· 1 Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20]
· Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (1)
· 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
· John 1:43-51
I rarely preach on the letters. One reason is that the letters were written by humans trying to explain the message of Christ; if I preach on the letters, I'm a human explaining another human's explanation of the word of God, which is getting rather far removed from the actual word of the Lord. Another reason is that I often don't agree with Paul. Today I'm going to preach on the reading from 1 Corinthians, but I'm going to start with a disclaimer, because I don't agree with Paul.
Paul is telling us that having sex with a prostitute defiles the body of Christ. Well, seeing that Christ had friends who were prostitutes, I doubt he'd have seen it that way. Paul was a big one for shunning and segregating; Christ wasn't. A prostitute is a child of God as much as anyone else, and lest we forget, prostitutes and tax collectors are going into the kingdom of Heaven ahead of us. So no, the prostitute does not defile the body of Christ in the john. Rather, the john sins against the prostitute, and against the Lord.
The other thing is that Paul, like many people, is setting one sin above another. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to what is THE sin. Fornication. Suicide. Homosexuality. Rancor. Anger. Apostasy. Ok, well, I think God himself voted for apostasy; but as for the rest, Jesus did not give us a hierarchy of sins. A sin is a sin and Christ has already redeemed it before you even committed it. And what's more, unless it's a sin against you personally, then it's none of your business. Is homosexuality a sin? Is it a sin against you personally? No. So never mind. Is fornication a sin? Against Paul personally? No. So never mind, Paul.
Now the thing with Paul is, he never married, and was quite set against fornication, which suggests he was what's popularly called a "sex camel." Camels go without water for long periods of time. "Sex camels" are people who can go without for long periods of time. So it was probably quite easy for Paul to preach abstinence, because it came naturally to him. Other people [SQG] "need" to have sex much more often.
Except they don't. The difference is that the camel actually needs water to live, whereas no one, human or animal, needs sex to live. You can go without sex forever, it won't do you any harm. So where Paul is right about it is in saying "all things are lawful to me, but not all things are beneficial." Fornication is not beneficial. There are many reasons fornication is not beneficial, but from a Christian point of view we might consider an outward and an inward reason, so to speak.
Outwardly, we represent the Lord to the unbelievers. Therefore, we are to be above reproach. Fornication will be held against us; likewise sloth, anger, pride, envy, greed and gluttony. And because they are held against us and we represent the Lord, unbelievers will hold it against the Lord when we commit these sings. Whatever we do, we should be asking ourselves, "is this how I wish to make the unbelievers see the Lord?" Are the unbelievers going to be impressed and interested in your God when they know you're fornicating? Hardly. If they do not respect your behaviour, they will not respect your God.
Inwardly, we are accountable to God for our actions and especially for our ministry. As Jesus says, "occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea, than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble." (Luke 17:1-2) Remember that those to whom you minister will look up to you, and will be guided by your behaviour; be it your children, your friends, your congregation, or anyone else to whom you bring the word and grace of the Lord. So your conduct should not lead others into error. And even if no one knows and no one will be misled, we should so act that we can offer our actions to the Lord. As Paul wrote in Romans 14:5-8:
Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
So how does fornication fit in with this? Have you ever fornicated for the glory of God? Have you ever fornicated in the name of Christ? If you have, I'd like to hear how. I don't believe anyone fornicates in honour of the Lord. And Paul is right in this: you are consecrated to the Lord, therefore whatever you do, you should be able to consecrate to the Lord also. If it can't be offered to the Lord, then don't do it.
Now again, fornication is not the only or the worst sin, but it's possibly the easiest one to make an example of, which is why I'm preaching about Paul's letter today. It's easy to recognize that fornication does not honour the Lord. There are other behaviours that can be arguable. Some might argue that shunning homosexuals honours the Lord, and others might argue that it doesn't, and/or that including them honours the Lord better. Some might argue that having a feast honours the Lord, and some might argue that refraining from excessive eating honours the Lord better; and some might eat sparingly to honour the Lord, and have occasional feasts to honour the Lord. Some might argue that sending money to the Third World honours the Lord, and others might argue that donating it in your community honours the Lord better. But I haven't heard anyone claim to fornicate to honour the Lord.
All things are lawful to us, but not all things are beneficial. So before we act, we should consider, not so much whether something is "a sin" that the Lord will hold against us; much less should we consider whether someone else's action is a sin that the Lord will hold against us. What we should ask ourselves is: "does this serve and honour the Lord? Does this set a good example for those who look up to me? And does this reflect well on the Lord in the eyes of unbelievers?" If not, don't do it. It doesn't matter whether it's on Paul's list of sins or someone else's list of sins or how much better or worse it is than the other sins. If it doesn't serve and honour the Lord, set a good example, and reflect well on the Lord in the eyes of unbelievers, then don't do it.
Praise be to God, the Judge , the Equitable , the Knower of subtleties , the All-Aware , the Forbearing.
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