CALVARY. > Determine which discussion points and questions will work best with your group.

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1 THE REDEMPTION OF SEX BIBLE FELLOWSHIP TEACHING PLANS NOVEMBER 29, 2015

2 CALVARY 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-20 NOVEMBER 29, 2015 TEACHING PLAN PREPARATION > Spend the week reading through and studying 1 Corinthians 6:9-20. Consult the commentary provided and any additional study tools (such as a concordance or Bible dictionary) to enhance your preparation. > Determine which discussion points and questions will work best with your group. > Pray for Pastor Rob, the upcoming group meeting, your teaching, your group members, and their receptivity to the study. HIGHLIGHTS BIBLICAL EMPHASIS: Sexual sin is offensive to God, but sexual sin has been redeemed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now that we ve been redeemed, the Holy Spirit allows us to honor Christ with our bodies. TEACHING AIM: Every part of us has been redeemed by Jesus Christ, including our sexuality. 2 Theology of Sex Calvary

3 INTRODUCTION As your group time begins, use this section to help get the conversation going. 1 Other than the gospel, what is your favorite story of redemption? 2 What do you enjoy about it? 3 Why do we like redemption stories so much? God has placed eternity in the hearts of men (Ecc. 3:11). We cannot find eternity by studying or searching, but through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. His story changes everything about our stories. We all long to be a part of a bigger story. We like redemption stories, because we all long for the true redemption story. A couple of weeks ago we looked at how God created sex as a good gift to us. Last week, we considered how God s good gift had been marred by the fall. This week, we will look at the redemption of sex, and see where sex fits inside the grand story God is telling through all of history. UNDERSTANDING Unpack the biblical text to discover what Scripture says or means about a particular topic. > Have a volunteer read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Paul mentions the unrighteous in verse 9? Who all does that designation include? At the time of Paul s writing, the Corinthians had forgotten a basic Christian doctrine: there is a big difference between believers and unbelievers. Believers live differently than the 3 Theology of Sex Calvary

4 world. The unrighteous are those who have not believed the gospel of God. Believers are those who have been made righteous through Christ. When thinking about sexual sin, we must remember we were once unrighteous we were once included in the list of offenders that Paul offers. What sins did Paul list in these verses? What types of sins are these? We tend to classify sexual sin in an entirely different category of sin. Why do we do that? Has God made such distinctions? What should we understand from the variety of sins included in this list and others like we looked at in Romans 1:18-32 a few weeks ago? It is easy for us to look at long lists of sins in the Bible and only focus on the sins that are not our own. But God is no respecter of persons all sins are equally offensive before a holy God. All sin is worthy of God s judgment and condemnation; it is only through His grace that we have been given the ability to repent of our sins and trust in Christ. What is the kingdom of God? What would it mean for us to not inherit the kingdom of God? 4 Theology of Sex Calvary

5 The kingdom of God is a key component of New Testament teaching. It is the order inaugurated by Jesus life, death, and resurrection. There are aspects of this kingdom we experience now (forgiveness of sin, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, etc.) and others that are yet to be realized (second coming, life after death). However, those who pursue their sin and their selfishness will not inherit any of the blessings of this kingdom. This is what is at stake, but it is also what makes the promise of verse 11 so comforting and compelling for the sinner. > Have a volunteer read 1 Corinthians 6:11. Who were the some of you Paul mentioned? Who does that include today? What does every type of sinner have in common? How does this unite us in faith? After the heaviness of verses 9 and 10, Paul lifts the weight through the promise of redemption: Some of you used to be like this. All Christians were not Christians at some point. Every sin adultery, greed, homosexuality, lying, idolatry, promiscuous sex all find their redemption in Christ. He has fundamentally changed our status before God from condemned to justified. What process has every Christian gone through to be cleansed of sin? How does Christ offer a redeemed perspective, and treatment, of sex and sexuality? 5 Theology of Sex Calvary

6 Christ offers hope to all sinners without any conditions except for our faith and repentance. When we believe in Jesus through faith, by grace, we are washed of all our sins. This included the most self-righteous church person, and the most unrighteous sexual sinner. We are all equals at the foot of the cross. Jesus has justified us and made us right, and sent His Spirit to sanctify us that we may live for Him. Those who are struggling with sexual sin live with the promise that Christ will give them the power and the ability to persevere in their struggle against their sins. > Have a volunteer read 1 Corinthians 6: What analogy did Paul give to explain sexual desire? Why is this a helpful illustration? Why is sexual sin particularly offensive to God? In first-century Corinth, people thought sexuality was just another appetite that needed to be appeased like hunger or thirst. Food was for the body, and so was sex. Therefore, any type of sexual activity was thought to have been right and acceptable. There are more similarities between their day and our day than we ever assume. However, sex is not merely another appetite, but a joyful complementary bond to be shared by a husband and wife. Sexual sin is particularly offensive because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we engage in sexual sin, we are uniting that temple to sin. Because sex is so physical, it impacts our physical temple. It is the Holy Spirit who allows us to flee improper sexual desire and resist sexual immorality. What does it mean to flee? What are some other situations where people flee? 6 Theology of Sex Calvary

7 How does Paul s command to flee apply to sexual immorality? How do we flee? Paul s radical advice to flee rested on the uniqueness of sexual sin. In contrast with all other sins, immorality is against one s own body. Many sins, such as substance abuse, gluttony, and suicide, have detrimental effects on the body. Sexual immorality violates our bodies by bringing it into a wrongful one flesh union, and disregards our union with Christ. Sexual sin violates the most significant fact about believers physical existence: their bodies belong to Christ. What role does the gospel play in our understanding of biblical sexuality? How do we see the truth of the gospel confirmed in verses 18-20? What does it mean that our bodies are not our own? Our bodies do not belong to us because they were bought by Christ. Our bodies and souls are a package deal; we cannot compartmentalize Christ s claim on one part of our existence but not on the other. The good news for all believers, regardless of the sins we have struggled with in the past or the ways our hearts have deceived us, is that in Christ we are made new. Our sins, and all the shame that accompanies them, have been washed away. In this we see the great compassion of God. He is the one who defines us, and He desires for all people to become the sons and daughters He has created them to be. 7 Theology of Sex Calvary

8 APPLICATION Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives. 1 How do these verses impact how we engage with people who are not like us? 2 What sins, sexual or otherwise, do you need to turn over to Christ to be washed by His blood? 3 What are practical ways you can rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to flee sexual immorality? 4 How does this passage help you counsel and pray for people who need redemption from sexual sins? P R A Y Thank God for the redemption He has provided in Christ. Praise God that Christ s redemption will eventually extend to every part of creation. Ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to honor Christ with your body and your sexuality. 8 Theology of Sex Calvary

9 FOLLOW UP Midway through this week, send a follow-up to your group with some or all of the following information: > Questions to consider as they continue to reflect on what they learned this week: How could Paul s directions to flee (1 Cor. 6:18) be a guide to you in dealing with other habitual sins? Meditate on the redemption you have in Christ this week. > A note of encouragement, following up on any specific prayer requests mentioned during your group gathering. > The challenge to memorize 1 Corinthians 6:20. 9 Theology of Sex Calvary

10 COMMENTARY NOVEMBER 29, CORINTHIANS 6: :9-11 Believers should not be deceived into thinking that unbelieving judges ( the unrighteous) and their slap-onthe-wrist verdicts about serious sin can render justice in the church. These people have no inheritance in God s kingdom. Only believers, who are washed... sanctified, and justified, can rightly judge sins (v. 1). Paul s Corinthian readers would also take this admonition as a cause for asking themselves if their behavior matched that of the unrighteous or that of the washed, the sanctified, and the justified. Notes: 6:12-20 Paul quotes a slogan apparently put forth by the immature Corinthians ( Everything is permissible for me) to introduce a series of admonitions emphasizing a dominant theme in this letter: a believer s freedom is to be limited to that which is profitable to the Lord. 6:12-14 Paul s reply to the slogan (v. 12) is that the Corinthian Christians are not their own; they are bodies belonging to the Lord (vv. 13,19-20; 1:2; 7:22-23; 10:26). In the Roman world, body commonly designated a slave owned by a master, or lord. Making a wordplay of this, Paul said a person s body (Gk soma) is not for sexual immorality. It is actually a slave body (Gk soma) for the Lord (Gk kurios; master ). God will do away with many bodily desires at the resurrection, so why be enslaved to them now? 6:15-17 Paul called the believers at Corinth to remember the oneness and sanctity of their union with Christ. The words one flesh in this context refer to becoming one body through sexual relations with a prostitute. The implication in verse 17 is that because Christians are joined to the Lord, they should never be joined to a prostitute. 6:18-20 Sexual immorality is unique among sins insomuch as it is sin against the body, thus assaulting the sanctity of a believer s sacred oneness with Christ (sealed by the Holy Spirit who is in you) and the oneness of holy matrimony (cp. 7:2). The point is that the believer s body is a sacred 10 Theology of Sex Calvary

11 COMMENTARY NOVEMBER 29, 2015 vessel, bought at a price by the Son of God. Believers thus have no business doing anything with the Lord s body that does not glorify Him. Notes: 11 Theology of Sex Calvary