Why Should We Flee Sexual Immorality? (1 Cor. 6:9-20)
Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20
This is probably one of the more common, unspoken questions: âWhy should I flee sexual immorality?â And some answers to this question may be followed by a second question: âIf watching and masturbating to pornography is not physically hurting anyone, why should I stop?â
Many of us, myself included, may not have explicitly and verbally asked the second question, perhaps out of a sense of pride or shame. But it is a fair question to be asked. It is a question that is genuine, but also ignorant. In 2013, Ran Gavrieli gave a TEDx Talk in Jaffa, Israel, sharing about why he stopped watching porn. (Click HERE to watch the TEDx Talk.) Gavrieli shares that watching pornography promotes the prostitution industry:Â
Whatever I am watching is creating a demand. And wherever there is a demand, there will be a supply. There is a correlation. If I watch pornography of black, older women, somebody is going to go out and pimp black older women. Asian minors? Somebody is already trafficking Asian minors in order to film them. Israeli women, Palestinian women, WASP, all American college girls. The scum of the Earth are already out there trying to solicit and prostitute these women on camera. So I stopped watching porn for my personal well-being. My intimate communication, my private erotic life. Reclaiming control and responsibility over my mind. But by doing that, I actually stopped contributing to this horrible sex industry.
So I say that the second question is genuine. However, many of us are genuinely ignorant because many of us may not even recognize that watching pornography contributes to the sex industry. Iâm thankful for Gavrieli. Heâs helped me to see more clearly the terrible impact that pornography has on predominantly trafficked girls and women, but also boys and men.
However, Iâm not writing this to talk merely about pornography. Sexual immorality encompasses everything from looking at another person lustfully to homosexuality to masturbation to premarital sex to orgies to rape. Sexual immorality essentially promotes the âmale domination of women, the subordinance of womenâ (Gavrieli). Sexual immorality is viewing others as bodies and not souls (Matt Chandler). Sexual immorality, like all other sins, is a great sin because of how great the One we are sinning against (David Platt).Â
Iâm also not writing this to say that we should flee sexual immorality for the greater good. As much as we should stand for justice and against the sex industry, Scripture gives us a greater reason and purpose for why we should flee sexual immorality.
The BASIS for why we should flee sexual immorality is our IDENTITY IN JESUS CHRIST.Â
When Paul writes to the church in Corinth, Paul is advocating for their sanctification! He is reminding the Corinthians that though they were unrighteous in their old self (1 Cor. 6:9; cf. Rom. 3:9-20; Eph. 4:22), they are now a new creation and now righteous before God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 3:21-26)! If you are in Christ, flee sexual immorality because âyou were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our Godâ (1 Cor. 6:11).Â
Furthermore, Paul forms an argument using Godâs words from the beginning of creation:Â âThe two will become one fleshâ (Gen. 2:24). God spoke his design for marriage into existence, where one man shall hold fast to one woman, and they shall become one flesh. As Paul speaks to a newly created people in Corinth, he uses this holy and pure design for marriage to set a higher example of the relationship between man and God: âThe body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?â (1 Cor. 6:13b-15a). And this is what we, as believers and followers of Christ, must come to truly know. Flee sexual immorality because we are members of Christ -- the sinless servant and the holy King, meek and majestic, lamb-like and Lion-hearted (John Piper). Through Christ, we are children of the Most High, chosen and beloved, refined in the fire that we may reflect the image of our Father in holiness and purity.
Paul then flips the argument in a different direction: âShall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, âThe two will become one flesh.ââ (1 Cor. 6:15b-16). If you are in Christ, stop living as if you are members of a prostitute! Flee sexual immorality! Come, âtaste and see that the LORD is goodâ (Ps. 34:8)! For those who are in Christ have been washed, sanctified, and justified by His blood. And since you have been joined to Christ, your bodies are now members of Christ.
Paul continues. He doesnât forget to emphasize that âby grace through faithâ (Eph. 2:8-10) we are in Christ for the glory of God through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us: âDo you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?â (1 Cor. 6:19a). For those who are in Christ, flee sexual immorality because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. âDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemptionâ (Eph. 4:30).
Lastly, Paul reminds the Corinthians that though âall things are lawfulâ for them (1 Cor. 6:12), they must not be enslaved by anything of this world. They must not be enslaved by the immediate pleasures of sexual immorality. And so, for those who are in Christ, flee sexual immorality, for you have been bought with a high price, which is Christ Himself. Your body is not your own (1 Cor. 6:19b-20a)! We are now âslaves to righteousness, leading to sanctificationâ (Rom. 6:17-19).
This grace-rooted reason leads to a glorious purpose in fleeing sexual immorality. The FUEL and GOAL in fleeing sexual immorality is WORSHIP.
In Let The Nations Be Glad, John Piper states that worship is the fuel and goal of missions. I want to take that and emphasize that worship is the fuel and goal in âfight[ing] the good fight of the [Christian] faithâ (1 Tim. 6:12). And more specific to this passage, worship is the fuel and goal in fleeing sexual immorality.Â
For those who are in Christ, we have seen a glimpse of the glory of God. And so we glorify Him because we have tasted and seen how good our God is! This is our fuel. The fuel of worship consumes us; it fans our hearts into flame, that we may have an increasing passion for His Name (song: âConsuming Fireâ). It motivates us to seek a higher pleasure, which is Christ Himself.
And this fuel of worship urges us to grow in the fullness of worship in our own individual hearts. It also stirs in us a longing for all peoples to praise His Name. âThe deepest reason why worship is the goal...is that worship is Godâs goal. We are confirmed in this goal by the biblical record of Godâs relentless pursuit of praise among the nations. âPraise the Lord, all nations! Extol him all peoples!â (Ps 117:1). If it is Godâs goal it must be our goalâ (Piper).
With an eager desire to see the Corinthian church praising the Lord, Paul provides a praiseworthy purpose in fleeing sexual immorality: âSo glorify God in your bodyâ (1 Cor. 6:20b).
So in our fleeing away from sexual immorality, let us flee towards God and come to know more clearly who we are in Christ, so that we may glorify the Father in our bodies.Â
Final encouragement from 1 John 2:1-6:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says âI know himâ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.