Choices That Honor God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)                                                                     2008.11.02    Pastor Bernie Chung

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 reveals a plain truth to the church in Corinth which they could not be ignorant. Apostle Paul claims that such wrongdoers should not inherit the kingdom of God. In fact, this church in Corinth is the one church that practiced speaking in tongues and miracles more than any other church mentioned in the entire Bible.  However, practicing and witnessing these signs alone did not make them immune to immorality. 

In Corinth, people came to the temple to worship Aphrodite, the goddess of sex.  The way to worship Aphrodite was by participating in sex with one of the more than 1,000 temple prostitutes. That was accepted to the culture. Some of these people who had converted to Christianity from the pagan religions stopped going to the temple, but still engaged themselves in other kinds of immoral activities.  They did not consider this a problem because they thought sexual immorality merely involved their physical bodies. They tried to disassociate their daily living from their spiritual being. 

In our society today, people attempt to alter the definition of marriage, which is the union between one man and one woman. From the very beginning, God’s intention has been for a man and woman to be joined in marriage and become one flesh – physically, emotionally, and financially – in every way.  What was once good is now being presented as bad.  Nearly everything we see or hear on TV, in music videos, in popular song and movie has the same message saying this: It is your body! If it feels good do it!  We are told that homosexuality must be recognized as an acceptable lifestyle.  We live in a world where what was once bad is now consider as good. The moral standard is obviously in rapid decline. 

 Paul said, "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God."  He is trying to encourage them to stay in the course of salvation.  They used to be one thing and now they are something else. They were washed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Their sin has been taken away by the Savior Jesus Christ.  A dynamic change has taken place in their lives by the saving power of God.

Next, they were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. That does not mean that they will become holy and sinless.  Rather, they need to set themselves apart for God in order to glorify His name. In other words, they are supposed to be different from the rest of the world. Jesus prayed to the Father saying, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” (John 12:18-19)

And now they were justified, again, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. We must not forget that we are declared not guilty by the authority of our Lord Jesus.  It is by His grace that we are saved and forgiven. In the same manner, we can become washed, sanctified, and justified Christians. That is who we are if we humbly come to the Lord and accept Him as our Savior and Lord.  Apostle Paul is actually affirming that no matter what our previous life style may have been, God is here to free us from the bondage of sin.  He is here to give us a new beginning in Jesus Christ.

So what is expected of us if we have been changed? Let us look at 1 Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”  We may think that our body belongs to us, but the Bible says actually we have been bought by a high price.  God purchased us through the blood of his Son, Jesus. We are stewards of our physical body, but our bodies belong to the Lord. We are simply in charge of our bodies while we live on this earth. 

May God help us all to realize who we are and be vigilant in guarding our minds.  As we face challenges in life, may we rely on His wisdom and be able to make choices that honor Him so that we live in Christ and be like Christ.