Our Body, God’s Body

Okay. How you guys doing?

You know, I asked that for a reason, but it's not to get a great response, but it's to get an average response.

So how you guys doing? Okay?

Yeah, that's good. That's good. That's much better.

Hey, so, you know, what was I thinking, right?

What was I thinking? You read the passage today, right?

And you're looking at things, and you're realizing that if you're studying a book and you're reading it,

of course, chapter 6 comes after chapter 5.

If you skip to chapter 10, people will be going, what the heck? What's going on? What's happening?

And so we're at chapter 6 today, and I realize even as we do this, we're on this journey.

And I shared with you last week just that I'm not always the greatest communicator, and I realize that.

My wife lets me know that often when we have arguments or discussions or trying to talk to the kids.

And so I realized that sometimes I need to come back and clarify.

And I love being in this church, this international church.

You know, if I were back in Texas or Montana or someplace in the States, everybody would understand exactly what I say,

but now they don't understand what I say.

And so I need to clarify sometimes, right?

So I want to clarify just something I said in the last sermon.

So I have a little slide for you here.

So this is a clarification of Texas language.

So on the left is a buoy.

So it's something that floats in the water and protects the shipping lanes and all that.

In the center is a buoy.

So it's a buoy and a buoy.

And on the far right, there's a buoy on a buoy.

It's not a buoy on a buoy.

That's what today's passage is about.

But it's about a buoy on a buoy.

Okay, I had to go there.

I don't know.

Maybe I should have gone there.

So I just wanted to clarify that, okay?

So buoy, buoy, buoy on buoy.

Okay, that's good.

So I'm sure that I'll have to clarify some of the words that I use today

just as I looked at this passage and some of the things came to my mind.

But seriously, you know, we're in this journey as a church,

and we're talking about a church that I think is very similar to what Watermark is like,

and it's the Church of Corinth.

And the Church of Corinth was struggling with some massive issues in their lives.

One of the biggest things they struggled with was just this idea of what the church is.

It is a church of community.

And I think we struggle with it also, if we're honest.

What is the church?

Is the church just a club that you come to on Sundays and then you leave?

And, you know, you're not really responsible for the people here.

And they struggled with those things, and we struggle with those things.

And we talked about how the church is this body of people, God's people, saints, holy, called out, set apart,

light in darkness, city on a hill, salt in the midst of no taste in the world, different.

And they're in a boat together.

We're in this boat together.

We're on this journey together as Christians.

And so often we have this journey of our Christian life as we're in these little rowboats.

And we're just by ourselves, and we hook our rowboats up to everybody else's rowboat, and that's a church.

But that's not what Paul says, and that's not what Jesus said.

The church is something greater than that.

It's a community.

And because we've lost this idea of community with the church, we've lost this idea of sin and how sin affects the church

and how sin affects our lives.

I had some great discussions last week after this talk in Chapter 5, and some people came up to me,

and they said, you know, I realize now that I see in business when you have somebody who's not acting right how that affects the business.

And I know in my family when you have somebody who's not acting right because we have people in my family who are alcoholics,

and alcoholics change the dynamic of everything, and it affects everything.

But I never thought about what happens when people in the church don't act right and how it affects everybody.

And that's what the Corinthian church is learning, that all of us affect everybody, that you're beside people that you need.

God put you here so that you could rub on those people, talk to them.

They could encourage you.

They could pray for you.

They could know your story.

And you're by people who need you.

They need your spiritual gifts and your talents and all the things that God has placed in you.

And because we've lost this idea, we forget what sin is like.

And so I've given a kind of definition for today as we talk about it, and it's up here again on the slide.

So I said that sin is this desire, this power, this impulse.

It's a longing within us that rejects loving and obeying God.

And if we follow this action, if we give in to this impulse,

then it leads to actions and inactions and words and thoughts that come from following it.

That we act and we do things and we don't do things that we should do.

And what we've been learning throughout all Scripture is that this sin, it comes into our life and it disorders our worship.

I mean, it disorders our worship.

It breaks, I've used these words before, like it fractures, it fragments.

But sin comes in and it disorders our worship.

Instead of worshiping God, we worship creatures and created things and all these other things.

And sin comes into our life and it disorders our beliefs.

It changes our beliefs.

It changes our thinking.

We don't ever say now, well, what does God's word say about that?

Or what should we do?

But we say things like, well, is it legal?

And is it permissible?

And what does the culture say about it?

And if I say this, well, I get in trouble.

So sin comes in and it disorders our beliefs.

It disorders our thinkings.

Sin also comes in and it disorders our desires.

It changes our desires.

God gave us these desires to walk with him and to seek his face and to be in community and to serve others.

And instead, sin comes in and it makes us selfish and self-centered.

And it just disorders everything.

And then sin disorders our behavior.

So when your desires are disordered, then your behavior is going to be disordered.

And so you just start acting differently than what you're supposed to be.

And so that's what happens in our lives.

And so I want to continue to look at this church at Corinth.

And we're going to talk about a topic today.

And just pray for me.

It's like one of these big hot potatoes.

It's like one of the nuclear bombs of the church today, I think.

And I think it's killing us as Christians.

Because it killed the church in Corinth.

It was tearing them apart.

And we're going to look at this idea of sex.

So if you have a kiddo with you, just be aware of that.

It's not going to get graphic.

But it's going to be a great opportunity for you to talk to them about it.

Because no one ever wants to talk to their kids about sex.

But now you're going to have to because you're going to say,

Pastor Tobin talked about it.

So we need to talk about it.

So hopefully this has given you a chance to talk to your kids afterwards.

And remember, Corinth was this massive city on this peninsula of two harbors.

And it was just the sailor city.

And most historians, when you read these guys, the Romans and the Greeks and Josephus,

they say that it was probably the most immoral city in the world.

It was just out of control in the ancient world.

To be called a Corinthian meant that you were worldly wise.

It wasn't a good thing to be called a Corinthian.

It was a slam.

It meant that you were kind of like a prostitute.

A Corinthian girl was a word for a prostitute.

And so if you're standing by the water cooler today or the Diet Coke machine in your office

and you hear somebody say, well, they're quite the Corinthian, you know what they mean.

It means that they were just, they're sexually immoral.

And this passage today, whenever you see the word immorality, in Greek it means sexual immorality.

In Greek the word actually is pornea.

It means like we get pornography from it.

And so pornea is this catch-all term in Greek language and in Bible theology.

And it basically means sex, any kind of sex with somebody who's not married to you is pornea.

So anytime you have sex with somebody who's not married to you,

and the Bible defines this type of sex in four different ways.

There's four different types of sex with people not married to you.

We're not going to go into those.

But it was a huge thing in the church of Corinth, and it was destroying them, and they were just dying.

So I want to talk about this idea of sex, and I want to look at it today.

I want to talk about kind of what God's design is for sex.

I kind of want to talk about the problem the church had in Corinth and we have today with sex.

And then I want to look at our response, how we should respond to the world around us and the people around us.

And again, this is going to be only 30 minutes, guys, so it's going to be this foundation.

So hopefully we'll just keep building on it.

And if I say something that makes you angry, come up here and tell me that you're angry.

And let's talk about these things because that's what a family does.

We don't just walk away angry.

We talk and we engage people.

And I realize there's probably no topic that carries so much pain in it as sex does in people's lives.

And I have the incredible privilege of counseling people as a pastor and hearing their stories and going into the world.

And I just see scars.

And I see pain.

And I see heartache.

And I see brokenness.

And I see emptiness.

And it's intense as I talk to people.

And I realize that sex is this thing that has this incredible capacity to lift us up.

It has this incredible capacity to just destroy us and devastate us for generations.

And, guys, let's be honest, you know.

I'm 52 years old.

And my parents still have not had the sex talk with me.

I mean, I guess they figured that I figured it out because I got four kids.

But my parents never talked to me about sex.

They threatened us as kids about sex.

We had this little book called The Puppy Book.

And when they wanted to threaten you about being bad, they go, okay, we're going to open up the puppy book.

And we're going to talk about sex.

And I had to go through the puppy book one time.

It didn't really talk a lot about sex.

It just talked about two puppies.

And there's a boy puppy and a girl puppy.

And they're in love.

And they go into another room.

And they come out of the room.

And they have puppies.

So I'm always wondering what the heck's going on in the other room, right?

Because somehow more puppies are being made.

But that's it.

So my hope is that we can start this conversation as a church and talk about this thing, about sex.

Because, you know, the Bible has a ton of things to talk about sex.

I mean, most people that you're going to run into in your office place and your work and your family,

they're going to think that God is down on sex.

He hates sex.

But it's just the opposite.

The Bible elevates sex to this huge level.

I mean, it talks about sex.

The very first commandment God gave the woman and the man in the garden was be fruitful and multiply.

Did you know that?

Now, I know in Hong Kong, when you hear that, what you think it means is buy a lot of apartments.

But be fruitful and multiply in the Bible doesn't mean buy a lot of apartments.

It means be fruitful and multiply.

Okay.

So I want to talk about this today.

And I have this burden on my heart because as I talk to people in Hong Kong and the rest of the world who are not in the family of God,

and mostly when I talk to singles, and I talk to them about Christianity,

and I talk to them about coming to Christ,

almost without exception, a lot of them will tell me that they don't want to do it because they're worried that Christianity will hinder their sex life.

They said they don't want to have anything to do with Christianity because it will not allow them to have sex with the people that they want to have sex with.

And, you know, just this last Friday, I had a conversation with a guy, and he basically said the exact same thing to me.

And he's come to church occasionally, and he's kind of checking things out.

But what's holding him back is he just wants to fornicate with whoever he wants to fornicate with.

And he doesn't want to get married.

And so it struggles with him.

And another thing that's really interesting to me, guys, is that my gay friends and my heterosexual friends,

they both answer the same way.

They both say they don't want to come to Christ because they don't want to give up their sexuality because that's who they are.

However, sometimes if I'm daring or if I'm upset or if I'm just frustrated with them, I might ask them a question.

I might just say, well, tell me, how is it going for you?

How is sex outside of marriage working for you?

Is it simpler or more complicated?

And more often than not, they look at me and go, wow, it's just really complicated.

And I say, yeah, it is.

And the church of Corinth today, they're just going to say it's just sex.

It's just like eating.

But I think that most of us in here probably know that it's not that simple.

That there's a potential to be devastated and to destroy us and to hurt us.

In Genesis chapter 2, I don't have it printed in your bulletin.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

I have my Bible here.

In Genesis chapter 2, God creates this thing called passion.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

2.22, he says,

Now, he's not really creative there, but he's trying.

He says,

And so when you read the scripture there, you realize that God created sex.

He created love.

He created passion.

He brings all these things together.

And when he talks about these things, he says that the man and the woman are to start a new family,

and they are to become united.

One flesh.

Now, in Hebrew, it doesn't just mean massive sex.

United doesn't just mean sex, but it means that when a man and a woman come together,

they create a new relationship.

That they create this loyalty.

That they, and the Hebrew word actually means that they're glued together, that they're united.

The word flesh actually means this is total commitment.

It's not just physical, but it's emotional and social and economic.

It's your whole life.

So in the Bible, when it talks about you getting married,

it means that your whole life comes together with another person's whole life,

and you just merge in there, and that's what happens.

And sex comes in, and the church today, and the church in Corinth treated sex just like a transaction.

But the Bible says, no, it's not just a transaction.

But when something happens in there, there's a spiritual bonding,

and there's this level of your being that's coming together.

And basically what it says in Hebrew is that when you get married and you come together with anybody,

when you have sex with anybody, what you're doing is you're giving up your independence.

You're giving up your rights.

You're making a commitment to that person.

You're merging with that person.

The Bible even says that it's changing your soul,

that when you have sex with a person, it impacts you so greatly that it changes your soul.

And some of the words that the early theologians and historians would say is that sex was kind of like communion.

Sex was kind of like communion.

And communion is, you know, we've talked about that.

It's basically this idea that it's an outward symbol of something inwardly that's happened into you.

And so when Genesis says they were naked and not ashamed, it doesn't mean they were just buck naked.

Now, I know I'm going to have to explain what buck naked is next week,

but it doesn't mean that they're just no clothes on, but it means that they are real with each other.

It means that they're authentic with each other.

It means that they are honest with each other.

It means that they're vulnerable to each other.

It means that they're dependent upon each other.

It means, in Hebrew, it's a sacrament.

It means holy.

Now, I don't know how you feel if you're married and you're listening to this,

but hopefully you're thinking, is that what my marriage is like?

Am I connecting with that person like God has called me to do?

And if you're single in here, you're thinking, wow, I need to think about what kind of person I want to connect to

because this is pretty serious.

And what we're told in the passage is that the church was in the middle of this culture that was sex crazy.

It was just totally disordered, and people were struggling, and people didn't know what to do.

And when you read the passage, it's really strange because you don't know if they just forgot what Paul taught them

or if they just don't want to know what Paul taught them.

But he says over and over, at least four times, don't you know?

Don't you know?

Don't you know?

And what he's saying is I've already talked to you about these things.

These are the things we've already talked about.

These aren't anything new.

Don't you remember?

And so the church was struggling inside, and verse 12 begins that struggle.

It says they had this saying, and they would say, you know, all things are lawful for me.

And what it means is I can do anything.

I'm a Christian now.

The Mosaic law doesn't apply anymore.

I'm justified by Christ.

I'm justified by grace.

I have total freedom.

I'm free to sin.

Sexually, the culture is saying anything goes.

I mean, Corinth was a city where if you said, well, what's the legal thing to do?

They would have said, you can do anything you want.

And so the church is in there, and everything is going, and everything is free, and everything is free game.

And so the church is struggling with, well, what do we do when everything is permissible,

and everything is right in our culture?

How do we handle that?

And they were just getting crushed because they assumed that just because something was legal means that it's moral.

Did you hear what I said?

They assumed that just because something was legal means that it was moral.

And many of us do that in the workplace.

And many of us do that in our lives.

But that Bible says that that's not true.

And so Paul comes in after each one of these sentences, and he says, but.

He says, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're free, but your behavior isn't good still.

Your behavior is going to be self-indulgent.

It's going to be self-serving.

And ultimately, your behavior is going to destroy you.

He's saying, you and I, we have tons of amount of freedom.

As Christians, we can do a lot of things, but we need to ask ourselves, is what we're doing wise?

Are we doing the wisest thing with our time?

Are we doing the wisest thing with our money?

Are we doing the wisest thing with our eyes that we're focusing on?

Are we doing the wisest thing when our mind dwells on something?

That we can dwell on a lot of these things, but is it really profitable to me?

Or will it hurt me?

Will it destroy me?

Paul is saying, maybe we should be asking the question, whatever I'm doing in my freedom,

is it really profitable to the people around me?

I mean, maybe I'm just being very personal, right?

So you can leave because your pastor is a sinner, right?

But I am.

But just growing up, you know, I'm watching these movies, and they're not bad movies,

but they're permissible movies, and they're affecting me, and they're changing me.

And so I needed to ask myself, am I becoming a better friend after I watch these movies?

Am I becoming a better person after I watch these movies?

Am I becoming a better boss or employee after I listen to this or do this or hang out with those people

or I buy these products?

Is these things affecting me?

Am I a better dad?

Am I a better husband?

Am I better be able to do this or do you?

I'm doing things that I want to do.

And Paul warns the church, and he warns us, you've got to be careful.

You have the incredible amount of freedom, but it might not be the best thing for you.

And so the way to ask that is, is it the best thing for the people around you?

he asks it again in verse 12

all things are lawful for me

the exact same thing that they're saying

everything is possible we can do it

we're freedom we're freedom in Christ

the culture says do it

but then Paul comes back but he says

but you're not going to be mastered by anything

he says be careful Tobin

because there's things that you can do

but these things can become addictive

and these things can grab you

and put you into bondage and hurt you

and they can gain control in your life

and they're okay right now

but if you don't moderate your life

if you don't have people asking you questions

you can be destroyed

you can be pulled back into bondage

it's like the passage in Exodus

the people leave Egypt

and they're happy and they're free

but all of a sudden within about three days

they want to go back to Egypt

and he says in the same way you and I are like that

in our lives we've been free

but in the same way you and I struggle

with wanting to go back into bondage

because we are using these freedoms

to do what we want to do

but it's destroying us

the first person or the second person

I ever saw die in a trauma unit

was alcoholic

I sat over his bed

he was going through DTs

he was drying out

trying to dry out

because he had tried many other times

and as this guy shook his body to death

right in front of me

and he was crying

oh Jesus

oh Jesus

he died

and I'm looking at him

I'm looking at my mind

I'm thinking

I wonder if

he thought

when he took that first drink

he would end up here

and so Paul is warning you and I

that we have a lot of freedom

but some of these things

that we can go to

are going to destroy us eventually

the church struggled with that

the people just wanted to hop down

to the temple

and have a prostitute

because a prostitute was a casual thing

it wasn't a long term relationship

no one got hurt

it was just an innocent thing

and it was legal

but Paul said

yeah

but morally

you're destroying yourself

yeah Jesus is going to forgive you

yeah you're right

and the culture is saying

it's great

but you're putting

you're putting pain in your heart

you're hurting yourself

you're destroying yourself

and the freedom that you're having

is not good

and he says

the freedom that you're having

isn't not just good for you

but it's hurting everybody around you

it's like that

illustration I used last week

in the boat

and the guy's drilling a hole

in the boat

and you're looking at him

because you're in the boat with him

and you're going

what are you doing

and he goes

well this is my area

and sometimes in a church

we just think

this is my area

and we don't think

that affects the whole boat

but it sinks the boat

and so Paul's trying to warn the church

that you're sinking the church

because you're using these freedoms

and your freedoms

are just destroying yourself

maybe the question

I should ask

or maybe the question

we should ask

as a church

and as a family

is

do these freedoms

make me a better person

to hang around

as I live out my life

and I do these things

am I a better person

and people loving me

more

or am I hurtful

and less friendly

and less nice

to be around

one last thing

the church struggled with

and this is a massive thing

it's in verse 13

and basically what he's just saying

is it's food

is for the stomach

and the stomach

is for food

and what they said

in their life

this is the church now

they said it's just sex

it's just like food

you need food

to meet your physical needs

so you need sex

to meet your

you need sex

to meet your physical needs

and God made it this way

and by the way

remember the Greeks

thought that everything physical

was terrible and bad

and your body's gonna fall apart

and so there's no need

to take care of your body

because it's just physical

and it's temporal

but what you want to take care of

is your soul

and sex doesn't impact your soul

and it doesn't impact your soul

then you can do anything you want

because it's not spiritual

and we've already learned

that it is spiritual

and they were impacting their souls

and they're impacting their bodies

and they didn't even know that

and Paul says

hey you're destroying yourselves

and this body

that you think

is gonna be destroyed

for some reason

God has in his great plan

and we're gonna talk about this

later in Corinthians

he's gonna raise your body up

did you know that?

that when he comes back again

your body's gonna be made new

and it's gonna be made holy

and he's gonna raise your body up

and there seems to be

this imagery here

he's telling us

be careful how many scars

you put on your body

be careful how you scar your body

because you're gonna have those scars

you know Jesus has scars

right?

you go to heaven

the only man made things in heaven

are these scars

in Jesus' hands

and he got those scars

because of you

and me

and Paul is begging the church

it's not just casual sex

it's not something

that you can just do

and be independent

it's not something

that doesn't involve

a relationship

it's not something

that is freedom

it's not something

that you can just

leave your options open

because if you move in this way

if you act self-centered

if you act selfishly

it's gonna destroy you

it's gonna break your body

and the problem is

that some of us

have our body so broken

that when we come

into other relationships

and we try to have

a meaningful relationship

with people

we can't do it

because it's so scarred

it's like every time

you have sex

you pour a little bit of yourself

out into that person's life

and you pour a little bit of yourself

out into that person's life

and then when you finally find

the person you wanna

spend your life with

your cup is empty

and it's cracked

and it's scarred

and you just can't

you just can't

cope

for 30 years

Christina

for me

and then Christina

is together

we've been doing

marriage counseling

you know what the number one

reason people get divorce is

you might think it's money

but it's not money

the number one reason

people get divorce

is because they

were sexually active

before they got married

with their partner

or with some other spouses

and this activity

has so scarred

their hearts

and their bodies

that when it comes down

to have a meaningful relationship

they just can't do it

and so we see people

in counseling

and there's this tension there

there's this brokenness there

there's these scars there

and they're trying to figure out

why can't I talk to this person

why can't I love this person

the way that they love me

why doesn't this thing work

and often it's because

they've chosen to use their bodies

in a disordered way

and the consequences

of that disorderedness

prevents them

from having a relationship

that they want

does that make sense

C.S. Lewis said it like this

in the Screwtape Letters

Screwtape Letters

is a great book

about these demons

talking about how

they're going to drag people down

and away from Jesus

and this is what he says

he says

each time a man and a woman

enters into a sexual relationship

there's a spiritual bond

that is formed

and this bond

this spiritual bond

must be either eternally enjoyed

or eternally endured

this bond that you form

whenever you have sex

with any person

it's not just sex

it's not just casual

that it is bonding

you're giving yourself

parts of yourself

to this person

and that bond

you'll either enjoy

for the rest of your life

or you're going to

regret it

the rest of your life

Lewis goes on

and he says

the reason that God

takes sexual sin

so seriously

is because it corrupts

and it shatters

spiritual relationships

sexual sin

shatters our bodies

it shatters our relationship

with God

it shatters your relationships

with the people around you

it shatters your relationship

with your future husband

or your wife

and God

takes it

incredibly

incredibly serious

and when Paul said this guys

people looked at him

and they thought

he was an idiot

because up until this point

food was sex

and sex was food

but when Paul says this

in 1 Corinthians

he's lifting sex

really high

and he's elevating it

above all things

and not only is he

lifting sex really high

he's lifting women

really high

because you know

until Paul started

talking about these things

women in every society

was down here

so in Corinth

if you were a man

you could have sex

with whoever you wanted

even after you were married

you could have sex

with whoever you wanted

it didn't really matter

but if you're a woman

and you're married

you couldn't have sex

with anybody else

you could only have sex

with your husband

throughout history

until Christianity

came on the scene

women were always devalued

and put down

and Paul elevates them

he elevates singleness

he elevates marriage

he elevates sex

and he puts all these things

on his pedestal

and he says

no this isn't

how you should do it

this is how you should do it

so what do we do now?

we know that we're disordered

we know that we're thinking wrong

we know that our activities are wrong

what do we do?

and Paul says it

in verses 14 through 20

he says hey

understand that as you walk

that Christ is always with you

understand that as you walk

as a Christian

that Christ is in you

that he's beside you

that your bodies

were created as his temple

and now as Christians

God's spirit lives within us

that our bodies aren't our own

but they're God's

and they've been given to God

so that we could serve him

so it's kind of why he says

in verse 18

flee immorality

it's really strong words

and he says

when that thing

gets near your body

you need to run away

and get away from it

because if you don't

it's going to destroy you

it's going to destroy you

and it's going to destroy

everybody around you

and I think the problem

with us as Christians

is we don't take that seriously

I mean we say things like

you know

yeah but you know

I really love that person

yeah you know

I really

we're going to get married someday

and it's going to be okay

you know

I really care about them

you know

my husband

doesn't

meet all my emotional needs

that I need

but this guy

treats me so tenderly

you know

my wife

doesn't really

fulfill all my sexual desires

and my need for release

and so I need to go here

you know

porn

isn't really that bad

because it

it makes me feel in control

and it makes me feel good

about myself

because the rest of my time

I don't feel very good

about myself

you know

it's not really immoral

it's just

it's legal

but it's not really that bad

and what Paul is saying

to you and I

in the church

is that all these things

are just symptoms

and samples

of our disorderedness

and we've lost

his holiness

and what he's looking at

so the question maybe

is this

what values

do you hold

are your values

disordered

where do you get

where do you get

where do you get

your morals

you get them

from the Wall Street Journal

South China Morning Post

Oprah

Newsweek

I mean there's a lot

of us as Christians

in the family of God

and we're living

like good Corinthians

we're living

like good Corinthians

with what we watch

what we spend our money on

how we serve

and the question is

are we different

than the world around us

are we

one last thing

and we'll end

for me

this is

this is an incredibly hard passage

but it's probably

no passage

that I know of

that's filled with more hope

and grace

and care

in all the scripture

and if you look at

verses 11

and verse 20

Paul says

some of you

are just like this

but you were washed

means that you had

God's Holy Spirit

fill you

and change you

some of you

are just like this

but you were sanctified

you were made holy

for God's service

some of you

are just like these people

but you were justified

you were counted righteous

by what Christ did

on the cross

in his spirit

all of us

he says

you're bought

with a price

God

loves you

so much

he wanted to

redeem

your broken body

so much

that he breaks

his own body

on a cross

so that you might

be made whole

and new

Paul is trying

to teach us

in this passage

guys

the only thing

that can reorder

our lives

the only thing

that can reorder

our beliefs

the only thing

that can reorder

our thinking

the only thing

that can reorder

our desires

the only thing

that can reorder

our behavior

is the cross

is Jesus Christ

before you go back

to bed tonight

go back through this verse

and I want you to notice

one thing

Paul doesn't

come at us

and say

shame on you

for doing that

you shouldn't

be doing that

Paul doesn't say

don't do that

because you're

going to get STD

or you're going

to get AIDS

or something bad

is going to happen

don't do that

Paul doesn't come in

and just heavy handedly

hit you

and beat you

and tell you

how terrible

we are

but what he does

instead

is he just

looks at the cross

he says

remember what

Jesus has done

for you

remember how

he's broken

for you

remember how

he died

to make you

whole

remember how

he died

to fix the

brokenness

in your cup

it's not about

anger

it's not about

wrath

it's not about

consequences

per se

but what he's

saying is

it's about

love

and it's

about grace

what this

passage says

is there's

nothing you've

done

there's no

mistake that

you've done

sexually

or with your

money

or with your

finances

or with

relationships

there's nothing

that you've

done that

God doesn't

know about

and he isn't

ready to heal

there's no

amount of

disorderedness

in your life

that can't

be fixed

because the

cross can

fix everything

so Paul

doesn't say

shame on you

you shouldn't

have done

that

you shouldn't

have done

these things

you shouldn't

have looked

at that

you shouldn't

have acted

this way

but what he

says is

just look at

what God's

done for

you

and as you

look at those

things we want

you to respond

and understand

how much he

loves you

and how much

he cares

for you

and how much

he wants

to be with

you

I had to

work through

a lot of

scars before

I realized

that in my

life

and I'm

still feeling

the consequences

of some of

those scars

but what the

passage says

is

God knows

he's ready

to heal

us

if we let

him

if we want

to

you know

when we

started

Watermark

we said

that we

wanted to

be a

community

that was

different

than the

culture

we wanted

to be a

family

that could

discuss

pray

help

confess

forgive

and heal

each other

Watermark

is a

community

of

disordered

broken

fractured

sinful

people

who are

on a

journey

together

being

healed

by the

cross

don't

ever forget

that

don't

ever forget

that

church

of

Corinth

forgot

that

because

of that

they were

getting

destroyed

and eaten

up by

the

culture

around

them

one

action

point

I want

to give

you

you're

going to

leave here

today

and you're

going to

go through

your work

and your

business

and your

home

and your

family

this week

and you're

going to

have a

ton of

amount

of freedom

in your

life

you're

going to

be able

to do

a lot

of

things

in the

workplace

and you're

going to

be able

to do

a lot

of things

at home

and a lot

of things

in the

restaurants

that are

totally

legal

but they

might not

be moral

they might

not be

what honors

the Lord

and so

before you

do that

would you

ask yourself

these questions

that I'm

wanting to ask

myself

if I do

this will

it make

me more

spiritually

mature

if I do

this will

help other

people grow

in their

faith

if I

choose

this

will I

be denying

myself

and serving

the people

around me

that's a big

one for me

if I do

this

freedom

this thing

that I

can do

will I

be denying

myself

instead of

serving Tobin

serve somebody

else

who needs

to be

served

if I do

this

will I

bring glory

to God

and it

could be a ton

of different

things you

could be dating

a guy

or a girl

you could be

hanging out

with a group

of people

you could be

having sex

outside the

office

sex outside

of marriage

you could be

fulfilling your

sexual fantasies

you could be

taking a new

job

you could be

watching things

that are

questionable

you could be

listening to

things that are

questionable

you could be

buying products

that you hope

will fulfill

your life

and make you

happy and

whole and

great and

happy

you could be

using your

money in

different ways

and all of

these things

are not just

sex

because the

passage isn't

just about

sex

the passage is

about your

soul

and how you

choose to walk

with the

Lord

and is the

cross enough

or do we

need something

else

that's what the

passage is

about

he just uses

sex as a

vehicle because

they were really

struggling with it

but we might be

struggling with

something else

father we thank you

for this day

we thank you for

your mercy

and your grace

we thank you

that you come

at us with

your word

you come at

us with the

cross

I think most

of us have

never experienced

that before

because we're

in a world

where we're

getting come

at by pain

and sorrow

and harsh

words and

harsh languages

you come at

us as a

father who

loves his

children

so what I

pray for us

today as a

church

I pray that

we would learn

from the

church of

Corinth

I pray that

we wouldn't

take advantage

of our freedoms

but we'd

realize that

they have

an incredible

capacity to do

amazing things

but they also

have an incredible

capacity to

hurt

to damage

those around

us

and to bring

us into

bondage

Lord you've

given us

incredible amounts

of freedom

in the gospel

as your people

but still those

freedoms have

powers to

change and to

influence

help us to be a

church that uses

that wisely

help us to be a

people that uses

that wisely

may we be able

to say that

we're better

because of the

freedoms because

our freedoms are

focused on others

and on your

son

father I pray for

those my brothers

and sisters here

right now who are

struggling with

Christianity

maybe they're

struggling with the

sexuality part of

it maybe they're

struggling with they

have to give up

something maybe

they have to give

up their

lifestyle and they

know that they

don't want to do

that

Lord I pray that

you would meet

them in their

heart

they would see

your love for

them and your

desire to bring

them to a place

that is not

disordered

but has meaning

and purpose

and hope

father help us to

be a church that

holds your grace

and your freedom

well that makes it

attractive to those

around us who are

dying so they might

see your son and

fall in love with

him father we love

you we pray these

things your son

Jesus name amen

oh

oh