Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

We’re looking at what it means to follow Jesus Christ as we study the letter to the church at Corinth that challenged them on how they had developed a culturally captive Christianity based on things that they were believing about God, others, and themselves that weren’t based on Truth.

+ Are there any cultural shifts taking place that we are missing or cultural captivities that we are stuck in as the church in America?

In the Twin Cities?

+ How do we live as strangers and aliens in this world yet as part of the family of God from many cultures and languages?

+ I was reading through John this week and was reminded in John 15:18-19 that we’re called to be different and that we should be concerned if the world doesn't hate us…because that means we’re just like them in our priorities and passions!

+ So, we’re learning ways that we can keep growing to live out a biblical theology and kingdom lifestyle together...

The letter is filled with encouragements and challenges, and throughout the series we may say things that challenge you…

it may stir up strong emotions in you.

I want to ask you to stay with us through the possible conflict and to lean into it by talking with one of the Pastors or Elders if there is something that comes up that needs more conversation or context…

we are here to grow together.

Don’t just disconnect during that message…jot it down and grab someone afterwards or set up a time to talk & pray together to make sure that we’re really hearing each other.

Intimacy

I. Title: Trying to determine the title for today’s message and I was debating between Intimacy and A Good Sex Life…so I asked Sarah, who really didn’t want to be part of that decision…I liked a Good Sex Life, so I chose to go with Intimacy as a title instead.

- relationships and sex are an area where the world has been captive to the enemy’s plans to kill, steal, and destroy…and we can be captive too if we’re not careful...

II.

If we buy into the world’s ways it makes intimacy Inti-messy.

+ The world is obsessed with intimacy…whether it’s emotional connection or sexual intimacy, which they usually see as a continuum…Looking for Acceptance, Security, or Significance…or satisfaction, security, and significance in Relationships.

+ Your average movie, story, TV show, etc…usually are about the protagonist finding these fulfilled in a relationship…more than that, usually implying that sex will lead to intimacy…to the closeness they are craving...or that sex even equals intimacy.

+ Many people are looking for that intimacy with others, but instead are having unhealthy emotionally dependent or co-dependent relationships, some are in the dating game and experiencing shallow relationships or repeated heartbreak, some are simply hooking up and trying to meet those needs that way.

+ Why?

Because we ARE created for intimacy…We desire this deep connection with others because we were created for intimacy…Many people find brokenness and pain instead when they go looking for it in the wrong places or in the wrong ways.

- God does desire us to have intimate relationships and He HAS designed us for them…He has clear definitions and designs for how those are to be for our Good and for the Good of others...

1 Corinthians 6:12-7:7

- The church at Corinth had some who were believing that it didn’t matter what they did with their bodies because they were already united with Christ…and others who were saying that even sexual intimacy with their spouse was not necessary or even good…there was a lot of confusion around how their intimacy with other people and their intimacy with God impacted each other...

(Stand, Read)

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.

“I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.”

The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?

Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?

For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

18 Flee from sexual immorality.

All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your bodies.

7 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.

3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband.

In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.