Glorify God With Your Body (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)

·50 min·5 clips

Pastor Tommy Meador confesses his battle with Bluebell ice cream cravings while introducing a sermon on controlling sexual urges.

The episode opens with Pastor Tommy Meador welcoming listeners to the Northwood Baptist Church podcast and inviting them to join services in North Charleston or online. He introduces the scripture passage from 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, noting the church has been studying this book for about six weeks. Meador shares a personal anecdote about being diagnosed with Crohn's disease and changing his diet, struggling with cravings for Bluebell ice cream to illustrate the difficulty of self-control. He connects this to the sermon's focus on controlling sexual urges, acknowledging it's a sensitive topic requiring care. The pastor reads the full passage, which includes Paul's statements about everything being permissible but not beneficial, the body being for the Lord, and fleeing sexual immorality. He provides historical context about Corinth as a port city with temples to gods like Aphrodite, where prostitution was a major industry influencing the church. Meador explains how some Corinthian Christians misapplied Christian freedom to justify sexual sin, adopting slogans like 'everything is permissible.' He counters this by discussing Platonic dualism, a philosophy prevalent in Paul's time that separated body and soul, and argues Christian theology views humans as whole persons. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus had a physical body that was crucified and resurrected, promising believers future bodily resurrection. Meador identifies three lies from culture: 'It's my body,' 'I must listen to my body,' and 'What consenting adults do harms no one,' asserting these contradict scripture. He shares pastoral experience that people's biggest regrets are often sexual, stemming from believing these lies. Using the analogy of a Taylor Swift guitar destroyed because it bore her name, Meador illustrates that Christians bear Christ's name and their bodies belong to Him. He explains the concept of union with Christ, where believers are attached to Him, and contrasts this with sexual relationships outside marriage that create harmful attachments. The pastor details how sex inside marriage between one man and one woman illustrates the gospel, pointing to Christ's relationship with the church. He notes Paul's command to 'flee' sexual immorality rather than resist it, advising listeners to flee to Christ for power. Meador encourages making decisions now to follow God's design, having necessary conversations about biblical sexuality, especially with children, and feeding one's soul with God's truth. He concludes with an invitation to confess sin, seek healing, or place faith in Jesus for salvation, emphasizing God's love demonstrated through Christ's death and resurrection.

As heard by us

A sermon on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 that frames bodily life as discipleship because the body belongs to God.

Northwood Baptist Church's sermon on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 treats the body as central to Christian discipleship, not as a secondary concern beneath private belief.

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Why you'd press play

When "my body, my choice" meets 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, you get a sermon about who your body belongs to and what obedience asks of it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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