Reflections with Andy - 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20 – Not all Things are Beneficial
Don’t do what feels good. Do what is good.
In today’s Reflections with Andy, we explore 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, where Paul reminds us that not everything we can do is actually good for us. We talk about the difference between freedom and wisdom, why our bodies matter to God, and what it means to glorify Him with every part of our lives. Along the way, we unpack the biblical meaning of “the flesh,” the dangers of living only to satisfy our desires, and the beautiful reminder that, through Christ, our bodies have become temples of the Holy Spirit.
Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Monday morning. I hope you’re doing well. I had a great weekend, and I’m looking forward to a great week.
We’ve got a lot to do this week, but thankfully not too many meetings. Any week where I can look at my calendar and realize I don’t have a meeting every night—that’s a good week.
I’m excited about what’s happening here at First United Methodist Church in Starkville. There are some great conversations taking place, some wonderful momentum, and God is blessing our church. I know He’ll continue to do that because He is good.
Today we’re going to read 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, where Paul talks about glorifying God with our bodies.
There are really three things I want to unpack from this passage.
First, Paul’s statement, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.”
Second, I want to talk a little about what he’s saying regarding sexual immorality and prostitution.
Then I want to finish with what may be my favorite part of the passage: “You were bought with a price.”
I think that points us toward something much bigger.
Paul begins by saying,
“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.”
Then he says,
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.”
This is part of a conversation about the Jewish purity laws.
Faithful Jews had spent their entire lives observing dietary laws—what we would call kosher. But now they are in Christ.
Think about Peter’s vision in Acts, where he sees all kinds of animals and the Lord says, “Rise, Peter. Kill and eat.”
Peter objects, but God tells him, “Do not call unclean what I have made clean.”
Those dietary restrictions no longer define the people of God.
So Paul says, “All things are lawful.”
In other words, Christians are no longer bound by those ceremonial food laws.
But then he immediately adds,
“Not everything is beneficial.”
I think that’s such an important word for Christians today.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it.
Our culture tends to ask, “Is it allowed?”
The Christian asks, “Is it good? Does it honor Christ? Does it help me become more faithful?”
If we’re approaching sin thinking, “Well, God will forgive me anyway,” then we’re already headed in the wrong direction.
Will God forgive us?
Absolutely.
God is gracious.
But His grace was never meant to become permission to flirt with sin.
Max Lucado once said, “God hates sin because sin destroys His most precious creation.”
That’s exactly right.
Sin is always destructive.
Always.
You’ve probably heard the old saying: “You can’t defeat the demons you play footsie with.”
That’s true.
Don’t skate as close to temptation as you can and assume grace will cover it.
Grace does cover us—but grace is also trying to lead us into a better way of living.
Paul then turns to the issue of sexual immorality.
Part of what he’s addressing is exactly what we’d expect: sex outside the covenant of marriage.
God designed marriage as a covenant, and sexual intimacy belongs within that covenant.
But there’s another layer here that we sometimes miss.
In Corinth, many pagan religions included temple prostitution as part of their worship.
So these believers weren’t simply committing sexual sin.
Many of them were also participating in idolatry and pagan worship.
Paul is saying, “You’re walking away from the Lord in every direction.”
And here’s the deeper issue.
They were living to satisfy every desire they had.
Friends, if your highest goal in life is simply to satisfy your desires—to do whatever feels good, whatever you want, whenever you want—you will eventually destroy yourself.
A life centered on self eventually collapses under its own weight.
But a life centered on Jesus leads to life.
Discipline isn’t about making life smaller.
It’s about making life fuller.
Paul says, “Don’t live this way. It’s destroying you.”
Then he reaches the heart of the passage.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?... You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”
This is so important because Christians have often misunderstood what Paul means when he talks about “the flesh.”
We are not Gnostics.
Gnosticism was an early Christian heresy that taught the physical body didn’t really matter.
As long as your spirit was right, you could do whatever you wanted with your body.
Paul says exactly the opposite.
Your body matters.
When Scripture talks about “the flesh,” it’s not talking about your physical body.
It’s talking about our sinful desires—those desires that are part of our fallen human nature.
So when Paul tells us to wage war against the flesh, he isn’t telling us to hate our bodies.
He’s telling us to resist those sinful desires that pull us away from God.
Our bodies are good.
God created them.
And through Christ, they have become temples of the Holy Spirit.
That means how we live matters.
How we care for our bodies matters.
How we honor marriage matters.
How we treat ourselves and other people matters.
John Wesley famously encouraged his preachers to walk an hour every day.
He understood that our physical lives and our spiritual lives aren’t enemies.
They belong together.
Our culture doesn’t help us with this.
Instead of sitting around the table enjoying a meal with family or friends, we inhale processed food while driving from one appointment to the next.
We don’t listen to our bodies.
We don’t rest.
We don’t slow down.
We don’t pay attention.
If you’re tired, rest.
If you’re hungry, eat well.
Go for a walk.
Breathe the fresh air.
Touch some grass, as the kids say.
One of the books that’s helped me think about this is The Body Keeps the Score. One of its central insights is that our bodies often tell us things our minds ignore.
Those of you who know me know I love to push myself.
I’ve already told our church here in Starkville that I only seem to have one speed—and it’s fast.
I like to run hard.
But I’ve also had to learn to listen to my body.
Sometimes faithfulness means resting.
Sometimes faithfulness means slowing down.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God dwells within you.
Your body matters.
So yes, Paul gives us some hard words today.
But they’re good words.
Remember:
“All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.”
Don’t simply do what feels good.
Do what is good.
Do what honors Christ.
Thanks for being with us today. Tomorrow we move into chapter 7, and there’s a lot there to talk about. Some of it is challenging, but it’s important.
I look forward to seeing you then.
Have a great day.