WEBVTT 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.240 This is the Love One Another podcast from Beach Point Church. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:13.839 Together we're exploring the first letter to the Corinthians with the hope that we will be formed by the way of the cross and the love of the one who bore it. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.600 Admitting, as this letter says, that we are nothing without love. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.199 Love, empowered by the Spirit through the work of Jesus, is an unstoppable force. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.320 It invites each of us to join God in the work of redeeming all things back to God. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.320 With that in mind, let's open our hearts to God's word today. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:51.119 I have the right to do anything, you say, but not everything is beneficial. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:56.960 I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:01.920 You say food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:08.719 The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:14.159 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:18.480 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.879 Shall I then take members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:23.760 Never. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:29.519 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:33.200 For it is said, the two will become one flesh. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:37.920 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.400 Flee sexual immorality. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:48.000 All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:55.120 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.719 You are not your own. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.959 You were bought at a price. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:02.560 Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:11.919 In Corinth, much like in our world today, people were quick to justify their behavior by insisting they had the right to do whatever they wanted. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:19.680 Everything is permissible for me, they would say, twisting the idea of Christian freedom into a license to indulge the flesh. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:21.039 But Paul pushes back. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:24.960 He doesn't just give them rules, but he reminds them of their identity. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.120 You are not your own. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.120 You were bought at a price. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.840 Those words sit like an anchor in this passage. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.639 They are the heart of Paul's argument and the foundation of everything he calls them to do. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:41.439 Your body, your choices, your sexuality, none of it exists in a vacuum. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.680 It all belongs to the Lord now. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.400 And that's not a burden, it's a gift. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:50.960 The Corinthians lived in a culture that treated the body like a tool for pleasure. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.719 What you did with your body didn't matter if your spirit was intact. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.439 Paul flips that thinking upside down. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:03.360 He says the body matters because it was created by God, redeemed by Christ, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:07.759 Your body is not a shell to escape or a playground for desire. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:08.960 It is a temple. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:10.639 It is a sacred space. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:14.639 And how we treat it reflects what we believe about the gospel. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:19.919 This passage speaks directly to the hypersexualized culture we live in. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:21.759 But it also goes deeper. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.240 It speaks to the way we view control, freedom, and purpose. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:31.120 Paul reminds us that just because something is allowed doesn't mean it is helpful. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.960 Just because you can doesn't mean you should. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:43.280 Freedom in Christ is not about doing what we want, it's about the power to do what is good, holy, and life-giving. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:47.680 The call to flee sexual immorality is a broad commandment. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:52.879 As teens in our youth group, we always pushed our youth pastor to tell us how far is too far. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.479 We were looking for a boundary line that we could get away with. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:01.439 I still remember being challenged to instead think about what would bring honor to God. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.919 It reframed the question for me. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.120 Maybe not always to my desires or preferences in the short term, but certainly in the long term. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:13.680 To flee sexual immorality was radical for the Corinthians. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:21.839 Historian Tom Holland notes that in their day, any man in a position of power had the right to exploit his inferiors. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.839 He could use any slave or prostitute to relieve his sexual needs. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.000 But now everything had changed. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.560 Paul was insisting that the body of every human being had dignity. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:37.040 Paul was not arguing for a lower view of sexuality, but a higher view. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:44.079 He was saying we are more than our impulses and to recognize that our bodies and those of others are sacred. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.480 Each body mattered to God. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:49.439 Each body was created in the image of God. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.399 He was protecting the weak and the vulnerable. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:57.920 Those who are now in Christ were to treat each person with dignity and respect. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:02.399 Sin always promises pleasure but leaves us empty. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:07.759 It disconnects us from others, from God, and from the truth about who we really are. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:20.000 Paul is pointing us back to Jesus, the one who purchased us with his blood and filled us with his spirit, so that we could live free and whole and treat others with the same love he has for them. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.720 Here's today's reflection. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:31.199 What would change if you live today with this truth at the center of your heart? 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.639 I am not my own, I belong to God. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:06:12.319 He didn't just save your soul, he claimed your whole life. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:19.600 That means your story is not defined by past mistakes, and your worth is not determined by the world's standards. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:21.839 You were bought at a price. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.480 So honor God with everything you are. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.720 You are not your own, and that is very good news. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:42.480 Thank you for taking the intentional time to align yourself with God's love and the call to love one another. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:50.720 You can find the Love One Another Sermon Series and other resources at Beachpoint.com slash messages or on the Beach Point Church app. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.279 May you carry the love of God into every encounter you have today.