1 Corinthians 6:12-20 | Kathryn Alban
Kathryn Alban
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· 23 viewsKathryn shares about Paul’s challenges to the Corinthian church. Paul teaches them to leave the habits and customs not edifying to other believers or their relationship with God.
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1 Corinthians 6:12-15a
1 Corinthians 6:12-15a
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “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. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
The book or 1 Corinthians was a letter that Paul wrote to the church of Corinth. Corinth was a city full of sin and ungodliness. And this letter addresses issues that this new church was facing:
The book or 1 Corinthians was a letter that Paul wrote to the church of Corinth. Corinth was a city full of sin and ungodliness. And this letter addresses issues that this new church was facing:
Such as....
Division in believers
Incest
Sexual Immorality
misguidance when it came to marriage and singleness
being a stumbling block to others
Here in chapter 6:12-20...
Here in chapter 6:12-20...
We see Paul address 2 different common sayings that were known in Corinth:
All things are lawful for me
Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for the food
As I was reading this scripture I started to think of all of the common saying we here now a days:
-My body, my choice
-YOLO- You only live once
-Live your truth
-My Rules, My life
-You do you, I’ll do me
-Do What makes you happy
These are all common sayings we hear in our culture. It is funny that so many of these slogans can lead to dangerous thinking. Thinking that is so inward focused that sometimes we forget the entire world doesn’t revolve around us...
That has always been the temptaion for humans thats why it was so contradictory when Nicolas Copernicus discovered that the planets revolve around the sun instead of earth and everything else revolving around it.
-Just the other day were driving somewhere and I forget what Ezra said…It was either telling Me to stop talking so all my attention would be on her or yelling at the Sun for shining in her face… either way I Looked at her and said “Ezra you’ll have to learn there are other people in the world and not everything revolves around you.”
-
It is crazy that from birth our natural tendancy is to lean into Me, me, me…
Corinth was no different… the same issues that circled around culture 2,000 years ago are just coming back to the surfice.
Corinth was no different… the same issues that circled around culture 2,000 years ago are just coming back to the surfice.
1 Corinthians 6:12 ““All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.”
The saying “All things are lawful for me” points to the believe that Christians are not still required to follow the same laws…
Even Paul wrote in Romans… “For you are not under the law, but under grace”
They are now under the grace given by Jesus Christ on the Cross…To have salvation is to accept this grace,
They no longer have to eat certain foods
dress in certain attire
complete certain acts
Which is and was true… we do not have to live trying to follow the 613 Old Testament laws...
But Jesus also said:
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
We do not have to keep those 613 laws to keep us on the right path…but we should be loving God with our all...
1. This is why Paul says in response “but not all things are helpful”
(If we are to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind then what we do should help us in that pursuit.)
As Christians we could do many things that are not specifically addressed in scriptures…but are these things helpful to our relationship with God or a distraction.
In Philippians Paul writes:
-Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
All things are lawful for me…but is it helpful, is it true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable…Do your actions point to God?
-if we believe in Christ as our savior than we have the Holy Spirit living within our hearts...
Why did Christ give us the holy spirit:
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper/ our advocate… to be the one who guides and directs us…
With the Holy spirit living inside each of us we receive convictions according to God’s leading.
Even though we all have the same spirit some Christians may struggle with different things and therefore receive different convictions from the spirit.
Some actions may be more harmful for some christians than to others. That is why it is so important to be in our WORD and keep our Prayer life strong. So we can continue to focuse on what is helpful to our spiritual life.
2. “but I will not be dominated by anything”.
Do not put those chains back on
There is this viral video of a sheep who got stuck in this narrow ditch. A young gentleman works to get the sheep free from the ditch. As soon as the sheep is free is leaps away right back into the ditch.
We were once inslaved to sin…dead in our trespasses. But Jesus Christ set us free, free to experience the world and people in it the way He views them. Free to live in the purpose of God…one that keeps us from harm.
Just like the sheep we too can jump right back into what once held us captive.
In 1 Corinithians Paul is getting to the point that there are some things that can lead us back into slavory...
There are certain things that can easily become adictions, easily become idols to us...
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
And these things may be different for all of us.
All of us are a slave to something. There is only one master that provides true freedom, and that is Chrust.
Anything that you find becoming higher than Christ is a danger
Anything that you depend on more than Christ will end up failing
3. Chapter 10 “Not all things are beneficial, not all things build up”
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.
The next thing Paul writes in response to “all things are lawful” is found in
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.
Our actions not only affect us. They can not only lead us away from God and into sin but, can actually be a stumbling block to others.
-Paul uses the example of eating meat in Romans
Romans 14:14–17 (ESV)
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. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Even is something is ok for us, if it hinders our brother and sister in Christ or even a non-believer it is not beneficial.
We are to build eachother up and think outside of ourselves.
This is difficult in this world that is full of inward thinking…we can easily get caught up in the lie that if it’s ok for us then others have to deal with their own feelings. However this mantalily is not seen in scripture. Instead we see encouragement to live in community, encouraging eachother.
(Illustration)
—Point 2: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”
1 Corinthians 6:13–15 (ESV)
“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. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
The saying food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, illudes to the common believe in the corinthian culture that the body is not important, eat and indulge in the physical things you desire because the body does not matter.
Because of this thinking even Christians in Corinth were living by indulging in sexual sins.
Here Paul is addressing the mindset that physical acts do not effect the person...
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 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 were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
(Illustration)
Conclusion