What's the Big Deal?

Non-Christians often wonder why Christians care so much about sexual immorality.  Even professing Christians sometimes wonder why God cares so much about sex.  Maybe you have the same questions.

I must admit that it is strange to me that often the same people who wonder why God cares so much about sex take little time to consider why sex is such a big deal in the culture around us.  You don't have to go very far to see that talk of sex is pervasive in the culture in which we live.

My goal in this post, though, is not to rebuke the culture.  I expect lost people to act like lost people.  I am much more concerned with professing Christians acting like lost people.  I want to answer the question of why sexual immorality is such a big deal to God and why it should be a big deal to us.

Check out this passage of Scripture.

1 Corinthians 6:14-20 

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? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 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.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 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. 19 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, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

So why is sexual immorality such a big deal?

Believers will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 6:14).

It seems from this verse and 1 Corinthians 15 that part of the Corinthian error was to deny the resurrection of the dead.  Paul offers a lengthy correction of this error in 1 Corinthians 15.  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, the Christian faith is rendered void and powerless.

But, Christ has been raised.  And believers will be raised as well.  Therefore, what we do with our bodies matters.  Those who are in Christ will live forever with God in physical glorified bodies in a physical new heaven and new earth.

This truth should help us see how the Christian worldview pervades all of life.  What you do with your body matters because of eternity.  The Christian life is not just a bunch of dos and don'ts without any overarching purpose.  Our hope of future resurrection should inform every decision we make regarding what we do with and how we treat our bodies.

Believers are united to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15-17).

Jesus reminds us in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the marriage relationship between a man and a woman where the two become one is representative of our union with Christ.  1 Corinthians 6:15 tells us that we make up the body of Christ.  Therefore, according to Paul's logic, when you unite with someone sexually, you are in some sense uniting Christ with that person.

Paul continues to explain the seriousness of sexual sin in verse sixteen by pointing out that sexual union creates an enduring bond.  He makes the point by quoting from Genesis 2:24 where God first introduced the concept of a one flesh union between husband and wife.

This point debunks one of the lies of the culture and illustrates the vast chasm that exists between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.  There is no such thing as casual sex.  The sexual relationship creates an enduring.  John MacArthur recounts that C.S. Lewis in his Screwtape Letters "says that each time a man and a woman enter into a sexual relationship a spiritual bond is established between them which must be eternally (for the rest of their lives) enjoyed or eternally endured."

This is why fornication and adultery are such a big deal.  This is why divorce is such a big deal.  This is why homosexuality is such a big deal.  The sexual union was created by God to be enjoyed between one man and one woman as long as they both shall live.  This is why brokenness and baggage exist when God's ideal is not met.

Believers are indwelt by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:18-19a).

Paul begins verse 18 with the command to flee sexual immorality.  The verb form carries with it both the force of a command and the idea of continually fleeing, such that it could be translated, "Keep on fleeing!"

We must flee from sexual immorality.  "How far is too far?" is the wrong question.  Do not play around with sexual sin.  It will bite you like a venomous snake.  Jesus says, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off."  Throw your computer or cell phone out the window.  Smash your TV with a sledge hammer.  Shred the smutty romance novels.  Dump your boyfriend or girlfriend.  For "it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."

Paul continues to point out that believers are indwelt by the Spirit.  The biblical truth that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit should change the way we think about what we do with our bodies.

Believers were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20).

The lie of the culture is that it is your body.  This is the lie of the abortion rights activists, sexual revolutionists, proponents of gender reassignment surgery, and others.  Paul refutes this belief with one short statement, "You are not your own."  You are not your own because God created and sustains your body.  And ultimately, you are not your own because God has redeemed your body with the precious blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

I love this passage because it deals with sexual immorality in the context of God's story rather than just a list of dos and don'ts.

You see, God created us in His image, male and female, for His glory.  Adam and Eve enjoyed a perfect relationship with God.  They walked with God in the cool of the day.  Unfortunately, it didn't take long for sin to enter the picture.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God creating enmity between them and their Creator.  Not only did it create enmity between them and their Creator, it created enmity between all of humanity and God.

The truth is that we are all sexual sinners.  Jesus says that while what you do with your body matters, your heart also matters.  Paul tells in his letter to the Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Thankfully the story doesn't end there.  A passage like 1 Corinthians 6 has the ability to leave us feeling dirty and hopeless because of our sin.  We can go away feeling beat up on.  But I want to make very clear that it doesn't matter where you have been or what you have done.  There is grace and forgiveness for you in the person of Jesus Christ if you would repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus.

After experiencing that grace and forgiveness, the call upon each of our lives is to glorify God with our bodies.  God has not saved us that we might continue in sin.  The grace and forgiveness that we have received in Christ should propel us to glorify God with our bodies.

This is the passage I preached yesterday.  You can hear the entire sermon by clicking here.