1 Corinthians 6: Flee Sexual Immorality, Your Sexuality Is Spiritual

Introduction

"There should be no taboo in the church." After speaking about money since the start of the new season, Samuel Mabboux, pastor of the Assemblée de Dieu de Nice Ariane, takes on a subject rarely heard from the pulpit: sexuality. His title comes down to one Greek word, porneia, translated in our Bibles as "sexual immorality." It refers to all sexuality lived outside the framework God has given.

The pastor tells how he grew up in a family where these things were never discussed. Even during a wildlife documentary, someone would change the channel, and a sense of unease would fill the house. It was school that taught him, and school does not say the same thing as the Bible. Today, children are "much more connected" than their parents: parental controls are no longer enough, and we need to give them responsibility and talk with them.

"If you remember only one thing this morning, remember that sexuality is spiritual." The whole message flows from this conviction: sexuality is a gift from God, protected by a framework, and fleeing sexual immorality is a matter of the heart as much as of the body.

Outline of the Message

1. Sexuality Is as Spiritual as It Is Physical

God could have had children born "under a cabbage leaf or brought by storks." He chose sexuality, within its framework. He is a God of order.
Genesis 2:24: a man will leave his father and his mother, be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The physical side cannot be separated from the spiritual side.
Sexual intercourse seals the union between a man and a woman who love each other. In the Old Testament, the pastor points out, it is the union itself that seals the marriage.
Porneia covers adultery, fornication (relationships outside marriage), homosexuality, and relations with close relatives. "My opinion doesn't matter, and neither does yours: what matters is what the Bible says."
The framework is not there to frustrate you: "God sets a framework to protect you," emotionally, physically and spiritually, so that you can flourish in what he has planned.

2. Your Body Is the Temple of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:15-20: "Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ?" The one who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her, but the one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
Because there is one flesh, there can be a spiritual transfer. The pastor says he has seen this in many conversations with people tied to past unions.
"Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body." There is no small sin, but Paul places particular weight on sexual sin, committed against one's own body.
"Honor God not only with your lips, your songs, your hands, your offering, but honor God with your body too." Even when no one sees you: "It's easy to deceive people, but you don't deceive God."
If you are struggling in this area, do not stay alone: a brother with a brother, a sister with a sister, or a meeting with the pastor.

3. Flee Rather Than Resist

Paul says "flee," with a sense of urgency and radical action. He writes to Timothy: "Flee from youthful lusts" (2 Timothy 2:22). And this does not concern only the young.
"God didn't ask you to put temptations in front of your eyes" to see how long you hold out. To flee is to spare yourself needless battles.
The pastor speaks of himself: the day he removed certain things from his phone, his struggles became much lighter. Some films or series he used to watch contained scenes that made him fall.
Joseph did not negotiate with Potiphar's wife: he fled, leaving his garment behind, so as not to sin against God (Genesis 39).
David, the man after God's own heart, looked at Bathsheba from his roof. The first glance was not his fault, but he gave a second look, and then he had her brought to him (2 Samuel 11). "It is pride to believe you are safe." Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

4. The Consequences We Underestimate

Sexual sin works like an addiction: it comes to dominate you and take control of your life.
Romans 1:26-27 speaks of "vile passions." For the pastor, unrestrained sexuality disorders the mind (Romans 1:28) and distorts the way we see the opposite sex.
He mentions a group of friends where, putting their stories side by side, he thought: "so, everybody slept with everybody?" And this is what is happening in the world today: some do not even know the first name of the person they met at a party.
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed (Genesis 19). "My God is a God of love, but he is also a God of justice." Debauchery always breeds more debauchery.
"I'm afraid of what I could become without the Lord." This is why the pastor says he imposes on himself, as a precaution, the framework God has given. Scandals have shown that even men thought to be above reproach can fall.
Many try to fill a lack of love through sexuality. We confuse love with a few moments of pleasure.

5. The Heart, the Eyes and the Way We Present Ourselves

Matthew 5:27-28: "everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." Jesus raised the bar: "Lord, come and help us, because otherwise we won't make it."
The pastor also addresses the sisters: seeking to please people other than your husband, wanting to attract in a carnal way, is already sexual immorality, even without a relationship.
"Be sober" in the way you dress, so as not to be a stumbling block. It is not about dressing "like sacks": being beautiful and elegant is no problem at all. The question is: "Whom do you want to please?" It applies to the brothers as well.
Song of Solomon 2:7: "that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires." Especially not with someone you know the relationship will not lead to marriage.
Protect yourself from situations where you could slip. Rather than finding yourselves alone in a bedroom, the pastor advises going for a walk along the Coulée verte: "There's a lot less risk." He says he receives many people in tears in his office, and many relationships that have been damaged.

6. Marriage, a Sacred Framework

"If he is the man of your life or she is the woman of your life, go and get married." Paul writes: "it is better to marry than to burn" (1 Corinthians 7:9). A small wedding done properly before God is better than a long wait for a big celebration.
Be spiritually compatible and share the same vision of serving the Lord. His parents, the pastor says, were "in tune spiritually": they had promised their third son to God, and that is why they named him Samuel.
Jacob thought he was marrying Rachel and found himself united to Leah (Genesis 29): once the union was consummated, the covenant was sealed.
In France, a couple is married before God as they leave the town hall, because we submit to the authorities. The Church then blesses the couple. Living together without being married civilly is living in sin, and relationships outside marriage are called fornication.
Mark 10:6-9: "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." The pastor states that, according to Matthew 19:9, the only grounds for divorce is unfaithfulness, porneia, and that the death of a spouse also releases from the bonds of marriage.
Don't love your spouse anymore? "Pray about it. Get on your knees and ask the Lord for his grace." His parents quarreled, prayed and wept together, and they are still together: God renews love.
Hebrews 13:4 and 1 Corinthians 7:3-5: the marriage bed must be kept undefiled, and spouses belong to each other. Within marriage, sexuality is "something beautiful and precious," to be given only to the person you are married to and with whom you share your life.

7. God Restores and Sanctifies

To those who have stayed pure, at 18, 20 or 30: "May you be blessed by God." Staying pure is "not old-fashioned": God honors it.
To those with a past: the Lord can restore, heal, purify, break the covenants of the past and give back spiritual purity. He casts our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). The pastor mentions women, some of them former prostitutes, who came to faith and are now married and surrounded by a family.
To those who are in the church and living in sexual immorality: "Don't play with fire." At his conversion, the pastor himself confessed to a pastor that he was living in sexual immorality. That pastor prayed for him, and the Lord broke that chain.
At teen camps, he estimates that perhaps eight young people out of ten are affected by these struggles and are bound by them, through the images and videos seen at school. He is surprised to see that this problem of addiction affects many young girls too.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5: "For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor."
The message ends with a prayer: that God would sanctify his Church, "not just on Sunday morning, but every day, every night, even when no one sees us."

Key Takeaways

Sexuality is spiritual: the union of one flesh involves both body and spirit.
God's framework, marriage, is not there to frustrate but to protect.
God does not ask you to stand before temptation to see how long you last. He asks you to flee: remove what feeds the struggle.
Sin begins in the eyes and the heart. No one is immune, not even a man after God's own heart.
God restores those who return to him with all their heart, and he does not want you to fight alone.

Personal Application

Do you honor God with your body, even when no one sees you?
What is on your phone or in what you watch that feeds struggles you could spare yourself?
Is there a relationship or situation you are maintaining even though you know it does not lead to marriage?
If you are married, how can you honor your spouse and your marriage this week?
Which brother, sister or leader could you talk to about your struggle so that you no longer stay alone?

Bible Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Greek word porneia mean in the Bible?

Porneia is the Greek word translated as "sexual immorality." Samuel Mabboux explains that it refers to all sexuality lived outside the framework God has given, marriage between a man and a woman. This is the word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 6:18: "Flee sexual immorality!"

Why say that sexuality is spiritual?

According to Genesis 2:24, the man and the woman become one flesh. For the preacher, sexual intercourse seals a union that is not only physical: it also involves the spirit. This is why Paul says that the one who sins in this area sins against his own body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Can God restore someone with a past of sexual immorality?

Yes. Samuel Mabboux affirms that the Lord is able to restore, heal, purify and break the ties of the past. If you sincerely ask for forgiveness, he no longer remembers your sins. The pastor also encourages you not to stay alone: talk to a brother, a sister or a leader who will pray with you.