The fifth and final mark of the early church was their counter-cultural sexual ethic. Before we dove too deep into the topic, Pastor Morgan took the time to acknowledge two things: 1) We must work to not make the conversations surrounding sex and our bodies only an intellectual one. We all have very tangible stories and experiences when it comes to this topic and it's easy to distance ourselves by keeping it intellectual. 2) Because of this, we recognize that teaching and dialogue around the topic of sexuality can be triggering for some. Church leaders in the past have not always handled this topic well. If you are someone who would like to have a conversation about sexual ethics, we would love to be available to you and connect you with one of our men or women in leadership. Please reach out to us and let us know if this is your next step! Our contact information is listed at the bottom of this email. 

After establishing this baseline, Pastor Morgan took us to our scripture for the morning's teaching: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. We looked at certain Corinthian catchphrases of the time when Paul wrote this letter, and the response to each phrase the church is to hold. For example, it was common for Corinthian citizens to say, "I have the right to do anything." To which Paul would say for citizens of heaven, "but not everything is beneficial," or "but I will not be mastered by anything." 

Another issue was how the Corinthians had separated the body from the soul. Because these two are separated, it was easy to emphasize the soul as what matters most - meaning you can simply do what you want with your bodies. However, as members of the church, scripture (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) makes it clear that our bodies were bought at a price, therefore we are to honor God with our bodies. Paul is taking is right back to the gospel message of redemption. Christ redeemed our bodies through his life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, how we use and treat our bodies is to reflect the significance of this message. You do not have a body, you are a body! Our bodies will be resurrected with Christ and they belong to the Lord. 

Lastly, Pastor Morgan gave us some next steps to process: 

There is so much more to be communicated and processed regarding sexual ethics, and as we said above, if you need to process this more, we would love to be available to you.