by: Reverend Marjorie Bevans
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51
Hardly anybody likes to hear Christians moralizing, telling other people what they can and cannot do. Even we Christians don’t like to hear it. In the letter of Paul to the Corinthians this morning Paul seems to be moralizing, but I think he’s really addressing a deeper issue that has to do with a person’s relationship to God.
The people of Corinth were new Christians, and they were so talented and full of the Holy Spirit. Yet Paul had to write them two, and possibly three, letters to address their various forms of immorality. It does often seem to be the case that the most gifted among us go morally astray.
In his first Letter to the Corinthians Paul is addressing sexual immorality with temple prostitutes. This behavior was acceptable in Corinth for pagan worshipers. But now that some Corinthians had become Christian, what had previously been accepted and even allowed by law had become an impediment to these new Christians’ relationship with God.
The statement about food for the stomach and the stomach for food probably means that there is a proper purpose for every part of the human body. The proper use of the whole body is to sustain the relationship of the eternal soul with God. This must have been difficult for the former pagans to accept, because they viewed the body as primarily a vehicle of pleasure. And so do many people of the world today. We consider our bodies to belong to us, not to God, to do whatever pleases us with them, instead of trying to please God.
Joining one’s body with a temple prostitute polluted one’s body and its relationship to God. Anything can become an impediment to our relationship with God if it’s not in the right place, even good things like affection and procreation. Christians are called to understand the fullness of what it means to have a relationship with God. Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
It’s probably safe to assume that most preachers are not preaching this lesson today, and for good reason. It’s likely to make many of us uncomfortable. However, it seems to be about more than the body. It seems to me to be more about the disposition of the soul within the body. This is what the Corinthians were in danger of damaging by misusing their bodies.
We who have been baptized have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is drawing us toward God, uniting us to Him. His Holy Spirit is within us. God wants us to seek Him, to know Him in order to love Him. When we pray ‘thy will be done’ we are giving our wills over to God. We are accepting His will for us, entrusting our lives to the one who gave us our lives, who sustains our souls with His love. We find that we are not fully content unless we are close to God, and I think even atheists can sense this subconsciously.
The great theologian St. Augustine of Hippo, who before he became a Christian had led a notorious life of debauchery in Athens, famously said, “Love God; do as you please.” “Love God; do as you please.”
One might take this to mean that if you love God and know He will forgive the sins of anyone who is sincerely repentant, that you can get away with anything. But, knowing Augustine, it is more likely he meant “if we love God, then what He wants will become what we want.”
For us to love God, we must try to remove anything that blocks our relationship with God, whether it be in the body or in our souls. For me, the biggest impediment is busy-ness, being so busy that I can’t find the time to listen to God. For others it might be ambition, or seeking pleasure, or self-medicating to numb pain, grief, or anger. We each have something that is blocking our relationship with God. What is it for you?
When we are able to remove all these impediments we develop purity of heart, a heart fully open to God. This is the quality Jesus immediately noticed in Nathanael. He was an Israelite in whom there was no guile. Nathanael was not duplicitous in his spirit, but rather open to God by nature. And because he was so open in his spirit he immediately knew who Jesus was. Nathanael exclaimed, “You are the Son of God!”
Too often there is something at work within us that is preventing us from seeing God as He is. It is acting like a brake on the work of the Holy Spirit. We can often discover what it is through talking to a trusted friend, or spiritual counseling, or even good psychological therapy. Sometimes we need that kind of help. We can also ask God’s help in removing whatever those things are that have become impediments to our relationship with Him. He loves us just that much that He will help us remove them.
We often hear the phrase from fellow Christians “give it up to God” and it seems to make sense to me. Just let God have it, whatever it is that we can’t handle, let Him take it away. I surrender it to God, and in doing so it no longer has power over me. If any of you has ever made a sacramental confession and heard the words of absolution declared to you, maybe you have experienced that feeling of having a weight lifted, and then being filled with a sense of peace and joy. Through confession you have removed an impediment to your relationship with God. In flows the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
So, yes, it is a good question, “what are we doing with our bodies?”, the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need our bodies in this earthly life, and we are stewards of this small piece of God’s Creation.
The larger question remains, “what are we doing with the soul within our body?” What are we allowing to pollute it? Worry, fear, anxiety, the desire for control, contempt, resentment, anger? These are the obvious things we might think about, yet anything can become an impediment to our relationship with God if it’s not in the right place, even good things like family, responsibility, and charity.
So, if you sense that there is something out of place within you, think about what it might possibly be, and then try ‘giving it up to God.’ Amen.
Need a refresher of the readings?
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 11-20
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Gospel: John 1:43-51