Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Epistle lesson (1 Corinthians 6: 12-20).

What are you worth? I mean it "What are you worth?" If someone other than your pastor asked you "What are you worth?" what would come to mind for you? Do you think of your life insurance worth? Maybe you think of the thousands, even 100,000's of dollars worth of life insurance that you have? Maybe you think of your net worth, what your property and bank accounts and investments are worth. For some of you that may be only a few dollars, for others much more. What comes to mind for you if someone personally asked you "What are you worth?"

Now right at this point you may be thinking this is going to be a sermon on stewardship and giving. "Pastor wants us to consider what we have and tithe based on our income and worth." Granted my first words might get many thinking that I would be preaching about financial stewardship, but I'm not. This text from Paul to the Corinthians does not directly engage that topic (although he does later in the letter, Chapter 16). On the other hand, if you thought I was starting to preach on stewardship and you started to dread it, to feel uncomfortable, then perhaps you will want to consider why that topic brings discomfort to you. Is that an area of your spiritual life that you still need to turn more fully over to your Lord? When the Lord calls to you about stewardship through His Word do you respond with "Here I am Lord"? Or do you put him on hold?

But no, this is not a text that engages us about stewardship, but it does lead us to the question "What are you worth?" When we consider how "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139) we are by God, how unique and intricate each of our bodies are, we might think that we are worth quite a lot. Even if your body has aches and pains and doesn't perform nearly as well as it use to, God 'continues to take care of our body and soul, eyes and ears and all my members... out of his fatherly and divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in me,' to paraphrase the Small Catechism (First Article on Creation). Medical science is only beginning to plumb the complexity of cells and endorphins and bio-chemical interrelationships that God has made. Each of us, as mechanical and biological puzzles, are priceless.

But if we consider our own sinfulness, how often and how far we stray from God, our worth and our sense of our value dwindles, even evaporates. In the Lord's prayer we sometimes hear the 5th petition translated "Forgive us our debts" because our sins incur such a great debt against God's law in the 10 commandments. Our debts, our sins, our trespassing "against God's laws are innumerable, infinite, and immeasurable" (Chemnitz in The Lord's Prayer, 1598). When we ask "How much am I worth" by the standards of God's law, we see much "red ink", much that we owe, much that we can never pay back on our own.

The specific sin that Paul is addressing to the Corinthians is against the 6th commandment, against adultery, fornication, against sexual immorality. God has made humans male and female. He created us, fearfully and wonderfully, as sexual beings. He created us so that "two would become one flesh", but just those two, not three or four or five or more. God created our bodies so that a husband and wife could show each other physical love and affection, but once they become "one flesh" with each other, they are not to share that physical affection with any others, nor are we to share it with others prior to marriage. If you are not currently married, know that God has foreseen your future spouse if you are to have one, and you are called by God to wait and honor them only. Some of the Corinthians apparently thought and taught that being sexually promiscuous was entirely permissible. They thought that extramarital sex and premarital sexual relations were normal and inevitable. Corinth was a town known in the ancient world for its rampant sexual promiscuity. It probably would have fit in quite well into our promiscuous American culture of today. The new Christian converts had apparently learned that Christ's death and resurrection had purchased forgiveness for them, but not accepted the teaching that continuing to practice such sin was harmful to them, body and soul. What are you worth? Many people, even many Christians young and old, have been tempted into thinking that their worth is tied into their sexuality. They are seduced into the belief that unless they have a current sexual partner, even one they are not legally united to in marriage, they are somehow of lesser value. Being a "virgin" brings peer pressure on many Christian teenagers. Even some elderly adults in our culture are enticed by their adult children into thinking it is biblically permissible to live and sleep together without the benefits of marriage. For Christians, premarital and extramarital sexual relations are not normal and inevitable, regardless of our age. Luther summarizes the Bible's teaching about the 6th Commandment in the Catechism: "We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and each love and honor their spouse." Paul taught the Corinthians to not just avoid, but "Flee from sexual immorality." Paul told the Ephesians (5: 3-4) "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality (or obscenity or coarse joking) for these are improper for God's holy people."

What are you worth? Paul ties our self-worth into this text. Our self-worth comes not from our sexuality or our money or our standing in the community. Our self-worth comes from what our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to pay with His Body and His Soul for us. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." As much as we Americans value our freedom and independence, we American Christians must always remember that we have a master, and He purchased us with his own sweat and tears, his own holy and precious body and blood. He suffered on the cross for us to purchase us and give us heavenly, holy worth, no longer burdened with the debt of sin. Because he purchased us, He has made our bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies, our earthly bodies hold God's Holy Spirit within them. In a few minutes, many of us will receive the Body of Jesus Christ into our earthly bodies, again forgiving us, again strengthening us to renew our life of faith and trust in Him. Shall we take our bodies, his temples, and misuse them, uniting them physically with others outside of holy matrimony. Heaven forbid! What are you worth? You are worth the life and death of God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ, God Himself. You are worth the life of Jesus Christ, not because there is something inherently worthy in you, but because of His great love shown to us, given for us. Because of Him you are worth being filled with God's Holy Spirit. You might think that your body has too many creaks and groans in it, or is too skinny or too heavy. Regardless of the state of your body, it is the marvelous temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body, Paul says a few chapters later (Chapter 15), will be transformed. Your mortal body will be raised to immortality, glory, and power (15: 42-43). Why would anyone want to bespoil their earthly bodies, the seed for their immortal bodies, by uniting themselves with a prostitute or any other unholy, ill-suited sexual partner?

What are you worth? The next time someone asks you that question, I hope that your first thought is not life insurance or investments. I hope that Paul's words here first come to mind for you: "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you�. You are not your own." Like Samuel and Philip, you have been called to a wondrous, holy life of listening to and following our saving Lord. Whether or not sexual temptation is a struggle for you, I hope you leave here today more fully aware, deep in your soul and body, that you are worth far more than you can ever earn or accomplish on your own. "You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)