Rev. David Holwick ZA
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey [too long and repetitive??]
August 19, 1990
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
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I. Age of rampant appetites.
A. Food.
1) Rest of world starves, America diets. (Half of women diet)
Majority of lost weight is quickly regained.
2) Woman in Wisconsin was cited for being too fat to drive car.
She didn't fit behind steering wheel, so drove with left
hand and foot.
But she could drive.
B. Alcohol.
1) After Prohibition, one-third of Americans drank.
Today, it is two-thirds.
2) An estimated one out of ten who drink will become alcoholic.
C. Sex.
1) Social diseases are rampant, and deadly.
Solution? Not self-control, but "protection."
2) Letter from Alyse Aronstamn: finds that many Christians
are only partial in their beliefs when it comes to
premarital sex.
a) Episcopalian bishop Spong in Newark is one.
1> He believes premarital sex is OK in some circumstances.
II. Christian view of the body.
III. Argument of Corinthian church:
A. Emphasis on Christian freedom.
1) Slogan: "Everything is permitted for me." 6:12
B. Soul is important, body is only temporary.
1) Immortality of soul debate.
2) Christian mission ad for Ethiopia:
Trucks send out gospel tracts so people can get saved before
they starve to death.
Only their "souls" are important.
C. Appetites relate to body and are unimportant spiritually.
1) Slogan: "Food for stomach, stomach for food." 6:13
2) Sex is appetite just like food.
a) Sex & food also related in Acts 15 and Revelation.
b) No problem going to a prostitute. 6:15
IV. Paul's argument:
A. Our body is part of God's plan.
1) Body is eternal (like spirit) due to resurrection. 6:14
a) Appetites are temporary (6:13), but body is not.
b) Our physical existence has an impact on our spirituality.
2) The stomach may be related to food, but the body cannot be
related to lusts.
a) It must only be related to the Lord.
B. Our body is united with Jesus. 6:15,17
1) Sexual sin dishonors Jesus.
a) Sex creates an intimate union. (Gen 2:24)
b) Jesus should not be united with a prostitute. 6:16
1> Passage speaks against "casual sex."
2> "Flee" it - make it habitual. 6:18
2) Sexual sin is against the body.
a) Other sins are "outside."
1> They may affect the body, but not as much as sex.
2> Sex is not external; it affects us to the core.
b) The only "safe sex" is with a spouse.
C. Our body is temple of Spirit.
1) Unique possession of every Christian - Holy Spirit.
a) God gives him to us.
2) The unclean and impure where not allowed in the temple.
a) What is allowed in your temple?
b) (Mind is like video-camera, recorded every experience.)
V. Freedom and slavery.
A. Paul taught the freedom of Christians. (6:12)
1) Especially in matters of food. ("Kingdom is not eating...)
2) Food does not make us spiritual.
B. Loose freedom can lead to slavery. 6:12
1) We are not free to sin, but free not to sin. 6:12
a) This is why there is a place for Christian "laws."
b) "Thou shall not covet", "...commit adultery" still valid.
The law cannot save us.
What it can do is to form a defensive wall around an area where
law has little effectiveness.
Biblical laws assure that we will seeks sexual happiness only
under conditions where it is possible:
with one person, throughout life.
The law protects us from deceiving ourselves and harming others.
It assures that we will not be discarded at a certain age.
(George Gilder says, an American man who divorces and remarries
will choose a second wife who is 10 years younger than first.
Many divorced women in their 40's will remain alone.
CT, 10/2/87, p.33
2) If we don't control our body, it will control us. 6:12
Immorality = "porneia". 6:18
Rapists are 15 times more likely than non-offenders to have been
exposed to "hard-core" pornography before the age of 10.
The FBI estimates that recreational killers murder 5,000 people
in the United States each year.
Most of them, say FBI officials, feed on pornography.
In 1984 a study was released by the University of New Hampshire.
It revealed that rape rates are highest in States which have
high sales of sexually explicit materials and lax enforcement
of obscenity laws.
A crackdown on adult bookstores, X-rated movie theaters, and
massage parlors in Cincinnati resulted in an 83% drop in rapes,
robberies and aggravated assaults.
With the recent conclusion of the "Central Park jogger" case,
our area may want to consider this also.
Dr. Victor Cline, a University of Utah psychologist, has found
4 things to be true when males become immersed in pornography.
These are based on a year long study of 225 individuals.
1. Addiction.
Pornography is highly addictive. Dr. Cline says, "I find that
as men get into it, it grabs them. It gets a hold on them, in
a sense analogous to heroin or morphine." They develop a need
for new sexual highs that is both a "strong psychological/physical
addiction."
2. Escalation.
The individual continually needs rougher, more mean, bizarre,
deviant and explicit imagery to be satisfied.
3. Desensitization.
What at first was shocking, even disgusting and repulsive,
becomes commonplace. It becomes acceptable and legitimate.
Dr. Cline reveals it eventually becomes attractive, as the
conscience is seared, and the individual is desensitized to
its potential dangers.
4. Acting out.
This is the final stage. Men begin to do things they have seen
in the materials. Dr. Cline found, "An appetite has been
cultivated, conscience has been immobilized by the
desensitization process." What was once wrong or immoral is now
legitimized. It appears from the films, videos and magazines
that "everyone is doing it." #1222
By his own testimony, Ted Bundy went through each of these 4
stages. Flee "porneia".
C. We should only be slaves of Christ.
1) He bought us at a great price. 6:20
VI. Honor God with your body.
A. Practice self-control.
1) Food.
2) Sex.
B. Use your body (and abilities) to God's glory.
C. It is not impossible. Others have overcome appetites and
failings. 6:11
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