Sexual freedom is supposed to bring liberty but instead it enslaves and controls people. We think that somehow our physical bodies are disconnected from the spiritual. We think that what we do with our bodies doesn’t affect us but it does. Jesus was a physical man after the resurrection and is now still a physical man.
The sexual act creates a union, we become one flesh. It is created to take place in a marriage relationship. Marriage itself is a foretaste of something greater, it points to our union with Christ, we are his bride. Also, sex points to something better, something greater. God created sex to point to the joy we’ll experience in eternity with him. Knowing God is profound union, sex is a picture of that.
Our application
We should flee from sexual immorality and deal ruthlessly with temptation
Freedom for Bondage?
In the Bible, freedom is understood as freedom to worship (and thereby serve) God. The Exodus (the rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt) is a story picture of this. Paul is using Exodus language here to link themes of freedom and true worship. The irony is that the Exodus generation, having been liberated, received the law, which Paul sees as a bondage to the Jew.
Freedom for Freedom
In this respect the difference between the Exodus generation and believers in Jesus could not be more striking. Unlike those who knew God only through Torah (the law) we are set free for freedom (Galatians 3).
Paul paints the difference in striking terms – life and death… when it comes to finding a way to live and worship – choose the way of the Spirit – not the law.
And this is only possible if you are born of the Holy Spirit.
The law condemns the old heart
The Spirit gives a new heart
The law gives instructions
The Spirit gives companionship
The law puts nails in the coffin
The Spirit sows seeds of life
The law veils our eyes
The Spirit opens our eyes
The law makes you a slave
The Spirit makes you a son
The law promotes to compliance or hardness
The Spirit promotes love and joyful obedience
Working It Out
The application of this is 2 pronged: reckon on it… have high expectations of new covenant life – and don’t trade them in…
Sow to the Holy Spirit – time, edification, fellowship with God.
God’s desire for the sons of Adam: glad worship and obedience from a liberated heart
Church of Christ the King (CCK) serves the city of Brighton & Hove, UK (and the surrounding area), living by and communicating the message of Jesus Christ.
We meet together for worship and teaching on Sundays at 9.15am, 11.30am & 6.30pm at the Clarendon Centre, New England Street, Brighton, BN1 4GQ, UK
