1 Corinthians 6:18-20 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.
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. God abides and functions in each of us to guide us and to inspire us as we give him freedom to do so in our lives. Collectively, we are each members of the universal body of Christ here on Earth. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1Corinthians 12:27) The Holy Spirit abides in us as individuals and collectively as the church. Individually, we are a part of the body of Christ; collectively, we are the visible body of Christ on Earth. Therefore, anything that we do individually or collectively that is not right or holy will mar the image of God on Earth; our words and actions should represent the holiness, righteousness of God. The world should see God by viewing lives of Christians as they live out their faith. Christians are not just figuratively one with God; we are literally one with God because of the Holy Spirit within us. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:19-20) Because of this oneness, we are to honor God with our bodies. Jesus' continuous cleansing of our lives through his work on the cross makes us accountable to him: You are not your own; you were bought at a price. We have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus is the only legal tender in God's economy of righteousness. Nothing else, such as good works, or high morals, or positive attitude, will be acceptable to God as righteousness; and without righteousness, no one will see God or be in his presence. We do not simply live our lives as we wish and then go to a temple or a church to worship God occasionally. As Paul said to those who built a temple for the unknown God, The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he went on to say, God determines all things and gives all men life and breath and everything else. We must know this, For in him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:24-25 &28)
If we are to honor this God, Paul says, Flee from sexual immorality. Flee, for sexual immorality is a sin of the body. When we engage in such immoral practices, we accept the contamination of sin into the oneness we have IN CHRIST. We bring this sin into the inner parts of our beings, bringing another relationship into the presence of God in us. We read last week in Exodus 34:14 that God is a jealous God, and He will not tolerate allegiance from us to any other person or thing. Allegiance to God is not a triangular affair where we try to serve God and the world simultaneously. Unrestrained holiness and unrestrained sinfulness cannot abide within the same body. Either we love one or the other. James describes this situation when he speaks of taming the tongue: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (James 3:9-12) God will not take second place; He will not allow a double-minded man to receive anything from him. Sexual sin is allowing another person or spirit preeminence in your life. This sin, as Paul describes it to the church, basically separates itself from other sins; for it is the activity of intimacy from within the body, finding pleasure in another lover. The Bible refers to this sin as prostituting oneself or as having an adulterous affair. In the Christian sense, these affairs break up the oneness we have with God. Our temples: our place of worship, of praise, of relationship, have been blackened by infidelity when we replace God's love with the illicit love of another. Paul told the church at Rome when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey. (Romans 6:16) No one should ever take God's place in our lives.
A little later in this letter, Paul will say, You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. (1 Corinthians 7:23) Binding yourself to another in a sinful union separates you from the God who loves you. God has set us apart as his own adopted sons and daughters, a testimony to his grace and his mercy. Consequently, we are not to be contaminated by the world. As lights to the world, we are to abstain from any act of sexual impurity or immoral behavior. Sexual immorality brings darkness to the world, creating chaos and confusion concerning the church of God. Most of all, such behavior, attacks the very love relationship we have with the Lord. As the Bible says, we cannot serve two masters. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate," says the Lord. "Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) Our spiritual lives depend on us not being closely yoked with unbelievers; and, of course, we should never be yoked sexually with anyone outside of a contractual marriage. Our oneness with God is essential to keeping our temples holy and upright. As we close, please take in these encouraging words from our brother Paul: The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Romans 13:11-14) God bless you.
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