The Silver Rule for Christian Living

Wesley United Methodist Church January 16, 2000 Year B I Corinthians 6:12-20 "The Silver rule for Christian Living" You have all heard of the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Well today I want to talk about what for me is the silver rule. I Corinthians 6:12 says that everything that we do as a Christian is lawful, but not everything is beneficial. Now when you listen to it, it sounds like it is actually unChristian. Because as Christian we are supposed to be different. There are some things that are okay to other people, that we are not supposed to to. The ten commandments tell us that it is not okay for us to mistreat other people. Dare programs tell us that we are not supposed to do drugs and alcohol. The book of Discipline tells us that we should not drink, we should not gamble. And yet in this verse, it seems that Paul is telling the Corinthian church that you can do anything that you want. and here I am telling you that is a very important rule for Christian living. Well of course, before I can make my point this morning. I have to explain you the situation that Paul was addressing as he says these words. Corinth was a pretty cosmopolitan city. As a matter of fact, we talked about the fact that it was much like Aurora. Corinth was a city on the water, thus were always travelers in town. And since it was so easy to get to there were many types of people living there. Aurora too is a very diverse town, with people from many different cultures and even different religions. But unlike Aurora, where the major attraction seems to be the river boat. The hot spot in Corinth was a religious temple. There were thousands of women who lived in the temple. It was thir job to mingle with people and to make them feel confortable in any way that they could. Since another activity of the temple was as a place for sacificing animal. There were shops near the temple that would sell this meat from anybody. Any self respecting Christian would not want to be seen near a temple. They did not want to be associated with the temple in any way. They did not even want to eat meat that came from the temple. They were looking for their pastor Paul to back them up on this view. Yet instead of agreeing with them. Paul considers this to be a teachable moment for all of the church. Because he says that it is okay to go to the temple. It is okay to eat meat from the temple. As a matter of fact, Paul tell them that everything that they do is okay. Some people live under rules, yet Christ came into the world to break all of those rules. The grace of Christ gives us the freedom to do whatever we want to do. There is no absolute right or wrong. What sets us apart as the church, is not what it right or wrong. It is our ability to use our faith in making the right desicions. Just because everything that we do is okay, doesnt mean to do it. Because everything is not in our best interest. We can do as we please, but not everything should please us to do. I think that Corinth has to be the coolest city in the bible. Because it is so easy to see that many of the things that were going on then, are still going on now. The reason that the partying at the temple was so important to their culture, was that everything for them had to be physical. They were obsessed with their bodies. And things have not changed. If you look at television, it seems that the human bodysells everything. Car companies, perfume companies, food companies. All use skimpily clap bodies to sell their product. When you go home tonight, I invite you not to count the number of skimpliy clad bodies that you see in advertising. Yet, count the number of ads that don't use them. It seems that there are strict standards about what our bodies should look like. How we should dress. what we should be doing. The pressure to conform to those standards is even more intense for you younger people. Yet, Paul explains that all of this obsessions with the body, is about what it looks like on the outside. Not what is going on inside. It is about the physical body, not the spiritual body. the task of we as CHristians is to make sure that we develop a relationship with the two. Our bodies are not just what we put on them, or what we do with them , or who we are close to. Our bodies are temples of God. And just like you wouldnt think of brining garbage to the alter and leaving it their, or writing grafitti on the alter. You should take just as seriously what you do with you body. As a Christian, you body is a place where the holy spirit lives in the world. What we do with our bodies, determines what we do with our faith. It is interesting that we seem to have greater respect for this inatinate alter, then we do for the living Christ in us. We wouldn't put garbage on the alter. Yet we live in a world where junk food is the most important meal for us. We dont pay attention to what we put into our system. And more inportantly, we don't pay attention to what our system puts out into the world through our faith. Paul urges us to glorify God in your body. In other words we should praise God in and through our bodies. the point of Christian living is not to get caught up into thh cultural obsession with the physical body. We glorfiy God by living lives of obediance and integrity. both to ourselves and to others. Living a life of integrity and obedience requires is to learn to make good desicsins about what we should do and what it not right. I think that we would all agree that the problems of Corinth, are not only present in Aurora. but the whole country is gripped in a sense of moral and spiritual dis-ease. In a survey, it was discovers the 60 % of all americans say that the church is losing its influence on our culture. Yet in that same survey, 65% of the people say that religion is affecting their deicisions personally. Apparently, we as a church don't see ourselves as a part of the problem. Stpeohen Carter in his book the culutre of disbelief, that even though more of us are going to church. We have also separated what we do with our physical bodies and what we do with out spiritual selves. We don't believe that what we do in life affects our spiru=irtuality. we have become a culture of people who eat one thing and pray another. We buy one thing and advocate for another. We become greedy and consume the worlds resources and yet we are abhorred when we hear of others in the world who are starving. we are looking for a faith that is outside of our bodies. and wonder why we don't find it. Real faith is about your body and soul In the gospels, there is a story of Jesus talking with a young man named Nathanel. Jesus was impressed with Nathanel becuase in his quest for faith, he wasnt willling to accept the easy answers. He had to understand how this faith in Christ applied to his life. Jesus calls Nathanel a man of integrity, because he wanted nothing more than an authentic faith that he could use in the world that he lived in. The faith for Nathanel required that he question everything. I think that Nathanel can be an example for us, because an authentic faith is one which is well thought out, one which includes a sound desicion to follow Christ in all situations, an authentic expereince of Christ through prayer, and a faith which chow itself in a life of obediance and service. An Authentic faith is on in which the spirit and the body live together in harmony. An authentic faith is one is which we follow the silver rule. Everything that we do is lawful, but not everything is beneficial. Christ broke all of the laws for us. we are free to do whatever we want with our bodies. but if we follow Christ, then we want to make sure that our bodies are one with christ. As a matter of fact, Christ says that we are his body here on Earth. Treat yourself, as you would treat Christ. Do with your body, what you would do with the body of christ. and remember that they are one in the same. Do you treat your body as a dump heap for anything in the world, or as a vessel that brings love into the world.? When Christ broke all of the rules, he gave you one more thing that not everyone in the world feels that they have. He gave you the freedom to make a desicion. You can do what you want, or you can do what is beneficial. You can live a life which glorifyies the physical body, or that glorfies God. Which do you chose? It's up to you. Everything is lawful, but not every thing is beneficial. is actually unChristian. Because as Christian we