B, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany - 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 "Pleasure"
Saint Paul tells his congregation in Corinth, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all
things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated
by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV)
Paul will not be dominated by anything. He speaks about food, sexuality, then paints a
picture of one joined with a prostitute, breaking the union held with Christ, turning
the body from a temple of the Holy Spirit into a temple of sin against oneself.
Corinth was a place of pleasure, and Paul goes to the heart
of the believer’s struggle in Corinth by confronting the common practise of
those inside and outside the church.
The philosophy of the Greeks at that time, was a false dichotomy,
dividing the flesh from the spirit of a person.
The flesh was evil and must be escaped, and the spirit of a person was
good if only it could discharge the evils of the flesh.
From this came two extremes in thought, stoicism, and epicureanism.
Stoicism was a strict practice that
sought to live a good life to achieve a good spirit. Epicureanism, on the other hand, pursued
pleasure in all its perverseness. They believed
one could follow whatever aroused the desires of the flesh, knowing that at
death the good spirit would depart the evil flesh.
Put simply, these two extremes seek to please the self. But Paul does not separate flesh and spirit
and he points us to what pleases God.
Paul reintroduces the oneness of a person as flesh and
spirit. When one seeks pleasure and
experiences pain, the human spirit and one’s flesh are both affected by the
pursuit of pleasure as well as the experience of pain. Therefore,
all people need the holiness of the Holy Spirit in their spirit, and the
perfecting of their flesh in Jesus Christ’s perfect flesh, crucified and raised
for the atonement of our whole person.
By Paul stating he will not be dominated, or be empowered
by anything, he asked the Corinthians, “what are you empowered by?” God asks the same question of you in this
text!
Paul goes straight to the Corinthians being dominated by prostitution. Why? Well,
Corinth was rife with hedonistic, pleasure-seeking prostitution. The general practise was a man had his wife
to bear children and manage his household, and at the same time had other sexual
partners for pleasure. Either, a mistress
or a catamite, a soft young homosexual partner.
This was occurring in the congregation at Corinth since he called them
not to practice this in his letter to them.
But he points to prostitution for other reasons too! He says, “all things are lawful for me”. Literally in the Greek, all things are from
me, for me, but not all things are helpful.
Even though all things come out of him he will not be powered by anything,
from within himself or from outside of himself.
That is except God, “who raised
the Lord (Jesus Christ) and will also
raise us up by his power.” (1 Corinthians 6:14 ESV)
Paul appeals to the power of the Holy Spirit, over against
the power of one’s human spirit. Paul shuts
down the pleasure seekers by calling those “bought with a price”, to glorify
God in one’s body.
It might seem Paul is siding with the stoics, by pushing a
strict moralistic code, to do good. But
no, stoicism seeks to rid the spiritual self of flesh. Paul, on the other hand, proclaims the oneness
of the spirit and flesh, in the resurrection, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within
and sanctifying our human flesh, despite its corruption.
But what does this have to do with us?
Some of us appear to live good moral lives and some of us
know that our morals are far from good or have been good spirited. Some of us have had relationships with
prostitutes, and some of us have not.
But this text delves deeper into us, than just a moralistic check on, who
has, or who hasn’t, been with a prostitute.
Although Paul appeals to the Corinthians to stop the
practice of pleasing oneself with prostitutes, he calls into question the
greater reality of what pleases God. Prostitution
is a relative part of his question to the Corinthians. But it’s also the overarching extreme of
prostitution’s damaging pleasure that demonstrates the full gamut of corrupted
pleasure, from the least to the greatest, within the family, the community, and
the kingdom of God.
Paul will not be dominated by anything but that which
glorifies God in his body, be it food, his stomach, or his sexuality.
When we understand prostitution as the negative complete extreme
of pleasure, all degrees of our pleasure seeking are called into question. Does it glorify God or not? Here again we can use the glory test on ourselves
to test our appetites of pleasure.
Knowing that God will destroy both stomach and food, what is fruitful
for your eternal life and what is not? What
is perishable and what is imperishable?
Are the things your senses seek, benefiting you eternally
or not?
You may, or may not, struggle with prostitution. But many of us struggle with other pleasures
that do not please God or benefit us in the long run. These failed pleasures fall short in the
glory test, examined in the light of truth, God’s written Word.
It’s God’s good pleasure to make you a temple of the Holy
Spirit. It’s God’s good pleasure to lead
you from the lies of this world and the father of lies, the devil, into the unhidden
truth of his good impartial pleasure. It’s
God’s good pleasure to forgive all sin, from the least to the greatest!
Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world.
Adam and Eve prostituted themselves for their
own pleasure at Eden. There they exposed
their nakedness and sold themselves into the slavery of sin before God, for a corrupted
knowledge of good and evil.
The lie of your corrupted pleasure continues today. The reality of this lie is your suffering. People do not willingly seek pain, but everyone
experiences pain as a result of seeking pleasure. The pursuit of pleasure is the parent of all addictions,
lawful and unlawful. All suffering occurs
as a result of one seeking pleasure within the temple of the self.
So, to what is it you prostitute yourself? What is your god and what diet do you need to
feed its addiction?
It might well be sexuality, prostitution, or pornography!
It might be gluttony of the
stomach, food, chocolate, sugar, or the gluttony of amassing wealth!
Perhaps its alcohol or another substance to stimulate the
temple tastes of your human desire.
Is it excitement in gaming, sport, shopping, or risking
chance in the gambling arena that produces the feel-good hormones you need to live?
Then again you might need to be popular, needing glory, the
pleasure of being prevalent in public, or the pleasure of being turned in on
oneself in private!
Maybe it’s an addiction of control, a perverse pleasure in taking control of the biological
God-given self, control of others, an addiction of acquiring assets, controlling
other people’s stuff, or controlling the opinions of others by spreading gossip!
To have control by knowing good, knowing
evil, or knowing someone else’s business!
By far the worst addiction that’s flooding the world with mental
anguish and suffering is addiction to oneself in the reflection of a mobile
phone. It’s a device that serves all of
the hedonistic addictions listed above, promising pleasure but causing lifelong
pain.
The mobile device together with all these other things allows
one to practice spiritual prostitution! All
expose us, showing we have sold ourselves into the slavery of our sin’s lie. The lie that promises pleasure and life
but produces suffering and death. We are
caught in the lie, naked, without the truth before God!
The truth is Jesus Christ!
To know and want the truth one needs to turn from oneself to Jesus
Christ. He is the only truth that
glorifies God the Father. The Holy Spirit
is the only true spirit builder, that builds us into the temple of God.
At the start of John’s Gospel, when Andrew and John
followed Jesus, Jesus turned and said to them, “What are you seeking?” Jesus was asking, “what do you want, what
are you coming to worship?” And they
replied, “Where are you staying!” Jesus said, “Come and your will see.” (John 1:38-39)
Like Peter, at the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus askes you, “Do
you love me? Do you want me more than anything
else?” Do you want to come and see Jesus?
Is your greatest pleasure to please God?
God askes of you, “What do you want, what do you seek to
worship in your life?” Is it the pleasure
of God, the joy of Jesus Christ, and the holiness of the Holy Spirit? God wants us to come and see we can only love
God by letting him forgive our sin! This
is God’s good pleasure!
The truth is, God the Son totally assumed our humanity, spirit,
and flesh. In his being, both as, the
eternal Son of God, and, the resurrected suffering servant and Saviour of
humanity, it’s God the Father’s good pleasure to forgive those who are repentant
and are being united as one in his heavenly glory by the Holy Spirit.
“Therefore, …let us
also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1b–2 ESV)
Now is time to “come out” as confessional Christians, personally
and publicly, one with Jesus Christ!
May God grant us strength in the Holy Spirit, to not resist his power when he raises up, you, and me, to do so! Amen.
