Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Reading of Scripture

If you receive this as God’s Word, will you say with me “Amen”?

Amen!

[Title Slide]

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 “You Are Not Your Own”

II.

Introduction

Church, When we call Jesus “Lord,” that means something.

Have you ever thought about what that word means?

What does it mean when we call Jesus our “Lord”?

The word “Lord” is not a familiar word in our vocabulary today, except when we speak about our relationship to Jesus.

And yet, I would guess that many of us would struggle to explain what that one words means if we were asked.

Listen as I return again, and read the Greeting to this letter of 1 Corinthians.

Notice this time, the repeated use of the word “Lord.”

Did you hear that word repeated?

Why is Jesus called “Lord”?

What does that mean?

At the opening of this letter, the apostle reveals that calling Jesus Christ “Lord” was not only necessary to be included in the community of all the saints of God in every place, but it also identified who the worshipers of God were!

Just Listen!...for the ones who call Jesus Christ “Lord” and call upon His name!

Just Look!...for those who live with grace and peace from a higher place.

And there you will find, the Church of God in Christ Jesus, who is their Lord!

What does it mean to call Jesus “Lord”?

Why do we call Jesus “Lord”?

If I were to ask you: “Are you saved?”

I hope you would say “Yes.”

But if I were to then ask you “How do you know?”-

What would you tell me in response?

This is the answer I hear the most —

“I’m saved because I trusted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior”

That response necessitates an even stronger question in reply: What does THAT mean?

The reality is, the word “Lord” shouldn’t have to be defined for someone to understand what it means, because it should be obvious.

In simple terms, the word “Lord” means this — and this is the title of today’s message, lifted directly from the text in verse 19.

The word “Lord” means:

[Title Slide]

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 “You Are Not Your Own”

“You Are Not Your Own”

The word “Lord” is a possessive word.

It conveys ownership.

The “Lord” is the possessor, the OWNER, the “one who has full control of something” (BDAG).

To call Jesus “Lord” means that Jesus possesses me, Jesus owns me, and Jesus has full control of ME!

This ONE word, describes in such a powerful way, the relationship we have with Jesus - He is “Lord.”

And to call Jesus “Lord” means that we must also, by necessity, LIVE as He is Lord.

How do we do that?

We can begin by looking up the word “Lord” in the dictionary (and I’m not talking about Webster’s)!

But God’s dictionary, God’s Word!

How God defines the word, because —

God set the terms of our relationship with Him and used that word “Lord” to define the relationship.

God gave that definition to Jesus, not to us!

Jesus is Lord, we are not.

The apostle is going to expound this for the church in Corinth because they needed help understanding the nature of the relationship they were in with Jesus.

I would say that WE TOO, need help understanding what kind of relationship we are in with Jesus, especially this kind in which Jesus is called our “Lord.”

We say it, but do we understand it?

Do we believe it?

Do we live it?

What does it mean to live with Jesus as “Lord”?

III.

Exposition

The apostle writes:

6:12

Already, this theme of lordship, or ownership bubbles to the surface in this statement: “All things are lawful for me.”

This phrase is repeated twice in verse 12, and the apostle will take it up again later in this letter.

“All things are lawful for me.”

This was likely a slogan, representing a group’s belief in the church.

Perhaps it was a group’s philosophy or way of life.

We aren’t told who said it, but someone was saying it, and clearly someone in the church was saying it!

And by itself, this statement is not of God.

There is not a Scripture reference to be attached to this unrestrained permissibility.

When we hear that word “lawful,” we think back to the Jews and the Law of Moses.

But that is not the kind of “lawful” that is referred to here.

This word “lawful” is a word for permission.

One translations renders it this way:

“All things are permitted for me” (LEB)

All things are permissible for me.

What is wrong with that statement?

That statement leaves the permissions all about ME!

Church - Do we live as a people who are all about ME? No!

The Gospel always teaches us to to love God supremely and then to love others.

No instruction in the Great Commission or the Great Commandment makes room for my permissions and my rights because life in Christ is never about ME.

This is the issue or what is or is not permitted is the root issue recorded in Scripture about the first temptation and the first sin.

Listen back to Genesis 3.

Did GOD actually restrict what is permissible for you?

Now look closely at what she says next: “but God said.”

That’s what is missing from the statement in Corinth.

What did God say?

The statement “All things are lawful for me” / “All things are permissible for me” is incomplete.

The serpent in the Garden discredited the phrase “but God said” so that once removed, what remained what a lie.

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.”

“All things are permissible for me.”

When Jesus is Lord, we are not granted such unrestrained permission for ourselves.

We like to quote Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things.”

That’s a lie if we leave it incomplete.

For the whole verse says:

Through Christ.

Our culture wants us to believe that we have permission to do whatever we want.

To use whatever gender pronoun we want.

To hookup and date and marry and divorce whoever we want.

To use whatever bathroom we want.

To do whatever with our body that they want.

But what about God?

What has God said?

This same mentality easily infiltrates the church too.