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 New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Paul writes something that some of us have a hard time accepting, that “All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (Verse 18). Why is sinning sexually different from other sins? How is it different? I thought a sin is a sin?
Paul doesn’t explain. I wish he did.
The complexity of sexuality is too magnificent to ignore, too fierce to treat it casually and too much a reality of life to brush it to the side with some Christianese clichés or ways to not “give in” to the temptation yet not talk about the reality of the temptation.
Somehow we need to have mature conversations about it with compassion and honesty while considering our own short-sightedness and personal blind spots.
That’s a messy recipe, but sometimes you’ve got to be willing to get messy if you want the truth.
There’s a lot of things about this I don’t understand. There are a lot of things I don’t know, can’t explain or wrap my mind around. I’m also not someone who believes in the simple “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” I think God always has a reason, a good one, for what He wants for us to do or how He wants us to live, even if there’s times we don’t have a complete explanation of why.
That sexual sin is different from other sins because of how God designed it. I may not like that, I may wish it was different, I may want a better explanation.
Which I believe is why Paul wrote the next thing he did: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (Verse 19-20).
As much as we say it’s our body, as long as it’s consensual, as long as no one gets hurt, what’s the harm?
Maybe the harm is that we, as a follower of Jesus, aren’t our own. That there was a price, a significant one, that was paid for each of us by a God that loves us.
When I shortchange that price by making my wants, needs or desires the most important thing, I miss the point of the price that was paid for me. It’s about more than simply forgiveness. More than fixing my past. More than me going to heaven some day.
It’s about me being a place that He lives.
Recalibrate: How might life be different if I remembered that I am His residing place? Why at times do I resist the idea that I am not my own? That it’s not about me?
Respond: Father, help me to feel valued by You, in spite of the messiness of my place.
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. “Do you not know that . . .‘The two will become one flesh”(Verse 16). Here’s the question: what if what’s true for the paper is true for us? That every encounter leaves a little residue on both pieces?
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.
Make a love heart shape and put all the things that your little one loves inside it. You can use photos of family and friends, toys, pets—maybe your nanna! Fill the space. Just like this heart that we’ve made, love lives inside us. Paul says “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (Verses 19-20). Treasure who you are, who God made you to be and let love live in you.
Listen to this story and hear all about the Holy Spirit and how He can help us know what is good for us.
The way I grew up, sex was a . . . complicated topic. The only time it was talked about was when someone was telling us it was bad and wrong. Until you’re married, of course, but that was a side note. So what that meant was talking about sex was completely OK as long as you started with, “I can’t wait until I’m married.” But talking with adults about it was super weird. Talking with friends about it (without that fun little loophole) was super bad. This super secret and forbidden thing made the topic irresistible for some and terrifying for others. Well, most people didn’t wait until they were married—a fair share of them barely waited for the school year to be out. Most of those who did wait struggled with intimacy because they lived their whole lives telling themselves that sex is bad and wrong. When they got married they felt . . . bad and wrong. No surprise there. God created sex (yes, babies) to have something super awesome that a couple could share. And even waiting ruined it for them.
In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul tells us that we should honor God with our bodies. Then he talks about sex. It’s an odd transition for sure. But he’s right. Jesus said if you look at someone and think about having sex with them than you have already sinned. He’s saying don’t try to edge up to that like that we talked about a few days ago. You know why; it poisons your mind. And I’ve heard friends say, “But everyone watches porn. It’s normal and it helps relieve tension without hurting someone.” Not according to Paul. He says that’s a sin against your own body. That sounds awfully philosophical. Let me put it this way: It poisons your mind. Seriously, it causes you to treat people differently, to see them differently. Yeah, watching porn is pretty normal these days. Unfortunately so are sex crimes, people objectifying each other, extramarital affairs, etc.
There is never a better time to decide how you want to honor God.
You don’t choose where you were born, your family, what language you’re taught to speak, or even what you look like. These are special things about you that weren’t your choice. As you read through this passage, it may be first time you realize that your body is not your own. God created you and made you unique. Before you were born, not only were you created in His image but there was a plan to redeem you. We are so privileged. Although talking about this in the context of sexuality may seem weird or awkward, the beautiful message here is that God values us. He wants to reside in us, and what we do with our bodies matters.
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.