1 Corinthians 6:12-14 says...
Today's verses are 1 Corinthians 6:12-14, which read,
v.12 - All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
In this chapter Paul has pointed out the sin of bypassing God's wisdom and settling matters between the brethren in the world's court system. Next, Paul has listed out other specific sins addressed by the Bible that the Christians in Corinth were being deceived as as being okay. Now Paul goes more general in his instruction.
Because we have been washed of sin through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, and because we are being sanctified by a transformed life to be after the image of Jesus, and we are justified to stand before God in righteousness because of the righteousness of the One that we call Lord, and the Holy Spirit resides within us then how should we respond to the world around us? Sorry for that long sentence but Paul has set up for this phrase that could have been a slogan for the Corinthian Christians. If I am right with God and Jesus died for my sins and I am one of His children then I can sin it is okay because He will forgive me, "all things are lawful for me." But Paul adds "but not all things are profitable." And then Paul adds, "but I will not be mastered by anything." Sin seeks to take profit from your walk with the Lord and sin seeks to be the master of your life. If you sin, and you and I will, then its goal is not to bring something greater than what you already have in Christ and its end goal is to take the place of Christ. Yes, Jesus will forgive but playing with fire is never a good thing.
v.13 - Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
"Just this once" is a rational that we still use today to justify a sin. "I won't do it again and I have God in my back pocket to bail me out once I have indulged in this." "Actually, we all need to live a little" has been used to equate a sinful act as real living. We have bought into the lie that the things of this world are separate from God and they bring joy and fulfillment over the things and ways of God. Paul points out here that food is temporary and the stomach you want to satisfy is temporary. They want to satisfy their bodies with the food of sexual immorality and that temporary body is now not theirs but the Lord's. What are we doing bringing in something so inferior to God into the temporary body that He has given us?
v.14 - Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
Paul finishes his way of explaining the Christian life. He has talked about us being justified to stand right before God through the cross of Christ. He brings in that we are being sanctified through a transformed life to be in the image of the Son, Jesus, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now he throws in that we will be glorified by being raised someday with new bodies like Jesus was raised from the dead. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise His children's temporary bodies to be changed. He has the power to do this. How can anything that the world has to offer compare with that? Sin seeks to do just the opposite. Sin focuses on the temporary, the Savior focuses on the eternal. Sin wants to tear down and the Savior wants to raise up.
Enough for today because Paul will take this thought farther tomorrow to talk about how we should live with these temporary bodies until we receive our eternal one.
"Lord, we can make so many excuses to sin. We can elevate sin to be something great when we need to be reminded of its goal. It makes itself out to be beneficial and profitable maybe with the idea of the short view but we are long view children of God. Continue to lengthen our view today. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.12 - All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
In this chapter Paul has pointed out the sin of bypassing God's wisdom and settling matters between the brethren in the world's court system. Next, Paul has listed out other specific sins addressed by the Bible that the Christians in Corinth were being deceived as as being okay. Now Paul goes more general in his instruction.
Because we have been washed of sin through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, and because we are being sanctified by a transformed life to be after the image of Jesus, and we are justified to stand before God in righteousness because of the righteousness of the One that we call Lord, and the Holy Spirit resides within us then how should we respond to the world around us? Sorry for that long sentence but Paul has set up for this phrase that could have been a slogan for the Corinthian Christians. If I am right with God and Jesus died for my sins and I am one of His children then I can sin it is okay because He will forgive me, "all things are lawful for me." But Paul adds "but not all things are profitable." And then Paul adds, "but I will not be mastered by anything." Sin seeks to take profit from your walk with the Lord and sin seeks to be the master of your life. If you sin, and you and I will, then its goal is not to bring something greater than what you already have in Christ and its end goal is to take the place of Christ. Yes, Jesus will forgive but playing with fire is never a good thing.
v.13 - Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
"Just this once" is a rational that we still use today to justify a sin. "I won't do it again and I have God in my back pocket to bail me out once I have indulged in this." "Actually, we all need to live a little" has been used to equate a sinful act as real living. We have bought into the lie that the things of this world are separate from God and they bring joy and fulfillment over the things and ways of God. Paul points out here that food is temporary and the stomach you want to satisfy is temporary. They want to satisfy their bodies with the food of sexual immorality and that temporary body is now not theirs but the Lord's. What are we doing bringing in something so inferior to God into the temporary body that He has given us?
v.14 - Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
Paul finishes his way of explaining the Christian life. He has talked about us being justified to stand right before God through the cross of Christ. He brings in that we are being sanctified through a transformed life to be in the image of the Son, Jesus, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now he throws in that we will be glorified by being raised someday with new bodies like Jesus was raised from the dead. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise His children's temporary bodies to be changed. He has the power to do this. How can anything that the world has to offer compare with that? Sin seeks to do just the opposite. Sin focuses on the temporary, the Savior focuses on the eternal. Sin wants to tear down and the Savior wants to raise up.
Enough for today because Paul will take this thought farther tomorrow to talk about how we should live with these temporary bodies until we receive our eternal one.
"Lord, we can make so many excuses to sin. We can elevate sin to be something great when we need to be reminded of its goal. It makes itself out to be beneficial and profitable maybe with the idea of the short view but we are long view children of God. Continue to lengthen our view today. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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