[Put to death] … sexual immorality …
Summary: Paul begins to detail how we live according to God’s will.
As we begin to take a closer look at the things Paul wants us to “put to death,” the first thing on his list is “sexual immorality.” (The King James Version of the Bible famously uses the word “fornication” in this passage.)
Without going into details about how this word is used or what it means, we can generally say that God has something specific in mind about human sexuality. And he should. After all, he created us!
This is the hardest part for us humans to accept. God knows us inside and out. He designed us to be the way we are.
Now, when I say that we are “designed” to “be a certain way,” that doesn’t mean we can’t do something different than God intended. Going our own way, after all, is the essence of sin.
So God designed us, body and soul, to be and function in a certain way. If we had stayed within God’s design parameters, life would be much different. The curses that came upon humanity after Adam and Eve’s sin would never have happened (Genesis 3: 14-24).
Unfortunately for us, they did happen, and here we are. We have “free will,” but without God’s Word and Holy Spirit to guide us, we lack the ability to discern right from wrong. We continue to choose “wrong.” This is why God gave us the law, and God’s law is quite specific when it comes to human sexuality (See Leviticus, chapters 18 and 20).
So what are we to make of all this?
For those of us who know the Lord, Paul is explaining that we have a choice. Honor God with our bodies or reject him … again just like Adam and Eve did.
To put something to death is to kill it intentionally. To kill a part of ourselves seems unnatural to the natural man. However, when we are born again, when our spirit returns to God repentant, saved by the blood of Jesus, we become a kind of split personality. A part of us is fully committed to God, but we are tied to a body that is fully committed to fulfilling its own desires.
Choose.
We have to choose constantly to reject the impulses of the flesh. In Paul’s words, we have to “put to death” sexual immorality.
Application: Consciously focus on God’s will.
Food for Thought: Like Lot, we live in a pluralistic society. How do we co-exist with those who don’t know Jesus?
Like Lot, we live in a pluralistic society. How do we co-exist with those who don’t know Jesus?
As a new believer, a more mature brother came alongside of me and helped me on my road to maturity. We were both single, and I remember one summer day we were walking in a Shopping Mall, when Jim said to me, “LOOK FOR NICKELS”, and I saw him looking at the floor. Then I saw these two very attractive young ladies, dressed for the summer, and I realized what he was doing. From that day, ”looking for nickels” became a part of my life.
We are each unique creations with a unique ministry foreknown by God. Called to respond by living our lives in His power, according to His will, as examples, separated from the ways of this world. We are called into service by God to live in this world without living of this world.
Galatians 5:16, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
1 Peter 2:11, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Matthew 5:13-16, 28:19-20, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 6:17, Galatians 5:16-17
Thank you, Ron!
“Looking for nickels” sounds like a great alternative to “Looking for Trouble!” 🙂
Good response as always R2T2.
In Genesis 13 and 14 we see Lot and his uncle, Abram. Abram was a friend of God. Lot chose to live in Sodom. And although he may have been a righteous man, his choices seemed to suggest that he also wanted to be a friend of the world. Abram also lived in the same pluralistic society, but he chose not to pursue the world but pursue God. We have the same choice. Live in the world, but live in it for God. Be a friend of God and intimate with him. Do not be intimate with the world but rather seek to transform it through the power of the gospel.
Matthew 6: 33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
James 4: 4: You adulterous people, a don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2: 15 – 17: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father d is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Romans 1: 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Thank you, Rich!
“Living for God” is such a wonderful opportunity, yet from our physical or “natural” perspective, so challenging. We have to be able to “see” God through Jesus and his Word. As you point out, we need to be “transformed by the power of the gospel!”