1 Corinthians 6:9-17 Walk in the Light!

1 Corinthians 6:9-17  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.  “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.  You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.”  The body, however, 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 whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

God has designed the body, the universe, and the sky above to run exactly as He has ordained it.  There is no chaos or disharmony in his established existence.  In the world we know, Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.  But this world is tentative: the things of this world and all the physical preciseness of it and existence will cease someday.  The Lord God is eternal; even if heaven and earth pass away, God remains in his glory.  Eating and drinking will be gone someday.  At the present, humans and existence itself, groan to be delivered from the bondage of the penalty of sin, just as the Israelites groaned to be delivered from the heavy hand of Pharaoh.  The Bible says that Satan is the prince of the air, or that his spirit rules everywhere.  In the above focus, we see Paul excoriating the behaviors of the fleshly man and woman: immoral sexuality, worshiping idols, adultery,  sex with men, thievery, greediness, drunkeness, slandering, swindling.  In Romans 1 Paul adds many more human behaviors, thoughts and actions that are contrary to God’s will for men and women: envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossiping, insolence, arrogance, and boastfulness.  He goes on, humans lack true understanding of the world or the nature of humans; they have no steadfast fidelity, no enduring love or mercy.   All of these distort God’s image and his perfect will for humans.  God made men and women in his image and likeness.  In the beginning, man and woman were eternal, for they were holy and perfectly made.  But sin entered the world; men and women thought that their freedom from God’s authority would bring them happiness; instead, their lives became disruptive, chaotic, and evil.  Rather than live in the light of God, they lived in darkness without knowing the reason or purpose for their lives.  Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t HAVE TO walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  (John 8:12, NLT)  The light Jesus reflected was the light of God; Adam and Eve lived in the light of God in the Garden.  Jesus said, He and God are one; when you see me, you have seen the Father, for I am the complete fulness of God.  Christians who are IN CHRIST are to image God, not evil or Satan.  We are to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3:19)  Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are IN CHRIST, washed, sanctified, justified.  They are new creatures who no longer live in darkness.  They have the Holy Spirit in their lives as the Israelites had in the wilderness: the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night to lead them to the Promised Land or where the eternal God dwells.  All of this glorious inheritance comes through the mighty name of the Lord Jesus.  

What is in the name of Jesus?  The Lamb of God is the name of Jesus, the power of God on earth.  To escape the confines of Egypt, the burden of slavery, the children of Israel had to place the blood of a lamb around the door frames of their houses.  By doing this the angel of death would pass over their homes, allowing them to escape the death of their first born.  This was a choice they made, to follow Moses’ instructions about the Passover.  They did not HAVE TO follow Moses’ words.  They could ignore them and experience the death that would enter their houses that night.  Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.  None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.  When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.  (Exodus 21-23)  This passover lamb had to be perfect with no defects.  The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  (Exodus 12: 6)  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  (John 1:29)  Two of John’s disciples left John’s side and followed Jesus that day, for they knew the Passover Lamb of God was to set people free from the household of slavery.  John knew that Jesus was sent by God, for he heard the voice of God when he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.  From that day on, Jesus would perform the works of his Father.  He would heal, cast out demons, turn water into wine, feed thousands from just a few loaves of bread and some fish, and tame nature by telling the wind to calm down.  Jesus would walk on water and teach with authority the eternal words of God.  He demonstrated that He was the Son of God.  Jesus’ life of miraculous happenings frustrated the religious leaders of that time.  Because of Jesus breaking the Sabbath, they thought of Jesus as being the son of the devil and not of God.  Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.  But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.  (John 10:36-38)  The leaders of the Israelites were jealous of Jesus’ popularity with the people.  They hated Jesus and constantly sought to kill him.  The religious leaders were functioning outside of God’s will for them.  They supposedly followed their father Abraham by insisting on the laws of Moses to be evident in the Jewish community, but they were not much more than religious police, unwilling to show the Jews the reality of God’s mercy and grace for those He loved.  They definitely were not in unity with God’s  purpose for the human race.  Now in the above focus, we see Paul warning the Corinthian church of being out-of-step with the will of God because of their fleshly lives.  They were uniting their spirits with the spirit of the world just as a man who unites himself with a prostitute.  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  The obvious answer is, no.  Of course not, a Christian is to be united with God.  Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Our actions, thoughts, and deeds are to be in harmony with God’s perfection.  Jesus ends his teaching on the Mount, saying for us to be perfect as God is perfect.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  BE PERFECT, therefore, as your Heavenly FATHER IS PERFECT.  (Matthew 5:43-48)  We must be united with God in spirit, completely enveloped by him in our actions and thoughts.  God’s words are perfect and last forever.  When God gave the Israelites the law, He gave them a way to perfection, but sin interrupted the purpose of his words.  Paul proclaims that no one can be completely obedient to the laws and regulations given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  James says to us that if we prefer some people over others in the congregation of God when we seat them, we are breaking the perfection of God’s will for us.  Therefore, we are not perfect.  God’s words are eternal and they are meant to be followed.  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  (Matthew 5:17-18)  God’s words can be considered as being on a eternal continuum.  They will never cease or be taken back.  They must be fulfilled.  Paul is a good example of this.  He was a murderer; he had a murderous heart.  Moses too was a murderer; he killed an Egyptian.  David also committed murder.  If God says, you cannot murder, does He take those words back because he loved Paul, David and Moses.  No, his words are eternal; righteousness is eternal, holiness is eternal; God’s words go on forever and must be fulfilled.  But now we see the Lamb of God entering the picture.  He will fulfill God’s words by substituting himself on the cross for the act of murder by Paul, David, and Moses.  He will complete the continuum of God’s eternal words by placing himself into those everlasting words.  God is not a liar; Jesus’ price on the cross pays the price for all law breakers, so that we as lawbreakers can be considered PERFECT as God IS PERFECT.  We are no longer under condemnation or judgment from God because the price for our sins has been paid in full.  Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20:28)  Therefore breakfast companions, be in unity with Christ in everything you do; please the Father God in words, actions and thoughts.  We pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  (HIS PERFECTION, NOT OURS.)  (Ephesians 3:14-19)  God bless you as you walk in the fullness of God today, rooted and established in his love.