1 Corinthians 6:12-20, “Eat to live, don't live to eat"

Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.
You know the old saying, “First you eat to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!

God honored the Master’s body by raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.

There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others.

In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

Sexual sin has been around since...forever. I don't really believe that's the central point of this passage. I believe this is a continuation of Paul's injucntion against taking other christians to court.

And, of course, here’s the point against Christians going to court against one another: Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. So…I can take my brother/sister to court and the court will bless me with a ruling in my favor while ruling against God. Do I really want to put myself in that briar patch?

So, an earthly court will gladly affirm our right to homosexual conduct or abortion or extramarital sex with great zeal and passion because it is an individual right. It’s no coincidence that Paul speaks about the power (and danger) of sex while sex seems to be the court’s favorite subject. It’s also no coincidence that our Christian community’s struggle with sexual sin seems directly related to the court-ordained sexual freedom existing all around us. It’s addictive.

But, it's all legal...

Courts have no ability to discern the nuances of living an obedient spiritual life. The courts focus on flesh and bone. What do they care whether God approves? Paul offers an interesting point that would have knocked Dred Scott right out of Court. He says the physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.

We can "eat to live", or we can "live to eat".  The former describes God's design for nourishment. The latter describes human design. I doubt God's design is responsible for one third of Americans being obese. Sex is no different. I'm confident we can't lay the epidemic of STD's (50% of Americans) on God's design.   

So, we can can rest on the authority of the court but…does God?

Live boldly out there today…