Body and Sex

Throughout history, humanity has had a love-hate relationship with their own bodies.

On the one hand, what we might call ascetics, they renounce and punish their own bodies

for the sake of spiritual gain, what they consider to be spiritual gain,

whether it's through self-flagellation, whipping their own bodies,

or self-imposed poverty and begging.

On the other hand, the hedonists, they embrace and indulge their bodies

as if it had no effect on their spirituality.

Whether it's through gluttony or sexual immorality,

they think that they could do whatever they want to their bodies,

but it wouldn't have any effect on their spirituality.

And both views are well-attested in the history of religion,

and they share a common error. They have the same error.

And that's that they both discount the importance of the body

and view it as something that's unnecessary and extraneous for their spirituality.

The ascetics believe that the body needs to be subdued

and overcome for the sake of spirituality,

while the hedonists believe that the body can be indulged to whatever they want

and it wouldn't have any effect on the spirituality.

Scripture, however, the Christian scriptures,

does not discount the importance of the body.

Rather, it teaches that we ought to glorify God in our bodies

because our bodies have been united with Christ in his death and resurrection.

That's the main point of this passage.

And at first, I'll talk about how our bodies will be raised by God in verses 12 to 14.

And then I'll talk about how our bodies are members of Christ in verses 15 to 18.

And then finally about how our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit in verses 19 to 20.

There's a Trinitarian outline here that Paul gives us.

So the Corinthians were actually guilty of both errors,

both the ascetic error and the hedonist error,

and you'll see both of that as we go through the book.

But here, Paul's concern particularly is with their hedonistic error

because they were indulging in sexual immorality,

thinking that it wouldn't affect their spirituality and their standing with God in any way.

So some of the men were blatantly hiring prostitutes and sleeping with them

and then rationalizing it afterward using certain slogans that we see here in verse 12.

It says,

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful, says Paul.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.

The clause in quotation marks,

the all things are lawful for me.

That's the slogan that the Corinthian believers,

some of them were using to rationalize their immorality.

And they were taking really the spiritual freedom that they have in Christ,

which Paul teaches elsewhere,

and then to use that twist that it distorted to say

that all things are permissible and lawful for them.

I mentioned this a couple weeks ago,

that that's kind of what they were doing.

And it's true that while Christians,

because we have been freed from the law,

we're not under the law anymore because Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf.

So we are not legally bound to it in a sense that we're going to be punished according to the law.

However, that doesn't mean that what the Corinthians are trying to make it mean,

was that all things are lawful for me and you can live however you wish.

And so Paul sharply qualifies their slogan in verse 12

by adding his own kind of qualifications to the saying,

all things are lawful for me.

He says first,

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

Sure, you might have the right or authority to do such things,

but that does not mean that such things are helpful or beneficial.

So for Paul, it's not merely a question of what can we do,

but it's a question of what should we do as Christians.

This issue comes up again in chapter 10,

and apparently some of the Corinthian believers were eating food

that had previously been sacrificed to idols.

And that in and of itself is not a problem

because it's just good steak that Paul knows

that Christians have the freedom to enjoy.

That's okay with him, but it's a problem

because Paul is saying that for the sake of Christian brothers and sisters

who have weaker consciences,

who do not think that eating meat that had previously been sacrificed to idols is okay,

that Paul says we should abstain from such things.

And in that context, in chapter 10, verse 23,

Paul says a very similar thing.

All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful, but not all things build up.

So that explains really what he means by not all things are helpful.

It doesn't build up.

It doesn't build up the church.

It doesn't build us up as believers.

Because the Christian life is not about our rights,

but about the things that benefit and build up the church.

Our decision-making process, then in all that we do,

all that we're thinking about,

it shouldn't ever be purely self-focused, self-centered,

but it should be oriented toward glorifying God and edifying the church,

building up the church.

That's Paul's first qualification.

The proper Christian attitude is not one of entitlement,

but of selfless service.

We should ask ourselves not merely whether or not we have the right to do something,

or permitted to do something,

but whether or not what we're about to do is helpful and edifying.

And Martin Luther, the reformer,

once wrote in his famous treaty on the freedom of a Christian,

quote,

A Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all,

subject to none.

A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all,

subject to all.

Yes, we have freedom in Christ,

but with that freedom,

we don't use it to abuse our own rights,

but to serve others,

to build up others in Christ's name.

And most of us probably do not go to the same extreme

that Corinthian believers were going

in justifying fornication and prostitution

with the pretext of Christian freedom.

But this still remains a helpful principle for us

because it has a very wide-ranging application.

So think about it for a second,

and I'm not giving you guys any conclusions at this point,

but ask yourselves,

yes, right,

it is lawful for us to smoke cigars.

It is.

Yes, it is lawful for us to binge-watch TV shows on Netflix.

It's lawful for us to do that.

Yes, it's lawful for us to spend hours every day on video games.

It's lawful for us to drink heavily caffeinated energy drinks every day.

Yes, it's lawful for us to partake in extreme sports

that have exceptionally high degree of risk.

It's all lawful to do.

But let me ask you,

is it helpful?

Does it really tend to the glory of God?

Does it really tend to the good of the church?

Is it good for you?

I'm not going to answer those questions for you specifically

because this is a general principle here,

and I don't want to err by overreaching

with specific applications that are not warranted by this principle.

But this principle is clearly here,

and I think each of us needs to at least wrestle with it,

asking ourselves, is what I am about to do helpful?

Is it edifying?

And I want you to do that, to ask that question prayerfully,

and then do only what your conscience allows.

Because speaking of, right, in Romans 14,

speaking of whether or not Christians are able to eat foods

that are ritually unclean,

he says,

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus

that nothing is unclean in itself,

but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat,

you are no longer walking in love.

By what you eat,

do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

This is a really helpful principle.

If you're not fully convinced that whatever you're doing is lawful,

and you do it nonetheless,

then your action does not proceed from faith,

and therefore it is sinful.

Do you guys follow me?

And now, even if you are fully convinced

that what you're doing is lawful,

but you deem that it is not helpful

for building up your brothers and sisters in Christ,

and you do it anyway,

then your action does not spring from love,

and it is therefore sinful.

Do you follow that?

This is an extraordinarily high call for the Christian.

It's the Christ-like road of sacrifice and servanthood.

And Paul also provides a second qualification

to the Christian, to the Corinthian slogan.

He says,

All things are lawful for me, still in verse 12,

but I will not be dominated by anything.

The word dominated is a word play on the word lawful.

They look and very sound similar in the Greek.

And so this is kind of,

so he's saying that while all things may be permitted to you,

they are not to be controlled by it, by anything.

And this is really echoing Paul's teaching elsewhere

in Romans 6, 12 to 16.

He says,

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body

to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin

as instruments for unrighteousness,

but present yourselves to God

as those who have been brought from death to life,

and your members to God

as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you,

since you are not under law but under grace.

What then?

Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?

By no means do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves,

you are slaves of the one whom you obey,

either of sin, which leads to death,

or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.

Right?

So this is Paul clarifying really his teaching on the freedom of the Christian.

He's saying that while it is true that those who are in Christ,

because Christ fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf,

are no longer under the law,

and we're free from the law and its legal demands,

but this did not mean that they could go on sinning,

because to do so would mean that we are still dominated by sin,

under its authority,

and slaves to sin.

Christian freedom, right?

Far from permitting sin,

it's supposed to preclude sin,

because Christian freedom means servitude to God.

That's what Christian freedom means.

So it is a contradiction in terms to say,

oh, I'm spiritual and I have freedom,

and then to be dominated by sin.

And even if the activity in view is not sinful in and of itself,

even if it is lawful,

if our appetite for it becomes inordinate,

and it begins to dominate and control us,

then we violate this principle.

That we would not be dominated by anything.

So let me ask you,

is there a practice,

or a preference,

or a substance in your life that dominates you?

If you are unwilling to give it up for the sake of glorifying God,

and for the sake of edifying the church,

or if you are willing but unable to do so,

those are sure indicators that your appetite for this thing

has grown inordinately to idolatrous proportions.

And when it comes to conquering the desires of the flesh,

and the desires of the eyes,

and the pride of life,

we have to be decisive and ruthless,

and we can do it in the power of the Holy Spirit,

with the loving accountability of the church.

And then in verses 13 to 14,

Paul challenges another one of the Corinthian slogans.

Read with me,

verses 13 to 14,

food is meant for the stomach,

and the stomach for food.

And God will destroy both one and the other.

The body is not meant for sexual immorality,

but for the Lord,

and the Lord for the body.

And God raised the Lord,

and will also raise us up by His power.

The saying,

I know we have some real foodies in the house,

in the church,

so this might be discouraging to some of you,

but it's food is meant for the stomach,

and the stomach for food.

So this is a saying that dealt with

the irrelevance of food restrictions,

and there was no longer,

well I guess this is good for some of the foodies for now,

is that there is no longer need to fret

about what you're eating,

whether some kind of foods are clean or unclean,

ritually speaking,

whether it's appropriate for you to eat,

or inappropriate for you to eat it.

And note that Paul doesn't dispute this fact,

he agrees with the Corinthian slogan at this point,

yes, the food is meant for the stomach,

and the stomach for food.

But their ultimate fate,

ultimate fate for both the stomach and food,

is God will destroy both one and the other.

So food and the stomach

are intended for our sustenance in this life,

here and now,

and they will not be the means

of our eternal sustenance in the resurrection life.

So that they are destined for destruction,

that's what Paul's speaking of here.

And this is similar to what Paul teaches,

Romans 14, 17,

it says,

For the kingdom of God

is not a matter of eating and drinking,

but of righteousness and peace and joy

in the Holy Spirit.

It doesn't make sense in light of that

for us who are destined for heaven

to be so consumed by our physical appetites,

or to be overly concerned with what we eat or drink,

because these are earthly things

that will pass away.

Their ultimate destiny is destruction.

The Corinthians were right in this regard.

They understood this correctly,

but that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that the Corinthians

adapted this line of reasoning,

and they were arguing by analogy

that the body was meant for sex,

or sexual immorality in this case,

and sex for the body.

So our bodily organs,

this is kind of how they were thinking and reasoning,

our bodily organs,

our brains,

our bodily chemicals,

all of these things worked together

to make sex pleasurable.

So clearly,

the body was meant for sex.

It was designed for sex,

and the sex for the body.

So what harm is there

in doing,

in fulfilling,

in indulging this basic biological desire?

That was the Corinthian reasoning.

That's their rationale.

So they're justifying sexual immorality

by saying that,

well, just like the stomach,

and just like food,

they all pass away.

Same thing with our bodies.

They will all pass away.

So why not indulge in sexual immorality

while we still can,

and we still have our bodies?

But Paul exposes the critical flaw in their logic

by formulating a counterpoint

in exactly the same parallel format

to the Corinthian argument.

Verses 13 to 14,

look at it with me one more time.

The body is not meant for sexual immorality,

but for the Lord,

and the Lord for the body.

And God raised the Lord

and will also raise us up by His power.

While it is true that food is for the stomach

and stomach is for food,

it does not follow from this

that the body is meant for sexual immorality

and the sexual immorality for the body.

Instead, Paul argues,

the body is meant for the Lord

and the Lord for the body

because,

and this is his reasoning,

the ultimate fate of our bodies

is not destruction,

but resurrection.

You guys follow that?

This is the reason that Paul gives in verse 14.

God raised the Lord

and will also raise us up by His power.

That's Paul's logic.

The Corinthian believers are wrong

to assume that our bodies,

like our stomach for food,

will be destroyed with death.

They believed in the redemption of their souls,

but not the redemption of their bodies.

And they were wrong.

And Greek philosophy,

along with all the other really major religions,

extant at this time

when the Corinthians were written,

taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

You guys have probably heard of it.

A lot of people would believe it nowadays as well.

And where in the immortality of the soul,

after death,

the disembodied soul without the body

will either travel to the afterlife

to be subsumed to this divine being

or the nature,

whatever it might be,

or it will be reincarnated

into a new bodily form.

That's kind of what immortality of the soul would teach

because immortality of the soul believes

that the body is gone.

It's just the soul that's immortal.

But the Christian doctrine is not that

because the Bible doesn't teach

that the soul is eternal

while the body is temporal.

Instead, it teaches the doctrine

of the resurrection of the body.

This was so radical for its time

when this was first formulated.

Their bodies will be raised

and perfected

at the second coming of Christ

and we will be made whole again,

soul and body.

That's the doctrine,

the Christian doctrine.

And the final consummation of God's salvation

is not some heaven up there

that's separate from earth

where just our souls dwell,

but it will be the new heavens

and a new earth.

Revelation 21.

The heaven up there for our soul

is merely a layover.

The final destination

is the new heaven and new earth here

where we in our embodied souls,

with our bodies raised again

as Christ was,

will live in eternity with God.

And this Christian teaching

about the resurrection of the body

imbues our physical bodies

with unprecedented dignity

and significance.

Because our bodies

are not some burdensome shells,

right,

that we're just going to shed

or discard for eternal life.

No, God the Father

will raise our bodies

by His power

just as He raised Christ's body

by His power.

For that reason,

our bodies have eternal significance.

And it's wrong to indulge

or abuse our bodies

like it's inconsequential

because what we do

with our physical bodies

have spiritual consequences

according to what Paul

is writing here.

Because the body is meant

for the Lord

and the Lord for the body, right?

Christ died and rose again

to give us spiritual life

in here and now

to guarantee our resurrection life

in the future to come.

He gave Himself to ensure

the resurrection of our bodies

and that's why the Lord

is for the body.

He gave Himself for our bodies.

And likewise,

because Christians are those

who by faith

have been united with Christ

in His death and resurrection,

our bodies are meant

for the Lord,

not for ourselves

or for anyone else.

Our bodies are consecrated to Him,

set apart for Him.

And it's not our prerogative

to do with it

whatever we wish.

This is the first theological reason

that Paul gives

for why we ought to glorify God

in our bodies.

That our bodies

will be raised by God the Father.

Then in verses 15 to 17,

Paul elaborates

on the second theological reason

why we ought to glorify God

in our bodies

and that's this,

because our bodies

are members of Christ.

That's my second point.

That's really an expansion

of Paul's point

that he made earlier

when he says,

Do you not know

that your bodies

are members of Christ?

He writes this in 15, 17.

Shall I then take

the members of Christ

and make the members

of a prostitute?

Never.

Or do you not know

that he who is joined

to a prostitute

becomes one body with her?

For as it is written,

the two will become one flesh,

but he who is joined

to the Lord

becomes one spirit with him.

So verse 15

is Paul's exhortation

that Christians

who are members of Christ

should not become

members of a prostitute.

And then verses 16 to 17

provide the explanation

for why sexual intercourse

with a man,

for a man becomes

a member of a prostitute.

So this is a really

important teaching.

And in Ephesians 5,

22-33,

Paul teaches

the famous passage

you guys know of

that the union

between a husband

and a wife

points to the consummation,

that it points

to the union

with Christ

of the believers,

the union between

Christ and the church.

And after saying

that in that passage

in Ephesians 5

that we are members

of Christ's body,

Paul cites Genesis 2-24,

which he also cites here

as proof of the same point.

And he says this,

Therefore a man

shall leave his father

and mother

and hold fast to his wife

and the two shall

become one flesh.

So Paul's teaching

that that one flesh union

between husband and wife

points to the union,

spiritual union

between Christ

and the church.

And it's significant

that this is a metaphor,

of course,

but this is not just

an analogy.

It's actually pointing

to a spiritual reality,

that church really is

the body of Christ.

Matter of fact,

we're speaking,

but in a real spiritual way.

And we know this

because in Ephesians 5,

Paul consistently uses

the language of comparison

and analogy

to refer to other things.

So he says,

for example,

he uses the comparative

particle as,

when he says,

Wives,

submit to your own husbands

as to the Lord.

In other words,

husbands are not

the lords of their wives,

but the wives are called

to submit to them

as to the Lord.

So that's the comparative language.

It also says,

for the husband

is the head of the wife,

even as Christ

is the head of the church.

Meaning,

the husband is not

the head of the wife

in exactly the same way

as Christ is the head

of the church,

but it's comparable,

even as, right?

It's true in an analogous way.

Similarly,

it says,

Now as the church

submits to Christ,

so also wives

should submit

to their husbands.

Husbands,

love your wives

as Christ loved the church.

In the same way,

husbands should love

their wives

as their own bodies

as Christ does the church.

Meaning,

the wife is not literally

the body of the husband,

but they do form

a one-flesh union,

but this doesn't mean

they don't have separate bodies.

Nevertheless,

the husband should love her

as if she were

his own body.

Right?

You guys follow me?

It's a comparison.

It's an analogy.

So consistently,

he uses the language

of analogy

throughout Ephesians 5,

22 to 33.

But notably,

in verses 30 to 32,

when he's speaking

of how the church

is the body of Christ,

he discards the language

of analogy and comparison

and uses the language

of identity and being.

He says,

We are members

of his body.

Therefore,

a man shall leave

his father and mother

and hold fast to his wife,

and the two shall become

one flesh.

So in the same way,

the real way husband and wife

really become one flesh

in their union,

the church and Christ

become one through

the spiritual union.

So it's not just an analogy.

It's a reality,

and that's what kind of

grounds Paul's argument here.

Unless we think that crudely

that our union with Christ

is similar to sexual intercourse

between a husband and a wife,

he qualifies it in verse 17.

He says,

He who is joined to the Lord

becomes one spirit with him,

right?

Which is different from

the man who sleeps

with the prostitute

becomes one body with her,

right?

So that's different

because this is speaking

of a spiritual union,

but it's not just

a figure of speech.

It's real.

It's a real spiritual union

between Christ

and the church

because Christ

didn't just save our souls,

but he saved our bodies.

And when we

renown our sins then

and believe in Jesus Christ

for salvation,

we're united with him,

Christ in his death

and resurrection.

And through that,

we are given

spiritual resurrection life

in the present

and we'll be given

physical resurrection life

in the future.

And Christ's bodily resurrection

is the guarantee of that.

He's the first fruits

of the resurrection.

So then,

to take the bodies

that we have been given

to unite it

with a prostitute

in sexual immorality,

to do so is tantamount

to joining Christ,

the Holy One,

the righteous Son of God,

with a prostitute.

And just the thought of it

is so revolting to Paul.

He exclaims,

never.

Absolutely not.

May never be so.

The two options

are mutually exclusive.

Of course,

Paul's not arguing

that sex in general

is forbidden, right?

In the next chapter

in 1 Corinthians 7,

Paul writes that

in order to avoid

temptations

for sexual immorality,

that the husband

should give to his wife

her conjugal rights,

and likewise

the wife to her husband.

For the wife

does not have authority

over her own body,

but the husband does.

Likewise,

the husband does not

have authority

over his own body,

but the wife does.

So sexual union

between husband and wife

is a good thing

because that picture

that is a one-fleshed union

is a divinely appointed picture

of Christ's union

with the church.

However,

sexual immorality,

sexual union

with the prostitute,

profanes the sanctity

of marriage,

and it's a flagrant

contradiction

and violation

of our membership

in the body of Christ.

For this reason,

Paul writes in verse 18,

flee from sexual immorality.

Every other sin

a person commits

is outside the body,

but the sexually immoral person

sins against his own body.

And what does Paul mean by that?

Every other sin

a person commits

is outside the body.

What about sins like

gluttony,

drunkenness,

drug abuse?

Aren't these also sins

against our own bodies?

By this,

I don't think Paul means

that only sexual immorality

affects the body.

Other sins affect

our bodies as well.

But in a particular way,

sexual immorality

is against one's body

because it brings about

a profane,

one-fleshed union

and makes one's body

an illicit member

of another person's body.

And in that way,

it's unique,

it's singular,

and it violates

the spiritual union

of the believer with Christ.

So in that sense,

it is a unique sin.

And this exposes

really the foolishness,

right,

of the hookup culture

that we live in.

Not only is sexual immorality

a sin against God,

you're sinning

against your own bodies.

This is the second

theological reason

that Paul gives

for why we ought

to glorify God

in our bodies.

Our bodies are members

of Christ.

And then in verses 19 to 20,

Paul gives his third

and final reason

why we ought to glorify God

in our bodies.

And that's that our bodies

are temples

of the Holy Spirit.

He writes,

Or do you not know

that your body

is a temple

of the Holy Spirit

within you,

whom you have from God?

You are not your own,

for you are bought

with a price.

So glorify God

in your body.

Right,

earlier in chapter 3,

Paul spoke of the fact

that the whole church,

right,

is the temple

of the Holy Spirit,

right?

But now Paul tells us

that what is true

of the church corporately

is also true

of believers individually.

And so we could say

it's appropriate to say

if we are together

as the church,

the temple

of the Holy Spirit,

it's appropriate to say

that each of us individually

is a temple

of the Holy Spirit.

And this is also pointing

to a spiritual reality,

right?

And it runs counter

to the Corinthians'

misunderstanding

that whatever they do

to their bodies,

it doesn't matter,

that it's inconsequential,

because the body

is destined for destruction

and therefore has

no eternal significance.

Because they believe

themselves to be

so spiritual

that they were above

such encumbrances,

that they can do

whatever they want

to their bodies.

But Paul corrects them

saying,

if you are indeed spiritual,

if you really have

the Spirit of God

like you claim to have,

then you should be

all the more careful

what you do

with your bodies

because your bodies

are the temple

of the Holy Spirit.

And the consequence

of that reality

is you are not

your own, right?

When the Bible speaks

of being filled

or being indwelled

by the Holy Spirit,

it's speaking of our

possession by the Holy Spirit,

that we are owned

by Him.

Remember what we learned

from Ephesians 1, right?

That when we believe

in Jesus Christ

for salvation,

we are sealed

with the promised

Holy Spirit

who is a guarantee

of our inheritance, right?

The Spirit of God

seals us, right?

He is, we might say,

He is Himself

the seal as well

as He seals us.

So He's the one

that declares over us

that we are His,

that we are His,

God's treasured possession.

So we could think

of the Spirit

as God's inscription,

His signature.

The Spirit is God's mark

of ownership over us.

And indeed,

sexual immorality

is a sin

against one's own body,

but this offense

is made worse

by the fact that,

properly speaking,

the Christian's body

is not even our own.

It belongs to God.

So do you live then

as if your body's,

indeed your whole life,

your every decision,

rightly belongs to God?

Or,

life is not about

eating what I want,

buying what I want,

doing what I want.

The true Christian posture

is to ask always,

Lord, what would you

have me do?

And to labor every day

to try to keep in step

with the Holy Spirit.

And why do we belong to God?

Why does God own us,

as Paul's talking about?

Paul's reason is given

in verse 20.

For you were bought

with a price.

This is the language

of the slave market.

And this, of course,

makes us feel

a little bit uncomfortable,

right?

Because,

for one,

our nation's history

is stained with

the heinous evil

of race-based

and kidnap-sourced,

greed-driven,

lifelong slavery.

So when we think of slavery,

that's what we think of.

But the Bible knows

of no such slavery.

That's not what's in view here.

And then secondly,

here in the U.S.,

we're also all about independence

and the right

to self-determination,

right?

So we have a natural aversion

to any language

of being owned.

In fact,

that's like a,

it's not like a punchline,

like you got owned

or something, right?

So it's like,

so it's like,

so we don't want that.

We dislike that.

Just have a natural aversion

to it.

But being the slaves of God

is not oppressive

or restrictive.

Rather,

it's when we are truly free.

God is our creator.

He designed us,

right?

And His will

is perfect and good.

And it's within

His will

and not outside of it

that we experience

true freedom

and joy.

In his book,

Orthodoxy,

G.K. Chesterton

writes about this paradoxical

aspect of Christianity.

He says,

the more I considered Christianity,

the more I found

that while it had established

a role and order,

the chief aim of that order

was to give room

for good things

to run wild.

The freedom to sin

to freedom

to disobey God

is no freedom at all.

It's what derails

the good things

in this world

to run headlong

into cliffs.

So it makes us fearful

and then it forces us

to put artificial,

man-made boundaries

that's even more restrictive

than what God had for us.

Perhaps you're not yet

a follower of Jesus,

right?

And you've always felt

that Christianity

is like a straitjacket

that just restricts you

and tells you what to do.

This is the paradox

of Christianity.

It's that Jesus Christ,

the only person

in the history of humanity

who did not deserve

to be punished by God,

his whole life,

he had perfectly obeyed

God the Father.

Yet he willingly died

for our sin,

for our rebellion.

He died on the cross

so that we can be saved

and forgiven

and freed.

And that righteous one,

he died so that

the guilty ones can live

and because Jesus

humbled himself

by becoming obedient

even to death,

to death on the cross,

therefore God exalted him

to the highest place,

gave him the name

that is above every name,

right?

Jesus rose again

from the dead,

ascended to his Father's right hand

and now reigns with him.

His death brought about our life

and his humiliation

led to his exaltation.

That's the ultimate paradox

of Christianity.

It's what we call the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ.

And that same principle

now applies to us.

Those who submit themselves

to Christ

will find that they are

truly free

as they never were before.

And those who die to themselves

and to their selfish desires

and pursuits

find that they are now

truly alive

as they never were before.

So stop living for yourself.

Start living for God today.

So we can run wild together

in the goodness

of God's will for us.

And if you are already

a Christian,

then let this

remind you

at what cost

you were purchased

by Christ for God.

1 Peter 1, 14-18

says,

When Christ ransomed us

for God with His own blood,

He purchased our bodies

as well.

That's why Paul says

in verse 20,

You are bought with the price,

so glorify God

in your body.

We were all once slaves

to sin,

but as Romans 6-18 says,

we are now slaves

of righteousness.

Think about it this way.

So Hannah and I,

we often buy things

cheaply off Craigslist

or we get it for free

off websites

like Buy Nothing Cambridge

in Cambridge.

You guys know about that.

And so one of the things

we got off of

Buy Nothing Cambridge

for free

was a rocking chair

that Hannah used

really well

for nursing

our second daughter.

It was a serviceable chair,

but the fabric on it

was wearing off,

and the rocking mechanism

had gotten rusty.

It was really old,

so it would creak

really loudly,

and sometimes it would

wake up the baby

and just put to sleep

by rocking her.

So it worked most times,

but it didn't work

all the time.

But we weren't

dissatisfied with it.

And why?

Because we got it

for free.

I mean,

it was worth the price

we paid for it.

But imagine

if we had paid $200

for a new rocking chair

at Babies R Us,

that thing better glide

like it's on ice.

Right?

I mean...

It better be worth

the price

we paid for it.

Do you know

your worth

as a Christian?

That you were bought

not with perishable things

like silver or gold?

That's rubbish

compared to what

he paid for us.

He bought us

with the precious blood

of Jesus Christ.

Do you know

your worth?

If he gave

his very life

up for you

and we have been

united with Jesus

in his death

and resurrection,

we better live

up to our worth.

Would you squander

a life that Christ

purchased with

his very own life?

So let's remind

ourselves of this

truth daily

so we can live

up to our billing.

We ought to glorify

God in our bodies

because our bodies

have been united

with Christ

in his death

and resurrection.

Let's pray together.

God,

you love

us so dearly

and we cannot

fathom how precious

you treat us,

how precious

we are to you

that you would

pay for it

with the blood

of your own

son,

Jesus Christ.

We pray

that that truth

would motivate us

into holy living

and we pray

that that truth

would motivate us

into evangelism.

we pray that you

would conform us

to this truth

with which you

have addressed us

this morning

from your word.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.