Dealing With Lust (Part 2)

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Friday February 6, 2009

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 (NIV)
15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."
17. But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20. you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

There are a number of important facts we can pull from these verses.

Paul states: "he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her IN BODY!"
He then states "For it is said, 'The two will become one FLESH.'"
Then, in contrast, in the next verse, Paul tells us: "But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him IN SPIRIT!"

This tells us that sex is a PHYSICAL union that IS NOT SPIRITUAL. The statement "The two will become one FLESH" refers to marriage, not just sex:

Matthew 19:3-6 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
3. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
4. "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator `made them male and female,' 5. and said, `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ?
6. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

These verses are referring to marriage and divorce. Jesus told us that "what God has joined together, let man not separate!" By making the same statement about having sex with a prostitute, Paul is telling us that physical sex is actually what causes two people to become "one flesh". Having sex is what causes a "marriage" condition!!

Did you ever notice that the Bible never mentions a "wedding ceremony"?? A wedding ceremony is certainly a good thing in our day and age, but throughout the Bible, they only had wedding "feasts": a celebration of a wedding occurring. There was no ceremony, and there are no Biblical instructions on having one.

When God first created Adam and Eve, the Bible tells us that God created the woman and "brought her to the man":

Genesis 2:22-24 (NIV)
22. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman, ' for she was taken out of man." 24. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

There was no ceremony mentioned. If there WAS a ceremony, it certainly would have been important enough to mention!

According to what Jesus said, and what Paul said, physical sexual relations create the condition called "marriage"! Two people are not "married in God's sight" at the end of a ceremony at a church! They are married when they have physical sex. That's another reason why God does not want us committing adultery.

Jesus Himself gives an illustration that tells what happens to marriage in the spiritual realm:

Luke 20:27-36 (NIV)
27. Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28. "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother.
29. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30. The second 31. and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32. Finally, the woman died too. 33. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
34. Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36. and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection."

When we die physically, our spirit and soul separate from our physical body. In the spiritual realm, where we will then exist, there is no marriage!! Marriage is tied purely to the physical body:

Romans 7:1,2 (NIV)
1. Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2. For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

There can be no doubt that, scripturally, marriage creates a physical union between two people, and that that union no longer exists when the physical body is no longer alive. With that in mind, lets finish with some of the verses we started out with:

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV)
18. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20. you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

We can see now that, since having sex creates a "marriage" condition, it is sinning against your own body to have sex with multiple partners.

1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything FOR OUR ENJOYMENT.

God created sex for us to enjoy, but not for us to abuse! God provided us with everything for our enjoyment, and as long as we are not abusing what God has provided, we would be unscriptural if we didn't ENJOY it! But God gives us guidelines in His Word to protect us, and keep us from damaging our own lives as well as others.

PRAYER
Thank You, Father, for Your amazing and unending love for me. Thank You for all the wonderful gifts you have given to me and to all of mankind. Help me to reflect Your love and Your faithfulness to the world around me.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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