that, just as he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and would welcome them one day, now it would be possible for them to prepare a place for him in their hearts and he would come and make his abode with them.
They could not understand this. How could it be? Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ was given to the church and they understood. God did not dwell in Herod's temple in Jerusalem! God did not dwell in a temple made with hands; but now, through the miracle of the outpoured Spirit, God would dwell in human hearts. The body of the believer would be the temple of the living God and the human heart would be the home of Jesus Christ. It is difficult for me to think of a higher privilege than to make for Christ a home in my heart, to welcome, to serve, to please, to fellowship with him there.
If you read the book, you will be encouraged to explore the other rooms in the home that is in our hearts. There’s the workshop, a rumpus room, the bedroom and a hall closet, you know, the kind where skeletons are kept. It’s difficult to let Jesus into every nook and cranny of our lives. But that is what he came to do.
In fact, the best thing we can do is turn things around and give him the deed to the house, so that instead of being your guest He becomes the master and you become His guest! You cannot be a victorious Christian in your own strength. That is impossible. Jesus says, “Make me the owner of this house and let me do it through you and for you. That is the way.”
That is what Paul was talking about in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 when he said, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
There is one more thing we need to realize about the miracle of Pentecost Sunday. The Pentecost story reminds us that witnessing to Christ is not about our own convenience. It's about being radically transformed by the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the language (literally and metaphorically) of those God wants us to love and serve. Pentecost reminds us that we cannot sit idly back and wait for people to learn our ways. We have to be the ones who learn new ways. The Holy Spirit could have easily touched everyone around the early disciples so that the listeners could understand the language the disciples spoke. But instead, it was the disciples who were transformed. They were the ones who learned new languages, ones they could use to communicate with people using the words they already knew.
If you invite the Lord to live in your home, know this. Your home becomes a light house. Your life becomes a thing that serves the Lord by reaching out to the lost. Your salvation is not for your own personal comfort. Your salvation is to empower you to be used of God to save others.
Struggling churches like ours that are in transition have to ask themselves some tough questions. But in many of them, when you ask about their greatest challenge, the answer is pretty simple,. "We need more people." You hear that a lot. Some go further and are a little more blunt: "We need more people to join so we can pay our bills." For some churches, too many, bringing new people in is not about welcoming them to a community of faith. It's about ensuring the local church's survival. And the reality is that people can see that desperation from a mile away. No one joins a church, or any other organization, just to be another name on the books or another offering in the plate. And no one should.
We're not going to be that kind of church. What if instead of asking people to build up our church, we asked ourselves how our church could help build up others? What if the focus wasn't so much on healing our own ministry, but on helping those who need it the most? What if our greatest priority wasn't saving the church we know, but instead sharing that church with others and giving them the freedom to help change it? And what if we lived together like the Resurrection is real, and is happening still? Because it is. And because we have work to do. The true Church is not dying! All we have to do is look to God and be the true Church.
Let’s live for Christ and really be part of the living Church, the body of Christ! Amen.
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