I Corinthians 6:12-20, The Talk

The Talk: Introduction

Scrabble: How much I love the game. Based on your ability to craft words and place in the perfect spot for optimal scoring. However, wont’ let you make up words. Has to be not just in the dictionary, but in the Merriam Websters if you read the rules carefully. Scrabble is governed by an objective standard. So it is with life and sex. Tragically many are making it up…when it comes to dating and sex.

Creating the Need:

David Brooks Quote:

"Now young people face a social frontier of their own. They hit puberty around 13 and many don't get married until they're past 30. That's two decades of coupling, uncoupling, hooking up, relationships and shopping around. This period isn't a transition anymore. It's a sprawling life stage, and nobody knows the rules. Once, young people came a-calling as part of courtship. Then they had dating and going steady. But the rules of courtship have dissolved. They've been replaced by ambiguity and uncertainty. Cell phones, Facebook and text messages give people access to hundreds of 'friends.' That only increases the fluidity, drama and anxiety"- David Brooks, New York Times.

Application: You and I live in a culture that is aggressively discipling us in the way of relationships and sex daily…we get thousands of messages…The result? 95% will have sex before marriage (astounding); 85% of 18-23 Americans will have already had sex.

POINT: SO WE NEED TO SPEAK INTO THIS AND OFFER A HOPE FILLED, COUNTER CULTURAL MESSAGE FROM GOD THAT IS GOING TO, TODAY, DEEPLY CHALLENGE, ENCOURAGE AND SHOW YOU THE WAY FORWARD. THAT’S WHAT GOD WILL DO TODAY.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

CHRISTIANITY BIRTHED IN A CULTURE OF SEXUAL PROMISCUITY. WHAT THEY WERE INTO AND ACCEPTED AS OKAY WILL MAKE YOUR SKIN CRAWL. PEDERASTY. GAY CULTURE. PROSTITUTION. ROMAN LEADER WHO SAID IT WAS NOT JUST OKAY, BUT EXPECTED OF MEN TO SLEEP WITH PROSTITUTES.

SUMMARY: ROMANS WERE PROMISCUOUS SHARING THEIR BEDS WITH EVERYONE, CHRISTIANS MONOGAMOUS SHARING THEIR BEDS WITH NO ONE.

IT’S JUST SEX…RIGHT? VERSES 12-13

HC CONTINUED:

THE CULTURE OF SLEEPING WITH PROSTITUTES HAD INFILTRATED THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH AND PAUL WRITES TO CORRECT THAT. THEY WERE GOING TO THE LOCAL TEMPLE AND SLEEPING WITH PROSTITUTES.

POINT: THEIR ARGUMENT IS SEEN IN THE TWO QUOTES…THE MESSAGE OF THESE TWO QUOTES IS NOT ONLY IS IT LEGAL, AND NATURAL, BUT IT’S JUST SEX, RIGHT? PAUL RESPONDS, NOT WITH SLAPPING THEM UPSIDE THE HEAD AND SCREAMING WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? INSTEAD HE GIVES THE MOST MASTERFUL BIBLICAL ARGUMENT ON SEX THERE IS. AND I’M EXCITED TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU.

IT’S NOT JUST SEX- VERSE 18…DO YOU SEE WHAT HE’S SAYING? THERE’S SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT SEX…THERE’S SOMETHING MORE AT PLAY. EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT A CHRISTIAN YOU INTUITIVELY KNOW THIS.

APPLICATIONS:

SEXUAL ASSAULT. YOU NEVER SAY, ARE YOU HEALED UP PHYSICALLY? WELL THEN, GET OVER IT!

RAPE. SAME THING YOU DON’T SAY. OR WHY WILL A WOMAN BE QUICK TO REPORT A MUGGING, BUT IN MANY CASES NOT RAPE. SOMETHING MORE IS AT PLAY HERE…IT’S NOT JUST SEX/PHYSICAL.

SECRETS/SHAME…SOMETHING I HAVE TO TELL YOU…MOST THE TIMES SEX. WHY IS SEX TIED TO SOME OF OUR DEEPEST SHAME? IT’S NOT JUST SEX.

MARITAL INFIDELITY. WHY IS THAT SO DEVASTATING. IF IT WAS JUST A PHYSICAL ACT LIKE LYING, OR CURSING IT WOULDN’T DEVASTATE US NEARLY AS MUCH…IT’S NOT JUST SEX.

ANGELA BASSETT ILLUSTRATION FROM MONSTER’S BALL…MYSELF?

APPLICATION- WHEN IT’S JUST SEX IS BOUGHT INTO, SEX NOW BECOMES A CONSUMER GOOD:

PORN/MASTURBATION. THE ULTIMATE HERE. 1 IN 3 AMERICANS VIEW PORN MONTHLY.

COHABITATION. SEX AS PERPETUAL AUDITION FOR MARRIAGE.

MANIPULATION FOR SELF SATISFACTION

RESULT: PEOPLE ARE NOW REDUCED FROM IMAGE BEARERS TO UTILITARIAN OBJECTS WHO ARE VALUED OR DEVALUED BASED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE.

THE BIBLE SAYS THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO SEX!

…SEX IS A COVENANT GIFT, NOT A CONSUMER GOOD- VERSE 16

EXPLANATION- PURPOSES OF SEX:

PROCREATION

PLEASURE…CHEESEBURGER ILLUSTRATION. BODY PARTS CONDUCIVE TO ORGASM. PASSAGES THAT WILL MAKE A BLACK MAN TURN RED- ; SUMMATION; . GOD IS SAYING HAVE FUN AND GO FOR IT!

COVENANT…JEWISH WEDDING NIGHT CUSTOM. WHY? COVENANTS WERE ALWAYS RATIFIED BY BLEEDING. WHAT COMMUNION IS TO THE BELIEVER, SEX IS TO MARRIAGE, A RENEWING OF THE VOWS.

“WHO HAS JOINED”- COVENANT ASPECT HERE…VERSE 18…TO MAKE TO STICK, ADHERE…THERE’S A DEEP CONNECTION.

ILLUSTRATION: CHRYSTAL…CAN I GO HERE…I FELT SOMETHING...

APPLICATION: YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT…FACEBOOK; HS REUNION; THE RESTAURANT

…SEX HURTS US- VERSE 18B

EXPLANATION: PAUL DOESN’T SAY STOP HAVING SEX BECAUSE I SAID SO, OR IT’S BAD…SEX PROLONGS A BAD RELATIONSHIP AND ENDS A GOOD ONE...

WHEN YOU HAD SEX AND IT WAS OVER THE RELATIONSHIP OR ONE NIGHT STAND, YOU SAID MOVE ON AND THEN LIED AND SAID IT DIDN’T MATTER…IT DID.

IT’S HURTING YOU NOW…SINS AGAINST HIS OWN BODY...

SEX DESIGNED FOR RELATIONAL INTIMACY: PORCUPINES ANALOGY…HUMANS FACE TO FACE FOR INTIMACY…THIS IS HOW GOD DESIGNED IT!

AS SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS INCREASE, RELATIONAL INTIMACY DECREASES.

"As sexual encounters increase, your potential to experience sexual intimacy decreases. Consequently, you undermine your own capacity for intimacy. Divorcing sex from a committed relationship ultimately diminishes the significance of sex within a committed relationship. If you were just a body, that may not be the case. If sex were purely physical, that may not be the case. But you are more than a body and sex is more than physical"- Andy Stanley.

"As sexual encounters increase, your potential to experience sexual intimacy decreases. Consequently, you undermine your own capacity for intimacy. Divorcing sex from a committed relationship ultimately diminishes the significance of sex within a committed relationship. If you were just a body, that may not be the case. If sex were purely physical, that may not be the case. But you are more than a body and sex is more than physical"- Andy Stanley.

TOWEL VISUAL. ONE BY ONE OVER THE HEART…LOSE ABILITY TO CONNECT. IT’S NOT JUST SEX

CONCLUSION: SO WHAT DO I DO?

PAUL COULD SAY STOP DOING IT, AND HE DOES…FLEE...

BUT THEN HE ENDS BY SAYING GLORIFY…LOOK AT VERSE 13…THERE’S A GOAL.

DIET ILLUSTRATION…YOU NEED A PURPOSE. NOT ENOUGH TO SAY I’M NOT HAVING SEX…THAT WON’T LAST.

ANDY STANLEY STORY OF HIS ENCOUNTER WITH WOMAN…COMPLICATED YOUR LIFE WITH APPLICATION.

WHAT ABOUT ME? THAT’S ME. IS THERE ANY HOPE? VERSES 9-12. FROM WERE TO IS…BISHOP ULMER AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST...