1 Corinthians 6 - 10.29.24

SCRIPTURE:  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom?  Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God."

OBSERVATION:  Paul wrote this letter to address the church in Corinth regarding how they were still living like they were a part of the world's system. The main issue Paul addressed is how they were tolerating the worst kind of immorality.  Paul wrote that their body's were not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  Another thing he addressed was the way the believers were treating one another unjustly, and taking their disputes to the pagan court system rather than taking the matter to a wise person among them who was able to arbitrate between them. 

They had been washed, sanctified, and justified.  Now it was their responsibility to start living according to their new identity in Christ!

Paul wrote that Jesus had liberated them to be free, and he exhorted them to use this opportunity to serve one another through love rather than an opportunity to serve their fleshly desires.  They had been made free, not to violate God's will, but to glorify Him by doing His will. 

Paul wrote, "Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be brought under the control of anything." 

APPLICATION:  "Christ has liberated us to be free.  Stand firm then and don't submit again to the yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1).

The most profitable way for us to exercise our freedom is by being a slave to God and servants of one another in love.  To most people, this may sound contradictory and absurd, but according to the Lord : To be set free from the bondage of sin, we must become servants of God and one another.  

PRAYER:  Thank You Lord Jesus for the freedom that You purchased on the cross for us.  The way to experience that freedom is by living godly lives before You.  That is true freedom!  Thank God that, although we used to be slaves of sin, we obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching we were transferred to, and having been liberated from sin, we became enslaved to righteousness.  (Romans 6:17,18).  

- Robin Orefice