Series: Love Glue
Message: Stuck
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Mike Speegle
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: Brandon Kharns
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions. 

Reflect: I hope you read Eugene Peterson’s take on this passage because it’s powerful in the way he weaves reason with spiritual truth. Here is one of my favorite takes:

“Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate.” (Verse 12)

Let’s be honest—we sometimes use grace as an excuse, as a “get out of jail free” pass. We repeat “I am saved by grace” over and over to assure ourselves that what we do doesn’t count, but it does. Not as a way to earn salvation or points but as a way of living out God’s goodness, His mercy . . . His grace.

Adventists have a long history of being technically legal. Historically we’ve said “no jewelry,” yet if you could turn that jewelry into a utilitarian piece, say a watch, a broach or a tie clasp (which really doesn’t change it from being a piece of jewelry) you were OK. If you’ve been around the Adventist church a long time, you’ve probably had the joy (?) of discussing “appropriate” Sabbath behavior, like how deep you could put your body into a body of water. Ankles? Knees? Mid-thigh? Waist (be careful)? Neck?

Paul is shooting for something much deeper, something more mature. The question isn’t what’s OK to do or even what’s right but what’s the wisest thing for us to do.

“Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body” (Verse 13).

No comment needed, just a few moments contemplating what that means in your life.

“Remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would you?” (Verses 14-15).

Our culture says it’s our body, so we can make the choices we want to make. Paul says we need to consider if that’s really true.

“There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact” (Verse 16). There’s a lot we don’t know about how all of this works, which is why we push back at this idea that sex is more than physical; some of us don’t want to consider the implications of it being more than that because of our history.

If that’s you, I simply want to remind you to who Paul wrote these words: a church in Corinth, to followers of Jesus who weren’t perfect by any stretch, but Paul was trying to help them become better because of the value God had placed on them. To help them learn that not everything is good for me, even if it’s “OK.”

Recalibrate: Where in my life do I need to rethink what’s good for me?

Respond: Pray “Father, help me to have the same respect for my body, and others’ bodies, as you have for mine.”

Research: Pull apart the pieces you glued together on the previous days, notice how much of the previous pieces of paper have stuck on each of the pieces. Glue them together again with a different piece. Read Andy Stanley’s take on Law and Grace.

Remember: “Not everything is good for you” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Mike Speegle is the lead pastor for New Hope, an exciting, young, multi-ethnic Adventist Church in Fulton, Maryland. Mike became a follower of Jesus and an Adventist in his early 20s. Pacific Union College was the first Adventist school he ever attended; he met his wife Lorie there. Mike has pastored for 30+ years, served in the Ministerial Association of the General Conference, and has written a book, Big Questions, as well as a number of articles.

Play with blocks or a train set or something that you need to put together. The first time your child plays with this toy they will need a picture or someone to show them how to put it together and how to play with it. While this is a very simple analogy, know that God designed you to be treasured, loved, and kept safe from harm. Know that you are a one-of-a-kind treasure in Jesus. Your little one will watch and learn.

What is your favorite game to play? Is it a good game? Is it heaps of fun? I love a good game. If my friends need me to help them and I won’t do it because I’m too busy playing, is that a good thing? No, it is not. There is nothing wrong with the game, but putting the game before my friends is not good for me. Is this the same for you? Think about how you play and what you do when your mom asks you to do something in the middle of a game.

OK, here’s the reminder: We’re talking about changing childish ways of thinking about God to adult ways. Yesterday we talked about the big switch from wondering how little you can do to how much you can do. But I feel like there’s a little more to say on that topic. I think there’s a reason why people try to do as little “Christian” as possible.

Let me start by talking about something that doesn’t seem to relate to anything. I know, harsh transition. Judge me if you must. When my wife was pregnant with our first kid, I went to as many doctor’s appointments as I could. Who could blame me? I was excited about the baby and wanted to make sure he was OK. For one of the tests, they sat her down and gave her a bottle that looked like orange Gatorade. When she started drinking it her face scrunched up like someone had played a wonderful practical joke. “This stuff is awful!” she said. So get this, the point of the test was to load her up with sugar and see what the baby would do. Couldn’t they have passed her a Big Gulp, Slurpee, giant Mountain Dew, or a bowl of ice cream? I’m full of great ideas on how to get sugar. But noooo—they had to make sugar gross.  I think you must have to try really hard and be really talented to make anything sugary gross, but they did it.

I look around and I think we have accidentally made the best things about God bad. We have turned the Gospel from good news about freedom into manipulative threats for control over behavior. No wonder people want to do as little as possible. I’m here to tell you the cake is a lie. (Any other portal fans out there?) There are things I did and rules I followed when I was young that I later found out weren’t Biblical at all. I wish I hadn’t listened to them. There are other things I was warned about that I didn’t take seriously. I wish I had.

God wants the best for you, and His advice for living your life will make it better. But the only way you are going to know if it’s God’s advice or someone else’s idea wrapped in Christianese is if you get to know God yourself. That should always be your first priority. What you do will follow as you get to know God better.

A few months ago I was teaching the high school connect group at my church and we had a really interesting discussion on what’s right and what’s wrong. The word that started to come up was “technically.”  If you didn’t say the whole truth, were you technically lying? If you accidentally took a pen from someone, did you technically steal from them? We started talking about the gray areas. I remember in my local group there was a bookshelf of dating books and one of them was titled Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far? While I never read the book, this is one of those common questions that come up.  What I’m hoping you get from this passage is less about what’s “technically” OK and how sacred our bodies are. Consider that God may care more about how we treat our bodies than we do.  

Zan Long is GRC director for faith development groups. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Brandon Kharns is the family life pastor at Placerville Seventh-day Adventist church in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California near Lake Tahoe. 
Vanessa Rivera is a therapist in a community mental health center in Denver, CO, and serves as the lead elder for Live Purpose at Boulder Church.