Don’t You Realize?

Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

IN HIS FIRST LETTER to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote with the posture of a father. In a fatherly way he reasons with them, helping them think about their lives and their bodies in a way that reflects the reality that they belong to Christ. Eleven times throughout the letter, Paul comes alongside them and asks a question that begins with “Don’t you realize?” “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God?” (3:16). “Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads?” (5:6). “Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world?” (6:2). “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” (6:9). And then in quick succession he asks three questions that have to do with the way they use their bodies:

Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? (6:15)

Don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? (6:16)

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? (6:19)

Perhaps Paul is demonstrating for us the kinds of questions we should be asking our kids and asking ourselves about our kids. Do our kids realize that their sexual purity is about so much more than being good or avoiding disease or pregnancy or shame? Do they realize that if they are in Christ, they take him with them into every sexually compromised encounter? We can give our kids lots of good reasons to remain sexually pure. But Paul helps us center our appeal in the gospel reality of being joined both body and soul to Christ. It prompts us to consider asking our children: Don’t you realize . . . ?

Lord, as we seek to instill in ________ a deep sense of the holiness and significance of sex, we find ourselves pushing against a very strong tide. Only the power of your gospel and the reality of ________’s belonging to you has pushback power against this tide. Give us the words and the will to keep up the fight to help ________ realize that his body belongs to you.