Flee!

1 Corinthians 6.12-20

The ancient city of Corinth was well known for it's sexual looseness and promiscuity. There was a temple in town that employed 1000 ritual prostitutes. Wine, women, and song were the main objectives of many of the residents. The Corinthian battlecry seemed to be "Get as much sex as you can as quick as you can."

Ancient Corinth and 21st century America seem to be on the same page. Our culture is sexually saturated.

Paul's battle cry was "flee sexual immorality." Don't run towards it. Run away from it. The verb he used means "keep running away from it." This will be a constant battle. This will be a constant temptation. So keep your running shoes on. Flee!

What are we supposed to run away from? The word Paul uses is porneia. It is the ancient word that our modern term pornography is derived from. It means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage.

How do we flee? Let me make three suggestions:

1. Acknowledge your own proneness to sin
2. Make firm commitments before you get in tempting situations
3. Create some personal guardrails, some lines you will not cross

What would those guardrails be for you?

My hope is that we will be committed to the kind of personal purity that the Bible teaches, and that our sexual ethics will not be "Corinthian."

Related passages: Romans 13.13-14, Ephesians 5.3, Colossians 3.5, 1 Thessalonians 4.3-4, Matthew 15.19