Prudish and Irrelevant?

A Theology of the body and of sex

Ron Citlau’s story - tell that a bit more.

Why are Christians seen as prudish - because they have rules in place that are seen as unreasonable. The reasonable thing is to have as much sex as you can.

On one end of the spectrum - we treat sex as an appetite - and like most American food, it’s as much as you can eat, and maybe more.

The sex-indus

The foundation for Christian sexuality -

faithfulness of God

don’t hurt yourself

The gendered body bears the image of God

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

ESV

Male and female are made for the other gender and in the coming together reflect the trinitarian community

God created us male and female so that we could image his love by becoming a sincere gift to each other. This sincere giving establishes a ‘communion of persons’ not only between the sexes but also—in the normal course of events—with a ‘third’ who proceeds from the both. In this way, sexual love becomes an icon, or earthly image in some sense of the inner life of the Trinity. —Christopher west

In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.” The authority of the father, the love of the mother, and the obedience of the child form in their unity the threefold cord that binds together and sustains all relationships within human society. Within the psychological life of every integrated personality this triple cord forms the motif and melody“[Adam and Eve] Together in mutual fellowship they bear the divine image.” —Herman Bavinck

The great mystery of that marriage is a window revealing the great love story of all

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

ESV

There is a love story that started long ago…the husband God set his eyes on a maiden he loved

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name”

a ESV

https://www.bible.com/59/isa.54.5.esv

He called her, she responded, they married / She was tempted and gave in to other lovers

She was tempted and gave in to other lovers

ESV

Touch on briefly -

She was tempted and gave in to other lovers

But the husband God would not give up, he promised to rescue her

ESV

https://www.bible.com/59/jer.13.27.esv

But the husband God would not give up, he promised to rescue her

“"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. "And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.”

ESV

https://www.bible.com/59/hos.2.14-20.esv

John 14 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

He went to our lover and that lover had enslaved the bride so the God the bridegroom spent his life to rescue

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

ESV

We were made ready for the groom

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:”

ESV

- we have Christians

The goal is to be ready for the day of our marriage

“For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”

ESV

https://www.bible.com/59/2co.11.2.esv

The consummation of history is a wedding

“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."”

ESV

(takes ron 15 min.)

The church is the bride of Christ, not his little sister. . . . Theses scriptural images imply that God isn’t impassive, and that his love for us is not exclusively agapeic. They suggest that God’s love for his people involves an erotic element of desire: he desires the right kind of response from us, and union with us, just as we desire union with him. —Alvin plantinga

This is why marriage is of great value and to be highly honored

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

ESV

This is why singleness is holy

“I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,”

ESV

Pre-mature one-ness.

When we covenant to one another - we are inviting someone into the deepest intimacy.

In to me see - Think about what someone might see when they look into me. There will be great things, but also my deepest insecurities. Insecurities they could exploit and take advantage of and manipulate me with to win their favor. To let someone in to me see - to give someone intimacy - is to invite someone into the knooks and crannies if our soul, to find pains that we may not have even been aware of.

To let someone into this place - these deep dark place, and to trust them not to abuse us - we created degrees, training, and we pay therapists a lot of money to do no harm in those places, b

In a sad but necessary way, letting people in to me

the deepest intimacy necessitates trust - and the most profound trust is rooted in mutual commitment.

Human is neither angel nor beast

Angels - sex is icky, its functional, its

Beasts - any mate, any time, based on strength.

Humans - image bearer -

The WHY over the ETHICS - ethics is just do’s and don’ts - the WHY in the story

Joshua Harris - sexual prosperity gospel, but those who swing to far from Joshua Harris - call marriage idolatry.

Ron Citlau - what set him free?