"Your Body, Your Choice"? No : You Belong to Christ

Introduction

Matthew Glock left early one morning, traveling for his church-planting responsibilities. In the Paris metro, an ad catches his eye: a gym promises "80 days to become the best version of yourself" and signs off its slogan in three words. Choose your body. Three words that sum up the culture around you. Three words that say: you belong to yourself, you are autonomous, you decide.

This Sunday at Momentum, Matthew Glock opens 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 to set you squarely against that idea. Paul writes to a church that also said "All things are lawful for me" and dragged that freedom all the way to the prostitutes of Corinth. Facing this culture of yesterday and today, the apostle lays down a foundational principle of the Christian life, in one sentence you can say out loud: I do not belong to myself, I belong to God. A sentence that stings, that frightens, and yet brings you home.

Sermon Outline

1. "Choose your body": an inhuman culture that needs to be broken

Don't underestimate what the culture tells you every day. Not just at the gym. At school, at work, in advertising, in the stories you consume. It teaches you that you belong to yourself. That you are responsible for everything. That you can become whatever you want. Matthew Glock recalls sitting the day before, on the train, next to a brother in Christ who had been a prison guard for forty years, and who summed up the shift in one line he'd heard from young inmates: "There's no law. I have the right to do whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want."

This vision, the preacher says, is flatly inhuman. You need to hear that. It is not how God made us. And it bears two bitter fruits. On one side, the frenzy of achievement: I have to succeed at everything since I alone am responsible. On the other, the shipwreck of resignation: I can do nothing, I'm among the forsaken. Between the two lies an immense anxiety before a choice that never stops. Paul writes precisely to tear the Corinthians away from this lie, and to tear you away from it too. A necessary break with the surrounding culture is needed, along with a new understanding of what your body is.

2. "I do not belong to myself": the foundational principle of the Christian life

The principle Paul lays down fits in five words: I do not belong to myself. Matthew Glock repeats it, and lets it land. It stings anyone who hasn't heard the gospel. It still stings the one who has. And it's frightening, because the question that comes right after is: so who do I belong to?

Be careful here. The preacher insists: this principle gives no one authority to take God's place over you. Every time a man, a group, or a system has said to another "you belong to me," it has produced abuse, violence, and domination. The good news lies elsewhere: I no longer belong to myself because I have surrendered myself to Another, to God himself, who redeemed me. And again, you can simply say this sentence to yourself: I do not belong to myself, I belong to God.

3. Bought at a great price: the language of the slave market

Paul closes his argument with this statement: "You do not belong to yourselves, for you were bought at a great price." This vocabulary comes from the slave market. A person was the property of another, put up for sale. Someone would take her where she was and pay the price to set her free.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Hosea illustrates this with piercing force. God asks him to marry a woman given to prostitution; he has children with her; she returns to that life; and God says, "Go again, take her back." That is our story. Christ paid the highest price to redeem you. It is not you who give yourself up, or let go, or decide to hand yourself over: it is God who acted, and all you have to do is simply say thank you. When you come back to this, the preacher says, you recover your humanity. You come home. You become again what God created.

4. Christian freedom: don't confuse indifferent matters with ethical questions

The Corinthians waved a slogan: "All things are lawful for me!" They had twisted Christian freedom. They had taken the right understanding that certain things are indifferent (food, for example), and stretched it to cover everything, even justifying visits to prostitutes on the grounds that "God won't judge me for that."

Paul corrects this forcefully in verse 12: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything." And he doesn't say this because he possesses some exceptional inner strength. He says it because he belongs to God, because he has been redeemed, and because the power of the Holy Spirit lives in him. It is that power that lets you say no to whatever dominates you. Be careful not to mix categories: food is neutral, sexual immorality is not. Christian freedom applies to indifferent matters, not to ethical questions.

5. Your body is a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit

Paul then says two astonishing things about your body. First: "Your bodies are members of Christ." Your body (not just your spirit, your body), is a member of Christ. Then: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." This body belongs to God, and it carries within it the very presence of his Spirit.

Matthew Glock cites Gordon Fee's commentary: the Corinthians thought that the Spirit's presence implied a denial of the body. Paul argues exactly the opposite: the Spirit's presence attests to and shapes their body. In other words, when you come to Christ and the Holy Spirit enters you, your body doesn't become less precious, it becomes infinitely more precious. It is not something to despise, nor to dominate, nor to worship: it is something to honor.

6. The gospel reunites what humanity had torn apart

Since the fall, humanity has confused this question of the link between body and spirit in every possible way. Either it says the body is evil and must be restrained (common among certain Greeks. Or it says the body is everything and should be let loose), that's the "choose your body" side. Or it worships the body as an idol, which Paul denounces in Romans 1: they worshiped the creation rather than the Creator.

The gospel joins back together what had been torn apart. Body and spirit are reunited in Christ. How do we know this? Because Christ lives today in the same body he had on this earth, a body now glorified. And one day, this body that is slowly wasting away, this body you sometimes wonder whether it will hold out to the end, God will transform into an immortal body. Hallelujah. There is no spiritual life separate from your body. Your spiritual life is in this body, and it is with this body that you glorify God.

7. Pastoral compassion: "your life is hidden in him"

Matthew Glock closes on a note of tenderness. Saying "I belong to God" does not mean that everything is fine, that everything is resolved, that everything will get better tomorrow. There is probably not a single person in the room who doesn't carry something troubling about their body. An illness, a suffering, a prayer prayed a thousand times and still unanswered. These things are real.

What God says to you is: I am not indifferent, because your body belongs to Christ, I know it, and in the midst of all this, I am here with you. This truth should also give you deep compassion for brothers and sisters going through hard situations. Never say lightly "it'll get better." Instead, know that your life is hidden in him, that your life belongs to him, and that the Creator of all things (even when you cannot see it), knows what is best for you. You can trust him.

Key Takeaways

• The culture that tells you "choose your body" is inhuman. That's not how God made you, and it produces either a frenzy of achievement or resigned surrender.
• The foundational principle of the Christian life fits in one sentence. I do not belong to myself, I belong to God. Say it out loud when the culture drowns you out.
• You don't give yourself up: God is the one who redeemed you. The vocabulary comes from the slave market. Christ paid the price; you get to say thank you.
• Christian freedom applies to indifferent matters, not to ethical questions. "All things are lawful" does not extend to what will dominate you or to what violates God's will.
• Your body is a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit doesn't deny your body: he fills it, honors it, makes it a dwelling place of the divine presence.
• The gospel reunites what sin had torn apart. Christ lives in a resurrected body, a guarantee that yours will one day be transformed into an immortal body.
• Belonging to Christ doesn't mean everything is fine. Your pain is real, and he is here with you. Your life is hidden in him.

Personal Application

• What voices, throughout your week, keep repeating the lie "you belong to yourself, choose your body"? Where do you need a clean break from this surrounding culture?
• Can you say out loud, today, Paul's sentence: "I do not belong to myself, I belong to God"? What does that change about a concrete decision you're facing?
• Is there an area of your life where you're still confusing "indifferent matter" with "ethical question", where you justify with "all things are lawful" something that, in reality, dominates you?
• How do you treat your body? As something to despise, dominate, or worship, or as a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit to honor?
• What bodily or intimate suffering have you been carrying for a long time without answered prayer? Can you lay before God the certainty that your life is hidden in him, without denying the reality of your pain?
• Toward which brother or sister, going through a trial in their body, is the Spirit calling you to turn a compassionate gaze, without the easy phrases?

Scripture References

• 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 · "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price"
• Hosea 1-3 · the picture of redemption: "Go again, love a woman"
• Romans 1:21-25 · humanity worshiping the creation rather than the Creator
• Colossians 3:3 · "your life is hidden with Christ in God"
• Philippians 3:21 · Christ will transform our body of humiliation into a glorious body

FAQ

What does "I do not belong to myself, I belong to God" mean?

This is the principle Paul lays down at the end of 1 Corinthians 6: "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." It means that your life, your body, your future are not entirely yours to dispose of: they are under the lordship of Christ, who redeemed you. This is not bondage, it is freedom. You are torn away from what once controlled you and handed over to the One who loves you and paid the price for you.

Does "all things are lawful for me" mean I can do whatever I want?

No. This slogan was already circulating in the church at Corinth, and Paul corrects it immediately: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything." Christian freedom applies to indifferent matters (food, for example), not to ethical questions like sexual immorality. And even in indifferent matters, the question to ask yourself is: does this build me up, or will it end up dominating me?

Why does Paul focus so much on the body?

Because the Corinthians, influenced by certain Greek philosophies, despised the body and thought spiritual life happened somewhere else. Paul instead affirms that your body is a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus's resurrection in a real body is the guarantee of this: one day, your own body will be transformed into an immortal body. There is no spiritual life separate from your body, it is with it that you glorify God.