Freedom. Sin. Benefits. Downfalls.

"Everything is permissible for me" – but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me" – but I will not be mastered by anything. -1 Corinthians 6:12

"Everything is permissible" – but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible" – but not everything is constructive. -1 Corinthians 10:23

This verse came up at the church service I was in today. It was grossly taken out of context and placed within what the pastor was saying, but that is not what I want to get muddy today- I want to get muddy with these verses, how they are and what they are. It's late, I'm exhausted and have to work in a few hours, but some times the Spirit comes and gives us an air of renewal and revival which is what I believe is happening now as I type.

God, give me the words to say to your people.

Alright, let's see here. Paul wrote the above two verses to the Corinthians. Here's something you should know about the church in Corinth- they had problems. The town was a hub of immorality. The goddess Aphrodite was worshipped and prostitution was seen as a fitting way to do this. There was a Greek verb developed that meant "to Corinthianize" or "to practice sexual immorality." (Concordia Self-Study Bible: NIV). The citizens of Corinth found their spirituality in typical Greek ways, digging deep into philosophy and finding their way through life through their pagan gods.

The church in Corinth was affected daily by the people who followed gods and goddesses like Aphrodite. Sex was solicited all around them, a seemingly pleasing life of immorality was easily attainable and looked on as wise within the realm of spirituality.

Here's something you should know about the Church today- it has problems. The world is a hub of immorality, sex is solicited on television to us and our youth, money is worshipped by more people than would like to admit it. Prostitution, however legal or illegal, happens on a daily basis just to give those people with money the immoral pleasure that they long for. The porn industry is the only industry truly booming in this recession.

The Church is affected daily by its environment. A life of immorality, sanctioned by the culture in which the Church resides, is easily attainable.

God gave those within His Church freedom through His Son (Revelation 1:5, Romans 6:18, Romans 8:1-2, Galatians 5:1, James 1:25). He gave us freedom from sin, freedom from the guilt we feel from the sins we commit. He's given us forgiveness through the cross (if you don't know about this, please do not be afraid to ask me) and holds it out to us daily, that we may die to sin but live in Christ. He has given us the ultimate gift of His Son because He loves us unconditionally. He loves us so much that He sent a part of Himself to earth to be the sacrifice in order that we may have this freedom found only in His blood as He was whipped. We receive freedom through His death, through His dying gasps. And not only that- we have eternal life through His resurrection. We're going to heaven by nothing we did but by everything He did (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, we have this freedom. We don't have to live by the laws God set before the people of the Old Testament. Yeah for being a God-follower after Christ came! We don't have to follow those regulations and all that stuff about unleavened and leavened bread, having two tassels on your cloak at all times and so on and so forth. We are free of the law that condemns our sin because we have forgiveness! We can go do whatever we want whenever we want it since we know that God has already forgiven us! We may as well give into the immorality the culture provides and have a good time doing it! After all, God's already got our whole salvation thing taken care of.

But wait.

"Everything is permissible." Everything we want to do because of our sinful nature- everything culture and the world is telling us to do- it's permissible. God allows us to do it, He gives us the free will to choose what we are going to do in this life. And no matter what we choose, if we constantly ask for forgiveness, He'll forgive us.

Talk about abusing a gift, not to mention the best gift of all time.

But not everything is beneficial. Not everything is constructive. Those immoral things placed in culture and societies- sex, drugs, the love of money- are they constructive? Are they beneficial in the way the culture is portraying them? What do they lead to? Really, ask yourself that. Let me know of your answer. The next time a heart is ripped out because of premarital sex, let me know if it's constructive. The next time a man or a woman is forced into prostitution because of someone's love of money, let me know if it's beneficial to that person.

I will not be mastered by anything- including my sinful nature and the desires I am placing before the thankfulness to God for His gift. When we let ourselves think that everything is permissible no matter what, we make masters of those desires we give in to.

After all of this, how are we to respond? If you are reading this and put yourself under the label of "Christian," I would encourage you to read the book of James. Delve into it. See what God is trying to tell you through it. Galatians 4 and 5 may be a good starting point, as well as Romans 7 and 8. That's what I will be doing, let's find this out together. Let's look into what comes out of living in the Spirit with the freedom that we have!

If you do not consider yourself a Christian and do not yet know of the freedom from sin that I am telling you about, please please understand this: God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you, just because you're you. We didn't do anything to deserve this gift, I mean, I call myself a Christian and I still sin daily. I still hurt people, I still shove off those I love. I still find myself unhappy because of my lack of money, worshipping that more than my God. But I have freedom from that sin in forgiveness. God has given me the ability to joyfully do His work and admit that I screw up. He's given me others the patience with me to forgive me when I hurt them. I don't deserve this, but it's so FREEING to know that I have it. You can have it too if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. You will experience this freedom, a freedom that transcends any type of earthly pleasures you can imagine.

Whatever you consider yourself, please talk to me. Let's talk this out. Let's learn what it means to live in the freedom God gives. Let's compare notes. Let's search for answers in the guidebook given to us (The Bible).

And let's start now. No time is better than the present.