Christians Gone Wild: Living in Freedom

Christians Gone Wild: Living in Freedom

1 Corinthians 6:12-14

I remember my first semester of freshman year well. I had left my parents house and their silly rules on curfew and bedtime. I felt as free as a bird. I used my new freedom to stay up super late. I’d stay out late as well. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. I even stuffed ten college students in my Chevy S-10 and drove to a diner off campus at 1am. Three of us were in the cab and seven were in my truck bed. This freedom felt great, but I would soon learn there were parameters that still needed to be followed. I almost got pulled over by a cop with seven people in the truck bed. I found myself unable to concentrate in class due to my tired body unable to function well. I still stayed up late, but eventually found that my freedom wasn’t as free as I had assumed. Certain rules were there for a reason. I began to find out why during my time of freedom.

The Corinthian Church was going wild because they assumed their freedom in Christ gave them license to do as they pleased. The Corinthians allowed their human impulses to dictate how they lived out their Christian freedom. Paul wrote this section of his letter to instruct them on their Christian liberty and to derail their false ideologies of what living in their freedom really was to look like.

We too have the same tendency as the Corinthian church- to allow our human impulses to dictate how we live out our Christian freedom. We want a freedom that allows us to do what we want. However, when we live as we please we become god and supplant God from the throne of our hearts. As those saved, we are free…more free than we ever were before. Yet, our freedom doesn’t give us the ability to live as we desire. So, we must ask: What does living in freedom give us the ability to do? Paul in this segment gives us the answer to that question, with a Biblical understanding of freedom. Being free, we now have the ability to

1. Move away from the bondage of our own desires (vs. 12)

Paul in this portion of the letter is having an out loud imaginary discussion with the Church in Corinth. He is building a pattern of rhetoric where he, by the imaginary questions he asks, points out the position of the people within the Corinthian Church. When Paul would bring up issues of sin, they would have said to Paul: “All things are lawful for me!”. Basically stating to Paul that there freedom in Christ allows them free reign to dictate the way in which they live. Paul then reminds them that if they live that way, they will not be free of the consequences of their actions, because “Not all things are beneficial”. Said another way: If we live by our own impulses, the end result will never be good. With reverse logic that is so common in Grecian philosophy, Paul here is then also inferring that if they were to live another way, the way of true freedom, there is where they will find everything that is beneficial for life.

Paul then in this imaginary conversation retorts back: “All things are lawful for me!” reiterating to the Corinthian church that they are still not getting it. So he stepped up the game when he stated: “but I will not be enslaved by anything”. Here he is declaring to the Corinthian church and us, that when we live solely out of our own desires, we are trapped by them. We can become enslaved to our desires. Yet, the way of the Lord is freedom, not enslavement. We are not set free to land back into bondage! Yet, when we choose only what we desire, we are entrapped by them, rather than living free. The freedom Christ gave to us is a freedom from the bondage of our own desires. We can actually live into the desires of an all-knowing, all-loving God. His desires can become our desires and when we live that way, leaning into His desires we are avoiding entrapment as well as living into all things beneficial. Being free, we now have the ability to

2. Live outside of our Narcissistic tendencies (vs. 13)

Paul then continues his imaginary conversation with the Corinthians with another statement they must have said to him. He has them saying: “food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”. This point was essentially having the church say to Paul: “God created us with these desires so they can’t be wrong. We must give into our self indulgent desires because they were created by God”. This excuse the Corinthian church used for both food indulgence as well as sexual indulgence. Many in the Corinthian Church were allowing their sexual appetites and their sexual desires to dictate how they lived. They were using the excuse of “God created me with the desire to have sex, so it’s OK”. Paul then responded: “…The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body”. Paul here is telling the Corinthians and us that freedom is for the Lord, not merely for personal pleasure. In fact, growing in maturity with the Lord strengthens our capacity to not only deny ourselves for the sake of the Lord but for the sake of others as well. We are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, not simply for our own sake but for the sake of others! When we are truly living in our freedom in Christ we will long to love and serve others.

David Benner in his book Surrender to Love says this: “Love always involves not just saying yes to someone but also saying no to self. The life of love is a life of death to the kingdom of self”.  The Corinthian church was as narcissistic as churches can come…and the American church isn’t too far behind. We are always hearing sermons about how we can be better. We have so many Christian books titled something similar to: “Seven Steps to a Happier You (in Jesus)”. American marketing schemes have leaked into the way the American church does church…and in so doing has caused many in her seats to think like the Corinthian church.

David Benner again I think accurately diagnoses why this is the case: "We want a spirituality of improvement not a spirituality of transformation. But the way of the cross is the way of descent, abandon and death. This is the foolishness of the Gospel." We, like the Corinthian church don’t want to truly die to self, so we will convince ourselves of anything we can think of in order to do as we please. I have no doubt the Corinthian church loved the Lord, they however were trying to have it both ways and Paul was stating to them they couldn’t. He says the same to us, in the American church. We must leave our narcissism at the door, so we can serve God’s agenda and live the way God empowers us to live…namely for the sake of the world.

As previously stated: the Corinthian church showed their desire to do as they pleased through their sexual immorality. Next week, we will unpack why Paul challenges them specifically to flee this self-indulgent sin, but it needs to be stated that this word in Greek- porneia means every aspect of sexual immorality. It’s not just the few sexual sins we think of automatically, but rather all sexual sins….and all are equally detrimental to the life of the believer. Being free, we now have the ability to

3. Live the Resurrected Life (vs. 14)

Paul in this book loved talking about the resurrection, and he gave ample places in the life of the believer that the resurrection is relevant. Here is one such place. He described earlier what we are to do with the freedom Christ has given us and here Paul gives us the how- through the power of Christ’s resurrection.   Christ’s resurrection is proof that we too can be raised up. We can be changed, transformed and live differently. Not because we are striving to be more holy, but because his resurrection gives us the power to also be raised up. We can be set free from our self-indulgence and live life for the sake of the world. We are raised up in power for the sake of the world. We are called to live for others, but can only do so by Christ’s resurrection power.

Due to Christ’s death and resurrection, we can live the resurrected life. Freedom means we live life not for ourselves, but for the glory of God and for the sake of the world. We are a people sent to the world to bless the world and draw them into the freedom of true life, the life of redemption, the life of restoration and the life of resurrection.

When you sense yourself living solely for yourself, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Take time to see if you are allowing the Spirit to enable you to live for the sake of the world. If our Christian walk has become a self-focused, narcissistic walk of faith, you are a walking contradiction. May we be challenged to walk in a different way. May the Spirit set you free from the bondage of your self desires and give you the power to live the resurrected life. You and I must choose daily to surrender our agenda and our desires and ask Him to fill us with his desires and show us His agenda.