Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Well, good morning Park | Forest Glen!

My name is Dan and I serve as one of the pastors here.

I’m glad your with us this morning.

We’re continuing in our series through the New Testament letter of 1 Corinthians—a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a church he started in the Roman city of Corinth.

He started the church and then a few years later wrote this letter to them to support, challenge, encourage, and teach them how to keep following Jesus in world that doesn’t.

If you have a bible with you, open up to 1 Corinthians 7. If you need a bible you can grab one from the seat in front of you and we’ll be on page ***.

Introduction

If you’ve ever had to take a speech or public speaking class, you’ve heard about how important a good introduction is to your message.

It should be clear and grab the attention of anyone listening…it should make them think they need to hear what you have to say!

To that end:

Today, we’re talking about sex.

Last week, Brenton did a great job preaching through the first of several messages that touch on Sex, Marriage and Relationships in 1 Corinthians.

And it’s almost impossible to overstate how important these topics are today—especially in light of our current cultural moment.

You cannot escape the constant bombardment of ads, coaching, and messaging about sex and what you should think about it.

All of us have had our thoughts about sex profoundly shaped by the world around us—the shows watch, the ads we see, the music we listen to, the books we read, or however we consume content!

More than that, we all have different sets of experiences that come bare on our thinking about what sex is and what it should be!

PAUSE

Some of us have a wounding around this topic because of things you’ve gone through or are going through right now.

And from that wounding comes a shame that you cannot easily shake…well that is going to have a huge influence on how you approach this topic.

PAUSE

For many of us, there’s a lot of confusion about sex because of the conflicting messaging around it.

On the one hand, you have the the church.

Facing pressures from an increasingly sexually-open culture, well-meaning Christian communities in the last 50 years have had tried to batten down the hatches, to keep people from indulging in sexual behavior outside God’s intention for sex.

And yet, what’ often unintentionally been communicated that sex is bad—that it is inappropriate to talk about about, let alone among other Christians or in a sermon for that matter!

Which has further left many Christians to try and figure things out themselves!

And at the same time, since the 1950’s, western culture has been on journey to revolutionize sexual norms and behaviors.

Technological advancements have made access to pornography unbelievably easy from theatres, x-rated magazines, movies, pictures and clips on a computer to a smart phone that has almost any image imaginable available in a matter of seconds—all the while the cultural appetite for it increases as the taboo decreases.

And herein lies the confusion many of us experience: that the two loudest (or recognizable) voices talking about sex are the Church (which seems to say, ‘No!’) and our culture, which seems to say, ‘Yes!’

The fact of the matter is, none of us have a blank slate.

And what I want to today—and only scratch the surface—is come back to a healthy, biblical view of sex.

And as we look at 1 Corinthians 7:1-7, we will see three aspects of healthy sexual intimacy: that it is not a need but a gift, that it is not selfish but self-giving, and finally, that sex is not a weapon but a tool.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to 1 Corinthians 7.

Let me read the passage, pray, and I’ll get started.

Sexual Intimacy is not a need but a gift.

Alright, let’s get started.

Look with me at v. 1 (1 Cor.

7:1)

One of the things we have to keep in mind is that Paul is responding to a letter the Corinthians sent to him.

Here’s what they said: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

Now, we don’t know why they said that.

It may be that they’re trying to respond to the issue of sexual sin in the christian community and this is the conclusion they’ve come to.

That in light of how easy and damaging sexual sin is…they’ve taken the position that sex itself is bad.

And Paul comes along in chapter 7 to give them quite a bit more nuance to that position.

It’s not that sex is bad.

It’s that it’s powerful.

And he wants followers of Jesus to understand how sex is supposed to work and function in their lives.

Biblical Framework for Sex

Now, Paul is not starting from scratch in chapter 7. He’s got some things that serve as a framework for how we need to think biblically about sex.

And it goes back to the book of Genesis and the first two times we encounter the idea of Sex in the Bible…and those two places show us the biblical ideal for what is sex and how we ought to think about it.

It’s not the only place sex is talked about—but because they’re first, these passages set up key ideas for how we should think about it.

Genesis 2:24-25

First, Genesis 2:24-25.

This is after God has created Adam and Eve, he says this:

Genesis 2:24–25 (ESV)

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

And there is a lot we could talk about here.

But for the sake of time, I’m just going to mention one thing: that in talking about a man and woman—husband and wife.

They become one.

In the original language it’s the Hebrew word: e’had.

It means joined, unified, unique.

It’s a picture of two people becoming intwined, together, and joined through sex.

It’s actually one of the most important words in the first five books of the Bible because it becomes the primary way God calls His people to see him!

He is one..He is unique.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

It’s the same word for one.

A husband and wife becoming one through sex let’s us know that there is something sacred, powerful, and mysterious happening all at once.

Like every other created thing in Genesis 1 and 2, sex is good and right as God intended it to be!

And this is why we understand sex to be reserved for a husband and wife and not in any other context!

Genesis 4:1

Here’s the second passage Paul would have been thinking about: Genesis 4:1.

This is the second time the idea sex shows up in the Bible.

Genesis 4:1 (ESV)

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Look at that word, “knew.”

Adam knew his wife.

It’s a bit of a strange word to talk about sex, isn’t it?

In the original language, it’s the Hebrew word: yadah.

And the vast majority of times this word is used in the Old Testament, it’s describing something learned or understood through experience…it has to do with the senses.

In a small, handful of places though, it functions with a bit of a double meaning—that “knowing” is a euphemism for sex.

And I think that’s significant because it tells us that, as God has designed it, sex is actually about so much more than just an experience or action.

To talk about sex as knowing someone…is to talk about a deep sense of vulnerability and transparency.

It is for a husband to see his wife as she truly is…for a wife to see her husband as he truly is.

It is both to know and be known in this kind of sacred, powerful, and mysterious relationship that marriage is supposed to be!

In fact, I think the word that describes this level of closeness, vulnerability and acceptance is intimacy.

Which is why I think it’s helpful, as we move forward through this passage, not simply to talk about sex as an act, but sexual intimacy…because that captures the biblical framework of ONENESS and KNOWING that Genesis puts forward.

Sexual Intimacy is not a need but a gift.

Now, that brings us to the first point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 7 about Sexual Intimacy in marriage.

And this will be brief, but I think it’s crucial we understand this.

Sexual Intimacy is not a need but a gift.

In other words, Sexual Intimacy is gift that God gives to some—but not all.

It is not a basic human need in order for us to be fully human or experience true joy or satisfaction!

Look at v. 1 again.

The Corinthians have come up with this plan saying sex is bad—so they’ll just avoid it.

But Paul starts correcting their thinking in v. 2 (1 Cor.

7:2)

He’s not minimizing the danger of sexual sin…affirms that it is something God takes very seriously and is not consistent with following Jesus…and that each man should have a wife and each woman a husband.

But jump down to v. 6 (1 Co. 7:6-7)

Paul was single…no wife.

He’ll talk more about it later on.