Hazards: Blindsided
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Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Inro
Hotel in Nashville
Pic#1
Today we are going to hone in on the importance of warning signs, alarms, guardrails in the area of sexual immorality.
When scripture says that it mean sexuality that does not take pace within the covenant relationship of the marriage of a man and women.
This is what the Apostle Paul says about sexuality outside of that protective environment.
to be clear this is not about sex,
No religion of worldview thinks more highly of sexuality.
No other worldview cares more for human flourishing through sexuality, it just so happens that God attaches great value to the person inside the body involved in sexual activity and wants their value attached when the act of sex takes place!
The world seeks to divide the person from the act, the body from the soul, and Christianity is not willing to do that, we think too highly of the person.
This is what Paul says....
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
PRAYER
Right off the bat.... here is the issue with a subject like this. This is one of those....oh you’re a pastor you have to hit this stuff every once and awhile.
Here we go.
The sex talk!!
And if you are sitting here saying…not me. Don’t need it. I’m fine in my marriage, my thought life, pure baby pure, but you do not see the need for warning signs, alarms, hazard signs, you are the person on Survivor who says I am in control of the game, and gets.....what do they call it on Survivor.
“Blind sided”
It is my hope and desire that by the end of today’s message you would put guardrails, alarms in place so that you will never get blindsided in the in area.
Today I want to talk about what I think is the most important area. This is the area that’s most needed, but it’s also the area where we find the most resistance. In fact, whenever I talk about this subject, and I do from time to time, even though I feel like I repeat myself, I’ve decided I just don’t care—we just can’t talk about this enough. Whenever I talk about this subject, I feel literally like one of those Old Testament prophets who’s yelling and screaming and everybody is just passing by ignoring him, and that no matter what I say and no matter how I illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
most needed, but it’s also the area where we find the most resistance. In fact, whenever I talk about this subject, and I do from time to time, even though I feel like I repeat myself, I’ve decided I just don’t care—we just can’t talk about this enough. Whenever I talk about this subject, I feel literally like one of those Old Testament prophets who’s yelling and screaming and everybody is just passing by ignoring him, and that no matter what I say and no matter how I illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
about this subject, and I do from time to time, even though I feel like I repeat myself, I’ve decided I just don’t care—we just can’t talk about this enough. Whenever I talk about this subject, I feel literally like one of those Old Testament prophets who’s yelling and screaming and everybody is just passing by ignoring him, and that no matter what I say and no matter how I illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
subject, I feel literally like one of those Old Testament prophets who’s yelling and screaming and everybody is just passing by ignoring him, and that no matter what I say and no matter how I illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
everybody is just passing by ignoring him, and that no matter what I say and no matter how I illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
illustrate it, no matter how graphic I am and no matter how ridiculous I get, no matter how creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
And today we are going to talk about putting up hazard signs around sexuality.
creative I get, the average person goes, “Yeah, well, that’s what we would expect a preacher to
say,” and then he or she just goes right back to business as usual. But if we as a culture would
Yeah!!
Now here is the issue with a subject like this. This is one of those....oh you’re a pastor you have to hit this stuff every once and awhile.
begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty in our
And as a pastor, you gotta start feeling like an OT prophet yelling on the corner, in flip flops and everyone is just walking by rolling their eyes, going you are so behind on this.
But here we go, because, I belief that the biblical ethic for sexuality has been proven to be true; that sexuality is best lived out with in the protective confines of marriage between a man and a woman as described in scripture.
Why is this important
I believe that many of the ailments in our society would become healthier if their were guardrails and heeded hazard signs in this area.
nation, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities in our country, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
I believe that there is evidence that culture would begin establishing some guardrails in this one particular area, it would impact poverty, it would cause an amazing change in our inner cities, it would begin to reduce the number of people in prison in our country, and thousands and thousands of little boys and little girls would be tucked in by Mommy and Daddy on the weekend instead of swapping back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
back and forth every other weekend to visit Mom and Dad because they’re not together anymore.
It would actually impact healthcare in this system in our country. In fact, there’s not one single area in our culture that would not be positively impacted if we could just get this one area correct, if we as a society and if we as a culture would step back and establish some standards of behavior that tripped off our consciences before we stepped over into the abyss.
area in our culture that would not be positively impacted if we could just get this one area
correct, if we as a society and if we as a culture would step back and establish some standards of behavior that tripped off our consciences before we stepped over into the abyss.
In every area of our lives where there is a desire, we need guardrails, but in the area of our physical and sexual intimacy, our desire for physical and sexual intimacy, we need reinforced steel when it comes to guardrails. And the reason is this. Because unlike any other area of your life and any other area of my life, you can fully recover from just about any other kind of disaster, but sexual disaster is almost impossible to fully recover from. You can fully recover from a financial disaster, you can have no guardrails in your life, you can rack up a lot of debt and get into a lot of trouble, but given enough time and enough discipline, you can fully recover from financial disaster. You can laugh about it. You can learn from it. You can teach your children about it and fully recover from it. The same is true of an educational disaster. You can flunk out of school, but then you go to summer school, you take extra credits, you work really hard, and it’s nothing more than a funny story you tell your kids someday.
our physical and sexual intimacy, our desire for physical and sexual intimacy, we need reinforced steel when it comes to guardrails. And the reason is this. Because unlike any other area of your life and any other area of my life, you can fully recover from just about any other kind of disaster, but sexual disaster is almost impossible to fully recover from. You can fully recover from a financial disaster, you can have no guardrails in your life, you can rack up a lot of debt and get into a lot of trouble, but given enough time and enough discipline, you can fully recover from financial disaster. You can laugh about it. You can learn from it. You can teachyour children about it and fully recover from it. The same is true of an educational disaster. Youcan flunk out of school, but then you go to summer school, you take extra credits, you workreally hard, and it’s nothing more than a funny story you tell your kids someday.
reinforced steel when it comes to guardrails. And the reason is this. Because unlike any other area of your life and any other area of my life, you can fully recover from just about any other kind of disaster, but sexual disaster is almost impossible to fully recover from. You can fully recover from a financial disaster, you can have no guardrails in your life, you can rack up a lot of debt and get into a lot of trouble, but given enough time and enough discipline, you can fully recover from financial disaster. You can laugh about it. You can learn from it. You can teachyour children about it and fully recover from it. The same is true of an educational disaster. Youcan flunk out of school, but then you go to summer school, you take extra credits, you workreally hard, and it’s nothing more than a funny story you tell your kids someday.
area of your life and any other area of my life, you can fully recover from just about any other
kind of disaster, but sexual disaster is almost impossible to fully recover from. You can fully
recover from a financial disaster, you can have no guardrails in your life, you can rack up a lot of
debt and get into a lot of trouble, but given enough time and enough discipline, you can fully
recover from financial disaster. You can laugh about it. You can learn from it. You can teachyour children about it and fully recover from it. The same is true of an educational disaster. Youcan flunk out of school, but then you go to summer school, you take extra credits, you workreally hard, and it’s nothing more than a funny story you tell your kids someday.
your children about it and fully recover from it. The same is true of an educational disaster. You
can flunk out of school, but then you go to summer school, you take extra credits, you work
really hard, and it’s nothing more than a funny story you tell your kids someday.
You can recover from professional disaster. You can go bankrupt. You can get fired. You can get kicked out, but you can recover, get another job, and one day it’s just a story you tell. But when it comes to the area of our sexuality, those are the stories no one ever laughs about, because—and even though our culture is finally coming around this—what we know intuitively, what we know in our hearts, what every single adult knows but we don’t know how to talk about it, is this: Sex is not just physical. It’s way deeper than that. When people cross certain lines in their desire for physical intimacy, when people cross certain lines when it comes to their sexuality, there are things that they carry with them the rest of their lives.
Not important for you
can get kicked out, but you can recover, get another job, and one day it’s just a story you tell. But when it comes to the area of our sexuality, those are the stories no one ever laughs about,
And if you are sitting here saying…not me. Don’t need it. I’m fine in my marriage, my thought life, pure baby pure, but if you do not see the need for warning signs, alarms, hazard signs, you are the person on Survivor who says I am in control of the game, and gets.....what do they call it on Survivor.
“Blindsided”
It is my hope and desire that by the end of today’s message you would put guardrails, alarms in place so that you will never get blindsided in the in area.
and to do that we need to be willing to say for the sake of our family (and buy that I mean future family, or even simply the health of your relationships, family, future and faith, I will put guardrails up in this area.
Yeah!!
Paul does not beat around the bush here.
because—and even though our culture is finally coming around this—what we know intuitively,
Warnings
No need to read between the lines. Flee from sexual immorality!
Why. rather than trample us down---God desires to protect us, honour us and liberate us.
Why is sexual sin a big deal??
I. The Christian Sexual Ethic protects us (v.18)
I. The Christian Sexual Ethic protects us (v.18)
I. IT IS NOT AS HARMLESS AS YOU THINK (v.18)
I. IT IS NOT AS HARMLESS AS YOU THINK (v.18)
It is not as harmless as you’ve been told
Why flee it?
Man Paul is pretty strong here.
Run he says!! don’t move in closer, just run!!
Don’t flirt with it
Don’t see how close you can get without hurting yourself …or someone else.
Don’t
Ill . 1991 Los Angeles Times
MANCHESTER, N.H. — A model escaped serious injury when a lion she was posing with clamped its jaws on her head, an official said.
One of the animal's trainers jammed his arm into the lion's mouth to stop it, witnesses said.
"It wasn't an attack, it was a bite," said David Dydo, Manchester animal control officer.
Shannon Audley, 23, suffered cuts to her head and back. She was listed in good condition Thursday at Catholic Medical Center.
Audley was posing for a print advertisement with the 6-year-old male lion Wednesday at a modeling agency. She had been posing with the animal for about an hour when it clamped its jaws on the side of her head, witnesses said.
"I've worked with this lion many times and never had a problem before," photographer Bill Melton said. The lion was taken back to Tennessee, where it is kept, police said.
____
Every time you hear a story like that you hear the same stuff..
“Im not sure what happened. “
I’ve trained the lion since it was a cub. The makes no sense.
“Yeah it does, because it is a freakin Lion!! It’s one job in nature is to tear flesh off of things!”
_________________________________
Paul says.....you can nurture it, you can call it cute and harmless and be under the illusion that you are in control. Call an attack a bite!! But its purpose is to devour you, and one day it will turn on you.
Sexual immorality is not a cub, it is a lion.
John Owne
And the devil is in the business of taking something beautiful and warping it.
NOT sex!! No religion of worldview thinks more highly of sexuality.
No other worldview cares more for human flourishing through sexuality, it just so happens that God attaches great value to the person inside the body involved in sexual activity and wants their value attached when the act of sex takes place!
The world seeks to divide the person from the act, the body from the soul, and Christianity is not willing to do that, we think to highly of the person.
We walk through a mall full of pictures and full of posters and full of things that are so explicit, and then we wonder why, because culture baits us to the edge and then chastises us when we step over.
We live in a culture that baits us.
We are told to entertain ourselves with everything that baits us toward sexual immorality, in music, netflix shows, fashion, romance- which never seems to be romantic unless it is with someone else’s spouse (maybe with the exception of This is US)
Right? How often is there a sex scene between a husband and a wife..? Gross? That’s not hot!
We need 50 shades of Grey, and the Wolf of Wall Street.
And here is the thing the #metoo movement is important. there have been things going on too long, women being victimized, and i think some fear for preditors is a good thing!
But it points out a very stange phenomenon--
our culture for 50 years has been pointing to traditional views on sexuality and saying you are repressive. What we really need is complete freedom in this area, Freud was right, we are just biological machines that need sex. Religion is just trying to repress us and keep us from our freedom and happiness.
NOW we have Harvey Whinstiens, Kevin Spacey’s, and a miriad of others.
And every one agrees that somewhere there was a line crossed, but no one is willing to draw one!
And the same culture that tells people that their are no lines loves to shame people who they deemed have crossed one!!
We live in an age where there are apps on your phone so that you can walk through a sex contract. Walking through all the stuff each sex partner is willing to consent to before they engage in the act of sex. Are you ok with this, this ,this, ok Im just going to save this on my phone so you cannot accuse me of doing anything you did not agree to, because I don’t want any tweets.
“Isn’t it romantic”
Hey I can make it really easy to know whether there is consent, much safer than an app, it is called the covenant of marriage.
sexuality that is accompanied with emotion commitment and a desire for the flourishing of the other individual, not just an object for your freudian machine to get momentary pleasure.
Paul makes it easy to stay clear of the line----you see sexual immorality you run the other way!! You don’t look down to see f you are near the line you run.
What do we run from?
earthquakes, fire, floods, mobs, DANGER!!
Flee- romantic exchange with someone who is not your husband, flee the computer with the image of someones daughter made in the image of God .
Get out of there.
Our culture will laugh, and you will save yourself trouble.
Why is this so important to Paul?
Well, don’t we all have a million stories of friends and famous people who failed to flee. We do not need evidence, we need boundaries for ourselves.
If we fail to flee....
So it is not as harmless as you think,
The Christian Sexul Ethic saves us from harm
II. The Christian Sexual Ethic honours us (v.18-19)
II. The Christian Sexual Ethic honours us (v.18-19)
II. IT IS MORE COMPLEX THAN YOU THINK (v.19)
II. IT IS MORE COMPLEX THAN YOU THINK (v.19)
It’s not your body v. 19
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
There is something more to us than just our bodies, and we are not divided from what which our body takes part in.
We touched on this last week.
There is something more to us than just our bodies, and we are not divided from what which our body takes part in.
a. we are spiritual beings
Now, if you’re a Christian, and even if you’re not a Christian, your body is sacred, we
believe, but you’ve got to figure out your own worldview. But Christians believe that all bodies
are sacred, and that when a person becomes a Christian, God’s spirit comes to live inside of our
physical bodies, which means our bodies are temples.
in 167 BC Antiochus Eiphanes the king of Syria took Jerusalem and took the creature considered most vile to Jews, slaughtered it and smeared its blood all over the temple. It was an attack on the Hebrew people and a defiant, ovetaking of the temple by outside forces to say we are in copntrol.
Paul is saying
When we decide that sexual immorality is ok for us, we have in essence taken that which is an affront and filled the temple with it.
Paul’s application is simple here...
If it’s dishonoring to God,
If it’s dishonoring to God,
don’t do it with your body. If it’s dishonoring to God, don’t take your body there. If it’s
dishonoring to God, don’t look at it.
Decide every morning, “God, my body belongs to you. It’s a temple. I want to live this
life, and I want to live this day in such a way that everything I do with this body honors you.”
And if that it true of you....your prayer....Pauls gives a very easy instruction.....FLEE!
For the sake of family, future and your faith.
And the pattern is always the same....its thee same one the devil has been using since the beginnijng of time.
He who prowls around like a thief in the night seeking to devout (??)
First he says.....”did God really tell you you couldn’t.” Did he really tell you you couldn’t eat of the fruit of the true.
Don’t you know how liberating it is. How could he take that from you?
Come closer and see how good and pleasing to the eye and the senses this is?
Take a bit?
Paul says flee!!!!
b. we are emotional beings
And today if you’ve decision you are not going to put up guardrails around this, you aren’t going to heed the warning signs follow the instructions, you are making a decision. You are saying I am willing to play with this thing, kind of see where it takes me and we’ll just let it play out.
The belief that we can divide ourselves up into the physical and the emotional, an that one does not need to have an effect on the other simply is not true
When Paul says sexual sin sins against the body, he may be on to more than we think.
There is a great book that covers a multitude of issue surrounding the connection of ourselves as spiritual/emotional persons with our bodies and how that explains why Christian are at the for ground of pro-life, and pro-Christian ethic when it comes to sexuality.
Nancy Pearcey
Science is now telling us that the same thing happens when a woman has sex. Oxytocin is released in her body and there is a connection made to bond.
[A]chemical is released when a mother nurses her baby, and it stimulates an instinct for caring and nurturing. It is often called the attachment hormone. Imagine the surprise when scientists discovered that oxytocin is also released during sexual intercourse, especially (but not exclusively) in women. Consequently, the desire to attach to the other person when we have sex is not only an emotion but also part of our chemistry. Oxytocin has been shown to create a sense of trust. As one sex therapist puts it, when we have intercourse, we create “an involuntary chemical commitment.”
Nancy Pearcey
Think about that- while we are being told that multiple sexual encounters are freeing and liberating, there is a low level of bonding going on that we are told to deny.
She goes on to say that in essence then.....
That contradiction provides an opening to make the case that the secular view is flawed. It does not fit reality. Young people are trying to live out a worldview that does not match their true nature, and it is tearing them apart with its pain and heartache.
Christianity does not have a low view of sexuality, it has a high view of the person!
Timothy Keller writes, “Sex is God’s appointed way for two people to say reciprocally to one another, ‘I belong completely, permanently, and exclusively to you.’” When we have sex outside of marriage, we are essentially lying with our bodies. Our actions are “saying” that we are united on all levels when in reality we are not. We are contradicting ourselves. We are putting on an act. We are being dishonest.
That’s why some people will not break of with someone after an ongoing of relationship outside fo marriage even if it is unhealthy. There is an unsaid misunderstood connection going on.
If you care about your own body, your spiritual well being, Paul says flee.
We are more complex than we think
III. The Christian Sexual Ethic Liberates us (v.20)
III. The Christian Sexual Ethic Liberates us (v.20)
III. IT IS LESS LIBERATING THAN YOU THINK
III. IT IS LESS LIBERATING THAN YOU THINK
Sexuality outside of the covenant it was created for, will ultimately bring less freedom than you think.
It has to be!! Because there is more to you than what you think. It doesn’t deliver as advertised.
G.K. Chesterton
Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is really looking for God
I’m claiming it!!
We have been so baited by media, and reduced by our culture to sexual creatures that we should be insulted.
The only way that the story of sexual freedom is true is if you and I are simple machines of flesh and bone who are our own authority and whose only need in life is physical gratification.
But it has been proven over and over again that not only is this not true it has proven harmful;
harmful to individuals, families, societies
fatherless homes, motherless homes, brokenness from families torn apart by adultery, boys addicted to pornography who cannot communicate with a girls, have no idea what to do on a date.
Why, because those protective rails which were the things put in place by God, the giver of good things, to bring about health and flourishing were placed aside as if options.
And because of that the gift of God which came with instructions and warning labels for best use has become less than it could be, because now it is accompanied by apps, now it the complete dehumanization and slavery of pornography is rampant, now we get the accompanying feeling of “will this be the only time I ever see this person”, or I certainly hope I don’t run into this person again. Of explaining away phone calls.
The
WHAT FREEDOM!!!
but that is what an ethic that reduces us to pleasure machines does.
And Paul says and the gospel says no no no..there is so much more to you.
You are so much more than your desires!
You have been bought with a price!!
A high price!!
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
The value of your body is in the high cost paid for its redemption, and salvation, the high price paid in order to invite you into the family of God!
If you are a critic of the Christian view of sex, you cannot say it is a devaluing of you as a person, it is an explosive love for you and concern for your body that we cling so strongly to this ethic!!
Because there is so much more to you than that.
Our worth and identity could never be reduced to our sexuality, to our orientation or our even our sin!!!
How could we ever be reduced to that in light of the cross!!
Where our bodies were redeemed by the giving over of his body to suffering and death.
That is the point, the centre, the basis on which you and I are called to offer our bodies for him, he has already offered his for ours!!!!
He has already defeated sin and death for us.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Oh to look up once and awhile.
Right??
Man who am I to think that an hour a week is going to do battle with 24 hours a day of of darkness.
THIS IS NOT FOR THE SPIRITUALLY ABUSED, those who have ben taken advantage of.
Do you feel it.
I mean can I encourage you to look up this week???
To take a break from the news, the media, the netflix #talkingtoyourself , the ethic that is so diametrically opposed to a wholistic view of the person and look up. Behold the man upon the cross
To come up for breather and remember what it means to take a really deep breathe in the midst of a suffocating sexual culture.
To take in the glory of God and the love of God for our entire self.
Preacher, author John Piper says this ...
Do you know why there are no windows on adult bookstores? Or do you know why there are no windows on certain kinds of nightclubs in the city?
I suppose your answer would be, “Well, because they don’t want people looking in and getting a free sight.”
That’s not the only reason.
You know why? Because they don’t want people looking out at the sky.
You know why? The sky is the enemy of lust.
And I just ask you—you think back on your struggles. The sky is a great power against lust.
Pure, lovely, wholesome, beautiful, powerful, large-hearted things cannot abide the soul of a sexual fantasy at the same time.
PAUSE
If you want to protect yourself from sexual immorality and the natural effects of sexuality outside of its covenantal purposes, Paul says flee
There are guardrails we can put up;
It’s not
If you are married do not have private meetings with people of the opposite sex
what we know in our hearts, what every single adult knows but we don’t know how to talk about
If you are single and you are serious about honouring God with your body; maybe you are engaged, maybe your not, maybe there is no sign of a commitment, steer clear of environments that make secrecy easy
If you are being drawn to pornography over and over, remove the tools of the enemy -computers, have accountability
I belief that there are important guardrails in place in our relationships at work, our dating relationships that are obvious; not meeting together for meetings with the opposite sex, if you are dating and you want to keep your relationships pure
But ultimately -it is a greater view of Christ and a deeper understanding of who you are because of him that will help to steer you clear of continued pursuit of these things, of complete surrender to them.
Jesus tells us to remove those things that cause us to sin, and says so explicitly when it comes to sexual sin, if your eye causes sin, poke your eye out, if your limb causes you to sin, lob off your limb,
If we took it literally would be a church of pirates!!
The singing would be horrible.
Ultimately, Jesus is saying love God so much that you would meticulously and surgically remove those things that would take you from him.
Love God enough to meticulously and surgically remove those things that would take you from Him
But those are actions after the main goal which is a greater view of Jesus that will bring us more fulfilment, that will see the incompleteness of the cultural ethic of sexuality.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
So as we conclude I will ask you 2 simple questions:
III. Honour
it, is this: Sex is not just physical. It’s way deeper than that. When people cross certain lines in
II. Whom you have from God
What has God said to you this morning?
or as the Message puts it
their desire for physical intimacy, when people cross certain lines when it comes to their
Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for?
sexuality, there are things that they carry with them the rest of their lives
What are you going to do about it?
What needs to be laid aside?
What has been clinging so closely; keeping you from running with endurance.
Have you huddled up close to the lion…convincing yourself that you are in control.
My prayer and hope is that you will flee, move far back from the guardrails.
So that a blindside is not possible.
What is drawing your eye off of your resurrected saviour, because that is the goal. That is what we are after.
More of him.
The gospel is not just after the eternal flourishing of your soul, it is after the eternal flourishing of your entire self; body and soul.
Thanks be to God
Destroy families, your spiritual life, and ......
So last week I gave you a few testing questions and I want to do that again today..
And I will simply say this of myself and you.....if we are already saying in our hearts....Im not going to do that! That’s ridiulous.
Wait a minute…you were bought with a price. You were redeemed, by Christ. You life is not your own.
So why would you not take DRASTIC STEPS for your long term emotional health, your long term spirtitual health and your
THIS IS MY PRAYER AND MY HOPE AS YOUR PASTOR..
that you would be able to pray…God guard me. Teach me to run. Teach me to fight to protect my body, for the sake of my marriage, my future marriage, my heart, my relationship with my saviour who purchased me through allowing the torment of his own body...... God enhance my radar, give me discipline and decernment to run today!!
I would rather that be your prayer, than , “Oh God, please don’t let him find out!”
“God please do not let her see that email trail”
“God I pray she is not pregnant”
“God, I pray that history on chrome, netflix is easy to get rid of”
AND CAN WE PLEASE RECOGNISE and fear the other outcome Paul talks about..“God what was I thinking about putting our relationship in this situation”
“God why have I let the temple of the Holy Spirit, the body you purchased, go to these places”
“God her outocme Paul talks abpout..
Some guardrails: (I stole these)
When it comes to sexual immorality. When it comes to"fleeing” what can we do.
Oh man you are going to hate these.
s
Brad do you have any clue how ridiculous these things are. Do have any idea about the sex culture of our day....Yeah, do you!! I’ve seen where it leads people when these kinds of things are not in place.
Aren’t these things extreme....yup!
So is the damage when guardrails like these are not firmly planted.
Again, if we do not care about the health of our family, our faith, our future. we are exempt from caring about these things; so who’s out? :0)
If you are married do not travel with someone of the opposite sex
“that will be weird, there will be weird situations.”
Yup.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
The M
I like the King James Version says “you are a peculiar people”.
In other words ,when light lives in darkness it will stand out.
Let’s at least do so for choosing holiness.
Yeah it will mean weird conversations, maybe uncomfortable ones, not as uncomfortable as a possible conversation with your family if it is not in place
If sin causes you.....
2. If you are married do not have private meetings with people of the opposite sex
Oh come on, Strelau. That’s ridiculous.
Try this, say to your spouse, “Honey Ii’ve decided to take the ridiculous step of not meeting with anyone of the opposite sex, in order to make sure I give no inappropriate signals and allow no opportunity of doing damage to our covenant of marriage”
See how ridiculous they think it is.
3. If you are single and you are serious about honouring God with your body; maybe you are engaged, maybe your not, maybe there is not sign of a commitment, steer clear of environments that make secrecy easy
you know what I mean
late nights, sleep overs, basements- literally live in the light, in community,
4. If you are being drawn to pornography over and over, remove the tools of the enemy
computers in the living-room only, only when others are around
I mean you know where the problem is, be vigilant for the sake of your family, your future, and your faith.
be accountable, get a program that lets someone know that you’ve gone where you shouldnt
PAUSE
Who can live like this? A “peculiar people”
people who have a deep desire to say, my life is not my own, and so I will honour God with this life he purchased with his.
It is drastic because it is important.
Jesus says it is better to pluck you eye out, better to have your limbs lobbed off than to allow them to lead you into sin and drag you off.
Now obviously if we took that literally this would be a church of pirates!! And so would every other church!
What is he saying- when it comes to sexual sin, because of how damaging it can be, ..meticulously, surgically, methodically cut out those things in your life that might allow them in.
the tv, the internet, a co-worker, a certain environment, for the sake of your emotional and spiritual health, cut it out.
PAUSE
Ill tell you what, no-one about to get married or who has been married for a bit. Or anyone who has a deep desire to honour the temple of the holy Spirit is going to come to my office in 5 years and say.....that was a horrible idea!
I wish I had more uncomfortable tear-filled conversations with my spouse where I had to confess that I had given my heart to another, I wish I had spent more late nights of guilt, and short lived
But I will have people come to me and say, when you said that I dismissed it. When God was nudging me that day, the holy spirit was whispering in my ear, I ignored it.
Now things are in shambles.
model
NEXT WEEK---what if we failed to follow the instruction, failed to read the caution portion????
In Case of emergency. If poison is swallowed, call this number, etc.
The sole purpose of sin is your destruction.
you have a forest two paths one says come this way
or come in this way offered by the one who purchased you for a price
