A Sexual Ethic: Leviticus 18

Transition into Reading-

Sexual Truthes —Adapted from my introduction to Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, pp. 12-13.

Sex is created by God (“by him all things were created”—).

Sex continues to exist by the will of Christ (“in him all things hold together”—).

Sex is caused by God (he “works all things according to the counsel of his will”—).

Sex is subject to Christ (“he put all things under his feet”—).

Sex is being made new by Christ (“Behold, I am making all things new”—).

Sex is good (“everything created by God is good”—).

Sex is lawful in the context of marriage (“all things are lawful”—).S

Sex is to be done for the glory of God (“whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”—).

Sex works together for the good of God’s children (“for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”—).

Sex is a cause for thanksgiving (“nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving”—).

Sex is to be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer (“everything . . . is made holy by the word of God and prayer”—).

Sex can be enslaving and its entrapment must be resisted (“I will not be enslaved by anything”—).

Sex should not be an occasion for grumbling (“do all things without grumbling”—)

Sex should be an occasion for rejoicing in the Lord (“rejoice in the Lord always”—).

Sex should be an occasion of contentment in the Lord (“having all contentment in all things at all times”— mg.).

Sex should be engaged in with holiness and honor (“each one of you [is to] know how to control his own body [KJV: “possess his vessel”; RSV: “take a wife for himself”] in holiness and honor”—).

Sex should usually not be withheld from one’s spouse (do not “deprive one another [sexually], except perhaps by agreement for a limited time,” that they might devote themselves to prayer—. But then they are commanded to “come together again [sexually], so that Satan may not tempt [them] because of [their] lack of self-control”—).

Sex can be both pure and impure in this fallen world (“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled”—).

I think about what does it mean to be an image bearer of a holy God. The Bible’s ethic are part of the overall goodness of Bible. The Bible’s truth, beauty and the Bible’s realistic understanding that we are not good if we simply do what we feel like

1. Address Current Ideas? Sample

2. Purpose:

Emphasize One-Flesh Union

3. Our Way Forward

Obedience

Jane Eyre Quote/Martin Luther Quote

Obedience

Let’s open to and the first 5 verses

Leviticus 18:1–5 NASB95

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. ‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. ‘You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God. ‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.

18:6-18, No person could have sexual relations with a woman who was a close relative by blood or by marriage

18:19-23, No person could not participate in unlawful and immoral practices

We see that God cares and the hedge that he seeks to build for us, keeping sex in its proper context…but what else is there to know?

Sex is just an appetite to be quenched or satisfied

Sex is dirty or bad

Sex is for my individual benefit

Expressions of the 1st and 3rd idea are seen in the often thought of and sometimes verbalized question - “How far can I go?”

How far can I go? and still feel what I wanted? Not feel convicted? Not making the other person say no? So that I have an “acceptable amount of experience?”

This question is loaded with so many assumptions, but most egregiously in the 1st and 3rd idea on the slide

We see these assumptions in our attitudes

How far can I go? ...and still feel what I wanted? ...Not feel convicted? …and not have the other person say no? …so that I have an “acceptable amount of experience before marriage?”

How far can I go is the start of a question that we do not often finish. How would you finish this question? What is it that we believe about sex?

The 2nd idea is why we struggle to talk about it at all. Having sexual desire is seen as bad, a foreign or undesirable consequence of living in this fallen world.

Sex is more than an appetite or a desire akin to food or water. Nobody dies for lack of sex. But it also satisfies other needs and is itself .

Sex is great and helpful for the married couple engaged in it regularly.

Sex is to be for the mutual benefit of both parties

Before we go further, I want to just stop you right there and share that all I am concerned about concerning this Sex topic is where do I go from where I am at.

I am dealing with shame about my past

I am dealing with shame about not having a past to be shameful of

Convince me that I am doing something wrong when or if I get my next chance

As long as I have not done that thing, the one thing, I am good! We are not here to condemn past behavior but to inform current thought and drive future behavior.

Here is the bar that I want to set for you today...

Not having a clear enough picture of God’s idea of sex (purpose and function)

How far can I go until the other person does stop?

Not being reassured enough about the goodness of that picture

Not having a realistic expectation that what God wants, I can do

We going to talk about sex and sexuality today.

Seeking to answer the question, “What is God’s Agenda for Sex?”

What is God’s Agenda for Sex?

We often forget that he thought it was a good idea - Except like with many things we take his great ideas and still see them as great when we remove them from the context they were made for.

Sex was made by God to be enjoyed by a husband and wife in the confines of a committed, monogamous, “one-flesh” marriage!

It was not made for any other context!

Much like man was made to be in a covenant relationship with God, which ordered and informed the rest of His relationships.

Man was not made to live in any other context!

**need another example for a 3rd option (cake for lunch, cake for breakfast)

The context for sex is very small

**draw a box with the word sex in it on the board**

Our world has added and justified ourselves to misrepresent and misunderstand the purpose and function of sex that God made.

We are image bearers of a Holy God - “We want to look like God in our sexuality”

I believe our 3 main issues with this topic is:

Not having a clear enough picture of God’s idea of sex (purpose and function)

Not being reassured enough about the goodness of that picture

Not having a realistic expectation that what God wants, I can do

The New American Commentary: Leviticus (2) Sexual Regulations and the Family (18:6–18)

The important phrase used in defining incest, lĕḡallôt ʿerwâ, means literally to “uncover the nakedness.” Because the man and his wife are “one flesh,” to uncover the nakedness of one’s spouse in essence exposed his partner. After the fall of man nakedness was always associated with shame, which is a marked contrast to the state of Adam and Eve before the intrusion of sin

Sex is a Gift From Him - and when it is done well and in the correct context, like all things he has made and given - it is awesome!

2. For Our Good - too often our view of sex is one-sided. What I can get out of it, what it will gain me, I like this. It is meant to be a two-person transaction, and not agreed upon good but all the good that God designed.

Ephesians 5:31 NASB95

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

“In other words, marriage is a union between two people so profound that they virtually become a new, single person. The word “united” (in older translations, “to cleave”) means “to make a binding covenant or contract.” This covenant brings every aspect of two persons’ lives together. They essentially merge into a single legal, social, economic unit. They lose much of their independence. In love they donate themselves, wholly, to the other.

To call the marriage “one flesh,” then, means that sex is understood as both a sign of that personal, legal union and a means to accomplish it. The Bible says don’t unite with someone physically unless you are also willing to unite with the person emotionally, personally, socially, economically, and legally. Don’t become physically naked and vulnerable to the other person without becoming vulnerable in every other way, because you have given up your freedom and bound yourself in marriage. Then, once you have given yourself in marriage, sex is a way of maintaining and deepening that union as the years go by. “

Ephesians

-Tim Keller, Sex and Marriage, The Meaning of Marriage, pg. 223

Song of Solomon 8:4 NASB95

“I want you to swear, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not arouse or awaken my love Until she pleases.”

“Sex is God’s appointed way for two people to reciprocally say to one another, “I belong completely, permanently and exclusively to you.” You must not use sex to say anything less than that.”

-Tim Keller, Sex and Marriage, The Meaning of Marriage, pg. 223

Proverbs 5:15–19 NASB95

Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

Proverbs 5:15-

Proverbs 5:15–23 NASB95

Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

Proverbs 5:15–20 NASB95

Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

“We struggle so much with desire often thinking wrongly that we struggle because we have too high a view of sex, when in fact our view is too low. Sex as pleasure only, discounts the detail and context of the design. Sexual activity outside of marriage is like eating frosting. I mean its frosting - but that’s all it is - and you generally wish that you hadn’t. Why? Cause there is so much missing that is supposed to be included, except you don’t know that because you have never had it with cake.”

Sex has three purposes:

Procreational

Adds to the social and relational dimension of the husband-wife relationship

For the public good

Christopher Ash says the following about Keeping Sex within the context of marriage

“encompasses the benefits of ordered and regulated sexual relationships in human society. Undisciplined and disordered sexual behavior must be restrained, for it carries with it a high social and personal cost in family breakdown, destructive jealousies, resentments, bitterness and hurt. Ordered behavior is to be encouraged because this has benefits that extend beyond the couple to children, neighbors and the wider networks of relational society.”

Kostenberger, Andreas J.. God, Marriage, and Family (Second Edition): Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

“Sex is great and we must protect it - Sexual desire and pleasure are God’s design, what is not is “disordered sexual desire and pleasure.”

Jon Stonestreet

Sexual desire and pleasure are God’s design , what is not is “disordered sexual desire and pleasure.”

Kostenberger, Andreas J.. God, Marriage, and Family (Second Edition): Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:1–5 NASB95

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. ‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. ‘You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God. ‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.

18:6-18, No person could have sexual relations with a woman who was a close relative by blood or by marriage

18:19-23, No person could not participate in unlawful and immoral practices

“Sex is driven by the worship of the heart. [When we indulge in sexual activity outside of marriage] I am either worshipping myself, and I will use the body of another person to get my pleasure or I’m worshipping sex, and I will ask sexuality to deliver me what it cannot deliver. Sex will never make me content. Sex will never give me lasting happiness. Sex will never give me identity or meaning and purpose. Sex will never give me life. Sex will never be my personal savior. If I worship God, the question I ask in my sexuality is not just, “Does this please me?” because if that’s the only question I ask, I’m a dangerous person, I will use other people, and I will do things that I should not do to get my pleasure. I must be asking, “the God who designed this, what pleases Him in this area?” “How can I live in my sexual life in a way that pleases God?””

Paul David Tripp on Sexuality and Desire

Sex -

“Sex is driven by the worship of the heart. In sexuality, I am either worshipping myself, and I will use the body of another person to get my pleasure or I’m worshipping sex, and I will ask sexuality to deliver me what it cannot deliver. Sex will never make me content. Sex will never give me lasting happiness. Sex will never give me identity or meaning and purpose. Sex will never give me life. Sex will never be my personal savior or I’m worshipping God. And so the Dquestion I ask in my sexuality is not just, “Does this please me?” because if that’s the only question I ask, I’m dangerous person, I will use other people, and I will do things that I should not do to get my pleasure. I must be asking, “the God who designed this, what pleases Him in this area?” “How can I live in my sexual life in a way that pleases God?””

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 103.

Speaking of Obedience to Christ’s commands-