Bought With A Price

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Freedom is a great word. I like that word. Our country stands for freedom. That’s one of the founding principles that guide us as a nation. Often we take our freedom for granted. We shouldn’t. There are many people all over the world without it. The struggle for freedom is taking place in many cultures today where people rule over and subjugate other people.

The founding fathers of this country came here to seek freedom. Religious freedom was paramount on their list of freedoms that they wanted for themselves and for others. They wanted to find a place where they could worship God without someone telling them exactly how they needed to do that. It wasn’t easy. Many people paid a dear price to come here. Some of them didn’t even make it. Others suffered so that family and friends could come. And we have fought to maintain that freedom over the years. Right now we’re engaged in a struggle in the name of freedom on behalf of the whole world against terrorism and against those who would seek to destroy our freedom.

Freedom is a dear thing that has been bought with the blood of many of our forebears. And we prize it and are willing to fight and even die rather than let it go.

But what is the definition of true freedom. Is it that we are able to do anything we want to do without limits, without restraint, without boundaries, without consideration for other people, without consideration for the consequences of our actions on others and on ourselves? What does it mean to truly be free? And for us as Christians we have to ask an additional question. What does it mean to exercise our liberty, our freedom in Christ?

Let me give you two words. The first is liberty. The second is license. They’re on two ends of the same idea, aren’t they? They are two extremes, two opposites, that are often confused to mean the same thing.

What does liberty really mean? Well, liberty means freedom from slavery, freedom from oppression, freedom from tyranny. What does license mean? License means freedom from restraint. There is a big difference.

And how we define freedom, whether as liberty or license, will depend on our internal view of things. We call it a worldview. It’s a philosophy of life. It’s the philosophy that many times is adopted from our culture. But how we see the world will determine how we live–– what we do and do not do, and whether we walk in liberty or license.

Let me give you an example of this. I was reading something from the preacher and writer John Piper. And he talked about an experience he had that illustrates what I’m talking about in terms of how people view life.

Friday morning I looked out the bedroom window as I was buttoning my shirt and saw a parable of modern American life. A middle-aged man in a three-piece green suit was walking westward toward our house on the north side of 18th Street. He had something yellow in his right hand, perhaps a banana peel or potato chip bag. I couldn’t tell. As he walked along he looked to his left across the street. Then he turned and looked behind him. And then he tossed the yellow thing over the fence by the freeway.

In that little episode there are at least two marks of secular American life. One is practical atheism. And the other is physical hedonism.

1. The freeway fence was on his right concealing him with bushes. He could see to the front as he walked. The ground was underneath. And he covered himself to the left and behind with a glance. Why didn’t he look up? Because at that moment he was a practical atheist. There might have been someone to the left or behind that mattered. But there was no one in heaven that mattered. American life is by and large atheistic when it comes to bananas and potato chips. What people say is not what shows their practical atheism. It’s whether they look up when they think they are alone.

2. The other mark of American life I saw was physical hedonism. Why did this fellow want to throw the yellow thing away instead of carrying it to a can? Because it was inconvenient to carry. It was annoying, unpleasant.

But why did he look over his shoulder before he tossed it? Because his conscience told him it was an action that is not good and that people would disapprove. So a minor skirmish went on in his soul. It lasted about five seconds. "Shall I opt for the pleasure of not carrying this thing? Or shall I opt for the pleasure of a clear conscience?" It clearly was not much of a battle. The physical pleasure won out. And that is another mark of our culture. Physical hedonism. If it feels good to your body why deny yourself? The curse of our culture is that physical pleasures are desired more strongly than spiritual joy.

And of course the two things go together: practical atheism and physical hedonism. Once God is out of the picture, then my conscience has no ultimate significance as a part of God’s image, and so "Let us eat drink and litter the freeway, for tomorrow we die –– and that’s it." If you can just keep God out of the bananas and potato chips of your life, then you can proceed with your indulgences. ––(from "I Will Not Be Enslaved By Anything" by John Piper, a sermon published on the internet at http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper85/pn850027.htm)

I think he’s right, don’t you? I think it’s a wonderful story of how we live our lives. The fact is that many Christians don’t look up. We cover ourselves by looking around maybe, but we don’t bother to look up as if someone up there was really watching. But the reality is that someone is up there watching all the time. And he can even see when it’s dark!

Do you live like a practical atheist or do you remind yourself on a regular basis that you are living before the watching Lord? Are we aware that, at all times and in all circumstances, we stand before the watching eye of the all-seeing God? If we live with that understanding in mind, that, no matter what the situation or circumstance, God is watching, it may change what we choose to do and not do.

We need to begin at the end of our text today by looking at the last two sentences: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." This should be the guiding truth for Christian life and behavior. The guiding truth for us is that we do not belong to ourselves. It’s my body is the mantra today. No, it’s not your body. It belongs to God, if you’re a Christian. When you come to Christ, the Bible teaches that you become united to him, one with him. Your body becomes his temple. It becomes his possession. It is no longer your own. That should be the guiding principle of our lives. We don’t belong to ourselves. We belong to God.

Think about the liberty you have in Christ. You have been granted a liberty that is wonderful. There is a fantastic passage in the book of Romans:

…through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2 NIV)

You need to understand that in Christ you have been set free like from a number of things that previously bound you. Sin, for example. The power of sin has been broken in your life. The Bible teaches that, before you came to Christ, you were a slave to sin. We could not refrain from sin. We were all born in sin. We are sinners by nature and by choice and, try as we might, we can’t break the power of sin in our lives. We couldn’t quit sinning, but in Christ the power of sin has been broken because the penalty for sin has been paid.

Isn’t that wonderful? The penalty for your sin was paid on the Cross and the power of sin in your life has been broken. And one day we will be delivered even from the presence of sin. So sin has been broken in our lives. We have been set free from its power and it’s condemnation. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Liberty is wonderful.

In the beginning of this passage, Paul says that "Everything is permissible for me" (7:12a), which is in quotes in the New International Version. The reason why the translators put it in quotes is because they see this as one of the slogans that the Corinthians would throw about. Perhaps they had even heard Paul say it. "Everything is permissible for me." But in the church in Corinth it became a pretext for license, not for liberty–– for doing whatever they wanted to do no matter what the cost.

Now Paul could say this because in Christ it is true. Martin Luther once said, "Love God and do as you please." Now you can take both of those statements out of context and make them an excuse for license, but in context they mean an entirely different thing. In context they mean that if you really love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and want whatever God wants for your life, you can do anything you please because you please to do what God wants you to do and not what God doesn’t want for you to do. Do you see the difference?

Everything is permissible for me means I can do whatever I choose because I’m following God and I’ll only choose the things that please him. Paul would say later, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV) If you’re living your life to the glory of God you can do anything you want because you only want to do what God wants you to do. But they said let’s just do whatever our sinful nature asks us to do. Paul said I’m not talking about that. He goes on to say, "‘Everything is permissible for me’––but not everything is beneficial. (7:12a) Not everything is helpful. Not everything builds up. "‘Everything is permissible for me’—but I will not be mastered by anything." (7:12b) Not everything enables me to be the man of God that God created me to be. Some things can be hurtful–– even tragic. You’ve been set free. It’s a wonderful thing God has given you liberty in Christ.

But here’s a scripture for you. Galatians 5:13 he says, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love."

Liberty is wonderful but license can be tragic. For the most part, in our culture today, license is thought to be liberty. They’re one in the same for many people. "Free to be me." But the course of license can lead to a tragic end. Paul’s focus in this text is on sexual sin–– a big problem in the church of Corinth, a city known for its promiscuity. A temple there at one time supported around a thousand prostitutes as part of pagan fertility worship. When men came to know Christ they had some attitude adjustments to make in this area, and the last thing they needed was some excuse to engage in sexual behavior.

Notice that there’s another saying they used: "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food" (7:13a). They may have applied that to their own bodies concerning sex. "Sex is for the body and the body for sex." Many thought that the material self was really unimportant. It is the inner self that counts. So if you can keep your heart pure, it doesn’t really matter what you do with your body. The body is going to the grave and the spirit will live on. So what does it matter if you have a promiscuous lifestyle?

Paul rebukes that kind of thinking here by saying,

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (7:13b-20)

If you’re a Christian, you have been united with Christ. Your body is his. He lives in you by his Spirit. You’re dragging the Holy Spirit of God into your sin. What’s the matter with you? Don’t you see whose you are? It took the death of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for your sin, so honor God with your body. Flee from sexual immorality and anything that can bring you under its power.

This is what Joseph did when he was in Egypt serving in Potiphar’s house. Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with Joseph, but Joseph wasn’t interested because he served God. When she asked him, he refused saying, "How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God." (Exodus 39:9b NLT) On one occasion she found him in the house alone and grabbed him and he did the best thing he could do, he ran! He didn’t rationalize. He didn’t pray. He just ran. He did what Paul says we should do–– Flee from sexual immorality.

Sin is so devastating that the thing you need to do is get as far from it as you can. We need to stay as far away from situations and opportunities to sin as we possibly can. We don’t need to get close to them to see how strong we are. We need to get as far from them as we can to keep from being tempted to do what we know we don’t want to do. Stay out of those situations. Stay away from those opportunities. Keep away from those people who will tempt you to do what you shouldn’t do. You are not your own. You were bought with a price–– the precious blood of Jesus.

How do we fall? How do people backslide? How do people make a shipwreck of their faith? One small compromise at a time. 1 Timothy 1:19b-20a tells us: "For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples of this" (NLT). Listen to your conscience. Don’t ignore the promptings of the Spirit of God. If you do, it will become easier and easier to walk away from obedience to God. And your name may end up on the same list as Hymenaeus and Alexander.

I don’t want to be on that list. Listen to the message in 1 Corinthian 9: 25-27:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

If you are going to win, you have to work hard. You have train. You have to pay a price. You have to practice. The point Paul is making is that if people who play a game or compete in an athletic contest do so with such intense training and discipline to get something that’s going to pass away, how much more should we be serious about what we’re doing. We’re not competing for a trophy that will rust in a closet. We are competing for a prize that will be eternal and everlasting. They work hard. We should work harder. If they train and discipline themselves, we should be more disciplined. Because what we’re doing has eternal consequences.

The bottom line is that if we are going to be followers of Christ, our lives need to be lived in such a way that we reflect the reality that we are not our own–– that we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.

Copyright © 2002 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.

Except for the use mentioned above, this data file may not be copied (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, or made available on the Internet without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.

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